The Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Ven. Pannakara Thero is on the Global centre stage today. His Walk for Peace in the USA lasting 108 Days across 8 States has raised the stature of Vietnam in the Buddhist World to an unparalleled high level. He has brought world attention to a cause of Buddhism –
in the USA – ‘ Declare Vesak a National Holiday ‘ without firing a single bullet without using a gun without an iota of violence.
He has created a new dimension for peaceful protests in the USA like what Mahatma Gandhi did in India in his day about 100 years ago when demanding freedom and independence from Britain by use of non – violence and satyagraha.
All strength to the elbow of Ven. Pannakara and his travelling band of 19 Monks. He has given leadership to the cause of Buddhism at a time when the term ‘leadership’ and ‘outspokenness’ for any cause of Buddhism are virtually non – existent and conspicuous by their absence.
Ven. Pannakara has the potential of being idolized worldwide like a Rock Star but for noble worthy causes. He has done for Buddhism with his simplicity and directness which no other Buddhist figure has done in recent times. He has become the rage that is sweeping the entire globe and touching the hearts of both Buddhists and Non – Buddhists alike.
Being the country that has the longest history of uninterrupted Sri Lanka must unhesitatingly invite Ven. Pannakara and his band of 19 Theravada monks visit Sri Lanka to a warm welcome and as part of the oncoming Vesak Celebration. Let us Buddhists tell Ven. Pannakara and his gallant band that ‘ We and them are One’
Let us also use this occasion to remind the Vietnamese Buddhists that 63 years ago both the Govt. of Sri Lanka and the Buddhist Public stood by them in their hour of crisis.
R. S. S. Gunawardena to raise concerns about the repression in South Vietnam.
UN Intervention: Sri Lanka’s appeals contributed to the UN General Assembly adopting a motion on October 8, 1963, to send a fact-finding mission to investigate the situation.
Public Demonstrations: Organizations like the Bauddha Jatika Balavegaya (BJB) led by L.H. Mettananda organized large public protests in Colombo.
Lasting Connection: Sri Lanka established strong ties with Vietnamese Buddhist leaders, a relationship that continues to this day through mutual support and cultural exchange.
……………..
In 1963,
both the government and the people of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) provided significant moral, public, and diplomatic support to Vietnamese Buddhists during their crisis against the Ngo Dinh Diem regime. The support was driven by solidarity with fellow Buddhists facing discrimination and religious repression.
Sri Lanka’s assistance included various actions.
The Bauddha Jatika Balavegaya (BJB) organized public protests, including a massive rally at Ananda College, Colombo in October 1963
directed Sri Lanka’s UN Ambassador to raise the issue internationally. These efforts, along with those of other nations, led to the UN General Assembly adopting a motion on October 8, 1963, to send a fact-finding mission to South Vietnam. A few days after the arrival of the Sri Lanka instigated UN fact – finding mission in Saigon the dictator Ngo Dinh Diem and his Government were overthrown on November 2, 1963
Religious leaders in Sri Lanka, such as Venerable
Narada Maha Thera , also expressed support. Sri Lanka also acknowledged the sacrifices of Vietnamese monks who protested the regime. This support played a role in the international response to the 1963 Buddhist Crisis.
See also
Shenali Waduge
Remembering the martyrdom of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc on its 50th Anniversary (1963 – 2013)
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Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation, Anura Karunatilaka, has resigned from the Special Parliamentary Select Committee appointed to look into the release of 323 containers from the Colombo Port without being subjected to mandatory physical inspection.
The Parliamentary Select Committee, appointed to investigate and report on the release of the 323 containers without mandatory physical inspection and to submit its proposals and recommendations, convened for the third consecutive day on 11 February 2026 in Parliament under the chairmanship of Minister of Justice and National Integration, Attorney-at-Law Harshana Nanayakkara.
At the outset of the proceedings, the chair informed the Committee that Minister Karunatilaka had informed of his resignation from the membership of the committee.
He further stated that another member would be appointed in due course.
A group of officials from Sri Lanka Customs, including Director General Seevali Arukgoda, were summoned before the Committee, and evidence relating to the incident was recorded.
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The leader of the Sarvajana Balaya and Member of Parliament, Dilith Jayaweera, today (13) claimed that the recent incident involving a Buddha statue in Trincomalee was deliberately used by the government to create unrest in the country.
Speaking at a press briefing in Colombo, he said, We intervened to condemn this organized cultural attack being unleashed on the country. The Trincomalee incident is just one example. In reality, there have been many more serious incidents.
It is clear that this is a tool used by the government to deliberately create instability and disrupt harmony among communities. This is evident to us,” he added.
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The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Washington DC welcomed the ‘Walk for Peace’ on 10 February 2026, a walk by a group of Buddhist monks throughout the United States advocating world peace which was attracted by the people of the United States and around the world. By offering traditional Sri Lankan cuisine, the Embassy joined the Dana organized by the Sri Lankan community in the DMV area held at the National United Methodist Church which was attended by over 200 Buddhist monks. The Ambassador, upon invitation by Secretary of District of Columbia Ms. Kimberly A. Basset attended the interfaith ceremony held at the Washington National Cathedral. Thousands of people were gathered around the Cathedral showing their support for the Walk for Peace. Ambassador Mahinda Samarasinghe was joined by Deputy Head of Mission Mr. Madhuka Wickramarachchi. The Head Priest and the monks stopped momentarily at the Embassy where the Ambassador offered Atapirikara and pinned the Sri Lankan flag on the robe of Ven.Pannakara. The staff of the Embassy and the Sri Lankan community offered flowers and greeted the Walk. The Embassy distributed water bottles to all the devotees on the Walk which was highly appreciated. The Ambassador, staff of the Embassy and the members of the Sri Lankan community then walked with the monks.
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(2024), Dr. Sarath Hemachandra explores the intersection of traditional Buddhist teachings and modern scientific views. The work provides a detailed examination of the eternal cycle of life energy and the spiritual laws governing existence
Core Philosophical Themes
Dr. Hemachandra’s work focuses on the mechanisms of the “eternal cycle” and how practitioners can transcend it:
Human Existence & Life Energy: The book details the “eternal cycle of life energy,” framing human existence within a continuous loop of birth and death.
Consciousness & Rebirth: It explores the nature of consciousness as it relates to the process of rebirth, explaining how life transitions through different states of being.
The Path to Enlightenment: Following the Noble Eightfold Path and practicing Meditation are presented as the primary means to achieve Enlightenment and cease the cycle of suffering.
Psychic and Supernormal Phenomena
A distinct aspect of Dr. Hemachandra’s writing is the discussion of supramundane skills that arise from advanced spiritual practice:
Supernormal Abilities: According to the author, high levels of spiritual and intellectual development can lead to abilities such as telepathy and clairvoyance.
Scientific Integration: The book is noted for its attempt to amalgamate these “Spiritual Laws” with contemporary scientific views, offering a unique perspective on how psychic phenomena might be understood today.
Publication Details
Full Title: Concepts in Buddhism and Buddhist Philosophy: On Human Existence, Consciousness, Psychic Phenomena and Rebirth.
Author: Sarath Hemachandra, M.D..
Release Date: The book was released in mid-2024 (various sources cite July and August 2024).
Publisher: Published by Mindstir Media.
Format: Available as a 206-page hardcover.
Name of the Book:
Concepts in Buddhism and Buddhist Philosophy
on Human Existence, Consciousness, Psychic Phenomena, and Rebirth
Author:Sarath Hemachandra M.D.
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Ancient Innovations (3rd Century BC – 12th Century AD)
Ancient Sinhalese civilization is most renowned for its “Hydraulic Civilization,” featuring engineering feats that remained unmatched in the West for nearly 2,000 years.
Biso Kotuwa (Valve Tower): Invented in the 3rd century BC, this is the ancient equivalent of the modern valve-pit. It allowed for the regulation of water flow from massive reservoirs without the high pressure destroying the embankment.
Jaya Ganga (Giant Canal): Built by King Dhatusena in the 5th century AD, this 87 km canal maintains an incredible gradient of just 6 inches per mile (1:10,000), a feat of precision surveying that challenges even modern engineers.
Tank Cascade System (Ellangawa): A sustainable water management network that connected series of small and large tanks to manage silt, toxins, and water distribution, recognized today as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
Wind-Powered Steel Production: As early as 300 BC, Sinhalese engineers used monsoon winds to power furnaces, producing high-quality steel exported to the Islamic world for making famous swords.
World’s First Hospitals: Literary evidence from the 4th century BC during King Pandukabhaya’s reign marks the earliest recorded institutions dedicated specifically to the care of the sick.
Innovations in Cricket
Sri Lanka has played a pivotal role in modernizing the sport through both technological concepts and tactical revolutions.
Decision Review System (DRS) Concept: The “Player Referral” concept, which is the foundation of the modern DRS, was conceived by Sri Lankan lawyer Senaka Weeraratna to make umpiring fairer.
ODI Batting Revolution: In the mid-1990s, Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana revolutionized One Day International (ODI) cricket by introducing an aggressive strategy of hitting over the infield during the first 15 overs, a tactic that led to their 1996 World Cup victory and is now a global standard.
Bowling Techniques: Unique “slinging” actions, such as those of
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Some years ago, in the early nineties, when I was working for a manufacturing company, I was part of a team tasked with expanding and modernizing one of the factories. I met a technocrat from a Taiwanese company that quoted for the machinery needed for our project. I had some reservations about their ability to deliver high-quality machinery compared to a European company that also submitted a quote. However, Taiwan offer was much more attractive in terms of price. Along with my managing director, I had the opportunity to discuss the credentials of the Taiwanese company.
When I mentioned that our perception was that European machinery was superior, he replied it might have been true about ten years ago, but now they can compete with any product in the world. In the end, we chose their machinery mainly because of the price. Although I left that manufacturing company a few years later, I understood they continued working with the Taiwanese company for machinery procurement.
This particular company was German origin (FDI) and later had been given to Taiwanese CEO through a share transfer agreement.
Taiwan’s development history is very interesting. Unfortunately, they built the country during a different geopolitical environment. Sri Lanka can learn some lessons from their experience.
History of Taiwan
I only knew that Taiwan was established by the former rulers of mainland China after Chinese civil war, and Mao Zedong was at odds with them at the time. When Sri Lanka recognised the People’s Republic of China in 1950, the official diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) were severed.
However since opening of Sri Lanka’s economy in 1977, trade between the two countries increased.
Taiwan is a small island nation located about 160 km off the south-eastern coast of mainland China, separated by the Taiwan Strait. It has a total land area of approximately 36,197 km2. The main island is roughly 394 km (245 miles) long and 144 km (89 miles) wide. Sri Lanka is also a small island nation but has a land area 67,240 km2.
Although Chinese records date back to the 3rd century CE, the island was mostly ungoverned prior to the 17th century. Portuguese sailors in 1544 were the first Europeans to record the island, naming it Ilha Formosa (“Beautiful Island”).
The Dutch took control and colonized it from 1624 to 1662. The Dutch East India Company (VOC) used Taiwan as a trading hub connecting Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, trading silk for silver and exporting local products like deer hides, sugar, and rice. They also developed the island, encouraging Chinese immigration to work on plantations and building infrastructure such as Fort Provintia.
The Spanish established a separate colony in northern Taiwan between 1626 and 1642, but the Dutch expanded their control by ousting the Spanish. Ming loyalist Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong) defeated the Dutch forces, ending their 38-year rule in 1662.
During World War II, the Japanese colonized the island and developed its infrastructure, economy, public health, and education system. They initiated a railway system in 1899, improving transportation and connectivity between the northern and southern parts of the island. Both Taiwan and Sri Lanka have similar colonial history.
On December 10, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek the leader of Chinese Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or KMT), who ruled mainland China, arrived in Taiwan. This was following his government’s defeat by the Chinese Communist Party in the Civil War. This, and the subsequent days, represented the culmination of a massive retreat that saw a substantial portion of the then Republic of China (ROC) military, government officials, and civilians relocate to Taiwan to establish it as a base for an intended retaking of the mainland. Taiwan became ROC and mainland became People’s Republic of China (PROC) under Mao Zedong.
Since then Taiwan had been facing external threats from mainland communist China.
The Kuomintang (KMT) government ruled Taiwan under martial law since 1949 restricting civil liberties, banning new political parties, and suppressing dissent for nearly 38 years.
First major turning point toward democratization took place when the martial law was lifted on 15 July 1987. This ended many political restrictions, allowed opposition parties to organize, and opened space for civil liberties.
By 1991–1992, laws such as the Temporary Provisions Effective during the Period of Communist Rebellion were repealed, eliminating much of the legal basis for one-party authoritarian rule.
A crucial milestone came when Taiwan held its first direct presidential election on 23 March 1996.
The democratic process was further solidified in 2000, when the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won the presidency, marking the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties after decades of KMT dominance.
Comparison of Taiwan and Sri Lanka’s Economic Development
Many Sri Lankans tend to compare Sri Lanka with Singapore, a tiny city-state, when discussing the success and failures of national development. But in my opinion, Taiwan makes the right benchmark for Sri Lanka’s missed opportunity.
Taiwan and Sri Lanka looked remarkably similar in the fifties. Both were agrarian societies with large rural population and had comparable population sizes. In 1960, Sri Lanka’s per capita GDP was $ 152, and Taiwan’s was $ 149. Like Sri Lanka, Taiwan too was highly dependent on a few exports with a limited industrial base. Both had large rural populations.
