Saturday 12 February 2022

Sri-Lanka - Will it be the Next Singapore or the Next North Korea?

 


The Rajapaksa brothers delivering Prosperity and Splendour!


“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists” Ernest Hemingway

 

The Rajapaksa regime has blamed the Covid pandemic for Sri-Lanka’s economic problems. However, this is just another deception of the discredited and incompetent regime.

Sri-Lanka faced a food shortage in 1952. It agreed a barter arrangement with China to get rice in return for rubber – because Sri-Lanka did not have enough foreign currency reserves.

Late last year, it agreed with Iran to pay off debt using tea - because Sri-Lanka does not still have enough foreign currency reserves!

Sri-Lanka has been under a state of emergency since 1971. In the early 1970s, the economy collapsed and it faced food shortages.

The Rajapaksa brothers control most of the important ministries and are involved in massive corruption and fraud.

The Rajapaksa brothers are also suspected War Criminals alongside many members of the military.

Successive Sri-Lankan regimes have printed money and mismanaged the economy. In 1950, one US dollar bought Rs 5.00. Today, one US dollar can buy more than Rs 200.00

Sri-Lanka is now facing bankruptcy and it recently borrowed US $200 million from Bangladesh. The Sri-Lankan regime is going on begging tours to various countries.

 

Fake Promises and Pipe Dreams

In 1978, JR Jayawardena promised to make Sri-Lanka the next Singapore and failed to deliver! Instead, he centralized power by changing the constitution and he was responsible for the civil war that lasted for more than 25 years.

After failing to become the next Singapore, in 2009 Mahinda Rajapaksa promised to make Sri-Lanka a Wonder of Asia!

After failing to become a Wonder of Asia, last year, the Rajapaksa brothers promised to deliver Prosperity and Splendour.

The Rajapaksa brothers are now delivering Prosperity and Splendour to themselves while ordinary people starve!

Secret files reveal Rajapaksa ruling family member and husband used secret companies to stash riches around the world:

https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/sri-lanka-rajapaksa-family-offshore-wealth-power/



Bankrupt Economy

Sri-Lanka’s current economic problems are not new. These can be traced back to numerous blunders and state-sponsored terrorism of successive Sri-Lankan regimes since 1948.

Sri-Lanka faced a food shortage and an economic crisis in 1952. It signed an agreement with China to get rice in return for rubber.

https://ceylontoday.lk/news/hard-road-to-sino-ceylon-rubber-rice-pact

In December last year, Sri-Lanka agreed to offer tea to Iran to settle its debt of US $251 million.

Sri Lanka plans to pay off Iran oil debt with tea:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59753873


Sri-Lanka’s current economic problems were predictable and predicted, as shown here in an article published in 2013:

https://sri-lankahumanrights.blogspot.com/2013/04/why-sri-lanka-will-become-skint-lanka.html

Sri-Lanka has been busy printing money! 

From December 2019 to August 2021, Sri Lanka's money supply increased by 2.8 trillion rupees - a massive 42% increase, while the economy grew only 2% during the same period!


https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Sri-Lanka-s-economy-seen-as-a-ticking-time-bomb

https://www.dailynews.lk/2021/12/13/business/267142/state-owned-enterprise-losses-mount-staggering-rs-12-trillion

Sri Lanka on brink of sovereign bond default, warn investors:

https://www.ft.com/content/09e1159f-9c45-4379-b862-98cb5e30a4da


State of Emergency

Sri-Lanka has experienced never-ending conflicts and violence – all in the name of Buddha!

Sri-Lanka faced an economic collapse in the 1970s.

The country was crippled by debt.  

Sri Lanka, Short of Food, Faces an Economic Crisis:

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/05/13/archives/sri-lanka-short-of-food-faces-an-economic-crisis-people-are-well.html

Since 1971, Sri Lanka has been in a constant state of emergency with the exception of very brief periods. The state has demonstrated an immense penchant towards emergency laws in responding to crises such as communal riots, natural disasters and economic problems.

A state of emergency was declared in 1971 during the first JVP insurrection. Unemployed Sinhalese launched a revolt against the government.

Under a state of emergency, successive Sri-Lankan regimes carried out mass murders and enforced disappearances while pretending to be a peaceful Sinhala Buddhist paradise!

There are mass graves all over the country.

Sri-Lanka has the second highest number of disappeared people in the world after Iraq.


The Deceptions of the Rajapaksa Regime

The Rajapaksa regime has repeatedly claimed that asking the IMF for assistance would be against the sovereignty of the country!

