Why is everyone silent about 443 years discrimination against the Sinhalese?
Posted on September 30th, 2017
Shenali D Waduge
Sri Lanka: by 1956, 30% Ceylon administrative service, 50%clerical service, 60% engineers & doctors, 40%armed force were held by ONLY Tamils who were less than 10% of the population.
There are some facts stubborn to accept but need to now be brought to the table. Everything cannot revolve around one community. Every change and every solution cannot be determined on what that one community only demands completely ignoring the other communities. No solution or option can omit some ground realities ignoring how and who created the issues the currently prevails. Are people aware of the actual discrimination and the foundation by which the current status has arisen? The discrimination against the majority lasted 443 years whereas none of the minorities were marginalized before 1505 under the majority rule. The leaders of minorities want to return to the 443 years. This has never been showcased.
Firstly, it must be accepted that Tamils did not evolve in Sri Lanka. If so, then they should refer to themselves not as Tamils but by another name. If they evolved in Sri Lanka how can they explain the existence of Tamils in South India. The same race cannot evolve in 2 separate countries. The Missionary Guide Book too affirms this The Tamulians who it is supposed came over from the opposite coasts of India”. While Tamil Nadu politicians and Indian Government show concern for Tamils because they descend from South India which is why they always interfere into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. G G Ponnambalam himself said Tamils are not Ceylonese but Dravidians.
Secondly, there was an influx of Tamils to Sri Lanka especially after the arrival of the colonials because the Sinhalese refused to work as labor while there was insufficient Tamils living in Sri Lanka to work on the colonial plantations, even if they were willing to work. This was the prime reason for the colonials to transport scores of aliens from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka who ended up coming with their families and having children which eventually led to Sri Lanka being forced to keep them using the foreign legal terms contrived by these illegal occupiers. Colonial records and the post-independence interactions with Indian & Sri Lankan Government gives further details of the actual numbers who were living and working in Ceylon in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Thirdly, divide and rule policy was to not only divide the people but also to convert as many as they could and create locals who were stooges and worshippers of foreign rule. At independence what took place was only a transfer of powers from the white sahibs to brown sahibs. Education and medical missionary work was the modus operandi used which invariably meant publishing material ridiculing and insulting native religions, their cultures, values and practices. So when we raise alarm over these same missionary NGOs distributing pamphlets and virtually doing the same as the missionaries did in ancient times people should not feel offended or find fault.
The point of a divide and rule” policy was to put a minority into a position of power that they would not otherwise possess. By doing this the colonial administration created a group of people who were dependent on them for their power/livelihood and would carry out the colonial desires. The majority were made to feel inferior while the minority were encouraged to adopt a superiority complex.
Anyone looking at the troubles in Sri Lanka should first ask why were there no troubles between the people before the foreigners arrived?
Isn’t it odd that all these ethnic issues emerged only after 3 colonial powers invaded, occupied & ruled Sri Lanka? Therein lies the answer. It was their divide and rule policies that split people up to pieces and plunged them against one another using deceptive ploys and strategies. Should these same countries be allowed to return to interfere in our internal affairs, is what we should all be asking ourselves now.
With the sole objective of proselytizing, first the Americans followed by Catholic & Protestant Missionaries were set up in North Sri Lanka. The American Methodist Missionaries began its first Mission School in 1816. The American missionaries became fluent in Tamil and used this as a basis to influence. By 1818 according to Jane Russel, Tamils constituted over 40% of the franchise for the Educated Members seat. By 1822, 42 schools were functioning in the peninsula. In 1823 Asia’s 1st English education school was opened in the Batticotta Seminary in Vaddukoddai (Batticotta is not Batticoloa)
By 1848, 105 Tamil schools and 16 English schools had cropped up in the Jaffna peninsula. In 1862, Rev. Miron Winslow published the first Tamil-English Dictionary.
By 1929 Jaffna peninsula had 65 English schools and 426 Vernacular schools.
With unfair and favored English education imparted on Tamils, it enabled Tamils to emerge as the first Asian surgeons, accountants, engineers and teachers and were even recruited by Colonial British to Malaysia and Singapore.
(Kandiah Arundavarajah)
Look at the composition of population!
- 1824 – 841,940 – Ceylon Population (source South Asia: A Short History by Hugh Tinker)
- 1834 – 1,167,700 (more than 100 Christian Missionary schools was teaching over 7000 students)
- 1871 – 2,400,380 (first proper census)
- 1911 – 4,106,350
- 1931 – 5,312,000 (in 1938 Tamils held 19.4% of government jobs)
- 1953 – 8,098,637
In 1946, two years before independence, 33% of the civil service and 40% of the judicial service were Tamils, (Chandra Richard De Silva, 1983 p.116)
By the time Sri Lanka became independent in 1948, about 60% of government jobs were held by Tamils, who formed hardly 10% of the population.
By 1956, 30% Ceylon administrative service, 50% clerical service in railways, postal and customs, 60% engineers, lawyers & doctors, 40% armed force & 40% of other labor forces were held by ONLY Tamils. 31% of students admitted to university were Tamils who comprised only 10% of the population.
WAS IT WRONG TO ADJUST THIS IMBALANCE OR SHOULD THIS 10% HAVE CONTINUED TO ENJOY WHAT THEY DID WHILE THE REST OF THE 90% REMAINED AS THEY WERE LIKE UNDER COLONIAL BRITISH RULE.
Even this 10% is questionable given that many a Tamil were brought by Portuguese, Dutch & British and made to settle down and work in Sri Lanka, so there were not really natives.
The question or rather objection is not Tamils holding portfolios but the fact that the ratio against their population while the majority were denied such purposely because of divide & rule policies was unfair and had to be addressed and the imbalance resolved. Naturally, it caused ripples because people who were enjoying unfair privileges did not wish to give up those privileges while it must be pointed out that even amongst these minorities only a minority amongst the minority were enjoying the privileges. The low caste minorities were denied.
According to Patrick Peebles (The Plantation Tamils of Ceylon) of the 123,565 working in the 996 plantations 115,092 were Indians of which 40,604 were Indian females. That makes only 8473 Sinhalese or Moors. Peebles also confirms that 1336 were Moors so the remaining 7137 would have been Sinhalese.
Between 1843 & 1859 (within 16 years), 903,557 Indian coolies had entered Ceylon brought by Colonial British.
[A]lthough [the Tamils] constituted only 11 percent of the country’s population, Tamils comprised 33 percent of the civil service and 40 percent of the judicial service…[t]hey further accounted for 31 percent of students in the university system (DeVotta, 115).”
However, even in 1971 the statistics does not reveal any discrimination.
In the 1969-1970 intake to science and engineering courses, Tamils constituted 35%, while they constituted over 45% of the intake of engineering and medical faculties.
In 1972, a district quota system was introduced in order to benefit those not having adequate access to educational facilities. The standardization afforded opportunities for poor Sinhalese, Tamils & Muslims to gain admission to universities that previously they were unable to do. Again, those against this new system were those who wanted to continue the elitist rule that benefited only them (handful of Sinhalese & Tamils)
The other very important aspect often neglected is the fact that while the colonial rulers may have planted the trouble, the troubles became regularly watered by opportunist local politicians who realized that the best way to win votes was to also drum ethno-linguistic slogans. It is also the fault of the voters for being party to this.
Returning to the issue at hand what must never be forgotten is that before 1505 the Sinhale kingdom was ruled following the Dasa Raja Dhamma by even the South Indian invaders that ruled parts of the island. Thousands of years of that rule came to an end with the arrival of European colonial rulers who through their divide and rule policies – divided people by ethnicity, created tensions, created classes, created a capitalist system and a bunch of brown sahibs and the favoritism was such that from schooling to employment given to those who converted ended up minorities reaping the fruits of colonial rule.