Taiwan Miracle
Export-led industrialization
Like in Sri Lanka from 1956 to 1977, Taiwan also pursued a system of import-substitution industrialization in the early to mid-1950s. This led to a chronic shortage of foreign exchange and stagnant growth.
The main focus sectors during this period were textiles, footwear, food processing, and simple household goods. These products were primarily made for the local market.
Premier Chen Cheng, widely regarded as a key architect of the Taiwan Miracle, brought in several technocrats to decide on policy changes while remaining the ultimate decision-maker in economic policy. K.Y. Yin was one of them and became the main architect of Taiwan’s economic policy in the 1950s. He was one of the few Taiwanese officials during that period who consistently promoted free trade.
Yin introduced a dual-rate system for the Taiwan dollar, devaluing the currency to make exports more competitive. The government began reducing import controls, simplifying procedures, and offering tax rebates on raw materials, mainly to encourage exports. By 1962, this new strategy started to show results, with manufacturing production increasing and exports of manufactured goods rising significantly.
Afterwards, the country shifted to export-led industrialization, mainly focusing on manufacturing for global markets. The first Export Processing Zone (EPZ) was established in Kaohsiung in 1965, offering infrastructure and tax benefits to export-oriented firms. This attracted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for establishing factories in garments, electronics assembly, toys, and machinery. It enabled local managers and workers to learn new technologies and upgrade their skills. It also created numerous jobs, rapid productivity improvements, and integration into global markets.
Several more EPZs followed.
This process supported the growth of indigenous entrepreneurship, resulting in thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and strong subcontracting networks.
The Taiwanese government guided industry without suffocation, protected emerging industries, but required them to export and compete—”export or perish.” Unlike Korea, Taiwan did not rely solely on large conglomerates.
Between the 1980s and early 1990s, Taiwan undertook a phase of technological upgrades. Major government initiatives included founding the ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute), similar to the CISIR (Ceylon Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research) established in 1955; creating Hsinchu Science Park in 1980; and promoting government-supported R&D mainly applied, not fundamental research.
They also encouraged overseas Taiwanese to return.
Education and skills
Taiwan aligned education with industry and made heavy investment in science and engineering. They linked universities directly to industry needs and established technical colleges and science parks (Hsinchu).
Sri Lanka too expanded its university system, but courses were mainly to increase arts graduates. There was no mechanism to provide higher education or technical education to youths who could not be absorbed into the state university system, creating frustration among them. Weak education policies in Sri Lanka also led to the creation of educated youth including university graduates without relevant skills who became unemployable, creating unrest.
In other words Sri Lanka produced degree holders whereas Taiwan produced engineers and technologists.
Institutions and governance quality
A strong, disciplined bureaucracy was created by the Taiwan government with merit-based promotion in civil service and controlled corruption (not eliminated, but contained). The officials selected were mainly technocrats and they were knowledgeable and capable of advising the government on planning of economy in terms of short-term, mid-term and long-term.
In Sri Lanka appointments were made based on loyalty, not competence, and gradually politicised public service undermining the technocrats. The frequent policy reversals also affected the national development, and after the 1970s, corruption became systemic. Over decades, this destroyed investor confidence.
Treatment of the private sector
The Taiwan government partnered with private firms and supported SMEs to become exporters. Institutions were created to help companies to access credit, technology and foreign markets. Firms like TSMC, Acer, and Foxconn emerged from this ecosystem. Taiwan imposed a simple rule: if you receive state support, you must export and compete internationally.
In Sri Lanka the private sector was often treated with suspicion, and nationalisations destroyed investor confidence (1960s–70s); even after liberalisation (1977), policy inconsistency remained.
Export culture vs import culture
Taiwan used a brutal but effective rule, i.e., firms that failed were allowed to die.
Sri Lanka adopted a completely opposite strategic industrial policy and protected firms behind tariffs and continued to protect them even if firms stayed inefficient. A typical example is loss-making state enterprises that were kept alive for politics by pumping taxpayers’ money.
Taiwanese government conditioned the mind-set of the people to ask How can we sell to the world?” On the other hand Sri Lankan mind-set created by local politicians was How can we protect our market and distribute benefits?”
That difference alone explains much of the divergence.
Taiwan commenced developing tourism in a planned, national way in 1966, with the creation of the Taiwan Tourism Bureau to increase foreign exchange earnings. In 2025 Taiwan received 8.57 million Tourists. Sri Lanka also commenced developing this sector almost at the same time.
Internal and External Security
Economic development cannot occur in an environment of chaos. Taiwan understood this early. Before rapid industrialisation even began, Taiwan ensured domestic stability. The government crushed armed insurgencies and criminal militias after 1949 and established tight control over armed groups. They maintained central state authority nationwide by building a disciplined police and intelligence services. They strictly enforced law and order. This created predictability, safety for investors, confidence for citizens and ability to plan long-term.
Taiwan faced a serious existential threat from Communist China. Instead of militarising the whole economy, Taiwan made a strategic choice and signed a defence alliance with the United States (1954 Mutual Defense Treaty). They hosted US military support in the region and received military aid and training. They also relied on US naval power to deter invasion.
This meant they did not need to devote all resources to the military and kept defence spending relatively stable (not crippling the economy). As a result Taiwan leaders could concentrate on economic growth.
Disaster Management
Since Taiwan sits on the collision zone of the Eurasian and Philippine Sea plates, thousands of earthquakes occur every year. While some are minor, seven major ones have happened between 1949 and 2024. The most recent major earthquake was the 2024 Hualien earthquake, which caused significant damage across Hualien County and beyond. The worst was the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake, which killed 2,415 people and injured 11,305. That quake resulted in NT$300 billion (US$10 billion) worth of damage.
Taiwan also faced eight major typhoons during the same period.
Instead of treating disasters as bad luck,” Taiwan plans its entire development assuming disasters will happen regularly, since the country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire (earthquakes) and the typhoon belt (cyclones), and is prone to landslides and floods due to steep mountains.
Taiwan learnt from Japan and strict building codes such as base isolation, shock absorbers etc., and enforced nationwide when high-rise buildings are constructed. They use.
Result is even strong earthquakes today cause limited casualties, not mass collapse.
The Taiwan High Speed Railway, which started operation on January 5, 2007, and reaches speeds of up to 300 km/h, also includes an automatic safety system to stop all trains safely if a significant earthquake is detected.
Conclusion:
The above analysis shows that Taiwan didn’t succeed because it started rich, but because it forced itself to become globally competitive. Sri Lanka didn’t fail because it started poor, but because it prioritized political comfort over economic progress.
As a result, Sri Lanka faced a severe debt crisis and economic collapse, requiring deep structural reforms to rebuild credibility.
Sri Lanka can still follow the Taiwan Model” or development logic—not its exact historical path—but only if it accepts three hard truths:
1. Development isn’t about slogans or mega-projects.
2. Discipline matters more than democracy-driven populism.
3. Export performance must dominate domestic politics.
Taiwan’s rapid growth happened in an era with fewer competitors. Despite facing a highly competitive global market now, Sri Lanka can develop its economy to a satisfactory level within a few years if it follows these principles.
The bottom line is Taiwan currently has a per capita GDP of about US $34,000—placing it among the higher-income economies worldwide—while for Sri Lanka it’s about US $4,500 (2024 estimate).
Rohan Abeygunawardena ACMA, CGMA
(Writer could be contacted on abeyrohan@gmail.com)
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Across Sri Lanka and worldwide, a clear mismatch exists between academic qualifications and industry expectations. Universities and technical institutions produce thousands of graduates every year, yet employers—especially in engineering, shipbuilding, oil & gas, and heavy industry—continue to struggle to find job-ready professionals. The gap is not intelligence or theoretical knowledge; it is hands-on vocational competence.
Theory Alone Is No Longer Enough
Modern industries demand engineers and technical professionals who can translate drawings into reality. Welding, steel fabrication, piping fabrication, and Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) are not skills that can be mastered in lecture halls alone. They require:
Physical familiarity with tools and materials
Understanding of real-world tolerances and defects
Safety discipline learned on the shop floor
Confidence gained through practice, not exams
Graduates without exposure to actual fabrication environments often struggle in their first employment, even though they may excel academically.
A vocational training certificate—especially in areas such as welding technology, fabrication, piping, and NDT—acts as a bridge between academia and industry. When a graduate applies for their first job with both a degree and a recognized vocational certificate, employers see:
Reduced training costs
Faster onboarding
Lower safety risks
Higher productivity from day one
This is particularly critical in sectors where errors are costly, such as shipbuilding, oil and gas, power plants, and large infrastructure projects.
Real Outcomes: Proof from Industry
Our own experience clearly demonstrates this value. Several university graduates who underwent structured welding and fabrication training at our campus were issued vocational certificates after completing both theoretical and practical components.
As a direct result:
Sri Lanka’s main shipyard absorbed them into its permanent cadre, recognizing their readiness for real work.
Some graduates were invited to work in the Middle East oil and gas industry, where hands-on competence is non-negotiable.
These outcomes did not occur because of additional degrees—but because of practical skill validation.
Global Demand for Engineers with Hands”
Worldwide, employers are actively seeking engineers who can:
Read and modify fabrication drawings
Supervise and perform welding operations
Understand weld defects and inspection methods
Work alongside technicians with credibility
An engineer who understands welding and NDT from direct experience commands higher respect, faster promotions, and greater international mobility.
The Paradox of Vocational Training in Sri Lanka
The Sri Lankan government actively promotes vocational training, yet struggles to attract students. One key reason is perception: vocational training is wrongly seen as a second option” rather than a career accelerator.
In reality, combining:
University education + vocational certification
creates a powerful professional profile—especially for final-year students and fresh graduates.
Why Training During Final Year Makes Sense
The ideal time for vocational training is:
During the final year, or
Immediately after graduation, before applying for the first job
At this stage, students:
Still have learning momentum
Are flexible in time
Can align training directly with career goals
Most importantly, they enter the job market already differentiated from their peers.
Our Role: Industry-Ready Training in the South
Our welding training campus in the Southern Province is specifically geared to:
Deliver industry-aligned welding and fabrication training
Integrate theory with hands-on practice
Prepare graduates for immediate employment
Support both local and overseas job placement readiness
We do not merely issue certificates—we prepare work-ready professionals.
Conclusion
In today’s competitive environment, the question is no longer Do you have a degree?”
It is Can you perform?”
For university and technical school graduates, acquiring a vocational training certificate before their first job is not an extra—it is a strategic necessity. It shortens the path to employment, opens global opportunities, and transforms academic knowledge into real economic value
Regards
Dr Sarath Obeysekera
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Reconciliation, harmony, inclusiveness, and coexistence are admirable ideals. However, they must not be used to distort historical facts. History should be interpreted within the context of the norms and conventions of its own time—not through modern lenses.
Valuable artefacts discovered around the Jetawanaramaya stupa include items of foreign origin from the Far West, China, and North and South India. Among them was a statue of a Hindu deity donated by a visiting trade group from Tamilakam (modern-day Tamil Nadu). This was simply one object among many collected artefacts. There is no evidence it was venerated. Gifts of religious symbols are often diplomatic or cultural gestures; they do not imply worship or doctrinal integration.
Foreign visitors have long been drawn to Jetawanaramaya. Even in modern times, much of its restoration has been funded by foreign tourists through ticket sales. Historical evidence suggests that such visits occurred for centuries. Foreign pilgrims and traders admired the shrine and contributed to its upkeep. This demonstrates long-standing patronage—not evidence of social inclusiveness or permanent settlement.
Similarly, Sinhalese Buddhists for centuries visited sacred Buddhist sites in India, Nepal, and across Asia, where they were received with hospitality. Visiting a religious site does not imply settlement or demographic change.
Ancient societies understood the balance between hospitality and sovereignty. They welcomed visitors while preserving their homeland and identity. Interpreting ancient history through modern political or ideological frameworks risks serious distortion.
History must remain grounded in evidence and context, not reshaped to fit contemporary reconciliation and political narratives.
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The oft-quoted disenfranchisement of Tamils” post-independence is often repeated internationally & referred to locally. Let us go back in time and evaluate the evolution of how colonials identified the natives. To answer that, let us trace how identity classification evolved. This study traces how Portuguese, Dutch, and British colonial administrations systematically identified indigenous populations and distinguished them from imported migrant communities. It then asks a central question: On what historical, legal, or civilizational grounds should externally imported colonial labour be granted automatic citizenship in a newly independent sovereign state? This is not an ethnic argument. It is a historical–legal inquiry, grounded in primary records, census data, administrative classifications, land registers, and colonial legal systems.
PORTUGUESE PERIOD (1505–1658)
How Portuguese identified populations
Key Sources
Fernão de Queyroz The Temporal and Spiritual Conquest of Ceylon (1617–1688)
Identifies Sinhala population as indigenous
Uses Malabars” to describe South Indian Tamil-speaking migrants and mercenaries
Jaffna treated as a political entity, not a native civilizational base
João Ribeiro Fatalidade Historica da Ilha de Ceilão (1681)
Distinguishes Sinhala natives from Malabar mercenaries and traders
Crucial point:
The Portuguese never recognized Tamils” as a native ethnic group of the island. They recognized them as Malabars = South Indian origin.
This establishes the earliest recorded colonial distinction between indigenous populations and external migrant communities.
