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| CJ
affair: Mystery over the mischief R. Sambandan and Gajendran Ponnambalam of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) took the opportunity to lobby the US government during this visit. They had sought, and obtained through the US embassy in Colombo, an interview with Under Secretary for State for South Asia Christina Rocca. An earlier request had been made by Rudrakumaran, the US based Attorney who is on the LTTE legal team, but the State Department had been disinclined to oblige. But a request made by two Sri Lankan Parliament Members had to be acceded to.Their mission, to soften the US stance on the LTTE with a view to removing the ban on the group as a terrorist organisation. Only a fortnight back, Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri had paid an unprecedented visit to the US capital to accept a coast guard cutter. A 19 gun-salute at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington Cemetery the likes of which were only accorded to the late Rear-Admiral Rajan Kadirgamar when he visited many decades ago, and meetings with high-ranking State Department and Pentagon officials formed the backdrop to the Sambandan-Ponnambalam mission. Ms. Rocca was awaiting the duo at her office on Tuesday, but only the young Ponnambalam showed up. Ponnambalam made his pitch for the LTTE arguing the case for ISGA, the controversial self-governing authority being the " starting point " for resuming the stalled peace process. Ms. Rocca basically reiterated her testimony to a Congressional hearing recently. The LTTE must mend their ways, they must transform themselves into the political mainstream, and they must reverse the reasons for their ban in the US. When an Asian reporter asked the State Department for the outcome of the talks, the response he got was that it was a "non-event” and that it was not even worthy the effort of a press release. If that was not bad enough, events in Colombo the next morning, the suicide-bomber exploding herself at the Kollupitiya Police station became a thorough embarrassment for the TNA messengers in Washington. Here were they saying that the LTTE was a brand new wine, just that the bottle was old. That they should not be treated as a terrorist organisation. The resonance from that explosion could not only be heard across the Galle Road opposite the Police station at the US embassy, but even in Washington DC. After the bomb explosion in Colombo, Sambandan had asked to meet Ms. Rocca to say his piece. Ms.Rocca was out of town, he was told. Instead, he was asked to see Don Camp, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South Asia on Wednesday. The elderly advocate was arguing a thoroughly bad brief. Compounded by the fact that the accused was caught red-handed with incriminating evidence as the case was to be heard. Don Camp delivered the US message right between the eyes, as the Yanks would say. It was a very harsh message indeed, delivered in stronger terms than the one just the previous day by Ms. Rocca. Frantic efforts by the LTTE to deny responsibility for the suicide-bomber was to no avail. The State Department in consultation with the US embassy in Colombo were already drafting the response to the LTTE denial. " It carried the hallmark of the LTTE " it opined - almost echoing the sentiments expressed by the target of that bomb - Douglas Devananda, the EPDP leader and Minister of the UPFA government who ruefully said " when has the LTTE ever admitted to a suicide-bombing" The ordeal for Sambandan and Ponnambalam was not over. At a seminar organised for them by the respected one-time US Ambassador in Colombo Theresita Schaffer at the Centre for Srtategic and International Studies, they ran into further rough weather.Some 30 people turned up to listen to them, among them one-time journalist and former Sri Lanka Ambassador Ernest Corea, former US Ambassador to Colombo Shaun Donnelly and Rudrakumaran too. Asked whether or not he was himself a victim of the LTTE at one time, Sambandan was clearly uncomfortable at all this, and would have wished to have packed his bags and returned to Sri Lanka as soon as he could with a Mission Unaccomplished. But in the US, the Sambandan-Ponnambalam event was not the happening thing, of course. It was the sale like hot-cakes of former President Bill Clinton's autobiography " My Life ". Breaking records, the publishers of the book, Hutchinson have placed a fresh print order to cope with the demand. The demand no doubt was driven not so much by Clinton's life-story, or his political career as much as his little trysts in the White House and before that, and his peccadillos with a kind of cute young girl, an intern named Monica. When the story of President Clinton's affair with Intern Monica first hit the deck, in the prestigious Washington Post, President Clinton reacted as expected. He denied the story. When it was substantiated, he began challenging the interpretation of ' sexual relationship ' and admitted only to an ' inappropriate encounter ', and then when he was eventually brought before Congress on impeachment proceedings, he called it a ' Right-wing conspiracy '. He rode the