Midweek Review

The Order of the Rising Sun conferred on former Governor of Central Bank, Sri Lanka

Published

4 years ago

2022/09/7

Governor, CBSL, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, responding to lawmakers. (From left:) Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Dr. Weerasinghe, SLFP MP Angajan Ramanathan and Deputy Secretary General of Parliament, Kushani Rohanadeera, who introduced the Governor, while acknowledging the parliamentary accountability for finance (pic courtsy Parliament)

For the first time in parliamentary history, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka has issued a dire warning to Parliament and political parties therein over the responsibility on their part to ensure financial stability and discipline. Their failure to do so would trigger public protests again, they were told. There hadn’t been such a public warning. The warning was issued by no less a person than Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, Governor of the Central Bank, when he dealt with ‘Sri Lanka’s current economic situation and way forward’ on Aug 31.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The Government of Japan, on August 22, conferred ‘The Order of the Rising Sun,’ Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon’ on Deshamanya Prof. Weligamage Don Lakshman, former Governor of the Central Bank (Dec 2019-Sept – 2021). Prof. W.D. Lakshman received the Japanese honour at a ceremony held at the residence of Japanese Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki. Kalyani Siriseeli Lakshman, the spouse of the emeritus professor, was conferred ‘The Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette.’

The Japanese Embassy declared they were honoured for their distinguished contribution in promoting mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and Sri Lanka, through education.

‘The Order of the Rising Sun’ is awarded by the Emperor of Japan to foreign nationals who have made a distinguished contribution to enhancing friendly relations with Japan. The Japanese Embassy statement, dated August 22, also made reference to his tenure as the Governor of the Central Bank.

Before The Island dealt with Prof. Lakshman’s CBSL leadership, it would be pertinent to mention that Sri Lanka’s diplomatic relations with Japan suffered irreparable damage during this tenure when the former unilaterally cancelled the Tokyo-funded Light Rail Transit (LRT) project, after much groundwork had been completed. Dr. P.B. Jayasundera, the then Secretary to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in September 2020, just weeks after the UPFA scored a landslide victory at the last general election, issued instructions to terminate the Japan International Cooperation Agency-funded LRT on the grounds that it was ‘very costly and not the appropriate cost-effective transport solution for the urban Colombo transportation infrastructure.’

Recently, the former Chairman of the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Prof. Charitha Herath, MP, asserted, in Parliament, that the cancellation of the LRT project still remained a mystery. The SLPP rebel alleged that even the person (Dr. PBJ) who issued instructions, in that regard, is silent over the circumstances leading to the cancellation of the project. Did President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Cabinet-of-Ministers, the Finance Ministry, or Dr. PBJ, who functioned as the President’s chief advisor on economic affairs, consult Prof. Lakshman and then Attorney General Dappula de Livera, PC, before rushing to that decision?

The Governor of the Central Bank heads the five-member Monetary Board. At the time Dr. PBJ issued instructions, as regards the termination of the project, the Monetary Board consisted of Governor Prof. W.D. Lakshman, S.R. Attygalle (both ex-officio), Sanjiva Jayawardena, PC, Dr. Ranee Jayamaha and Samantha Kumarasinghe.

During the COPE proceedings, in May this year, chaired by Prof. Herath, the parliamentary watchdog committee established failure as well as the responsibility on the part of the Monetary Board, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (he held the finance portfolio at that time), the Cabinet-of-Ministers, and Dr. PBJ, for the current crisis. The incumbent Governor, CBSL didn’t mince his words when he, in response to questions posed by Prof. Herath and opposition SJB lawmakers, Patali Champika Ranawaka and Dr. Harsha de Silva, named those responsible. Soft spoken Dr. Weerasinghe didn’t hesitate at all when he identified Dr. PBJ as the one who blocked an early agreement between the government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Of course reform medicines, that the Fund prescribes, are very bitter to swallow for those seeking its assistance and it is not short of critics around the world. And many of its patients, especially in Latin America and Africa, are yet in dire straits after swallowing its medicines for years, if not decades. Many of those countries have got some glimmer of hope only after countries like China came forth with generous aid projects, especially in the form of massive infrastructure developments, like railways, housing, etc., often criticized by the West.

Playing politics with a bankrupt economy

Recently some members of Parliament demanded an inquiry into the failure on the part of Dr. Weerasinghe to inform Parliament of the status of the economy. They found fault with him for declaring Sri Lanka’s inability to service foreign debt before bringing it to the notice of the House.

A section of the media reported that Dr. Weerasinghe is in a soup for not duly informing Parliament about the ground situation. Perhaps, the lawmakers had conveniently forgotten that the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had requested Dr. Weerasinghe to take over the leadership of the CBSL after the country became virtually insolvent, even unable to pay for basics from abroad. At the time Dr. Weerasinghe retired, in January 2021, he held the post of Senior Deputy Governor and received the top post on April 08, about a month before a humiliated Mahinda Rajapaksa quit the premiership. Just 72 hours later, the UNP leader succeeded Rajapaksa. Less than two weeks later, Wickremesinghe secured the finance portfolio, too.

