Duminda Silva ‘Not A Suspect’ (?!)
In the UK, Defense Secretary Liam Fox has resigned over a scandal I barely understand. He basically took a friend on trips and this friend may have had inappropriate access. In Sri Lanka, however, a sitting MP was involved a gunfight on public streets, killing three people and nearly himself. He is not under arrest, still an MP, still a member in good standing of his party.
Normally I would chalk this up to the fact that Duminda Silva is in a coma and not in a position to resign or anything. But then the defense spokesman had to come out and say that he’s not even a suspect in the triple murder. One victim was a former MP and serving Presidential Adviser. I mean, really? Does impunity run that deep?
It’s quite possible that Duminda didn’t pull the trigger, but the idea that he’s not even a suspect is ludicrous. He should be officially under arrest at the hospital, and he should be kicked out of the party and Parliament whether he wakes up or not.
Not to quote Ice Cube, but the Sri Lankan police are hardly beloved. A 
I just gave a talk at the University Of Sri Jayawardenapura along with Reeza Zarook of Anything.lk and Rohan Jayaweera of Google. These are my notes: Devin Jayasundara asked me for a subject for this talk and I told him Internet property. But I talked to my fiancé Shru and she had a better idea. Startups aren’t about creating property at all, not really. They’re about creating territory, about creating land.
I haven’t been blogging much, I know. It’s partly because we’ve been doing a lot of work on YAMU, especially shipping 1.0.1 of the Android app today. It’s on the 
I met an old-timer who said they used to drop acid and sleep atop Sigiriya, but the place has taken on a more commercial and quasi-spiritual role now. It was built by a king as a sort of retreat and used as a monastery. Now it’s a prime tourist and cultural destination. Hence it’s a bit odd to see a Japanese beer commercial shot up there. There’s a bunch of people eating, um, deep fried cream filled coconuts and then drinking some bracing beer. I hear the whole thing cost Rs. 25,000 (I’m presuming they used stock images).
Good call!
The depth of impunity is directly proportional to the degrees of separation from the Defense Secretary.
Having read the different articles about the nexus between the def sec and duminda, the beautification of colombo seems even more revulsive (originally I was opposed to it only because it was militarizing what should otherwise be a civil matter)
Oops, it should read read ‘inversely proportional’
Was Duminda really injured? Is he in hospital?
I heard a rumor that the big man ordered the hit and that this fool bungled the job.
maybe it was a double hit for both duminda & laxman.
Where is the actual sinhala transcript of this interview. the interview was done in sinahla.
How could the police dept. and the judiciary have any cedibility with anything short of arresting Duminda?
And how come the president has still not made any direct reference to the incident? It’s certainly a serious enough issue for the country.
Shammi, if you are interested in an analysis of the rot in the courts and judiciary read this:
http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/172_sri_lankas_judiciary___politicised_courts__compromised_rights.ashx
An excellent account, if you have no time to read the whole document the summary alone is worth reading.
Browsed through it a bit, not my favourite reading material. This is a side that’s not visible to the average person, but the outward manifestation of it is quite obvious.
Last night I saw lawyer Gomin Dayasiri speaking out on TV, and I think there’s going to be a debate on the law and order situation in parliament today. Hope things dont have to get worse before they get better.
What can we do? Sign a petition? A strong and united, viable opposition is the only way. For that to happen, Ranil has got to go. The General is showing more opposition from his weak position in a prison cell than Ranil who heads the opposition.
Probably because MR and his brothers now don’t really care. Why bother with the moral high ground. The 18th was passed, they led the masses on and got what they wanted. Why bother about something as trivial as this which has no political mileage for them.
The problem is that these buggers have no evidence against him. the only thing you have is the drivers testimony. And he screwed himself over by changing the his story.
“The driver of the slain Bharatha Lakshman Premachandra has told police that MP Duminda Silva fired at Mr Premachandra after he fell down to the ground.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sinhala/news/story/2011/10/111012_police.shtml
“Instantly, an aide of Duminda Silva shot Bharatha Mahattaya in his foot. Then, Bharatha Mahaththaya was holding his leg and struggling. Then, somebody screamed “Shoot him in his head and finish it off”.
“It was then that a series of shots were fired at Bharatha Mahattaya’s head and chest by Duminda Silva’s people.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=36514
Those two stories are different.
Yeah, but they also have guns, or should have guns, and matching bullets in both Duminda and Bharata’s bodies. There’s any amount of physical and witness evidence. Hence suspects and an investigation. It’s normal police work.
But then linking gun to Duminda is going to be impossible as all the guns were found with one person?
I know I should be shocked at this, and yet i am not. I think it’s sad that all these ‘rumours’ about this huge cover-up are actually possible given the situation in our country these days.
So no, I’m not surprised at all that Duminda is not a suspect. If he returns to full health I see him making a heroic return to ‘power’, complete with 50Cent style “I’ve been shot at but you can’t kill me..!“
Ha! Good point. Indeed, he may well be a sort of undead martyr.
(That wouldn’t be the only similarity with ‘Fiddy’, either).
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he comes out of the hospital and is hailed by all as someone who got injured trying to SAVE Bharatha!
Please dont supply them with IDEAS.
Those are two press reports. The driver would have given one statement to the police.
There’s bound to be more witnesses considering the usual entourage of these types. On election day with the prevailing tension between the two groups there would have been even more. There were reports of one bystander as well. It should be easy for the cops to question all of them and put the pieces together, even if they wont resort to their usual methods of interrogation in this instance.
A lesser mortal would be under arrest for much less than the most obvious part of Duminda’s role that day. The illegal weapons in the possession of his aides should alone be enough initially.
[...] Great picture from Ladakh by watchsmart. I just read that 29% of MPs in India have criminal charges. Some have been convicted once, but in India you can keep serving as long as the case is under appeal. Sri Lanka doesn’t have similar RTI or disclosure laws, but off the top of my head I can name one Minister charged with murder in India (Douglas Devananda) and one that should be charged for a recent shoot out (Duminda Silva). [...]
I only read the BBC story and the only thing came to my mind when I read titles was WTF. If he recovers and comes back, he will be even a better politician, Operating with even lesser grey matter!
Yes Indi the impunity does run that deep
“I mean, really? Does impunity run that deep?
Jeez Indi, I always thought you were naive, but this statement takes the cake! Have you been blind to the impunity all this time, or is your perception so selective??? Give us a break….
MR is back in Maharajatuma mode. He’s visited Duminda in hospital and pardoned former mayor of Kandy convicted of misappropriation of public funds. There isn’t even any pretense of giving consideration to public sentiment anymore.
Can we hope that we can have a leader as good a Omar Bongo?
http://www.economist.com/node/13855223
That bit about public property = private property sounds so familiar. Be happy and hopeful Jack, if things are allowed to follow the current trend, we shall soon be blessed with the same.
I was quite serious there. He brought tranquility, a rare commodity and allowed a measure of the wealth to trickle down, which is why he remained reasonably popular.
I’m not a fan of trickle down economics (not that I know much about economics). But it seems to lead to more inequality., and then the spending at the top becomes obscene.
Were the masses truly tranquil I wonder, or was it just ignorance or helplessness.
So the cops and the judiciary must have come round to the way of thinking of the defence spokesman or whoever that Hulugalla moron is. Duminda is free to travel abroad for treatment, even though local doctors are perfectly capable of treating him.
Duminda, Gotabaya and Mahinda are all guilty of murder or an accomplice to murder. They have to be jailed.
DUMINDA SILVA WILL BE ARRESTED ON ARRIVAL: CID TELLS COURT
http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=15936
About time too. The problem is, does he intend to return?