Sri Lanka : "No breakdown in relations with the US Pacific Command"

Photo courtesy: Master Sgt. Cohen Young | DVIDS

By Shamindra Ferdinando | The Island
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Government sources told 'The Island' that in spite of the US declining to participate at a recent Defence Ministry symposium to share Sri Lanka’s experience in defeating the LTTE, there hadn’t been a breakdown in relations with the US Pacific Command recently hosting a joint programme with the SLN to enhance cooperation.

A five-day ‘Pacific Air Lift Rally 2011’ is underway in Sri Lanka with the participation of the US as part of its overall efforts to enhance co-operation among countries in the Pacific region.

Such an exercise wouldn’t have been contemplated during the conflict due to LTTE threats.

A Sri Lankan military official yesterday told The Island that the joint exercise was a sign of post-war stability in spite of various interested parties seeking to undermine the country. The exercise got underway yesterday (22) with representatives from 20 countries, including India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore moving to Ratmalana and Ampara air bases, while 42 officers gathered at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel for a written exercise.

This is the largest such exercise carried out in Sri Lanka. Interestingly, it takes place in the wake of the recent controversy over US fighter jets launched from aircraft carriers, violating Sri Lankan air space, an allegation which was later found to be baseless.

Responding to a query by The Island, SLAF spokesman Group Captain Andrew Wijesuriya said that the highlight of the exercise would be a cargo drop over Ampara district tomorrow, (Aug. 24) involving C-130s engaged in the ‘operation.’ This will take place between 10 am and 4 p.m.

On the following day, SLAF and US aircraft will carry out a paratroop drop over Ratmalana between 2 p.m and 4.30 pm.

Wijesuriya said that about 150 SLAF personnel were involved in the exercise aimed at preparing regional air forces to meet the challenging task of disaster relief.

The C 130 group comprises three US aircraft and one each from Sri Lanka, Australia and Malaysia. All six aircraft are based at Ratmalana, the main support base during the conflict.

© The Island

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Sri Lanka seeks $40 mln Chinese loan for port rock removal

By Shihar Aneez | Reuters
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Sri Lanka's port authority on Tuesday said it has asked China for $40 million loan to demolish a massive seabed rock obstructing the entrance of its new $1.4 billion Hambantota port, due to start commercial operations this year.

The island nation launched the port in August 2010 with an initial target of handling 2,500 ships annually, as a cornerstone of a $6 billion drive to rebuild infrastructure that was neglected during a 25-year civil war.

But large ships are yet to call on the port and the country's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has pointed to the rock as a sign of government mismanagement.

Although the port is in President Mahinda Rajapaksa's home district in southern Sri Lanka, along the ancient "Silk Route" trading path, the rival UNP first proposed it.

"This rock was identified before we started the port construction," Sri Lanka Ports Authority Chairman Priyath Wickrama told Reuters. "We need just below $40 million to blast it. We have requested the amount from China."

Sri Lanka is banking on the port to help fuel growth targets of 8-9 percent in its $50 billion economy.

It has increasingly been relying on China, Russia, India and to a lesser degree, Brazil, for the financing and expertise required for its post-war rebuilding plans.

Beijing on commercial terms loaned a combined $1.24 billion to build the port and a 4 million metric tonne fuel bunkering facility, all of it built by Chinese engineers -- much to the chagrin of neighbouring India.

Hambantota is about 2 km from one of the world's biggest east-west shipping lanes, and is bidding to host the 2018 Commonwealth Games. The government is building Sri Lanka's second international airport there, and a master-planned city.

"Normally ships don't call at once. They need time to study business opportunities," Wickrama said. "We have to develop secondary facilities at the port and once we have them along with bunkering facilities, we can get ships to Hambantota."

In June, Wickrama said the ports authority had secured around $1 billion in investment into port facilities, including warehousing.

The fuel bunkering terminal is expected to start operations next month, four months behind schedule.

© Reuters

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'Emergency, our baby' says SL Defence Secretary

The Sunday Leader Online
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Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa says the state of emergency will not be removed to make India, the US or UK happy. He says the President will decide what’s best.

India has been pushing Sri Lanka to repeal the emergency laws which were in place mainly as a security measure during the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.

