Reflections on Sri Lanka’ Constitution

Posted on October 7, 2010 by srilankalawlessness
H.A. Parackrama Karunaratne (28) of No. 34, Badiwewa, Ma Oya,Jayanthipura, Polonnaruwa went to make a complaint of gambling near his house. He was arrested, tortured and hand cuffed to a tree while his other wrist was cuffed to his leg by a sergeant of the Ma Oya Police Post on 26 April 2010.

The picture above speaks for itself. It depicts what happened to a young man who went to get police assistance to stop illegal gambling happening near his house.

When the man went to police station to find about what action had been taken on his complaint the police sergeant who had earlier taken down the complaint behaved strangely. The picture shows what he did to the complainant.

Why did the sergeant do that? No Sri Lankan will find it hard to guess — the gamblers knew how to get the police officer on their side.

There is nothing unusual about the story. It is now, more often than not an example of what happens in both small and very serious matters.

The citizen that does the right thing gets into trouble and one who dares to do wrong thrives — in everything — business, politics et all.

The situation prevailing in the country is what is known as abysmal lawlessness. To go by the law is to be the loser while the law breaker is the winner.

The all important question is how did this come about? How did this happen? The answer is very simple – it was by way of the country’s constitution, which was adopted in 1978. It was a constitution made to defeat law and discipline; to create an almighty ruler, who is above the law — a supremo — a brother who is number one.

The result is the chaos we see every day.

To fail to understand this is to fail to understand anything about Sri Lanka.

Without law, without control of corruption, what can policing mean, except what is depicted in this cartoon.

The case mentioned above took place a short time ago. For details please refer to the story below; (more…)

Filed under: abductions, Constitution, corruption, fundermental rights, illegal arrest, illegal detention, Judiciary, justice, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka, torture, violations | Leave a Comment »

Street protests against the denial of fair trial

Posted on October 7, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

“Now, there are street protests to demand fair trials and justice. These acts of protest demonstrate the frustrations of the people against the entire political system based on 1978 Constitution. The insanity of the constitutional thinking has now begun to destroy the citizen’s belief in the right to a fair trial.”

Perhaps for the first time in Sri Lankan history, many people have taken to the streets in the last few days to protest against the abuse of the judicial process and to demand fairness. Some lawyers were quoted by the media as saying, “Now, we have to demand justice from the gods, unseeing forces, as there is no justice in Sri Lanka”. The present regime has acquired the justifiable reputation that it dares to manipulate justice and have its opponents punished without regard to the right to fair trial and due process. It is proving that the executive president can, indeed, do anything, except making a man into a woman or vice versa, as was claimed by the first executive president, J.R. Jayewardene. The denial of fair trial has been both seen and felt by the people and the street protests demonstrate this frustration.

(more…)

Filed under: Judiciary, justice, politics, President, rule of law, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment »

Enjoying Revenge

Posted on August 24, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

Two cabinet ministers laughed in public about the police assault of two opposition Members of Parliament at the Galle police station. They added to their laughter by adding to the story, saying that nothing else is to be expected when anyone tries to assault police officers inside a police station. That was a twist to their merriment. The two ministers were also showing that truth is whatever they say it is. Truth was unimportant. They also referred to JVP’s past, saying they have done this kind of thing in the past. Ha, Ha, Ha.

If a Tory MP was assaulted, by some strange chance, the reaction of the Labor government (or vice versa) would be very different. There would have been an expression of horror and immediately there would have been action against the police officers through a high level inquiry. The political coloring of the victim MPS would have been irrelevant. The status of the Members of the Parliament would have been the primary consideration. All attempts would been taken to assure the public that such things are not taken lightly.

The least that the two ministers could have done before they opened their mouth on the incident was call for an inquiry and to wait for the report. That way they could have kept their own dignity and helped to preserve the dignity of the position of the members of parliament. (more…)

Filed under: civil war, extrajudicial killings, human rights, justice, police, rule of law, Sri Lanka, torture, violations | Leave a Comment »

A mother burns the mouths of two little children who were crying for food

Posted on July 30, 2010 by srilankalawlessness
 A mother burned the mouths of two children who were crying for food. The two children were girls, one and half and five years old. The mother has been arrested and is presently in remand custody. The incident took place on the 28th July at Awissawela.

A few months ago a mother threw one of her children into Kalu Ganga as she was no position to feed her children. At the same time another mother handed over her children to a court to get them into intuitional care, as she too was in no position to feed them.