In fact, by the time Prof. Lakshman quit, in September 2021, to pave the way for Ajith Nivard Cabraal, who previously served as the Governor CBSL from 2006 to 2015, to return to the same top post, the economy was in tatters. Cabraal’s much publicized six-month roadmap didn’t change a thing. The ruling SLPP continued to engage in silly propaganda as the situation deteriorated, rapidly; by the time President Rajapaksa’s government approached Dr. Weerasinghe in Australia, the crisis was beyond control.

The retired political appointee Prof. Lakshman cannot absolve himself of causing unprecedented destruction and current turmoil though he simply succumbed to political pressure. What Prof. Lakshman actually did was the overseeing of the destruction of the economy in his capacity as the Governor and head of the Monetary Board.

Of course matters were exacerbated by some unforeseen events, beginning with the unprecedented terror attacks by Islamic terrorists here on Easter Sunday 2019, supposedly in retaliation for terror attacks on Muslims, in places like Christchurch, New Zealand, that delivered a body blow to the vital tourism industry here. Then before we could recover from that, there came the pandemic fear from the beginning of the following year with resultant lockdowns that also crippled the entire economy. To the credit of our rulers, we did weather the pandemic storm better than most countries, including India, where unknown numbers perished. We were also hit, like every other country, by the war in Ukraine, which could have been easily defused, like the 1962 Cuban missile crisis involving the then two super powers as now. But in our opinion what reduced us to being international beggars was the almost successful shutting down of our last lucrative foreign exchange earner, the remittances of our expatriate workers by illegal underground money transfer schemes, known as Hawala and Undiyal.

It was also the fault of the authorities, going back to possibly the 1990s, for allowing private foreign exchange traders to operate with hardly any controls that led to the bleeding of vital foreign currencies from the country. It has been a known fact that proceeds from the lucrative drug trade had been easily repatriated abroad by drug dealers, thanks to the free availability of foreign currency with those dealers, where no questions are asked. We wonder whether such anti-national decisions were taken at the behest of economic hitmen at the IMF and the World Bank.

Combination of these situations led to the country being reduced to an international beggar.

Hell-bent on appeasing his political masters, Prof. Lakshman, well past his prime, merely followed instructions. Those who remained as Monetary Board members, under Prof. Lakshman’s leadership, cannot absolve themselves of the responsibility for the current crisis. Had Jayawardena, a highly successful lawyer, and Jayamaha, a retired top Central Banker, and even headed private banks, were so concerned and opposed the conduct of Prof. Lakshman and Treasury Secretary Attygalle, they should have quit the outfit. Instead, they remained. And they continued to do so. Their declarations at the COPE proceedings of their failed bids to influence Prof. Lakshman cannot justify their failure.

Of course, the Japanese Embassy, in Colombo, shouldn’t be faulted for recommending the Order of the Rising Sun for Prof. Lakshman in the evening of his life for services rendered during better days. However, the Japanese Embassy caused quite a stir when Senior Professor Sampath Amaratunga, Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) was conferred ‘The Order of the Rising Sun’ twice.

The academic received the award on 14 October 2021 from the then Japanese Ambassador in Colombo, Akira Sugiyama, at his official residence. For the second time, the UGC Chief received the same at Dharmavijayaloka Vihara in Rukmale in Pannipitiya at an event organized on January 22, 2022. The incumbent Japanese Ambassador Mizukoshi Hideaki and the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa were present on the occasion.

Ali Sabry, PC, had the guts to defend Dr. Weerasinghe in Parliament. In fact, both Dr. Weerasinghe as well as Sabry, in his capacity as the Finance Minister squarely blamed those who had advised President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for the economic meltdown. Having held talks in Washington with the IMF and the World Bank in late May, Sabry, in an exclusive interview with Swarnavahini in early June disclosed how the advisors (Dr.PBJ, Governors of the CBSL, Treasury Secretary et al) deceived the President and the Cabinet-of-Ministers until it was too late.

No one challenged Sabry over his shocking declarations. Actually, Sabry basically repeated what Dr. Weerasinghe told the COPE.

Formidable challenge

Dr. Weerasinghe, obviously has earned the wrath of some lawmakers/political parties for taking an uncompromising stand against irresponsible governance. Addressing the Mps, on the invitation of Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, in Parliament, the day after President Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as the Finance Minister presented an interim budget, Dr. Weerasinghe warned that the whole exercise, involving the IMF, could collapse if political parties didn’t change their strategies. Dr. Weerasinghe demanded a genuine acceptance of the agreement or warned political parties to prepare to face the consequences. Had the Parliament met its two primary obligations, namely financial responsibility and enactment of laws, the Speaker wouldn’t have found any justifiable reason to invite the Governor who indicated he would not stand any nonsense under any circumstances.

