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Parliament, once condemned as a home for the aged, assumed a new countenance on Tuesday the 3rd, as a Montessori for those hardly out of their political bassinets.

But, quite apart from the initial fumbles and shambles of the newly initiated, Diyawanna’s waters glistened with hope that from the mouths of babes, the truth would come out.

The political rhetoric, repeated ad nauseam on the pre-election stage, found a new echo within the chamber’s august walls as ministers and new MPs blew the lid off the previous government’s odious record. What had begun as a debate on President Anura Kumara’s maiden throne speech soon digressed into a verbal riot when the spectre of terrorism raised its tail again.

Lanka’s economic debacle, which had dominated past debates, took a back seat when the fiery issue of the propriety of commemorating Tiger leader Prabhakaran’s birth anniversary last week took centre stage.

Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala laid the ground rules when he declared the following day that, “while people had the right to hold ceremonies to commemorate their deceased relatives, displaying LTTE flags or logos was prohibited, as the LTTE remained a banned organisation.”

Apart from 10 such incidents where LTTE flags and symbols were displayed, there were, he said, “some individuals involved in spreading false posts on social media includinh a defeated candidate from the New Democratic Front. This is an attempt to undermine the nation’s peace and unity, and we will not tolerate such divisive actions.”

ALL POLL ROADS LEAD TO DIYAWANNA HOME: While the North remembers the fallen dead, parliament buzz revolves around terrorism’s spectre haunting again

They weren’t. Even before he had spoken in Parliament of zero tolerance for posting video footage and photographs of Maveerar commemorations to honour Prabhakaran’s death, the police had already nabbed four suspects, including the defeated NDF candidate. They were all charged under the Terrorism Act and produced before the Colombo Magistrate this week.

However, the Colombo Magistrate released all the suspects on bail on the basis that the charges they faced under the heinous Act applied to perpetrators of the illegal act and not to its messengers. In the words of Colombo’s Additional Magistrate Ratnayake: “Don’t shoot the messenger.”

The Jaffna district MP Archchuna, who had stolen the President’s limelight at Parliament’s inaugural session by appearing before Parliament had begun and creating a stupid fuss about his right to sit on any seat he wished, desperately attempted—on the first day of the throne speech debate—again to steal Parliament’s thunder by claiming he had been assaulted within parliament itself.

Giving full throat, Archchuna loudly claimed—perhaps for all Jaffna to hear—that when he went to the Opposition Leader’s Office, he had been assaulted by SJB MP Sujith Sanjaya Perera.

Archchuna alleged, “I went to the Opposition Leader’s Office around 2:30 today to inquire about the time allocated to me to address the House tomorrow. They said at 4 pm. I asked them how they could unilaterally decide for me because I am a party leader. They told me to ask a person named Sujith, since they took the final decision. When I asked the person called Sujith, he assaulted me. If this can happen inside Parliament, how can we go on the roads?’

The SJB MP, whom Archchuna alleged had assaulted him, completely denied the charge. Sujith Sanjaya Perera told reporters, “He came and used abusive and inappropriate language. But I didn’t assault him.”

The second day of the throne speech debate proved even worse.

Archchuna, who had, shortly after taking the Sixth Amendment oath whereby he swore not to “support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage, or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka,” elevated Tiger leader Prabhakaran—who had espoused, financed, promoted, encouraged, and not merely advocated but actively waged a ruthless terrorist war for 30 years to establish on northern soil in Sri Lanka a separate state of Eelam—to the heights of divinity, declared he worshipped Prabhakaran as his personal god, and cocked a snook at Sinhala sensitivities further in his maiden address to Parliament.

Archchuna, who—according to the Tamil Guardian—”dedicated his electoral victory to those who had been martyred in the Tamil independence struggle,” began his debut speech to Parliament in the same vein, stating: “I address my beloved citizens of Eelam.” Fortunately, Parliament was wise enough to ignore the ploy to ruffle communal feathers. Or else it would have led to making a martyr of him.

In one of his many videos, Archchuna had described ‘Eelam’ as referring to the northern area. It may be so. But doesn’t ‘Eelam,’ in its blood-soaked context, mean to the rest of the country the despised name of the separate state Prabhakaran was attempting to establish for thirty years through the barrel of T56 machine guns and deadly bombs?

If Archchuna has come from Jaffna to unite the two communities as one and not to divide them again by disturbing the fragile peace and harmony presently existing between the two communities, then it’s best he treads with great care. For he treads on the dreams of all Lankans whose prayed-for wish is to see a prosperous, peaceful people united under one national flag.

In other words, newcomer Archchuna: ‘Don’t rock the boat.’

Rather than spreading vile mischief and depicting himself as a lone gladiator fighting lions, he should seize the opportunity Parliament has availed him and should address the just grievances of the Tamil people and seek ways to redress them.

Former Finance, Justice, and Foreign Minister Sabry, who reiterated his opinion of the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, said in a statement issued this week: “The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were not freedom fighters; they were a ruthless terrorist organisation. Their reign of terror left behind a trail of destruction that spared no community, Sinhala, Tamil, or Muslim.

“Their disregard for humanity was not limited to individuals; they unleashed terror on places of worship, sacred to all communities, such as the Sri Maha Bodhi, the Dalada Maligawa, and the Kathankudy mosque. Villagers were massacred at Eravur, Palliyagodella, and Dollar and Kent farms, among others, wiping out entire families, including women and children. Muslims were forcibly evicted from the Northern Province with just 24 hours notice, many of whom remain in refugee camps decades later.