This tragedy should be an eye opener for everyone. It is easy to blame this woman and even to call her a psychopath. That kind of name calling is the easy way that we often use to trick ourselves.

A mother being unable to deal with the demands for food of her very young children is one of the most difficult human situations. Motherhood is associated with idea of the giving of food and love. A mother feeds her children with her own milk. (more…)

Filed under: child rights, civil society, justice, politics, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment »

A three-part study on the crisis in institutions for administration of justice in Sri Lanka

Posted on July 1, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

This year I was able to complete my work on the relationship between the crisis in institutions for administration of justice and its consequences for the realisation of human rights in Asia. This work consists of three publications. The first was The phantom limb, which was published in 2009. It was followed by Recovering the authority of public institutions, which was also published in 2009. This year the work was completed with another publication, Sri Lanka: Impunity, criminal justice and human rights. Though all three books are studies of Sri Lanka, they are intended as case studies of a problem common to almost all parts of Asia, except for some places like Hong Kong and South Korea with comprehensive rule of law systems.

Stating the problem

The phantom limb: Failing judicial systems, torture and human rights work in Sri Lanka (AHRC, Hong Kong, 2009, 80 pp)

The first publication is perhaps the most important one in its articulating of the basic understanding of the problem. A medical doctor who attended a presentation I made on the absence of institutions for administrations of justice and its impact on human rights suggested the term “phantom limb”. In response to my speech, he said that the situation I described was known as the phantom limb syndrome. An amputee who has lost a limb continues to imagine that he has that limb and even feels pain in the limb. The problem of institutions for administration of justice is similar. (more…)

Filed under: abductions, civil society, crime, extrajudicial killings, fundermental rights, human rights, Judiciary, justice, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment »

The failure of international journalism in Sri Lanka

Posted on June 29, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

“Today, what remains of democracy and the rule of law in Sri Lanka is no different to the dream that amputees have about the continued existence of their lost limbs. The phantom limb complex prevails, while in reality, justice is impossible for those who have been victims of political crimes, as well as those who have suffered serious crimes, such as murder or rape.”
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For many decades now, international journalists have interpreted every story that has emerged from Sri Lanka to be some kind of war story. Some journalists have proposed that Sri Lanka’s use of overwhelming force was able to eradicate terrorism in the country, and that other countries such as the United States, should follow suit. The pathetic failure of international journalism is demonstrated by these endeavours.

In recent years, Sri Lanka has undergone a systemic collapse, as the rule of law system and any semblance of democracy have crumbled. This is a story that has never been portrayed adequately by international journalists; instead, almost all journalists continue to refer to Sri Lanka as a democracy. Journalists focus on Sri Lanka as a war zone, and there is little reflection about the development of Sri Lanka outside of the discourse of war.
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Depuis maintenant plusieurs décennies, les journalistes internationaux ont interprété toutes les histoires venues du Sri Lanka comme autant d’histoires de guerre. Certains ont suggéré que l’utilisation massive de la force a permis d’éradiquer le terrorisme au Sri Lanka et que d’autres pays comme les Etats-Unis devraient suivre cet exemple. Ces tentatives d’analyse démontrent l’échec pathétique qu’a connu le journalisme international au Sri Lanka……..

Click here to read full text of this article in French

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In the south, the Sri Lankan government carried out one of the most ruthless acts of repression in history, killing tens of thousands of civilians between the 1970s and 1990s. (more…)

Filed under: abductions, Constitution, corruption, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, Judiciary, justice, media, rule of law, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment »

Nattami who fought against police brutality

Posted on June 3, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

Ugly Things and Beautiful People—Part 1

 He was an old man, surely over the age of 70. He wore a sarong and an old shirt. By looking at him one could tell that he was obviously a very strong person. He was tall and dark in complexion. One day he went to talk to two lawyers; both were much younger than he and physically lesser in stature and he had no particular reason to trust either of them. However, he had come in search of help and knew that he needed to talk to them. He had already tried with a few others and failed but could not afford to give up.

