Midweek Review

C 4 narrative reminiscent of its previous ones on the eve of the annual Geneva sessions and Sallay’s challenge

Published

1 year ago

2023/09/13

Easter Sunday plot:

C4 presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy towards the end of their latest film on Sri Lanka, posed three questions to the viewers. Did Sallay meet those who perpetrated the Easter Sunday massacre? Did the Directorate of Military Intelligence mislead police, and Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his capacity as the President, sabotage the investigation? Those accused should answer these questions. As Guru-Murthy stressed that the families of those who perished deserved the truth. Perhaps, those genuinely interested in establishing the truth should also investigate/seek an explanation why extremist NTJ mounted suicide attacks to facilitate the election of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, always portrayed as a Sinhala Buddhist hardliner. C4 should accept Sallay’s challenge to verify his whereabouts/activities in 2018 and 2019 with Malaysian and Indian authorities. On its own, C4 can verify when President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country. The Indian origin Guru-Murthy declared that Rajapaksa fled on Sept. 22, 2022 whereas the truth is the President flew out of Colombo on July 13, 2022 and returned on Sept 03, 2022. That basic blunder highlights how the media can be overwhelmed by a ‘story.’

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Hanzeer Azad Maulana, who had been with Sivanesathurai Santhirakanthan aka Pilleyan (formerly of the LTTE), till he fled the country and decided to seek political asylum in the West last year, in an interview with Channel 4 (C4) Television last week accused Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay of facilitating the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage to get Gotabaya elected as the President.

How could Sallay have had engineered such a big clandestine operation that included meeting would-be terrorist suicide bombers at a coconut estate as allegedly arranged by Maulana at the behest of Pillayen, while being posted to the Sri Lanka High Commission in Malaysia (Dec. 2016-Dec. 2018) and then from January 2019-Nov. 2019 when he was at the National Defence College, India, including on the day of the cowardly near simultaneous suicide blasts targeting civilians on the morning of Easter Sunday April 21, 2019, and another a few hours later at New Tropical Inn, Dehiwela, near the National Zoo that sent shock waves, not only through Sri Lanka, but across the world?

State Minister Pilleyan is the Leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), a breakaway faction of the LTTE in Parliament. Pilleyan, elected from the eastern Batticaloa district, is the only TMVP MP in Parliament aligned with the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government.

Sallay’s alleged role in the Easter Sunday carnage is based on the claim of a sole individual Maulana that the senior military officer met the group of would-be suicide bombers at a large coconut estate, bordering the Kalpitiya lagoon at Karadipuval, in Wanathavilluwa, in the Puttalam District, in Feb. 2018. whereas the officer being accused says there are plenty of international alibis to prove he was not in Sri Lanka during the period concerned. Sallay insists that he never left Malaysia, for any destination, during 2018. The estate is called Lactowatta. The blasts claimed the lives of 269 persons, including 43 foreigners. Eight British tourists were among them. It would be necessary to stress Maulana’s claim that he arranged the meeting at the behest of directives received from Pilleyan, in September 2017 and January 2018.

During this entire period, Pilleyan, an erstwhile sidekick of Karuna (Vinayagamurthy Muralitharan aka Karuna), had been in remand for his alleged involvement in the assassination of Joseph Pararajasingham of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA National List) in Dec. 2005.

In response to queries posed in August this year by the UK-based production company, Basement Films, which produced the latest C4 film, Sallay asked them to verify with Malaysian and Indian authorities of his whereabouts in Feb. 2018 and April 19, 2021. That is the crux of the matter.

War-winning Army Chief Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka’s suggestion that Sallay may have entered Sri Lanka through an illegal route, in 2018, shows how diabolical and politically motivated he could be, having jumped headlong into the political cesspit at the end of the war.

Our Colombo 07-type folks might still swallow that myth about the British sense of justice and fair play and will readily accept anything aired by its media institutions as the gospel truth. Let us first of all not forget that it was the BBC that gave the signal to topple the duly elected democratic government of Iran, led by Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh, in 1953.

The truth is London, which was deeply involved in slavery, having plundered much of the world in the name of god and king/queen, is still up to the same old tricks but in less lethal ways. In recent decades, virtually all their “highly respectable” banks have been fined hundreds of millions of dollars by American regulators for laundering drug money for international narcotic cartels. So we need not talk about how it went to war with China to dump opium in that country, in the 19th Century.

The Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government should request Malaysian and Indian assistance in this regard. The government shouldn’t, under any circumstance, hesitate to have these accusations investigated. The failure to take tangible measures to ascertain the truth, without further delay, can cause catastrophic and irreversible damage. There shouldn’t be any issue with the government seeking foreign assistance as Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), European Intelligence services and Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) had been already involved in the Easter Sunday investigations.

C4 declared that Maulana, who fled Sri Lanka in 2022, and submitted himself to European Intelligence agencies and the United Nations Human Rights Council, won the confidence of interviewers. Against the backdrop of UNHRC and European Intelligence services asserting Maulana’s claim credible, it would be pertinent to ask them whether they verified Maulana’s claim that Sallay travelled to Colombo and then Lactowatta, in Feb, 2018. Had they done so, the latest C4 episode would have ‘decapitated’ Sallay.

