Columns

• Covid deaths mounting; medical specialists accuse officials of mismanagement of vaccination programme
• Sri Lanka’s economy takes severe beating; PM works out $200 million currency swap deal with Bangladesh; it may go up to $500 million
• Tough resolution against Sri Lanka before US Congress; recognition for Tamil “homeland” in Northern and Eastern Provinces is the aim

Knowledgeable medical specialists warned yesterday that an impending catastrophe is far from over. Their deep concerns centered on a critical question — how many PCR tests are being conducted every day. When tests are low, those identified as positive cases are low. These figures are not shown in official statistics. The Government remains in a mode of denial though its dilemma is becoming increasingly clear. It has not learnt lessons from the previous two waves. Nor is it sticking to a clear plan of action. One area is the administration of vaccines. Those who received the first jab of AstraZeneca are still waiting for the second. For the privileged, it has not been difficult. The husband of a powerful politician of the ruling alliance has been giving chits to his cronies to inject themselves at a government office in an upper floor of a building in Wellawatte. Another opposition lady politician invited friends’ home where vaccinations were given. To say that the Government’s vaccination programme is one chaotic mess would be an understatement.  No one gets punished except the people.

Just this week, the Association of Medical Specialists urged the Government to “introduce a clear and strict vaccine rollout plan even at this late stage.” It alleged there was thuggery allegedly by Moratuwa Municipal Council Mayor Lal Fernando during the vaccination programme there. He surrendered to the Police who later arrested him for “unruly behaviour.” He has now been remanded till June 7. Earlier, the Mayor also figured in a controversy over felling trees within the Municipal Council premises. The law enforcement authorities failed to exercise their power to protect a high-ranking state official on duty, the association said. “This would be the last opportunity to intervene at the highest level to clear this mess,” the association said in a statement. Such “ugly acts,” the Association said, were also going on in Kurunegala and Galle where the rollout is now under way. The medical specialists’ body also blamed “the high-handed actions of a powerful health sector trade union” about administration of the second dose of AstraZeneca.

The Moratuwa Mayor is seen arguing with state officers handling the vaccination programme. He was later arrested and remanded after he surrendered to the Police. Pic by Rehaka Tharangani Fonseka

Substantial proof that the vaccination programme was mishandled from the beginning is seen from the reactions of some front-line health workers – Grama Seva Niladaris, Public Health Inspectors, Staff at District Secretariats, and other sectors of the government. They have been openly critical of the government. Intelligence agencies warned the Government of plans by some, who belong to trade unions, to disrupt work. They feared that would paralyze government activity which is on high gear to fight the pandemic.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa signed a proclamation on Thursday declaring some key institutions in the state sector as “essential services.” They are “the services provided by any Public Corporation, Government Department, Local Authority, Co-operative Society or any of its branches engaged in providing the services essential…..” They cover:

• All services, works or labour of any description carried out or required to be carried out by or in connection with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority established by Section 3 of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act, No. 51 of 1979.
• The supply and distribution of all fuels, including petroleum products and liquefied gas.
• All services, works, labour of any description whatsoever, necessary or required to be carried out in connection with the discharge, carriage, landing, storage, delivery and removal of oil or fuel from vessels within any port, as defined as such, for the purposes of the Customs Ordinance.
• Freight transport by Sri Lanka Railway Department and all public transport services carried out by the Sri Lanka Transport Board for passenger transport.
• Maintenance, security, and operational aspects that are essential to carry out such public services in line with service requirements.
• All type of services, works, or labour contributions which should be carried out or required to be carried out by District Secretariats, Divisional Secretariats, Grama Seva Officers, Samurdhi Development Officers, Agricultural Research Assistants including all field level officers of all District and Divisional Secretariats.
• All state banking and insurance services including the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. Waste management services carried out by the Local Authorities.

