militarisation

In November 1936, during the Battle for Madrid in the Spanish Civil War, Dolores Ibarruri or La Pasionaria as she came to be known, the impassionate Left orator and freedom fighter, issued the famous slogan ‘No Pasaran – They Will Not Pass’. Can similar sentiments be aroused about amendments to or repeal of a constitutional […]

(Image courtesy of ENS) Sri Lanka government is using intelligence services to find out improper ways and means in the production of Ceylon Tea, it has been revealed. A presidential media unit (PMD) report says that “Based on intelligence information the Special Task Force of the Police and the Police raid tea factories which produce […]

Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, Chief of Defence Staff and Commander of the Army on Tuesday (15) presided a conference with the Chief Signal Officer, Director Information Technology and several other professional IT Officers on the possibility of taking over the printing and issuing process of the Driving License of the Department of Motor Traffic. On […]

As public concern over Sri Lanka’s draft 20th Amendment to the Constitution increases exponentially since this amendment was gazetted on 2nd September 2020, so do the sheer absurdity of the justifications thereto.  Cunning and deplorably simplistic explanations are put forward by some in Government ranks. It is bad enough that the Justice Minister asks as to what […]

Alleges Buddhist monk member of Task Force stopping farmers from cultivating on around 1000 acres of land in Thiriyai area Writes to President requesting action to allow farmers to continue their cultivation   Says many returned to farming after the end of war and have to cultivate by 15 Sep. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. […]

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) just secured a landslide victory in parliamentary polls, bringing back Mahinda Rajapaksa as Prime Minister. Admiral Jayanath Colombage, foreign secretary and former commander of the Sri Lankan Navy, spoke with Rudroneel Ghosh on the implications of the return of the Rajapaksas, and Sri Lanka’s equations with India and China:How […]

The SLPP struck a chord projecting political stability and capitalising on failures of the previous coalition government. The results of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election held on Wednesday show a seismic shift in the country’s electoral map as well as the balance of political power. The near two-thirds parliamentary majority, easily achieved by the Sri Lanka […]

Image Courtesy fo  IANS. When globalisation was the dominant concept for looking at the world, pandemics were discussed as a global security issue. The objective was to see how pandemics have an impact on global security, and how to prepare for them. Now that one is happening, it is interesting to look at the response. […]

War is a continuation of politics by other means’ is a saying of a Prussian general, Karl Von Clausewitz around two centuries ago. In recent times in this country, the use of this Prussian military and political wisdom is observed in the reverse. Politics, it appears, continues to be subject in multiple ways from the […]

Image: Due to the increased involvement of the Ministry of Defence in the prison system, the approach to ‘reform’ is rooted in a military mindset and ethos –  by Ruwan Walpola. The dysfunctional prison system discussed in the preceding section requires to be fundamentally changed. Yet, the root causes of the dysfunctionality are not being […]

File photo of Civil Defence Force, Sri Lanka. During the fourth meeting held bu the president Rajapaksa with the Buddhist Advisory Council held at the Presidential Secretariat today (24) the possibility of obtaining the services of the Civil Defence Force in the implementation of programme of conserving archaeological sites and antiquities was also explored, says […]

Image courtesy Daily FT/ by Ruwan Walpola. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa placed ‘prison reform’ on the government’s public policy agenda following an unannounced visit to the Welikada prison complex in February 2020. While this might appear progressive, particularly given the dysfunctional prison system in Sri Lanka, the government’s understanding of prison ‘reform’ and the strategies the […]

An attitude of arrogant myopia; rejection of the outlook of scientific rationality; regarding intelligence-gathering as sufficient and downgrading scientific medical investigation/data collection/analysis (hence the Sri Jayewardenepura pullout); ignoring the Chief Epidemiologist-led, medical specialist-driven, globally acknowledged best practices constituting the managerial model of successful COVID-19 suppression; brusque contradiction of the warnings of the GMOA; a pandemic […]

BACKGROUND Sri Lanka is slowly emerging from the lockdown imposed to contain the COVID-19 outbreak and heading towards the General Elections that is scheduled to be held on the 2nd August. At this moment, three factors dominate Sri Lanka’s social and political landscape. The first is the militarization of government and governance. The second is […]

Last month (May 2020) a Magistrate in Jaffna had withdrawn quarantine orders against the organizers of end of war commemorations, based on appeals by lawyers.[1] At least three lawyers have faced reprisals in the days afterwards. Attorney-at-Law Mr. Roy Dilaksan’s house was reported to have been attacked by unknown persons.[2]  Another lawyer who had appeared for the […]