Term
Meaning
Chingalas / Singalas
Native inhabitants of the island
Gentios da terra
People of the land (natives)
Malabares
People from the Malabar coast (South India)
Coromandel
Eastern South Indian coast
Mouros
Muslims
DUTCH PERIOD (1658–1796)
Dutch Civil administration was more systematic
The Dutch created Thombo registers — land, population & tax records.
Their classification:
Term
Meaning
Inlanders
Natives of the land
Singalezen
Sinhalese
Malabaren
South Indian Tamils
Topasses
Mixed Portuguese descendants
Key Source Authors
L. Brohier– The Dutch Thombo Registers of Sri Lanka
Arasaratnam– Dutch Power in Ceylon 1658–1687
VOC Archives – Colombo & Jaffna Thombos
Dutch Thombos:
Record Sinhalese villagers as indigenous landholders
Record Malabars as migrants, traders, mercenaries, and labour
Land ownership overwhelmingly Sinhalese (strongest legal marker of indigeneity)
Even in Jaffna, Malabars appear as occupational and migrant groups
Key finding:
Even in Jaffna, Tamil populations are documented mainly as service, trade, or mercenary groups, not as original indigenous settlers.
Under Dutch Roman-Dutch law — later inherited by the British and post-independence Sri Lanka — land ownership and ancestral rootedness defined legal belonging.
Thesavalamai Law (1707 / Dutch Period)
TheThesavalamai is a codified customary law in Jaffna, officially recorded by the Dutch in 1707.
Appliedexclusively to the Tamil/Malabar population of northern Sri Lanka.
Regulated: property, inheritance, marriage, caste, and civil matters for Tamils.
Exclusive application to Malabars:
Thesavalamai never applied to Sinhalese; how many of the Ceylon Tamils” enjoy this legal status for land ownership?
Colonial acknowledgment of external origin:
By codifying Thesavalamai, Dutch and later British authorities treated Tamil-speaking populations as aself-contained, migrant community, distinct from the indigenous Sinhalese.
Legal precedent for citizenship and land ownership:
Under Roman-Dutch law (and inherited British administration), land rights and ancestral rootedness defined legal belonging.
The Thesavalamai codification reinforces that Tamils weredistinct settlers, with customs and property laws different from the island’s indigenous legal systems. The law is another headache of the colonials.
Implication for Separatist Claims:
If Tamils were truly indigenous, there would beno need for a separate, codified law governing only their community.
Colonial administration consistentlytreated them as external settlers, not as part of the indigenous Sinhalese civilization.
How Colonial Records Constructed ‘Native’ Identity
Colonial administrations were not anthropological institutions.
Their classifications were designed for governance, taxation, land tenure, military control, and population management. Yet across three successive colonial regimes — Portuguese, Dutch, and British — a remarkable continuity emerges in how indigeneity was defined.
Across all three COLONIAL administrations, native identity was determined by three consistent criteria:
Ancestral rootedness
Land inheritance
Long-settled village-based civilization
Populations satisfying these conditions were recorded as people of the land — the indigenous inhabitants. Only the Sinhalese fitted all 3 criteria.
Those lacking these characteristics were classified separately as (2nd category):
Migrants
Mercenaries
Traders
Imported labour
From the 16th to the late 19th century, Tamil-speaking populations were consistently placed in the second category, not the first.
This demolishes the modern claim that Ceylon Tamil” indigeneity is ancient.
Instead, the evidence demonstrates that colonial bureaucratic convenience — not historical reality — manufactured the modern ethnic category.
EARLY BRITISH PERIOD (1796–1870)
Identity Categories still external-origin based
British continued Dutch classification:
Term
Meaning
Cingalese
Indigenous population
Malabar
Tamil-speaking South Indians
Coast Tamils
Migrants from Coromandel
Coolies
Imported labour
Key British Sources
James Emerson Tennent– Ceylon: An Account of the Island (1859)
Percival– Account of the Island of Ceylon (1803)
They describe:
Sinhalese as the ancient people of the island
Malabars as immigrant traders, soldiers, and labour
This confirms over three centuries of continuous administrative classification recognizing Sinhalese as indigenous and Tamil-speaking populations as external-origin groups.
Scholars such as Dr Karthigesu Indrapala and Mahindapala H.L.D. confirm that Tamils only became permanent settlers in the 12th–13th centuries.
Before that, Jaffna was not a native civilizational base, but a political and isolated outpost. Cultural development in Jaffna remained derivative of South India, with no independent artistic or state-building achievements comparable to Sinhala civilization.
THE CRITICAL SHIFT — BRITISH CENSUS ENGINEERING (1871–1911)
This is the turning point.
1871 Census — No Ceylon Tamil” Category
Tamils classified mainly as:
Malabars
Coast Tamils
Indian Tamils
1881 Census — Transitional Identity Stage
First bureaucratic attempts to separate:
Tamils of Ceylon”
Tamils of Indian origin”
This was not historical recognition — it was administrative convenience.
Colonial Manipulation of Identity & the Birth of ‘Ceylon Tamil’
The 1911 Census formalized Ceylon Tamil” as an administrative category.
This was not historical recognition — it was colonial political engineering, designed to simplify electoral representation, allocate Legislative Council seats, and stabilize communal governance.
The creation of this identity gave rise to a politically privileged Tamil elite that dominated civil service, missionary education, and legislative influence — far beyond their historical numbers or civilizational contribution.
Meanwhile, Sinhalese were consistently recorded as indigenous inhabitants with ancestral land rights — a continuity that persisted across all colonial administrations.
1911 Census — The Political Reclassification
This is when Ceylon Tamils” formally appear as a census ethnic category.
Legislative Council reforms required ethnic group allocation
Political representation required simplified identity blocks
Census became a political instrument, not a historical one
Registrar-General was a Tamil – Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan
Key Source
Patrick Peebles– The History of Sri Lanka
M. de Silva– A History of Sri Lanka
British Census Reports 1871–1946
Ceylon Tamil” is a 20th century colonial administrative construction — not an ancient historical identity.
This census shift later became the foundation of ethnic politics and separatist ideology.
PLANTATION TAMIL IMPORTATION (1820–1939)
British Import Policy
Over 1,000,000 South Indian Tamils imported
Purpose: Plantation labour
Legal status: Temporary migrant workforce
This represents one of the largest organized labour migrations in colonial Asia. Comparable migrations in Malaya, Burma, Fiji, Kenya, and South Africa did not result in automatic citizenship upon independence.
Sri Lanka’s post-1948 approach was therefore consistent with global post-colonial legal norms.
Identified in British records as:
Indian Immigrant Labour
Estate Tamils
Coolies
Malabars
Key Sources
H. Farmer – Pioneer Peasant Colonization in Ceylon
Holmes Report on Indian Labour in Ceylon (1915)
British Blue Books of Ceylon
THE KEY LOGICAL QUESTION FOR READERS
If the Portuguese, Dutch and British all identified all Tamils as – South Indian Tamils, Malabars, immigrants, labourers, and external populations, on what historical or legal basis should they suddenly become citizens?
1911 RECLASSIFICATION DOES NOT CREATE INDIGENEITY
Census categories are administrative tools, not historical truth engines.
They reflect:
Political needs
Governance convenience
Electoral engineering
They do not confer ancestral legitimacy.
WHY THE 1948 CITIZENSHIP ACT WAS LEGALLY CONSISTENT
On what historical or legal basis should South Indian migrant labour, imported for plantations, be granted automatic citizenship in a newly independent state?
International post-colonial practice provides clear guidance:
Citizenship is granted based onancestral rootedness and generational permanence
Migrant labourers, even if resident for decades, werenot considered founders or indigenous
Sri Lanka’s 1948 Citizenship Act was therefore consistent with global norms, codifying historical continuity rather than inventing exclusion.
HOW COLONIAL ENGINEERING FUELED SEPARATISM
The artificial 1911 Ceylon Tamil” identity produced a politically privileged Tamil elite, which benefited from:
Missionary education
Foreign scholarships
Colonial civil service dominance
Political over-representation
This elite:
Advanced50–50 communal representation demands
Formed theIlankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (1949)
Issued theVaddukoddai Resolution (1976)
Paved the ideological path toarmed separatism
Thus, separatism did not arise from ancient grievances — it arose from colonial political engineering and elite privilege.
The Dutch and later colonial administrations also manipulated caste structures, elevating the Vellala caste artificially as a ruling elite in Jaffna.
Arumuka Navalar (1822–1879) codified Vellala dominance, creating a hierarchical structure that reinforced political control but had no basis in Sri Lankan indigenous society.
The transformation of the Bellala labourer into the Vellala landowner illustrates the colonial-engineered social hierarchy in Jaffna. As Wagenar notes, when the Bellala became landowners, a simple linguistic shift — B → V — symbolized their elevated status.
There is no equivalent Vellala caste in South India, highlighting that this was a Ceylon-specific construct.
This newly privileged Vellala class gained a strategic advantage during the arrival of American missionaries. The British, wary of empowering the majority Sinhalese with English education, effectively monopolized schooling for the Vellala, consolidating their socio-political influence.
This artificially created Vellala elite later became the backbone of political separatism, dominating peninsular Jaffna society and controlling education, social privilege, and access to resources, which ultimately fed into the rise of Tamil separatist ideology in the 20th century.
The British failed to comprehend the indigenous Sinhalese village-based structure.
Colonial administrators instead opened governance and education to select elites — the Mudaliyar system, inherited from the Portuguese — allowing a few families to amass wealth, collect taxes, and gain social respectability, while the majority remained marginal.
Modern neo-colonial actors continue this pattern, propping up and rotating power among these elite families across ethnic lines — their understanding being that maintaining elite privilege ensures influence, while preventing true mass empowerment.
The above may raise some counter questions:
The Tamils have lived in Sri Lanka for centuries — doesn’t that make them indigenous?”
Portuguese, Dutch, British records classify Tamils asmigrant populations, not ancestral natives.
Permanent settlement in Jaffna only begins around12th–13th centuries, much later than the Sinhalese, whose civilization spans millennia.
Being resident for centuriesdoes not automatically confer indigeneity under international post-colonial legal norms. Indigeneity is linked to ancestral rootedness, land inheritance, and long-settled village-based civilization, criteria consistently recorded by colonial administrations.
The 1911 Census recognized Ceylon Tamils — isn’t that official historical recognition?”
The 1911 Census wasadministrative and political, designed for electoral convenience, representation quotas, and colonial governance stability.
Census categories arenot historical truth engines; they are tools for bureaucracy.
Recognition on paperdoes not change historical or civilizational reality. Legal systems, land records, and prior colonial documents continue to show Sinhalese as indigenous landholders.
The Vellala caste proves ancient Tamil roots — they are indigenous elite.”
TheVellala caste in Jaffna emerged from colonial-engineered transformation of Bellala labourers.
Linguistic shift (B → V) symbolizedcolonial social elevation, not ancestral legitimacy.
There isno Vellala caste in South India, confirming this is a Ceylon-specific construct.
What about Tamil contributions to culture, religion, or statecraft?”
Jaffna culture and political systems werederivative of South India, with no independent Sinhalese-comparable civilization.
Tamil settlements were mainlytrading, mercenary, or service-based communities until colonial times.
Contributions of an elite minoritycannot redefine entire population identity as indigenous.
Doesn’t denying plantation Tamils citizenship violate human rights?”
International post-colonial normsdo not automatically grant citizenship to imported labour, even after decades of residence (e.g., Malaya, Fiji, Kenya, South Africa).
Citizenship in 1948required ancestral rootedness and generational permanence, consistent with global standards.
This approachprotected the sovereignty of a newly independent state, rather than discriminating against individuals.
Why are Sinhalese considered fully indigenous — isn’t that biased?”
Colonial classifications consistently recorded Sinhalese aslong-settled villagers with ancestral land ownership, a factual record, not bias.
Sinhalese civilizationpredates European arrival by millennia, with continuous village-based governance, agriculture, and militia structures.
Recognition is based onobjective historical and legal markers, not ethnic favoritism.
Doesn’t this dismiss Tamil grievances?”
The argument doesnot dismiss Tamils as citizens; it distinguishes historical claims of separate-state indigeneity from administrative, elite-driven constructs.
Tamils who seek coexistence areguaranteed full citizen rights and security
Separatist claims arise fromcolonial engineering and elite privilege, not genuine historical exclusion.
Isn’t this an anti-Tamil racist narrative?”
The narrative ishistorical-legal, not ethnic or racist.
Those who have no solid arguments to counter hide behind racist slogans.
Focus is oncolonial records, land registers, and census classifications.
Itexposes manufactured political identities rather than targeting the community.
The conclusion supportsshared national belonging and reconciliation, not exclusion.
Doesn’t British education policy justify Vellala dominance?”
British policymonopolized schooling for a small elite to control administration; it was not evidence of ancient status.
Sinhalese majority and other Tamil groups remainedlargely marginalized in governance, showing colonial manipulation of caste, not historic legitimacy.
If Tamils were migrants, how can they now claim citizenship?”
Citizenship post-independence islegally distinct from ancestral indigeneity.
The 1948 Citizenship Actcodified historical continuity, granting rights to descendants with generational rootedness, not temporary imported labour.
This aligns withinternational post-colonial precedent and is not discriminatory against individuals or communities.
shouldn’t Tamils be demanding accountability from the British for the uprooting of Tamils, importing them across seas and then planting separatist ideology”
Most definitely. It’s not too late to redirect the separatist campaign to demanding accountability from the British.
