| by Tisaranee
Gunasekara
“If you want a
picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever”.
Orwell (Nineteen
Eighty-Four)
( October 21,
2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Signing of the Indo-Sri Lankan Accord in
July 1987 resulted in the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
We know him as
Kumaran Pathmanathan alias ‘KP’. The Interpol knows him as Shanmugam Kumaran
Tharmalingam. He is on the Interpol’s wanted list for a variety of crimes
starting with terrorism. Unsurprisingly; for decades he was a senior Tiger
leader, a trusted confidant of Vellupillai Pirapaharan and the LTTE’s chief
arms-procurer.
In a lawful
land, when it came to charging ‘KP’, the problem would have been not where to
start, but where to stop. But in Rajapaksa Sri Lanka, the AG’s Department under
Presidential control cannot charge ‘KP’ with even the most miniscule crime
because “there was no evidence or complaints” against him (Daily Mirror –
17.10.2012).
So while lesser
Tigers fester in jail, Vellupillai Pirapaharan’s hand-picked successor is a
free man, “involved in the development drive being carried out in the North
and East” (ibid).
Thus ‘KP’, the
former Tiger chieftain, joins the illustrious company of Minister Mervyn Silva
and son, Parliamentarian Duminda Silva, Minister Rishad Bathiudeen and Air
Lanka Chairman and Presidential brother-in-law, Nishantha Wickremesinghe – men
whom the law cannot touch because they belong to the charmed circle of
Rajapaksa kith- and-kin. ‘KP’ is now protected with Rajapaksa-Teflon and not
even the Interpol will be able lay a fingertip on him (if the Interpol tries,
we will howl about ‘sovereignty’ and ‘imperialism’).
The government
which persecuted General Fonseka and Senior Journalist Tissanayagam, the
government which has appointed a cabinet committee to investigate the Secretary
to the Judicial Service Commission Manjula Tilakaratne (even as his assailants
roam free), the government which illegally incarcerated almost 300,000 civilian
Tamils, including children, in open prison camps to catch a few hundred Tigers,
cannot find even an iota of evidence against ‘KP’ who for decades kept the LTTE
plentifully supplied with weapons of destruction.
In a lawful land
this would be considered rank, obscene injustice. Under Rajapaksa rule, this is
the only justice possible.
The happy fate
of KP is a morality tale about Rajapaksa law: the Rajapaksa kith- and-kin can
never be guilty of any crime while Rajapaksa opponents have to be guilty of
some crime. (Just as Rajapaksa-economics dictate that a country too poor to
spend much on education or health is rich enough to buy a satellite and
inaugurate a space programme; and Rajapaksa-governance rules that only brevet
colonels can become effective school principals).
Today Rajapaksa
law is predominant. Fortunately, the normal law, though under siege, still
retains some life, some capacity to alleviate injustice.
Are we going to
allow the law of the Rajapaksas to pulverise the Rule of Law? Do we not
comprehend the dangers inherent in allowing the judiciary to become the
handmaiden of Rajapaksa Rule?
‘Power is God’
The Divi Neguma
Bill is about Rajapaksa power. Its primary aim is neither development nor
poverty alleviation, but the further expansion of Brother Basil’s extensive
economic empire.
The 13th
Amendment is one of the few really existing impediments to this manic
power-grab. If the Divi Neguma Bill, which plans to give Basil Rajapaksa
absolute control over a huge chunk of national wealth, fails, it will be thanks
to the democratising potential of the 13th Amendment. Without the 13th Amendment,
even the most independent judiciary would have found it difficult to legally
impede the march of the megalomaniacs.
That is why the
regime has set its sights on the 13th Amendment.
Joachim Fest
argues that Adolf Hitler’s absolutist project succeeded so well partly because
“everything he did, including his surprised lunges for power and arbitrary
acts, was planned in such a way that at least part of the population would have
good reason to feel thankful to him” (Plotting Hitler’s Death). Vellupillai Pirapaharan
made excellent use of Tamil nationalism and Tamil pride to win support for his
horrendous dystopia.
The Rajapaksas
too excel at conjuring attractive mantles to hide their frightening aims and
dangerous objectives. Thus patriotism is being used to justify the opposition
to the 13th Amendment. Last month an officer who contributed significantly to
the anti-Tiger cause was thrown to the wolves to save a ministerial offspring.
Last week ‘KP’ was set free. The anomalies are glaringly obvious; but the Siblings
know – as Herr Hitler and Mr. Pirapaharan did – that enough people can be
deceived all the time, if you rave against international conspiracies, wave the
flag and do the patriotic-dance, with convincing frenzy.
Gotabaya
Rajapaksa compares the 13th Amendment with the Norwegian sponsored and
Tiger-appeasing Ceasefire Agreement (CFA): “the 13th Amendment and the CFA
didn’t serve the people of Sri Lanka. Instead they facilitated interests of
various other parties including the LTTE. Interestingly both supported the
separatist cause” (The Island – 14.10.2012). The logical and the factual fallacies of
this statement are mind-boggling. The aim of the 13th Amendment was to find a
political solution to the ethnic problem by ensuring for the Tamil people a
modicum of devolution. It did not promote separatism; on the contrary it
enabled many former Eelamists to support the Lankan state by demonstrating the
possibility of a peaceful and democratic path to win Tamil rights. The Tigers
opposed the 13th Amendment as viscerally as Sinhala supremacists do because it
indicated, however faintly, the possibility of a Lankan future.
The CFA on the
other hand was aimed at appeasing the LTTE to the hilt. The Tigers turned the
North-East into a de facto Eelam, thanks to the space, opportunities and powers
provided by the CFA. That is why Vellupillai Pirapaharan regarded the CFA as a
trap with a lot of use-value while he abominated the Indo-Lanka Accord and the
13th Amendment wholeheartedly, as dangerous betrayals.
The 17th
Amendment was an entirely indigenous product. It had nothing to do with India,
Norway or any Western power. Its sole aim was to democratise the polity by
making the political playing-field a little less unbalanced. But Rajapaksas
killed it because it impeded their unyielding quest for even greater power.
Patriotism is
just a cover to fool the Sinhala South. Rajapaksa-power, Rajapaksa-glory and
Rajapaksa-safety are the sole concerns of the Rajapaksas.
The Siblings are
trying to create a majority-minority, Sinhala-Tamil/Muslim,
anti-devolution-pro-devolution gap to facilitate their power-grab. Gotabaya
Rajapaksa’s definition of the 13th Amendment as an anti-national,
pro-separatist piece of legislation is a case in point. That false equation
will not only enable the regime to label as traitors anyone who
supports/defends the 13th Amendment; it will also be helpful in discouraging
civil society from standing foursquare behind the judiciary in its current
efforts to resist the rampaging executive.
Power is the Rajapaksa
God and the Divi Neguma Bill is the latest instalment in their serial
power-grab. Its current difficulties demonstrate the use-value of the 13th
Amendment and its democratic indispensability as the last constitutional
bastion against Rajapaksa absolutism.
That is why the
Siblings want it out.
The debate over
the desirability and viability of devolution must await a post-Rajapaksa
future. That politico-ideological-intellectual exercise is a task for a happier
tomorrow. So long as the Rajapaksas rule, even those who oppose devolution (and
Tamil rights) must defend the 13th Amendment unequivocally, if they want to
save some democracy and justice for the Sinhalese.