Whatever some unscrupulous politicians say, the vast majority of the public appreciated senior officials taking such a stand. It would be pertinent to mention the circumstances Dr. Weerasinghe received a six-year term on June 30 as the Governor, CBSL. Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy, who succeeded Arjuna Mahendran in June 2016, in the wake of the second far bigger Treasury bond scam, was unceremoniously asked to leave after Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s triumph at the Nov 2019 presidential election. Those who managed the President’s diary almost succeeded in depriving Dr. Coomaraswamy an opportunity to pay a courtesy call on the President before his retirement. Dr. Coomaraswamy’s six-year term was shared by Prof. Lakshman, Cabraal and Dr. Weerasinghe. Now that Dr. Weerasinghe has received a fresh six-year term, the government is not in a position to remove him, unless he left voluntarily.

At last a Governor of the CBSL has dared to take a principled stand vis-a-vis political interference. An utterly corrupt and reckless and irresponsible lot had been told in no uncertain terms that a bankrupt country couldn’t continue the way, those who represented the legislature wanted to exploit the electorate at the expense of the national economy.

The culpability of Cabraal, who represented Finance Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa cannot be disregarded. As the State Finance Minister for Money and Capital Markets and State Enterprise Reform (Aug 2020 to Sept 2021) Cabraal played a significant role in the overall financial management. Dr. Harsha de Silva has repeatedly raised Cabraal’s culpability as regards the current financial turmoil.

Reappraisal of perks and privileges

As the country struggles to come to terms with the growing difficulties, the government in consultation with all political parties represented in Parliament and trade unions representing key sectors should review the national economy. The need to reexamine and take tangible corrective measures cannot be delayed any further. Perks, privileges granted to all sectors, should be reviewed. If they are genuine, the issuance of much abused duty free vehicle permits can be examined as part of the overall measures to save foreign exchange. Thanks to anti-corruption campaigner, controversial Attorney-at-Law Nagananda Kodituwakku, the country got to know how our lawmakers brazenly abused the duty free permits. They had an absolutely wonderful scheme (wonderful to them and their associates) which allowed them to sell the ownership of the duty free vehicles imported by them to those not entitled to that facility the same day the vehicles were registered in their names.

Nagananda Kodituwakku has not been successful in his attempts to move Court against those lawmakers engaged in a lucrative trade/massive scam with the blessings of Parliament whoever won the general election. Only a few declined the offer to obtain a duty free permit for the sole purpose of financially benefiting at the expense of the national economy.

At the onset of the financial crisis in 2020, the Finance Ministry submitted a Cabinet paper to import duty free vehicles for all MPs. The move was later shelved amidst growing public resentment. Over the years, successive governments mercilessly exploited the country until the national economy deteriorated to such an extent, violent public protests erupted on March 31.

Incumbent CBSL Governor warned political parties represented in Parliament that public protests could erupt again if they repeated their habitual political strategies meant to win elections at any cost.

Dr. Weerasinghe quite cleverly used his speech to highlight how all political parties shamelessly undermined the national economy by promising relief in spite of the government whoever was in power lacking the financial strength to do so. The lawmakers were warned against undermining the economy by electioneering based on promises. There had never been such a fiery speech delivered by an outsider to members of Parliament since the shifting of Parliament, from Galle Face to Sri Jayewardenepura, 40 years ago. Members of Parliament, past and present would have been humiliated and ashamed of the way they managed the national economy, especially since 1977.

The Parliament released the link that gave access to Dr. Weerasinghe’s full speech. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, the Cabinet-of-Ministers, leaders of political parties represented in Parliament, the media and the civil society should pay attention to the Governor’s talk. The Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary should heed the concerns raised by the Governor. There had never been such a straightforward criticism of an utterly corrupt system that thrived at the expense of the public.

Dr. Weerasinghe response to reckless, corrupt and irresponsible system can be examined against the backdrop of advice given by Dr. Coomaraswamy several years ago. In Nov 2018, Coomaraswamy advised the electorate as regards parliamentary elections. Dr. Coomaraswamy made the appeal before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCol) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka.

Dr. Coomaraswamy told the PCol almost prophetically that the country was facing a non-virtuous cycle of debt and it was a very fragile situation which could even lead to a debt crisis. “Of course my colleagues in the debt department have plans and capability to manage it. But it’s the duty of every citizen to act responsibly as regards the government policy”, he told the PCol. Dr. Coomaraswamy emphasized that people should elect MPs who were prudent enough to handle fiscal and monetary matters of the country. “I am not referring to any government, but it’s been the case ever since Independence”.

Obviously, the electorate didn’t heed Dr. Coomaraswamy’s call. Those who won the next general election in Aug 2020 simply allowed things to slip out of control. They couldn’t have done so without the support of those who managed the economy. Two of Dr. Coomaraswamy’s successors, Prof. Lakshman and Cabraal are under fire for their role in the current crisis. The Court has been moved against Cabraal.

Dr. Coomaraswamy is on record as having said that the failure on the part of successive governments to manage expenditure since the country gained Independence has caused the current economic instability.

Months later, in response to The Island query, Dr. Coomaraswamy declared Sri Lanka had been plagued by a toxic combination of populist politics and an entrenched entitlement culture among the people.

