Letter to Pope Francis: Your

Holiness, Delay Your Visit to Sri

Lanka

[Political posters using Pope]-30/11/2014

Writing to Pope Francis on his proposed
visit to Sri Lanka in January 2015 a group of Catholics has elaborated in detail the
suppression of human rights in Sri Lanka and urge his Holiness to postpone his visit.
We humbly request your Holiness to note that already, heavy propaganda is going
on, requesting people in Catholic areas to vote for the President as the President is
also supported by the Pope. We are a country which is ruled entirely by propaganda of
the kind that George Orwell foresaw in his novel 1984. We have now gotten used to
not expecting any truth from the governments propaganda machine and to expect
hyperbolic lies all the time. Our fear is that your Holiness visit to Sri Lanka will also be
used as one more of such hyperbolic lies. . These are not mere verbal lies; they bring
misery and wretchedness to our people. We are living in conditions of deprivation and
unlawfulness and ending this is what most of the people, particularly the poor in our
country, are most desirous of. Under these circumstances, the use of Your Holiness
name and photographs in order to promote a further term for the same despicable
political system is quite painful for us to watch.
We therefore urge Your Holiness to delay to a time when it will not be used as a
political propaganda ploy, and when people with peace in their mind would have the
fortune to see you and receive your blessings.
The full text of the letter sent to Pope Francis:
His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace

00120 Vatican City

Your Holiness,
We are sending you warm and reverential greetings from our motherland, Sri Lanka.
We are a group of Catholics whose ancestors have been Catholics for generations.
We assure you of our love and greatest respect.
We are, however, writing this to you as we are very perturbed after the announcement
of your visit to our country in January 2015. Under normal circumstances, we would
have been at the forefront of those who enthusiastically wish to see you on our own
soil and to be blessed by you.
Unfortunately, however, Sri Lanka is not living through normal times. We have been
living through agonizing times, where lawlessness has become the norm and
everything is sacrificed for the benefit of the President of the country and his family
alone. Why we are perturbed about your visit is because it has been organized as a
ploy to gain votes in a Presidential election in favour of the incumbent President, who,
according to universally accepted constitutional principles which are also entrenched
in our constitution, should not hold office after the end of his second term.
However, our constitution itself was amended by the President himself to enable him
to contest for the same post for so long as he wishes. This move has come under
enormous criticism from almost everyone in the country, who unanimously demand
that the present constitution, which gives the powers of an absolute ruler to the
Executive President, should be abolished and a democratic power model should be
introduced before holding any further elections. The demand for the abolition of the
Executive Presidency has also been one that has been supported by the Catholic
Bishops Conference in Sri Lanka.

Heavy propaganda using Pope by Rajapaksa [ Photo included in the letter]

We humbly request your Holiness to note that already, heavy propaganda is going on,
requesting people in Catholic areas to vote for the President as the President is also
supported by the Pope. We are a country which is ruled entirely by propaganda of the
kind that George Orwell foresaw in his novel 1984. We have now gotten used to not
expecting any truth from the governments propaganda machine and to expect
hyperbolic lies all the time. Our fear is that your Holiness visit to Sri Lanka will also be
used as one more of such hyperbolic lies. . These are not mere verbal lies; they bring
misery and wretchedness to our people. We are living in conditions of deprivation and
unlawfulness and ending this is what most of the people, particularly the poor in our
country, are most desirous of. Under these circumstances, the use of Your Holiness
name and photographs in order to promote a further term for the same despicable
political system is quite painful for us to watch.
We therefore urge Your Holiness to delay to a time when it will not be used as a
political propaganda ploy, and when people with peace in their mind would have the
fortune to see you and receive your blessings.

Another photo included in the letter]

We believe that you are already informed about the extremely authoritarian style of
rule in Sri Lanka and the extreme forms of the violations of the basic norms of
democracy and denial of all the basic human rights of the people. Perhaps it is
appropriate for us to list some of these problems for your easy reference:
1. The countrys system of the separation of powers has been dismantled, making
the courts in Sri Lanka and the Parliament completely subordinate to the Executive
President. The countrys public institutions, such as the police, Election
Commissioners Office, civil service, the Attorney Generals Office are all under the
direct control of the President and all appointments and dismissals are being done on
a political basis.
Two years ago, the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake, was
dismissed from her post without observing any of the legal norms that are followed in
circumstances of such dismissals. The entire country viewed this dismissal as a
political act by the President, who wanted a Chief Justice who will unquestioningly
obey his requests.
The Parliamentary system itself has been derailed with the use of bribery in order to
win opposition Parliamentarians to the fold of the government so that the President
can ensure for himself an absolute majority in the government. The possibility of
having any rational debate has been lost for many years now. People therefore do not

