Wimal Weerawansa

SepalAmarasinghe

Shenali D Waduge

To:

Justice L.T.B. Dehideniya
Chairman
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
Colombo

Subject: Rejection of HRC’s Proposal to Repeal Sections 365 & 365A: A Call to Protect 6.1million of Sri Lanka’s Children, Culture, and Constitutional Morality

Dear Justice Dehideniya,

We write to express our unequivocal objection to the Human Rights Commission’s recent recommendation to repeal Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code — two provisions which remain vital to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society, especially children.

Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code are among the few strong legal safeguards shielding children from sexual predators — repealing them would be an unforgivable act of legal and moral irresponsibility.

1. The repeal of Sections 365 and 365A would strip this nation of critical legal protection for children and embolden predators under the guise of rights.”.

Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code are not outdated relics — they are Sri Lanka’s vital legal shield against paedophilia, child sexual exploitation, and abuse. Repealing them would strip this nation of critical protections, embolden predators under the guise of rights,” and open the gates to legalised vulnerability for our children.

Section 365

Where the offence is committed by a person over eighteen years of age in respect of any person under sixteen years of age… \[shall face] rigorous imprisonment not less than ten years…”

Section 365A

… any act of gross indecency in respect of any person under sixteen… \[shall be punished similarly]

These provisions are a clear legal deterrent against paedophilia, grooming, and predatory behaviour. To repeal them would be to invite a legal and moral vacuum** that predators can exploit. No country truly committed to child welfare would propose such a move — least of all under the banner of human rights.”

What These Laws Do:

• Section 365: Criminalizes carnal intercourse against the order of nature” — including non-consensual and exploitative acts, especially against minors under 16.
• Section 365A: Criminalizes gross indecency — including sexual advances, grooming, or acts with or in front of children — again with strict punishments for adults involved with those under 16.

These laws are not merely about private adult relationships — they are a line of legal defence against paedophilia, child abuse, and exploitation.

So why would anyone want to Repeal them?

1. Activist Misrepresentation

Some human rights activists mischaracterize these sections as being anti-LGBT” or colonial-era morality laws,” ignoring the fact that:

• The amended versions (1995, 2006) are modern laws not colonial
• They contain specific protections for children, which have nothing to do with consenting adult relationships.

Repealing them entirely would remove protections for minors.

• Imported Western Agendas

Internationally funded NGOs and some UN-linked entities push decriminalization of all consensual same-sex acts” without understanding — or deliberately ignoring — how Sri Lankan law is structured.

They don’t propose reforms. They propose total repeal, which would:

• Leave gaps in protecting children.
• Enable predators to exploit those legal grey areas

Sri Lanka should not be forced to adopt foreign solutions that have failed elsewhere.

• Ideological Extremism

Some proponents of repeal argue that any regulation of private sexual conduct is oppressive.” But that’s a dangerous logic:

• By that standard, even paedophilia and incest laws could be challenged under personal liberty.”
• Globally, fringe activists have already started pushing to normalize youth-attracted” preferences under rights-based” arguments.

Repealing these laws could embolden dangerous movements.

1. The Real Danger

Repealing Sections 365 & 365A in their entirety would:

• Legalize many forms of grooming and indecency if the child cannot testify to penetration.
• Invalidate punishments for same-sex abuse involving minors.
• Allow loopholes for predators under the cover of privacy” or consent.”

No parent, teacher, judge, or religious leader in their right mind would support the repeal of protections for children under 16.

The only people who would benefit are:

• Predators,
• Abusers,
• Or those with a radical agenda that places ideology above child safety.
• Global Crisis: Don’t let Sri Lanka Repeat the West’s Mistakes

Across the Western world, societies that removed such protections are now dealing with the devastating consequences:

• Paedophilia networks have flourished under vague consent” laws.
• Child sex trafficking and online exploitation are now multibillion-dollar criminal industries. The issue is slowly penetrating to Sri Lanka as the Crimes Division of the Sri Lanka Police would confirm.
• Medical experimentation on minors through puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries has led to irreversible damage — with young people now speaking out about being manipulated and medically harmed in the name of gender identity.”
• Thousands of youth are suffering from sterility, bone damage, loss of sexual function, and lifelong depression because adults failed to draw a line.

Sri Lanka cannot, must not, and will not follow this irreversible damaging & destructive path. We must learn from the West’s errors — not import them.

• Equality before Law not Legalising every Lifestyle

All people deserve protection under the law.

But not all private sexual preferences are fundamental rights to be legalized.

You are attempting to elevate private sexual conduct — which the vast majority of our population rejects — into a constitutionally protected class.

This is legally flawed, culturally alien, and morally unacceptable.

ICCPR Article 18(3) allows governments to limit freedoms to protect public morals.

ICCPR Article 19(3) explicitly allows expression to be limited for the same reason.

The rights of 0.1% cannot override the conscience of the nation.

Elevating a lifestyle choice into legal supremacy is not equality — it is ideological tyranny.

• Majority Rights Must Be Respected

Sri Lanka is a culturally rooted nation. The moral code of Buddha Sasana, Article 9 & our Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim communities rejects homosexuality and sexual anarchy.

That is not bigotry. It is a civilizational identity.

Any attempt to repeal child protection laws under the guise of freedom” will be seen by the public as an attack on religious freedom, parental rights, and national sovereignty. The Human Rights Commission must represent the rights of all citizens, not a vocal activist minority.

• Misuse of International Law

Your letter misleadingly claims that Sri Lanka is bound under international human rights law to repeal these sections. That is factually and legally false.

There is no binding treaty that requires Sri Lanka to:

• Legalize unnatural carnal conduct
• Remove age-based child protection laws

On the contrary, international law affirms Sri Lanka’s right to protect its children and moral order.

In fact:

ICCPR Articles 18 and 19 both allow restrictions on rights to protect public morals and the rights of others.

There is no universal definition of morality” — it is determined by culture, religion, and the people that has been passed down from generation to generation over centuries.

By falsely invoking international law, you mislead the public and policymakers and risk discrediting the Commission itself.

• This Is not Equality — This Is Social Engineering

It must be said plainly:

• Children are not lab rats.
• Culture is not a Western experiment.
• Rights must be balanced — not weaponized.

If this repeal is permitted, it will:

• Undermine parental authority.
• Destabilize the education system.
• Remove barriers that currently protect children from ideological, sexual, and pharmaceutical exploitation.

You risk opening the floodgates to foreign-funded influence that treats our children as collateral in a cultural war. And for what gain?

• Opposition is not Hate

Your dismissal of national concern as homophobia” is both intellectually lazy and democratically dangerous. The majority of this nation has a right to express concern, to dissent, and to resist these proposals without being slandered or silenced.

Disagreement is not discrimination. Opposition is not hate! Freedom of expression includes the freedom to oppose what we do not believe in.

• Conclusion: Protect the Children. Preserve the Nation.

We urge the Human Rights Commission to:

• Immediately withdraw this reckless recommendation.
• Respect the rights of the majority and uphold the moral code of this nation.
• Reaffirm your duty to protect Sri Lankan children from global forces that have already destroyed countless lives elsewhere.

Why is the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka prioritizing adult sexual liberties of a very minute number of people over the xafety of Sri Lanka’s 6.1million children under the age of 18?

These are the children whose legal protection from sexual predators, grooming, paedophilia, and psychological trauma currently depends — in part — on the existence of Sections 365 and 365A of the Penal Code.

Yet the HRC-SL, a body mandated to protect the rights of all citizens, is calling for the repeal of these provisions — with no plan to replace them, and no evidence of broad public demand, and no assessment of harm to children.

So we ask directly:

• What child protection impact assessment was conducted before issuing this recommendation?
• Did the Commission consult with paediatric psychiatrists, teachers, child protection officers, or religious and community leaders? Then again some of these so-called experts” also seek to repeal 365 and 365A because of the funding they receive.
• Why has the Commission failed to provide a single safeguard proposal for children under 16 in the event of repeal?
• Are the rights of children — 1/3rd of our nation — less important than the sexual preferences of a very few adults?

The Moral Reality:

HRC SL cannot protect the future of a nation by stripping away the very laws that shield its children from sexual abuse.

HRC SL cannot claim to promote rights while enabling legal gaps that predators can exploit.

HRC SL cannot claim to speak for justice while ignoring the voices of parents, religious leaders, and teachers & centuries of morality & ethical behavior who oppose this repeal on moral, medical, and cultural grounds.

The children of Sri Lanka must not become the next casualties of a failed ideological agenda. We call on all responsible institutions — legal, religious, medical, and political — to stand united in defending the laws that protect our people.

Shenali D Waduge

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 18-24 May 2025

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‘This ‘mass murder on wheels’ accelerated with the IMF-guided

‘explosive growth’ of Finance Companies (FCs) after 1977.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka linked this motorized mayhem

to the larger banking system providing ‘market space’ to

Non-Banking Financial Institutions. The FCs exploited

demographics, that the banks feared to tread. Bankers however

financed imports to serve this burgeoning ‘market’:

the tsunami of Japanese vehicles, TVs, etc.’ – ee 01.01.2022,

The World Bank Driving Madness on Our Roads

*

‘Yet it has long been alleged that policemen,

including senior officers run private buses.

If this is in fact true, it would explain why

police checks on such vehicles, many of them

driving like bats out of hell to reach the next bus halt

before their competitors, are not as stringent as desired.’

– see ee Industry, Kotmale bus disaster

*

‘A local government is, in fact, the largest wealth manager in town.

At the local government level, real estate is by far the most significant

asset segment & includes transport-related assets such as railways, airports,

& ports, as well as former industrial areas located in or near city centres.’

– Dag Detter, Former President of Swedish National Wealth Fund

(ee Economists, Leveraging Government-owned land…for private investment)

*

Despite the splutterings of editorials & gushings of tears, buses keep falling off hills, and trains keep being derailed. People keep getting maimed and killed. Is this an exaggeration? Is it all natural? What kind of terror is this? The media certainly thrives on reporting such horrors, minus photographs of the gory details. This ee looks at the thriving trade & treachery in importing lorry chassis for use in public bus transport, via the detailed witness of a Senior Customs Official (see ee Random Notes). Such chassis, not designed for passenger transport use, assure that the commuting worker comes not just tired to work – they may never arrive there at all! That overloaded Ramboda bus that helped kill & maim over 30 people, had a lorry (not a bus) chassis like all local buses. Yet this is just one factor. The powers-that-be have been insistent on maintaining the rule of the World Bank that initiated this havoc on our roads (see The World Bank Driving Madness on Our Roads, ee 2022Jan 1).

     The government has decided to set up a Western Province Bus Sector Modernization Taskforce to align with the proposed ‘World Bank-supported Bus Sector Modernization Program.’ The Western Province Governor’s Office will serve as the Secretariat for the Taskforce, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Transport. The WP governor Hanif Yusoof is the ‘former owner’ of ExpoLanka, which is controlled by Japan’s Sagawa Group’s Singapore-based SG Holdings Global Ltd. They are linked to Sagawa Express Co, a major transportation company in Japan, founded by Kiyoshi Sagawa. That Senior Custom’s Official has much to say about the import of cheap Indian chassis & expensive Japanese buses.

