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Turbulent four decades: War, peace and corruption

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By Shamindra Ferdinando

A bald-headed person, seated in a corner chair, in the deserted The Island editorial, looked at the writer as he entered the office. In spite of the spacious office being air-conditioned, he was smoking a cigarette. “Why are you wearing a tie? Remove it, call me Anton. Roll-up your sleeves, sit over there. Bala should be here soon.” That was the response, the writer received from the late Anton Weerasinghe when he addressed the first individual he encountered as “Sir” on the first day at The Island Editorial on the morning of June 1, 1987.

At the time, the writer joined The Island as a novice, Anton Weerasinghe, a veteran in the field, served as the Chief Sub Editor, and Bala was actually the late Peter Balasuriya, the then News Editor. A smiling Weerasinghe advised that journalists should always be on first name basis with their colleagues and the only exception was that the novices addressed the Editor-in-Chief Gamini Weerakoon “Sir.” Weerasinghe called him “Gamma.”

Over the next couple of weeks, the writer had the opportunity to meet seniors, the late Ajith Samaranayake, Rohan Abeywardena, Lalith Alahakoon, M. Ismeth, the late Vijitha Amarasinghe, the late Clarence Anandappa, Norman Palihawadana, Lakshman Gunasekera, his brother Rohan Gunasekera, now Canada-based D.B.S. Jeyaraj, Ranjiva Seneviratne, the late Lasantha Wickrematunga, the late Gregory Wickremesinghe, the late Eriq Devanarayana, Zanita Careem, Chitra Weeraratne, the late Zacky Jabbar, the late M. S. M. Mansoor, the late Wilfred Lasz, the late Therese Moorthy, Malkanthi Leitan, the late R. Sathyapalan, Minoli de Soysa, Sisira Wijesinghe, the late Suresh P. Perera, Jehan Haniff, Winston de Vallier, Charnika Munesinghe, Faheema Fariz, Shirley de Silva, the late Chandragupta Weerawardena, Rozaine Koelmayer and the late Aloy Perera.

Vijitha Amarasinghe, the then Sports Editor, inquired whether the writer would like to join the Sports Desk. But, the Indian ‘parrippu drop’ on June 4, 1987, which brought an end to the first Brigade-level military onslaught ‘Operation Liberation’, conducted against the LTTE, in the Jaffna peninsula, made me quite interested in covering the conflict though at that time the writer was only 19 and fresh from school, didn’t have any idea at least as to how to work on a story. India’s forced intervention plunged the country into unprecedented turmoil.

Indo-Lanka accord triggers violence

Violence, instigated by the JVP, erupted in the wake of the Indo-Lanka Peace Accord of July 29, 1987, which was literally shoved down our throat. Shocking assault on the then Indian Premier Rajiv Gandhi, with a rifle butt, at a guard-of-honour in Colombo, by an enraged naval rating, killing of UNP MP for Tangalle Jinadasa Weerasinghe, grenade attacks on the UNP parliamentary group, in Parliament, which claimed the life of Matara District MP Keerthi Abeywickrema (the writer covered Abeywickrema’s funeral at Matara. It was the first coverage in a series of funerals of assassinated politicians and officials), security forces, police and pro-government sponsored death squads, unleashing counterterror against the JVP, and a censorship on the media, made print journalism quite a challenge and exciting. At the time there were no private TV channels.

The incident involving Susantha Punchinilame, at the Ratnapura by-election in July 1988, underscored the situation at that time. A gun-toting Punchinilame, a UNP lawmaker, caused havoc in Ratnapura, on that day, with the late Gamini Dissanayake in charge of the overall operation. The writer and staff photographer Saranapala Pamunuwa had to take to his heels when armed men, accompanying Punchinilame spotted Pamunuwa taking pictures.

