And so they chose the Gampaha district to draw first blood as an activist of the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) was shot dead and another wounded. While pre-poll violence continued in the Western Province, independent election observers fear the worst is yet to come.
Nandana Balage, a long-serving JVP activist was shot dead in broad day light while involved in campaign work in the Veyangoda area on Monday. The party immediately blamed a politico from the pro-Government National Freedom Front (NFF) for the killing.
The NFF reacted fast and denied involvement in the tragedy, claiming the JVP was attempting to discredit the NFF because of its strong showing in the Gampaha district.
Meanwhile, as often happens, the police are yet to make any breakthrough in their investigations.
The JVP’s Gampaha District group leader Waruna Rajapakse said eyewitnesses, including the injured member, had identified the suspect, but little or nothing had been done.
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| JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe and Tilvyn Silva carrying the coffin of their fallen comrade Balage at the funeral in Kandy on Friday. |
The JVP frontliner said one of the main suspects, named and identified in statements to the police, continued to work at a private company in Dompe, but the police were yet to catch up with him.
The killing is the most serious incident recorded so far in the election campaign that has been plagued by violence and irregularities. What is even more disturbing is the increasing rivalry between candidates from the same party.
For example UPFA candidates are at each other in several pockets of the Western Province, the worst affected being the Gampaha district, where the rivalry has even spilled into violence that includes arson attacks on private property, death threats and intimidation.
The most prominent case was the alleged involvement of a Government MP in the abduction of a 12-year-old boy after the child’s father had decided to work for another frontline UPFA candidate from the Gampaha District.
“The court has already issued an arrest warrant for parliamentarian Sarana Gunawardene. He continues to evade arrest but at the same time he has been spotted at several places in and around Gampaha,” Mr. Rajapakse said.
In the most recent incident on Friday, assailants torched the small house of a supporter of Negombo Mayor Nimal Lanza who is also a UPFA candidate at the April 25th elections.
“This is an unprovoked attack and was carried out by persons working for another top UPFA candidate from the same district,” Mr. Lanza charged. “I don’t know whether the candidate himself was aware of the attack, but his supporters were involved,” Mr. Lanza said.
Prior to this incident this same candidate had also allegedly restricted Mr. Lanza’s campaign to certain areas of the Gampaha District.
The victim, D.W. Janith Perera, said that on the day before the attack, three people had warned him against working for the youthful mayor who is known to popular in the electorate.
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| Nandana Balage |
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| M. Muzamil |
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| Waruna Rajapakse |
Mr. Perera said there was a three-month baby in the house when the attackers torched his home. He charged that the Minuwangoda police had refused to entertain his complaint. He later lodged a complaint with the Peliyagoda Police.
Meanwhile in the Colombo district, the son of a prominent UPFA member is reportedly being targeted by his own party candidates. It is learnt that another Muslim candidate, the son of a former race baron and backed by UPFA heavyweights has been given the task to block the man’s campaign using whatever means, that include intimidation and threats.
Meanwhile, opposition sources allege that a group of notorious underworld criminals were recently bailed out of the remand prison and their services are being pressed into the UPFA campaign.
Their chief task, according to these sources, is to instill fear in the opposition and cripple its campaign.
Opposition candidates admit they are not taking any chances and are even forced to go low profile in their campaign due to the threats from the underworld.
One of the main opposition UNP’s leading Colombo district candidates, M. Muzammil has even written to the IGP asking for police protection fearing for his safety.
Mr. Muzammil said that some unidentified persons had this week even attempted to disrupt the opening of a party office in Borella where opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe was billed to attend.
“However their attempts were not successful and the office was opened as scheduled without any incident,” he said.
Mr. Muzamil said similar threats were also being received by party organizers throughout the Colombo district. “However their strategies will not work and the UNP will come on top at the elections,” he claimed.
Polls monitoring group CaFFE chief Keerthi Tenakoon said there was another frightening trend – the increasing rivalry between candidates from the same party for preferential votes.
He said such “home-and-home” incidents were reported from all three districts in the Western Province with the main battleground being the UPFA.
A total of 63 pre-poll-related incidents have been recorded. The incidents include, murder, armed assault, damage to property, arson, threats and other forms of intimidation.
Most of the complaints were received from the opposition, while there appears to be a concerted effort to target the JVP as was the case in the previous elections, Mr. Tenakoon said.
Family demands justice
By A G Wickremasinghe
Nandana Kusum Balage was an active member of the JVP for 14 years and contested three local elections.
His grieving wife Swarnanathilaka said her husband was educated in Passara and followed a course at the technical College Badulla from where he joined the Navy training college in Trinco to follow another course and thereafter was employed on ships.
Balage, a father of a one and half year old child was residing at Walala in Menikhinna.
A family member said that party politics today lacked the freedom of choice to serve in a party of one’s liking and such incidents should not be allowed to happen again.
He demanded that those responsible for the killing be brought to justice. |
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