Midweek Review

Taking time to reflect on Sri Lanka’s war against terrorism in the wake of Pahalgam massacre

Published

8 months ago

2025/05/7

The recent security alert on a flight from Chennai for a person who had been allegedly involved in the recent massacre in Indian-administered Kashmir seems to have been a sort of psychological warfare. The question that arises is as to why UL 122 hadn’t been subjected to checks there if Indian authorities were aware of the identity of the wanted person.
Authorities there couldn’t have learnt of the presence of the alleged suspect after the plane left the Indian airspace

The recent massacre of 25 Indians and one Nepali at Pahalgam in Kashmir attracted international attention. Amidst the war on Gaza, Israeli air strikes on selected targets in the region, particularly Syria, Russia-Ukraine war, and US-UK air campaign against Houthis, the execution-style killings at Pahalgam, in the Indian-administered Kashmir, caused concerns over possible direct clash between nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

Against the backdrop of India alleging a Pakistani hand in the April 22, 2025, massacre and mounting public pressure to hit back hard at Pakistan, Islamabad’s Defence Minister khawaja Muhammad Asif’s declaration that his country backed/sponsored terrorist groups over the years in line with the US-UK strategy couldn’t have been made at a better time. The Pakistani role in notorious Western intelligence operations is widely known and the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011 in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad, named after Major James Abbott, the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara District under British rule in 1853, underscored the murky world of the US/UK-Pakistan relations.

Interestingly, Asif said so during an interview with British TV channel Sky News. Having called their decision to get involved in dirty work on behalf of the West a mistake, the seasoned politician admitted the country suffered due to that decision.

Asif bluntly declared that Pakistan got involved in the terrorism projects in support of the West after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in late Dec. 1979 and Al Qaeda attacks on the US in Sept. 2001. But, bin Laden’s high profile killing in Pakistan proved that in spite of Islamabad support to the US efforts against al Qaeda at least an influential section of the Pakistan establishment all along played a double game as the wanted man lived under Pakistan protection.

Perhaps Asif’s declaration meant that Pakistan, over the years, lost control over various groups that it sponsored with the explicit understanding of the West. India pounced on Asif’s statement.

The PTI quoted India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Yojna Patel, as having said: “The whole world has heard the Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif admitting and confessing Pakistan’s history of supporting, training and funding terrorist organisations in a recent television interview.” The largest news agency in India quoted Patel further: “This open confession surprises no one and exposes Pakistan as a rogue state fuelling global terrorism and destabilising the region. The world can no longer turn a blind eye. I have nothing further to add.”

Would Patel also care to comment on the US and the UK utilising Pakistan to do their dirty work? Pakistani admission that it supported, trained and funded terrorist organisations should be investigated, taking into consideration Asif’s declaration that those terror projects had been sanctioned by the West. Pakistan’s culpability in such operations cannot be examined without taking into consideration the US and British complicity and status of their role.

The US strategy/objectives in Afghanistan had been similar to their intervention in Ukraine. Western powers wanted to bleed the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and now they intended to do the same to Russia in Ukraine.

Those interested in knowing Pakistan’s role in the US war against the Soviet Union should access ‘Operation Cyclone’ the codename given to costly CIA action in the ’80s.

At the time Pakistan got involved in the CIA project meant to build up anti-Soviet groups in Afghanistan, beginning in the early ’80s, India had been busy destabilising Sri Lanka. India established a vast network of terrorist groups here to achieve what can be safely described as New Delhi’s counter strategic, political and security objectives. New Delhi feared the US-Pakistan-Israeli relations with President JRJ’s government and sought to undermine them by consolidating their presence here.

