The Kolonnawa Thuggery - Courtecy of the UPFA administration

It is apparent that this country is ruled by gangs of thugs. Two Presidential Advisers, one of them a new MP who has already been given the task of shadowing the Defense Ministry, were involved in a Al Capone style shootout in broad daylight in front of Policemen on a busy road around 3.30pm on Polling day Saturday 8th of October, 2011 in the Kolonnawa area.

One of the protagonists now dead, Bharatha Lakshman was an MP and now residing in Kiolonnawa, and whose nominee one overwhelmingly in the Kolonnawa MC election. The other injured, is the SLFP organizer for the Kolonnawa electorate, Duminda Silva. The latter is a new MP to the Sri Lanka parliament who won with a huge number of votes, belying the fact that he is one the largest drug dealers in Sri Lanka, especially in Kolonnawa. It is rumoured that he has promised jobs for all young people in Kolonnawa. What it entails is selling his packeted Heroin!!!

There is no doubt now, and if ever there was any doubt before, let it be clarified, that both these individuals travel with their thugs who are armed to the teeth with illegal weapons such as T56 assault rifles, something that is not normally required in Sri Lanka if it is a peaceful county, which the Government claims it is.

I am not aware if there are any opposition politicians traelling around with armed gangs and illegal weapons. If any of you know of any please let me know by way of comment on this blog. What does that say? It clearly says that this Government actively encourages the politicians to go around in convoys, with private armies and weapons both of which are illegal. The fact that the people of this country condone this kind of activity is in itself disgraceful. Do they do this out of ignorance or knowledge? That is a question I would like to ask.

Don't forget the picture that Duminda managed to portray in his highly publicized and expensive campaign for Parliament. He was shown as doing an enormous amount of public service and posters were full of his gift giving to people of all walks of life. It is important therefore not to get fooled. A drug dealer by definition has access to millions of illegally gotten gains he can apply to electioneering, and so people in Sri Lanka while electing known names, can put in power the worst sort of thugs and underworld mafia.

Whilst this article is premised upon informing the public of the current situation of some of the governing coalition and the lack of the enforcement of the law, it is important that we also make suggestions towards improving the situation for the future.

In the interests therefore of future practice, we must immediately put a stop to the private armies, and if not make it an issue of national importance to be subjected to national debate that such practices have been going on for two long with government blessing and is illegal and should be stopped. The opposition has to take to the streets to first protest peacefully and get enough media coverage to exhort the public to agitate.