However, Sri-Lanka has asked the IMF for help 16 times in the last 52 years. The frequency of Sri Lanka's IMF programs suggests a high degree of macroeconomic instability and poor management of the economy.

Now the regime is flip-flopping on going to the IMF.  It will be forced to go to the IMF soon!

The regime is scared to go to the IMF because it will be required to implement austerity measures and be forced to reveal the actual amount of foreign debt.

Countries such as Greece, India, Indonesia and South Korea have asked the IMF for assistance without losing their sovereignty! A bankrupt banana republic like Sri-Lanka cannot talk about sovereignty while people starve!

Last year, the regime introduced organic farming overnight and banned the import of chemical fertiliser. It claimed that the use of chemical fertiliser was damaging to health.

The regime not only banned the import of chemical fertiliser, but also banned numerous other items, such as cars, motorbikes and consumer electronics goods.

The real reason for banning the import of chemical fertiliser is because the country has less than US $3 billion in foreign reserves. This is woefully low compared to other countries as shown below:

 

Country

Population

GDP (PPP)

GDP per

Foreign

Million

US $ Bn

Person (PPP)

Reserve

US $

US $ Bn

Malaysia

33

978

27,000

110

Singapore

6

600

100,000

400

Taiwan

23

1,400

55,000

500

Sri-Lanka

22

300

13,000

3

Sources: IMF/World Bank

As a result of shortages of fertiliser, rice production is expected to fall by more than 50% this year. The regime is now begging China, India and Myanmar for rice and other food items!

After working against India for many years, it is now begging India for loans and credit.

It has also borrowed US $200 million from Bangladesh.

The Rajapaksa Regime has been involved in anti-Muslim propaganda. It has also encouraged Sinhalese extremists and thugs to attack Muslims and loot businesses owned by Muslims.

The regime forced Muslims to cremate the bodies of people who died of Covid. It claimed that burying bodies would contaminate ground water!

More than 190 countries have allowed the burial of bodies.

World-renowned virologist Prof Malik Peiris, has told the BBC the following:

"Covid-19 is not a waterborne disease, and I haven't seen any evidence to suggest it spreads through dead bodies.”

The regime recently went on a begging trip to the Middle East but returned empty- handed!

Sri Lanka forcibly cremates Muslim baby sparking anger:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55359285

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/after-easter-sunday-attacks-muslims-face-boycotts-and-violence-in-sri-lanka/2019/07/06/3e4a405a-91f6-11e9-956a-88c291ab5c38_story.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/sri-lankas-leader-promises-unite-country-191208102913348.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/trouble-brews-post-election-sri-lanka-191208094903589.html


The Sinhalese Chickens are Coming Home to Roost

Since 1948, successive Sri-Lankan regimes have used anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim propaganda to win elections by fooling the Sinhalese peasants.

Businesses owned by Tamils and Muslims have been looted repeatedly with the collusion of the state. No-one has been brought to justice for looting, murders and state-sponsored terrorism that have been carried out since the 1970s.

After 74 years of state-sponsored terrorism and violence, the country is now facing bankruptcy.

It will take at least ten years to fix the bankrupt economy provided that the right people are brought in to implement the right policies. It is highly unlikely that Sri-Lanka will have a government run by competent and honest people in the foreseeable future. Therefore, Sri-Lanka will remain as a failed state for a very long time - joining other failed states, such as North Korea, Myanmar and Somalia.


 

Here are Lee Kwan Yew’s views of Sri-Lanka:

https://sri-lankahumanrights.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-incompetent-leaders-can-screw.html


A fascinating speech by Lee Kwan Yew at Harvard University 

For Third World Leaders: Hope or Despair?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCEYJFpwydw




Useful Links:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/climate-and-people/sri-lankan-families-go-hungry-cost-food-skyrockets/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/02/covid-crisis-sri-lanka-bankruptcy-poverty-pandemic-food-prices

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/12/1/sri-lanka-orders-probe-into-mystery-cooking-gas-explosions

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/11/17/as-food-and-energy-prices-soar-sri-lankans-go-without

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/1/19/sri-lankas-dilemma-pay-off-debt-or-pay-for-milk-meds-and-gas

https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-warned-on-debt-default-bombshells-by-expert-in-argentina-greece-crises-86731/

https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/01/19/the-rajapaksas-to-blame-for-sri-lankas-disastrous-2021/

https://www.vaticannews.va/en/world/news/2022-02/sri-lanka-religious-leaders-ranjith-division-economic-crisis.html





Wednesday 10 March 2021

How Successive Sri-Lankan Regimes Fooled the World with the Collusion of India and the West


                                               Made in the UK?

