PRESIDENT SAYS HIS HANDS ARE
NOT BLOOD STAINED LIKE DURING BATALANDA AND APPEALS TO JVP HELP BUILD
NATION
By Walter Jayawardhana
Addressing people of Nikaweratiya after a “Wap Mangula” festival
following ancient kings who led the farmers in their ceremonial beginning
of cultivating season by ploughing, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said
certain leaders have spread the word in order to bring down the country
that Sri Lanka is a violator of human rights but he did not have any
blood stains on his hands like during the era of Batalanda.
At this festival the President appealed to the Janata Vimukti Peramuna
to work and join hands with the government at least for an year to build
a self sufficient national economy and free the Tamil people of the
North from a terrorist tyranny.
Batalanda is an alleged “torture chamber” to elicit information
from political prisoners allegedly conducted under the direct supervision
of United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickremesinghe during a
UNP regime that became a campaign slogan for President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s
victorious election campaign but that was swept under the carpet for
unknown reasons.
 
Many have said several dozens of people have met unfortunate deaths
due to extra-judicial killings in these chambers following insensate
police brutality.
Further addressing the Wap mangula festival in Nikaweratiya President
Rajapaksa said there were neither Batalandas in Sri Lanka today nor
unknown macabre corpses of human beings floating along streams or rivers
or irrigation tanks as happened during those days.
But just to topple the government for political greed certain elements
spread cooked up human rights grievances and even go on surrounding
Commercial Banks demanding that no loans for the development of the
country should given despite the fact that they themselves had obtained
such loans in the past the President said. By surrounding the banks
, those elements want to to stop the development, starve the people
and then snatch power, he said.
The President said another story they spread all over the world is
that there is no press freedom in Sri Lanka. To gauge the press freedom
the President said one should read some of the Sunday newspapers. Some
papers, print some of the biggest concocted stories without any hindrance,
for Sunday reading he said . About 36 radio stations , except the two
owned by the government, broadcast some of the most irresponsible stories
the President said.
Further commenting on the media freedom, the President said, during
his own election campaign that elected him as President, only one television
channel, namely the Independent Television Network, all other television
stations including the state owned Rupavahaini, campaigned against him.
He said the government is giving such emphasis to agriculture that
the government was detrmined to produce every thing that was possible
to grow in the country. He said this country belonged to every one and
everybody irrespective of political parties should join hands with the
government irrespective of political party affiliations to fulfill that
task.
Specially mentioning about the Janata Vimukti Peramuna, whom he said
helped to win the elections, appealed to them to help the government
bring freedom to the people of the North and said they must according
to their own accepted policy help the government to build a self sufficient
Sri Lankan economy and give time at least an year to fulfill that task.
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