A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Saturday, June 17, 2017
Jaffna in turmoil
Jaffna Bus Stand: 10 AM, 16 June, 2017
By S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole-June 16, 2017, 9:49 pm
Last night (June 15th) as I went to Jaffna Town to pick up some dinner
at the Indian shop Amul, the shopkeeper was concerned whether they
should open today in response to the Tamil Makkal Peravai (TMP, Tamil
People’s Great Front) call for the closure of all shops in support of
the embattled Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran (CVW)s.
Daily wage earners were in silent meditation about survival if
everything was closed. My baker wondered if his loaves would have buyers
today. Valampuri, had already announced in a special Rs. 10 bulletin
that shops would close today.
This morning I had to go to the hospital. Many shops, but far fewer than
in usual boycotts, had closed. Patients, after years under the LTTE
were quiet about their real feelings but their resentment came through
as they grumbled about having to use trishaws. A lady who had waited
long for her Echo Cardiograph could not miss that because of the trishaw
charge.
Jeyasekaram, Chairman Jaffna Chamber of Commerce, commented that
normally shopkeepers asked them if they should comply with a boycott
request but this time they had not been consulted. The Jaffna bus stand
had only one bus. Many shops were doing business as usual with one door
open. Said a shopkeeper, "When the TMP usually has a sexual predator
from the university who has been detained by the police as their chief
speaker, we do not support them but shut our doors in an abundance of
caution."
Said an Accountant who heads his firm’s branch in Jaffna, Chief Minister
C.V. Wigneswaran was trying to project himself as Prabhakaran’s
successor to take over the TNA after R. Sampanthan." He added that there
had been corruption of various sorts. Accusations were orchestrated by
Ananthi (wife of disappeared LTTE-erElilan). Many of her accusations
were meaningless like lack of efficiency but there were some real
charges.
CVW said a TNA stalwart was targeting Sampanthan’s loyalist ministers
Deneeswaran (nephew of TELO’s Adaikalanathan), Dr. Sathialingam (who has
moderated his position from that of his father as the patron of the
Vavuniya Yal Ahatru Changam (Be Rid of Jaffna Society) and T.
Gurukularajah, who is absolutely a fan of Sampanathan’s. Thrown into the
bag was Minister Aingaranesam, who has serious charges against him
about being bought by the Chunnakam Power Plant and its dumping oil into
the ground water.
CVW then appointed a respectable committee of three, including two
retired judges and a retired SLAS officer to look into the charges. In
the meantime, CVW’s Minister Ainkaranesan had hired Tamil men who are
experts in their own fields but had no expertise in water testing. The
team white-washed Aingaranesam. But, once the inquiry committee finally
came out with its report all that white-washing was exposed. It found
Aingaranesam guilty of corruption, and the Tamil experts who had
white-washed him were seen to be without clothes.
Unexpectedly, Gurukularajah was seriously faulted for not heeding
accusations against a teacher who had abused his female student.
Sathialingman and Deneeswaran were exonerated. CVW now wavered. He sat
on the report and wanted time for appeals. Then he declared that all
four Ministers had to resign or go on compulsory leave. That is when
things exploded.
The TNA now took the position that once an inquiry committee is
appointed there was no choice but to follow through on the report. When
CVW balked, 15 members of the NPC filed a motion of no confidence
against him. The TMP saw its chance and called for the boycott in
support of CVW.
As I drove back from hospital along Temple Road, I saw a crowd of 50 or
so waiting in front of SLFP MP Angajan Ramanathan’s home for jobs. As I
apassed and came to the temple there was a similarly-sized crowd (but
smaller if the reporters are discounted) waiting in support of CVW. It
was a motley group including Prof. Sittrampalam (Vice President of the
FP), Suresh Premachandran (EPRLF) and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam (Tamil
Congress). Typically of that crowd, their slogans were more against
Sumanthiran than about the corruption noted a friend in that crowd. That
friend said that they said of Sumanthiran that he had been brought up
in Colombo counting how many Sri Lankan wickets fell at a cricket match
but never trained to count the number of Tamils killed in the war. To me
it showed the real target was Sampanthan. Premachandran had his own
agenda, said a TNA official, about using CVW to bring his brother
Sarveswaran as Minister if Aikaranesan went; recalling that when
Ainkaranesan of the EPRLF was appointed as minister instead of
Sarveswaran, Premachandran ousted Aikaranesan from the EPRLF.
Said a high Federal Party administrator, the crisis was of Chief
Minister C.V. Wigneswaran’s own making. He said that CVW had been
negotiating with the allies of the FP in the TNA on defusing the crisis
without speaking to Mavai Senathirajah of the FP and when queried why by
Sampanthan, responded that he did not have Senathirajah’s telephone
number. The official rhetorically asked me, "What do you say about this
Chief Minister?"
Apparently, the crisis has been defused with Sampanthan saying that the
Inquiry Report has to be implemented – Gurukularajah and Ainkaranesan
will resign but Deneeswran and Dr. Sathialingam will stay since they
have been cleared. This official said that seemed to be the agreement
but CVW did not openly say yes.
We need to wait. While sensible men like Sampanthan are around, the
government must settle all outstanding issues with Tamils. Once he goes,
there may be only extremists to hold talks with.a