“Time and again, the electoral calendar has undermined fiscal discipline,” Dr. Coomaraswamy asserted.

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Midweek Review

A ‘partnership’ like no other!

Published

7 days ago

2026/09/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh at the Indian Army memorial

Against the backdrop of the economic crisis that erupted in 2021/2022 Sri Lanka’s dependence on Indian economic and military support is growing. INS Udayagiri, Indian Navy’s indigenously built multi-role stealth frigate, that arrived at Colombo Port hours before Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh arrived here, brought essential machinery/equipment spares for Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force. INS Udayagiri departed on 11 September, less than 24 hours after Singh concluded his three-day visit. The list of Indian support is long. In June this year, India swiftly transferred military stores worth USD 5.5 million to Sri Lanka Army on gratis basis from its operational stocks. India stepped in when Sri Lanka appealed for assistance to deploy over 1,000-member military contingent in Haiti under the UN command to help maintain order in that violence ridden country.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Parliament on 9 Sept. passed the Chief of Defence Staff (Repeal) Bill, over one and half years after the last Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Shavendra Silva retired.

The wartime General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the celebrated 58 Division (former Task Force 1) bid farewell to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on 1 January, 2025, following some record breaking achievements, leading his troops from the front in the final phase of the war to eradicate the Tiger terrorists.

Following the debate on the second reading of the Bill, on 9 Sept., the Bill was passed without a division. It clearly indicated that the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB)-led Opposition wasn’t at least interested in making an obvious issue out of it. The Bill has been introduced to repeal the Chief of Defence Staff Act, No. 35 of 2009, enacted in 2009, to carry out functions, including the coordination of activities among the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defence.

Pointing out that the relevant Bill had been enacted after the conclusion of the war, the National People’s Power (NPP) government declared in Parliament that the abolition of the Office of the CDS wouldn’t harm national security. The NPP emphasised that the Mahinda Rajapaksa administration created that post to accommodate war-winning Army Commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka after he firmly turned down the offer to accept a non-military post as Secretary to the Sports Ministry.

Amidst rapidly deepening turmoil within the government, Fonseka received the appointment as the first CDS on 15 July, 2009, in terms of the newly enacted Act. It would be pertinent to mention that the government had no option but to placate Fonseka by establishing the Office of CDS through a parliamentary Act to ensure the change of command take place, as planned.

The writer was among those assigned to cover Fonseka receiving the appointment as CDS and Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya taking over the command of the war-winning Army from Fonseka. This was against a background of Fonseka wanting Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri succeeded him. Instead, the Rajapaksas brought in Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya as Fonseka’s successor. Chandrasiri was made to retire and those who had been senior to Jayasuriya sidelined as the government tightened its grip on the Army. Therefore, the creation of the Office of the CDS to accommodate Fonseka should be considered in the appropriate context.

But, Fonseka quit the CDS post in November 2009 after reaching a consensus with the UNP-JVP combine to contest the presidential election. Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetileke succeeded Fonseka as CDS, on 16 November, 2009, while continuing his duties as the Commander of the Air Force.

The NPP, at the inception of its administration, quite clearly wanted to abolish the post of CDS. Silva, who received the appointment as Acting CDS, on 1 January, 2020, while serving as the Commander of the Army, relinquished the substantive post on 1 June, 2022. That happened in the wake of the 9 May countrywide systematic violence unleashed by those spearheading the high profile project to oust President Gotabaya Rajapaksa after the increasingly humiliated SLPP by the siege laid by Aragalaya activists on important government institution with a foreign dictated agenda, ordered a goon attack on those Galle Face protesters.

Retired Maj. Gen. K.B. Egodawele, former Minister Wimal Weerawansa, foreign affairs commentator Asanga Abeyagoonasekera and Prof. Sunanda Maddumabandara, who authored books on the 2022 regime change project, all pointed to external hands in the mayhem. Abeyagoonasekera went to the extent of alleging direct Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) role in the operation, while Prof. Maddumabandara named then Indian High Commissioner Gopal Baglay as the one who asked Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena to take over the presidency, along with the backing of the likes of Omalpe Sobitha thera. That brought an end to the repeated attacks on US Ambassador Julie Chung over an alleged meeting with Abeywadena on the eve of President Rajapaksa being forced to flee the country.

India never challenged Prof. Maddumabandara’s declaration, widely believed to be based on revelation made by Abeywardena.

A significant visit

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s historic three-day official visit to Colombo coincided with the House passing the Chief of Defence Staff (Repeal) Bill. What a coincidence it was!

A rapidly deepening partnership spanning defence, economic aid, and regional connectivity under India’s Neighbourhood First policy dominates bilateral relations.

Singh, a senior member of the ruling Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP), laid a wreath at the Indian Army memorial, in Pelawatte, Sri Jayewardenepura, on 9 September, on the second day of his visit, as the Parliament announced the repealing of the Bill. The memorial is a stark reminder of a despicable Indian destabilisation project directed at smaller, economically weak Sri Lanka in the 80s.

