Sri Lanka: Political history
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
A political history: 1956-2013
The Hindu, April 2, 2015
From Solomon Bandaranaike’s election in 1956 to Trincomalee massacre of students happened in 2006 to Velupillai Prabakaran’s death to this year’s development of Rajapaksa’s defeat, here is a detailed history of how Sri Lanka has been seen in the political scenario. Maithripala Sirisena has now won the presidential elections.
2014 President Mahinda Rajapaksa doesn’t allow the UN to investigate the war crimes during the Tamil Tiger insurgency. Mahindra Rajapaksa in an interview with The Hindu says that he faces the twin challenges of external pressure for an international probe into allegations of war crimes and internal pressure over the dialogue process with the Tamil National Alliance.
Nov 2013 Sri Lanka hosts the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) but political heads of India, Canada and Mauritius skips the meeting. Rajapaksa satisfied with India’s representation at Commonwealth meeting
Sept 2013 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) wins election at the Northern provincial council.
Aug 2013 The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says Sri Lanka was showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.
Feb 2013 On February 19, 2013 a series of photographs showed Velupillai Prabakaran’s 12- year son Balachandran hit by bullets by a British channel’s documentary. The incident created controversies against Sri Lanka’s armed forces conduct in their final stage of operation against the Tamil Tiger rebels. However Rajapaksa government denied shooting anyone.
Sri Lanka dismisses film on Prabkakaran son’s death
Jan 2013 Rajapaksa dismisses Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake after finding her guilty on three offences including financial irregularities.
2012 Rajapaksa government dismisses UN report which states that Sri Lanka intimidated UN members investigating abuses at the end of the civil war in 2009. UN blames itself for failure during Eelam war climax The former Sri Lankan Army Chief, Sarath Fonseka freed after two and a half years. Sri Lanka was in the same state when it came to ensuring justice to the victims of numerous Human Rights violations.
2011 United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was appointed to monitor the government’s implementation of Human Rights.
2010 Mahinda Rajapaksa re-elected. He promises to restore an independent National Human Rights Commission along with other commissions.
March 2009 Vinayagamoorthy Muralidharan (Karuna), former deputy leader of the LTTE joins Rajapaksa's cabinet.
May 2009 On May 18, 2009 Velupillai Prabakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan army. The war between the Tigers and the Sri Lankan military reaches its bitter end and the Tigers decide to silence their guns in the interest of Tamil citizens.
LTTE supremo Prabakaran believed dead
Battle at its bitter end: LTTE
Protest against ‘killing’ of Prabhakaran
2008 Government blames LTTE after 12 civilians killed and 100 injured over a suicide bomb attack. Government launches massive offense ending the 2002 ceasefire agreement.
2007 At least 28 people, which includes 14 cadres of the LTTE, die in clashes between the security forces and the Tamil Tigers in September.
2006 The political killings, child soldiers, abductions, and clashes between the government and LTTE creates tension around the country. The Trincomalee massacre of students happened in 2006. It was considered to be act of state terror. Vankalai massacre of four minority Sri Lankan Tamils. It was also considered to be act of state terror.
2005 Rajapaksa elected for the first time.
2003 The Sri Lankan government and the LTTE hold peace talks and agree on a ceasefire.
2000 The European Union criticises both the Tamil Tigers and security forces concerning the human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
1999 A female suicide bomber attacks a police station in Colombo targeting the head of the terrorism unit, Mohammad Nilabdeen.
1995 The third Eelam war breaks out after a suicide squad attacked two naval vessels in Trincomalee killing 12 soldiers.
1994 President Kumaratunga again initiates peace talks with LTTE.
1993 An LTTE suicide bomber kills Ranasinghe Premadasa, the third President of Sri Lanka during a May Day rally.
1991 LTTE suicide bomber kills Rajiv Gandhi in Tamil Nadu. He was instrumental in bringing the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord.
1990 Second Eelam War breaks. East Province taken over by Sri Lankan Forces after heavy fighting. The LTTE continue to kill civilians in the Eastern province.
1988 Nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) protests against the Sri Lanka-India agreement.
1987 Indo-Sri Lanka Accord, which was intended to end the civil war between Sri Lankan Tamil nationalists and LTTE, signed.
1983 ‘Black July’ riots erupt in Sri-Lanka; about 64,000 people were killed.
