A story from the AFP news service is making the rounds and it showcases just how much the Philippines and Sri Lanka have in common. That is because the President of Sri Lanka is intentionally imitating the Philippines. When a country imitates the Philippines they can expect to have the same problems as the Philippines.
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| https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/drug-gangs-behind-sri-lanka-easter-bombings-president-claims-11722322 |
International drug syndicates orchestrated Sri Lanka's deadly Easter Sunday bombings, the country's leader claimed Monday (Jul 15), despite earlier blaming the attacks on Islamists.
Sirisena's office said the day after the bombings that local terrorists and international terror groups were responsible for the attacks.
But in a statement issued by his office Monday, Sirisena said the attacks "were the work of international drug dealers".
"Drug barons carried out this attack to discredit me and discourage my anti-narcotics drive. I will not be deterred," he said.
Sirisena is waging a battle against efforts by his governing coalition in parliament to abolish capital punishment, which has been subject to a moratorium since 1976.
Sirisena has marshalled public support for an end to the moratorium on the death penalty, saying that hangings would deter the illegal drugs trade.
"If the government brings legislation to abolish capital punishment, I will declare a day of national mourning," Sirisena said in the statement, adding that public opinion favoured hanging condemned criminals.
Before dissecting this assertion of President Sirisena I want to point out that he never issued a statement blaming international drug dealers for the Easter bombing. What he did was give a speech at a ceremony where land deeds were presented to 5000 settlers. It is at this speech where the spectre of international drug dealers being behind the Easter bombings was raised.
The day a Bill to abolish the death penalty is brought to Parliament will be declared a national day of mourning as the it will mark the occasion of handing over this country to drug dealers, criminals and rapists, President Maithripala Sirisena said.
President made these comments during a ceremony in Walawa zone to present land deeds to 5000 Mahaweli settlers today (14).
Expressing his views, President further said attempts by a certain section of the government to bring a Parliament act to abolish the capital punishment is an achievement of drug dealers and criminals.
President vouched that he will not leave room for these criminals to destroy the future of this country’s children while adding that he will leave no stone unturned to bring the drug dealers to the law and will not revoke the decision of death penalty.
Foreign forces play a role in the opposition to the decision, President added.
http://www.president.gov.lk/abolition-of-death-penalty-is-a-victory-of-drug-kingpins-and-criminals-president-2/
Any search for an official transcription of this speech will be fruitless as it does not exist and we are forced to rely on the reporting of the AFP. That is not to imply they are lying or untrustworthy. Two weeks ago President Sirisena made the same comments about drug dealers being behind the Easter bombings.
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| http://www.pmdnews.lk/unheeded-to-life-threats-i-lead-the-fight-against-drug-menace-for-the-future-generation-president/ |
Those who did not give their slightest support for the battle against eradicating drug menace during last four and half years are now trying to vilify me in the face of tough action now taken against drug kingpins, President Maithripala Sirisena said.
He said he will demand answers from them on what they have done to safeguard 300,000 youth who are addicted to drugs while they are in power or in opposition.
The President made these comments addressing the Western Province ceremony of the National Drug Prevention Week held at Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium today (1).
President further said that he is leading the fight against the drug menace unheeded to life threats for the sake of the future generations.
Drug is the easiest method to destroy a nation, President pointed out while adding every citizen should perform his or her duty to free this country from illegal drug trafficking.
Certain international organizations attempt to intimidate Sri Lanka after the decision to re-enforce capital punishment against drug dealers. Though the assistance of global entities is required for the development of a country, nobody has the right to interfere in the domestic affairs or the sovereignty of a nation, President said.
The connection between illegal drug business and politicians is no secret and how many politicians do their duty to protect the nation against this threat is questionable, he said.
Explaining the interdependence between illegal drug trafficking and terrorism, President said there is a hand of international drug dealers behind Easter Sunday attack.
From the above description of President Sirisena's speech the picture clearly emerges that he is following Duterte's steps in his own drug war. He claims to be fighting for the future of the nation, that politicians protect drug lords, that drugs will destroy the nation, that the opposition are doing everything the can to vilify him, that the opposition has no answers and does not care about the problem, and that terrorism and the drug trade are related. These are the same claims Duterte has made time and again to justify his war on drugs.
