5th Column

Apey Mahanayake hamuduruwaney,

I thought of writing to you after seeing that you had written to Uncle Ranil requesting that Gnanasara hamuduruwo be offered a pardon. Reading that letter, hamuduruwaney, I am convinced that you must have been misinformed by someone because the reality is quite different from what your letter states.

One of the main reasons cited in that letter is that Gnanasara hamuduruwo worked for national unity. I am not sure how you came to that conclusion. Gnanasara hamuduruwo may have an impressive list of achievements to his credit, but I honestly don’t think he can list fostering ‘national unity’ among them!

If you are uncertain about what I say, hamuduruwaney, all you have to do is to have a look at some of the speeches he has made in the past. They are all available for anyone to look up. If you do that, then you will realise that what Gnanasara hamuduruwo has done is anything but fostering national unity.

I would refer you particularly to events that occurred 10 years ago at Dharga Town in Kalutara. There was a dispute between two parties who happened to be from the Sinhala and Muslim communities. This was escalating into a situation where tensions were high. The area was becoming a tinderbox.

That is when Gnanasara hamuduruwo arrived at the scene. Instead of trying to douse the simmering unrest, he made a fiery speech to the crowds that had gathered. In this country, we have Sinhala Police and a Sinhala Army, so if a hand is laid on a single Sinhalese, that will be their end, he declared.

It did become the end for at least four people who died in the rioting that followed. Many others were injured and hundreds of properties were damaged. A curfew had to be imposed for three days to bring the unrest under control. Does this qualify as ‘working for national unity’, apey hamuduruwaney?

This is not Gnanasara hamuduruwo’s only ‘achievement’. He has a list of them. Other communities are not his only target. There was an incident when he stormed into a press conference held by another monk, threatened him in language that will make our MPs blush, and took over the briefing.

Gnanasara hamuduruwo had to eat humble pie then. He pleaded guilty to trespassing and was ordered to pay compensation. He was also issued a stern warning not to repeat such behaviour. However, it appears that such warnings have little effect on him. He was soon offending not once, but twice.

First, there was the time when Gnanasara hamuduruwo decided to take on the Homagama Magistrate and began shouting at him in open court, disrupting proceedings in a case involving a missing journalist. He was again found guilty of contempt of court and sentenced to six years imprisonment.

One would have thought this would serve as a deterrent but even on that occasion, we understand you wrote to the Buddha Sasana minister who asked Aiyo Sirisena to grant a pardon. Aiyo Sirisena readily obliged and Gnanasara hamuduruwo was free after serving 10 months of a six-year sentence.

That reprieve allowed Gnanasara hamuduruwo to join the nationalistic bandwagon, promoting Gota maama for the top job. When Gota maama won, he was rewarded, being appointed to head the ‘One Country, One Law’ task force. He would have liked it to be ‘One Country, One Religion’ instead!

Some said that Gota maama’s idea was a masterstroke, similar to making the rowdiest child in the class, the ‘class monitor’. Gnanasara hamuduruwo was heard saying that, when his job was done, we will all be under one law. Still, like many of Gota maama’s other projects, this too yielded nothing.

Apey hamuduruwaney, you know much more than I do about ‘karma’ and how it catches up with one’s actions of the past. This is probably what happened recently to Gnanasara hamuduruwo. He was again sentenced to four years in prison for making disparaging comments about another religion.

It is not unusual for someone to be sent to jail repeatedly, but it is unusual for someone to be pardoned repeatedly. We have heard of serial offenders but we haven’t heard of serial pardons. So, isn’t the dignity of the very high offices you hold at risk, when you request this pardon, apey hamuduruwaney?

Besides, among the many things messed up by Gota maama is the process of granting pardons. His pardon to his former ‘monitoring’ MP Duminda has already been overturned by the highest court in the land. A pardon granted by Aiyo Sirisena to another convicted murderer is also being challenged.

I don’t know whether you are aware, but even the pardon granted to Gnanasara hamuduruwo by Aiyo Sirisena to is now being challenged in the highest court in the land. So, Uncle Ranil, being much more astute in these matters than Aiyo Sirisena, will do nothing about your request, apey hamuduruwaney!

Awasarai hamuduruwaney,

Punchi Putha

PS: Gnanasara hamuduruwo led the ‘One Country, One Law’ task force which he said he believed in. If so, surely, there can’t be one law for ‘ordinary’ citizens who are punished when they offend, and another law for Gnanasara hamuduruwo who is pardoned whenever he commits an offence!