He repeated his story to two lawyers. It was about his 17-year-old grandson who had been arrested by the police for no apparent reason. Having learned of the arrest he went to the police station and found the boy lying unconscious on the floor of a holding cell. Thinking that the boy was dead he cried out in anguish; a cry that came from the depths of his soul. He then shouted out at the top of his voice, “You have killed my grandson”. (more…)

Filed under: abductions, attorney general, civil society, corruption, extrajudicial killings, human rights, illegal arrest, Judiciary, justice, police, Poverty, Sri Lanka, Supreme Court, torture, violations | Leave a Comment »

Sri Lanka: The Emergence of the Power of the Intelligence Apparatus

Posted on April 23, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

A Book Review

A Comment By Tapan Bose

 The book “Sri Lanka: Impunity, Criminal Justice and Human Rights” authored by Basil Fernando and published by the Asian human Rights Commission is about Sri Lanka’s descent into utter lawlessness. The book is not a chronicle of events. The book provides us an insight into “abysmal lawlessness and the zero status of the citizens”, the militarisation of the state, the bypassing of the constitution and the levels of impunity that the executive enjoys.The author inquires into how such a situation could arise in Sri Lanka where the institution of parliamentary democracy was introduced nearly eight decades ago.

Basil Fernando tells us that the very foundation of Universal Human Rights, which is based on the concept of “equality for all” and “equal treatment before the law” remains an alien notion to the ruling elite of these countries. These countries might have adopted constitutions that granted basic fundamental rights to all citizens and ratified various international human rights covenants. Yet among the ruling elite of the post colonial countries of South Asia, the ruling elite continued to remain rooted into the region’s feudal and caste based systems of governance and justice. The sad reality is that even after sixty years of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and enormous investment by the UN and other international agencies in the propagation, education and training in Human rights, the vary basic of these rights are still not available to the people of the countries of South Asia. (more…)

Filed under: civil society, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, fundermental rights, Judiciary, justice, media, rule of law, Supreme Court, torture | Leave a Comment »

No justice–no nation–one justice–one nation

Posted on April 9, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

“The common criteria for justice and the capacities to mete out those criteria which are available to all the citizens is the only common bond that would last and would ensure that differences are ironed out by ideologies of tolerance and linkages are built among the groups and sectors of society.”

What makes a nation a nation is above all the justice that prevails within that nation. It is justice that creates the bond between the people. Justice connects one with the other. Justice among the people is the one thing that is common to all in a nation if it exists. Justice binds one person or group or a particular nationality with different races and religions. Justice provides the actual bondage between genders. Justice creates the bondage irrespective of culture and language. Justice is the common language of a nation that wants to stay together and the absence of justice is the characteristic of any nation that courts disunity, instability, violence between groups and individuals. Without the bond of justice no other kind of reconciliation or inner levels of understanding and friendship can be built.

However, this area of the presence and absence of justice has ceased to be discussed when dealing with problems of violence, conflicts and the problems of dealing with even issues of terrorism and anti terrorism. Once the factor of justice is removed from the discourse of any of these subjects, voluminous discourses can be created but no real solutions can be found to any of the problems that are being discussed. In an attempt to undo violence more violence is created which in turn creates counter-violence and the cycle goes on. In the attempt to impose the power of one group over another a similar kind of cycle takes place where one power is resisted by another power which at the end develops into conflict. Conflicts in turn develop into direct or indirect violence and violence enjoys the cycle mentioned above. (more…)

Filed under: civil society, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, justice, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka, violations | Leave a Comment »

Absence of fairness and executive control of legal process

Posted on April 1, 2010 by srilankalawlessness

No citizen has a special privilege where committing crimes is concerned. Whether the crime is that of murder or rape, income tax fraud or the non-disclosure of information relating to income, it makes no difference. All citizens are bound by the same laws and therefore, those who violate such laws, irrespective of their standing in society; they should be subjected to the same consequences.

The unfortunate situation in Sri Lanka is that this elementary principle does not operate in the country. On the one hand some are allowed to commit crimes and get away with it while on the other certain persons are selected for prosecution and punishment. In this situation there is an underlying arbitrariness and unfairness. It is this unfairness in the operation relating to the basic law with regard to the crimes themselves that justifies the classification of Sri Lanka being among the most lawless countries in the world. This is not due to the lack of laws but rather the lack of the principles of fairness in the application of the laws.

“Having similar crimes and similar methods of dealing with complaints regarding criminal activities is the very essence of a society based on the rule of law and justice. Citizens must be able to complain when crimes are committed should expect that similar investigations and other legal measures will be taken to deal with these crimes.” (more…)

Filed under: civil society, corruption, crime, extrajudicial killings, fundermental rights, human rights, Judiciary, justice, media, police, politics, rule of law, Sri Lanka | Leave a Comment »

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