It is no small wonder that President Sirisena is taking a page from Duterte since he said that is exactly what he intended to do back in 2018.
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| https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/south-asia/article/2154851/sri-lanka-will-hang-drug-dealers-promises-replicate-philippines |
Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it would start hanging drug dealers, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to “replicate the success” of the Philippines drug war.
President Maithripala Sirisena had told the cabinet he “was ready to sign the death warrants” of repeat drug offenders, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said Wednesday.
“From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” he said.
The government has drawn inspiration from the Philippines, where a no-holds barred war on drugs has been a centrepiece of President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration.
“We were told that the Philippines has been successful in deploying the army and dealing with this problem. We will try to replicate their success,” Senaratne said of the decision to deploy the military to tackle drugs.
He reiterated this promise again when he visited the Philippines in January 2019.
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| https://news.mb.com.ph/2019/01/18/sri-lanka-to-adopt-ph-drug-war-model/ |
“Drug menace is rampant in my country and I feel that we should follow your footsteps to control this hazard.”
“The war against crime and drugs carried out by you is an example to the whole world and personally to me,” he said during the state dinner.
With various international human rights agencies breathing down Duterte's neck about his drug war and demanding accountability it is certainly not true that the Philippine drug war is a model the whole world aspires to follow. Of course Duterte does not care about international pressure and considers any desire to peep into the files of the PNP and ascertain a true picture of the drug war an affront to the sovereignty of the nation. In turn the world calls him a Strongman.
Likewise President Sirisena is also facing international pressure for attempting to revive the death penalty in order "to “replicate the success” of the Philippines drug war" and for this reason is also called a Strongman. Unlike the Philippines Sri Lanka has never abolished the death penalty. It is only on hiatus at the moment with the last execution taking place in 1976. Though death sentences have been regularly issued they have automatically been commuted to life sentences.
Opposition to the death penalty started to become increasingly widespread and the United National Party government modified the use of it in its 1978 rewrite of the constitution. Under the new arrangement, death sentences could only be carried out if authorized by the trial judge, the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice. If there was no agreement, the sentence was to be commuted to life imprisonment. The sentence was also to be ratified by the President. This clause effectively ended executions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_Sri_Lanka
Siriesena recently signed the death warrants of four men. However the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction until October 30th when it will rule on the constitutionality of the death penalty.
Just as the Philippines is being lambasted by human rights groups for attempting to revive the death penalty for drug dealers Sri Lanka's possible revival of the death penalty is being decried by international human rights organisations.
“The death penalty is a cruel practice that has no place in modern society for combating drug crimes or any other offense,” Adams said. “Sri Lanka should work toward upholding its human rights pledges and immediately rescind the execution orders.”
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/30/sri-lanka-resuming-death-penalty-major-setback
Amnesty International has repeatedly called on President Sirisena to halt his plans to resume executions, making clear that the death penalty does not have a unique deterrent effect on crime. The human rights organization absolutely opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, regardless of the crime committed or method of execution.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/06/sri-lanka-halt-plans-for-executions-once-and-for-all
It is likely to groups such as these that Sirisena is referring when he says, "Foreign forces play a role in the opposition to the decision." I am not aware of what other "foreign forces" work their magic in Sri Lanka but if you told me they were linked to the CIA and other Western agencies I would not be surprised. Like the Philippines, the USA has a major stake in Sri Lanka and is using its influence to counter that of China.
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| https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2159546/us-gives-sri-lankan-military-us39-million-combat-chinas |
The United States announced Monday it would grant Sri Lanka US$39 million to boost maritime security as China develops its strategic hold on the Indian Ocean island.
The State Department will provide the funds as “foreign military financing”, pending congressional approval, the US embassy in Colombo said.
“We look forward to discussing with the government of Sri Lanka how this contribution can support our Bay of Bengal initiative and Sri Lanka’s humanitarian assistance and disaster response priorities,” it said.
It comes as China, the world’s second-largest economy, increases investment in ports and other building projects in Sri Lanka – a key link in its ambitious “Belt and Road” infrastructure initiative.
