Kings, cops and cat on rock

Monday 12th October, 2020

Some of the present-day leaders seem to believe that they are the reincarnations of ancient warrior kings. A few moons ago, they unveiled a plan to establish that King Ravana was the world’s first aviator and trace his aviation routes. Mythical King Ravana has been ‘more sinned against than sinning’ and, therefore, researchers may be justified in trying to prove that he existed and was in a league of his own as an inventor, and not a wicked monarch. Our leaders, however, have not realised that they have already proved, through their conduct, that another king, who is thought to be only a character in folk stories, actually lived in this country. They have also succeeded in establishing the survival of the royal bloodline; they are unarguably the descendants of King Kekille, who punished the innocent and released the guilty in the cases he heard.

SSP Jaliya Senaratne, who was removed from the post of Police Spokesman, the other day, over his statements about former Minister Rishad Bathiudeen’s brother, Riyaj, who was arrested, detained, and released, has been transferred to Kankesanthurai, reportedly on disciplinary grounds, or, in other words, he has been given a punishment transfer. Interestingly, when the police arrested Bathiudeen’s brother, they insisted that he had associated with one of the Easter Sunday bombers. SSP Senaratne only announced their findings. Ex-Army Chief General Mahesh Senanayake, under whose command, the army crushed the National Thowheed Jamaath terror outfit, in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, has recently told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry probing the Easter Sunday carnage that Riyaj helped Zahran flee the country, in 2018. One hundred SLPP MPs have written to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, protesting against the release of Riyaj. Attorney General (AG) Dappula de Livera has summoned the CID chief over the release of Riyaj, and they are scheduled to meet today. SSP Senaratne, who made a U-turn recently in a bid to help the government avoid a damaging loss of face, has been given a punishment transfer obviously at the behest of King Kekille’s descendants! Other police officers ought to learn from what has befallen their colleague, and refrain from offering their services as ventriloquists’ dummies to their political masters who do not hesitate to sacrifice them.

SLPP MP and former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC has recently told the media that some invisible forces are controlling the police. He has cited the release of Bathiudeen’s brother as an example. The SLPP MPs who have signed the aforesaid letter to the PM are engaged in an exercise in damage control. They would have the public believe that the police, on their own, released Bathiudeen’s brother. But an Opposition politician or his brother taken into custody over his alleged involvement in terrorism never gets released without the blessings of the government leaders, who are notorious for political deals. It is up to the AG to find out who actually ordered the release of Bathiudeen’s brother. (A senior police officer nearing retirement may be able to take the blame and get appointed as an ambassador.)

The President’s Media Division (PMD) thinks Riyaj’s release has been given a media twist. (Two-thirds of the government MPs—100 out of 150—believe his release was wrong!) It has taken exception to views expressed in our editorial, Lajja, on 06 Oct. An official attached to the PMD says, in a letter published on the opposite page, today, that MP Bathiudeen has not expressed his support for 20A; he has only said certain clauses therein are unacceptable to his party, and a final decision thereon will be taken on the day of voting in Parliament. Bathiudeen is too smart to declare, in public, he will vote for 20A and, thereby, make it obvious that he has struck a deal with the government. One may recall that the government has undertaken, before the Supreme Court, to effect changes to 20A, at the committee stage, in Parliament, and Bathiudeen can say that the amended version of 20A is acceptable to his party and vote for it. We will see this happen when 20A is put to the vote in Parliament. Government leaders and Bathiudeen, as we said in an editorial, know more than one way to shoe a horse.

True, the SLPP has won elections without the help of Bathiudeen, as the PMD official says, but the fact remains that it tried its best to secure his support in Parliament, in 2018, to muster a simple majority in the House, having forcibly formed a government. Today, the SLPP is desperate for numbers in Parliament, again, to have its 20A passed with a two-thirds majority. It will have to engineer several crossovers, and Bathiudeen with five MPs is an easy target.

Following the release of Bathidueen’s brother, thanks to the intervention of invisible forces, as Dr. Rajapakshe has said, the government finds itself in the same predicament as the proverbial cat, which defecated on a rock and did its darndest to cover it up without any success. Let the government propagandists who are trying to defend the indefensible by trying to justify the release of Bathiudeen’s brother and claiming that it has nothing to do with a deal between Bathiudeen and the government be told that what they are doing is like giving a helping hand to the struggling cat on the rock. They cannot dupe the discerning public.