𝑾𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒇 𝑾𝒂𝒊𝒍 ( දුක් ගන්නා රාළ )

Human Rights, Democracy, tolerance of other religious believes etc are some of the topics, often we hear when the West or the so-called developed world talk about another country. Some of the big institutes in the so-called developed world, such as The United Nation, Lending Organizations and the European parliament etc are happy to hurl such topics, when discussing an internal affair of another country, especially a poor one. Let us take the issues one by one and see who is right and who is wrong. First tackle the human rights issue. Even up to this moment, many people are being held against their wills in Military camps, without any credible charge being brought to justify their detention. Who indeed was instrumental in killing leaders like Major Thomas Sankara or Patrice Lumumba? The list is long and bloody too. The latest reported case is Binya Mohammed, who was released without being charged after holding and torturing for more than six years in a Military camp. If...

The suicide bomb attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in southern town of Matara in Sri Lanka on the day of The Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebration, tells us two important messages. The first and the most important one is that the Tigers have no respect or tolerance for peoples of other faiths, except theirs only. This was not the first instance; the Tigers have killed innocent peoples of other faiths, during their religious celebration times or desecrated their places of worship. But I am confident that this would be their last. The second message is that there is no truth in their or their acolytes claims that the Tamils are not safe anywhere else except in north of the country. If that is true, then how come a sleeper can wait for it’s pray in a town predominantly Sinhala Buddhist and a southern city like Matara. 

Heroes are born instantly.  Some get due recognition and others fade in to obscurity. When the Captain of the airliner ditched his aircraft safely in the Hudson River, few weeks back, he was transformed instantaneously in to a hero. Indeed, it was a heroic act and he deserves all the credit he gets from media and others. Unfortunately, when the coach driver of the Sri Lankan Cricket team drove his coach to safety amidst gun fire in Lahore recently, he did not even get mentioned in the media. My understanding is that aircraft pilots are taught and trained to glide aircraft without engine power and ditch in water. It is part of their training. But I do not think that anywhere in the world, coach drivers are being trained to drive with deflated tires and that too amidst gun fire. If one puts those two incidents juxtapose, one has performed an act that he was taught and trained to perform successfully and became a hero.  The other too has successfully performed an act th...

What happened in Lahore Pakistan this morning was despicable and shocking but it was something that was expected to happen sooner or later. Pakistan has been a friend of Sri Lanka, politically and sportingly for many years. We all remember their support given, during the 1996 World cup cricket tournament times. However, not that we were concerned about some issues going on there, but we were like a hapless but concerned fellow watching his good old friend going on a destructive path. The predicament, our good old is in now, reminds me of an old Sinhalese saying that says “when you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas”.