South Asia Terrorism Portal

Siblings Rule
S. Binodkumar Singh
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

On November 18, 2019, in front of a large crowd, Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa (70) was sworn in as the eighth Executive President of Sri Lanka during a ceremony held at Ruwanweliseya in Anuradhapura. The Presidential Election was held on November 16 with a voter turnout of 83.72 percent, in as many as 12,845 polling stations set up across the country. According to the results released by the Election Commission (EC) on November 17, Gotabaya received 6,924,255 (52.25 per cent) votes out of the total of 13,387,951 votes polled. New Democratic Front (NDF) candidate Sajith Premadasa (52) received 5,564,239 (41.99 percent) votes. A record 35 candidates were in the fray for the top post, with Gotabaya and Sajith the main contenders. The remaining 33 candidates totalled just 5.76 per cent of the vote.

During the seventh Presidential Election held on January 8, 2015, Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa Sirisena, leader of the New Democratic Front (NDF), secured 6,217,162 votes (51.28 per cent) against 5,768,090 votes (47.58 per cent) polled by Mahinda Rajapaksa, the incumbent President, and candidate of the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA). A total of 19 candidates were in the fray. But, the election was a direct contest between Sirisena and Rajapaksa from the outset, with the remaining 17 candidates eventually securing a joint total of just 1.14 per cent votes. 12,264,377 (81.52 per cent) out of a total of 15,044,490 registered voters cast their ballot at 12,314 polling stations throughout the country.

Except for two incidents of violence, the election campaign in 2019 was largely peaceful. The first violent incident was recorded on November 6, 2019, in which two persons were injured when Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake’s security detail opened fire at a crowd on the roadside at Ginigathhena in the Nuwara Eliya District of Central Province when they allegedly blocked the politician’s convoy. The second incident occurred on November 16, 2019, in which a group of unidentified persons opened fire after pelting stones at two Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses which were transporting Muslim voters from Puttalam to Silawathura at Thanthrimale. The buses were first attacked with stones in the Bogoda area in Thanthirimale, Anuradhapura, and then the attackers opened fire. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Commenting on the well-conducted election process, the international election observer groups, European Union – Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) and Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) which monitored the 2019 Presidential Election on November 19 concluded the election process to be largely peaceful with minimal incidence of violence.  

Gotabaya swept the poll in the Sinhala majority Districts of the South, while Premadasa garnered most of the votes from the Tamil dominated North and East, and from the Muslim community as well as the tea plantation workers of Indian origin. Gotabaya had promised strong leadership to secure the island of 22 million people, the majority of whom are Sinhalese Buddhists. Millions voted to elect a new President to lead the country out of its deepest economic slump in over 15 years, dragged down by its tourism sector following the Easter Sunday terror attacks that killed 262 people. In the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings and the spectacular failure of governance at multiple levels, there was a strong push towards re-militarizing Sri Lanka. Gotabaya was able to cash in on people's security concerns to gain votes.

The mandate is clearly polarised. Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka’s former wartime Defence Secretary who oversaw the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) under his brother and then President Mahinda Rajapaksa 10 years ago, was defeated in all of the Northern Province's five Districts and in the three Districts of the Eastern Province, in the Presidential Election. Moreover, Gotabaya's choice for the venue for his oath-taking ceremony was viewed by many as one that intended to deliver a direct message to the country's minorities. Ruwanweliseya, an iconic Buddhist temple located in the ancient kingdom of Anuradhapura, was constructed by the warrior king Dutugemunu (161 BCE - 137 BCE), who is said to have united the island by defeating the Tamil prince, Ellalan from the Chola Kingdom. By holding his swearing-in ceremony inside the temple, Rajapaksa also became the first Sri Lankan President-elect to choose a place of religious worship to take the oath of office.

The Gotabaya’s election as the new President marked the return of the powerful Rajapaksa dynasty. He is the second member from the Rajapaksa family to become President. His older brother Mahinda Rajapaksa was President from 2005 to 2015. At their peak, the four Rajapaksa brothers were in substantial control of the country: Mahinda was the President, Gotabaya was Defence Secretary, Basil was Economic Development Minister and Chamal was the Speaker of the Parliament.

