Eighteenth May marked 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka. On the day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a tweet from the official Twitter account of the President of Sri Lanka, paid tribute to the armed forces and their families. The President’s tweet was only in Sinhalese. The President didn’t remember or offer empathy to the many Sri Lankan civilians who had suffered immensely through injuries, displacement, and whose family members had been killed and disappeared, the majority of whom are Tamils, the numerical ethnic minority. This has been the practice of Sinhalese presidents, prime ministers, leaders of the opposition, and most other Sinhalese political and religious leaders for the last 12 years.
Since 2009, every government has celebrated the end of the war as a “Victory Day” or “War Heroes” day. These sentiments are shared by many Sinhalese, the majority ethnic community in Sri Lanka, as well as many Sinhalese religious clergy and the media. Despite the lockdowns and various other Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions, a “War Heroes Commemoration” was held last week on 19 May, close to the Parliament Complex in Colombo. Amongst those who attended was the President, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the armed forces, the Police, and the families of the armed forces personnel who had been killed.
But in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, many Tamils observe 18 May as a day for grieving and mourning, remembering those killed during the war. Mullivaikkal is the remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu District where the war ended in a blood bath. In recent years, at least two small monuments for those killed have been erected there. The name Mullivaikkal now features prominently in 18 May memorials.
Despite the number of people affected by Covid-19 in the North being far less than in Colombo and the Western Province, no gathering of people to remember the war dead was allowed in the North. But small commemorative events were held by Tamils without gathering people, including online events. These included lighting lamps, ringing bells, prayers, discussions, fasting, and preparing and consuming Mullivaikkal kanji (porridge). Though there was a focus on Tamils, unlike the government event, many initiatives remembered all those who were killed, injured, and suffered. This would include civilians of all ethnicities and combatants from the government armed forces and non-state armed groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The Catholic Church
This year, the four Catholic bishops in the North and East made a historic statement that they were joining their people in seeking justice for crimes perpetrated, and called for a prayerful “Remembrance Day of War Victims”, including those who died, were maimed, and were suffering in other ways. While referring to the “Mullivaikkal Genocide”, the bishops had also highlighted the need to pray for “all those who lost their lives due to the war and unrest in Sri Lanka”.
During a phone conversation, Bishop Noel Emmanuel from Trincomalee, one of the signatories, stressed the importance of remembrances for healing and emphasised that their initiative was to remember and pray for all who had suffered and were suffering. He repeatedly expressed hopes that Catholics and people outside the North and East would respond to their call in a spirit of solidarity, brotherhood, and sisterhood. He shared that he had travelled to Negombo to join the commemorative events for the Easter Sunday bombings at St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Katuwapitiya last month to be in solidarity with the victims, and had thought that as bishops, they must support commemorations in the North and East. He was frank in acknowledging frustrations expressed by many Tamils in the North and East, including Catholic priests, as to why they should express solidarity with the Easter bombing victims when most Catholics in Colombo and other dioceses had not been in solidarity with them during and after the war-time massacres. However, he shared that many Catholic priests from the North and East had engaged in solidarity actions last month to commemorate the Easter bombings.
Some Tamil Catholic priests, including those who had endured the horrors of the war, have been actively involved in supporting and promoting 18 May remembrances, including monuments and memorial events. One of the first monuments for civilians killed in the war is at the Catholic Church in Uruthirapuram in the Kilinochchi District.
One of the key questions asked by northern Tamil Catholics and others on 18 May is what happened to Rev. Fr. Francis Joseph, a senior Catholic priest of the Diocese of Jaffna, who was last seen on the day in 2009 surrendering to the Army and then disappeared, along with many others. Twelve years later, there are no answers.
Obstructions to 18 May remembrances in the North
As in the last few years, this year, too, there were hostilities towards remembrances in the North and East by Tamils. Last week, a few Catholic priests took a memorial stone to Mullivaikkal, but it disappeared overnight before it could be installed the next day. On the same night, a small and simple monument in Mullivaikkal that had played a significant role in the last few years’ 18 May remembrances had been damaged. One of the Catholic priests who had taken the memorial stone said the priests who brought the stone and the driver of the vehicle were intimidated by the large numbers of military and police personnel who had gathered. Another Catholic priest involved in this initiative questioned as to how a stone that was about six feet tall and weighed about 2,000 kilos could have been taken away overnight in a heavily militarised atmosphere.
