Police have come in for a lot of flak after last Sunday’s truck bomb explosion at Sri Dalada Maligawa.
That, however, did not deter the Inspector General of Police, W.B. Rajaguru, from making what is not only a startling but shocking revelation - one that will make many of his illustrious predecessors turn in their graves!!.
The State run Lakhanda radio station, in its news bulletins on Wednesday, announced that Mr. Rajaguru had declared he would also tender his resignation if the Deputy Minister of Defence, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte quits.
Mr Rajaguru was a notable absentee when Home Minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, met the three service chiefs last week to discuss arrangements for independence celebrations in Colombo. Representing the Police was senior DIG (Ranges), Lucky Kodituwakku.
Three SLAF AN 32 special flights from Ratmalana touched down a few minutes after one another at Palaly.
As the hatch doors opened and the step ladder unfolded, officials clasping travel bags came down with some unease. They swayed from one side to another as they walked away from the tarmac.
Military officials playing the role of ushers were amused. The officials coming for polls duty were boozed up. The men in uniform handled them politely and tactfully. They were escorted to their places of stay. Some hit the bed pronto in the same clothes they arrived.
It did not take long to realise what had happened. Many had arrived for the take off from Ratmalana armed with bottles of Old Arrack. Why not a little tot to steady your nerves when artillery fire shakes the ground or the loud burst of mortars ricochette in their ears. After all the bars in Jaffna were closed for three long days.
But SLAF men who checked them said transport of alcohol was banned in military flights. Leaving behind so many bottles in the airport lounge was heart breaking. So they unscrewed the corks and drank straight off the bottle. They were passed around to all and sundry.
But what drove many to dizzy heights, even before take off, was the call to board the aircraft. Many bottles were not fully empty. It was bottoms up with the bottle before they boarded. They left the empties at the departure lounge and arrived in good spirits for polls duty.
Even in the midst of adversity, Sri Lankans do not seem to be losing their sense of humour. The joke doing the rounds after last Sunday’s bomb explosion at Sri Dalada Maligawa was about plans that were afoot to send a bus from Kandy to Jaffna. Another was to have arrived in Kandy from Jaffna, both carrying messages of peace. That was if “Operation Jaya Sikurui” succeeded in linking up before Gen. Ratwatte’s then deadline of February 4. But LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had pre empted it by sending a lorry (the Isuzu Elf truck) loaded with explosives to Kandy before that.
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