“UNITED, WE STAND, DIVIDED, WE FALL” – By Des Kelly
It is the first day of May, “MAYDAY”, as it is generally known. It was also a well known “Signal Of Distress”, an S.O.S. if you like, and after I read the Cardinal’s view of the recent happenings in Sri Lanka, I totally “second” everything he says. This is NOT THE TIME for infighting.
Many lives have been lost, many more are still in hospital, some seriously ill, and the Government, who was RESPONSIBLE for it all, in the first place, because of utter complacency, are STILL not getting their PRIORITIES in order. As Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith puts it his way, on behalf of eLanka, in Australia, plus many thousands of other genuine Patriots, all over this Planet of ours, I send out one of the BIGGEST “Maydays” of my life, to the incumbent Government of Sri Lanka.
Please STOP all this unnecessary infighting among you.
CONCENTRATE on the hundreds of folk, still in hospital.
REMEMBER what happened just over a decade ago.
RETURN SRI LANKA to where she was just 1 YEAR ago.
UNITE to FIGHT any TERRORISM that threatens LANKA.
“Mayday, Mayday, Mayday”. This is OUR beautiful Country I am talking about, nobody else’s.
Desmond Kelly
(Editor-in-Chief). eLanka.
Cardinal says unimpressed with security (Ceylon Today)
By Udayanthi Munasingha
Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has said that he was personally unimpressed with the security measures taken by the Government since the 21 April Easter Sunday blasts. He warned that if the current regime does not have a stronger framework to combat terror, it will be impossible to contain the masses in the country in the future.
He said that time has arrived for all political leaders here to reach a consensus and map out a joint policy in connection with national security, if the country is to come out of its abyss after reeling from the Easter Sunday attacks in Colombo, Negombo and Batticaloa.
Furthermore, the Archbishop of Colombo and the leader of the country’s Roman Catholic Church also requested the Government not to reopen schools nationwide till it could guarantee fulltime security to students and teachers alike.
He made these comments during a media briefing held at the Archbishop’s House in Colombo yesterday.
Speaking further, Cardinal Ranjith said, “When the country is still reeling from the Easter Sunday attacks and yet struggling to come to grips with their day-to-day lives, it is the duty of political leaders not to indulge in blame games or waste time by reminding what took place in the past.
Hence, it is their responsibility to put aside their political differences and to find solutions to the issue of national security and take action to rid the country from this pitiful state. However, I cannot see any measures being taken towards it by those entrusted with such tasks. These politicians are once again playing their favourite blame game and as a result, the country and the people are continuing to suffer.
At this juncture we do not need polls. Keep all of that aside for the moment. The time has come for all of us to consider the plight of this nation. Hence, I call upon all political parties in this country to form an All-Party Government to resolve this issue if the need is for that. I also urge the President, the PM, the Opposition Leader and other political leaders to put aside their differences and to map out a policy towards ensuring that national security is not compromised in this country at any stage in the future. There is also tension among the public regarding various statements made by various MPs. The people are yet to be convinced that the country’s political leaders are attempting to resolve this issue by working together. They are only interested in scoring points, both personally and for their respective political parties. We cannot be content with the manner in which measures are taken to ensure national security.
We cannot see any coordination in the security measures. We also feel that instead of such measures heading in a certain direction, they are just carrying out the tasks for the sake of it. Daily, places are continuing to be searched and those places are being inspected only after being tipped off. All areas that were subjected to these attacks have to be searched thoroughly. We also feel house to house searches has to be carried out and each occupant’s authenticity has to be verified and if there are any illegal weapons those must be taken into custody and they should be grilled. It has to be unearthed as to who is behind these heinous acts of crime.
Who brought these explosives, who gave support to these terrorists and they too should be questioned. We also have suspicions that some of those behind these bombings may have even fled the country by now. They have located swords, bombs, guns, and many such items from various locations. How many could still be there which the security forces have not been able to locate. Hence these probes have to be carried out in a more detailed and thorough manner. It has to be conducted as another occasion of the country waging a war. It is futile to drag these probes based solely on information that is collected daily.
The Vesak Festival is coming and the people tend to converge in large numbers at such events throughout the country. And if by some chance another attack were to take place during that time, the maintenance of national security will become a serious issue. The President has already formed a PCol to probe the Easter Sunday blasts. However, I am still in the dark whether those in the PCol had even begun their deliberations or any evidence has been sought from witnesses etc.
I have my suspicions whether this PCol also will suffer the same fate like each of its predecessors. We are yet to seek the reports compiled by those previous PCols. The best example is the probe conducted by the PCol into the death of Roshen Chanaka who died from a shooting inside the FTZ a few years ago. We are yet to see that report to date. Each of these incidents, which took place in the past could always occur in the future.
Due to these reasons this report is needed. And we also need to know more about this PCol which is probing the Easter Sunday attacks. When appointing officials to such Commissions many retired officers are appointed. Those that should be appointed are those skilled and knowledgeable in the subject. Also we urge the government if it needs to appoint a board comprising religious leaders to monitor the activities of officials of the PCol. We will support such endeavours. We could only mete out justice to the scores of lives lost through the Easter Sunday carnage, by taking concrete measures to prevent such devastation from taking place at any time in the future. I make it bold to say that if there is no formidable security network it will be impossible to contain the masses from rising against the government.
That is because we cannot be trotting out lies to the people day in and day out and attempt to tell them to remain calm and collected. There are also reports that some of those behind the carnage are fleeing the country. Do not allow them to flee. Also even if an MP or a Cabinet Minister is behind these attacks please apprehend them and grill them. That is what the public expects from the government. At a time when peoples’ feelings are running high we cannot allow those with vested interests to destabilise the country further and place it into more chaos. The Buddhist monks, the Maulawi’s, and Hindu Priests, we are all standing together to make this request. If these requests are not fulfilled we will be forced to step into the streets. To oppose the actions of the government we will be marching right at the front. We finally request the government to implement the law without any fear or favour without leaving room for us to take the law into our own mitts.”
Speaking at the briefing Chief Prelate of Kotte Sri Kalyani Samagri Dharma Maha Sangha Sabha, Most Ven. Ittepane Dhammalankara Thera said, “The Cardinal had already taken the lead to pacify the nation in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday blasts. We all are in debt to him for the leadership he had shown at this critical time for this country. However, the same cannot be said of the conduct of the government in the wake of these attacks. We are not at all content with the actions taken by the government. We intend to discuss these issues again and again.
When the whole country is attempting to join forces in fighting terrorism and to root it out, it is nothing but despicable to find some within the government still continuing to play the putrid blame game even when scores had died and hundreds of others had been wounded. We cannot see those in the top most positions of the government taking decisions jointly as they are divided politically to the core.”
