Odds & Ends

Are some publicists in the Foreign Ministry conducting the fine art of diplomacy only through the media? So it seems judging by the chuckles of laughter at the office of a US Senator in Washington over an IANS news report.

The Colombo date-lined report had quoted Ravinatha Ariyasinha, the Director General of Communications as saying that the US exemption on the supply of maritime, aerial surveillance and communications equipment was due to the ‘sustained efforts by Foreign Minister Rohita Bogollagama and the Sri Lankan mission in Washington.’ An aide to Senator Patrick Leahy was asked about the report by a Washington based US journalist. His response: "Senator Patrick Leahy exempted certain surveillance and communications equipment because he does not want the Sri Lanka Government's ability to interdict weapons destined for the LTTE to be impeded in any way by restrictions on US military aid relating to the Government's performance on human rights. He did not discuss these exemptions with Sri Lankan officials." It was Senator Leahy who moved the amendments to the Appropriation Act for 2008 that stopped the supply of military equipment to Sri Lanka under the Foreign Operations and Related Programmes. Even the exemptions, the US Department of State has made clear, would be on a case by case basis.

One of the oft repeated definitions of diplomats speaks of their having to lie for their country abroad. Going by what Senator Leahy's aide said things seem to have changed. Diplomats lie in their own country too. That is not all. They even repeat, without any thought, what others want them to say. Little wonder some have acquired the epithet ‘diplo mutt.’

The top cop, not that much in the limelight now, had a gala wedding anniversary bash. The cards that were sent out not only declared the dress code but also the glitzy venue that would bring anyone to the edge of their chair. Only the one hundred invitees had access to the event. As one guest said there was very little water that flowed. It was Black Label, champagne and choice wines. As one wag remarked "there was plenty, like the water at Diyawanna Oya." The talking point in police circles is whether it was "done for or by summa."

President Mahinda Rajapaksa was asked by some scribes when they met at a luncheon at Temple Tress yesterday if he would accept whatever report is handed over to him by the APRC.“How can I say that without first seeing the Report. What if they ask me to resign,” the President quipped to the amusement of those gathered around.

Remember the public outcry after a hasty foundation stone laying at an almost hidden location near the Colombo Public Library to place the statue of Sri Lanka’s much loved assassinated Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar on August 12 last year on the second anniversary of his killing.

It led to authorities agreeing to erect it on the grounds of the spacious Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute of International Relations and Strategic Studies. But since then nothing of the sort had been done, not even a pedestal has been constructed for the purpose. To add insult to injury Mr. Kadirgamar’s statue has been left there lying prostrate on the ground.

Foreign office boys say someone must be wanting to erect his own statue first. They are asking the President to intervene and do justice to the memory of the late Mr.Kadirgamar. Meanwhile, all Independence Day celebrations of the Ministry have been shifted to the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, which has been turned into the virtual Ministry when it was meant to be something else.

The Government’s attempt to set up neighborhood vigilance committees around the country to combat terror apparently has run into a police road block from rotten khaki coats entrenched in certain divisions. According to khaki coats themselves this is evident from lack of enthusiasm shown by police in some areas. The bad eggs in the force fear the vigilance committees may put their noses into links they have with the underworld, which bring them handsome rewards under the table.