On 17 May morning, the media reported that the Mullaitivu Magistrate had allowed remembrances based on submissions made by several lawyers, but that the military had continued to block roads to Mullivaikkal. Later in the evening, the media reported that around 261 persons from a factory in Puthukkudiyiruppu (near Mullivaikkal) had tested positive for Covid-19 and that a lockdown had been imposed in the surrounding areas that included Mullivaikkal.
Police across the North and East had resorted to obtaining court orders to stop 18 May memorials. Obtaining court orders to restrict public actions that are critical or perceived as critical of the government in power have become common during and even before Covid-19. These need careful attention, especially as magistrates often issue such orders after listening to only the Police, without opportunity for the affected parties to present their side or very little time to challenge the order.
In one of the most significant judgements from our Supreme Court on the freedom of expression, Amaratunga vs. Sirimal and Others (the Jana Ghosha case) (SC 468/92), the judges have determined that speech and expression extends to forms of expression other than oral or verbal, and this in turn could serve as a useful reference in looking at collective public grieving, monuments, and memorial events as a form of expression. In the same judgement, the court had rejected the Police’s statement that “information had been received of a plan to incite the people into committing acts of violence and to cause a riot, because the respondents (the Police and state officials) have not produced any record of that information and have not disclosed the nature and source thereof”. This offers a fresh perspective in analysing the reasoning that the Police give to magistrates in seeking court orders restricting the freedom of expression and assembly. It is perhaps time to take seriously the warning from the same judgement that “stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in the catastrophic explosion of violence some other day”.
Solidarity
Eighteenth May must be an occasion for us as Sri Lankans to assess the progress we have made in addressing the root causes of the conflict through a political process and to move forward towards co-existence and a more peaceful and just society. It is also an occasion for us to assess how we have dealt with the consequences of the conflict, such as searching for the disappeared, the release of political prisoners, resolving land issues, and ensuring economic justice and accountability for serious crimes committed. Civilians from all ethnic groups and combatants from all sides have been struggling to deal with such issues, as well as the mental trauma, physical disabilities, and gender-based violence and discrimination. But the focus on 18 May has often been reduced to the emotional and politically charged remembrances that are polarising due to the ethnicity and the obstructions faced by the Tamils.
But there are also exceptions. In one online memorial event I joined, a senior Buddhist monk, a Tamil Catholic priest, and a Muslim lady shared moving reflections about remembering and moving forward. I had not seen any responses to the North-East bishops call from Catholic bishops in the other eight Catholic dioceses outside the North and East. But, in a strong gesture of ecumenism, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) called on its membership (10 churches, two associate churches, seven ecumenical organisations, and two associate ecumenical organisations across Sri Lanka, with Tamil and Sinhalese congregations) “to offer prayers for all the lives lost in the nearly three decades of war”.
According to Bishop Emmanuel, their call for the remembrance of war victims would be an opportunity for reconciliation and unity amongst the peoples of different ethnicities and from different parts of the country. He believes that those who have suffered would be able to understand the pain of others. For me, one of the most striking words in the Bishop’s call is that “victims remain no more the passive sufferers, rather active participants in the process of redress”.
Hostility though threats, intimidations, and restrictions are likely to make victims passive. Empathy, compassion, solidarity, and freedom are likely to make victims active participants. Selectively privileging some victims will sow disunity while equality will encourage unity. I hope and pray that there will be less hostility and more support for all victims to be active participants in the process of seeking redress for past injustices and peaceful co-existence in the future.
(The writer is a human rights activist and an Executive Committee Member of the Free Media Movement)18 May: Challenges of inclusive remembering
27 May 2021
18 May: Challenges of inclusive remembering
27 May 2021
Eighteenth May marked 12 years since the end of the war in Sri Lanka. On the day, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in a tweet from the official Twitter account of the President of Sri Lanka, paid tribute to the armed forces and their families. The President’s tweet was only in Sinhalese. The President didn’t remember or offer empathy to the many Sri Lankan civilians who had suffered immensely through injuries, displacement, and whose family members had been killed and disappeared, the majority of whom are Tamils, the numerical ethnic minority. This has been the practice of Sinhalese presidents, prime ministers, leaders of the opposition, and most other Sinhalese political and religious leaders for the last 12 years.
