5th Column

My dear Karuna,

I am writing to you because everyone is talking about you these days after certain remarks you made, saying that you are even more dangerous than the coronavirus because you had killed between 2,000 to 3,000 soldiers in one night in Elephant Pass during the Eelam war more than a decade ago.

Most people who heard that are horrified because it amounts to a confession of mass murder, but I also wondered whether you were just exaggerating or whether this could be true. In fact, it was a bit like Cheerio Sirisena saying he had signed some 21,000 documents in three days!

If we are to believe you, you would have killed at least 2,000 people in 12 hours. I am not sure how good your arithmetic is, Karuna, but it works out to about 160 people every hour, or nearly three people every minute or a murder every 20 seconds. That alone tells us whether it is true or not.

Leaving that aside, what I find interesting is how various political parties are now rushing to distance themselves from you because they fear they will lose votes because of you. In that sense, your statement is like a doosra bowled by the ‘other’ famous Muralitharan – it has bamboozled everyone!

Karuna, though what you said cannot be condoned, it is not that we thought you were a saint and you have suddenly become a sinner. We always knew you as a terrorist who was Prabhakaran’s lieutenant and that you were responsible for the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands of soldiers. That is history.

After all, you were the head of the Tigers’ Eastern wing when some 600 or more policemen who surrendered to the Tigers were brutally massacred in the Eastern Province 30 years ago. That was when Preme (Snr) was the boss. That marked the end of a ceasefire and the beginning of another war.

Almost 15 years later, you quit the Tigers. That was at the tail end of the short-lived Green party government that had entered into another ceasefire with the Tigers. At the time, the Greens claimed credit for that, citing the split between you and Prabhakaran as a major achievement.

It was however, Mahinda maama who made much better use of you. He cultivated your support, probably because he was fighting Prabhakaran at the time and believed that his enemy’s enemy should be his friend. So, he went out of his way to ensure that you were on his side.

It was during that time that you were detained in Old Blighty for travelling on a forged diplomatic passport. Testifying in court there, you said that it was given to you by Gota maama. Even if the British believed you, they pretended they didn’t and you had to serve some time in a prison there.

On your return, more rewards awaited you. Mahinda maama made sure that you were in Parliament by nominating you on the National List which is supposedly reserved for eminent citizens of Paradise. He also included you in the Cabinet, appointing you as the Minister of National Integration.

Perhaps you were also keen to show that you had given up arms and renounced violence. So, you joined the Blue party and were appointed by Mahinda maama as one of its Vice-Presidents. While all this happened, no one questioned your past activities or accused you of terrorism. We just ignored it.

You didn’t return to Parliament at the last election but this time, you want to make sure that you do. That may be why you talked about killing thousands of soldiers. Now you have put everyone in a spot and they are running away from you saying they are not linked to your politics or your party.

That, though, is not quite true, is it, Karuna? Around this time last year your political party signed an agreement with the ‘pohottuwa’ party and we saw pictures of you standing next to a beaming Mahinda maama. It is also no secret that you openly canvassed for Gota maama at the last election.

So, when the secretary of the ‘pohottuwa’ party says that they have no links with you, he is being economical with the truth. Even Mahinda maama, the smart politician that he is, found it difficult to wriggle out of this one and mumbled something about your past history being ‘nothing new’.

You may have been summoned to the Police to record a statement and a UN agency may want you investigated, but you need not worry, Karuna. After the initial fuss, we will forget all about you. By the way, knowing how intelligent we as our voters are, we are also sure to see you in the next Parliament!

Yet, Karuna, can you tell me why, 10 years after the war, politicians in the North and East have to be anti-Sinhalese to win votes, why politicians in the South have to be anti-Tamil and anti-Muslim to win votes and how sometimes these two groups can still be part and parcel of the same political alliance?

Yours truly,

Punchi Putha

PS: It is a close contest so far for who has made the stupidest remark costing votes for their party in the election campaign. Harin gets the bronze medal for criticising the Cardinal, Mahindananda gets the silver for saying a World Cup final was ‘fixed’ but you win the gold medal by a distance, Karuna!