Snooping caused the unseating of Rajapaksa

Viber helped us in unseating Rajapaksa: Kumaratunga On her first visit to India since the defeat of her successor Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president of Sri Lanka, Ms. Chandrika Bandarnaike Kumaratunga revealed to Indian journalists last week that it was Viber the popular instant messaging (IM) app that helped her and her political allies unseat Rajapaksa. She sought to dismiss Mr.Rajapaksa’s earlier accusations of RAW’s (Research and analysis Wing, the Indian external intelligence agency) and other western intelligence agencies’ covert involvement in the Presidential elections that were held last January. Kumaratunga was in India to attend the Hindu- Buddhist conclave held in Bodh Gaya, a historically important Buddhist centre in the Indian state of Bihar. While speaking to presspersons on the 5th of September, she answered many questions on her role in the ousting of Rajapaksa. She dismissed Rajapaksa’s earlier claims of conspiracies hatched against him by external forces. She also rejected claims that the Indian defence research organization (DRDO) had supplied satellite phones and other communication devices to her and other rebel party leaders. Mr.Rajapaksa was once her close political associate and things went awry after his administration turned in to a totalitarian one and Sri Lanka was gradually becoming a Police state. After the end of the civil war in 2009, when he was reelected in the 2010 elections, his internal and external policies attracted much criticism both internally as well as from the international community. When matters with the government were getting worse and showed no signs of improving, she started looking for an alternative within their own Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as there was no one in the opposition powerful enough to contest against the unpopular President, Ms. Kumaratunga said. Things became difficult when Rajapaksa had forbidden every single person of their party (SLFP) from talking to her. She also said that MPs used to run when they saw her; otherwise they would get a call from the President. Amidst such circumstances she identified Maithripala Sirisena and it was very difficult for her communicate with him; she had to use messengers and it was too risky to often use the same messenger for Sri Lanka was turning in to a Police state and matters would quickly be reported. It was then that Ms. Kumaratunga and her allies resorted to Viber, a popular Instant Messaging (IM) and Voice over Internet (VoIP) app developed for android smart phones. She added “The government didn’t know how to tap Viber. Apparently it was difficult for any intelligence agency anywhere to tap into Viber, although some can identify out who is calling whom. But Sri Lanka didn’t have that technology; otherwise we would have all been dead. I couldn’t afford a big office; I could only hire 2 people as Rajapaksa had closed down my office. But we managed somehow, and I can say that the main reason we were successful is that civil society really rose up.” Vijay ram