State-sponsored terrorism and violence is not new in Sri-Lanka. The country has a long history of violence perpetrated by the state.

Human remains of 200 people were discovered in Matale in December last year. Politicians belonging to the JVP party allege that the victims were killed having been tortured and that the heads, arms and legs of many of them had been severed.

The then government was widely accused of running torture chambers in the area in the late 1980s and of conducting extra-judicial executions. As many as 60,000 JVP insurgents were reportedly killed.

According to the Sri Lankan defence ministry website, the military’s coordinating officer and then commanding officer in the area at the time was Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

According to the latest report by Human Rights Watch:

Male and female former detainees told HRW that prior to being raped, they were forced to strip, their genitals or breasts groped, and they were verbally abused and mocked.

Many of the medical reports examined by HRW show evidence of sexual violence such as bites on the buttocks and breasts, and cigarette burns on sensitive areas like inner thighs and breasts.

Two men interviewed by Human Rights Watch said that they had a sharp needle inserted in their penis. In one case, this was used to insert small metal balls into their urethra by army personnel; the metal balls were later surgically removed by doctors abroad.

In many cases documented by HRW, the victims knew the security establishment to which one or more of the perpetrators belonged, and also identified camps and detention sites where the abuse occurred.

Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) provides effective immunity to officials implicated in abuses.

Medical and psychological treatment for rape survivors has also been hindered by the government. Detainees held under the PTA do not have an independent right to a medical examination.

Under the PTA, currently in effect, as well as under the State of Emergency in effect during the war, confessions to the police and other authorities obtained under duress are admissible unless the accused can prove that they were involuntary.

According to the latest report by the International Crisis Group:

Government attacks on the judiciary and political dissent have accelerated Sri Lanka’s authoritarian turn and threaten long-term stability and peace. The government’s politically motivated impeachment of the chief justice reveals both its intolerance of dissent and the weakness of the political opposition.

Sri Lanka is faced with two worsening and inter-connected governance crises. The dismantling of the independent judiciary and other democratic checks on the executive and military will inevitably feed the growing ethnic tension resulting from the absence of power sharing and the denial of minority rights.

The government has conducted no credible investigations into allegations of war crimes, disappearances or other serious human rights violations.

Rather than establish independent institutions for oversight and investigation, the government has in effect removed the last remnants of judicial independence through the impeachment of the chief justice.

The government has responded with force to protest and dissent in the south, deploying troops to prevent the newly impeached chief justice and supporters from visiting the Supreme Court while pro-government groups attacked lawyers protesting the impeachment.

“He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” Martin Luther King

Useful links for more information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21577866

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21509656

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21494959

http://www.hrw.org/embargo/node/113787?signature=9d5d697a65f834496deebdaa7e8a0226&suid=6

http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/243-sri-lankas-authoritarian-turn-the-need-for-international-action.aspx

http://blogs.channel4.com/world-news-blog/sri-lanka-skeletons-in-the-cupboard/23784

http://blog.srilankacampaign.org/2013/02/photos-from-sri-lankas-killing-fields.html

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/02/201321891416962380.html

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/12/19/sri-lanka-massgrave-idINDEE8BI04V20121219

Sri-Lanka faces huge economic, political and social problems in the years ahead. Most of these problems stem from the Rajapakse regime’s incompetence and corrupt activities. The country can expect high inflation, high interest rate, high taxes, high unemployment, depreciation of the currency and political unrest.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P), has recently classified Sri Lanka as a “very high risk” (a risk score of 8) for economic resilience and credit risk, and a “high risk” (a score of 7) for economic imbalances. On a scale of 1 to 10 (lowest risk to highest risk), S&P placed Sri Lanka in group 8 of its Banking Industry Country Risk Assessment (BICRA).

The S&P report pointed to the country’s weak external liquidity “in the context of low income levels, relaxed lending practices and underwriting standards, as well as a weak payment culture and rule of law.”

S&P’s report drew attention to economic imbalances produced by the annual 28 per cent growth in credit during the past two years.

During the past 10 years, two state banks, Bank of Ceylon and Peoples Bank, wrote off 125 billion rupees, with the loan defaulters mostly backed by government politicians.

Fitch Ratings has stated that Sri Lanka, among Asian countries, was “most at risk” from any disruption to global funding markets.

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has largely been limited to hotels and other tourism related projects. Foreign investment is being deterred by perceptions of corruption and arbitrary governance, as well as continuous protests and violence and issues in media freedom.

The S&P report also voiced concerns about government manipulation of the stock market, through pension funds controlled by the Central Bank.

Market regulator Tilak Karunaratne quit in August 2012, saying he could no longer battle against a "mafia of crooks" preventing probes into insider trading and "pump-and-dump" scams in which investors drive up shares and then sell them.

Karunaratne's predecessor, Indrani Sugathadasa, also resigned in 2011, saying she was unwilling to compromise her "principles".

No one has been jailed in Sri Lanka for securities fraud and previous cases of insider trading have been settled by the parties agreeing to pay small fines without accepting guilt.

Rajapakse has in the past pointed to the rocketing share prices as proof of his government’s economic success. The financial press hailed “one of the best performing share markets in the world,” but the “success,” amid the global financial crisis, was built on rampant speculation. In 2011, the bubble burst and the index is currently hovering around 5,800 points compared to 7,800 points in February 2011.

Foreign investors have been withdrawing funds and Colombo is rated as one of the world’s worst performing markets.

Karunaratne admitted that speculation had been a major factor in the share price rises. “The major contribution came from people who used unfair means in pumping up the market, which made it reach extreme high levels,” he told the media.

The Central Bank encouraged this speculative frenzy by releasing money from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), the country’s biggest pension fund, to purchase shares, including in ailing companies such as Galadari Hotels, Laugfs Gas, Piramal Glass Ceylon, Ceylon Grain Elevators and Browns. The release of EPF cash for private sector investment was a longstanding demand of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The results have been disastrous. For example, the EPF purchased 23.7 million shares in the loss-making Galadari Hotels at a price of 32.50 rupees a share in 2010. By July 2012, the share price had plummeted to 11 rupees, resulting in a loss of 500 million rupees for the EPF. Overall, the EPF had lost about 6 billion rupees by the middle of last year.

The newly-appointed SEC chairman, Nalaka Godahewa, is well connected to the government. He was given the job despite heading the Colombo Lands and Development (CLD), which is also under a cloud for share manipulation.

According to Transparency International, about $ 500 million of the tsunami aid for Sri Lanka is unaccounted for and more than $ 603 million has been spent on projects unrelated to the disaster. In a report examining the funding, the group concluded the discrepancy between relief money received and money spent ''does not have a credible explanation''.

The government has removed the Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake and appointed a crony of the Rajapakse as her replacement.

The removal of the Chief Justice is a witch hunt to punish Bandaranayake for ruling against a key government bill which centralises development work under one of the president's brothers.

The impeachment has drawn international condemnation with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), saying Mohan Peiris' appointment raised serious concerns about the future of the rule of law and accountability in the country.

"ICJ condemns this appointment as a further assault on the independence of the judiciary and calls on the Sri Lankan government to reinstate Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake. If there are grounds for questioning the chief justice's actions, they should be pursued following due process and a proper impeachment process."

Faced by rising unrest over its austerity program demanded by the IMF and the high level of corruption and cronyism, the regime will increasingly depend on repressive methods in order to hold on to power.

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.” Socrates