President, Ministers lash out at Pada Yatra dubbed ‘political
gimmick by bunch of crooks’

The
protest march masterminded by Mahinda Rajapaksa in 1992 positioned him
as a national level figure among the SLFP ranks. Rajapaksa’s pada yatra,
which went from Colombo to Kataragama, marked the beginning of the
ascension of his political career and the initiative culminated with the
downfall of the UNP government in 1994.
At the time Rajapaksa launched his first pada yatra, he was a
relatively ‘untested’ character in national politics. He appeared as a
true defender of human rights and projected himself as a crusader
against the crackdown launched by the then government on the country’s
youth in the light of the second JVP insurrection.
With his affiliation with the ‘Maw Peramuna’ (Mothers’ Front), an
organization representing mothers of the disappeared youth, many assumed
Rajapaksa was a firm and unwavering supporter of democracy, human rights
and accountability.
In fact, a key slogan of his Pada Yatra was to probe into the
disappearances of tens of thousands of youth and the “torture camps” run
by the government’s law enforcement authorities.
Twenty four years down the line, Rajapaksa launched his second Pada
Yatra as a retired Executive President who held the office for nearly 10
years. Rajapaksa’s administration was often dubbed as one that brutally
suppressed democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.
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Lasantha Wickrematunga
being taken to hospital after the attack. |
On the other hand, multiple corruption allegations have been levelled
against the former President, his family and close supporters. He has
made history as the first Executive President to lose a Presidential
election. Seven months after losing the Presidential election, the
Rajapaksa group also lost a Parliamentary election under the former
President’s leadership.
After the end of the last Parliamentary election, the group
supporting the former President became Internally Displaced Persons in
the SLFP camp. The party entered into a coalition agreement with the UNP
for a period of two years and the group supporting the former President
was left out of the party’s affairs.
On the other hand, the same group had to deal with a surfeit of
issues on the anti-corruption front with law enforcement bodies making
progress in several high-profile cases. Against this backdrop, they
formed a group called the ‘Joint Opposition’ claiming they will
transform it into a new political party, under the leadership of the
former President, before the next Local Government election.
It was in this context that the leaders of the UPFA rebel group
gathered in Kandy last week to launch the ‘janasatana’ pada yatra
movement. Although the protest march was not endorsed by the SLFP, a
group of party MPs attended the march claiming they did not fear
disciplinary action.
Apart from Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, among the other SLFP MPs who
attended the Pada Yatra were Kumara Welgama, Dullas Alahapperuma,
Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Johnston Fernando, Mahindananada Aluthgamagage,
Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Rajith Soysa, Namal Rajapaksa and Dilum
Amunugama. Their initial plan was to start the protest march from the
Sri Dalada Maligawa (The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic) located in
the heart of the Kandy.
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An ambulance was attacked
on the first day of the Pada Yatra. |
Before the commencement of the Pada Yatra, however, the Kandy Police
sought a court order to prevent the Joint Opposition group from starting
the march from Kandy. The main reason behind the Police Department’s
intervention was the inconvenience it would cause to the public on a
working day.
Considering the request, the Kandy Chief Magistrate issued a
restraining order preventing the leaders of the Joint Opposition from
commencing the march from Kandy city. As a result, they had to start the
march from Galaha junction, in Peradeniya.
In an interesting turn of events, the Kandy Chief Magistrate also
ordered the UNP not to conduct its recruitment drive during the morning
hours and to commence it after 2.00 p.m. on Thursday. The UNP, quite
obviously, decided to launch the membership drive in the Kandy city as a
propaganda tactic against the Joint Opposition’s protest march.
Meanwhile, the Mawanella Magistrate in a court order, instructed the
protestors to use alternative routes during the protest, bypassing the
town of Mawanella – a highly populated area. The order was issued after
the Mawanella OIC went to court seeking a restraining order to suspend
the Pada Yatra. The court order was handed over to MP Mahindananada
Aluthgamage, one of the key organisers of the march.
Meanwhile, a few Magistrates turned down requests made by the Police
to issue restraining orders to prevent the protest march.
