‘Sword Fights’ all the way!

By Manekshaw-2017-08-12

Six gangsters of the Jaffna's sword wielding notorious Ava group with their leader were arrested in Colombo a few days ago and they have been remanded till 22 August when they were produced before the Jaffna Magistrate.

The crackdown on Ava group was intensified following the sword attack on two Police personnel in Kokuvil in Jaffna two weeks ago.

Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara made directives by visiting Jaffna on curbing the Ava menace soon after the incident and it was the Police Chief's direct involvement that led to the speedy action towards arresting the key members of the notorious Ava gang.

So far Ava gangsters have carried out several attacks and Jaffna's civil society elites have pointed out that the notorious group has posed a huge challenge to law and order in the Peninsula.

The Catholic Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin Gnanapragasam in a recent interview with Ceylon Today even mentioned that the sword wielding gangsters behave in a manner like the actors in present day Tamil cinema films carry out attacks. Despite priority being given to stabilizing law and order in the Northern Province soon after the end of the separatist war by reopening the Police Stations and Court Houses, the notorious gangsters remain a threat to the law abiding citizens in the North.

As the general security situation remains tensed with sword wielding gangsters even targeting law enforcement officials in a region which was devastated by the ruthless separatist war, the political climate in the Northern Province also remains gloomy with Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Provincial Council S. Thavarasa urging the Council to be dissolved.

Remains defiant

While Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran remains defiant in taking his own decision to appoint new ministers to the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) with a reshuffle he intends to make shortly, the Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) which is the premier party in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led Northern Provincial Council had decided not to accept any ministerial position in the reshuffled NPC.

Leader of the Opposition and TNA R. Sampanthan met Chief Minister Wigneswaran in the presence of the leaders of the constituent parties of the TNA last week.

The meeting which was held at the Chief Minister's residence in Nallur had heated arguments among the gathering over the powers of the Chief Minister in the NPC.

Chief Minister Wigneswaran being a member of the ITAK, the party leader Mavai S. Senathiraja, in contrast to Wigneswaran's stance on taking his own decision over the NPC ministerial appointments, has requested the fourteen ITAK Councillors in the NPC not to accept the ministerial portfolios in the reshuffled Cabinet at the NPC.

Sampanthan being the leader of the TNA, Chief Minister's defiant stance on taking his own decision on appointing new NPC ministers has led to a conflict situation in the TNA with the ITAK Councillors getting sidelined by Councillors of the three constituent parties such as PLOTE, TELO and EPRLF taking the upper hand in the NPC.

ITAK Leader, Mavai S. Senathiraja, has even stated at a meeting with the ITAK NPC Councillors at the Party's Jaffna office that Chief Minister Wigneswaran has become the puppet of other three constituent parties in the TNA sidelining the ITAK.

Therefore, the latest political situation in the Northern Province has clearly highlighted, as it was in the past, the Tamil politicians were not going to remain united forever not only in regional politics, in National politics as well.

The people in the North and the East who expect a stable political atmosphere on the regional level as well as on the National level to resolve several post-war grievances worry about the sad state of Tamil politics, and witness that history repeats itself in Tamil politics.

In the backdrop of sword wielding gangsters with other anti social elements such as drug traffickers and alcohol dealers posing severe threats to the post-war Jaffna society, the cyclonic atmosphere which remains in the Northern political scene is somewhat another form of 'sword fight' within the Tamil political hierarchy slashing the political aspirations of the people in the North and the East.