While a section of the SLFP wants Silva to be prosecuted for leading an attack on a public institution, an influential section has disagreed, The Sunday Island learns.
Silva finished last in preferential vote terms on the party’s Colombo District list at the last parliamentary election but was appointed on the National List.
``He should be dealt with,’’ a serving minister who defected from the UNP said. ``The whole country wants it.’’
For over four hours, the government lost control of the station, an official said. Had that happened in any other country that would have signaled a military coup or a political take-over.
Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa during a meeting of the National Security Council had made this point. We learn that the government also expressed concern over the failure of law enforcement authorities to bring the situation under control for over four hours.
Police brass had acted blindly in an explosive situation with the army contributing to the mess, the sources said. It was case of law enforcers trying to negotiate with several hundred persons, the sources said.
"Take Mervin out of the picture and you get a different scene. The fact is that a minister was held hostage for over four hours in one of the most important public institutions," a senior official said. ``The rescue attempt was botched due to inept handling.’’
Although, the UNP Thursday night demanded that Silva be stripped of his ministerial portfolio and be prosecuted, the UNP, during its last tenure did nothing to discipline its members with pistol packing politicians and their sons allowed to run amok, government sources said on grounds of anonymity.
The SLFP had Silva’s wife on its National List, with some analysts saying that this was to guarantee then President Chandrika Kumaratunga of a seat in parliament if she wanted one under a new dispensation. In the event, Mrs. Mary Lucinda Silva gave her place to her husband.
SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena on Friday lashed out at Silva but by innuendo. Sirisena who had publicly advocated a tough stand against trouble-makers acknowledged that the top must set an example. Discipline, he asserted, should be restored from top to bottom and not the other way round.
Political sources said that the vast majority of the government parliamentary group wanted President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take disciplinary action against Silva and allow the Colombo Police to prosecute him but the boorish MP’s backers have made a strong case for him.
"The SLFP’s Kelaniya organizer (Silva) has influential associates," a senior public official said on condition of anonymity. ``Had the police been given a free hand, they wouldn’t have messed up the case.’’
He agreed that the local police made an obvious bid to shield the MP resulting in Colombo’s Chief Magistrate, Mr. Mohammed Macky, slamming the police for poor handling of the controversial case.
Referring to the MP’s conduct, Elmore M. Perera, President of the Organisation of Professional Associations (OPA) said, "What can you expect from a pig but a grunt."
The former Surveyor General who practiced law post-retirement, and is widely respected for his independence, noted that this was not an isolated incident. He accused the government and the top SLFP leadership of turning a blind eye to the despicable conduct of political ruffians. In fact, they, too, should be equally blamed for the general breakdown of law and order in the country, he said.
The state-controlled media too is divided over its handling of the issue. State media gurus have meekly accepted a political order that the incident should be played down. Rupavahini Chairman Ariyaratne Atugala during Thursday’s fracas called for a ``peaceful settlement.’’
A section of Rupavahini workers have accused him of siding with his political bosses who are only interested in protecting the likes of Silva. The government has directed the state media, both print and electronic, to play down the incident.
The footage of the incident had been taken by police to prevent Rupavahini from beaming it while senior management `white washers’ had taken action to censor the reports on the incident as the government wanted the story to die a natural death.
"This is nothing but censorship," a spokesman for Free Media Movement said.
ITN’s main news bulletin on Friday gave the incident which raged for hours exposure of a few seconds. Rupavahini was no better.
Media organisations accused the government of trying to portray Thursday’s violent protest against Silva as an UNP inspired campaign against the government. They said that Rupavahini’s decision to go live and invite rival media organisations, particularly Sirasa, had angered political bosses.
The JHU expressed its solidarity with Rupavahini workers on Friday when it joined a protest outside the station. The party’s decision may have been influenced by Silva’s attack on Ven. Kolonnawe Sumangala in Parliament on the day the Speaker was elected. Ven. Sumangala quit active politics immediately after that.
Police said that the arrest of a double murder suspect Mestriyage Don Nuwan Udaya Gunatilake of Nagahamulla, Kolonnawa who accompanied Silva and the presence of an influential Colombo Municipal Councillor believed to be one of the richest men in the country, besides Silva revealed the unholy alliance. The councilor tried to cover his face, but cameramen had managed to video him.
Although Silva’s gang had been armed and Silva himself was alleged to have carried a weapon and displayed it in Rupavahini Chairman’s room, police appeared to have ignored that fact.
The Island
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