Another Rajapaksa modus operandi ‘arrest’ has been reported in Colombo where the former deputy mayor of the Colombo Municipal Council was arrested from his daughter’s house under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). The incident has been well publicised and many organizations, both local and international, have criticized the blatant authoritarianism 
of the ruling regime. It is perhaps due to this act of blatant authoritarianism by the ruling regime that his courageous daughter spoke out publically to the media confirming that her father was on a hunger strike due to the unlawful arrested and detention under the Ministry of Defence. A similar drama happened when the leader of the de facto JVP, Kumar Gunaratnam, was arrested and his family members went public and pleaded for the safety of their love one.
As a man who does his best to ignore the actual circumstances prevailing in his country, President Rajapaksa is keeping mum on the incident. Indeed, he went so far as to tell the public recently not to say anything bad about the country. The real facts should be hidden, he said, so that the international community will believe that we are the greatest nation in the world. “Some people are telling only bad about the country; they don’t talk about good. Perhaps we should not do this, and like other countries we must hide our bad behaviours and talks good things about the greatest nation in the world”, President Rajapaksa said.
The paranoia that the ruling family is suffering from is very real and it is because of this that they do understand the very real threat they are going to face in next couple of years. Rajapaksa has fueled extremism to prevent people from seeing the reality. This is a well established political strategy that various leaders have used in the history of the Island nation. This strategy is designed to benefit the ruling party but offers nothing to the country.
According to the government run media, Azath Salley was arrested because the security establishment believes that he has links with terrorist organizations. He is also accused of making controversial comments in public that can harm ethnic harmony in the country. It is quite clear that the Rajapaksa regime is following Bush’s strategy of undermining authentic resistance by using terrorism as a tool to control dissent.
Under these circumstances it is not hard to see that Rajapaksa’s next move will be to release Salley under a special order which is what he did for the university students who were arrested in similar fashion in Jaffna a couple of months ago. In that incident a number of university students were dragged into custody by the security forces last November in Jaffna. Following the arrest the Secretary to the Ministry of Defense, Gothabaya Rajapaksa, ordered them to be sent to a rehabilitation camp.
Unfortunately the arrest of the students became public knowledge in India and the President had to fly there and meet the head of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), which is an external espionage agency to discuss the matter. Immediately upon his return to Colombo he rushed to Jaffna and ordered the release of the students who were arrested under the special order of the Ministry of Defence. But he said nothing about Lalith and Kugan who were kidnapped by the law enforcement agencies due to their engagement of political activities in the peninsula. To-date, no one knows what happened to them. This is the disorder that the Rajapaksa regime has pulled the country into.
Meanwhile, we have been told the amazing news that the President is waiting for his astrologer to give him an auspicious time to declare the forthcoming the Northern Provincial election which is going to be held in September. Rajapaksa firmly believes in a forthcoming victory in the election. Being another ‘Prabhakaran’ to the Tamil civilians in the area is a comic tragedy and its shows the political egoism behind the President’s motive which has no room for justice and freedom in the ordinary life. Sadly, Rajapaksa may well succeed as we all understand the electoral system in Sri Lanka is nothing more than the cynical manipulation of the unjust power of the ruling party.
If there is a public awakening a similar kind of drama which we saw in Jaffna will occur in Colombo in next couple of days with regard to Salley. A ‘grateful’ Azath Salley may well decide to maintain complete silence once he freed from the clutches of the notorious regime. The creating of a “culture of silence” is a quite successful modus operandi that has benefited Rajapaksa in many ways.
However this is not the first incident and neither will it be the last. This is the real nature of the tyrant which will not allow anyone to be freed from his clutches in order to talk against him. Rajapaksa wants complete control in order to prevent anyone from seeing the truth. He will do his best to eliminate authentic resistance against his authoritarianism. We are middle of the “Sri Lankan Stalinism,” where the tyrant expects everyone to clap for his political egoism while accepting their lies as truth. Perhaps, the Tyrant is expecting everyone to pray for him despite the dire circumstances they face. There is absolutely no doubt that more bitter lessons, and more Azath Salleys are yet to come.
Cartoon by Indika Dissanayake
