Tuesday 11th November, 2025

SJB MP Dr. Harsha de Silva opened the second-reading debate on Budget 2026 on Saturday, urging the NPP government to respect democratic dissent and walk back its controversial decision to import as many as 1,775 brand new double cab pickup trucks. Claiming that the government had manipulated tender criteria to favour a company or two of its choice, he said it had telescoped the 42-day bidding window into a mere 12 days. These are very serious charges, which, the Opposition says, it can prove, but the government is determined to bulldoze its way through. This is how government politicians behave when power goes to their heads.

Dr. de Silva accused President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of trying to overcome resistance from the Opposition to the shady vehicle deal at issue by offering pickup trucks to the MPs. He said the Opposition would continue to protest.

When alleged scams involving the members of the current regime, such as the release of 323 red-flagged freight containers from the Colombo Port, without Customs inspection, come to light, the incumbent leaders try to distract the public by bashing their predecessors for corrupt deals in the past. It was to punish the previous rulers that the people voted the NPP into power; they expected the NPP to fulfil its promise to conduct itself in an exemplary manner and bring about a ‘system change’. The JVP-led NPP government had the public believe that it would be above suspicion like Caesar’s wife, but it has failed to live up to their expectations so much so that it is now wary of holding the Provincial Council elections, which it promised, in its manifesto, to hold within one year of forming a government.

The JVP/NPP accused the previous rulers of corruption, abuse of power, nepotism, and running a kleptocracy that drained the nation’s wealth. The former leaders are now claiming that the current administration consisting of a bunch of neophytes has become a metaphor for inefficiency and kakistocracy. Inefficiency has been a defining feature of successive governments. Now that the incumbent government is drawing severe criticism for shady deals and abuse of power, just like its corrupt predecessors, a need has arisen for a portmanteau to be coined to describe the current system of governance this country has had to contend with—‘kleptokakistocracy’.

Following last year’s regime change, the NPP government made a show of a large number of vehicles returned by the politicians of the previous administration and the officials who had worked for them. Some NPP politicians claimed that they were all luxury vehicles, and the government would dispose of them. If they had been as valuable as they were made out to be, their sales would have helped the government raise enough funds to solve transport issues in the state sector. It has now been revealed that most of those vehicles were ordinary ones in running condition, and why they were not redistributed among the state institutions experiencing vehicle shortages is the question. Is it that they were sold so that the government could purchase brand new pickup trucks?

The rupee crisis is far from over although there has been a significant increase in state revenue due to import duties on vehicles. The Customs Department is bragging that it has generated a record revenue, but the tax bubble created by vehicle imports is bound to burst. Hence the need for frugal management of state funds and a strategy to increase the forex inflow substantially so as to avoid shocks when debt repayment resumes in 2028. The Opposition has said there will have to be foreign currency reserves amounting to at least USD 13 billion in 2028.

The government must cancel the questionable pickup truck deal forthwith and save funds. The JVP/NPP leaders had better bear in mind that they cannot hold on to power indefinitely, and the questionable vehicle deal is bound to be probed one day. A former Chief Minister has been sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for fraudulently obtaining about Rs 2.8 million as a fuel allowance.

Monday 10th November, 2025

Underworld killings have resumed, after a brief lull, giving the lie to the NPP politicians’ claim that the recent arrests of some criminals, such as Kehelbaddara Padme, have dealt a paralysing blow to the underworld. Such arrests are no doubt essential and welcome, but voids they create in the underworld do not last long, for there are many dangerous criminals vying for supremacy.

Amidst media reports of a series of successful anti-drug raids in this country, disturbing news has emanated from India. The Indian Intelligence agencies are concerned that the Dawood Ibrahim syndicate (also known as D-syndicate), in a bid to expand its drug business through South India, is tapping into the LTTE’s network. IANS has reported that the powerful syndicate is in touch with the LTTE operatives and sympathisers, both in Sri Lanka and India, to help further the drug business.

For the LTTE, which was defeated by the Sri Lankan forces, this may serve as a perfect opportunity, the IANS report has said, noting that a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has suggested that the LTTE is attempting to make a comeback. Some of its operatives who managed to escape are trying to withdraw money from some foreign banks, according to the NIA, and the Indian intelligence agencies suspect that the funds are meant to revive the LTTE.

There is no need to panic, but a matter that is so serious as to have caused concern to the Indian intelligence agencies should not be taken lightly. One may recall that the Easter Sunday carnage (2019) could have been prevented if the UNP-led Yahapalana government, which was backed by the JVP to the hilt, had heeded repeated warnings of terrorist activities in the Eastern Province and, above all, the actionable intelligence about the impending terror strikes.

The D-syndicate’s efforts to forge links with the LTTE rump must not be taken in isolation; they must be viewed against the backdrop of attempts that have reportedly been made to revive the LTTE since 2009. On 02 September 2021, we pointed out in an editorial comment, that a probe into three Sri Lankan boats carrying drugs and arms, intercepted in Indian waters, had shed light on an attempt to revive the LTTE. The Indian media revealed that an NIA investigation into the seizure of a haul of heroin, five AK-47 assault rifles, 1,000 rounds of ammunition from a boat intercepted off the coast of Vizhinjam, Kerala, had fuelled speculation that an international drug trafficking and gun-running outfit was attempting to revive the LTTE. The probe teams believed that the five assault rifles seized from the boat were for the LTTE sleeper cells. The main suspect with LTTE links, Suresh Rajan, arrested in India, was found to have links to international drug smugglers. He was an associate of Makandure Madush, a notorious Sri Lankan drug dealer, who died allegedly in a shootout while being in police custody. The Tamil Nadu intelligence officers confirmed that Rajan and Madush had worked together.

The Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities, engaged in anti-narcotics operations, and the current government leaders must not lose sight of possible links between southern drug dealers and LTTE activists. It behoves them to shed their political blinkers and intensify their focus on areas other than Tangalle, the hometown of the Rajapaksa family. True, a main drug smuggling route runs via the southern seas, and that must be blocked, but due to the intensification of naval and police operations in the South, there is the possibility of drug dealers bringing in narcotics through other parts of the country.

It may be recalled that a few months after Prabhakaran’s death in 2009, the Indian media quoted some Indian experts as having said that there was ‘a tug-of-war in the drug world to grab Prabhakaran’s multi-million-dollar drug cartel’, and there was the possibility of terrorist groups such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba stepping in to fill the vacuum. Swaraj Puri, former Director General of India’s Narcotics Control Board said the LTTE’s drug smuggling activities had been stalled, after its military defeat in Sri Lanka, but other drug lords would vie for the market the LTTE had created. Is it that the situation the Indian experts warned of is playing out now?

The incumbent Sri Lankan government is struggling to neutralise the underworld, and therefore whether it will be able to face a formidable terrorist threat to national security is the question. Political stability and national security are prerequisites for economic recovery and investment promotion. The UNHRC has launched a campaign to press war charges against the Sri Lankan military; some foreign governments have imposed sanctions on several war-time military commanders who were instrumental in defeating the LTTE, and legal action has been instituted in this country against some former military commanders, based on claims made by ex-LTTE members. These hostile measures are believed to have taken their toll on the morale of the armed forces members, who may baulk at going all out to defeat terrorism in the event of the scourge manifesting itself again—absit omen!

The JVP-led NPP government has apparently taken a leaf out of its immediate predecessor’s book, where election postponements are concerned. It has said the much-delayed Provincial Council (PC) elections will be held only after the completion of the delimitation process, which is a prerequisite for the implementation of the mixed proportional system.

The Election Commission (EC) is reported to have said the completion of the delimitation process will take about one year. The NPP is losing cooperative society elections, which are considered political windsocks, and therefore the government will try every trick in the book to delay the PC polls as long as possible.

The postponement of PC elections was widely considered a political issue, and it was thought that the most effective way to sort it out was to crank up pressure on the government, but former EC Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya has shed light on a legal dimension of the problem.

He has said the Governors are keeping the PCs under their control in violation of a Supreme Court ruling that the PCs be governed by elected councillors. He revealed this at a conference held on Wednesday. He is au fait with election laws and judicial decisions pertaining to them. Those who are genuinely desirous of having the PC polls held without further delay can now explore the possibility of seeking a judicial intervention.

During the previous government, the JVP-led NPP raked the then President Ranil Wickremesinghe over the coals for postponing the Local Government polls in defiance of an SC order. It joined the other Opposition parties in demanding that the SLPP-UNP government comply with the SC order that funds be allocated for the mini polls. Going by the former EC Chief’s contention, the incumbent NPP government and its leaders have done something similar; they have been keeping the PCs under the Governors illegally.

Presenting Budget 2026 yesterday, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced a government decision to appoint an expert committee to draft a code of conduct for the judicial service. Before venturing to do so, shouldn’t the government comply with the SC decision the former EC Chief has referred to and hold the PC polls soon?

The Opposition never misses an opportunity to tear into the NPP government—even unfairly at times. Strangely, it has been silent on the postponement of the PC polls. Is the Opposition also wary of facing an election any time soon?

Sri Lankan politicians are known to have king-sized egos, and they behave like emperors when ensconced in power, so to speak. An opportunity has presented itself for them to do something an extremely powerful emperor once did—cutting the Gordian Knot.

Former Polls Chief Deshapriya, who is known for his eloquence, said at the aforesaid conference, that Parliament could enable the EC to hold the PC polls under the Proportional Representation (PR) system. He said that task would require only a simple majority in Parliament. The NPP has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and bringing in a new law or amending the existing ones for that purpose should be child’s play for it. Deshapriya said the time had come for the Gordian Knot to be untied.

It will take a long time to untangle the complex knot, and what should be done is for someone to cut it, the way Alexander the Great did. We are not short of political leaders who wrap themselves in the flag, declaring that they are ready to die for democracy and the people’s franchise. So, it is up to one of them to cut the Gordian Knot by taking the initiative to make Parliament remove the legal obstacles to the conduct of the PC elections under the PR system.

No political party in the current Parliament will be able to oppose such a move, for all of them helped the Yahapalana government amend the PC Elections Amendment Act to postpone the PC polls indefinitely. They are therefore responsible for the knotty politico-legal issue their despicable action has given rise to. It is incumbent upon them to make a concerted effort to clean up the mess that they themselves have created.