Singh, who is on his second term as Defence Minister, would go down in history as the first Indian Defence Minister to pay respect at the memorial built in memory of Indian Army officers and men killed in Sri Lanka. Having established a large scale terrorist project in Sri Lanka, the Congress government destabilised Sri Lanka to facilitate signing of the so-called Indo-Lanka Peace Accord after the arm twisting by its infamous ‘parippu’ drop over Jaffna, humiliating and bringing to its knees the then ‘all-powerful’ JRJ government when its powerful friends in the West turned their backs on their perennial vasal here, dubbed the ‘20th Century Fox’. The deployment of the Indian Army followed, beginning 29 July, 1987, on a mission to ostensibly disarm terrorist groups, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The then Indian Defence Minister K.C. Pant visited Colombo on May 30-June 1, 1988, in the run-up to the presidential election at the time the Indian Army was engaged in operations against the LTTE. India never sent another defence minister here even after Sri Lanka built a memorial near Battaramulla, in August 2008. It had been put up on a recommendation by the late Gen. Lionel Balagalle, Commander of the Army and CDS following an official visit to New Delhi in Dec., 2003.

Indian High Commissioner Ashok Kantha was the first top Indian government representative to pay floral tribute at the memorial on 15 August, 2010, over a year after Sri Lanka brought the once Indian sponsored war to a successful conclusion.

There is another Indian Army memorial in Palaly, Jaffna, built by the Indian Army in memory of 33 officers and men killed in a disastrous heli-borne assault on the LTTE, based in the Jaffna University. That assault took place on 12 Oct., 1987, at the onset of Indian operations. However, among the Indian dead inscribed on the memorial was Lieutenant Colonel Arun Kumar Chhabra who served the 10 Para (SF), elite battalion of the Parachute Regiment involved in the Jaffna University assault. Chhabra died on 14 Oct., 1989, during a gun battle with the LTTE.

The point is whatever various interested parties say today about the Indian intervention here, the truth is Premier Indira Gandhi destabilised this country in line with her strategy meant to address separatist sentiments in Tamil Nadu. India cannot absolve itself of the responsibility for the massive death and destruction caused not only in Sri Lanka but also the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who advanced his slain mother’s strategy by deploying the Indian Army here.

Indian trained terrorists, the People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), almost succeeded in overthrowing Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom in Nov., 1988. Two boat loads of PLOTE terrorists passed under the nose of the Indian Navy, at that time responsible for controlling all movements within Sri Lanka territorial waters, to reach the Maldives. The Indian intervention in the Maldives to save the Gayoom’s administration was hailed as a spectacular Indian military operation. No one found fault with India for sponsoring PLOTE. In fact, the PLOTE, widely believed to have been disarmed by the Indian Army in line with the Indo-Lanka peace accord signed under duress, retained weapons to mount the operation. That proved the much publicised project to disarm terrorist groups, including the LTTE and PLOTE, was more a farce than anything else.

The top BJPer’s, who recently concluded his visit to Colombo, emphasised the nearly four decades long absence of an Indian Defence Minister paying respects at the Jayewardenepura monument. Interested parties have sought to depict the monument as a testament to India sacrificing life to protect Sri Lanka. But, the truth is the monument reminds the world of a politically motivated terror project that ruined Sri Lanka, caused deaths of at least 1,200 Indian military personnel, and paved the way for a coup attempt in the Maldives. Names of 1169 Indians, including 55 officers, are inscribed therein. The catastrophic Indian project also led to the invention of suicide attacks (human bombs), a tactic now practiced in different parts of the world. India experienced the horrors of suicide bombing when a Sri Lanka woman blew up Rajiv Gandhi at Sriperumbudur, Tamil Nadu, on 21 May, 1991, over a year after India pulled out its Army from Sri Lanka.

Two Battaramulla memorials

Sri Lanka and Indian media reported Defence Minister Singh’s visit to the Indian Army memorial at Battaramulla. Unfortunately, print, electronic and social media failed to mention that the National War Memorial, with names of nearly 29,000 officers and men, who paid the supreme sacrifice, inscribed, is situated a walking distance from the Indian Army memorial. Perhaps the Indian Defence Minister should have laid a wreath at the National War Memorial, a gesture that may have somewhat atoned for an utterly irresponsible and reckless political decision.

The two memorials situated just 1.1 kms apart underscore the horrors of conflict engineered and sustained by regional power that almost destroyed Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka was trapped in separatist terrorism and a simultaneous insurgency in the South that ripped the country apart.

Sri Lanka transformed its ceremonial armed forces to a worthy fighting formation over the years. The Office of the CDS had been in place throughout the war though it was not constituted by a specific law (Chief of Defence Staff Act, No. 35 of 2009).

As the armed forces expanded, the country needed a headquarters for better coordination among the armed forces and police. The Joint Operations Command (JOC) was established in 1985. In 1999, during the tenure of President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the JOC was replaced by Joint Operations Bureau (JOB), a civilian led set up that failed miserably to meet the challenging task. In the same year, Kumaratunga, in her capacity as the Defence Minister, did away with the JOB and established Joint Operations Headquarters.