*

What was not said at the time & said in hushed tones

for fear of being name-called by those adept in the business

of vilification, was the fact that Ceylon was the European

corruption of ‘Sinhale’, the true name. – Malinda Seneviratne, see

ee Sovereignty, Today we (don’t) celebrate 40 years of independence

May is the month of the Enlightenment – Vesak. May also illuminates us to bear witness to the delicate treasons of the English media in Sri Lanka in choosing not to celebrate (front-page headline, illustrate, highlight) the 53^rd anniversary of the 1972 May 22 declaration of Sri Lanka as a Republic. Yet can the media alone be blamed – ‘The Government has chosen not to celebrate it’ (see ee Sovereignty). Are such rituals outdated, superfluous, or premature?

     This 1972 act formally bid good riddance to the English monarchy as our theoretical overlords and overladies. Over a year before in 1971, the leadership and cadre of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, now in office but still not in power) had been charged with attempting to overthrow a German tart named Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, aka the Queen of England. This charge may have perhaps reminded our learned constitutionalists (what the majority of the country knew in their bones) that Sri Lanka, decades after 1948 ‘Soulbury’ independence, was still an English ‘dominion’ and not an independent country, at least in words. England’s overruling of the 1958 Paddy Land’s Act, and their release of those who had plotted to coup the government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike (but not that Hanoverian Queen?), in 1962, was meant to remind that Sri Lanka was still a colony in all but name, even if SWRD Bandaranaike had gotten rid of those English military bases, and paid a heavy price for it.

     Two years after the declaration of the Republic, came the early warning shots in 1974 of the separatist war waged by the LTTE – a video doing the rounds states that the Indian government trained the LTTE leadership and also then used them for target practice in ‘jungle warfare’, while using the excuse of the government’s repression of a Tamil ‘minority’ to invade the country (see ee Sovereignty, LTTE – Explained in 18 minutes by Indian Commando). The video goes onto show that the LTTE was trained at a joint Indian-US camp that also trained Tibetans, Baluchis and other ‘minorities’ in the arts of terrorism, to be practiced on its neighbors.

     Indeed, May being the month of an Enlightenment (that long preceded Europe’s own ‘Enlightenment’ to the mechanisms of a wider world which they then resolved to invade & plunder), May 19 saw the 16^th anniversary of the defeat of the LTTE, with a host of imperialist governments colluding to efface their role in promoting that war. The farce of the Canadian government trying to deflect their own genocidal horrors onto others is part of the coordinated attempts to undermine a nation-state by labeling military officials as war criminals, and by their NGOs’ insistence on removing the Prevention of Terrorism Act, and Online Safety Act, etc. War is War & the state is a pair of handcuffs, but it is not the place of the imperialists to determine any country’s laws, or on whose wrists those handcuffs be placed.

     There is another irony in Canada’s purported expertise on genocide. Their genocide of the original people, involved playing one nation against the other, and creating fake nations, tribes, bands, etc. Last week former Lankan Foreign Minister Ali Sabry called out Canada’s addiction to playing on ‘ethnic vote banks’ at elections. Many ‘ethnic leaders’, MPs, MPPS, etc, in Canada have been involved in the human trafficking game, arranging for ‘settlement & adaptation’, supplying workers to break strikes, assuring them police protection etc. Sabry, however, could very well have examined the history of ‘special representatives’ in Sri Lanka, that appointed and ‘nominated’ MPs representing ‘minorities’ & special interests, such as English, Burgher, Tamil and Muslim traders. Yet, Canada as a ‘settler nation’ is considered a novel experiment in ‘multiculturalism’, or ‘multivulturalism’ (many vultures!). Canada has become one of the leading experts on modern tribalism (aka ethnicity), having learned divide&rule from their imperial masters, England & now the USA.

‘The allegiance of foreign-born citizens was further assured by humoring

their national pride in the holding of Irish, German & French meetings

in the hall, where each nationality was addressed in its own language. The

more influential foreigners were rewarded with places on the Assembly

or local ticket, and to the lesser workers of foreign birth were given petty

jobs in the department offices, or contract work.’

– Gustave Myers, History of Tammany Hall, 1917

*

This ee Focus continues looking into Myers’ 1917 History, with this excerpt on the origins of ‘ethnic vote banks’. While Myers curiously avoids the US role in encouraging Irish emigration after the English-induced famines in Ireland, in this excerpt on the history of municipal shenanigans in New York, he described in detail how Tammany Hall became an extension of the US government’s immigration department, and the history of the ‘ward heeler’ and the gangs that delivered assured votes to political parties. Familiar?

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• Having failed to ‘overthrow’ the Sri Lankan government, by 1974 the imperialists were also showing an at-least nominally ‘independent’ state, that the economy was still in their hands. They skyrocketed oil & food prices etc, causing shortages. They bribed ruling party politicians to defect and promoted the subsequent alienation of its ‘Leftist’ partners in the coalition United Front government. In 1978, the government of JR Jayawardena reverted to the colonial ‘Independence Day’ of February 4^th (see ee Sovereignty, Today we (don’t) celebrate 40 years of independence).

     History repeats itself, alternately wailing and guffawing, as the imperialist powers show how they have been able to undermine any government that dares to try to change our colonial import-export plantation economy – by legislative hampering, by coup, by bribery, by terrorism from all sides….

     May being the month of the enlightenment, we are indeed illuminated by how the English media (not just the BBC, CNN, etc) has been teaching their readers and viewers to again love the Nazis and assorted fascists (all good children & students of colonial invasions), while erasing the role of the USSR in the defeat of the Nazi Germany on 09 May 1945 , along with the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) in the defeat of an imperialist Japan. This ee records not only how we paid to finance England’s wars (see ee Quotes, Patnaik), but also how the USSR’s defeat of Nazi Germany led to the ‘strategic withdrawal’ of the imperialists from their colonial domains. We also describe the role the USSR played in attempting to advance the true liberation of our countries from the colonial stranglehold of our economies by supporting our modern industrialization (see ee Random Notes).

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‘You work 12-hour days, take calls at midnight when

containers are stuck at customs, and then they tell you

they can’t offer a bonus because ‘the market is tough’

– right after buying their third Prado.’

• The Shipping Mafia’s Ladies – This week saw ‘women in shipping’ hold their 10^th annual general meeting. So what exactly do women ship, as opposed to their male counterparts? Do they do it differently? We’re not told. But this little news item (see ee Who’s Who) also enlightens us to the corporations behind what is called ‘The Shipping Mafia’ (see ee Focus), who ‘invoice foreign clients in dollars but dispense salaries in rupees, without any inflation adjustment or cost-of-living considerations.’ The media rarely reports on the actual conditions of port workers, unless criticizing their strikes. Yet these workers’ fastidious job of documentation and cargo handling ‘has made Colombo Port a darling of international shipping lines’. Yet Sri Lankan shipping employees are the lowest-paid in the region, and social media memes compare shipping owners to pirates. The bosses have ‘fought back’ not ‘with pay raises, but with glossy LinkedIn posts’, and love to import HR consultants. ‘We value our employees as our greatest asset,’ says one CEO just after proudly buying a villa in the Maldives.

     In this ee, we are told that the Ministry of Labour and the trade unions ignore that ‘Sri Lanka’s shipping sector is notably devoid of any meaningful collective bargaining mechanisms’. Most employees are on temporary or contract terms, and fear being flung overboard. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is more interested in foreign partnerships than the labour rights of private-sector logistics employees. The story ends – ‘So here’s a modest proposal for the Colombo shipping mafia: Trade in one Prado. Pay your staff. It might just save your business.’

*

‘The traditional working class is being replaced globally

& in England by a ‘precarious’ class who have no

permanent work or decent wages & conditions

& are being ‘left behind’.’– Michael Roberts

(ee Economists, Progressive Economics & progressive capitalism)

• This ee’s Random Notes also reproduce details on the move by England’s largest retailers to sack almost 2,000 workers in Katunayake’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ). Next Manufacturing gave no prior warning as required by law. It was considered a model for Sri Lanka’s export industrialization drive in the late 1970s, as one of the first foreign investment projects set up in the-then FTZ which forbade trade unions. The company claims operating costs are too high, and indirectly blames the trade union, as well as ‘activism’. The charge of activism may be linked to their failure to pay a living wage. An NGO Living Wage Foundation is said to have bought Next shares and attended their annual general meeting, demanding they pay better wages. After all, Next has claimed to be a good employer while making huge profits. Yet these profits in such labor-intensive sectors are based on gross exploitation, as opposed to investment in modern technology and upgrading workers’ skills. While critics claim such employers could afford to pay much more, economists claim that state enforcement could cause unemployment in the retail and labour-intensive industrial sector. The English government claims they pay billions to low-paid workers through tax credits, and retail companies – which have the highest proportion of low-paid workers – exploit austerity, effectively adding their workers’ unpaid wages to England’s welfare bill.

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‘A Congolese bourgeoisie never existed. Internal trade,

which in most colonies, including West Africa, was a

stamping ground for small-scale indigenous enterprise,

was dominated by Portuguese & Greeks. The closed

trading networks of these alien minorities were a barrier

to all but a handful of Congolese petty traders in Leopoldville.’

– SBD de Silva (see ee Focus)

• Could Africa’s experience illuminate Sri Lanka’s own political economy? Indeed, they can & do, and is indispensable. As we approach the 7^th anniversary of SBD de Silva’s passing from the planet, let’s recall de Silva’s efforts to scour the world to find resonances with the roots of our country’s discontent. This ee Focus concludes the excerpts from Chapter 4 of SBD’s classic, The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. This chapter examines the alleged exceptions to his thesis on the dichotomy between such settler-colonial states as Algeria and in Southern Africa, & non-settler colonial states such as ours. The names appearing in this excerpt echo names sometimes broadcast in the news on the current US war on the Congo. The names from Indochina (Vietnam) echo the news of earlier European & US wars. But SBD’s focus was on how these countries have been set up for destabilization and underdevelopment. Rather than strictly adhering to one or the other in SB’s division of the world, he found they represent a continuum in between.

     In the Congo, expats dominated the economy, thwarting ‘a fuller realization’ of its growth potential. The plantation and mining companies had ‘to purchase more than half of its materials from Belgium and to employ Belgians to the extent of 60% of its European personnel’. And yet in the province of Katanga, Flemish settlers dominated the economy, and created a different society based on developing modern industry and a home market to sustain it. The europeanized buffer class of Congolese – the évolué (‘evolved ones’) – who were promoted to take over, only wished to re-enact the colonial game, minus investing further in industrial production. They also prevented real economic independence, helping to murder Patrice Lumumba. Continued warfare has been that legacy.

      Meanwhile in Asia, France extricated Indochina’s economy from its geographic milieu, from which its commodities were derived. France bought rice, corn, coal and cement ‘(mainly to help its balance of payments) but they ‘were not complementary to the French economy; as bulky or heavy commodities, they ‘could more conveniently’ have been exported to Indochina neighbors.

     Like Sri Lanka, Indochina’s export trade with France was encumbered by heavy payments to middlemen & other distributive agents, and by high freight rates due to a monopoly by French vessels of the shipping between France and the colonies.

