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Sri Lanka says no Chinese military base at port

October 11th, 2018

Courtesy Mailonline

Sri Lanka last year granted Beijing a 99-year lease on the Hambantota deep-sea port, situated along key shipping routes

Sri Lanka rejected on Wednesday US claims that China might establish a “forward military base” at a strategic port leased to Beijing by the indebted Indian Ocean island nation.

Sri Lanka last year granted a 99-year lease on the Hambantota deep-sea port to Beijing, after it was unable to repay Chinese loans for the $1.4-billion project.

The port, situated along key shipping routes, is one of a string of infrastructure projects in Asia, Africa and Europe being funded under China’s Belt and Road Initiative that has rattled the US and its allies, including neighbouring India.

Last week US Vice-President Mike Pence said Hambantota “may soon become a forward military base for China’s growing blue-water navy,” according to US media.

But Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s office said that there would be no foreign military presence at Hambantota, and that the US State Department had been briefed.

“Our navy’s Southern Command is being relocated in Hambantota to control port security,” Wickremesinghe’s office quoted him as saying in Britain on Monday.

Wickremesinghe said Sri Lanka was also concluding a commercial agreement that would see India take over the management of Hambantota airport — another white-elephant project built with Chinese loans under former president Mahinda Rajapakse.

Regional superpower India has been concerned about growing Chinese interest in Sri Lanka, which has traditionally fallen within New Delhi’s sphere of influence.

In August, the US announced it would grant Sri Lanka $39 million to boost maritime security.

At the same time, China has pledged to increase its funding of Sri Lanka’s economy, including through loans, despite the country’s major debt pile.

The International Monetary Fund, which bailed out Sri Lanka in June 2016 with a $1.5 billion staggered loan, has warned Colombo over its heavy liabilities.

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A layman’s view of the Mahavamsa

October 10th, 2018

By Rohana R. Wasala

(This article was first published in The Island newspaper (Sri Lanka) more than ten years ago

( on January 23, 2008). The writer wishes to share it with the Lankaweb readers. The original title was:

Is the Mahavamsa a Tissue of Myths?)

The Mahavamsa or The Great Chronicle of Ceylon (to use the title of the English translation by Wilhelm Geiger of the ancient classic) is a book of history in the form of a poem in the Pali language composed by a Bhikkhu named Mahanama at Anuradhapura around the latter part of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century CE (Common Era). This work was commissioned by King Dhatusena (c. 460 -478 CE). Professor Wilhelm Geiger translated into German his own revised critical edition of the Pali original, which had been published in 1908. He added an introduction, appendices and notes to the German version. Mabel Haynes Bode put Geiger’s German translation into English. Professor Geiger then revised Mrs Bode’s English translation. Geiger’s Mahavamsa is in prose. Its first edition, prepared by T.W.Rhys Davids , was published in 1912.

The Mahavamsa is a cherished symbol of the national identity of the Sinhalese, the builders of the unique two and a half millennia old island civilization. This land abounds in the ruins of ancient monuments and also restored edifices that bear testimony to that unbroken island-wide historical achievement. There is no evidence of any other independent parallel civilization within its boundaries. The Mahavamsa gives the Sinhalese a feeling of continuity of nationhood. The danger of the Mahavamsa becoming an unnecessary casualty of ethnic politics is real, but such a fate is something unthinkable for us as a race with a distinct history. It is criticized by some because it does not provide a historical precedent that might support their unjust political claims. Some others treat it with contempt claiming that it divides the Sri Lankans. The truth is that the Mahavamsa refers to the close links that existed between Lanka and South India in propitious circumstances in early times, which should actually unite rather than divide different races. Then there are those ‘enlightened’ individuals who just cannot tolerate even the mention of the legitimate claims of the Sinhalese!

The Mahavamsa is a serious book of history, though it was composed at least one thousand five hundred years before modern concepts of historiography evolved. Bhikkhu Mahanama, the author, at the very opening relates himself to the existing historical literature and popular traditions thus: “That (Mahavamsa) which was compiled by the ancient (sages) was here too long drawn out and there too closely knit; and contained many repetitions. Attend ye now to this (Mahavamsa) that is free from such faults, easy to understand and remember, arousing serene joy and emotion and handed down (to us) by tradition, – (attend ye to it) while that ye call up serene joy and emotion (in you) at passages that awaken serene joy and emotion.” Mahanama’s Mahavamsa comes to a conclusion in Chapter 37, which deals with the reign of King Mahasena (c. 325 – 352 CE). The subject of the Mahavamsa is the early phase of the history of the Sinhalese race and that of the establishment of the Buddhist faith in the island. But the Mahavamsa was later continued up to the end of the 18th century by different authors at different times (in the form of the Culavamsa) The Culavamsa opens in the middle of the 37th chapter where the earlier Mahavamsa came to an abrupt end, and completes the 101th chapter which ends thus: “After they had brought the King, the torturer of his people, to the opposite coast the Ingirisi by name seized the whole kingdom” (i.e. the British took possession of the whole island with the capture of the last king of Sinhale Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe). The Mahavamsa has been updated since, and now comprises the whole history of the island to date.

So the 6th century Mahavamsa covers roughly the first eight hundred years of the island civilization since the legendary Vijaya, which period ended about one hundred and fifty years before the reconstruction of its history by Mahanama. However, the book cannot be dismissed offhand as a mere imaginative concoction by a partisan Buddhist monk obliged to obliterate certain important details unflattering to his royal patron or his own race.

In any case, since the Mahavamsa is not sacred dogma it can be subjected to academic and scientific scrutiny, as it has already been dealt with. What is of enduring significance to the Sinhalese, however, is the fact of its existence, not the presence or absence of absolute historical validity of its contents, which is something nearly impossible for any historiographer to achieve. It is also a fact that it remains the principal source of the island’s history. And that is a rare treasure for any particular nation.

Narration of historical events, especially events said or believed to have happened in another age or in another place than those in which the narrator happens to live involves the use not only of tangible sources such as literary works and popular traditions, but also of imagination. In other words history is, at least partly, a form of story telling: it is literature, the use of the creative possibilities of human language. The Mahavamsa can be regarded as both literature and history. As literature it conforms to the conventions of a particular literary genre. It is a kavya (poetic work) constructed according to alankara (poetic or literary ornamentation) conventions accepted in ancient Indian literature and as such it harks back to earlier models. Professor Geiger warns us (in his foreword to Dr G.C. Mendis’s 1931 book ‘The Early History of Ceylon’) that we should remember this in judging the more recent parts of the book. This is not to belittle the value of the Mahavamsa as history. In western literature also there are books that are acclaimed as histories, but are admired as artistic masterpieces as well , e.g. Herodotus’ The Histories and Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War. (I mention the last two because they seem to enjoy readier acceptance as history among some local scholars than our own Mahavamsa.) The fact that Bhikkhu Mahanama used the Pali language to write his poem does not necessarily mean that the Sinhala language was at that time too primitive for that purpose. Professor Geiger refers to Atthakatha (commentary literature) composed in old Sinhalese prose as one source that was available for the author of the Mahavamsa. Bhikkhu Mahanama’s adoption of Pali may be compared to our use of English as the chosen medium for a special purpose such as education or business.

The grand purpose of the monk’s whole endeavour was, after all, to compile this history “…for the serene joy and emotion of the pious”, (as the less than ideal English rendering of the original Pali phrase tells us). The book is intended to generate ‘serene joy and emotion’ in the pious. Each chapter of the Mahavamsa and its sequel the Culavamsa ends with the postscript “Here ends the … chapter, called ‘…….’, in the Mahavamsa, compiled for the serene joy and emotion of the pious”. (Prof. Geiger glosses the two terms pasada (serene joy) and samvega (emotion) thus: ‘Pasada signifies the feeling of blissfulness, joy and satisfaction in the doctrine of the Buddha, samvega the feeling of horror and recoil from the world and its misery’. So the Mahavamsa does not sound like political propaganda bolstering the claims of one race against those of another. The Mahavamsa author makes Buddha’s Passing Away coincide with Vijaya’s arrival with his followers in Lanka. The Buddha, on his death bed, requests Sakka, the king of the gods, to ‘protect him (Vijaya) with his followers and Lanka’. The king of the gods entrusts this task to ‘the god who in colour is like the lotus’ i.e. Vishnu (Actually, ‘uthpalavanna’ means lily coloured, not lotus coloured (god). A mistranslation, perhaps? This is not surprising, Ceylonese English professor E.F.C. Ludowyke in his The Footprint of the Buddha (1958) translates ‘hansa’ (‘swan’, the bird celebrated in Sinhala poetry, and often featured in decorative wood carvings and architecture) as ‘goose’, which corresponds to the common ‘paththaya’ in Sinhala!) By this the poet historian seems to be accommodating a contemporary popular belief of the Sinhalese that they had been assigned a special destiny as the Protectors of the Buddha Sasana by none other than the Guide of the World Himself. (This claim, probably nothing more than the introduction of a popular tradition into the fabric of the poem, more as a poetic trope than a verifiable historical fact, gave an excuse for certain historians and anthropologists, including some locals who were content to be clones of British masters, to create the fallacy that the Sinhalese regard themselves as a ‘Chosen People’ in the Judeo-Christian sense and to attack them as racist supremacists.) The poet monk’s choice of Pali to record the history of the Sinhalese was an appropriate one, Pali being the language of the sacred texts of the Buddhism In his introduction to the Mahavamsa Professor Geiger avers that both the anonymous author of the fourth century CE Dipavamsa (The Island Chronicle) and Bhikkhu Mahanama of the Mahavamsa used an older work ‘a sort of chronicle of the history of the island from its legendary beginnings onwards’ in compiling their works, and that this work formed part of the Atthakatha (commentaries) ‘in the canonical writings of the Buddhists which later Buddhaghosa took as a basis for his illuminating works’. Geiger thinks that the author of the Mahavamsa not only knew the Dipavamsa , but also consciously and intentionally rearranged it, so that the Mahavamsa is a sort of commentary to the earlier work (i.e. the Dipavamsa ).

Professor Geiger refers to the various degrees of skepticism with which the European orientalists of his time treated the Ceylonese Chronicles as historical sources. His own opinion about these works supports the more favourable judgement of Rhys Davids, which he represents with a quotation from the latter’s ‘Buddhist India’ (1903): “The Ceylon Chronicles would not suffer in comparison with the best of the Chronicles, even though so considerably later in date, written in England or in France”. Geiger also refers to another contemporary researcher in the same field H.C.Norman as sharing similar views. Both the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa contain many stories of miracles orchestrating the historical events that they record, like the arrival of Arhant Mahinda with his companions flying through the air by their miraculous powers, and his making his followers invisible to the King until he was prepared to face them without fear. Such normally incredible details are only part of a tradition . They are meant to reflect the attitude of owe and piety of the faithful towards those events which were extraordinarily significant for them. The coming of Buddhism to the island, whether it happened over a period of time or during a single visit of some missionaries, actually took place; it is a historical fact. So is the conversion of the King of the land to the new faith. The extraneous mythical, legendary details express a people’s unconscious desire to emerge out of their own insignificance.

In the Prologue to his book ‘The Footprint of the Buddha’ already referred to, Professor E.F.C. Ludowyk writes: The myths and legends which accompany every stage of a people’s history need not be accepted as anything but the mode in which a people has attempted to satisfy its unconscious needs. Not only the poet who has given the legend artistic form, but all those who have handed down the tradition of some mythical event, like the descent of the founder of the race from the sun-god, receive gratification for the deepest unknown longings through their fantasies. And if for man there exists something that is supernatural, then he may be able to raise himself from his insignificance through participation in this supernatural. The garb in which these fantasies appear says more perhaps of the cultural and social circumstances of a people than its recorded history. To discard legend, and myth, and fairy tale would just as much rob one of one’s most valuable sources of information about a people as to reject its art and literature as unimportant.” So the presence of myth and legend in popular tradition or literature including the Chronicles serves an essential function, and it does not falsify by itself the history that the Mahavamsa records. It is the historian’s job to remove the external additions and check the remainder for trustworthiness through internal and external evidence (to borrow from Geiger).

That the authors of the Chronicles wished to tell the truth and that they did not intend to deceive the hearers or readers is clear, as Geiger points out. Both the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa represent the deadly enemies of the Sinhalese kings – the foreign conqueror Elara, and the usurpers Sena and Guttika – as righteous rulers. Geiger also maintains that there is a clear and consistent endeavour to make out a systematic chronology so as to inspire confidence at the outset. Whole sections of the Dipavamsa are devoted to the purpose of synchronizing the history of the Buddhist church with the secular history of the island, and the latter with the history of India, an exercise that would lend more credibility to the contents of the book. There is more important external support for the Chronicles. For example, the list of Indian kings before Asoka, and the statements about Bimbisara and Ajatasattu as contemporaries of the Buddha agree with the canonical writings according to Geiger. A Chinese pilgrim by the name of Hiuen-thsang mentions the name Mahendra as the missionary who spread the true doctrine in the kingdom of Sinhala.

Also the history of the Missions in the Dipavamsa and the Mahavamsa is corroborated by inscriptions discovered in India.

This brief reference to internal and external evidence is meant to demonstrate the fact that the Mahavamsa is not a mere imaginative fabrication that deliberately omits to mention actual events that support one racial community’s claim to the sovereignty of the whole island in order to reinforce another’s similar claims. If the book was considered such a fabrication, why didn’t this allegedly misrepresented group write their own equivalent of the Mahavamsa , especially when they were supposed to be of a superior culture? (This is not meant to be so much a challenge as a suggestion for further inquiry.) Any racial or ethnic community has an inalienable right to assert its particular identity as a distinct group and realize its human potential, while acknowledging the right of other communities to do the same, and promoting friendly coexistence with them as members of the same human race. The past history of any particular race is part of its unique identity. No racial community, large or small, should be asked to forget or ignore its past on fabricated evidence in order to gratify ephemeral political sensitivities. The ability to live in harmony with others in spite of differences of culture is an essential characteristic of civilized humanity. A community’s enjoyment of its distinct identity is not bigotry. Bigotry results when members of one group refuse to recognize the worth of another group because of a strong belief in their own racial or other superiority. The vast majority of ordinary Sinhalese are not guilty of such bigotry. They may appear bigoted to the really bigoted.

Partisan judgements on the Mahavamsa range from popular uneducated scoffing to more serious academic stigmatization. An example of apparently serious academic censure of the classic is its inclusion of Chapters 6 to 14 of the Mahavamsa in the External GAQ syllabus (2003) of the Sri Jayawardanepura University under ‘Mythology’. The syllabus for the First Examination in Arts of the External Programme of this university offers four subjects for study, out of which the students must select three for their examination (English I – English IV). Of these English III covers ‘Classical Literature’. It has two papers: Paper I – An Introduction to Epic, and Paper II – An Introduction to Mythology.

The Mahavamsa is prescribed for Paper II, i.e. under Mythology. The other texts recommended for this paper are Greek Myths by Robert Graves, The Metamorphosis by Ovid, and The Book of Genesis from The Authorized Version of the Bible.

Following are the titles of the nine chapters from the Mahavamsa : Chapter 6: The Coming of Vijaya Chapter 7: The Consecrating of Vijaya Chapter 8: The Consecrating of Panduvasudeva Chapter 9: The Consecrating of Abhaya Chapter 10: The Consecrating of Pandukabhaya Chapter 11: The Consecrating of Devanampiyatissa Chapter 12: The Converting of Different Countries Chapter 13: The Coming of Mahinda Chapter 14: The Entry into the Capital So according to the scholars who drew up this syllabus the arrival of a north Indian conqueror in the island, and the introduction of Buddhism by a group of missionaries from India, and the other events recorded in the book are just myths like those Greek myths, and the stories in the Bible (Whether the wisdom of classifying the Genesis chapters from the Holy Bible as mere mythology is acceptable to the Christian faithful is doubtful ).

The same scholars prescribe Herodotus’ The Histories (Books 1 to 5), and Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War (Books 1 to 3) for Paper II of English III – Classical Literature for BA Part II of the said External Degree Programme, which covers ‘Greek and Roman History’. Both these works predate the Mahavamsa by about a thousand years. Herodotus has been considered as the Father of History in the Western World, but he has also been ridiculed as the Father of Lies by his successors. It is said that he traveled extensively in the Middle East in order to collect data for his great pioneering work, which deals with the wars between the Greeks and the Persians (490, 480 – 479 BCE). Just as our Mahanama, the author of the Mahavamsa, refers to supernatural events in his narrative, so does Herodotus meditate on divine interventions and other similar miracles in his; he also records popular beliefs when evidence is lacking. Herodotus’ immediate successor Thucydides (c. 460 – 400 BCE), was obviously more committed to accuracy of information. His work is a factual record of the Peloponnesian War (431 – 404 BCE) waged on the imperialist Athens by Sparta and its allies on land and sea, that devastated the entire Greek world. The Mahavamsa shares the ‘defects’ of Herodotus’ The Histories (if its inclusion of myths and its dependence on popular beliefs can be called such) and the strengths of Thucydides’ The Peloponnesian War ( its commitment to the representation of events as they really occurred). It also stands comparison with the other two in terms of a clearly conceived and well articulated authorial purpose: Herodotus writes so ‘that the great deeds may not be forgotten … whether Greeks or foreigners: and especially, the causes of war between them’ (Herodotus – The Histories , Penguin Classics, 1972 ed. Intro. P.7); Thucydides aims to produce a piece of writing that would last for ever, not one devoted to the ephemeral dreams of an immediate public; Thera Mahanama of the Mahavamsa compiles his book ‘for the serene joy and emotion of the pious’.

Of the three monumental works the Mahavamsa comprehends the widest scope, being an attempt to record the entire history of a people: whereas Herodotus and Thucydides deal with two wars of a few years’ duration and some related events, Mahanama initiates a history that extends over many centuries. Although it is a work of history in conception, in tone it is more a work of religion intended to generate ‘serene joy and emotion of the pious’. This partly accounts for the author’s attitude towards the material he is dealing with: apparently he sees the history of the island as a fusion of the Buddhist faith and the Sinhalese nationhood. Of course as history Mahanama’s Mahavamsa is lopsided in that the author focuses on the rulers’ acts of devotion towards Buddhism such as the building of viharas, dagabas, preaching halls, hospices for monks, etc. to the almost complete exclusion of problems of statecraft and economy, the stability of which he seems to take for granted; at the same time it should be pointed out that the ancient classic enjoys a high level of credibility in its representation of the succession of Sinhalese monarchs who held general sway over the whole island despite temporary breaches of its continuity due to foreign invasions or internal divisions.

The Mahavamsa records the historical and cultural heritage of the Sinhalese which spans over two thousand five hundred years. It gives them a sense of continuity from time immemorial to this day. It is a treasured national possession which they cannot allow to be devalued or desecrated as a mere tissue of myths by those who wish to obliterate that unique history.

The Island/23.01.2008 (Midweek Review)

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YAHAPALANA AND INDIA Part 7

October 10th, 2018

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Taranjit Singh Sandhu delivered the 14th Annual Sujata Jayawardena Memorial Oration, 2018 at the invitation of the Alumni Association of the University of Colombo. He emphasized that India’s policy ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’ (Together we progress) which he said, incorporates also India’s other policy of ‘Neighbourhood First.’ Neighborhood is crucial not just because Sri Lanka and India share physical borders. Neighborhood is significant because the two nations are joined by blood. India & Sri Lanka are not just near to each other. They are close to each other. India attaches great importance to progressing together with Sri Lanka. Singh assured that India will be there for Sri Lanka whenever Sri Lanka needs India. Sandhu also spoke of a Buddhist link.

Sri Lanka however was not thrilled to hear all this. Sri Lanka has a long memory. Sri Lanka has not forgotten the parippu drop, the IPKF and the 13^th amendment. Analysts pounced on Sandhu’s speech. Buddhism in the sub-continent was systematically obliterated, they pointed out, therefore Buddhism cannot be the main link between India and Sri Lanka.

Rajeeva Jayaweera observed that the halting of the Vadamarachchi operation due to Indian insistence prolonged the conflict by another 22 years. India’s food airdrop over Jaffna on June 4, 1987 amounted to a gross violation of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and airspace. It remains etched in the memories of those who lived through it. LTTE and other terrorists continued to operate from Tamil Nadu for decades freely, India did provide training facilities for Sri Lankan soldiers, but she never supplied offensive military equipment to Sri Lanka during the conflict, Jayaweera said.

Shamindra Ferdinando gave some interesting information. A few days before the signing of the accord, two Indian Air Force helicopters flew in to the Jaffna peninsula. They were on a top secret mission to airlift five LTTE terrorists, including its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, for a clandestine meet with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Years later, retired Indian Air Marshal Denzil Keelor revealed how he received instructions from Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) to airlift the LTTE delegation from the Jaffna peninsula to India. Keelor discussed how Indian Air Force had sent in two choppers with specific instructions provided by the RAW to pick up the LTTE delegation from the Suthumalai Amman kovil temple, Jaffna.

Having flown the LTTE delegation across the Palk Strait to Trichy and then transferred to a special flight standing by, the group was flown to New Delhi via Madras to meet Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi, on July 28, 1987. Prabhakaran was flown back to Jaffna on Aug. 2, 1987 amidst a round-the-clock troop airlift from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran hadn’t been in Sri Lanka at the time India forced Sri Lanka to sign the Indo-Lanka accord.

During Kumaratunga’s presidency, India thwarted a bid to secure state-of-the-art Chinese radar to counter possible threat posed by ‘Air Tigers’, continued Shamindra. Sri Lanka acquired Chinese 3 D radar only after ‘Air Tigers’ mounted attacks at the height of Eelam War IV. India also opposed Sri Lanka setting up a China-managed Aircraft Overhaul Wing at the China Bay SLAF base, Trincomalee. Subsequently, the SLAF established the facility at the Katunayake air base where the Chinese were engaged in overhauling jets and trainer aircraft.

India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval had demanded from Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to cancel the USD 1.4 bn Chinese flagship project – Colombo Port City. It was a threat to the national security of India, he said. India also demanded that Sri Lanka take over Colombo International Container Terminals Limited (CICT), a joint venture between China Merchants Port Holdings Company Limited (CMPH) and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA), recalled Shamindra.

Rajeeva Jayaweera recalled the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 and its Annexures. A lesser-known letter dated July 29, 1987, from Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, addressed to President JR Jayewardene and accepted in toto by the Sri Lankan President spelled out conditions Sri Lanka was required to adhere on foreign policy and defense matters, entirely unrelated to the Tamil issue.

It stated that Sri Lanka must ensure that (a) employment of foreign military and intelligence personnel will not be prejudicial to Indo-Sri Lanka relations, (b)Trincomalee or any other port will not be made available for use by any other country in a manner prejudicial to India’s interests and (c) restoration of Trincomalee oil tank farm will be undertaken by the two countries as a joint venture (d) Sri Lanka’s agreements with foreign broadcasting organizations to ensure they are not for military or intelligence purposes.

In 2007, India declined to provide radar with three-dimensional capabilities after the Indian supplied equipment with two-dimensional capabilities failed to detect LTTE aircraft involved in raiding the SLAF base in Katunayake. China and USA eventually filled the void despite Indian objections.

Despite India’s stated policy of not voting on country-specific issues, it voted in favor of the UNHRC resolution against Sri Lanka in 2012 and 2013 continued Jayaweera. There is the continued poaching by Tamil Nadu fishermen in northern Sri Lankan waters. In the backdrop of such a checkered relationship, to state as Sandhu did, We have never believed in setting conditions for friendship” is a travesty. Self-interest has been India’s guiding light in its relations with Sri Lanka.

India is fast making regional grouping SAARC irrelevant due to a bilateral issue with Pakistan. The 19th SAARC summit due be held in Pakistan in 2016 was cancelled due to an Indian boycott. However, India insisted, Sri Lanka could not raise the issue of the violation of its airspace in 1987 on grounds that SAARC was a forum for multilateral and not bilateral matters between member states. Pakistan alone, chiefly due to its nuclear capability, can stand its ground in its relations with India, concluded Jayaweera.