As is clear from the proclamation, these are services considered essential to the community. The order comes amidst “travel restrictions.” If indeed there were plans by trade unions to disrupt any activity in these sectors, it is abundantly clear, that they have no political backing from opposition parties. In such a situation, how could a few trade unions cripple work in any of these sectors successfully? Besides these, the foremost question is whether collectively or otherwise, such trade unions will gang up to deprive the public of any service during a national health crisis? This is like doctors refusing to treat emergency cases during a strike. They do not. They are matters of life and death. Surely, such unions would like to have public support and not antagonism. Therefore, the essential services order appears to be nothing less than a knee-jerk reaction. The Government has shot itself in the foot.

True, many frontline health sector workers are deeply disappointed over the treatment being meted out to them. Many have voiced their grievances, the non-receipt of COVID-19 vaccines to them and their families. That is quite a legitimate request. Why antagonize those working in all those sectors on suspicion that they will turn or have turned against the Government. Of course, one may argue that the move is precautionary since the Government does not want to take any chances. “This is to ensure the essential services function without disruption,” claimed Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. Such an eventuality would only mean that the Government is one step away from calling in the armed forces and the Police to ensure the services operate without hindrance. Is this move to drive fear necessary?

Will this also push those in the named essential services to find common cause with specialist doctors and others in the frontline? This too at a time when the Government’s popularity stands at an exceptionally low ebb. That it adds heavily to the credibility crisis over daily statistics is no secret.

Now, to another hilarious if not tragic aspect: Ruling alliance leaders have insisted that there should be no “lockdown” lest it affect the economy more. Hence, they named the present lockdown as “travel restrictions.” Like the former, the latter also meant people should stay indoors. Government, private sector offices and banks remain closed. So are shops. Transport services are not operative. Economic activity remains in disarray.

Extremely considerate officials with great feelings towards the public or those foolish enough decided to help during these “travel restrictions.” It is to allow the people to buy essential food items. They decreed that only one person from a family would be permitted to visit supermarkets and shops. Obviously, they were not intelligent enough to realise that just one man or woman will not be able to carry weeks of requirements on their own. Many lived kilometres away too. Two more days, May 31, and June 4, meant for shopping have now been cancelled. The “travel ban” or lockdown will continue now till June 7. They further decreed then that shoppers cannot travel in vehicles. As one of them declared before a television camera, “some are more worried that COVID-19 would infect vehicles too.”  That this epidemic is the worst Sri Lanka has faced in recent decades is all too well known. The abominable conduct of officials who are inconsiderate towards the public is shameful and not humane. The blame goes to the ruling alliance leaders, making them increasingly unpopular.

Economic crisis: Help from Bangladesh

Since early last year, the country’s economy has taken a severe beating. This is despite claims by some of the government’s financial wizards that all is still well. If there were various factors contributing towards it, the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a severe blow. The Government was forced to turn to Bangladesh, a nation that was not so long ago, touted as a poor country, for a currency swap. The nation of mainly Bengalis is only 50 years old and emerged from former East Pakistan.

The swap was the result of a visit to Dhaka by Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. Though it has remained a secret then, the visit just ahead of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva, won for the government that country’s support and the currency swap. Although the amount is now being mentioned as the equivalent of US$ 200 million, the Sunday Times has learnt that negotiations are now to raise this to US$ 500 million. However, the Bangladesh Bank has already approved the US$ 200 million equivalent. Sri Lanka has agreed to repay it in three months at the higher interest rate of LIBOR plus 2 percent. If the period goes up to six months, the interest rate would be LIBOR plus 2.5 per cent. LIBOR is the acronym for London Inter-Bank Offer Rate, and the global reference rate for unsecured short-term borrowings. The payment of a higher interest rate underscores the Government’s urgency to avoid a collapse of a deteriorating balance of payments situation.

The Daily Star, one of the English national dailies in Bangladesh, said in a front-page report: “At the end of April, Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves stood at about $4 billion, which is enough to cover the import bills for three months. (Note: Government officials say this situation has not changed). On the other hand, Bangladesh’s reserves are hitting a new high each month. At the end of April, reserves crossed the $45 billion-mark for the first time. The two countries are hoping to enter a currency swap arrangement, initiated during Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Bangladesh in March for the Golden Jubilee celebrations.

