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Millions in Lanka but not Peace Boss type
Sunday, August 17, 2008
What’s so special this week, thought Azadek. Hmmm. “One Shot” was targeted in Nugepola, Pelmadulla. He is reported to have been passing this little hamlet town when he was set upon, where the UPFA, the ruling cluster of parties, was having an election rally. “One Shot” wouldn’t have thought his silver screen image would provoke his opponents, when he rolled the shutter down to wave at the people attending the rally. But his image as the CM candidate probably overshadowed the other. He was attacked by a mob with the driver also getting hurt, when the vehicle was hurriedly pulled away from the mob but hit a little cliff close by. So the blame game. Why should they attack Ramanayake, who only waved at the people like any other glittering ‘star’?
Pelmadulla wasn’t without news, stars or not. A JVP election office in Iddamalgoda was also set on fire by an unidentified group, the JVP CM candidate Kuruwita accusing the UPFA for that. A few days before another JVP election office in Weddagala, Kalawana was attacked, said JVP Sabaragamuwa leader Kuruwita. CaFFE said 24 complaints on election violence were received from the JVP and they seem to be the worst affected in Sabaragamuwa. Anura Kumara Dissanayake called for a joint effort by the opposition parties to face the escalating violence in the two provinces running for elections.
In the midst of provincial council elections, addressing a media briefing on Monday last, UNP front-runner in Colombo, MP Karunanayake said, the war is carried out with a big bang in media during elections. Karunanayake would not have anticipated Keheliya’s retort. That came with a bigger bang on the war, when the Defense spokesman told the media that the war will not be stopped till Prabhakaran comes on bended knees before the President with a white flag and begs for a cease-fire.
But Karunanayake had other abilities with additions, subtractions and divisions to hit  the government on another front. Karunanayake said the loss, or rather the Rs.3,800 million waste on Mihin Air, could have been used to reduce the price of bread by Rs.20, kerosene by Rs.19 and powdered milk by as much as Rs.100, if the government was true to the poor. He probably didn’t have time to add, subtract and divide the massive loss of Rs.8,150 million within 05 months at SriLankan Airlines and the waste of Rs.2000 million by giving up what was done for the Weerawila Airport.
All things are comfortably calculated in millions here in SL now. Somewhere it was reported the university undergrads were to march to Temple Trees on Thursday to hand over a petition with 10 million signatures. Doing it the Karunanayake way, it proved the literacy rate in SL is definitely above 90 per cent with 10 out of the 19 million people signing the undergrad petition. It has to be right, because none from the North and the Wanni had signed it and none in Azadek’s family did. Nor did Azadek’s neighbors know of such a petition till the undergrads were once again tear gassed and attacked on Thursday afternoon.
Again in millions. The Transport Ministry officials had leaked to the media that 04 million drivers would have to obtain their licenses anew, if the tender to print the computerized licenses given to a South African company, gets off. It sure would they say, as Minister Alahapperuma is one who does what he says, though not always. And not always does he cut short procedures for efficiency, though this time the tender procedures too were axed.
“Who wouldn’t go to dogs in this country?” asked a journalist from the PMU. Know what the PMU is? Well, that’s the largest collection of human resources at the Presidential Secretariat, at Temple Trees and in an office up Chattam Street where media related work is handled as a unit for the President. But someone somewhere had got a brief wrong and the President beamed loud at an audience full of landless people from the Sabaragamuwa last Tuesday, that media freedom is so cheap and in abundance that he is also drawn as a “dog with a shawl”. Someone else from the PMU had then got over the phone and told media institutes, not to carry that news. This time the President had been briefed rightly to tell that it should be Dr. Mervyn. So, it was not only the President’ statement on dogs but on media freedom too that was withdrawn.
 Media freedom and rights were duly questioned by the Asian Human Rights Watch when they questioned journalist Tissanayagam’s arrest without charges for over 160 days. Fortunately for the President he’s got a Peace Secretariat boss who would wear any hat or shoe other than ones that would look tidy for peace work. He thus wrote to the AHRW with his ministerial secretary’s shoes on and professorial authority, defending the arrest of Tissanayagam by the TID. Obviously, both the TID and the AG’s department have no spokesman for them or the Peace Secretariat had been mandated to over look their work as well, thought Azadek. English does give sustenance and high privilege to some with even a not too distant kinship, though not to Azadek, he thought to himself and closed his column for the week.
Kusal Perera |
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The Real Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna - by Fredrica Janz
Saturday, October 04, 2008 (538 reads)
Watching the recent performance of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna there is but one overwhelming factor that emerges. And that is the JVP's finesse, to lie.
Spurred by an un-quenching thirst for power and the undeniable fact that it can never independently assume the trappings of complete power, the JVP has but only one end result to its deadly game of cat and mouse. And that is to win.
Gold diggers and murderers forsooth, the JVP is easily the most corrupt, hypocritical party that has walked the corridors of Sri Lanka’s parliament. Split by envy and hatred even against each other, the party is governed by humans that can be described in one word – evil.
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WEBTV.LK - click to watch
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Breakaway Tiger leader sworn into Sri Lanka parliament - Reuters India
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:24:04 GMT
Exercise restraint, Sri Lanka told - Hindu
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 20:00:45 GMT
Sri Lanka: international probe called into killing - The Associated Press
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:41:29 GMT
Sri Lanka's Dialog subscribers up 17.4 pct to 5 mln - Reuters
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:51:51 GMT
Military: Suicide bomber kills 27 in Sri Lanka - The Associated Press
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 17:31:36 GMT
'Lanka saved due to prudent measures taken early on' - Hindu
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:44:07 GMT
Tiger suicide attack kills 27 in Sri Lanka - AFP
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 12:45:45 GMT
Sri Lanka’s renegade rebel leader turns legislator amid protests - Thaindian.com
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:42:36 GMT
Tiger suicide attack kills 27 in Sri Lanka: officials - AFP
Mon, 06 Oct 2008 06:45:43 GMT
Sri Lanka bestow democratic decoration to a war lord - War ... - TamilSydney.com
Tue, 07 Oct 2008 08:35:08 GMT
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Sri Lankan Genealogy and others of interest at F’s Place
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