In fact, the meeting at Lactowatta seems to be central to the heinous plot as towards the end of the much-touted C4 film, Maulana declared with authority that the Feb. 2018 secret meeting between Sallay and would-be suicide bombers took place at the same location. Therefore, Sri Lanka should immediately have Sallay’s ‘clandestine’ visit to Colombo, in Feb. 2018, as alleged by C4, investigated with the highest international participation.

Perhaps, the vast majority of complacent Sri Lankans had quite conveniently forgotten the raid conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Lactowatta, on January 16, 2019. The plainclothesmen were later joined by elite Police Commandos. The CID was hunting for those who had vandalized Buddhist statues in the Mawanella, Peradeniya and Velambada police areas from Dec 23, 2018 to Dec 26, 2018. Some authorities described Lactowatta as a Jihadist Training Camp though it didn’t have any infrastructure.

Allegations pertaining to the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) hindering investigations into extremist activities should be examined taking into consideration a petition filed by Gnanendra Shani Abeysekara, retired SSP who served as the Director, CID (2017-2019). The veteran investigator moved SC in terms of Article 126 read with Article 17 of the Constitution in Feb. 2022 claiming an attempt to implicate him over his failure to thwart the Easter Sunday carnage.

The ex-top cop’s specific allegations directed at the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and DMI as regards the overall investigation into extremist activities, including high profile claim that two persons, including an ex-LTTE cadre, were falsely implicated in the killing of two police constables (Ganesh Dinesh and Walpita Gamage Niroshan Indika Prasanna) on Nov 30, 2018, at a checkpoint at Vavunathivu, Batticaloa. What Abeysekara said was astonishing. The heavyset one-time Police Commando alleged that the SIS and DMI made a deliberate bid to deceive the CID pertaining to the Vavunathivu incident. Abeysekara also declared that the Easter Sunday carnage could have been averted if the SIS and DMI shared information regarding those who killed the constables. If Sri Lanka is genuinely interested in establishing the truth, the entire gamut of issues should be investigated.

The CID swooped down on Lactowatta in the late afternoon of January 16, 2019. Mohamad Razik Thaslim, Coordinating Secretary to the then Yahapalana Minister Kabir Hashim, accompanied the CID team to Lactowatta. On March 29, 2019, Thaslim was shot in the head while he was asleep at his home located at Danagama, Mawanella, by Islamic extremists soon thereafter. In spite of receiving severe injuries, he survived.

Who really prevented the government from going all out against the extremist groups, at least after the raid on Lactowatta, and the assassination attempt on Kabir Hashim’s aide? Regardless of the SIS and DMI not providing anticipated support to the CID, the raid on Lactowatta revealed the growing threat posed by extremists, led by deranged Zahran. The Yahapalana leadership owed an explanation why it couldn’t/didn’t thwart the plot, especially after India warned, on April 04, 2019, of imminent attacks.

The conduct of the SIS and DMI during that period should be thoroughly examined and if the retired SSP allegation proved right those responsible should be appropriately and harshly dealt with.

Rajan Hoole’s disclosure

Academic Dr. Rajan Hoole dealt with the Easter Sunday carnage several weeks before the last presidential election on Nov. 16, 2019. Titled ‘Sri Lanka’s Easter Tragedy: When the Deep State gets out of its Depth’ in the Ravaya publication. It skillfully discussed the circumstances leading to the first and the only terrorist attack since the successful conclusion of the war in May 2009. At that time, Hoole deliberated the Easter Sunday plot, Maulana remained with Pilleyan. If what Maulana claimed in his interview with C4 is true then he had no qualms in working with Pilleyan, even after the Easter Sunday massacre, until he left the country.

The author is the brother of Ratnajeevan Hoole, who served as a member of the Election Commission during the Yahapalana administration. Having perused the book and its Sinhala translation (translated by Mahinda Hatthaka, Movement for Defense of Democratic Rights), there cannot be any dispute Hoole shed light on the complex web of secrets/situations/relationships that created an environment conducive for the murderous plot.

Hoole, who authored ‘The Arrogance of Power: Myths, decadence and murder,’ in January 2001, quite clearly blamed the State elements for the attack. A founding member of the daring and pioneering University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR) Jaffna that defied the LTTE at its might with its clandestine publications, Dr. Hoole is explicit in his accusation that those who backed SLPP candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa created an environment to deprive the Muslims of an opportunity to vote at the Nov. 2019 presidential election. The author asserted that the attempt failed while making reference to the plantation Tamils being disenfranchised in 1949, consequent to the 1948 Citizenship Act. However, the author quite conveniently refrained from recalling how the LTTE-TNA combine denied the northern community an opportunity to vote at the Nov. 2005 presidential election. That calculated move definitely cost UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe the election. Wickremesinghe lost by 186,000 votes. The writer discussed Hoole’s assertions in an article titled ‘Failed 2015 political project may have triggered Easter Sunday attacks,” on Oct. 21, 2020 edition of The Island.

Therefore, Moulana’s interview didn’t surprise the vast majority though he appeared to have caused an unnecessary complication by his unsubstantiated claim that Sallay met would-be suicide bombers at Lactowatta in Feb. 2018 whereas the officer being accused challenged C4 to check with Malaysia whether he left for Colombo during the whole of that year.

