The President must not lose his credibility

| by Shanie

"Turn me not into a snail

my feelers chopped off.

Turn me not into a coward

by preaching of gods.

Turn me not into buffalo

burdened with false views.

Make not a ‘good boy’,

with hands and mouth gagged.

Allow me to question like Socrates

Doubt like Descartes

Crash through like a gushing river

cut clean as a knife.

Let me rise, erect

like a penis." - Parakrama Kodituwakku (translated from the original Sinhala by Ranjini Obeyesekere

( October 6, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) There have been several events recently, from higher education, threats to the independence of the judiciary to re-settlement of the war displaced and the urban poor, about which various nondescript government ministers and spokespersons have made statements. These statements have stretched our credulity to the full. All of them talk of democracy, good governance, reconciliation, peace and development. But, sadly, they end up failing because the rhetoric is not matched by a genuine political will to achieve those goals. Violence, political manipulation and a deliberate perversion of the existing institutions continue to empty society and the body politic of any democratic content.

On 25 September, the Ministry of Defence announced that the resettlement of the last batch of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been completed. The Ministry’s website stated: "A total of 1186 persons from 361 families were thus resettled on 24th September. Sri Lanka is possibly the only country in the world to have successfully resettled more than 295,000 IDPs within a short period of three years from the time they were rescued by the armed forces in a humanitarian rescue operation in May 2009." The news story was accompanied on the web page with pictures of new houses built and ready for occupation. But the reality seems far different. The pictures of new houses are from elsewhere. And this was no voluntary re-settlement. The IDPs were taken from Menik Farm amidst protests. An independent report from Ruki Fernando and Sr Nichola Emmanuel posted in Groundviews states: "On 22nd Sept. 2012, at a meeting held in Menik Farm, military and government officials had informed the remaining people that all those from Keppapilavu Grama Niladari Division in the Maritimepattu Divisional Secretarial Division in the Mullaitivu district would be relocated on 24th Sept. On that day all these people were unceremoniously taken to Vattrappalai Maha Vidyalaya, and on 25th, they were taken to a jungle area called Seeniyamottai, located in an interior area along the Vattrappalai – Puthukudiyiruppu road, in the Maritimepattu Division of the Mullativu district. IDPS from three other villages have also been dumped at Seeniyamoddai.

Army occupation of lands

The former residents of Keppapilavu have told Fernando and Sr Nichola that they owned fertile lands and had led comfortable lives in their former village engaging in cutivation and fishing. According to information provided by a Government Official, 346 people from 110 families in Keppapilavu have been dumped in Seeniyamottai camp. This information has been confirmed by the UN Country Team in Sri Lanka. Based on available information from sources who do not want to disclose their identity, Keppapilavu consists of 528 acres of residential land and 684 acres of agricultural land, amounting to 1212 acres in total. Most of the residential land and some of the agricultural land is believed to be legally owned by private individuals who hold legal documentation. Several people had also accused the Army of cultivating and benefitting from their lands.

The Government has not transparently declare information about how many families had been in these villages at the time of displacement, how many had returned, how many had deeds, permits, grants and the extent of land held by people as residential and agricultural lands. While the relocation process was clearly problematic, the crux of the problem was that these people’s lands have been or are going to be occupied by the Army and the Air Force. As far back as 2010, we had seen large Army and Air Force camps boards marked "this land belongs to Air Force" along this road. Many of the people we met said they hold deeds to their lands. The extent of land belonging to a family seemed to vary between quarter acre to three acres based on people we talked to, although we were told some families had upto five acres. These are both residential and agricultural lands. Even those who didn’t hold deeds had been residing and cultivating for more than thirty years.

Lack of any facilities at Seeniyamoddai

A journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti with a team managed to visit Seeniyamoddai and has filed a damning report that draws attention to the pathetic plight of the re-located IDPs. Seeniyamoddai is in the middle of the jungle. The IDPs have to clear the land and put up temporary structures on their own and have no electricity, water or toilet facilities. The devastated displaced group from Keppapilavu made three demands at the protest held on 24 September. They wanted first, to be resettled in their original places. They also wanted their homes and lands to be returned in order to lead normal lives hereafter. But for them to move on, justice had to be meted out, and this meant, they wanted trials to be concluded fast and justice for those who disappeared.