In Sri-Lanka, ethnoreligious fascism has spread like cancer since 1948. Linguistic nationalism came in 1956 with the Sinhala only Act.

Since Sri Lanka’s independence in 1948, Sri Lanka’s Tamils have been killed, kidnapped, disappeared, raped, robbed, displaced and arbitrarily detained by the successive regimes dominated by the majority Sinhalese.

In an under-developed country, appealing to the majority (majoritarianism) and discriminating against the minority is the easiest path to power. This has led to the tyranny of the majority, insurgencies and a bankrupt economy.

Impunity Breeds Impunity

Sri-Lanka has a long history of state-sponsored terrorism and violence dating back to the 1970s and a culture of impunity.

There have been numerous riots against minorities since 1956.

For example, in July 1983, then President J. R. Jayawardene supplied armed gangs of Sinhalese with voter lists to identify Tamil homes and businesses. He incited the thugs to hack Tamils to death in their houses, offices, and places of work. Thousands of Tamils were murdered.

Remembering Sri Lanka's Black July:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-23402727

In 2015, the UN called for a special court to try war crimes committed by all sides during the civil war.

According to the UN, years of denials and cover-ups mean the Sri Lankan system is "not yet ready to handle these types of crime".

According to the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein:

"Our investigation has laid bare the horrific level of violations and abuses that occurred in Sri Lanka, including indiscriminate shelling, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, harrowing accounts of torture and sexual violence, recruitment of children and other grave crimes."

He also called on the Sri Lankan government to remove from office anyone, if there were credible grounds to believe they had committed human rights abuses.

The report's main findings include:

·  Numerous unlawful killings between 2002 and 2011, allegedly by both sides; 

·  Enforced disappearances affecting tens of thousands over decades; 

·  The "brutal use of torture" by security forces, in particular during the immediate aftermath of the conflict; 

·  Extensive sexual violence against detainees by the security forces "with men as likely to be victims as women."


https://www.channel4.com/programmes/sri-lankas-killing-fields


The Latest Report from UNHRC

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, issued a report last month.

She described “a deepening and accelerating militarization of civilian government functions.” Since 2020, she wrote, “The President has appointed at least 28 serving or former military and intelligence personnel to key administrative posts,” including senior military officials who have been alleged in UN reports to be implicated in alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/29/sri-lanka-un-rights-chief-decries-mounting-abuses

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/24/sri-lanka-risks-return-to-past-atrocities-activists-warn-rajapaksa


Sowing the Seeds of Conflict

Former UN officials and independent experts call on the international community to take immediate steps towards justice and accountability to end Sri Lanka’s cycles of violence

https://www.scribd.com/document/495016947/Sowing-the-Seeds-of-Conflict


UK’s Double Dealing in Covering Up War Crimes

While the UK pretends to promote human rights around the world, it is also involved in arming, training and protecting the Sinhalese War Criminals.

In 2013, the UK allowed Mahinda Rajapaksa to host the Commonwealth Summit. Since then the Commonwealth has become the Common-Filth!

During a visit to Sri-Lanka for the Commonwealth Summit, David Cameron condemned Sri Lanka's failure to investigate allegations of "chilling and appalling" war crimes and promised to raise continuing allegations of human rights abuses and the need for an independent inquiry into historic war crimes.

But David Cameron has failed to do anything after dining with Sinhalese War Criminals in Colombo!

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/15/david-cameron-car-surrounded-sri-lankan-protesters-tamil

https://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-commonwealth-queen-meeting-grotesque

The UK has been providing military assistance to the Sri-Lankan military for several decades while condemning the same military for human rights violations!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7954259/New-book-tells-story-elite-band-ex-special-forces-wreaked-havoc-world.html

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jan/18/mercenaries-clandestine-actions-in-thatcher-years-revealed-keenie-meenie

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/analysis/phil-miller-getting-away-with-war-crimes-983206.html

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/uk-defence-engagement-sri-lanka-questioned-parliament

The UK has imposed sanctions on some Russian and Saudi officials, but it has yet to take any action against the Sinhalese War Criminals!

UK imposes sanctions against human rights abusers:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-53303100

Even though a cross-party group of British parliamentarians (including several former ministers) have asked the UK government to take action against the Sinhalese War Criminals, the UK government has not done anything!

