BY LANAKTHILAKA
Police media spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa came under fire by the public for making a misleading statement that the police are vested with the authority to take legal action against those who publish and exchange statements that insult the president on social media or any other media.
The origin for his statement was a video of president Gotabaya Rajapakse being hooted at in Mirihana while he was driving past a queue of people who had lined up to buy milk powder from a local shop. A member of the public was arrested and questioned by the CID for posting the video on social media. The CID had reportedly retained the woman’s phone for about two hours and copied data from it before handing it back to her. The incident also led to the immediate closure of the shop by the police where the people had been queuing up.
Under Article 14(1)(a) of the Sri Lankan constitution citizens have the freedom of speech and expression which can be restricted only by law for the protection of among other things national security, public order, racial and religious harmony, parliamentary privilege or to prevent incitement to an offense.
In 2015, the Supreme Court in the judgement of Wahalathanthri v. Jayantha Wickramaratne, Inspector General of Police [S.C. (F.R.) Application No. 768/2009] dealt with the legality of publishing insulting statements against the president or government. In this case the police sought to prosecute two persons under Section 120 of the Penal Code for carrying harshly worded placards that protested at the government. In its determination, the Supreme Court declared that the publication of defamatory, embarrassing, or insulting statements against the president or government is a lawful and democratic exercise of the freedom of expression. The Court also held that the police cannot prosecute members of the public for merely publishing defamatory, embarrassing, or insulting statements against the president or government, and that Section 120 of the Penal Code would apply only if such statements were intended to incite violence.
What the above judgement confirms is that publishing statements that insult or defame the president does not attract any criminal liability. Therefore with the Mirihana incident there is no lawful basis for the police to take legal action against persons who publish or exchange such statements and the claim by SSP Thalduwa is a false one.
The police media spokesman holds a frontline public office. He is tasked with disseminating and conveying the government’s official position on law and order and the public rely on it and act on it. It’s a role which carries with it a high degree of integrity and accountability which SSP Thalduwa failed to uphold by lying to the people. Thalduwa must resign of his own volition or the Inspector General of Police must remove him from his position which has now become tenuous.
The greenlight earlier this week from the cabinet of ministers for India and Sri Lanka to jointly redevelop the oil farms in Trincomalee will be a win for India. The deal, which was signed on Thursday on the eve of the visit of the Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi to Sri Lanka, will give India strategic leverage to reduce the Chinese footprint in the country. Chinese interests were expanding rapidly and concretising till a fiasco over a shipment of contaminated organic fertiliser put the brakes on the honeymoon and for which a dollar strapped Sri Lanka will now have to fork out US $ 6. 9 million. Until then, China was both fairy godmother and nemesis to Sri Lanka showering her with vaccine diplomacy and currency swaps but also deadly debt trap investments and loans of billions of dollars which Sri Lanka is struggling to repay with forex reserves which went into the red in November last year but has slowly climbed to a little over US $ 3 bn with a Chinese currency swap. The fallout with China, which controls nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s external debt and whose investments in the country are close to 23 percent, left the door open for India to make a re- entry. After having stepped up to provide support with much needed fertiliser, albeit shrouded in controversy, India is now throwing Sri Lanka a lifeline with a US $ 1. 5 bn credit line for fuel and food to be purchased from them. The arrangement is likely to have a caveat. The Indian Express reported that the Sri Lankans have been told the agreement must progress in parallel and progress in one should reinforce the progress in the other towards strengthening economic ties in both directions. Energy minister Udaya Gammanpila however has denied any link between the Trincomalee oil deal and the emergency credit line. Even before the Trincomalee arrangement has been finalized, with finance minister Basil Rajapakse scheduled to make a delayed visit to India for the second time at the start of this week to tie up loose ends, the Sri Lankan cabinet has already approved the purchase of 750 jeeps for its police including 150 jeeps for the police Special Task Force. The communique on the decision issued by the government’s Information Department said that bids have been invited from companies recommended by the Indian Export and Import Bank which is the bank tipped to extend the credit line, and that the cabinet had granted approval to the resolution provided by the Minister of Public Security to award the procurement of the jeeps to the Mahindra and Mahindra Company of India.
The finalizing of the deal on Thursday, it was first proposed in 1987 as a part of the Indo-Lanka accord and has been in the pipeline for nearly 35 years, has been timely for Sri Lanka which has to pay US$ 500 mn for an international sovereign bond which is maturing on 18th January. Economists however have forewarned about the government bending over double to pay creditors without looking after the country and its citizens first. Their advise is that the dollars which are used to pay these bonds should instead be chanelled to purchase much needed food and fuel for the country and that the payments should be renegotiated.
The Trincomalee oil tanks were built by the British during Second World War to serve as a refuelling station. The facility is set on 850 acres adjacent to the Trincomalee port in the much coveted and courted Trincomalee harbour which is the second best natural harbour in the world and is close to international shipping lanes.
Each of the 99 tanks on the farm has a storage capacity of 12, 100 kilolitres. Their collective capacity of over 1. 2 million tons far exceeds Sri Lanka’s requirement. In 2003, the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation entered into a framework agreement with Lanka Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), a subsidiary of the Indian state -owned IOC, to lease 32 of the 99 tanks for 35 years until 2038. The annual fee for it was US $ 100, 000. Under the new agreement the CPC and Lanka IOC will have a 51 and 49 percent stake respectively in the farm. Sri Lanka and India will jointly refurbish 61 of the tanks and the CPC will have 24 tanks. This arrangement will be for the next fifty years. Meanwhile, Lanka IOC will have the 15 tanks it has already developed and is using. The credit line which is being negotiated with India is expected to make provision for the Sri Lankans to refurbish their tanks.
Some of Sri Lanka’s key assets have foreign involvement in them. While India will now have a stake in the Trincomalee oil tanks the Chinese already have a 99- year lease on the Hambantota port. It was to India that Sri Lanka first offered the lease of the Hambantota port before it went to the Chinese but it was not accepted by them. Last year, the government sold a share of the Yugadhanavi power plant to New Fortress Energy, a company which is based in the US.