The late J.N. Dixit, who served here as India’s top envoy during the volatile 1985-1989 period, in his memoirs ‘Makers of India’s Foreign Policy: Raja Ram Mohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha,’ faulted Premier Gandhi on two key foreign policy decisions. The following is the relevant section verbatim: “…her ambiguous response to the Russian intrusion into Afghanistan and her giving active support to Sri Lankan Tamil militants. Whatever the criticism about these decisions, it cannot be denied that she took them on the basis of her assessments about India’s national interests. Her logic was that she couldn’t openly alienate the former Soviet Union when India was so dependent on that country for defence supplies and related technology transfers. Similarly, she could not afford the emergence of Tamil separatism in Tamil Nadu by refusing to support the aspirations of Sri Lankan Tamils.”

Dixit, in short, has acknowledged India’s culpability in terrorism in Sri Lanka. Dixit served as Foreign Secretary (1991-1994) and National Security Advisor (May 2004-January 2005). At the time of his death he was 68. The ugly truth is whatever the reasons and circumstances leading to Indira Gandhi giving the go ahead to the establishment to destabilise Sri Lanka, no less a person than Dixit, who had served as Foreign Secretary, admitted that India, like Pakistan, supported, trained and funded terrorist groups.

In fact, Asif’s admission must have embarrassed both the US, the UK, as well as India that now thrived on its high profile relationship with the US. India owed Sri Lanka an explanation and an apology for what it did to Sri Lanka that led to death and destruction. New Delhi had been so deeply entrenched here in late 1989/early 1990 that President Premadasa pushed for total withdrawal of the Indian Army deployed here (July 1987- March 1990) under Indo-Lanka peace accord that was forced on President JRJ. However, prior to their departure, New Delhi hastily formed the Tamil National Army (TNA) in a bid to protect Varatharaja Perumal’s puppet administration.

A lesson from India

Sri Lankan armed forces paid a very heavy price to bring the Eelam war to an end in May 2009. The Indian-trained LTTE, having gained valuable battlefield experience at the expense of the Indian Army in the Northern and Eastern regions in Sri Lanka, nearly succeeded in their bloody endeavour, if not for the valiant team President Mahinda Rajapaksa gathered around him to meet that mortal threat to the country, ably helped by his battle hardened brother Gotabaya. The war was brought to a successful conclusion on May 19, 2009, when a soldier put a bullet through Velupillai Prabhakaran’s head during a confrontation on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon.

In spite of the great sacrifices the armed forces made, various interested parties, at the drop of a hat, targeted the armed forces and police. The treacherous UNP-SLFP Yahapalana administration sold out our valiant armed forces at the Geneva–based United Nations Human Rights Council, in 2015, to be on the good books of the West, not satisfied with them earlier having mocked the armed forces when they achieved victories that so-called experts claimed the Lankan armed forces were incapable of achieving, and after they were eventually proved wrong with the crushing victory over the Tigers in the battlefield, like sour grapes they questioned the professionalism of our armed forces and helped level baseless war crimes allegations. Remember, for example, when the armed forces were about to capture the LTTE bastion, Kilinochchi, one joker UNP politico claimed they were only at Medawachiya. Similarly when forces were at Alimankada (Elephant Pass) this vicious joker claimed it was Pamankada.

Many eyebrows were raised recently when President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who also holds the Defence portfolio, too, questioned the professionalism of our war-winning armed forces.

Speaking in Parliament, in early March, during the Committee Stage debate on the 2025 Budget, President Dissanayake assured that the government would ensure the armed forces achieved professional status. It would be pertinent to mention that our armed forces defeated JVP terrorism twice, in 1971 and 1987-1990, and also separatist Tamil terrorism. Therefore, there cannot be absolutely any issue with regard to their professionalism, commitment and capabilities.

There had been many shortcomings and many lapses on the part of the armed forces, no doubt, due to short-sighted political and military strategies, as well as the absence of preparedness at crucial times of the conflict. But, overall, success that had been achieved by the armed forces and intelligence services cannot be downplayed under any circumstances. Even the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage could have been certainly averted if the then political leadership hadn’t played politics with national security. The Yahapalana Justice Minister hadn’t minced his words when he declared that President Maithripala Sirisena and Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe allowed the extremist build-up by failing to deal with the threat, for political reasons, as well as the appointment of unsuitable persons as Secretary Defence and IGP. Political party leaders, as usual, initiated investigations in a bid to cover up their failures before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) appointed in late 2019 during the tail end of Sirisena’s presidency, exposed the useless lot.

