Sri Lanka: Senadhipathi beating around the bush

by Our Defence Correspondent 

( June 27, 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Colombo based weekly newspaper, ‘ The Sunday Leader’, has carried out a fresh thought by Nissanka Senadhipathi, a mimic and twister of all business, to defend his company, the Avant-Garde, on maritime security. The sheer purpose of the article could be whitewashing Senadhipathi while indirectly undermining what Sri Lanka Navy did when they found the distorted weapons on board.  Seems like Senadhipathi, an ex-Sri Lanka army official who has undergone less than 60 days of maritime training on his own expenses, is explaining the maritime laws in Island Nation.

First and foremost question is- did the Avant Garde distort the serial numbers of weapons on board? Photograph evidence released by the ‘Sri Lanka Guardian’ a few months back, when the issue was on the peak, proved the truth. Senadhipathi talks all but nothing about this severe crime of distorting the serial numbers of the weapons on board. He has not spit any single word about this crime.

Secondly, the significant question is- who disclosed about the unsecured situation in Sri Lanka, missing weapons etc. to the United Nations Special investigative team and on what authority he has done such severe damage to this nation?

However, the Sunday Leader article has forgotten few important points.

1. Every country has the Territorial waters (12n.m) and contiguous Zone (another 12 n.m). Neither Sendahipathi nor the newspaper itself has taken this as a very important principle to account in the report. The Country has its jurisdiction on the contiguous zone also (extension of Territorial waters). Further, this ship was not a foreign country registered ship as it was flying the Sri Lankan national flag.

2. Every country has the “Right of Self Defence” as per Article 51 of UN Convention. So, technical detail of “Distances” is not that important when we talk about illegal weapon transferred through the sea. The Sri Lankan Navy uses protection of UN Charter when they sank LTTE floating armouries in High Seas.

3. Rakna Arakshaka Lanka Limited (RALL) does not claim the ownership for weapons in which numbers were erased (by grinding) and weapons in which numbers were changed. Whose weapons are those?

The painful truth here is, “surprised delay” in the due process of law, which has partly discouraged the Sri Lankan Navy’s heroically accomplishment to prevent the crime led by Nissanka Senadhipathi. The ship was arrested in October 2015, almost one year ago. The Police and government legal experts are taking such a long time to punish the culprits!

The whole process came under the vowel game and a buccaneer like Senadhipathi alone with his mouth pieces had grabbed the opportunity to jump on the bandwagon for playing the new game of twisting the truth.

This is nothing but beating around the bush!