At the time Zahran mounted the attacks, the UNP-SLFP Yahapalana arrangement was in tatters against the backdrop of President Sirisena’s failed bid to oust Premier Wickremesinghe. The extremists couldn’t have been unaware of the pathetic state of governance and sought to exploit the situation. The overall failure of that government should be reviewed taking into consideration a specific warning given to President Sirisena by the then Senior DIG Ravi Seneviratne, in charge of the CID and SSP (petitioner) Abeysekara regarding the extremist threat as the destruction of Buddhist statues was carried out by the group that managed Lactowatta.

In his petition to the Supreme Court, SSP Abeysekara alleged that President Sirisena didn’t keep his promise to grant Seneviratne an opportunity to brief the National Security Council of the extremist threat, thereby marshaling SIS and DMI support to eradicate it. The ex-President must be asked to explain as to why he failed to take action after having met the two cops on Feb. 02, 2019, about 11 weeks ahead of the attacks. Sri Lanka received the first Indian warning on April 04, 2019.

As Maulana alleged, could Sallay interfere with the DMI while serving as Minister Counsellor in Malaysia and subsequently during the NDC course? If India knew of the plot, its intelligence services couldn’t have missed Sallay’s alleged involvement and placed him under surveillance.

A fresh look at accountability issues

Former CID officer Inspector Nishantha Silva was among those interviewed by C4. The British television channel disclosed that European intelligence services talked to Silva, too. The Swiss Embassy in Colombo facilitated Silva’s clandestine departure just over a week after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election, as the seventh executive president, with an overwhelming majority. Claiming that he was obstructed by Navy and Army intelligence, the experienced investigator essentially commented on the assassination of the founding editor of Sunday Leader Lasantha Wickramatunga on January 08, 2009. The C4 film blamed Wickrematunga’s assassination on what it called ‘Tripoli platoon’ run by Pilleyan. C4 described the unit as a para-military outfit tasked with eliminating those who earned the wrath of the Rajapaksas. The unit was accused of enforcing disappearances.

It would be pertinent to mention that close on the heels of Inspector Silva fleeing to Switzerland, local Swiss Embassy employee Garnier Francis, formerly Siriyalatha Perera, caused quite a controversy by alleging government agents sexually abused her after having abducted her outside the mission. Her claim was subsequently proved to be a blatant lie. The case was settled after she retracted her claims that were given prominent attention by the New York Times, but not her retraction or the exoneration of the government by the ccourts.

The others interviewed by C4 were Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, former Human Rights Commissioner (during the Yahapalana administration) and Attorney-at-Law Ambika Satkunanathan, former Sunday Leader editor Frederica Jansz, slain Sunday Leader editor’s elder brother, Lal Wickrematunga, former lawmaker (UNP) and one-time Ambassador to Germany Sarath Kongahage (Mahinda Rajapaksa administration), a few victims of the Easter Sunday carnage and a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Statements that cannot be examined should be discarded. (General Sarath Fonseka was sentenced to three years in jail and fined Rs.5000 in a two-one split verdict delivered in the white flag case based on an interview Jansz did in Dec. 2009, a few weeks before the presidential election. Jansz did the interview in her capacity as the Editor of Sunday Leader. It was headlined “Gota ordered them to be shot – General Sarath Fonseka’ in the Dec. 13, 2009 edition).

As anticipated, C4 dealt with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s election at the 2005 presidential election and the developments beginning with the LTTE taking up arms. C4 refrained from mentioning the origins of terrorism here but reiterated unsubstantiated allegations that 40,000 civilians perished in the final phase of the government offensive on the Vanni east front in 2009. The failure on the part of many to mention that India caused terrorism in Sri Lanka is baffling. Sri Lanka lacked the backbone to set the record straight at the UNHRC with regard to the origins of terrorism here.

Perhaps C4 still doesn’t accept that the UK Foreign Office, in response to queries posed under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in 2014 after a three year delay acknowledged that the death toll was 7,000-8,000 not 40,000 as claimed on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations. Like the person who spoke to C4 on the condition of anonymity, the identities of those who claimed 40,000 killings during that period would remain buried at least till 2031. C4 cannot ignore the official British records against the backdrop of its readiness to accept unsubstantiated allegations made by Maulana and an unidentified person. Their approach reminds us of how the UK media propagated the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) allegation to facilitate the US-British led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

At the beginning of the C4 film, reference was made to the deaths of eight British tourists in the Easter Sunday carnage. The British must be reminded how they allowed the LTTE a free hand in the UK until the Sri Lankan military erased the LTTE conventional military capability. The LTTE maintained its so-called International Secretariat in London even up to the time the terrorist group assassinated the former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with a suicide bomber in April 1991, while their ideologue Anton Balasingham enjoyed the status of a British citizen until he died there peacefully in Dec. 2006 and his widow Adele, notorious for adorning their trade mark suicide capsules on Tiger female cadres, continue to live there scot free. Those shedding crocodile tears for terrorists should probe how millions in foreign currency were raised by the LTTE in the West since the ’80s to wage the terrorist war in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka political leadership should be ashamed for its pathetic failure to represent the country’s interests. Sri Lanka’s sponsorship of the 2015 Geneva Resolution proved the then Yahapalana government’s treachery. It betrayed its own armed forces before turning a blind eye to the growing extremist threat that culminated with the devastating 2019 Easter Sunday massacre.

