Three women's cries and water cannons in the street

By Basil Fernando

Hong Kong, China — During the past week, three women in Sri Lanka have tried to speak to the nation about the tragedies they face. One is Sandya Ekanaliyagoda, wife of Prageeth Ekanaliyagoda, a disappeared journalist; another is Hemali Abeyratne, the wife of Chandana Sirimalwattha, the detained editor of Lanka E News; the third is Anoma Fonseka, wife of former army commander and opposition candidate in the recent presidential election, General Sarath Fonseka, who has been detained and accused of plotting a coup.
The three women have called on the nation to respect the basic rights of their husbands and assist them in finding justice.

The women cry for justice while in the background incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa begins his second term. In the government camp there are celebrations and boundless boasts about their great election victory. Triumphalism is exhibited in every possible way, as photographs showing boundless joy among families close to the president’s side surface. Such is the picture of a nation now divided.

The three women reflect a reality shared by many thousands of others. Widows, mothers and sisters of literally tens of thousands of men in the north and east are also asking for their husbands, sons and brothers. Some have been crying for justice for many years, but hardly anyone listens to them.

There are also thousands of others in the south who have been demanding the same for a long time. Their lives have also been cut asunder by factors beyond their control and grasp.

All are demanding something very simple – observance of the legal process with regard to their men. Sandya Ekanaliyagoda demands that the inspector general of police find her missing husband. She fears that the reason for his sudden disappearance is that he criticized the president in his writings. The country’s top policeman says there is nothing he can do.

Hemali Abeyratne demands the release of her husband, reportedly detained because the journal he edits opposed the president during the election. She says her husband has not committed any offence, but if any crime has been committed it should be handled within the bounds of the law, not under the secret process of national security.

Anoma Fonseka demands the same. She demands the observance of due process and asks the nation to assist her in preventing political revenge against her husband simply because he dared to contest the election against the government.

In short, all three women demand reasonable treatment for their loved ones.

Can the nation be of any assistance? Under normal circumstances, the law should assist them. But all three complain that the law had no place in the way their husbands were treated.

The issue of due process for these three women and many others is not some abstract issue. But they do not know where to go in order to have the law observed.

The police cannot find a missing husband when those suspected of his disappearance have the patronage of those in power. At that point, the police investigation system does not work.

The law also does not work when national security is invoked against the editor of a publication, and the law does not work at all when the matter is taken away from the country’s courts and referred to a military tribunal, as seen in Fonseka’s case.

How will the nation respond to the cries of these three women? When there is no law to turn to, how can a citizen respond? Is this what all citizens are going to experience during Rajapaksa’s second term?

Some citizens came to the street to respond to the women’s call and were met with tear gas. Will trucks carrying water cannons and tear gas be the government’s only response to the cries of its citizens?

Those who came to the street also saw armed thugs being protected by special police teams. The thugs were openly displaying weapons like sticks, chains, swords and iron rods, but the police did not arrest them. Unknown groups of what appeared to be underworld figures were supported by the police, who transported them.

The pattern was for the thugs to mix with the peaceful protesters and at some point attack them. When people retaliated, the police came and protected the thugs while the protestors were tear-gassed and charged with batons. Then the police arrested a number of peaceful protesters but none of the thugs. This is the way citizens are treated when they go to answer cries for justice.

These three women, like most women in Sri Lanka today, are capable of understanding in the abstract words like constitutionalism, the rule of law, due process and justice. But where can they see these things in real life? Their own husbands are denied these things.

In a country where the law no longer brings reasonable relief, tear gas and even worse responses may be in the waiting for those who try to respond to the cry of their fellow citizens for justice.

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(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia. His blog can be read at http://srilanka-lawlessness.com.)