(Lanka-e-News- 08.June.2016, 11.30PM) Even as discussions are under way regarding the Kosgama army camp ammunition dump conflagration and that it may not be a consequence of a conspiratorial action ,Gotabaya let the cat out of the bag.
Gotabaya Rajapakse answering questions posed by the pro MaRa ‘Divaina’ newspaper in relation to the Kosgama armory explosion said ’the army commander should hold himself fully responsible for this , and if he (Gotabaya ) was in the post of defense secretary , the first thing he would do is expel the army commander ,while adding ,the latter should without fastening the responsibility and the blame on the lower or higher rungs, should resign.
On 2014 Oct. 2 nd , that is three months prior to the Rajapakses making a bolt to Medamulana on the 8 th of January 2015 , the armory of the army engineering camp complex where bullets and explosives were stored was totally destroyed by the fire . Then why is Gotabaya who thrust his head between his legs , his over salivating tongue into his throat, and remained silent on that occasion, now barking with all his might?
It is when probing this Gotabaya’s empty ‘barking’ it was revealed he has let the cat out of the bag !
Let us analyze his statement, ’if I was the defense secretary I shall immediately sack the army commander’
There is no difference officially between the post of secretary of the defense ministry and that of the Cultural ministry. Both are ministry secretaries and are under the respective ministers. In the same way as the Secretary of Cultural ministry is not the spearhead of the Dalada perahera , the defense secretary too is not the spearhead who can give commands to the commanders of the forces. He only engages in the affairs of administration of the defense ministry, and not one who gives commands . It is only the president the commander in chief of the forces and the defense minister who issue commands. The commanders of the forces are appointed by the commander in chief the president but their dismissals are not done by him.
If there is a grave wrong committed , the commander in chief of the forces only makes a request to tender the resignation . Hence when the commander in chief himself acts in that manner , the defense secretary cannot dismiss commanders of the forces . Neither can the cultural ministry secretary sack the Dalada Perahera Nilames .
It is a pity Gotabaya who stayed put for over a decade in America after fleeing in fear of the war after deserting his motherland ,had learnt only to crow yankee doodle do from a sleazy corner in the US , is now trying to get into shoes which are too big for him.
May we recall even during the period when Gotabaya was basking in the glory of his president brother and throwing his weight about , he did not have the power to sack commanders of the forces. If he really had , Gota could have sacked Sarath Fonseka when he got wind of the fact the latter was entering politics. Gota did not have that power even at that time when he was proudly crowing yankee doodle do wearing tie and coat along with his brother president who was loudly crowing any diddle would do wearing the national dress , only to lead the country together into an economic abyss.
So it is the same Gotabaya who is now bragging and blabbering before the equally stupid and slimy journalists. Gotabaya also went on to bark, ‘the defense secretary without fastening the responsibility and the blame on the lower or higher rungs , should resign.’
How can he say that when he is fully aware during the nefarious decade of the Rajapakses , the word ‘resign’ was not even known , and it is Gotabaya who expunged this word ‘resign’ from even the dictionary though he is now telling to ‘resign.’
Why is Gotabaya so vehemently insistent on the resignation of the army commander instead of asking the commander in chief of the forces Maithripala Sirisena who defeated his brother at elections or the defense secretary Karunasena Hettiarachi who has taken over Gotabaya’s post, to resign ?
The cat let out from the bag by Gotabaya is trapped..
The retirement age of the present army commander Krishantha Silva falls on 21 st August. If he retires without an extension ,the two aspirants for the post of army commander are the present chief of staff Milinda Peiris and present deputy chief of staff Sumedha Perera.
Appointing any one of them is like appointing Gotabaya himself to the post of army commander because both of them are such faithful and bootlicking lackeys and lickspittles of Gotabaya, and most notorious in the realm of corruption. Sumedha in fact should by now be counting bars in jail, rather than hold a post in the army. He was dismissed from the army and was out for five years after he was found guilty by court on many grave charges of acquiring lands belonging to others illegally, by writing bogus deeds in his favor. It was Gotabaya who made him creep back into the forces in order to strengthen Gotabaya’s henchmen gang in the army.