have the possibility of resorting to the judiciary or to the Parliament to voice their
grievances.
2. Under the overall systemic changes, a free and fair election is no longer possible
in Sri Lanka. Everything is so minutely manipulated that the possibility of people
expressing their wishes against the government through an election does not exist
anymore. The leader of the opposition has quite openly stated this and so have all
others who are active in political life of the opposition. The average citizen continues to
experience this all the time and therefore any discourse on elections is been treated
with cynicism by the ordinary people in the country.
3. The human rights situation is appalling on all fronts.
a. The right to life is the least respected right. Enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings have taken place on a large scale and the government refuses to
conduct credible investigations into any of these killings. Anyone who has an
independent opinion tends to live in fear because the intelligence services and security
forces work secretly to silence those who oppose and pose a threat to the
governments agenda.
b. The freedom of expression and assembly are being severely attacked.
International press agencies and the local journalists associations have published
long lists of those who have been killed, or subjected to serious physical harm such as
breaking of their legs and hands and otherwise subjected to reprisals. Large numbers
of journalists are living in exile after fleeing from the country on receipt of serious
death threats. There are regular attacks on journalists.
Peaceful demonstrations are constantly being attacked and in some instances, even
demonstrators have even been killed. The worst affected in this regard are the
students, who are making very legitimate demands for improvement of their hostels or
the quality of their education. There have been many attacks on student led
demonstrations. This is also the situation regarding the demonstrations by the workers
and other poor and marginalized sections of society.
c. Torture and ill-treatment are regularly taking place at all police stations throughout
the country, as the use of torture is the means by which crimes are being investigated.
Human rights organisations have published long lists of victims of torture, including
those who have died in police or military custody. None of these matters are
investigated.
During the recent months, many news items have appeared where persons who have
been arrested have been killed while in police custody, which is often excused with a
story that they have attempted to escape and were shot dead by the police or security
forces in self-defence.
d. As you would know, minority rights have been severely curtailed. Both Tamil and
Muslim minoritiesand other religious minorities, including Christians, have been
subjected to attacks and punishments.
Even after the end of the war, the Tamil minority is living under the control of the
military. They do not even enjoy the freedom to talk about their deceased loved ones
as even this is portrayed as the promotion of terrorism. Propaganda against terrorism

is used all the time in order to suppress the rights of the minorities.
As for estate workers, who are perhaps the poorest section of workers in Sri Lanka,
their conditions remain appalling. In a recent landslide, over a hundred persons were
submerged in mud and many of their bodies were not even recovered. Earlier, there
had been warnings to the company which employs them about the danger of
landslides in the area. However, the company had not taken any precautions to
provide them with alternative places to go to. This tragedy exposes the conditions of a
group of people who never received any Government attention.
As for religious minorities, there have been serious attacks on the Muslim minority,
which has led to unrest. Many Christian groups have complained of attacks on their
places of worship. While the Police continues to fail to provide the lawful protection to
these minority groups in such scenarios, none of these have been credibly
investigated. Nor has any legal action been taken against the perpetrators.
e. The protection of women has not been a concern of the government despite much
flowery rhetoric spoken about the rights of women. Rape and sexual abuse remain
one of the most serious threats to women.. In particular, young girls have been targets
of many attacks..
Nearly 10% of Sri Lankan workers go abroad to places such as the Middle East in
order to work as domestic helpers, majority being women. They work under extremely
difficult conditions, deprived of the basic rights enjoyed by workers throughout the
world and they are extremely vulnerable to many attacks. The foreign Ministry has
failed to ensure the necessary safeguards for these migrant workers. As illustrated in
the case of the young girl Rizana Nafeek, some even suffer death sentences by
beheading for offences they have never committed.
f. Tying up all this is the most extraordinary type of corruption that runs into all
aspects of life. The misappropriation of State resources, particularly by the Presidents
family, is a well known fact among the people. The State mechanism and public
resources are manipulated to achieve private and political goals. For example, even
sports matches are fixed when the members of the Presidents family take part.
Transparency and accountability are words that no longer have any relevance to the
state of affairs in Sri Lanka. Drugs and other illegal forms of money-making have all
been allowed and the young in particular have become victims of the drug trade. Many
families lament about the ruin of their young and, despite the warnings by some who
were close to the government on these matters, the government turns a blind eye as
such trade is lucrative.
The right to property is being seriously challenged as the government uses its power
to expropriate citizens properties for the benefit of those who are associated with the
Presidents family. The Commission against Bribery and Corruption has itself been
used to promote corruption. Senior politicians who have been accused of large-scale
corruption are not being investigated. This Commission is also used as a means for
committing reprisals against political opponents.
This list of violations of human rights can go into a great litany. We could provide
clarifications and evidence if Your Holiness wishes to receive the same about the

issues listed above. However, it suffices to say that people who are affected by such
violations and violence have no one to complain to. They have no option but to suffer
alone.
Your Holiness presence will be used to whitewash such enormous repression,
including the sabotage of political, social and cultural rights of the people. Your
Holiness shaking hands with the President and others close to the President will be
exhibited not only in the State television and newspapers, but in our experience, also
in large cut-outs that would be exhibited on roadsides.
We are sure that your Holiness do not intend this visit to bring about that kind of result
on the people of Sri Lanka. Therefore, we humbly and earnestly urge that Your
Holiness will not comply with the governments demand for this visit to be expedited.
Instead, that Your Holiness may choose the time most appropriate for such a visit in
consultation with the Catholic community in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka needs the prayers of Your Holiness so that this country can thrive in a period
of peace, democracy and respect for the rights of the people. We ask Your Holiness
blessing on our country and on ourselves.
END
The signatures in the original letter posted to Pope Francis on 24th Nov 2014 form
Group of Catholics.

Posted by Thavam