Image: To combat this, a critical mass of civil society must mount an apolitical challenge to the political establishment . Governance in Sri Lanka today is transitioning from a constitutional (albeit flawed) system of checks and balances to tugs of war between competing political power centres that are constrained not by the Constitution or statute […]

Sri Lanka: End Persecution of Journalist: Dharisha Bastians Targeted for Reports, Defense of Human Rights (New York) – The Sri Lankan authorities should stop targeting, intimidating, and harassing journalist and woman human rights defender, Dharisha Bastians, and her family. The Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Front Line […]

Image: Relatives and friends of Ramalingham protested against his killing, staging a sit-in protest blocking the Kandy-Jaffna A9 Highway. A 24-year-old man has died after being shot and killed by Sri Lankan army soldiers earlier this evening, with locals taking to the streets to protest his murder. The incident occurred this evening in Muhamalai, at approximately […]

The voyage from Serendib to Sri Lanka through Ceylon continues to be an uninterrupted tale of opportunities lost, scorned and spurned. The brutal end to the quarter-century war with the Tamil Tiger separatists in 2009 brought an unprecedented opportunity for the government to heal the Sinhala–Tamil ethnic divide. But now a new front is opening, one against Sri Lanka’s […]

Image: A Presidential Task Force appointed for Archaeological Heritage Management in the Eastern Province, and focusing on Pottuvil in Ampara District, has more to its innocuous title than strikes the eyes. I will tell you a little secret about archaeologists, dear reader. They all pretend to be very high-minded. They claim that their sole aim […]

“From now until the elections, we will not know when, and where, and how the fireball will fall on us, and what the nature of that fireball will be.” Arundathi Roy (Election Season in a Dangerous Democracy – The New York Review of Books – 3.9.2018) The Eastern province is the most ethno-religiously pluralist slice of […]

To those who scoffed that the Gotabaya Rajapaksa Presidency would not come in with a sweepingly heavy hand after the first few months of sweetness and charm, this frightening moment of the iron hand in the iron glove that Sri Lanka is experiencing at its onset must surely teach otherwise. These are admissions that Sri […]

The Rule of Law and Democratic Governance. At the Annual National law Conference 2020 organised by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka 2020, President Gotabaya Rajapakse in the course of his address said “the time has come for all stakeholders including the judiciary, government, legal fraternity, and all other citizens concerned, to work together and […]

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed a Task Force of the heavy mob, which will press its collective knee into the neck of the new, socially legitimate Parliament that will arise thanks to the Supreme Court judgment which cleared the way for the Election Commission to name a date for voting. Lankans live at the overlap of […]

Sri Lanka Brief Fact Sheet: Militarisation and Securitization of Government and Governance in Sri Lanka. June 2020. Here is the list of military appointments made by president Gotabhaya Rajapaksa outside the military establishments. 1. Major General (Rtd) Kamal Gunaratne: -Secretary of Defence (November 2020)i -TRCSL- Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka – The Regulator of […]

The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) is concerned by threats to democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka as the government of Sri Lanka responds to the Covid-19 crisis. Recent developments could lead to interference in civilian parliamentary governance by the military, and to a disregard for Constitutional rules and the Rule of Law.  […]

Colombo based Think Tank the Centre for Policy Alternatives has published  a highly critical  discussion paper on the presidential Tasks Forces (PTF) appointed by the president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The discussion paper looks at the recently established two PTFs from strictly legal point of view. Excerpts form the discussion paper follows: Introduction Sri Lanka has witnessed […]

The Gazette notification on the SL Presidential Task Force (PTF) for Archaeological Heritage Management in East has particular instructions on allocating lands to archaeological sites. It is a move to give legal force to the dubious archaeological claims made by the Sinhala Buddhist groups in the East, commented Jaffna-based Attorney, academic and civil society activist […]

In what must surely count as one of the most hilarious, unintentionally ironic and terrifying proclamations ever uttered by a modern head of state, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has established a task force to “create a virtuous, disciplined and lawful society” in the country. Terrifying: the body, led by Defense Secretary Kamal Gunaratne, consists almost exclusively […]

5th June 2020, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned with the appointment this week of two Presidential Task Forces by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. These appointments came soon after the Supreme Court refused leave to proceed to all petitioners on the subject of the dissolution of Parliament for more than […]