So we come to the question where before 1505 the Sinhalese Buddhists ruled in a just and fair system where there was no animosities between the Tamils or Muslims which eventually changed after 1505 and has continued to this day. The favoritism was such that at the time of independence the minorities were enjoying far more than their ethnic composition. No one likes to speak about this aspect and nobody wishes to acknowledge that it was unfair by the Sinhalese to have denied them for over 450 years their due place.
The argument is, was it alright for a minority of the minority 10% to enjoy 443 years of undue privileges but it is not alright for the majority to complain because when they ruled none of the issues that currently prevailed existed.
Shenali D Waduge
September 30th, 2017 at 3:05 pm
A small correction. At Independence total Tamil population was 22.75%. Fortunately it fell to 15.5% by 2012 thanks to “Sinhala Only” and the war. When looked from the point of view of “demography is destiny”, both these were good things from the point of view of the nation. Had the war continued, “Sri Lankan Tamil” percentage would have fallen below 10% and made it a manageable minority. The war affected all but it affected “Sri Lankan Tamils” far more than the others. It was a painful essential for the nation. Since “winning” the war, the nation and its natives are in a worse predicament.
Tamils in the island are far too powerful than their population percentage because they are Indians.
India takes special interest and care of them as it does with Madhehi people of Nepal (another Indian community living in Nepal). India tried the same trick with Malaysia and Singapore but failed.
In this sense, the correct terminology for Tamils in the island should be “Tamil Nadu Diaspora” living in Sri Lanka. This term explains why Sri Lanka has to continuously appease just 15.5% of the population, exempt them from war crimes accountability, waste 90% of borrowed funds on the north-east and change the constitution to suit them.
September 30th, 2017 at 3:37 pm
@Dilrook
Do not forget the other side of the coin that Muslim population unnatural increase during war. The took the advantage of killing two birds in one stone.
Agree with the statement “Tamils in the island are far too powerful than their population percentage because they are Indians. “
September 30th, 2017 at 3:38 pm
Dilrook always bring this up , i.e.”waste 90% of borrowed funds on the north-east”. It is good if he can prove this.
September 30th, 2017 at 7:05 pm
Quoting from the article,
1. “By 1956, 30% Ceylon administrative service, 50% clerical service in railways, postal and customs, 60% engineers, lawyers & doctors, 40% armed force & 40% of other labor forces were held by ONLY Tamils. 31% of students admitted to university were Tamils who comprised only 10% of the population.”
2. In the 1969-1970 intake to science and engineering courses, Tamils constituted 35%, while they constituted over 45% of the intake of engineering and medical faculties.
This proves that 1956 reforms that allowed more Sinhalese to acess good education thanks to widespread use of Sinhalese in most scholls and “Central Colleges”, there was no reduction of precentage intake to Engineering and Medical faculties. The truth is even the 1971 intake to Peradeniya Engineering and Medical Facatulties, Tamil percentage was higher than 50%. How can this be possible ?
Somthing Shenali failed to mention is the CHEATING OF EXAMS by this cruel, immoral race ( even at the highest level of acedemics). When it was in English medium they cheated by writing “OOM” sign in the papers. When it was in Tamil medium they cheated outright by giving high marks to Tamils. Acedemics cheated the SInhalese at the entrance exams by leaking titeration answers to Tamils and failing Sinhalese students. This lead the governement to cancell the “pratical exams” when entering sceience, medical and engineering exams. Even that couldn’t stop the cheating race and “district basis” finaly controlled it to a manageble level.
There was a moving story of Sinhala professor now teaching at Moratuwas University how he managed to enter the civil engineering faculty by sitting A/Levels for the 2nd time ( first time he recieved admission to Science but did not take it) and being the last of the list ( lowest marks). Once he selected the Civil ENgineering in 2nd year, he became the best student of the class thoughout.
Discrimination of the Sinhalese by every means by cheating, by tribalism, by political blackmailing at the highest level CANNPOT BE STOPPED as long as we love and venerate the politicians.
Please stop this if you love this island and have some compassion to poor and underprivillaged of all races. This country has NOT DEVELOPED EVEN BY 1% since 1977 as far as majority of the population is concerened.
We missed the opportunity to make political corrections when we defeated Tamil means in 2009. We can NEVER FORGIVE thos who are responsible for this failure.
I am not allowed to say these things in this web site. Yet I beleive the power of TRUTH will prevail one day for my country, with the power of tripple gem.
September 30th, 2017 at 7:11 pm
ඉර්කොන් එක්ක අමුතු බැඳීමක්
September 24, 2017 / By තරිඳු උඩුවරගෙදර
ප්රියත් ද සිල්වා කමිටු වාර්තාව නමින් හැඳින්වෙන්නේ ද්විපාර්ශ්වීය ගිවිසුම් හරහා රාජපක්ෂ යුගයේ ඉදිකළ උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය ගැන අධ්යයනය කරන්නට පත් කළ විද්වත් කමිටුවක වාර්තාවයි. එම වාර්තාවෙන් උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය තැනීමේදී සිදුව ඇති අඩුපාඩු රැසක් පෙන්වාදුන්නේය. ද්විපාර්ශ්වීය ගිවිසුම්වලදී සැලකිල්ලට ගතයුතු කරුණු, ගිවිසුම්වලදී සිදුකර ඇති වැරදි, ව්යාපෘතියෙන් සිදුව ඇති පාඩුව පිළිබඳව විස්තරාත්මකව ඒ වාර්තාවෙහි සඳහන්ය. මේ ලිපිය ලියැවෙන්නේ එම වාර්තාවෙහි දෙවැනි කොටස ඇසුරෙනි. උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා ඉර්කොන් ආයතනයට කොන්ත්රාත්තුව පැවරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කළ අධ්යනයන් එහි ඇතුළත්ය.
එකල උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම පැවරී තිබුණේ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට සහ එවකට උතුරේ සංවර්ධනය, ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් යැයි පත්කළ ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකාය සහ යුද හමුදාවටයි. ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකාය ලෙස හැඳින්වුණේ 19 දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත්, බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ එවකට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්රීවරයාගේ සභාපතිත්වයෙන් යුත් කණ්ඩායමකි. සැබවින්ම ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකාය යැයි කීවත් එය ප්රායෝගිකව බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂම විය. එය එසේ කියන්නේ අප නොවේ. එකල රාජපක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව විසින්ම ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකාය යනු බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂම බවට ප්රචාරයන් දියත් කර තිබුණි. ඊට අමතරව මෙම ව්යාපෘතිය පිළිබඳ ගිවිසුම් සඳහා එක් කැබිනට් අනුකමිටුවක්ද, ව්යාපෘතියේ කාර්යසාධනය වෙනුවෙන් තවත් කැබිනට් අනුකමිටුවක්ද පත් කර තිබුණි. ඉන්දීය රජය සඳහා ගිවිසුම් ගතවුණේ මුදල් අමාත්යාංශය විසින්ය.
කමිටුව පවසන්නේ රජයේ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව තිබුණු දත්ත සැලකිල්ලට ගෙන මෙම ගිවිසුම් ගැන අධ්යයනය කළ බවයි. එසේ වුණත් කමිටු වාර්තාවෙහි කියන්නේ මෙම ගනුදෙනුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් සොයාගත යුතු ඇතැම් වැදගත් ලිඛිත තොරතුරු සොයාගැනීමට නොහැකි වී ඇති බවයි. විශේෂයෙන් ආණ්ඩුවේ ඉහළ ආයතන විසින් ලැබිය යුතු ලිඛිත අනුමැතියන්ට අදාළ තොරතුරු කමිටුවට හමුවී නැත.
