Time to tame government sponsored paramilitaries

By T.C.Rajaratnam

(February 15, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) EPDP has exploited Government funds and there is evidence that Douglas Devananda was expecting the Opponent to succeed and in that connection worked against President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike who was the God Mother to Douglas, supported the Opponent and being a Minister in the Rajapaksa Government he betrayed the President and exploited the resources and facilities and showered it to his selected few as if his party was making the contribution. Devananda went to the extent of controlling Thangarajah who was in charge of the SLFP office and the said SLFP Headoffice in Jaffna became defunct and crippled. Whilst Thangarajah promised people jobs for monetary benefits, Douglas’s men held sway terrorizing the people and bombing the polling booths. Douglas’ ships were sold recently and he purchased 5 Volvo buses which runs from Colombo to Jaffna. The Civilians in the North are afraid of this man who sports a white beard- and is of a violent nature. He is so pretentious but his mask has been unveiled recently. Douglas has conspired to field a few candidates from his party into the SLFP-UPFA. Their names are known to Thambirajah of Thambi Holdings who has also applied to contest as a candidate. Thambirajah has confided of Douglas’ conspiracies.

The Tamil diaspora has to date not supported the SLFP because of EPDP and Douglas Devananda, a dangerous criminal. His track records are reported in the US State Department Reports.

There are now a handful of scholars, professionals and intellectuals who have come forward to get 100% votes for the SLFP from the North. I submit I shall send Douglas home if he has one of his own with his loincloth and his hooligans of thugs and murderers who have terrorized killed and abducted civilians and politicians.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has liberated the Nation. He is a People’s President who can mingle with anyone and everyone.

There is a conspiracy to betray the President but it cannot succeed. Douglas was the main cause for the SLFP and UPFA losing the elections in certain districts.

“There go my people, I must follow them, for I am their Leader” were the words of Mahatma Ghandhi practiced to the very syllable by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. That is the secret of his success This was endorsed by the Nation of Sri Lanka amidst the turbulent waves of politics and the intricacies of conspiracies by vested interests- President Mahinda Rajapaksa was re-elected as the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

Thousands of men, women and children driven from their lands are preparing to return home. The demands of an outraged community have been met. We have achieved a victory for a safer world, for our democratic values, and for a stronger Sri Lanka.

Aggression against innocent people by the LTTE and the Terrorists also known as militants and Eelamists have been contained and is being turned back.

When the President ordered our armed forces into combat as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he had three clear goals: to enable the Tamil people, the victims of some of the most vicious atrocities in the North, to return to their homes with safety; to destroy the LTTE; and to deploy our armed Forces to protect all the people of the North. Those goals will be achieved. Unnecessary conflict has been brought to a just and honorable conclusion.

The Armed Forces should be commended they took the instructions of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Our Nation will express their gratitude to President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Presidential election in January 2010. They will express their profound gratitude to the men and women of our armed forces and those of our allies. Day after day, night after night, they flew, risking their lives to attack their targets and to avoid civilian casualties when they were fired upon from populated areas. The credit would be to the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, President Mahinda Rajapaksa.,

The sorrow experienced by the people and the tears shed by them was for patriotism. We know the pain, the anguish and we too shudder to think of the darkest hours in our history in the process of destroying the LTTE. We appreciate the countries, the local People who by sending generous assistance to the refugees and for opening their hearts and homes to the innocent victims made the task of settling the IDP’s easier.

We fought and liberated the people held in hostage, what we achieved and what we have to do now to advance the peace and together with the people , forge a future of freedom, progress and harmony. This can be done only under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa

The Terrorists were the cause for Men of all ages separated from their loved ones killed and forced to join the Terrorists, children made to watch their parents die; a whole people forced to abandon in hours communities their families had spent generations building.

For these atrocities, the Tamil militants are responsible the LTTE and their allies whether they were in the past or not whether they have reformed or not all of them are collectively responsible for the disasters and killings. We should be cautious not to align them but to treat them and rehabilitate them. Recent history has proved that Terrorists in whatever garb will try to revive their traits in some form or the other and would never be loyal to a democratically elected Leader or the Government.

The President met with the IDP’s. Some of them could barely talk about what they had been through. All they had left was hope that the world would not turn its back. The President was deeply moved by them. The President has settled a large number of IDP’s he has provided housing, shelter, healthcare, education and sustenance. Moreover, by his personal visit he has touched their hearts and in turn they have touched his by their appreciation.

When our diplomatic efforts to avert this horror with the LTTE were rebuffed, and the violence mounted, the President took affirmative action. Now the people are free, the roads that were closed for years have opened, the people have been liberated.

No more nights of hiding in bunkers cellars, wondering if the next day will bring death or deliverance.

Now, the Tamil people must join hands with the Muslims, the Singhalese, the Burghers and Malays and assist President Rajapaksa to continue the development work.

Finally, we have averted the wider war this conflict might well have sparked. Now, we’re entering a new phase – building that peace – and there are formidable challenges, the foremost amongst them is the stability of Leadership and the Government.

We must get the refugees home safely. Minefields will have to be cleared. Homes destroyed by the war will have to be rebuilt. Homeless people in need of food and medicine will have been assisted and day in and day out they are gradually settled. The fate of the missing will have to be determined. We in the peacekeeping force will have to ensure that Sri Lanka is a safe place to live for all its citizens. But this next phase also will be dangerous. Bitter memories will still be fresh, we have to prevent vested interests from exploiting the situation by mud slinging campaigns perpetrated by the opposition and its allies whilst still be cautious of those amongst us who may betray especially the Terrorists groups whose survival was dependant on the survival of the LTTE. In this regard it was best for President Mahinda Rajapaksa to have visited the North without the assistance of militant groups and their political parties.

When President Rajapaksa addresses the Tamil people directly, he has been and will be acknowledged by the people. All the Tamil groups and parties with blood in their hands cannot convince the Tamil people. The Tamil people have now learnt by their mistakes and misunderstanding that the democratically elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa is their only salvation.

We must pave a path to a prosperous shared future, a unifying magnet more powerful than the pull of hatred and destruction that has threatened to tear us apart.

As long as any form of Terrorism remains and terrorists of bygone eras are allies, as long as we give prominence to criminals and terror groups the journey for development will be far sighted.

Our Government represents tolerance and freedom, not repression and terror. As such every individual or group which transgresses these ideals should be dealt with by the Laws of the land. The people are tired of the few unruly elements.

We have sent a message of determination and hope to all the world. Think of all the millions of innocent people who died in this bloody century because democracies reacted too late to evil and aggression.

Because of our resolve, the new year has dawned, not with helpless indignation, but with a hopeful affirmation of human dignity and human rights for the 2010. In a world too divided by fear among people of different racial, ethnic and religious groups, we have given confidence to the friends of freedom and pause to those who would exploit human difference for inhuman purposes.

As far as I am concerned the North shall support the SLFP/UPFA if EPDP, PLOTE,EPRLF and TNA are left out. They have betrayed the Tamil people. We will liberate the North politically as well.

Jayawewa to President Rajapaksa ! Bhangewa to Douglas and the other militants. LTTE is destroyed. Terrorism will be destroyed only by destroying the other Tamil militants in the North!

I have been a victim of Douglas. I know he is dangerous.. He is no match for me in politics.