Kumaratunga created the Office of CDS in 2000 ahead of major northern battles. That functioned till the end of the war in May, 2009, and no one ever thought of enacting a specific Bill to constitute the Office of CDS. The NPP told Parliament, on 9 September, that a staggering Rs 8.7 bn had been spent on the Office of CDS, since 2009.

Multi-role stealth frigate INS Udayagiri at the Colombo port. The ship
visit coincided with Singh’s 3-day tour

The Indian political establishment largely ignored the humiliating loss of lives suffered during the mission in Sri Lanka. They conveniently forgot the disastrous intervention though the High Commissioner here visited the Battaramulla memorial in 2010. However, Modi, having captured power at the 2014 general election, initiated his own strategy. He first visited the Battaramulla memorial, in March, 2015, less than a year after becoming the Premier. He again visited the memorial in April, 2025, when he visited Colombo to sign seven Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs), including one on defence.

Having backed Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster in 2022, Modi (Rajnath Singh served as the Defence Minister during the US-Indian operation in Colombo) endorsed the candidature of Anura Kumara Dissanayake, in February, 2024, by extending an official invitation to the leader of the NPP, as well as the JVP. Dissanayake was given the opportunity to meet External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval. The message from New Delhi was loud and clear. Although Al Jazeera described the Indian move as an unlikely invitation, those who have carefully analyzed New Delhi’s actions here may realise the importance of the unexpected rescue of Somawansa Amarasinghe, in the early 90s, as the UNP government was about to capture him. Had Amarasinghe ended up in the custody of the military, the same fate that befell other party seniors, including Rohana Wijeweera, too, would have been his.

The UNP showed no mercy at all to the JVPers. Amarasinghe escaped with Indian help in February, 1990, three months after the Army executed Wijeweera. Although some speculated about a possible Indian role in saving Amarasinghe, no one could prove it. Then, unexpectedly, Amarasinghe himself, at a rally held in Kalutara, in late 2001, disclosed how India saved his life. The revelation was made at the first rally he addressed after returning home, following a 12-year exile.

Dissanayake received a second invitation from New Delhi after his historic unlikely victory achieved, thanks to outside machinations, mainly by the West ,in the run up to the Sept. 2024 presidential election. Modi announced their consensus on entering into MoU on defence at the conclusion of Dissanayake’s Dec. 2024 visit, though the joint statement didn’t say so. India swiftly moved to finalise the Defence MoU along with six other MoUs in the first week of April 2025 when Modi visited Colombo.

By then even the JVP/NPP had forgotten that the JVP waged insurgency against the UNP over the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord. The emergence of the NPP as the undisputed political power in Colombo has facilitated the Indian strategy here. It also facilitated US strategy, as well as joint US-Indian scheme, the future of it now very much in doubt, especially with erratic actions of President Trump.

Immediately after Modi concluded his April 2025 visit, the Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT), Sri Lanka’s first fully automated container terminal with an $800 million investment, officially commenced operations. The project that offered a significant boost to the maritime economy marked a major milestone in India–Sri Lanka infrastructure collaboration.

By then, India has secured the controlling interests of the Colombo Dockyard Limited (CDL), a move facilitated by Japan. Although the announcement regarding Japan’s Onomichi Dockyard parting with its 51% of shares to India’s state-owned Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, supplier of warships to India et al. It was India’s first-ever acquisition of a foreign shipyard.

India never had such a hold on Sri Lanka during the war of post-conflict period. In fact, the current Indo-Lanka partnership or whatever you choose to call it seemed to be fait accompli.

The way forward

‘Yankie Dicky’s’ (JRJ was known as Yankie Dicky because of his ardent pro-American stands) nephew Ranil Wickremesinghe, in his capacity as President and Defence Minister, declared a moratorium on foreign scientific research vessels during 2024. Wickremesinghe, struggling to cope up with economic difficulties amidst being at the mercy of US and India, announced the moratorium on such ship visits. It was meant to deprive Sri Lanka of the opportunity to receive Chinese vessels. Wickremesinghe’s announcement came in the wake of US backed Indian protests over Chinese vessels Yuan Wang 5 and Shi Yan 6 vessels visiting Sri Lanka. But, Wickremesinghe’s moratorium still remains in force as the incumbent government shied away from making its position known to the public. China, having acquired the strategically situated Hambantota Port and Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT), South Asia’s premier deep water terminal, Beijing consolidated its position here. Perhaps many people do not remember that the Colombo Terminal project was awarded to a consortium involving China, in Sept, 2010, then a joint venture established under a 35-year Build–Operate and Transfer (BOT) project in 2011 and the facility inaugurated in August 2013 though construction continued till April 2014.

The Hambantota Port was acquired in 2017 during the Yahapalana government, in the wake of the Colombo Port City controversy. In spite of issues, China has established control over Colombo Port City, CICTT, as well as the Hambantota Port.

