This study explores the impact of the ruling elite’s political project through the experiences of 87 relatives of the DISAPPEARANCES DISAPPEARANCES disappeared. It considers how their own A SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF A SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF political project to re-establish the IN SRI LANKA socio–legal identity of the disappeared was exploited by the political elite and their own communities rendering them socially ostracised. Within this context, DISAPPEARANCES transitional justice mechanisms including prosecutions and social movements were manipulated and IN SRI LANKA politicised along party lines as part of a ritual of conspiracy against the victims to deny state terror and protect those responsible for it. About the author: Jane Thomson-Senanayake, B.A Hons (NSW), Grad Dip (NSW), Grad Cert (New England), M.A (Deakin), PhD (Sydney), is a human rights and social policy researcher. Her academic J research has focused on political ane Thomson-Senanayake violence, enforced disappearances, transitional justice and social restoration in contexts including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and East Timor. She was awarded the Lionel Murphy Postgraduate Scholarship in 2004 and completed her PhD in 2013 at the University of Sydney. Her doctoral research, which explored enforced disapearances over three decades in Sri Lanka and involved extensive fieldwork across eight districts, provided the basis Rs 1000/= Jane Thomson-Senanayake for this publication. Asian Human Rights Commission, Unit 1 & 2 12/F, Hopeful Factory Centre 10-16 Wo Shing Street, Fotan, N.T. ,Hong Kong, China A SOCIOLOGICAL EXPLORATION OF DISAPPEARANCES IN SRI LANKA ''Not even a person, not even a word...'' Jane Thomson-Senanayake ii A sociological exploration of disappearances in Sri Lanka ''Not even a person, not even a word...'' © Jane Thomson-Senanayake 2014 ISBN (Print) : 978-955-4597-04-4 Published by Asian Human Rights Commission Unit 1 & 2 12/F. Hopeful Factory Centre 10-16 Wo Shing Street Fotan, N.T. Hong Kong, China Tel: + (852) 2698 6339 Fax: + (852) 2698 6367 We: www.humanrights.asia May 2014 Backcover photo: Pictured is a poem by Basil Fernando embossed on the historic monument erected in memory of all the disappeared in Sri Lanka, the Wall of Mourning – an initiative of the AHRC working with the families of the disappeared in Sri Lanka, this monument stands today, at the four way junction at Raddoluwa, Seeduwa Sri Lanka, where two of the remains of the bodies of activists were found after they have been killed and partially burned. Layout and Cover design AHRC Communications Desk Printed by Kalyana Mithra Publishers, Colombo, Sri Lanka. iii Not even a person, not even a word. No-one said “go on”. There was no encouragement. - Mrs V, Matara District: Interview 2. During the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna insurgency of 1987–1990, two brothers of Mrs V disappeared after a younger brother was tortured by the police and hung from a lamppost. Her comments relate to the social ostracism of her family by relatives, friends and neighbours following these tragic events. From 1977 to 1994, we had seventeen years of a ruling UNP government. During that time they tortured, put down and discriminated against normal villagers, the poor ... For the vote they did it. - Mr W, Kandy District: Interview 1. On 30 January 1990, Mr W’s 29-year-old son, a mechanic, was abducted by unidentified people in the company of a goni billa (masked informant). He was forced into a white van without number plates and disappeared. Mr W believed that his son was taken “because he was a potential leader”. iv Table of Contents Table of contents……………………………………………….. iv Acknowledgements…………………………………………….. viii Acronyms and terms…………………………………………… x Preface…………………………………………………………... xiv CHAPTER 1 Disappearance as political competition………………………. 1 1.1 Political construction of violence…………………… 1 1.2 Beyond a human rights dimension…………………. 6 1.3 Transitional justice foregone……………………….. 10 1.4 Scope and methodology……………………………. 12 CHAPTER 2 Disappearances 1971…………………………………………… 16 2.1 Nexus between state welfare, nationalisation and political patronage……………………………………… 16 2.2 Decline of parliamentary socialism and rise of revolutionary socialism………………………………… 24 2.3 Unemployment and youth alienation……………….. 26 2.4 Growing intolerance of the state……………………. 28 2.5 “Che Guevara’s” 30 revolution……………………………. 2.6 Emergency Regulations and disappearances………... 32 2.7 Emergency Regulations and the 1972 constitution…. 44 v 51 CHAPTER 3 Institutionalisation of Political Violence……………………… 3.1 Supremacy of the Executive President over the legislature and judiciary…………………………………. 52 3.2 Suspension of rights and the powers and immunities of the security forces…………………………………….. 