The Kegalle Police sought a restraining order against the UPFA rebels
from entering the Kegalle town on grounds that the walk would create
severe traffic congestion among other issues.
The Kegalle Magistrate, however, refused to issue the restraining
order, while informing the Police that the protest march should only be
allowed on one lane of the road, and in the event there was any clash,
the police had the authority to immediately halt the march.
Similar orders were issued by Gampaha and Mahara Magistrates who
received requests from respective police stations to issue restraining
orders against the march.
“This alone shows the level of democracy prevailing in the country.
Under the previous government, not only a Magistrate, but the Supreme
Court too could not issue orders against the government. Today, the
magistrates have been given a free hand to exercise their will,” Health
Minister Rajitha Senaratne said on Friday, commenting on the matter,
while addressing a public gathering.
The most interesting remark about restraining orders came from the
former President himself. He said, under his government, the Police did
not take restraining orders against protesters blocking the streets. He
said it clearly showed the stifling of freedom and democracy under the
Yahapalanaya government.
“What the former President said was absolutely true,” a UNP
Parliamentarian quipped, commenting on the former President’s remarks.
“Under the former President’s rule, restraining orders were not
necessary to crack down on protesters. What happened in Rathupaswala,
Katunayake and Chilaw speaks volumes of the democracy that prevailed
under the Rajapaksas,” he said.
At a ceremony at the auditorium of Mawanella Provincial Council on
Friday to distribute computers to fifty Pirivenas and churches in the
Kegalle District, President Maithripala Sirisena launched a scathing
attack on the Pada Yatra protesters.
“Though some people greedy for power walk through roads aimlessly,
the government is committed to build the country by working with
consciousness and discipline,” the President said.
“Today, the country is suffering from a debt burden of Rs. 9,000
billion. The new Government has to face the challenge of an unbearable
burden of debts created by the former Government,” he said.
“After being in the office of Presidency once, I don’t want to take
marathon walks seeking power again and I will execute my duties properly
during the tenure of my office,” he said. The President’s remark was a
clear indication that the pada yatra initiative had widened the gap
between the two groups within the SLFP.
Ambulance
On the first day, however, the Joint Opposition group ran into a
trouble with its supporters attacking an ambulance during the protest
march.
Video footage of the incident, which later went viral on social media
platforms, showed a group of angry protesters hitting the sides of the
ambulance, while Police tried to mediate.
The stalwarts of the UPFA rebel group attempted to justify the attack
saying the ambulance was ‘planted’ by the government. The crux of their
argument was that the ambulance was “empty” and therefore it should not
have disturbed the protest march.
However, UNP General Secretary Minister Kabir Hashim had a different
view on the matter. He said the incident showed the UPFA rebel group’s
lack of concern for the rights of others. “They ran the country in the
same way. It is the same when they’re in the opposition. This is the
uncivilized and crude political culture espoused by the Rajapaksas over
the past 10 years,” Hashim said, on Friday, speaking at an event in his
own electorate.
Commenting on rumours that the UNP was planning to sabotage the
opposition protest march in Kegalle, Hashim said his party never had
such plans.
Meanwhile, Law and Order Minister Sagala Ratnayaka, launching a
scathing attack on the initiative, dubbed the Joint Opposition protest
as a ‘political gimmick’ by a bunch of crooks.
“The planned march from Kandy to Colombo will do nothing to break the
historic partnership between the United National Party and the Sri Lanka
Freedom Party, led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President
Maithripala Sirisena respectively.
If at all it is an effort to destroy the marriage that took place on
January 8, 2015 between the people of this country and the idea of
democracy,” the Minister said, in a statement he released on Thursday
evening.
As the Law and Order Minister, he assured that the government did not
want to resort to any undemocratic act to suppress the Joint
Opposition’s protest.
“As far as we are concerned this is nothing more than a political
gimmick organized by a bunch of crooks. Their followers will realize
soon enough that it is not about the nation or the people but an act of
desperation on the part of a few individuals who are being prosecuted
for multiple infringements of the law including financial crimes and
murder.