Amidst repression by the government as well as the JVP, the print media struggled. Censorship made the task even more difficult. Typed and hand written copy had to be taken to the Government Information Department where the government appointed Competent Authority deleted articles or sections of them. There had even been times earlier when the Competent Authority operated from the Upali Group complex.

As Norman Palihawadana, Rohan Gunasekera, Jehan Haniff as well as Suresh Perera covered the security/’police round’, the writer found it extremely difficult to get sufficient space but subsequently received the opportunity to engage in quite a bit of security coverage. In fact, the eruption of the second JVP insurgency gave the writer an opening to work with experienced Divaina journalists. Seniors Peter Balasuriya, Abeywardena and Wickremathunga were always helpful.

Weligama blasts

The visit to Kapparathota, in the Weligama electorate, in late July 1988, with staff photographer Jude Denzil Pathiraja, in a vehicle driven by now retired driver Premalal, was fraught with danger. Having covered the first landmine blast there, we ended up at Hambantota where Lt. Colonel Vipul Botheju of the Gemunu Watch had succeeded the then Air Commodore A.B. Soza, in charge of overall security there. Violence gripped the South, where the armed forces and UNP para-military groups waged war against the JVP aka DJV (Deshapremi Janatha Viyaparaya). On and off visits to the deep South, the Central as well as the North Central Provinces over the next few years, drove home the uncertainty and despair as never before. A visit to Kudawella, in Tangalle, with Divaina veteran Dharmaratne Wijesundera, took a nasty turn when the JVPer, whom we met, was killed by the Army. The JVP accused us of passing information to the Army. However, we managed to convince them by pointing out we were taken there blind-folded and couldn’t pass information about a location we didn’t know. In another incident, a drunken soldier almost shot dead UNL driver Podimahattaya opposite the Ja-Ela police station. The soldier found fault with him for wearing a pair of shorts and accused him of carrying JVP posters.

At a time, the media here lacked access to information regarding the developments on the Indo-Lanka front and the JRJ government did everything possible to hinder media, Aloy Perera provided the latest news based on All India Radio (AIR) broadcasts. The Island, at the time, depended so much on foreign radio broadcasts. On the advice of editor Gamini Weerakoon, the UNL brought Aloy Perera a top of the line Sony radio available at the time. Aloy considered the radio his private property. During a certain period (1987-1990), the media had to obtain information pertaining to incidents in the Northern and Eastern Provinces from the Indian HC in Colombo.

Reportage of northern conflict

The Island can be certainly proud of its coverage of the northern and southern terrorism and developments in other fields, including political as well economic and waste, corruption and irregularities over the past decade. There cannot be any dispute over The Island stand against terrorism, even during the times various governments succumbed to international pressure. During the 2002-2004 UNP administration, The Island came under tremendous pressure over its reportage of the ground situation. The UNP relentlessly brought pressure on the UNL as it did during the 1987-1990 period when India battled the LTTE in the North and the East and the UNP fought the JVP in the South. The UNP believed it could suppress the truth by intimidating the media. Ranil Wickremesinghe-led UNP went to the extent of closing down the SLBC’s “Vanni Sevaya’ to appease the LTTE and restricting the Army from issuing daily security situation reports.

During the troubled times, too, The Island continuously published the music page that had been a key attraction, at a period social media was unheard of. The young and the old liked Ivan Alvis’s ‘Music page’ and the writer used to take down lyrics of popular songs at that time. Perhaps, Ivan’s music page is the longest such page in Sri Lanka. At the inception of The Island, it was Ivan’s father, the late Ben Alvis, who started a column, called “The Heart of the Matter”. Then it was Ivan’s late younger brother David, who did a music page till he migrated to the United States. It was Ivan who directed me years later to Abdullah Luthufi, the Maldivian mastermind of the sea-borne attack on Male.

Prabath Sahabandu, who joined The Island editorial soon after Ranasinghe Premadasa’s government brought the JVP-inspired terror campaign (1987-1990) to an end, succeeded the Editor-in-Chief Gamini Weerakoon.