55 3.3 Curtailment of freedom of expression………………. 61 3.4 Circumvention of the democratic process…………... 64 3.5 State responsibility to protect and the Buddha Sasana 67 3.6 Open economy and a righteous society…………….. 69 3.7 Politics of intolerance and polarisation…………….. 79 3.8 1983 anti-Tamil pogrom……………………………. 83 CHAPTER 4 Dealing with the ‘other’………………………………………... 92 4.1 Disappearances and the demographic composition of the north and east………………………………………. 92 4.2 Political apparatus at work…………………………. 96 4.3 Sources of violence…………………………………. 99 4.4 Politicisation and militarisation of civilians………… 102 4.5 Violence made permissible…………………………. 105 CHAPTER 5 We have the democratic power to do anything—Political violence and manufactured chaos……………………………... 110 5.1 Political apparatus at work………………………….. 112 5.2 Disappearance of political opponents………………. 116 5.3 Disappearance of those with “potential”……………. 119 5.4 Politicisation of local grievances and tensions……… 123 vi 5.5 Manufacturing chaos………………………………... 129 5.6 Finishing the “match”……………………………….. 137 CHAPTER 6 War against civilians…………………………………………… 139 6.1 Armed actors and their motives…………………….. 139 6.2 “A war for peace”…………………………………… 149 6.3 Disappearance as the nexus between criminal and political crimes………………………………………….. 155 6.4 Reliance on extralegal methods…………………….. 158 6.5 Politicians peace process……………………………. 165 CHAPTER 7 No-one even gave us a glass of water—Social positioning and stigmatisation…………………………………………………… 171 7.1 Dislocation of the social and spiritual worlds………. 171 7.2 Experiences with the state…………………………... 176 7.3 The justice system didn’t give us any hope so we went to the other side to look for them………………….. 182 7.4 Mistrust, suspicion and social dysfunction…………. 184 7.5 The wives/widows of Sri Lanka's disappeared……… 197 7.6 Keeping them alive in our minds……………………. 207 CHAPTER 8 We can’t open our mouths and tell you in words all that we have gone through—Political engagement with and the appropriation of suffering……………………………………... 212 8.1 Movements and organisations established in the north and east……………………………………………. 214 8.2 Movements and organisations established in the south…………………………………………………….. 218 8.3 The struggle to remain relevant…………………….. 230 vii 8.4 Strategic interests and practical needs……………… 236 8.5 Political currency of the disappeared………………. 243 CHAPTER 9 The only voice here is that of a gunshot—Politicisation of due process and other official mechanisms of inquiry……………. 247 9.1 Emergency legalisation: a policy of the state against its own people…………………………………………… 250 9.2 Investigation and prosecution of disappearances…… 253 9.2.1 Embilipitiya…………………………………. 263 9.2.2 Krishanthi Kumaraswamy………………….. 265 9.3 Habeas corpus………………………………………. 267 9.4 Disappearance commissions………………………... 276 9.5 Rise of the underworld……………………………… 286 CHAPTER 10 Political imagination…………………………………………… 291 10.1 Stifling political imagination……………………… 294 10.2 Culpability and complicity………………………… 299 10.3 Exclusion and dependence…………………………. 304 10.4 State-centric and politicised truth and justice initiatives………………………………………………... 306 References………………………………………………………. 311 Appendix—Overview of interviews…………………………… 335 viii Acknowledgements This study would not have been possible without the women and men who gave up their valuable time to be interviewed. Their honesty and willingness to talk about the most horrific of events and its traumatic aftermath demands the greatest respect. Despite the most horrendous experiences and extraordinary obstacles, these people are far from “silently dying”, as expressed by Mr D, an interviewee from Matara District. This study is an attempt to give voice to their experiences within a wider socio–political context and to put their story, which serves as historical memory of events officially denied, on the public record. I am extremely grateful to the Law and Society Trust for providing institutional support to this study. I would also like to thank the following organisations and individuals around Sri Lanka who assisted in liaising with and supporting the women and men interviewed for this study: Amparai District - Affected Women’s Forum; Sowasa Social Welfare Society; Home for Human Rights. Batticaloa District - Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies; Tandaham; Community Development Foundation; Institute of Human Rights; Ms Amara Hapuarachchi. Gampaha District - Organisation of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared; Janashakti Women’s Development Foundation; Families of the Disappeared. ix Jaffna District - Mothers’ Front; Missing Persons' Guardians Association of Jaffna; Organisation of Parents and Family Members of the Disappeared; HUDEC Jaffna. Kandy District - Families of the Disappeared. Kurunegala District - Kurunegala