The world must be reminded how LTTE terrorism here influenced far right extremist Andres Breivik to go on a killing spree in Norway in July 2011. The massacre of 77 innocent people, mostly teenagers, shocked the world. The onetime Norwegian diplomat’s son declared, ahead of the attacks, that he was inspired by the LTTE. In July 2016, European Union member state Germany asserted that an18-year-old gunman who had massacred nine people at the Olympia shopping mall in Munich was inspired by Breivik.

Even 15 years after the eradication of the LTTE, Sri Lankan political leaders haven’t been able to address accusations pertaining to accountability issues. Sri Lankan political parties seem only good at perpetrating corruption, fraud, irregularities and mismanagement. They collectively bankrupted the country, thereby helping those who still remained committed to separatist agenda here. Continuing offensive over the accountability issues is central to their overall strategy meant to do away with Sri Lanka’s unitary status. That is the bottom line.

Apropos ‘Alleged secret meeting with NTJ: Maj. Gen. Sallay says he was not in Sri Lanka for the whole of 2018’ in Sept. 07 edition of The Island, at the time Sallay arrived in Malaysia as Minister Counsellor, Pakeer Mohideen Amza served as our HC there. The career diplomat was replaced by A. J. M. Muzammil in late Feb. 2017. He was there at the time of the Easter Sunday carnage.

We thank journalist Ranga Srilal for pointing out the error in our report.

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Related Topics:Channel 4 video in Sri Lankan Easter Sunday attack Easter Sunday plot

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Midweek Review

North: A change in status ahead of Maaveerar Naal

Published

2 days ago

2024/11/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Premier Dr. Harini Amarasuriya receives her letter of appointment from President Dissanayake. The NPP government’s success will largely depend on the duo: AKD, who entered Parliament in 2000 and new entrant HA (pic courtesy PMD).

* One-time LTTE mouthpiece TNA is no more

* N & E Tamil speaking representation enhanced

* Fresh look at Sarath Fonseka’s performance at 2010 Prez poll in North required

The new government’s main challenge is ensuring the full implementation of the IMF-led post-Aragalaya economic recovery in line with the Economic Transformation Bill approved by the previous government without a vote. Whatever the side-shows, the focus not only of the government but the Parliament should be on preparing the country to resume debt repayment in 2028 or be ready to face the consequences.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

In a way it was a great thing for the country that the National People’s Power (NPP) scored an emphatic victory at the Nov. 14 general election. Now the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led NPPers can have no excuses for not being able to fulfill their promises as would have been the case if the preceding September Presidential election outcome was repeated with the combined Opposition having the lion’s share of the vote, which would have left the country with a virtual hung Parliament of no benefit to anyone other than creating a parliamentary stalemate, leading to fresh political chaos.

We will, however, grant the fact they have a very tall order to fulfill after the previous governments having virtually signed away our sovereignty with the deals they had inked during their tenures.

But we do have a nagging suspicion about someone working in not so mysterious ways against us behind the scene, after what the former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, publicly stated not too long after the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the 2015 presidential election when he crowed to the whole world how they had spent several hundred million dollars for regime change operations at the time in several countries, including Sri Lanka. Then we also know since then how a US engineered coup ousted the popularly elected Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan by way of parliamentary and military shenanigans, and then the more publicised way they ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and then virtually ruined that country as was the case during the Aragalaya here in 2022 to oust the legally elected President, with a wide mandate, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The NPP has accomplished the impossible, even in the North, in the form of securing the Jaffna electoral district at the recently concluded parliamentary election. The NPP obtained three seats, nothing but a historic watershed.

The ruling party also won the Vanni electoral district, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting during the Eelam War IV (Aug 2006-May 2009). Securing Jaffna and Vanni consisting of Vavuniya, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu administrative districts, is as difficult as eradicating the conventional fighting capability of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The NPP won two seats in the Vanni.

The final phase of the ground offensive was conducted in a corner of the Vanni electorate where LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran met his maker.

The NPP secured two seats in Trincomalee and one in the Batticaloa districts, whereas Digamadulla gave President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s party four more seats. Altogether 12 out of 29 parliamentary seats available in the five above-mentioned electoral districts ended up with the NPP.

The NPP delivered the stunning blow to those who still pursued separatist agenda, regardless of the LTTE’s demise over 15 years ago. The combined armed forces brought the war to a successful conclusion in May 2009.

The Illankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK)-led Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that dominated the Northern and Eastern provinces since 2001 hadn’t been in the fray at the 2024 general election. The TNA that had been in the grip of the LTTE, during 2004-2009, disintegrated 15 years after the end of war, with the ITAK unceremoniously ending the partnership. Ex-TNA members, EPRLF, TELO and PLOTE contested the general election under the ticket of Democratic Tamil National Alliance (DTNA).

The ITAK obtained seven seats (Batticaloa three, Jaffna one, Vanni one, Digamadulla one, Trincomalee one) whereas DTNA won just one (Vanni one). It would be pertinent to mention that ITAK and DTNA fielded a common list for the Trincomalee district to ensure a split in the Tamil vote wouldn’t cost the community much valued representation therein. ITAK Trincomalee leader Kathiravelu Shanmugam Kugathasan, who replaced R. Sampanthan in Parliament at the last Parliament, won that seat.

