{"id":112526,"date":"2021-03-10T17:17:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T00:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=112526"},"modified":"2021-03-10T17:17:29","modified_gmt":"2021-03-11T00:17:29","slug":"oppositions-silly-hullabaloo-over-the-final-report-of-the-pcoi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/03\/10\/oppositions-silly-hullabaloo-over-the-final-report-of-the-pcoi\/","title":{"rendered":"Opposition\u2019s Silly Hullabaloo over the Final Report of the PCoI"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Sri\nLankan Catholics, led by His Eminence Malcom Cardinal Ranjith, Bishop of\nColombo, marked Black Sunday on March 7, with the participation of\nrepresentatives from Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious\ncommunities, demanding justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday suicide\nbomb attacks carried out by local Islamist Jihadists two years ago. The\nArchbishop threatened further activism including asking for international help\nunless there emerge sure signs before April 21 that the real masterminds behind\nthe horrendous crime are clearly identified and duly punished so that no\nrepetition of the like will occur in the future. The event was immediately\nprovoked by what was perceived by them and members of the opposition as well as\nsome law-makers of the ruling alliance, and sections of the civil society, as\nfoot-dragging by the government over punishing the guilty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nquestionable perception was prompted by the president\u2019s appointment on February\n19 of a six-member ministerial committee to study the Final Report of the\nPresidential Commission of Inquiry into Easter Sunday Attacks which had been\npresented to him nearly three weeks before, and also the report  submitted\nto parliament by the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security, which\nwas also appointed by the previous government in the wake of the April 21, 2019\nsuicide bomb attacks. The SOC report, after about one year\u2019s sittings, was\npresented  to the yahapalana parliament in February, 2020, just eleven\ndays ahead of the dissolution of parliament. Its recommendations were also\nmeant to prevent the recurrence of extremist violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I,\nfor one, do not question the appropriateness of the president\u2019s move; it must\nbe part of the proper procedure he has chosen to deal with the matter.\nConsidering the dismal history of commissions of inquiry in our country, which\na past left politician in parliament once likened to a \u2018loo visit\u2019 – sitting,\ndeliberating, reporting and dropping the matter- , what is at present happening\nunder President Gotabaya is quite efficient and quick. Significant initial\nprogress has already been made under the new administration although people are\nnot still aware of it. Those who are waiting to fault the government on the\nslightest pretext jumped to conclusions when it was revealed that 22 out of the\n87 books (with a total of 69,770 pages according to Minister Wimal Weerawansa)\neach of an average length of 800 pages were being withheld for security\nreasons. True, this was something unexpected. The alleged decision to keep the\ninformation contained in the 22 books even from the attorney general sounded\nabsurd, but most probably it was a temporary decision. Generally though, as\nMinister Udaya Gammanpila explained in a separate context, certain confidential\npieces of information provided to the Commission by private witnesses, such as\nwhat some Muslim women told it in camera about their husbands\u2019 criminal\ndealings with Islamic terrorists, have to be kept under wraps for the safety of\nthose individuals. Such unavoidable censorship will not prevent that\ninformation from being made available for the prosecutors when the hearings\nagainst the suspects actually start. Anti-government detractors, especially the\nmembers of the yahapalana regime who intentionally or unintentionally\nfacilitated the April 21 attacks, are doing their damnedest to propagate the\nfalse claim that this (probably temporary) secrecy imposed on a part of the\ninformation recorded by the PCoI is meant to conceal the present government\u2019s\nculpability. Nothing could be further from the truth. It is utterly wrong to\nsuggest that the Easter Sunday attacks alone overwhelmingly contributed to\nGotabaya\u2019s election or the success of the SLPP at the subsequent parliamentary\npolls, for the SLPP swept the island-wide local government elections in\nFebruary 2018, that is, more than a year before the Islamist terror attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nministerial committee is required to hand over its report on or before March\n15. Committee member Minister Prasanna Ranatunga said yesterday (March 8) that\nthe report will be submitted on March 15, as scheduled. The PCoI was appointed\nby (previous) president Sirisena in September, 2019, and its term was extended\nseveral times by incumbent president Gotabaya without introducing any change to\nthe composition of its membership. In fact, the president was reported to have\npersonally asked the Cardinal whether he would like to see the composition of\nthe committee changed; the latter had answered in the negative. It is not\nlikely that the unacceptable practice of interfering with the judiciary or in\ndue legal processes for which the previous yahapalanaya was severely criticised\nand was made to pay a heavy price in the form of a humiliating electoral defeat\nwould be repeated by the present government, least of all by Gotabaya, given\nhis immaculate professional record and his impeccable personal probity.