Insight By Sunil Kumar 

Travelers have suddenly become aware of a painful reality that  the “Pearl of the Indian Ocean,” also known as Sri Lanka  has a sad reputation as a terror haven in the past four decades, a sinister cohort of despots, bloodthirsty separatists known as Tamil tigers, Che Guevarists and crooked and power-drunk politicians who have come and gone while desecrating the Beautifu Island of Sri Lanka appear to be the reason.

And they have tarnished grossly her image, natural geographic beauty and all her embellishments, treasures such sapphires, rubies, topaz – and tea, one of the best crops in the world  amongst other things typically and beautifully Sri Lankan by how some of them are given to violence at times over the pettiest of issues as an alarming spate of violence involving firearms and wanton murders as well as carefully orchestrated ones which are threatening to take over what many see as an idyllic getaway and need to be quelled towards posterity and the well being that draws multitudes of tourists before their enthusiasm to visit fades and with it the loss of vast sums of tourist income at a time when Sri Lanka needs it most.

Quoting from recent media reports aligned to the veritable truth”The country’s economic collapse, which has triggered an unprecedented popular movement and led to the flight of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, marks a new stage in a long series of upheavals. It comes just three years after Sri Lanka was stunned by terrorist attacks. On Easter Day 2019, eight members of a suicide commando of Sri Lankan jihadists blew themselves up in Christian minority churches. The attack killed 268 people and injured 500.

Before the civil war (1983-2009) between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil minority led Sri Lanka down the path of tragedy, this country of 22 million inhabitants was the envy of its South Asian neighbors for its relative prosperity and unspeakable beauty – Sri Lanka was nicknamed “the shining island.” Not to mention a system of parliamentary representation that has, throughout the country’s history since independence (1948), allowed for political alternation and so called real democratic interludes.” end quote

Categorically Sri Lanka has always been a historically turbulent country  which has seen three phases of Colonization and uprisings of territory related aggression but remarkably the colonial eras never produced the extent of violence seen in present times and rather curiously the more recent uprisings are probably to blame for the influx of firearms and other weapons that prevail in the violence of today as on a daily basis one reads about the  many murders, gang related violence and high crimes and misdemeanors worthy of any American crime hub where guns are out of control such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York,Compton etc.and  alarmingly seems to be on the increase  and high time the Present Administration intervened towards quelling if not eradicating the problem which of course is a big ask where despite the many laws preventing weapons ownership, the illegal trade seems to dictate terms where many an ordinary individual as well as some higher ups including politicians and legislators also have easy access towards these weapons.

Hopefully Sri Lanka will not end up being a land of the armed and dangerous where  the build up towards a tranquil and violence free Nation is surely the responsibility of the hierarchy with emphasis on the President and the Law Enforcement Agencies.