“The arrangement would allow Colombo to exchange Sri Lankan rupees for $200 million from the Bangladesh Bank, with the amount rising to $500 million. The BB board has approved in principle to provide $200 million initially at the meeting on Sunday, according to MD, Serajul Islam, its spokesperson. This week, the three-month LIBOR is 0.16 percent and 0.18 percent. For Sri Lanka, whose public and publicly guaranteed debt is estimated to have increased to 109.7 percent of GDP, this is not the first currency swap agreement it has entered this year as it desperately looks for hard currency to bolster its reserves.

“Earlier in March, it has inked a 10-billion-yuan ($1.54 billion) currency swap with China. Sri Lanka, whose economy contracted 3.6 percent in 2020, its worst growth performance on record, had sought a $1 billion currency swap agreement with India in September last year. But India, which had already extended a $400 million currency swap facility two months earlier, declined the request unless the island nation entered an International Monetary Fund debt programme, which comes with a stringent fiscal consolidation prescription.

“Only nine of the 16 IMF programmes in Sri Lanka were completed. Besides, Colombo is loath to turning to the Washington-based multilateral lender. Over the past 55 years, Sri Lanka has needed IMF bailouts 16 times, second only to Pakistan, which has gone to the IMF 20 times.

“Sri Lanka last went to the IMF in 2016, seeking a $1.5 billion extended fund facility. But that programme ended abruptly after the Rajapaksa government came to power in November last year.

“Sri Lanka’s precarious public finances meant in September last year, Moody’s, one of the three major rating agencies, downgraded the South Asian nation’s sovereign credit rating by two notches: from “B2” (high credit risk) to “Caa1” (very high credit risk). Moody’s said the South Asian nation would be hard-pressed to secure funding to service its huge foreign debt, which amounts to approximately $4 billion (annually) between 2020 and 2025.

“But extending financial help to its South Asian neighbour in its hour of need makes perfect sense to Bangladesh, which is at its wits’ end over how to make the best use of its heaving foreign reserves in the face of negative interest rates in the Western world. Usually, such currency swap arrangements happen between the central banks of a wealthier nation and a not too well-off one, said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of the Policy Research Institute, a private think-tank.

“The fact that Bangladesh is the one providing the dollars is a good ego booster,” he said, adding that Pakistan routinely enters into such agreements. There are risks involved in such deals. “There is an exchange rate risk involved, but that is on Sri Lanka. There is a country risk too — what if Sri Lanka becomes insolvent?” The sum being lent out is not a small amount, said Mansur, a former economist of the IMF. “But what Bangladesh is getting is a good rate — under the current circumstances.”

The grave financial situation has forced the Government to put on hold several projects which the Cabinet of Ministers had approved, some of them last year.  Some of these projects, in the Colombo Fort, were to free up space to complement with the Colombo Port City. They were to be brought under a new company with full Treasury participation, according to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the Minister for Urban Development. No collaboration with other countries has been planned in this sphere. On Thursday, Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena gave his assent to the Colombo Port City Commission Act. It is now law. A major international propaganda drive on the Port City is now on the drawing boards.

US Congress moves ahead with resolution on Lanka

On the international front, just two months after the devastating debacle at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Government is facing another challenge. As revealed last week in these columns, this is a resolution in the US Congress. It has now been sent to the Foreign Relations Committee for study. It is clear from the full text published below, this resolution interlocks with the one adopted in Geneva and is constructed with events spanning from 2009 when the Tiger guerrillas were militarily defeated. In some diplomatic quarters this resolution is being viewed as “much more serious” since its overriding effort is to seek recognition for a “separate homeland” for Tamils. The resolution refers to the north east of Sri Lanka as the “traditional Tamil homeland.”