However, in line with the promises we have made to the people of this
country, we will continue to uphold the principles of democracy; in this
case the right to protest. In fact the Government will do its best to
provide the maximum security possible to those who take part in this
protest, meaningless though it is and misled though the protesters are.
Unlike during the previous regime, there won’t be hooligans and thugs
disrupting this march. There won’t be baton-charging and there won’t be
water-cannons. There won’t be tear gas.
Having said that, we would like to remind the organizers of this
protest that a healthy democracy also includes the rule of law. No
protest, however justifiable, warrants the breaking of the law.
Just as much as we are mandated to uphold the principles of
democracy, so too are we obliged to ensure that the Rule of Law is not
compromised,” Ratnayaka said.
Lasantha’s murder
The Criminal Investigations Department’s investigation into Lasantha
Wickramatunga’s murder took a new turn this week with Wickrematunga’s
driver identifying the Army officer arrested in connection with the
killing.
It is interesting to examine as to how Wickrematunga’s driver came
into the picture all of a sudden. It was common knowledge that
Wickrematunga drove his own vehicle on the fateful day he was killed by
four armed men.
However, Wicrematunga’s driver, a man by the name of Dias, ran into
fresh trouble soon after the journalist’s death. As many people did,
Dias too pointed his finger at a top official in the country’s defence
establishment over Wickrematunga’s death.
The Colombo Telegraph website last week explained in detail as to how
Wickrematunga’s driver was kidnapped soon after the senior journalist’s
killing.
“On the day of Lasantha’s assassination, Dias had washed the car and
forgotten to take his cell phone which he had kept on the bonnet near
the cavity by the wiper blades. After Lasantha left the house in the car
he called him about the phone. Dias had a motor bike and collected the
phone.
On his return near the turn off to Lasantha’s house he had stopped at
the boutique to buy cigarettes. The boutique keeper told him that there
was a guy in black with his helmet off, who had followed Lasantha.
Dias had tried to call Lasantha but his line was constantly engaged,”
the website, quoting a source close to Wickrematunga, said.
“Dias used to consume alcohol every evening. He used to visit various
places and blurt out stuff such as, it was Gotabaya Rajapaksa who was
behind Lasantha’s assassination. This reached Army intelligence, which
was told about Dias’s utterance, and they kidnapped him. No one knew
about the kidnapping as after the driver was released he went
underground through fear.”
“The police did not even bother to look out for Dias during Mahinda
Rajapaksa’s time. However, after the Government changed, and the CID
took over the investigation, Dias was traced and questioned.
He spilled the beans and said he can identify the person who hammered
him. He was blindfolded and abducted but saw the person at the place
where he was kept and assaulted.
He told the CID that the person looked just like his uncle and then
they did the sketch and followed up. That was how Udalagama was traced
and later identified by Dias.
The boutique keeper gave the description of the guy in black and that
is the second drawing,” the report said.
Wickrematunga’s driver identifying Udalagama can be considered a
major breakthrough in the investigation into Wickrematunga’s killing.
The CID has also questioned two former IGPs, namely Jayantha
Wickremaratne and Mahinda Balasuriya in connection with the incident
It is also suspected that the same group who killed the former Sunday
Leader Editor is responsible for the attack on senior journalist Upali
Tennakoon, former Editor-in-Chief of the Rivira newspaper.
Tennakoon and his wife were attacked and wounded by four men on
motorcycles as they drove to work on the morning of January 23, 2009.
Interestingly, the attack came two weeks after the former Sunday Leader
Editor’s killing.
Tennakoon, who spoke to the media after the incident, said the
objective of the attackers was to kill him. The journalist was saved by
his wife who covered her husband’s body, preventing the attackers from
stabbing him.
The manner in which they carried out the attack, however, was similar
to the attack on Wickrematunga, in many ways.
After the incident, however, Tennakoon had to flee the country as the
then government failed to ensure his security.
In the light of the recent developments, many political analysts
opine that the investigation into Wickrematunga’s murder is finally
moving in the right direction, over seven years after the incident. |