With the defeat of the LTTE two years ago the Indian government has continuously said that the emergency laws should be withdrawn.

Several human rights groups had alleged that the emergency laws were being misused by the security forces in Sri Lanka to suppress opposition to the Sri Lankan government.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told reporters this evening (Tuesday) that President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows what’s best for the country and only he will decide on the emergency laws with the support of the Sri Lankan parliament.

He also dismissed as rumors that the “grease devil” character was something created by the government to extend the state of emergency.

Several violent incidents have been taking place in Sri Lanka over the past few weeks with angry mobs attempting to arrest suspicious men with grease on their body, known by locals as “grease devils”.

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the security forces and the police were not “grease devils” and such characters will be arrested.

He also warned that action will be taken against anyone who attempts to take the law into their own hands.

© The Sunday Leader Online

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Sri Lanka: The surreal politics of ‘grease devils’

By Dr. Kumar David | South Asian Analysis Group
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A large number of areas outside the big cities of Sri Lanka have been gripped for the last one month by a most extraordinary panic verging on mass hysteria. The localities of Akaraipattu, Ampara, Puttalam, Kandy, Baticaloa, Kurunegala, Kinya, Trincomalee, Badulla, Nawalapitiya, Muthur and many more have been affected. The police force is on heightened alert, troops have been deployed (though this may be counterproductive as I will explain), accusations and counter accusations are traded and the government is scrambling to salvage what’s left of its reputation. The worst affected are areas of Muslim concentration though there is as yet no explanation, rational or irrational, why this should be so. Police brass dismiss talk of ‘grease devils’ (GD) as pure myth and fantasy, President Rajapakse says there is a plot to destabilise his government and the Defence Secretary has put mosques in affected areas under military protection.

First the story line before comments and analysis. Remember the Ninja terror that gripped East Timor in Indonesia in 2002 when strange creatures in black skin-suits (actually killers planted by the Indonesian military) spread terror in the populace? Well the parallel is not far wrong except that Lanka’s villagers do not invoke the supernatural to explain the manifestation. It is true, as the police chief explains that from time to time there have always been unexplained attacks on women and unsolved break-ins, but what started off the current hysterics on a big scale was the rape and murder of five women, about a month ago at Kahawatte, to satisfy a grudge borne by an army officer. Though the two low level operatives were apprehended it did nothing to quell the proliferation of incidents and the spread of panic to an ever increasing number of rural areas. It is hard to make an accurate estimate, but skimming through the newspapers it seems that there have been well over 25 to 30 incidents in the last four weeks.

Proliferation of incidents

Though there have been more incidents in Muslim areas than elsewhere, there is no known communal angle to the occurrences (many victims have been Sinhalese women, homes and villages) and it is not clear why Muslim areas are being targeted more frequently. A senior security officer in a public company has described to me the mood of panic in the Muslim populated Eastern Province outside the city centres. The streets empty by early evening, businesses close down by dusk because sales dry up, women cloister themselves and fear to venture out for water or firewood, and families huddle together in a single house for the night. It’s really weird he says, and there is no way of convincing people that GD talk is mass hysteria, and that it’s just criminals and pranksters whose exploits are blown out of proportion.

The so-called GDs are men, nude or semi-nude, who coat their bodies with oil or grease and waylay women, groping, scratching, molesting, and sometimes allegedly raping the unwary. Apart from the first incident I mentioned above, to the best of my knowledge there have been no other rapes or murders. Actually the few murders that have taken place are of suspected GDs trapped by villagers, or of policemen attacked for allegedly protecting arrested GD villains. Apart from attacks on women there are many reports of GDs breaking into houses, terrifying people by peering in through windows and climbing on roofs. It is not possible to tell whether, in hard statistical terms, there has been an increase in breaks-ins and nuisance exploits above the normal, but robbery does not seem to be a motive, and lubricating the skin for easy getaway is frequent though not invariable.