In addition to the seven elected, the ITAK that contested under the ‘House’ symbol won one National List slot. Ahila Ilankai Tamil Congress (AITC) was the only other party to secure a seat (Jaffna/ Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam) while Independent Group 17 (Jaffna/ Ramanathan Archuna) won one. Altogether Tamil political parties obtained 11 seats, one less than the NPP.

M.A. Sumanthiran (ITAK/Jaffna), Dharmalingham Siddharthan (DTNA/Jaffna) and Sashikala Nadarajah (DTNA/Jaffna), widow of slain ITAK MP Nadarajah Raviraj were some of the big losers. In the east, one-time Chief Minister of the Eastern Province Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pilleyan, formerly of the LTTE, failed to retain his Batticaloa district seat. Former LTTE field commander and ex-lawmaker Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan aka Karuna Amman made an unsuccessful bid to re-enter Parliament also from the Batticaloa district.

In the previous Parliament, there had been 16 MPs representing five Tamil political parties (ITAK, AITC Eelam People’s Democratic Party [EPDP], Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal [TMVP] and Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kuttani [TMTK]. Last week’s poll eliminated EPDP, TMVP and TMTK while new entrant NPP created political history by winning 11 seats.

In spite of the humiliating setback suffered by those who had been previously in Parliament, the NPP tally has increased the total strength of the Tamil-speaking group representing N & E in Parliament. Perhaps, the successful formation of NPP’s Tamil-speaking wing may influence other political parties to re-examine their overall political strategy. They may not have any other alternative as failure to do so can further weaken their position at the forthcoming Provincial Council and Local Government polls. PC and LG polls are expected to be held next year.

Shanakiyan Rasamanickam, who re-entered Parliament with a convincing win in Batticaloa, consolidated his position, within the party and the district, due to ITAK’s admirable performance there. If not for three Batticaloa seats, ITAK aka Federal Party would have been in an utterly embarrassing position. Batticaloa electoral district is the only one that the NPP couldn’t win. Therefore, the outspoken Rasamanickam can be really happy to have thwarted the NPP in the eastern district.

Now to bury the hatchet between the two or, more correctly, the three literally warring communities here, NPP will have to think out of the box to find a solution that may be by way of sharing power at the centre rather than the periphery, as was successfully done under the Donoughmore Constitution.

Accountability issues

At the presidential election held in Sept. the NPP couldn’t win at least one electorate in the North but did so well several weeks later, it could win Jaffna and Vanni electorates. If not for that sterling performance, the NPP couldn’t have secured an unprecedented 2/3 majority. President AKD should be ever grateful to the northern and eastern electorates for facilitating a 2/3 majority.

Since the introduction of the proportional representation at the 1989 Parliamentary election, no party succeeded in securing a 2/3 though many alleged the Rajapaksas abused such huge mandates. They were, of course, referring to the UPFA securing 144 seats and 145 seats at the 2010 and 2020 general elections, respectively. For a simple majority, the winning party needs 113 seats while 2/3 means 150 seats.

Against the backdrop of NPP’s victory in the N & E, the new Parliament should review Sri Lanka’s response to post-war accountability issues. Since the eradication of the LTTE, the TNA propagated politically motivated unsubstantiated war crimes allegations, both here and abroad. Finally, the treacherous Yahapalana government (2015-2019) betrayed the war-winning armed forces at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Oct 2015. The accountability resolution that had been co-sponsored by the US-led grouping and Sri Lanka was meant to pave the way for a new Constitution aimed at doing away with the country’s unitary status.

Interestingly, the war-winning Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka, who had been promoted to the rank of Field Marshal, in March 2015, served in that Yahapalana Cabinet, chaired by President Maithripala Sirisena. The role played by the then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and the late Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera in that despicable act is in the public domain. The failure on the part of Fonseka, who served President Sirisena’s Cabinet to vigorously oppose the government move is still a mystery.

The writer repeatedly discussed the failure on the part of Parliament and urged concerned political parties to raise the Yahapalana-TNA Geneva operation after the same lot fielded Fonseka as the common presidential candidate in 2010. Although Fonseka lost the contest by a massive 1.8 mn votes to war-winning President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he handsomely won the Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Digamadulla electoral districts at the same election.

The NPP’s excellent showing in the N & E at the recently concluded general election should be examined taking Fonseka winning the former war zones 14 years ago.

Having alleged Fonseka’s Army of war crimes throughout the northern campaign, the TNA had no qualms in backing the Sinha Regiment veteran. Unfortunately, political parties represented in Parliament never bothered to raise TNA’s duplicity. Instead, all of them shamelessly and brazenly played politics with the issue, seeking petty political advantage at the expense of the armed forces. There hadn’t been a single instance of a war-winning country betraying its armed forces hitherto anywhere in the world. It was only the Maithripala Sirisena/Ranil Wickremesinghe govt. that achieved that dastardly act.

The JVP, though being not part of the Yahapalana Cabinet, never opposed the government’s move against the armed forces. However, the NPP’s victory in the North, perhaps would give an opportunity for President AKD, who is also the Defence Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, to address the issue at hand afresh. President AKD retained the Defence portfolio when the new Cabinet of Ministers was sworn in last Monday.