The geographical proximity, much acclaimed as an advantage is in fact, a great disadvantage for neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. India has lost it preeminent position as protector of Nepal .In Nepal there is hostility to India. Nepal has suffered for decades due to Indian interventions in its internal affairs, the most recent being the constitutional crisis and the five-months long economic blockade that followed. It precipitated the fall of Prime Minister KP Oli’s government in 2016, said Jayaweera. Bhutan is prevented from having its own foreign and defense policy.

Sri Lanka was not impressed with this ‘born again’ India either. Despite generously offering many things in return, Modi represents a country jam packed with 1.3 billion people occupying a land area a tenth the size of Africa (pop -1.2 billion), said critics. Though it boasts of having a GDP of $4.9 trillion it sadly also has a per capita income about half that of Sri Lanka (US$11,480). Its life expectancy is 55 places below Sri Lanka, 70th at 74.9 on the global index and infant mortality 5 times more than Sri Lanka. India also has 400 million people who notoriously do not have any sanitation at all, the critic continued. Over 28 million jobseekers applied for 90,000 job vacancies at Indian Railways during its latest recruitment drive, highlighting the country’s employment crisis. Certainly, India had blasted 107 satellites into space last year, the highest by any country, but Sri Lanka does not care.

Sri Lanka is very suspicious of India. Sri Lanka had to remain vigilant about the Indian Seed Congress 2018 which is being held in Colombo, as Indian companies were responsible for the theft of one of Sri Lanka’s most valuable resources, the gene stocks of its plants, said Samantha Gunasekara, former Deputy Director of Customs – Biodiversity, Cultural and National Heritage Protection Division, said addressing a press briefing organized by groups opposing the Congress.

“This is the first time that the Indian Seed Congress is held outside India and that after the event. Participants are to conduct a four-day sightseeing tour across the country. However, since the participants are representatives of seed companies with a specific agenda, the government must remain vigilant. During the last six to seven years Indian companies have stolen many of our genetic resources by taking out Sri Lankan plants. It is easy for them because successive Sri Lankan governments have done nothing to protect our bio resources, said Gunasekera.

Gunasekara said he had attended some meetings between Indian and Sri Lankan officials regarding the transfer of plant material. “Our demands are always vague. For example we would ask for drought resistant high yield plants. On the other hand they would ask for a plant that is found on a specific farm. That means they are constantly keeping an eye on our plants. So, all these people attending the Seed Congress have an idea of where our plants are.

Environmentalists are opposing the holding of the Indian Seed Congress 2018 in Colombo. Stating that the event is being held without the collaboration of the Ministry of Agriculture and it can be used to bring in Indian seed varieties to the country. The National Seed Association of India had not sought government approval either. “The Indians have been trying to enter our seed market for decades and because of continuous pressure applied by environmentalists, farmers and civil society organizations, they were not able to enter Sri Lanka officially.

Chinthaka Rajapakse, of the Movement for National Land and Agricultural Reform (MONLAR), addressing the event, said that the Indian seeds were of dubious quality and often contained large amounts of impurities including seeds of invasive species. However, even now some smuggle in seeds from India and distribute them among farmers and that practice has led to disastrous consequences.

Indian seeds were of dubious quality and often they contained large amounts of impurities including seeds of invasive species, said Chamikara. “When farmers use Indian potato and onion seeds, a large number of weeds also crop up. Sometimes these weeds are invasive species that are extremely difficult to control. For example Parthenium and Persicaria wallichii (Himalayan Knotweed), which is now a menace came with Indian seeds. We must be very careful and oppose any moves by the Indian seed industry to enter Sri Lanka.

After Yahapalana came to power, India started to provide generous aid. Much of the Indian aid is to the north and east, the land of Eelam. In a list of completed project issued by the Government of India, as at august 2018. there were 26 projects for Northern province, Eastern province 10, Central Province 11, Western province 4, Southern Province 4, North Central province 2, Uva 2, Sabaragamuwa 1, North western province 1 and All Island 2.

There is a huge housing progrmme in the north and east, consisting of 42,000 houses in the North, 14,000 upcountry and 4,000 in the Eastern Province. India has granted Sri Lanka a credit line of US$ 45.27 million for financing the rehabilitation of the Kankesanturai Port. India is helping Agriculture and Engineering facultires of the University of Jaffna, Thondaman Vocational Training Centre, and Saraswathy Central College, Pussellawa. India has also gifted 16,000 books to Jaffna public library.

The most spectacular all island” project given by India is ‘Suwa Sawiya’ a free, Emergency Ambulance Service. In 2016, India suddenly gifted a high class free emergency ambulance service with state of the art medical equipment and trained staff, to Sri Lanka at the cost of Rs 7.5 million. This grant included purchase of 88 ambulances, operational expenditure of the service for one year and setting up of an emergency response centre.

The free ambulance service started in Hambantota, Galle, Matara, Kalutara, Gampaha and Colombo districts,” then it expanded to Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts in the Northern Province. Narendra Modi .Prime Minister of India joined Ranil Wickremesinghe , Prime Minister of Sri Lanka through a live video conferencing from New Delhi for the launch in Jaffna.

In 2018 the service was extended to Uva Province starting with Hali-Ela, Badulla, Bandarawela, and Moneragala. 26 fully furnished ambulances along with foreign-trained staff would be stationed at 26 selected police stations in the province. Special ambulances that are compatible with the high mountain ranges have been requested.

The emergency ambulance service can be obtained by simply dialing toll free no ‘1990’ on any network in Sri Lanka. 143 ambulances equipped with the most modern medical equipment and manned by trained staff have been deployed by August 2018.A total of 91,547 patients have been serviced up to August 20. Thirty-two emergency child births took place in the ambulances. On an average, it takes only about 13 minutes to reach the people in need.

Yahapalana passed the 1990 Suwaseriya Foundation Act” and allocated money for the continuation of the project.” The Act was passed unanimously in Parliament .The Board of the Foundation will consist of three ex-officio members and four other members appointed by the President. The three ex-officio members include the Treasury Secretary, the Health Secretary and the IGP or their representatives. Four members appointed by the President should possess academic or professional qualifications and have experience in the fields of medical science, pharmaceuticals, medical technology, finance, management, administration, or law. The Foundation can receive grants, gifts or donations, and it will have its own fund. It can enter into contracts or agreements as necessary for the discharge of its functions. Members, officers and employees of the Foundation are deemed to be public servants.

This ambulance service is viewed with suspicion by Sri Lanka health professionals. This is not a political project. It is aimed at providing a humanitarian service to people in distress, who cannot afford to hire ambulances, protested Yahapalana. It has created a large number of employment opportunities for Sri Lankan youth. I am disappointed when people look at this service with politically-tinted glasses. See how difficult it is when someone faces an emergency situation. You have to run around the village calling for help. Even when you find a vehicle, you don’t know the proper way to lift the patient. You might even make the patient worse from the way you are handling him or her. We don’t know first aid. People should learn to look beyond the politics and understand the services provide to the people of the country,” said a Yahapalana Minister.

This is the largest Indian grant project in Sri Lanka after the Indian Housing Project, said India. India has granted a total of US$ 22 million for the whole project. We do not have such an ambulance service even in India, said the Indian High Commissioner. A total of 300 ambulances will be in use when the service is extended island wide. The main objective was to enable the entire population of 21 million to summon an ambulance within minutes in an emergency, so that lives could be saved,

Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh Sandhu after the Exchange of Letters relating to expansion of the Emergency Ambulance Service island-wide in Sri Lanka spoke of the future of our two great nations”. He said, It is most satisfying to note that we are able to assist our dear Sri Lankan brothers and sisters in this endeavor. The “Let me say it loud and clear, India has only one agenda in Sri Lanka, that is to cooperate and collaborate with Sri Lanka on issues of mutual interest. For us, bilateral cooperation is all about sharing and caring”.

Yahapalana has gone well beyond ‘sharing and caring’. it is evident that Prime Minister Wickremesinghe intends to permit India to establish a strategic ring which encircles the island of Sri Lanka, embedded on the soil of the island itself, said Dayan Jayatilleke. Which island can retain its Independence with such a ring around it, on its very territory, he asked.

India is to be given footholds in KKS, Trincomalee, Mannar, Colombo port (Eastern terminal) and Mattala. The Palk Strait Bridge will connect Mannar with Trincomalee by a highway once Indian army gets into the north the Sri Lanka SL army will find it impossible to penetrate it, or carry out guerrilla warfare against it in the north. India will be able to neutralise our military in one single strike. It will cut off the Tamils areas from the Sinhala army, concluded Jayatilleke.

Yahapalana is also engaging in joint naval exercises with India. SLINEX was previously held once in two years has been converted to an annual event from 2018. The scope of the exercise has been significantly increased this year with three ships, two maritime patrol aircraft and one helicopter participating from the Indian side. In addition, Sri Lanka Air Force personnel would also join in the exercise for the first time.

A highlight would be the deployment from China Bay of Dornier aircraft manned by Indian Navy, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force personnel to conduct Maritime patrol exercises and to train personnel in conducting effective EEZ surveillance and rescue missions. The exercise would also involve sports fixtures and cultural events, which would provide an opportunity for personnel from both navies to learn from each other, re-enforce shared values and build individual bonds of friendship and camaraderie that they would carry back home.

India plans to continue investing in Sri Lanka. Petronet LNG Ltd is planning to set up liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. A MoU has been inked with the Sri Lankan Government, with Sri Lanka also issuing a Letter of Intent for the terminal to come up on its western coast, announced Yahapalana in May 2018.

The media reported in September 2018 that Cabinet approval has been granted to Ceylon Petroleum Corporation and Lanka Indian Oil Co (LIOC) to form a joint subsidiary company to develop the 85 tanks in the Upper oil tank farm. LIOC gets 70 of these tanks, CPC get only 15. LIOC will also get the 18 tanks is currently uses in the lower section. LIOC will have use of these for a period to be decided by the Cabinet. Land ownership will be with the government of Sri Lanka and there will be a new lease agreement superseding the 2003 one.

The petroleum professionals are angry. They say that they can manage the oil tank farm without India. They only need Rs 10 million for the job. Why give it to India. There is no need for a joint venture. The earlier agreement was to let the CPC handle this. Also the Ceylon Petroleum common workers union pointed out in a memo to the Minister that if the LIOC were given legal rights to the entire oil tank farm, India could gain complete control of fuel distribution within the country, in a very short period.

Samantha Kumarasinghe said that Lanka IOC had obtained about 25% of the petroleum distribution and 33 % of the Petroleum storage terminal Ltd, which consist of CPC pipeline network. Only USD 40 million has come in, though 70 million was promised. Selection of IOC was done by a cabinet paper of 2002 without any competitive bidding process. LIOC now owns 189 filling stations in the country and entire sales from 2002-2013 is approx USD 3.6 billion.

Samantha Kumarasinghe commented on India’s economic control in Sri Lanka. He listed the oil tanks in Trincomalee, Sampur coal power project, Airtel telecom project, Ceylon Glass with its monopoly in Sri Lanka, also bus and lorry assembling plants. India was involved in construction projects, major land development projects, including major hotel projects in prime locations. For example Perth paradise housing project 183 acres of prime land on Horana-Ingiriya main road to build 1500 houses. India is reconstructing the railway line from Talaimannar to Medawachchiya.

India wanted to have a beverage factory, importing fruit pulp and exporting juice, continued Samantha. They were using about 50 million liters of ground water per annum. They were given 50 acres of land in Gampaha. Residents were not successful when they want to courts about it. Dr Lalithasiri Gunaruwan said that ECTA was detrimental to Sri Lanka.

India and Sri Lanka jointly had a ‘Shilpa Kala’ exhibition in May 2017. this is a unique event, where we are focusing not only on Indian handicrafts but also providing a platform for Sri Lankan artisans. ‘Shilpa Kala’ is a joint partnership between Dastakaari Haat Samiti from New Delhi and Hands of Sri Lanka foundation in Colombo This is in line with the thinking of Indian leadership that all of us, particularly Sri Lanka and India, should grow together, said Indian High Commissioner. We cannot prosper in isolation. India is very clear that she wants to be Sri Lanka’s trusted, all-weather friend, commented an analyst.

Sri Lanka is not so sure. There is a deep distrust of India and there is also open hostility to India. Western powers had been working overtime since 2009, to undermine the Rajapaksa administration. India, too, felt that President Rajapaksa pursued China friendly policy. No less a person than Shivashankar Menon has alleged that the former President was the direct beneficiary of Chinese money, a very serious accusation, observed Shamindra.

India’s unilateral effort to insert itself in to Sri Lanka’s conflict in the eighties with disastrous consequences for itself and for Sri Lanka is still remembered, noted analysts. In 1987, India‘s real objective was to secure control over Sri Lanka. Foreign airstrips and naval control could affect India. India could be attacked from Sri Lanka.

India made Sri Lanka agree that Trincomalee and other ports cannot be used for military use by any country. India was also worried at the time, about Israelis getting into Sri Lanka. They were fronting for US, and whether USA was using the VOA communication facilities to spy on India. And communicate with submarines in the region. Sri Lanka also had to agree to review agreements with foreign broadcasting organization. We had agreements with Voice of America ad Radio Deutschewelle at the time. Sri Lanka was a good location for communication.

Sri Lanka realized during Eelam war IV, that India’s support is not essential for Sri Lanka. There are other countries to turn to, notably China and Russia. Sri Lanka also learnt that India can be ‘managed.’ The army was ordered to wait till the Tamilnadu elections ended, then finish the war before the next Indian government came to power. India did not want Sri Lanka to get Chinese radar, so they reluctantly supplied the radar, but Sri Lanka acquired the Chinese radar as well.

The relationship with India needs fostering with care, said analysts. This should be a priority. Sri Lanka can do nothing about India’s physical proximity. India is entitled to ask that neighboring states respect India’s security concerns and Sri Lanka must accept this. Today, India fears encirclement by Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Sri Lanka is compelled to walk a tight rope between India and China who are seen as having competing interests in this region, particularly in the areas of economics and politics. Sri Lanka has carried out this tight rope walk quite successfully, so far

A servile admirer once said that Finland is careful not to antagonize its neighbor, Russia. We must also follow a policy of Finlandization and not antagonize our big neighbor India. Such servility is not necessary and in any case, Sri Lanka is not prepared to be servile to India. China gave us a Conference hall, Nelum Pokuna etc. Japan gave Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital, what has India given, asked one critic.

Sri Lanka’s own interests will be served well with a reliable relationship with India, observed analysts. This does not mean subservience or a one-way approach dominated by hectoring and gratuitous advice. The relationship, if it is to be comfortable and sustainable, must be one between two proud sovereign nations. Economic relations must be developed on the basis of reciprocity and transparency. (CONCLUDED)

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SRI LANKA TRADE AND FOREIGN POLICY ON TRADE AGREEMETNS

October 10th, 2018

Sarath Wijesinghe former Ambassador UAE and Israel

Trade and Foreign policy is synonymous and linked together

Trade and Foreign policy is synonymous and directly linked to each other in the new world order where states have given priority to trade over foreign policy interacting with the rest of the world, states and international organizations. Trade Policy is statement of intent and deliberations of a system of principles for a rational outcome on subjective decisions, as a result of collective deliberations of the policy makers in governance or private sector with future strategies. Trade Policy is as or more important to a nation than the foreign policy on which the goodwill and reputation depends on in the family of states. Policies are made by the legislators in a state backed by intellectuals and academies for the betterment of the state and the subjects with short and long term plans for the nation. Trade and Foreign” are mixed and interwoven fields where trade is prioritized today due to new world trends on promoting trade over other parts of governance with the help of foreign relations as a main tool thereby Ambassadors and heads of foreign offices worldwide have been given specific instructions to give top priority to trade in place of traditional duties as Ambassadors representing the country to enhance the friendly relations and maintain goodwill. In Sri Lanka Ambassadors from very powerful counties creep into the offices of powerful Sri Lankan Ministers and politicians looking for contracts, assignments, and enter into trade agreements in promotional duties for their respective countries even bypassing protocol practices. They use direct and indirect influence to promote their countries and trade unlike our some Ambassadors. USA, India, France, UK, USSR and many power blocks such as EU Ambassadors give priority to trade and commerce related matters to promote their business transforming traditional diplomacy to trade diplomacy. It is doubtful how many Sri Lankan Ambassadors are following the new world trends of promoting Sri Lanka and trade, due to the absence of a correct, firm and coherent foreign and a trade policy with specific instructions and strategies from the governance to the foreign officials to promote trade diplomacy. Trade policy may be closed, open, protectionist, liberal, or depend on any political ideology or a vision of a visionary of the state, but the underlying feature is the need and applicability of state friendly set of principles to be applied in the formulation and application of the policies. Same principle applies to the foreign policy as set of policies as to how the state acts and interacts with the rest of the world and the states in the international community through which how the state manages trade, politics, security and other areas of governance indicates the two policies will not exist in isolation in the competitive world order for success and existence.

Singapore Agreement

Singapore Agreement which is the most comprehensive and controversial trade agreement ever with 1083 pages only in English entered into under most suspicious and fast tract circumstances which could be retrieve only via the internet has 9900 items in the list of exemptions on custom duties which has short and long term effects and implementations to Sri Lanka was signed before the President of Sri Lanka who himself has subsequently appointed a commission to review the instrument with no provisions to terminate, amend or change without complicated and rigorous arbitration procedures to be taken place only in Singapore is a lesson for the future governances to be extremely careful in concluding on such circumstances when other countries such as EU, UK, Canada , USA and WTO members take stringent precautionary measure of going through cooling periods and screening by legislature and professional and business organizations. Most probably it is carefully drafted by the Singapore side which is mostly beneficial to them with little or no apparent benefits to Sri Lanka.

Trade Policy

Trade policy is a collection of rules and regulations which pertaining to trade. Every nation has some form of trade policies in place with legislature and public officers formulating which are most appropriate to the country, and laws related to exchange of goods or services involved in local or international trade including Taxes, subsidies, export, import, and related regulations. Internal or international trade cannot exist in isolation as it is interconnected by rules, conventions, agreements bonded by International central organizations such as World Trade Organization (WTO) General Agreement of Traffic and Trade (GATT) which binds states, international organizations, and UN agencies with conventions agreements and determinations and arbitrations by international and local courts which are binding on states and institutional local and international indicating that a country must have a clear coherent and firm trade policy to be successful economically and politically as a member state whether small, large, weak or powerful. On the book Sri Lankan Trade Policy said to be liberalized on paper, but not in reality with the two main political of the current unity government has different policies on trade and economy, where United National Party is for full liberalization and the other main partner SLFP ( SLPP includes) is for closed economy with protectionism and pro national open economy with limitations and human face, when the TNA the other partners of the government concentrates policies on ethnic/regional confined to North and East with other pro government small parties such as JVP has different ideologies but always supportive to the unity government considering the former President MR” as the common enemy . ISFA (Indo Sri Lanka Free trade Agreement), ISFA (Indo Sri Lanka Free Trade agreement) ASFPA (South Asian Free Trade Agreement) and APTA (Asia pacific trade agreements are inactive and not in operation with no effects on the economy. Despite being a members of WTO , GATT number of MOUs, bilateral and multilateral agreements have been entered into with no comprehensive knowledge planning or Parliamentary approval. There appear to be no proper coherent trade policy for the country in the new political and administrative setup of continues political struggles for power by all the parties concerned.

Foreign Policy

Correct foreign policy for a nation is a pre requisite for development and prosperity. It has a direct and indirect impact on the economy of a nation in a developing world, when it is difficult to live in isolation in the modern political and economic world order. The advent of modern technology has promoted increased globalization and interconnected world community with/via internet and digitalization playing a large role in redefining political dynamics both domestic and international. It is doubtful that the basis of foreign policy based on Friendly with all and angry with none” on non-alignment policies, is still in practice considering the conduct and the statements of the governance on foreign policy and international safaris. It is also doubtful whether Sri Lanka has a foreign policy at all today, when the President, Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister giving different versions and statements resulting instability and loss of confidence of the member states and the International Organizations when the minority governance is hanging on a thread with uncertain and unholy union of the President and Prime Minister from parties with conflicting view policies and interests on political, and economic fronts. No policy statements on Trade and foreign policy have been pronounced since the formation of the coalition government currently limping on want of clear majority to one party of the worrying two main parties with diverse views on politics and economy when the wish of the citizen is the resolution of these conflicting policy differences in the interest of the country. When the world is moving fast in the digital age, Sri Lanka is still lagging behind want of clear-cut policies for main areas of governance. Apart from foreign policy and trade apparently no clear-cut polices are pronounced on Land, Education, Agriculture, Water, Energy and many other areas which are interconnected to the subject for discussion on foreign policy and trade as a prioiraty.

Want of Foreign /Trade policy or Sri Lanka

Foreign and Trade Policy should be prepared by the highest echelons of the governance with long thought, knowledge, experience and considerations with the consultation of intellectuals, academics experienced expert Sri Lankan friendly politicians with no hidden interests financial or other agendas. We have blundered and made historical errors from the 1815 Convention with British handing over sovereignty of Sri Lanka to the Crown followed by many hurriedly made, Political and trade agreements including the FTZ with Singapore without a termination clause, and conditions detrimental to Sri Lanka despite protests from professionals to be cautious and pass through the Parliament for scrutinizing and approval. Singapore though only 1/18th size of North East, is a world economic powerhouse with want of space which has controlling power on Port City” with the China Company in charge, and an seasoned international legal experts unlike limited Sri Lankan law/Professionals insufficiently competent on the subject including the AG’s department pressed with workload and lack of knowledge and experience on such complicated international affairs, and limited or no competent lawyers which is a bitter truth we are compelled to gulp and to take remedial measures by employing experts and competent Sri Lankan expatriates. It is important to note that Americans are skeptical on trade and political agreements after the victory of Donald Trump and his trade policy is restricted to Pro American National and controlled free economy. EU is a powerhouse and the biggest trader with 16.5% world trade in hand of free economy restricted for the benefits of the members of the EU protected by EU regulations. UK moots fair trade and with the exit from Brixith” the trade will be restricted and regulation based with strong nationalist mood of the sovereign Britain independent from EU. Russia is the 156th WTO member and the Trade is strictly rule based with freedom to the private sector with cautious approach with state restrictions. China is the 201st member of WTO and a largest trading power on inward FDI with careful and Rule Based trade policy shows that there is no unrestricted trade policy anywhere in the world with cautious approaches on entering into trade agreements unlike Sri Lanka observing Trade Agreements as a panacea for economic miracles inviting countries and companies for free trade utilizing our strategic situation, beauty, natural resources, and now with freedom to purchase properties and free money movement. Regional Trade Instrument CHARGUBAMAS” – the carbon copy of EU with adoptions for Caribbean is an ordeal models and hard bargaining for us to learn from when Sidath Rampal” once a leader of British Guiana and a Secretary General of Commonwealth Secretariat fought hard with hardest bargaining for his country and the Carrabin countries on formation of trade agreements with EU and the West with protective and pro country approaches. Unfortunately in Sri Lanka entering into a Trade and Foreign Agreements are drafted in a hurry by incompetent inexperience professionals at the risk of the present and future of the nation. It is the duty of the professionals to urge the governance to be cautious in entering into trade agreements which are effective and binding the future generations with asymmetrical legal giants awaiting to trap smaller countries in knowledge and experience, when knowledge and experience is available in the world for a price and tapping the local and worldwide expatriates ever prepared to serve the nation on invitation. Sarath7@hotmail.co.uk

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Pleasures of reading – I like the feel and the smell of paper

October 10th, 2018

Laksiri Warnakula

‘Those aren’t books. You can’t hold a computer in your hands like you can book. A computer does not smell. There are two perfumes to a book. If a book is new, it smells great. If a book is old, it smells even better. It smells like ancient Egypt. A book has got to smell. You have to hold it in your hands and pray to it. You put it in your pocket and you walk with it. And it stays with you forever. But the computer doesn’t do that to you. I am sorry.’ – Ray Bradbury

This is just a little about the pleasures of reading a book, a solid book that you can hold in your hands, while you let your mind follow the tale and the trail as directed and guided by it.

Now when I hear someone say ‘I remain loyal to the paper’, it always reminds me of my own preference, agreeing with him in full and wholeheartedly.

And then I become overwhelmed with the fond memories of my reading-past and its associated less attentive acts such as scanning, skimming or just leafing through the pages with childish joy, of all those hundreds and hundreds of musty-smelling (very pleasing nevertheless), leather-bound or other paperbacks that passed through my hands.