In the central hill areas, villagers and estate workers are running amok, pouncing on strangers and hitch-hikers and beating up men they don’t recognise. There is pandemonium spreading across the island, but we are entertained to inane utterances that take our breath away from the top police officer of Batticaloa. “The evil forces of the Tamil diaspora, resentful of the President’s development programme” are behind the GD hysteria and are stirring up trouble in the country (Sunday Times, 21 August)! Thus law enforcement makes a comedy of itself and is distrusted in every home and hamlet, and when the judiciary’s reputation for impartiality has suffered grievously - even in the words of former judges and chief justices – then it comes as no surprise that the mob is taking the law into its own hands. Sri Lanka is well on the way to a breakdown of the rule of law more widespread than during the anti-Tamil civil war and the government is palpably unable to get a grip on things.

Charges and counter-charges

It is the spreading out of incidents of a similar style across swathes of rural territory and the large number of such incidents that is troubling; it may be daft mass hysteria or it may be something more sinister, even the sober minded find it hard to tell as yet. The most widespread conspiracy theory in the public mind, and quite explicitly publicised by the JVP, the UNP and other critical analysts, attributes the phenomenon to the military, the government, or a conspiracy of collaboration between the two. UNP Kandy District MP Lakshman Kirelle alleges in an article in the Daily Mirror of 23 August that “villagers in Kandy have seen GDs being dropped-off by government vehicles”.

Neither the government nor the military want the state of emergency lifted; the government because it uses the regulations to manipulate elections and keep up other impositions, the army because it does not wish to lose its far-flung power, have military camps dismantled and its numerical size cut down. Therefore the allegation is perfectly plausible as a conspiracy of two arms of the state intended to prolong the state of emergency in the face of mounting local and international pressure to have it lifted.

When a government loses public credibility and has no residue of transparency, then understandably, the worst interpretation of every incident takes possession of the public mind. Hence, while it is not possible to discount the likelihood that the government or the military may be behind the GD outbreak, one also cannot discount the possibility that these two institutions are simply getting their just deserts for past transgressions.

Protesters across the board are demanding the closure of army camps and withdrawal of troops from their neighbourhood, such is their mistrust. If the military was indeed behind the events the exercise has clearly boomeranged. Several police stations have been stormed by angry villagers or local Muslims and there have been more than half a dozen clashes violent enough to become the tip of an iceberg if public confidence is not quickly restored. Local people suspect that police stations are safe-houses for apprehended GDs and demand that the culprits be lynched summarily. Two travelling salesmen where chopped up and burnt in an upcountry area and a bunch of official elephant enumerators where snared by people living in a remote locality and all but tarred and feathered before they were rescued by the police.

President Mahinda Rajapakse claims that there is a conspiracy to discredit him and his government but has still not produced a shred of evidence or said who is responsible. Nor have the authorities made the identity and connections of those who have been apprehended available. This too is troubling because, though certainly innocents like the hapless travelling salesmen and the elephant enumerators may have been caught up in the cross fire, there is justified suspicion that military or ex-military personnel may be among the mysterious others. Whatever the truth, there is little sympathy for the government at this time on this matter.

Manhohan Singh has learnt too late that turning a studiously blind eye to mountains of political corruption has jinxed him now, when finally, under the turbulent pressure of the streets, he wants to act. Rajapakse senses that the GD issue has gone out of control, so he has decided to appoint vigilante committees, headed by government party MPs in all areas, to eradicate the grease devil menace. Anyone familiar with the soiled reputation of his government MPs will tell him that he is jumping, with his eyes wide open, from the frying pan into the fire. Manhogan Singh has appointed a Group of Ministers to look into the Lokpal Bill (thank goodness he has not made the former Telecoms Minister the Group Chairman!). When will these people in power, the Singhs and the Rajapakses of this world, ever learn? Thankfully in democratic societies we have solutions short of the way Gaddafi had to be shooed out.

© SAAG

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"Grase Devils" take refuge in Police, Army camps" alleges Mosque Federations

By Zacki Jabbar | The Island
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Amidst the death of two civilians and a policeman resulting from the ‘Grease Devil’ menace, the government yesterday denied that it or the security forces were involved.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, addressing a gathering of persons representing the Ampara, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Puttalam Mosque Federations, who were specially flown to Colombo, said that allegations being levelled against the government and security forces were baseless and the harassment of Muslims in the Eastern Province and Puttalam, was the work of certain bad elements living in the respective areas, who wanted to create chaos and stall the development process.

