Help envisage a bright future

A.A.M. Nizam

People of Sri Lanka who are not ungrateful and possess the inborn quality of paying gratitude to those who deserve such gratitude, overwhelmingly voted for President Mahinda Rajapaksa for two main reasons. The first being for ending the brutal war that devastated the country for 30 years and removing the nightmarish fear psychosis they suffered from.

And the other being the impending bright future they foresaw their posterity through the ongoing development projects in their respective areas which were totally neglected in the past. A careful and unbiased analysis of the results indicate that the districts in which major development projects are underway significantly increased the percentage of votes polled for President when compared to the votes polled in the last Presidential Election.

The Opposition without gracefully accepting the people's verdict, which reflected an unprecedented majority for the President, seems to be attempting to play the game the Western countries unsuccessfully played in Iran recently after the re-election of President Ahmednejad.

The anarchist JVP has taken the lead in this game ably assisted by the western stooges in the UNP and other political desperados championing hate politics. It is sheer stupidity for someone to even imagine of a scam in a result which had a difference of over 1.8 million votes against the main opponent.

If the Opposition has credible evidence of malpractices as they raucously claim they always have the path to seek redress from the Supreme Court as it was done by the late Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike in the closely contested Presidential Election of 1989.

There were many reports from various parts of the island that the Opposition, particularly the JVP led thugs carried murders and assaults throughout the country in the runup to the election. Killing of a Buddhist monk in Matale, killing of a Minister's driver in Hiriyala, killing of an innocent woman in Tangalle, killing of a youth proceeding to attend a President's rally in Madurankuliya, Puttalam are some of the well-known election violence reported throughout the country. There were also reports that JVP groups visited remote villages and snatched Polling Cards and ID Cards from people whom they believed would vote for the President. My neighbours who were voters in the Deniyaya electorate were unable to cast their votes as two days prior to the election, JVP groups in the area had forcibly taken away their Polling Cards and ID Cards and had been threatened if they reported the matter to Police or any other authorities.

The President was given this gigantic mandate by the people despite these threats and they wanted the President to proceed with ongoing projects and envisaged plans. Given below is a table showing how the percentage of votes to the President in the Districts where major development projects are underway increased when compared to the 2005 Presidential Election.

The anarchist JVP has pasted posters in Sinhala and English throughout the country saying the "Election was Fraudulent, Reject the Results and Organize to save Democracy."

In addition to this they are planning to organize what they call "protest rallies" throughout the country. Despite Ranil Wickremesinghe's statement after the election that the election was free and fair, the UNP too claim that they would organize rallies together with all opposition parties. Quoting UNP's Puttalam District MP, Ranga Bandara, the Tamil Daily Uthayan reported that the UNP has decided to hold rallies throughout the country calling to "Nullify the Presidential election results."

These discounted elements distinctly rejected by the people are planning to commence their agitation and protest rallies by holding such agitations and a rally in Hyde Park in Colombo today. Already posters have appeared throughout the country announcing this agitation/rally.

The action taken by the Government banning marches and jubilant rallies for one week after the election is highly praiseworthy. This prevented unwanted events taking place even by accident, and no one was harmed after the election. People still remember how the jubilant UNP behaved in the post 1977 election period killing several SLFPers and torching many houses of SLFP supporters.

People have given a clear mandate to the Government expressing their desire that they do not want unrest and anarchy in the country anymore and their only hope is envisaging a bright future. Therefore, it is the duty of the Government and the law enforcing authorities to prevent unpatriotic elements raising their ugly heads once again to put the country in peril. The Government should immediately ban all agitations, protests at least upto the nomination day of the forthcoming General Election, without letting this country soak in blood once again.