storm, banished by wife Hilary to sleep on a White House couch for over two months, but through it all, overcoming the impeachment motion thanks mainly to Congress voting largely on party-lines. In ' My Life ' he says (at page 811) ; " I was engaged in two titanic struggles, a public one over the future of our country, and a private one to hold the old demons at bay. I had won the public fight and lost the private one..... It was also damaging to the presidency and the American people. No matter how much pressure I was under, I should have been stronger and better behaved ". Other than in countries with dictatorial systems of government where leading figures ' officially ' do no wrong, and Sri Lanka fortunately still does not fall into that category, and arguably, in liberal France where such things are quite in order, the private lives of public men ( and women ) often titillate the citizenry. That is possibly why, this week's statement to the press by Chief Justice Sarath Silva suddenly became the talking point not just among the capital city's chattering elites and the legal fraternity, but also in a wider spectrum of society. According to his statement, the Chief Justice had written to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Indra Silva asking him to investigate an allegation by a police officer that he had been in some " compromising position " with a young woman in a parked car around 9 pm last Tuesday close to the Parliamentary complex in Greater Colombo. He flatly denied all this saying it is an " absurd state of affairs ", and went on to explain what he was doing on that day, on that night really. He then went on to say something more serious. He claimed that there was a scheme ( or campaign ) to discredit him because of a series of cases he was hearing in the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice was surprisingly candid. After-all, attempts at discrediting a Judge hearing any case is an occupational hazard for any member of the Judiciary. That is why they must be circumspect all the time, almost to the limits of boredom. This is why many don't even join the Judiciary. And anyone who tried to meddle wrongly with the conduct of any Judge, leave alone the Chief Justice, can be dealt with for contempt of court. Once the Chief Justice had said that there was a conspiracy involved by people whose cases he was hearing, it gave a handle to the Opposition United National Party to jump gleefully on the bandwagon. They have waiting, and waiting for an opportunity to impeach the Chief Justice. Some sections of the party had long blamed party leader Ranil Wickramasinghe for not doing so when they were in office from December 2001- March 2004. A botched attempt sans the approval of Ranil Wickremesinghe ( who had just left for the fateful meeting with US President George Bush in November 2003 ), triggered the President's takeover of the Defence, Interior and Mass Comm Ministries, which was followed by the alliance with the JVP and then the April electoral defeat of the UNP. It is now evident that even Ranil Wickremesinghe has changed his mind and attitude. But the party was cautious. While one section wanted to raise hell over what they claimed was an actual happening, and call for the immediate impeachment of the Chief Justice, others wanted to tread gingerly. A long drawn out hard-hitting draft was given to Kasi Choksy, their leading constitutional lawyer cum former Finance Minister. It was eventually cut to size and watered down. The UNP's first statement showed it was carefully trimmed by expert legal hands. It said: "We note from newspaper reports that the Chief Justice has claimed that there is an attempt by persons whose cases are pending before the Supreme Court to tarnish his image by concocting a false story that he has been found in a compromising siutation in a car with a lady, after dark, on the night of July 6. "We are aware that an incident pertaining to the detection of a couple in a compromising position in a car at the same time at a lonely location has in fact been made by the police that night and the male found in the car is alleged to have been the Chief Justice himself. If the allegation of the Chief Justice is correct, then it would mean that the police have also been a party to fabricating a case against him. If on the other hand the police claim is found to be true, then it would be that the Chief Justice has uttered falsehoods and made false allegations in a situation involving dishonourable conduct. In either case the consequences would be serious and in these circumstances it is necessary to ascertain the truth in the public interest". Most newspapers desisted from carrying this statement even though they had published the Chief Justice's statement the previous day. An official account of what happened is reflected in a message Chief Inspector Weerasena who is attached to the Computer Division of the Police Communication Centre in Mirihana. Copies of this message were freely available with an influential section of the UNP. They made sure most media received a copy. That included even the Tamil media who went scurrying for translators. Weerasena in his message to the IGP dated July 6 (Time 