I grew up in an era, when the present-day digital formats were unheard of and it was all books with solid, soft or sometimes little rough paper bound together and carefully coated in relatively expensive archaic or parchment-looking artificial leather jackets or their cheaper version, the simple paper.

Yet irrespective of how they looked or smelt, they all contained precious knowledge ready at hand to be given to and gleaned from or joy to be gained from, doing earnestly what they were meant to do with absolutely no sign of parsimony, whatsoever.

As I ruffled through the pages of our historical chronicles, they made the child that I was then want to become a Suranimala or a Nandimitra and be as valiant and strong as them. The Gulliver’s travels and Robinson Crusoe (Sinhala translations at first) opened up before me the visions that I couldn’t have even dreamt of or vistas that I couldn’t have even imagined.

Ryder Haggard took me on equally exhilarating adventures before bringing me face to face with the immortal queen Ayesha in his ‘The return of She’.

Then there were those seventy-five-cent paperbacks of Demon Ananda. Even though often frowned upon by our adults then, I immensely enjoyed his local version ‘Jamis Banda series’ obviously based on Ian Fleming’s fictional secret agent James Bond code-named 007. I even had dreams now and then of going after all those evil men with my acquired-in-a-child’s-dream-world handgun sitting snugly and hiding in a pocket. Then there was the Inspector Dikcy Weerakoon, his loyal and able subordinate sergeant Perera and of course his Dracula series (I think he wrote few of those taking ideas from Bram Stoker’s Dracula).

It is certainly impossible to name all of them. Our own literary works, the Sinhala translations and then as I grew older the works from the world literature, the non-fiction of Stephen Hawking, science-fiction of Arthur C. Clarke and fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Sydney Sheldon, Frederick Forsyth to name a very few, helped me spend hours and hours entrapped in a delightful world filled with fantasy and reality, both fighting for dominance as pages turned.

They kept me enraptured in a near-ecstatic trance powered by the sheer joy of finding myself in a state of constantly changing metamorphosis as you try to copy, go after, take on or turn into any number of characters of your preference.

Now can a Kindle book displayed on a barren, bleak, glaring soulless electronic landscape of a computer screen or listening to an audio-book, which I consider is an act of alienating and distancing yourself from the content to some extent and even becoming less sensitive to whatever the narrator tries to tell you, be compared to a solid book?

Or can you feel the same solidity, tangibility and its existential presence in three-dimension getting very much attached to you in a bond of subtle intellectual intimacy, becoming a temporary appendage within you bringing cognition and emotion together?

I personally very much doubt it. And it’s an emphatic no. E-reading is not my cup of tea, if I can get around it and find the relevant paper version instead.

I have read somewhere that it is what you read that matters and not what it is written on. Well, I still stand by my guns regardless, leaving all those e-books, audio books and whatever to the side!

And finally, when you close your book reluctantly with perhaps a bookmark inserted somewhere amongst the pages, it’s an act of content and halfhearted intent still maintaining a subtle connection with the book, which is not the same as the hollow act of logging off with a click on your mouse pad, an act, which is inherently mechanical and robotic.

Laksiri Warnakula

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ලංකාවට මත් යුද්ධයක් එපා! -ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

October 10th, 2018

ශ්‍රී ලංකා සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාව මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය පාලනය සියතට ගන්නා බවට නුදුරු දිනවල මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා පළ විය. නමුත් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ජාතික ගැටලුවක් නොව අන්තර්ජාතික ගැටලුවක් බව යුධ හමුදාව නොදන්නවා විය නොහැක. ලොව පුරා මත් යුද්ධය අවසන් කිරීම ගැන සංවාද ඇතිවෙන යුගයක ශ්‍රී ලංකා යුද්ධ හමුදාව එම සංවාදයෙහි කොටස්කරුවන් වීම අරුමයක් නොවන්නේ ය. ලෝක වෙළඳ යුද්ධය සමග ගැටගැසී ඇති මත් යුද්ධයක ආසන්නයේ සිට ලොව මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නිෂ්පාදනයේ සහ භාවිතයේ දිග පළල වටහා ගැනීම වැදගත් ය.

මෙම වසරේ එක්සත් ජාතීනගේ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වාර්තාවට අනුව වයස අවුරුදු 15-64 අතර ලෝක ජනගහනයෙන් සියයට 5.6 ක් හෙවත් මිලියන 275 ක් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය භාවිතා කරති. ඊට වැඩි මිස අඩු නැත. එයින් මිලියන 192 ක් කංසා භාවිතා කරන අතර හෙරොයින් මිලියන 34 ක්, ඇම්පෙටමින් හා විවිධ බෙහෙත් වර්ග මිලියන 34 ක්, එක්ස්ටසි මිලියන 21 ක්, අබිං මිලියන 19 ක් සහ කොකේන් මිලියන 18 ක් භාවිතා කරති. ඊට අමතරව පසුගිය වසරවල ලෝක තරුණ ජනගහනයෙන් මිලියන 13.8 ක් කංසා භාවිතා කරන බවත් එම වාර්තාවෙහි දැක්වෙයි.

පසුගිය වසරවල ලොව පුරාම අල්ලාගත් නීති විරෝධී මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය අතර කංසා ටොන් 6,313 ක් වන අතර කොකේන් ටොන් 1,129 ක්, අබිං ටොන් 658 ක්, මෙත් ටොන් 158 ක්, හෙරොයින් ටොන් 156 ක්, එක්සටසි ටොන් 14 ක් සහ වෙනත් කෘත්‍රිම මත් පෙති වර්ග ටොන් 22 ක් ඇත. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ වාර්තාවට අනුව ලොව පුරා සිටින සිරකරුවන්ගෙන් 714,000 ක් කාන්තාවන් වන අතර එයින් සියයට 35 ක් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වරදකට සිරගතවූවන්‍ ය. එමෙන්ම මිලියන 9.6 ක් වන පිරිමි සිරකරුවන්ගෙන් සියයට 19 ක් මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය වරදකට සිරගතවූවන්‍ ය.

මෙම වාර්තාවෙහි දැනට නීතිගතව පවතින මධ්‍යසාර හා දුම්කොළ නිෂ්පාදනය සහ භාවිතය ගැන වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු ඇතුළත් නොවුනත් ලොව ජනගහනයෙන් වැඩිම පිරිසක් භාවිතා කරන කංසා නිසා කෙටි කාලීන මතකය අඩුවීම, බුද්ධිය හීන වීම, පාසල් හැරයාම හා සමාජයෙන් දුරස් වීම වැනි මානසික හා සමාජීය ගැටලු ඇතිවන බව අවධාරණය කර ඇත. ලොවපුරා වසරකට මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය භාවිතය නිසා ආසන්න වශයෙන් 450,000 ක් මියයන බවත් අපරික්ෂාරී ලෙස හෙරොයින් භාවිතා කිරීම නිසා වැළදෙන ඒඩ්ස් ආසාදනයන්ද ඊට ඇතුළත් බවත් එම වාර්තාවෙහි දැක්වෙයි. නමුත් අධික ලෙස කංසා භාවිතය නිසා මියගිය පුද්ගලයන් ගැන මෙතෙක් වාර්තා වී නොමැත.

නීති විරෝධී මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය පිළිබඳ මෙම දත්ත වාර්තාවට අනුව වැඩිම මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ප්‍රමාණයක් නිෂ්පාදනය කරන්නේත් භාවිතා කරන්නේත් ආසියාවයි. දෙවන සහ තෙවන ස්ථාන පිළිවෙලින් යුරෝපයට සහ ඇමෙරිකාවට හිමිවෙයි. මෙම දත්ත විමසා බලනවිට පෙනීයන්නේ මත් යුද්ධය ලංකාවේ ජනවාර්ගික යුද්ධය අවසන් කළ තරම් පහසුවෙන් අවසන් කළ නොහැකි බවයි. ඊට හේතුව ලෝක ජනගහනයෙන් විශාල පිරිසක් කවර හෝ අරමුණකට මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය භාවිතා කිරීමය. එමනිසා මත් රකුසා පරාජය කිරීමට යුධ වදිනවා වෙනුවට මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය නියාමනයට උපක්‍රමික පියවර ගතයුතු බව සමාජ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීන්ගේ අදහසයි.

මූලාශ්‍රය: එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය හා අපරාධ කාර්යාලය විසින් නිකුත් කළ 2018 ලෝක මත් ඖෂධ වාර්තා

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ස්වර්ණ හංස පදනම මියන්මාර තානාපති හමුවෙයි

October 10th, 2018

මියන්මාරයේ නායිකාව වන අවුන්සාන් සූචිගේ කැනඩා ගෞරව පුරවැසිකම කැනඩා රජය මගින් ඉවත් කිරීම පිළිබඳව පැහැදිලි කිරීමක් ස්වර්ණ හංස පදනම මගින් අද දින මෙරට මියන්මාර තානාපති අතිගරු ‘හන් තු’ මැතිතුමන් මුණ ගැසි සිදුකළා. එම අවස්ථාවට සිංහලේ දුතපිරිස ; ගාල්ලේගේ පුණ්‍යවර්ධන මහතා, යසපාල නානායක්කාර මහතා, ආචාර්ය සූර්ය ගුණසේකර මහතා, සමිත් ලංකාදේව සහ ගම්දොලහේ මොහොට්ටාලගේ ඉන්දික සහභාගිවුණා.

සන්නසක් බාරදුන් මේ සිංහල දුත පිරිස, බුරුමය-ම්යන්මාරය ලෙස නම වෙනස් කරගැනීම අගය කරන බවත් එමගින් බටහිරට ඕනෑ පරිදි රටේ නම වෙනස් කර සුරා කෑම කල නොහැකි බව සදහන් කළා.

අවුන් සාන් සූචී මැතිනියට දී තිබු ගෞරවණිය පුරවැසිකම කැනඩා ආණ්ඩුව විසින් අවලංගු කිරීම මගින් එතුමියගේ ප්‍රතිරූපයට හානි නොවන බවත් ඇය නිර්භීත ජාතිකවාදී වීරවරියක් ලෙසට මියන්මාරය තුල ජනතා හදවත් තුල ලැගුම් ගන්න බවත් පවසා සිටියා. දෙරට අතර පොදු ලක්ෂණයක් වූ ථෙරවාදී බුදු දහම ආරක්ෂා කරගැනීමට සහයෝගයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමේ වැදගත් කමත් මෙහිදී කතා බහට ලකවුනා.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් සංවිධානයට, මෙරට කාන්තාවක් වූ රාධිකා කුමාරස්වාමි විසින් මියන්මාරයට විරුද්ධව මානව හිමිකම් චෝදනා සැකසීමට සාවද්‍ය වාර්තාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම සිංහල ජාතිය වශයෙන් අප හෙලා දකින බවත් එම සාවද්යා වාර්තා පදනම් කරන් එක්සත් ජාතින් ආසියානු රටවලට මැදිහත් වීම කරන බවත් ඊට යටත් නොවෙන ලෙසත් මෙම පිරිස තානාපතිතුමන් හට දන්වා සිටියා.

https://www.facebook.com/swarna.hansa.9/videos/10156768580456719/?__tn__=%2CdC-R-R&eid=ARB91R8qM2S_FWOSKfM7Up58T_nttgOO0cjgrxAyKnOfU1LbycPIpg9Ydd6fOO_kqLzoza4JbJgU47rZ&hc_ref=ARSqlWm1MEkPmkxasl0cZpz0PdJDD_np8dQk2lqWqfA2WFCzYUBalb_QgDX8HyDgxC0&fref=nf

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Namal Kumara reveals another secret about alleged assassination plot

October 10th, 2018

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මහජනතාවට වගකියන භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක් රටට වහාම අවශ්‍ය බවට මහාසංඝරත්නයෙන් ප්‍රකාශයක්..(Video)

October 10th, 2018

Lanka Lead News

මහජනතාවට වග කියන භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක් වහාම රටට අවශ්‍ය බව ජාතික විද්වද් භික්ෂු සංසදය පවසයි .

අද (10) පෙරවරුවේ පැපිලියාන සුනේත්‍රාදේවි මහපිරිවෙනේදි කැදවා තිබූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවකට එක්වෙමින් මහාචාර්ය මැදගොඩ අභයතිස්ස හිමි මේ බව සදහන් කළේය.

මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුවට ජ්‍යේෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය පුජ්‍ය මාදුරුඔයේ ධම්මිස්සර හිමි, පුජ්‍ය හැගොඩ විපස්සී හිමි, මහාචාර්ය මාගම්මන පඥ්ඤානන්ද යන හිමිවරැන් ද සහබාගිවී සිටියහ.

වැඩි දුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින් උන් වහන්සේලා සදහන් කර සිටියේ අද රටේ පැන නගිමින් තිබෙන අර්බුදයට මුහුණදීම සඳහා පවතින රජය අපොහොසත් බව ගතවන සෑම දිනක ම ඔප්පු කරමින් සිටින බවය.

01) මහා පරිමාණ රාජ්‍ය මූල්‍ය වංචා, බදු වංචා නිසා විදේශීය සහ දේශීය ආයෝජකයන්ගේ විශ්වාසය බිඳ වැටීම

02) නව ආයෝජන පහත වැටීම සහ පවතින ආයෝජන ඉවත් කරගැනීම නිසා දේශීය කර්මාන්ත පද්ධතිය බිඳවැටීම

03) රුපියල කඩාවැටීම නිසා ආනයනික ආහාර ඇතුඵ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩවල මිල ඉහළ යාම

04) රැකියා අහිමි වීම (සහල් සහ සහල් පිටි කර්මාන්තශාලා 5000ක් සහ අැගඵම් කර්මාන්ත ශාලා 500ක් මේ වන විට වසා දමා ඇත.

05) කෘෂිකර්මාන්තය සිතාමතා ම බිඳ වැට්ටවීම නිසා සහ ආනයනික ආහාරවලට බදු සහන දීම නිසා ගොවියා විසින් ම ගොවිතැන අත්හැරීමට සැලැස්වීම (ඒ නිසා පවුල් ලක්ෂ 15ක ජීවන මාර්ග බිඳ වැටෙන අතර රටේ ආහාර සුරක්ෂිතතාව ද බරපතල ලෙස අනතුරට ලක් වී ඇත.

06) හැම ක්ෂේත‍්‍රයක ම වර්ජන හා ගැටුම් පැන නැගීම නිසා රාජ්‍ය සේවය කඩාවැටීම

07) ජාත්‍යන්තර බලපෑම්වලට යටත් ව ආරක්ෂක හමුදා දුර්වල කිරීමේ සහ දුර්මුඛ කිරීමේ උපක‍්‍රමයට ගොදුරු වීම නිසා රට බෙදුම්වාදයේ ගොදුරක් බවට පත්වීම සහ රටේ ආරක්ෂක මර්මස්ථාන බෙදුම්වාදයට යටත් කිරීම

08) සංහිඳියාවේ නාමයෙන් වාර්ගික ගැටුම් ඇති කරවීමේ පසුබිමක් සකස් කිරීම

09) පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක වටිනාකම් සහිත භූමි ෙ ඩා්සර කර දැමීම, පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක සාධක විනාශ කිරීම

10) භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේට සහ බෞද්ධයනට අඩන්තේට්ටම් කිරීම

11) විල්පත්තුව, සිංහරාජය ඇතුඵ ස්වාභාවික වශයෙන් අතිශයින් ම වැදගත් වනාන්තර විනාශ කිරීම

12) ජාතික දේපල විකුණා දැමීම, ඉඩම් විදේශිකයනට විකුණා දැමීම

ආදි බොහෝ බරපතල හේතු කාරණා නිසා තවදුරටත් වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව බලයේ සිටීම සාධාරණ ද යන ප‍්‍රශ්නය මහජනයා තුළ පැන නැගී ඇත. එම අර්බුදයෙන් ගොඩ ඒම සඳහා මහජනයා සමග සංවාදයකින් යුතු ව කිසිදු ප‍්‍රායෝගික පියවරක් නොගැනීම නිසා පවතින ආණ්ඩුවට තවදුරටත් ආණ්ඩු කිරීමේ සදාචාරාත්මක බලය අහිමි වී ඇත.

ඒ නිසා මහජන ඉල්ලීම මත ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී ව මහජන නියෝජිතයන්ගේ මැදිහත් වීමෙන් ආණ්ඩුව සහ ආණ්ඩුව ගෙනයන ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති වෙනස් කිරීම හැර අන් මගක් ඉතිරි වී නැති බව පෙනී යයි.
ඒ අනුව ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ මැදිහත් වීම මත පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන් අතර සිදු කෙරෙන කතිකාවක් මගින් නීත්‍යනුකූල ව සහ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී ව නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීමේ ජාතික උවමනා ව ඉටු කරගත යුතු බව ජාතික විද්වද් භික්ෂු සංසදයේ මතය ද වෙයි.
එම ක‍්‍රියාදාමයේ දී පහත දැක්වෙන කරුණු අවධානයට ලක් විය යුතු බව ජාතික විද්වද් භික්ෂු සංසදය අවධාරණ කර සිටී.

01 භාරකාර හෝ තාවකාලික හෝ පරිවාස හෝ කුමන නමකින් නව ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටු වුව ද ඊට හේතු වන කරුණු පිළිබඳ පැහැදිලි ප‍්‍රකාශයක් මහජනයා වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතු ය.

02 එම ආණ්ඩු වෙනස හුදු ඔලූගෙඩි මාරුවක් නොව මහජන වුවමනාව සඳහා කෙරෙන ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී මැදිහත් වීමක් බව මහජනයාට ප‍්‍රබල ව ඒත්තු ගැන්විය යුතු ය.

03 එවැනි භාරකාර අණ්ඩුවක් පැවතිය යුත්තේ මහජනයාගෙන් නැවත ජනවරමක් ලබාගැනීම දක්වා කාලය සඳහා පමණි. ඒ නිසා එම කාලය තුළ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන ක‍්‍රියාවලිය අත්හිටුවිය යුතු ය.

04 එසේ ආණ්ඩුව පිහිටුවීමෙන් පසු ව නිශ්චිත කාලයක් තුළ ඉටු කරගැනීමට අපේක්ෂිත අරමුණු සහ වැඩ පිළිවෙළ පිළිබඳ ව පැහැදිලි එකගතාවක් මහජනයා සමග ඇති කරගත යුතු ය.

05 එම ලිඛිත එකගතාව හෙවත් මහජන ගිවිසුමට කෙටිකාලීන ව පවතින අර්බුදයෙන් ගොඩ ඒම සඳහා අනුගමනය කරනු ලබන වැඩ පිළිවෙළ මෙන් ම දීර්ඝකාලීන ව ප‍්‍රවේශ වන වැඩ පිළිවෙළ යන පැතිකඩ දෙක ම අයත් විය යුතු ය.

06 එවැනි භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක නායකත්වයට මේ වන විට වැඩි ම මහජන විශ්වාසය හා කැමැත්ත දිනාගෙන සිටින මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයා පත්විය යුතු ය. එසේ නොමැති ව එම නව ආණ්ඩුවට මහජන විශ්වාසය දිනාගත නොහැකි ය. ඒ නිසා ඒ සඳහා පොදු මහජනයාගේ පැත්තෙන් අපේක්ෂා කරන නායකත්වය වන මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ මැදිහත් වීම ඉතා වැදගත් වේ.

07 ඒ අතර එම නව ආණ්ඩුවේ අමාත්‍යවරුන් විසින් මහජන විශ්වාසය නැවත දිනාගැනීම සඳහා යම් මූලික ආචාරධර්ම පද්ධතියකට සහ ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති මාලාවකට ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියේ එකග විය යුතු ය.

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රටට අවශ්‍ය මහින්දගේ තනි ආණ්ඩුවක් මිස තවත් හවුලක් නොවෙයි

October 10th, 2018

මතුගම – වසන්ත කුමාර උපුටාගැණීම මව්බිම

මේ රටේ මිනිස්සු බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නෙ තවත් සභාග ආණ්ඩුවක් නෙවෙයි. රටේ ජනතාව ඉල්ලන්නෙ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් යුතු ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණේ ආණ්ඩුවක් යැයි කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි කුමාර වෙල්ගම පසුගිය 6දා බේරුවලදී කීවේය.

සිසු නැණ ප්‍රණාම 2018 වැඩසටහන යටතේ කළුතර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ පෙර පාසල් ගුරුභවතුන් ඇගයීමේ වැඩසටහනක් පසුගිය හය වැනි දිනට යෙදුණු, ලෝක ගුරු දිනය දා බේරුවල හෙට්ටිමුල්ල අමා උත්සව ශාලාවේදී පැවැත්විණි. එහිදී වෙල්ගම මහතා මෙසේද කීවේය.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයත්, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයත් එකතු වෙලා සභාග ආණ්ඩුවක් හදල රට විනාශ කළා. සභාග ආණ්ඩුවට යන්න බෑ කියලා මේ ආණ්ඩුව දැන් ඔප්පු කරල හමාරයි. ඉතින් ආයෙත් සභාග ආණ්ඩු හදල මේ රට විනාශ කරන්න සූදානම් නැහැ. මැතිවරණයක් තියල පොහොට්ටුවෙ ආණ්ඩුවක් හදනවා.

ඔය කියන සම්මුති ආණ්ඩුවක් හදනවා කියන කතාව මම නම් තවම දන්නෙ නැහැ. හදනවා නම් හදන්නෙ පොහොට්ටුවෙ ආණ්ඩුවක් විතරයි. මේ සභාග ආණ්ඩුවක් පිළිබඳ දූෂමාන කතාවක් මාධ්‍යවල නම් කියැවෙනවා. නමුත් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ අපේ මන්ත්‍රිවරුන් මේ ගැන තවම දන්නෙ නැහැ.

මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහත්තය එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ දීගෙන් ඉවත් වීම සැක සහිතයි. මේ ගොල්ලො මට නම් කිසිසේත් විශ්වාස නැහැ. කියන දේ නෙවෙයි කරන්නෙ. සභාග හෝ සම්මුති මේ මොන ආණ්ඩුවක් හැදුවත් වෙන්නෙ මන්ත්‍රිවරු මුදලට විකිණීම විතරයි. මේ මිනිස්සු විශ්වාස කරන්න බැහැ. අද අපේ පැත්තෙ ඉඳල හෙට අනෙක් පැත්තට පනිනනවා. ඒ නිසා අපි කියන්නෙ ඡන්දයකට යමු කියලා.

මට ටිකක් දුර පේන කෙනෙක්. මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහත්තය සමඟ හවුල් ආණ්ඩුවකට ගියේ නැත්තෙ ඒ නිසයි. එදා ඒක මා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරලා ‍ෙදාට්ට බැස්සම සමහරු මට ‍ෙදාස් කිව්වා ‘තමුසෙට පිස්සු ඔළුව හොඳ නැද්ද? හොඳ කැබිනට් ඇමැතිකමක් අරගන්න තිබුණා’ කියලා. නමුත් මම කියන්න තියෙන දේ කෙළින් කියනවා. එදා මට බැනපු අය අද කියනවා එදා ඔබතුමා ගත්ත තීරණය හරියි කියලා.

මේ කාලෙ මොනතරම් නායකයෝ පත්වුණත් රටේ ලොකු කුඩා හැම දෙනාම අපේක්ෂා කරන නායකයා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමයි. අද මේ රටේ ආර්ථිකය, සමාජය, නීතිය, පරිපාලනය මේ සේරම කඩාවැටිලා. ඒ විතරක් නෙවෙයි ජාත්‍යන්තරය තුළත් අපේ රට හෑල්ලු වෙලා ගිහිල්ලා.

මිනිස්සු රැවටිලා ඡන්දය දීලා මිනිස්සු විතරක් නෙවෙයි රටම ලොකු අමාරුවක වැටිල තියෙනවා. ආයෙත් අපට මේ අමාරුවෙ වැටෙන්න බැහැ. මොකද දැන් මේ රට මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමාගෙ කාලෙ තිබුණට වඩා 30 ගුණයකින් පමණ පස්සට ගිහිල්ලා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා බලයට ඇවිල්ලත් මේ වසර 30 ආපසු ඉදිරියට ගන්න පහසු කාර්යයක් වෙන්නෙ නැහැ. නමුත් ඒ ශක්තිය ධෛර්ය, වාසනාව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට තියෙනවා.