Repeating history, on November 21, 2019, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Further, on November 22, 2019, the President appointed a 16-member interim Cabinet headed by his elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa and allotted major portfolios to his brothers. Mahinda Rajapaksa will now serve as Prime Minister, as well as Defence and Finance Minister. Chamal Rajapaksa will serve as Trade and Food Security Minister. 16 law makers will serve as Ministers in a Caretaker Government until the next General Election in March 2020. Gotabaya also vowed to call a snap general election "at the earliest opportunity" hoping to ride a wave of popularity and secure a majority for his SLPP party in the 225-member Parliament. Currently, the Rajapaksas and their allies have just 96 legislators, making it hard for them to pass any legislation.

There are already concerns in the country among the minority communities about the possibility of the return of iron-fisted rule under the Rajapaksa-duo's regime. To allay their concerns, however, soon after he was sworn in as President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa promised, on November 22, 2019, “I knew I would win the presidency with support coming only from the Sinhala majority. I told the minorities to join me. I did not receive their support. But I will make sure that I will be President for everyone.” He also inducted two Tamil law makers in the interim Cabinet in an effort to reach out to the minority community. Muslims make up nearly 10 per cent of Sri Lanka's 22 million people, who are predominantly Sinhalese Buddhists. About 12 per cent of the population are Hindus, mostly from the ethnic Tamil minority. Some seven per cent of the population is Christian.

On the foreign policy front, there were worries regarding Gotabaya Rajpaksa’s tilt towards China, given Mahinda’s past preferences as well as Gotabaya’s acrimonious relationship with the United States. Sri Lanka’s debt situation would also suggest a greater role for China, which is the island’s biggest investor and creditor. However, talking about his foreign policy, on November 18, 2019, Gotabaya stressed, “We will maintain friendly and cordial relationship with all the nations and we don't want to be caught between power struggles of international politics among different nations. In maintaining relationships with us, we urge all nations to respect our sovereignty.” Further, on November 19, 2019, Gotabaya thanked India’s Prime Minister Norendra Modi for his good wishes and accepted the invitation for a visit to India. Gotabaya will visit India on November 29.

The Rajapaksa brothers are immensely popular among Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese population because of their role in crushing Tamil separatists and ending a 26-year civil war in 2009. Gotabaya and Mahinda are a perfect partnership for a long innings in the local political landscape with their strong credentials on a range of issues from national security to urban regeneration. Evidently, the island nation’s Sinhala majority has responded to the charisma of a ‘strong leader’. With a discernibly polarized mandate, Gotabaya’s commitment to be a leader for all will be severely tested.

Press under Stress
Tushar Ranjan Mohanty
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

Journalists across Pakistan are under continuous threat. According to a report titled 100 per cent Impunity for Killers, 0 per cent Justice for Pakistan’s Murdered Journalists: Crime and Punishment in Pakistan’s Journalism World, released by the Freedom Network (a Pakistan-based media and development sector watchdog) on October 31, 2019, at least 33 journalists have been killed for their work in Pakistan over the preceding six years. The report stated that at least seven of these killings have taken place in the preceding year (November 2018 to October 2019).

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 110 journalists have been killed, while another 519 sustained injuries, in attacks since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on conflict in Pakistan. 451 journalists have been arrested and another 350 intimidated in the line of duty over the same period. In the current year, there four attacks have resulted in the deaths of four journalists and injury to one (data till November 24, 2019).

Some of the prominent incidents in the current year include:

September 7, 2019: Journalist, Zafar Abbas (40) went missing, and was found dead four days later, on September 11, in Punjab. Zafar Abbas was working for 7 News (an Urdu language news channel based in Lahore) from Mailsi town of Vehari District. His body was found in a dry well at Mauza Kali Shah within the jurisdiction of Mitro Police Station. Rana Akram, the Station House Officer (SHO) of Mitro disclosed that Abbas was returning home late at night from the Kot Malik area on September 7, when he went missing.

July 30, 2019: A local journalist Jamil Ahmed, sub-editor at a Daily, Azadi, was shot at and critically injured in the Kirani road area on the outskirts of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. Jamil Ahmed was going home after completing his shift late at night when armed men shot him several times in the Kirani road area. “Four bullets are lodged in his body,” officials said on Saturday, adding that the shooters managed to escape after the attack.

June 16, 2019: Muhammad Bilal Khan, a 22-year-old journalist, was killed in the Sector G-9 area of the federal capital, Islamabad. Muhammad Bilal Khan, who ran a YouTube channel on politics, was stabbed to death, Superintendent of Police (SP) Saddar Malik Naeem said. According to the Police official, Khan — who had over 16,000 followers on Twitter, over 48,000 on his YouTube channel and over 22,000 on Facebook — received a phone call from an unidentified person to come to G-9, "where a man took him into the forest". The suspect then used a dagger to murder Khan, Police disclosed, adding that the sound of firing was also heard from the area. Several Twitter users asserted that his criticism of the Pakistan Army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) led to his killing.