2125 hrs - Page 252 of the Information Book Chapter 96) said he was coming to work from his house at Jayawadanagama. He was travelling in his motor cycle past the Diyawanna Road in the Nagahamulla area. When he was about to fall to the main road, in a dark stretch, a group of policemen who had come in motor cycles were trying to check a black car with darkened windows. He had seen them having difficulty in drawing the attention of the occupants. He had brought his motor cycle in front of the car and focused its head lights on the car. Then with great difficulty a female in the car gave an identity card to a policeman. Then an elderly person wearing a tie, who was seated on the passenger seat, was not providing his identity card. He had seen the policemen finding it difficult to establish their identity. At that point, the person had said he was Sarath Nanda de Silva. The policemen stopped the search, and released the vehicle. Those who took part in the search were from the Talangama Police. They were constables 32054 Pushpakumara, 36010 Wijeratne, 25043 Senaratne and 25332 Laksiri. The vehicle searched was WPJA 8720 with the registered address at 25/7 High Level Road, Kirillapone. Whilst the resident had driven the vehicle, on the left passenger seat was Sarath Nanda de Silva. He had seen this around 2100 hours with the police officers concerned. At the request of the constables, he had endorsed their notebooks. I came to my station in my motor cycle GY 5179 ", he said in the statement. Chief Inspector Weerasena's message to the IGP, a copy of the statement he had made at the Information Book at the Command Centre, has however raised more queries than answers. Firstly, neither the policemen nor he had conclusively established the identity of this person as the Chief Justice Sarath Nanda de Silva. This could have been done only if they had examined an identity card.. Therefore, the logical argument is being brought out that some other person, even someone resembling the Chief Justice, could have used his name to ward off the Police.On this evidence alone there is a reasonable doubt established on the identity of the person concerned. However, Chief Inspector Weerasena has claimed in a statement he made to investigators that he could recognise the Chief Justice because he had appeared before him in a Fundamental Rights case. But why did not the Police check the identity card of the occupant? That would have given them the answer. If they did not have the courage to do so, why did they subsequently make entries? Was it out of fear that there would be reprisal action against them? Compounding the situation further are ongoing Police investigations. They found that the number of the vehicle is non existent. The number mentioned was on a motor cycle belonging to a padre in distant Anuradhapura. The address of the resident turned out to be incorrect too. Things therefore have become curioser and curioser. The remarks of the Police Chief, Indra de Silva, whose term of office expires next month and will no doubt be happy with an extension have been contradictory. This was reflected in a second statement the UNP issued on Friday. As the heat turned towards IGP Indra de Silva attempting a possible cover-up of sorts, the country's chief constable yesterday assured an impartial inquiry into the incident. He said there were two versions about the incident, and that investigations were being conducted directly under his supervision. He was justified in saying that there may be a delay because of the intervening elections. DIG K.P.P. Pathirana who conducted the initial investigations has said that the statements of the four constables from Thalangama Police have been recorded, but it was far too early to reach any conclusions. The failure on the part of the Police Chief to make a substantive statement for the record early on jeopardised the credibility factor of the Police. It is not only Government bureaucrats and Ministers who are making contradictory statements. They were followed by military top brass. And now Police Chief Indra de Silva has joined that club of less credible but important people. Must anything more be said about the serious credibility crisis afflicting the UPFA Government? Every day of the week it continues. On Friday night JVP's Wimal Weerawansa declared on the "Thulawa" programme of the ITN network that the LTTE was demanding the return of Karuna. Where on earth the LTTE made that remark or statement is not clear. The usually well informed Weerawansa had got his facts mixed up. He went on to liken this LTTE demand to something bizarre. It was like President Kumaratunga asking the LTTE to restore her eyesight, lost during a LTTE bomb attack during Presidential Elections, before she could talk peace. As one western diplomat remarked, Sri Lankans are never short of real life entertainment. No sooner the Chief Justice issued his statement of an incident purporting to implicate him in an incident, all and sundry, especially the lawyers, began setting in motion various theories. How come a cop from one station happened to be there to help a police party from another station, especially when there was no major crime being committed or any