Operation Strangers Night and the estrangement of Tamils
D. B. S. Jeyaraj
Mahinda Rajapakse, the new President of Sri Lanka met representatives of the Co – Chair quartet of the Sri Lankan peace process on January 9. One of the issues raised at this meeting was about the cordon, search and arrest operations going on in Colombo and other areas. The President’s response according to an official communiqué was as follows.
” Responding to a query by the Co-Chairs on the recent ‘Strangers Night’ operation, it was explained that this was a routine law enforcement procedure aimed at ‘clearing the neighbourhood’ of criminal elements including drug traffickers and gangsters, which will also take place in other areas of the island. It was emphasised that over 90% of those detained were released on the same day and that due process was observed.”
One is not aware of how the Co-Chair representatives received this gem of an explanation proffered by our Executive President. It is obvious however that either Rajapakse was totally in the dark about what was happening or was speaking with a ‘forked tongue.’ The President was either being misinformed by those around him or he himself was willfully dishing out misinformation.
The crucial point to note is that operations such as ‘Strangers Night’ were not routine law enforcement procedures as claimed by the President. There were no such operations in the past for nearly four years. This manoeuvre began happening only after the election of Mahinda Rajapakse as President on November 17. With Mahinda assuming power his brother Gothabaya became defence secretary; Army Commander Shantha Kottegoda was forced into retirement and Sarath Fonseka appointed in his place; Jathika Hela Urumaya politician and former DIG of Police H.M.G.B. Kotakadeniya assumed duties as defence adviser.
It was after this triumvirate took over defence matters that operations such as ‘Strangers Night’ began in Colombo. Given Kotakadeniya’s controversial past as a Police officer and his undisguised ideological beliefs one may reasonably conclude that the on going operations are primarily his ‘brainchildren.’ This propensity for conducting such operations is part and parcel of the man’s mental make – up.
An obvious flaw in the explanation that it is all a routine law and order matter is the manner in which it is being conducted. The chief targets of these operations are not criminal elements but law – abiding respectable Tamils. The entire exercise has a pronounced racial angle to it. If one is to comprehend clearly the context in which these acts are occurring one has to delve into the recent past slightly.
It may be recalled that there were widespread arrests of ‘suspicious’ Tamils in Colombo and the suburbs in the late ’90s when Chandrika Kumaratunga was president. The police cells were overflowing with Tamil detainees. So great was the crisis that the Tamil United Liberation Front’s constitutional expert Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam who always believed in the rule of law, came up with the idea of inundating courts with a series of habeas corpus writs and fundamental rights petitions. The present Chief Justice Sarath Silva was attorney – general then. A conference was arranged between law officials and the TULF. The situation began easing and the TULF dropped its idea of seeking legal recourse.
Since many Plantation Tamils do not have proper identity documents through no fault of theirs a good number of them were arrested as suspicious persons. This led Saumiyamoorthy Thondaman to take a hand in the matter also. He exerted considerable pressure on Chandrika Kumaratunga. The TULF supported Thondaman in this. Since Kumaratunga herself had a progressive outlook on issues like these, she transferred Kotakadeniya out. Furthermore, he was denied rightful appointment as IGP on account of his seniority.
Adding insult to injury was the fact that Kumaratunga appointed Anandaraja, a Tamil and junior to Kotakadeniya in the service as IGP. Thereafter Kotakadeniya opted to retire. He then took to politics. Kotakadeniya never forgave Anandaraja and went public making racist and slanderous remarks against the IGP. For a man of Kotakadeniya’s mindset the Jathika Hela Urumaya was a second home. He became its senior vice – president and still holds that post.
One feature of these arrests was the large – scale corruption. Much money changed hands and many a crooked cop made money by arresting and then releasing Tamils. A striking example then was the manner in which Kotakadeniya waged war on those involved in money transfer business or hawala. A few Tamils and even Muslims were arrested on the ‘suspicion’ that they were laundering money for the LTTE. Within days, it was business as usual. All those detained were out.
I remember asking two money transfer agents in Toronto about what happened. They said that large amounts were paid out as bribes to secure the releases of their principals in Colombo. Another consequence was that the ‘commissions’ for transactions went up after this exercise. The explanation given was that after the arrests a scheme to bribe officials regularly had been set up. So the entire exercise starting with a bang ended in a pathetic whimper. Only some corrupt officials were getting richer. But as these columns pointed out earlier Kotakadeniya is an honest man.
Kotakadeniya , out in the cold due to Kumaratunga is now back with a vengeance thanks to Mahinda chinthana. Denying Kotakadeniya the IGP post was perhaps one of Chandrika’s wisest decisions as President. Rajapakse however has brought him back as the virtual Police chief with almost ‘carte blanche’ powers to reinvigorate the Police force.
New tricks cannot be taught to an old dog they say. The one thing Kotakadeniya knows best and loves best is to order cordon and search operations with mass arrests. There was however one hitch. Unlike in the nineties the LTTE is not a proscribed organisation now. Though the security situation is quite perilous, the LTTE is not a banned outfit. The PTA cannot be enforced right now. But luckily for him the emergency regulations were in force.
Kotakadeniya revealed his thought process in a newspaper interview where he lamented the fact that being LTTE or having links was not illegal now. So operations to flush out tigers was not possible. But he pointed out that operations to maintain law and order could be done. Cordon and search operations to identify and arrest criminal elements would very soon be on the cards he said. Kotakadeniya found an able deputy in DIG Pujitha Jayasundara. The DIG had a torrid time in fighting narcotic criminals. The new strategy of rounding up Tamil civilians was like a piece of kokis for him.