Sri Lanka may overtly take a stand that may see us as bei pro-India but at the end of the day whoever wielded political power as well as those in the Opposition wouldn’t be able to disregard Chinese interests. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa realised his folly when he declared intention to renegotiate the Hambantota Port deal. China simply dismissed the President’s proposal. The President was compelled to issue a clarification at his own expense.

The recent statement attributed by the Defence Ministry to Defence Secretary AVM (retd) Sampah Thyuyakontha regarding Sri Lanka’s readiness to seek NATO assistance drew a sharp response from General Secretary of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka Dr. G. Weerasinghe. Thuyakontha made the statement during a recent visit to Canada where he represented the government at the 28th Annual Indo-Pacific Chiefs of Defence (CHOD) Conference, held in Victoria, Canada, from 31 August to 2 September 2026.

There hadn’t been a previous instance of Sri Lanka seeking NATO assistance. The CP Chief questioned Sri Lanka’s unexpected declaration while examining post-2024 presidential polls developments. It would be pertinent to mention that it was Mahinda Rajapaksa who first entered into ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement) in March, 2007. The CP, without hesitation, criticised President Rajapaksa’s action. President Sirisena extended that agreement in 2017 though he pretended he didn’t approve it. Since the change of government in 2024, the NPP has enhanced defence relations with the US and the next year’s extension of ACSA is a foregone conclusion. Sri Lanka is set to go ahead with US-India strategies though China remains a factor that cannot be ignored, under any circumstances.

Midweek Review

Feeling political sadness as signs of hope and resistance

Published

7 days ago

2026/09/16

Sahan Weerasooriya

by Sasanka Perera
(The writer is on X as @sasmester)

A few weeks ago, a friend in India wrote to me about Ghazala Jamil’s book, What to Do with Political Sadness and Other Essays on Death, Destruction and Hauntology (2026). It had just been published by New Delhi’s Simon & Schuster India and Yoda Press. And thanks to the kindness of yet another friend, I managed to get a copy of the book. I think we are all surrounded by different forms of ‘political sadness’ both in our own country and beyond. And some of us might actually ask ourselves the same question Jamil has posed in the title of her book: What to do with political sadness? In this situation, since the book spoke to me directly, I ended up writing notes on it and reflecting on what she had to say as I read.

Globally, we live in an era governed by systemic attrition, state-sanctioned violence, and the steady dismantling of democratic institutions. In this situation, despair is frequently framed as a personal pathology or a personal tragedy that is difficult for one to reconcile with. This is particularly the case if one lives in conditions of political instability burdened with a conscience — knowing full well what is right and what is wrong but not having the power to make a difference. Contemporary neoliberal politics routinely urge the disenfranchised to practice ‘resilience’ or ‘mindfulness’ without offering serious means to deal with unbearable situations. That process helps strong-man and dictatorial politics to not only survive but also justify their destructive politics.

Ghazala Jamil thoughtfully and reflectively deals with what happens when one must deal with politics of violence up front in her collection of essays. Jamil argues that the political sadness felt by marginalized people experiencing juridical, economic, and physical destruction is neither an aberration nor a personal failure. It is, instead, a rational and ethically sound response to state power built on dispossession and intimidation. For Jamil, political sadness is a method of both perseverance in difficult conditions and a means of generating hope as well as a way of imagining a future despite being surrounded by orchestrated death, destruction and dispossession.

Rather than attempting to ‘cure’ this sadness or dismiss it as weakness, Jamil interrogates its anatomy in an attempt to locate something far more durable than passive optimism or taken-for-granted fatalism so familiar in South Asia. That is a radical, unyielding form of idealism rooted in memory and a refusal to be silenced. Idealism in this sense is increasingly becoming a scarce resource in the circumstances where most of us live and work. While reading Jamil’s essays and writing these thoughts, I was also contemplating on the unfolding politics in Sri Lanka. A recent tweet by me in response to a news item pertaining to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Margaret Satterthwaite requesting information from the Sri Lankan government’s proposed judicial reforms in Sri Lanka drew much criticism.

While I was concerned overall on the reforms meant to increase the retirement age of judges across the judicial hierarchy on matters of principle and potential impact on democratic governance in the country, my immediate concern was the UN’s established bias in responding to these kinds of issues. That is, the blatant lack of equality where people at the receiving end usually happen to be nations without a veto or the ability to control one in the UN. Many people, both known and unknown, were upset with the tweet claiming I did not know how the UN system worked or had not done my homework. My sense was, I was considered naïve or even stupid as I harboured a sense of idealism, which sadly they had lost. Jamil, on the other hand, might agree with me.

Across nineteen essays, spanning political philosophy, urban sociology, and cultural critique, the collection is based on a close reading of three primary and closely related theoretical positions buttressed by immediate life experiences in both India and beyond.