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/british-mps-calls-sanctions-sri-lankan-government-and-military-officials

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/british-parliamentarians-urge-fco-progress-international-justice-sri-lanka

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/test-moral-authority-uk-shadow-minister-calls-comprehensive-rewrite-un-resolution

The Core group led by the UK is likely to pass a weak resolution again at the UNHRC this month to avoid taking strong action against the Sinhalese War Criminals! They plan to drag the process by using sophistry until victims’ families give up. 


Incredible India with No Credibility

Since 1948, every Sri-Lankan regime has taken India for a ride. India has demonstrated that it has no spine to deal with the rogue Sri-Lankan regimes.

The persecution of Sri Lanka’s Tamils started with the passage of the Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948. It denied citizenship to One Million Indian Tamils who were brought by the British to work on tea estates.  

The Act was inspired by Adolph Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws of September 1935, which provided: “A Jew cannot be a citizen of the Reich. He cannot exercise the right to vote.”

Estate Tamils, the Ceylon citizenship act of 1948 and Sri Lankan politics:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09584939908719856?journalCode=ccsa20

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/exclusion-and-ethnic-strife-story-of-sri-lankas-citizenship-law-6218590/

The 1956 Sinhala Only Act was a landmark in the history of Tamil oppression. It generally excluded or handicapped Tamils in public employment, education and housing.

During the Indo-Pakistan War in 1971, Pakistani aircrafts refuelled at the Bandaranaike airport in Colombo.

In June 2011, Pakistani High Commissioner to Sri-Lanka, Seema Ilahi Baloch thanked Sri-Lanka for all the help it provided to Pakistan during the 1971 war against India.

For helping Pakistan during the war, India gave Katchatheevu to Sri-Lanka as a gift in 1974!

https://www.livemint.com/Politics/acjYPxP6XuKnlTLqJ2P3QI/Katchatheevu-The-big-issue-over-a-small-island.html

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/centre-making-sincere-efforts-to-retrieve-katchatheevu/article33775766.ece

Last month, an Indian minister V. K. Singh, said that India was making sincere efforts to take back the island and India would have to wait for the Sri Lankan government to respond!

No self-respecting country would ever hand over its territory to another country – especially a country that is run by dodgy people with a criminal past!

The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) received air support from these for-hire British pilots despite Indian diplomats publicly condemning the presence of UK mercenaries in Sri Lanka, according to the book, 'Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away With War Crimes',

https://www.theweek.in/news/world/2020/02/06/India-used-British-pilots-in-fight-against-LTTE-Book.html

Indo-Lanka Accord

The accord was signed by India and Sri-Lanka in 1987.

The accord among other things bestowed upon India the responsibility (shared with Sri Lanka) of ensuring and protecting the security and safety of all communities living in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. Clause 2.16(e) says: “The Governments of Sri Lanka and India will cooperate in ensuring the physical security and safety of all communities inhabiting the Northern and Eastern Provinces.”

Successive Sri-Lankan Regimes have failed to devolve power as required by the accord and managed to fool India for more than 33 years!

Most of the Tamil civilians were killed by the Sri-Lankan regimes after 1987 and India has failed to protect the civilians!

http://www.dailynews.lk/2018/07/30/features/158264/indo-lanka-accord-31-years

India will play its usual role in watering down the resolution at the UNHRC this month to protect the Sinhalese War Criminals and display its impotence to the world again!

India is not a leader, but a follower and it is playing second-fiddle to China in South Asia!


An Oscar Winning Performance by the US

Like all Western Countries, the US is very good at talking about human rights and in pretending to promote human rights and rule-of-law.

Gotabaya Rajapaksa was a US citizen when he was involved in mass murders in Sri-Lanka.

After the end of the civil war in 2009, he travelled to the US many times and the US government took no action against him!

The only action the US government has taken so far is to ban one Sinhalese War Criminal, Shavendra Silva, from entering the US!

The US has taken action to bring murderers to justice when US citizens were the victims, but it has failed to take any action against the Sinhalese War Criminals.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/02/lasantha-wickrematunge-ahimsa-rajapaksa/

http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/front_page/Reacting-to-Ahimsa-US-Congress-urges-justice-in-SL/238-207132


Weak and Clueless EU

In 2017, the EU reinstated GSP Plus after the “new Sri-Lankan regime” gave various promises to improve the human rights record, including revocation of the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

The reinstatement of the GSP Plus was met with widespread criticism from human rights organisations.

The “new Sri-Lankan regime” has failed (as usual) to deliver on any of the commitments it made to the EU. The EU has done nothing so far! 

