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Editorial

Who handled Zahran?

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Monday 23rd November 2020

Investigations are still being conducted to ascertain whose lapses helped the National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) carry out the Eastern Sunday terror attacks with ease. All indications are that they will go on until the cows come home. What we have witnessed all these months is a shameful blame game. Some politicians, former defence officials and police officers have been trying to absolve themselves of criminal culpability for failure to prevent the Easter Sunday carnage though they had been warned of possible terror strikes, days, if not weeks, in advance. They were as thick as thieves during the early days of the yahapalana rule, but they have now fallen out and are accusing one another. All those who failed to prevent the terrorist attacks, despite intelligence warnings, must be prosecuted. But that alone will not help ensure national security, for it is believed that Zahran Hashim, who led the NTJ and died in a suicide bomb attack, was not the real mastermind of the carnage. A prerequisite for ensuring national security is to find out who handled Zahran.

Former SDIG Ravi Seneviratne, who was in charge of the CID, has told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), probing the Easter Sunday attacks that the person who got Zahran to launch the suicide attacks has to be traced if threats to national security are to be neutralised effectively. He, however, is not alone in arguing that Zahran had a handler.

Testifying before the PCoI, intelligence bigwigs who were in service at the time of the Easter Sunday attacks, have said the NTJ was planning a second wave of attacks. In July 2020, a senior intelligence officer, whose identity was not divulged, said the NTJ had planned to attack the Kandy Dalada Perahera, in 2019. No less a person than former Director of State Intelligence Service, SDID Nilantha Jayawardena, has told the PCoI that the real mastermind of the Easter Sunday bombings was not Zahran, but his mentor, Naufer Moulavi, who has been living in Qatar for several years and is known to have various foreign links.

One may argue that the police as well as state intelligence officials, having failed to prevent the Easter Sunday attacks, are now trying to have the public believe that they succeeded in thwarting a second wave of terror, which would have been far worse than the first one. But if their claim that Zahran had planned a second wave of attacks is true, then the question is why he opted to die in the first wave. If he had been the real mastermind of the Easter Sunday attacks, he would not have blown himself up in the first wave of bombings because he would not have been unaware that his death would render his outfit rudderless and too demoralised to carry out attacks ever again. He had seen that following Prabhakaran’s death, the LTTE suicide cadres who survived the war did not carry out any attacks.

SLMC leader and former Minister of Justice Rauf Hakeem has told the PCoI that the mastermind of the Easter Sunday attacks was a different group that wanted to destabilise the country, and they achieved their objective. Insisting that Zahran and the NTJ had been used as pawns by that group, he said he would name the outfit, in camera. In fact, he is reported to have done so. The public has a right to know what that group is.

One can only hope that a separate probe will be launched to find out who handled Zahran and whether there was a foreign hand in the attacks, as claimed in some quarters. Whoever handled Zahran, the fact remains that all those who had links to the NTJ, which carried out the terror attacks, must be brought to justice. Unfortunately, dirty politics has taken precedence over the legal process; under the incumbent government, which came to power, promising tough action against the backers of the NTJ, some suspects are receiving kid-glove treatment despite incriminating evidence against them.



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Editorial

Who guards the guards?

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Friday 13th December, 2024

The Opposition continues to crank up pressure on Speaker Asoka Ranwala to resign over what it calls his false claim to have a doctorate. The JVP-led NPP government may have expected its opponents’ campaign against the Speaker to fizzle out with the passage of time. In this country, controversies crop up at such a rate that one finds it well-nigh impossible to keep track of them, and that may be the reason why the government has chosen to remain silent on the issue of the Speaker’s educational qualifications. But the Opposition remains maniacally focused on the Speaker’s claim in question, and SJB MP Ajith Perera has gone on record as saying that unless Ranwala resigns forthwith, the Opposition will be compelled to move a motion of no confidence against him. The government has sought to make light of the situation, but in vain.

The allegation that the third citizen of the country has made a false claim and misled the public and Parliament is too serious to be glossed over. Having failed to obfuscate the issue, the government is now evading questions thereon. Its ostrich-like posturing will only worsen the situation; the problem will not go away, given the Opposition’s determined bid to make the JVP/NPP bite the bullet and have Speaker Ranwala step down.

The government finds itself in a quandary; if it continues to ignore calls for remedial action, its rivals will intensify their campaign against the Speaker, and if Ranwala succumbs to the Opposition’s pressure by any chance, that will be a huge comedown for the ruling alliance. However, the government cannot go on dilly-dallying and prevaricating indefinitely. It will have to grasp the nettle soon.

