Wimal pokes his head out

Mr. Wimal Weerawanse of JVP poked his head out of the fox hole he had dug for himself last week. The guy who was screaming his head off about the danger of LTTE before the presidential election was nowhere to be seen or heard once the LTTE escalated violence after the election. Now the guy appeared on TV and said that we all should be careful and think about the way the LTTE really want us to react and avoid reacting that way. What a joke. He should have told this before the election. Then if all the people understood the ulterior motives of LTTE, the people would have elected Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe instead of Mr. Rajapakse. What the LTTE wants is to have an extremist government in Sri Lanka and legitimize its terror. So they helped Mr. Rajapakse to come to power. Now this clown who helped Mr. Rajapakse to win the election is saying we should be wise.

Where the hell is the amendment of the ceasefire agreement?

Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, our new president and his group of friends (JVP, JHU, etc.) were screaming before the presidential election about amending the ceasefire agreement. Now LTTE has killed more soldiers within one month after Mr. Rajapakse becoming president than the four previous years after the ceasefire agreement. Then the day before yesterday, LTTE has attacked some navy crafts and abducted 3 sailors. Now the LTTE is saying the sailors were killed (drowned) during the battle. If the ceasefire agreement had to be amended because the LTTE killed 17 soldiers in 4 years, shouldn't it be amended for them killing 20 in just one month? So where the hell is Mr. Wimal Weerawanse, Mr. Somawanse Amarasinghe of JVP, Mr. Champika Ranawake, Mr. Udaya Gammanpila, ven. Rathana, ven. Sobhitha, etc. of JHU? And where the hell is the ceasefire amendment? What the hell is Mr. Rajapakse doing now? Now you guys have the power. So why don't you amend the agreement? Where are the brave Dutugemunus of the 21st century?

I guess you are too busy peeing in your pants to do anything about the situation in the North isn't it?

It's one thing yelling about something when you claim that you don't have all the power but a complete different thing when you are in power and when can't claim that anybody is pulling your leg isn't it?

Honarable Peace

During the past few year, after Mr. Ranil Wikckramasinghe signed the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE, the JVP, JHU and the right wing SLFP extremists were constantly saying that the country needs an “honorable” peace and not what ever that was there during that time. If the country needed an honorable peace that implies that there was no honorable peace. Either there should have been war or a dishonorable peace. If you compare the past four years (just prior to Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse becoming president), there were only 17 or so deaths in the Sri Lankan military due to LTTE attacks. All of them were either informants or intelligence officers. In the two years before that (1999-2001), there had been thousands of deaths. (Remember, the army lost Elephant Pass army camp during that time.) So if that was war (1999-2001) then I would definitely say that we did not have war during the last four years. So what did we have during the past four years? If it was not war, then it has to be peace. But according to the JVP, JHU, SLFP it was not honorable peace. So it has to be dishonorable peace. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse said that he would fix this problem. So now I guess we have honorable peace since now he is the President. So just what is the difference between honorable peace and dishonorable peace? During the dishonorable peace, there were no major confrontations, there were no artillery attacks, there were no suicide bombings but 17 military personnel were killed. After we achieved honorable peace, still there were no major confrontations, there were no artillery attacks, there were no suicide bombings but the number of military personnel killed is nearly I think 18 in one month (with two bombings). So it would be 18 times 12 times 4 in the next four years. That would be 864 if I got my maths correct. So we voted Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse to get 864 military personnel killed in the next four years by changing the dishonorable peace to honorable peace. That would be a change from less than 5 deaths per year to 216 deaths per year. Right?

But wait... What is the problem that we are trying to tackle? Is it the population problem?