මුහුදුබඩ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය
ඉර්කොන් ඉන්ටර්නැෂනල් ලිමිටඞ් හෙවත් අපේ කතාබහට මුල්වන ඉන්දීය ආයතනය පළමු වතාවට ලංකාවේ දුම්රිය මාර්ග තැනීම පටන්ගත්තේ 2007-2010 අතරතුර කාලයේදීය. ඒ මේ ව්යාපෘතිය බාරදීමට පෙරයි. සුනාමියෙන් පසුව මුහුදුබඩ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම වෙනුවෙන් එම ව්යාපෘතිය ඉර්කොන් සමාගම බාරගත් අතර ඒ ව්යාපෘතියත් ලංකාව පැත්තෙන් ටෙන්ඩර් කැඳවීමෙන් පසුව නොව ඉන්දීය සමාගම දිවැසින් මුහුදුබඩ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය තැනීමට අවශ්ය බව දැනගෙන ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ව්යාපෘති යෝජනාවක් මත ක්රියාත්මක වූ ව්යාපෘතියක් විය. ඇත්තෙන්ම ලංකාවේ එවකට සිටි රජය සහ ඉර්කොන් අතර අසාමාන්ය ‘විශ්වාසය’ ගොඩනැඟෙන්නට ඇත්තේ ඒ ව්යාපෘතිය සමඟයි.
පැයට කිලෝමීටර් 100ක වේගයෙන් දකුණු දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ ගමන් කිරීමට හැකි වන පරිදි ව්යාපෘතිය යෝජනා කර තිබුණි. පැය දෙකක් තුළ ගාල්ලේ සිට කොළඹට පැමිණීමට හැකි වන අයුරින් දුම්රිය මාර්ගය තැනීමත් මේ මාර්ගයේ දිනපතා ගමන් කරන්නට තරම් මගීන්ට පහසුව සැලසීමත් මෙහි අරමුණ විය. ව්යාපෘතිය අවසන් වුණත් අද කොළඹ සිට ගාල්ල දක්වා ශීඝ්රගාමී දුම්රියක් ගමන් කරන්නට පැය දෙකහමාරකට වැඩියෙන් ගතවන බව මගීන්ගේ ප්රායෝගික අත්දැකීමයි. ඒ ඉර්කොන් සමාගමට ව්යාපෘතියක අරමුණුවලට අනුවම ව්යාපෘති කිරීමට ඇති හැකියාවේ තරම පැහැදිලි කරන සිදුවීමකි. උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකරන්නටත් දිවැසින් දැක ඉර්කොන් විසින් ස්වෙච්ඡා ව්යාපෘති යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නේ ඉන් පසුවය. කිසිදු තරගකාරී මිල ගණන් නැතිව ‘විශ්වාසයෙන්’ යුතුව උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ග ව්යාපෘතිය ඉර්කොන් වෙත ලබා දී තිබුණි.
උතුරු සහ තලෙයිමන්නාරම් දුම්රිය මාර්ග
පෙර සතියේ කී ආකාරයටම උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම සඳහා මූලික පියවර ගෙන තිබුණේ 2009 සිටයි. බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ හෙවත් ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකායත් ආරක්ෂක අංශ සහ දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව උතුරේ සිට මූලික තත්ව පරීක්ෂාවක් කළේ ඔය කාලයේදීය.
ව්යාපෘතිය කොටස් හතරකට කිරීමට යෝජනා කර තිබුණි. මැදවච්චි සිට මඩු, මඩු සිට තලෙයිමන්නාර්, ඕමන්තේ සිට පලෙයි සහ පලෙයි සිට කේ.කේ.එස්. හෙවත් කන්කසන්තුරේ දක්වා එම කොටස් හතර විය. කොටස් හතරකට මෙම ව්යාපෘතිය යෝජනා කිරීම ගැනත් කමිටුව විමතිය පළ කර තිබුණි. මේ කොටස් හතරෙහිම දුම්රිය මාර්ගය වෙනම ව්යාපෘතියක් ලෙසත්, සංඥා සහ සන්නිවේදන පද්ධති වෙනම ව්යාපෘතියක් ලෙසත් යෝජනා කර තිබුණි. මෙසේ කොටස්වලට දීමෙන් යහපත් ප්රතිඵල අත්කරගැනීමේ හැකියාව වුවමනාවක් තිබුණා නම් ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුවට තිබුණි. තරගකාරී මිල ගණන් හරහා විවිධ පාර්ශ්වයන්ට විවිධ කොටස් ඉදිකිරීමේ කටයුතු කරන්නට ඉඩදෙන්නට හැකියාව තිබුණි. එපමණක් නොව ඉර්කොන් සමාගම රේල් පාරවල් තැනීමට සුදුසු සමාගමකි. එහෙත් සංඥා සහ සන්නිවේදන පද්ධති පිළිබඳ ව්යාපෘතිද එම සමාගම වෙතම පවරා තිබීම කමිටුව විසින් ගැටලුවක් බව පෙන්වා දී ඇත.
කිලෝමීටර් 43ක් වූ මැදවච්චිය සිට මඩු අතර දුම්රිය මාර්ග කොටස සඳහා සම්පූර්ණ වියදම සඳහා ඩොලර් මිලියන 83ක් සහ මඩු සිට තලෙයිමන්නාර් දක්වා කිලෝමීටර් 63ක කොටස සඳහා ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් 150ක මිලක් නියම කෙරිණ.
ඕමන්තේ සිට පලෙයි දක්වා දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය සඳහා ව්යාපෘති යෝජනාවක් කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල ව්යාපෘති කමිටුව සහ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල ගිවිසුම් කමිටුව විසින් අධ්යයනය කොට අනුමත කරන ලදි. ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් 177 222 244ක් වූ ඉර්කොන් යෝජනාව ඇ.ඩො. 139 282 863 දක්වා අඩු කළ යුතුයැයි කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල අනුකමිටු දෙක විසින් යෝජනා කර ඇති බවට වාර්තා තිබේ. එහෙත් අවසානයේ ව්යාපෘති යෝජනාව යෝජනා වී තිබුණේ ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් 185 346 708ටය. එනම් කැබිනට් අනුකමිටු විසින් යෝජනා කළ මිලට මෙන්ම ඉර්කොන් සමාගම යෝජනා කළ මිලටත් වැඩි මුදලකටය.
දුම්රිය මාර්ගයේ පලෙයි සිට කේ.කේ.එස්. හෙවත් කන්කසන්තුරේ තෙක් තවත් කොටසක් විය. එම ව්යාපෘති යෝජනාව සඳහා ඇ.ඩො. 152 548 904ක් ඉර්කොන් සමාගම විසින් යෝජනා කර ඇත. කැබිනට් කමිටු දෙක නිර්දේශ කර ඇත්තේ ඇ.ඩො. 122 904 309 ක මිලකි. සාකච්ඡාවලින් අනතුරුව දෙපාර්ශ්වය එකඟ වී ඇති මිල ඇ.ඩො. 149 337 099 කි.
මේ සියලු ව්යාපෘති සංඥා සහ සන්නිවේදන පද්ධතිවලට අමතරව ව්යාපෘතිය සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කෙරුණු යෝජනාය. සංඥා සහ සන්නිවේදන පද්ධති වෙනුවෙන් වෙනම ගිවිසුමක් සකස් කෙරුණි. ඒ සඳහා ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 70ක් නිර්දේශ කර තිබුණත් ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කළේ ඉර්කොන් සමාගම විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ඇමෙරිකන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 86ක යෝජනාවටය. ඩොලර් මිලියන 16ක වැඩි මිලකට එකඟ වෙන්නට හේතුව නිසි පරිදි සටහන් කර නැත.
ඉන්දියාවට බොරු කියයි
ඉන්දීය එක්සිම් බැංකුව සහ ශ්රී ලංකා රජය අතර ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කෙරුණේ 2010 ජුලි 23 වැනිදාය. එම ව්යාපෘතිය ලංකා රජය වෙත පැවරුණේ කොන්දේසි කිහිපයක් යටතේය. ඒ කොන්දේසි එකක්වත් ලංකාවේ රජය හෝ ජනාධිපති කාර්යසාධන බලකාය විසින් ඉටු කර නැත.