The Island, too, like other print and electronic media, experienced trials and tribulations throughout its existence. In spite of the eradication of the JVP terror by early 1990 and the LTTE in 2009, the country had succumbed to corruption and the situation deteriorated to such an extent, the Parliament, in spite of being the custodian of public money, seemed to be simply overseeing waste, corruption and irregularities. Before discussing the pathetic state of the national economy, let me remind two persons whose lives were snuffed out.

Media targeted

During the rush hour on July 24, 1996 evening, the LTTE triggered multiple explosions in a train at Dehiwala killing 64 persons. Over 400 suffered injuries. Among the dead was Sudeepa Purnajith, an artist, stamp designer and cartoonist who had been on The Island editorial before joining the Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited (ANCL)/Lake House.

Lasantha Wickremetunga was assassinated near Attidiya Model Primary School in the morning rush hour on January 8, 2009. Wickrematunga, one-time Private Secretary to the then Opposition Leader the late Sirimavo Bandaranaike, defeated SLFP candidate at the 1989 general election and the Editor-in- Chief of the now defunct The Sunday leader was on his way to work when he was killed. The first Rajapaksa administration never cleared accusations directed at it over Wickremetunga’s killing as well as abduction and assault on Keith Noyahr, Deputy Editor of now defunct Nation on the night of May 2008 and attack on one-time Divaina editor Upali Tennakoon on the morning of January 23, 2009, at Imbulgoda. Tennakoon, the founding Editor of Rivira published by the Rivira Media Corporation, was on his way to office with his wife Dhammika.

Just over a year later, the UNP-led Opposition and Western countries that accused the war-winning Army Commander General Fonseka of those attacks backed him at the 2010 presidential election. The TNA on the advice received from the US threw its weight behind Fonseka, who lost badly by a huge margin of over 1.8 mn votes though the Tamil electorate, including LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s home town Valvettithurai voted for him overwhelmingly. Having lost the presidential bid, Fonseka successfully contested the 2010 general election, under the JVP-led alliance, only to be deprived of the seat under controversial circumstances, served a prison term and got released, thanks to US intervention, formed his own party for the 2015 general election, only to be totally rejected. With the help of UNP leader Wickremesinghe, Fonseka re-entered Parliament in 2016 on the UNP National List. In 2020 Fonseka switched allegiance to the newly formed Samagi Jana Balavegaya. Now, Field Marshal Fonseka represents the Gampaha district.

Quite a number of journalists perished during this period. Dharmeratnam Sivaram aka ‘Taraki’, one-time The Sunday Island defence columnist, was abducted and killed on April 28, 2005. Taraki, who had been with Dharmalingam Siddarthan’s PLOTE, which made an abortive bid to assassinate Maldivian President Mohammed Abdul Gayoom, in Male, in early Nov 1988, propagated the line that the LTTE could never be defeated, militarily. During many discussions on the issue, Taraki quiet confidently asserted that the Army lacked the strength to sustain a major offensive in the Jaffna peninsula. Sivaram cleverly used the print media to convince those in authority of the LTTE’s ‘invincibility’. In early 1996, Taraki was proved wrong when combined security forces brought the Jaffna peninsula under their control. Four years after Sivaram’s killing, the combined armed forces eradicated the LTTE once and for all. Over 12 years after Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism, the country seemed to be in a far worse situation than experienced at the height of the war in the North.

Sri Lanka has certainly lost the ‘war’ against corruption. The print and electronic media, including social media reportage of corruption, paint an extremely bleak picture. A section of politicians and officials seemed to have caused irreparable damage to the national economy. Their actions seemed even worse than the devastating LTTE suicide attack on the Central Bank on the morning of January 31, 1996. In spite of eradication of terrorism, the country failed to achieve its true potential due to corruption. That is the undeniable truth. The proceedings of parliamentary watchdog committees prove that the House had failed and the country is in the grip of an utterly corrupt system. The media (social media included) regardless of some sections succumbing to perks and privileges, remain the real Opposition.