Imaginary World

I watched a political discussion on TV. I think that was on TNL last Monday. When I changed to that channel, there was a Buddhist monk (most probably a member of JHU) talking. He was saying that by looking at the history, it was evident that the LTTE eliminated its political opponents during times of ceasefire. He was accusing Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe of letting the LTTE get an upper hand by declaring a ceasefire. I don't know history of which planet he was talking about. May be Mars. If you look at the history, was Mr. Doreappa (I don't know whether I am spelling this correctly) killed during a ceasefire? Was President Premadasa killed during a ceasefire with the Sri Lankan government? Was Mr. Rajiv Gandhi killed during a ceasefire with India? Was Mr. Thiruchelvam of TULF killed during any kind of ceasefire? Were the two consecutive mayers of Jafna killed during any kind of ceasefire? Did the LTTE try to kill President Kumarathunga during a ceasefire with the Sri Lankan government? There have been killings during certain times of ceasefire. But that number is much less than the number of political opponents killed during war. The JHU is living in an imaginary world. They are against any ceasefire agreement. (Like the blood thirsty Taliban.) They try to blame all the problems on the ceasefire agreement. I don't think they are lying. I think these kind of people create their own imaginary world to support their own theories that they have come up with, due to the hatred they have in their minds. The reality is no matter who signed the ceasefire agreement, it saved hundreds if not thousands of lives and also billions of rupees and the Sri Lankan economy. I had to change the channel because I didn't want to spend half an hour cleaning my own vomit in my living room.

How Mahinda lied to the country, stabbed the voters in the back and conspired with the LTTE to win the election at any cost.

There is a sinhala saying “ballo maralahari vaedee karagannava” meaning getting the work done even by killing dogs. This means getting something done at any cost even if you have to stoop to an unimaginably low level. (Killing dogs is considered as a degrading act.) Well, a few of our politicians have done that. In fact what they have done is worse than killing dogs. It is paving way to kill humans. The following article was published on the web.


http://www.tamilweek.com/LTTE_Mahinda_secret_deal_1120.html

I am pasting it on my blog just in case the article is removed from that web site.

It goes like this.

Did LTTE have secret deal with Mahinda to enforce
boycott?

by D.B.S. Jeyaraj

Speculation is rife in Colombo political and diplomatic circles about a possible secret deal, prior to the Presidential poll of Nov 18th , between Mahinda Rajapakse and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to have the new President elected through an enforced boycott in the Tamil majority regions of the North - East!

According to preliminary reports there is much speculation that an arrangement was ensured after a series of meetings held between LTTE political commissar Suppia Paramu Thamilselvan and a special representative of Mahinda Rajapakse.

The special envoy is believed to be none other than Tiran Alles the chief of the Katunayake International Airport in his capacity as chairman of the Airport and Aviation services Ltd.

Tiran Alles who was operations manager earlier became chairman after the resignation of Eastern Province Muslim Congress politician Hizbullah.

According to informed sources Tiran Alles is a blue - eyed boy of Aviation and Ports Minister Mangala Samaraweera who was campaign manager of Mahinda Rajapakse for the Presidential election.

He was reportedly commissioned by Samaraweera with the approval of Rajapakse to undertake a series of visits to Kilinochchi in the North and meet with the LTTE hierarchy particularly the political commissar Thamilselvan

It is said that Alles had established and cultivated contacts with LTTE leaders like Thamilselvan, Pulidevan, Nadesan, Para, Balakumaran and others during their several trips to and from Asian and European destinations through Katunayake for peace talks.

According to sources Tiran Alles was mandated with the task of ensuring a boycott by the Tamil people of the Presidential polls.

It was realised that given the pacts signed by Rajapakse with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and Jathika Hela Urumaya and policies outlined in his election manifesto an open and straight forward deal with the LTTE was out of the question.

With the LTTE articulating a strong anti - Mahinda viewpoint for Tamil consumption any possible deal with him would have been detrimental to tiger interests.

Likewise the Rajapakse campaign too had a stridently anti - tiger line and charged Ranil Wickremasinghe of having entered into an "Ali - Koti "(Elephant - Tiger) deal to get the UNP candidate elected. INformation leaking out of a Mahinda - Tiger deal before elections would have been counterproductive.

The hush - hush talks therefore focussed on an indirect support being extended instead of open or direct support.