කොන්දේසිවලට අනුව ව්යාපෘති සඳහා ශ්රී ලංකාව විසින් තරගකාරී මිල ගණන් කැඳවිය යුතුය. විනිවිද පෙනෙන සහ ඉන්දියානු සමාගම් රැසකට විවෘත කෙරුණු අවස්ථා සමඟ එය සිදුකළ යුතුය. ඉන්දීය සමාගම්වලට පමණක් තරගකාරී මිල ගණන් කැඳවීමේ අවස්ථාව ලබාදිය යුතුය. ව්යාපෘතිය සඳහා වන කටයුතු වෙනුවෙන් ඉන්දියාව පුරා විසිරී ඇති සමාගම් අතර විශාල ප්රසිද්ධියක් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ යුතුය.
එසේ කිරීම සැබවින්ම යහපත් වෙන්නේ ණය මුදල ලබාදෙන ඉන්දියාවට නොව ණය ලබාගන්නා ලංකාවටමය. ඉන්දියාවේ ඇති හොඳම සමාගම්වලට තරගකිරීමට අවස්ථාව ලබාදීම ලංකාවට හොඳ අවස්ථාවක් වෙන්නට ඉඩ තිබුණි. එසේ වුවත් ලංකා ආණ්ඩුවට ඉර්කොන් සමඟ අමුතු දීගයක් යෑමේ වුවමනාවක් තිබී ඇත. අනාරාධිතවම ස්වෙච්ඡාවෙන් ඉර්කොන් සමාගම ඉදිරිපත් කළ යෝජනාවලට ලංකාව අනුමැතිය දෙන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.
කෙසේ වෙතත් ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුව ඉන්දියාවට දැනුම් දී ඇත්තේ කොන්දේසි සම්පූර්ණ කර ඇති බවයි. ඩොලර් මිලියන සිය ගණනක ණය ගෙන ඇත්තේ රටක් ලෙස තවත් රටකට බොරු කියමිනි.
අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ලංකාව තුළ ඉර්කොන් සමාගම හඳුන්වන ලද්දේ සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ඉන්දීය රජයට අයත් සමාගමක් ලෙසය. ඔවුන්ට ව්යාපෘතිය පැවරීමට හේතුව ලෙස දක්වා තිබුණේ එයයි. එම කරුණ ඉන්දියාවට දැනුම් දුන්නක් නොවේ. ඉන්දියාවට දැනුම්දෙන්නේ තරගකාරී මිල ගණන් යටතේ ව්යාපෘතිය ලබාගත් බවයි. ලංකාවට එකක් සහ ඉන්දියාවට තවෙකක් ලෙස බොරු කියා ඉර්කොන් සමාගමටම ව්යාපෘතිය පැවරුණි.
අසාර්ථක ව්යාපෘතියක්
ඒ සියල්ල අවසානයේ ලංකාව ඉර්කොන් සමාගම වෙත ව්යාපෘතිය පවරා ඇත්තේද වගකීමක් ඇතිව නොවේ. ශ්රී ලංකා දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් ඉර්කොන් සමාගමට ව්යාපෘතියෙන් සම්පූර්ණ කළයුතු අවශ්යතා ගැන දැනුම්දීමක්ද කර තිබුණේ නැත. රේල් පීලි, දුම්රිය ස්ථාන, සංඥා ආදියෙහි ලංකාවේ සැලසුම්, දකුණේ පාවිච්චි කරන ක්රමවේද මෙන්ම අනාගතයේදී දුම්රිය මාර්ගය පාවිච්චි කිරීමට සැලසුම් කරන ආකාරය පිළිබඳව නිසි උපදෙස් ලබා දී නැත. අවසානයේ ඉන්දියාවේ තත්ත්වයන් සමඟ ඉර්කොන් සමාගම හිතුමතේ දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීම ප්රතිඵලය වී ඇත.
දුම්රිය මාර්ග ඉදිකිරීම සෙල්ලමක් නොවේ. බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂලා ඒවා සෙල්ලමකට ගන්නට ඇත. බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂගේ ළමා උද්යානයයැයි සිතා ඉර්කොන් සමාගමට උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදිකිරීමේ ව්යාපෘතිය බාර දී ඇති සෙයකි.
පෙර සතියේ කී පරිදි උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය නිරීක්ෂණයේදී කමිටුව දුටු අඩුපාඩු මෙන්ම දීර්ඝකාලීනව බලපාන තවත් අඩුපාඩු රැසක් සහිතව ව්යාපෘතිය අවසන් කෙරුණි. කමිටුව විසින් මේ සියලු කරුණු පෙන්වාදී තිබියදීත් තවම ඉර්කොන් සමාගම ලංකාවට අරක්ගෙන සිටියි. අපට දැන් ආරංචි වෙන්නේ වත්මන් ප්රවාහන ඇමති නිමල් සිරිපාල ද සිල්වාද මේ කාරණා පිළිබඳ පරීක්ෂා කොට වැරදිකරුවන් සොයා දඬුවම් කොට අනාගතයේ මෙවැනි දේ සිදු නොවීමට පියවර ගනු වෙනුවට ඉදිරියේදීත් ව්යාපෘති කිහිපයක්ම ටෙන්ඩර් කැඳවීමකින් තොරව ඉර්කොන් සමාගම වෙතම ලබාදීමට දත කට මැදගෙන බලාගෙන සිටින බවකි. ඒවා දෙස අපි විමසිල්ලෙන් බලා සිටින්නෙමු.
September 30th, 2017 at 9:56 pm
ONLY Tamils who were less than 10% of the population.- We are 35% NOT 10% that why Our Thesiya Thalaivar want 1/3 of Land naturaly 2/3 of these land have sea.
Senerath
Why this kavadi kolaveri ???
September 30th, 2017 at 10:16 pm
@Senerath
“http://www.dailymirror.lk/29436/85-of-loans-spent-for-north-basil”
Even without the war, Muslim population would have grown as they have a very high fertility rate and very low emigration. During the war Sinhala population percentage increased from 73% to 75% mainly due to the reduction of Tamil population. However, the threat level posed by Muslims was therefore kept under control.
September 30th, 2017 at 10:54 pm
Sinhalayeni …..
Let each of us echo Harry Belafonte’s words to pledge our fealty to our own resplendant island in the sun ….
This is my island in the sun where my people have toiled since time began.
I may sail on many a sea, but her shores will always be home to me.
Oh my island in the sun, willed to me by my father’s hand.
All my days I will sing in praise of your forests, waters and your shining sands.
October 1st, 2017 at 3:28 am
The Tamil population in Sri Lanka fell SHARPLY AFTER the 1983 TRUMPED UP Riots and Tamil people going to the west as REFUGEES – no other way to go west, other than as REFUGEES.
Nearly a MILLION TAMIL people went west AFTER the concocted 1983 Riots.
They formed the Tamil Diaspora which funded the LTTE and also bribed VIPs abroad for Eelam formation, also spread lies, cheat & deceit for Eelam formation.
All this, in spite of SWRD’s gifts to the Tamil people of the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act (1957), which enabled for the first time, low caste Tamil people to enter classrooms to study, and also the Tamil Language (Sp Prov) Act of 1958, making the Tamil Language a National language.
If nearly 500 yrs of Colonisation did NOT happen, a lot of long drawn out tragedies in Lanka would NOT have happened ?
It is hgh time Tamil folk stopped using Lanka as some kind of ‘trampoline’ to create artificial troubles of HR violations etc. and bounce out and to go abroad, isn’t it ?
