KAMALIKA PIERIS Neil Quintus Dias   commonly known as N.Q. Dias, was  a member of the Ceylon Civil Service, recruited in 1936. N.Q. Dias  was known for planning and executing many of the nationalist policies of the  1956 government . NQ was the Permanent Secretary of Defence and Foreign Affairs from 1961 to 1965,  also serving as the de facto Chief Adviser to […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Sri Lanka thinks that it is saddled with nine Provincial Councils because of India. That is not so. India was not interested in setting up nine Provincial Councils in Sri Lanka. India was after something else. India was engineering the partition of Sri Lanka, the creation of a separate sovereign state consisting of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord of July 1987, led to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of November 1987. JR Jayewardene is remembered with contempt as the person who got the 13th Amendment accepted in Parliament. At the time, it was thought that this was forced […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The ‘Races’ of Sri Lanka (Ceylon) were invented by the British when they ruled our country. Until the British came, there were no races or ethnic divisions in Sri Lanka, as we know them today. The ‘ethnic groups’ we are saddled with today, are bogus ones created by the British rulers. The British […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS We are now in the month of August, 2023 and public attention is once against focused on the   13th Amendment (1987).  President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that he wished to take further action on the 13th Amendment. He wanted to grant police powers to the Provinces. The Tamil Separatist Movement has been asking for this […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Secret talks on signing an Accord   started between India and Sri Lanka with the participation of Ambassador J.N. Dixit, Editor, Hindu”, N. Ram and Minister Gamini Dissanayake. The Indian Research and Analysis Wing, (RAW) drew up the necessary plans, said journalist Dharman Wickremaratne. Indian High Commission’s Second Secretary H.S. Puri left for Jaffna […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has shown strong opposition to the presence of Buddhist temples in the north and east.  The Tamil Separatist Movement is opposing two things, the conservation of ancient Buddhist temples and the building of new Buddhist temples. It is good that this matter had now come before the attention of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  When the Eelam war ended in  2009, the government made no attempt to integrate the north with the rest of the country. Instead they paid puja to  its Tamil-Hindu culture, ignoring the fact that this was one of  the arguments used for waging the Eelam war. In 2009, soon after the war ended […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil agricultural laborers who migrated to Jaffna in the 17th century, probably set up shrines to the village gods they worshipped back home. The Bhakti religion  had incorporated local gods into its philosophy. Due to their low caste  they would  not have been allowed into the major temples that  existed  at the […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has shown strong opposition to the re-establishment of Buddhist temples in the north and east.  In this case, Kurundi vihara in Mullativu. The Tamil Separatist Movement is opposing two things, the conservation of ancient Buddhist temples and the building of new Buddhist temples.  This issue has been simmering for […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS One strategy used to suppress Buddhism in the north and east, is to plant a Hindu kovil amidst   the Buddhist ruins. These brand new ‘kovils’ were set up in carefully selected Buddhist sites which were of strategic importance. Unknown to the Sinhala Buddhists, the Tamil Separatist Movement was busy identifying critical Buddhist ruins […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Another strategy of the Tamil Separatist Movement when dealing with Buddhist ruins in North is to try and surround the Buddhist ruins with Tamil settlements, so that the archaeological reserve cannot expand, also access to the Buddhist monument can be controlled. In order to do so, Tamil Separatist Movement has brought the residents […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has   cooked up the bogus idea of a separate Tamil Buddhism in the north to prevent Sinhala claims to those ruins. The claim of a Tamil Buddhist heritage in Jaffna is to prove their right to be in the north, observed historian G.V.P.  Somaratne. But this stunt has met […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  The Tamil Separatist Movement invented a fictitious Tamil Buddhism to prevent Sinhalese taking over the Buddhist ruins in the north. Buddhist ruins, dated to the ancient and medieval periods and looking just like the ruins in the south were found in abundance in the north and east of Sri Lanka. This was a […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement complained loudly that Buddhist temples were being built in the north where there were no Buddhists.   They are built on state land and in many instances by the army.  In 2011 TNA politicians from Mullaitivu protested against the construction of a Buddhist temple at Bogaswewa near the Sapumalgaskada […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The Tamil Separatist Movement has tried to dislodge Sinhala settlements and the accompanying Buddhist temples    introduced to the north after the war. In 2009 57 Buddhist families were brought in and settled in Navatkuli.   