By Mohamed Harees –

Lukman Harees

‘Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was prohibited’ – Robert Kennedy

With apologies to John Donne (1572-1631), it is the reality that funeral bell that tolls for one person’s death, then, will also tolls for others too, Funeral tolling is an old ritual where a bell is rung several times with long pauses between each strike. This ritual is to announce either a death or burial service. As Sri Lanka is facing much suffering going through one of the world’s worst economic crises for most of the year, marked by soaring inflation, food and fuel shortages, and low supplies of foreign reserves, Ranil-Rajapaksa alliance is engaged in collective scheming and machinations as they seek to maintain, consolidate, and grow their power, influence, and wealth–at each other’s expense, irony is that people are still failing to see through this ‘game of  thrones’.

Both Rajapaksa and Ranil camps have been playing cat and mouse with the people of Sri Lanka, exchanging tongue in the cheek ‘accusations’ against each other, while a once proud nation has already reached the ‘failed state’ station. Comical indeed! While UNP stated that ‘Ranil did not take up the job to protect the Rajapaksas or to do their bidding, and that those who had to climb out of the Beira lake in their underwear would do well to remember that Mahinda said at a meeting in Kalutara, that he believed that President Ranil Wickremesinghe has returned to ‘the right path’. My foot! At this SLPP meeting, the old guard resolved to rise up together with Rajapakse’, despite knowing that how out of step both camps were with the people’s aspirations and mood. However, as Mahinda reiterated SLPP will continue this journey by supporting him, in a well bonded ‘Ranil-Rajapaksa’ relationship. 

It looks like that the new government in Colombo, has settled in and received help from bilateral and multilateral donors. However, even with the increased support, Sri Lanka’s economy continues to sputter, and core public grievances remain unresolved and its immediate economic outlook looks grim and the country still seems like a powder keg—susceptible to more mass protests—particularly as the public face new austerity measures. As FP article reported, ‘anticipating more unrest, Wickremesinghe has imposed restrictions on protest in recent weeks, but such moves have only provoked public demonstrations. Sri Lankans have many reasons to come back to the streets: continued economic stress (which could worsen if fresh austerity measures are implemented), anger about an unelected government with close ties to the Rajapaksas, and demands for Sri Lanka to file criminal charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa—an unlikely prospect as long as his allies remain in power’. 

As it stands, Ranil’s reliance on Rajapaksas’ political party for his parliamentary majority weakens his political credibility in the eyes of the public. Thus, as it looks, many Sri Lankans won’t be appeased until elections take place—and Ranil will not allow it until he serves out a term that doesn’t end until November 2024. Thus, it is not surprising that Ranil regime is authorising crackdown on the protest movement, and criminalising those activists as  they cannot tolerate challenges to the president’s so-called ‘economic relief’ agenda from the street and Ranil’s unwillingness to accede to the movement’s demands for deep political reforms for cleaner and more efficient governance. 

The IMF agreement also requires the government to make a series of delicate policy changes, protest movement was demanding, at least without major international pressure. These potential reforms include abolishing the executive presidency, prosecution and recovery of assets in cases of major financial corruption, and laws to regulate campaign financing. Despite Sri Lankan government’s assurance to establish a Truth Commission on the lines of the South African model, no signs are in the horizon to take the concrete steps needed to end the rampant impunity for crimes allegedly committed by security forces during the war and the politically powerful. As a recent ‘Crisis group’ report stresses, The IMF deal presents important leverage, in order to pressure the government to hold parliamentary elections at the earliest opportunity and on the government ceasing the clampdown on protest leaders, as well as credible anti-corruption efforts.

However, as the situation worsened, when thousands of protesters took to the streets, calling for the Government to take responsibility for the crisis, instead, the Sri Lankan authorities responded harshly to demonstrators, engaging on serious human rights violations previously documented by HR watchdog AI. AI says, ‘the Sri Lankan authorities  do not seem to take any tangle steps to mitigate the widespread human rights cost of [this] crisis, which has cruelly stripped away people’s rights’. Meanwhile , political corruption is continuing, regardless of international concerns, with a rogue filled COPE committee being appointed and a string of corruptive practices continuing amid the economic crisis, as pointed out by former COPE Chair Dr Charitha Herath. 

Already widespread arrests are being made by the Police, throwing the human rights and constitutional rights to free speech to the winds. Ranil’s arrogance knew no bounds with human rights being grossly violated , giving scant regard to all norms of civilised governance and conduct. Many repressive measures are being undertaken  to further bolster the state apparatus, clearly is in response to the eruption of mass anti-government protests, which began in April involving millions of workers and rural poor. They are also in preparation for the inevitable re-emergence of the mass struggles in response to a new round of International Monetary Fund (IMF) austerity He fails to realise that bells will soon toll for him and his likes as well. 