They cannot do such acts in Tamil Nadu, so Lanka is used for such acts.
Also, PM Nehru’s Anti-Secessionist Law (1963) is implemented with force in INDIA. Earlier Breakaway Tamil Nadu cannot breakaway now.
In Lanka, sincere PATRIOTISM & NATIONALISM the need of the hour.
In Lanka, too many folk seem to owe allegiance to outside forces ?
“Lanka First’ ought to be the motto. The Sri Lanka will shine once more for all.
Strong LAWS have to be acted on to save Lanka from disintegration. No other way.
October 1st, 2017 at 6:53 am
In the Colonial era in Lanka, a western Education plus Govt jobs in the North and elsewhere were given to those who became Christians or were High Caste Tamils ?
October 1st, 2017 at 10:49 am
SENERATH !!! YOU SEEM TO BE OUT OF STEP WITH NEWS.
BASIL RAJAPAKSE SAID IN THE NEWS THAT ALL THE FOREIGN FUNDING THAT CAME, HE USED EVERYTHING TO DEVELOP THE NORTH AND THE EAST. NOTHING, NOTHING FOR THE SOUTH. THAT IS WHY DILROOK IS BEING VERY EMPHATIC ON A REGULAR BASIS TO REMIND THAT SINHALESE GOT ONLY HIS **BALLS**
October 1st, 2017 at 6:30 pm
Shenali, Thank you for highlighting the plight of the Sinhalese. I was just watching The Story of China by BBC and it is the Confucian thinking that sustained China through all the upheavals it went through for many centuries. In the same way in Sri Lanka for 2600 years it is the Buddhist Culture and thinking that has sustained the entire nation and even the minorities have benefited by the tolerance and munificence of the Buddhist culture. Unfortunately, the some of the minorities have come to expect tolerance from the Buddhists while they practice intolerance and unkindness on the Sinhalese and Buddhists. This is why now in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, the Buddhists are turning aggressive just to survive. Historically even in Sri Lanka when there were invasions which threatened the security of the country even the Buddhist monks left the robes and went to war to protect the country. There cannot be two standards for the people of a country. We the Sinhala Buddhists are expected to take all the beatings, the killings, the lies, cheat and deceit from the others without any reaction for self-defense. In Sri Lanka, we tolerated the Tamil aggression towards the Sinhala Buddhists for 30 years and Mavil Aru was the straw that broke the camel’s back. They are using the clout they have with the West through bribery and lobbying and the fact that the West also wishes to acquire our ports and land for free to denigrate the Sinhalese while spreading lies about what happened for 30 years. No other country has given food and medicines to the Terrorists who were killing their people brutally. If the Tamils want to live in harmony with the Sinhalese they must be patriotic to the country without plotting the downfall of the majority who gave them so much such as free education, free food, free healthcare without the caste branding as in their homeland Tamil Nadu. The very heavens must be weeping at the injustice being meted out to the Sinhalese by the West and the minorities who have lived like parasites on the majority of the people. Patriotism and Nationalism is the need of the hour as Fran Diaz has said.
Please see also: http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/12/24/it-is-the-sinhalese-who-need-protection-under-the-r2p-of-the-un-from-77-million-tamils-across-the-palk-straits/
October 3rd, 2017 at 12:17 am
Basil has done it again!
This tactic is doomed to fail. Trying to fool both the north and south results in losing both. Jaffna voters are far more intelligent than him. They will take the land and vote for UNP. When Sinhala voters slowly come to realise it, they too will reject them. This was what happened in 2015. It is not the fault of the messenger.
“http://www.dailynews.lk/2017/10/02/political/129957/basil-drops-bombshell-security-forces-jaffna”
[Quote]
Basil drops bombshell on security forces in Jaffna
Former minister Basil Rajapaksa stunned journalists in Jaffna Sunday by admitting that security forces commanded by his president brother Mahinda committed “crimes” during and after the Tamil separatist war.
Basil told the Jaffna Press Club that troops continued to break the law even after the end of the war in May 2009. It is the first time that one of the kingpins of the Rajapaksa administration admitted, in the former war zone, that armed forces had committed crimes.
His remarks strengthened charges made by Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka that there may have been individuals who stepped out of line and who should be investigated and punished to clear the good name of the Sri Lankan forces.
Asked for his views on Field Marshal Fonseka’s remarks, including his willingness to testify before any war crimes tribunal, Rajapaksa said he was reluctant to comment, but ended up admitting to “crimes” by security forces.
“I think our forces didn’t do war crimes, but individuals might have done. It is not war crimes. We can call (it) crimes,” Rajapasksa said dispensing with a Sinhala-Tamil translator and switching to English.
However, he made it clear that he was unhappy with Field Marshal Fonseka’s comments. “I don’t think the person who led the forces at that time should talk like this.”
Basil Rajapaksa and his brothers had described Fonseka as the “world’s best military commander” after he crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and declared an end to a decades-long separatist war in May 2009.
However, they quickly fell out over who should take the credit for the spectacular military success.
In Jaffna yesterday, Basil Rajapaksa also dropped another bombshell declaring that his new party, the Sri Lanka Podujana Party (SLPP), a breakaway faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), supports the full return of all occupied private land in Jaffna.
He said occupied land should not only be returned to Tamil owners, but those who did not originally own property should be given state land, a position that is in sharp contrast to nationalist elements supporting his brother.
The SLPP had insisted on the military maintaining its hold on private land occupied during the war.Basil said the issue of people who had disappeared during and after the war should be addressed “humanely” and a solution found at the earliest.
“It is a question that must be addressed. We were trying to solve it (during our time), it is an emotional issue. It must be solved in a very humane way,” he said without going into details.
Rajapaksa lamented that moderate Tamil parties did not cooperate with the Rajapaksa regime, but was accommodating the government of President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe. The SLPP was venturing into Jaffna for the first time to set up a village level organisation to kick off their party activities in the former conflict zones, he added.
Tamil politicians as well as local rights groups say tens of thousands of people disappeared during the decades-long separatist war and the next of kin have not had closure.
President Maithripala Sirisena set up the Office of Missing Persons in July clearing the way to trace about 20,000 people still missing eight years after the end of the war. [Unquote]
October 3rd, 2017 at 1:21 am
@Dilrook
I was the messenger before you and I was shot down and the messsage burned !
Surely India is not happy with Sirisena and Ranil as they are TOO WEAK to fulfill their orders. Now they have got hold of the stronger man !
October 3rd, 2017 at 1:39 pm
A few soldiers committing offences does NOT make the entire Sri Lanka ARMY gullty of War Crimes !
Some Media reports attempt to make out that the SL Army is guilty of War Crimes – this is a downright lie.
FACT SHEET :
The fact remains that the SL Army RESCUED over 300,000 Tamil people held as a Human Shield (which is against the Law) by the LTTE.
The SL Army also rescued and rehabilitated over 10,000 LTTE CADRE.
The words must be chosen carefully to convey the correct meaning.
Those politicians and Military personnel who speak about the FEW who perhaps committed offences, must speak carefully and convey to the listners/readers the accurate picture of what really happened.
Even such Army personnel are innocent till proven guilty.
October 3rd, 2017 at 11:18 pm
@Fran
The problem is not the army but politicians desperately trying to win Tamil votes and US green card by implicating the army.
[quote] A few soldiers committing offences does NOT make the entire Sri Lanka ARMY gullty of War Crimes ! [unquote]
Actually it does lead to a systemic failure if no timely action was taken at that time. Basil saying this 8 years after the war ended does just that. Same with Fonseka.
This is not the first time for Basil who implicated the STF in a grave war crime in 2008. He also said he knows the STF did it but cannot prove it which only means our troops regularly destroy evidence!
“https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/06COLOMBO1622_a.html”
These people know nothing of the law and the nation will have to pay a heavy price for their opportunistic utterances. Both of them did so to win Tamil votes at the expense of the nation and the army.
