Courtesy Janabala.com

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා සහ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග මහත්මිය අතර පැවති සුහදතාවය මේ වන විට විශාල ලෙස පළුදු වී ඇතැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ අභ්‍යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග පවසයි.

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරිය කෙරෙහි දැක්වූ සුහදතාවය,විශ්වාසය සහ සැලකිල්ල මෙසේ වියැකී ගොස් තිබෙන්නේ ඇයගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපය හේතුවෙන් බව ද එම ආරංචි මාර්ග පෙන්වා දෙයි.

ඊට හේතු වී තිබෙන්නේ චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග මහත්මිය ඇතැම් විට ජනාධිපතිවරයා පවා අභිභවා ක්‍රියා කිරීමට දරන උත්සාහය,රජයේ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ වැඩ කටයුතු සඳහා කරන අනවශ්‍ය මැදිහත්වීම් යැයි ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සමීප රජයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ ප්‍රකෂයෙක් සමග පැවසීය.

තමා හමුවීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයා, හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරියට වේලාවක් පවා නොදෙන තත්ත්වයක් මේ වන විට උද්ගත වී තිබෙන බව ද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.
කිසිදු දැනුම්දීමකින් සහ වේලාවක් යොදා ගැනීමෙන් තොරව, සිය අභිමතය පරිදි ඇය වරක් ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයට පැමිණ ජනාධිපතිවරයා හමුවීමට අවශ්‍ය බවට දැනුම් දී ඇති අතර ඒ වන විට රාජකාරි බහුලව සිටි ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා මේ මොහොතේ තමාට ඇය හමුවීමට නොහැකි බව දැනුම් දෙමින් හරවා යැවූ බව ද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

මේ අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ අභ්‍යන්තර ආරංචි මාර්ග වැඩි දුරටත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ උද්ගත වී තිබෙන තත්ත්වය හමුවේ චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක කුමාරතුංග මහත්මිය මේ පිළිබඳව රජයේ ප්‍රබල ඇමතිවරයකු සමග චෝදනාත්මකව කතා කර ජනාධිපතිවරයා හමුවීමට වහාම තමාට වේලාවක් ගෙන දෙන ලෙස බල කර ඇති බවය.

 Federal constitutions exist in 26 countries including US, Canada, Russia, Australia, India, Brazil & federal features also prevail in China. What do these countries all have in common? Their size. It is because of the size & the difficulty in governing directly from the centre that federal constitutions were created to hand over some powers from the central government to the smaller provinces (states) The powers of these states derived from the powers devolved by the centre, which inadvertently meant that these powers could at any time be removed or changed. When we can travel to the other end of Sri Lanka within a few hours, it is ridiculous to apply federal options suited for US, Canada, Russia, Australia or India to Sri Lanka & wish to change our constitution to one that resembles these countries? However, let us not forget that we are in reality a quasi-federal nation by virtue of the 13a devolving powers of the centre to the 9 provinces. This system of governance also proved a failure when 3 years after the implementation of the 13a a unilateral declaration of independence was declared in 1990. Over & above all this is the fact that the aspirations of the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution continues to prevail endorsed by ITAK in its amended constitution in 2008 confirming its commitment to creating a separate Tamil state. Therefore, the nation & its citizens have every right to insist that the centre continues to hold all executive powers & nothing other than administrative changes should be decentralized to the provinces wherein the centre can at any time remove or change the powers given.

Of the 193 UN member states, 165 are governed as unitary states.

26 nations have Federal Constitutions

Argentina – 23 provinces

Australia – 6 states / 3 territories

Austria – 9 states

Belgium – 3 regions

Brazil – 26 states

Canada – 10 provinces/ 3 territories

Comoros

Ethiopia – 9 regions

Germany – 16 states

India – 29 states/ 7 union territories

Malaysia – 13 states / 3 territories

Mexico – 31 states

Micronesia

Nigeria – 36 states

Pakistan – 4 provinces / 2 autonomous areas / 2 territories

Russia

Saint Kitts & Nevis

Switzerland – is a confederation of 26 cantons

Venezuela – 23 states

UAE – 7 emirates

USA – 50 states

Iraq – 18 governorates / 1 region

Bosnia Herzegovina

Sudan – 17 states

South Sudan – 10 states

Nepal – 7 provinces

There can never be a perfect copy & paste model of any system that can compartmentalize states & people. Every nation is unique & must adopt a system that is suited & reflects that nation’s history, heritage & psyche.

