The Need For Accelerating The Pace Of Prosecutions

By Emil van der Poorten –April 19, 2015

Emil van der Poorten

While the endless yammering of the Dayan Jayatillekas and Rajiva Wijesinhas continues unabated both in Colombo Telegraph and the mainline media, suggesting that the same criteria were applied in the awarding of the PdDs to them as was to Dr Mervin Silva, the government of the day continues on its path of procrastination in the matter of bringing those who raped and pillaged this country to book.

Apart from the unacceptable permissiveness that this conduct by theSirisena-Wickremesinghe cabal displays, they do not appear to realize the personal danger they are placing themselves in. There is an oft-quoted dictum to the effect that those who do not read history end up paying the ultimate prices for such neglect. And we do have a historical precedent (or two) in this matter right here in Sri Lanka.

Our politicians appear to have terminally short memories, considering that one of their number, the iconic (I use the term in its broadest application here!), Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike was done in because those who wanted him gone saw him as standing in the way of their self-aggrandisement. This is made even worse if you take the “mad Buddhist priest, Somarama,” out of the tale and substitute the notorious Ossie Corea as the man who actually pulled the trigger.

The late Don Philip R. Gunawardena made no bones about the fact that he knew who was behind the assassination: some of those closest to SWRDB, both personally and politically. There is a real irony in the loudmouth son of ”The Lion of Borolugoda,” Dinesh, being one of those leading the charge to restoreRajapaksa to the wanna-be 21^st century Monarchy of Sri Lanka, our home-grown version of the House of Windsor! That certainly sounds like it runs contrary to the old saying that the fruit does not fall far from the tree!

Anyway, back to the burden of my refrain and the real danger to the current political establishment and, most important, the prospect of the restoration of something resembling democratic practice in this country.

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