Some of us are blinded by political alliance forgetting or downplaying the grave wrongs they have done to the credibility of the army. Sri Lanka is better off without these people (the politicians and their blind supporters). Otherwise poor soldiers will once again pay the price of political failure.
Soldiers and officers will do the same thing against their political leaders. In fact, this is becoming the only way to save them now. They cannot afford expensive lawyers but this simple trick can save themselves.
October 4th, 2017 at 3:55 am
Dilrook,
Thanks for your response.
I am opposed to the WAY in which the Daily News has reported the remark made by Basil Rajapakse in Jaffna.
The Daily News says :
1. Head lines of article : BASIL DROPS BOMB SHELL ON SECURITY FORCES IN JAFFNA
There is no “bomb shell” here – Basil R spoke the truth that the “SEcurity Forces didn’t do War Crimes …”.
It appears to the reader that the newspp has reported the incident in a mischievous manner, to mislead the reader as though Basil R has let down the Armed Forces and also spoke an untruth !
This was probably done by the Daily News reporter on orders from the top ?
2. “ …. SECURITY FORCES commanded by his president brother Mahinda committed “crimes” during and after the separatist Tamil war”.
The wide sweep & slant given by the newspaper is offensive & inaccurate.
3. What Basil R really said was : “I think our security forces DIDN’T DO WAR CRIMES, BUT INDIVIDUALS MIGHT HAVE DONE. IT IS NOT WAR CRIMES, BUT WE CALL IT ‘CRIMES’.
4. Next the newpp goes on to say that Basil R dispensed with the translator and went on to speak in English !!
This proves that the earlier remarks made by Basil R in Sinhala were mis-translated, possibly deliberately done to create the wrong impression.
Rather shameful for the national newspp to let down our War Heroes, to say the least.
All this done to create some cheap sensationalism and down Basil & the new political party …..
“Conduct unbecoming” for the newspp reporting, to say the least.
October 4th, 2017 at 5:53 am
@Fran
Crimes unpunished become systemic crimes. He even speculated them to be war crimes! These are worse than regular war crimes. You cannot mince words on this to a Tamil and foreign audience.
Please refer to the Wikileaks link I provided as well. He never claimed that was misquoted or misinterpreted.
I’m not going to take sides here because this is a national issue. All politicians particularly Basil and Fonseka must not venture into this dangerous territory. Why can’t they behave like other Sinhala politicians with some responsibility?
There were foreign journalists as well at the press meet. Just imagine the damage that is done. This also puts Gotabhaya and Mahinda in a very difficult position. Don’t be surprised when soldiers play the same trick on them.
The biggest problem with political supporters is they cause more damage to Sri Lanka and security forces trying to save their favourite politician.
October 4th, 2017 at 6:38 am
contd ….
Questions to ask :
Do the political party systems tied to Democracy really work well for SECURITY & ECONOMY of, in particular, for beleaguered, small nations like Sri Lanka ?
Once Systems are in place, it is hard to dislodge them ?
Then, to protect various groups within the country, shades of Fascism or even Communism, may set in ?
Then, Socialist nations may go belly up ?
If true, what are the lasting solutions to safeguard nations such as Lanka especially ?
Is the answer to teach Patriotism/Nationalism at an early age to all children in the country ?
October 4th, 2017 at 7:21 am
Dilrook,
I cannot agree with your view about Basil’s statement to the press.
What Basil said, talking in English was :
“I think our Security Forces DIDN’T DO WAR CRIMES, but INDIVIDUALS might have done. IT IS NOT WAR CRIMES, BUT WE CALL IT ‘CRIMES’.
Basil is quite right here. NO WAR CRIMES were committed. He has EMPHASISED that point – NO WAR CRIMES.
But, certain individuals may have committed ‘Crimes’ – but NOT WAR CRIMES.
His answer here is quite correct and does not incriminate the Armed Forces or the MR Govt.
But, certain members of the Media can twist words and make it sound otherwise.
So, it is best that no VIP addresses the so called War Crimes issue till the matter is sorted out.
Clearly stated written media releases can be made by political parties & politicians on this issue. Then there will be no ambiguity to play around with by ‘hired & scared media’.
I wonder what the real motive of the Daily News reporter is on this issue …
P.S.: As far I know, the Army was forced to and made to fire on a hospital occupied by the LTTE as the LTTE moved into a hospital and occupied it, and started firing on the Army from inside that hospital.
Many, many such incidents happened in WW II !! Carpet bombing of Dresden, Germany, was done by the Allies, merely because Nazis were using that area to hide out.
October 4th, 2017 at 8:49 am
Suggestion :
We cannot emphasize more on just how important it is for VIP Politicos and others to submit WRITTEN opinions on the Last Stages of the War with the LTTE and on so called War Crimes.
That way, there can be no ambiguity or false interpretations of what is meant to be stated, by anyone.
——-
Please Google to find out what happened in Dresden, Germany. Sad ….
ONLY solution is PREVENTIVE CARE OF ANY TYPE OF WAR HAPPENING ON PLANET EARTH.
It is far kinder to give FREE & safe Birth Control Material to any Adult who requests such material, anywhere and everywhere on Earth.
October 4th, 2017 at 2:05 pm
More evidence appearing on GREAT BETRAYAL
බොදුබලේ-සිංහලේ තහනම් කරන්නැයි මේජර් අජිත් කියයි
හැකි නම් බොදුබලේ, සිංහලේ, මහසොහොන් බළකාය ඇතුළු ජාතිවාදී අන්තවාදී සංවිධාන තහනම් කිරීමට පියවර ගන්නැයි මව්බිම වෙනුවෙන් රණවිරුවෝ සංවිධානයේ කැඳවුම්කරු විශ්රාමික මේජර් නීතීඥ අජිත් ප්රසන්න මහතා පැවසීය.
ඔහු එලෙස කීවේ අද කොළඹ දී මාධ්ය හමුවක් කැඳවමිනි.
රොහිනග්යා සරණාගතයන් රැඳී සිටි නිවස ඉදිරිපිට විරෝධතාවක් පැවැත්වූයේ කාන්තා අපයෝජන සිදුවීමක් වසන් කිරීමේ කුමන්ත්රණයක ප්රතිඵලයක් ලෙස යැයි ද අජිත් ප්රසන්න මහතා කීවේය.
‘එම පුද්ගලයන් රඳවා තබන ස්ථානයේ රාජකාරි කළ පොලිස් කොස්තාපල් වරයෙක් උපක්රමිකව සරණාගත කාන්තාවක් ලැගුම්හලකට ගිනිහින් දූෂණය කරනවා. ඒ පිළිබඳ ගංගොඩවිල උසාවියේ නඩුවක් විභාග වෙනවා. මේ නඩුව යළි කැඳවන්න නියමිත ඔක්තෝබර් 26 වැනිදාය. මේ ස්ත්රී දුෂණ වරදට අවුරුදු 10කට 15කට හිරේ යන්න වෙනවා. රොහින්ග්යා සරණාගතයන් ත්රස්තවාදීන් කියා හුවා දක්වලා උද්ඝෝෂණයක් කරලා ඒ අය පිටුවහල් කරන්න කටයුතු කළා නම් අර සාක්කි නැතිව යනවා කියා කුමන්ත්රණයක් කරනවා. අපි නීතිපතිට කියනව ඔය ඇත්තටම අල්ලලා ඉන්නේ හාල්මැස්සෝ.