Navatkuli is located 6 km from Jaffna. They were Sinhala families that had been driven out of Jaffna in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The opposition to Buddhist temples has extended also to cremation of chief priests on the temple premises in the north. Two such protests are on record. The first was in 2017.  In 2017, a group of 12    Jaffna-based lawyers had gone to courts to prevent the last rites of the late chief incumbent […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Tamil Seperatist Movement alleges that    there was an ancient kovil at Kurundi called Kurundumale Aadi Sivan Aiyanar Kovil.  Tamil Separatist Movement complained    on 1 July 2021, that they found the lingam   missing from the site and that a trident  had been damaged.Sivan Aiyanar Kovil Society Chief Weerasingham Kaleichelwan, told the newspaper, The Morning […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Kurundi is set deep in the Nagacholai Forest reserve. Santhabodhi thera said that a large extent of Nagacholai forest surrounding the Kurundi Vihara was illegally cleared in 2019 and 2020 and five acres were turned into paddy fields. The Kurundi pond was enlarged into a lake to make sure that it could not […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS The British administration settled the ‘Ceylon Tamil’ in Mullativu in the mid 19 century.”The 19th century saw the settlement of Tamils along the coastline in Mullativu, Trincomalee   and Batticaloa districts” said historian D.G.B. de Silva.  As soon as they got into Mullaitivu the ‘Ceylon Tamil’ started to destroy the Buddhist heritage of Mullativu. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Kurundavashoka Monastery area was declared a protected archaeological site by Gazette number 7981 published on May 12th 1933. On 16th August 2013, this are area was again declared a protected archaeological site. The Department of Archaeology   started conservation work at Kurundi in September 2018. On 4 September 2018 when we first commenced work, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Kurundi Vihara, situated in Mullativu district, is today at the centre of a battle for supremacy between the crafty Tamil Separatist Movement and the sleepy, lethargic Buddhist lobby. The Tamil Separatist Movement is objecting to any extension of the Kurundi Vihara forest reserve. Tamil Separatists have been objecting to Kurundi since 2018, but […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Merrill decided early on that someday he would develop ‘my own brand of tea and deliver to the customer genuine pure Ceylon tea at a reasonable price and also transfer those profits to the betterment of the people here.’  It took him four decades to achieve this. When he first spoke about it, […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Like most business men, Merrill also faced problems with unreliable business partners.  He has described one partnership with a Sinhala family firm, that of the Fernandos, as a ‘prickly partnership’  Merrill was full of praise for Victor Santiapillai, the first Chairman of Export Development Board. Merrill said he was the only person in […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Merrill Fernando (b.1930) said that he decided to write his biography, titled ‘The story of Ceylon tea maker, Merrill J Fernando” (2023) because he wanted to draw attention to the potential of pure Ceylon Tea. Fernando is known for his unique role in branding and marketing pure Ceylon tea through Dilmah.  Sri Lanka‘s […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Ranasinghe Premadasa succeeded J.R. Jayewardene as the second President of Sri Lanka. Premadasa was President of Sri Lanka from 2 January 1989 to 1 May 1993. He was assassinated on May 1.  1993. Premadasa had a heroic struggle to enter the higher rungs of this party, said Sarath Amunugama. My view (Kamalika) is […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Premadasa made political changes which were not for the   good of the country. A political party had to get a minimum number of votes to be eligible for representation in Parliament. Premadasa reduced this cut off point from for  12.5% to 5 %.This law was introduced in 1988 by then President the late […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Premadasa was probably the most calculating politician Sri Lanka has ever had.Premadasa was politicking day and night, said Sarath Amunugama.His voice rang with authority and power, commanding compliance, said Evans Cooray. Premadasa had an unparalleled knowledge of the Colombo’s electoral mathematics, said Sarath.  He created a support base which included the poor of […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS Premadasa set up the Koggala Free Trade Zone.The National Housing Development Authority, Urban Development Authority, Central Environmental Authority and the Institute for Construction Training and Development,  (ICTAD).  He started the Housing Development Finance Corporation in 1984.(Daily News./2023/05/01).  This later became HDFC Bank . Premadasa  secured British funding for the construction of the Victoria Dam. […]

KAMALIKA PIERIS  President Premadasa‘s outrageous attitude to the Eelam war has not received the critical attention it deserves. He did not understand his duty in the matter. As Head of State, his first duty was to protect the territory and sovereignty of the country of which he is the leader.  Instead he took no interest […]