STRATEGIC MESSAGES TO ALL COMMUNITIES
To Tamil Separatists – mostly living overseas
The historical bluff is now exposed.
Chronology, land records, census classifications, and colonial administrative lawcollectively dismantle the claim of ancestral indigeneity.
Separatism rests not on history, but oncolonial political manipulation and present day PR campaigns and well-funded lobbying.
There existsno credible legal, historical, or civilizational foundation for a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka.
To Peace-Loving Tamils who seek Coexistence
This historical evolution offersreassurance, not rejection.
Your future lies incoexistence, security, and shared national belonging — not in resurrecting colonial constructs that serve foreign geopolitical interests.
Any hidden aspiration for separation exposes communities toregional domination, particularly by India, whose strategic doctrines openly emphasize subcontinental consolidation and subservience.
Living as equal citizens within Sri Lanka is infinitely safer, freer, and more dignified than living as a peripheral minority under Indian dominance. It is a question the Tamil people must ask themselves.
To the Sinhalese People
History calls formagnanimity grounded in truth
Understanding these realities allows the Sinhalese majority toembrace Tamil citizens fully, once separatist demands cease.
True national reconciliation is built not on denial, but onhonest historical clarity and mutual trust.
There exists no historical or legal justification for Tamil separatism.
There exists every moral, civilizational, and strategic reason for unity.
Sri Lanka’s future security, sovereignty, and harmony depend not on resurrecting colonial distortions and continuing the divisions — but on shared belonging, historical honesty, and national reconciliation.
Shenali D Waduge
Comments Off on How Colonial Records Constructed “Native” Identity — and why Separatist claims Collapse under historical scrutiny
Sri Lanka has been governed continuously by Sinhala-Buddhist monarchies for over 1,700 years, supported by advanced systems of governance, irrigation, taxation, law, and religious institutions. Despite intermittent South Indian invasions and mercenary occupations, the island has never experienced indigenous Tamil political sovereignty at any point in recorded history.
Modern claims for Tamil Eelam” do not arise from archaeology, epigraphy, genetics, history, or international law. Instead, they are constructed from colonial administrative distortions, selective historical interpretation, political myth-making, and post-colonial separatist ideology. These claims collapse under rigorous historical and legal scrutiny.
This dossier brings together prehistoric, archaeological, historical, genetic, colonial, and international legal evidenceto establish Sri Lanka’s unitary sovereignty and to decisively refute separatist narratives.
The conclusion is unambiguous:
Tamil Eelam is historically false, legally impossible, and geopolitically dangerous.
At the same time, the ultimate purpose of this analysis is not division, but unity — to ensure that all communities live together in peace, equality, dignity, and security, while firmly rejecting separatism promoted by external actors and overseas lobbies who bear no responsibility for Sri Lanka’s long-term stability, harmony, or survival.
Critically, Tamil Eelam ideology does not genuinely serve Tamil interests. The Eelamist movement, driven largely by overseas lobbying networks, does not seek justice, development, or security for Sri Lankan Tamils. Instead, it weaponizes Tamil identity for geopolitical objectives that ultimately undermine both Tamil welfare and Sri Lankan sovereignty.
When the Eastern Province — which was never ruled, administered, settled, or conquered by South Indian powers — is forcibly included within the Tamil Eelam claim, it automatically exposes the entire Eelam project as a political fabrication, thereby casting decisive doubt even on the northern claim itself.
If the eastern claim collapses historically and legally, the northern claim collapses by logical extension, because the ideological foundation is revealed as territorial expansionism rather than historical justice.
Evidence indicates that the strategic objective of these overseas lobbies is not Tamil self-determination, but territorial reconfiguration — specifically, the merging of Sri Lanka’s Northern and Eastern Provinces with Tamil Nadu, thereby breaking Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity.
Such a geopolitical outcome would inevitably result in external dominance over Sri Lanka’s northern and eastern regions, as these actors already rely on historical South Indian origin narratives to justify political absorption.
Once territorial fragmentation is achieved, further expansionist claims would logically follow, including over Sri Lanka’s Central Plains, where new ethnic identity constructs — such as the recent Malayalam minority” narrative — are already emerging.
This pattern reflects a classic strategy of incremental territorial destabilization:
Fragment sovereignty,
Manufacture identity claims,
Internationalize grievances,
And progressively expand geopolitical influence.
Such a trajectory threatens not only Sri Lanka’s territorial unity but long-term regional stability, placing all communities — including Tamils — at risk.
Therefore, rejecting Tamil Eelam is not anti-Tamil.
It is a pro-peace, pro-sovereignty, pro-stability, and pro-coexistence position that protects all Sri Lankans equally.
In fact, rejecting Tamil Eelam is mostly beneficial for the Sri Lankan Tamils more than anyone else.
Prehistoric & Early Human Settlements
(38,000 BCE – 543 BCE)
Era
Territory (Present-Day)
Key Notes
Balangoda Man / Late Stone Age (~38,000 – 28,500 BCE)
Uva, Central Highlands, Horton Plains, Kitulgala, Ratnapura
Hunter-gatherers, microlithic tools, earliest evidence of humans on the island.
Mesolithic / Neolithic (~10,000 – 2000 BCE)
Dry zone plains (Anuradhapura, North Central, NW), Eastern river valleys
Early agriculture, cave settlements, pottery, ritual practices, organized communities.
Iron Age (~1000 BCE onward)
North Central (Anuradhapura), South-West (Kalu River basin), Eastern coast
Farming, early irrigation, local chieftains; island fully populated, no empty land”.
Key Takeaways:
Indigenous civilization existed across Sri Lanka long before any founding myths.”
Archaeology and inscriptions show organized societies with governance, agriculture, and religion.
Genetic studies indicate modern Sinhalese directly descend from prehistoric inhabitants; Sri Lankan Tamils trace largely to later South Indian migration.
Continuous human presence establishes long-term indigenous governance, meeting international legal standards of historical sovereignty.
Early Sinhala Kingdoms (543 BCE – 1215 CE)
Anuradhapura Kingdom
Total Sinhala Kings Pre-1215 CE: ~190–205 (Anuradhapura + Polonnaruwa periods)
Administrative Provinces (Not Ethnic):
Ancient Province
Modern Equivalent
Rajarata
North Central + Northern
Ruhuna (Rohana)
Southern + Southeastern
Maya Rata
Western + Southwestern
Pihiti Rata
Northwestern
Digamadulla
Eastern Province
Malaya Rata
Central Highlands
Vanni
North-central frontier forests
Evidence of Island-Wide Control:
Centralized irrigation, taxation, and military administration.
Buddhist monastic network across all provinces.
Foreign invasions occurred but were temporary
never establishing permanent Tamil sovereignty.
Key Kings:
Pandukabhaya
Devanampiyatissa
Dutugemunu
Valagamba
Mahasena
Dhatusena
Aggabodhi series
Mahinda IV
Major Foreign Occupations (Anuradhapura Era)
Period
Invader
Duration (years)
Notes
237–215 BCE
Sena & Guttika (Tamil mercenaries)
22
Overthrown by Prince Asela
205–161 BCE
Elara (Pandya)
44
Defeated by Dutugemunu
103 BCE
Five Dravidian Chiefs
14
Overthrown by Valagamba
433–473 CE
Pandyan mercenaries
~6
Defeated by Dhatusena
7th–8th c CE
Pallava naval raids
<1
Short coastal raids, repelled
993–1017 CE
Chola Empire
24
Partial control of northern Rajarata; expelled by Vijayabahu I
Total 110 years South Indian occupation
INVASION STATISTICS ANURADHAPURA ERA
Metric
Data
Total duration of Anuradhapura era
~1,400 years
Total foreign invasions
6 major + several minor raids (including naval raids)
Total years under full foreign occupation
110 years (out of 1400 years – 110 occupied by foreign forces)
% of time under foreign rule
~7.9%
% of time under Sinhala sovereignty
~92.1%
Key Insight:
Sena Guttika was the first recorded foreign occupation in Anuradhapura, before Elara.
Occupation ≠ Homeland; invaders never created Tamil administrative systems, provinces, or infrastructure.
Chola empire invasion of Anuradhapura (993-1017CE) when Rajadhiraja Chola/successive Chola kings controlled northern and central Sri Lanka.
King Vijayabahu 1 began expelling Cholas and established Polonnaruwa as new capital in 1070 CE.
Polonnaruwa Kingdom (1055 – 1215 CE)
After Chola Expulsion (1070 CE) Until 1215 CE
There was no major full‑scale successful South Indian invasionthat temporarily occupied or displaced the Sinhala monarchy between Vijayabahu I’s victory and Magha’s 1215 invasion.
Vijayabahu I expelled the Chola occupation, re‑establishing Sinhala rule by 1070 CE, and Polonnaruwa became the capital.
Parakramabahu I (1153 – 1186 CE) strengthened the kingdom and pursued foreign campaigns fromSri Lanka — there’s no historical record of another major South Indian power occupying Sri Lanka in this era.
The next major foreign takeoverafter the Cholas was iMagha of Kalinga in 1215 CE, whose forces invaded and seized Polonnaruwa.
Smaller South Indian Interactions
Pandyan involvement during Queen Lilavati’s reign (1197–1198 CE) – A Pandyan claimant momentarily deposed Lilavati and ruled for a few years — but this was not a full, lasting occupationof the kingdom like Chola (1017–1070 CE) or Magha (1215 CE).
Some evidence of Chola or South Indian raids or military pressurein the later 12th century linked to wider regional conflicts, but none resulted in long occupation or conquest of the Sinhala state.
The Polonnaruwa kingdom remained under Sinhala sovereignty, ruled by a succession of Sinhala kings.
Minor South Indian influence or brief incursions (e.g., Pandyan claimant to Lilavati’s throne) occurred but did not constitute occupation or a replacement of sovereignty.
Magha of Kalinga in 1215 CE is therefore the next major foreign intrusion after the Cholas.
Capital succession after Anuradhapura & Polonnaruwa: Dambadeniya → Yapahuwa → Kurunegala → Gampola → Kotte → Kandy.
Sovereignty Restored:
Vijayabahu I (1055–1110) expelled Cholas, restored centralized governance.
Parakramabahu I (1153–1186) consolidated administration, irrigation, and naval power.
Island-wide irrigation networks (Kala Wewa, Parakrama Samudra) = proof of hydraulic state sovereignty.
Archaeological and epigraphic evidence confirms Sinhala presence across north, east, and south (Polonnaruwa, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Jaffna).
External Confirmation:
Faxian (5th c) & Greek geographers: single sovereign ruler of Taprobane.
Arab traders: Sinhala kings recognized as rulers of entire island.
Key Takeaway: By 1215 CE, Sri Lanka was a unitary Sinhala-Buddhist civilization controlling the entire island.
Magha of Kalinga & Arya Chakravarti
(1215 CE Onwards)
Feature
Details
Magha Origin
Kalinga (Odisha), East India — not Tamil
Force
~24,000 mercenaries
Actions
Destroyed Polonnaruwa, Buddhist monasteries, irrigation networks; massacred monks
Outcome
Short-term occupation, limited to Rajarata; Sinhala resistance restored sovereignty
Arya Chakravarti Dynasty in Jaffna (Post-1215 CE):
Installed by Magha as administrators/tributaries.
Territory: Jaffna Peninsula + fringe Vanni, parts of Mannar.
Role: revenue collection, maritime oversight, tribute to Sinhala kings.
Did NOT rule entire island; did not build major Hindu temple infrastructure.
Arya Chakravarti rule = limited tributary administration; did not replace Sinhala sovereignty.
Key Historical Realities
Continuous Sinhala sovereignty:~1,758 years (543 BCE – 1215 CE) and unbroken capitals/monarchies post-1215.
Unitary hydraulic civilization:Island-wide irrigation, Buddhist monastic network, central taxation.
No indigenous Tamil kingdom pre-1215:Tamil presence = migrants, mercenaries, tributary administrators post-1215.
North & East provinces = colonial constructs; Northern Tamil claims based on artificial division.
Post-invasion north:Limited administration, no island-wide sovereignty, Sinhalese continued in hinterlands.
Sri Lanka historically functioned as a unitary Sinhala-Buddhist civilization, with sovereignty, administration, irrigation, and culture centered under Sinhala kings. Claims of an indigenous Tamil homeland prior to European colonization are unsupported by archaeology, epigraphy, chronicles, or external records.
Genetic evidence of Tamils in the North and their civilization
Modern genetic studies (e.g.,Bamshad et al., 2001; Silva et al., 2017) show that the Sri Lankan Tamil population is genetically close to Indian Tamils but also shows significant admixture with Sinhalese and other Sri Lankan populations.
No evidence exists of a distinct, continuous Tamil civilization in northern Sri Lanka prior to historic South Indian invasions.
Scientific evidence connecting South Indian Tamils with present-day Sri Lankan Tamils
Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome studies confirm aSouth Indian connection among Sri Lankan Tamils.
Linguistically,Tamil language in Sri Lanka shows strong continuity with South Indian Tamil
Anthropological studies indicate the bulk of Tamil settlements werepost-Anuradhapura migrations, often linked to mercenaries, laborers, or colonial plantation workers.
Presence of Tamils before Sena & Guttika (after Anuradhapura formation)
Historical chronicles (Mahavamsa) mentionmercenary rulers like Sena & Guttika arriving from South India.
