COLOMBO: Five civil society groups are calling for government action to investigate mass graves which they say contain the remains of so-called “disappeared” in various civil conflicts on the island.
In a press release issued on June 22, the groups insisted that “if the Sri Lankan government is serious about dealing with the past it must commit to have international observers at all exhumations of mass graves.”
The festering issue of the disappeared has not been addressed in any systematic way by successive governments despite frequent promises.The Office of Missing Persons (OMP) created by the Yahapalanaya government has proved to be a disappointment.
Brito Fernando of the Families of the Disappeared says that after three decades and twenty attempted exhumations, only a handful of bodies have ever been identified and returned to families.
“We all know tens of thousands of bodies lie in shallow graves all over the island, so we can’t describe this dismal rate of progress as bad luck – it’s a clear lack of political will,” he added.
The five organizations released a detailed report on the past investigations into mass graves. It meticulously reveals the government’s “systematic interference with investigations” a statement issued by the five organizations said.
A 30-minute documentary film, “In Plain Sight – Searching for Truth Behind Sri Lanka’s Mass Graves”, was also screened at the event, illustrating how long and hard the families of the disappeared have struggled for the truth. The documentary explores the connection between disappearances and mass graves in Sri Lanka by focusing on different narratives, including those of affected families and loved ones, the press release said.
Investigations into a mass grave found near the Matale hospital prompted the joint report. The remains exhumed at that location in 2013 are believed to be of the hundreds of people who went missing during the late 1980s.
“Matale was the scene of hundreds of disappearances in 1989 when the former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was the district military coordinator of the area; he was later named as an alleged suspect by a Presidential Commission of Inquiry” the press release said.
It added that a group of UN experts “wrote to the Government of Sri Lanka this year to ask what it had done to investigate and hold Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other alleged perpetrators accountable but there was no reply.”
Yasmin Sooka, executive director of the International Truth and Justice Project in South Africa was quoted in the release as saying that this “shows that documenting the crimes, collecting the evidence and preserving it is just the first step – thirty years later we still find ourselves fighting for truth and justice; without which the guarantee of non-recurrence remains elusive.”
“Accountability is not an optional exercise – it’s essential for building a future for all Sri Lankans,” she added.
The report examines the way investigations throughout the island have been stymied whether the mass graves are in the south or the north and east.
Magistrates and forensic experts have been transferred abruptly, police have delayed carrying out judicial orders, families’ lawyers have been denied access to sites, no effort has been made to find living witnesses, no ante mortem data has been collected, the Attorney General’s Office has dropped the case, and, in the very rare instances where someone was convicted, they were then pardoned, the report alleged.Though a new inquest law and standard operating procedures have been drafted, they have not been made public, nor have the families been consulted.
“There is total lack of political will with regard to mass graves investigations and enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka,” said K.…
[06:23, 25/06/2023] Rasooldeen: Sri Lanka set to barter tea for oil with Iran
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is set to start bartering tea to Iran next month in lieu of $250 million owed for oil, a Sri Lankan official told Reuters on Friday, June 23, as the crisis-hit country tries to lift sales to a key market and protect its forex reserves.
The barter was agreed upon in 2021 for oil imported in 2012, but the exchange was delayed after Sri Lanka’s unprecedented dollar shortage last year plunged the economy into its worst financial crisis in more than seven decades.
“This is very timely for us because we get access to an important market and both Iran and Sri Lanka can trade without relying on dollars,” Sri Lanka’s Tea Board Chairman Niraj de Mel told Reuters.
“The agreement was to send $5 million worth of tea each month for 48 months but we plan to start with about $2 million per month.”
Globally popular Ceylon Tea is Sri Lanka’s highest foreign exchange-earning crop, brewing $1.25 billion for the cash-strapped country last year, according to government data.
Iran has been one of Sri Lanka’s main tea buyers but exports have fallen steadily from $128 million in 2018 to $70 million last year as U.S. sanctions on Iran hit trade.
A significant share of Sri Lanka’s tea is now shipped to Iran via the United Arab Emirates (UAE), official data shows, with the UAE more than doubling its tea imports from Sri Lanka to $118 million last year from $48 million five years ago.
Under the barter programme, the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp that bought the oil will give rupees to the Tea Board to ship tea via Sri Lankan exporters.
Iranian tea importers will then pay riyals to the National Iranian Oil Company, de Mel said.
“We are awaiting the final documents and hope to start exports from July,” he added.
Sri Lanka’s foreign exchange reserves grew to $3.5 billion at the end of May – a 14-month high – helped by increased remittances and tourism inflows after securing a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Source: Reuters
-Agencies
