අබා කොස්තා පියනම ඝාතනය කළේත් පොන්නම්බලම් ඝාතකයෝ
A news report that the killing of Fr Aba Costa of St Joseph’s Church, Negombo, is being traced to the gang of Moratuwa Saman, alleged gunman in the Kumar Ponnambalam murder. It notes the confessions of Tinker Sunil, arrested at Kuliyapitiya, Saman’s re-arrest, suspicion that businessman James Anthony ordered the killing because the priest opposed his jackpot machines, and Captain Ranjith’s arrest at the house of Baddegane Sanjeewa.
ජනාධිපති ලේකම්ට පිළිතුරක්
An open letter to Kusumsiri Balapatabendi answering his statement that private media were running a campaign linking the President and her security division to murders. Ivan lists attacks on Lasantha Wickrematunge and himself, the President’s own claim to have stopped a plot to kill two editors, S.B. Dissanayake’s account of her plan to bomb Ravaya and the Sunday Leader, and evidence linking presidential security men to the killings of Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam and the assault on Rookantha and Chandraleka, and offers to join an impartial inquiry.
යුද හමුදාව නින්දාවට පත් කිරීම
Ivan argues that Anuruddha Ratwatte used army commandos in the election, including the Madawala and Polgolla polling-station attacks and the Udathalawinna massacre, and faults army commander Lionel Balagalle for permitting it. He then examines the Athurugiriya safe-house affair, questioning why an intelligence unit working in Batticaloa kept thermobaric weapons in Colombo, the irregular rent and uniform contracts, and Charitha Ratwatte’s earlier complaint of a plot to kill Ranil Wickremesinghe.
ඡන්දයේ වටිනාකම එක සමානද?
A set of short items. Ivan objects that the President, Prime Minister and Anura Bandaranaike voted at their residences while ordinary voters faced threats. He faults the failure to prosecute election offences, the Bribery Commission’s refusal to act on misuse of state resources and its neglect of asset declarations, and the CID’s cover-up of the Rohana Kumara and Kumar Ponnambalam murders. He ends with a satirical note on the President’s visit to supporters in Bogambara prison.
මල්වත්ත ඝාතනය රෝහණ කුමාර හා අගවිනිසුරු
The report details the arrest of Rohana Kumara, fourth suspect in the February 2001 shooting of businessman Ranjith Bandara Wijekoon at the Peradeniya botanical gardens, and his alleged ties to Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva. It cites phone records, his use of a Justice Ministry vehicle, his role at the judges’ training centre and his claim to have hidden on the Chief Justice’s advice. It also recounts an attempted bribe of a Mirihana police officer and forged signatures on fundamental rights petitions.
ආණ්ඩුව ඉදිරියේ ඇති අභියෝග
Ivan sets out the tasks facing the new UNF government: humility in power, exemplary leadership, efficiency and, above all, restoring the rule of law. He urges an end to politicians’ immunity from traffic law and to fake number plates, noting their use in the Kandy killings and by presidential security, and calls for removing political protection from criminals such as Dhammika Perera, and for a Bribery Commission that targets the powerful and a right-to-information law.
It’s time for cleaning up
Given how far the country has fallen, getting back to normal is not easy. People must understand that recovery will be gradual, and the government must at the same time give them a sense of hope. This is Ivan’s list of what the new government should clean up first.
ජයග්රාහකයා පරාජිතයා නොපෙළිය යුතු ය
The editorial condemns post-election reprisals in areas such as Anamaduwa, Pathadumbara, Nawalapitiya and Hiriyala, where PA figures had behaved like local warlords with police and presidential backing. It says the paper had long warned that such violence would provoke a backlash, and calls on the new government both to stop reprisals and to prosecute those responsible for earlier election violence.
සාහසිකකම්වලට වගකිවයුතු සියලු දෙනා නීතිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනා යුතු .
Voters defeated the People’s Alliance despite a violent campaign in which, the editorial says, the President and cabinet broke election law and the Constitution with the Chief Justice’s backing. It singles out the former deputy defence minister, whose paramilitaries it blames for intimidation in Kandy and the shooting of ten Muslim youths guarding ballot boxes at Madawala, and urges the new government to prosecute those responsible.
99 ජනාධිපතිවරණය වංචාවෙන් ජයගැනීම සඳහා යොදා ගැනුණු
Ivan argues that Chandrika Kumaratunga’s 1999 victory rested on organised fraud rather than sympathy after the bomb attack. He describes S.B. Dissanayake’s push for an early poll, a Samurdhi scheme to seize the poll cards of opposition voters, ballot-box substitution with compliant officials, the removal of the acting Elections Commissioner, and a million forged ballots distributed with underworld and presidential-security help. He ends with practical safeguards for party agents at the coming election.