No evidence exists of a structured Tamil polity or autonomous Tamil rule in the North before these arrivals.
Northern populations were predominantlySinhalese, Vedda, and minor tribal communities, according to archaeological and inscriptional evidence.
Did Sena Guttika, Elara, Magha, Arya Chakravarti bring South Indians to settle?
Sena & Guttika (237–215 BCE): Mercenary rulers; no record of mass settlement.
Elara (205–161 BCE): Military ruler;Mahavamsa mentions administration but not permanent colonization.
Magha (1215–1236 CE): Brought troops and possibly families from Kalinga and Tamil regions (Culavamsa).
Arya Chakravarti (13th – 14th C CE, Jaffna Kingdom): Established Tamil kingdom in the North; some immigration likely, but primarily elite political families and military personnel.
Evidence: Chronicles, inscriptions, and land grants show limited migration, mostly administrative or military, not large-scale population replacement. Even if they were, it proves they were of South Indian origin not indigenous Tamils.
Did South Indian rulers ruling Sri Lanka also rule South India?
Sena & Guttika, Elara, Magha, Cholas: All retained power bases in South India.
Implication:Sri Lanka was an extension of foreign conquest, not an independent Tamil polity.
Legal argument:Self-determination requires indigenous, continuous political control, which was absent.
Evidence of South Indian rulers ruling Eastern Province
Elara, Cholas, Magha: Mostly controlledNorth & parts of North-Central Province.
No evidenceof control over Eastern Province before colonial administration.
Claims for Tamil Eelam including Eastern Province are historically baseless.
Sinhala kings marrying South Indian Tamils
Historical records showoccasional intermarriage for alliances, e.g., Dutugemunu’s mother or other minor alliances, but the number is small.
Limited cultural or genetic influence; Sinhalese polity remained dominant.
These marriages do not legitimize Tamil sovereignty claims.
Biggest influx of South Indians came during colonial rule
Dutch & British periods: Large-scale migration for labor, especially forcoffee, tea, and coconut plantations in Central Highlands (1820–1930).
Many were Tamils from Tamil Nadu (estate Tamils) brought as indentured laborers.
Proof:Colonial census data (1871, 1921), labor records, and plantation archives.
Major Tamil presence in North & Central areas ispost-Anuradhapura, not indigenous.
Foreign invader rule cannot justify Tamil Eelam
International law recognizesself-determination only for indigenous peoples with historic sovereignty, not for settlers or post-conquest migrants.
Sri Lanka’s North was never under indigenous Tamil rule; all Tamil rulers wereforeign invaders with short-term military control.
Legal argument:No indigenous Tamil polity existed → no claim to independent state or internal self-determination.
Questioning Indo-Lanka Accord original habitat”
The Accord (1987) suggested North-East as Tamil original habitat.”-factually incorrect
Evidence contradiction:Archaeological, inscriptional, and genetic data show Sinhalese presence predates any significant Tamil migration while Indian rulers cannot claim original habitat”
Therefore, Accord’s premise isfactually false.
Additional arguments to counter Tamil Eelam claims
Chronology of occupations:Sena & Guttika, Elara, Magha, Cholas → all temporary foreign rulers.
Limited territorial control:Northern and North-Central only;
Eastern Province never under independent Tamil rule.
Colonial migration:Most Tamils settled during 19th–20th C → cannot claim historic homeland.
Sinhala sovereignty continuity:Except brief invasions, Sinhalese kings ruled uninterruptedly for 1,400+ years.
International law:Self-determination requires indigenous continuous political authority, which historical evidence does not support for Tamils.
Tamils were migrants, mercenaries, and colonial laborers, not an indigenous sovereign people of Sri Lanka.
Foreign rulers’ presencedoes not equate to indigenous Tamil sovereignty.
Northern Tamil claim, Eastern Province claim, and Tamil Eelamhave no historical or legal basis.
Legal & International Law Framework — Why Tamil Eelam Has No Legal Standing
Uti Possidetis Juris Territory remains with the existing sovereign state unless lawfully transferred. → Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity isinviolable.
Doctrine of Effectivité (Effective Control) Sovereignty belongs to the authority exercising continuous, stable, and legitimate governance. → Sinhala monarchies exercisedcontinuous island-wide governancefor over 1,700 years.
Doctrine of Conquest (Modern International Law) Temporary military occupation does not confer sovereignty or political legitimacy. → Sena–Guttika, Elara, Chola, Magha, and Arya Chakravarticannot generate self-determination rights.
UN Charter – Article 1 (Self-Determination) Applies to colonized or subjugated indigenous peoples with historical sovereignty. → Sri Lankan Tamilsdo not meet this threshold— no prior sovereign Tamil polity existed.
International Court of Justice (ICJ) Jurisprudence Self-determination cannot override territorial integrity of sovereign states. → Secession requiresexceptional conditions, none of which exist in Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka Citizenship Act & Constitution → Confirmsunitary sovereignty, indivisible territory, and equal citizenship— no legal space for ethno-territorial partition.
Sri Lanka’sNorth and East were never indigenous Tamil homelands.
Tamil political authority existed only asforeign occupation or tributary administration, never as sovereign statehood.
Therefore,Tamil Eelam has ZERO standing under international law.
Responsibility of the State & Call for National Unity
Having established beyond reasonable doubt that Tamil Eelam is a fiction of political imagination unsupported by history, archaeology, genetics, or law, it becomes imperative that the Government of Sri Lanka — as:
Custodian of the State
Trustee of national sovereignty
Caretaker of all citizens and resources
— ensures that all communities live together in unity, dignity, security, and equality, without permitting the creation of ethno-religious enclaves, exclusive homelands, or separatist territorial claims.
No group — whether internal political actors or external diaspora organizations operating safely from overseas — should be allowed to fracture national unity, destabilize social harmony, or resurrect divisive separatist ideologies that have already inflicted immense suffering on all communities.
Any attempt to revive ethnic territorial separatism must be firmly, lawfully, and decisively rejected.
Sri Lanka’s future lies not in ethnic division, but in mutual respect, national integration, and collective progress.
Shenali D Waduge
Comments Off on Historical Evidence Proves Tamil Eelam is IMPOSSIBLE — A Political Fiction and a Legal Nullity
This is a subject worthy of deep contemplation and reflection
This is what the world in particularly the western world needs today
The monks know what they are doing.
The Buddha’s path cannot be wrong.
This is exactly what the Buddha did in his life and time.
Walked Walked Walked.
He was the greatest walker of all time
When people saw the Buddha walk they dropped everything they had and started walking behind him.
So the story goes.
The Buddha was handsome and strong and eye-catching.
A human magnet.
History is repeating itself 2, 600 years later.
not in India but in USA
When the Buddha walked people who saw him walk were so impressed with his physical beauty and magnetic personality that they dropped everything they had and simply followed him
It is a beautiful and evocative image—the idea of a figure so radiant that their mere presence changes the trajectory of a person’s life instantly. You’ve captured the essence of many traditional Buddhist accounts regarding the Buddha’s “magnetic” presence.
While the stories vary, they often touch on several fascinating aspects of how people reacted to him.
The “Marks of a Great Man”
In Buddhist tradition, it wasn’t just “beauty” in the modern sense, but a specific set of physical characteristics known as the Lakkhana (the 32 Major Marks of a Great Man). These included:
A golden complexion.
Deep blue eyes.
A “halo” or aura of light (Prabhashvara) that supposedly extended for some distance around him.
These features were said to be so serene and commanding that even those who intended to argue with him often found themselves silenced by a sense of peace.
Famous “Drop Everything” Moments
There are several key stories that align perfectly with what you’ve described:
Upaka the Ascetic: Shortly after his enlightenment, the Buddha was walking to Sarnath. He met an ascetic named Upaka. Upaka was so struck by the Buddha’s radiant appearance and clear faculties that he stopped and asked, “Friend, your clear senses are very bright. Who is your teacher?”
The Kasyapa Brothers: They were powerful fire-ascetics with 1,000 followers. After witnessing the Buddha’s composure and wisdom, they and all their disciples famously threw their ritual implements into the river and followed him.
Angulimala: Even a feared brigand like Angulimala was stopped in his tracks. He tried to chase the Buddha to kill him, but despite the Buddha walking at a normal pace, Angulimala could not catch up. This “miracle of the walk” led him to drop his weapons and become a monk.
A Nuanced Reality
While many were moved by his appearance, the Pali Canon also suggests that the Buddha’s personality and speech were the real “magnets.”
The “Call to Reason”: He often discouraged people from following him based on blind faith or physical attraction. He famously told a monk named Vakkali, who was obsessed with the Buddha’s physical beauty: “He who sees the Dhamma (the truth), sees me.”
Calmness as Power: In a world of chaos and rigid social castes, his absolute stillness and lack of ego were likely what felt most “magnetic” to the people of ancient India.
May Buddhism bring Peace and usher in Non – Violence to the USA and rest of the World.
May all living beings be well and happy.
Song for Walk for Peace | True Story: Monks & Aloka Walk from Texas to Washington D.C.
A heartfelt, inspirational song dedicated to peace, kindness, and compassion — inspired by the real 120-day, 2,300-mile journey of Buddhist monks walking from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington D.C., accompanied by their loyal dog Aloka. Their mission:
Calming May All Beings Be Happy” Mantra | Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu with Peaceful Music
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The Buddha’s “walk” refers both to his historical 45-year teaching ministry across northern India and a continuous living tradition of “Peace Walks” (Padayatra) that symbolize mindfulness and compassion
. Historically, the Buddha rejected a stationary life, traveling on foot between villages and kingdoms to share his insights, which laid the foundation for Buddhism as a missionary religion.
The Historical Walk: Key Sacred Sites
The Buddha’s life and ministry are anchored by four primary pilgrimage sites, which he personally recommended for his followers.
The birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama. According to tradition, he took seven steps immediately after birth, with lotus flowers blooming beneath his feet.
(India): Where he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree. Following this event, he spent seven weeks in meditation and “walking contemplation” around the site.
(India): The site of his final steps and death (Parinirvana) at the age of 80.
Societal and Cultural Impact
The Buddha’s journeys and teachings fundamentally transformed Asian social structures and sparked global philosophical shifts.
Social Equality: Buddhism challenged the rigid Indian caste system, advocating for the equality of all individuals, including women and marginalized groups (Shudras).
Democratic Governance: The Buddha established the Sangha (monastic community) with a consensual, democratic structure, where major decisions required open discussion and common approval.
Global Spread: Via the Silk Road and maritime trade routes, Buddhist missionaries and merchants spread the faith to China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia by the 1st–2nd centuries CE.
The Buddhist Missionaries from Asian Countries have disseminated the faith in Western Countries after attending the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Anagarika Dharmapala who attended the Parliament of Religions became the World’s First Global Buddhist Missionary. He visited Britain and established the London Vihara (the first Buddhist Temple in England) in 1926. Another Sri Lankan inspired by the Missionary life of Anagarika Dharmapala followed suit by leading the First Buddhist Mission from Sri Lanka to Germany in 1957. He was Asoka Weeraratna, founder of the German Dharmaduta Society (1952). He established the First Buddhist Vihara (Berlin Vihara with Resident Monks from Theravada Buddhist Countries especially Sri Lanka) in Germany in 1957 which is housed in Das Buddhistische Haus in Berlin – Frohnau which was founded by Dr. Paul Dahlke, a German Doctor in 1924. It celebrated its 100th year anniversary in 2024 as the First Theravada Buddhist Temple in Europe.
Education and Science: The Buddhist tradition established the world’s first residential universities, such as
Nalanda , which taught not only philosophy but also medicine, logic, and mathematics.
Modern Continuation: The “Walk for Peace”
The tradition of walking continues into 2026 as a form of “spiritual offering.” In February 2026, a group of Buddhist monks completed a 108-day, 2,300-mile “Walk for Peace” across the United States, concluding at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.. This modern walk aimed to promote mindfulness and nonviolence, illustrating that the Buddha’s “walk” remains a relevant symbol of inner peace rippling outward into society.
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The 2025–2026
Walk for Peace is a 2,300-mile (3,700-km) pilgrimage led by Vietnamese and Thai Theravada Buddhist monks from Texas to Washington, D.C., aimed at promoting mindfulness, compassion, and nonviolence. The walk, which began on October 26, 2025, and concluded in mid-February 2026, has captured national attention for its message of peace in a divided world, despite challenges including severe injuries to participants.
The Walk and Its Origins
Purpose: The journey is not a political protest or demonstration, but a “spiritual offering” designed to encourage inner peace and mindfulness through daily actions, say leaders.
The Route & Duration: Led by Ven. Bhikkhu Pannakara from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas, the monks walked for 108 days through eight states, concluding at the Lincoln Memorial.
Participants & Support: Approximately two dozen monks, accompanied by a rescue dog named Aloka, walked 20 to 30 miles per day.
Hardships: The journey was physically demanding, with monks often walking barefoot or in socks to remain connected to the moment, even through snow and cold.
Incident: In November 2025, a truck struck the group’s escort vehicle near Houston, Texas, resulting in the amputation of a monk’s leg. The group continued the walk after his recovery.
Impact and Reception
Massive Public Response: The walk drew thousands to the roadside and garnered millions of followers on social media (Facebook/Instagram), as of February 2026.
Cultural Connection: The monks’ presence—characterized by silence, alms bowls, and calm, mindful action—prompted reflection and emotional responses from diverse groups of people.