     Tariffs and financial subsidies encouraged the development of the production of minerals & agricultural raw materials, compared with industrial investment. The colonies were not permitted to compete with France in any part of the world market – in France, in the colonies, or outside the empire.

     Meanwhile, large French imports challenged Indochina’s access to low-cost goods from Japan & China (which were then smuggled in). The French-owned branch plants did not substitute for nor reduce the dominance of French imports. Indochina’s colonial export produce was forced to depend on a precarious French market, based on ‘the vagaries of domestic harvests and the mood of the agricultural interests’. Indochina served the French economy more ‘as an investment outlet and a market’. This made the French Parliament and industrialists willing to finance French PM Jules Ferry’s invasion and war on Tonkin (Vietnam) in 1885.

     SBD de Silva’s detailed analysis of imperialist exploitation in Africa and Southeast Asia provide fresh clues into the insidious ways and means by which the Republic of Sri Lanka is still held in the grip of thralldom He also charts for us a map of the ways and means to get out of and overcome their old non-settler colonial traps.

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__________

Contents:

Is Sri Lanka Still Too Colonial to Celebrate its Own Republic Day?

Courtesy Daily Mirror

Colombo, May 26 (Daily Mirror) – A group of businessmen has come forward to fund parties in an attempt to woo members to form the administration of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), particularly on behalf of the ruling National Party (NPP), a Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP alleged yesterday.

SJB Colombo District MP Mujibur Rahman told the Daily Mirror that some businessmen supporting the National People’s Power (NPP) had offered cash inducements. We are making this allegation with full responsibility,” he said, alleging that the NPP is attempting to woo several independent groups that secured seats in the CMC.

Five independent groups won seats at this year’s local government election. Independent Group 1 secured one seat, Group 2 one seat, Group 3 three seats, Group 4 two seats, and Group 5 two seats.

Mr. Rahman said Independent Group 5, which secured two seats, had pledged to support the opposition led by the SJB.

Prof. Sunil Wimalawansa

Water has always been the cornerstone of human survival and agricultural development. In ancient Ceylon—modern-day Sri Lanka, once known as Hela—visionary engineers and kings created one of the world’s most advanced irrigation networks. This remarkable hydraulic civilization demonstrated profound foresight, engineering skill, and ecological harmony, establishing a sustainable system that supported thriving communities and bountiful agriculture for centuries.

The evolution began with simple rain-fed agriculture, which gradually transformed into a sophisticated rainwater harvesting system. Small village reservoirs, known as wewa,” were at the heart of this transformation, ingeniously constructed to collect and store monsoonal rains. These tanks were more than just water storage units—they were sacred, often built alongside Buddhist temples, symbolizing the unity between nature, faith, and daily life.

Among the most significant innovations were the sorowwa” (sluices), bisokotuwa” (regulation chambers or access towers), spillways, and embankments—sophisticated hydraulic mechanisms that allowed precise water control. These technologies enabled the creation of large cascading tank systems, in which water from one tank overflowed into the next, ensuring consistent irrigation throughout the year. These interconnected reservoirs transformed arid regions into fertile farmland, supporting rice cultivation and securing food supply for millions.

Strategic river diversions, permanent weirs, and an expansive network of channels were added later to enhance the functionality of these reservoirs. These innovations reflected technical brilliance and an understanding of sustainability, water conservation, flood control, and soil retention. This holistic approach, refined over centuries, formed a resilient ecological framework that balanced human needs with nature.

Regrettably, modern engineering approaches have often dismissed or neglected this ancient wisdom, (falsely) claiming that they are inefficient. Driven by large-scale development priorities, many modern water infrastructure projects have ignored the time-tested principles of Ceylon’s hydraulic civilization. Recent projects like those at Udawalawe and Lunugamvehera exemplify the consequences—poor planning, soil degradation, sinking lands, water wastage, and frequent flooding.

Besides, the mentioned constructions created land subsidence—a gradual settling or sudden sinking of the Earth’s surface owing to hydro compaction, subsurface movement of earth materials, sinkholes, and thawing permafrost. The focus of modern hydraulic engineering was providing water for agriculture. Consequently, rather than focusing on practical and worthwhile, it implemented ‘mechanical’ solutions (ignoring the nature), sidelining the integrated ecological balance that ancient systems achieved. It is a classic failure due to egotistic and improper prioritizations.

Hydrology today must reclaim its original purpose—not merely manipulating water flow but managing water holistically for agriculture, flood mitigation, and ecosystem preservation. Reviving and integrating ancient Sri Lankan irrigation knowledge with modern innovations offers a pathway to sustainable water management, food security, and economic revitalization.

Each major modern irrigation project in Sri Lanka has consistently failed in the intended benefits and humanistic aspects by the failure to incorporate the invaluable insights of pioneering engineers such as D.L.O. Mendis and Joseph Needham, along with dedicated professionals like Mr. Godfrey de Silva—former Chief Irrigation Engineer in Kandy and later Chairman of the Mahaweli Authority—and a few other pragmatic engineers who deeply valued Sri Lanka’s ancient hydraulic heritage. These experts recognized the brilliance and sustainability of the centuries-old water systems, emphasizing ecological harmony, community-driven management, and long-term resilience.

I remain deeply grateful to these visionaries for sharing their knowledge, which we have applied over the past four decades through charitable projects focused on water and agricultural initiatives, including the provision of potable water to rural communities affected by chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu) (now called, CKD of crystal-tubular nephropathy (CKD-CTN) [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37408060/; DOI: 10.1186/s40001-023-01162-y]. 

Sadly, modern engineering has largely disregarded this rich legacy, resulting in inefficient infrastructure (geo-genic and Geo-Bio issues), increasing water scarcity, and significant environmental degradation. The prevailing approach has been narrowly focused on transporting water from point A to point B, while neglecting critical elements such as ecological balance, soil conservation, and groundwater recharge.

A striking example is the high prevalence of CKD-CTN—a likely a “geogenic” issue resulting from groundwater contamination—in Mahaweli-affected (and other) regions, such as Dehiattakandiya. This emerging public health crisis reflects the consequences of poorly planned water interventions that ignored traditional ecological safeguards. The failure to incorporate ancient wisdom and holistic water management practices has led many large-scale irrigation projects to fall short of their intended benefits, ultimately causing long-term harm to both communities and ecosystems.

Conclusion:
The ancient irrigation systems—refined over millennia with engineering precision and environmental foresight—offer time-tested, practical solutions. Reintegrating these foundational principles with modern innovations is not only wise but necessary. Such an approach could restore ecological balance, ensure sustainable food and energy security, and strengthen resilience in the face of climate change. Honoring and learning from Sri Lanka’s ancient water legacy is more than a tribute to the past. It is essential for building a sustainable and equitable future, as well as ensuring food sustainability—a practical necessity for resilient development. 

Sri Lanka News

National Development Bank PLC

NDB Bank is proud to announce the launch of the NDB Mastercard debit card, marking a significant milestone in the Bank’s journey towards driving digital payment adoption and promoting financial inclusion, while delivering great value to its customers. This launch, held at the NDB Bank Head Office, also signifies the beginning of a dynamic collaboration between NDB Bank and global payment technology leader, Mastercard.

The new card is designed to elevate everyday banking for the Bank’s customers, bringing together the trust and reliability of NDB with the global network and innovation of Mastercard. Cardholders can now enjoy a wide range of exclusive benefits both locally and internationally, along with enhanced transaction security.

A key highlight of the new debit card is its innovative and inclusive notch design, specially introduced to ensure accessibility for visually impaired customers, further reinforcing NDB’s commitment to creating products that serve every segment of society.

Commenting on this milestone, Kelum Edirisinghe, CEO of NDB Bank, said, This strategic collaboration with Mastercard is a significant step towards enhancing our customers’ banking experience. By collaborating on card issuance, payment acceptance, and developing customer-centric solutions, we aim to drive digital payment adoption in Sri Lanka, ensuring our customers benefit from secure, convenient, and innovative payment methods.”

The event was graced by senior representatives from both organizations, including Mr. Kelum Edirisinghe, Chief Executive Officer/Director at NDB; Mr. K V Vinoj, Deputy CEO at NDB; Mr. Sanajya Perera, Senior Vice President at NDB; Mr. Zeyan Hameed, Vice President at NDB; Mr. Ashan Wikramanayake, Assistant Vice President/Head of Cards at NDB; Mr. Gautam Aggarwal, Division President, South Asia at Mastercard; Mr. Vikas Varma, Chief Operating Officer, South Asia at Mastercard; and Mr. Sandun Hapugoda, Country Manager, Sri Lanka & Maldives at Mastercard.

Sandun Hapugoda, speaking on behalf of Mastercard, said, “Mastercard is thrilled to collaborate with NDB Bank to bring advanced payment solutions to its customers. This association underscores the two entities’ shared commitment to fostering digital payment adoption and financial inclusion in Sri Lanka. This launch has laid the foundation for many more such innovative solutions in the future.”

The NDB Mastercard debit card is now available to all eligible customers, and the Bank encourages cardholders to explore the benefits of a safer, smarter, and more rewarding digital payment solution.

Through collaborations like this, NDB remains committed to enhancing the banking experience for its customers and empowering Sri Lankans with innovative financial solutions.

by A. Abdul Aziz.

Muslims in general do understand the need of a Khilafat as well as its importance. This need was felt after the sad demise of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) also. In Islam this is quite clear like broad daylight and is a part of Islamic teaching that without unity and harmony you cannot rightly work on the teachings of Islam. When you go to the mosque for Prayer (Salat) five times a day, there must be an Imam. Standing behind an Imam is a demonstration of unity among people. That is why the Holy Quran especially emphasizes the need of congregational prayer. Imam is given so much importance that if the Imam falters, the entire congregation must follow his mistake even if they know that a mistake has been committed. What better instance can be presented for the need of an Imam and unity in his following? If Imam is mandatory in a small mosque, then how can the whole of Muslims Community (Ummah) survive without an Imam?

As far as the Muslim Community (Ummah) is concerned, there is commandment in the Holy Quran to turn their faces towards Qiblah – the direction of the Kaaba – the sacred building at Mecca, to which Muslims turn at prayer).

For the Muslims throughout the world, there is one and only one Qiblah. You may go anywhere in the world, the Qiblah remains the same. This is a pointer that it is incumbent for the Muslim Community (Ummah) that they should be united under one Imam. Had this not been the sole purpose, there would have been no Khilafat at all because the spiritual condition of Muslims in the days of the Holy Prophet was a thousand times better than the Muslims of today. If they need to follow an Imam, how can we live without an Imam today when the condition of Muslims is crying for it. This is the answer why Khilafat is needed.

The issue is that once Khilafat is terminated, then it is not within the power of the people to introduce it again themselves. This is a dilemma, which the Muslim world is facing today. Khilafat starts after the passing away of the prophet and if unfortunately once it is destroyed, it is impossible that it restarts without a prophet. As far as Muslims are concerned, they are victims of dual issues. According to a large number of Muslims, the chain of Khilafat ended with the Khilafat of Hazrat Ali. After him, there was no Khiafat-e-Rashida (System of Khilafat established soon after the demise of Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH). It was monarchy in the name of Khilafat and majority of Muslims agree that Khilafat-e-Rashida ended after Khalifa Hazrat Ali. So how can you start this Khilafat once again?

