Into the dump and devilry, oh! hell a dictator
My Dear Mahinda Aiya,
Ayubowan, Vanakkam and Assalaum Allaikum, while on this 6/6 date, our country seems to be more at the much hammered sixes and sevens, with confusion contradictory claims and growing fears over what in hell is happening, where we are going and how it will all end up. The two major stories last week, with dangerous or devastating possibilities, were the Tiran Alles drama and a political bombshell from India?s National Security advisor M. K. Narayanan.
The controversial business tycoon, publisher and big time political operator Tiran Alles, who has emerged high from the gateways of his well known father, was at onetime the driving force, and the darling of your election campaign. He was widely believed to have played a secret and subtle role in subverting the election to ensure your victory by enforcing a boycott of the November 2005 election by some 600,000 Tamil speaking voters in North East.
In the afterglow of the election, TV cameras showed you in a jubilant mood giving a kiss of thanks to Mr. Alles, months later it turn out to be a kiss of betrayal. Mr. Alles soared high with his appointment as Chairman of the Airport and Aviation Services Authority and, more significantly as chairman of the Reconstruction and Development Authority for Tsunami Devastated Areas. This meant he could give millions of dollars to LTTE controlled areas also, and it might have been part of some pay off.
Another person who rang all the wedding bells in your campaign was Mangala Samaraweera who also flew high with his appointment as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ports and Civil Aviation. Mr. Samaraweera and Mr. Alles were known to be close political and business associates.
Within months strains emerged in your relationship with Mr. Samaraweera and, as part of his countermoves, he launched the Mawbima and Sunday Standard newspapers with Mr. Alles.
Then the political bombshells started to explode, and the big one blew up last Wednesday at a ward in the Nawaloka hospital. Soon after it became clear that Mr. Samaraweera would not rejoin the Cabinet, detectives of the Terrorist Investigation Division stormed the hospital and issued an arrest warrant on Mr. Alles. The businessman claimed he was under treatment for a stress related cardiac ailment and produced medical reports as evidence.
In a statement to the TID Mr. Alles, for the first time, disclosed details of the alleged deal between the Rajapaksa camp and the LTTE before the November 2005 Presidential Election. He alleged that ,after he set up the network, presidential confidants like Basil Rajapaksa and Lalith Weeratunga were involved in secret discussions with the LTTE to ensure a boycott by some 600,000 voters who might have voted for UNP candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe. Sacked Minister Sripathi Sooriarachchi had earlier alleged that as much as Rs. 200 million had been given to LTTE representative Emil Kanthan as an initial payment .
Mr. Alles told the TID on Wednesday that he had given further details regarding this deal in an affidavit he swore before a President?s Counsel on February 12. He said the affidavit would be exploded when necessary.
Colombo Chief Magistrate Kusala Sarojini Weerawardena later came to the hospital and gave an order remanding Mr. Alles till June 13. On Saturday he was moved to the National Hospital and placed under police guard. Opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Colombo District leader Ravi Karunanayake visited Mr. Alles in hospital on Sunday to wish him for his birthday. But the visit has political undertones with the issue likely to come out in full force in Parliament, and elsewhere, this week.
With the media hype and euphoria over the apparent or alleged military victories in the East now on a retreat, any explosion on the secret deal with the LTTE could be as devastating as the recent air attacks or last week?s Ratmalana carnage. If the internal situation was confusing and complex, to the point of being potentially calamitous, the international situation for Sri Lanka appears to be still worse. On the continuing wave of mysterious abductions, ransom demands, killings and other abuses of human rights?now described as the dark night of the white van?the international noose on Sri Lanka is tightening.
Yesterday the European Parliament Development Committee began a special session on the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, and the government was likely to come in for scathing criticism. Japan is Sri Lanka?s largest donor and special envoy Yasushi Akashi is due here today for a crucial visit which might influence Japan?s policy on Sri Lanka an the multi-faceted crisis here.
The biggest news, or blow, in the international scene was from India. The controversial and powerful Defence, Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, was in New Delhi for talks last week and he reportedly requested the Indian government to play a more active role in the Sri Lankan situation. This was reflected in an interview you gave to Al Jazeera television on Thursday.
You said Sri Lanka was not a colony ofEurope or the United States but would welcome an active role by India in finding a political solution to the ethnic conflict. But in this era of confusion within confusion and a mixture of achcharu and Kaiwaru politics, the response from India?s National Security advisor N. K. Narayanan was stunning and staggering. He seemed to be wanting to remind Sri Lanka that India has emerged as the regional superpower, and that New Delhi would decide who gets what and who does what, at least in the South Asia region. Mr. Narayanan said India was ready to supply arms to Sri Lanka but New Delhi would decide what sort of arms Sri Lanka needed and would ensure that any weapon or equipment would be used for defensive purposes?like the defective radars at Katunanayke. His comments assumed more explosive proportions when he said India did not want Sri Lanka to go to its rival Pakistan or China for weapons. Some analysts believe the possible leasing of an oil exploration area near Mannar to China may be one of the reasons for the alarm bell in New Delhi.
So here we go again round and round, not the mulberry bush but the burning bush. The JHU with together with the JVP played a big role in reviving the war mania and the Sinhala Buddhist campaign, now wants such a Sinhala Buddhist dictator to save the country. In a catastrophe of a crisis within crisis, conflict within conflict, divisions within divisions rampant corruption and raging cost of living, the dictator would probably be the last nail on the lid of the coffin of a failed state or a separation.
Yours sincerely
Koththamalli
Edited By - Berty - 6 Jun 2007 03:55:39 GMT |
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