Interfaith Dialogue: The walk fostered unity, with many non-Buddhists joining for parts of the journey, offering aid, or participating in interfaith receptions.
Significance of 108 Days: The 108-day duration is a sacred number in Buddhism, symbolizing spiritual completion and cosmic order.
Message of Calm: The walk encouraged people to slow down, “put down their phones,” and cultivate inner peace to impact society.
The journey concluded with a request to Congress to recognize Vesak (Buddha’s birthday) as a national holiday, reinforcing their message of compassion.
Courtesy – AI Overview
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As Bangladesh heads for 13th Parliamentary election and the referendum on July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), the interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests to prioritize greater interest of the Muslim majority nation regardless of the poll-outcomes. Addressing the nation of over 170 million people ahead of the much watched electoral exercises, Nobel peace laureate Dr Yunus commented that victory as well as defeat is an integral part of democracy and hence after the election, they should dedicate themselves to build a new, just, democratic, and inclusive Bangladesh together. Chief adviser of the caretaker government also asked all voters to participate in the process enthusiastically in a festive spirit. Prof Yunus made a special appeal to the women and young voters, many of whom were deprived of the opportunity to exercise their franchise in earlier occasions, to come forward showing their commitment for a new beginning.
The campaigning that began on 22 January came to an end on 10 February by 7:30 pm. The electoral authorities have imposed a ban on all public rallies and processions for 96 hours before and after voting day. The polling on Thursday will begin at 7:30 am to continue till 4:30 pm. Nearly 400 foreign election observers including around 200 journalists representing 45 global media outlets arrived in the south Asian nation. On 12th parliamentary elections (held on 7 January 2024), there were only 158 global observers comprising a few foreign media persons. Meanwhile, a two-day government-announced general holiday began on 11 February, whereas Friday and Saturday (13, 14 February) are weekly holidays in Bangladesh.
Notably, ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League is barred from participation in the electoral process leaving a fair space to the arch rival Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) in the election. The country had the last general election in January 2024, but the overthrowing of Hasina’s government following a student-led mass uprising just after six months necessitated the polls. The interim government in Dhaka had invited many countries including India, Nepal, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Egypt, France, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Romania, etc to send election observers. Global bodies like the European Union, Commonwealth Secretariat, SAARC Human Rights Foundation, Asian Network for Free Elections, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, SNAS Africa, Polish Institute of International Affairs, US-based International Republican Institute and National Democratic Institute, etc agreed to send their election observers.
Meanwhile, the New York-based press watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has urged all major Bangladesh political parties to protect press freedom in the troublesome country. The CPJ in a statement called for urgent steps to safeguard press freedom and journalists’ safety on the eve of national election. Sending separate letters to the office bearers of Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, student-led National Citizen Party and Jatiya Party, the global body urged them ‘to make public commitments to protect journalists during the election period’ by rejecting violence, intimidation and also misuse of criminal or national-security laws. Mentionable is that ousted premier Sheikh Hasina’s party Awami League is barred from participation in the electoral process.
The CPJ statement argued that the risks to journalists intensified in the pre-election period across Bangladesh with continuing imprisonment of scribes on unverified charges and also longstanding impunity for violence against media professionals that contributed to a climate of fear and self-censorship. Addressing BNP chairman Tarique Rahman, the CPJ letter reminded that a free press is essential to the credibility of any election. Journalists play a critical role in informing voters, scrutinizing those in power, and enabling meaningful public debate. The BNP can demonstrate national leadership and strengthen public trust in the electoral process by committing to this foundational democratic value. It also added that Bangladesh remains one of Asia’s leading jailers of journalists, with five currently behind bars for murder and national-security offences that appear to be in retaliation for their reporting and perceived political affiliations. At the same time, impunity for journalist murders, where usually attacks, threats and violence against scribes are rarely investigated or prosecuted, creating a climate of fear and intimidation, remains high in Bangladesh.
CPJ’s Asia-Pacific program coordinator Kunal Majumder, while speaking to this writer indicated that risks to Bangladeshi journalists escalated sharply in the pre-election period, where the mobs attacked the offices of The Daily Star and Prothom Alo in December 2025, many reporters, editors and commentators faced intensified digital harassment and coordinated hate campaigns and threats linking to political polarization existed. This form of abuse was enabled by the previous Hasina government to intimidate journalists and remains prevalent, despite a change in administration and promises of media reforms,” said Majumder, adding that real reform means breaking from the past, not replicating its abuses. He insisted on erasing all kinds of barriers to official information, press briefings and public records that weaken fair and accurate election coverage.
Earlier, the Geneva-based media safety & rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) condemned the murder of Bengali Hindu journalist Rana Pratap Bairagi (45) in Jessore locality on 5 January and demanded a thorough probe to book the culprits and punish them under the law. Moreover, at least 12 Bangladeshi journalists sustained injuries in an attack by extortionists in Narsingdi on 26 January. Denouncing the incident, PEC chairman Blaise Lempen urged Dhaka to bring the group of extortionists to justice. Bangladesh Editors’ Council also called on the authorities to ensure the safety and security of journalists during the election period. The council in a statement argued that the working journalists while gathering information during elections often face various threats and hence the interim government, election commission and other responsible law enforcement agencies should take effective measures to guarantee adequate security for the media professionals.
Meanwhile, the western media outlets pour views that the BNP led alliance is the front runner in the coming election and chairman Rahman is projected as the new premier of Bangladesh. When Rahman returned to his home country on 25 December ending a self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom for 17 years, he was greeted by millions of people. The son of former Bangladesh President Ziaur Rahman and former premier Khaleda Zia responded to the public with a visionary line ‘I have a plan’ imitating the historic speech (I Have a Dream) of Martin Luther King Jr in 1963. Bangladesh’s first female head of the government Begum Zia died on 30 December at the age of 80, following which he received pouring condolences from sympathizers amid the government declaring three days of state mourning.
The US-based news magazine The Diplomat recently carried an analytical piece predicting the electoral progress for Rahman to become Bangladesh’s next premier. Similarly, Time magazine and Bloomberg media agency, referring to several opinion polls, projected him as the front-runner ahead of the election. Earlier, the UK-based weekly The Economist also anticipated the 60-year-old scion of a famous political family to emerge as head of the government in Dhaka. In various election rallies, Rahman promised to prioritize job creation, technical education, information technology, sports, etc. The soft spoken politician also emphasized on creating a new Bangladesh with mutual trust, respect and benefits to everyone living in a peaceful state under the rule of law and freedom of speech.
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As the US-Iran negotiations regarding the latter’s nuclear program and the threat of attacking Iran loom high, both the Trump administration and Iran ought to consider very carefully the potentially colossal regional repercussions if they do not reach an agreement. If Netanyahu convinces Trump during their meeting, at the time of this writing, that attacking Iran now, amid Tehran’s weakened proxies and internal turmoil, will bring regime change, they’ll both be gravely mistaken. Every peaceful avenue must be explored to prevent a war because there will be no winners, only long-term regional instability, punctuated by horrific cycles of violence the war would leave in its wake.
A US attack would carry a high risk of regional war. Iran has vowed to strike US bases and Israel. The Gulf states, which host US installations, would face missile strikes, destabilizing their security. Turkey and Saudi Arabia would face pressure to balance their commitments to the US alliance with regional stability, while global energy markets would be severely disrupted.
Iran’s Retaliatory Options
Iran’s retaliatory calculus is shaped by its current weakness—a degraded proxy network, internal unrest, and economic distress that significantly constrain its options. An all-out response risks triggering escalation that could threaten regime survival, so Tehran would likely calibrate its retaliation to signal resolve while avoiding a full-scale war it cannot win. Nevertheless, Iran has multiple retaliatory options in the event of a US attack, drawing on its missile arsenal, naval capabilities, and strategic geography.
1-Iran would launch ballistic missiles and drones at American military installations across the Persian Gulf, including Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, which it already struck in June 2025 after the US bombing of Iranian nuclear sites.
2-Iran could fire up to 2,000 ballistic missiles at Israel in a single assault, roughly four times what it used during the 12-day war, targeting military and strategic infrastructure, exacting a heavy price.
3-Iran would attempt to block the Strait of Hormuz using naval mines, attack boats, and submarines, disrupting over 20 percent of global liquefied natural gas and 25 percent of maritime oil trade, causing a worldwide energy price shock.
4-Iranian-backed Iraqi militias such as Kataib Hezbollah would launch drone and rocket attacks on US troops and bases in Iraq and Jordan, replicating the January 2024 strike that killed three American soldiers at a Jordanian outpost.
5-Iran would hit US installations housed within Gulf nations like Bahrain (home to the US Fifth Fleet), Kuwait, and the UAE, though Iranian officials frame these as targeting not neighboring states but US bases stationed in them” to limit blowback from Arab states.
Why Externally Imposed Regime Change Would Be Disastrous It is important to remember that although the Iranians want regime change, they are fiercely nationalistic. Foreign-imposed change would instigate nationalist backlash and unite even regime opponents behind the government. The historical precedent of the 1953 CIA-backed coup’s failure remains seared into Iranian national consciousness, fueling decades of anti-American sentiment and ultimately leading to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Destroying the regime without viable successors risks a power vacuum, civil war, and chaos. Iraq’s de-Baathification showed that dismantling entrenched security structures can create ungovernable, failed states. Military strikes could scatter weapons, empower extremists, trigger refugee crises, and destabilize neighboring states — consequences US planners have repeatedly failed to anticipate.
Finally, foreign-installed governments are perceived as puppet regimes, provoking sustained internal opposition, insurgency, and instability — as documented in the failure of over 60 percent of the US’ 64 covert regime-change operations between 1947 and 1989.
Why Internal Regime Change Has Better Prospects Iranian scholars broadly agree that the military, as I stated in my previous article—either the Artesh or the IRGC—is best positioned to lead the transition, maintaining institutional continuity and control over weapons, finances, and governance. A change driven by Iranians avoids the foreign puppet” stigma, giving a successor government far greater public acceptance and political durability.
Military insiders understand the regime’s levers of power and can manage transition without the catastrophic institutional collapse that follows external decapitation. And, contrary to the claims that Iran lacks credible successors, prominent activists, Nobel laureates, and imprisoned dissidents provide viable political alternatives.
Iran Seeks a Sustainable Deal with the US Although Iran has signaled its willingness to dilute its 60 percent enriched uranium stockpile, Tehran insists enrichment is non-negotiable and refuses to discuss missiles. However, an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program is definitely within reach. Likewise, Iran may end its support for proxies like Hamas and Hezbollah, as they’ve been degraded by Israel, and Iran now faces economic and logistical constraints to reconstitute them, especially after losing its foothold in Syria following the Assad regime’s collapse.
The limitation on the scope and range of its long-range missile program are still within reach, provided that 1) the agreement on Iran’s ballistic missiles must appear as though Iran has made no concession to save face, 2) the US commits not to attack Iran in the future and would also rein in Israel to follow suit, and 3) the US would normalize relations so long as Iran fully complies with the agreement and stops threatening Israel existentially.
To effectuate such an agreement, the US could offer comprehensive sanctions relief — lifting both primary and secondary sanctions to restore banking, oil exports, and trade ties. Additional inducements include assistance in building civilian nuclear power reactors, limited enrichment permitted under international monitoring, the gradual unfreezing of Iranian assets held abroad, security, and the gradual normalization of diplomatic relations.
Trump and Netanyahu must remember that Iran is a proud nation of enduring resilience steeped in thousands of years of history, with a vast cultural heritage, abundant natural resources, and a deeply ingrained sense of national dignity. The Iranians’ collective memory of independence and defiance ensures that no pressure, US or Israeli, could force Iranian capitulation. Trump and Netanyahu must abandon their illusion of controlling Iran.
Ultimately, the US and Iran must remember that, as Sun Tzu observed, the greatest victory is achieved without fighting.
Dr. Alon Ben-Meir is a retired professor of international relations, most recently at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU. He taught courses on international negotiation and Middle Eastern studies.
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The Trincomalee High Court has granted bail to ten suspects, including the Venerable Balangoda Kassapa Thera, three other monks, and six civilians. High Court Judge N.M.M. Abdulla ordered their release under a cash bail of ten thousand rupees and two personal bails of one million rupees each per individual.
Strict conditions have been imposed on the group, including a prohibition on interfering with evidence or ongoing investigations. The suspects must appear in court on all scheduled dates and have been ordered not to disrupt any religious or public activities.
Delivering the ruling, Judge Abdulla warned that the breach of any single bail condition would result in the immediate cancellation of their bail and a return to remand custody.
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The Gampaha High Court Trial-at-Bar today (11) sentenced 12 individuals to death after finding them guilty of the murder of former Polonnaruwa District Member of Parliament Amarakeerthi Athukorala and his security officer during the May 2022 unrest.
The three-judge bench, comprising High Court Judges Sahan Mapa Bandara, Rashmi Singappuli, and Rasantha Godawela, delivered the verdict following a lengthy trial. In addition to the death sentences, the court sentenced four other defendants to six months in prison, which was suspended for five years. The remaining 23 suspects were acquitted and released from the case due to a lack of evidence.
The Attorney General had initially filed indictments against 41 individuals in connection with the incident that took place on May 09, 2022, in Nittambuwa. During the nationwide protests, the MP and his security officer, Police Constable Jayantha Gunawardena, were surrounded by a mob and subsequently beaten to death after a confrontation.