So we had the first Strangers night operation on December 17 in four Police divisions. A total of 109 Tamils were arrested. Then we had the third strangers night operation on December 31. This time 400 Policemen and 2000 Armed forces personnel were involved. 920 Tamils were arrested. They were finger and footprint; photographed and videoed. Statements were recorded. Except for 53 all were released. Later another 39 were released. Only about ten are being kept in custody now.
It is claimed by official circles that there was a second strangers night operation on December 27. Criminal elements in Maradana, Dematagoda and Kolonnawa were targeted. This operation was very much low-key and not as stridently aggressive as the ones targeting Tamils. No criminal of note was arrested. This exercise seems to be aimed at deflecting criticism away and provide a facade that the objective is to target criminals and not Tamils.
It has been announced that at least twelve other Strangers night operations are in the pipeline. In the meantime the cordon, search and arrest operations began spreading to the outstations too. Ten Tamils were arrested in Uppukulam in Mannar. Twenty nine Tamils were arrested in Puttalam; 109 Tamils were arrested in Ratnapura and Kahawatte. 16 Tamils were arrested in Bandarawela. 4 Tamils were arrested in Passara.
In the case of the plantation areas, the pretext for the searches was that LTTE men were hiding and explosives were concealed. None of the operations yielded any tigers or bombs. Only the estate workers were harassed. There is a threat of a strike being launched by 25, 000 workers in some areas of the Badulla district if the arrested persons were not released. It is interesting to note that security in the plantation areas became a ‘threat’ only after the Presidential election.
Rajapakse in a fit of puerile chagrin tried to ‘fix’ Arumugam Thondaman. The latter took up the challenge by ‘flirting’ with the LTTE in Kilinochchi. Thereafter security operations are on the increase in the Up Country. The important question however is whether these security operations are really security – orientated or politically and racially motivated to teach Thondaman and the ‘Wathu Demalu’ a bitter lesson?
As far as the ‘strangers night’ operations in Colombo they have achieved very little except of course to increase the estrangement of Tamils from the Sri Lankan state and Mahinda Rajapakse regime. The first operation only ‘netted’ 109. The powers that be in Defence were thoroughly dissatisfied. The word percolated downwards. The third operation on the eve of the New Year saw police Inspectors vying with each other to increase their tally of ‘strangers’ in Colombo.
Many of those arrested had their proper identity documents and had been living for many, many years in Colombo. A lot of them were reputed professionals and even priests. Yet they were herded into ‘cop shops’ like common criminals. Many Tamils including children were forced to stand for a long time on the streets.
They entered houses at night and woke up residents. Searches were conducted while most womenfolk were in their nightclothes. Many houses were ransacked. Children under 18 were asked to show their ‘non – existent’ ID cards. Several women in their ‘nighties’ were taken to the Police stations.
The conduct of the Police and security personnel was atrocious and racist in many instances. Offensive and intimidatory remarks of a racist nature were made. Their conduct was abominably rude. The people were shouted at and children intimidated. Public vehicles were halted and Tamils singled out. An Indian national travelling in a three – wheeler was given a torrid time and asked to show her original passport. She was a Tamil from Tamil Nadu.
The one clear fact that emerged as a result of this operation was that the targets were deliberately Tamil and not suspicious criminal elements. The people of other communities did not suffer much or were targeted to the extent that the Tamils were. The conductor those involved in many cases displayed open traces of racism.
Mano Ganesan of the Western People’s Front took out a procession – demonstration in Colombo on January 6 to protest the arrests. “Can you arrest a thousand to detain 10 people” he queried.
The statements made by officials to rationalise the operation would be hilarious if not for the seriousness of the situation. Pujitha Jayasundara first said that they had seized barbed wire and blood transfusion equipment as a result of the operation. What a lot of effort to retrieve these and in any case was it an offence to keep these? Then he changed his stance and said there were reports of tiger assassination squads being in Colombo to kill Rajapakse and others. He amended his position again and said that the operation was a pre-emptive strike to prevent tigers carrying out operations here. Alas! no tiger was arrested anywhere.
Realising perhaps that these explanations were sounding ‘silly’ and smacked of racist motivation the IGP Chandra Fernando himself stepped in and justified the operation as being against criminal elements alone. These were routine matters. It was this explanation that Rajapakse trotted out to the four co – chairs. But on January 7 when he met the TNA delegation he was honest enough to admit excesses and promised an end to harassment and illegal arrests. For obvious reasons the tune changed two days later.
There is no denying there is a security threat to Colombo. That cannot be met by alienating and estranging the Tamils of Colombo. If the security officials are to get solid intelligence about certain matters then the Tamil people should not be alienated. Furthermore it is a joke to think that the LTTE will not have proper ID or valid excuses to be in Colombo. They would have excellent documentation and well-established cover. It is only the ‘innocent’ who are faulty with documentation and reasons.
Moreover recent developments have shown that many Sinhala people are hand in glove with the LTTE in Colombo. The murders of Intelligence officials in Colombo indicate that. Therefore, it is doubtful whether LTTE connections are restricted to Tamils alone. Given the high level of official corruption one would not be surprised if some high level Sinhala people are aiding and abetting the LTTE for remuneration.
Open war is not declared yet. The LTTE is yet to be proscribed. If Tamils are harassed, so greatly in Colombo and elsewhere in the current situation it is not hard to imagine their plight if war does erupt and the tigers are banned. With Kotakadeniya in the saddle, mass arrests and incarceration will be the order of the day. What is happening now is only a straw in the wind. Sadly, even if all those harsh measures are adopted will the security of Colombo and its leading citizens be guaranteed?
January 14th, 2006