The developing situation in the North may help post-war national reconciliation efforts. Successive governments deliberately allowed further deterioration of relations between the two communities by not taking apt remedial measures. Those who propagated lies were allowed to do so much to the disappointment of the armed forces. Parliament turned a blind eye even when the US and Australia et al denied visas to retired and serving officers and US imposed travel ban on the then Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva, the incumbent Chief of Defence Staff (CDS). Maj. General Chagie Gallage, now retired, is another victim of external reprisals.

Maaveerar Naal (Great Heroes’ day)

The Tamil Diaspora must have been quite surprised by the outcome of the general election. Some interested parties played down the importance of NPP victory in the North on the basis of low turnout of voters. It would be interesting to observe how the Diaspora and political parties here mark this year’s Maaveerar Naal. Commencing 1991, the LTTE used to celebrate Nov. 21-27 week as Great Heroes Week. During the period the group wielded power, the weeklong celebrations and activities received even international media attention.

This year, Maaveerar week is scheduled to commence on Nov 21 (tomorrow), the day the 10th Parliament meets. What would those elected from the NPP, ITAK and other parties do this year? Would interested parties seek to cause some unnecessary commotion in a bid to embarrass the government. Let us hope the government would handle the situation cautiously as opportunistic elements on both sides seek to exploit the developments. ITAK’s Sivagnanam Shritharan paid tribute to fallen Maaveerar at Kanagapuram, Kilinochchi.

The NPP’s unexpected victory in the north may compel not only Tamil Diaspora but Western countries, particularly Canada, to review their position.

Canada declared May 18 as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day as Premier Justin Trudeau’s government sought to appease Canadian voters of Sri Lankan origin. Canada cannot under any circumstances ignore the Tamil vote received by the NPP as people discarded unsubstantiated war crimes allegations directed at the government, for the second time. Had the northern electorate believed the Army wantonly killed civilians on the Vanni east front in 2009, as alleged by the UN, they wouldn’t have voted for Fonseka. Perhaps, the people wanted the government to bring the war to an end at any cost. Having waged two terror campaigns in 1971 and 1987-1990, the JVP should be able to comprehend the need and the responsibility on the part of the government of the day to take whatever measures necessary to deal with the challenge.

The NPP was formed in 2019 just months ahead of the presidential election as the JVP realized it couldn’t push ahead on its own but needed wider public support. The NPP achieved that with ease within six years.

In August 2006, the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa went ahead with an-all-out campaign against the LTTE after failing to convince them to negotiate for a final settlement. President Rajapaksa had no option but to go on the offensive after the failed LTTE assassination attempts on the then Army Commander Lt. Gen. Fonseka (April 2006) and then Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa (Oct. 2006). The TNA remained committed to the LTTE’s murderous cause until the very end.

A matter for serious concern

An unbelievably large number of voters skipped the general election. All political parties, including the NPP, should be concerned over the unprecedented deterioration of voter interest, especially after a thrilling presidential election brought AKD to power just six weeks ago. A substantial increase for the NPP from 5,634,915 votes (42.31 %) at the presidential to 6,863,186 (61.56%) at the general election just weeks later shouldn’t be allowed to divert attention to the massive drop in public interest. Well over half a million rejected votes, too, must worry all.

The NPP won 159 seats, including 18 National List slots, nine more than required for a 2/3 majority. At the presidential election 3,520,438 voters refrained from exercising their franchise. But that figure increased to 5,325,108 at the general election while the number of rejected votes, too, recorded a significant increase. According to the Election Commission, at the presidential poll, the number of rejected votes was 300,300 while the general election recorded 667,240 rejected votes.

What really caused such an increase in the number of rejected votes was when the number of polled votes dropped from 13,619,916 votes (79.46%) to 11,815,246 (68.93%)? In other words of the 17,140,354 people eligible to vote, a staggering percentage decided not to. Voter apathy is not healthy. Not healthy at all.

A rethinking on the part of the SJB and New Democratic Front (NDF/consisted of former SLPP lawmakers and UNP) is necessary as they couldn’t at least retain the number of votes received at the presidential election. SJB that polled 4,363,035 votes (32.76 %) at the presidential poll could muster only 1,968,716 (17.66%) at the general election, while NDF could secure 500,835 (4.49%) having polled 2,299,767 (17.27%) just weeks ago. The SJB and NDF ended up with 40 seats (including five NL slots) and five seats (including 2two NL slots) while the SLPP that won 145 seats at the 2020 general election had to be satisfied with three seats, including one NL slot.

Both Sajith Premadasa and Ranil Wickremesinghe should seek remedial measures before the EC announced PC and LG polls. Perhaps, divided groups have to unite under one banner either under SJB or UNP or face annihilation at the PC and LG polls. For Premadasa and Wickremesinghe time seemed to have run out.

The SLPP obtained 350,429 votes (3.14%) at the general election up from 342,781 (2.57 %) at the presidential election. For the SLPP a rapid recovery process will never be possible as its only NL member and leader of the minute group Namal Rajapaksa is likely to be the target of corruption investigations. The SLPP group consists of Namal Rajapaksa, newcomer Chanaka Sampath (Galle) and D.V. Chanaka (Hambantota).