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You claim genocide, occupation, and structural erasure. These are serious allegations that demand serious evidence — legal proof, forensic data, documented history, and verifiable records — not slogans, flags, or emotional scripting.
1) 4 FEBRUARY 1948 – BLACK DAY FOR TAMILS”
This slogan is a deliberate distortion of history, constructed around the Indian Tamil plantation labour repatriation issue, which has nothing whatsoever to do with the so-called ‘Ceylon Tamils’ or Sinhala discrimination.
It is a political myth retroactively imposed on Independence Day to manufacture a grievance-based separatist narrative.
THERE WAS NO SUCH CATEGORY AS CEYLON TAMIL” BEFORE 1911
This is not opinion — it is documented historical fact.
The ethnic category Ceylon Tamil” did NOT exist prior to the British Census of 1911.
Portuguese, Dutch, and early British administrative records never used the term Ceylon Tamil”.
Anyone asserting otherwise must produce authenticated primary documentary evidence.
HOW TAMILS WERE CLASSIFIED BEFORE 1911
Portuguese Records (1505–1658)
Malabars
Malabar Moors
Coastal Malabars
Coromandel natives
Note: Malabar” was a broad geographic term, not an ethnic classification, and did not exclusively mean Tamils – it covered Muslims arriving from Coromandel areas of South India too.
Dutch Records (1658–1796)
Malabaaren
Malabaars
Coromandel settlers
Malabar Coolies
British Records (1796–1911)
Malabars
Coast Tamils
Indian Tamils
Cooly migrants
Plantation labour
Nowhere in Portuguese, Dutch, or early British records is there a race or ethnic category called Ceylon Tamil”.
The term suddenly appears for the first time only in 1911 as a result of its inclusion by then Registrar General who was also a Tamil.
An ethnic identity created by colonial census classification cannot be retroactively transformed into a historical nation or homeland.
No census category has the power to manufacture sovereignty, indigeneity, or territorial entitlement.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN 1948?
The Ceylon Citizenship Act of 1948 did NOT target Ceylon Tamils.”
It addressed the legal status of British-imported Indian plantation labour.
These were:
Recent migrant workers brought in by colonials in mass numbers
Imported exclusively forcoffee, tea, and rubber plantations • Withno ancestral villages in any part of Sri Lanka • No land ownership deeds in any part of Sri Lanka • No historic settlement continuity in any part of Sri Lanka.
Not a single legal provision in the 1948 Act discriminated against the long-settled Tamil population of Sri Lanka.
This is confirmed by the Act’s text, parliamentary debates, and contemporaneous administrative records
Over 1.1 million Indian Tamil plantation labourers were imported to Sri Lanka from South India.
This produced one of the largest artificial demographic transformations in South Asian colonial history.
The British abandoned Sri Lanka with an unresolved demographic and citizenship crisis — a colonial time bomb.
SHOULD SRI LANKA HAVE AUTOMATICALLY GRANTED CITIZENSHIP?
No country in the world automatically naturalizes colonial-imported labor populations.
GLOBAL PRECEDENT:
Malaysia repatriated Indian labour
Burma expelled Indian settlers
Fiji repatriated Indian labour
Yet Sri Lanka ultimately absorbed, settled, and later granted citizenship — one of the most humane post-colonial resolutions globally.
THIS HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH SINHALESE
The Sinhalese did not bring Indian Tamils. The Colonials did.
This was entirely a British colonial labour import project.
To frame this as Sinhala discrimination is historically fraudulent.
TAMIL HOMELAND” CLAIM COLLAPSES COMPLETELY
If:
Ceylon Tamil” identity was administratively invented in 1911 • Tamil numbers were artificially inflated by colonial labour import • Demographics were engineered through plantation migration and colonial settler colonization schemes in the North & East
Then:
The claim of a timeless, sovereign Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka becomes historically and legally indefensible.
No international legal doctrine recognizes ethnicity-based territorial sovereignty without historic statehood, continuous governance, and documentary proof.
Civil Service • Judiciary • Medical profession • Education sector • Administrative elite
This is the exact opposite of ethnic oppression and completely demolishes the 4 Feb 1948 Black Day for Tamils” claim.
If 1948 was truly a Black Day” and genocide against Tamils:
Where are:
The bodies? • The mass graves? • Refugee flows? • Emergency laws? • International protests?
They do not exist.
Because no such genocide occurred.
The slogan 4 February 1948 – Black Day for Tamils” is not history — it is political propaganda constructed decades later to justify separatist ideology.
Genocide” Claim – LEGALLY AND FACTUALLY COLLAPSES
Under international law (UN Genocide Convention, 1948), genocide requires:
Provenintent to destroy a people
Targeted killing of civiliansbecause of ethnicity
Systematic annihilation
FACT:
Sri Lanka foughta 30-year war against an armed separatist terrorist organization (LTTE).
Armed combatants killed in battle are NOT civilian genocide
No international court has legally proven genocide in Sri Lanka.
Even the UN itself:
Couldnot produce verified body counts
Relied onanonymous witnesses quoted from pro-LTTE sources
Usedstatistical extrapolation, not forensic evidence
If genocide occurred — where are the mass graves of Tamil civilians killed by the State?
Not LTTE fighters. Not LTTE suicide bombers. Not armed cadres dressed in civilian clothing.
Where are the civilian bodies?
LTTE: THE GREATEST KILLER OF TAMIL CIVILIANS
You wave LTTE flags.
Do you know what that flag represents?
LTTE KILLED:
Thousands of Tamil civilians
Over30,000 Tamil children forcibly recruited
Thousands of Tamils executed for:
Refusing recruitment
Voting
Speaking against Prabhakaran
Wanting peace
CHILD SOLDIERS:
Thousands of Tamil children died wearing cyanide capsules.
Where were your protests for them?
How many of your London youth condemned LTTE child recruitment since 1980s?
ZERO.
If child soldiers matter, why did they not matter when the LTTE used them?
THE MYTH OF TAMIL HOMELAND”
There has never existed a sovereign Tamil state in Sri Lanka.
If so name the Kings who ruled the North or even East Sri Lanka – not names of Invader Kings from South India.
Colonial British documents show:
Mass plantation-era migration of Tamil labor
State-sponsored Indian Tamil settlement
Population engineering for plantation economy
ARCHAEOLOGY:
Thousands of Buddhist ruins in North & East
Brahmi inscriptions dating to3rd century BCE
Ancient Sinhalese irrigation works throughout North-East
Produce one internationally recognized treaty, inscription, map, or royal charter proving a Tamil sovereign homeland.
You cannot.
LAND CLAIMS — NO DEEDS, NO OWNERSHIP
Under Roman-Dutch law (Sri Lanka’s current legal system):
Ownership exists only with legal deeds.
QUESTIONS:
Where are your land deeds? Not affidavits but verifiable authentic deeds
Where are your registered titles?
Where are your colonial cadastral surveys proving Tamil exclusivity?
State land belongs to the entire nation, not one ethnicity.
Slogans cannot win land rights.
No ethnic group owns territory.
Sinhalization” – A POLITICAL BUZZWORD WITHOUT LEGAL BASIS
Sri Lanka is:
One unitary sovereign nation
Citizens havefreedom of movement
Any citizen can live anywhere
Is a Tamil allowed to live, work own land/property in Colombo?
Yes.
Is a Muslim allowed to live, work and own land/property in Kandy?
Yes.
Then why cannot a Sinhalese Buddhist live, work & own land/property in Jaffna, Kilinochchi or Mullaitivu ?
Equal citizenship is NOT colonization.
Under Article 12 of the Sri Lankan Constitution, all citizens possess equal freedom of residence, movement, and property ownership across the entire island. Therefore, the presence of Sinhalese citizens in the North & East cannot legally constitute colonization
THE TSUNAMI LIE (2004)
You claim JVP blocked tsunami aid.
LTTEblocked aid distribution
LTTErefused joint mechanism
LTTEconfiscated relief supplies
LTTEtaxed humanitarian aid
This is documented by international NGOs.
YOUR DIASPORA CREDIBILITY COLLAPSES
BASIC QUESTIONS YOU CANNOT ANSWER:
Have you ever lived in Jaffna?
Have you ever lived in Mullaitivu?
Do you know 5 village names in Kilinochchi?
Do you speak Sri Lankan Tamil dialect?
Do you know your ancestral village boundaries?
Most of you:
Wereborn abroad
Havenever lived in Sri Lanka
Never raised a voice against your Tamil brothers and sisters turned into child soldiers
Learned history only fromLTTE propaganda networks
ASYLUM INDUSTRY & FABRICATED VICTIMHOOD
Thousands of false asylum claims were made using:
Fake torture stories
Staged photographs
Fabricated deaths
Documented asylum coaching networks that trained applicants to rehearse persecution narratives
Several dead Tamils” later found alive in Europe & India.
How many of your families obtained asylum using fabricated persecution stories?
THE REAL INTENT: REVIVING SEPARATISM
Your slogans prove it:
Tamil Eelam will never fall”
This is not human rights activism.
This is continuation of separatist ideology.
AS PER INTERNATIONAL LAW:
Separatism via terrorism is illegal.
Funding, glorifying, and promoting LTTE ideology violates:
UK Terrorism Act
EU terror financing laws
UN counterterrorism conventions
YOU NEVER PROTESTED LTTE CRIMES
Where were your protests when LTTE:
Massacred over 600 police officers?
Ethnically cleansed90,000 Muslims and Sinhalese from Jaffna in 24 hours?
Killed Tamil dissenters?
Used civilians ashuman shields and hostages?
Kidnapped Tamil children from their homes & turned them into child soldiers
Selective outrage = political propaganda.
FINAL CHALLENGE TO UK-BASED PROTESTERS
If your cause is legitimate, then:
Produce:
Legal proof of Tamil sovereignty
The names of the 40,000 dead in Mullaivaikkal (not dead LTTE cadres)
Civilian mass grave evidence/at least skeletons
Land ownership deeds
Archaeological proof of exclusive and continuous Tamil habitation
Without these — your entire narrative collapses.
TRUTH:
Sri Lanka didnot defeat Tamils.
Sri Lanka defeatedthe world’s most brutal terrorist organization.
Andsaved over 300,000 Tamil civilians from LTTE captivity – when most overseas Tamils were screaming to free LTTE.
MESSAGE TO DIASPORA YOUTH
We do not oppose any Tamil individual seeking education, safety, or opportunity overseas. What we oppose is the weaponization of victimhood narratives to demonize the Sinhalese people, distort Sri Lanka’s history, and justify a political project of territorial division.
It is contradictory to permanently live abroad, build lives and futures in Western societies, and simultaneously claim an exclusive homeland” in Sri Lanka — a land that most of you neither reside in, invest in, nor intend to return to.
If you are not seeking to live your so-called Eelam for whom exactly is this proposed separatist state being demanded?
Consider a simple reality: Today, more Tamils choose to live among Sinhalese communities in the South than within the Northern and Eastern provinces. If systematic ethnic discrimination truly existed, this demographic pattern would not exist.
Why do Tamil families voluntarily settle in Sinhala-majority areas? Because:
They find safety
They find economic opportunity
They find social coexistence
They find dignity and freedom
Equally important — long-standing caste-based discrimination in the North and East has pushed many Tamils to seek better social mobility outside their own traditional power structures. This is a reality rarely acknowledged in diaspora discourse.
Your inherited narrative speaks only of ethnic oppression, but remains silent on internal social hierarchies, caste exclusion, child recruitment, forced taxation, silencing of dissent, and internal Tamil suffering under the LTTE.
You were not raised on comprehensive history or its truth. You were raised on selective memory, grievance economics, political mythology, and inherited anger.
True peace begins when truth is confronted honestly — not when history is reshaped to sustain permanent victimhood.
Justice is not achieved by rewriting a fake history
Reconciliation begins when facts replace propaganda.
Peace begins when history is accepted, not manipulated.
Shenali D Waduge
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When we come to it We, this people, on this wayward, floating body Created on this earth, of this earth Have the power to fashion for this earth A climate where every man and every woman Can live freely without sanctimonious piety Without crippling fear
When we come to it We must confess that we are the possible We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world That is when, and only when We come to it.
Concluding lines of the poem ‘A brave and startling truth’ (1995) by Maya Angelou
Ven. Dr Melpitiye Wimalakitti Nayake Thera, Head Monk of the Wijesundararamaya, Asgiriya, Kandy, and the Chief Incumbent of the Gotama Viharaya Monastery, Fort Worth, Texas, USA, claims that the ongoing Texas to Washington Walk for Peace march led by the American monk of Vietnam origin Ven. Pannakara is ‘an initiative of ours’ (ape wedak). He made this claim during a recent podcast hosted by the well-known YouTuber and journalist Chamuditha Samarawickrema (CNB/February 5, 2026). The Huong Dao Monastery of Bhante Pannakara who is leading the peace walk is close to the Gotama Viharaya Monastery of Wimalakitti Thera, who tells us that he has had a strong connection with Vietnamese monks and has already collaborated with them in many Buddhist activities.