කවුරු මොනවා කිව්වත්, මොන විදියට ඡන්ද කල් දාන්න උත්සාහ කළත් 2020 ජනාධිපති මැතිවරණය කල් දාන්න බැහැ. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ මට පේන්නෙ දුටුගැමුණු රජතුමා වගෙයි. රටේ ජනතාව කියන්නෙත් ඒකමයි.

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Tamil Lilliputians posing as Gullivers of Sri Lankan history

October 9th, 2018

H.L. D. Mahindapala

Of all the migrants that stepped into Sri Lanka to make it their home only the Sinhala-Buddhists created, consolidated and sustained, the mainstream culture that shaped and dominated its history. No other minority has succeeded in displacing them from the commanding position and power they held in the mainstream down the ages. As a pioneering force the Sinhalese opened up the virgin land for human habitation. The Sihalas”, as named in the Mahavamsa, were conscious of their mission in their new home. They knew their destination. They knew the tasks they had to fulfil as permanent settlers committed to create a new culture, new language and new civilisation. The legacy they left behind speaks silently and eloquently of their commitment and dedication to the land they transformed from a wilderness to a unique civilisation.

The gigantic monuments rising to reach the skies indicate that the dynamic intensity of their commitment to the land was of historic proportions. The deep roots they put down testify that they were not transient travellers or traders passing through to another destination, another homeland. There was no ambiguity in their minds, keeping one foot in Sri Lanka and the other in India from where they came. They were not invaders. They were not marauders. They were not exploiters. They were not conquerors or colonialists. They were the creative force that made our island a fit dwelling-place for men” – a political ideal defined in the Mahavamsa (1:44). In its extended meaning, it is a phrase that summarises the entire range of the provisions in the UN Charter. After all, isn’t the UN Charter designed to make our world a fit dwelling-place for men”? This humane and civilising mission of making our island a fit dwelling-place for men” was stated as a sacred mission, and with absolute clarity and certainty, in the Mahavamsa.

Within this overarching historic architecture the minorities played their secondary and tertiary roles, in particular the Tamils. Despite their repeated boasts about their grandiose role in Sri Lankan history, sometimes claiming pompously that they were the First-comers — even before the birth of Buddha,” said C. V. Wigneswaran, Chief Minister, Jaffna – their history has tagged along at a lower level than that of the Sinhalese. For instance, the history of the Tamils reveals that they did not even possess a deep, or cohesive sense of history rooted in Jaffna soil. They were in two minds, not knowing whether their homeland was in Jaffna or across the Palk Strait. The latter-day claims of Tamil nationalism” was visible only in the post-Chelvanayakam period. Their hearts and minds were in S. India while their hollow physical frame walked in Jaffna, unwilling to sever the umbilical cord that tied them to their one and only homeland. Worst of all, they were not even aware that there was no written record that could comprehensively authenticate their real or imagined roles in Sri Lankan history.

They feel more aggrieved when they realise that their own Tamil historians have failed to provide them with a comprehensive history to either look back with pride or look forward with hope. Complaining that the Tamils did not actively pursue a systematic study of their past”, Tamil historian, Dr. Murugar Gunasingam, wrote : The most important single shortcoming at this time (2008) is that no historian, archaeologist, or even a social scientist, whether Sinhalese, Tamil, or western scholar has written a complete and comprehensive account of the history of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.” (p. 14 –Tamils in Sri Lanka, Comprehensive History (C. 300 B.C. – C. 2000 A. D), MV Publications, South Asian Studies Centre, 2008). Then listing the various books written on Jaffna by Tamil scholars he adds: As the above discussion has revealed, no overall or comprehensive history of the Tamils in Sri Lanka has yet been written. Scholars seem to have limited their research to their specialised areas of expertise.” (p.17 – Ibid).

Dr. Gunasingam is credible not only because he is a Tamil historian but also because he makes his confession after combing the archives and libraries in Holland, Portugal, America, UK, India, and Sri Lanka. This confession should send shock waves among the Tamils who never fail to boast about their great history”, great learning”, and their overall claims of being superior to all other communities. After crowing about a great past, particularly as the First-comers who arrived before the birth of Buddha, how was it that they failed to produce a scholarly and comprehensive history book until 2008 when Dr. Gunasingam produced his book, Tamils in Sri Lanka, emphasising in the subtitle that it is A Comprehensive History (C. 300 B.C. – C. 2000 A. D.)”. Dr. Gunasingam trots out several excuses for the failure of the Tamils to produce a comprehensive history. Predictably he blames the active Sinhala scholars researching and writing comprehensive histories with the backing of the Government. He even accuses the Government of hampering Tamil researchers. But the same governments had established two Tamil universities.

The Jaffna University was established in 1974. Apart from teaching universities are expected to do research. Why couldn’t Jaffna University write a history during the 44 years of its existence? They could have completed a Tamil history even if they wrote half a page every day. As usual Dr. Gunasingam blames the Sinhalese for the failure of the Tamils to produce their history. But the Tamils are not shy to claim in their writings what the Sinhalese has done as their history.

This also reflects the Tamil tendency to sweep under the carpet the oppressive internal dynamics within Jaffna that had stunted their growth. Jaffna Tamil politics has survived and thrived exclusively on blaming the Sinhalese. They never had any viable or credible agenda other than pointing the finger at the Sinhalese. Even when the Tamils fail to write their own history they blame the Sinhalese. They refuse to consider the fact that the Jaffna University chased out the first professor of history, Prof. K. Indrapala, for writing a history that was not palatable to the Tamils. Jaffna either killed or cleansed academics / intellectuals who did not toe the line of the ruling elite. One Vice-Chancellor was forced to quit his job because he was a low-caste. Rajini Thiranagama of the Medical Faculty was shot when she was cycling home because she was critical of the LTTE. Another academic with all the requisite qualifications for an academic post in Jaffna University was rejected because he was a Christian. Dr. Gunasingam embraced Prof. Indrapala after he recanted and re-wrote a new version of Tamil history aimed at polishing the image of the Tamils. Tragically, Jaffna which produced the biggest killers of Tamils, from Sankili to Prabhakaran, could not produce a single historian who could write, on his own steam, a comprehensive history of their past. Isn’t it time that the Jaffna Tamils, who claim to have been here from the dawn of time, sat down to consider what is wrong with their own culture that failed to produce a comprehensive history for so long?

However, it should be noted that there are many papers and monographs written on various aspects of Jaffna society, politics, religion, caste etc. But they do not add up to a comprehensive or panoramic survey of the history of Jaffna. Yalpana Vaipava Malai, for instance, remains as the questionable and mythical history of Jaffna written on the back of a stamp. In the minds of the Tamils, it is, more or less, the equivalent of Mahavamsa. But poet Mylvaganam did not write it on his own volition like Venerable Bede of England or Bhikku Mahanama of Sri Lanka, both of whom were inspired by the values and the greatness of their civilisations. Mylvaganam wrote it because he was commissioned by the Dutch Governor Jan Maccara (1736) to produce an account of Jaffna for him to understand the lie of the land.

So writing the history of the Tamils in Jaffna has a rather curious history. As stated by Dr. Gunasingam, foreigners and Sri Lankans were falling over each other to write the history of the Sinhalese and the Buddhists, but not that of the Tamils. Why? If nobody had bothered to write about it could it be because it was not that great? Or because the Tamils did not have a sense of history because they were more committed to their homeland in S. India than their temporary residence in Jaffna? In any case, what is the worth of a people without a history? Why is it that the ground realities of Tamil history do not corroborate the assumed arrogance of Tamil greatness? Could it be that they were dragged all the way to Nandikadal because they were imbued with a politicised history that was miles away from the ground realities? Have not the Tamils lost the plot and gone down the wrong path – all the way to Nandikadal – because their leaders were misled by their own boastful propaganda which they thought (mistakenly, no doubt) was their history? Or, as stated by Prof. Kumar David, were the Tamil leaders congenital idiots” who, with their peninsular minds, thought that they could force their version of history down the throats of the nation which had produced a great and unique civilisation, way beyond that of the ant hills of the Tamils? Are the Tamils lying in the present state of despondency because they do not know how to climb out of the fake history into which they have fallen?

Faced with the monumental achievements of the Sinhalese, Tamil historians take refuge under the excuse of limited resources. Historians S. Arasaratnam and Dr. Gunasingam both fork out this excuse to cover up the failure of Tamils to rise beyond the level of mediocre copy cats of the grand and great Dravidian civilisations of S. India. In hiding behind this lame excuse they ignore the magnificent architectural marvels of ancient Egypt built in the middle of a dry desert which is barren as the waterless moon.

In the absence of a credible excuse the most common line of defence of the Tamils has been to attack the Sinhala-Buddhist history. Belittling Sinhala-Buddhist history has been their way of feeling superior to the Sinhala-Buddhists. They defend their greatness by claiming everything great in the Sinhala-Buddhist culture. They claim that the Sinhala-Buddhist civilisation was either initiated by the Tamils or nurtured by the Tamils. They claim that they were the founding fathers of Sri Lankan history by coming first, before even Buddha was born. They claim that they laid the foundations of the Sinhala-Buddhist culture and civilisation with their Dravidian contributions. They claim that even the Sinhala language was born out of Tamil words.

I am prepared to concede all that proudly because the Sinhalese possessed the creative genius, like all other great cultures and civilisation, to borrow from other cultures and civilisations, and produce a unique culture and civilisation of their own. Cultures that failed to borrow stagnated in their own billabongs like the aboriginal cultures, or, in some ways, like that of Jaffna which stagnated in the shadow of the overwhelming S. Indian culture. Jaffna failed to rise to a higher level because they were smugly resting on the laurels of the culture of S. India.

Whenever they claimed the greatness of the Tamils they meant the greatness of culture made in the history of S. India and not in Jaffna. For instance, when the Tamils talk of the Tamil revivalism under Arumuka Navalar and C. V. Thamotherampillai it meant, in short, the unearthing the buried and neglected sacred texts of S. India and publishing those texts in Jaffna for an audience that knew nothing about it. They did not produce any Tamil classics of their own which could add to the glory of the Jaffnaites. Jaffna was born and always remained as a pale imitation of the S. Indian culture. It never produced a genius that shone like a beacon across the Tamil landscape. Jaffna always basked in the reflected glory of S. Indian culture without contributing any original or significant creations – the hallmarks of a great civilisation. Jaffna was always sandwiched between two great cultures: the Dravidian culture of S. India in the North and the Sinhala-Buddhist culture in the south. Jaffnaites were Lilliputians who pretended to be Gullivers without any stature to back up their boastful claims.

P. Lewis, one of the keen analysts and prolific writers in the British colonial administration (he was the Government Agent of the Northern Province and left Ceylon in 1910 ) summed up the roles of the two communities in a very sharp observation. He was commenting on the work done in a dance hall in Galle. The work was done by the Sinhalese and Tamils. Having seen the roles of both communities he wrote : It is curious how the unfortunate Sinhalese to whom the credit of decorations were due are always overshadowed by the more widely known Tamils who are their fellow islanders” – p.51, Ceylon in Early British Times, J.P. Lewis, CMG, Government Agent of Northern Province.

Lewis’ observation is applicable on a large scale to the history of the nation. Starting from the late 20^th century the Tamil ideologues have laboured routinely and consistently to grab the headlines with their exaggerated claims of greatness. C. V. Wigneswaran, former judge of the Supreme Court and now Chief Minister of the Northern Province and Dr. Gunasingam are two peas in this jingoistic pod rooted in Jaffna. In their attempt to downgrade the monumental achievements of the Sinhalese both project Tamils as the great makers of Sri Lankan history. Though Dr. Gunasingam has done some useful research and put together his Tamils-are-great perspective in his book written to rescue the image of the Tamils, it only confirms, in the last analysis, the essence of Lewis’ cutting remark: the Sinhalese do the hard work and the Tamils come out screaming that it was all done by them.

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His Eminence Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith states correctly the unfortunate plight of the West trying to extend Human Rights as their religious faith..

October 9th, 2018

By Charles.S.Perera

The West which speaks of a Christian Civilization is today with nothing to give to the world by way of Christian love, but death and disaster, through bombs, economic sanctions, trade embargoes, threats for violation of human rights, and political interference into developing countries without helping them in their efforts for development.

It is in the light of this situation of the Western countries in their self centred greed for power without concern for the people in less fortunate circumstances, that His Eminence the Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith spoke out his thoughts before a congregation.

The Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, is honest and says what he thinks is right without being bound by religious pedagogy. The statement recently attributed to him as having been made after a morning service at St. Mathew’s Roman Catholic Church in Ekala, that the West is now making human rights their religion, is not untrue.

It was neither taking on the West or a sharp criticism of it, but stating what had been going on far too long without anyone dare tell the West the stark fact of their stand vis-à- vis human rights devoid of love and generosity.

A Sri Lankan would understand the truth of it seeing how the West reacted to the elimination of terrorism by a strong willed government with its most patriotic Armed Forces-efficient and humanitarian, that the World had not seen before any where amoung even the Armed Forces of the mighty West.

Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has been nurtured in the peaceful Buddhist Culture of Sri Lanka and his religious views takes a greater dimension than those of the West. The Tamil political maniacs like Sumanthiran,Sampandan, Wigneswaran et al should learn a lesson from his Eminence the Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith., but they still remain leaning to barbarity of penance demanding Gods such as Kali.

The West already had a problem with a religion, as they had been denied the God of the Bible who had His own chosen people- the Israelites.

Beginning from the Romans who believed in oracles, the West wanted the belief in a God who is symbolic of both love and fear when they became conquerors to keep the conquered under control of an unseen God who keeps an eye on them. The religion they sought was for political exigencies than to satisfy a spiritual need. They were denied the Biblic God who had his own chosen people the Israelites.

The New Testament is alluded to Apostle Paul, but there are those who say that half of it is forged.

Others allude the writing of the New Testament to an aristocratic Roman Family Piso who wanted to keep,”………control over the masses and placate slaves….” It provided a son and a wife to the God of the Bible, which the Israelites refused to accept as it was a sacriiedge scandalising their God to have had a son from a virgin. (https://www.konformist.com/blasphemy/piso.htm)

The West had gone round the world conquering nations converting the indigen to their faith by threat of being burnt alive at stake those who refuse to accept their God. The unfortunate Inquisition that mars the Western civilization cannot be erased from history. Now the divine madness has gone to the heads of the ISIS who kill non-believers in the name of their God.

The West not wanting to Kill in the name of their God in whose name they become Santa Clauses for Christmas, has invented human rights as their new religion in order to kill to satisfy their urge to be the leaders of the World, undaunted by the presence of an all loving God..

The wealth of the West is spent in producing material to destroy the humanity. They are prompted in pursuing this destructive new spiritual adventure through their great desire, craving (tanha) for global power, moved by anger, hatred and jealousy (dosa)on the delusion (moha) that they are chosen” to be the global leaders.

UK and USA economic Sanctions are said to have caused the death of half a million children in Iraq. But has USA learnt any lessons from its grandiose imposition of sanctions. It has not. It continues its sanctions now on Iran and Russia. These sanctions and trade embargoes finally affect the people of the countries concerned and the West is least concerned with the suffering they endure to people through their political vengeance from the Governments.

(https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/mar/04/weekend7.weekend9

NATO forces in order to remove the Libyan Leader bombed Libya killing undeclared numbers of civilians. (https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/world/africa/scores-of-unintended-casualties-in-nato-war-in-libya.html)

In Libya alone massive bombing by the NATO Forces was the most destructive, with statistics that boggle the mind. It is worth reading these articles to understand the hypocrisy of the Godless West. In Sri Lanka the West refused to accept our” terrorists as such, instead treating them as freedom fighters”.

In a country there are always a small number of dissatisfied elements who are ready to take arms against the Authorities. They could be handled by the security forces of the country and bring them under control. But this becomes difficult when foreign forces of the West get hold of these dissatisfied elements and support them against the Governments to initiate Regime Change. This is what happened in Libya and Syria.

But in Sri Lanka fortunately under the Presidency of Mahinda Rajapakse the Foreign elements could not intervene in support of the terrorists. That resulted in the West going all out for a regime change in Sri Lanka in Cooperation with India, brining in Yahapalanaya which has become an alley of the West against its own country.

Under such circumstances, is it not justified that we question what civilised God the West with such disastrous mentalities follow? It cannot be the God the Christian Civilisation speaks about. Therefore His Eminence Archbishop Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith cannot be blamed for stating that the West has made Human Rights their new religion.

His Eminence added ..that the West needs not teach human rights to our island. We are a nation that has cherished human rights concept in our culture, in our religions: “They (the West) keep it on their heads and keep preaching to us saying human rights, human rights, as though it is something new. Human rights were found recently. If we can live in a correct manner there is no need for human rights. Those who do not practice religion are the ones who hang on human rights. We should not be deceived by these charms.”

The West tried its best with David Miliband, Bernard Kouchner, and Hillary Clinton trio to save the Sri Lanka terrorist leadership. Having failed they made Sri Lanka their major target of attack reducing a thirty year terrorism to just a week or two of the last phase of the elimination of terrorists to make it the vital period to accuse Sri Lanka Armed Forces for violation of Human rights, and war crimes.

Thus the most evident period of terrorism for which only the terrorists could be blamed has been deliberately left out, highlighting only the last phase where the terrorists had been brought under control and driven into a small area, and the Armed Forces took over the control of the terrorists. During that period the Armed Forces had evacuated nearly 300 000 thousand civilian Tamils kept as human shields by the terrorists, Any civilians that died during that period could have been by the haphazard gunfire by the terrorists in their last ditch fight to save themselves.

Nearly ten years after, the West is still trying to take revenge from Sri Lanka for eliminating ‘their” freedom fighters.-our terrorists.

Their new religion –the human rights has a Child Jesus”, which is Reconciliation, which they now keep harping on demanding Sri Lanka to hasten to the satisfaction of the Tamil polititians and the Tamils of the Diaspora..

The USA and the West having passed a resolution sponsored by a foolish Yahapalanaya Government which the West set up as their puppet regime, now wants Sri Lanka to reconcile with the terrorists to give them a separate Tamil only Province an Eelam, which was the Objective for which the Tamil terrorists terrorised Sri Lanka for thirty years.

UK State Minister Mark Field speaks out against Sri Lanka’s slow progress in its reconciliation with the Tamil politicians and the anti Sri Lanka Tamil Diaspora. Their Notre Dame of Human Rights” is the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, where the Tamil Trans National Government and Tamil Eelam which the former US Ambassador for Sri Lanka Robert O’Blake helped the Tamil Diaspora to organize, plays a major role against Sri Lanka .

While the UK State Minister Mark Field worries about slow progress of reconciliation in Sri Lanka, the Norwegian Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide commends Sri Lanka continuing to set an example to the world on Peace and Reconciliation. So what mored does the UK State Minister Mark Field want ?

The West is lost both spiritually and politically. They cannot check the rising of China both as a world leader politically and economically, but also as a military power.. That ascension of China was through friendly diplomacy, helping developing countries, providing them loans on low interest rates and respecting the Sovereignty of the countries without interfering into internal affairs of the countries.

Where as USA and the west interfered with the internal affairs of the developing countries giving loans to entrap them in debt, and thereby make use of those countries as states indebted to the West, for their own political, and economic gain.

The USA unable to compete with China accuses China of a « debt diplomacy” for taking over the Hambantota Harbour from Sri Lanka to use it extend China’s military power to the Indian Ocean. What does USA intend to do, Impose Sanctions or send their mighty warships to keep China in check ?

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Foreign sojourns of the President and the Prime Minister

October 9th, 2018

Sudath Gunasekara
8.10. 2018.

Could someone find out the details about the foreign trips President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinha have undertaken (separately) after they assumed Office in 2015.

Also the amount of public funds spent on these trips from government coffers and the benefits the country has got from these trips. Other than the sell outs in the form of PTAA etc and it would be interesting to make a cost benefit analysis of their trips. Of cause benefit to them and the country separately

It would also be interesting to how much they have spent on their heli tours inside the country and for what purpose they have gone

In my opinion the benefit to the country is almost zero. As for me their foreign sojourns are just like Neeros playing the fiddle while Rome was in fire. I wonder whether there is any country big and small they have not visited during these three years.

Now look this time both of them have gone out together when the whole country is on fire, Pm to Europe to get advice from those nations who have plundered this Island nation for centuries and continue to destroy and destabilize even now. The President on the last lap of his crazy foreign sojourns, on the other hand has gone to sychillese Islands a country with only 157.3 sq Km and about 70,000 people to improve bilateral trade and perhaps foreign assistance to rescue the Central Bank

The way they have been globetrotting alternatively competing against each other, while not doing anything at home to lift up the country other than infighting and taking revenge from their political opponents, that has been the hallmark of their 4 years of adventures miss-government. I propose this report should be tabled in Parliament and published so that the voters of this country will know how much pain their elected leaders have taken to develop the country and to improve living standards of the people.

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Questions for Human Rights Watch on Return of Land in Sri Lanka

October 9th, 2018

Sri Lanka Government slow to return land” says Human Rights Watch in an 80 page report titled Why can’t we go home”: Military occupation of land in Sri Lanka”. HRW refers to land owned only by Tamils & occupied only by the national army. This is a major faux pas on the part of a supposed to be unbiased rights organization.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia Director of HRW says all those displaced during Sri Lanka’s brutal civil war are entitled to return to their homes”.

Ms. Ganguly you need to correct your statement. Was there a civil war in Sri Lanka? NO.

There were no two communities fighting with each other to warrant ‘civil’ if it was civil why designate LTTE as a terrorist? Or what place does the LTTE if it is a civil war? How can the armed forces defeat LTTE if it is a civil war?

HRW mentions ‘civil war’ 2

Who does Ms. Gangulay classify as displaced during this conflict? We would like her to make clear about this.

Tamils
Muslims
Sinhalese
Or LTTE?

Despite repeated pledged by the authorities, the military has been frustratingly slow to restore land to its rightful owners”.

How certain is the HRW that these are rightful owners? Do they have land deeds? Do they have proof that they lived there for a minimum of 10 years which is a requirement to claim any right? No report and no human rights organization can demand a state to give any land if there has been no proof of anyone owning the land & occupying it.

Have HRW posed this question to the US, UK & NATO forces forcibly occupying not only lands but entire countries in their illegal military interventions?

This 80 page report is based on 100 interviews – who are these people being interviewed. Are they Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims or only LTTE?

So HRW finds fault in 300,000 people ending up in ‘military detention camp’ but it seems quite alright with LTTE herding these people for months to use as hostages/human shields. HRW & Ms. Ganguly being a lady should be wondering how the females & female children survived for months being dragged by the LTTE to all corners without proper clothing, sanitary welfare or sanitary items etc… why has no one highlighted these aspects when LTTE were taking these females with them? In what context can the HRW claim these camps to be ‘detention camps’ when the then government opened even banks inside the camp for the Tamils to deposit their gold, when tuition classes & extra curricular activities were arranged… HRW should not chirp anything that is being parroted by people trying to discredit the government that carried out a military offensive while saving close to 300,000 people – name any western army that has achieved such?

Ms. Ganguly’s attention is directed to the interview by HRW’s own Anna Neistat a senior researcher http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C3uYsnHIkw

Anna Neistat confirms that LTTE were not allowing civilians to leave, HRW had ‘documented cases where LTTE shot at peace trying to leave the area” – were these handed to the OISL or the UN? Can Ms. Ganguly please respond? She also states that LTTE placed their positions in front of the camps of the displaced persons & hospitals” – were these facts given by HRW to the Ban Ki Moon panel or the OISL?

The HRW also refers to military involved in non-military activity can HRW deny that the US army doesn’t have agricultural development teams? http://www.sciencediplomacy.org/article/2014/us-army-agriculture-development-teams

There are more than 330,000 civilian military employees (Army Civilian Service)

No land can be released simply because the President makes a proclamation to please the international community until it is proved that it has a civilian ownership.

Every government has the right to declare areas as national security & no one can question their right to do so. Does HRW question military deployments by US in any parts of the world & demand these be returned to the rightful owners? Does HRW question the placement of US, NATO or UK troops in the status of forces agreements? So why only Sri Lanka, is it because Sri Lanka has weak & meek leaders and anyone can bully them into appeasing?

