The sovereignty fracas at BIA

By: Dushy Ranetunge in London

(March 18, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) If Indian bashing was a hallmark of the Premadasa Presidency, the “white man” bashing is a hallmark of the Rajapakse presidency. INGO?s, Human rights bodies, diplomats or anything else that moves which happens to be even remotely connected to the “white man” is fair game.

The “white man” is viewed as being “colonial”, standing in the way of “Sinhalese” sovereignty (note the emphasis), unity and territorial integrity of “Sinhalese” Sri Lanka and obstructing its victory over terrorism. I refer to “Sinhalese” Sri Lanka, because “Tamil” Sri Lanka does not have such a view of the “White man”.

Not long ago it was the “Indians” who were viewed as being “colonial”, standing in the way of “Sinhalese” sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of “Sinhalese” Sri Lanka and obstructing its victory over terrorism. “Tamil” Sri Lanka did not have such a view of the “Indians” either.

The latest “white man” in hot water, is actually a women. An officer of her Majesty?s government who happened to be on duty at Bandaranayake International Airport, formally an airbase of the Royal Air Force, during those “colonial” times.

The fracas related to the presence of a “white woman” inspecting passports and visa?s to advise the airlines of their authenticity. Some view this as a subjugation of sovereignty.

It must be pointed out at the outset that refugees from Sri Lanka, are certainly not “beggars” and are not the cause of the tightening of entry regulations in Europe and North America. The laws of common decency and also those that govern refugees have granted and continue to grant asylum status in many civilised countries. Even today in Colombo there are refugees from Central Asia and South Asia waiting to gain refuge in other countries. They are being processed by UN agencies in Colombo.

Lasantha Wickrematunga was also offered safety by these countries although he refused to accept the offers, later becoming a victim of those who claim to be patriots while bludgeoning our fragile democracy. These same foreign governments have also offered refuge to many Sri Lankan journalists more recently.

The real villains, who have made things difficult for Sri Lankan passport holders, are those who abuse asylum and immigration laws, in some cases even those who granted a diplomatic passport under a false name so that an alleged war criminal could travel to European countries. This alleged war criminal who was then apprehended and locked up at her majesty?s pleasure was later, shamelessly, made a Minister in the Rajapakse government.

It must be hastily pointed out that the new Ministers wife and children are safely ensconced in the Queens country using or may it be, abusing, asylum laws, giving a bad name to genuine Sri Lankan travellers. Warnakulasuriya should take note and raise issue by firing off letters.

Now getting down to the crux of the matter, an aide of Sri Lanka?s Ambassador to Italy, Hemantha Warnakulasuriya had attempted to board a Sri Lankan airlines aircraft without a visa to Italy, but with an Italian Foreign Ministry ID document. The airline had seeked the advise of the British Visa officer present and considering the precedent of Karuna?s or was it Kokila?s diplomatic passport issue, the lady may have chosen to err on the side of caution. Who could blame her? It is doubtful if at the time, she would have even dreamt that she would be accused of colonialism, and the subjugation of Sri Lankan sovereignty.

On the advise of the lady, the airline had refused to allow the man to travel to Italy, and letters were allegedly fired in all directions, including one to the President, with the incident being declared a subjugation of sovereignty.

On Tuesday (17), Mr Luca Fraticelli, the 1st Secretary of the Italian Embassy in Colombo stated that it was a minor matter and that it was ironed out the following day. He was not even aware that it had made the news. He confirmed that the Sri Lankan aide might travel to Italy on the Italian Foreign Ministry ID, without a Visa.

Ambassador Ravinatha Ariyasinghe in Brussels, confirmed this when he stated on Wednesday (18th) “when we come to the EU, even the domestics are given a resident permit card, which is what establishes our residence in the Schengen area. For instance, I only had a 3 month valid visa and when I returned from abroad, it was the resident permit card that got me in”.

Mr Luca Fraticelli also informed the Island that the Italians had trained the Sri Lankan Airlines staff with regards to authenticating travel documents. It seems that despite this training, the airline staff had referred the issue to the British officer present perhaps because even they would have found it unusual that someone was attempting to travel without a visa.