The reason for the UN Charter to include non-intervention in the internal affairs of nations was precisely because external forces can never decipher how a nation functions whatever research or data they gather. There is no legal blueprint for a federal constitution while there is no 100% perfect country because of its federal constitution.

An important component of a federal constitution is its division of regions. Originally the island was divided into 3 – Ruhunu, Maya, Pihiti. The divisions that came later were all foreign imposed which explains the reason for its rejection. The British divided the island for its administrative purposes. The British controlled the island with 1 Governor & the Katcheri system. The Indian influence created the 9 provinces via the 13^th amendment. Therefore, the root of the division of regions is itself faulty.

The next component of a federal constitution is the institutional framework dependent on the understanding that the regions carry out the policy framework of the centre while administratively looking after their regions. In short there can be no conflict of interest. This area is where the contention is vis a vis two key provinces that have been agitating for a separate state & using every nomenclature in the global governance systems to curry favour for this ‘separatist cause’. It is this key element that is the basis for the majority to reject any recommendations for a federal constitution facilitating this end objective, in particular when it appears the recommendations are striving to go beyond a federal constitution & propose an asymmetrical federal constitution giving these two key provinces more powers than the others. This is virtually handing over the platter of separation by another name thus fulfilling their original objectives.

In 2014, the GOSL gave the Northern Province Rs5.831m (the highest allocation) of which Wigneswaran and coterie has utilized only 25% as of September 30^th 2014. The GOSL has spent from its national budget Rs.290,271 million for the Northern Province alone from 2009 to September 2014.

Since 1987 what have the provincial council system achieved for the people of these provinces that they were not given before its introduction? In the case of the Northern Provincial Council, the province being the least populated of the 9 provinces has always been demanding provincial budget second to the highest populated province the Western province but its budget allocation has never been utilized in full & has returned to the Treasury, while the central government has been utilizing its budget to the welfare of the provinces as well. In short, there is nothing special that the provincial council has done over and above the central government. http://www.dailymirror.lk/100389/underutilisation-of-funds-allocated-to-provincial-councils-editorial

The other component is the separation or devolving of powers from the centre to the provinces – 36 of the 37 subjects have been devolved. As per 13a the provinces have been given all powers except police powers & this has been denied for valid reasons.

Let us not forget that even after the implementation of the 13a proposed by India as being the solution to Sri Lanka’s conflict, the LTTE ran a defacto rule where it had its own police, own army, own navy, own courts, own administrative system, own currency…. TNA, the political party formed by the LTTE is now at the helm & it has not backed down or changed any of the original demands made. Any government would be insane to hand over what the LTTE fought for with the gun which its political wing is trying to achieve through political bargaining. http://www.sinhalanet.net/13a-is-implemented-but-a-failure-36-of-the-37-subjects-have-been-devolved

We cannot evade some ground realities. Indian presence in the North vis a vis hand over of strategic development projects, Indian consular office, Indians developing Kankasanthurai airport/Palali airport, the proposed Air/Sea bridge have all national security implications for Sri Lanka. We have never dealt with the historical issue of illegal immigrants from South India. Can these sensitive issues be handled by the northern/eastern provincial government that owes its existence to the assistance of India to help elect them to their roles? In such a scenario will it not mean that the centre is knowingly virtually handing over 2 key parts of the island to be ruled by a foreign nation?

With the quasi-federal nature of the present constitution, it is curious why TNA would give the impression that there is no federal component to the present administrative structure of Sri Lanka when there clearly is & the TNA has proved a failure at it. Failure in utilizing the budget allocated, TNA has also failed to win the approval of the people as can be clearly seen by the election results & the regular protests against the TNA MPs by Tamils. When the TNA cannot run simple administrative tasks how can they run a complete separate confederation or asymmetrical federation?

https://www.onlanka.com/news/sri-lanka-demands-to-know-if-itak-is-pretending-to-seek-a-federal-solution-but-aiming-for-a-confederacy.html

Certainly we can look into the various proposals being made but we first need to have answers to these questions.