Handunnetti reports further: "While the IDPs from Keppapilavu were demanding that their rights to property and human dignity be respected, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Resettlement yesterday insisted that they would be resettled in their places of origin, but refrained from stating a possible deadline. On the other hand, Government Agent for Mullaitivu, Nagalingam Vedanayagan, was quite clear that there would not be any further resettlement of these 346 IDPs. Seeniyamottai is to be their permanent home.

At the turn off to the Seeniyamottai IDP facility, there was heavy military presence. When asked whether we could at least drive past the camp, there were curt orders to ‘quickly turn back and go.’ One junior officer demanded to know whether we ‘heard of something,’ the reason for our visit. "Did you hear about resettlement? People have just come here. There is nothing for you to see there. It is a matter for the State," he insisted.

Another, gun in hand, informed that there were more adventurous things to do in Mullaitivu than visiting IDP camps. He was full of appreciation for the continued war tourism that brings in hundreds of people from the South to the North. "Have you seen Prabhakaran’s swimming pool? Why not visit his bunker? Go in that direction. If you have family and friends, go with them, but don’t come to the IDP village," he said." This attitude is confirmed by Ruki Fernando who says that he has seen busloads of "tourists" from the South with baila music blaring from the buses driving past towards the War Museum and the War memorial elegantly built by the Army. One resident had lamented that these tourists never stop to talk to the local people or inquire about their conditions of life. It is a pity that this is the attitude that is being promoted by the state agencies.

A valid question would be as to why we believe the reports of these journalists. From our past experience, we find the reports from Fernando and Handunnetti to be devoid of propaganda, devoid of any political or other agendas and far more truthful and accurate than the official government versions. Any investigation by any independent source will confirm this.

The President and the Judiciary

Another worrying development has been in the recent confrontation between the Judicial Services Commission. Earlier, there was the alleged intimidation of the Mannar Magistrate by a Cabinet Minister. While the returning Muslim refugees undoubtedly have a genuine grievance, they have been manipulated and instigated to turn to violence. But that is another story.

What concerns us more is the President’s inappropriate request to the Chief Justice and the other two senior Judges of the JSC to see him at the President’s House. This was soon after the Supreme Court had delivered its judgement on the constitutionality of the Divineguma Bill and taken disciplinary action against a judicial officer. While we have to accept the President’s explanation that there was no connection between these two developments and the Presidents’ request, we can only say that the timing was unfortunate. The President has also stated that he had only invited the JSC to discuss, just a few days before the budgetary allocations for the next year were released, the budgetary allocations for Judge’s travel and training. Discerning people, we are afraid, will not find this explanation very convincing.

The JSC authorized the Secretary to the JSC to issue a statement regarding the President’s request after it became public knowledge. What adds to this lack of conviction about the President’s explanation is his action in sharing with senior journalists a letter allegedly written by the father of a female judicial officer making charges against the Secretary of the JSC about alleged inappropriate action by Secretary vis-à-vis his daughter. Why the female judicial officer had her father write a letter to the President rather than take action herself is not known. But surely the President should have known that in complaints of this nature against a public official, there are established procedures for follow-up. That sharing such complaints with journalists is not one of them.

The President has said that as a senior lawyer he is convinced of the need to preserve the independence of the judiciary. We accept his word for that. But his action on this issue is unfortunately not in keeping with his convictions. For the dignity of his office and of the country, he must rise above making inappropriate leaks to the Press’

If our country is to achieve true reconciliation and peace – a pre-requisite for social and economic growth - we need to ensure that all our democratic institutions for good governance are safeguarded. We need to treat every person with dignity and respect, irrespective of whether we agree with that person or not. None of us can stand aloof from the struggle for justice or be indifferent to the outcome of bad governance.