“We could have put all of them in detention.” ?!?!
In a chilling and frank admission of the true mentality of this repugnant government, Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa (not known for his tact) admits in an interview to Reuters that the eviction of Tamils last week was better than what, in his opinion, it could have been:
“So you can tell them, if you don’t have any legal business in Colombo … we don’t want to detain you, you go back to your homes. In fact this operation was much better. We could have put all of them in detention.”
Gothabaya bandies tired arguments against the US & UK in an interview that clearly exposes why this Government does not, as I noted in my last article, give a damn for human rights. Gothabaya’s chillingly frank statement and the incredibly misplaced largesse of his for those evicted, a day after the public apology by the PM for the evictions, is telling in that it is clear admission that this President and his coterie of brothers will clearly do & justify anything, with total impunity, in their self-styled war against terror.
Our days as civil society activists may well be numbered given this imbecilic, nay, brutal mindset. More importantly, Sri Lanka’s already rotting democracy stands no chance of recovery as long as this government will be in power – we are merely replacing non-state terrorism with state terrorism. And behind it all, the JHU’s Champika Ranawaka, the real mastermind of this government’s nefarious plans.
9 Comments
Leave a Reply
Subscribe to Content Updates
iPhone app
On the threat to civil society activists: Gottabayah in the interview claims that the LTTE has infiltrated the UN in Sri Lanka. The comment is very dangerous. Probably the red cross workers and the ACF workers were also infiltrators.
Very irresponsible of Rajapakshe to have made such a comment but he has done nothing much than speaking right ‘from the bottom of his heart’ (the Medamulanas are very well known for this). The interview is a clear reflection of what the person is.
On the apology: The apology should have come from one of the Rajapakshes. To have got Ratnasiri to do it was just a bluff. The interview is yet another indication of how arrogant and unmoved the brothers can be in face of criticism.
On the JHU connection to all of this: I agree with Sanjana. Couple of days back i wrote about this on my blog: http://guruchetra.blogspot.com/2007/06/jhu-and-eviction-of-tamils-from-colombo.html
what happened in nepal (civil society uprising) is on the making in sri lanka?
“what happened in nepal (civil society uprising) is on the making in sri lanka?”
i very much doubt it. I wish there was some sort of a rich ACLU version here.. do we even have a Civil Liberties Union?
“Chillingly frank” about sums up the goosebumps of horror the interview has provoked. It is obvious now who is really in charge. Is the Def Sec hinting that he could be riding higher in the near future – with a lot of help from the military?
I think Champika Ranawaka is minor figure, like everyone apart from the brothers.
Their ideas may coincide, a they do in the case of the evictions but I don’t they have any real say except insofar as they can influnce the thinking of the gang. It is what the brothers decide that matter.
At least he is being honest about his design and actions. Wickemasinghe’s government including those who have joined up with the Rajapakses are clever to sanitise their design action with diplomacy and pandering to the ego of the international community. Tamils have to fight their own wars to win their rights.
Thank you Sanjana, for the link to this interview, as I was wanting to get hold of it having heard about the interview on the news headlines on TV this morning. The only hope we have is the quote from Euripides – “Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make mad”!
Singam, I am unable to agree with you that Tamils have to fight their own wars to win their rights. Many of those involved in the leading HR organisations in Sri Lanka are from other communities, the majority being Sinhalese, some even labeled “Sinhala Kotiyas”. There were many Sinhalese, Muslims and Bughers picketing side by side with their Tamil compatriots opposite the Fort Station and at the Lipton Circus recently. While this may be seen as fighting for the rights of Tamils, it is also a fight to restore peace, democracy and human rights in this country. A fight against a state that uses terror and destroys democracy to maintain majoritarian, hegemonic rule and those using terror and destroying democracy in the name of liberation from this oppression.
I think using terror to fight terror is acceptable. US and Israeli armies have been doing it for decades. The Sri Lankan government successfully used this strategy to annihilate the JVP in 89. Almost 90000 Sinhalese were killed in those two years, far more than the victims of the “ethnic conflict”.
I’m happy that Gotabaya has the guts to stand up to the Western bullies. If Mahinda is killed, he should take over with the support of the military.
Death by Snoo Snoo,
Am interested in knowing where you got that figure (90 000) from.
Thanks.