{"id":97715,"date":"2020-01-14T10:53:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-14T16:53:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=97715"},"modified":"2020-02-04T15:25:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T22:25:34","slug":"international-allegations-president-gotabaya-rajapakse-a-golden-opportunity-to-set-the-record-straight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/01\/14\/international-allegations-president-gotabaya-rajapakse-a-golden-opportunity-to-set-the-record-straight\/","title":{"rendered":"International Allegations: President Gotabaya Rajapakse a golden opportunity to set the record straight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"540\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RanjanEKneligoda.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-97716\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RanjanEKneligoda.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/RanjanEKneligoda-300x156.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 540px) 100vw, 540px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have lost the narrative and we\nneed to correct this and re-write the narrative. The soldiers defended the\nnation, got rid of terror and returned Sri Lanka to live in peace. The role of\nthe diplomats in defending the nation has been lackluster. As a result, the\nworld is unaware of what Sri Lanka went through and has come to accept the\nfictions promoted by LTTE propagandists and those on their payroll as well as\nthose paid to destabilize Sri Lanka. The recent leaked voice-clips, allegations\nof corruptions have afforded a golden opportunity to set the story right. <strong>It places the President on a morally high\nground in taking the very allegations by the international community &amp;\nseeking closure to them by finally cornering the culprits and serving them\njustice. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Where do we start rewriting the\nnarrative and who should be tasked to start writing the narrative:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Disappearance of media personalities: a set\nof names are oft circulated in the media \u2013<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lasantha W, Ekneligoda etc <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whoever attacked, kidnapped,\nkilled or made them disappear needs to be brought to book. The tape revelations\nby Major Ajit Prasanna are indeed startling and cannot be ignored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But, in so doing President\nGotabaya CANNOT ignore every OTHER media personnel who was killed or went\nmissing too. Who killed Richard de Zoysa, Premakirthi de Alwis, Sagarica Gomes\neven former President Chandrika Kumaratunga\u2019s husband Vijaya Kumaratunga also\nneeds to be named and punished. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This should get nod of approval\nby international media, UN and diplomatic community for they have been\ncrusaders of justice for media personnel attacked and this is a super\nopportunity for the present Govt who had been unfairly accused to set the story\nright by cornering the real culprits who have gotten away with their crime all\nthese years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=cDQJAUnbh3w&#038;feature=share&#038;fbclid=IwAR1ceEIKo4lntIvkVsuAuOXniq50Ldg_nYFIH-NfmL1llbF4VjDU9opT5N8\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Every person killed during 1980s\/1990s\n\u2018bheeshana\u2019 period covering Batalanda Torture: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are thousands of deaths no\none knows who was responsible but their families deserve to know. What we all\nknow was that the crimes were committed by either UNP or JVP but there are a\nhandful of personalities who were directing and coordinating these vicious and\ninhuman acts on people through groups like PRAA, Black Cats, Yellow Cats etc: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deaths of Daya Pathirana (student\nleader), Wijayadasa Liyanarachchi (lawyer), are just a handful of names who\nfell victim. Scores of people were tied to lampposts and killed. Torture\nchambers did inhuman acts and this period has never been properly investigated\nand culprits brought to book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The West is still hounding NAZI\u2019s\nand arresting those who are even in their 90s \u2013 therefore those that committed\ncrimes or ordered such crimes must be held accountable whatever their age. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The UNHRC also is asking to\nrelease \u2018independent commission\u2019 reports this means the Batalanda Torture\nCommission Report, the Sansoni Commission report on 1983 July riots must all be\nreleased. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Armed forces\/intel personnel\/police\ninvolved in any PRIVATE act of action violating the military\/police code\nof ethics <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some personnel\nallegedly named to be involved in accepting ransoms\/attacking and causing harm\nin connivance with numerous politicians to satisfy personal vendettas etc <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the State finds evidence\nagainst them for violating the State and the Military Code of ethics the\nmilitary\/police must take action against them and criminal charges must be\nfiled against them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few sour grapes cannot be\nallowed to destroy the good name and reputation of the entire armed forces\/police.