In the event Krishantha Silva does not go on retirement and is given an extension in service, not only Milinda Peiris and Sumedha Perera the two corrupt stooges of Gotabaya, but even another over ten of his bootlickers in the army will have to retire as they will be completing their maximum ranks. If that happens , after Gotabaya’s gang of scoundrels are out and sent home , Gotabaya will be left high and dry with only his hindquarters to accommodate his shrinking headquarters . His leverage in the army will be falling to zero.
Based on these grounds, Gotabaya has strong motive to create an environment that will militate against granting of service extension to Krishantha Silva.
It is therefore no wonder after the Kosgama ammunition dump conflagration Gotabaya is roaring like a Lion despite his bandicoot activities (proved by the criminal charges he is facing presently) that if he is the defense secretary he would sack the army commander when speaking to the Divaina , a newspaper which serves all his sordid publicity biddings.
If the Kosgama ammunition dump that existed without any incidents so long is to catch fire within some hours of the announcement made by John Seneviratne that Gotabaya should be made the second in command of the SLFP is duly probed to ascertain why that happened without any reason ,it will be impossible to ignore the cat let out of the bag by Gotabaya and let it go without seriously focusing on it.
The explosion of transformers without any reason ,and the fires that broke out during Gotabaya’s era at the Colombo Kachcheri, at the harbor warehouse, the fire that engulfed the Pettah shops when its owners refused to evict , and the failure to track down the causes for those fires cannot also be ignored in this context.
Did Gotabaya play marbles on the pavements or scrape coconuts in the kitchen during the 10 years?
During the reign of president Chandrika the Panagoda army camp ammunition was taken to Kosgama salawa camp .This ammunition dump contained about 25000 tons ammunition , but after he became the defense secretary , a large quantity of the ammunition in that armory was transferred to Veyangoda camp , because it was felt the Kosgama camp was not secure enough , Gota bragged.
This is an absolute lie. If that ammunition dump was insecure during the period of Chandrika , what was Gotabaya doing during his ten years in service ? Was he playing marbles on the streets or scraping coconuts in the kitchen?
Now it has come to light that the Salawa ammunition dump is not located underground , and when the ammunition were being stored , no security water tank or water sprinkles system had been installed. If Gotabaya is to say ,’ after I became the defense secretary , I realized that place was not suitable and insecure’ , then what was he doing for the ten years without installing a security water tank , a water sprinkles system or storing the ammunition underground ?
His claim that there were 25000 tons of ammunition is also another lie manufactured from his lie factory. In 2015 when the Rajapakses were thrown out lock , stock and barrel , and they fled to Medamulana , there remained only 17000 tons of ammunition. After the present army commander took up duties , he reduced the ammunition quantity in that armory to 7000-8000 tons, and transferred the balance to other places.
It was because the quantity of ammunition was reduced thus , the damage that resulted owing to the recent conflagration was not that extensive. Moreover , it is the new army commander after he took over , the ‘drill one’ that was conducted for security purposes was continued every month because the armory was situated in a crowded area . It is owing to these measures taken and such training carried out , despite this huge explosion , the loss was minimized to death of only one soldier, and two civilian casualties.
As the present army commander is one who has special training in bomb disposal , it is hoped he will not experience difficulties when investigating the cause of this explosion. At any rate , it is being doubted whether there will be any circumstantial evidence for the CID’s investigation regarding this explosion .
In the circumstances , it is believed , when the actual evidence are being searched and tracked down ,the cat let out of the bag by Gotabaya Rajapakse , the statement made by John Seneviratne that the ‘cat ‘ shall be made the second in command in SLFP , and the statements of eye witnesses will all have a bearing.
If it is also investigated who distributed a fake video footage among the security forces as soon as the fire broke out which depicted scenes of weeping and wailing following the demise of soldiers as though it is a video footage pertaining to the present Salawa explosion when in fact that video footage related to scenes during the ethnic war, that will also help to track down the conspirators behind this conflagration.
Wimal Dheerasekera
Translated by Jeff
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by (2016-06-08 20:17:09)
Jun 08, 2016