• Why there should be a new constitution & what the issues are that makes anyone feel the need for a new constitution & why these issues cannot be dealt with in the existing constitution
• Who wants a new constitution
• Who asked for a new constitution
• Why are external parties so eager for a new constitution? Who are they?
• Who are tasked to draft a new constitution & how representative of the people’s voices are they?

Any new constitution can be adopted but NOT before

• TNA & its constituent parties have been investigated & cleared off links to LTTE & LTTE fronts
• The 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution demands are dropped in toto

Shenali D Waduge

Sugath Samarasinghe 

When non-Buddhists and the Intellectual Buddhists who may have hardly stepped into a village temple lately, start quoting Buddha’s Teachings for polemic purposes, ordinary riffraff Buddhists become suspicious of their motives. For, if these ordinary Buddhists had taken the Buddha’s words literally, there would not have been a Buddhist Sri Lanka today. We survived for over 2500 years as a nation, because over centuries upto date we have fought with our might and main for our survival, national integrity and to perpetuate Buddhist religion which defined our national character. If we did not do that, we would have been wiped out by now and become like another Philippines or an Indonesia. The Buddhists of India may have been chanting the Buddha’s words Na’hi werena weraani” while the Moghuls razed the Nalanda University.

When the first Buddhist Theosophists like Col. Olcott, Madame Blavatsky and Leadbeater and others started their campaign here urging the Buddhists to wake up and set up the English language Buddhist school system to fight the Christian Missionaries, the  then Western Educated elite of this country cautioned the Buddhists through their English newspapers not to be misled by these new ‘do gooders’. If we did ever listen to their exhortation then, imagine where we would have been today!

Now since our present day descendants of the same Western Educated elite, have quoted the Buddha, let us refer them to a little story related by a modern day Western Educated disciple of the Buddha, Ajhan Brahmavanso. Once there were two friends who were diligently meditating. After death, one friend who was born in Brahama Loka looked out to see what had become of his friend. He saw him born as a worm perched on a patch of cow dung. He immediately ejected and met his friend on the cow dung and asked him” Hey, what are you doing here in this patch of cow dung? Come with me. Let us go and continue our meditation effort. The friend said to him:  No you go ahead, I am quite happy here”.

We wonder whether these intellectuals too feel comfortable in their intellectual cocoon enjoying their restored Human Rights, freedom of expression, Right to information etc. which are all very good, while wallowing in unprecedented corruption all round them, where 118 of their 225  Members of Parliament are said to be recipients of Perpetual Treasuries handouts, engaged in mis-governance called Yahapalanaya, inefficiency, indecision, inaction and blundering, depriving people of their democratic rights to elect Provencal Council Members, compromising their country’s  sovereignty at Geneva, making Parliamentary System a joke, turning over strategic assets like Hambantota Port, Mattala Air Port to foreigners, planning to sign FTAs disadvantageous to the country etc. etc. to name a few. All this, while the people at large suffering with unbearable cost of living, with no proper returns to the farmers for their products, fishermen fighting for fuel relief and the like. These seem to be of no concern to them. And they scare the people of any effort by them to get out of this mess of a patch of cow dung, calling it a ”Vipathmaga”. ‘Wipathmaga’ for whom, we wnder?

They have expressed their horror at the reference to welcome of a Hitler by a monk, the idea of pining for Terrorism by Ms. Wijayakala. But they are missing their Message. These are just cries in desperation against the prevailing unbearable unsatisfactory social and economic conditions. They in their ignorance seem not to mind even some degree of authoritarianism if some order could be restored. Instead of capturing the message, they are trying to kill the messenger, despite their holy respect for freedom of expression. We wonder what Ven. Sobhitha would have done had he lived to see the outcome of his well-intentioned effort to redeem this country of corruption and so many other ills.

True enough people may think, no harm even at the cost of a little authoritarianism, if we could be rid of the present monstrosity. But that is how people think. They voted for the present dispensation in 2015 and even and sacrificed their sovereignty 200 years ago in 1815 for a short term relief. Now they have realized their folly and want another remedy. That is how people are; living in eternal hope.

These intellectual types often cite Lee Quan Yew and Mohamed Mahathir as role model leaders for our country. They do not speak of the scant respect Lee Quan Yew had for Human Rights in the early years till he put his country on its feet. We believe there still are political dissenters held in Prison without trail for long periods. In both countries drug offenders are routinely hung. In Malaysia, Mahathir’s corruption in his earlier session was well known. Not that we condone it. But it is how the reality is. We would invite Friday Forum to come down to earth from their splendid isolation.