Against the backdrop of the latest Kashmir bloodshed, various interested parties pursued strategies that may have undermined the collective Indian response to the terrorist challenge. Obviously, the Indian armed forces had been targeted over their failure to thwart the attack. But, the Indian Supreme Court, as expected, thwarted one such attempt.

Amidst continuing public furore over the Pahalgam attack, the Indian Supreme Court rejected a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a judicial inquiry by a retired Supreme Court judge into the recent incident. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and NK Singh dismissed the plea filed by petitioner Fatesh Sahu, warning that such actions during sensitive times could demoralise the armed forces.

Let us hope Sri Lanka learnt from that significant and far reaching Indian SC directive. The Indian media extensively quoted the bench as having said: “This is a crucial moment when every Indian stands united against terrorism. Please don’t undermine the morale of our forces. Be mindful of the sensitivity of the issue.”

Perhaps the most significant remarks made by Justice Surya Kant were comments on suitability of retired High Court and Supreme Court judges to conduct investigations.

Appointment of serving and retired judges to conduct investigations has been widely practiced by successive governments here as part of their political strategy. Regardless of constitutionality of such appointments, the Indian Supreme Court has emphasised the pivotal importance of safeguarding the interests of their armed forces.

The treacherous Yahapalana government betrayed our armed forces by accepting a US proposal to subject them to a hybrid judicial mechanism with the participation of foreign judges. The tripartite agreement among Sri Lanka, the US and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that had been worked out in the run-up to the acceptance of an accountability resolution at the UNHRC in Oct. 2015, revealed the level of treachery Have you ever heard of a government betraying its own armed forces for political expediency.

There is absolutely no ambiguity in the Indian Supreme Court declaration. Whatever the circumstances and situations, the armed forces shouldn’t be undermined, demoralised.

JD on accountability

In line with its overall response to the Pahalgam massacre, India announced a series of sweeping punitive measures against Pakistan, halting all imports and suspending mail services. These actions were in addition to diplomatic measures taken by Narendra Modi’s government earlier on the basis Islamabad engineered the terrorist attack in southern Kashmir.

A notification issued by the Directorate General of Foreign Trade on May 2, 2025 banned “direct or indirect import or transit of all goods originating in or exported from Pakistan, whether or not freely importable or otherwise permitted” with immediate effect.

India downgraded trade ties between the two countries in February 2019 when the Modi government imposed a staggering 200% duty on Pakistani goods. Pakistan responded by formally suspending a large part of its trade relations with India. India responded angrily following a vehicle borne suicide attack in Pulwama, Kashmir, that claimed the lives of 40 members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CPRF).

In response to the latest Kashmir attack, India also barred ships carrying the Pakistani flag from docking at Indian ports and prohibited Indian-flagged vessels from visiting Pakistani ports.

But when India terrorised hapless Sri Lanka, the then administration lacked the wherewithal to protest and oppose aggressive Indian moves.

Having set up a terrorist project here, India prevented the government from taking measures to neutralise that threat. The Indian Air Force flew in secret missions to Jaffna and invaded Sri Lanka airspace to force President JRJ to stop military action before the signing of the so-called peace accord that was meant to pave the way for the deployment of its Army here.

Even during the time the Indian Army battled the LTTE terrorists here, Tamil Nadu allowed wounded LTTE cadres to receive medical treatment there. India refrained from interfering in that despicable politically motivated practice. India allowed terrorists to carry weapons in India. The killing of 12 EPRLF terrorists, including its leader K. Padmanabha in June 1990, on Indian soil, in Madras, three months after India pulled out its Army from Sri Lanka, is a glaring example of Indian duplicity.

