Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="AtulaSiriwardane" data-source="post: 6838398" data-attributes="member: 120286">Just two weeks after the conclusion of the Presidential election, the man who challenged Candidate Rajapakse (and is the bete noire of his omnipotent brother) was assaulted, handcuffed and dragged away like a common criminal to an undisclosed location. Such a development cannot but cause the gravest misgivings about the future of Lankan democracy, particularly given its timing - in the run up to a crucial parliamentary election, in which Gen. Fonseka was expected to play a key role. The retired general was arrested under the Military Act, possibly because getting a warrant from a civil court would not be easy, given the fantastic nature of the charges against him. He may be tried by a military tribunal, a stratagem which would enable his prosecutors to avoid media scrutiny and depict abusive allegations and conspiracy theories as hard evidence.Both the arrest of Gen. Fonseka and the crass manner in which it was done are symbolic of the Rajapakse ethos premised on boundless arrogance, absolute intolerance and total paranoia. This action, so manifestly anti-democratic, so unmistakeably reeking of phobia, hatred and vengeance, so clearly aimed at teaching a humiliating lesson a former acolyte who dared to commit the supreme crime of lese majéste is entirely compatible with the logic of the Rajapakse power project. Without a new constitution, Rajapakse rule will wither away at the end of the President’s second term and the innumerable family members, who currently occupy the heights of the polity and society on the basis of kinship, will be compelled to retreat to less exalted and lucrative places, more in keeping with their natural abilities. Can the Rajapakses afford such a future? Would they not do anything to avoid such a mighty fall, at whatever cost to anyone? When the very survival of the Familial project of the Ruling Rajapakses is at stake, anything can happen, however heinous or grotesque.<a href="http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/02/our-rajapakse-future.html" target="_blank">http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/02/our-rajapakse-future.html</a></blockquote>

Verification: Haya warak paha keeyada? (haya wadi kireema paha)

Top Bottom