Since 2009, every government has celebrated the end of the war as a “Victory Day” or “War Heroes” day. These sentiments are shared by many Sinhalese, the majority ethnic community in Sri Lanka, as well as many Sinhalese religious clergy and the media. Despite the lockdowns and various other Covid-19 pandemic-related restrictions, a “War Heroes Commemoration” was held last week on 19 May, close to the Parliament Complex in Colombo. Amongst those who attended was the President, the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, the armed forces, the Police, and the families of the armed forces personnel who had been killed.
But in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, many Tamils observe 18 May as a day for grieving and mourning, remembering those killed during the war. Mullivaikkal is the remote coastal village in the Mullaitivu District where the war ended in a blood bath. In recent years, at least two small monuments for those killed have been erected there. The name Mullivaikkal now features prominently in 18 May memorials.
Despite the number of people affected by Covid-19 in the North being far less than in Colombo and the Western Province, no gathering of people to remember the war dead was allowed in the North. But small commemorative events were held by Tamils without gathering people, including online events. These included lighting lamps, ringing bells, prayers, discussions, fasting, and preparing and consuming Mullivaikkal kanji (porridge). Though there was a focus on Tamils, unlike the government event, many initiatives remembered all those who were killed, injured, and suffered. This would include civilians of all ethnicities and combatants from the government armed forces and non-state armed groups such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The Catholic Church
This year, the four Catholic bishops in the North and East made a historic statement that they were joining their people in seeking justice for crimes perpetrated, and called for a prayerful “Remembrance Day of War Victims”, including those who died, were maimed, and were suffering in other ways. While referring to the “Mullivaikkal Genocide”, the bishops had also highlighted the need to pray for “all those who lost their lives due to the war and unrest in Sri Lanka”.
During a phone conversation, Bishop Noel Emmanuel from Trincomalee, one of the signatories, stressed the importance of remembrances for healing and emphasised that their initiative was to remember and pray for all who had suffered and were suffering. He repeatedly expressed hopes that Catholics and people outside the North and East would respond to their call in a spirit of solidarity, brotherhood, and sisterhood. He shared that he had travelled to Negombo to join the commemorative events for the Easter Sunday bombings at St. Sebastian’s Catholic Church in Katuwapitiya last month to be in solidarity with the victims, and had thought that as bishops, they must support commemorations in the North and East. He was frank in acknowledging frustrations expressed by many Tamils in the North and East, including Catholic priests, as to why they should express solidarity with the Easter bombing victims when most Catholics in Colombo and other dioceses had not been in solidarity with them during and after the war-time massacres. However, he shared that many Catholic priests from the North and East had engaged in solidarity actions last month to commemorate the Easter bombings.
Some Tamil Catholic priests, including those who had endured the horrors of the war, have been actively involved in supporting and promoting 18 May remembrances, including monuments and memorial events. One of the first monuments for civilians killed in the war is at the Catholic Church in Uruthirapuram in the Kilinochchi District.
One of the key questions asked by northern Tamil Catholics and others on 18 May is what happened to Rev. Fr. Francis Joseph, a senior Catholic priest of the Diocese of Jaffna, who was last seen on the day in 2009 surrendering to the Army and then disappeared, along with many others. Twelve years later, there are no answers.
Obstructions to 18 May remembrances in the North
As in the last few years, this year, too, there were hostilities towards remembrances in the North and East by Tamils. Last week, a few Catholic priests took a memorial stone to Mullivaikkal, but it disappeared overnight before it could be installed the next day. On the same night, a small and simple monument in Mullivaikkal that had played a significant role in the last few years’ 18 May remembrances had been damaged. One of the Catholic priests who had taken the memorial stone said the priests who brought the stone and the driver of the vehicle were intimidated by the large numbers of military and police personnel who had gathered. Another Catholic priest involved in this initiative questioned as to how a stone that was about six feet tall and weighed about 2,000 kilos could have been taken away overnight in a heavily militarised atmosphere.
On 17 May morning, the media reported that the Mullaitivu Magistrate had allowed remembrances based on submissions made by several lawyers, but that the military had continued to block roads to Mullivaikkal. Later in the evening, the media reported that around 261 persons from a factory in Puthukkudiyiruppu (near Mullivaikkal) had tested positive for Covid-19 and that a lockdown had been imposed in the surrounding areas that included Mullivaikkal.
