“One interesting factor about the elections is that the government has good support among the people of minority groups and how people voted in Mawanella is a good indication. If the government forces had already taken over Kilinochchi, the polling would have been even more heavily against the UNP, JVP and other opposition groups.”
*************************
*************************
- (August 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In no uncertain language the provincial poll elections have shown the minds of the people; they certainly want an end to terrorism and political mess. The crucial point expressed is that all political parties and this even applies to the TNA parliamentarians and therefore the LTTE whose interests they shamelessly promote, must go for a solution straightaway. If this is not addressed, then Wanni must be stormed immediately and even the people of Wanni be given the chance to revolt against the terror that has held them brutalized and captive in terror-struck circumstances too long.
The Wanni people must be liberated and this is a double edged potential because liberating Wanni means the liberation of the country from terrorism too. If Wanni is liberated, the country will also demand corruption that is so rampant is also ended and the government would be expected as a matter of urgency to bring a peaceful resolution to the ethnic crisis. We cannot tarry on this anymore and allow racists of all kinds to call the tune.
If there are people in Sri Lanka who feel that the majority community must dominate the minorities, they might as well address themselves to seek opportunities elsewhere; certainly not anymore in Sri Lanka. They have been a cancer among our people and a large majority of Sri Lankans want to live in peace with each other.
The provincial polls that just ended could become a landmark for the good of the country. It is for the government to recognize this opportunity as a boon from the heavens.
As a matter of fact the government has no choice in respect of the Wanni enclave of terrorism. It has to be ended straightaway and forces of liberation must walk in whether it consists of people who can achieve this without anymore bloodshed or if that is beyond possibility, then the armed forces. In such a situation people in Wanni should also be given a chance to strike at the LTTE from within the enclave.
This election is also a clear message to the main opposition parties especially the UNP and the JVP both in tatters and splitting like a cottonseed pod spewing forth seeds hardly mature to germinate anywhere. The minds of the people were not concentrated on the war alone. They are certainly sick of the squabbling among the opposition parties making their miseries on the economic front even more intense. The government must be held in tight reins and good civil administration is demanded of them.
The elections have been catastrophic to Ranil Wickremasinghe but he is not expected to resign and even give up politics altogether. He still entertains hope of taking the presidential chair with or without the help of the LTTE and once this terror contraption goes, people of the north and east may prefer him to Rajapakse.
But one can never say. If LTTE is ended, the votes of the Tamil-speaking people may be heavily in favour of the government. The UNP supporters among them are the elite and the powerful and they are now in Canada, USA, UK, France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Norway. During the last thirty years the Tamil Diaspora has been the greatest enemy of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. In the name of Tamil liberation and pretended support to the LTTE, most of them amassed fortunes for themselves by cheating their own folks.
One interesting factor about the elections is that the government has good support among the people of minority groups and how people voted in Mawanella is a good indication. If the government forces had already taken over Kilinochchi, the polling would have been even more heavily against the UNP, JVP and other opposition groups.
Now the government must stop gloating over its victory at the local polls and begin to clean up its insides of corruption and President Mahinda Rajapakse owes this to the country.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
