The Mahinda group points out that Human Rights Chief Prince Hussein states in his report: “The failure to show progress in the above-mentioned cases only strengthens the case for the establishment of a specialized court to deal with system crimes, staffed by specialized personnel and supported by international practitioners.” With crocodile tears they claim the statement indicates that the government has been caught in a trap in respect of foreign participation due to the circumstances that had led to slow progress.
The Joint Opposition is like a bull caught in a corner, goes round and round repeating the same statement. But the disruption and uproar, it is creating are not just abuse without strategy. Racial intolerance and religious extremism, the fascistic mix, is an aged old tested instrument for this purpose. The purpose is not hidden; it is frankly declared, flaunted and avowed: “Bring chaos and violent conflicts and prepare the stage for a conspiracy to bring down the government by within this year.”
Of course; they are not in a hurry to take over; they know the blacklash of a false step could be disaster for the fascistic hooligans far beyond bourgeoisie democracy.
Geneva episode
Hence we can look into what happened at Geneva. This Geneva episode, some say is harmful to the country, with many different representations being made at the 34th session of UNHRC. However it is interesting to note a resolution co-sponsored by Lanka, are being intervened separately on behalf of different national minorities, women and a delegation on behalf of the armed forces. Coming from a free country it doesn’t look like washing the dirty linen in public.
On the contrary it shows that the government remains democratic and even though steps are taken to release the woes of the citizens, they are given the freedom to appeal to world authority. The government delegation could have adequately represented the interests of all these groups in Geneva before co-sponsoring the resolution for its citizens. But in the free society there is a difference under the new government. There is certainly a willingness to address each issue in full; gone are the days when activists lobbying in Geneva for the rights of all Lankans, whatever their national origin were threaten by the state forces. This transparency and freedom of expression is surely one of the reasons why Geneva is softer on the Lankan government today, compared with that fascistic past.
Needless to say, that the Government has the right to reject a recommendation by the UNHRC or its head. All resolutions and promises can be postponed or kept away even if those do not conflict with the constitution. If Hybrid Court suggestion is neglected, it will create a negative image among minority communities.
Here the government is rejecting one of its commitments under a resolution adopted in the world’s human rights body, with its own co-sponsorship, without any alternative to remove the fears of Sinhala hegemony in the judicial system.
When President Maithripala Sirisena says that former Chief Justice pleaded before him to extend latter’s term, promising to give judgements according to the wishes of the president; we have to agree that judicial system has been terribly degenerated. Obviously Chief Justice could not give such a degraded assurance unless he has the backing of a powerful network within the judicial system. We know that progressive sections within the judiciary joined the democratic uprising and there were changes made in the recent period. Were these enough to break the Sinhala hegemonistic interventions and sweep out the decadence brought in by the Mahinda Chinthanaya?
Prosecute and punish perpetrators
The Human Rights High Commissioner has referred to several famous cases which he calls as emblematic cases such as the murder of prisoners at the Welikada prison in 2012, killing of protesters by Army personnel at Rathupaswela in August 2013, killing of five students and 17 NGO workers in Trincomalee in 2006, the Kumarapuram massacre and disappearance of journalist Prageeth Eknaligoda. Though inquiries are made, still culprits are not exposed. Many fingers are directed at the former Defence Secretary; he has not been charged for any such offence. Does the lack of decisive progress in the above-mentioned serious well publicized cases reflect a lack of capacity or willingness of the State to prosecute and punish perpetrators of serious offences when they are linked to security forces? This appears to be a challenge to the assurance Foreign Affairs Minister Mangala Samaraweera gave at the UNHRC in 2015 in the form of a request, “don’t judge us by the broken promises, experiences and u-turns of the past.”
The failure to show progress in the above-mentioned cases only strengthens the case for the establishment of a specialized court to deal with crimes originated within the system, including defence forces. There should be a pool staffed by specialized personnel and supported by international judicial organisations. If the pool consists local judges with a Sinhala minority, then it may counter the suspicion of Sinhala hegemony. There was no attempt to mobilize non Sinhala reputed judges in these problematic cases.
This indicates that the government has been caught in a trap in respect of foreign participation due to the circumstances that had led to slow progress and lack of consciousness about the problem faced. Yes, Yahapalanaya continuously blunders; Ministers are at cross-purposes, a day does not pass without some Minister flatly contradicting another. People are expected to tolerate these anomalies as this is joint operation of traditionally hostile parties.
This is exactly the problem; fascistic rubbish accumulated in the past has to be crushed and swept out to create a democratic constitution. Those who accept this challenge should come out and fight; not to miss this chance!
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