A few days ago, an elderly Tamil gentleman from Vavuniya who is an old friend of mine, visited me at my Wellawatte home and related the following sad tale of how Tamils are being treated by this government.

Since recently, Tamils in the Wanni are undergoing severe hardships due to the so called humanitarian operations to liberate the area. The Tamils are at the receiving end, especially at the hands of the security forces.

The closure of the Medawachchiya Check Point to all vehicles leaving and entering this junction from Vavuniya and Mannar in early February, is a gross violation of fundamental rights. My friend highlighted the fact that at this road block, vehicles entering and leaving from the Sinhala dominated area — Kebethigollewa — are not stopped or searched.

The government has already declared Eelam in Vavuniya and Mannar Districts on behalf of the LTTE by this foolish act. He asks why the Tamils are harassed in this way. Don’t they have equal rights like the Sinhalese and Muslims to enjoy the freedom of visiting any place of this democratic country in any manner?

In time to come, the government may introduce passports for Tamils in these areas to produce at this check point to allow them to proceed beyond Medawachchiya.

If you want to go to Colombo from Vavuniya in your own vehicle, you can go only up to Medawachchiya, and from there, you have either to hire another vehicle from the other side (Sinhala area) at an exorbitant rate or use public transport. In the meantime, the Sinhala population in the eastern side of the check point — Kebethigollewa — enjoy the freedom of being the members of the majority community and proceed without being stopped or searched!

Many Tamils in the region curse the government for these humiliations. My friend asks me what wrong the Tamils have done to suffer such anguish. No doubt, the Tamils will automatically distance themselves from the government, and the end result will be them showing more sympathy to the LTTE.

It is the same agony the Tamils have to face even in Colombo. They are stopped and searched every 10 metres by security personnel who guard almost every Colombo street.

One has to be at this Medawachchiya Check Point to see the agony the Tamils are experiencing. In general, all Tamils are branded as terrorists and treated in the same way, not only at this check point, but also at other check points along the A-9 and Talaimannar Road.

At Medawachchiya, you have to get down from the vehicle and walk about 300 metres with your luggage to the place where you and your luggage are thoroughly checked. If the slightest suspicion is aroused, you are detained then and there pending inquiries.

At the Medawachchiya Railway Station too the security forces treat the Tamils in the same way. The Sinhalese trishaw operators at the station charge Rs. 1500 from Tamils who want to travel to Irattaperiyakulam which is 20 kms away or Rs. 400 to Medawachchiya Town — only 2 km away — to catch the Vavuniya bound buses. They charge a lesser fee from Sinhala passengers. These trishaw operators could very easily single out a Tamil, just by sight.

My friend who had to travel to Mannar to visit his daughter, has experienced and seen these hardships undergone by Tamils at the various road blocks or check points along Talaimannar Road. Every 5 kms there are army check points, and at all these places you have to get down with your luggage and walk a considerable distance.

The check point at Uyilankulam — turn off to Madhu Shrine — is nicknamed ‘The Longest Road Block in Asia’ by the general public. My friend relates that this check point is nearly half a kilometre long and one has to walk this distance with the luggage to re-embark the vehicle after the search.

People often say, in Wanni, if you travel by vehicle from one place to another, you end up walking more than the distance you ride!

Even worse, soon after the Sinhala and Hindu New Year, the army at the Kaddai Adappan road block on the Vavuniya-Mannar road — about 45 kms before Mannar — had begun checking the passengers of all Mannar bound vehicles and turned away all Tamils who did not possess National Identity Cards with Mannar addresses. Again a gross violation of fundamental rights.

Who has given authority to the army to act in such a dictatorial manner? Are we Tamils not citizens of Sri Lanka? Don’t we Tamils have the choice to go wherever we want in this country? If some Tamil from Vavuniya or Trincomalee or even from Colombo wants to visit Mannar, he is stopped and turned away at a place where there are no boutiques/shops or even a shelter. He has to wait for hours to catch a vehicle plying towards Medawachchiya to go back to his starting point.

This is the treatment meted out by the President to a section of his own fellow countrymen, who ironically helped him to become the top executive of the country by not casting their votes for Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the last presidential election — as ordered by Pirapaharan on an alleged agreement reached with the President.

My friend regrets being born a Tamil in this country, to suffer such indignities. He also pointed out, the present crisis is solely due to the fact the Tamils were treated in identical fashion some 30-40 years ago. The government does not seem to have learnt anything and the crisis will only drag on.

This letter refers to the rather revealing article in an English daily recently regarding the 20 odd Presidential advisors.

In the animal kingdom, parasites or blood suckers as they are generally known, instinctively observe the principle of extracting blood, but, not beyond limits, as it is not in their interest to over feed and kill their host, which is the source of their sustenance.

This basic principle does not seem to be observed by humans, particularly the political, administrative, and business elites of this ‘blessed’ country. They are ever ready to sap the blood of the taxpayers, and thus indirectly the blood of the poor, crying to high heaven for succour from their gods.