\nTaking action against these unwanted personnel who have embarrassed and\ntarnished the armed forces\/police will serve as a deterrent to others and\npositively show the international community that Sri Lanka has taken action to\npunish wrong doers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Political victimization &amp; interference\nand influencing judiciary by previous govt <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is commendable that the\nPresident has launched an investigation into the political victimization by\nnumerous state entities opened and operated under the former PM targeting only\nMinisters of Rajapakse government. With the exposure of leaked tapes it has\ncome to light that the judiciary and police have been heavily influenced by the\nprevious government and many a person have been put into prison having\ninfluenced the judges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The case of Mr. Lalith Weeratunga\n&amp; Mr. Anusha Pelpita should be exposed publicly to show the low levels that\nthe UNP has stooped to in completely destroying the good name of a civil\nservant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The citizens of Sri Lanka must know the levels of corruptions that have been committed. This has nothing to do with hounding the previous government but everything to do with the injustice the previous government committed by unfairly influencing police and judiciary to arrest people and put them in prison. This is what needs to be exposed for the public to know<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=gLdxEVmPhc0&#038;feature=share&#038;fbclid=IwAR3w0bL6qunj7xzmwvI4iLD3MrK2uK0K9rAvSbHJ-hAjpkLTdvgOD79jyxw\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Phone recording between Ranjan and Dilrukshi Dias revealed (English)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-g1huFGj_hc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The judges &amp; police breaking\ncode of ethics of their employment for personal gains must be punished and\ndebenched\/sacked from service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LTTE &amp; roots of separatism: no\nethnic\/civil war but terrorism &amp; terrorists linked to people trying to\nseparate\/divide Sri Lanka<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Again we have failed in\nhighlighting the true picture of how divide and rule policies of the colonial\ninvaders created a minority thinking them to be superior to and demanding they\nrule over the majority while unfairly targeting the majority claiming them to\nbe discriminating the minority. We had ample evidence to showcase how\nminorities got preferential treatment under colonial rule and how that in a\ndemocratic and independent sovereign framework could not continue and was\nreason for grievance though it had no basis. The statistics was enough to\nshowcase what minorities enjoyed but it was never used. The demands of\nseparatist Tamil political leaders sufficed to showcase unfair demands but that\ntoo was never internationally shown. The militancy and termination of lives was\nenough to showcase who were the victims and the perpetrators but that too was\nnever projected to the world. The manner LTTE hijacked the separatist chant was\nalso never linked and shown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All these anomalies need to be\nnow brought into the open and publicly shown not only as reminders to locals\nbut to set the story straight amongst the international community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lies about July 1983 must\nalso be exposed by showcasing who the real culprits were <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(the background of all riots and\nthe players involved &amp; timeline of events)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5<sup>th<\/sup> Columnists \u2013 Media \/ NGOs \/\nCivil Society<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the general public &amp; the\ninternational community are not aware of the truth it is the fault of 2 main\ngroups \u2013 the State and its apparatus and the other group that comprise media,\nlocal NGOs and so-called civil society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state silence is often as a\nresult of political agenda where truth is often compromised for political deals\nwhile the 5<sup>th<\/sup> columnists are often silenced by power of foreign\nfunding and other remunerations that come their way to either distort the\ntruth, not publicize the truth or publicize something completely opposite to\nthe truth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It has always been left to the\ncommon sense and personal judgement of the public to weigh the stories and make\ntheir own conclusions but that is not doing justice to the victims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>From the 1980s Sri Lanka has been\nsubject to tremendous external influences all of which have hampered the\nexposure of the covert\/overt and other insidious plots and ploys at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new President has before him\na golden opportunity to put all these untruths, half-truths and lies to rest by\naddressing all areas that have been neglected and closing these chapters by\nexposing the individuals and groups who have been responsible for the\ninjustices. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Spare no one in exposing the\ntruth before closing this chapter for good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In so doing the international community will be left with nothing much to hound the new Government and it will certainly put to rest issues that are unnecessarily tarnishing Sri Lanka\u2019s good name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have lost the narrative and we need to correct this and re-write the narrative. The soldiers defended the nation, got rid of terror and returned Sri Lanka to live in peace. The role of the diplomats in defending the nation has been lackluster. As a result, the world is unaware of what Sri Lanka [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1498,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97715","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\/1498"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97715\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}