If Speaker Ranwala fails to prove that he has a doctorate, and the government refuses to take any action, the Opposition is likely to go ahead with its no-faith motion. The JVP-NPP combine will find itself in a more unenviable position in such an eventuality.

The government has a two-thirds majority in Parliament and therefore it can torpedo a no-confidence motion against the Speaker, but if it does so, its credibility and integrity will be at stake. While it was in opposition, it would take the moral high ground and tear all previous governments to shreds for defending their members who were in the wrong. Its frontal attacks on those administrations and its solemn pledge to usher in a new political culture resonated with the public, as evident from its spectacular electoral wins in the recent presidential and parliamentary elections. Therefore, it will have to be mindful of the moral aspects of its actions as much as their legality.

The JVP/NPP ascended to power by lowering the esteem of the national legislature in the eyes of the public with the help of an effective vilification campaign against the members of previous governments. It also pledged to raise the quality of the MPs and the standards of Parliament. In fact, it triggered a massive wave of anti-politics to make its victory possible. The issue of the incumbent Speaker’s educational qualifications and the Opposition’s campaign for his removal on the grounds that he has flaunted a fake doctorate is bound to have a corrosive effect on public trust in Parliament. This augurs ill for the country’s democratic wellbeing.

It is incumbent upon the leaders of all political parties represented in Parliament to have a serious discussion on the issue at hand and find a solution. They should do everything possible to obviate the need for a no-faith motion against the Speaker because such a situation would only further undermine public trust in the legislature and provide a big fillip to anti-politics.

The JVP/NPP is in a dilemma. While defending the Speaker, it has to safeguard the integrity of its civic morality initiative aimed at improving the moral and ethical standards of electors and the elected alike. One is reminded of the Juvenalian question: Who guards the guards themselves?

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Editorial

All hat and no cattle?

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Thursday 12th December, 2024

Washington has given the JVP-led NPP government a much-needed leg-up while the latter’s political opponents are on the offensive, protesting against a host of unsolved issues that are likely to take their toll on the new administration’s approval rating. Public resentment is welling up, and the Opposition, which suffered a crushing defeat last month, is all out to recover lost ground and make an early comeback.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu said in Colombo over the weekend that the US government remained committed to supporting Sri Lanka’s on-going anti-corruption drive. His assurance must have gladdened the hearts of the NPP leaders. No sooner had Lu made that pledge than the US imposed sanctions on former CEO of SriLankan Airlines Kapila Chandrasena and former Sri Lankan Ambassador to Russia Udayanga Weeratunga, and their immediate family members; the US said it had done so due to their involvement in ‘significant corruption’. Chandrasena has been designated for allegedly accepting a bribe for ensuring Sri Lanka purchased Airbus aircraft above the market value, and Weeratunga is facing sanctions for having allegedly benefited from a corrupt scheme involving the procurement of some MiG aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force.

US sanctions against Chandrasena and Weeratunga are welcome, but the question is why Washington has not targeted the masterminds behind the aforesaid corrupt deals. Chandrasena and Weeratunga are related to the Rajapaksa family, and it is now up to the NPP government to pull out all the stops and have the Airbus and MiG deals thoroughly probed. If it does so, it will be able to find out where the kickbacks ended up. Obviously, nobody would have been able to cut such mega corrupt deals without the blessings of the rulers of the day. If those who acted as fronts or collectors for their political masters are prosecuted successfully, the fear of having to serve long prison terms will make them reveal the truth.

Now that the US has offered to help trace Sri Lanka’s stolen funds and bring them back, the Dissanayake government should request Washington to probe the assets of those whom the JVP and the NPP accused of having amassed a great deal of ill-gotten wealth and stashed it away overseas. They have named and shamed the members of the Rajapaksa family. National Organiser of the SLPP and former Minister Namal Rajapaksa keeps daring the government to probe allegations against him and his family. So, why doesn’t the NPP government request Washington to probe the assets of the members of the Rajapaksa family in the US?

No one has drawn more flak from the JVP/NPP than Basil Rajapaksa for the various corrupt deals during the Rajapaksa rule. Political rivals of the Rajapaksa family have used him as a foil to make themselves out to be paragons of virtue. The JVP/NPP also gained much political traction by bashing Basil, and promising to probe his assets. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake often laments that investigations into an ‘ownerless’ palatial house at Malwana have hit a brick wall; the rivals of the SLPP claim that Basil had that house built through a front; they have not been able to substantiate that allegation. What prevents President Dissanayake from ordering a fresh probe into the Malwana mansion to find out the real owner of the property?

