A Culture Of Violence

By Nirmala Kannangara and Raisa Wickrematunge in Dambulla and Kurunegala
Photos by Thusitha Kumara

The heat is oppressive as we speed into Dambulla town. Dambulla is papered over with blue — with giant posters of candidates Rohana Dissanayake and Janaka Bandara Tennakoon dominating. Scarlet posters depicting DNA candidates, emblazoned with General Fonseka’s face are also very much in evidence. Despite the scorching heat, people are busily scurrying about their business. In fact, Dambulla looks just like any other town preparing for a general election: the massive posters, the blue streamers that flutter from lamp posts, the numerous party offices.

Beneath the quiet atmosphere, however, there is a seething layer of discontent. And this becomes evident the moment we approach members of the public. At the mention of the word, “media” their eyes grow wary and their replies more reticent.

Among those who did open up eventually was a woman running a small market stall. “Everyone is too scared to say anything against the government here, because they’ll get hit,” she said. She added that with the high cost of living, it was increasingly hard to survive.

The high cost of living was a concern for everyone, from sweep ticket sellers to farmers. Paddy farmers complained of the hassle in gaining subsidies while a vegetable cultivator said he wasn’t entitled to them at all. All of them were fearful of being named for fear of repercussions. Yet all praised the President for ending the war. Though they weren’t happy with the current system, though they struggled to feed their families, they had no thought of voting for another party.

A culture of violence continues to exist in the run up to the elections, but interestingly, members of some parties have begun to turn on each other, at least according to Nihal Gunawardena, a UNP candidate, from Dambulla. Intra party violence is far more prevalent than inter party violence due to the preferential voting system. He tells us this as a team of UNP supporters and party members gather for a short meeting at his residence. His wife hands out biscuits and juice. Bizarrely, it feels more like a dinner party than anything else. Under the trees in the garden, they gesticulate and talk of change.

Meanwhile, UNP party supporters L.R.N.B Haliyadde and V.G Jayasundera tell us of how they were attacked by the son of UPFA candidate Janaka Bandara Tennakoon. He had threatened and assaulted UNP and JVP members during the last presidential elections, ordering them to leave the counting centres. No action was taken, and Tennakoon’s posters continue to smile benignly from shopfronts.

DNA Leader Vipula Ratnayake summed it up in a sentence, a chilling and unwitting echo of the woman in the marketplace: “This is Dambulla. People are afraid to speak out against the government, because they’ll be attacked.” However, despite the pervading sense of fear, the recent war victory and numerous development projects undertaken by the government, including in the North, led many to say that they would stick with the UPFA.

By the time we reached Kurunegala the sky was overcast. Like Dambulla, gigantic posters of the UPFA candidates — Johnston Fernando, Jayaratne Herath and T. B Ekanayake were everywhere. Even the trishaws had posters plastered on the back. Unlike Dambulla, there was no sign of opposition party propaganda. Yet here too people like government officer Piyumal, complained of too high prices and too low salaries. Once again though, the safety in security in being able to walk the streets swayed the vote heavily in favour of the ruling party.

To all intents and purposes, the UPFA appears to be heading towards a comfortable victory. It is apparent that people from both areas are struggling to make ends meet. However, they are also safe. People still remember a time, not too long ago, when this wasn’t so.

Opposition Under Attack

UNP Matale District Leader and Parliamentarian Ranjith Aluvihare accused the Matale and Dambulla police divisions of not taking action against UPFA candidate and Provincial Council Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, who has instigated violence in the district.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Aluvihare said not only opposition but also ruling party candidates have come under severe attack from Minister Tennakoon and his son, Provincial Councilor Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon and added that more violence could be expected in the next few days unless speedy action was taken to avert such incidents in future.

“Janaka Bandara Tennakoon has become a great threat to those who engage in decent politics in the district and we are not allowed to even paste a poster in the district. Even my party office at Dambulla, which was just in front of the Dambulla Police, was completely destroyed by Tennakoon’s thugs on February 19. According to the neighbours and onlookers 25-30 people entered my party office premises around midnight, with a welding plant and  cut the iron poles.

They brought down the entire building to the ground. They have moved most of the building material to Tennakoon’s house. Although I informed the DIG, SSP and other police officers immediately after the incident, no one has been taken into custody nor questioned. While I was returning after a meeting in Dambulla on March 16, my vehicle was shot at by Pramitha Tennakoon and his goons near Hotel JC Village around 8 pm. So far police have failed to arrest the culprits although we have given the names of those responsible for the shooting,” alleged Aluvihare.