The first position deals with what might be called, mechanics of state violence. Here, Jamil explores the politics of physical and institutional mechanisms, that range from spatial segregation and legal disenfranchisement — such as the weaponisation of citizenship laws — to the degradation of public resources such as education and transport. In this situation, she considers death and destruction as essential byproducts of governance that may not however be always intended. But ultimately, such mechanisms define the nature and reach of state authority.

The second overall position she deals with has to do with bodily dissent and martyrdom. It is in this discussion that Jamil analyzes extreme forms of political protest, such as hunger strikes and suicide drawing from experiences ranging from India to Ireland. When the state strips vulnerable communities of institutional recourse to justice and fair play, the body becomes the final site of sovereignty and agency. But bodily self-sacrifice forces a public ethical showdown, demonstrating that even the dispossessed retain the agency to expose the moral bankruptcy of majoritarian power. Even so, such extreme protests do not always work, nevertheless keeping alive political sadness, and with it, reservoirs of hope.

The final position Jamil explores is focused on the idea of hauntology and futures. Drawing on Jacques Derrida’s concept of hauntology, Jamil examines the spectral presence of unfulfilled post-colonial promises. In the Indian context, the constitutional ideals of secularism, egalitarianism, and social justice have been systematically compromised or dismantled, even though their ‘ghosts’ refuse to disappear. They haunt the present, reminding us of what was promised, what was destroyed, and what remains to be reclaimed and achieved. Therefore, this also becomes a repository for hope from where futures may be imagined.

As far as my reading is concerned, the core strength of Jamil’s work lies in how she retrieves hope from the debris of political grief. Her kind of idealism rejects toxic positivity, insisting that genuine hope can only emerge after we fully confront actual histories and experiences of destruction. This, I think, is essential, and speaks to me personally and directly in a situation where such idealism has been compromised by an unfortunate combination of naivety and political foolishness.

For Jamil, hauntology acts as an engine of political memory. Ideally, the ghosts of past struggles should prevent us from normalising present atrocities. Idealism, therefore, is not an abstract dream of a utopian future. Instead, it is the stubborn refusal to allow state violence to dictate the limits of human imagination. To feel political sadness is to remember that things were supposed to be different, and that they still could be.

Though Jamil writes from her location in India augmented by theoretical arguments that are in global circulation, what she has to say speaks to the world in the present time. This makes her critique both locally grounded and regionally and globally applicable.

In so far as India is concerned, Jamil’s critique speaks to a situation marked by the relentless rise of ethno-nationalism, religious intolerance, bulldozer politics of dispossession, and the systematic marginalisation of minority identities and their sense of being. Hope in this context is found in grassroots resistance, such as the constitutional consciousness kept alive by student movements, civil rights activists, and community-led dissenters who insist on asserting full citizenship despite systemic hostility. I would locate the recent Cockroach Janta Party agitations in this context.

As far as my own location, Sri Lanka is concerned, Jamil’s exploration of hauntology provides immediate resonance and painful familiarity. Sri Lankan society is haunted by unresolved ghosts of wartime as well as post-war absence of state accountability, forced disappearances, alienation of minorities, and the catastrophic economic collapse that dismantled public security. This is without even venturing into the violence and dispossession orchestrated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Janata Vimukti Peramuna when these entities wielded power in their agitations against the state. The mass uprising of 2022 or the ‘aragalaya’ placed in context both the transformative power of collective hope and the tragic reality of state appropriation. Reading Jamil from Colombo underscores how South Asian states export and replicate tools of division, militarization, and erasure.

Beyond the subcontinent, Jamil’s writing indicates the necessity that localised grief must be connected to globally intertwined histories. From hyper-capitalist labor exploitation to climate displacement, the Global South faces a collective and ongoing crisis of hegemony. Reclaiming hope requires cross-border solidarity, recognising that struggles against authoritarianism or majoritarianism in South Asia and elsewhere constitutes part of a worldwide fight for human dignity.

For me, Ghazala Jamil’s What to Do with Political Sadness is an essential and thoughtful manual for ethical survival and the generation of hope in difficult times. It does not offer easy comfort or simple solutions. Instead, it offers something far more valuable: a framework for ethical survival and persevering with idealism and hope. Let me conclude with my 2022 poem, ‘Island Story’ (Let Us be Silent: Poems, Sarasavi, Nugegoda, 2025).

“To live in the blessed isle
close your ears
guard your tongue
freeze your heart

Then,
hell of despair

would seem
like
heaven of hope”

I attempted to deal with my unhappiness not merely by writing a poem, but by trying not to see what was obvious, as a means of dealing with pain and overshadowing the conscience. Jamil, will have none of this as she has convincingly argued throughout her book. By transforming political grief into an active analytical tool and method for hope, Jamil reminds us that our sadness is proof of our lingering moral clarity. In many ways, her effort is a conversation among theory, life experience and hope. For most of us, living under the shadow of disrupted pasts and lost futures, this book serves as a powerful reminder that as long as we remember what has been destroyed, the blueprint for a just world remains alive.

(A shorter version of this essay was published in The Wire [new Delhi] on 22 August 2026)