Had India acted at least after Padmanabha’s killing, the suicide attack on Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 could have been thwarted.

One of Sri Lanka’s celebrated career diplomats, the late Jayantha Dhanapala, discussed the issue of accountability when he addressed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), headed by one-time Attorney General, the late C. R. de Silva, on 25 August, 2010.

Dhanapala, in his submissions, said: “Now I think it is important for us to expand that concept to bring in the culpability of those members of the international community who have subscribed to the situation that has caused injury to the civilians of a nation. I talk about the way in which terrorist groups are given sanctuary; harbored; and supplied with arms and training by some countries with regard to their neighbours or with regard to other countries. We know that in our case this has happened, and I don’t want to name countries, but even countries which have allowed their financial procedures and systems to be abused in such a way that money can flow from their countries in order to buy arms and ammunition that cause deaths, maiming and destruction of property in Sri Lanka are to blame and there is, therefore, a responsibility to protect our civilians and the civilians of other nations from that kind of behaviour on the part of members of the international community. And I think this is something that will echo within many countries in the Non-Aligned Movement, where Sri Lanka has a much respected position and where I hope we will be able to raise this issue.”

Dhanapala also stressed on the accountability on the part of Western governments, which conveniently turned a blind eye to massive fundraising operations in their countries, in support of the LTTE operations. It is no secret that the LTTE would never have been able to emerge as a conventional fighting force without having the wherewithal abroad, mainly in the Western countries, to procure arms, ammunition and equipment. But, the government never acted on Dhanapala’s advice.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

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Midweek Review

Year ends with the NPP govt. on the back foot

Published

20 hours ago

2025/12/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

President Dissanayake addresses Parliament as PM Dr. Harini Amarasuriya looks on. Dissanayake is the leader of both the JVP and NPP

The failure on the part of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) government to fulfil a plethora of promises given in the run up to the last presidential election, in September, 2024, and a series of incidents, including cases of corruption, and embarrassing failure to act on a specific weather alert, ahead of Cyclone Ditwah, had undermined the administration beyond measure.

Ditwah dealt a knockout blow to the arrogant and cocky NPP. If the ruling party consented to the Opposition proposal for a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) to probe the events leading to the November 27 cyclone, the disclosure would be catastrophic, even for the all-powerful Executive President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, as responsible government bodies, like the Disaster Management Centre that horribly failed in its duty, and the Met Department that alerted about the developing storm, but the government did not heed its timely warnings, directly come under his purview.

The NPP is on the back foot and struggling to cope up with the rapidly developing situation. In spite of having both executive presidency and an overwhelming 2/3 majority in Parliament, the government seems to be weak and in total disarray.

The regular appearance of President Dissanayake in Parliament, who usually respond deftly to criticism, thereby defending his parliamentary group, obviously failed to make an impression. Overall, the top NPP leadership appeared to have caused irreparable damage to the NPP and taken the shine out of two glorious electoral victories at the last presidential and parliamentary polls held in September and November 2024 respectively.

The NPP has deteriorated, both in and out of Parliament. The performance of the 159-member NPP parliamentary group, led by Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya, doesn’t reflect the actual situation on the ground or the developing political environment.

Having repeatedly boasted of its commitment to bring about good governance and accountability, the current dispensation proved in style that it is definitely not different from the previous lots or even worse. (The recent arrest of a policeman who claimed of being assaulted by a gang, led by an NPP MP, emphasised that so-called system change is nothing but a farce) In the run-up to the November, 2024, parliamentary polls, President Dissanayake, who is the leader of both the JVP and NPP, declared that the House should be filled with only NPPers as other political parties were corrupt. Dissanayake cited the Parliament defeating the no-confidence motions filed against Ravi Karunanayake (2016/over Treasury Bond scams) and Keheliya Rambukwella (2023/against health sector corruption) to promote his argument. However, recently the ongoing controversy over patient deaths, allegedly blamed on the administration of Ondansetron injections, exposed the government.