බොදුබල සේනා සංවිධානය කියන නෝර්වේ බලල් අතක් වන අන්තවාදී සංවිධානය මුස්ලිම් හා සිංහල ජනතාව අතර දැවැන්ත බෙදීමක් ඇති කළා. එහෙම කරපු බොදුබලේ හාමුදුරුවන්ව එවකට ආණ්ඩුවට අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න බැරිවුණේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇමැතිවරයකු නිසයි. මේ සිදුවීම පිටුපසත් ඒ ඇමැති සිටිනවා. ‘
රට වෙනුවෙන් දැවැන්ත යුතුමක් ඉටු කළ ආරක්ෂක අංශයක නායකයකු ඉදිරියේ දේශපාලනයට එන බව ද අජිත් ප්රසන්න මහතා කීවේය.
October 4th, 2017 at 2:48 pm
Charater certificate from a good man ?
බැසිල් හොඳයි
බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂට හොඳ මොළයක් තිබුණා. විශේෂයෙන් ජාත්යන්තරය පිළිබඳව. රාජපක්ෂ පවුලේ එවැනි දැනුමක් තිබූ එකම පුද්ගලයා බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා යැයි සම කැබිනට් ප්රකාශක අමාත්ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා ඊයේ (4) පැවැසීය.
කැබිනට් තීරණ දැනුම් දීමේ මාධ්ය හමුවට එක්වෙමින් ඇමැතිවරයා මෙම අදහස් පැවැසීය.
උතුරු පළාතේ ජනතාවගේ ඉඩම් නිදහස් කර එම ජනතාවට ලබාදිය යුතු බව බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පසුගිය දිනක කළ ප්රකාශය ඉතාම හොඳ ප්රකාශයක් බවත් උතුරේ ජනතාව වෙත ඉඩම් බෙදාදීමට ඒ අනුව කිසිම ප්රශ්නයක් නොමැති බවත් රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා පැවැසීය.
උතුරේ ජනතාවට මේ වනතෙක් ඉඩම් ලබානොදීමට නොහැකි වූයේද රාජපක්ෂලාගේ බාධා කිරීම් නිසා බව මෙහිදී පැවැසූ රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා අද වනවිට බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට යුද හමුදාව ඒ යුගයේ අපරාධ කළ බවද පවසන බව කීය.
බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා නායකත්වය දෙන ශ්රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ ඉදිරියේදී ශක්තිමත්ව නැගී සිටිනු ඇති දැයි මෙහිදී ඇමැතිවරයාගෙන් ලක්බිම විමසූ අතර ඊට පිළිතුරු දුන් ඇමැතිවරයා පැවැසුවේ පොහොට්ටුව පිපෙන්නේ නැති පක්ෂයක් බවයි.
මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට අවශ්ය විදිහට රට පාලනය නොකර බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පැවැසූ ආකාරයට රට පාලනය කළා නම් තවමත් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා බවද සම කැබිනට් අමාත්ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් පැවැසීය.
පානුක රාජපක්ෂ
October 5th, 2017 at 2:02 am
Yes Fran, you are correct:
(Quote):
‘I cannot agree with your view about Basil’s statement to the press.
What Basil said, talking in English was :
“I think our Security Forces DIDN’T DO WAR CRIMES, but INDIVIDUALS might have done. IT IS NOT WAR CRIMES, BUT WE CALL IT ‘CRIMES’.
(Unquote)
Soon after this statement was made, you could see UNP party supporters and others virtually jumping on this on Social Media. Even Rajitha is now praising Basil, based on the twisting of words of this statement.
October 5th, 2017 at 1:13 pm
You can listen to the original speech here.
“https://www.facebook.com/658260850936671/videos/1452214268207988/”
It has many issues.
* He accepts individual soldiers might have done war crimes.
* Then he contradicts it and says they were not war crimes but they call it crimes.
* He goes on to say even after the war ended these crimes continue.
* He denies those in authority have done anything wrong.
If individual soldiers have done crimes that are not punished for 8 years and if they continue to do crimes even after the war, then those become systemic crimes. Our military and the governments have been unable to stop them. This is a very bad situation as bad or far worse than war crimes. This justifies an international or hybrid mechanism. Fonseka implicates a few in the military hierarchy, now Basil has implicated an unknown number in the forces.
This sharply contradicts what Nalaka Godahewa and Sarath Weerasekera said in Geneva just 2 weeks ago. It also contradicts the government claim that we have a very disciplined military.
Both these politicians can help Sri Lanka if they don’t talk about this issue.
October 5th, 2017 at 2:03 pm
Dilrook, he says that individual soldiers might have committed ‘crimes. I do not think he contradicted himself. I think he makes a distinction between war crimes, such as mass murder, rape etc, that has been sanctioned by the army command stucture verses ‘crimes’ which are are individual acts carried out by soldiers on their own volition. I think he was put on the spot by the questions he was asked, and so had to came up with the best answer he could come up with.
It is an undeniable fact that this kind of actions by individual soldiers has been carried out in every army of every country through human history. The American army, the apparent paragon of virtue according to the main stream media, has certainly had more than it’s fair share of soldiers/sailors/airmen who have committed heinous crimes.
I do not think that at any instance, Nalaka Godahewa or Sarath Weerasekera said that no soldier as committed a crime.
However I do agree with you 100% that they should not talk about this issue, but especially in Jaffna, and given their current promotion campaign, I don’t see how anyone could avoid not answering this question if faced with it.
October 5th, 2017 at 2:19 pm
Asanga,
“It is an undeniable fact that this kind of actions by individual soldiers has been carried out in every army of every country through human history.”
Yes. It is also an undeniable fact that in the modern world, those actions are investigated soon after they are exposed or known to any credible governement.
October 5th, 2017 at 2:27 pm
Agree with Asanga/
——-
Dilrook,
I listened to the Face Book video.
To our understanding :
Basil says in the video that it is not in his place to comment on the subject of War Crimes.
Individuals have/may have committed some ‘crimes’ Basil says. He is emphatic that these are NOT WAR CRIMES and says again that it is not for him comment on the issue of WAR CRIMES, as that is the question from the media person.
Basil emphasises here : NO WAR CRIMES were committed.
—————-
We repeat once more that Lanka VIPs ought not to speak on the subject of War Crimes & the Last Days of the War. If they must issue a statement on the subject, a written one briefly stating their views ought to suffice. Then there would be no ambiguity, and misrepresentation of the words and intent.
It certainly is important that the Armed Forces are not kept in one place over long periods of time. They ought to be rotated ? They ought to be given some types of jobs to do, education continued, etc. to fill their time gainfully ? They ought to have their wives/husbands with them in the Camps or access to them nearby. All these are not easy problems to solve. I leave it to people knowledgeable on the subject to decide what to do. Soldiers are ordinary human beings with human needs.
Please read up on the internet on what happens with the UN Peace Keeping Forces in foreign countries, when they are posted over long periods to one place.
We are not experts on this subject (now misrepresented and twisted into politics), to solve such problems.
Doubtless, our Armed Forces can solve this problem if it is handled as a human problem, and not blown out of proportion.
We, as ordinary and concerned people can only wish that ALL citizens of Sri Lanka are PATRIOTS & NATIONALISTS, working together for a better life for ALL in Lanka.
To this end, wouldn’t it be a good thing if the Tamil leaders of Sri Lanka drop their work toward Separatism and also revoke the V’koddai Resolution of 1976 ?
Climate Change is coming in fast, and that should be addressed, without the additional burden of Separatism.
October 5th, 2017 at 3:13 pm
P.S. :
Basil refers to ‘Crimes’ committed ‘even recently’.
I am assuming he is referring to recent events of Tamil criminal types attacking Army soldiers.
We saw the reports in the media on these events.
No one talks in the popular media about the more recent ‘crimes committed by Tamil criminals’. Why ?
October 5th, 2017 at 5:29 pm
@Fran
“I think our forces didn’t do war crimes, but individuals might have done. It is not war crimes. We can call (it) crimes,”
In the first sentence he says individual soldiers might have committed war crimes. There is no point arguing as it is obvious.
Then he contradicts and says they were not war crimes and that “we” call it crimes!