HRW must realize that the initial decision to set up camps in the North & East were to quell illegal immigration & transportation of illegal items from Tamil Nadu & other areas of India. Today, because of the bullying to reduce camps & virtually putting the fear of the devil into our brave soldiers the Mannar area has become a paradise for illicit drugs & illicit items coming in from Kerala & Tamil Nadu – is this what those who want to remove naval & military deployment want. We are well aware that the Mannar / Puttalam areas where encroachments are taking place is strategically close to the Malwatu Oya basin the cradle of our civilization. To weaken our defences & allow any miscreants to enter the country? Wouldn’t that give the justification for countries to declare ‘terrorists’ have arrived & land to save our people just like these countries landed to liberate the Libyans, liberate the Iraqis & supposed to be liberating the Syrians and look at the bloody mess these countries are in.

Who is this Francis Crooss that the HRW is quoting. Who has prevented him from going back home? Firstly where is his home? And why can’t he go back? Well he may not be able to go back if he has been involved in LTTE as the people in some of th villages in the North & East are now taking out their anger on the LTTE for their suffering. Velvettiturai recently went to the streets to protest against Sivajilingam putting up a commemoration stone for a dead LTTEr so we can now see the Tamils are now becoming braver and feel no fear of the LTTE or their stooges any more.

Its interesting that HRW mentions 1990 – this is the very year that the Muslims & Sinhalese were chased out of the North by LTTE. Why has HRW not mentioned a single Muslim or Sinhalese by name. HRW is not paid to look into the interests of only the Tamils in this case it is not even Tamils but LTTE families. Every interview statement HRW makes is purposely directed to convey that GOSL has stolen the lands, the Army is not giving the lands & no mention is made about the LTTE forcibly chasing Muslims & Sinhalese & confiscating their lands.

So tell us HRW – thousands of Muslims & Sinhalese were chased out by the LTTE. What happened to their homes, their property & their lands? Who owns them? LTTE & their families? So are you going to help these Muslims & Sinhalese get back their lost lands, lost homes & lost properties?

Many of these Muslims & Sinhalese had been living in the North even before independence & they had sent their grievances with proof to the UNHRC for the OISL investigation. Where are their grievances – in the UNHRC OISL dustbin? Why have no recommendations for the return of these people being made?

It is interesting that HRW has documented cases of properties destroyed by the military ‘after the war’ and they claim to have included hindu temples, churches, mosques & even Buddhist shrines…have they done the same for all structures destroyed by LTTE? Has HRW documented the many Buddhist archaeological sites that are being bulldozed by TNA MPs in kilinochchi, mullaitivu & other areas of the North with even the Government being totally silent about it. Can HRW watch produce these cases & why have they not documented all of the renovations done by the army after the conflict on kovils, churches, mosques & Buddhist shrines?

HRW to be credible must take up credible cases with honesty. Yes, the government has to be pressurized into looking after displaced people, but this has to be genuine cases of displaced. Let HRW not neglect to acknowledge that the LTTE defacto rule of the north was severe upon not high caste Tamils but to low caste & poor Tamils. It was from these homes that they plucked children to turn into child soldiers, it was to their towns that the LTTE denied electricity & basic comforts, not even a radio was allowed to be used because the people would realize what the LTTE were doing elsewhere in the country. The LTTE had guns, their cadres were wicked, their families thought they were the cats whiskers & they bullied all other non-LTTE Tamils. Just imagine the scenario of how people would have suffered.

The HRW refers to partial release’ what exactly are they trying to convey – how certain is the HRW of Tamils not being displaced by LTTE for their military manoevres? How many Tamils would have been chased out or killed simply for LTTE to set up their camps – where is the documentation on this or does HRW not wish to tabulate these?

In the manner that the HRW has quoted the supposed to be Sinhalese displaced it is quite interesting that the blame is only pointed at the army so we can but raise an eyebrow as to who chose these ‘witness victims’ & the veracity of their allegations especially in the light of LTTE not being accused of confiscating lands & property that are today occupied by LTTE families.

Can we have success stories of HRW providing relief to Iraqi’s, Libyans, Syrians, Afghans, Haitians, Somalians and a whole list of other countries where US, UK & NATO troops as well as their sponsored armed ‘rebel’ groups who are trying to dislodge governments & place puppets in power where the people are displaced, their lands have been taken & they are living in ‘concentration camps’ or ‘detention centres’ – how much relief has HRW provided these with examples please

Shenali D Waduge

LTTE war crimes: Another witness – Anna Neistat of HRW

https://www.onlanka.com/news/ltte-war-crimes-another-witness-anna-neistat-of-human-rights-watch.html

http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/SL-Government-slow-to-return-land-HRW-156620.html

Living in Fear : Child soldiers & the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka – https://www.hrw.org/report/2004/11/10/living-fear/child-soldiers-and-tamil-tigers-sri-lanka

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Questions for the Office of Missing Persons /Reparations Sri Lanka

October 9th, 2018

A lot of people are coming forward to give their expert opinions on how the war should have been fought. You wonder at times, where were all these people when LTTE were carrying out suicide attacks, assassinations & bombing missions throughout 3 decades. Why could they have not come out with all these templates for conflict resolution & solutions before people were getting killed? Where were they & what role did they play when LTTE were on a killing rampage. Every penny that should have gone to develop Sri Lanka was diverted to fighting terror. Why is LTTE not being held accountable for this?

LTTE evolved into a global network – LTTE comprised not just the leader Prabakaran, his ground force but LTTE had its representatives placed overseas and throughout the country who were handling logistics, propaganda, promotion & communication, financing & illegal & legal activities which generated the funds for them to fight, maintain their cadres, buy over influential people to speak on behalf of them & carry out bogus humanitarian/charity initiatives that would camouflage & cover their true colours. None of the people who were covertly & overtly involved in these activities are being investigated and no one seems to be wanting to hold them to account for their aiding & abetting terror, top on the list is TNA that LTTE created to be its political wing.

Advertising agencies will be funded to come up with fancy slogans & initiatives but how much of these cover the truth

Can the Office of Missing Persons/Office of Reparations tell us

How can people ever return to their original state when half of the story is kept hidden? When the culpabilities of the culprits are swept under the carpet, when people who openly promoted & spoke on behalf of LTTE terrorists get away without any accountability?

Who should be paid compensation – certainly not LTTE cadres or their families. How can the Office of Reparations be certain that the people they are recommending for compensation had zero links with the LTTE? Anyone with links to LTTE cannot be privy to state compensation without being charged for their murders

Rehabilitation of LTTE cadres was done by the previous government under a locally-designed program and many LTTE cadres & child soldiers returned to normal lives & their families & some were even able to complete their studies & start a living. None of these efforts can reduce or dilute the State’s obligation to look after the war heroes who sustained life-long injuries having sacrificed their lives to fight the enemy. People who were literarily hiding under the bed in fear of LTTE have no business to talk like lions after LTTE has been defeated & find fault with how the army ended LTTE. If not for the Armed Forces we would still be living in fear of bombs going off & suicide missions

The public of Sri Lanka do not require to make any apology to anyone except the war heroes if we have neglected to look after them & for the silence in the manner they are being hurled into prison without charges against them & denied bail & even their salaries. While they are being treated like this the government is more than happy to offer blanket amnesties for the terrorists. How fair is this & no righteous citizen can agree to the manner the government is following double standards. Whatever said and done the national army deserves a special place above an internationally banned terrorist movement that has not been held accountable for its crimes over 30 years.

If there is to be any Truth Commission at all every name & individual/organization etc that had links to LTTE must be named & shamed with the assurance that legal action would be taken against them for aiding & abetting terror

LTTE & their families cannot be accepted as victims. Therefore reparations must be given Only to every non-LTTE linked Tamil, non-LTTE linked Sinhalese, non-LTTE liked Muslim, non-LTTE linked Burgher. No civilian who was part of the LTTE civilian brigade can be given compensation, no civilian that took part in hostilities & died can be given compensation & their families are not entitled to compensation either, no LTTE who fought in civilian clothing & died can be given compensation, no LTTE who fought & died can be given compensation, no LTTEr running to foreign shores & in hiding, taking false identity & pretending to be a missing civilian is entitled to compensation either,

Any Tamil civilian killed by LTTE trying to flee LTTE should realistically be looked after by the LTTE fronts who are having a whale of a time enjoying the LTTE kitty.

So far no one has been able to give us numbers as to who & how many were actually killed & by whom

How many did LTTE kill in the last phase
How many did the Armed Forces kill in the last phase – how many of these were LTTE cadres & how many were real civilians (not involved in any form of LTTE act)
How many of the close to 300,000 saved by the Armed Forces were LTTE, were civilians who helped LTTE & were real civilians who took no part in LTTE terror acts
How many people actually died – we know the number of dead in the army during the final phase but the common allegation is that there are 40,000 dead non Army – but no one has produced 40,000 names or details of the dead & th Office of Missing/Reparations have no right to be giving blanket cheques of compensation without ascertaining who is who!
How many LTTE cadres died fighting in civilian clothing – none of these can be given any compensation.
How many in LTTE’s civilian brigade died in combat – none of these can be given any compensation too.

No government can force the tax payer to pay compensation to terrorists.
No public officials who are paid to do their duty honorably & with integrity can make recommendations WITHOUT giving us a proper breakdown & details of those they claim as civilians. These public officials have no business to give terrorists compensation from public funds.
No public official can recommend compensation without holding LTTE to book for their crimes in particular when there are calls for tribunals against the national army who were only defending the nation & its citizens.
No public official can deem their job well done simply by writing blanket cheques & forgiving every LTTE but charging after the armed forces! There cannot be retributive justice to the Armed Forces & Restorative Justice to the LTTE. LTTE were the non-state actors, banned by 32 nations & Sri Lanka who had committed criminal acts over 30 years these have to be taken up first before the allegations targeted at the armed forces. If there are allegations against the armed forces the military must be given these allegations & asked to hold a military trial & if based on reliable evidence & guilt proven beyond doubt is established against any soldier & no action is taken by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, only then should alternate action be recommended.

Therefore, moving forward the Missing Persons Office/Reparations Office must realize that the victims of the conflict are NOT ONLY TAMILS, NOT ONLY LTTE as is the common notion that we are forced to believe & accept.

Tamils died not by Sri Lanka Armed Forces alone. LTTE killed plenty of Tamils and some of these Tamils were noteable & valuable persons to Sri Lankan society the name of Lakhsman Kadiragamar is one such.

The real victims are the people that the illegal armed groups targeted & killed. Their rights should be looked into first. Their grievances should be addressed first NOT those of the LTTE or their families.

NO story can close without justice being served. Justice must be not only said to be done but be seen to be done as well. Therefore, the real victims must be looked after first. The real victims are NOT the LTTE, Not the LTTE families, Not the families of people linked to LTTE.

What the Office of Missing & Reparations cannot forget is that even foreign intelligence have acknowledged that the LTTE ideology & LTTE international networks are functioning still inspite of LTTE defeat. We know by the manner that the banned LTTE fronts are functioning even inside the UN & among UNHRC officials that money is a strong influencer in the inaction of authorities against them. Over and above this it is the representatives of these fronts that are meeting not only our government representatives by foreign envoys & UN officials but are making the identical demands made by LTTE and endorsed by the Tamil political leadership. In such a scenario it is quit laughable that we are extending the laurel which the demands of the LTTE & the separatist demands of the Tamil leadership continues.

Let us not live in any fairyland & create more problems that cannot be solved. We believe that officials given public roles & paid by the state are paid to protect the interests of the country & the citizens and not the elements trying to divide or separate the country.

Shenali D Waduge

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බුද්ධ චීවරය සහ ජම්පරය

October 9th, 2018

විමල් පටබැඳිගේ(ශාස්ත්‍රවේදි, නීතීඥ සහ විශ්‍රාමික සොලිසිටර්)

දැනට වසර තුනක පමණ කාලයක සිට භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ විශාල පිරිසක් බැඳුම්කර මත (ඇප මත) මුදාහැරීම නොකොට රණෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කිරීම, අධිකරණය කි්‍රයාවලියට යටත් කිරීම සහ බරපතල වැඩ සහිත දැඩි ද`ඩුවම් පමුණුවා බන්ධනාගාරයට යැවීම සුලබ කරුණක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. ඉන් වැඩි පිරිසක් පොලීසිය මගින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන අධිකරණ කි්‍රයාවලියට යටත් කොට ඇත්තේ දණ්ඩනීති සංග්‍රහයේ දැක්වෙන ඇප දීමට නොහැකි මහා බරපතල අපරාධ කිරීම නිසා හෝ අල්ලස් ගැනීම්, කොමිස් ගැනීම්, රාජ්‍ය මුදල් ගසාකෑම්, මහජන දේපල අවභාවිතය, මත් ද්‍රව්‍ය විකිණීම වැනි මහා අපරාධ කිරීම නිසා නොවේ. රටේ යහපත වෙනුවෙන්, රටවැසියාගේ වර්තමාන සහ අනාගත යහපත වෙනුවෙන්, බෞද්ධයන්ට සහ බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථානවලට සිදු කෙරෙන අපරාධවලට එරෙහිව සහ රටේ ඒකීය භාවය රැකගැනීමට දිවි පරදුවට තබා ත්‍රස්තවාදය මර්ධනය කොට රටවැසියාට සාමය උදා කළ රණවිරුවන් සිරගත කිරීමේ අසාධාරණයට එරෙහිව අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම නිසාය. ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විග්‍රහ කිරීම හෝ විවේචනය කිරීම මෙහි අරමුණ නොවේ.

අධිකරණයට අපහාස කිරීමේ වරදක් සිදු කරන ලදැයි චෝදනා නගා නඩුව විමසා වරදකරු කොට 2018 අගෝස්තු මස 8 වෙනි දින භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමක් බරපතල වැඩ සහිතව වසර දහනවයක (19) ද`ඩුවමක් නියම කොට වසර හයකට සිරගත කරන ලදී. නඩු තීන්දුවට එරෙහිව අභියාචනයක් කරනු ලැබූ විට බැඳුම්කරයක් මත (ඇප මත) වරදකරු මුදා හැරීම සහ නඩු තීන්දුව කි්‍රයාත්මක කිරීම තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීම යුක්ති ධර්මයට අනුකූල අධිකරණමය පියවරකි. එහෙත් අභියාචනයක් ගොනු කොට මාස දෙකක පමණ දිගු කලක් ගත වී ඇත ද එය සලකා බැලීම ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය විසින් 28.09.2018 දිනයේ ද 05.10.2018 දිනට කල් තැබූ බව වාර්තා වී ඇත. (මේ නඩුවේ පැමිණිලිකරු අධිකරණයේ නිලධාරියෙකි. චෝදනාව අධිකරණයට අපහාස කිරීම ය. නඩුව මෙහෙය වූයේ අධිකරණ නිලධාරියෙකි. සාක‍ෂිකරුවන් සියලූදෙනාම වාගේ අධිකරණ නිලධාරීන් ය. විනිශ්චය කළේ අධිකරණ නිලධාරීන් විසිනි. තමන්ගේ නඩුව තමන් ම අසා තීන්දු කොට ද`ඩුවම් කිරීමට අදාල මූලධර්මයක් ස්වභාව යුක්ති ධර්මය තුළ ස්ථාපිතව ඇත. මෙවැනි නඩු පිළිබඳ කි්‍රයා පරිපාටියේ යම් අඩුපාඩුවක් ඇති බව මට සිතේ.) මින් පෙර ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ zබලූ නඩු තීන්දුZ ගැන කියමින් අධිකරණය විවේචනය කළ ඇමැතියෙකු වසර දෙකකට සිරගෙට යවන ලද බව මතකය. එසේම මෑතක ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡා පවත්වමින් සමස්ථ අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය පමණක් නොව විනිශ්චයකරුවන් පවා අපහාසයට ලක් කළ, නීති සම්පාදනය කරන, ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකයේ නියෝජිත ඇමැති තනතුරක් දරණ අයෙකුට එරෙහි නඩුව දෙස රට වැසියා අවධානයෙන් බලා සිටියි.

ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ නඩු තීන්දුවත් සමගම භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේගේ සිවුර ගලවා zජම්පරයZ ඇන්දවීම ගැන මහා කලබැගෑනියක් ඇති විය. අබෞද්ධයන්ගේ ඩොලර්, පවුම්, ක්‍රෝන, ප්‍රෑන්ක් ආදී මුදල්වලින් යැපෙන, සිංහල බෞද්ධ විරෝධී භඨධ නඩය පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡා පවත්වමින් zජම්පරයZ ඇන්දවීමට කෑමොරගැසීය. ඊටත් වඩා පුදුමය නම් ආණ්ඩුවේ බන්ධනාගාර භාර ඇමති තනතුර දරණ, බෞද්ධයන්ගේ ඡන්දය ලබා ගත්, බෞද්ධ කාන්තාවක බව කියනු ලබන තැනැත්තිය සහ ටික කලකට පෙර ජනපති පදවිය දැරූ තැනැත්තිය සහ තවත් අන්‍යාගමික ඇමතියෙක් ඒ භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේට ජම්පරය ඇන්දවිය යුතු බව ප්‍රසිද්ධයේ ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමය. එය නියමිත බන්ධනාගාර ඇඳුම බව කීමට හැකි ය.
අප අමතක නොකළ යුතු දෙයක් ඇත. එනම් භික‍ෂුන් වහන්සේගේ සිවුර ගැලවීමට නියෝගයක් අධිකරණ තීන්දුවේ නැත. එසේම මගේ දැනීම අනුව එවැනි නියෝගයක් කිරීමට අධිකරණයට නීතිමය බලයක් නැත. එපමණක් නොව භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකුගේ සිවුර ගැලවීමට නිලධාරියෙකුට හෝ කිසිම ගිහියෙකුට අයිතියක් හෝ බලයක් නැත. කාලිංගමාඝගෙන් හෝ අරිට්ටකීවෙන්ඩුගෙන් හෝ බයිනේත්තුව සහ බයිබලය අතට ගෙන වෙහෙර විහාර කඩා බිඳ දමමින් බෞද්ධ සංහාරයක යෙදුනු බටහිර ආක්‍රමණිකයාගෙන් පැවතෙන්නෙකු හැර බෞද්ධයෙකු එවැනි බලයක් තමන් අතට ගන්නේ නැත.

වැරදි කරන භික‍ෂූන්ගේ සිවුරු ඉවත් කොට සුදු රෙදි අන්දවා ආරාමයෙන් බැහැර කිරීමට භික‍ෂූන්ටම පවරා තමන් ඒ කටයුතුවලට මැදිහත් නොවූ බව ධර්මාශෝක රජුගේ සෙල්ලිපි හෙළි කරයි. බි්‍රතාන්‍යයන්ගෙන් නිදහස් වීමට කළ 1817-1818 විමුක්ති සටන මර්දනය කොට අත්අඩංගවට ගත්, බි්‍රතාන්‍යයන්ට මහා අභියෝගයක් වූ වාරියපොල සුමංගල හිමියන්ගේ සිවුර ගැලවීමට බි්‍රතාන්‍ය හමුදා අධිකරණය දැ`ගලූවේ නැත. එසේම දෙවෙනි ලෝක යුද්ධය සමයේ බි්‍රතාන්‍යයට විරුද්ධ වූයේ යZයි සිරගත කරන ලද උඩකැන්දෙවෙල සරණංකර හිමියන්ගේ සිවුර ගැලවීම කළේ නැත.
මේ සියල්ලටම වඩා වැදගත් පූර්වාදර්ශයක් ලංකාවේ බි්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිකරණ පද්ධතිය තුළින්ම අපට ලබා ගැනීමට හැකිය. උපන්ගෙයි බෞද්ධයෙකු වෙන ජනපතිටත්, කි්‍රස්තියානි සම්බන්ධයක් ඇති එහෙත් පන්සලේ දායක සභාවේ තනතුරු දරණ අගමැතිටත්, බෞද්ධ අබෞද්ධ අනෙකුත් සියලූම මැති ඇමැතියන්ටත් ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යය නියෝජනය කරන එක් ආයතනයක් වෙන ස්වාධීන අධිකරණ සංස්ථාවේ සියලූම සාමාජිකයන්ටත් අබෞද්ධ බි්‍රතාන්‍යයන් දී ඇති අධිකරණමය පූර්වාදර්ශය වැදගත් පාඩමක් වෙනු ඇතැZයි මට සිතෙයි.

මෙය 1830 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 6 වෙනි දින හෝ ඊට පෙර දින කුරුණෑගල විනිසුරු (එකල නඩු විනිශ්චය භාර බි්‍රතාන්‍ය නිලධාරියා හඳුවනු ලැබුවේ Judicial Agent යනුවෙනි.) එක්තරා භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකු වරදකරු කොට දෙන ලද නඩු තීන්දුවක් සම්බන්ධයෙනි. සොරකම සහ අසත්‍ය දිවුරුම් ප්‍රකාශයක් කිරීම මේ හිමියන්ට එරෙහි චෝදනා විය. නඩුව විනිශ්චය කිරීමේ සාමාජිකයන් ලෙස සිටි තක්සේරුකරුවන්ගේ ඉල්ලීම මත විනිසුරු ඒ භික‍ෂූන් වහනසේගේ සිවුරු ගැලවීමට ද`ඩුවමේ කොටසක් ලෙස තීන්දු කළේය. (රජයේ රැකියාවකට, අඩුම තරමින් කාර්යාල පිරිසිදු කරන්නෙකුගේ රැකියාවකට පවා පත් කරනු ලැබුවේ කි්‍රස්තියානි භක්තිකයන් ය. එකල ඉංගිරිසි හැර වෙනත් භාෂාවක් භාවිත නොකළ කාර්යාලවල, උසාවිවල භාෂා පරිවර්තකයන්, දිවුරුම් ප්‍රකාශ සකස් කරන්නන් වූයේ ඉන්දියාවේ මලබාර් ප්‍රදේශයෙන් සහ කොරමණ්ඩල ප්‍රදේශයෙන් ගෙනෙන ලද ද්‍රවිඩ කි්‍රස්තියානි භක්තිකයන් ය.) ඉතා දැඩි සිංහල බෞද්ධ මර්ධනයක් පැවති එකල මේ භික‍ෂූන් වහනසේට එරෙහි චෝදනා ගැන හෝ සිවුර ගැලවීමේ තීන්දුව ගැන නොව අධිකරණමය පූර්වාදර්ශය ගැන අවධානය යොමු කරමි.

ද`ඩුවමේ කොටසක් ලෙස භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේගේ සිවුර ගැලවීමට තීන්දු කළ ද ඒ ද`ඩුවම කි්‍රයාත්මක කිරීම පිළිබඳව ගැට`ඵවක් විය. එබැවින් කුරුණෑගල විනිසුරු (අධිකරණ නියෝජිත) 1830 සැප්තැම්බර් 6 වෙනි දින, භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේගේ නම සඳහන් නොකොට, අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස්ගේ (Judicial Commissioner) උපදෙස් පැතීය. අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් 8 වෙනි දින ලිඛිතව කුරුණෑගල අධිකරණ නියෝජිතට දුන් උපදෙස් සහ මග පෙන්වීම අද පමණක් නොව මතුවට ද භික‍ෂූන් වහනසේගේ සිවුරු ගැලවීමට කෑමොර දෙන අයට ද මග පෙන් වීමකි.

