THE REAL CRY NOT HEARD IN THE BANG, BANG ON BAN
Those who visited their kith and kin during the recent New Year holidays in the North on their return to Colombo said people in Jaffna were hurting and wounded. These words have to be seen in the context of today’s Sri Lanka.
From the urban poor we hear that in places like Wanathamulla even recently constructed houses have been destroyed. Those working with the urban poor say that Urban Development is unfortunately connected with Defence and therefore the work of demolishing houses is done under the supervision of the Defence Secretary and security forces personnel.Colombo’s prime land is being sold and apartments to be built will cost the buyer several millions. According to Sri Lanka’s Transparency International in the areas of bribery and corruption, Sri Lanka is moving towards a record high meaning that big people in high places are making big money on most transactions.
It has also been reported that there is a party political agenda in most of what is being done in Colombo because the urban poor have traditionally voted for today’s main opposition party. With the people of Wanathamulla being shifted to Avissawella and Homagama, Colombo’s political equation will significantly change.
As a former Peradeniya don now in Australia has been saying for a long time it is not only the minorities in Jaffna that are wounded and hurting. Although the Housing Minister claims or boasts that houses are being constructed for the poor and Sri Lanka is supposed to be a country well known in the international arena for looking after its people and their housing needs, the war victims are still languishing in camps and in tents in the Wanni.
Amid the wounds and the hurting, Sri Lanka is home to four major religions and many Marxist groups. Against this backdrop and the 18th Amendment in operation it can be summarized that most religious leaders have joined the caravan which is now heading towards Hambantota.
In the midst of this reality our people are hooked into Bollywood, or Hollywood, the royal wedding and the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket. So they may tell the wounded and hurting people in Sri Lanka what a former Queen of France is believed to have said that if there is no bread eat cake.
With the continuing euphoria of May 2009 and the recent World Cup it seems there is little possibility of government VIPs being concerned much about the hurting and the wounded people in the post-New Year Sri Lanka. The government is now mobilizing its forces to fight the United Nations, the United States, their allies and the Diaspora. Then what kind of redemption can the wounded and hurting people in Sri Lanka look forward to?
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