Since it was a foregone conclusion that the bulk of Tamil voters would be voting for Wickremasinghe in a free and fair poll the idea was to ensure a Tamil boycott of the election. This would have prevented Tamil votes being cast for Wickremasinghe. This in turn would help Rajapakse who was expected to get the majority of Sinhala votes.

It is believed that the LTTE formally launched an attack on Wickremasinghe to herald a boycott after an arrangement was made with Alles. The political offensive against Wickremasinghe was flagged off by senior leader KV Balakumaran in an interview to "Voice of Tigers" (Puligalin Kural) Radio on Nov 4th. Thereafter the boycott campaign gathered steam.

This in turn led to a national and international backlash against the LTTE. It was pointed out that a Tamil boycott would onlt help defeat the pro - peace, pro - devolution Wickremasinghe and ensure the victory of Rajapakse the hardliner on the ethnic question.

Much international pressure was exerted on the LTTE. Periyasamy Chandrasekeran of the Up Country Peoples Front went as a special emissary of Wickremasinghe to plead Ranil's case with Thamilselvan. Wickremasinghe wanted the LTTE to refrain from enforcing a boycott and allowing the Tamil people freedom of choice to vote.

Thamilselvan then informed the UNP and international circles that the LTTE will not thrust a boycott down Tamil throats and the people would be free to vote for any candidate.

This was carried in the media of Nov 16th and the stock market picked up from the doldrums. Yet the LTTE went back on its assurance and stabbed Wickremasinghe in the back by enforcing a harsh boycott through violence and intimidation.

This resulted in a drop of Tamil votes particularly in Jaffna where only 1. 5 % of Tamils voted. The shortfall of expected Tamil votes due to the tiger enforced boycott led to Wickremasinghe's defeat by 186, 000 votes. The UNP condemns the tiger act as a betrayal.

While analysts and political observers were trying to fathom the reasons behind the LTTE's seemingly inexplicable conduct of defeating the pro - Federalism Ranil and getting the anti - Federalism Mahinda winning the Colombo grapevine began humming with the tale of a Mahinda - Puli deal

It is believed that Tiran Alles undertook an urgent mission to Kilinochchi after reports of a boycott relaxation and met with Thamilselvan. Alles had been able to "persuade" Thamilselvan into revising tiger stance again and enforcing the boycott.

Alles returned triumphantly to Colombo after ensuring an enforced Tamil boycott that shattered Ranil's chances of victory.

Darisha Bastians writing in the "Daily Mirror" of Nov 22nd said that Rajapakse had hugged Alles openly and thanked him for making the victory possible. This is what Darisha wrote -

"Small wonder then that when Friday dawned and a Rajapakse victory was confirmed, the new president-elect violently hugged Aviation Authority Chairman Tiran Alles as he walked into Temple Trees and thanked him for making it all possible. Alles, whose support had been solicited by Minister Mangala Samaraweera had been the chief negotiator with the LTTE on the UPFA's behalf. Alles, following a series of dialogues with the Kilinochchi leadership, finally ensured that the rebels called a boycott of last Thursday's poll, effectively snatching certain victory from Wickremesinghe and handing it over to Rajapakse on a silver platter. "

A website run by the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization also referred to a representative of Mahinda Rajapakse being present in Kilinochchi to pressurise the LTTE into enforcing a boycott. The website stated that Rajapakses special representative was Tiran Alles.

It is also noteworthy that a Sinhala newspaper in Colombo had carried a story some weeks ago about a possible deal in the making between the LTTE and a special emissary of Rajapakse.

Chandrasekeram a well - known LTTE sympathiser has been pissed off by the tiger betrayal and in a statement called upon the LTTE into reviewing its strategies.

Tiran Alles is the son of former DS Senanayake College principal Ralph I.T. Alles. The well - known educationist was not re-instated as Principal after he returned from a foreign trip. This was apparently done on a directive of Ranil Wickremasinghe who was Education minister then. Despite pressure on behalf of Alles by Ranasinghe Premadasa and Sirisena Cooray Wickremasinghe remained form and refused to relent. This action by Wickremasinghe many years ago has not endeared him to the Alles family.