According to the Freedom Network report, of the 33 journalists killed, 23 were from the print media, nine were working for the electronic media and one for Radio. Thus, print media journalists in Pakistan were the most vulnerable, accounting for 69.6 per cent of the fatalities, as against 27.2 per cent in the electronic media, and 3.2 on radio. Of the 23 murdered journalists working for print media, eight were based in KP (34.7 per cent), seven in Punjab (30.4 per cent), five in Balochistan (21.7 per cent) and three in Sindh (13 per cent). In this period, no journalist primarily working for print media were murdered in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) or Islamabad. Of the 9 murdered journalists working for TV channels, four were based in Sindh (44.4 per cent), three in Punjab (33.3 per cent) and two in KP (22.2 per cent), including one in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), merged into KP on May 31, 2018. One radio journalist was also killed in KP. The highest risk of murder was thus faced by journalists in KP – 11 (33.3 per cent), Punjab –  nine (27.2 per cent), Sindh – seven (21.2 per cent), Balochistan – five (15.1 per cent) and Islamabad – one (3 per cent).

Freedom Network also issued a ‘Pakistan Impunity Scorecard’ which revealed that a total of 32 First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered for the murder of 33 journalists during the period 2013-19; Police filed challans (charge-sheets) in only 20 cases (60 per cent of cases). Prosecution and trial by courts were completed in only six cases (18 per cent). This data includes the cases of seven journalists murdered in Pakistan in the past one year (between November 2018 and October 2019). FIRs were registered in all seven cases, but charge-sheets were filed in only four cases. The level of impunity enjoyed by killers of journalists in Pakistan is almost complete. The killer of only one of the 33 journalists murdered in the period 2013-19, has been convicted.

Pakistan is among 13 countries where journalists were murdered and their killers go free due to “unchecked corruption, ineffective institutions, and lack of political will to pursue robust investigations”, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) report noted on October 28, 2019. The 2019 Global Impunity Index which examined journalists’ murders across the world between September 1, 2009, and August 31, 2019, found that at least 16 cases of complete impunity were found in Pakistan. Pakistan has regularly featured on the Global Impunity Index since its inception in 2008 and ranks eight in the latest index out of 13 countries under purview.

Unsurprisingly, Pakistan ranks 142 on the World Press Freedom Index 2019, out of 180 countries.

The military-mullah combine in Pakistan was the main reason for journalists falling prey to lethal violence as a result of their efforts to bring the truth to light. There are many instances of journalists being attacked for performing their professional duties. Prominent among these are the targeted attacks on prominent British-Pakistani journalist and activist, Gul Bukhari, known for his criticism of the military establishment, on June 5, 2018; Sabeen Mahmud, a prominent Pakistani women’s rights activist, attacked on April 24, 2015; and Hamid Mir of Geo TV, and well known political commentator, who survived a murderous assault on April 19, 2014. The latter two were attacked when they focused on the acute problems in Balochistan, where state agencies, particularly the ISI, and their non-state proxies were engaged in the execution and forced disappearances of Baloch people.

In 2011, the ISI was accused of abducting, torturing and killing Saleem Shahzad, a journalist working as the Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online (Hong Kong) and Italian news agency Adnkronos (AKI). Shahzad disappeared in the evening of May 29, 2011, from Islamabad and his dead body was discovered on May 31, 2011, from a canal in the Mandi Bahauddin District of Punjab. His body bore marks of severe torture. Human Rights Watch researcher Ali Dayan Hasan claimed he had "credible information" that Shahzad was in the custody of ISI. Indeed, Shahzad's friends and colleagues revealed that the ISI had warned Shahzad at least three times prior to his death. In October 2010, Shahzad was summoned to ISI headquarters the day after publishing a sensitive article on Afghan Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar's capture.

Very recently, Cyril Almeida, a well-known journalist who extensively reported on the country’s civil-military nexus for the English-daily Dawn, resigned from the newspaper October 20, 2019. Almeida, who was serving as the assistant editor at Dawn, tweeted that he was ending his column and taking a “break from the media” while also indicating he may not return to journalism. Almeida had been facing the wrath of the Government and military for his columns.

The practice of bulldozing journalists is an old phenomenon in Pakistan, and there seems to be no end to this trend in near foreseeable future.