Mounting concerns over drug safety and regulatory oversight triggered strong calls from medical professionals, and trade unions, for the resignation of senior officials at the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) and the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC).

Medical and civil rights groups declared that the incident exposed deep systemic failures in Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory framework, with critics warning that the collapse of quality assurance mechanisms is placing patients’ lives at grave risk.

The Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCRPA), and allied trade unions, accused health authorities of gross negligence and demanded the immediate resignation of senior NMRA and SPC officials.

MCRPA President Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa is on record as having said that the Health Ministry, NMRA and SPC had collectively failed to ensure patient safety, citing, what he described as, a failed drug regulatory system.

The controversy has taken an unexpected turn with some alleging that the NPP government, on behalf of Sri Lanka and India, in April this year, entered into an agreement whereby the former agreed to lower quality/standards of medicine imports.

Trouble begins with Ranwala’s resignation

The NPP suffered a humiliating setback when its National List MP Asoka Ranwala had to resign from the post of Speaker on 13 December, 2024, following intense controversy over his educational qualification. The petroleum sector trade union leader served as the Speaker for a period of three weeks and his resignation shook the party. Ranwala, first time entrant to Parliament was one of the 18 NPP National List appointees out of a total of 29. The Parliament consists of 196 elected and 29 appointed members. Since the introduction of the National List, in 1989, there had never been an occasion where one party secured 18 slots.

The JVP/NPP made an initial bid to defend Ranwala but quickly gave it up and got him to resign amidst media furor. Ranwala dominated the social media as political rivals exploited the controversy over his claimed doctorate from the Waseda University of Japan, which he has failed to prove to this day. But, the JVP/NPP had to suffer a second time as a result of Ranwala’s antics when he caused injuries to three persons, including a child, on 11 December, in the Sapugaskanda police area.

The NPP made a pathetic, UNP and SLFP style effort to save the parliamentarian by blaming the Sapugaskanda police for not promptly subjecting him for a drunk driving test. The declaration made by the Government Analyst Department that the parliamentarian hadn’t been drunk at the time of the accident, several days after the accident, does not make any difference. Having experienced the wrongdoing of successive previous governments, the public, regardless of what various interested parties propagated on social media, realise that the government is making a disgraceful bid to cover-up.

No less a person than President Dissanayake is on record as having said that their members do not consume liquor. Let us wait for the outcome of the internal investigation into the lapses on the part of the Sapugaskanda police with regard to the accident that happened near Denimulla Junction, in Sapugaskanda.

JVP/NPP bigwigs obviously hadn’t learnt from the Weligama W 15 hotel attack in December, 2023, that ruined President Ranil Wickremeinghe’s administration. That incident exposed the direct nexus between the government and the police in carrying out Mafia-style operations. Although the two incidents cannot be compared as the circumstances differ, there is a similarity. Initially, police headquarters represented the interests of the wrongdoers, while President Wickremesinghe bent over backwards to retain the man who dispatched the CCD (Colombo Crime Division) team to Weligama, as the IGP. The UNP leader went to the extent of speaking to Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, PC, and Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to push his agenda. There is no dispute the then Public Security Minister Tiran Alles wanted Deshabandu Tennakoon as IGP, regardless of a spate of accusations against him, in addition to him being faulted by the Supreme Court in a high-profile fundamental rights application.

The JVP/NPP must have realised that though the Opposition remained disorganised and ineffective, thanks to the media, particularly social media, a case of transgression, if not addressed swiftly and properly, can develop into a crisis. Action taken by the government to protect Ranwala is a case in point. Government leaders must have heaved a sigh of relief as Ranwala is no longer the Speaker when he drove a jeep recklessly and collided with a motorcycle and a car.

Major cases, key developments

Instead of addressing public concerns, the government sought to suppress the truth by manipulating and exploiting developments

* The release of 323 containers from the Colombo Port, in January 2025, is a case in point. The issue at hand is whether the powers that be took advantage of the port congestion to clear ‘red-flagged’ containers.