“When Sri Lanka finally eliminated the LTTE in 2009, it was not just the end of terrorism; it was the beginning of the liberation for all Sri Lankans. The Tamil people, who bore the brunt of the war’s atrocities, could finally breathe in peace. Their children were no longer abducted for conscription. Cyanide capsules and guns were replaced by pens and paper. Communities could begin to rebuild, and the horrors of war began to fade.”

Archchuna, who has said, in one of his taped recordings, that the Tamil Diaspora back him and that the Tigers are with him, should, perhaps, read Sabry’s analysis of the true nature of the beast, before idolising its alpha male as his personal God.

Yes, it’s time to rebuild; it’s time to rekindle the hopes and douse the fires of fear of the northern people. Immature MPs’ puerile but dangerous talk will not help.

President Biden reneges on promise to uphold justice to save convicted son When US President Joe Biden officially pardoned his son, who had been convicted of two criminal offences, many would not have expected him to deny justice its punishment. Especially when he said, “From the day I took office, I said I would not interfere with the Justice Department’s decision-making.” Mighty words that invoke admiration amongst the people, coming from a man just elected to the highest public office in the land. But were these words as hollow as a man’s untested mettle often is? Mere promotional puffs advertising dubious goods? Had Biden promised justice on an equal field? Like Elara, who ruled Anuradhapura for fifty years, had done with his edict for all victims of injustice? Even to a cow that pined when its calf had been run over by his son’s chariot wheel? And made his son and heir suffer the same fate under the King’s chariot wheel. President Biden’s son Hunter pleaded guilty to tax charges in September and was found guilty of being an illegal drug user. He was also convicted for possessing an unlicensed gun in June. Even after he was convicted—becoming the first child of a sitting president to be found guilty and convicted of a jailable crime—President Biden’s White House press secretary told the media, “President Biden would not issue a pardon for his son.” BIDEN AND SON: In the dying days of his presidency, Biden breaks his sworn pledge to the nation for the sake of his son’s freedom No doubt, Biden would have received high praise for his admirable moral stand of not wavering from his principle of equal justice for all, even with his son in the dock, facing the certain prospect of being jailed. It’s not easy for a father to remain impaled on his sworn tenet when a sea of turmoil torments his soul, knowing that it’s well within his powers to waylay the course of justice with one stroke of his presidential pen. By withstanding the personal pressures that would have laid a lesser man low, Joe Biden showed not only to his country but to the world as well that here stood a man whose moral rectitude had gone through fire and emerged unscorched. But, alas, as the few remaining days of his presidency began to slip away along with his powers, so did the sheen of his courage that had withstood fire, begin to wane and lose its shine. With his personally endorsed successor, Kamala Harris, routed by an unexpected Donald Trump wave that swept across all States, reality deluged his Oval Office, forcing him to face stark truth. With every fated numbered day that remained of his White House stay, fast vanishing into twilight, and with every remaining presidential power fleeing further and further beyond his reach, the departing days and the declining authority that inevitably mark the sunset of a president’s reign served as the hammer and chisel to chip the moral armour that had seemed unassailable in September. With Kamala’s exit from the presidential stage on November 5th, neither a pardon nor any clemency for his sole surviving son could be expected from the incoming Trump, who had sworn revenge well in advance of his triumphant march to the White House against all those who had used their political powers to see him jailed. Now with the grim prospect of the ogre nearing the gates, Biden’s despair sunk to a new low as the day neared for his son to be sentenced to jail. The moral armour that had once seemed uncrackable now easily cracked open to reveal to the people’s contemptuous gaze, his tortured soul naked and bare, without even a fig leaf of a principle to hide his shame. Joe Biden began his battle to save his son from justice, claiming her prey, by stooping, at the last hour, to expediency. Fearing the cacophonous sound of distant prison chains clanking and iron prison doors slamming, in sheer desperation, he shamelessly made a U-turn and, throwing caution to the wind, exercised his presidential prerogative to sign an executive order, granting his son, Hunter Biden, a ‘full and unconditional pardon’. Furthermore, the order, while explicitly granting clemency to Hunter’s federal tax and gun convictions, also grants him immunity for any federal crimes he may have committed ‘from January 1, 2014, through December 1, 2024.’ This particular time frame covers his entire tenure on the director board of Burisma’s Ukrainian gas company. It also covers his foreign travels and business dealings overseas, including in China. His controversial foreign business dealings have not escaped Trump’s hawk eye, and he has repeatedly said Hunter must be prosecuted for his activities abroad. But Hunter will be safe, for the pardon cannot be rescinded by Trump when he assumes the Oval presidential office in January next year. Oh, lucky man, to have such a father as president, who thinks of every possible crime the son may have committed and grants him immunity, tied in a bundle with a Gordian knot which none can unravel, not even his successor Trump. In a pathetic statement, Joe Biden attempted to explain why he reneged on his promise to place justice before all else and why he had repeatedly said before and after exiting the presidential race he would not pardon his son. Arrogating the role of the presiding judge unto himself, he said, “Politics has infected this process, and it led to a miscarriage of justice.” It was an unbecoming act for a president, who had vouched, two months ago, that he would not barter his principles even if it meant landing his son in jail. A fitting lesson to every politician, who swears he will stand by his principles, no matter what befalls him or his family, to learn by heart and have it etched within his soul before aspiring to attain the lofty ranks of another righteous Elara. If they cannot withstand the test of fire, they should not blow hot air feigning and promising they can.