Muslims believe that no prophet, of whatever category, can come now. This means that the single avenue to open the way of Khilafat has been barred. This is the big issue, which the Muslim Ummah is facing today.

Muslim Clergies present the only solution of this problem and say that they also believe in the coming of a prophet. No doubt, he will be an old prophet, but they say that when he will come, he will be a prophet. Thus the lost Islamic Khilafat will once again be revived by Prophet Isa (Jesus) of Nazareth (peace be on him) when he will descend with his old form and body. But the problem is that fourteen hundred years have passed, and there is no trace of second coming of that Prophet Jesus, born in the belly of Hazrat Maryam, peace be on her. There is no sign visible of his descent. World conditions have totally changed. Muslims have passed and are still passing through their worst phase of decline. But no Isa (Jesus) has descended from the sky so far.

Now, the majority of Muslims are so much frustrated that they say that he has died or is living they are least interested. The scholars of al-Azhar University have repeatedly expressed their well thought and considered opinion that according to the Holy Quran, Prophet Isa (Jesus), peace be on him, has died and his second advent is absolutely impossible. It may be in their fancies, but practically, they have completely closed this door.

No one will ever descend from skies, and this is the big and difficult problem, which the Muslim world is facing today. With this they have not only destroyed the most important institution like Khilafat but they have also blocked the entrance of the beginning of Khilafat.

Holy Quran says (24:56): Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely, make them Successors in the earth, as He made Successors from among those who were before them; and that He will, surely, establish, for them their religion which He has chosen for them; and that He will, surely, give them in exchange security and peace  after their fear”.

There is a promise by Allah that He will raise Caliphs (successors of the Holy Prophet) among righteous Muslims with the result that Allah will establish their religion which He had chosen for them and that He will give them peace and security after their fear. Thus, after a Prophet passes away, a series of successors follow to carry on the Prophet’s mission. When the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) passed away, it was a time of grief and fear and great crisis. Rebellions broke out in many parts of Arabia. At that critical time, Allah raised Hazrat Abu Bakr as the first Khalifa to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Muslims were again united, Islam was firmly established, and their fears changed into peace, security, and progress. Hazrat Abu Bakr was followed by other Caliphs, namely, Hazrat Umar, Hazrat Uthman, and Hazrat Ali. They were all righteous and guided by Allah. (May Allah be pleased with them).

This glorious period of early Islam is known as Khilafat-e-Rashida (i.e., righteous and guided Khilafat). No student of the history of Islam can ignore this glorious period of success and victory, when all Muslims were united and guided by Caliphs. Later on, Khilafat took a different shape. Kingship or monarchy followed. Some of them were saintly and have great names in the history of Islam. There have been a great number of saints and reformers in each century of Islam, who provided spiritual guidance in their times and spheres, with the blessings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Many of them were persecuted by the authorities of their time.

In one Hadees (sayings of Prophet of Islam) in (Musnad Ahmad, vol.5 page 404, the Holy Prophet said: O ye Muslims the present prophethood period amongst you will last as long as Allah wills. On its conclusion there will be a period of Khilafat on the design, pattern and succession of Nabuwwat (Prophethood), i.e., in continuation of the Prophet’s mission. This Khilafat will be followed by a succession of kingship, which will be dictatorial regimes of tyranny and oppression, which will be followed by non- democratic regimes. On its conclusion there will then begin real Khilafat on the model and pattern of prophethood.” After saying this, the Holy Prophet did not add any further comment.

There is always wisdom, far sightedness, good reason and logic behind whatever Allah does. According to the laws of nature, man has only a limited life span, but the task of reformation and training of society requires a much longer time. So, Allah has established the system of Caliphate (Khilafat) after the system of prophethood. The Khilafat continues and carries on the task of the prophet. The seed sown by the prophet is protected and is nurtured by the Khilafat till it becomes a strong tree. It is a fact that when the believers stopped fulfilling the above requirement of the institution of Khilafat, obedience and righteousness disappeared, and they started fighting each other, Allah took away the blessings of Khilafat from the Muslims, and long period of unjust and cruel leadership ensued, as Prophet of Islam Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioned above.

This particular prophecy by Prophet of Islam Muhammad (PBUH), about the re- establishment of Khilafat on the pattern of prophethood in the latter days has been fulfilled once again through Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, a Jama’at has been established, and the institution of Khilafat has once again been revived in May 27, 1908, (in the tradition of Khilafat-I- Rashida) after the demise of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – the Promised Messiah and Mahdi.

Every year Ahmadi Muslims celebrate May 27th as Khilafat Day.

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, after fulfilling his divine mission, passed away on May 26, 1908. The next day Hazrat Maulana Nurud Din was elected as the first successor to the Promised Messiah).

Now the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community passing through Fifth Successor (Khalifa) of Promised Messiah. After the demise of the Fourth Caliph, God commissioned His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad to the rank of Caliph.

Courtesy Daily mirror

Colombo, May 26 (Daily Mirror) – The world’s longest monkey tapeworm was discovered in the stomach of a 10-year-old boy from the Kurunegala District, Medical Research Institute (MRI) Director Dr. Suranga Dulamunna revealed.

Speaking to the media, Dr. Dulamunna said that details about the rare monkey tapeworm came to light a few months ago.

The tapeworm was identified during tests conducted on several samples sent to the MRI. While analysing these samples, doctors found what turned out to be the longest known monkey tapeworm.

Microscopic examination of the tapeworm eggs confirmed that they belonged to the Bertiella species. Typically, this type of tapeworm grows up to 70 cms in length. Until now, the longest known Bertiella tapeworm recorded in the world was 40 cms. However, the one found in the boy from Kurunegala measured an astonishing 70 cms.

The tapeworm has now been referred for genetic testing to determine whether it is a unique strain found only in Sri Lanka.

Although Bertiella tapeworms have been found in Sri Lanka in the past, none were as long as this recent discovery.

Udaya Gammanpila

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The Iberian Peninsula including Spain, Portugal, and parts of France faced mysterious electricity outages last month. Spain had an extended countywide Blackout–the worst electricity failure in any developed country in modern times.

London’s Heathrow Airport, one of the world’s business airports also experienced a power failure and a total shut down over a 24-hour period causing a great deal of chaos in March. A month earlier in February, Sri Lanka too experienced a mysterious island-wide electricity Blackout.

Mystery still surrounds the cause of the electricity outages and economic shut down of counties and transport systems, which experts increasingly suggest may be caused by cyber or other forms of sabotage, rather than oversupply of solar energy. Spain is led by Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a vocal critic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza who had called for recognition of the State of Palestine.

At the time of the February blackout in Sri Lanka an implausible narrative was floated that a monkey had cause the county-wide electricity outage! An Expert Committee later set up to investigate the power outage came up with the claim that an abundance of cheap, renewable Solar power had destabilized the national grid distribution system causing the power failure. Both narratives raised more questions than provided answers.

Some experts have suggested a geopolitical economic angle to claims that an excess of cheap solar power caused Blackouts and county-wide grid instability from Spain to Sri Lanka. They suggest that such claims and ensuring energy policy uncertainty may keep counties dependent on expensive imported fossil fuel (oil, gas and coal), generated electricity and the exorbitantly privileged US dollar.  After all, the Saudi oil backed Petrodollar is facing headwinds as the world slowly de-dollarizes at this time. Likewise, the rise of BRICS and China’s Solar panels and Electric Vehicles manufacture may threaten the Oil backed Greenback’s global reserve currency status.

Dependence on Imported Fossil Fuel: Kickbacks and Price Rigging

The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), last month asked private individual solar energy suppliers to hold back their supply to the national grid although solar energy is relatively cheap and may contribute to reduce electricity prices compared to expensive imported oil, gas and coal generated electricity. Simultaneously, the CEB called for a whopping 30 percent increase in electricity prices—in lock step with the International Monetary Fund (IMF)” demand that electricity prices be based on cost recovery.

However, the CEB was forced to revise its initial claim of a 30 percent electricity increase down to 18.3 percent last week. The Expert Committee report that an excess or oversupply of relatively cheap Solar power caused the February Blackout due to grid destabilization had contradicted the claim by the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), that it had made massive losses this year to explain hence need to increase the cost of electricity by 30 percent ex ante for June-December 2025.

At this time, the question is why raise electricity prices if there was over-supply of renewable Solar as well as Hydropower just as the monsoon breaks? Electricity price increases would spike the cost of living, and affect industry and manufacture and jeopardize the country’s economic recovery. Or, is there a disinformation game in the legacy media that is somehow also related to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demand that Sri Lanka raise the price of electricity ex ante for ‘cost reflective pricing, and what data is the IMF using?

Sri Lanka which staged a first ever Sovereign Default in 2022, is currently caught in a US dollar Eurobond debt trap and has clearly lost economic sovereignty and policy autonomy to the IMF. Meanwhile, questions arise about the role of the National Peoples Power (NPP) government as the IMF threatens to withhold an Extended Fund Facility loan, seemingly careless of the damage these actions may cause the economy.

Kickbacks and Staged Shortage

While countries like Spain and Sri Lanka with plentiful year round sunshine increasingly have cheap solar power to reduce dependence on expensive imported fossil fuels to generate electricity, some electricity company officials may make lucrative kickbacks from expensive oil, gas and coal import tenders. In the past the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) faced questions it supply-demand estimates, data, and electricity pricing formula given the county’s increased renewable solar and hydro power generation capacity from the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL).

Whatever the case, last week the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Chairman Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya tendered his resignation to the Minister of Power and Energy. This was after the CEB’s claims of the need for a whopping 30 percent rise in lock step with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) demand for ‘cost based pricing’ of electricity.

The CEB chairman’s resignation came after the need for such a large electricity price increase was challenged given contradictory claims about solar and hydro-power availability.  Experts had pointed out that predictions of hydropower scarcity were based on dubious ‘climate disaster’ scenarios of drought that did not materialize.

Hydropower reservoirs according to experts are well stocked at this time. Energy expert Dr. Vidura Ralapanawe has noted that The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) is in one of the strongest hydro storage positions in recent memory, but it has mismanaged key hydropower complexes, causing an increase expensive in oil-powered electricity generation and costs.[i] Dr. Ralapanawe had raised serious concerns over CEB’s operational decisions, particularly the skewed use of the Mahaweli and Laxapana hydropower complexes. Moreover, recently the Indian High Commissioner Mr. Santosh Jha spoke optimistically about Sri Lanka exporting electricity to India.

Energy Poverty: 50,000 off the Grid

In contrast to less developed countries in South Asia, Sri Lanka, listed as an Upper Middle Income Country (MIC), by the World Bank in 2019, had universal electricity coverage until recently. However, the CEB’s dramatic increase of prices forced approximately 50,000 households who were unable to pay their electricity bills to disconnect from the national grid in the past year. From this was extrapolated that Sri Lanka’s poverty rate had increased to over 25 percent of the population.