The House Foreign Affairs Committee was sent the resolution on May 18 which seems to be auspicious for the Tiger guerrilla rump. They secured the “Genocide education week” in Ontario, Canada and held a commemoration event adjacent to Downing Street in London. This is despite the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) being proscribed in the United Kingdom. One is not sure what counter measures are being adopted by Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. Now to the full text of the resolution which reveals the distinct link between what transpired at the UNHRC and what is due in the US Congress. Taking issues lightly as the Government did in Geneva would only cause irreparable damage.

“Recognising 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka on May 18, 2009, honoring the lives lost, and expressing support for justice, accountability, reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform in Sri Lanka to ensure a lasting peaceful political solution and a prosperous future for all people of Sri Lanka.

“Whereas May 18, 2021, marks the 12-year anniversary of the end of the 26-year armed conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka and various armed Tamil independence organisations, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE);

“Whereas all communities suffered from violence and counterviolence during the civil war;

“Whereas the Tamil people of Sri Lanka suffered tens of thousands of deaths, disappearances, abuses, and displacements;

“Whereas in the absence of Sri Lanka implementing the recommendations of its own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission or instituting a credible justice mechanism to investigate serious crimes committed during and after the war, the United States sponsored resolutions in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2012, 2013, and 2014 calling in ever stronger terms for domestic action and reconciliation:

“Whereas the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a report in 2015 (the OISL Report) that outlined the occurrence of war crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of international humanitarian law during the war in Sri Lanka;

“Whereas following a change in government in Sri Lanka, the release of the OISL Report, and the recommendations of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the United States cosponsored with Sri Lanka a UNHRC resolution in 2015, HRC 30/1, which was reaffirmed in 2017;

“Whereas under HRC 30/1, the Sri Lankan government made transitional justice commitments for post-war reconciliation including— (1) an accountability mechanism with a special court inclusive of foreign judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and investigators; (2) a truth commission; (3) an office of missing persons; (4) an office of reparations and institutional reforms aimed at nonrecurrence; and (5) a number of confidence-building measures;

“Whereas following the Easter Sunday terror attacks and the reinstallation of the Rajapaksa government in November 2019, Sri Lanka withdrew from HRC 30/1;

“Whereas the northeastern region of the country, the traditional Tamil homeland, remains heavily militarized with up to one soldier for every two civilians in the most war affected regions;

“Whereas the Northern Provincial Council of Sri Lanka adopted in resolutions calling for an international investigation into alleged war crimes committed during the armed conflict and for a U.N.-monitored referendum in the northeastern region of the island to support the development of a permanent political solution;

“Whereas the Government of Sri Lanka has postponed provincial elections for multiple years, denying all Sri Lankans, including the Tamil people in the Northern Province and the Eastern Province, their democratic right to local representation;

“Whereas Sri Lanka’s COVID–19 response has been led and executed by the military, exacerbating longstanding concerns regarding state surveillance, harassment, and discrimination against Tamil and Muslim communities;

“Whereas a 2021 report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights found that the Government of Sri Lanka has, over the past year— (1) elevated individuals implicated in war crimes to senior governmental positions; (2) pardoned a convicted war criminal; (3) reversed key democratic reforms and consolidated power behind the office of the President; (4) obstructed efforts to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes; (5) promoted majoritarian and exclusionary rhetoric; (6) engaged in surveillance and harassment of civil society organisations and human rights advocates; and (7) allegedly employed security forces to abduct and torture dissidents;

“Whereas the report warns that
‘‘Sri Lanka’s current trajectory sets the scene for the recurrence of the policies and practices that gave rise to grave human rights violations’;

“Whereas the United States cosponsored a UNHRC resolution, HRC 46/1 (2021), led by the United Kingdom, which recognises the lack of accountability for past violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Sri Lanka and directs the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to collect, analyze, and preserve information and evidence for future accountability processes for gross violations of human rights;

“Whereas no effort has been made to bring to justice those who are alleged to have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, no investigations have begun even on emblematic cases, evidence gathering is hindered through arbitrary arrests and threats by the state, and impunity prevails in the country with the outdated and the excessively harsh Prevention of Terrorism Act, which does not comply with international standards and has still not been repealed despite repeated promises by the government;