Box

 

The Global Tamil Forum (GTF), spokesperson Suren Surendiran recently declared that The Island is the only Sri Lankan media to provide them coverage at a time no other print, or electronic media, here, had the guts to do so. The UK-based Surendiran was referring to the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s second term (2010-2015). Following the 2004 April general election, the EU election monitoring mission declared that The Island reporting of the poll as the most balanced.



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Features

The Rohingya question and states’ international obligations

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A boat load of Rohingyas rescued off MullaitIvu

The presence of Rohingya refugees in Sri Lanka has prompted sections in the South of the country to raise some concerns in connection with it but The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka’s (THRCSL) recent report on the issue, if received and read in a spirit of reconciliation and humanity, should put their minds at ease.

To be sure, there is considerable substance in the objections and worries of the relevant Southern quarters but the majority of the refugees in question need to be seen as victims of complex political circumstances in their countries of origin over which they do not have any control.

Those Rohingyas who are now literally adrift in the seas of South Asia and beyond, are strictly speaking stateless. Most of them are escaping endemic political turmoil and runaway lawlessness in the Rakhine state of Mynamar and the spillover of such tensions into the Myanmar-Bangladesh border and beyond.

There has been playing out in the Rakhine region over the decades a Rohingya armed struggle for autonomy but the majority of the Rohingyas are not in any way supportive of this armed struggle which is an expression of the Rohingyas’ awareness of their separate identity as a community, although they possess a wider Muslim identity as well.

But there has been an influx of Rohingya refugees to several neighbouring countries from this conflict, including very significantly Bangladesh, and this has been triggering concerns among the wider publics in those states which are compelled to manage the Rohingya refugee presence amid economic pressures of their own.

The problems arising from the Rohingya refugee presence have been compounded by the rise of Islamic militancy in South Asia and the tendency among some of these militant groups to exploit this presence for the propagation of their causes.

However, this does not take away from the fact that the majority of Rohingyas are helpless victims of circumstance. They are caught up in the metaphorical ‘exchange of fire’ between mutually suspicious states that are compelled to contend with issues growing out of the rise of Islamic militancy. But for the majority of Rohingyas such endemic conflicts among states translate into displacement, statelessness and growing powerlessness.

For an enlightened understanding of what states need to do in connection with the refugee crisis and connected questions it would be necessary to read the THRCSL report above mentioned. States that are members of the UN family are obliged to ratify and implement a number of conventions related to refugees and the THRCSL mentions some of these. They are: The 1951 Convention on Refugees; 1954 Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; 1961 Convention on the Reduction of the Stateless and the Rights of Refugees and Stateless Persons within Sri Lanka.

If Sri Lanka and other countries facing a refugee influx have not adopted these laws they would need to do so without further delay if they are opting to remain within the UN fold. In this connection, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should be seen to be of fundamental importance. The Declaration is the fountainhead, so to speak, of international humanitarian law and UN members states have no choice but to adhere to it.

Contentious issues are likely to grow out of the implementation part of the mentioned conventions but it is best that signatory states take up these matters with the relevant key agencies of the UN rather than grouch over matters that surface from their inalienable obligations towards the stateless and homeless.

It was encouraging to note a Southern group in Sri Lanka mentioning that the Lankan government should draw the attention of the UNHRC to the fact that the state is not a signatory to some of the mentioned refugee conventions. This is the way to go. A dialogue process with the UNHRC, which does not happen to be very popular in Sri Lanka, on such issues would perhaps throw up fresh insights on Sri Lanka’s obligations on refugee issues that may then convince the state to sign and ratify the conventions concerned.

There needs to be a flourishing of such positive approaches to meeting Sri Lanka’s obligations as a UN member state. The present most unhappy existence of being a UN member state and not implementing attendant obligations needs to end if Sri Lanka is not to be accused of ‘double speak’ and ‘double think’.

