Do you honestly know what it feels like to be treated like a terrorist? Well if you don't, look no further... the opportunity is not far away. Make your way to Galle Road in Colpity between the Colpity junction and Galle face, where ladies, gentlemen, fruits, flowers, the young, the old, cats and dogs are all alike treated like terrorists.In order for your experience to be a truly complete one, come during the morning rush hour (around 9 - 10) or during the evening rush hour (around 5.30 - 6.30). You will experience the whole works which include verbal and physical abuse and much more...
I'm one of the unfortunate ones who's work place happens to be located between these said landmarks and thus suffer the torture everyday.
When his Excellency decides to make his way from his residence in Fort to his office at the Temple Trees, a bustling section of Colombo is brought to a complete hault. Traffic is stopped from both ends. No vehicles. No pedestrians. People and traffic have to stand still, on some occassions for even more than an hour... and when I stay stand still..I mean very still... If your behind a barricade, you cannot walk from one end of the barricade to the other. If you do you run the risk of receiving a tirade of insults or possibly even bullets from the nearest armed guard.
Those closer to Galle Face are the worst affected. Everyone is pushed inside the Galle Face Court, barricades thrown across all openings and an armed army officer will stand right in front of you. There have been occassions when people are all placed against the wall as well.
A girl working in an office adjoining ours had been walking through the Galle Face Court, when suddenly, His excellency had been passing by. The girl was physically handled by an army officer and pushed against the wall, much to her dismay. The girl ended up in tears and certainly took awhile to overcome the shock.
If His excellency's arrival is sudden, then all passing cars are hauled to a side, which is followed by police and army officers yanking open the vehicle doors and pulling out the occupents while offering a healthy dose of insults and foul language.
It is nauseating to see one man's pomp become such a curse to a people.
Will it end? I think not...
5 comments:
It is not the fact he need more security or we civilians are not willing to offer him more security as needed, but it is more the way they execute it. I hope they respect civilians better but I doubt we Sri Lankan deserve better respect from rulers.
I think our political system humiliate us more than this everyday in every other activity. But since this is very dramatic, we notice it more. This is just a part of a huge problem we have. Agree with you. This will not end any soon.
wtf? This dude is dropping bombs on IDPs and starving Jaffna to death. You think he gives a crap about traffic in colombo? Sure he's not going to lay his cloak over a puddle to let a lady step over it, but be glad he's not gunning you down on the street.
We got it good chum! Why is everyone getting so wound up about the traffic only!
If you want better example, got to one of US airports. You'll see how better the situation in Sri lanka is.
Do not complaint any one. It's "us" Sri Lankan (Tamils of course) who blown up the central bank and KIA. So, some set of "Sri Lankans" are actually terrorists. So, we all deserved to be treated as terrorists, rather than facilitating the real terrorists to blow up what ever they wish.
If the Tamils in Colombo (and some Sinhalese as well) stop supporting the real terrorists, and co-ordinate with the security forces, things would have been better.
Remember. There are terrorists among us. That's the ultimate truth proven by the history. So if you want to blame some one, don't blame the politicians (which is the most easiest thing to do in SL) or security forces. Blame your fellow citizens who feed the terrorits.
Good God "Dark Angel" this is shocking!!!!!
I feel so stupid coz I pass that way sometimes and one day I had a light dose of all this jazz. I had no clue why on earth they had brought the traffic to a stand still. I just assumed that a “big shot” decided to take a ride…. I didn’t know for certain what on earth was going on….That day I was even wondering if they had located a bomb and was trying to defuse it…..
I don’t see this or leave alone any of the other problems going to end anytime soon with all the stuff that is going on in the country.
We are like puppets on string and are compelled to dance to whatever shit that’s put down our way….
Oh Voice in Colombo...
It is sad to see you plunge into the "all Tamils are Terrorists" thinking category...
It is the very politicians who you want me not to blame who fuel the terrorist engines and trample upon the people of the country at the same time, providing petty excuses for doing so....
The people are perfectly willing to cooperate with the forces, provided there is some level of decency and sanity... People aren't animals who can be spat upon at the convenience of a president or anyone for that matter....
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