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/sep/10/sri-lanka-eu-trade-cut

https://www.srilankabusiness.com/news/sri-lanka-to-receive-same-benefits-of-eu-gsp-for-uk-from-2021.html

https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Sri-Lanka-faces-EU-ire-after-government-breaks-UN-war-obligations

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/eu-funds-counter-terrorism-training-sri-lanka-despite-human-rights-concerns


Sri-Lanka relies on the US, UK and EU markets for more than 50% of its exports.

If Western countries are serious in dealing with the Sinhalese War Criminals and preventing future human rights abuses in Sri-Lanka, they can impose economic sanctions.

The current Sri-Lankan regime has repeatedly boasted that it was elected purely from the votes of the Sinhalese. Therefore, the Sinhalese who voted for the War Criminals and fraudsters need to be made to pay a heavy price. 

The Sri-Lankan regime is the model for future rogue regimes around the world.

If the regime gets away without punishment, it will create similar odious regimes around the world in the future.

 

“Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere” 

                           Martin Luther King Jr


Other Useful Articles:

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/02/sri-lanka-government-suffocating-dissent-and-obstructing-justice-for-historic-crimes-says-amnesty-report/

https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/02/01/open-wounds-and-mounting-dangers/blocking-accountability-grave-abuses-sri-lanka

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/26/sri-lanka-high-ranking-officials-involved-war-crimes

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/02/26/sri-lanka-high-ranking-officials-involved-war-crimes

https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/01/22/sri-lanka-seeks-diversion-not-justice-over-wartime-abuses

https://www.justsecurity.org/74653/the-human-rights-council-must-establish-an-accountability-mechanism-for-sri-lankas-victims/

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/20/ex-leaders-brother-led-death-squad-in-sri-lanka

https://thediplomat.com/2021/02/myanmar-and-sri-lanka-bound-by-travails/

https://groundviews.org/2021/02/01/human-rights-advocates-urge-strong-resolution-on-sri-lanka-at-human-rights-council/



Wednesday 5 August 2020

Sri-Lanka - The Morally and Financially Bankrupt Banana Republic

The successive Sri-Lankan regimes have managed to deceive the world and, in the process, have bankrupted the country – both morally and financially! 

A Criminal Enterprise

Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers are world leaders in deception. 

The country has criminals, fraudsters and mass murderers holding important positions. 

This article will list some of the major deceptions of the Sri-Lankan regimes and will be updated regularly to include more examples of shams, deceptions and frauds.   

This is what Gotabaya Rajapaksa told "The Australian" newspaper on 23 March 2009: 

The UN may tell you that at least 2,000 civilians have been killed in fighting since January, but Sri Lanka's Secretary of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, says there are none. Absolutely none. 

"If you want to believe me, believe me, no civilian casualties! 

In 2009, the Rajapaksa regime arrested five doctors who worked in the War-zone and forced them to tell the media that a maximum of 750 civilians were killed in the final five months of the war! 

In 2011, the regime claimed that around 7,500 civilians were killed! 

A doctor who worked in Sri Lanka's combat zone in the final days of the civil war told the BBC in March 2014 that he was forced by the government to retract his claims about casualty figures. 

Speaking to the BBC's Sinhala service, Dr Varatharaja said he and his colleagues had been threatened with three to four years in jail if they did not recant their statements. 

A UN investigation said 40,000 people were killed in the final five months alone!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26670691

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13158916

http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes-inquiry-doctor-varatharajah-thariajah

The regime first dismissed Channel 4's Sri-Lanka Killing Field programme as a fake. It then said in 2012 that it would use the programme to investigate allegations of War Crime! 

In March 2014, the Sri-Lankan foreign minister said in Geneva that the government would use Channel 4 videos to “identify witnesses.” 

Sri Lankan army to investigate civilian war casualties:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17049760

BBC investigates Sri Lanka disappearances:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24662898

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24648595

In 2015, the “new regime” of Maithripala Sirisena co-sponsored a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution calling for the investigation of allegations of war crimes committed during the island nation's long civil war. 

Sri Lanka co-sponsored the resolution at the U.N. Human Rights Council along with 11 other countries calling for the investigation of allegations of wartime atrocities by both government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels, The U.S, UK,  Australia and Germany were also among the co-sponsors. 

Under Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1, Sri Lanka committed to 25 key undertakings across a range of human rights issues. A core pledge was to set up four transitional justice mechanisms to promote “reconciliation, accountability and human rights” in the country. These included an accountability mechanism involving international judges, prosecutors, investigators, and defence lawyers; a truth and reconciliation mechanism; an office on missing persons; and an office for reparations.  