Meanwhile, identity politics and connected problems are bound to remain in South Asia and bedevil all efforts by states of the region to see eye-to-eye on issues such as the stateless. The yawning ‘democratic deficit’ in South Asia continues to be a formidable challenge.

But all efforts should be made to reduce this deficit through collaborative efforts among the concerned states. This is so because increasing democratization of states remains the most effective means of making identity politics irrelevant and the latter is a primary cause for the break-up of states, which process throws-up troubling consequences, such as statelessness and refugees.

Fresh initiatives need to be undertaken by the ‘South Asian Eight’ to end the continuing ‘Cold War’-type situation between India and Pakistan, since they hold the key to re-activating SAARC and making it workable once again. It ought to be plain to see that it is only the SAARC spirit that could help in ushering a degree of solidarity in South Asia which could go some distance in resolving issues growing out of nation-breaking.

Once again, South-South cooperation should be seen as a compelling necessity. If vital sections of the South come to this realization and recognize the need for such intra-regional cooperation, the coming back to power of Donald Trump could be considered as having yielded some good, though in a highly negative way. Because Trump has made it all too plain that he would not be considering it obligatory on the part of the US to help ease the lot of the South any more.

The South would have no choice but to fall back on strategies of self-reliance. No doubt, this situation would accrue to the benefit of the world’s powerless. Self-reliance is the best option and the only key to unravelling external shackles that bind the South to the North.

Meanwhile, those sections of Southern Sri Lanka that are tending to cheer Trump on need to put the brakes on any such idle distractions. The message that Trump has for the world is one of division and strife. By rolling back almost all the progressive ventures that have come out of Washington over the years, Trump is plunging the world into further ‘disorder’. The international community needs to brace for stepped-up nation-breaking.

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Effective and non-effective methods for mitigating human-elephant conflict

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Villagers living in fear of wild elephants. (File photo)

by Tharindu Muthukumarana
tharinduele@gmail.com

(Author of the award-winning book “The Life of Last Proboscideans: Elephants”)

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”.

-Albert Einstein

When we examine the records of funds spent in the years beforehand to mitigate human-elephant conflict (HEC), it is evident that the expenditure has been growing. For example, in 2010, USD $505,001 was spent, but in 2018, USD $1,068,021 was spent. So, this shows that expenditure had been over double within a period of less than one decade. But in the same way, the HEC had always been rising throughout the years. So, what went wrong? The answer is that the funds were expended mostly on ineffective mitigating strategies rather than effective mitigating approaches. Henceforth, let’s look at a glimpse of what are the non-effective methods and effective methods.

Non-effective methods Translocation

Elephant translocation involves capturing elephants from one place and moving them to a safer environment. Sri Lanka had done this for many decades. One of the earliest translocations occurred in 1979, when 10 elephants were relocated from Deduru Oya to Wilpattu National Park (NP). So, it was a new experience for the Department of Wildlife Conservation (DWC), and they even had to get a foreign veterinary surgeon named Dr. Ian Hoffmeyr from Etosha NP in Namibia to sedate the elephants.

Unfortunately, radio tracking collars were not put on those elephants to monitor updates of those elephants. So, ultimately what happened was that those translocated elephants’ status never got documented. However, in recent translocations, the GPS tracking collars were fixed on them and have given accurate updates on their whereabouts. According to those data, 3 conclusions are probable: (i) The translocated elephant got killed in the new home. (ii) Left the new home and returned to the initial home. (iii) created conflict with neighbouring villagers in the new home.

As for example, in 2007, a tusker named Ravana that was crop raiding in Anuradhapura got translocated to Udawalawe NP. He then got into conflict with neighbouring villages of Handapanagala, Aluthwewa, and Buttala. Due to this, Ravana got shot in the leg, and as a result, Ravana got re-translocated to Lunugamvehera NP. Again, Ravana raided crops on leased land in the park, and a few months later, Ravana got shot in the jaw and had an agonising death after suffering for a few days.