\n(Incidentally, something I frequently observed in Gotabaya\u2019s campaign speeches\nin Sinhala was his studied avoidance of noncommittal promissory statements\ncontaining {First Person Singular} verbs ending in the suffix -nnam, e.g.,\nkarannam {I shall\/will do}; he always used the present affirmative forms like\n\u2018mama karanawa\u2019 \u2018I do\u2019 instead of the future optative \u2018karannam\u2019 {I\u2019ll do}\nform; \u2018karanawa\u2019 expresses a solemn pledge, not a casual promise. \nGotabaya has already amply proved that he is a man of his word, just as much as\nhe is a man of action.) Meanwhile it is unlikely that the Cardinal has lost his\ntrust in the president, who had repeatedly reassured him that the culprits\nwon\u2019t be allowed to go free, though the former has found it fit to observe a\nBlack Sunday. That must be to provide a shot in the arm for the president and\nthe government to reaffirm their commitment and renew their resolve for\nexpediting the commencement of due processes for ultimately meting out justice\nto all affected persons; but that kind of coaxing is redundant, in my\nopinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\nday before the Black Sunday was marked (i.e., Saturday 6), the president held\nthe 13th session of his \u2018Gama Samaga Pilisandara\u2019 \u2018Conversation with the\nCountry\u2019 programme with the people of the village of Giribawe, Weragala, in\nKurunegala. He had a copy of the Final Report (probably, a summary, still\nmassive) and spoke turning its pages, which showed that he had a good idea of\nits contents. He explained to the people that he got the report on February 1,\nand that the commission was appointed by the previous president. President\nGotabaya pointed out that the Report clearly blames the attacks on the\n(Yahapalana) government. It identifies governmental inefficiency as the\nprincipal contributory factor that led to the Easter Sunday attacks. He\nstressed the fact that the Report apportions blame not only to former president\nSirisena and the ex-premier (Ranil), but also to the \u2018rajaya\u2019 or the government\n(that they headed). President Gotabaya laid emphasis on the word \u2018rajaya\u2019 (government)\nfrom the Report in this context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018But\ntoday\u2019, he added, \u2018those who were in that government speak as if they weren\u2019t\nin it. During president Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s time, we gave priority to state\nsecurity\u2026…This report makes it abundantly clear that a situation like this\nresulted from the discontinuance of that security framework. We completely\nreject the absurd, baseless allegation that our government must be held\nresponsible for the Easter attacks\u2026…The Report has recorded who is\naccountable for them. It is, however, our responsibility to see them punished,\nbecause we are the government now. We will properly execute that (duty). We\nhave not only this report, but also (reports from) the CID, the TID, and\nintelligence sectors. Since we came to power, we have apprehended many other\nnew suspects. We are continuing (with this process). Punishments will be meted\nout to these people and those..\u2019  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My\nfeeling, for what it is worth, is that the president and the government must be\nallowed time and freedom to deal with the burning issues in the current\nunprecedentedly critical circumstances. A local, Sri Lanka bashing,\npropagandist tabloid has started calling the president \u2018Nandasena\u2019 (from his\nfull name \u2018Gotabaya Nandasena Rajapaksa\u2019). This is clearly meant to be\nderogatory, for it acoustically links him with his failed predecessor Sirisena,\nwho in actuality, through his ungrateful 2014-November betrayal of his elder\nbrother the then president Mahinda, has brought endless disaster to the\ncountry. Such inimical portrayal of president Gotabaya as a failure is wrong.