Police across the North and East had resorted to obtaining court orders to stop 18 May memorials. Obtaining court orders to restrict public actions that are critical or perceived as critical of the government in power have become common during and even before Covid-19. These need careful attention, especially as magistrates often issue such orders after listening to only the Police, without opportunity for the affected parties to present their side or very little time to challenge the order.
In one of the most significant judgements from our Supreme Court on the freedom of expression, Amaratunga vs. Sirimal and Others (the Jana Ghosha case) (SC 468/92), the judges have determined that speech and expression extends to forms of expression other than oral or verbal, and this in turn could serve as a useful reference in looking at collective public grieving, monuments, and memorial events as a form of expression. In the same judgement, the court had rejected the Police’s statement that “information had been received of a plan to incite the people into committing acts of violence and to cause a riot, because the respondents (the Police and state officials) have not produced any record of that information and have not disclosed the nature and source thereof”. This offers a fresh perspective in analysing the reasoning that the Police give to magistrates in seeking court orders restricting the freedom of expression and assembly. It is perhaps time to take seriously the warning from the same judgement that “stifling the peaceful expression of legitimate dissent today can only result, inexorably, in the catastrophic explosion of violence some other day”.
Solidarity
Eighteenth May must be an occasion for us as Sri Lankans to assess the progress we have made in addressing the root causes of the conflict through a political process and to move forward towards co-existence and a more peaceful and just society. It is also an occasion for us to assess how we have dealt with the consequences of the conflict, such as searching for the disappeared, the release of political prisoners, resolving land issues, and ensuring economic justice and accountability for serious crimes committed. Civilians from all ethnic groups and combatants from all sides have been struggling to deal with such issues, as well as the mental trauma, physical disabilities, and gender-based violence and discrimination. But the focus on 18 May has often been reduced to the emotional and politically charged remembrances that are polarising due to the ethnicity and the obstructions faced by the Tamils.
But there are also exceptions. In one online memorial event I joined, a senior Buddhist monk, a Tamil Catholic priest, and a Muslim lady shared moving reflections about remembering and moving forward. I had not seen any responses to the North-East bishops call from Catholic bishops in the other eight Catholic dioceses outside the North and East. But, in a strong gesture of ecumenism, the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka (NCCSL) called on its membership (10 churches, two associate churches, seven ecumenical organisations, and two associate ecumenical organisations across Sri Lanka, with Tamil and Sinhalese congregations) “to offer prayers for all the lives lost in the nearly three decades of war”.
According to Bishop Emmanuel, their call for the remembrance of war victims would be an opportunity for reconciliation and unity amongst the peoples of different ethnicities and from different parts of the country. He believes that those who have suffered would be able to understand the pain of others. For me, one of the most striking words in the Bishop’s call is that “victims remain no more the passive sufferers, rather active participants in the process of redress”.
Hostility though threats, intimidations, and restrictions are likely to make victims passive. Empathy, compassion, solidarity, and freedom are likely to make victims active participants. Selectively privileging some victims will sow disunity while equality will encourage unity. I hope and pray that there will be less hostility and more support for all victims to be active participants in the process of seeking redress for past injustices and peaceful co-existence in the future.
(The writer is a human rights activist and an Executive Committee Member of the Free Media Movement)Kapruka
Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!
Discover Kapruka, the leading online shopping platform in Sri Lanka, where you can conveniently send Gifts and Flowers to your loved ones for any event. Explore a wide range of popular Shopping Categories on Kapruka, including Toys, Groceries, Electronics, Birthday Cakes, Fruits, Chocolates, Automobile, Mother and Baby Products, Clothing, and Fashion. Additionally, Kapruka offers unique online services like Money Remittance, Astrology, Medicine Delivery, and access to over 700 Top Brands. Also If you’re interested in selling with Kapruka, Partner Central by Kapruka is the best solution to start with. Moreover, through Kapruka Global Shop, you can also enjoy the convenience of purchasing products from renowned platforms like Amazon and eBay and have them delivered to Sri Lanka.Send love straight to their heart this Valentine's with our thoughtful gifts!