නඩු විභාගය අවසාන වූ වහාම ද`ඩුවම කි්‍රයාත්මක කළ යුතු බැවින් ද`ඩුවමට යටත් වෙන භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ අයත් වෙන නුවර අස්ගිරි විහාර පාර්ශවයට හෝ මල්වතු විහාර පර්ශවයට සම්බන්ධ, සත් කෝරළේ අනු නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ පන්සලට රැගෙන ගොස් ඒ අනු නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ විසින් උපැවිදි කරවීමට සලස්වන ලෙසත්, මේ තත්වය පිළිබඳව උන්වහන්සේගේ ආසන්නම ප්‍රධානියා වෙන නුවර මහා නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේට වාර්තා කරන ලෙස අනු නායක හිමියන්ට දැනුම් දෙන ලෙසත් ඉන් පසුව නඩු තීන්දුවේ ඉතිරි ද`ඩුවම් කි්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමට හැකිZZ බවත් කුරුණෑගල අධිකරණ නියෝජිතට අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් විසින් උපදෙස් දීම සහ මග පෙන්වීම කරන ලදී. (අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් දුන් මේ උපදෙස් ඉතා වැදගත් කරුණක් තහවුරු කරයි. එනම් අධිකරණ තීන්දුවක් මගින් නියෝග කරනු ලැබුව ද කිසිම නිලධාරියෙකු විසින් හෝ ගිහියෙකු විසින් භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමකගේ සිවුරු ගැලවීම හෝ උපැවිදි කිරීම නො කළ යුතු බව සහ එසේ කිරීමට නො හැකි බව සහ අයිතියක් නැති බවයි.)

මින් පසුව, අධිකරණයේ පිහිට පතන පර්ශ්වකරුවන්ගේ නඩු ඇසීමේදී අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ඉතා දීර්ඝ රීති මාලාවක් (Rules for Administering Justice) අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් විසින් දිවයිනේ සියලූ ම විනිසුරුවන් (අධිකරණ නියෝජිතයන්) වෙත නිකුත් කරන ලදී. බුදුන් වහන්සේ දේශනා කළ සූත්‍ර පිටකය, විනය පිටකය සහ ඊට අදාල අට්ඨකථා පදනම් කොට ගෙන මේ රීති මාලාව සකස් කොට ඇත. ඒ රීති මාලාව ඉතා දීර්ඝ එකක් බැවින් ඒ රීති එකින් එක දැක්වීමට අදහස් නො කරමි. එහෙත් ඒ රීති මාලාවේ පූර්විකාවක් ලෙස දක්වා ඇති, විනිසුරන්ට (අධිකරණ නියෝජිතයන්ට) දී ඇති උපදෙස් අද පවා අධිකරණ ෙක‍ෂ්ත්‍රයේ විනිසුරන්ට පමණක් නොව අධිකරණ සහායකයන් වෙන අන් සියලූ දෙනාට ම වැදගත් යයි හැෙ`ගන බැවින් උපුටා දැක්වීම සුදුසුයයි සිතමි.

“විනිසුරුවරයෙකු යුක්තිය පසිඳලීමේ දී ආදරය, වෛරය, බිය හෝ නොදැනුවත්කම, නූගත්කම, නොසැලකිල්ල හේතුවෙන් යුක්තිය නොසළකා හැරීම නිසා ඔහුගේ පිරිපුන් බව, සමෘධිමත් බව, දියුණුව අව පක‍ෂයේ චන්ද්‍රයා මෙන් ක්‍රමයෙන් හීන වෙයි.

එහෙත් විනිසුරු ආදරය හෝ ද්වේෂය, බිය හෝ නොදැනුවත්කම, නූගත්කම, නොසැලකිල්ල නිසා යුක්ති ධර්මයෙන්, සාධාරණත්වයෙන් බැහැර නොවේ ද ඔහුගේ පිරිපුන් බව, සමෘධිය, කීර්තිය පුරපස චන්ද්‍රයා මෙන් දියුණු වෙයි.

විනිසුරු යුක්ති ධර්මය නොසලකා හරිනු ලැබේ ද එසේම යුක්ති ධර්මයේ රීතිවලින් බැහැර වෙන්නේ ද නීත්‍යනුකූල අයිතිකරුට හෝ උරුමකරුට අගතියක් හානියක් කෙරෙන නඩු තීන්දුව ව්‍යාජ පැමිණිලිකරුගේ වාසියට දෙනු ලැබේ ද,

විනිසුරු ඥාතිත්වයෙන් මිත්‍රත්වයෙන් පොළඹවන ලද දයාව හෝ ආදරය නිසා හෝ ලබාදෙන ලද ලාභ ප්‍රයෝජන සඳහා කළගුණ සැලකීම වශයෙන් නඩුවේ එකී පාර්ශ්වයේ වාසියට නඩු තීන්දුව දෙනු ලැබේ ද,

විනිසුරු පෞද්ගලික ද්වේෂය, වෛරය නිසා හෝ පර්ශ්වකරුවන්ගෙන් එක් අයෙකුගේ බිහිසුණු සහ නපුරු, දුෂ්ට කල්කිරියාවෙන් ඇති කරන ලද, පොළඹවන ලද බිය නිසා නඩු තීන්දු දෙනු ලැබේ ද,

විනිසුරු නඩුවේ පාර්ශවකරුවෙකු රජයේ, ආණ්ඩුවේ බලගතු පුද්ගලයෙකු වීම හේතුවෙන් පොළඹවනු ලැබීමෙන් ඇති කරන ලද බිය නිසා නඩු තීන්දු දෙනු ලැබේ ද,

විනිසුරු නො දැනුවත්කම, නොසැලකිල්ල නිසා යුක්තිය බැහැර කරනු ලැබී නම්, එනම් බුදුන් වහන්සේගේ දේශනා තුළින් විස්තර කොට, පැහැදිලි කොට උගන්වා ඇති නීති විද්‍යාව (Science of Jurisprudence) පිළිබඳව නිසි ලෙස දැනීමක් නො ලැබීමෙන් නඩු තීන්දු දෙනු ලැබේ ද,
එවැනි අසාධාරණ විනිශ්චයකරු=ගේ සමෘද්ධිය, අනුගාමික පිරිවර ජනයා සහ කීර්තිය අවපස චන්ද්‍රයා මෙන් ක්‍රමයෙන් මිය යන්නේය. ඒ නිසා ගිහියෙකු හෝ පැවිද්දෙකු හෝ වේවා, විනිසුරු, එවැනි සාපරාධී ලෙස කරන ලද විනිශ්චය තුළින් ඔහුගේ සමෘද්ධිය, සම්පත් සහ බලයේ විනාශය තමන් ම සනිටුහන් කෙරෙයි.

එසේම සියලූ අගතිවලින් හෝ දුරාචාරයන්ගෙන් තොර සාධාරණ විනිසුරුගේ විනිශචයන් තුළින්, දිනෙන් දින විශාල වෙන, පුරපස චන්ද්‍රයාගේ දීප්තිය නො නැවතී පැතිර යාම හා සමානව ඒ විනිසුරුගේ කීර්තිය, ප්‍රශංසාව සහ ගෞරවය ක්‍රමයෙන් වැඩි දියුණු වෙයි.

එසේ හෙයින් ඥානවන්ත විනිසුරු පහත සඳහන් යුක්තිය පසිඳලීමේ රීතිවලට අනුකූලව නිරන්තරයෙන් ම කි්‍රයා කිරීම කළ යුතු වෙයි.

(ලංකාවේ බි්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් විසින් දැනට වසර 188 ක පමණ කාලයකට පෙර (1830) සූත්‍ර පිටකය, විනය පිටකය සහ ඒ සම්බන්ධ අටුවා කථා පරිශීලනය කොට පුරවැසියන්ගේ යහපත සඳහා සකස් කරන ලද රීති මාලාව ඉතා දීර්ඝ නිසා මෙහි ඇතුළත් නොකරමි. එහෙත් ශී්‍ර ලංකා ශ්‍රේෂඨාධිකරණය, අධිකරණ සේවා කොමිසම සහ විනිසුරන් පුහුණු කරන ආයතනය එම රීති මාලාව පරිශීලනය කොට සුදුසු පරිදි විනිසුරුවන් දැනුවත් කරන්නේ නම් අධිකරණ සේවාවක පවතින ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍යයේ අගය තහවුරු වෙනු ඇත.)

එසේම, විනිශ්චය අතරතුර විනිසුරු කි්‍රයා කළ යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳව ද අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් තව දුරටත් උපදෙස් දෙයි:
විනිසුරු අසුනේ සිටින

• විනිසුරු උඩගු නොවිය යුතුය හෝ අහංකාර, ගර්විත නොවිය යුතුය.
• එසේම විනිසුරු භික‍ෂූ සංඝයාට හෝ රජුට අවඥාසහිත නොවිය යුතුය. හෝ අවිනීත, උඩ`ගු නොවිය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු යහපත් දෙයින් සතු=ටු වෙන බවට හෝ අයහපත් දෙයින් නොසතුටු වෙන බවට පත් නොවිය යුතුය, එහෙත් යහපත් සහ අයහපත් දෙය ගැන උපේක‍ෂාසහගත විය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු දොඩමලූ, වාචාල නොවිය යුතුය. එසේම වැදගම්මකට නැති වචන ප්‍රකාශ නොකළ යුතුය. එහෙත් අදාල වෙන සහ අවශ්‍ය වෙන දේ පමණක් කිව යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු අයහපත්, නපුරු දේ ගැන නොසිතිය යුතුය. එහෙත් යහපත් දේ කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තු විය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකු පැමිණිලිකරු වෙනවිට උන්වහන්සේගේ ආචාර්යවරයා කවුරුන් ද, උපාධ්‍යායන් කවුරුන් ද, උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවක් බවට පත් කළේ කවුරුන් විසින් ද, උන් වහන්සේගේ ශිෂ්‍යයන් කවුරුන් ද ආදි වශයෙන් අනුකම්පා උපදවන ලෙස විමසීම් නොකළ යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු තද බව සහ මෘදු බව සුදුසු, ඔබින අවස්ථාවන්හි පැහැදිලිව දැක්විය යුතුය.
• පරීක‍ෂණ කිරීමේදී, විනිසුරු කරුණාන්විත විය යුතු අතර යහපත කිරීමට සිතා ගත යුතුය. දැඩි, නපුරු ද`ඩුවමක් පැවරීමේ කැමැත්තකින් පොළඹවනු නොලැබිය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු කෝපයෙන්, උදහසින් සහ පමණ ඉක්මවා ගිය නොඉවසිලිමත් බවෙන් නොව ශාන්තව සහ මෘදු ලෙස නඩු විභාගය පැවැත්විය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු විනිශ්චය මණ්ඩලය තුළ කණට කොඳුරා හෝ රහසින් කථාකිරීම හෝ ඍජු නොවූ බැල්මෙන් බැලීම නොකළ යුතුය. එවැන්නකට ඉඩ නොදිය යුතුය, නොඉවසිය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු පැමිණිලිකරුවන් වෙත බරපතල ලෙස ඇසිපිය හෙළීම හෝ හිස සෙලවීම නොකළ යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු ඔලූව වැනීමෙන් හෝ ඇහිබැම හැකිලීමෙන් හෝ ඔහුගේ හැ`ගීම්, අදහස් අනුමාන කිරීමට අවස්ථාව නොසැලසිය යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු ඔහුගේ බැල්ම බඹයක පමණ දුරකට සීමා කළ යුතුය. එසේම එම දුරින් එහාට කිසිම දිසාවක ඇති දෙයක් කෙරෙහි ඕනෑකමින් බලා නොසිටිය යුතුය. බැල්ම දිගු නොකළ යුතුය.
• විනිසුරු අයිතිවාසිකම් දක්වන පුද්ගලයන්ගේ සහ කෛරාටික බවට සහ බොරු කියන බවට හඳුනාගෙන ඇති අයගේ ප්‍රකාශ පරීක‍ෂා කිරීමේදී තමන්ගත් මතයෙහි හෝ කි්‍රයාමාර්ගයෙහි එල්බ සිටීමේ පරිස්සම්කාරී විය යුතුය.
• එහෙත්, විනිසුරු සත්‍යවාදී සහ කපටි කමෙන් තොර අය සහ අවංකභාවය, නිවටකම සහ නූගත් කම නිසා කලබලයට පත්වූ, වික‍ෂිප්තවූ සහ බයාදු, ලජ්ජා සහිත අය ප්‍රශ්ණ කිරීමේදී පි්‍රයශීලී සහ මෘදු වීම සුදුසුය. කාරුණික වචනවලින් උනන්දු කළ යුතු ය.
• මේ සියල්ලට අමතරව යහපත් විනිසුරු වෙනත් යහපත් ගුණාංගයන්ගෙන් සම්පන්න විය යුතු වෙයි.
• එසේම විනිසුරු බුදුන්ගේ ශ=ද්ධ දේශනාවලින්, එහි අන්තර්ගතයෙන් සහ ඒ හා සම්බන්ධ අටුවා විවරණ වලින් ඉදිරිපත් කොට ඇති නියමයන් දැඩි ලෙස අනුගමනය කළ යුතුය.

ඒ සඳහා මෙසේ නියම කරනු ලැබේ.

“උත්සාහවන්ත, අනලස් විනිසුරු සූත්‍ර සහ විනය සහ ඒවායේ ප්‍රකාශන සහ අටුවාවලින් දක්වා ඇති රීතීවලට දැඩි අනුකූලතාවයකින් යුතුව යුක්තිය පසිඳලීම කළ යුතුය.”

“වාචික සම්ප්‍රධායන්ට වඩා වාර්තාගතව ඇති රීතීන් ඉතා වැදගත් ය, ඒ නිසා ලිඛිත රෙගුලාසි, රීති විධිමත් ලෙස වලංගු කළ යුතුය.”
“පුද්ගලයන්ගේ නූගත්කම, නොසැලකිල්ල සහ වරදවා හැසිරීම, ඔවුන්ගේ පෙර පරම්පරාවේ ආචාර්යයන්ගේ පිළිපැදීම් නිසා විටින් විට නීතියේ කඩවීම් සිදු වීමට ඉඩ ඇත, එහෙත් පොත්වල වාර්තා කොට ඇති පාලි බුද්ධ දේශනා වෙනස් වීමට ඉඩ නැත, පිරිසිදුව පවතින්නේය. ඒ නිසා බුද්ධ දේශනාවේ දැක්වෙන පාලි පාඨ (Pali Text&) අධිකරණ පරීක‍ෂණවලදී නිත්‍ය රීති ලෙසට යොදාගත යුතු බව මෙයින් නියම කරනු ලැබේ.”
ඉහත සඳහන් කළේ වසර 188 කට පෙර (1830) අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් විසින් දිවයිනේ විනිසුරන් වෙත නිකුත් කරන ලද යුක්තිය පසිඳලීම සඳහා අනුගමනය කළ යුතු රීති මාලාවේ පූර්විකාව ලෙස දී ඇති උපදෙස් ය.

උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවකගේ චීවරය ගැලවීමට කිසිම නිලධාරියෙකුට හෝ ගිහියෙකුට බලයක් හෝ අයිතියක් නැත. පාරාජිකා වීමෙන් දුසිල් බවට පත් වූ උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවක උපැවිදි කරවීමට භික‍ෂු සංඝයා වහන්සේට හැකිය. එහෙත් ඒ භික‍ෂුව සාමනේර නමක් ලෙස පැවිදි වත් පුරමින් සිටීමට කැමැති නම්, එසේම සාමණේර පැවිදි දිවියට හානි දායක වෙන ලෙස ධර්ම විනය විරෝධී වී නැත්නම්, එයට අවස්ථාව ලැඛෙනු ඇත. එහෙත් ජීවිතයේ කිසි දිනෙක යළිත් උපසම්පදාව ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකිය. එසේම උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවකට තමන්ගේ කැමැත්තෙන් විනයානුකූලව සංඝයා ඉදිරියේ ප්‍රකාශ කොට උපසම්පදාව අත්හැරීමට ද හැකිය.

සංඝ සභාව විසින් උපසම්පදා වූ හෝ නොවූ භික‍ෂුවක් භික‍ෂුත්වයෙන්, පැවිදි දිවියෙන් ඉවත් කරනු ලැබුව හොත් එතැන් සිට ඔහු භික‍ෂුවක් නොවේ. ඔහුගේ පැවිදි දිවිය අහෝසි වෙයි. ඔහුට චීවරය දැරීමට කිසිදු අයිතියක් නැත. එසේ භික‍ෂුත්වයෙන්, පැවිද්දෙන්, භික‍ෂු ශසනයෙන් ඉවත් කරනු ලැබීමෙන් පසුව ද පැවිද්දන් ලෙස පෙනී සිටින අය ගැන වාර්තා වෙයි. ඔවුහු පැවිද්දෝ නොවෙති. වංචනිකයෝ ය. හොර චීවර ධාරියෝය.

බුද්ධ දේශනා අනුව තෙයියසංවාසක යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වනු ලබන තුන් ආකාරයක අපරාධකාරයෝ වෙති.

ශාසනයට විධිමත් කැප කිරීමක් හෝ කැප වීමක් නැතිව සහ ආචාර්ය ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකු විසින් ධර්ම විනයට අනුව ආගමික පුණ්‍යෝත්සවයකින් පැවිදි බවට පත් කිරීමක් නැතිව යම් අයෙකු තමන්ම සිවුරක් පොරවා ගෙන පැවිද්දෙකු ලෙස පෙනී සිටී නම් ඔහු චෞරයෙකි.
කිසි දිනෙක උපසම්පදා නොවූ හෝ පාරාජිකා වීමෙන් ඔහුගේ උපසම්පදාව අහිමි වී ඇති යම් පැවිද්දෙකු වංචනික ලෙස තමන් උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවක් යයි හ`ගවමින් උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂූන් අතරට ඇතුළත් වී පෝය පවාරණ ආදී ශ=ද්ධ ආගමික මෙහෙයන්ට සම්බන්ධ වීමට බිය සැක නැතිව සිටී නම් ඔහු චෞරයෙකි. එසේම සාමණේර පැවිද්ද පමණක් ඇති අයෙකු තමන් ආගන්තුකයෙකු වෙන ඉතා දුර බැහැර ප්‍රදේශයකට ගොස් තමන් උපසම්පදාවෙන් වසර 10ක් පිරුණු ථෙරනමක් බව වංචනිකව හ`ගවමින් විධිමත්ව උපසම්පදාව ලද උපසපන් භික‍ෂූන්ගෙන් පූද සත්කාර, ගරු බුහුමන් ලබන්නේ ද, තමන් එනවිට ඒ උපසම්පන්න භික‍ෂූන් හුන් අසුන්වලින් නැගිට බුහුමන් කරනු දකින්නේද, පෝය පවාරණ ආදී ශ=ද්ධ ආගමික මෙහෙයන්ට සම්බන්ධ වීමට බිය සැක නැතිව සිටී නම් ඔහු චෞරයෙකි.
ආචාර්ය ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ කෙනෙකු වෙතින් පැවිදි බවට පත් නො වී තමන් විසින් ම සිවුරක් පොරවා ගත් එසේම පාරාජිකා වීමෙන් උපසම්පදාව අහිමි කරගත් හෝ විනය කර්මානුකූලව

විධිමත් ලෙස උපසම්පදාව ලබා නොගත් අයෙකු තමන් පැවිද්ද සහ උපසම්පදාව ලබා ගත් අයෙකු ලෙසින් පෙනී සිටින්නේ නම් ඔහු චෞරයෙකි.
මෙවැනි ශාසනික චෞරයන් (තෙනකා) භික‍ෂුත්වයෙන් පහ කිරීම බුදුන් වහන්සේ අනුදැන වදාළහ.

පාරාජිකා වීමෙන් දුශ්ශීල භික‍ෂුවකගේ උපසම්පදාව ඉවත් කළ පසු ඔහු උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂුවක ලෙස පෙනී සිටිමින් ශාසනික චෞරයෙකු වීම පාරාජිකා වීමට ද වඩා බරපතල වරදකි. ඔහු අඩු වශයෙන් සාමනේර බවට හෝ පත් නොකළ යුතුය. අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම ඔහුට උත්ෙක‍ෂ්පනීය කර්මය (excommunication&) පැණවිය යුතුය.

මෙවැනි තුන් ආකාරයක ශාසනික චෞරයන් බුද්ධ දේශනා තුළින් හෙළි කොට ඇත. මොවුහු රටේ පවතින අපරාධ නීති රීති අනුව ද ද`ඩුවම් ලැබිය යුතු අපරාධකාරයෝ වෙති.

“ඉතා දැඩි විමර්ශණයකින් යම් අයෙකු ඉහත පැහැදිලි කරන ලද ආකාරයෙන් එකකට අයත් චෞරයෙකු ලෙස හඳුනාගනු ලැබුව විට ඔහු ගෞරවාර්හ මහා සංඝරත්නය විසින් හෝ රටේ පවතින රීතී අනුව උපැවිදි කළ යුතුය. එසේම ඔහුගේ සියලූ දේපල බඩු භාණ්ඩ සාංඝික කොට සංඝරත්නයට පැවරිය යුතුය.”යන රීතිය ද විනිසුරන් විසින් පිළපැදිය යුතු ලෙස නියම කොට, 1830 දී දිවයිනේ බි්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් නිකුත් කරන ලද zzයුක්තිය පසිඳලීම සඳහා වූ රීති මාලාවටzz ඇතුළත් කොට ඇත.

ගිහියන් ඇඳුමක් අඳින ලෙසින්, කොහෙන් හෝ ලබාගත් චීවරයක් දමා ගෙන පැවිදි වෙන්නට නොහැකිය. එය ශාසනික චාරිත්‍රානුකූල ආගමික විධි අනුගමනය කොට සිදු කරනු ලබන වැදගත් ශාසනික පින් කමකි. එසේම උපසම්පදාව ලැබීම ඊටත් වඩා ප්‍රබල විනය ධර්මානුකූලව පවත්වනු ලබන විනය කර්මයකි. එය පවත්වනු ලබන්නේ බාහිර ලෝකයෙන් වෙන් වූ, ගිහියන්ගේ හෝ අඩුම තරමින් සාමනේර භික‍ෂූන්ගේ පෙනී සිටීමක් නැති, උපසම්පන්න ථෙරවරුන්ගේ සහ ධර්ම විනය උගත් උපසම්පදා අපේක‍ෂකයන් පමණක් සිටින, බොහෝ විට දියෙන් වට වූ සීමා මාලකයක් තුළ ය.
ගිහි ජීවිතය තුළ උපන්දා සිට මියයන තෙක් විවිධ විලාශිතා අනුව සකස් කරන ලද ඇඳුම් පැලඳුම් භාවිත කරනු ලබයි. පාසලට, කාර්යාලයට, ම`ගුලට, මරණයට, පන්සලට, පල්ලියට, ගෙදරට, ව්‍යායාමයට, රාති්‍රයට ආදී වශයෙන් ඒ ඒ අවස්ථාවට අදාලව ගැලපෙන විලාශිතා, මෝස්තර අනුව සකස් කරන ලද ඇඳුම් ඇදීම සහ එකම දවසේ එක එක වේලාවට විවිධ ඇඳුම් ඇඳීම ගිහියන්ගේ සිරිත ය. එලෙසින් ම zජම්පරයZ යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වනු ලබන්නේ සිර ගෙදර ඇඳුම් මෝස්තරයයි. එය ඇඳීම ගිහියෙකුට අරුමයක් නොවිය හැකි ය. එසේම ගිහි සමාජය නිරුවතින් සිටීම දක්වා ගෝති්‍රක සමාජයට ආපසු ගමන් කරමින් ඇත.

භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ පන්සලට, දනට, බණට, පාංශ=කූලයට, ගමට, රටට, රජ ගෙදරට වුව දරන්නේ බුදුන් වහන්සේ අනුදැන වදාල චීවරයයි. එය දැනට වසර 2600 කාලය පුරා විලාශිතා මෝස්තර වලට බිලි නො වූ බුද්ධ චීවරයයි. එය සිරගෙදර ඇඳුම් මෝස්තරය වෙන zජම්පරයටZ යටත් නො කළ යුතුය. නායක භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේට හෝ පාරාජිකාවීමෙන් දුශ්ශීල නොවූ උපසම්පදා භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේගේ චීවරය ගැලවීමට නො හැකි ය. එසේම චීවරය දැරීම ශාසනික චෞරයන් නො වූ, පාරාජිකා වීමෙන් දුශ්ශීල නොවූ, ධර්ම විනය විරෝධී නොවූ භික‍ෂූන්වහන්සේගේ මූලික අයිතිවාසි කමකි.
1830 දිවයිනේ බි්‍රතාන්‍ය අධිකරණ කොමසාරිස් මග පෙන්වා ඇති ලෙසින්, භික‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ සම්බන්ධ නඩු වින්ශ්චය කිරීමේදී, බුදුන් වදාල සූත්‍ර පිටකය, විනය පිටකය සහ ඊට අදාල අටුවාවල පැහැදිලි කොට ඇති පරිදි කි්‍රයා කිරීමට බුද්ධ ශාසනය ආරක‍ෂා කොට දියුණු කිරීමට විධායකය, ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය සහ අධිකරණය ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් බැඳී ඇති අනුල්ලංගනීය වගකීමකි.