\n(It is tragic that some prominent monks who helped bring Gotabaya to power,\nhave now been duped to look away from him in apparent disillusion and defend\nSirisena instead who is being justly threatened with possible prosecution in\nconnection with the Easter attacks). With a little hindsight Gotabaya\nsupporters may draw fresh inspiration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nnewly elected President Gotabaya Rajapaksa handled with aplomb the sham kidnap\nepisode which had been staged courtesy the Swiss embassy in Colombo on November\n25, 2019 and which had certainly been meant to embarrass and undermine him\ninternationally. The alleged abduction and rape of a local female employee of\nthe embassy by the unusual name of Gania Banister Francis was soon revealed by\nthe police to have been a gimmick set up by some anti-Sri Lanka-politics driven\nhirelings. Having been elected president without a burdensome backpack of a\nprofessional political background, he was able to adopt a confident, unperturbed,\nand matter-of-fact approach to get at the truth, and suitably dispose of the\nfilthy stuff. The naive embassy officials who had been knowingly or unknowingly\ntaken for a ride by the plotters of the prank had egg on their faces; but the\npresident treated them with the respect and dignity that their posts deserved,\nwithout any rancour. He even offered them a piece of friendly advice about the\nimportance of guarding against being misled by fabrications of liars against\nthe country (or something to that effect). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently\na worse, more damaging, drama is being acted out by the powers that be\ncentering on the release of the Final Report of the Presidential Commission of\nInquiry on the Easter Sunday Attacks. This must be intended to bamboozle the\nSLPP government under Gotabaya\u2019s presidency to veer off its course into\nfloundering in the stormy seas of geopolitics. This time however, the issue\nthat is to be tackled is not so straightforward as the silly embassy skit. It\nwill need Gotabaya\u2019s hard-nosed practical approach as well as a seasoned\npolitician\u2019s pragmatism. Unfortunately, according to my lights, at present,\nGotabaya is not getting the undivided support of those who are closest to him,\nbut who are apparently pulling in different directions, though their loyalty\nmay be unquestioned; this is  an unacknowledged dichotomy in the\ngovernment\u2019s inner circle, which is good for his and the country\u2019s enemies.\nThis must be remedied immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nunnecessary division of opinion or lack of unanimity has significantly stymied\nthe resolution of a range of issues including the trivial burial problem\nfraudulently blown into international proportions by Jihadist apologists and\nothers illdisposed towards the country and the present government. How the\ngovernment ignominiously embarrassed itself through needlessly bungling the\nissue is now common knowledge. Mandatory cremation of Covid-19 dead was a sound\nscientific decision. It was just yesterday (March 8) that 9NEWS, the\nnational news service of the Nine Network in Australia, reported Deputy Chief\nHealth Officer Dr Chris Lease revealing at a press conference held the day\nbefore (March 7) that a \u2018very strong positive\u2019 COVID-19 sample had been\ndetected in Adelaide\u2019s wastewater and that in response to this South Australia\nhad been put on coronavirus alert. Doesn\u2019t this suggest that Sri Lankan\nexperts\u2019 initial caution regarding possible contamination of groundwater was\ncorrect and still remains valid? Mandatory cremation (condemned as \u2018forced\ncremation\u2019 by vested interests) was not politically motivated to hurt the\nfeelings of a particular religious community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nad hoc use of plots of land on the edge of environmentally sensitive forest\nreserves for rural poverty alleviation in these hard times is a process that must\nbe strictly supervised by state officials and utilized by a properly informed,\nresponsible civilian population with the least environmental impact. This need\nnot be a basis for attacks on the government. Of course, it is absolutely\nnecessary to protect the forest reserves from endless encroachments in the\nfuture by unscrupulous elements. It is the authorities\u2019 responsibility to turn\nthe local beneficiaries of the concession into committed environment\nprotectors. This can be done by injecting into them a dose of patriotism.\nIssues relating to the development of important sea ports with or without\nforeign collaboration, and the findings and recommendations of various\ncommissions of inquiry appointed to look into bank scams, political\nvictimizations, and the Easter Sunday attacks of April 21, 2019, etc., should\nbe dealt with as national issues that should not be politicised or mishandled\ninviting detrimental foreign intervention in our domestic\naffairs.    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala Sri Lankan Catholics, led by His Eminence Malcom Cardinal Ranjith, Bishop of Colombo, marked Black Sunday on March 7, with the participation of representatives from Buddhist, Hindu, Christian and Muslim religious communities, demanding justice for the victims of the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks carried out by local Islamist Jihadists two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-112526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112526\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}