Another tragic event happened when a young bull elephant named Homey that frequently foraged at a garbage dump in Hambantota got translocated to Yala NP Block II, which took a journey of 75 km. Within a few days, Homey was back at the garbage dump. Astonishingly, when data from the collar was downloaded, it was shown that the route Homey took to return contrasted with the route Homey was taken. For the second time, Homey was translocated to Udawalawe NP, but as time passed by, he created conflict with neighbouring villages. Subsequently, Homey left the park and again returned to the garbage dump. For the third time, Homey got translocated to Maduruoya NP, almost 300 km away from Hambantota. At times, Homey tried to come back to the garbage dump but was unsuccessful due to compact human settlements. So, he continued to stay at Maduruoya but started to create conflict with neighbouring villages. This resulted in him getting shot frequently. One day he got shot in the head and died in a paddy field.

Elephant Drives

Elephant drives involve chasing elephants from one area to another area, and for this, firecrackers or thunder flashes would be used. This procedure can take days to get completed. These drives had happened as early as the 1970s, and the latest to be 2024. From a scientific perspective, the decades of elephant drives that have been done are one of the key reasons for Sri Lanka having the highest level of HEC in the world. Records have clearly shown that after an elephant drive, some or all driven elephants returned. Also, in every location where elephant drives took place, HEC still persists. In many cases, the problem-causing males don’t get driven because those males usually avoid it. Instead, non-problem-causing female elephants get driven. In such incidents, after those driven elephants got enclosed in a restricted home range, those elephants did face starvation and malnourishment that eventually made them die. For this, there are examples coming from Lunugamvehera NP and Yala NP.

Removing the problem elephants

Removing problem elephants could be done in two ways: one is domestication and the other is culling. Such acts can enhance the risk for elephants’ extinction. Problem elephants are usually male elephants, and elephants that raid crops are risk takers. Emerging research shows that risk-taking behaviour contributes highly to their reproductive success. So, if such elephants are removed from the gene pool, it weakens the elephant population.

In modern days, there is a popular misconception that the elephant population has risen, and it is immoderate. In fact, scientifically, there is no way to explain whether the elephant population has risen or plummeted. Because the first legitimate elephant census was done in 2011. Before 2011, elephant population numbers were given as guesses or estimations. After 2011, last year an elephant census was done, but still the results haven’t been published. There are many who think that the elephant population has increased because, around the country, there are places where locals are newly experiencing HEC. This happened because of habitat loss and the blocking of elephant corridors that occurred due to poor development planning done by various governments. So, as a result of it, new places experience HEC.

Still, the Sri Lankan elephant is classified as “Endangered” by the IUCN Red List due to its high risk of extinction and declining population. Also, we must remember that though culling or capturing of elephants is not done, yet annually, in the last few years, over 350 elephants have died due to HEC. This is only the documented data, and the undocumented figure can give a higher value. A mother elephant usually gives birth to a single calf with a two-year gestation period. They have 4-5 years of interval until the next calf is born. Females become less fertile after 40 years. In Sri Lanka only 6,000 elephants are left. So, such a high mortality rate due to HEC is critical.

Biofencing and Geological Barriers

A victim of the human-elephant conflict

Palmyra Palm fencing: This involves planting palmyra trees (Borassus) as a fence to restrict elephants’ movements. Though it has some positive effects, practically there are problems to call it a solution. This project is expected to take a longer time to achieve its anticipated outcomes and could take even a decade. Even so, the germination rate is lower, and by any chance, if at least one tree fails to grow, the fence becomes ineffective.

Thorny plant fencing: Plants such as agave, cacti, and bougainvillaea had been used to deter elephants, but those had been unsuccessful because of elephants’ thick skin. Besides, elephants even feed on thorny plants such as Acacia eburnean that have sharp thorns that can grow up to 1 inch.