Although the Customs repeatedly declared that they did nothing wrong and such releases were resorted even during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency (July 2022 to September 2024), the public won’t buy that. Container issue remains a mystery. That controversy eroded public confidence in the NPP that vowed 100 percent transparency in all its dealings. But the way the current dispensation handled the Port congestion proved that transparency must be the last thing in the minds of the JVPers/NPPers holding office.

* The JVP/NPP’s much touted all-out anti-corruption stand suffered a debilitating blow over their failure to finalise the appointment of a new Auditor General. In spite of the Opposition, the civil society, and the media, vigorously taking up this issue, the government continued to hold up the appointment by irresponsibly pushing for an appointment acceptable to President Dissanayake. The JVP/NPP is certainly pursuing a strategy contrary to what it preached while in the Opposition and found fault with successive governments for trying to manipulate the AG. It would be pertinent to mention that President Dissanayake should accept the responsibility for the inordinate delay in proposing a suitable person to that position. The government failed to get the approval of the Constitutional Council more than once to install a favourite of theirs in it, thanks to the forthright position taken by its civil society representatives.

The government should be ashamed of its disgraceful effort to bring the Office of the Auditor General under its thumb:

* The JVP/NPP government’s hotly disputed decision to procure 1,775 brand-new double cab pickup trucks, at a staggering cost exceeding Rs. 12,500 mn, under controversial circumstances, exposed the duplicity of that party that painted all other political parties black. Would the government rethink the double cab deal, especially in the wake of economic ruination caused by Cyclone Ditwah? The top leadership seems to be determined to proceed with their original plans, regardless of immeasurable losses caused by Cyclone Ditwah. Post-cyclone efforts still remain at a nascent stage with the government putting on a brave face. The top leadership has turned a blind eye to the overwhelming challenge in getting the country back on track especially against the backdrop of its agreement with the IMF.

Post-Cyclone Ditwah recovery process is going to be slow and extremely painful. Unfortunately, both the government and the Opposition are hell-bent on exploiting the miserable conditions experienced by its hapless victims. The government is yet to acknowledge that it could have faced the crisis much better if it acted on the warning issued by Met Department Chief Athula Karunanayake on 12 November, two weeks before the cyclone struck.

Foreign policy dilemma

Sri Lanka moved further closer to India and the US this year as President Dissanayake entered into several new agreements with them. In spite of criticism, seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs), including one on defence, remains confidential. What are they hiding?

Within weeks after signing of the seven MoUs, India bought the controlling interests in the Colombo Dockyard Limited for USD 52 mn.

Although some Opposition members, representing the SJB, raised the issue, their leader Sajith Premadasa, during a subsequent visit to New Delhi, indicated he wouldn’t, under any circumstances, raise such a contentious issue.

Premadasa went a step further. The SJB leader assured his unwavering commitment to the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution that was forced on Sri Lanka during President JRJ’s administration, under the highly questionable Indo-Lanka Accord of July, 1987, after the infamous parippu drop by Indian military aircraft over Jaffna, their version of the old gunboat diplomacy practiced by the West.

Both India and the US consolidated their position here further in the post-Aragalaya period. Those who felt that the JVP would be in a collision course with them must have been quite surprised by the turn of events and the way post-Aragalaya Sri Lanka leaned towards the US-India combine with not a hum from our carboard revolutionaries now installed in power. They certainly know which side of the bread is buttered. Sri Lanka’s economic deterioration, and the 2023 agreement with the IMF, had tied up the country with the US-led bloc.

In spite of India still procuring large quantities of Russian crude oil and its refusal to condemn Russia over the conflict in Ukraine, New Delhi has obviously reached consensus with the US on a long-term partnership to meet the formidable Chinese challenge. Both countries feel each other’s support is incalculably vital and indispensable.