The ‘Friday Forum’ community have condemned criticism from some quarters of the local High Commissioner of Human Rights who is reported to have done a lot of good in that area. Does that mean that she is beyond criticism? Can one hold Public Office without being exposed to public criticism? Why is it that Friday Forum intellectuals do not display their tolerance of dissenting opinions?

Talking of Human Rights and freedom of speech etc. we have yet to see this lot express their appreciation of the last government’s greatest achievement in restoring of Human Rights of all people of this country by wiping out Terrorism which was tormenting people for over 30 years, which no country in the world could achieve? After all, so many poor village youth paid with their lives to ensure that people like those of the Friday Forum who pontificate on Human Rights are safe in their cocoons of comfort; so that children of Northern parents are now safe to go to school. We never heard them openly condemning Terrorism when the Terrorists were plaguing this country? Instead we heard them pleading for treating the Terrorists with kid gloves, again quoting the Buddha. They were quite happy with the CFA while the Terrorists were engaged in mass killings in the villages. Even Buddha could not stop Prince Vidudabha from slaughtering the Sakayas who were his own people. He could not stop Prince Ajathasatru from killing his father, King Bimbisara. We recall that these Friday Forum people said that we should not celebrate our victory over Terrorism brining safety to this country. They called it ‘Triumphalism’. Victory at World War II is still being celebrated with great pomp. Nobody calls it ’triumphalism’ though some German cities were razed to the ground by the victors’ relentless bombing.

Thus, when we, the Noviyath Hudee Janas are told that we are on a ”vipath maga”, we know that we are on the right track.    SATURDAY FORUM

KAMALIKA PIERIS

REVISED 25.7.18

This essay looks at the current relationship between Yahapalana government of Sri Lanka and the United States of America. From a triumphal, highly visible start in 2015, with prominent visits by Secretary of State John Kerry and other high ranking officials, the USA has now decided to go into low profile. Visits from US officials are continuing but without much publicity.

Alice Wells, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs was in Sri Lanka in August 2017. She met with government officials, business leaders and civil society representatives to discuss US cooperation in the region. Wells joined a candlelight vigil at Vihara Maha Devi Park, to mark the UN Day of the victims of Enforced Disappearances. She was accompanied by US Ambassador in Colombo Atul Keshap. She was joined by the top representatives of the Tamil National Alliance

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe paid a quiet visit to New York in June 2016. The reason given to the Sri Lanka public was that Wickremesinghe was visiting New York for medical purposes,   though he had been examined and cleared fully in Singapore. The reality was that he was meeting two officials from the White House, ‘who would represent President Donald Trump.’ Wickremesinghe was also scheduled to address the United Nations Ocean Conference. You cannot drop in on such conferences and deliver addresses. The schedules are arranged months before. This indicates that the visit was planned well ahead.

New information on US involvement in the internal politics of Sri Lanka is greatly welcomed by an eager public. The US Embassy is heavily involved in the internal politics of Sri Lanka, said the media in 2016. The previous US Ambassador Michelle Sison was openly talking politics at embassy functions and she was one of those who were adamant that the candidate to challenge Mahinda Rajapaksa should not be a UNP candidate but a common candidate, reported the media in 2016.

US intervened at two presidential elections, in January 2010, and January 2015 in a bid to defeat war-winning President Rajapaksa, observed Island in October 2017. The US has been so keen to remove Rajapaksa; it played the central role in bringing in the TNA into the UNP-led coalition that included the JVP, on both occasions. The US succeeded in its second attempt concluded Island.

Shamindra Ferdinando said in his regular column that according to US State Department financial report for 2016, the US has invested USD 585 million in 2015 in three countries, including Sri Lanka.  The money had been spent by the State Department under the subject ‘Democracy, human rights and governance’. Although the report refrained from specifying projects funded by the State Department, former Secretary of State John Kerry wrote in the foreword that ‘we have supported important democratic gains in Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and Burma’. Kerry also stressed that ‘in an era of diffuse and networked power, we [the US] are focusing on strengthening partnerships with civil society, citizen movements, faith leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and others to promote democracy and good governance and address gender-based violence [in these countries]’.