US imposes sanctions on Sri Lankan War Criminal Shavendra Silva:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/14/us-sanctions-sri-lanka-army-chief-shavendra-silva

US embassy cables reveal details of criminal activities within the Sri-Lankan government:

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/sri-lankan-government-%E2%80%98officials-complicit-trafficking%E2%80%99-us-state-department

https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/108763

https://www.theguardian.com/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/243811

Maithripala Sirisena’s Con Tricks 

Maithripala Sirisena’s government had initially backed a UN resolution calling for a war crimes court supported by foreign judges. 

In March 2015, Maithripala Sirisena told the BBC that an investigative committee would work "efficiently, in a balanced, legal and impartial manner". 

Sri Lanka president Sirisena pledges war crimes inquiry:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-31844796

In January 2016, he changed his tune, as usual! He told the BBC that he would never allow international involvement!

Sri Lanka president wants 'internal' war crimes court:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-35376719

In March 2019, the UN high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, told the Human Rights Council that in Sri Lanka, “there has been minimal progress on accountability. Continuing impunity risks fuelling communal or interethnic violence, and instability. Resolving these cases, and bringing the perpetrators of past crimes to justice, is necessary to restore the confidence of victims from all communities.”

https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24371&LangID=E

Sirisena’s government was given repeated warnings about the Easter Sunday bombings by the Indian Intelligence Service and others. 

He failed to take any action to prevent the attacks and has recently claimed that he was only the President and Minister of Defence and his job was in policy, planning, issuing directives and advice!

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/sri-lanka-president-maithripala-sirisena-vows-to-block-easter-attacks-probe-2049944

https://economynext.com/former-prez-sirisena-refuses-to-accept-responsibility-for-sri-lankas-easter-sunday-attacks-71216/

Impunity Rains 

Murderers, Rapists and War Criminals enjoy immunity as the police and the justice system are corrupt and are highly politicized. 

Outrage as Sri Lanka president pardons Swedish teen's killer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-50365125

Sri Lanka's president has pardoned and released an army officer sentenced to death for slitting the throats of Tamil civilians, including four children, during the island's bloody ethnic war:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/sri-lanka-pardons-soldier-killed-tamil-civilians-200327033617104.html

Sri Lankan president grants clemency to war criminal:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/03/30/prsl-m30.html

https://www.change.org/p/mp-hugh-mcdermott-we-demand-that-hugh-mcdermott-sustain-his-support-for-the-australian-tamil-community

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/british-mps-calls-sanctions-sri-lankan-government-and-military-officials

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/human-rights-sri-lanka-continue-deteriorate-warns-uk-foreign-commonwealth-and-development

http://www.slguardian.org/2020/11/sri-lanka-fate-of-democracy.html


Bankrupt Economy 

Sri-Lanka has just been downgraded from an upper-middle income country to a lower middle-income country by the World Bank. 

Sri Lank is one of only three countries that are moving to a lower category from the previous year. 

https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-downgraded-to-world-bank-lower-middle-income-country-as-per-capita-income-falls-71644/

http://www.ft.lk/columns/It-is-a-values-based-and-not-value-based-political-culture-that-is-needed-today/4-704038

Sri Lanka’s economy is among the worst affected by the COVID 19 crisis, according to a recent ranking by the Economist.


https://www.economist.com/briefing/2020/05/02/which-emerging-markets-are-in-most-financial-peril

For the foreseeable future, Sri Lanka's economy will remain anemic due to its high debt, weak exports, low foreign direct investment and incompetent government.

Nepotism, Corruption and No Rule-of-Law 

Sri Lanka has a long record of state-sponsored violence and a culture of impunity.

Perpetrators of political violence and fraudsters who are connected to the government act with impunity and people with political connections and suspected war criminals are given important positions!

Sri Lanka’s Expansion into Despotism Goes Unchallenged by Western Democracies:

https://intpolicydigest.org/2020/05/01/sri-lanka-s-expansion-into-despotism-goes-unchallenged-by-western-democracies/

Sri Lanka: Human Rights Under Attack:

Lawyers, Human Rights Defenders, and Journalists Arrested, Threatened, Intimidated

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/07/29/sri-lanka-human-rights-under-attack



Check the following to see how Singapore went from third-world to first-world while Sri-Lanka is still stuck in the third-world: 






“Sri-Lanka has failed because it has had weak or wrong leaders”   Lee Kwan Yew.