The commander of Sri Lanka’s colonial military in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, was felicitated by SL government circles in Jaffna, Thursday, for the Guci Peace Prize given to him in Philippines, which according to SL military web sites, ‘Asian equivalent of Nobel Peace Prize’. Mrs. Imelda Sugumar, the SL Government Agent of Jaffna was the chief guest for the felicitation that was coordinated by Daya Master, former LTTE spokesperson and now executive director of a paramilitary-backed television supporting Colombo. In a press meet the previous day, Hathurusinghe accused former LTTE members conniving with SLA as responsible for the robberies and other atrocities committed on people in Jaffna. While felicitating Hathurusinghe, Imelda attacked the editors of diaspora media for their bias and said that SL government and its military only help people in Jaffna.
The organisers brought some civilians to attend the ‘celebration,’ as far as from Vanni, luring them that it was a gathering to help them to find their missing family members in the war and to help them in getting aid, employment opportunities etc. Only when the programme started, people realised what it was for, and that they had been deceived.
The SL military and the paramilitary groups operating in Jaffna have organized the function, even though no names of the organizers were notified. Daya Master was coordinating the arrangements and the programme. The function was held in the Paathukaavalan Hall in the main street.
Attending the occasion, the preceptor of Nallai Aatheenam, Somasundara Paramaachchaariyaar, the Catholic Bishop of Jaffna Thomas Savundaranayakam, as well as Buddhist priests and Muslim religious representatives, made a request that there should be an assurance for the security of the Saiva temple priests in Jaffna.
A series of armed attacks took place in recent times in the Jaffna peninsula, targeting Saiva temples and their priests. The military had warned the temples of serious consequences if any temple bell was tolled on the Heroes Day on November 27.
While some say normalcy has returned to Jaffna there is insecurity to Saiva temple priests, pointed out the Nallai Aatheenam preceptor in his talk.
Maj. Gen. Hathurusinghe made a public apology for the shooting incident at the Changkaanai temple in which the chief priest succumbed to injuries and his two sons were critically wounded. The gun used in the incident belonged to the SLA, the general admitted in a press meet earlier.
Meanwhile, felicitating the military ‘peace laureate’, the chief guest Mrs Imelda Sugumar said that the editors of the diaspora media don’t know the local conditions and the pulse of the people. They operate against the government and against the people she said. Media editors in the diaspora censor news of many events that happen in the peninsula and publish only the parts of the news they like, she said in an outburst of anger.
The diaspora media editors haven’t done anything to help the 27, 000 widows and to rebuild 60,000 damaged houses in the peninsula. Only the Colombo government and its military are doing that she said.
When people are happy of what they get, the outsiders like the diaspora and Tamil Nadu should not disturb it, was also the opinion of a neighbouring security advisor, who was an insider in the crime-filled war and who is now harping on models of home grown oppression for Eezham Tamils.
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