imminent danger to that police team? Was this a set-up? Was anyone trailed ? Was this a honey-trap ? Why should a police posse go back to the station and make entries in this type of case ? By Friday, the UNP hierarchy was moving in the direction of asking Parliament, when it resumes, to take over the investigation via a Select Committee. One of them joked that "this was an infringement of parliamentary jurisdiction by the judiciary. Only members of parliament can use the area around the Parliament complex for parking their vehicles ", he said. Another remarked that the man involved must be Karuna, the LTTE breakaway leader who has been accused by his former guerrilla colleagues of being behind the suicide-bomber at Kollupitiya. Meanwhile, the UPFA government studiously avoided making any intervention. And wisely so. Any display of solidarity may have only added fuel to the simmering fire. On the other hand, the UNP to be seen as carrying this too far might give the handle for a fight back on the Clinton-style Right-wing conspiracy theory. And then, all-of-a-sudden, everyone realised that there was a Provincial Council election on Saturday. Everyone from all sides dispersed far and wide for last ditched campaigning, and electioneering. The elections itself yesterday showed absolute voter fatigue. After a lacklustre campaign by all parties, and businessmen squeezed dry already after the general election of April 2, it was not surprising that voter turn out dropped to low levels. The recent occurrences in Parliament and the disgraceful conduct of MPs no doubt contributed to the dis-interest in elected politicians guiding the destiny of the voters. Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake who has been ruled to work by the Supreme Court despite his plea to retire on health grounds and on reaching his age of retirement had to spend his time in the ICU of the National Hospital, doctors advising him not to be exposed to stress situations. This only exposes the dire straits of governance in the country. Despite the17th amendment to the Constituion passed far back in 2001, the independent Election Commission has not been able to get off the ground because the President is refusing to confirm the name of one single ex-Supreme Court judge approved by the Constitutional Council. Instead, we have an Election Commissioner who can no longer stand the stress of an election. And we have an election with only half the registered voters voting. This is Sri Lanka. Right
of reply 1) Sunday Times of 27th June, 2004 refers to my visit to London recently as "jet-dash" and "couldn't catch his breath". The visit to London was pre-arranged several weeks before which negates your semi-dramatic remarks. You state in your article that I took "an official entourage" with me, whilst I only took the Secretary to my Ministry and one (1) security officer. If this is an official entourage, you are still probably, living in the 'era' of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Wake up Old Boy! It is a new government and a new era, whether you like it or not, elected by a majority of 700,000 people and just 5 more days for the PC polls. Just wait till then. I met the tour operators of the United Kingdom at several meetings and gave them my fullest encouragement to increase their arrival numbers from 96,000 to 110,000 this year, because ( edited) ( of a ) campaign to prevent investors and travellers coming to Sri Lanka from the U.K. who are more than keen to come here and invest in large scale projects. 2. You state in the "Times" that I have deliberately been left out of the ceremony of the passing out of my niece, Yasodhara. I never had any intention of going to the ceremony and informed the President to take any one of her choice. A part of my visit to London was to join the Bandaranaike family that has produced three (3) Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka, three (3) leaders of the Opposition, four (4) Ministers of the Cabinet, twice elected President of the Republic, a Speaker of Parliament, and the first Female Prime Minister of the World, and now produced a brilliant young Doctor!!! The entire Bandaranaike family shared the joy of my sister Chandrika and Yasodhara, brought up by her mother single handedly, after her father's death. And you journalists through endless envy have to make a mockery of a proud event of one of Asia's unique families. 3) I had informed the BOI that I will not be available during the visit of the Singaporean Prime Minister, weeks ahead. Those responsible for placing my name on the invitation cards will be dealt with shortly. I refer to this only because of your absurd remarks about my so called absence during Premier Goh's visit to Sri Lanka. 4) You say that seven (7) Brits only attended the dinner hosted by me at the " Churchill " in London for tour operators in the U.K. The figure was very much more and the Sri Lanka High Commission will provide you with the correct figures if necessary. If there was a drop at all, it was entirely due to U.K. Vs. Portugal Football Event in Lisbon which was a major event for the English people. 