The media report had named 20 odd consultants who are drawing huge sums of money as salaries, fuel allowances, and telephone bills. This is in addition to the massive amounts they draw as parliamentary pensions, and some others who have already amassed millions during more prosperous times in other parties.

The report has been bold enough to give the list of the golden brains who are now serving the country by working in the Presidential Secretariat; well demonstrated by the state the country is in today.

They are according to the report: A.H.M. Azwer; Tyronne Fernando (deceased); Lakshman Jayakody; Richard Pathirana, (ex-MP); Passanna Gunawardena; Ravindra Randeniya; Ronnie de Mel; Vasudeva Nanayakkara; Sunimal Fernando; Dhammika Amarasinghe; G.W Epasinghe; Rohana Weerasinghe; Daya Hewapathirana; L.S. Wanigatunga; Chandra Ferna-ndo; Jagath Balasooriya; D.S de Silva and T.M. Sangadasa. The name of Mervyn Silva — Advisor at Large — has not been included here.

These gentleman, who represent various political parties, have succumbed to the shameful practice now in vogue — of pole-vaulting for a mess of pottage on the pretext of wanting to serve the country and being patriotic. How insightful, the man who said "Patriotism is the last resort of a scoundrel."

Now on the basis of the payments doled out to these con-sultants and advisors, a simple calculation shows that on average each of them receives approximately Rs. 73,500 per month, which is Rs. 1,470,000 per annum. Thus, the cost of maintaining 20 of them for one year totals to Rs.17,640,000.

Of course, I do understand that this is a mere fraction when we take into account the rampant waste, extravagance, and corruption by the ‘servants’ of the people.

  William Shakespeare in his play King Lear must have spoken about these men when he said "Tis the times’ plague, when madmen lead the blind."

People are shocked at the collapse of the much-vaunted ‘budget airline’ Mihin Lanka — named after the President — after one year of operations, due to bankruptcy. The loss to the state banks, tax payers and the poor workers whose ETF money were used to float the airline is said to be over Rs. 3 billion.

Those responsible cannot just resign and walk away from this fraud perpetrated on the people of this country. In my opinion the people responsible for this staggering loss are:

1. Chairman, BOI — At that time Prof. Lakshman Watawala who it is said granted approval for Mihin Lanka in 24 hours. The Aviation Authority refused approval and the head of the authority resigned from his post and took up an overseas appointment.

However Dr. Watawala meekly followed ‘orders’ and gave his approval which it is now obvious, was done without any proper evaluation of the feasibility of the airline.

Dr. Watawala is now in the process of forming an association which goes under the name "The Institute of Certified Professional Managers" of which he is the founder president. His action in granting approval for Mihin Lanka in 24 hours shows a lack of professionalism and the Ethics Committee of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka should look in to the ethics of this decision. However this is very unlikely as it is similar to asking the CID to investigate a minister.

2. The Chief Executive Officer of Mihin Lanka, Sajin Vaas Gunawardena – This gentleman has studied up to the GCE Advanced Level and has no expertise whatsoever in the airline industry. He was CEO of a company that manufactured adhesive tapes and which went into bankruptcy without settling its debts.

The persons responsible for appointing this individual to this post should also be held responsible. I hope a public interest litigation case will be filed against this individual, as directors are liable for company losses in the event of mismanagement under the new Companies Act.

3. It is reported that the Bank of Ceylon granted Temporary Overdraft (TOD) after TOD despite earlier TODs being in arrears. What kind of banking practice is this? The chairman and the general manager of the Bank of Ceylon should also be held responsible for the loss of this money. I trust the Central Bank’s director of bank supervision would take up this matter.

4.  The Treasury Secretary, P.B. Jayasundera who continuously pumped Treasury funds into this airline.

The people of this country have a right to demand a proper investigation and that the guilty parties be punished.

Pedestrians don’t have any rights even though 40 to 50% of deaths by road accidents are of pedestrians. The pavements allocated to them have been taken over by vendors and hawkers who hold prime locations with a few pieces of plank and polythene sheets.

Pavements are also used for parking of three-wheelers, motorcycles and cars. Even wayside shops have extended their store-fronts displaying their wares on the pavements adding to the obstructions. Consequently, pedestrians are compelled to compete with traffic on the main roads in a life and death game.

 The police cleared all vendors from the pavements recently on the stretch from Nugegoda High Level Road Junction to the Supermarket and made a big show of it with media attendance. After many years, pedestrians walked down those pavements without hindrance. 

But today, the vendors are back in greater strength and with bigger racks for their wares, while the police seem to be impotent and fighting a losing battle to ensure a free-flow of traffic.

 The situation is the same in Maharagama, Kottawa, Homagama and even Pettah. The police have applied only sticking-plaster solutions to the issue of increasing road accidents and blocks due to traffic congestion. They have left an important area of the problem untouched. There is none so blind as those who do not see.