1977 LTTE was formed.
1970 Sirimavo Bandaranaike re-elected and she brings back Sinhalese nationalism.
1965 Opposition party wins the elections and tries reverse the nationalisation.
1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes first woman Prime Minister in the world. She was sworn in on July 21, 1960 after her United National Party won the elections.
1959 On September 25, 1959, Solomon Bandaranaike was shot by Talduwe Somarama, a Buddhist monk. He succumbed to injuries the next day.
1956 Solomon Bandaranaike was elected as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. He made Sinhala the only official language. More than 100 Sri Lankan Tamils people were killed after the Tamil members of parliament protested.
2015: Fall of Rajapaksa
Kingshuk Mukherji@ timesgroup com
The Times of India January 10, 2015
The Southern Expressway leading up to Colombo is calm, deceptively so. The government has changed. The man whose name many hesitated to take, some out of deference, others out of fear, will no longer be president of their country.Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of friend-turned-rival Maithripala Sirisena. Many concede that the dispensation they have voted into office may not necessarily give them a great government.“Had there been an option like NOTA as India has, I would have gone for it. In other words, the candidate I wanted to defeat has lost,“ says Nalaka Pereira, an executive in an IT firm in Colombo.
In many small towns of this island country, development shows. Roads are smooth, expressways built in concrete.Banks, ATMs and finely stocked supermarkets do brisk business, even in villages. No one denies the development story of Sri Lanka under Rajapaksa. But they complain of cronyism, family patronage and corruption.
Voices in Colombo also speak of the media being stifled. There is simmering anger against the disappearance and killings of journalists. Today as results of the keenlywatched Rajapaksa-Sirisena face-off stream in, villages along the expressway are abnormally quiet at high noon.Barring low-key celebrations at the coastal town of Hikkaduwa, there is little to show in the southern parts that this is a moment of change and a new beginning.
“In India, on results day sweet makers probably make a killing, here we struggle to find customers since most markets are closed,“ says the shop attendant of Bombay Sweet Mahal in Galle Street, Colombo.Perhaps the Sri Lankans prefer the safety of quiet celebrations.
“We are a Buddhist country and our belief in peace and compassion is fundamental to us. Many of us did not appreciate some extra constitutional and often violent tactics of key people in the outgoing government. But who can rival the towering personality of Rajapaksa,“ says Vijitha Priyadarshini, a hospitality industry employee. “The previous dispensation had one authority figure. The new will have many .Wonder what they will do? Will there be multiple centres of power saying different things creating confusion?“ she says.Many talk of former President Chandrika Kumaratunga's behind-the-scenes role in keeping the opposition together.What role she will play in the new government is a question everyone is curious about.
A TV channel beaming the election results ran a dramatic colour-coded map of the island nation showing the entire north, east and parts of central Sri Lanka swept by “common candidate“ Maithripala. “Even a town like Negombo, traditionally pro-Rajapaksa, voted Maithripala. This is unbelievable,“ an election watcher in Matara says.
In any case, the die was cast against the incumbent the day both the Tamils and the Muslims decided to vote en bloc for the common candidate.“Maithripala's defection was a master stroke. It came as a stunner and the ruling dispensation was forced to change strategy overnight. They were expecting an opposition charge led by Wickramasinghe and others but with Maithripala skippering the rival camp, the story had changed,“ he says.
In the once strife-torn parts of Jaffna, Rajapaksa's government worked a furious pace rebuilding. The results show.The Colombo-Jaffna highway is a dream. In Jaffna town, there's a push for change and in many years for the first time its Tamil population has a stake in the country's political future.“I went to Kerala at the height of the war,“ says S Sridharan, who runs a hotel in Jaffna.“Now I am back, I have redone the hotel and business is picking up. I want good governance and stability ,“ he says.
Rajapaksa made a last minute bid to shore up his fortunes in the north addressing a rally in Jaffna five days ahead of polling. Despite his rebuilding efforts, the process of integration and reconciliation clearly failed to impress the electorate. Rajapaksa lost by huge margins in Batticaloa, Jaffna and other Tamil areas, where voter turnout was higher than any previous election.
In the capital, a journalist with the public broadcaster said the lack of transparency was the biggest failing of the outgoing government. “Arrogance and good governance seldom go hand in hand. This administration lost its humility and was not open to criticism. That proved its undoing,“ he says.