Political and diplomatic circles in Colombo were alerted to the Alles connection in the LTTE boycott after reports of the warm embrace of Tiran by Mahinda and the profuse thanks extended to him began to circulate.

Strenuous attempts are being made by Diplomatic and media circles to find out more details about the suspected LTTE - Mahinda deal. What the terms are is not known yet .

A western diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity said that he suspected a financial arrangement was more likely as a political arrangement was virtually impossible under pevailing circumstances where both sides maintain mutual hostility openly. He also said that it was unknown at present as to whether LTTE supremo Velupillai Pirapakaran was aware of the deal or whether the high flying Thamilselvan had gone behind his leaders back.

A colombo newspaper editor said that efforts were being made to contact all parties concerned and find out the truth. "If our investigative sleuths uncover concrete evidence about a Mahinda - Tiger deal and its terms then the shit will hit the fan" he said.

"Both the Sinhala and Tamil people must know the truth behind this. Did the new President whose election campaign accused Ranil of having a deal with the LTTE enter into a secret deal himself with the tigers? Did the LTTE which provided various reasons for the boycott enter into a deal with Mahinda to ensure his victory through an enforced boycott? The people must know the truth" the editor said.

This is how one extreme helps the other extreme to achieve their own goal. The people in the middle are the ones that would suffer.

What happened in the Presidential Election? How did we get here?

We had a Presidential Election last month. Some of you my friends who are not Sri Lankans may not know much about it. OK, I'll give a brief explanation.
There were two main candidates along with 11 or so clowns. Those two were, then prime minister Mr. Maninda Rajapakse and former prime minister Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe. Who are these two guys?

Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse was the prime minister of the UPFA (United People's Freedom Alliance) government. He was from the SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) which was the biggest political party in the alliance. Then president Mrs. Chandrika Kumarathunga was also from the same SLFP. The SLFP held the presidency from 1994 till now and held the government also from 1994 till now except from end of 2001 till April 2004. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse had been a member of parliament since the early 70's and was became a minister in 1994. Then the People's Alliance (PA) which was the coalition in which the SLFP was the biggest party at that time lost the government to UNP (United National Party) headed by Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe at the end of 2001. Then once again, the President Mrs. Kumarathunga used her power to desolve the UNP government and called for elections in April 2004. Then SLFP forged a new alliance with the so called JVP (Peoples' Liberation Front) and it was called UPFA. They managed to win the election and Mr. Rajapakse became the prime minister. Then were does the war fit in? OK I know this is confusing. I'll give all this in point form.