Which sentence is correct? First or second?
If you assume both are correct, then some individuals in the military have done war crimes but Basil opts to call them crimes (his interpretation). Well, the judiciary may have a different take.
So you agree crimes were committed by security forces. If so, why weren’t they investigated and punished for 8 years? This is a bigger problem than war crimes. It is a systemic failure of the military and the government.
Then he goes on to say that military men continue to do crimes. Is this needed in this context? If they are promptly investigated and punished, that is normal. There is no need to mention those in this context.
I agree all politicians (not qualified or mandated to do so) must stop talking about war crimes. I noticed people without any formal education on international law (some engineers and some spin doctors) make dubious statements clouding the war crimes issue. They have done more damage than good. Leave the matter to the experts unless you only follow the ministry of defence stand.
Gotabhaya is sufficiently educated and experienced on the matter to talk. Have you ever heard Gotabhaya making such statements?
For your information, I’m qualified in international law and from my educated opinion Basil and Fonseka have made it very difficult for the military to defend its position now. I wonder if this is playing politics to get 2019 presidential election candidateship. It is no secret Basil and Gotabhaya are competing against each other for that. If so, it is a very sad situation for the military and the nation.
My only concern is the military and the nation. I am not an apologist for politicians.
October 5th, 2017 at 5:38 pm
@Senerath
It is important to ask-
Have you ever heard Gotabhaya making such statements?
Gotabhaya is sufficiently educated and experienced on the matter to talk. He knows what to talk and when to talk and he has never landed the military in dubious situations.
You may find a parallel from early 16th century. We never learn from history!
October 6th, 2017 at 1:54 am
Senarath,
“Yes. It is also an undeniable fact that in the modern world, those actions are investigated soon after they are exposed or known to any credible governement.”
You are correct in saying that these actions are investigated WHEN exposed.
But in the case of ‘known’ by any credible government, I respectfully disagree. I think most politicians around the world are more or less cut from the same cloth;They will not take action against something like that unless it is exposed or leaked to the media and will potentially jeopardize their own careers -which one finds is often the case with the United States.
October 6th, 2017 at 2:08 am
@Dilrook, I do see your point about how potentially disastrous such a comment is. This is certainly well illustrated by the way these comments by Basil are being jumped upon, by social media supporters of the UNHRC actions against Sri Lanka.
Sometime back, Rajiva Wijesinha said something quite similar to Stephen Sakur on BBC hard talk, where he said he believed human rights violations ‘might’ have been carried out by members of the Sri Lankan Military. Maybe, as an expert in International Relations, he was able to word it in such a way that it could not be used by anyone as evidence. Admittedly in my case the proverbial hat certainly fits in the case of ‘…..people without any formal education on international law (some engineers……’ :) So I will bow down to your expertise in this area.
October 6th, 2017 at 6:43 am
Dilrook,
We are ALL agreed on the position that VIPs must NOT TALK on the topic of War Crimes.
So we can close that part of the debate.
Re Basil’s statement :
He has already spoken about the issue of War Crimes because the question was put to him.
The venue for his statement was a very uncomfortable one, to say the least ! He was walking and talking at the same time, in the North (!), amidst a large crowd.
What is important here is that Basil states that the SL Armed Forces did NOT commit War Crimes. Certain individuals may have committed other ‘crimes’, not war crimes.
That these individuals have not yet been accused and brought to Court : I personally do not know why, but can guess why. The Armed Forces have aleady suffered enough with over 7,000 dead and many thousands injured perhaps for life with serious mental & physical ailments. Also charges laid by UNHRC on false War Crimes, yet not resolved.
Re Non-Expert input into important issues :
It is important non-Experts engage in all topics, put in their experiences and opinions on all subjects they are interested in. That is the Democratic Way. There is a learning process happening here. Let us not stop that important process if we are to survive as a country. Restoration of self respect and self reliability has to happen to survive as a country. It is time to take charge of our lives again.
It is because Experts have failed that Wars happen ?
Re the Rajapakse Brothers in future Elections :
They are free to contest if they wish ! Good luck to them all. They are all Patriots of Sri Lanka.
I am personally for 5-8 time tested PATRIOTS & NATIONALISTS to govern the country.
October 6th, 2017 at 2:49 pm
Asanga,
Thanks for reply. Look at your own statement.
“I think most politicians around the world are more or less cut from the same cloth;They will not take action against something…
See how deluded and fooled Sri Lankans by these criminals politicians. It is not the politicians take action against criminals but police, military police, media, anti-corruption units etc.
In Sri Lanka we think “this governement take action” = “politicians take action”. Why ? Because politicians have become kings. I would say “not so” even in the USA. Trump alone cannot do everything he wants.
Anyway my point was the same as Dilrook’s. If military people did “CRIMES” and even a politician outside the defence ministry knows or suspects it, why an investigation was not done for 8 years ? But ulterior motive is clear. We win hearts and minds of Tamils by saying these words, win power somehow, send few low rank solidiers to gallows if necessary and make merry. See what happaned to Sunil Rathnayake. Why couldn’t he be examined to PTSD when they had all the power and judiciary under their control ?
This statement is even worse than Fonseka’s because Fonseka metioned a name of a commander where as he is making a general statement. Surely this would backfire one day.
Rajive Wijesingha did not make a similar statement. He has been asking the govenrment to carry out some investigation, consistently, all the time.
October 6th, 2017 at 7:56 pm
I’m actively involved in clearing Sri Lanka’s good name on the war crimes matter and pledged to defend a small number of uniformed (emphasised) members of the forces if war crimes trials begin. This type of statements make it extremely difficult for me and people defending Sri Lanka and we look like jokers.
This is not the first time but the fourth time.
First it was the STF. Then the navy. Then the army. Now it is the forces in general.
I leave it to you to find out who made these rash statements to the US state department officials who advised the US government to sponsor UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka after these incidents.
First statement – “We know the STF did it, but the bullet and gun evidence shows that they did not. They must have separate guns when they want to kill some one. We need forensic experts. We know who did it, but we can’t proceed in prosecuting them.”
Second statement – “Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been sufficiently trained in human rights, but that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has been credibly implicated in harassment and human rights violations. We have few complaints in areas of SLA presence, but we have a problem with the SLN. We didn’t expect them to work with civilians and they weren’t trained.”
Third statement – “I’m not saying we’re clean; we could not abide by international law – this would have gone on for centuries, an additional 60 years.”
This is the sad plight of poor soldiers who sacrificed 27,000 lives to defend the nation. They have been betrayed along with the nation. It is not USA’s fault alone that it brought 3 resolutions against Sri Lanka. USA will be under severe pressure if they did not bring these resolutions after these revelations. Due to these reasons many younger people don’t get involving in defending the nation. Those who are fighting for the nation are frustrated. They know it is undermined from within.
There is no point shooting the messenger. These are very well known. My fear is the impact it has on those who did more than their share to save the nation now having to pay for loose lips of politicians as well. Shame on those who defend them.
On the other hand, Gotabhaya has never made such rash statements that implicate Sri Lanka. Why cannot the others learn from him?
I conclude this discussion as there is nothing more to add.
October 7th, 2017 at 1:02 pm
All the more reason why Lanka VIPs ought NOT to SPEAK on the so called war crimes issue.
They ought to WRITE in clearly what they want to state on the issue if they have to make a statement, instead of dithering about the correct words to use when speaking.
Thanks to Dilrook and others for their input on this issue.
October 7th, 2017 at 1:33 pm
Our poor Millions of people in Lanka, sucked dry in every way by :
* Tamil Separatism/CASTE wars (go to the Root Causes: if there were no Tamil Separatist/CASTE wars, there would be no need for Basil to speak about so called war crimes),
* PLUS RWs ‘Crash & Sell’ idiotic Economic Plans called ‘Vision 2025’.