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Don’t try to federalize Sri Lanka’s history!

October 9th, 2018

(An internet post as translated by Rohana R. Wasala)

Professor Raj Somadeva is the head of the Postgraduate Institute of Archaeology of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. He is a scholar who is engaged in archaeological excavation and exploration, devoting himself to efforts that even go beyond the demands of his profession, in order to divulge Sri Lanka’s ancient history. He has made many findings based on his own absolutely independent excavations and studies using his expert knowledge. Particularly, as a result of his research into a history that goes back beyond two thousand five hundred years, the Ravana legend is being revealed to be fact, and no longer mere fiction.

The Yahapalanaya regime has imposed a ban on Professor Somadeva who is looking for Sri Lanka’s true history. It is learned that Professor Somadeva’s license for archaeological excavations has been cancelled. Professor Somadeva who found the Sinhala antiquity of Sri Lanka has proved with evidence that the country was known as Sinhaladveepa in the past and that Tamils and other races arrived there for trade. The Northern Provincial Council Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran has stated that there had existed a historical Tamil state in the north; he has also stated that the Sinhalese language originated in the sixth or seventh century CE. That is, his opinion is the Sinhalese language came into existence only after the birth of Christ.

This is how Professor Somadeva has responded to Wigneswaran, drawing upon his archaeological explorations: Firstly, it must be said that his statement is a completely erroneous construct. I say so based on my academic background. According to the oldest available literary sources with which we can interact, the language known as Sinhala or Sihala was in circulation in Sri Lanka even at the time of the arrival of Mahinda Thera. It is recorded in the sources that Mahinda Thera preached the Dhamma in the language of the ‘dipe danan’ (people of the island). We can understand what this language was from taking into account the fact that erudite monks compiled a series of books or atthakatas (commentaries) to elucidate abstruse points in the Dhamma. These commentaries were called ‘Sihalatthakata’s. In some instances, the Sihalatthakata tradition has been referred to as ‘porana atthakatas’ (ancient commentaries). These commentaries were called Sihalatthakata because they were written in Sinhala. It is easy to understand that books written to explain difficult matters in the Dhamma to the male and female lay Buddhists (upasaka upasikas) were composed in Sinhala, because it was the language of the islanders.

Wigneswaran has stated that Tamils have lived in this country from pre-Buddhist times. Here we must be clear about what is meant by the term ‘Dravida’. It is the same as what is meant by the term ‘Dravidian’ in English. It denotes a language family, not any racial identity. The Dravidian language family is an extensive one. It includes many languages. Tamil is only one of them. Professor Somadeva describes a gold foil document found in the Jaffna peninsula: What is shown here is the oldest metal foil with writing (found in Sri Lanka). It is a gold foil. It was discovered at Vallipuram in the Jaffna peninsula. This gold sheet record in Brahmi script was written during the reign of king Vasabha (69-111 CE). It was made to record (for posterity) that the minister Irshigiri who was in charge of Nagadeepa built a vihara named Piyagunkatissa there. Professor Somadeva is authoritatively establishing with archaeological evidence that the history of ancient Sinhalese goes back to the era of Ravana. A social media comment about him runs as follows: Many who fought for Kuragala were inspired by a sense of nationalism. But it may be stated confidently that the most crucial attacker in the Kuragala controversy was Professor Somadeva. His Kuragala report is an academic contribution that no person or group could reject. It is not a figment of his imagination. It is a document written after deep study. Savants of our time like Professor Raj Somadeva provide proper guidance for the Sinhalese who strive to protect the country and the nation out of mere emotional impulse to launch into an intelligent and comprehensive struggle.”

Isn’t it the Sinhalese, the real indigenes of Sri Lanka who get persecuted due to many courses of action taken by this government in the name of a misconceived reconciliation?

Let’s now read a remark that Professor Somadeva made about the ‘federal’ idea: Although any other matter may be changed or interpreted to suit (the whims of) an individual or group, subjecting history to the influence (of such distortions ) could generate unexpected long-term complications. Very recently, I read in a newspaper a statement made by a certain politician. I understand that the statements relevant to your questions to me are parts of the same agenda. Everyone has a right to hold and defend personal opinions. This applies in respect of the federal idea, as well. However, it is my view that intelligent politicians must understand that history cannot be federalized”.

(24 SRI LANKA)

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Interim Government cannot solve the present Crisis

October 9th, 2018

By:A.A.M. NIZAM – MATARA

When the need of the hour is to get this oppressive, foreigm slavish and inept government dissolved and hold elections, speculation is rife that moves are being made by certain avaricious politicians to establish an interim or probationary government and make the former President and the populist leader Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa the Prime Minister of the country and save Sirisena and allow him to continue as the President. The real objective of these covetous politicians despite their claim that they are making these moves, the bovine moves, to save the country from an imminent economic collapse is to save Sirisena from his inevitable political demise after another few months and for them simultaneously to be the stakeholders of such a government.

There were also newspaper and social media reports that some religious leaders too (misguided or ignoramus) are going to make a proposal to the President to form such a caretaker government. Certain treacherous pro-western, and reactionary scribes have also written some articles advocating for the establishment of this so called interim government and their unexpected move to go against Ranil Wickremasinghe on this issue seem that this could be a well orchestrated move to create divisions in the Joint Opposition and dent the immense popularity of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa.

What these greedy politicians and misguided religious leaders should duly understand is that the 5.8 million solid patriotic masses of this country who stoood firm with Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa on 8^th January and this number that swelled to 47.7 % of the voting population plus voting population of Beruwela, Maharagama, Bandarawela and some other LG institutions (where pro-SLPP groups contestd as independents and won) on February 10^th does not approve any form of rescue operation to help and save Sirisena as they remember that it was Sirisena who

Prevented MP DEW Guhasekera from submitting the COPE Report on the 1^st Bond Scam by dissolving the UPFA majority government of Premier D.M.Jayaratne and appointed Ranil Wickrmasinghe with only 44 seats as the Prime Minister thereby naking it possible for Arjun Mahendran and his son in law Arjun Aloysiius to fleece the country with the 2^nd Bond Scam in February 2016.
Discouraged the people from voting for UPDFA in the 2015 August General Election by declaring on the eve of the elections that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa will not be appointed as the Prime Minister even if he gets majority of the seats and issued a letter condemning Mr. Rajapaksa with concocted false allegations. Also, he dismissed the General Secretaries of the UPFA and the SLFP and appointed instead his minions to those posts on the eve of the elections with the sole purpose of disrupting elections.
Made his docile MPs elected under UPFA and electoral rejects appointed by him as National list MPs to join the government offering them important Ministerial portfolios and help Ranil Wickremsinghe who got only 106 seatto to establish a majority government.
Denied the post of the Leadert of Opposition to the majority Joint Opposition with 53cseats and gave it to separatist R.Smbandan who had only 16 MPS
Even denied the Chief Opposition Whip post to the JO and gave it to the 6-member JVP who played a major role in ousting Mahinda Rajapaksa regime
Made Rajitha Senaratne who made the country to lose the GSP+ facility, allegedly became the owner of four vessels when he was the Minister of Fisheries through corruptions and carried out other clandestine activities to topple Rajapaksa regime as official media spokesman with the objective of carrying out a malicious mudslinging campaign against Rajapakse family members.
Made no effort to prove the imaginary allegations made against Mr. Mahinda Rahpaksa by quisling Mangala Samaraweera and loquacious Rajitha Senaratne.
Made prominent Buddhist monks such as Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero to keep imprisoned and humilited him by forcing him to disembark from an aircraft making the aircraft to return from its journey and eject the Ven. Monk from the aircraft
Made prominent politicians such as JO Parliamentsrians such as Wimal Weerawansa, Udaya Gamamanpila, Johnston Fernando etc. the former Minister Mr. Basil Raapaksa and some other politicians to lamguish in remand prisons for several months on concocted charges
Made sons and the spouse of the former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa to appear for court cases on various bizarre charges
Made the former Defence Secretary who was mainly responsible for ending the 30ywars terrorist war and liberate the country to appear in Courts continuously to face various spinned and illusory allegations
Forced disabled war heroes who should be looked after graciously to stage demonstrations in Colombo Fort several occasions under tiring conditions and harassments from the Police to demand relief for their grievances.
Has forced several prominent war heroes who had served with commendable dedication and self sacrifices during the war to languish in prisons on the behest of Tamil separatists and Tamil diaspora.
Firmly upholds UNP’s privatization and foreignization policies and facilitated handing over of Hambantota Harbour to China by appointing his stooge Mahinda Samarasinghe and the Shipping Minister replacing Arjuna Ranatung.
Made hollow pledges against imposing VAT and reducing the price of Beer.
Has fully endorsed the betrayal made by quisling Mangala Samaraweera by UNHRC resolution 30/1 and reaffirme the same by resolution 34/1.
Has made similar pledges of using Madu Walige, a Sword and anging drug trafffickers serving death penalty.
Has failed to take any action against drug traffickers, and underworld operators and has made Sri Lanka to become haven for drugs and crimes
Has fully endorsed the despicable Sri Lanka-Singapore Pact and has not expressed any opinion againstensuing ECTA and other pacts being formulated by the UNP
Blindly endorsed UNP moves to stall developmemt projects including Colombo Port City Project launched by the Rajapaksa government and thereby made several thousand people unemployed.
Has made arrangements to release all lands occupied by armed forces in the North to its originasl owners before the end of this year obliging to the demands of the TNA.
In another move to oblige to the demands of thee TNA the number of army camps and the strength of the armed forces in the North has been drastically rduced.
Had given liberty to Tamil separatists to evict Sinhala people from the North, deny even forcibly displaced Sinhala people to resettle in the North, to impose taboo for placing Buddha statues, planting Boo trees or practising Bulddhism in the North
Demand reconciliation in the South while making the North an exclusive anti Sinhala Tamil terrain
Speaks of Tamils having grievances, having pale faces and of the need to to’tally alleviate these socalled grievances.
Has assured Tamil separatists to enact a new federal and secular constitution before the end of this year
While no action nhas being taken against MP Vijayakala for her speech on the need to revive tiger terrorist-imposed suspension of Parliament attendance on MPs Wimal Weerawansa and Prasanna Ranaweera for demanding action against Vijayakala.
Has taken no action against anti-Sinhala and anti-Sri Lankan sentiments being continuously expressed by Wigneswaran, Sivajilingam. Sumanthiran. Sambandan, Mavai Senadiraja etc.

These are some of the anti national acts being carried out under the sole blessings and the set agenda of the quisling Sirisena. Is it to implement these activities unhindered that the proponents of the socalled interim or probationary government aiming for and thereby create divisions in the joint opposition?

It is heartening to find that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has a determined dedication for placing the country before all other things has stood firm against these despicable moves and emphatically renewed his demand for the dissolution of the government and hold elections. Speakimg at a function in Beruwwela he has ssaid that he is not prepared to form governments with those who sell the country/traitors.

Now it is the turn of the masses to stockpile their needs of essential food items, come out to the streets in their thousands and demand for the immediate dissolution of this inept visionless foreign slavish government, suspend the activities of government institutions and services and demand for holding elections by forcibly occupying such institutions and paralyze the government until their demands are met. The armed forces should also firmly stand with the people at this crucial stage displaying their allegiance to nation’s welfare similar to what they did during the war.

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20A: Some clauses need 2/3 majority and referendum

October 9th, 2018

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Deputy Speaker J. M. Ananda Kumarasiri informed the Parliament today that Supreme Court had determined that some clauses in 20th Amendment needs a two-thirds majority in Parliament as well as a referendum.

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20 වගන්ති 38න් 36ක් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනි බව අධිකරණය තීරණය කරයි

October 9th, 2018

ආරියරත්න රණබාහු සහ සුජිත් හේවාජුලිගේ උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප

විධායක ජනාධිපති ධූරය අහෝසි කිරීම සඳහා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ 20 වැනි සංශෝධනයේ ඇති 38 න් 36 ක් ජනමත විචාරණකින් සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක ඡන්දයකින් සම්මත කළ යුතු බව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය තීරණය කර ඇතැයි නියෝජ්‍ය කතානායක ආනන්ද කුමාරසිරි මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී අද (9) පැවැසීය.

ඒ අනුව 20 වැනි සංශෝධන පත්‍රයේ ජනපති බලතල අහෝසි කෙරෙන සියලුම වගන්ති ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනි බව තීරණය කර ඇත.

පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ නාමය දැක්වෙන පළමු වගන්තිය සහ පනතේ සිංහල සහ දෙමළ භාෂා පාඨ අතර පරස්පරතාවයක් ඇති වුවහොත් සිංහල භාෂා පාඨය බලගැන්විය යුතු බව දැක්වෙන අවසන් වගන්තිය වන 38 වගන්තිය පමණක් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනුකූල බව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය තීන්දු කර තිබේ.

මෙම 20 වැනි සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ පෙත්සම් වලට අදාල තීන්දුව කතානායකවරයාට යවා ඇති බව දක්වමින් නියොජ්‍ය කතානායකවරයා එම තීන්දුව ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළේය.

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Voice samples match with those in tape: CID

October 9th, 2018

Nimanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Government Analyst’s report states that the voice samples provided by DIG Nalaka de Silva and Namal Kumara have tallied with those in the tape, the CID said.

It submitted the relevant voice samples to the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today after they received the samples from the Government Analyst on Monday.

The Magistrate had wanted to check whether the DIG’s voice matched with that in the recorded telephone conversation between him and dNamal Kumara.

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Govt’s repeated mantra on corruption and ‘debt mountain’ scared away investors: Godahewa

October 9th, 2018

by Sanath Nanayakkare Courtesy The Island

The current government’s needlessly self-destructive overemphasis of corruption and the oft-repeated ‘debt mountain’ scared away foreign investors who lost faith in the country’s administrative and financial system, Dr Nalaka Godahewa, former chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) told the media at the Patriotic Professionals’ press briefing held on Monday.

“One of the main complaints the then Opposition had about the previous government was that there were excessive borrowings. However, the amount borrowed by the current government in less than 4 years is far worse in comparison. The total national debt that stood at Rs 7391 billion when the powers changed, is now at Rs 12,000 billion which is a 60% increase,” he said.

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“In less than two months the new government got involved in a major Central Bank bond scam. Subsequently interest rates went up and the cost to the economy was exorbitant. The financial scam seriously affected the credibility of the government. It had a direct impact on the general perception on corruption. In 2014 Sri Lanka was ranked 83rd in the global corruption index. By 2016 it had fallen to the 95th place”.

“As recurrent expenditure increased with the Rs.10,000 salary hike for public servants, the government was left with no option but to increase taxes and pass that burden on the people. Today taxes have gone up by 100% compared to 2014. This has also dampened the sentiment of business and investments”.

The government should only blame itself for the lack of foreign direct investments in the country. Who would want to invest in Sri Lanka when it has a government promoting a negative sentiment about doing business in Sri Lanka ” Dr. Godahewa queried.

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බැරි එකාට බෑමයි කියා නාහෙන් හඬන ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකය

October 9th, 2018

ආචාර්ය නාලක ගොඩහේවා උපුටාගැණීම මව්බිම

ලංකාවේ මේ අවස්ථාවේ විශාල සමාජ ආර්ථික දේශපාලන අර්බුදයක් ඇති බව නොපිළිගන්නා අයෙක් වේ නම් ඒ එක්කෝ බොරුකාරයෙකි. නැත්නම් මෝඩයෙකි. මන්ද සත්‍යය ඕනෑම අයකුට ඇස් ඉදිරිපිටම දක්නට ඇති බැවිනි.

දේශපාලන වේදිකාවල රටේ ජනතාවට හැමදාමත් බිල්ලන් මවන වත්මන් අගමැතිවරයාගේ අලුත්ම හෙළිදරව්ව නම් ලෝක ආර්ථික අර්බුදයක් ඇති බවත් ලංකාව ඉන් පීඩනයට ලක්වී ඇති බවත්ය. ඉදිරියේදී මේ තත්ත්වය තවත් දරුණු වන බවත් ලංකාව ඊට සූදානම් විය යුතු බවත් නෝර්වේ රටේ සංචාරයක් සඳහා පිටත් වීමට පෙර ඔහු කියා තිබිණි.

ලෝකයේ ආර්ථික අර්බුද තිබෙනා කාලවල ඒ ගැන සාමාන්‍යයෙන් මුළු ලෝකයම දැනුවත්ය. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් මෑත කාලීන ඉතිහාසයේ 1975, 1982, 1991 හා 2009 ගෝලීය ආර්ථිකය සමස්තයක් ලෙස කඩා වැටුණු වසර ලෙස නම් කළ හැකිය. 2007 – 2008 වර්ෂවල ලෝක මූල්‍ය අර්බුදයක් හා ලෝක ආහාර අර්බුදයක් තිබිණි. 2005 – 2014 කාලයේ බලයේ සිටි පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව මින් අර්බුද කිහිපයකටම මුහුණ දුන් අතර එම ආණ්ඩුව අදාළ ප්‍රශ්න හොඳින් කළමනාකරණය කළ නිසා ලෝකයේ එවන් අර්බුදයක් තිබූ බවක් ලංකාවේ සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට නොදැනිණි. එහෙත් 2015 යහපාලනය බලයට ආ දා සිට ලංකාවේ අර්බුද පිට අර්බුදය. මේවා ලෝක ආර්ථික අර්බුදයක් නිසා ඇතිවන බව කියා රවටන්නට උත්සාහ කිරීම ජනතාවගේ බුද්ධියට කරන අපහාසයකි.

අද ලෝකය පුරාම අපට දක්නට ලැබෙන්නේ ආර්ථික ප්‍රගමනයකි. 2010 සිට ලෝක ආර්ථිකය ධනාත්මකව වෙනස් වූ අතර 2016-2017 වන විට 3%ක පමණ දළ වර්ධන වේගයක් ලෝකය පුරාම දක්නට ලැබිණි. විශේෂයෙන්ම සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින රටවල දළ සංවර්ධන වේගය 4.3% ඉක්මවා තිබිණි. ඒ අනුව මේ කාලය සැලකෙන්නේ ලෝක ආර්ථික චක්‍රයේ ධනාත්මක යුගයක් ලෙසය. මේ අතර ඇමෙරිකාවේ ආර්ථිකය අනෙක් රටවලට වඩා වේගයෙන් දියුණු වනවා කියන්නේ අනෙක් රටවල ආර්ථික අර්බුදයක් ඇති බව නොවේ.

2016දී 1.5%ක පමණ වර්ධන වේගයක් තිබුණු ඇමෙරිකාවේ ආර්ථික වර්ධන වේගය 2017 වන විට 2.3% දක්වා ඉහළ ගිය අතර 2018දී එය 2.5% පමණ ප්‍රමාණයකට තවත් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත. 2016දී 1.8%ක පමණ වර්ධන වේගයක් තිබුණු යුරෝපයේ දළ සංවර්ධන වේගය 2.5% දක්වා 2017දී ඉහළ ගිය අතර 2018දී එය 2.2%ක් පමණ වේ යැයි බලාපොරොත්තු වේ. චීනයේ දළ සංවර්ධන වේගය 2016 සිට 2017 කාලය තුළ 6.7% සිට 6.8 දක්වා ඉහළ ගිය අතර පරිසර දූෂණය අඩු කිරීම, රාජ්‍ය ආයෝජන සමතුලනය කිරීම හා මූල්‍ය අංශ නියාමනයන් ශක්තිමත් කිරීම වැනි රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීරණ මත චීන රජය තම 2018 සංවර්ධන ඉලක්කය 6.4%කට පමණ වෙනස් කොට ඇත. ජපානයේ පවතින්නේද යහපත් ආර්ථික තත්ත්වයකි. ඒ අනුව අගමැතිවරයාගේ අලුත්ම ත්‍රාසජනක ප්‍රවෘත්තියේ එන ලෝක ආර්ථික අර්බුදය ඔහුගේ තවත් එක් මන–කල්පිත නිර්මාණයක් පමණක් බව පැහැදිලිය.

මේ අපූරු හැකියාවෙන්නම් ඔහු හා සම කළ හැකි නිර්මාණකරුවන්ද අද රටේ ඉතා විරලය.

අද ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික යථාර්ථය කුමක්ද?
2012-2014 පැවැති දළ ආර්ථික 7%ක සංවර්ධන වේගය 2017 වන විට 3.1%ට අඩු විය. මේ වන විට තත්ත්වය තවත් දරුණු බව පෙනේ.

• 2014දී රුපියල් බිලියන 7391ක් වූ රාජ්‍ය ණය
2018 මැද වන විට රුපියල් බිලියන 11,971 දක්වා
60%කින් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත.

• රාජ්‍ය ණය දළ ජාතික නිෂ්පාදනයේ ප්‍රතිශතයක්
ලෙස 70.1% සිට 87% දක්වා වැඩිවී ඇත.

• 2014න් පසු රුපියලේ අගය ඩොලරයට
සාපේක්‍ෂව 28%කින් බාල්දු වී ඇත.
ඒ නිසා රාජ්‍ය ණයවල දේශීය අගය
රුපියල් කෝටි ලක්‍ෂයකට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයකින්
වැඩිවී ඇත.

• 2014දී තිබුණ 10%ටත් අඩු පොලී අනුපාතයන්
දෙගුණයකට ආසන්නව වැඩිවී ඇත.

• සුළු හා මධ්‍යම පරිමාණ ව්‍යාපාර රැසක්
වසර 3 1/2 තුළ බංකාලොත් වී වසා දමන ලද අතර
තවත් ව්‍යාපාරික රාශියක් නුදුරු අනාගතයේ
වැසී යනු ඇත.

• මහ පරිමාණ ව්‍යාපාර රැසක්ම මේ වසරේ ලාභ
අඩුවෙන් පෙන්වන හෝ පාඩු පෙන්වන
තත්ත්වයට පත්වී ඇති අතර මෑතකදී
කොළඹ පැවැති සම්මන්ත්‍රණයකදී ලංකාවේ ලොකුම
ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් කිහිපදෙනකුම ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ
මෙය පිළිගනු දක්නට ලැබිණි.

• හිතුමතයට බඩු ආනයනය කිරීමෙන්
දේශීය කර්මාන්ත රැසක් අනතුරේ වැටුණු අතර
ආනයන සීමා කිරීමට රජයට මතක් වූයේ
අස්සයා ඉස්තාලයෙන් පැන ගියාට පසුවය.
• 2014 ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 1500ක
ආයෝජන තිබුණු රටට අද මොනම
ආයෝජනයක්වත් එන පාටක් පෙනෙන්ට නැත.
රටේ ආයෝජනය කර තිබුණු මුදලුත් ආයෝජකයන්
විසින් ඉවත් කරගනු ලැබීම රුපියලේ කඩා වැටීමට
මූලික හේතුවක් වී ඇත.

• තිබුණු රැකියා ප්‍රමාණය අඩුවී ඇත. 2014දී
රැකියා ලක්‍ෂ 84ක් වාර්තා වුවද 2017 එය ලක්‍ෂ 82ට
අඩුවී තිබිණි. අලුතින් දෙනවා කී රැකියා ලක්‍ෂ 10
වාෂ්ප වී ඇත.

• කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ විශාල අර්බුදයකට
මුහුණදී ඇත. 2014දී 23.5%ක් ප්‍රතිලාභ දුන්
කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ මේ වන විට
ආයෝජකයන් විශාල වශයෙන් පාඩු ලබන
තැනක් බවට පත්වී ඇත.

• ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය තොරතුරු විශ්ලේෂක සමාගමක්
වන බ්ලූම්බර්ග් ආයතනය ලංකාවේ ලෝකයේ
ආයෝජනයට අනතුරුදායකම රටක් ලෙස
නම් කොට ඇත.
• රටේ දුප්පත්කම වැඩිවී ඇත. ජීවන බර
අද ජනතාවට තදින්ම දැනේ. පවුල් ලක්‍ෂ ගාණකට
අද තුන්වේල කෑමේ හැකියාව නැත.

