Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Saturday Nov 23, 2024
Wednesday, 18 February 2015 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sir, I refer your column article in the Daily FT of 12 February. I feel that you and many US and Western authorities are not having a clear picture about the differences between politically-motivated propaganda about Sri Lanka and the ground realities, minor and isolated events are magnified and applied to the whole picture in negative propaganda. If not, knowingly due to hidden agendas, you sirs are raising these issues.
First of all, apart from a little information and few minutes of a ‘by-the-way’ article or a discussion, what experience would one not living here have about the life in Sri Lanka for one to state that Sri Lanka has returned to democracy all this time? We have enjoyed good democracy as a country subject to the given conditions except in the 1988 era.
However, one should understand that a war is a war and it is a specific situation. We have had freedom of elections, journalists and other people have levelled many allegations (some even baseless) against the ex-President, defence authorities and politicians. There have been many demonstrations for different demands by doctors and public servants.
While many such publications and demonstrations were frequent – yes there were few incidents like the Lasantha Wickremetunga murder (no one knows who did it; that does not mean the Government did it because he was anyway a personal friend of ex-President Rajapakse), the unexplained mystery of Prageeth Eknaligoda without proper evidence it is alleged that the Government has a hand in them – if it is was a continuous thing for journalists to disappear or get killed, then we might link some authority to it. But the case here is not that.
In your article it is alleged that President Rajapaksa relinquished power due to pressure from local and international entities. Well, he left the official residence and announced he would hand over power many hours prior to the final result. At those early hours, do you mean to say international entities had worked to put pressure even before the counting ended? It makes some sense if the counting ended and he was not leaving even after the announcement.
Sir, you have spoken about the people who lost their lives at the last stages of the war due to alleged shelling by the Government. This was refused by the authorities so many times and you keep on saying the same thing. But one should feel the same sympathy for other people in Sri Lanka who lost loved ones who fell victim to hundreds of LTTE bombs targeting civilians like the bombs that went off in trains, buses, the Central Bank, WTC building and hundreds of farmers and poor villages who were hacked to death by the LTTE. Sure, it was this misery that time and the future generation of those people was getting destroyed due to the war as they had less access to education, nutrition and hope. It was blocked by the terrorists.
You have related to President Sirisena’s statement about the ‘king’. I would like to recall that President Rajapaksa was referred to as a king first by the civilians (an old lady) who was rescued by our solders at the last stage of the war (a few days prior). She said something like ‘tell the King to save others too, as there are many kept by the LTTE’ (you can refer the TV news at that time). It was the people who called President Rajapaksa a ‘king’ thereon, as they simply could not express their gratitude with normal words. He never referred to himself as a king.
The end of the war has brought in new hope and opportunities to all Sri Lankans including the devastated north of the country. If one travels to Jaffna, you cannot say it went through a 30-year war. Infrastructure and livelihoods have been developed. The first place in the G.C.E. Advanced Level Maths stream was won by a student of Jaffna at the last examination. If the LTTE did not fall, he would probably be holding a gun by now. This is the change brought in for those people. However, there are still a few leftovers as some actions take time.
As you have highlighted, yes we need assistance from strong nations like yours. Much of our national wealth was eroded to protect the people and resources of this country during the war. Sri Lanka has been a friend of many nations, including yours. However, it is important that there is a proper understanding about the realities. We sincerely hope that the President Sirisena-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe Government would continue the democracy that we elevated as a nation and work closely with the US, Europe, China, India and Russia.
K.C. Alex
