Sri Lanka: Confusion and obfuscation all round!

14-Aug-2011

Guest Column: Dr Kumar David

The political waters of this island have become very murky in recent weeks and there is no saying where things will end up by the end of this year or come early 2012. The principal actors themselves are not in control of events and the chips may fall in ways that even they cannot foresee.

 The confusing signals of the recent period include:-

 a)     President Mahinda Rajapakse and his powerful brother Gothabaya (de facto number two in Sri Lanka’s hierarchy of power) are at cross purposes on core issues and this cannot continue for much longer.

b)    The United States is upping the ante, and reading between the lines it is clear that GoSL is running scared; there will be no China to the rescue if confrontation becomes serious.

c)     The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won a landslide victory in July in local government elections and has taken the offensive threatening mass demonstrations unless the government agrees to devolution of power to the Tamil minority. The sixty-four thousand dollar question is what lies behind this stiffening of the TNA’s backbone.

d)    The confrontation between Colombo and Madras which has been deteriorating since Jayalalitha’s victory has taken a distinct turn for the worse.

e)     The equation between Colombo and Delhi is no longer a happy one where the later knowingly played cheerleader-in-chief to any and every misdemeanour of the former.

 I will deal with only the first three items on this list today.       Full Story>>>
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Condom theory applied to State Intelligence service chief Gajanayake too

(Lanka-e-News -14.Aug.2011, 11.30P.M.) As the Senior DIG Keerthi Gajanayake who was the chief of the State intelligence service (SIS ) , had also become a victim of the Rajapakses’ condom theory , he is thoroughly disillusioned and has therefore turned bitterly critical of the Rajapakses , according to reports reaching Lanka e news from informed sources within the SIS .

It is well to recall that there was nothing that Gajanayake did not do by way of sordid stooping to please the Rajapakses. Among the many of those such acts , we reveal here the last of his deplorable and despicable conduct - he forwarded two false reports to defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse that Gen. Fonseka and some top echelon Army officers were conspiring to overthrow the Govt. and thereby ingratiated himself into Gota’s favor .The other SIS officer who added fuel to this fire was Hendawitharane. Based on these reports Gen .Fonseka was sent to jail , 5 Major Generals , 5 Brigadiers and 16 other Army officers were sent on compulsory leave. In addition , another group was taken into custody. Gota had given an assurance to Gajanayake that he would be appointed as the IGP and made a Defense Ministry advisor . Gajanayake’s retirement date was also extended by 6 months defying the Supreme court order that no extensions shall be given to officers who have reached the date of retirement.     Full story >>