Lobby

No urgency to repeal Emergency

By Dilrukshi Handunnetti Our Lobby Correspondent

A country's decline in the law and order situation is manifest when it is ruled under a state of emergency for long years. The plebeians get conditioned to what comes with prolonged emergency, similar to knaves taking their own knavery for granted. But soon it becomes the status quo and remains unchallenged.

This conditioning is what Sri Lanka is experiencing today, complete with the apathy that comes with it, having the emergency regulations invoked in the island 29 times since 1953.

While the Lahore incident injuring six Sri Lankan cricketers eclipsed Tuesday's parliamentary debate on the controversial electricity reforms bill, Wednesday was absolute lacklustre despite the day's debate being on the monthly ritual, the extension of the state of emergency, a tool used by successive governments to crush civil liberties.

Despite military victories, there were no government ministers wanting to wax eloquent and the opposition was depleted and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that often spoke of humanitarian concerns during the ritualistic debates preferred to maintain minimal presence.

Pakistani cricket icon

Predictably, the Lahore ambush spilled over to the House with UNP's Ravi Karunanayake quoting Pakistani cricket icon turned opposition politician Imran Khan ad nauseum to claim that the government should have verified security concerns before exposing the Sri Lankan team to such an ordeal.

Frontliner Lakshman Kiriella joined Karunanayake to insist that it all boiled down to Sri Lanka Cricket having low funds and felt compelled to send the players to unsafe places like Lahore.

The only sane voice during the mini battle on cricket was Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who cautioned that both India and Pakistan had supported Sri Lanka during troubled times, especially in 1996 and whatever action taken by Colombo should not in any way affect the country's relations with both countries.

"We are grateful to both these nations but what needs to be understood is that post Mumbai, the situation has dramatically altered," he noted.

A stinging attack

When the debate proper commenced, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake unleashed a stinging attack on the voluntary organisations. He adroitly connected the Lahore saga to his pet hate, regional terrorism.

"This is why we say terrorism has to be crushed," he declared, before moving on to a verbal onslaught on voluntary organisations, condemning the majority as organisations surviving on 'unpatriotic dollars.'

Besides, he blamed some political forces supportive of such organisations and said the man they wished to give a new lease in life, the Tiger supremo was not defending his people but using them as a human shield.

If Wickremanayake was predictable, the depths the UNP has sunk to was manifest when the party fielded Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena as their opening speaker. Ironically, Jayawardena paid a glowing tribute to the armed forces but took on the government for using troops as canon fodder.

Needs of military families

Jayawardena wanted to know why the needs of military families were not being met, including 85% of the pension for war widows and a 5% increase in the pension as pledged by the Mahinda Chinthana. "Where are the grand schemes to support war widows? Where is the social and economic rehabilitation?" he demanded, touching on topics that a government certain of imminent victory should rightfully focus on.

JVP's Vijitha Herath who spoke next was quite in agreement with the Premier on the anti NGO stance. 

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee inquiring into the activities of non-governmental organisations in Sri Lanka, Herath was on familiar terrain. He was amused by the NGO bashing the government dabbled in while on the other hand, accepting funding assistance from the very same organisations.

For example, he noted Plan Sri Lanka had assisted in the issuing of identity cards and birth certificates to people of 'questionable conduct,'  but Minister Sumedha Jayasena had accepted funds for a ministry project. Likewise, while the Premier took NGOs to task, President Mahinda Rajapakse has felicitated World Vision for its outstanding contribution, he noted.

"There is a big difference in the words expressed and the conduct," he scoffed.

A warning note

Calling for the banning of the NGOs that had functioned to the detriment of the country, Herath ended on a warning note: "Whatever you do, the state of emergency should not be used for suppression. In fact, it should not be used for any other purpose but for what it is intended."

Someone who was missing the entire argument and dredging history unnecessarily to lambast the previous UNP regime was Chief Government Whip, Dinesh Gunawardena.  His argument was that the present catastrophe was largely the making of the UNP.

Gunawardena reminded of a time when a UNP leader handed over weapons to the LTTE while yet another helped clear radio transmission equipment. "The sum total of it is that the UNP has, time and again, acted against sovereignty," he breathed, aflame.

According to UNP legislator Dayasiri Jayasekera, there were many things that occurred in the country that reduced the value of military victories, chiefly among them, the war against the media and the breakdown in the law and order situation.

An arch critic

Jayasekera who was an arch critic of the execution of the war in its present form until recently, was seen doing an about turn, praising both Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse and Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka.

But he had no words of praise for the Chief Executive as he claimed, "the President rode on the collective shoulders of journalists to ascend power. Now he has cold-shouldered them. The government wages a second war against the media with absolute impunity," he accused.

Worse, he noted, that the government that was duty bound to protect every citizen had made it impossible for journalists to live here. "So many have been killed, assaulted and abducted. What happened to the inquiries? Whose case was ever closed after punishing miscreants?" he demanded to know.

Degrading and inhuman 

And Jayasekara pertinently made mention of Sudar Oli Editor N. Vidyatharan as a man arrested in a degrading and inhuman manner, and further noted that J. S. Tissainayagam's period of arrest was such that he by now must have qualified for a Guinness record.

Speaking next, Minister of Labour and Manpower Athuada Seneviratne had a different take on the humanitarian crisis in the north. He was convinced, despite perhaps not having stepped foot anywhere in the province for years that the number of affected people was far less than the quoted figures.

"This figure of 300,000 civilians trapped in the war zone is incorrect," he countered. The army had been steadily moving them into safety. But the quoted number remains the same. If they are unsafe, that is because Pirapaharan is using them as a human shield in his last hour, opined the Minister.

Liberated Eastern Province

TNA's Thangeshwari Kathiraman had misgivings about the so called liberated Eastern Province, and alleged there were many disappearances taking place that denoted various paramilitary groups were still in operation.

"There is a special presidential committee appointed to look into abductions but the disappearances are on the rise. While the east is completely exposed, there is shelling in the Wanni. There are people abducted and killed elsewhere. The entire country is in turmoil as the government proposes to extend the state of emergency for the very propose of maintaining law and order in the country."

While the lady legislator listed disappearances, abductions, police harassment and arrests, and high student suicides, Leader of the House, Nimal Siripala de Silva who stood up to wind up the debate was nonchalant.

In fact, he felt the TNA MP was exaggerating some facts and in fact, for the northeastern people to have an improved life, hinted that there was only one way - for Pirapaharan to have a change of heart.

Change of heart

"If he had a change of heart, the Tamil people can truly experience freedom. Having said that, let me add that the north is being liberated with utmost care to protect the civilian population. Every effort is made to minimise casualties," he said.

Besides, the burly Health Minister also said that he had recently made fresh appointments of doctors and out of 725, some 385 new appointees would be attached to northern hospitals.

But de Silva could not ignore usual politicking with regard to terrorism. He breathed that the true face of terrorism has now become evident. "It is not confined to the shores. It has crept elsewhere. It may have its branches spreading in Tamil Nadu and may spread further and consume the entire world in one violent act," he said, adding a sense of drama to an otherwise dull emergency debate.

And so the emergency debate drew to a close, with the government naturally carrying the day. Forgotten amidst the draconian law are the civil liberties that often suffer under oppressive laws.