Sri Lanka It's Happening

September 18, 2005

Yesterday I was stopped at a check point for the first time in nearly four years. It made me very happy. Before the ceasefire checkpoints at every junction was the norm rather than the exceptions.

Two lanes from the extremely busy Jetawana road was completely blocked for years by just such a checkpoint. Bring back that checkpoint today and you might as well shut down the Colombo harbour because it would be inaccessible due to the increased traffic jams. Ranil called these checkpoints a barrier to development and did away with them.

So why does getting stopped at a checkpoint make me happy? Sri Lankans have a short memory. Make it a very short memory. You can hardly expect them to remember things as they were four years ago. The bombs that went off frequently in Colombo, the attack on the Airport that wiped out half the national carrier, the attacks on the oil installations and even the attack on Buddhism's holiest shrine have long been forgotten.

The reapparence of the checkpoints will hopefully jolt those faded memories. The people from the deep south blindly following the war mongering JVP and the Prime Minister will hopefully rember the white flags that used to decorate every lamp post. The white flags were symbols of mourning for soldiers slain in battle. Today there are no white flags, but if the the blue and red flags of the Prime Minister and the JVP are allowed to prevail there soon will be.

Posted by raditha at September 18, 2005 5:41 PM