While admitting to having received complaints of Muslim women being scratched by the ‘Grease Devils’, he said that an inquiry would be conducted and those found guilty punished, but cautioned that it did not give the victims the right to take the law into their hands.

A special police team would be assigned to investigate, while the STF will be deployed to maintain law and order in the affected areas, Gothabaya said.

The Defence Secretary said that a policemen and two innocent civilians had been killed as a result of the disturbances and the extent of violence was not justified.

Responding to complaints that the Police had failed to act, he admitted that it was wrong for them to have neglected their duty and assured that the culprits will be found. However, civilians should not surround army camps, because it was a serious offence and the soldiers could react to the situation.

Representatives of the Mosque Federations alleged that the ‘Grease Devils’ having harmed women, took refuge in police stations and army camps.

An allegation that the culprits scratched women who do not eat pork, with a view to obtaining their blood to perform a pooja for President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was laughed off by Gotabhaya who said that if it was the case, he could offer his own blood for the purpose.

He also dismissed another theory that the ‘Grease Devils’ were searching for Dutugemunu’s sword as "funny" because history does not record him as having visited those areas.

The Mosque Federation delegations were led by M. I. M. Zubair from Batticaloa, Abdul Jabbar from Ampara and Jaufar Moulavi from Trincomalee, while the Sri Lanka Muslim Council delegation was headed by N. M. Ameen.

© The Island

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More than 100 arrested in new Sri Lanka "Grease Devil" clash

Photo courtesy: Tamilnet

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal | Reuters
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Sri Lankan authorities on Tuesday arrested more than 100 people that threw rocks at police and soldiers who stopped them from chasing men thought to be "grease devils," or nighttime prowlers who have sparked an island wide spate of deadly violence.

At least five people including a police officer have been killed over the past two weeks in bouts of vigilantism and clashes, prompting deployment of the army and opposition accusations that the government may use the panic to keep wartime emergency laws in place.

Roughly 40 "grease devil" incidents have been reported in nine districts of the country, mostly in areas inhabited by minority Muslim or Tamil people as the government and opposition trade blame over the crisis.

Traditionally, a "grease devil" was a thief who wore only underwear and smeared grease over his body to evade capture.

But it became known as a nocturnal assaulter after a series of ultimately unrelated murders of elderly women arose in a southern area populated by the majority Sinhalese people.

The latest clash, in the military-controlled northern city of Jaffna, followed a familiar pattern. People chased unidentified men thought to be "grease devils," and then threw rocks at security forces who stopped them from pursuit.

"When the police searched the area for grease devils, people reacted angrily. So police took 100 people for questioning," military spokesman Brigadier Nihal Hapuarachchi said. A total of 102 were later arrested.

Nevin Pathmadeva, senior superintendent of police in Jaffna, said 22 people including four police officers were injured.

Three area residents told Reuters the army shot into the air when they tried to chase the men, who ran into a nearby military camp. Police and soldiers later beat them with batons.

"I saw black-coloured grease men with bare bodies and underwear running into the army camp when the military blocked us from chasing them," one of the three residents told Reuters.

All three spoke on condition of anonymity, for fear of angering the authorities. The government has warned of severe punishment for anyone spreading "grease devil" rumours.

"Do not joke with the forces"

Jaffna has been under military control since 1995, when the army wrested it back from the Tamil Tiger separatists. Sri Lanka defeated the Tigers in May 2009, ending a 25-year civil war.

Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother and a decorated infantry officer who was the architect of the war victory, said the security forces had nothing to do with the "grease devil" mayhem.

"Surrounding military camps and attacking the forces are terrorist acts. Our forces are capable of facing any threat after facing a 30-year brutal terrorist war. So do not try to joke with the forces," he said at a meeting with leaders of mosques, which the government has said it will protect.

Sri Lanka has suffered from widespread impunity that has flourished amid three insurgencies since 1971, and public anger at ineffective policing has frequently turned violent.

"People in frustration have sought to take law in to their own hands," the Women's Action Network, a body of women's groups working with victims of sexual violence in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, said in a statement.

© Reuters

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