The Joint Opposition these days appear to be obsessed with the underworld. Some of its members make statements that are an insult to the intelligence of the ordinary public while others speak as if they were born into this world after January 2015. These elements speak as if the underworld was a phenomenon that came into existence with the advent of the Yahapalanaya government and before that the people lived in a blissful nirvana with no marauder stalking them.
JO Moneragala District parliamentarian Pathma Udayashantha Gunasekera raised an Oral Question in parliament on Tuesday directed at Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wanting him to clarify a newspaper report that a government minister had recruited four underworld figures as his bodyguards. The Premier in his customary style, rising to the bait, queried as to what right had the JO to speak about the underworld when they could not even take legal action against Pradeshiya Sabha members who raped foreign women. “You were the people who protected rogues, underworld leaders and rapists. You could not remove even the Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman who raped many women. How can you speak like this and what right have you to point the finger at us”? the PM asked. He however said action would be taken against any minister found to be protecting underworld leaders and that he had issued directions to the police to make inquiries in this regard and also ascertain the veracity of the news report and its source.
Meanwhile, Law and Order State Minister Nalin Bandara Jayamaha said the government would soon reveal to the country a list of underworld leaders who attended the weddings of powerful politicians of the former government.
Like the Premier noted, the functionaries of the Rajapaksa regime are the last persons who can point the finger at the present government where protecting underworld leaders are concerned. It was common knowledge at the time that well known underworld figures Wambotta and Julampitiye Amare, just to name two, operated with the full patronage of the Rajapaksas. Wambotta of course perished, shortly after spilling the beans, killed, by what most believe to be a government hit squad, while the latter is still at large.
The hands of the police were tied in the face of the murders and other grave crimes committed by the duo, due to their connections to the very top. Ditto for the Tangalle Pradeshiya Sabha Chairman and his gang who caused the death of a British national and raped his fiance. But for the intervention of the British authorities, this murder too would have found its place into the long list of unsolved crimes in this country. The Deraniyagala PS Chairman who is now serving a life sentence for the murder of the Noori Estate Manager too would have gone scot-free if not for the high profile nature of the killing. Another underworld figure from the south who was also a Chairman of a Pradeshiya Sabha and got himself killed by a rival member of the underworld was posthumously honoured by the visit to his home of the former President to pay his respects.
Hence, it was clear that the underworld figures were handpicked by the Rajapaksas to be Chairmen of local authorities so that they could muscle their way in obtaining votes to keep the former leaders in power forever. It would be no exaggeration to say that the local government leaders owed their appointments to being underworld figures themselves, to perpetuate Rajapaksa rule.
Not just at local government level, this phenomenon was also witnessed at national level. A Colombo district parliamentarian who was a well known drug distributor, with the underworld in his pocket, was made the Monitoring MP for Defence. This worthy was also appointed to nurse an electorate in the Colombo suburbs which would soon turn out to be a hub in the drugs trade. It was also well known that the clash between the underworld commandeered by this politician and that which was led by a Presidential Advisor, no less, it was that culminated in the murder of the latter, on the day of the local government election in 2011. Hence, the underworld at the time was not just protecting ministers, but had links to the very top, by association.
In fact, during the Rajapaksa era, there was no need for an underworld, to get the dirty work done. The underworld was then clothed in respectability, with men in khaki uniform filling this role admirably. The revelations made in the questioning of former members of the security forces, now in custody, reveal the whole sordid tale of how special units manned by the military in Colombo did the bidding of those at the helm of power in abducting Tamils in white vans for ransom and carrying out attacks on journalists opposed to the government. The underworld, of course, operated in the shadows, but these units went about their business with impunity secure in the protection that was forthcoming. Proceedings in the specials courts, now about to commence sessions, would hopefully shed more light on the whole operation and the masterminds exposed.
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