Rata Yana Ayata Deiyo Saarkki!
HE decided to take a stroll through the streets of Colombo quite early in the morning just a day before the big Summit, à la President Premadasa who back in 1991 was micro-managing the entire operation when Sri Lanka hosted the Summit. To his utter dismay he found two glaring faux pas. The first was glitches in several large hoardings erected around the conference venue. He moved into immediate action by calling for the removal of some and changes to be made in some others. The errors included prominence given to some SAARC observers over member states. "Kavuda maywa supervise kaley?" he thundered.
"Sir ara langadi middle east ratakata yana thanaapathi kenek" responded an aide. "Hondai, mama balaagannang ko!", replied HE. Thereafter, when the meeting hall is checked, HE is told that the Tamil script of the banner is full of errors. "Kavuda mayka supervise kaley?" an irate HE questions. "Sir, ara langadi europay ratakata yana thanapathi kenek" responds an aide. "I say, eyaata may baasawa puluwan neyda?.....hondai mama balaagannag ko." Aides around the HE whispers, "Rata yana ayata nang deiyo saarki!!"
DPL games!
The Foreign Ministry is investigating several cases of "conduct unbecoming"—- involving corruption, thuggery and sexual shenanigans-- in some of Sri Lanka's diplomatic missions overseas.
A deputy head of mission, with the rank of minister, in a West European capital has been recalled home after he threatened to shoot the head of mission and shouted at him in foul language.
A second senior diplomat, also with the rank of minister, has been recalled for black-marketeering duty-free liquor in an oil-blessed Middle East country where alcohol fetches premium prices because it is officially banned.
"He purchased enough duty-free alcohol to supply the entire diplomatic community in that country," a Foreign Ministry source told The Sunday Times.
A third diplomat, a consular officer in a Western European capital, has been faulted for returning home after leaving behind his entire family (who had earned a special category visa status due to the academic achievements of the son).
Judging by a past track record, the Ministry is also aware of a "precedent" set by a senior head of mission whose family has continued to remain overseas (while the envoy returned to Sri Lanka recently).
A husband-and-wife diplomatic couple voluntarily returned home sometime ago because "they could no longer work" with the head of mission in a non-European capital.
The envoy, a political appointee, is a close relative of a VVIP in Colombo.
Get another PK
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogallagama, who has a strained relationship with his Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, has assigned some of the most crucial tasks in the ministry, including overall charge of the SAARC summit, to Prasad Kariyawasam, who returned home last week after his tenure as Permanent Representative to the UN.
"A great ploy by Bogols," says one foreign ministry wag. "How do you check a PK? Get another PK."
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