By Granville Perera –

Madame Shiranthi and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa grieved for their son with tears in their eyes when Yoshitha was remanded. He has been incarcerated on financial irregularities, money laundering and other charges of breach of Navy rules during the previous presidency. Yoshitha’s arrest (hopefully) should be just the beginning of the Rajapaksa tears, as the “shit has begun to hit the fan”.

Little do the Rajapaksas realize that there was a family and nation who loved Wasim Thajudeen, the St. Thomas’, Havelocks and Sri Lanka rugby player as much as they do, their notorious sons? There has been widespread speculation that Wasim Thajudeen did not meet an accidental death, and that the Police and the investigating officials including the doctors who performed the autopsy have faulted on purpose, under executive pressure. The claims of CCTV footage and autopsy reports that existed have suddenly vanished into thin air. The phone recordings and data that Dialog Axiata had presented to courts after many years of denial seem to be “top secret”. Captain Tissa, and the Carlton land rovers that were suspected of involvement in the Thajudeen murder have vanished. ‘Captain Tissa’, a military officer, a confidante of the Rajapaksa family had functioned as a driver and food taster of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Eyewitnesses, who gave evidence to the Police during investigations, had seen an individual similar to ‘Captain Tissa’ at the scene of the alleged accident in which Thajudeen was killed. The Colombo Additional Magistrate has already observed that the rugby player’s death was not an accident, but a possible murder. The CID had stated that they received information that ‘Captain Tissa’ had come in one of the two Defenders that was seen at the scene of the crime. It is rumoured that Captain Tissa is hiding in one of the army camps or protected by army personnel loyal to Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the former retired Army officer and Secretary of Defense. It is feared that he will find his way to India through a sea route and vanish.

The worst suspicion is that the arrest of Navy Lieutenant and an aide-de-camp to the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Yoshitha Rajapaksa on charges of financial crimes instead of other criminal charges that are pending against them is due to a deal that President Maithripala had made with the Rajapaksas.

President Maithripala Sirisena is desperate to ward off any challenge by Mahinda Rajapaksa to his Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), fearing that they would be placed fourth in the upcoming local government elections if there were a split in the SLFP. There is no doubt that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s breakaway group would be placed second or third with the JVP showing good signs of a comeback in a four cornered contest between the UNP, SLFP, the Mahinda Clan and the JVP. The UNP would then enjoy a landslide and Sirisena’s legitimacy as the leader of the SLFP would be dented if his lot were pushed to the 4th place. So, is the arrest of Yoshitha Rajapaksa for financial crimes a part of the political wheeler dealing of President Maithripala Sirisena to save the Rajapaksas from the gallows in return for total control of the SLFP?

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe too has huge debts to repay the Presidency of the Rajapaksa including laying of asphalt on the road to Sirikotha, when a breakaway group of the UNP attempted a coup and the many cups of black coffee that he had had with President Rajapaksa at Temple Trees.

The little brat, Rohitha Rajapaksa was probably thinking that the past year was just a dream when he screamed in arrogance “You just stood on the tail of the lion, now don’t expect the lion, not to rip u in to parts.” The shit coward who assaulted a rugby referee with a contingent of presidential security commandos needs to be brought to justice for this attack. The Rajapaksa sons are dangerous to earthlings, going by the way they behaved during the Rajapaksa rule. I suggest that President Maithripala Sirisena and the Prime Minister ask for a contra kickback from the Chinese to approve the port city project and ship Rohitha Rajapaksa on his dream voyage to the moon, never to return to our paradise.

Mahinda Rajapaksa failed miserably in his foray into films as an actor, but performed brilliantly as a political star, surpassing probably even Ronald Reagan, the actor elevated to the USA Presidency. His charm and charisma is undoubtedly brilliant. His hugging babies and cuddling the elderly made him one of the most admired and loved politicians in the recent history of Sri Lanka. His political leadership to end the scourge of terrorism needs to be acknowledged. His sibling, Gotabaya’s unwavering support to the armed forces to walk the last mile also needs to be acknowledged. Gotabaya’s leadership in city planning that transformed a mere flood control programme in to beautiful walkways, jogging tracks and beautification of cities too should be recognized. Basil Rajapaksa’s brilliance in resettling the 300,000 refugees from the final stages of the war has no parallel anywhere in the world. The development of the road network, and other development programs undertaken by the Rajapaksa regime needs to be recorded in history. Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was the architect of most of these development initiatives during his premiership between December 2001 to April 2004 has never been acknowledged.

However the Rajapaksa greed for power failed them to be recorded in history as the leadership that changed the course of history in Sri Lanka. They had the opportunity to establish long term reconciliation between the communities after the end of the war in 2009, as the nation was grateful for the military victory and the Rajapaksas would not have been accused of betraying the country. They failed miserably on this count.

The wheels of Karma have just begun to turn for the Rajapaksas. Their wealth, nepotism, abuse of power, murders and other excesses need to be accounted for. Our nation discarded them on January 8th 2015 for the total abuse of the Presidential powers. Now, the people want them to be brought to justice, and the Sirisena and Wickremesinghe government would fail in their obligation to the Sri Lankan nation if they digress from their obligations. So, Justice has to take its course so that the political leadership, current or future will not repeat the Rajapaksa sins.