Gotabhaya monitors Devananda's allegiance to Kumaratunga

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2015, 11:09 GMT]
While welcoming the incumbent SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa to North and challenging the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in District Development Committee meetings with a pro-Colombo stance, SL minister and EPDP paramilitary leader Douglas Devananda, has also assured his personal allegiance to former SL President Chandrika Kumaratunga, informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet. Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives under the direct command of SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa have been questioning the close associates of Mr Devananda for his lack of interest in putting up Rajapaksa posters ahead of Rajapaksa's scheduled visit to Jaffna.

The SL military intelligence is closely monitoring the activities of Douglas Devananda as Rajapaksa's campaign posters sent from Colombo have not been put up by the EPDP as expected by the UPFA campaigners.

The EPDP leader has personally assured his loyalty to Ms Kumaratunga. If Maithiripala comes to power, Devananda would be backing a regime change based on his understanding with Ms Kumaratunga, the informed sources in Jaffna told TamilNet.

When an Establishment-centric TNA member was finalising his deal with Chandrika Kumaratunga, he was attempting to secure a promise from Ms Kumaratunga on distancing Douglas Devananda from the North and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan from the East in case of a regime change. However, Kumaratunga was specific in defending Devananda's 11-year allegiance to her during her presidency in the past.

Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a recent interview to a Tamil Nadu based media said India was a ‘relative’ to Sri Lanka while China was a ‘friend’.

Rajapaksa will be declaring open the Indian-sponsored railway road linking the SL military Establishment at Kaangkeasanthu'rai Harbour with Jaffna Railway Station when he visits Jaffna on Friday. The railway line will be used for military transport purposes, news sources in Jaffna said.

In the meantime, the common opposition candidate Maithiripala Sirisena has also gone on record defending the Sinhala militarisation of North. The military camps in the North will remain, he has promised to the Sinhala voters in the South.

Tamils should realise how all the Establishments, from Washington to Beijing, are backing Colombo's militarisation of the country of Eezham Tamils regardless of the ruler of the agent State in Colombo, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said adding that the stake of New Delhi in the game as the most detrimental one at the moment.

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