Fifteen political parties represented the last Parliament. They were SLPP (145), SJB (54), ITAK (10), NPP (03), EPDP (02), AITC (02), TMVP (01), SLFP (01), MNA (01), TMTK (01) TMTK, ACMC (01), NC (01), SLMC (01), UNP (01) and OPPP (01). The new Parliament will be represented by 13 political parties and one independent group – namely NPP 159, SJB 40, ITAK 08, NDF 05, SLPP 03, SLMC 03, Sarvajana Balaya (NL), UNP (01), DTNA (01), ACTC (01), ACMC (01), Jaffna Ind. Group 157 (01) and SLLP (01).

Midweek Review

‘Ramayanizing’ Sri Lanka by Courtesy of SriLankan Airlines

Published

2 days ago

2024/11/20

Sahan Weerasooriya

Srilankan advertisement

(The author is on X as @sasmester)

SriLankan Airlines’ five-minute commercial promoting the so-called ‘Ramayana Trail’ in Sri Lanka is being accepted very naively as an enticing and heartwarming advertisement by Sri Lankan and Indian viewers across social media. Predictably, the video has also gone viral. It shows a young child being educated about aspects of the Ramayana legend by his grandmother, while zooming in on locations in Sri Lanka where local mythology has made associations with some narratives of the Ramayana. Beyond the rave reviews of the commercial in Sri Lanka and India, an astute observer would in fact see it as a very problematic rendition for one simple reason. That is, when viewed from the perspective that it is paid for by SriLankan Airlines, a government entity funded by local taxpayers, what is said and promoted, in effect, would be through the voice of the state and the government. Therefore, for instance, when the granny tells the child, “all the places in Ramayana are real. Today, we know Lanka as Sri Lanka”, in one careless and ill-thought-out fell swoop, SriLankan Airlines has given credence to belief as evidence, myth as history, fiction as fact, asserting Ramayana’s Lanka as present-day Sri Lanka when numerous Indian renditions of the story locate parts of Ravana’s Lanka well within contemporary India.

Admittedly, the commercial will certainly attract Indian tourists and pilgrims, particularly from the northern parts of the country. The question that comes to mind however is whether this is the only way to promote the trail? Many of my friends have already made the trip without the nudging of the new advert. The advert also begs the question, whether local sensitivities and cultural meanings linked to the Sanskrit epic were ever considered when it was conceptualised, or at any point even after in the process. More importantly, who gave the final seal of approval?

The hegemonic narrative in the commercial is what one might call a ‘North Indian Brahminic’ approach to the Ramayana, which erases other versions of the epic including the Ravana-centric myths in Sri Lanka itself. Unfortunately, it is this hegemonic narrative that has been making the rounds for some time in India with Rama as its protagonist and Ravana as the absolute villain, the all-evil-encompassing antagonist. In this rendition, it is no longer simply an ancient epic or a story of innocence and faith, but a contemporary political narrative with considerable cultural power, authority and reach, performed and used by the state itself. This narrative feeds directly and indirectly into the somewhat imperialist designs of certain contemporary Indian political forces so aptly encapsulated in the hegemonic political concept of Akhand Bharat. However, in real life, understandings of the Ramayana have never been this simple or linear.

The title of Prof A.K. Ramanujan’s seminal essay, ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas: Five Examples and Three Thoughts on Translation’ offers a clear indication into the many versions of the Ramayana and the complex narrative traditions of both India and lands beyond where aspects of the epic have become part of local myths, folktales or performance traditions. Interestingly, Prof Ramanujan’s essay was dropped from the Bachelor of Arts in History (Honours) degree programme at Delhi University in 2011 amidst considerable agitations lead by Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a right-wing students’ organization, precisely because its contents complicate the way in which the political narrative that is the Ramayana today is presented.

It is truly unfortunate that the narrative given prominence in the Sri Lankan Airlines advert stems from this dominant, parochialized and utterly politicized version of the Ramayana which sweepingly demonizes Ravana. This broad-brush demonization reaches its peak in India during Dussehra, the festival during which effigies of Ravana are burnt to symbolize the vanquishing of evil (Ravana) by good (Rama). However, interestingly, in many of India’s tribal areas, the narrative is closer to that in Sri Lanka, where Ravana is seen as a hero, and importantly as a source of knowledge and ethics. In 2017, in the Katol area in the State of Maharashtra, tribal people forced the local administration to stop the burning of Ravana effigies during Dussehra. In Nashik, also in Maharashtra, tribal folklore suggests that the area was part of Ravana’s kingdom and was governed by his sister Surpanakha along with her husband. This understanding of Ravana’s kingdom is nowhere near Sri Lanka as promoted by SriLankan Airlines. In some tribal Gond villages in Maharashtra, Ravana is worshiped as a god, clearly evident during Dussehra. He is also worshiped in many other locations including, Mandsaur and Ravangram in Madhya Pradesh; Bisrakh in Uttar Pradesh; Kangra in Himachal Pradesh; Mandya and Kolar in Karnataka, and Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Similar practices are seen in the tribal areas of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal as well.