Once suspicion was aroused, telephone calls from Warnakulasuriya or even the President would not have made a difference. British civil servants are less prone to bending under pressure, unlike their Sri Lankan counterparts. The British like to follow procedure especially when there is doubt, and telephone calls to override are rarely successful.

A request to unload Sri Lankan Airlines passengers to make way for the President and his party was not quite obliged by Peter Hill, the former British CEO of Sri Lankan Airlines.

The Sri Lankan government cancelled his visa, but that would make no difference to Peter Hill. Only the Government was perceived as being bullies, not a favourable signal to send out, if Sri Lanka wants to attract foreign capital. Emirates pulled out. The nationalists among the Sinhalese Diaspora only wave flags and promote the nationalist gospel of ignorance and hate, but when the cash strapped Rajapakse government last month went around shaking the kitty, it ended up being less than full. Now its blasphemy, as the shaking kitty has had to be taken to the IMF of the “white man”. How the cookie crumbles.

Although the newspaper report claimed that Ambassador Warnakulasuriya had fired off letters of protest all over, the Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona on Tuesday (17) stated that he has still not been informed of this.

Ambassador Warnakulasuriya had also allegedly stated that ALO?s (Airline Liaison Officers) appointed by Embassies are harassing Sri Lankans working in the EU. This is a mischievous and political statement made to provoke in his favour.

The EU is no longer a favourable labour market for Sri Lankans to obtain employment. Priority is given to EU citizens and there is a large labour pool available from the new EU nations from Eastern Europe. A work permit is only provided for non-EU citizens for employment if it can be proven that EU citizens with similar skills are not available for employment.

If an employer in the UK for example, employs someone who does not have the legal rights to work in the United Kingdom, the Employer faces a large fine and a criminal conviction.

With unemployment rising in the EU zone, even existing work permits for non-EU workers are being reviewed.

But, is the presence of foreign immigration officers at BIA a subjugation of Sri Lankan sovereignty?

Similar facilities are found in Europe. For Example there is a very visible French Immigration post in Folkestone, United Kingdom checking passports of those embarking into the Eurotunnel train service. The British too have a similar facility in France.

Neither France, nor Britain regards the presence of foreign immigration officers on their territory as a subjugation of their sovereignty.

There is a cost involved in deploying an immigration officer from one country to carry out checks in another country. Such a cost is deemed justifiable only based on the risk of immigration and criminal fraud. France and Britain have deployed their immigration officers in each other?s ports and the Eurotunnel terminals and not Heathrow or Charles De Gaulle airport, based on their risk assessments. Sometimes a particular flight from a particular country is targeted. Similarly, if European nations have deployed officers at BIA at substantial cost to themselves, it is based on their risk assessments of that particular port or flight.

The issuing of diplomatic passport to an alleged war criminal to travel to Europe unlawfully under a different name only results in a revision of such a risk assessment to a more heightened state. This results in more checks and more inconvenience to ordinary passengers.

Most countries now impose heavy fines on airlines that carry passengers without lawful travel documents and in addition require that they be removed in some cases at the airlines cost. These costs are in turn passed on by the airlines to the passengers as increases in airfare.

Today that cost of an airline ticket from London to Colombo return, is cheaper that one from Colombo to London return.

If the presence of foreign immigration officers are removed from BIA, the cases of fraud and in turn fines on airlines will increase. The passing on of these costs will result in an increase of air travel costs to Sri Lankan passengers and even some airlines pulling out from Colombo altogether as they have in the recent past.

The network of Sri Lankan Airline results in the BIA becoming a hub, and passengers from other countries such as South and Central Asia trying to board direct flights to London and other European cities from Colombo.

It must be noted that European immigration officers at BIA do not have the authority to stop anyone from travelling. They merely advise the airline, that the travel documents of a passenger may be suspect. It is up to the airlines to decide if it wants to take the risk of a fine being levied at the other end, and carry the passenger.

-Sri Lanka Guardian