The electricity price rise and disconnections was in the wake of the 2022 Aragalaya chaos and regime change operation to stage Sri Lanka’s first ever Sovereign Default, amid predictions and threats of famine and 15-hour power cuts” if Sri Lanka did not seek help from the IMF with the rupee in staged freefall.  This, although Sri Lanka is a tropical island blessed with Mother Nature’s largess including plentiful rain and sun for two crop rotations to feed itself.

In a recent study the Center for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), used the concept of energy/ electricity poverty” due to the high rate of electricity disconnections caused by the CEB’s dramatic price increases which it is retrospectively clear were based on flawed Climate Disaster predictions of drought and other miscalculations.

The questionable prediction was that there would be a drought in 2024, which would cause hydropower shortages, and require import of expensive fossil fuel, which required electricity price increase ex ante–necessitated by the IMF’s ‘cost recovery pricing’ demand. The result was 50,000 poor families unable to bear the price increase having their electricity cut.

Arguably, the right to affordable Electricity is a Human Right. It is now clear that the ECB’s dramatic electricity price increase which was based on flawed data and weather predictions caused harm to vulnerable families whose electricity supply was cut by CEB, as noted in a recent discussion on Face the Nation with Energy expert Dr. Vidura Ralapanawe and former PUCSL head, Asoka Abeygunawardana.

Whose data and weather forecasts of sun, rain and hydropower generation did the IMF using? The IMF it seems works closely with selected representatives of CEB Trade Unions that called for dramatic price increases anticipating purchase of imported and expensive oil, gas and coal tenders.

Disinformation, Flawed Data, and the IMF’s ‘Legacy Debt’

With independent experts challenging the CEB’s data and claims of losses and debt numbers, the IMF has come up with the concept of legacy debt”, to increase electricity prices and to ‘Make the Economy Scream’ again. This at a time when some industries are reeling and factories closing given President Donald Trump’s tariff flip flops.

Some CEB trade union representatives that work closely with the IMF have claimed that the Ceylon Electricity Board incurred massive losses this year (2025) and must raise prices, despite the CEB making significant profits last year. But since the loss figures have been directly and cogently challenged by experts at the Public Utilities Commission (PUCSL) and other independent analysts another narrative was concocted.

The IMF recently claimed that the CEB has a ‘legacy debt’ to pay off citing borrowing from 2015-2019.  However, concerns arise on the nature, calculation and accuracy of the purported legacy debt data.Moreover, there little debt Data Security in Sri Lanka, where at the height of the Covid-19 panicdemic the National Medicine’s Regulatory Authority (NMRA) suffered huge data wipes and data manipulation and the Ministry of Health was bankrupted buying injections and PCR test kits.

As the now forgotten Arthur Anderson and Enron accounting scandals showed financial data, debt and derivatives, including ‘legacy debt’ are easily rigged, particularly, in Global South countries where data security is nonexistent. As the recent IMF supervised Eurobond debt restructure, which concealed the name of the bondholders despite calls for transparency regarding who would benefit from the process showed, in an age of Digital Colonialism debt data is an elaborate numbers game.

The executive director of Verite Research, Dr. Nishan de Mel meanwhile had warned recently that Sri Lanka’s approach to meeting IMF-backed electricity pricing reforms risks clashing with its own regulatory framework due to differing interpretations of what constitutes cost-reflective pricing”.[ii]

Rather than jeopardize the country’s recovery by raising electricity prices to Make the Economy Scream”, should not the NPP regime in Colombo first analyze and then convert if needed, CEB’s debt to equity?

After all the CEB is owned by the people of Sri Lanka and the GoSL should be able to cancel CEB debt for the greater economic good of the country. However, the IMF’s illegal mission and mandate creep into domestic debt restructuring with long term intent to privatize the energy sector may have for now forestalled the option of effective domestic debt cancellation in the interest of national energy security.

TO BE CONTINUED

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[i] https://island.lk/expert-mismanagement-of-ceb-hydro-resources-increases-costly-oil-powered-electricity-generation/

[ii] https://www.themorning.lk/articles/7C5SBBZGZo4X6rjGtUuD

Ahmadi News

The Muslims who should have been united and be in harmony, are divided in countless sects and divisions. It is not only in religious field but in politics too. When there is schism, they can achieve nothing in the world, which a united and harmonious people can do. By discord and disharmony the power of the Muslim world has not only disintegrated, but also they are using this broken strength against one another. When such are the conditions, the aggregate will be below zero.

The groups may be very powerful, but if they will oppose and counteract each other in minor and major issues and remain busy in fighting, their power will be scattered and strength broken.

This is happening in Muslim countries. What will they gain from all this? What resources will remain for their own nation building, defense of Islam or fighting the enemy? Therefore, it is incumbent that Muslims should unite on the hand of One Imam (Leader). There should be one Imam of the Muslims of the whole world. But without Khilafat (Spiritual Leadership), it is just impossible. Khilafat is the successor after the prophet in the form of a person who is representing the deceased prophet and Khalifa is the vicegerent and his subordinate. He is the central authority. This is the basic principle of Khilafat.

Every year Ahmadi Muslims celebrate May 27th as Khilafat Day.

Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, after fulfilling his divine mission, passed away on May 26, 1908. The next day Hazrat Maulana Nurud Din was elected as the first successor to the Promised Messiah).

Now the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community passing through Fifth Successor (Khalifa) of Promised Messiah. After the demise of the Fourth Caliph, God commissioned His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad to the rank of Caliph. (More details to follow.)

kelum jayasumana

Madubashana Prabath Ranahansa

by Rajan Philips Courtesy Island

Questions continue to be speculated about the true intentions of the JVP in orchestrating the NPP government – whether the JVP is still committed to its old Marxist-Leninist policies and whether it may or may not implement them through its NPP front. Further, will the JVP/NPP allow Sri Lanka’s multi-party democracy to continue or resort to one party governance like in countries where a Communist Party is in power. The fact that local government elections were held under an NPP government after a seven year hiatus is conveniently forgotten. That the LG elections had previously been postponed and cancelled by non-Marxist governments is now never mentioned.

And then the scaremongering – if the NPP government were to fail and suffer defeat at the next election, will it pave the way for the return of the Rajapaksas, yet again, but this time under a new generation led by the supposedly hugely talented Namal Rajapaksa? There were pre-election predictions that Namal Rajapaksa and the rump that is left of the SLPP might overtake Sajith Premadasa’s SJB in the LG elections. That did not happen.

The Rajapaksa scion is still safely in third place by quite a distance after the SJB and its lackluster leader, the slightly older but still the only young Premadasa in Sri Lankan politics. For company, they have a really old man, i.e., Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is capable of many things, but gracefully retiring is not one of them. At least, and to his credit, he lives in his own house and takes no residential perk at government expense unlike all the other ex-presidential freeloaders.

Philistine Preoccupations

It is not unfair to say that most of their commentaries are nothing but philistine preoccupations passing for serious politics. The word ‘philistine’ was a favourite term of Engels (the second fiddle to Marx’s first violin) and it is appropriate now since Marxism is at the tip of the tongue of everyone who wants to take a shot at the NPP government. The term is also apt to fling at the right wing populists, who are now becoming less popular in their western backyards thanks to their greatest specimen – Donald J. Trump

And what a specimen Trump is constantly devolving into – the latest stage being his disgusting White House encounter last Wednesday with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Less said of it is better for your bile and if you saw it on television you would have instantly noticed the difference between a contemptible mammon out of Florida and a consummate statesman from Soweto.

As epithets are flung around to capture the antics of Trump, the latest comes from the usually measured Paul Krugman, distinguished American economist who was awarded the 2008 Nobel Prize for his work on trade patterns and location of economic activity.” Krugman knows something about tariffs and economics, and the other day he called Trump and his sidekicks sadistic zombies”.

Many among the Sri Lankan opposition politicians might be considered zombies, but none of them could be thought of as being sadistic. To close this loop on Trump and his dystopic global presence, one needs to acknowledge his primeval effectiveness in pushing people around to get his way. More so with foreign leaders than his opponents at home. But he uses this effectiveness to feed his ego and enrich his family and not at all to make a difference in the world’s trouble spots where the American government has more sway than anyone else.

This was quite evident on Trump’s recent visit to the Arab world that was all about glitter and one-way gifts including a flying palace, and nothing at all for American foreign policy, let alone for the wretched of the earth in Gaza or the slow burning of Ukraine. One noticeable fact of the visit was Trump’s deliberate snubbing of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Not only did Trump go to Riyad and Doha bypassing Jerusalem but he also sent a message to Netanyahu that he would deal directly with Netanyahu’s enemies including Hamas, Iran and the Houthis. To what great outcome, no one knows. At the same time, Trump’s apparent sidelining of Netanyahu together with the joint condemnation of Netanyahu’s latest Gaza plans by Britain, France and Canada, seemed to tighten the screws on Netanyahu and signaled a new opportunity for reining in Israel’s runaway leader and his notoriously right wing government.

All that came crashing down with the insane assassination, on Wednesday, of two young Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington by a lone gunman, 30 year old Chicago native Elias Rodriguez, shouting Free, free, Palestine”. All that this politically deranged individual has achieved is to free Netanyahu to go ahead with his Gaza plans and to prolong the misery of the Palestinians who are under constant bombardment in Gaza.

Sri Lanka’s Durable Political System

Today’s Sri Lanka is fortunate to have finally come out of its own decades of political violence, and after several missed opportunities following the end of the war in 2009, the country finally has a government that for its all its inexperience in governing has shown consistent commitment to honesty, decency and transparency. Yet many commentators are rankled by the irony that a government whose political progenitor was a violent insurrectionist could now be a paragon of multi-party democracy.

Their constant allusion to Marxism is really a code for recalling the JVP’s violent past. Never mind that the past had come and gone 30 and 50 years ago. They conveniently ignore the possibility that the JVP could have and may actually have transformed itself from its pre-history to its current manifestation. Its current commitment to the parliamentary system and multi-party democracy is no less authentic than any of the other political parties. If at all, the JVP/NPP is more honest about it than every other party.

As well, those who agonize that the JVP might terminate Sri Lanka’s muti-party democracy and opt for some version of the political systems in countries such as Vietnam, China, Russia or even Cuba, fail to take into account the history and the currency of Sri Lanka’s political system that has proved to be quite durable, so much so that any political party that that tries to subvert or supplant it will do so at its own peril. And Sri Lanka’s political system, its history and currency are not comparable to what are prevalent in the four countries that I have mentioned.

The governing parties in these countries have been in power for as long as their polities have been existing, and they have no reason to think of changing their respective mode of government now or later. In contrast, the JVP/NPP government has come to power through the electoral process, and it has no incentive to think of changing that process now or later. Sri Lanka’s political system has not been without ailments, and the most debilitating of them has been the presidential system. And the JVP/NPP is the only political organization in the country that is fervently committed to curing Sri Lanka of that enervating illness. Whether it will keep its promise and succeed in changing the executive presidency is a different matter. It is the only party that is committed to changing the presidency, whereas all the others have tried to use it to serve their own ends.