Beehive fencing: The fence is erected at chest height with beehives fixed to it and spaced every ten meters. This method had high success in deterring crop-raiding elephants in Africa. In addition, the produce from hives provided economic benefits to farmers. This project was introduced by Save the Elephants Organisation (SEO). From 2014-2019 SEO collaborated with the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS) to do a pilot project in Wasgamuwa. Unfortunately, results showed it was ineffective due to the reason that African honey bees (Apes mellifera scutellata) and Asian honey bees (Apes cerana indica) behaviour contrasts. Asian bees cannot scare away elephants, and those bees are not active at nighttime.

Trenches: Soil erosion had made trenches ineffective, and also the construction and maintenance cost is very expensive. According to past experiences, it had impeded wildlife movement, and a lot of other smaller animals had died after falling to them. Also, there is a potential of hydrological impacts that would have a negative effect on villages.

Effective methods

Before touching this topic, it is important to mention that the strategies put forward here are science-based projects, and these projects had been put into experiment as pilot projects with successful results. The villagers state that after the implementation of the project, HEC had been solved or mitigated. These projects had been done by the Centre for Conservation and Research and SLWCS.

According to research, it has been proved that the electric fence is the most effective to deter elephants. But it depends where the electric fence is erected. If it is erected in the boundary of a protected area, it can be ineffective, but instead, if it is erected at the border between elephant habitat and human-use areas, it can be successful. This is what is called community-based electric fencing and proved to be successful in mitigating HEC.

Another method is the paddy-field electric fences. These fences are installed seasonally. During cultivation the fences are installed, and during harvest the fence is removed and stored in their houses until the following crop season. So, during the fallow periods, elephants would forage the leftover harvest and other vegetation. By 2020, approximately 50 village electric fences and 25 paddy-field electric fences were active in the Kurunegala, Hambantota, Trincomalee, and Anuradhapura districts for up to 12 years. Feedback from the villagers is positive.

It needs to be mentioned that in 2020 a National Action Plan for the Mitigation of HEC was made by a committee of wildlife experts. Strategies included in the National Action Plan were chosen based on their demonstrated effectiveness, capacity to be executed on a suitable geographic and temporal scale, and cost-effectiveness. Stakeholder discussions were performed with the public and relevant agencies, and their feedback was integrated into the Action Plan as needed. So, if that action plan gets implemented, HEC could be mitigated!

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Features

Congratulations…and celebrations

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Twenty-one years in the news, in Toronto, Canada, and that certainly calls for big time celebrations!

Dirk Tissera, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Sri Lanka Anchorman, is working on making it a big scene.

He says the 21st Anniversary celebrations will take the form of a gala dinner dance, scheduled for Friday, 30th May, 2025, in Toronto, Canada, adding that there would be plenty of surprises!

In fact, The Sri Lankan Anchorman’s 20th Anniversary, ‘A Night To Remember,’ held on 31 May, 2024, at the J&J Convention Centre, in Toronto, turned out to a resounding success.

Dirk mentioned that last year’s event was sold out long before the scheduled date.

“We generally work on our anniversary celebrations months in advance to ensure that the audience got their monies worth, and there was plenty of variety in the music we provided last year, led by veteran singer, the legendary Fahmy Nazick, along with the band Déjà Vu, guest singer Cherry Deluna, and DJ Chami.

What is special about The Sri Lanka Anchorman, a tabloid newspaper, is its wide and varied content which Sri Lankan-Canadians eagerly look forward to reading.

In fact, Dirk Tissera received a top Toronto press award from the National Ethnic Press & Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC) for excellence in editorial content and visual presentation.

An old boy of St. Mary’s College, Dehiwela, he had his early grooming, in journalism, right here, in Colombo, and then moved to Canada, and is now based in Toronto.

Dirk Tissera is efficiently supported by his wife Michelle in the publication of The Sri Lanka Anchorman.

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