“Whereas the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, stated in January 2021, ‘‘Given the demonstrated inability and unwillingness of the Government to advance accountability at the national level, it is time for international action to ensure justice for international crimes. States should also pursue investigations and prosecution in their national courts—under accepted principles of extraterritorial or universal jurisdiction—of international crimes committed by all parties in Sri Lanka’’;

“Whereas families of individuals who disappeared during and following the armed conflict still have no information regarding the whereabouts of their loved ones, and no lists of persons who surrendered to the government after the end of the armed conflict have been published;

“and Whereas progress on domestic and international investigations into reports of war crimes and human rights during the conflict and the promotion of reconciliation would facilitate United States engagement and investment in Sri Lanka and demonstrate support for the international rule of law:

“Now, therefore, be it 1 Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 2 (1) acknowledges the 12th anniversary of the end of the war in Sri Lanka and offers its deepest condolences to all those affected by the conflict;  honours the memory of those who died and reaffirms its solidarity with the people of all communities in Sri Lanka in their search for reconciliation,  reconstruction, reparation, and reform; (3) commends the United Nations Human  Rights Council for prioritizing the collection and preservation of evidence related to human rights violations, a process that must not be interfered with  by the Government of Sri Lanka; 6 (4) recognises the bravery and commitment of 7 advocates for justice across all communities in Sri Lanka, including the Tamil families of the disappeared, whose protests and demands for answers have at times been met with threats, intimidation,  and harassment by government security forces; urges the international community to advocate for and protect the political rights and representation of the historically oppressed northeastern region of Sri Lanka and work towards a permanent political solution to address the underlying issues that led to ethnic conflict;

“Recommends the United States explore investigations and prosecutions pursuant to the recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and urges the United States to work with the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a credible and effective international mechanism for accountability for the grave crimes committed during the war in Sri Lanka.

“Resolved, That the House of Representatives— (1) acknowledges the 12th anniversary of the end of the war in Sri Lanka and offers its deepest condolences to all those affected by the conflict;

“(2) Honours the memory of those who died and reaffirms its solidarity with the people of all communities in Sri Lanka in their search for reconciliation, reconstruction, reparation, and reform;

“(3) Commends the United Nations Human Rights Council for prioritizing the collection and preservation of evidence related to human rights violations, a process that must not be interfered with by the Government of Sri Lanka;

“(4) recognises the bravery and commitment of advocates for justice across all communities in Sri Lanka, including the Tamil families of the disappeared, whose protests and demands for answers have at times been met with threats, intimidation, and harassment by government security forces;

“(5) urges the international community to advocate for and protect the political rights and representation of the historically oppressed northeastern region of Sri Lanka and work towards a permanent political solution to address the underlying issues that led to ethnic conflict;

“(6) recommends the United States explore investigations and prosecutions pursuant to the recommendations of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights;

“and (7) urges the United States to work with the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council, and the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a credible and effective international mechanism for accountability for the grave crimes committed during the war in Sri Lanka.”

The resolution is now in the pipeline. Its outcome depends on the decision to be made by the Foreign Relations Committee. Obviously, the Sri Lanka Embassy in Washington DC will have to work hard in not letting the resolution through. Otherwise, the LTTE rump is sure to portray an approved resolution as recognition of their homeland.

The resolution if passed heaps trouble for Sri Lanka as it would establish the way forward for the US acting, especially in the international multilateral context.

While many run complacent with the ability of China and Russia’s  veto being available to throw out action sought to be prescribed by the UNSC, that holds water vis-à-vis a resolution,. However, it will not hold if there are moves to put Sri Lanka on the UNSC agenda which could bring in dictates too. To put a country on the UNSC agenda needs most of the votes and veto has no place in that situation. Work is cut out on the diplomatic side.

Be it in the conduct of foreign relations or in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government has quite clearly floundered making one colossal blunder after another. It just cannot afford to let such issues reach saturation point on the one hand and run around with a begging bowl on the other.