Taming the east

Gotabhaya Rajapaksa does not hesitate to cavort where men less well-connected fear to tread even gingerly. As Defence Secretary and President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger brother, he has no need to mind his language. His verbal outbreaks are of the highest political relevance since they provide invaluable glimpses into the opaque mental universe of the Rajapaksas. So when Gotabhaya Rajapaksa repeatedly advocates immediately repealing the 13th Amendment, attention must be paid. Especially so since Rajapaksa equates that Indian-induced legislation (which introduced power-devolution in Sri Lanka) with the Norwegian-brokered Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) of 2002. Says Rajapaksa: "The 13th Amendment and the CFA didn't serve the people of Sri Lanka. Instead they facilitated interests of various other parties, including the LTTE. Interestingly, both supported the separatist cause."

Hitherto, only the most diehard Sinhala supremacists decried the 13th Amendment as pro-LTTE and pro-separatist. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's public endorsement of those outré views marks a menacing new turn in Lankan politics. That dangerously fallacious equation repackages the 13th Amendment as a threat to national security, enabling the Rajapaksas to condemn its supporters and defenders as traitors.