වත්මන් යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවට පැහැදිලිවම තිබෙන්නේ බැරිකම පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නයකි. වසර 20කට වඩා වැඩි කාලයක් විපක්‍ෂයේ සිටීමේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ද ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රධාන හවුල්කරුවා වන අගමැතිවරයාගේ පාර්ශ්වයට පළපුරුදු, කළමනාකාර හැකියාවන් ඇති කණ්ඩායමක් නැත. ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමඟ ආණ්ඩුව තුළ ඉතුරුව සිටින්නේ පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුවේ කොන්වී සිටි වැඩ බැරි කණ්ඩායමයි. යන්තම් හෝ හැකියාවක් ඇති අයෙක් පසුගිය කාලයේ හවුල් ආණ්ඩුව තුළ ඉතුරුව සිටියා නම් මේ වන විට ඔවුන්ද ගිලෙන නැව අතහැර යන මීයන් මෙන් ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉවත්වී අවසන්ය. දැන් ගැටලුව වන්නේ මුළුමනින්ම වාගේ වැඩ බැරි ටාසන්ලාගෙන් පිරි කණ්ඩායමකට රටක් පාලනය කිරීම වැනි භාරදූර වගකීමක් ඉටුකළ හැකිද යන්නයි.

2015 මැතිවරණ දෙකේදීම වත්මන් පාලකයන්ට විදේශ උපදෙස් හා සහාය නොඅඩුව තිබිණි. ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරය සඳහා විශාල වශයෙන් මුදල්ද ලැබිණි. 2015 ආණ්ඩු පෙරළන්නට ඇමෙරිකානු එක්සත් ජනපදයෙන් මුදල් වියදම් කළ ආකාරය තවදුරටත් රහසක් නොවේ. ලංකාවේ, නයිජීරියාවේ හා බුරුමයේ ආණ්ඩු පෙරළන්නට ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 680ක් වෙන් කළ බව හිටපු ඇමෙරිකානු රාජ්‍ය ලේකම් ජෝන් කෙරී මහතා රජයේ ගිණුම් සහතික කරමින් තැබූ වාර්තාවකම කියැවේ. ඉන් තුනෙන් එකක් ලංකාවේ මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරයට වියදම් වුවත් එය රුපියල්වලින් නම් කෝටි 3000කට අධික මුදලකි. එකල විපක්‍ෂයට මුදල් ලැබෙන්නට ඇත්තේ ඇමෙරිකාවෙන් පමණක් නොවේ. පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව පෙරළන්නට දැඩි අවශ්‍යතාවක් තිබුණු ඉන්දියාව, අන්තවාදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව, රාජපක්‍ෂ විරෝධී යුරෝපීය රටවල් යන කොයි කවුරුත් ඔවුන්ට උදවු කරන්නට ඇත.

ඒ අනුව කෙතරම් විශාල මුදලක් මේ බල පෙරළිය සඳහා වියදම් වන්නට ඇත්දැයි අපට සිතාගත හැකිය. එදා සුදුපිරුවට පොරවාගෙන සිටි සමහර දේශප්‍රේමීන් හිටි අඩියේ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ පිලට උඩුකරණම් ගැසූ හේතුව මින් පැහැදිලිය.

උගුර ලේ රහ වන තුරු ධනවාදයට එරෙහිව කෑසමින් සිටි නිර්ධන පන්ති නායකයන්ට හදිසියේම එදා තම නායකයා පණ පිටින් පුලුස්සා මරා දැමූවන් සමඟ යහන් ගතවන්නට තරම් ලැජ්ජා නැතිකමක් ආවේත් මේ නිසාම බව වටහා ගන්නට මහා බුද්ධියක් අවශ්‍ය නැත. නමුත් මුදලේ බලයෙන් එකතු කළ හොර හවුලකට රට පාලනය කළ නොහැකි බව අද ඔප්පු වී අවසන්ය.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පාලන ක්‍රමයක් තිබෙන ඕනෑම රටක ආණ්ඩුවක් විශාල අර්බුදයකට ලක්වී ජනතා අප්‍රසාදයට ලක්වූ විට පවතින ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවා දමා නව පාලනයක් සඳහා ජනවරමක් ඉල්ලීමේ සම්ප්‍රදායක් ඇත. උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් 2001 අවසන් කාලයේ බලයට ආ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ ආණ්ඩුව වසර දෙකක් පමණ සුළු කාලයක් තුළ විශාල මහජන අප්‍රසාදයකට ලක්වූ විට හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනිය විසින් ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවා දමා භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවකට රට භාර දෙන ලදී. භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක වගකීම වන්නේ මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වන තුරු රට පාලනය කිරීමයි.

භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක් තුළ එක්වී සිටින සියලු පාර්ශ්ව ඊළඟ මැතිවරණයේදී එක්ව තරග කිරීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවක් නැත. ඒ අනුව මැතිවරණයෙන් තමන් කැමැති කණ්ඩායමක් බලයට පත්කර ගැනීමේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අයිතිය ජනතාවට හිමිවේ. නමුත් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කිරීමට කියා බලය ගත් වත්මන් යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව 19 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය හරහා බරපතළ ලෙස ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී අයිතිය උල්ලංඝනය කර ඇත.

රටේ මොන අර්බුද ආවත් වසර 4 1/2කට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවන්නට බැරි බවට නීතියක් ගෙන ආවේ මේ ආණ්ඩුවය. මීට අමතරව ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් පත්කරන ලද අගමැතිවරයා තමන්ම ඉල්ලා අස්වුවහොත් මිස ඉවත් කළ නොහැකි බවට තවත් අමුතුම නීතියක් හඳුන්වාදී ඇත. බලයට ආ දින සිට ඡන්ද කල් දමමින් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ක්‍රමයක් තුළ ජනතාවගේ මූලික අයිතිය වන ඡන්දය භාවිත කිරීමේ අයිතිය බරපතළ ලෙස උල්ලංඝනය කොට ඇත. මෙවැනි තත්ත්වයක් යටතේ කුමන ක්‍රමයකින් හෝ මෙම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධී පාලනය ඉවත් කිරීම ජාතික අවශ්‍යතාවක් බවට පත්වී අවසානය.

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භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවකට මම විරුද්ධයි

October 9th, 2018

ඩබ්ලිව්.කේ. ප්‍රසාද් මංජු උපුටාගැණීම මව්බිම

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාශ විශ්වාස කිරීම බරපතළ ගැටලුවක් නිසා ජනාධිපතිතුමා සමඟ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුවක් පිහිටුවීමට සූදානමක් නොමැති බවත් එවැනි කාරණයකට තමා පෞද්ගලිකව විරුද්ධ බවත් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන චසංවිධායක රත්නපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි රංජිත් ද සොයිසා ‘මව්බිම’ට ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසය තැබිය හැකි කාලය මේ වනවිට ඉක්ම ගොස් ඇති බවත් අවස්ථා ගණනාවකදීම ජනාධිපතිතුමා විසින් ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ විශ්වාසය කඩකර තිබෙන බවත් රංජිත් ද සොයිසා මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

19 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය සඳහා ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ සහාය ලබා ගන්නා විට 20 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය කඩිනමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන බව ප්‍රකාශ කළද වසර 3 1/2ක් ගත වී ඇතත් 20 වැනි ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ගෙන ඒමට කටයුතු නොකිරීම,

2015 අගෝස්තු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මහ මැතිවරණයට දින 3කට පෙර දිනුවත් මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ධුරය ලබා නොදෙන බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම, ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂයේ සහ එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ මහ ලේකම්වරුන් වෙනස් කළා, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර විරෝධී මූල්‍ය අපරාධ විමර්ශන කොට්ඨාසය (ජ්ඛ්ධ්ච්) අහෝසි කරන බවට ප්‍රකාශ කළද තවමත් එය කළේ නෑ, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහට එරෙහිව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද විශ්වාසභංග යෝජනාව ජයග්‍රහණය කර වීමට අවශ්‍ය කරන සහයෝගය ලබා දුන්නේ නෑ, ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයට පාර්ලිමේන්තු විපක්‍ෂයේ බහුතරය තිබිලත් විපක්ෂනායක ධුරය ලබා දුන්නේ නෑ. මෙවැනි කරුණු ගණනාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ විශ්වාසය කඩකර තිබෙන බවද රංජිත් ද සොයිසා මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

එම නිසා භාරකාර ආණ්ඩුව පිහිටුවීමට පෙර විශ්වාස කළ හැකි යම් යම් ක්‍රියා ප්‍රායෝගිකව ඔප්පු කර පෙන්වීමට ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා ක්‍රියා කළ යුතු බවත් ඒ වන තුරු ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයට ජනාධිපතිතුමා කෙරෙහි කිසිදු විශ්වාසයක් ඇති නොවන බවත් වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ රංජිත් ද සොයිසා මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

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Sri Lanka Ahmadiyya Muslim Women Association Annual Gathering – 2018.

October 9th, 2018

By A. Abdul Aziz.

Lajna Imaillah (Ahmadiyya Muslim Women Association) Sri Lanka held its Annual Gathering (Ijtima) recently at Ahmadiyya Jubilee Hall Negombo. The event started with flag hoisting by A.H. Nasir Ahmad – National President of Sri Lanka Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, followed by silent prayer. Mrs. Shakeela Aslam – President of the Ahmadiyya Women Association chaired the event which began with the recitation of Holy Qur’an.

In his address, the National President said:

To gain pious children the standards of righteousness (Taqwa) of the parents should be high because the world today is in a horrible state. God has given the Spiritual System of Leadership (Caliphs) to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. So we must follow the advice given by them. Our actions must show piety, that will display a preaching to others. The National President went on to say that, the circumstances in homes must be full of examples of righteousness to your children. Give them right advise in right time and create atmosphere of love, forgiveness, and understanding. He concluded by advising to establish and protect the rights of all namely neighbors, relatives and the Community you attached to. In his address, the National President quoted from the addresses delivered by Ahmadiyya Khalifa Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad during the recent Ahmadiyya Ladies Conventions held in U.K., Germany and Belgium.

In her short inaugural address, President of Ahmadiyya Ladies Wing Shakeela Aslam said, the aim of such gathering (Ijtima) is to promote love and brotherhood among its members and to create righteousness and pious among themselves.

AN NISA – A publication of Ahmadiyya Ladies Wing was launched and the first copy was handed over to the National President of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Sri Lanka.

The daylong m event includes academic competition such as Hifs-e-Qur’an Competition, Quiz Competition and Urdu Poem competition etc. Ahmadi girls and ladies from all the Chapters of Ahmadiyya Community in the country attended.

Lajna Imaillah: is the organization of Ahmadi women 15 years and above, headed by a President in each country known as Sadr Lajna Imaillah who is answerable to Ahmadiyya Supreme Head – Khalifa. This ladies wing has a sub-organization for girls of 7 to 15 years known as Nasiratul Ahmadiyya.

Lajna Imaillah means maidservants of Allah.” The organization was founded in 1922 by the second Khalifa of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Hazrat Mirza Bashiruddin Mahmood Ahmad. He defined its primary objectives as:

To educate Ahmadi women and reinforce the necessity of living their lives according to Islamic teachings.

To prepare them to serve their fellow beings lovingly and to preach Islam in the best manner possible.

To encourage them to instruct, guide and train their children in the precept and practices of Islam.

To promote in Ahmadi women such a spirit of sacrifice as to keep them ever ready for offering their lives, properties and their children in the cause of Islam and for the preservation of the Ahmadiyya Khilafat (Spiritual Leadership) . There are currently more than 700 branches of Ahmadi women Associations in various parts of the world. These branches, by promoting cooperation and teamwork among their members, are trying to realize their objectives throughout the world. One of their important achievements is its contribution towards building mosques. The Fazl Mosque in London, the Mubarak Mosque in Holland and the Nusrat Jehan Mosque in Denmark were built exclusively by donations by Ahmadi Women.

Abdul Aziz – Press Secretary.

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Maga Neguma welfare society funded Rs.20 mn for Hirunika’s political activities: FCID

October 9th, 2018

Nimanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror

It was reported before the Colombo Chief Magistrate Ranga Dissanayake today, that a sum amounting to Rs. 20 million had been spent through an account belonging to the Welfare Society of the Maga Neguma Construction Equipment company to fund the political activities of Hirunika Premachandra who is currently a member of Parliament.

The OIC of the FCID unit 07 Chief Police Inspector Anura Premarathne submitted to courts the above facts as per a complaint lodged on 20th March, by the Chief Internal Auditor of the Peliyagoda Maga Neguma Construction Equipment Company Maragala Mudiyanselage Sarath Kumara.

The FCID had reported to courts that the IGP had handed over this matter to the FCID for the conduct of an investigation. It had been further stated that the Welfare Society had been established in 2007.

In terms of the institution of this Welfare Society a sum of Rs. 100 had been recovered from its members as membership fees, and from 2017 this membership fee had been increased to Rs. 150, which is been continued at present.

The report states further that the former Chairman of the Maga Neguma Construction Equipment Company Kingsley Ranawake had on 28th December 2012 presented a Board Paper to increase the Non-refundable amount of 0.1% from the value of the contract recovered from the sub contractors and in addition to this 0.1% another 0.2% to be recovered from them.

The FCID in its report further states that he has obtained the board approval for the above increase and additional charges. The report also states that in 2013 a General Meeting of the Maga Neguma institute had been held and an Auditor had been appointed to the Welfare Society. Audits had been conducted for the balance six months of the year 2012 and annual audits for the years 2013 and 2014 conducted.

From these audits, it has transpired that in 2013 Rs 1,217,750.00, and in 2014 a sum of Rs 17,647,179.67 from the funds of the Employees Welfare Society had been obtained in violation of the constitution of the Society, and the amounts paid to Hirunika Premachandra and Lanka Phosphate Company had been supported by bills as reported to courts. In addition to the funds provided as proved by bills, the expenditure of additional amounts are not supported by bills which could be subjected to audit.

Accordingly, the FCID reported that the audit officer had mentioned in his report that the Committee of Patrons, the Chairman and the Treasurer should be held responsible for the welfare activities, and the reports of 2013 and 2014 years clearly indicates that a sum of Rs 18,864,929.67 from the account of the Welfare Society had been used for political and other activities.

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One million in Sri Lanka suffer from blindness

October 9th, 2018

Courtesy Bernama.com

COLOMBO, Oct 9 (Bernama) — Nearly a million in Sri Lanka, out of its 21 million population, suffer from blindness or from conditions that could lead to blindness due to an increase in the number of cataract patients, local media reported on Tuesday.

To commemorate the World Sight Day 2018 which falls on Oct 11, the health ministry said one of the major causes of cataract was diabetes while school children who suffered from obesity were also vulnerable to cataract or other vision impairment diseases later in life.According to Xinhua news agency, Health Services Director-General, Dr Anil Jasinghe disclosed that over 285 million people suffered from optical issues worldwide and over 90 per cent of them were from low or middle income countries.

He said cataract was the main cause for blindness in Asia and Africa.

Dr Jasinghe said Sri Lanka would soon amend its Vision 2020 programme to meet the rising demand for eye care in the island….

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To Solve Its Debt Problem, Pakistan Should Either Follow Malaysia Or Turn Into The Next Sri Lanka

October 9th, 2018

Panos Mourdoukoutas Courtesy forbes.com

The IMF won’t solve Pakistan’s debt problem.

In dealing with a soaring foreign debt, Pakistan has a couple of choices. One of them is to cancel Chinese projects, as Malaysia did back in August. The other choice is to allow China to turn debt into equity, as Sri Lanka did back in July.

Pakistan’s new leader Imran Khan inherited several problems from the previous leadership. One of them is the soaring foreign debt, fueled by loans from China to finance the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It’s a collection of infrastructure projects built by Chinese construction companies throughout Pakistan.

Pakistan’s external debt soared to 95097 USD Million in the second quarter of 2018 from 91761 USD Million in the first quarter of 2018.

KOYFIN

That’s an all-time high, and well above the average of 54065.23 USD Million for the period 2002-2018.

Pakistan’s soaring foreign debt comes at a time when the country is living well beyond its means. Pakistan recorded a Current Account deficit of 8.20% of its Gross Domestic Product in 2018. That’s an all-time high and well above the -2.60% average for the period 1980-2018.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Foreign Exchange Reserves dropped to 16369.70 USD Million in August, down from 16891.10 USD Million in July of 2018.

That’s slightly below the average of 16032.54 USD Million for the period 1998-2018.

A soaring foreign debt in the face of rising current account deficits and falling foreign currency reserves have made Pakistan dependent on foreign capital flows. And left Kahn with no choice but to knock on the door of the Washington-controlled IMF again.

Foreign Capital FlowsKOYFIN

But while the IMF may ease Pakistan’s problem, it won’t solve it as long as it keep on building the CPEC.

That leaves Imran Khan with two choices. One is to cancel Chinese projects to save funds, as Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad did back in August. He canceled two major infrastructure projects by Chinese companies for adding to the country’s heavy foreign debt burden.

Pakistan Equities Have Been Heading SouthKOYFIN

The other choice for Khan is to reschedule the country’s debt to China. Perhaps, by swapping debt with equity, which in essence will transfer CPEC ownership to Beijing.

That’s the model China applied in rescheduling Sri Lanka’s debt, turning the country’s Hambantota port officially into China’s own port, for 99 years. This was done in accordance with a landmark agreement signed early last year. It gives China Merchants Ports Holdings—an arm of the Chinese government—70% stake in the Indian Ocean’s key outpost.

As was the case with CPEC, the Hambantota port expansion began with loans from China. But when Shri Lanka could not pay back the loans, Beijing converted these loans to equity, in essence turning Sri Lanka into a “semi-colony,” though in a subtle way.

That’s what will eventually happen to Pakistan when China takes over CPEC, and end up collecting tolls from every vehicle that passes through.

Apparently, Imran Khan has a difficult choice to make.

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Sri Lanka to sell hotel stakes, possibly within six months: finance minister

October 9th, 2018

Tom Wilson Courtesy reuters.com

LONDON (Reuters) – Sri Lanka plans to put two state-owned hotel companies up for sale within the next six months in a sale that could raise $500 million for the island nation as it seeks to bolster its finances, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

Sri Lanka faces repayments on expensive infrastructure foreign loans starting this year and already has a hefty debt burden, while its rupee currency has plumbed record lows.

We’re going through the legal hoops of preparing (the sales),” State Minister of Finance Eran Wickramaratne said in an interview. It will maybe take six months to get over that.”

The government began a search for investors in January for the Grand Hyatt Colombo and for a 51 percent stake in a five-star hotel in the capital Colombo that Hilton International runs under a management contract.

Sri Lanka would also reopen bidding for national carrier Sri Lankan Airlines, probably in a few months, Wickramatne said.

Talks with private equity firm TPG Capital, the sole bidder in a previous push to sell the carrier, collapsed last year during due diligence.

We are going through an internal restructuring again, and we may have to make a different offering in a different structure,” Wickramatne said. I’m expecting in the next few months that it will be open for people to express interest”.

Since 2015, the government of the $87 billion economy has introduced fiscal and monetary policy measures including tax reforms and a flexible currency exchange rate.

But Sri Lanka has struggled to overhaul major state-owned enterprises including its airline due to a lack of funds and protests by trade unions.

The International Monetary Fund urged the country in June to strengthen governance and transparency at state firms.

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That’s quite a souvenir! Newlyweds are now the proud OWNERS of the rustic beach hotel they stayed in on their honeymoon (and they blame the free-flowing rum)

October 9th, 2018

By KERRY MCDERMOTT FOR MAILONLINE Courtesy Mail on Line

Gina Lyons, 33, and Mark Lee, 35, honeymooned in Sri Lanka after 2017 wedding
Agreed to take over lease for their rustic beach hotel on rum-fuelled night
Newlyweds, who are now expecting a baby, named it Lucky Beach Tangalle
As of July 1 this year they became owners of the seven room B&B
A newlywed couple has told how they got so drunk on a boozy night out on their honeymoon they agreed to buy their hotel.

London-based Gina Lyons, 33, and Mark Lee, 35, set off on a three week backpacking adventure around Sri Lanka last December, following their wedding in June 2017.

While there they checked into a rustic hotel on the beach, quickly falling for its charm and that of the friendly staff.

So much so that, when one of the bartenders told them the lease was coming up for renewal over several glasses of rum, the newlyweds decided they’d be just the people to take it over – at a cost of £30,000.

+11

Gina Lyons, 33, and Mark Lee, 35, got married in June 2017, waiting until December last year for their honeymoon – three weeks of backpacking in Sri Lanka

After several glasses of rum on a night out, the newlyweds decided to take over the lease on their rustic beach hotel – at a cost of some £30,000

On their first night, they took to the beach with several bottles of rum and drank with one of the hotels bartenders, where they were told the current lease on the hotel was almost up.

Now, as of July 1 this year, producer Gina and Mark, a sales director, officially own the hotel they drunkenly agreed to buy and have renamed it ‘Lucky Beach Tangalle’.

Gina said: ‘When we walked into the hotel we saw a group of old Sri Lankan men who were still drunk from the night before, so we started drinking with them.

Almost a year on from their ‘drunken idea’, Gina and Mark are expecting a baby – and refurbing their own hotel in Sri Lanka

‘The hotel looked grotty and very cheap, but it was by the beach and had the “wooden tree house” feel that we like.

‘When we were on the beach drinking rum, we were told that the lease was almost up for the hotel.

‘After finding out that it was £10,000 a year, myself and Mark thought that it would be a brilliant idea to buy it – because we were so drunk.

‘Now, almost a year on from our drunken idea, we own the hotel and have started doing the hotel up and making it ours.’

The couple, who married in June 2017, are now starting a family as they work to put their own stamp on the hotel, which they’ve named Lucky Beach Tangalle

Despite having had the initial conversation about purchasing the hotel whilst they were drunk, Gina explains that the couple were also tipsy during the following, more serious, chats.

She said: ‘The next day we went and met an old couple who we had to speak to about renewing the lease ourselves.

‘We had to take two friends we had made with us so they could translate for us, as the couple didn’t speak English themselves.

‘Because we didn’t understand most of the conversation, Mark and I were just sat drinking more rum and slowly getting drunk again.

Gina and Mark immediately fell for the hotel’s charms – and those of its staff – after checking in during their December 2017 Sri Lanka honeymoon

They are now in the process of doing up the rustic beach bed and breakfast, which has seven rooms – all while preparing to welcome a baby

Thanks to some swift bartering, the couple negotiated a deal whereby they will pay the £30,000 cost of their lease over the course of the three year period

‘After some bartering, we finally agreed that we would pay £30,000 for the three year lease and pay £15,000 in the first year and the other half by March 2019.

‘But on top of that we had to pay about £7,000 legal fees in obtaining licenses and then £6,000 to refurbish, so it wasn’t cheap.’

Despite struggling financially, the couple managed to pay the first half of the lease – however they stumbled into an unexpected debt three months after agreeing the purchase in March this year, when Gina discovered she was pregnant.

Gina said: ‘When we had paid £8,000 of the lease, we found out that we were expecting a baby.

‘I felt like I was already a bad mother because I felt guilty that I’d wasted all of this money buying a business that might not work.

‘Even our friends and family think we’re idiots and shouldn’t have been doing it – we owed a lot of money from the wedding and only lived in a tiny flat, and now we had a baby on the way.

The couple, soon-to-be parents, have confessed many of their friends and family ‘think we’re idiots’

London-based Mark and Gina tied the knot in June 2017, and enjoyed a honeymoon in Sri Lanka in December of that year

‘I was plagued with feeling irresponsible, but it was either sink or swim – so we decided we’d have to make it work.

‘That’s when we decided to throw our all into it, both for ourselves and for the baby, and in July we officially became owners of the business.’

Despite initially doubting their decision, the couple opened their seven-bedroom B&B at the end of July and have since had an inflow of regular customers.

And although the business venture has paid off for them, the couple insist that their decisions to expand will be made sober.

The couple, soon to be a family of three, are sticking to their impulse decision to take over Lucky Beach Tangalle