It was due to the international pressure  and that of Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka which led the government to take a U turn, a week later and revoke the ban on protests around key public buildings covering large parts of Colombo, imposed earlier by invoking the rarely used Official Secrets Act. Besides, the desperate attempts by Ranil & Co. to demonise the protest movement – particularly the Inter-University Students’ Federation – by labelling it as “terrorist”, should also be deplored too. Already its convenor Wasantha Mudalige and a student monk, are under custody under stringent PTA laws- a law which is being widely condemned by human rights community both local and global for being partial, biased and discriminatory, in application. On September 27, the public administration secretary, following a government directive, also issued a circular banning state employees from criticising the government on social media platforms.

Then, adding salt to the pestering wound relating to the worsening human rights situation, the government released a new repressive Bureau of Rehabilitation bill. Already Supreme Court is due to hear petitions arguing that the bill is unconstitutional. Similar measures like this retrograde piece of legislation were in force during the 30-year bloody communal war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam with many of those arrested declared “ex-combatants” and sent to rehabilitation centres. Some of those arrested simply disappeared, others were tortured. Those that were released have been under constant surveillance by intelligence agencies. Its duties and functions of the bureau set up under this bill, are to “rehabilitate ex-combatants, members of violent extremist groups and any other group of persons who requests treatment and rehabilitation or is required by law to be provided with treatment and rehabilitation.” In other words, any individual from a broad range of political parties or groups, including those fighting for social and democratic rights, could be incarcerated in the rehabilitation centres. Civil rights lawyers opposing the bill say that it does not include any judicial processes and point out that police could arrest anyone and directly send them to the rehabilitation camps.

A UN Report has already said, that ‘impunity for past and present human rights abuses, economic crimes and corruption were the underlying causes for the island nation’s collapse. For sustainable improvement, it is vital to recognise and assist Sri Lanka to address the underlying factors, which have contributed to this crisis, including embedded impunity for past and present human rights abuses, economic crimes and corruption’, the Report said. ‘The broad-based demands by Sri Lankans from all communities for accountability and democratic reforms presented an important starting point for a new and common vision for the future, and fundamental changes will be required to address the current challenges and to avoid the repetition of the human rights violations of the past’ it further said.

United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada Al-Nashif delivering a speech at the U.N. offices in Geneva, in Sept. 2022 too stressed ‘Impunity remains a central obstacle to the rule of law, reconciliation and Sri Lanka’s sustainable peace and development. This impunity continues to embolden those committing human rights violations and has created fertile ground for corruption and the abuse of power, as well as contributing to the present economic crisis.” In response, Sri Lanka’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ali Sabry, added the immediate concern was economic recovery, but advancing the human rights of Sri Lankan people was of equal importance.

However, as time and again the global community has seen, successive Sri Lankan governments making commitments to the Human Rights Council that are then broken or disavowed, the international financial institutions, along with the government of Sri Lanka, must also conduct human rights impact assessments before implementing economic reforms. It however remains unclear as to whether these have been or will be conducted. International community represented by the UN as well as the HR watchdogs need to therefore impress upon Ranil’s new government with its repressive HR track records that bells will toll for them soon enough. They should press Sri Lanka on its commitments and call for action now to end the abuses that are taking place, while renewing and enhancing the UN’s mandates to monitor the situation and pursue accountability for past abuses’. 

United Nations Acting High Commissioner for Human Rights also added,’I encourage the new government to embark on a national dialogue to advance human rights and reconciliation and to carry out the deeper institutional, democratic and security sector reforms needed to restore the independence of key institutions, to combat impunity, to prevent the recurrence of human rights violations, and to tackle the economic crisis’. Although pressure can be exerted from outside, the initiative to stand up against State repression should therefore come from within, locally.

As lawyer/HR defender and a victim of State repression Hejaaz Hisbullah said, ‘It seems freedom is what we carve out for ourselves through courage. Desperate times have pushed people to desperate measures, and they have now overcome their fears and are fighting for their freedom. They are fighting in the legal space that has been created through years of jurisprudence. The theoretical space has now been occupied in real time and I feel is also being expanded. All good news! However, this is not due to any state intervention but due to the actions of people responding to the dire circumstances they find themselves in’.In answer to a question by CIVICUS Monitor, ‘How can international civil society and the international community support criminalised human rights defenders?’, Hejaz responded, ‘When human rights activists are arrested, the state would like the whole world to forget them. They hope grand allegations and prolonged detentions will suffocate everyone’s will and resolve to fight. Civil society and the international community can help us by keeping us alive outside the prison walls: by asking the important questions and putting pressure on the government to justify its actions’.

It is as yet unclear how firm the global/ UNHRC’s resolve will be in taking action for change. However, with an international spotlight on various human rights violations suffered especially by the poor and minorities, those in power may ultimately find it hard to avoid being held to account for their treatment of other Sri Lankans; and to realise that the bells will toll for them soon too, in style. In the coming days, it will be of utmost importance for local pressure be kept alive amid State repression, to ensure that the rule of law is re-established and upheld to provide confidence to the people and restore their faith in institutions.’‘ Failure to do so would lead to the already deepening of the economic crisis snowballing into an uncontrollable humanitarian crisis, never seen before.