By Lal Wickrematunge –

Lal Wickrematunge

“The clock of life is wound but once,

and no man has the power to tell when the hands will stop,

at late or an early hour.

Now is the only time you own.

Live, love, toil with a will.

Place no faith in time.

For the clock may soon be still.”

That may well be true, if the cycle of life is allowed to take it’s full course . But, it was the vile man ( men) who went against the natural order to stop the hands from turning, to snuff out the full cycle of Lasantha running it’s course.

Time and again, it has proven that no man can alter the course of nature and continue to do so, with impunity. Pay back will come at a time when it is least expected to those who take it upon themselves to mock at the natural order of life. Man’s biggest aphrodisiac AND failure, is man’s continued power over other man. One will always be followed by the other. Men become no more than wild animals when power is bestowed in disproportionate doses. It requires education and a large dose of breeding to stay away from falling prey. None of which is evident amongst our present crop of rulers. If there was a semblance of it, all those journalists who have been killed, assaulted, abducted and forced to flee would have had the full force of justice with them.

The timing, of the wheels of justice moving at this late stage into the killing of the students in Trincomalee, reeks of opportunism. Was CHOGM the catalyst? Would these fail in court? Would the government want the forces to be demoralised , however warped that kind of thinking may be?  A rational thought process given the track record thus far.

To justify actions that are populist, simply on the basis of appealing or shaping the minds of the less educated has disastrous repercussions in the long term. Sections of the educated class with easy access to the powers that be, may well believe “it’s now or never” to pile up tainted money which seemingly propel them to an assumed plane in society. The standards of which appeal only to those who think alike. This shortsighted approach will leave their progeny to deal with a nation where survival will depend on patronage and muscle.

Hark back to the immediate aftermath of Lasantha’s killing. From the highest in the land to those tasked with carrying out their bidding, promised to unravel and bring to justice the perpetrators AND those who initiated such murder to book. The politician tasked with mouthing the regime’s official position made a solemn promise before a collective gathering of the media that this murder will be solved within three months!! That was in the first quarter of 2009!! maybe that was the ploy to deal with the situation at the time. Sri Lankans forget. Politicians know that.

It’s no secret that those in power know exactly how Lasantha was done in. In any other self respecting nation the words thus far uttered in relation to Lasantha’s murder, by “those in the know” would surmount to circumstantial evidence. Not in this pseudo “Thrice Blessed” nation. The President’s brother was the target of LTTE terrorists and escaped without harm, fortunately. He was driven to Temple Trees, where a relieved President was seen hugging his brother. That was a very emotional moment. A natural feeling in any human being towards a sibling.Lasantha however, did not survive. I feel similarly about my brother. That too is natural. Or is it?