Who’d Challenge This Military Involvement?
Kusal Perara
“The Army has been given legal powers to arrest and take legal action against those who ignore the instructions of the government with regard to the eradication of dengue mosquitoes” – CDN/26 June 2014
“The entire effort will utilize the services of 15 officers and 750 men (soldiers). They will be focusing on reconstruction…..The estimated cost of the whole project is around Rs 200 million and the President has granted this amount to us and we have already commenced work on this project…” Security Forces Commander (West) Major General Ubaya Madawela to Sunday Leader of 29 June 2014
“Army Commander attend the ACJU co-existing event in Dehiwala Mosque” – ACJU/Vidiyal.lk 26 June 2014
A politically very savvy colleague said, “This is a helluva thing-no. Their saffron thugs go and damage and devastate whole villages…..And we have to pay the cost of reconstruction.” He was referring to the 200 million rupees the President had approved for the military driven reconstructions in Aluthgama-Beruwala-Dharga Town areas. That money is obviously tax payers money and it is public funds. Contemplating on that very apt statement, I thought the best would have been to confiscate all funds, property and assets owned by BBSleaders individually and collectively and turn them into rupees and cents for reconstruction. If there was still a deficit in bridging the gap for costs, then allocating public funds can be justified and accepted. Accepted for the reason, such racially and religiously instigated violence thereafter would not be attempted by any.In this Sri Lanka under this Rajapaksa regime, that way of handling Sinhala Buddhist extremism would never be the order of the day. This regime lives on majority Sinhala sentiments, that’s evaporating much faster than the regime thought. Five post war years wasted with nothing delivered even to the majority in the South, they now have to fire up the most extreme “Sinhala Buddhist Zionism” to try and survive. That extremism can not be propped up without State patronage and militarising of society in every form. Thus the question, “What if this army is kept longer than needed in this high density, traditional Muslim area in Kalutara district ?”