Indian Comparisons

What is more comparable for Sri Lanka is the experience of the Indian states of Kerala and West Bengal where the Indian Communists have won power through the electoral process on many occasions and acquitted themselves very well in government. In modern Kerala’s first state election in 1957, EMS Namboodiripad led the then undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) to electoral victory and a new government. That was India’s first elected Communist Government, and the world’s second – after the first elected Communist government (1945-1957) in San Marino, the tiny commune of a country in the Italian peninsula.

But the government was dismissed in 1959 by the Central Government at the insistence of a young Indira Gandhi using her influence as the President of the Congress Party, even sidelining her father and then Prime Minister Nehru. But Communists have become a governing force in Kerala forming several governments over the years led by the CPM (the Communist Party of India – Marxist), the larger of the two factions that emerged after the Party’s ideological split in 1964. The current government in Kerala is the government of the Left Democratic Front that is led by the CPM. The LDF has been in power since 2016 – winning two consecutive elections, a feat not achieved in 40 years.

In West Bengal, the CPM was in power continuously for 34 years from 1977 to 2011. Jyoti Basu of national prominence was Chief Minister from 1977 to 2000 and is recognized as the longest serving Chief Minister in India. In 1996, he was offered the chance to become India’s Prime Minister as head of a United Front alliance of non-Congress and non-BJP parties. But the great Bengali declined the offer in deference to his Party Polit Bureau’s lamebrained doctrinaire decision barring him from becoming Prime Minister in a coalition government. Unlike in Kerala, the CPM has not been able to alternate in government after its defeat in 2011. The Party was decimated in the 2021 national and State elections in West Bengal by Trinamool Congress a state-level party like Tamil Nadu’s DMK.

What the JVP/NPP has achieved in Sri Lanka is unique to Sri Lanka and, comparable to the Indian situations, the NPP’s electoral success poses no threat to the political system in Sri Lanka. The NPP government has completed only six months in office, but its critics are insistent on seeing results. They will not bother to look at what the present government’s predecessors respectively did in the first six months after elections in 2010, 2015 and 2019. At the same time, while is still too early for substantial results, it is getting late enough to get by without showing some work in progress, let alone some tangible achievements. It is about time.

by Rajan Philips

Courtesy The Satnadard

Lydia Swinscoe

Does Sri Lanka’s latest city hotel live up to the hype? Lydia Swinscoe checks in to find out

Having spent over nine months in Sri Lanka, I’ve become fairly well acquainted with the Colombo hotel scene.

There are the chains, some global, some local, which take up space in sprawling buildings and sky-punctuating towers, and there are the arty boutique bedrooms often housed in colonial-era homes full of fascinating antiques and surrounded by frangipani trees — these are always my favourites.

And in just over a year since I first arrived in the city of Colombo, it’s already evolved dramatically, and currently seems to be gearing up to become a destination in its own right, as opposed to a layover on the way to somewhere more exciting.

Mohamed Akeel

While most travellers head straight to Negombo, or the south coast beaches, upon arrival in the country, Colombo offers a truly authentic taste of the country and is worthy of a few days at least, if not longer.

The start of the year saw much hype surrounding Sri Lanka, as the tear-drop-shaped island topped numerous ‘best places to travel’ lists, as well as featuring on plenty of nonsensical TikTok videos with creators labelling it the new Bali (please let’s not make this a thing).

Of course, Colombo locals and businesses are doing their best to secure a spot on the itinerary of many of these travellers, especially as the city has much to offer, from fascinating art galleries, to glorious temples and plenty of hip new spots like Chill Cafe, Eskobar, and Kiri Kōpi popping up in the past few months. Plus, Dom Fernando of Paradise Soho is returning to his roots with his latest venture, a restaurant named Open Door Policy, scheduled to open sometime next month. A handful of hot new hotel openings are adding to the hype. One of which comes from the Sri Lankan-owned Cinnamon Group, who already boast over 13 properties throughout the country.

Having been 10 years in the making, on a budget to the tune of £9M, Cinnamon Life, a hotel situated in a moonstone-shaped building (these semicircular carved stones are typically found at the entrances of Sri Lankan temples), has finally welcomed its first guests in the rather fantastical-sounding self-titled City of Dreams. So has it been worth the decade-long fanfare?

Where?

Situated on Slave Island, a part of Colombo that’s transformed beyond recognition over the past few years, Cinnamon Life is within a stone’s throw from the Indian owned ITC Ratnadipa hotel which sprung up in prime seafront position back in 2024, and is in close proximity to nearby Shangri La, a stalwart on the Colombo skyscraper hotel scene.

Cinnamon Life

Close by, the Port City area boasts a couple of restaurants, including a new Chill Cafe outpost of Ella fame, as well as Dharshan Mudasa’s Nihonbashi. The area behind the restaurants is seemingly evolving by the week, since it’s believed this part of the city will become a central tourist hub over the next five years.

Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport is around a 45-minute ride away, depending on traffic, and direct flights from London to Colombo are available daily, starting at around £640 return with Sri Lankan Airlines.

Style

Cinnamon Life

The hotel is sleek with orange as the dominant hue of the decor, especially in and around the entranceway. Given it’s a colour usually reserved for horror movies, I was instantly reminded of the movie The Substance and its hyper-vivid long orange corridor.

Set over 30 floors, the sheer size of Cinnamon Life can feel quite overwhelming, and I struggled to get my bearings at first, especially since the main reception and check-in area is situated almost in the clouds on level 24 overlooking Colombo’s Lotus Tower.

Envisioned by renowned architect Cecil Balmond, the moonstone shape of the building, as seen from the exterior, really is something unique and quite special, even more so since it pays homage to one of the country’s most treasured ancient cities, Polonnaruwa.

Inside, it’s not a hotel where one immediately feels at home but there are some great features including one of the hotel’s most mesmerising — a bold burning sun motif painted across the whole breadth of the ground floor, encompassing beams, walls, and even the elevator. Ironically, it promotes a serene vibe, with the orange shade here signifying the lowering of the sun’s rays and the beauty of the sunset that can be witnessed each day from the hotel’s pool, sea-facing rooms and restaurants.

While incorporating the sun design into the building is a feat of mathematical and creative brilliance, it’s just the beginning of the journey guests go on when they enter the hotel, since 1,000 pieces of art, all created by Sri Lankan artists, adorn Cinnamon Life’s walls. Standout pieces include Muvindu Binoy’s digital collages, Pala Pothupitiye’s Trade Migration canvas, and Gayan Prageeth’s ‘Before Nineteen Eighty Three’, a colossal bucket adorned with images of Jaffna and Mannar — areas that were out of bounds for decades due to the country’s devastating civil war.

Which room?

Cinnamon Life

Bedrooms are simply decorated, with each of the 687 adhering to the same colour palette of bright yellow and blue with a touch of gold and plenty of beige.

Most bathrooms feature a rainfall shower and have been sectioned off from the rest of the room by a curved frosted glass screen. Sea-facing rooms are undoubtedly the best pick, but many don’t have balconies.

I liked the fact that drinking water (and plenty of it) is provided in large glass bottles, yet plastic is yet to be banished from bathrooms, where plenty of mini shampoos, shower gels, and conditioners fill bathrooms.

The air-con can be pretty aggressive, but it provides tonic to the city’s high season heat, and bathrobes have been adorned with bright tuk-tuk motifs, a nice touch that sets the hotel apart.

Of all the room categories, from city side twins to oceanfront king rooms with extra-large beds, I’d recommend one of the ocean-scape suites if budget allows. Much more spacious than regular rooms, they also boast a lounge area and stand-alone bathtubs.

Food & drink

Cinnamon Life

All of the hotel’s 12 restaurants and bars impress, firstly on account of the staff who are helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable, and secondly with a dazzling array of dishes and drinks on offer.

Sapphire Dragon, decked out in bright jewel tones, serves perfectly steamed lobster and prawn dumplings, crab meat soups, and plates of crispy pork belly. While Yoroko, the hotel’s Japanese restaurant, wows with perfect sashimi and spicy California rolls.

Staten Bar and Grill’s Australian striploin steaks are some of the best in the city, best enjoyed alongside one of the restaurant’s heady tipples like the toasted sesame boulevardier or seven-day aged negronis.

Cinnamon Life

Cocktails are equally exciting at Flux, where they play with ingredients like activated charcoal and cashew orgeat. The only criticism I have is that the hotel does little to champion Sri Lanka’s own vibrant cuisine. There’s no Sri Lanka-focused restaurant where it’s possible to eat rice and curry, kothu or lamprais, a shame, with Cinnamon being a Sri Lankan-owned chain.

I also think the hotel is missing a trick by not having its very own arrack bar, since elsewhere in the country, bars such as Galle’s Ropewalk and Hiriketiya’s Raa are leading the charge in highlighting the country’s most loved tipple. To sample great arrack cocktails in the city, book in advance and head to Gini.

Extracurricular

Colombo is often glanced over in favour of photogenic Ella, up-country tea plantations, and the wildlife of Yala and Wilpattu, but if you’ve got time and are willing to get into the soul of the place, it’s magical, to say the least.

The hotel will happily organise city tours for anyone looking to get acquainted with Sri Lanka’s lively capital, or you can go on a self-guided stroll taking in Pettah and the candy-striped Jami-Ul-Alfar Mosque, the Colombo National Museum, the Sapumal Foundation, where a selection of art from Sri Lanka’s most famed artists is housed before rounding off the day with dinner at Gini.

Best for…

Anyone looking for a couple of days of chill time following a tour of the country. It seems to be geared towards business travellers and larger groups rather than solo travellers who may find it overbearing in size.

With two spacious and relaxed pools, one targeted towards children, the hotel would suit families well, and there is plenty of capability for large gatherings, meetings, and functions. A large-scale casino is set to open towards the end of 2025, which could change the vibe, catering to a different type of holidaymaker — watch this space.

Double rooms available from £139 per night without breakfast. cinnamonhotels.com

Udaya Gammanpila

Courtesy AdaDerana

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that the government is taking necessary actions to enhance the facilities and professional standard within the healthcare sector, and that expecting a compassionate discharge of duties from the nurses and midwives.

The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing a ceremony held today (24) at Temple Trees to deliver the official appointments to 3,147 nurses in the health sector, according to the Prime Minister’s Media Division.

Addressing the event, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated:

Nursing is more than a job; it is a humanitarian service essential to the public. In times of vulnerability, people look to you for safety and care. 

Beyond medicine, you hold a powerful impact on healing people with your smile, way of speaking, compassion, and the manner in which you care.

You provide your service with great dedication, involving both physical and mental commitment. Often, you do not have the chance to sit or even sleep adequately. These sacrifices affect your personal life including the family affairs, relationships with relatives and friends. We understand that these sacrifices affect not only you but your loved ones as well.

I take this opportunity to thank you for your service, which you continue to offer with such commitment.

Following the policy of our government, ‘A Prosperous Country, a Beautiful Life’, our primary goal is to bring this vision to all citizens. A beautiful life begins with healthy citizens, not only physically but mentally as well. To ensure this, the government is committed to strengthening the healthcare sector and providing the necessary facilities and training to professionals.