In Tamil Nadu in India’s south, there are many people who align themselves with ‘Dravidian’ ideologies, promoting Ravana as a politico-cultural icon. One source of motivation for this stems from the manner in which Ravana is eulogised for his valour in Kambaramayanam – the Tamil version of the Ramayana – even though here, too, the main premise of the hegemonic account is maintained. The more obvious source for this reverence is Ravana Kaaviyam written by Pulavar Kuzhandhai and published in 1946. It is a 20th century attempt to deconstruct the Ramayana based on the argument that the mainstream Ramayana was an attempt to establish the supremacy of the ‘Aryan race’ who lived in northern India, over the ‘Dravidians’ in the south. Here, Ravana is seen as a ‘Dravidian’ king, and in essence very similar to the Sinhala renditions of Ravana. In both these popular Sinhala and Tamil versions, he is presented as a noble king, epitomising justice, courage and compassion, and also a wise person and scholar. While categories such as ‘Dravidian’ and ‘Aryan’ as ethno-cultural references as opposed to linguistic references are not part of my academic vocabulary, the attempted deconstruction is nevertheless interesting as it also offers a glimpse into the manner in which 20th and 21st century hegemonic North Indian politics are understood by some sections in the country’s south.

What is evident is that a counterculture movement is currently mobilising tribal and Dalit communities in several Indian states such as the above to vindicate Ravana and ‘rescue’ him from the negative light in which he has been portrayed in the current dominant version of the Ramayana, the one SriLankan Airlines has blindly based their commercial on. Due to this blindness, these interesting and telling complexities and intriguing political and cultural references have no resonance whatsoever in the SriLankan Airlines advert.

I come again to the question posed at the beginning of this essay: is this the only way to do such a promotion funded by the Sri Lankan government? Cannot the state-funded national carrier attract Indian tourists and pilgrims by presenting the places the local tourism industry and Indian tour and pilgrimage operators want these travellers to visit by offering the local interpretation? After all, Sri Lanka does not have a performance tradition of the Ramayana and hardly any concrete memories of the epic and its numerous episodes as a specific text. Instead, fragments of these exist scattered on the landscape throughout the island as places where specific incidents related to the Ramayana had supposedly happened. These manifest through several local folk tales and myths where Ravana is ever present as a local hero and Rama is virtually absent except when contextually required. Moreover, some of these places refer to many other stories too, which have been historically more prominent locally than the Ramayana-related narratives. However, right now, the Ramayana ‘stories’ are given considerable local and national prominence as a rational economic decision taken by people in these areas in the interest of tourism which translates into simple commercial gain. This is understandable.

The question is, what prevented SriLankan Airlines from beginning its advert with the famed flying machine of Ravana known in Sinhala as dandu monaraya (and in India as Pushpaka Viman), often referred to in influential local interpretations as the first of its kind, and predating the Wright Brothers’ invention? Is it a lamentable lack of imagination and creativity, or sheer ignorance? After all, the logo of Air Lanka, the predecessor to SriLankan Airlines, found its genesis in this story, which continues to date in a different form. This way, potential tourists could have been shown the same locations referred to in the current advert, but viewed from the sky, as if one were flying in the dandu monaraya like Ravana may have done in mythical times. This would also be very similar to the way ancient Sri Lankan poets of the sandesha tradition described local landscapes and built environments from the point of view of a bird in flight taking a message to a king, a Buddhist monk or some other such personality. Salalihini Sandeshaya and Hansa Sandeshaya written in the 15th century during the Kotte Period come to mind.

In this manner, the core places in the ‘Ramayana Trail’ could have been flagged for tourist and pilgrim interest while maintaining a distinct sense of local culture and identity that SriLankan Airlines should ideally be marketing. This is not to make Indian tourists and pilgrims cast aside their own beliefs, narratives and interpretations when visiting Sri Lanka. That is their right and not in any doubt. The crux of the matter is, why would SriLankan Airlines be so north Indian and Brahminic, and willingly succumb to the dominant and exclusivist version of the Ramayana promoted by the Indian state and many ordinary people to the exclusion of all other narratives in India itself? By doing so, SriLankan Airlines is taking itself, the government, the state and by extension all of us Sri Lankans, right into the bosom of the Indian state’s cultural and political colonialism typified by the concept of ‘Akhand Bharat’ as noted earlier. If picked up by opposition forces in the politically polarised Sri Lankan society, the advertisement can become a political statement, which has the potential to create needless rifts within Sri Lanka itself.

But then again, one cannot expect these complexities to be understood by the decision makers at SriLankan Airlines who obviously are far removed from the local cultural terrain as well as existing cultural hegemonism emanating from across the Palk Strait. The national carrier, in its haste to soar, as well as absence of foresight and lack of enlightenment of local culture has imprisoned Sri Lanka in a hegemonic North Indian politico-cultural narrative. This is also a sign of lacking national pride despite constant and oftentimes annoying rhetoric. One can only hope, the Sri Lankan government will revisit how this was done in the first place and ensure this kind of culturally crude reductionism of our own traditions and folklore does not take place in the future in state-sponsored activities carried out with public funds.

I cannot but be reminded of a quote by Voltaire when reflecting on the manner in which politics of this kind flow, emerge, and reemerge in Sri Lanka while nothing is ever learned: “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.”