BETA

"……..but if I had served God as diligently as I have done the king He would not have given me over in my gray hairs……. I am come to leave my bones among you."--- Cardinal Thomas Wolsey ( c.1473—1530).

These last words of  Cardinal Wolsey the virtual head of state and head of church in England under Henry VIII,  spoken at his execution on the orders of Henry VIII  his erstwhile ally, for High Treason may not be quite relevant to the plight of Karuna ,  but are analogically close.

The highest echelons of the state apparatus moved in unison to christen Karuna with  the name,  Kokila Gunawardene with the blessings of the  Head of a  State of Sri Lanka. For a brief while Gunawardene alias Karuna "functioned"  as Sri Lanka's Director of Wild Life Conservation well on his way to attend a climate change conference   on behalf of the Sri Lankan government as a representative attached to a department which came under the ministry of environment, on a diplomatic passport. 

Having experienced climate change first hand by moving from things "hotting"    up   exacerbated by the  arid heat of the east of Sri Lanka to the salubrious autumn weather of Kensington in London  there is no better person in Sri Lanka today more  qualified  to attend a conference on climate change than Karuna himself and speak to it. We have in these columns predicted that Karuna when he passed his use by date would be thrown away like an old shoe. We even recommended that he be offered a diplomatic posting to join the array of those distinguished persons most of whom hold office, it appears, at the will of men of straw.

There has never been a dearth of political scoundrels amongst the Tamils. Some Sinhala  leaders, who, through desperation,  because of the guilt complex emanating from their  hidden racial prejudices and their disguised  agendas designed to the detriment of the Tamils  or both  require intermediaries or proxies  to  relate to the Tamil people and still appear genuine. These leaders  in order to  execute their  hidden agendas draw from a pool of servile professional scoundrels thriving on the national question.  Mahinda  Rajapakse conniving   with some   Tamil scoundrels to get rid to get rid of another Tamil scoundrel   is  a classic example of the extent to which such leaders are prepared to go. Rajapakse   has not only got rid of Karuna from Sri Lanka but  has also made the way for minister Devananda's party to contest in whatever  elections are to be held in the east.

Sonali Samarasinghe a credible journalist, whose veracity we have no reason to doubt,  writes in  the Sunday Leader, 28 October 2007: "According to the document (K T Rajasinghams's letter)  the President, Minister Devananda and Rajasingham had discussed issues ranging from child recruitment by Karuna, role of the Defence Ministry in protecting Karuna, changes in the diplomatic service, setting up communication networks to counter LTTE propaganda and winning over India…..The discussion according to Rajasingham's letter to Fernando took place at the Presidential Suite No 1727, Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva".

 By such clandestine process  of deceptively bundling Karuna off to Britain  in the manner as it happened Sri Lanka has moved from state terrorism  to people smuggling and to international terrorism. Even Karuna an adept at abductions  and quite  familiar with their logistics would agree that this is  an abduction of sorts  with the difference being that here   the abductee was  a willing party.

The head of a State claiming to be a democracy in descending to such low depths has gravely insulted the people of Sri Lanka and brought upon them  international disgrace. 

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