One may recall that in October 2014, speaking at a dairy farmers’ ceremony, Basil, who was a powerful minister in the Mahinda Rajapaksa government at the time, claimed that his situation was no better than that of an ordinary dairy farmer. He said he was a farmer’s son, and the only asset he had was a herd of dairy cows! That was how he sought to counter his critics’ claim that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth. So, if Basil has acquired assets that are worth more than a herd of cattle either here or in the US, he must be made to account for them. The US should be able to do so unless it is playing both sides of the fence, so to speak. After all, Basil is an American citizen.

While stumping for the NPP in the run-up to last month’s general election, President Dissanayake vowed to go all out to ‘catch the thieves of state assets’. It is high time he matched his words with deeds.

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Editorial

Drug barons vs. the law

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Wednesday 11th December, 2024

A much-feared underworld figure named Arumahandi Janith Madushanka Silva alias Podi Lassi, charged with possession of narcotics, has been released on bail. Lawyers who appeared for him told reporters on Monday (09) that he needed protection because the STF had threatened him with death. What they left unsaid was that their client had issued threats to no less a person than the Head of State. In 2020, while being detained in the Boosa Prison, Podi Lassi and two other underworld characters known as Kosgoda Tharaka and Pitigala Keuma threatened to harm the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne, and some senior prison officers.

Sri Lanka has seen ambitious projects under successive governments during the past several decades to turn it into a hub of some kind or another in the region. Much-advertised campaigns to make it a centre of international shipping, global trade, IT, education, etc., have not reached fruition. However, some underworld kingpins have already turned it into a narcotic hub, to all intents and purposes if the sheer amounts of dangerous drugs frequently taken into custody are any indication.

Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotic laws are characterised by some inadequacies that allow clever lawyers appearing for drug lords to drive a coach and horses through them. They have done so on numerous occasions much to the dismay of the police and the public.

One may recall that a notorious drug dealer named Mohommad Najim Mohommad Imran alias Kanjipani Imran obtained bail in 2022. Everybody knew that he would flee the country, and he did so a couple of weeks later. The then Public Security Minister Tiran Alles claimed that some unscrupulous lawyers had facilitated Imran’s escape as well as that of another criminal called Ganemulle Sanjeewa. Who can ensure that Podi Lassi will not emulate Imran and Sanjeewa?

Imran was arrested in Dubai together with Sri Lanka’s Napoleon of Crime, Samarasinghe Arachchige Madush Lakshitha alias Makandure Madush, in 2019, and brought to Colombo. Madush perished allegedly in a crossfire between the police and an underworld gang while in custody. Imran has been running his crime syndicate here from overseas. He is believed to have masterminded the murder of Wasantha Perera or Club Wasantha about five months ago. No wonder Citizen Perera is on the same page as Mr. Bumble (in Oliver Twist), who says the law is an ass.

While Operation Yukthiya was proceeding at full throttle, under the previous government, we pointed out that the war on drugs had to be fought at sea, on the shore, and in ports. Most narcotic consignments find their way here in fishing craft and freight containers.

Last week, the Navy intercepted and brought to the Colombo Port a fishing craft with a haul of crystal meth weighing 400 kilos. In December 2013, the Customs found more than 131 kilos of heroin in a container which a coordinating secretary to the then Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne had requested the Customs to clear on a priority basis. In July 2017, more than 218 kilos of cocaine were detected in a shipping container of sugar delivered to the Ratmalana Economic Centre.

Whenever a drug czar is netted, a well-coordinated operation gets underway to secure his release, with lawyers, politicians, and some rogue elements in the police and other state institutions such as the Government Analyst’s Department springing into action. In September 2023, Nadun Chinthaka Wickremaratne alias Harak Kata almost made good his escape during an interrogation session at the CID headquarters. His plan to poison the police personnel on duty, and flee went pear-shaped thanks to some Argus-eyed STF personnel. Besides, more than a dozen Police Narcotics Bureau officers were arrested in 2020 over their links to drug dealers.

The foregoing point to the power of the netherworld of crime, and the enormity of the narcotic problem Sri Lanka has been striving to tackle all these years. Inadequacies of laws, corruption in the state institutions tasked with fighting the scourge of drugs, and political backing for narco barons have made the task of ridding the country of narcotics even more uphill.

The need for reworking Sri Lanka’s anti-narcotics strategy to optimise it to meet the existing challenges and the emerging ones vis-à-vis the powerful drug Mafia, which is becoming more resilient like a pathogenic virus, cannot be overstated. A major drawback of the ongoing anti-narcotic operations is the lack of a holistic approach to overcoming multisectoral obstacles that stand in the way of neutralising the hydra-headed scourge. This is something that the new government, which is keen to liberate the country from the clutches of the drug cartels should take cognisance of.

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