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Harsher than Luftwaffe
Mandarins in the Ministry of Defence may be unaware. But all is not well in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF). Officer cadres are up in arms against tough and unprecedented measures a powerful man has introduced.

One such move relates to the use of official cars assigned to officers. Their wives or children are forbidden from travelling. Not even in an emergency. The only exception is if they are to be dropped off in an Air Force office or picked up from there.

One officer who was on an official assignment abroad found his car "gated in," as they call it in the SLAF. That meant the car cannot be used until his return. The same fate befell another senior officer holding a high position.

Unfortunately, the wife of one of the victims found the powerful man's order had placed her in a predicament. Her young son fell victim to dengue and had to be hospitalised. In desperation she rushed out of the camp and pleaded with a private vehicle owner for help.

That was how she took her child to hospital before it was too late. The thought of her husband, who like his colleagues had sworn allegiance to uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, not being by her side is bad enough.

But imagine being forced to be at the mercy of a kind private vehicle owner to save her own son's life?

A Senior officer says that never before in the 53 year history of the SLAF has this happened. Worse enough, they say that their colleagues in the Army and Navy not to mention the Police enjoy the privilege of taking their kith and kin in their official vehicles to wherever they please.

One irate senior hand remarked that the harsh measures forced on them never existed even during Hitler's Luftwaffe.
There is also a strange paradox to this story.
The powerful man enforcing these tough and demoralising measures has a fleet of more than 20 vehicles - Mercedes Benz, Mitsubishi Pajero, luxury cars and double cabs to name a few.
It is time MoD bosses take a look at the sordid state of affairs at the SLAF.

How come?
Two notable absentees at last Tuesday's National Security Council meeting were Prime Minister, Mahinda Rajapakse and Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar. Close aides to both said they had not been told of the meeting.

The full time VIP
A probe is under way to ascertain how a former official attached to the Bandaranaike International Airport received VIP treatment.
As one official explained, he landed, walked up to the luggage bay picked up his bags and taxied his way through the VIP lounge.
It seems a case of once a VIP being always a VIP.

Just deserts soon
The matter came up at a closed door session by those in the higher echelons of power. It was the conduct of a top cop, known well for not acting on any documentation reaching his desk.

They talked of framing charges against him for criminal negligence. He is said to have not taken any action to prevent an official decree from being brought into the public domain. It was decided that they should wait till an official probe now under way is over.

The DFI job
A man in uniform quit his posting as an intelligence sleuth in a Sri Lankan mission in the west to pursue higher studies. He was not only lucky to find a placement but also found a means of earning some money. That was through a private assignment for the intelligence agency of a host country interested very much in Tiger guerrilla activity.

Now comes news that he also wants to be a candidate to become the head of the Directorate of Foreign Intelligence (DFI), a post that will fall vacant this month.

Alia erred in his reference last week to the present head of the DFI, Pat Swaris. He is not a Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) due to go on retirement.

He retired as a Superintendent of Police and was employed in a Colombo export-import firm. A UPFA offical now holding a top slot in the defence establishment helped him join the DFI. He has been told to quit his post this month.

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