5) You attempt to compare my appointment of the new BOI Chairman, Saliya Wickremasuriya, who holds a unique record of achievement for a young man to Ranil Wickremesinghe's appointees of Royalist classmates, all & sundry, who were chiefly responsible for the ending of his very brief interregnum! My appointees are honourable, dedicated, intelligent men who happen to come to Royal College, not classmates who are questionable or political and business wheeler dealers who ruined this nation and their classmate! (Edited ) (You ) know well that there are good, mediocre and horrible Royalists. Ranil went for the last two brands and I went for the first. I go only for the best. Like President John F Kennedy I go for the best and the brightest! Irrespective of the school they attended. Ranil Wickremesinghe and his brand of followers can learn a thing or two from me. 6) You accuse me of wasting government funds abroad. My Ministry only paid for my official stay of four days which involved several meetings with tour and investment personnel. Thereafter, during my stay in London I paid for all my bills on my own. This may be verified from my Ministry or from Sri Lanka High Commission in the UK. 7) You state that Mr. Harry Jayawardena has a tight grip on me and runs my Ministries. No one has any grip, tight or not, on me or my Ministries. I run my Ministries the way I wish, under the guidance of the President. Mr. Jayawardena is an old and trusted friend and one of this country's most successful businessmen and I will seek his advice as and when necessary, which is no bloody business of yours. 8) Finally, though once a fine newspaper (edited ), at present (edited) your journal is in close competition with ( edited ) for the contest of being the worst newspaper on a Sunday. (
edited ). Do not allow yourself or the 'Times' to become a spokesman
for a man who has lost over a dozen elections and still survives
only because there is no replacement, a lack luster, an unwinnable
person who leads a broken, dejected, defeated and demoralized band
of "rogue" elephants who do not have a chance in hell
of ever coming back to power! (edited) Sincerely Political
Editor's Note: 1. No comment is needed by us. 2. The Minister has only confirmed what we said in our column. In his own words "a part of my visit was to join the Bandaranaike family....". That is exactly our point. He made a visit to Britain to join the family, and made the other part, an official trip. 3. He again confirms our column - that he was absent when the Singaporean Prime Minister was here - to talk on investment promotion. 4. If more than 7 Brits attended his function with tour operators - why doesn't he give us the exact numbers? And if the function coincided with the England vs. Portugal (not UK vs. Portugal) Euro Cup match, it speaks volumes for the organisational capabilities of the Minister's officials. 5. We did not attempt to compare his appointment of the new Chairman of the BOI with that of the former Prime Minister's nominee for the job. It is Mr. Bandaranaike who compares everything with the former Prime Minister. We only said that the appointee was recommended by his "trusted friend" and "successful businessman " Harry Jayawardene. He has not denied that.Instead, he has, as any reader can see from his own letter, gone off at a tangent. 6. The Minister comes back to confirm the same issue - which really is the main issue here - that his visit to Britain was to be with the family, partly. 7. It is now clear what has stung the Minister most. Probably on his Achilles heel. 8. And finally, the Minister again goes out on a limb attacking the former Prime Minister and accusing us of being his cat’s paw and advising us, well-meaning no doubt, not to become a rag-sheet. Mr. Minister, we try our best not to be anybody's cat’s paw. You are entitled to attack the UNP and we will refrain from stating here and now, the circumstances under which you joined the UNP (1994) and left the UNP (2001), save to say you are only opening a can of worms. The theme of our twin-columns was to report on the fact that you went to Britain on what was essentially (you confirm it was - partly ) a private visit - partly on the tax-payers' funds. The question we ask is; Is it fair for people holding Ministerial posts to serve themselves simply because the spoon is in their hands? It's much more pithy in Sinhala. How many ordinary Sri Lankans can travel like this at State expense? We should have to beg or borrow to do so. Then they see what happens at the top. Little wonder that they get disgusted and advise their children to go seek jobs abroad, not to stay in a country like this. That was our point, and that remains our point. You may well ask "why haven't you attacked the UNP Government for this kind of thing?" The answer is, that we have - editorially, and in our columns. We can send them to you, if you haven't read them. In the very column you refer to, we have heaped criticism on then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the manner in which he picked Bateys, a Singaporean firm to promote Sri Lanka at a huge fee, and for having a Tourism Advisory Chairman who had - to quote the very words "one foot in Singapore, half a foot in India and half a foot in Sri Lanka". You don't mention that. Did this slip your notice? You also told the people not so long ago that you and your UPFA colleagues would be different. Isn't this a case of it being the Same Difference? You may also ask "why me?". The answer is because it is the likes of you who can make a difference to this abused nation by setting a better example and showing greater leadership qualities. Mangala
