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Selected
Writings
V.Thangavelu, Canada
Mahinda Rajapase Wallowing in a Political Quagmire
- Like His Predecessors
8 February 2006
Speaking at the 58th anniversary of Sri Lanka independence, President
Rajapakse was full of honey and milk when he made the tall claim “This
country is one that belongs to all, Sinhalese, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher
and other peoples to whom this is home. We cannot solve this problem by
dividing this country. That will only lead to aggravating the crisis."
Continuing his oration President Mahinda Rajapaksa called for a new
"state structure" to bring genuine democracy to all Sri Lankans and
resolve the ethnic conflict without dividing the country. He concluded
“Honoured friends, we should bear well in our minds that if we are to
stop the increasing flow of blood through war, we should shed more and
more sweat in the cause of peace.”
The Thamil people have heard this political rhetoric many times before
on such solemn occasions. Rajapakse’s predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga
has said so at every independence day from 1994-2005. But the ground
situation and realpolitik remain different.
Since Mahinda Rajapakse assuming power, the Thamil people as a whole
feel increasingly insecure not only in the Northeast but also in the
South. More than 50 Thamil civilians have been shot dead by trigger
happy Sinhala troops. Thamil women have been raped and youths have
disappeared after arrest by the armed forces.
The Amnesty International in its reported dated February 03, 2006 summed
up the grim situation thus
“The human rights situation in eastern Sri Lanka has
deteriorated dramatically over the last two years, as levels of violence
have escalated, resulting in widespread human rights abuses and a climate of
fear and insecurity.”
Out of many executions style killings in the Northeast by the armed
forces and paramilitaries the following were the worst in terms of sheer
brutality.
(1) On 24 th December 2005, Tamil National Alliance MP and North East
Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) member
Joseph Pararajasingam was shot and killed at a midnight church
service in St Mary’s Church, Batticaloa.
(2) On 2nd January 2006
five high school students were killed in Trincomalee. Although the
Sri Lankan army first claimed they were killed by a grenade that the
students were carrying, following a post mortem it was revealed that the
students had been shot, three of them in the head. The President ordered
an inquiry into the killings, but the assassins are still at large.
(3) On 5th January, 2006 three women from the same family,
Bojan Renuka, Bojan Shanuka and Bojan Arthanageswary were shot and
killed in their home in Manipay, Jaffna district.
. (4) On January 26, 2006
Major Kapilan, a senior Liberation Tigers cadre, was killed in an ambush
attack in Vadamunai in Batticaloa district. LTTE media spokesperson
blamed the army deep penetration unit of having carried out the killing.
This killing took place on the same day (January 25, 2006) the LTTE
leader ordered the release of one of the three Sri Lankan policemen held
in custody since September 2005 for illegally entering into Liberation
Tigers controlled area.
(5) On January 29th and 30th
10
TRO staffers were waylaid and abducted at Welikanda in Polonnaruwa
district. Three staffers have been released, but the rest are still
missing.
The abduction of TRO staffers has again raised the spectre of the
deteriorating law and order situation in government controlled areas in
the Northeast. TRO has accused paramilitaries working with Sri Lanka
military of abducting their workers.
Although President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed two Deputy Inspectors
General of police, four Senior Superintendents of Police and 22 other
men to speed up the investigations regarding the abduction, even after
the lapse of more than a week the fate of the abducted TRO staffers
remain a mystery.
In point of fact far from giving the abduction the serious attention it
deserved, Foreign Affairs Minister rubbed salt into the wound by
claiming that “It was a "mystery" that the TRO had taken 30 hours to
make a complaint to the police, though the nearest police station at
Welikanda was only a quarter of a mile away from the scene of the
kidnapping.”
The Foreign Minister expects the TRO staff that was severely assaulted
and warned not to report the incident to the Police by the abductors to
ignore the threat. The Foreign Minister went on to make the audacious
claim that “preliminary investigations into the alleged incident did not
provide answers but only raised questions. No complaint was lodged
either at Batticaloa or at Colombo, though the TRO had offices in both
places. There had been no formal complaint till the late afternoon of
January 31.”
The public knows the fate that overtook the two women staff that went to
lodge a complaint about their abduction at the Batticaloa Police
Station. They were detained at the Police Station overnight and the
police extracted a statement from the complainants to the effect that it
is the LTTE that abducted them! Such low and cheap tactics displays
stupidity of the Police.
President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government on a roller-coaster
self-destructive politics refuses to rein in the armed forces and the
paramilitaries responsible for the violence against the Thamil people.
It appears that Mahinda Rajapakse is both aiding and abetting the armed
forces or he has lost control over the devilish forces he deliberately
unleashed to capture power. Though he claimed he is a practical
politician, his performance proves he is not. He is following the same
chauvinistic and bankrupt politics of his predecessors though somewhat
clumsily. The exodus of Thamils living in government controlled areas to
Thamil Nadu and Vanni is a telling indictment of his government.
Rajapakse has displayed a singular inability to grasp the dynamics and
the fundamentals of the ethnic conflict.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has also accused the LTTE of having
gone on a publicity spree on an international scale with alacrity but
had kept the Sri Lankan police in the dark. Finally he queried with a
tinge of sarcasm “the "so-called" abductions raised two questions: Were
they stage managed to hide the pressure being brought in other countries
against fund raising by the TRO? Were they an attempt by interested
parties to sabotage the forthcoming talks on the ceasefire agreement”
The whole world knows who wanted to derail the talks? Who wanted to
re-negotiate the CFA? Who wanted Norway to be sidelined? Who openly
asked Norway’s foreign minister to ditch Special Envoy Erik Solheim?
After failing in each and every subterfuge to sabotage the peace talks
he is now pretending to be a saint!
In an interview to Asian Tribune on January 8, 2006 in Washington
Foreign Minister Samaraweeera made the ridiculous statement that the
“LTTE was more ruthless than the Al Qaeda and the Sri Lanka government
is fully aware of the grievances of the Tamil people. Well, there is a
greater awareness in Washington that the LTTE does not necessarily
represent the interests of the Tamil people.” ''
There is no doubt that Minister Samaraweera is following in the
footsteps of his predecessor Lakshman Kadirgamar in terms of deceit and
arrogance. As Foreign Minister Kadirgamar haughtily told the UN resident
representative in Sri Lanka to confine himself to catching mosquitoes
and not to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.
The vituperative comments of Minister Samaraweera clearly shows the
mind-set of Mahinda Rajapakse‘s government and its style of governance.
The divide between the South and Northeast increases by the day and
Mahinda Rajapakse almost pushed the country to the brink of war.
For talks to succeed there should be goodwill and mutual respect for
each other. What we are now witnessing is cynicism and antagonism on the
part of the government. Given the pervasive negativism and ill will
displayed by Mahinda Rajapakse’s government only the very optimist will
entertain the slightest hope of the talks in Geneva succeeding. The
Thamil people are very pessimistic that Geneva talks will solve any of
their pressing problems. Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera’s
political rhetoric gives no such hope. And President Mahinda Rajapakse
lacks the political acumen and sophistication to offer any realistic
solution to resolve the ethnic conflict. Mahinda Rajapakse and his
Foreign Minister are like the quack doctors have only "kulisai" to cure
cancer!
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