1948 – Sri Lanka wins independence. UNP (United National Party) comes to power.
1956 – Former UNP member, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike who split from UNP and formed his own party SLFP (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) wins election and becomes prime minister. He makes Sinhala (majority in Sri Lanka) the official language. Some people believe that the sort of nationalistic agenda of Mr. Bandaranaike sparked the Tamil (minority in Sri Lanka) nationalist and separatist movement. But I believe the policies of Mr. Bandaranaike paved the way for a lot of underprivileged Sinhala people to achieve a better level of education, jobs and living standard. Mr. Bandaranaike tried to solve the ethnic problem that was brewing up but the hard line nationalist supporters who helped him to come to power prevented him.
1959 – Mr. Bandaranaike is shot dead by a Buddhist priest.
1961 – Mr. Bandaranaike's wife Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes prime minister.
1971 – Mrs. Bandaranaike becomes prime minister again after loosing power in mid 50's. JVP (Peoples Liberation Front) who calls them selves Marxists starts an armed revolt against the government in spite the fact that Mrs. Bandaranaike's government was also pro socialist. The rebellion is crushed. The JVP members were either killed in battle or put in prison.
1972 – Mrs. Bandaranaike's governement declares Sri Lanka as a Republic.
1977 – UNP wins election in a landslide and opens up the economy. UNP also freed the jailed JVP members. (This was regarded as a step to put pressure on Mrs. Bandaranaike.)
1978 – Mr. J. R. Jayawardene, the UNP prime minister becomes Sri Lanka's first executive president after changing the constitution.
1982 – During local government elections, UNP supporters runs havoc in Jafna, the biggest town in the Tamil dominated north. They burn the library and several other buildings.
1983 – LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) an armed Tamil militant group which was gaining support after the 1982 incident in Jafna, kills 13 army soldiers and sparks a backlash against tamil civilians in the south. 100's of Tamil civilians are killed and property looted and burnt. UNP blames several political parties including the JVP and bans them for the riots but most people (including myself) believe that UNP was the main culprit. The war officially begins between the government and Tamil rebels.
1985-1987 – The JVP starts its second rebellion.
1987 – UNP government signs a pact with Rajiv Gandhi, the prime minister of India to send troops to fight the rebels in the north so that the government can fight the emerging rebels in the south. Partial devolution of power is initiated through provincial councils.
1988 – UNP prime minister Mr. R. Premadasa becomes the president defeating Mrs. Bandaranaike in presidential elections. The JVP rebellion escalates.
1989 – Rajiv Gandhi is defeated in Indian elections.
1989 – The JVP leaders are captured and killed. The rebellion dies away.
1990 – R. Premadasa supports LTTE to fight rival Tamil militant groups who were supported by India and Indian Peace Keeping Force. This forces Indian troupes out of Sri Lanka. LTTE starts attacking Sri Lankan forces again.
1991- Former Indian Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber.
1993 – President R. Premadasa is assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber. Prime minister D. B. Wijethunge becomes President.
1994 – Ms. Chandrika Kumarathunga, daugher of Mr. and Mrs. Bandaranaike first wins general election from a coalition of parties called the peoples' alliance (PA) which is dominated by SLFP and then goes on to win the Presidential election. Her mother Mrs. Bandaranaike becomes prime minister. A peace deal comes to effect between the government and the LTTE.
1996 – LTTE breaks ceasefire and starts 3rd Elam war. The government captures Jafana town and gains ground. LTTE holds on to a part of the country south of Jafna peninsula and north of Vavunia. The government controls most of Jafna peninsula cut off from the south by LTTE controlled area.
1998-2000 – Sri Lankan government looses ground to LTTE. Almost looses Jafna town.
2001 – LTTE attacks Katunayake International Airport. The economy falls.
2001 – UNP wins general election. Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe becomes prime minister. Declares ceasefire with LTTE. Saves Sri Lanka from economic dissaster.
2003 – President Kumarathunga takes back key ministries from Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe's UNP government claiming the UNP government gives in to the LTTE too much and there is a threat to national security.
2004 – SLFP of Mrs. Kumarathunga allies itself with the JVP (which by the way, tried to kill her mother and take over power in 1971) and dissolves parliament and wins election blaming the UNP is trying to split the country.
2005 – Mr. Laxman Kadiragamar, the foreign minister who is a Tamil by ethnicity and opposes LTTE is killed by a sniper at his residence.
2005 – Presidential election is held. Mrs. Kumarathunga can't run again since she has held the post twice. The SLFP, JVP alliance (UPFA) puts Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse as the candidate who is also supported by the JHU, a buddhist extremist party while the UNP puts Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe. The UPFA claims Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe is allied with the LTTE to break the country in to two. The UNP wants to create a federal state. The LTTE prevents voters in the north and east from voting. The few who voted, cast their votes to Mr. Wickramasinghe and his Federal proposal. In the south Mr. Wickramasinghe looses marginally. Mr. Rajapakse wins by 180,000 or so votes. The number of votes prevented by the LTTE exceeds 700,000 in Jafna district alone. LTTE has helped Mr. Mahinda Rajapkse to win the election falsifying the claim by Mr. Rajapakse's camp that LTTE supported Mr. Wickramasinghe and his UNP.

After a long break...

Well, I have simply forgotten my blog because of my studies. During that time, all hell has broken loose in Sri Lanka. So I thought of starting my blog again. But some sites which had my comments, images, etc. have simply vanished. So some articles in my blog do not make much sense. But hold on to your seats. Panhindha is back!