The US and Sri Lanka are negotiating a status-of-forces-agreement governing rules for visiting US military personnel which the President and others have said would undermine the sovereignty of the nation. That is very much akin to the situation with EDCA which Duterte eventually signed when Trump visited the Philippines in 2017.
Like the Philippines, yet despite not having a permanent military presence, the US has assisted the Sri Lankan military with
...assistance in terms of military training, military technology, intelligence, special training in counter-terrorism, and direct monetary assistance for military development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka–United_States_relations#Defence_relations
But to return to the main story of President Sirisena blaming international drug dealers for the Easter bombings when such was not the case, this is is parallel to what Duterte did in September 2017.
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| https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2017/09/27/1743196/duterte-now-claims-arrest-warrant-vs-drug-lord-triggered-marawi-siege |
“The Marawi war was ignited by the service of a summon and a warrant of arrest of one of the drug lords there,” Duterte said in his speech during the 56th anniversary of the Philippine Constitution Association.
“There was a firefight and that started the rebellion. And I was really aghast to know that until now, they have so many bullets, ordnance and everything that the fight is still going on,” he added.
The president's claim runs counter to what security forces have been saying since hostilities in the city began months ago.
According to the military, a failed attempt by government troops to arrest Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon in Marawi on May 23 triggered the battle against the Maute group, homegrown jihadist militants who claim allegiance with the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and backed by some foreign fighters.
Duterte changed the story about how the Marawi siege started just as Sirisena changed the story of the motivation for and perpetrators of the Easter bombings. That is not to say that drug trafficking does not help finance ISIS here or in Sri Lanka. P10 million worth of shabu was found in the house of the former Mayor of Marawi during the siege. It is to say that both Presidents have issued patently false statements about each attack. Those who investigated the Easter bombings had this to say:
A spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe discounted the president's claims.
"Police completed the investigations within about two weeks," Sudarshana Gunawardana told AFP.
"There is no mention of drug dealers being involved. We have no reason to doubt our investigators."
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/drug-gangs-behind-sri-lanka-easter-bombings-president-claims-11722322
For President Sirisena to claim that the Easter bombings were an attempt to discredit his drug war makes HIM the focus of the attacks and not the 259 dead or the hundreds of injured. Suddenly the attack loses its religious nature and becomes an angry gesture of protest against his polices in order to keep the heroin trade flowing. The claim that attacks are happening to discredit him is the same claim that Duterte made about the killings of mayors in 2018 and about EJKs. Who can forget all the many claims of ouster and destabilisation plots Duterte has alleged in the past three years?
There is one major difference between Duterte and Sirisena when it comes to these attacks and that is accountability. Just like the AFP, PNP, DND and other officials in the Duterte administration ignored prior intelligence about the Marawi siege top officials in Sri Lanka also ignored prior intelligence of the Easter bombings. But unlike the Philippines Sri Lanka investigated the attacks and is now holding the former police chief and Defence Secretary liable for not preventing the attacks.
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| https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lankas-suspended-police-chief-ex-defence-secretary-arrested/article28265112.ece |
Sri Lanka’s suspended police chief and former Defence Secretary were on Tuesday arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department for their alleged failure to prevent the Easter Sunday bombings that claimed nearly 260 lives.
The arrest of Inspector-General Pujith Jayasundara and former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando comes a day after the Attorney-General termed their alleged failure to act on security warnings a “crime against humanity”. “The two officials should be brought before a magistrate for their criminal negligence to prevent the April 21 attacks,” Attorney-General Dappula de Livera told the acting police chief in a letter.
In June, Mr. Jayasundara and Mr. Fernando testified before a parliamentary panel probing the blasts and pointed to the serious gaps in acting on intelligence.
Confirming that intelligence on a possible attack was available since April 9, they said it was shared among top police and defence officials, on the eve and morning of the bombings.
Sri Lanka formed a panel to probe the blasts and it has decided to hold these two high ranking men and others responsible. In contrast the Philippines has refused to investigate the Marawi siege despite admissions of failure to act on intelligence warnings. DND Secretary Lorenzna has said he does not want an investigation and that it is better to move on.
With Sri Lanka emulating the Philippines in so many categories it would be refreshing if the Philippines imitated Sri Lanaka in this regard and finally investigated the Marawi siege.
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