There is a high demand for nurses both locally and internationally. We are working to provide appropriate salaries, necessary promotions, and training opportunities to support your professional growth. It is also essential to create a safe and positive working environment, for both physical and mental wellbeing of the employees. I am confident that the respective Minister and the Ministry will continue to intervene to ensure that these needs are met.

The nursing profession is mostly comprised of women. In our society, a woman is often expected to carry many responsibilities in form of a wife, a mother, and being a nurse does not excuse these duties. As a government, we are sensitive to such areas of the profession, and it is also our responsibility to create an environment where you can live a fulfilling personal life.”

Addressing the event Minister of Health and Mass Media, Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa, also expressed his views:

This is the largest number of nursing appointments ever granted at once. It is also the largest group to be recruited into public service at one time since the new government took office.

We are in a time of revival. All of us are working with commitment to change this country. We have great hopes for the future of this nation. In order to achieve those expectations, everyone including you, must work toward that goal collectively, not only the government but the entire public service. We hope that the public service will act with compassion. If the public sector lack of efficiency, productivity, and compassion, we will not be able to reach the progress and revival we envision. That is where we currently stand in.”

The event was also attended by Secretary to the Ministry of Health, Specialist Dr. Anil Jasinghe, along with Additional Secretaries, officials, and staff of the Ministry of Health.

MOHAMED AYUB   Courtesy Daily mirror

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President Dissanayake’s hesitancy over participation in the commemoration contrasts with his party’s historical pro-military stance, particularly during the post-ceasefire period when they shaped public opinion favouring military action against the LTTE

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Speculation arose as to why the president skipped the commemoration, with some citing that he wanted to appease the collective tamil community and the diaspora who supported the NPP during the previous elections

President Anura Kumara Dissanayake has caused a controversy with his apparently reluctant participation in the National War Heroes Commemoration held at the National War Heroes commemoration cenotaph near Parliament in Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte on May 19. 

The controversy erupted once the announcement was made by the government that the event would be held under the aegis of Deputy Minister of Defence Major General (Rtd.) Aruna Jayasekara, a few days before the event. The social media was filled with critical comments about the non-participation of the President, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. 

Some people made wild speculations that the President was going to skip the commemoration of armed forces and police personnel killed in the separatist war to please the Tamil diaspora and the Tamils who supported the National People’s Power (NPP) at the last Presidential and Parliamentary elections. 

The President finally arrived at the cenotaph at the Parliament ground, apparently due to the pressure from critics and delivered a speech which went against tradition, again irritating some people in the southern parts of the country. 

However, Foreign Affairs Minister, Vijitha Herath, during a televised interview stated on last Wednesday that the announcement indicating the unavailability of the President at the event was just a communication error and he was scheduled to attend the commemoration. 

Nobody would have taken this statement without a pinch of salt, as it was said that the name of the President was missing in the invitation for the event as well. On the other hand, had it been a communication error, the authorities should have corrected it, without the President partaking in the ceremony as if everything was in order. 

Those who decided initially against the President’s participation should have understood that it was under the government of the NPP led by President Dissanayake that the event was to be held and he cannot disown any merit or demerit of the event, irrespective of his participation or absence. 

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main party in the NPP coalition and the Sihala Urumaya (SU), which was rechristened as Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) in 2004, were in the forefront in shaping the public opinion in support of military action against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), especially after the collapse of the ceasefire agreement and the peace talks between Ranil Wickremesinghe’s UNP government and the LTTE in 2003. The two parties kept the momentum of this public opinion up. until the end of the separatist war in 2009.

That public opinion was greatly instrumental to the triumph of the armed forces over the LTTE and the latter, in turn, strengthened the former. Every year, the ritual-like commemoration of this war victory appeased public opinion. Hence, the JVP leaders should have realised that trivialising this commemoration event would prompt the public opinion that they had built up to go against themselves.

What ultimately happened was the controversy over President’s participation served as a boost to those elements that had politically vanished after the recent Presidential election, to reappear. 

A day prior to this memorial event every year, Tamil political parties and civil society organisations hold their own commemorations for their loved ones killed in the war, in many parts of Northern and Eastern provinces. They have named this event Mullivaikkal Day” as the last battle of the separatist war that was fought and the highest number of people were killed in the littoral of Mullivaikkal in Mullaitivu District in May 2009. 

While the Sri Jayewardenepura event every year is being held in a triumphant mood, the one in Mullivaikkal is being marked by wailings of hundreds of mothers who have lost their sons and daughters in the war. This manifests the truth that silencing the guns is a far cry from real peace. 

The ethnic problem and the resultant armed conflict have been politicised to the core from the beginning by all parties, including those representing the Tamils, the community that was affected most by the strife. This is manifested by the conflicting stances of these parties on various issues related to the core issue, the ethnic problem. 

All Opposition parties, including the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), stood against the 6th Amendment to the Constitution, which provided for the public representatives and public officials to take an oath against secessionism, when it was adopted by the UNP government in 1983. However, the same SLFP never thought to abrogate it when they came to power. 

Similarly, the same Opposition parties fought tooth and nail against the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 and the resultant provincial councils, on the grounds that those councils would end up in the division of the country. However, the SLFP under its administration in 1995 and 2000 brought in a proposal and a draft Constitution which had provided for the replacement of the unitary state with a Union of regions.” 

These two drafts were opposed, in turn, by the UNP, which claimed that such federal solutions would divide the country, but the irony continued. The party agreed with the LTTE in December 2002 to explore a federal solution to the ethnic problem.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa grabbed the total credit for the war victory in 2009 and has been using it as a trump card at successive elections. He even incarcerated the war-winning army commander, the then General Sarath Fonseka and deprived him of his pension and medals for challenging him at the 2010 Presidential election. On the other hand, the UNP and the JVP also utilised the war victory for politics by fielding Fonseka as the Opposition candidate in the same election. 

Everybody in the north as well as the south stands for peace, but only on their conditions. Some southerners want northerners to accept their dominance in exchange for peace, while for most northerners, peace would usher in a federal system of their choice, which is close to a separate state. 

A third group recommends an in-between solution, which they believe can heal the wounds of the past. During the televised interview referred to above, Vijitha Herath was questioned about the allegation that President Dissanayake did not mention the term war heroes” in his speech at the War Heroes commemoration and he replied that one should not use words that might hurt others. He also stated that although his party respected and valued the sacrifices, including the supreme sacrifice made by the armed forces for the country, when one refers to a victory, those who were defeated would be hurt. This balancing act on the part of the NPP is no doubt going to be a gigantic task. 

Chanaka Bandarage

The late Minister Gamini Dissanayke In the early 1990s stated that considering the number of professionals and technicians that Australia has absorbed into their country from Sri Lanka, what Sri Lanka has offered to Australia’s economic development far outweighs the amount of aid/assistance that Australia has given to Sri Lanka. He was spot on.

There is an enormous brain drain from 3^rd world countries like Sri Lanka to the 1^st world.

Almost all developed counties have migration/employment programs targeted to attract the best brains/talent of the 3^rd world.

By offering scholarships to professionals and students, these countries target them also.  Once their studies are over, these students are quickly absorbed into these western economies. Thus, rather than returning to the mother country, these students continue to remain in 1^st world countries.  Later, they take up citizenship of those countries.

This form of conduct is highly unethical on the part of the 1^st world economies. They know about this but remain silent. On and off they throw few aid at us.

Because we lose our best brains/talent, we suffer tremendously. We continue to remain poor.

In Sri Lanka qualified/experienced doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, engineers, accountants, architects leave the country in droves. The biggest Sri Lankan diaspora population after Colombo city lives is in Melbourne, Australia.

Today in Sri Lanka we have a chronic shortage of highly skilled manpower. 

Almost all of our hospitals have acute shortage of specialist doctors and experienced nurses. How many people, especially children, are needlessly dying as a result?

Put simply, the West prospers at our expense. When they colonised us they did the same – plundered our wealth and built their countries.

In this context what Nalinda Jayathissa stated in WHO, Geneva last week is commendable. He asked the WHO to look into this behaviour of the 1^st world countries. He was specifically referring to the plunder of our best medical professionals brains by the West

Only a brave person can make such a statement in an international forum. Well done Nalinda!

It is sad some YouTubers are severely criticising Nalinda Jayathissa for his statement.  They say that the West should have the unfettered right to recruit our best brains willy nilly (like they do now).  The writer states these countries should not meddle with our students who go there on scholarships funded by those countries. Upon completion of the scholarship study, they should be repatriated to Sri Lanka advising them that they should serve in Sri Lanka for at least 5 years before applying for migration/employment.

These YouTubers are not concerned that the country rapidly loses its talent, and they are desperately needed to build our country.

These cynics do not love Sri Lanka. Their past behaviour shows us how most of the time they have acted against the best interest of Sri Lanka, in particular Buddhism. Their motive is to severely criticise the government’s every act/move; whether they are good or bad is immaterial to them.

These cynics worked to topple the governments from 2015 onwards. On each occasion they succeeded. Now they try to topple this new government. They seem wanting Sri Lanka to remain in poor and end up in fragmentation?

නැණස NENASA 🇱🇰

වීරත්වය කුමක්දැයි ලොවට කියා දුන් අපේ කාලයේ විරුවන් පිළිඹඳ ඔබ කිසිදා නෑසූ කථා එකතුව පරම වීර විභූෂණයෙන් පුදලද විරුවන්ගේ අවසන් මෙහෙයුම් පිළිඹඳව අප විසින් මෙතෙක් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති වීඩියෝ සියල්ල මෙතැනින්: “වීරත්වයේ පළමු පාඩම” – අපි කවුරුත් පසුබහින්නෙ නෑ, සේරම ඉවර වෙන්න උඩින් බෝම්බ දාන්න | Kokavil (1990)    • “වීරත්වයේ පළමු පාඩම” – අපි කවුරුත් පසුබහින…   අලිමංකඩ රැකගන්නට මහමුහුදෙන් පැමිණ දියත්කළ වික්‍රමය | Operation Balavegaya 1991 (සජීවී දසුන් සමඟින්)    • අලිමංකඩ රැකගන්නට මහමුහුදෙන් පැමිණ දියත්කළ …   පුනරීන් වැලිකතර රුධිරයෙන් ගිනියම් කළ මාරාන්තික සටන | Battle of Pooneryn (1993)    • පුනරීන් වැලිකතර රුධිරයෙන් ගිනියම් කළ මාරාන…   සහෝදර සෙබළුන්ගේ දිවි බේරන්නට මහ සයුරට බිලිවූ නාවික විරුවන්ගේ කතාව | Heroics Over Chalai (1996)    • සහෝදර සෙබළුන්ගේ දිවි බේරන්නට මහ සයුරට බිලි…   විශේෂ බලකා මහවිරු ලෆීර්ගේ අවසන් මෙහෙයුම – The last attempt to save Besieged Mullativu Camp (1996)    • විශේෂ බලකා මහවිරු ලෆීර්ගේ අවසන් මෙහෙයුම – …   කමාන්ඩෝ විරුවන්ට අවාසනාව කැන්දූ ජයසිකුරු මෙහෙයුමේ මන්නකුලම් සටන | Worst Ever Commando Debacle (1997)    • කමාන්ඩෝ විරුවන්ට අවාසනාව කැන්දූ ජයසිකුරු ම…  

NDB Bank

Reaffirming its commitment to the growth and empowerment of Sri Lanka’s vital SME sector, NDB Bank is proud to announce its role as the Official Banking Partner for the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) SME Development Awards (SMEDA) 2024. This landmark partnership reflects NDB’s continued dedication to recognizing and supporting the entrepreneurial spirit and marketing excellence that drives the nation’s small and medium enterprise landscape.