attempts to forge deal with JHU But the bomb blast suddenly opened up a new issue for all political parties to unleash salvo after salvo of accusations. The very mobile and undetectable human bombs which terrorised the general public in the last two decades has returned like a spectre defying exorcism. The New York Times referring to the blast quoted Disa Finnboga, a spokeswoman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, tracking the cease-fire, as saying violations on both sides have tended to increase, and are "pressing the boundaries." Though these comments have not been reported in the local media the SLMM has indirectly accused the Sri Lankan government of heightening tensions and places blame on it for the above explosion. The SLMM spokeswoman has said "It's a very serious incident," in a telephone interview with the New York Times "It will make the relationship difficult for both the parties." Though the Sri Lankan government failed to link the LTTE with the bombings in its official statement on the incident defence secretary Cyril Herath has told the London Telegraph "It is a total violation of the ceasefire agreement. There is no doubt this is the work of the LTTE but we do not yet have proof." As the UPFA regime is facing stormy political developments in the country it seems that most Ministers and Members of Parliament are moving away from the public eye and the media as well. The weekly press briefing of the government is handled by Mangala Samaraweera, Susil Premjayantha and Wimal Weerawansa. These three cannot handle all the issues that are raised at the briefings. It is imperative that the people responsible should be present at this weekly round. But it is heard that most of them rely on the above three to be the public interface. This would not help the Rata Perata strategy at all as government faces going Pasupasata; one cannot expect the dynamism needed for the Perata gear. A story that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse may be replaced by another interim Prime Minister and the rotation of this position among other senior UPFA members created quite a storm last week. The Prime Minister was heard saying "why should I resign?" quite angrily when he was informed of the news report. This report was not just confined to Sri Lanka, even expatriate circles were buzzing and the message that went internationally was "Mahinda Rajapakse is to resign as PM". This may be the work of internal elements of the UPFA who fear the growing stature of the Prime Minister. Mahinda Rajapakse is using his portfolio to the maximum and enhancing his credibility as the sole national leader emerging from the UPFA with the exception of President Kumaratunga. He will also be residing in Hambantota for a chosen number of days specially to look into the matters of the Southern people as well. Meanwhile the government is already celebrating the securing of 114 seats in parliament and are now concentrating on a no confidence motion against the Speaker. They already are negotiating informally with the JHU as well. Earlier Mangala Samaraweera met a JHU delegation at Isipathanaramaya in Thimbirigasyaya. He has had a follow up meeting with another JHU delegation at an undisclosed location this week. The most surprising element in these secret rounds of talks is the person bringing these parties together. It is none other than Mervyn Silva who it is alleged harassed Ven. Kolonnawe Sumangala Thera in parliament. Reports say the government is facing a crisis in implementing the employment opportunity scheme pledge for unemployed graduates. It is true that there are more than twenty thousand unemployed graduates in the country. Thus the initial blunder is said to be made in the processing of the applications received. The government should have made an initial survey of what vacancies exist in each department and what criteria are applicable for finding eligible candidates for filling them. Without planning a fool proof system the government haphazardly called for applications which ultimately resulted in putting everything out of gear. This in a sense shows the conservative thinking about the job market public sector being better than the private sector as an avenue for employment. This is more the reason why the UPFA policy makers should have looked at the issue more rationally. The build up to the Provincial councils election clearly demonstrate the attitude of the general public towards political parties. They would rather vote for individuals who can do some work at ground level for their general welfare instead of going by party policies or action plans. It, therefore, could be seen as a protest vote demonstrating the loss of faith in political parties and their inability to deliver the goods. |
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