Sri Lanka, India, and Japan, in May 2019, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) to jointly develop the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Colombo Port. That was during the tail end of the Yahapalana administration. The Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration wanted to take that project forward. But trade unions, spearheaded by the JVP/NPP combine, thwarted a tripartite agreement on the basis that they opposed privatisation of the Colombo Port at any level.

But, the Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT) project, that was launched in November, 2022, during Ranil Wickremesinghe’s presidency, became fully operational in April this year. The JVP revolutionary tiger has completely changed its stripes regarding foreign investments and privatisation. If the JVP remained committed to its previous strategies, India taking over CDL or CWIT would have been unrealistic.

The failure on the part of the government to reveal its stand on visits by foreign research vessels to ports here underscored the intensity of US and Indian pressure. Hope our readers remember how US and India compelled the then President Wickremesinghe to announce a one-year moratorium on such visits. In line with that decision Sri Lanka declared research vessels wouldn’t be allowed here during 2024. The NPP that succeeded Wickremesinghe’s administration in September, 2024, is yet to take a decision on foreign research vessels. What a pity?

The NPP ends the year on the back foot, struggling to cope up with daunting challenges, both domestic and external. The recent revelation of direct Indian intervention in the 2022 regime change project here along with the US underscored the gravity of the situation and developing challenges. Post-cyclone period will facilitate further Indian and US interventions for obvious reasons.

****

Perhaps one of the most debated events in 2025 was the opening of ‘City of Dreams Sri Lanka’ that included, what the investors called, a world-class casino. In spite of mega Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan’s unexpected decision to pull out of the grand opening on 02 August, the investors went ahead with the restricted event. The Chief Guest was President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who is also the Finance Minister, in addition to being the Defence Minister. Among the other notable invitees were Dissanayake’s predecessor Ranil Wickremesinghe, whose administration gave critical support to the high-profile project, worth over USD 1.2 bn. John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH) and Melco Resorts & Entertainment (Melco) invested in the project that also consist of the luxurious Nüwa hotel and a premium shopping mall. Who would have thought President Dissanayake’s participation, even remotely, possible, against the backdrop of his strong past public opposition to gambling of any kind?

Don’t forget ‘City of Dreams’ received a license to operate for a period of 20 years. Definitely an unprecedented situation. Although that license had been issued by the Wickremesinghe administration, the NPP, or any other political party represented in Parliament, didn’t speak publicly about that matter. Interesting, isn’t it, coming from people, still referred by influential sections of the Western media, as avowed Marxists?

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Midweek Review

The Aesthetics and the Visual Politics of an Artisanal Community

Published

20 hours ago

2025/12/24

Sahan Weerasooriya

Through the Eyes of the Patua:

Organised by the Colombo Institute for Human Sciences in collaboration with Millennium Art Contemporary, an interesting and unique exhibition got underway in the latter’s gallery in Millennium City, Oruwala on 21 December 2025. The exhibition is titled, ‘Through the Eyes of the Patua: Ramayana Paintings of an Artisanal Community’ and was organized in parallel with the conference that was held on 20 December 2025 under the theme, ‘Move Your Shadow: Rediscovering Ravana, Forms of Resistance and Alternative Universes in the Tellings of the Ramayana.’ The scrolls on display at the gallery are part of the over 100 scrolls in the collection of Colombo Institute’s ‘Roma Chatterji Patua Scroll Collection.’ Prof Chatterji, who taught Sociology at University of Delhi and at present teaches at Shiv Nadar University donated the scrolls to the Colombo Institute in 2024.

The paintings on display are what might be called narrative scrolls that are often over ten feet long. Each scroll narrates a story, with separate panels pictorially depicting one component of a story. The Patuas or the Chitrakars, as they are also known, are traditionally bards. A bard will sing the story that is depicted by each scroll which is simultaneously unfurled. For Sri Lankan viewers for whom the paintings and their contexts of production and use would be unusual and unfamiliar, the best way to understand them is to consider them as a comic strip. In the case of the ongoing exhibition, since the bards or the live songs are not a part of it, the word and voice elements are missing. However, the curators have endeavoured to address this gap by displaying a series of video presentations of the songs, how they are performed and the history of the Patuas as part of the exhibition itself.