Now in its second consecutive year, the SLIM SME Development Awards is a pioneering initiative under SLIM’s “Restart” platform, which aims to reward and uplift micro, small, and medium-sized businesses that have demonstrated exceptional marketing, branding, and sales strategies within their industries.

The awards span across a wide spectrum of categories, including SME Enterprise of the Year and sector-specific accolades representing 14 diverse industries. The awards program highlights businesses in fields such as IT, digital and online retailing, agriculture and dairy, FMCG, hospitality, exports, B2B, health, nutrition, textiles, and more—showcasing the remarkable breadth of Sri Lanka’s SME capabilities.

Commenting on the partnership, Kelum Edirisinghe, CEO of NDB Bank stated, “We believe that SMEs are the engine of Sri Lanka’s economic progress. Through our partnership with SLIM and our role as the Official Banking Partner for SMEDA 2024, we aim to champion the efforts of small and medium enterprises that are not only innovative and resilient but are also endeavor to elevate their businesses to the next level.”

As one of Sri Lanka’s leading financial institutions, NDB Bank has long been at the forefront of SME development, offering a wide range of banking solutions tailored to meet the evolving needs of this dynamic sector. From specialized SME loan schemes to advisory support and export facilitation, NDB continues to act as a true partner in progress for the nation’s enterprising community.

Through strategic collaborations such as SMEDA 2024, NDB Bank reinforces its role not just as a financier, but as a champion of Sri Lankan enterprise—celebrating innovation, marketing excellence, and the enduring spirit of entrepreneurship.

BY Sumudu Chamara and Buddhika Samaraweera Courtesy The Morning

23 May 2025 |

• Karu warns against politicisation 

Noting that the Auditor General’s (AG) Department has thus far remained an institution with no issues, the main Opposition, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), questioned President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s nominations for the post of the AG. The SJB questioned as to why the President took steps to nominate to the post someone who is connected to the Government.

SJB Parliamentarian Nalin Bandara Jayamaha posed these questions during a press briefing held yesterday (22) in Colombo. He pointed out that the President’s nomination for the post has been rejected by the Constitutional Council (CC) for the second time. He claimed that no leader has attempted to get their acquaintances appointed to the AG’s Department.

Speaking further about the matter, he expressed disapproval of taking steps to appoint to the post of AG a friend of the Government from the University of Kelaniya who has questionable experience concerning the AG post, remains a member of the Board of Directors of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and is connected with the National People’s Power. This, he added, is despite the existence of a Senior Deputy AG with 30 years of experience in the AG’s Department.

Although the attempt to make the appointment of the AG a political one was defeated at the CC, there is a critical discourse in the society about the matter,” Jayamaha added.

Meanwhile, claiming that the CC’s rejection of the name proposed for the post of the AG could create the perception of an attempt to politicise the appointment, the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) has urged the Government to act wisely and transparently in making such a key decision.

It was reported on Wednesday (21) that the name nominated by President Dissanayake for the AG post was not approved by the CC. Responding to this, the NMSJ stated that in moments like these, it is important for the Government to handle matters with care and not take any action that goes against the Constitution.

In a statement which was shared with The Daily Morning, NMSJ Leader and former Speaker of the Parliament, Karu Jayasuriya noted that one of the primary duties of the CC is to ensure that individuals appointed to high-level state positions are independent and qualified. While the public may not always be fully aware of the credentials of those nominated – whether from inside the AG’s Department or from outside – he said that the Government must take seriously the reasons as to why the CC did not approve the nominee.

He warned that failing to do so could damage public trust and even affect how the international community views Sri Lanka’s commitment to good governance. “This kind of situation may raise doubts about whether there is an attempt to politicise what should remain an independent and neutral post. Such actions could also reflect poorly on the President and affect the country’s credibility with foreign investors and international institutions like the International Monetary Fund, especially at a time when Sri Lanka is trying to rebuild its economy.”

Jayasuriya pointed to a similar situation during the previous administration, when an attempt to appoint an Apex Court Judge was halted due to backlash from the civil society – a reminder, he said, of the importance of listening to public and institutional concerns. He urged the Government to ensure that the independence, integrity, and competence of individuals in such roles are not compromised, especially at a time when the country is facing multiple crises.

By Gayathri Kallukaran Courtesy Eastern Eye

Both cases serving as stark warnings about the risks facing young travellers drawn into illicit drug operations abroad

The arrests come amid heightened international scrutiny of cannabis trafficking involving young travellers

A 21-year-old British woman has been arrested in Sri Lanka for allegedly attempting to smuggle synthetic cannabis worth £1.2 million into the country, amid growing concerns of young travellers being targeted by organised drug trafficking networks.

Charlotte May Lee, from south London, was detained last Monday after arriving at Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo. Sri Lankan customs officials allege she was found carrying large vacuum-packed bags of a synthetic cannabis strain known as kush in her luggage. Lee had flown to Sri Lanka from Bangkok, Thailand, echoing the travel route of another British national, 18-year-old Bella May Culley, who was arrested just one day earlier in Georgia on similar charges.

Authorities in both Sri Lanka and Georgia are now reportedly exploring a potential link between the two cases. Both women had travelled alone from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and are suspected of acting as drug couriers for international criminal networks.

Culley, from County Durham, is accused of attempting to smuggle 14kg of cannabis through a Georgian airport and is currently being held in Tbilisi’s No. 5 women’s prison. In her court appearance, Culley claimed she was pregnant. Her family has said she initially left the UK on a backpacking trip during Easter, with her first stop being the Philippines to visit a former partner. She later travelled to Thailand before arriving in Georgia.

Culley’s social media activity suggests she was travelling with a male companion, though he has not been publicly identified. Her posts included captions hinting at a rebellious lifestyle, including one TikTok video labelled: Don’t care if we on the run baby as long as I’m next to u.”

Lee, meanwhile, is believed to have travelled to Thailand in April to celebrate her birthday with her sister, who lives in Australia. A former summer cabin crew member for Tui, Lee had been training as a beauty therapist before her trip. Her social media profiles also show images of holidays and beach parties, suggesting a keen interest in travel despite reported financial difficulties.

Photographs released by Sri Lankan authorities show the drugs seized from Lee’s luggage were professionally packaged, raising questions about the level of planning and organisation behind the operation. If convicted, Lee could face up to 25 years in prison under Sri Lankan law.

Similarly, Culley faces a sentence ranging from 20 years to life if found guilty in Georgia. She may also remain in custody for up to nine months before her trial begins. Her lawyer, Ia Todua, appointed by Georgian authorities, said Culley appeared deeply shaken by the charges. My impression was that she ended up in Georgia without even knowing what she was doing,” Todua said. She looked like she didn’t expect it to have such severe consequences.”

Culley’s father, Niel Culley, has travelled from Vietnam, where he resides, to be with his daughter. Her mother, Lyanne Culley, told reporters she had pleaded with her not to go to Thailand, expressing distrust of some of the people her daughter had met abroad. I begged her to come home,” she said. But she wanted to meet up with some friends she made on a previous trip. I don’t know who any of them are.”

The arrests come amid heightened international scrutiny of cannabis trafficking involving young travellers. The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) last year issued a warning about harsh penalties for bringing cannabis into the UK from countries such as Thailand, the US, and Canada, where laws on possession have been relaxed.

Thailand legalised the use of cannabis leaves in 2021 and the full plant in 2022, primarily to reduce prison overcrowding. However, experts now warn the move has inadvertently fuelled global smuggling operations.

In 2024 alone, the NCA reported a dramatic increase in cannabis seizures, rising from two tonnes in 2022 to nearly 27 tonnes. Of 750 smugglers arrested at UK airports that year, 460 had flown from Thailand. The agency highlighted how younger people are often misled by more lenient drug laws abroad, making them vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers.

Darrell Jones, a former Metropolitan Police officer and expert on drug smuggling, said many young people are lured by the promise of easy money. They think it’s a great idea at the time, especially if they’re running out of money,” he said.

Investigations in Sri Lanka and Georgia are continuing, with both cases serving as stark warnings about the risks facing young travellers drawn into illicit drug operations abroad.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, May 23 (Daily Mirror) – Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said the government will not hesitate to take legal action against individuals or groups who promote the idea that the Sri Lankan military committed genocide during the civil war.

Speaking in a recent interview, Herath strongly rejected growing international claims of a Tamil genocide, including recent remarks by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.

We absolutely do not accept that a genocide took place in our country,” the minister said.

Herath explained that according to the government, genocide refers to the deliberate targeting and killing of Tamil people by the Sri Lankan armed forces – something he insisted never happened.

He also pointed out that there are already laws in place banning the display of symbols and flags related to the LTTE, and these laws will be enforced wherever violations occur.

In future, action will also be taken where the word ‘genocide’ is misused,” Herath added.

3 Minutes – SEPAL AMARASINGHE

Dasatha News

අපි දැන් නැගිටින්න ඕනේ කාලය ඇවිල්ලා මුහුදු කොටි නිහඬ කළ නාවික විරුවෙක් රණවිරුවන් ගැන කියන ඇඟ හිරිවැටෙන කතාව මාලිමාවේ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමතිට කන් පිරෙන්න විශ්‍රාමික විරුවා කියපු දේ

Aruna Laksiri Unawatuna B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col), AAL, Coordinator, Dr. Thilaka Padma Subasinghe Memorial Legal Education Program

After imposing hundreds of thousands of rupees as legal fees on those who filed cases regarding constitutional errors before 18.07.2024 while serving as the Chief Justice, the Attorney General has also admitted that there are constitutional errors because published a constitutional amendment in the Gazette on 18.07.2024 to correct two errors of Article 83 of the Constitution and there is a dialogue among several people regarding new legal issues as to whether former Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who was appointed as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, would resign from the post.

The Attorney General admitted that there were 2 errors in Article 83 of the Constitution because  the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution  Bill in the Gazette published on 18.07.2024 under Article 78 of the Constitution to correct them. However, before 18.07.2024, Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, who had imposed hundreds of thousands of rupees as legal fees on those who filed cases in the Supreme Court to correct errors in the Constitution, had obtained the post of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations after his retirement. However, if he resigns from that post after these facts were brought to consideration will lead to the correction of the errors in the Constitution.

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2025/05/will-former-chief-justice-jayantha.html?m=1

* Translation of the Article
එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිත්‍ය නියෝජිත ධූරයට පත් ජයන්ත ජයසූරිය හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු, ඉදිරිපත්වන අලුත් කරුණු මත එම ධූරයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වෙයිද?
http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2025/05/blog-post_22.html?m=1

Aruna Laksiri Unawatuna B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col), AAL, Coordinator, Dr. Thilaka Padma Subasinghe Memorial Legal Education Program. (2025.05.21)