The parliamentary elections gave a two-thirds majority to the Rajapaksas, whom the country’s Tamils hold responsible for the atrocities committed against the civilian population.
Raja Lakshmi *, a resident of Vellankulam in the Tamil-dominated northern province of Sri Lanka, was a teacher until 2006, when her school and home were destroyed in the crossfire between the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil tigers. Since then, she has been running strange errands to support her children.
In 2011, her eldest son, Thanga Durai, was ‘picked up’ by plainclothes policemen. He was only 14 at the time, but Lakshmi swears that he had nothing to do with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) or any other militant organization. “We have been waiting for nine years for a semblance of justice and closure. But with both the Rajapaksa brothers and other family members returning to power, we are already seeing the massive changes they are making, ”says Lakshmi, adding that the resounding victory of the Rajapaksa brothers has made their dreams even more distant.
Like Lakshmi, thousands of women have yet to achieve closure, even 11 years after the long-standing civil war ended in 2009. In 2019, journalists traveling through the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka, ravaged by the war, to cover the presidential elections, they say they met with several women, lined up in the streets with old photographs in their hands – of their children, husbands, fathers and brothers – who had disappeared without explanation. They allege that the then Sri Lankan government, led by the Rajapaksa brothers, illegally arrested their loved ones for only one reason: to be Tamil.
Both brothers have been accused of having planned and ordered several heinous crimes, during the civil one, including, among others, illegal arrests, kidnappings, physical and mental torture and rape. Gotabaya Rajapaska, who was Minister of Defense during the last years of the civil war, is now President of Sri Lanka. His older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president in 2009, is now prime minister. And while the Rajapaksas have denied the allegations, the Sri Lankan government has done little to promote reconciliation and hold those responsible for war crimes accountable.
Furthermore, the problems of alleged discrimination against Tamils in SL remained unresolved. While Sinhalese majoritarianism has intensified, with the help of successive governments that followed the war, Tamils continued to be excluded from the growth story with their unresolved past problems, dangerous present, and uncertain future.
The northern and eastern provinces remain highly militarized, with 16 of the 19 Sri Lankan army divisions reportedly still stationed there. Although large-scale shelling and shooting has ceased in the areas, the routine and unreasonable searches that are reported still keep the population on edge.
It is on the basis of these unresolved issues that the Rajapaksa family strengthened their grip on the Sri Lankan administration, following the 2020 parliamentary elections. With the increased fullness of their influence, in addition to President Gotabaya and Prime Minister Mahinda , more members of the Rajapakasa family have held key positions in the SLPP government. Chamal Rajapaksa, the elder brother, received the irrigation portfolio, while Namal Rajapaksa, Mahinda’s son, received the youth and sports ministry. Mahinda’s nephew, Shasheendra Rajapaksa, has been appointed Minister of Agriculture.
How did Sri Lanka vote in parliamentary polls?
In August 2020, elections were held for the 225-seat Sri Lankan Parliament, where the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna alliance (SLPP), a formation of 17 political parties, won 150 seats with a vote share of 59.09. %. The critical two-thirds majority was easily secured by the alliance, paving the way for the constitutional reforms they have been professing.
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) performed poorly in the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern parts of the country. Of the 13 seats in the region, TNA managed to win only six compared to its previous count of nine in the Northern Province. In the Eastern Province, TNA only managed to win two seats, even giving up its seat in the Ampara district of the last elections.
What do the Rajapaksas in power mean to minorities?
Sivagnanam Shritharan, Member of Parliament for TNA, speaking to TNM claimed: “The absolute majority of the Rajapaksa family means that they can do whatever they want, without worrying about people. Because of this, the Tamils will suffer further erosion of their rights in the country. His coming to power will take us down a destructive path and pave the way for the family to rule the country. “
Show this: During his campaign in 2019, when asked about allegations of human rights violations, Gotabaya Rajapaksa had infamously said, “You are talking all the time about the past. [about] the future! I am trying to become the president of the future Sri Lanka! We can move on. ‘
For most of the Sinhalese Buddhists in the country, the Rajapaksas represent something very different. The 2019 Sri Lankan Easter bombings that killed 267 people left the country unstable, yearning for decisive leadership. And in 2020, the use of the army under Gotabaya Rajapaksa to handle the COVID-19 crisis, which was much worse in neighboring countries, gave the impression that a clear majority of the Rajapaksas will be the path to a stronger Sri Lanka and safe.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, after coming to power in 2019, vowed to “ reinforce Sinhalese Buddhist supremacy ” and in an attempt to increase surveillance in minority-dominated areas, especially Tamil areas, by increasing the military presence. Many activists have also denounced an offensive against NGOs sympathetic to the Tamil cause.