Talking about Ven. Pannakara, Ven. Wimalakitti says that he is a pupil of senior Vietnamese bhikkhu Ven. Ratanaguna of the same Huong Dao Monastery in Fort Worth Texas. He is leading a team of 24 Buddhist monks from different countries in the (Southeast Asian) region including Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Laos, etc., taking part in the Walk for Peace (from Fort Worth in Texas to the US capital Washington D.C.). It is going to be 2723 miles long according to Wimalakitti Thera. (But the distance to be covered, as repeatedly given in various social media sources, is 2300 miles (just over 3700 kilometers). The discrepancy between the two figures here could be due to the fact that the originally scheduled distance of 2723 might have been curtailed down to 2300 due to unforeseen snags encountered on the route caused by human and natural agencies and the resultant impromptu diversions of the monks’ trek.) The Walk for Peace started on October 26, 2025 and is due to pass through 4 time zones and 10 states, braving extremes of harsh weather and trekking through patches of difficult terrain. (By the time you read this on February 11, the monks may have just arrived in Washington, where grand preparations are reported to be underway to receive them.)
It was 40 degrees Celsius in Texas, when they started. In 7 days, the Peace Walkers reached Georgia in Atlanta. It was raining there. Then, they arrived in South Carolina, where it was cold, the temperature usually being under 20 degrees Celsius. By the time of the podcast with Chamuditha, the Walk for Peace was proceeding through the even colder North Carolina, the temperature barely rising above 1 or 2 degrees Celsius. Then, they reached Virginia with heavy snowfall, but the Walk went ahead nonstop.
The original plan was to walk 8 hours and cover 20 miles in a day. Now they want to do 10 hours a day and cover a targeted 40 miles. They hoped to have at least 20 participants in the Walk at any time. The whole Walk is expected to take 120 days and end on February 13, 2026.
America is a big democratic country, the monk says. The ordinary Americans are more interested in inner peace than in politics. There are 125 Sri Lankan Buddhist pansalas in America, 15 of which stand on the route of the continuing Walk for Peace procession. Sri Lankan monks resident in these monasteries, in partnership with monks from other countries, provide the Walkers with essential food, temporary lodgings, and hygiene facilities. They also work out security arrangements for the peace-walking monks in coordination with government and municipal authorities and Police.
Ven. Wimalakitti provides this information as a member and a director of the organizing committee responsible for the Walk for Peace project. According to him, Ven. Pannakara takes part in an annual walk in India from Buddha Gaya to Kolkata (the capital city of India’s West Bengal state) as a dhutanga practice (one of the 13 strict ascetic practices recommended for bhikkhus in Theravada Buddhism that aim at perfecting austerity, mental purification, and renunciation). About 200 Buddhist monks join Bhikkhu Pannakara on this walk.
The street dog now celebrated as Aloka started following Ven. Pannakara at Buddha Gaya and reached Kolkata with him. He followed the monk even to the airport. Bhikkhu Pannakara could not leave the dog behind in India and fly back to America. So he canceled his flight and stayed back in India for eight months, during which he trained the dog and completed the paperwork necessary to take him to America with him. Once in America, Aloka started growling sometimes at people at first, because he was not used to the new environment. So they put a pet cone around his neck to calm him while on the move. Now he participates in the Walk without the pet cone and walks beside Bhikkhu Pannakara at the head of the column of Walkers. The monk usually takes Aloka on a leash and occasionally, off-leash. Aloka had a paw injury during the walk and had to be hospitalized for a few days for surgery. He has rejoined the walk now. The dog has a car reserved for him to move with the walking party whenever he is unable to walk.
Ven. Wimalakitti Thera says he took part in six discussions held at the Huong Dao pansala when the peace walk was being planned. They had to discuss security matters with the Police. Concerns were raised about possible assassination attempts on Bhikkhu Pannakara. The dedicated monk said that he was ready to lay down his life for the cause of the Walk. Wimalakitti Thera said Bhikkhu Pannakara is only 37 years old. (But in some online accounts, he is said to be 44 years old.)
At the beginning of the 4th week into the Walk, there was a serious traffic accident. The monks were walking along the shoulder of the road (near Dayton, Texas, east of Houston, on November 19, 2025) guided by a slow-moving escort vehicle (with hazard lights on). A truck hit the rear of the pilot car pushing it into the monks. The impact left two monks injured, one of them (Phra Ajarn Maha Dam Phommasan, aka Bhante Dam Phommasan) very seriously. The injured monks were airlifted to Houston for medical attention. Bhante Dam Phommasan had to undergo multiple surgeries, including the amputation of his leg. (The information given within parentheses in this piece of writing is added by me for clarity.)
On another occasion (in early January 2026, in Walton County, near Good Hope, Georgia) an unidentified protestor accompanied by a group of his supporters blocked the monks’ path (holding signs like ‘JESUS SAVES’, ‘Turn to Christ’; WARNING: ‘walking to hell’, ‘Hell awaits’, etc., but the people gathered there cheered on the monks, and asked the protestors to just move on). Ven. Wimalakitti (who was presumably on the scene) says that the police diverted them onto an alternative route. The unperturbed monks did not react to the disruptors and continued their walk in silence. The night routes were decided by the Police. The initial hostility petered out gradually, as thousands gathered on the roadsides to watch the monks walking and to listen to the sermons in the night.
(On Christmas Day 2025, the monks stopped at a church in Alabama, before entering into Georgia the next day.) Ven. Wimalakitti says that when Bhikkhu Pannakara made an address in the church that evening, it was filled to capacity, and his speech had to be broadcast on outdoor screens.
The Walk actually began as a dhutanga (please, see above) observance as Ven. Wimalakitti explains during the discursive podcast, which forms the basis of this essay. But, on the third day, the name was changed to ‘Walk for Peace’. Its purpose is non-religious and non-political. ‘Today is my day of peace’ is the theme. (Ven. Pannakara exhorts) When you get up in the morning, say to yourself ‘Today is going to be my day of peace’”. When Wimalakitti Thera says Ordinary Americans are really interested in Meditation (bhavana). They are much less interested in the dhamma”, he is making an obvious oversimplification that seems to be limited exclusively to the current Walk for Peace context.
WimalakittiThera claims that a single Pakistani individual from Texas ‘provides security for the Walk’. However much I tried, I couldn’t catch his name as the monk pronounced it. So I sought AI help. AI clarifies that ‘Based on the results of the 2025-2026 Walk for Peace from Texas to Washington D.C., the security and the logistics for the Buddhist monks are primarily handled by local law enforcement agencies (sheriffs and police departments) who secure the roads as the group walks’.(So, there is no mention of a Pakistani (American) providing security for the walk). The monk might be mistaken about the matter. But that piece of information is not so important. Though the monks have absolutely no political motives, the Sri Lankan monk thinks they expect (US President Donald) Trump to be there when they reach Washington, near the White House. A reception for the monks is scheduled to take place on that occasion with the participation of the Sri Lankan ambassador.
The highlight of the Chamuditha News Brief (CNB) podcast featuring Ven. Dr Melpitiye Wimalakitti uploaded on February 5, 2026 is his revelation of a well kept secret, which is that the Sri Lankan monks living in America played the major pioneering role in organizing the Walk for Peace across America project and that they wanted the Sri Lankan government to support it. The 17-member organizing committee under the leadership of Ven. Wimalakitti, including the Vietnamese American bhikkhu Ven. Pannakara (who is now leading the Walk for Peace march) visited Sri Lanka in this connection in May 2025, that is, nine months ago. Ven. Wimalakitti showed the group photographs that the visiting monks took with prime minister Harini Amarasuriya, some ministers and other dignitaries. Still, ordinary Sri Lankans are unaware of this momentous event, it seems.
Unfortunately, there had not been any response to the monks’ request up to the day that Chamuditha did the podcast with Ven. Wimalakitti. The monk said that he broke off his participation in the Walk in order to visit Sri Lanka again for the express purpose of urging the Sri Lankan government’s participation in the Vesak celebration at Walk team leader Ven. Pannakara’s monastery in Texas in May. Ven. Wimalakitti said he gave the president and the prime minister (as I think he claimed) formal invitation cards requesting them to arrange for government delegates to attend the Vesak ceremony set to be held at the Huong Dao Monastery of Ven. Bhante Pannakara in Dallas, Fort Worth, Texas on May 26 this year (2026). He also wants them to grace the transport of relics from Sri Lanka. The monk was due to leave for America the night following the day of the programme with Chamuditha; but he had still got no reply from those important invitees. However,the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Washington is taking a great interest in this event, according to Ven. Wimalakitti.
At the end of the podcast, Ven. Wimalakitti voiced two important messages: I want to say a word of diplomatic importance. This is a great opportunity for Sri Lanka, diplomatically speaking. This is a moment of awakening, not only for America but also for the whole world. All of you citizens of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka as a Theravada Buddhist state, can make your contribution to this global awakening. I urgently request that this great opportunity be not missed”. (The Walk for Peace, the peace pilgrimage across America, from Texas to Washington D.C., is performed by a group of Theravada Buddhist monks. It showcases the key Buddhist spiritual values of compassion, loving-kindness, non-violence, and peace that underlie Sri Lanka’s dominant religious culture. These values are a source of soft power for Sri Lanka in its diplomatic and cultural relations with the powerful United States of America.)
Secondly, as Buddhists of Sri Lanka, please don’t criticise our monks or the Buddhist religion, simply because others do so. Please, think about this (insulting the monks and the Dhamma) with great equanimity. Both Buddhist monks and laypersons must keep updated about current trends. Some of our monks often attract criticism because they fail to adjust to changing times.”
There is a stark contradiction between the harsh treatment of some protesting Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka by the government and the positive image that their counterparts in America are projecting to the whole world.
Is it going to be loketa parakaase, gedarata maragaate” All fur coats and no knickers” ?
Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
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මේ “පරිවර්තනය” කෙතරම් දුරදිග ගොස් තිබේද?
එදා ආගමික වතාවත් ප්රතික්ෂේප කළ පිරිස අද නිතරම පන්සල් යති.
මහජන මතය කුමක්ද?
ඇත්තම අනතුර රංගනයට එපිටින්!
“අපේ නෙවෙයි – පෙර ආණ්ඩුවල ඒව!”
මේ ප්රකාශය පිටුපස ඇති ඇත්තම කතාව කුමක්ද?
IMF වැඩපිළිවෙළ: රනිල්ටත් වඩා තදින් ජනතාව මත!
මොකක්ද මේ India Connectivity Plan එක?
මේ දක්වා පැමිණි ගමන් මඟ:-
මාලිමාවේ සහ අනුරගේ “පරිවර්තනය”
සාක්ෂි සහිතව සත්යය දැනගන්න!
2025 ඉන්දු-ලංකා ගිවිසුම් සහ ජාතික භෞතික සැලැස්ම (විශේෂ විමර්ශන වාර්තාව)
ඉතිහාසය සහ සැඟවුණු අතීතය
“විකෘති අධ්යාපන ප්රතිසංස්කරණ වලට එරෙහිව ඇයි කවුරුත් ශ්රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට
ව්යාපෘතියේ ආරම්භය සහ “පෙළ ගැසීම”
2019 ජුනි 12: නම වෙනස් කළ “ගැසට්” මෙහෙයුම
නිහඬ ආරම්භය: සැලසුම පිළිබඳව ප්රසිද්ධියේ කතා නොකර, පදනම සකස් කරමින් ව්යාපෘතිය නිහඬව ඉදිරියට රැගෙන යාම.
නිල එකඟතාව: ජාත්යන්තර මට්ටමින් සහ ප්රතිපත්තිමය මට්ටමින් ඇති කරගත් එකඟතාවන් තවදුරටත් ස්ථාවර කරමින් ශක්තිමත් කිරීම.
පූර්ණ ක්රියාත්මක කිරීම: පෙර ආණ්ඩු විසින් සැකසූ සියලුම සැලසුම් ඒ ආකාරයෙන්ම, කිසිදු වෙනසකින් තොරව බිම මට්ටමින් ක්රියාවට නැංවීම.
මුහුද, 
ගුවන සහ 
ගොඩබිම යන සමස්ත ක්ෂේත්රයන් ඇමරිකානු හමුදාවන්ගේ ඕනෑම මෙහෙයුමකට විවෘතව තැබීමයි.
වැඩිදුර විමර්ශනය සඳහා
[Video සාක්ෂි මෙතැනින් බලන්න 
2024 බල පෙරළිය පිටුපස ඇති සැබෑ “රසායනිකය” සහ මිලින්ද මොරගොඩගේ මෙහෙයුම!
ඒකාබද්ධ මෙහෙයුමක “නළුවන්” සහ “අධ්යක්ෂවරයා”
ඉන්දීය ආශිර්වාදය පිටුපස සැඟවුණු “ඉන්දු-ලංකා” රහස් ගිවිසුම්!
ඡන්දයට පෙර වූ “ඉන්දීය කැඳවීම”
මාලිමා පාක්ෂිකයන්ගේ “මුළාව”
මෙය හුදෙක් බල හුවමාරුවක් නොව, පූර්ව සැලසුම් කරන ලද ජාත්යන්තර න්යාය පත්රයකට අනුව සිදුවන ක්රියාවලියකි. ජනතාව “වෙනසක්” බලාපොරොත්තු වුවද, සිදුව ඇත්තේ පැරණි වැඩපිළිවෙළටම නව “මාලිමා” මුහුණුවරක් ලබා දීම පමණි.
මාලිමාව: “විශේෂ මෙහෙයුමක්” සඳහා වූ තේරීම
විජාතික අදහස් සහ ආකල්ප.
2015: 
[ආරම්භය] — සිරිසේන – රනිල් හවුල