The unfamiliarity of the art on display and their histories, necessitates broader explanation. The Patua hail from Medinipur District of West Bengal in India. Essentially, this community of artisans are traditional painters and singers who compose stories based on sacred texts such as the Ramayana or Mahabharata as well as secular events that can vary from the bombing of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 to the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. Even though painted storytelling is done by a number of traditional artisan groups in India, the Patua is the only community where performers and artists belong to the same group. Hence, Professor Chatterji, in her curatorial note for the exhibition calls them “the original multi-media performers in Bengal.”

‘The story of the Patuas’ also is an account of what happens to such artisanal communities in contemporary times in South Asia more broadly even though this specific story is from India. There was a time before the 21st century when such communities were living and working across a large part of eastern India – each group with a claim to their recognizably unique style of painting. However, at the present time, this community and their vocation is limited to areas such as Medinipur, Birbhum, Purulia in West Bengal and Dumka in Jharkhand.

A pertinent question is how the scroll painters from Medinipur have survived the vagaries of time when others have not. Professor Chatterji provides an important clue when she notes that these painters, “unlike their counterparts elsewhere, are also extremely responsive to political events.” As such, “apart from a rich repertoire of stories based on myth and folklore, including the Ramayana and other epics, they have, over many years, also composed on themes that range from events of local or national significance such as boat accidents and communal violence to global events such as the tsunami and the attack on the World Trade Centre.”

There is another interesting aspect that becomes evident when one looks into the socio-cultural background of this community. As Professor Chatterji writes, “one significant feature that gives a distinct flavour to their stories is the fact that a majority of Chitrakars consider themselves to be Muslims but perform stories based largely on Hindu myths.” In this sense, their story complicates the tension-ridden dichotomies between ethno-cultural and religious groups typical of relations between groups in India as well as more broadly in South Asia, including in Sri Lanka. Prof Chatterji suggests this positionality allows the Patua to have “a truly secular voice so vital in the world that we live in today.”

As a result, she notes, contemporary Patuas “have propagated the message of communal harmony in their compositions in the context of the recent riots in India and the Gulf War. Their commentaries couched in the language of myth are profoundly symbolic and draw on a rich oral tradition of storytelling.” What is even more important is their “engagement with contemporary issues also inflects their aesthetics” because many of these painters also “experiment with novel painterly values inspired by recent interaction with new media such as comic books and with folk art forms from other parts of the country.”

From this varied repertoire of the Patuas’ painterly tradition, this exhibition focusses on scrolls portraying different aspects of the Ramayana. In North Indian and the more dominant renditions of the Ramayana, the focus is on Rama while in many alternate renditions this shifts to Ravana as typified by versions popular among the Sinhalas and Tamils in Sri Lanka as well as in some areas in several Indian states. Compared to this, the Patua renditions in the exhibition mostly illustrate the abduction of Sita with a pronounced focus on Sita and not on Ravana, the conventional antagonist or on Rama, the conventional protagonist. As a result, these two traditional male colossuses are distant. Moreover, with the focus on Sita, these folk renditions also bring to the fore other figures directly associated with her such as her sons Luv and Kush in the act of capturing Rama’s victory horse as well as Lakshmana.

Interestingly, almost as a counter narrative, which also serves as a comparison to these Ramayana scrolls, the exhibition also presents three scrolls known as ‘bin-Laden Patas’ depicting different renditions on the attack on New York’s Twin Towers.

While the painted scrolls in this collection have been exhibited thrice in India, this is the first time they are being exhibited in Sri Lanka, and it is quite likely such paintings from any community beyond Sri Lanka’s shores were not available for viewing in the country before this. Organised with no diplomatic or political affiliation and purely as a Sri Lankan cultural effort with broader South Asian interest, it is definitely worth a visit. The exhibition will run until 10 January 2026.