“I have created an advisory council made up of prominent Buddhist monks to seek advice on governance. I have also established a Presidential Task Force to protect sites of archaeological importance and preserve our Buddhist heritage, ”Gotabaya promised in his oath speech.
Gotabaya and the officers under him have often spoken of the need for a powerful army, the subtext of which, for the Tamils, means that any dissent will be treated with an iron fist. Several former army officers who had supported his campaign for the presidency were rewarded with squat government posts.
But more disturbing than these symbolic biases are the radical constitutional changes the government is making.
Two-thirds majority and constitutional amendments
“The 19th Amendment was the best piece of regulation in terms of strengthening institutions and regaining the power of the Executive President. At least he ensured that there are checks and balances to ensure there are independent commissions, ”said Benislos Thushan, a journalist and Tamil rights activist for TNM. The 19th Amendment decentralized power in the country by granting independence from the President to the judiciary, the public service, and the Election Commission. It diluted the powers of the President and entrusted them to Parliament and independent commissions and also ensured the inclusion of civil society in the decision-making process.
The apprehension that minorities are further marginalized after the results of the parliamentary elections is not limited to just that the Rajapaksas have full control. With a two-thirds majority, the far-right SLPP can make constitutional changes that could be catastrophic for the safety of minorities.
At the first cabinet meeting held under Prime Minister Rajapaksa on August 20, the decision was made to repeal the 19th Amendment, which was passed under the previous regime in 2015. And on September 2, the newly elected government published the draft. of the 20th Amendment which will now replace the 19th Amendment.
Some of the key and worrying features of the drafted Amendment 20A are:
– The Constitutional Council (CC) that had been created to mitigate political interference in the appointments of heads and members of various commissions. Now it will be replaced by the Parliamentary Council, which will have no members of civil society.
The three independent commissions will be abolished: Electoral Commission, Public Services Commission and National Police Commission.
– Will restore full legal immunity to the president. Amendment 19A had provided for legal action against the President.
– Authorizes the President to dissolve Parliament, at his will, after a period of one year of existence.
– It allows the President to appoint chairmen and members of the commissions.
– The Right to Information Commission set up by 19A has been eliminated.
– Two more important commissions have also been repealed, the Audit Service Commission and the National Procurement Commission set up by the 19A.
A committee of nine ministers is examining the draft of the 20th Amendment, as it faces opposition even within the ruling SLPP. But the significance of the changes he suggests is not lost on Tamils. If it comes into being as law, in its current form, it will snatch any forum for redress for your grievances, past and present, and leave you with less hope of retaliation.
Echoing the sentiments of the Tamil population, Benislos said: “There was so much media propaganda against minorities. There are radical fringe elements who have been elected to power alongside the Rajapaksas and they can easily amplify some of the radical racial narratives. “
India’s concern
With 19A gone, India now fears that the next to face the ax could be the 13th Amendment that was the result of the Jayawardene-Rajiv Gandhi agreement ratified on July 29, 1987. In an attempt to decentralize power, provision 13A in the Constitution allows for Provincial Councils, giving a limited sense of autonomy to all provinces, particularly to the North and East.
Since 1987, India has largely kept aloof from Sri Lanka’s domestic politics, as it is now, when New Delhi has issued no statement in light of the removal of 19A. The increasing proximity of the Rajapaksas to China in recent years is of great concern to India and any interference could push them further towards the Chinese, causing great concern in the power struggle in the region.
Also internally, with no Tamil Nadu state party pressuring the ruling coalition, the NDA government feels it has no pressure to appease Tamil sentiments of brotherhood, prioritizing the India-Sri Lanka-China equation over the justice for the island’s Tamils. .
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