You may say that Sarawanabavan is our worst enemy,Douglas Devananda

‘I’m an ahinsaka kolla’ – Douglas Devananda

  சலசலப்பு

The government’s point man in Jaffna, the EPDP leader and Minister Douglas Devananda denies that  he is  terrorizing media and opposition supporters in Jaffna. In an interview with Ranga Jayasuriya, he spoke about a wide range of issues.

Excerpts:

• Let’s begin with the media. Journalists in Jaffna are living in fear. Many think you are a dangerous man who would not spare anyone who crosses your path in Jaffna…

All these allegations are unfounded. If they are true, there won’t be any newspapers in Jaffna. When the LTTE was active, they suppressed the media, but we have never done that and we will never do so. Soon after the election, the deputy editor of Uthayan was assaulted and without any investigation, the blame was put on us. But there was a story, that before the assault, the assaulted  editor had a dispute with the management and that he was locked in a room. There are issues like this periodically happening  in the Uthayan newspaper company.
Two  suspects have been arrested in connection with the assault. These are internal differences within the Uthayan paper which have come to the surface. They (our critics) tell that we would kill them if they criticize us. That is a lie. They continue to criticize us, while living safely in Jaffna.  Our policy is that we meet ideas with ideas.   You know it was I who won the  highest number of preferential votes in the North East provinces. They (TNA) are scared of me because from the outset, I took a different stand; I joined the political mainstream and joined the government. I am an ahinsaka kolla. We carried weapons in the past only to defend ourselves from the LTTE.

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