Daily News Editorial

Disabled soldiers and pseudo patriots

09 November 2016

The assurance by the Defence Ministry to the protesting disabled soldiers that their pension rights would be granted even though they had not completed the mandatory 12 years service would be welcomed by all and sundry. The sight of these men who lost their limbs, prostrated on the roads, with stumps where once there were fully grown healthy legs, demanding pension rights would no doubt have moved many a heart. For these were men who lost their arms and limbs to make the rest of their countrymen spared from such a cruel fate. Therefore nobody in their right minds would begrudge or hold it against these valiant men for making their just demand.

Be that as it may, it is also apparent that certain political elements were trying to fish in troubled waters and cause embarrassment to the government. Nay, there were clear attempts to goad these unfortunate men to make a spectacle of themselves in the city causing traffic chaos and inconveniencing commuters and general disruption. For, clearly these disabled men could not have done what they did, lying on the roads, forcing road closures, on their own volition without being guided by a hidden hand with vested interests. There was the inevitable appearance of Joint Opposition stalwart Udaya Gammanpila, like a Cheshire cat, smiling from ear to ear, at the scene of the demonstration and making his standard contribution of how the government was treating the war heroes. In his eagerness to pounce on the situation it may or may not have slipped the mind of the leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya that the outstanding pension rights issue of the disabled soldiers was not of recent origin but a bone of contention dating back to the time of all leaders including his erstwhile boss Mahinda Rajapaksa.

It is in this light that the former President's statement that the tear gassing of the protesters on Monday by the government could not be condoned under any circumstances, should be viewed. Speaking to journalists following a function at the BMICH Rajapaksa said that the Cabinet during his tenure had already approved measures to solve the problems confronting the disabled soldiers and hence the government's action cannot be accepted. He does not say what these problems were or were they related to the pension rights now being demanded. Rajapaksa was President for 10 years of which a full six years was after the war ended. Hence he had ample time and the power to order that this matter be put right. In any event Rajapaksa owed his popularity and the electoral success that followed the war, to the war heroes, among whom no doubt were some of the disabled soldiers who were demonstrating on the streets of Colombo.

But given that Rajapaksa had no qualms throwing the war winning Army Commander behind bars and got soldiers providing security to the self same Army Commander to kneel on the tarmac of a five star hotel where the latter was holed by after unsuccessfully challenging the maha rajano at the hustings, it is difficult to assume that the former President had thought much of giving pension rights to these disabled soldiers.

Now, after closing his eyes to the plight of these men during his tenure as President, Rajapaksa, as is his wont, has shamelessly seized on the plight of these men to portray himself before the public as a champion of the cause of the disabled soldiers. For there is certainly the hand of the JO behind the protest as seen by the strident rhetoric uttered on behalf of these men by the self proclaimed President of the National Movement to Protect the Rights of War Heroes U. D. Wasantha who is a well known Rajapaksa disciple, doing the latter's bidding at every turn, organising press conferences and what not, to attack the government on the treatment of the country's war heroes.

The government should be alive to the designs of the Joint Opposition to whip up public sentiment, especially involving the country's disabled war heroes, which is an emotional issue, not only with the public, but also the armed forces. The ploy of the JO currently is to exploit the situation where members of the armed forces are arraigned before the courts of law for various felonies. Now it (JO) has opened up another flank to bring the plight of the disabled soldiers before the public and cash in for political gain. Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi has already warned of a move by anti- government elements to exploit the situation affecting the disabled soldiers for political gain at a time when the government had already pledged to grant their demand from 2017. In addition there is also a pledge made to make financial provision in the upcoming budget to grant this pension. Hence Monday's shindig on the streets of Colombo can have no basis other than the not so covert designs by vested interests to shamelessly parade limbless men for political advantage.