Turncoats Of LTTE & Traitors In Media

| by Pearl Thevanayagam
(August ! "#$! %radford &'! (ri Lan)a *uardian+ The former ,rocurer of LTTE
-ea,ons 'umaran Pathmanathan is no- a benevolent custodian of an or,hanage in
.anni and is succoured by none other than *otabhaya /a0a,a)sa1 2earts bleed at the
thought of this terrorist turned humanitarian1
Inter,ol is after him and he is a much -anted man internationally for his many
nefarious activities but defense secretary and brother of the ,resident *otabhaya
/a0a,a)sa is shielding him li)e a cluc)ing hen for reasons -hich beg belief and
rationale1
'P did not have much time to en0oy his stay in 3isum,aya! formerly )no-n as
Ac)lands 2ouse -hich is a ,osh mansion o,,osite 4argills 5ood 4ity in &nion Place
4olombo1 It -as once the official residence of Prime Minister (irimavo %andaranai)e
and Prof *1 L1 Peiris and his secretary Mani)de-ela -hile the former -as minister for
constitutional affairs under President 'umaratunga1 4abinet media ,ress briefings too
-ere held -ee)ly at this mansion during 'umaratunga administration1
*otabhaya thought it -as too much to )ee, 'P in such comfort since it -ould be ,retty
costly even for a man -ho he thought might direct LTTE funds stashed abroad
including in (-iss %an) into government coffers1 .hether 'P did this is a moot ,oint1
'P admits he came from a humble fisher6fol) bac)ground and that his rise to stardom
as LTTE ,rocurer of -ea,ons cata,ulted him into ,rominence1 Psychologically he
-ould resent his humble beginnings and the benevolence sho-n by the government
-ould boost his ego but at -hat cost1 Once *otabhaya realises he is a s,ent force he
-ould become a dish rag and dis,ensed -ith ,ost6haste1
'P has the morals of an alley cat and he under-ent ,lastic surgery adding to -hich he
has a Thai -ife stashed a-ay some-here1 The most des,icable intervie- a fe- days
ago is that of 71%1(1 8eyara0 -ho e9horted 'P and genuflected before him -hile hailing
*otabhaya as a saviour of Tamil or,hans be:ueathed under 'P1
'aruna and Pillayan! defectors of LTTE! are no- ,rominent ,oliticians in the
/a0a,a)sa *overnment1 At least 7ouglas 7evananda never claimed to be an LTTE
su,,orter but has -on the confidence of successive governments and is ma)ing
,ractical strides in develo,ing ;orth -hich the incumbent ;P4 (;orthern Provincial
4ouncil+ has failed citing lac) of funds and over6riding authority of governor and his
interference in administration1
2o-ever! his com,licity in -hite van abductions -hich is a serious crime -ould ma)e
,eo,le 0ittery ho- his demeanour and allegiance -ould serve the Tamils1 Although he
sho-s sym,athy -ith the Tamils and dances to the tune of the government to -in
rights for Tamils! he has yet to ,rove himself that he does not ta)e advantage of his
,o-er in the government to mete out ,ro0ects such sand mining contracts to his
su,,orters! interfering in &niversity administration a)a the /a0a,a)sas1 This is -hen
he -ould lose his su,,ort among the Tamil ,olity1
7evananda needs to -i,e the slate clean and -ith his e9,erience in ,olitics he should
and must ma)e ,eace -ith ;P4 thereby deriving -isdom and )no-ledge from 4M
.ignes-aran and /1(ambanthan and the rest of T;A stal-arts such as Mavai
(enathira0a should he genuinely -ish to serve the Tamils1
7es,ite his militant ,ast he is a man -ho gets to the nitty6gritty of ground reality and
gets on -ith the 0ob of rebuilding and renovating the -ar6ravaged ,eninsula1 And he
has the su,,ort of the government1
That 'P -as instrumental in the carnage -hich )illed almost a hundred civilians -ho
died in the 4entral %an) bomb attac) in <<= and other suicide bombings in LTTE
orchestrated attac)s in the (outh not to mention the cumulative retaliation by
government security forces against innocent civilians in the ;orth is conveniently
shielded and mas)ed by *otabhaya -hose only aim is to get the LTTE stash of funds
secreted abroad through 'P1
Even Piraba)aran )e,t the media at arm>s length and he never for once too) 7%( into
his confidence1 2e shunned him since he had a ,remonition this maveric) -ould
betray Tamils one day and he -ould not hesitate to feather his o-n nest at any cost as
-e are -itnessing today1
That LTTE funds are no- in the hands of the many foreign agents Piraba)aran
entrusted -ith and are no- en0oying the s,oils is lost on the government1 *otabhaya
has a ho,e in hell of getting even a fraction of LTTE funds1
2o- lo- can 7%( stoo, to and ho- much he is being ,aid by the /a0a,a)sas begs the
:uestion -hether Tamils needs enemies -hen you have media ,im,s such as 7%( -ho
-ould sell their souls for a mess of ,ottage in their doting age -ho do not earn a living
-age in their second homes but scrounge on fello- Tamils1 /umours are abound 7%(
is being courted by the government and his 0ourney to (ri Lan)a -as facilitated and
funded by *otabhaya1
Even 7ushyanthi 'anagasaba,athi,illai -ho 7%( claims is a friend has sto,,ed
contributing to 7%( -ebsite realising the charlatan he is1
The bottom line for the Tamils is they need to shed their differences and unite so as
not to allo- the central government to ,it one ,olitical ,arty against another and have
its o-n -ay of creating rifts and not granting their rights such as ? A and beyond
-hich -ould address Tamil grievances1
The government is badly in need of mustering su,,ort among %uddhist hardliners
such as the mad mon) *nanasara and it is u, to the minorities to 0oin forces and meet
these racist elements head6on1
&nited -e stand@ divided -e fall1
(The -riter has been a 0ournalist for "= years and -or)ed in national ne-s,a,ers as
sub6editor! ne-s re,orter and ne-s editor1 (he -as 4olombo 4orres,ondent for Times
of India and has contributed to .all (treet 8ournal -here she -as on -or) e9,erience
from The *raduate (chool of 8ournalism! &4 %er)eley! 4alifornia1 4urrently residing
in &' she is also co6founder of E8; (E9iled 8ournalists ;et-or)+ &' in "##= the
membershi, of -hich is "## from $# countries1 (he can be reached at
,earlthevaAhotmail1com+
Posted by Thavam