Keeping The Northern People Doped Is Another Paradigm Of The Scorched Earth Policy Of The Rajapaksas
( March 21, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian ) That Sri Lanka is a haven of the trafficking of narcotics with impunity is of no surprise. It is prevalent and rampant from the Hon. Prime Minister's office down to other sections of the portals of power both military and civil throughout the country. The importation of narcotics is done with the patronage of the ruling clique and is regarded a money spinner to the state and its authorities and consequently the importers have become the powerful "untouchables'. For the Sri Lankan Customs dealing with the importation of drugs including opium has become a routine and matter of fact affair as if these are part of goods that could be brought in depending on the extent of government patronage they have.
The drug trade including the dealing in the growing, processing of marijuana is a lucrative trade of many an influential and powerful politician, for example Kudu Duminda and the Minister Mervyn Silva. Not long ago, a prominent and loyal higher up in President Rajapaksa's party the UPFA, Bharatha Lakshman Perera was gunned downed and killed by a close associate of the brother of the president, Gotabhaya no less than the Secretary for Defence, namely Kudu Duminda Silva who today enjoys unsurpassed power within the ruling circles. Strangely, Bharatha the deceased's daughter with the patronage of the Rajapaksa brothers, in an untenable situation, is a candidate for the UPFA the ruling party at the coming provincial council elections for the western Sri Lanka.
In response to international concerns of the of the spread and the widespread use narcotics, the imports and the government patronage the Security Council had met chaired by no less than the psychopath Gotabhaya Rajapaksa the Secretary for Defence who unashamedly declared that the members of the Security Council should not be concerned about the spread of the narcotics trade in the North beyond the North-central Anuradhapura. He obviously averred to Tamil-speaking areas of Vayuniya, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar and Jaffna. This view expressed so blatantly was much to the consternation of the right thinking members that the narcotics trade remains therein.
In fact, the international anti-narcotic quarters believe Sri Lanka to have become the operational hub for drug racketeers in the South Asian and Southeast Asian regions. The lackadaisical approach of the government is due to its belief that the Sri Lankan economy will lose a massive amount of "black" money and kickbacks to them if the menace is curbed. It is in the financial interests of the Rajapaksas to keep the drug trade alive in the most convenient and strategic location being the North.
It has to be presumed that while was also prospering from the narcotics trade in Sri Lanka the Secretary for Defence was taking the opportunity to further the scorched earth policy of the Rajapaksa regime directed towards the Tamil people. This, we believe is a new paradigm in the continuing denial of their own agricultural land, medical facilities , denial of proper education for their children, curbing of proper health facilities, denial of decent housing and human rights. What they have provided in abundance are the highways built with Chinese loans benefitting in the way of commissions from Chinese banks and the boastful statistics of the removal of landmines. Further, there are also the possibilities of the civilians getting into trouble with the law enforcing authorities on account of using or dealing with drugs leading to arrests and implicated as also having terrorist links with no plausible defence to offer.
In fact we also wonder whether the healing of mental and physical wounds of the Tamil people through herbs, drugs and opium is a sociological approach by the Rajapaksas for their betterment. It would be remembered that not long ago we were privy to the pleasant spectacle of the benevolence of the First Son, Namal introducing Tamil children in the North to books wherein the greatness of the Rajapaksas to be emulated by them was depicted. The idea was that the children even in their dire social and economic disabilities and distress should not miss out on the knowledge of the greatness of the Rajapaksa dynasty the closest living relatives of the great Sinhalese king Dutugemunu. What was not said in these great works of academic attainment was the easiest way to pass public examinations in which the Rajapksas excelled.
( The writer, editor, Eelam Nation, an online journal)
