Sugath Nishanta Fernando
assassinated 20th September 2008 |
Gerard Perera
assassinated 24th November 2004 |
Killing a person in Sri Lanka has become as easy as a child bursting a balloon. The inquest inquiry before the Negombo High Court regarding the assassination of Sugath Nishanta Fernando revealed details of how two persons riding on a motor bike at around 10 a.m. in a busy street were able to shot a person driving a vehicle twice with a rifle and to flee without any difficulty. The wife of the deceased told the court in no uncertain terms that she suspects no one other than a number of police officers she named as the perpetrators of this murder. The story does not surprise anyone, it can happen to anyone, at any time in any part of Sri Lanka despite of the widespread police checkpoints.
Nishanta Fernando, a man who had made complaints to all the Sri Lankan authorities about the death threats he was receiving from persons who wanted him to withdraw a case filed by him against several police officers of the Negombo area was shot dead in broad daylight last Saturday, 20th September. He was also the complainant of a bribery case proceeding before the Colombo High Court against a police inspector.
Nishanta Fernando made repeated appeals for protection against the death threats. A translation of the affidavit which was attached to all the appeals reads as follows:
I Siyaguna Kosgodage Anton Sugath Nishanta Fernando of 349/2A Jayamawatha Road, Dalupata, Negombo, being a Catholic make oath and declare as follows:
An Affidavit
01 I am the declarant in this case.
02 On 23.6.2008 at around 11 a.m. my wife, Surangee and myself were traveling in my three-wheeler bearing number 205/8052 for going to Negombo hospital to get treatment for my wife for asthma.
03 While going there near the Chilaw, Colombo Road at Dalupata Bridge a lorry belonging to the category Chana bearing number WPL (D or G)/5347. And there we saw Niroshan and Namal, who are known to us and two other persons who are not known to us.
04 As Niroshan and Namal extended their hands and signaled to stop we stopped the three-wheeler at that place. The drive of the three-wheeler in which we were traveling was Ajith. Niroshan and Namal put their heads into the three-wheeler and told us, threateningly, If you fellows do not withdraw the petition for human rights you have filed against the Negombo police by tomorrow we will kill all of you. We have got the permission of the Negombo police to kill you.
05 As we were frightened by this threat we turned the three-wheeler back and returned home.
06 Shortly after we came back home we heard a loud banging on the door of our gate and two people who were outside the gate shouting and telling, Open the Gate. If you do not withdraw the petition we will kill you all by the evening of tomorrow. Police have given us the permission. Open it.
07 Due to fear we did not open the gate and when we looked over the gate we saw Niroshan, Namal and the two other persons that we saw before. The two persons who were hitting our gate and shouting were Niroshan and Namal. After a short time this group got into a vehicle and went away. I have learned that Niroshan is a person who has fled from the armed forces.
08 It is very clear that the reason why these persons are making these threats to us is to make us withdraw the fundamental rights petition we have filed against several officers of the Negombo police station regarding violations of human rights.
09 Regarding this on the same day (23.6.2008) we went to the Crimes office of the Deputy Inspector General of Police and made a complaint which bears No. SHB345/265.
10 Due to these threats we have become very frightened to remain in our house and we are requesting respectfully to provide protection and create an environment in which we can continue to live our lives.
This affidavit was signed by Nishanta Fernando before Justice of the Peace, Rev. Gnanarathane on 24th June.
The authorities he appealed to were: The President of Sri Lanka; The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka; The Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights and the secretary to this same ministry; The Inspector General of Police in fact, many appeals were made to the Inspector General of Police; The Deputy Inspector General of Police at Peliyagoda; The National Police Commission (NPC) several requests were made; The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) many requests were made; The Magistrate’s Court of Negombo. Written statements were made and many other requests were made by telephone and other means.
A tragedy could have been easily avoided if any of the above mentioned Sri Lankan authority had moved a finger; none did. Naturally anyone might ask why this was so. The real answer may not be convincing to anyone who is not aware of the internal reality of Sri Lanka. That real answer is that the protection of the individual is no longer a matter of significance or priority to the state institutions in Sri Lanka.
Placing the tragedy of Nishanta Fernando and his family in the midst of many other tragedies clearly indicates that the fate of the individual is no longer a concern of the state.
IDPs
Let us take the large mass of people who have been displaced due to the armed conflict. If there was a way to record the individual story of at least a few hundred of these people, what a change of the view of individual suffering would that make. However, the media is prevented from getting the true story of these people. The little bits of information that comes out does, however, reveal the tragedy. This morning (25th September) a Sri Lankan aid worker, who had to leave with the others due to the withdrawal of the governments permission to remain, told the BBC Sinhala Service how frightened mothers tried to calm their even more frightened children after an aerial bombing raid. Perhaps that imagery is enough to convey the reality of these people who move from one place to another, squatting under this tree or that and unable to think of any way out.
Fraud
A story of a very different kind also exposes a similar neglect of the state. According to media reports over 3,000 people have, so far, made complaints to the Mirihana police of the massive fraud of a company named the Sakvithi House Construction (PVT) Ltd., which has collected over Rs. 500 Million according to the English media and Rs. 9 Billion according to the Sinhala media, from ordinary families as investments. As the fraud is being discussed the key suspect is said to have left the country. In advertising the company a massive photograph of the two company directors with the president of Sri Lanka has been used widely for quite some time. This kind of fraud is only possible when the protection of the law has completely collapsed and any unscrupulous person can play with the lives of the ordinary folk.
Individuals and their families do not matter. A romanticised view of the war presents itself as an epic story. Everything needs to be fitted into this mega story and things that do not fit into the story line needs to be eliminated or ignored. Individuals and their sufferings clearly do not fit into the romanticised view of the war and the promise of the final salvation soon. Under circumstances such as this, the lives of the individuals are mere trivialities.
The state media devotes its entire effort in brainwashing the population with this romanticised version of the war that promises a final salvation. All that the art of governance appears to mean is the use of the media engaging in propaganda and more and more of that propaganda.
Anyone who raises concerns for the individual is denigrated as a traitor that is unwilling to participate in this romanticised war. The alternative media is not allowed to raise its voice and to tell the story of the ordinary people. Those who do attempt to tell that story face harassment, threats and death.
How the trivialisation of the individual has come about is illustrated by the simple story of Nishanta Fernando who was a resident in Negombo and the investors of the Sakvithi House Construction (PVT) Ltd, places safe from the war and in areas of the country which is supposed to be more secure under the control of the Sri Lankan state. What therefore, is the concern for the individual in the areas more affected by the conflict if the situation of the ordinary man in places closer to Colombo is such?
A state that ignores the individual in this manner and presents people only with a world view of a mega war in which individuals should be sacrificed can only bring more and more suffering to the people. Instead of a final salvation what the country is facing, in every part of the country, is the inaction of the state and the trivialisation of the individual and the family.
The case of Nishanta Fernando needs to be taken seriously by everyone within the country and outside who still believes that respect for the individual and the family is the only foundation on which the legitimacy and stability of an organised society can rest.