Aluvihare further accused Tennakoon of misusing public property and added that there are more than 60 Provincial Council Ministry vehicles deployed for his election campaign work in the district.

“All these government vehicles are running with fraudulent number plates and one of the top officials in the Ministry of Power and Energy told me that Tennakoon has tapped electricity from the main line to provide electricity to his Dambulla residence which has now been transformed into a semi luxury party office. From where are they getting the money? Why is it that the police, the Elections Commissioner and President Mahinda Rajapaksa keep silent on these?” asked Aluvihare.

Meanwhile Aluvihare said most of his party supporters have not received ballot papers and added that all the UNP polling agents have been threatened by Tennakoon’s goons, who warned them not to go for election duty.

“In Dambulla and Laggala the Tennakoon thugs have collected ID cards paying Rs.500 and promising another Rs.1000 for a person. People are scared to come up openly with all these illegal activities knowing what the consequences would be,” Aluvihare said.

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Tennakoon Terror

Matale District UPFA candidate Lakshman Vasantha Perera accused fellow UPFA candidate and Provincial Council Minister Janaka Bandara Tennakoon of targeting his life on several occasions and engaging in intra-party violence. He blamed the police for protecting the thugs hired by Tennakoon.

“From the start my campaign was under attack from Minister Tennakoon, his son Provincial Council Member Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon and their goons and recently one of my campaign vehicles were set on fire by them. Although my complaints were not entertained by any of the police stations in the district, my supporters managed to inform the police about the incident but they failed to take action against the offenders for 17 days. However last week the police have produced some underworld gang to courts and had given bail without any charges.

Although there were eye witnesses who claimed that the Minister’s son too was at the scene when my vehicle was set on fire the police did not arrest him,” Perera told The Sunday Leader.
“In fear of a defeat these two ministers did not come forward to support of the President at the presidential election campaign but it was I who organised all the rallies and meetings in the district. On one such occasion Tennakoon’s goons stabbed our party member Rupasinghe while he was engaging in campaign work.

“Although the President has ordered the IGP to hold impartial inquiries in to these allegations up to now the police have failed to take any action against the Tennakoons,” Perera alleged.

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An Uphill Task For UNP

UNP Kurunegala District candidate, Parliamentarian Dayasiri Jayasekera said that the UNP candidates in the district have had to face an uphill task in their campaigning, as they have not been allowed to engage in peaceful election work by the ruling party members.

“We are not only under attack from the long-standing UPFA members but also from Johnston Fernando who crossed over to the ruling party prior to the presidential election for ‘personal gain’.

While our supporters were engaging in campaigning work on March 26 at Nikaweratiya, Johnston Fernando had come with a gang of thugs and had badly damaged three of my vehicles. On March 28 once again our party office in Nikaweratiya came under attack by the same group. Although I lodged complaints at the Nikaweratiya police, up to now no action has been taken against Fernando and his party although we have given the names of the offenders,” Jayasekera told The Sunday Leader.

According to Jayasekera, misuse of public property is at its peak in the Kurunegala District and accused the Elections Department and the police of not taking any action to prevent the misuse of public property.

“We are not allowed to hold public meetings after 10 pm but the ruling party violates all election laws of the country. Although we keep on informing the police on such incidents they always turn a deaf year to our complaints but eagerly arrest UNP members if they violate election regulations,” added Jayasekera.

He further alleged that Minister T.B. Ekanayake was using government buildings for his campaign work and added that he has erected cutouts at government buildings violating the Election Commissioner’s guidelines.

“There is no law applied for the ruling party candidates but only for the opposition candidates. How many complaints have we lodged with the police and the Elections Department over the election law violations? But it seems the law is applied only for the opposition candidates but not to the ruling party candidates,” alleged Jayasekera.

All attempts to contact Ministers T. B. Ekanayake and Johnston Fernando for a comment failed.

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The Police Response

Police Spokesperson SP Preshantha Jayakody when queried as to why the police in Matale and Kurunegala districts are biased towards certain ruling party politicians told The Sunday Leader that he was not aware of any such complaints.

“I am not aware of this. Let them go and make complaints to the Divisional Police Heads if the local police do not entertain their complaints and are biased towards certain politicians,” he said.