Hasina Leelarathna, former Times of Ceylon journalist, found that USAID had given US 3.4 million to the Yahapalana 100-day administration, as funds were urgently needed, with the August 2015 parliamentary polls looming ahead.  This had come from the US Complex Crises Funds which had been directed to make USD 40 million available to support governance, rule of law and economic reform in Sri Lanka.  Leelarathna had obtained the information through America’s Freedom of Information Act.

But the most explosive information of all came the other day from UPFA Kandy District MP Keheliya Rambukwella. Keheliya told Island ‘there is no point in debating the interim report of the Constitutional Assembly Steering Committee as the final draft of the new constitution has already been prepared by the US and given to the government.  A group of Sri Lankan MPs including me visited the US recently. We were attending a Congress meeting on Sri Lankan affairs. David Price, a US Congressman,   told us that the US had prepared the final draft of the new constitution and sent it to the Sri Lankan government. He said almost everybody had accepted the draft except a bunch led by Mahinda Rajapaksa. Then, I told Price that I was one of the members of that bunch’, concluded Keheliya.

A US Senate committee has opposed Trump Administration’s proposal of a drastic 92 percent cut in American aid to Sri Lanka.  The cuts are mostly from accounts that have supported programmes to promote the rule of law, democratic reforms, post-war reconciliation and related efforts, said the Chairman of House Foreign Affairs Sub Committee on Asia and the Pacific. These programmes are cost-effective ways to contribute to Sri Lanka’s transformation, while pursuing a partnership and a strategic lead in an important country, he said.  The Committee expressed concern over this massive cut in US aid to Sri Lanka.

The Senate committee said that Sri Lanka is strategically positioned along key shipping lanes.  Given the geostrategic importance of the country, the Committee does not support the President’s budget cut for Sri Lanka. The Committee seeks USD 43 million for Sri Lanka. This includes USD 35 million as economic support fund, USD 6.8 million for non-proliferation and anti-terrorism and USD 500,000 in foreign military financing and an equal amount for training of military personnel.

The US has got into several critical  sectors  that affect the future of Sri Lanka .They include Sri Lanka ‘s economy, Sri Lanka ‘s Parliament and Sri Lanka ‘s armed forces. ‘We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and reconciled country in the future,’ US said. Let us look at how they are doing this.

House Democracy Partnership of the US House of Representatives has launched a Collaboration Agreement with the Parliament of Sri Lanka.  Speaker Karu Jayasuriya signed for Sri Lanka .The purpose was to strengthen partnership between the two legislatures. The collaboration between the two legislatures is based on the principles of facilitating the exchange of information on the legislative systems of each country, sharing knowledge, and offering consultations on effective legislative management; and cooperating and assisting each other through training programs for the members and staff of the legislatures, said USA

The House Democracy Partnership   is a bipartisan, twenty-member commission of the U.S. House of Representatives.  It works with partner countries to develop accountable, effective and independent legislatures. Partner states are eligible to participate in training seminars for staff, peer-to-peer exchange programs with the U.S. House of Representatives and receive capacity building assistance in critical areas such as constituent relations, legislative oversight, committee operations, and research and library services. The House Democracy Partnership is currently implementing projects in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia, Georgia, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Timo-Leste and Ukraine.

Sri Lanka is also participating in another US project, ‘Strengthening Democratic Governance and Accountability Project’ (SDGAP). This is a project for the reform of Sri Lanka’s public sector. It has been costed at USD 13.7 million. The US has selected Development Alternatives, Inc (DAI) of Maryland, to implement the project. DAI would work closely with the Parliament, Independent Commissions and related ministries. USAID allocated USD 3 million for the project in September 2016 and the program was launched in November 2016.  SDGAP was subject to the laws and regulations of the United States, with oversight from USAID’s Office of Inspector General.

SDGAP project will help the Government of Sri Lanka to increase transparency and accountability, advance good governance reforms, and strengthen systems and processes for public accountability, financial management, policy development and implementation. It also supports the government to strengthen communication with citizens, include the public in policy-making, and increase the participation of women in political processes.

Then there is the US / Sri Lanka Partnership Dialogue, a regular policy consultation designed to discuss and identify opportunities for cooperation across the full range of bilateral and regional issues. The Partnership Dialogue demonstrates the consolidation of cooperation between the United States and Sri Lanka and serves to further strengthen and enhance bilateral relations in the widest sense, through regular and structured engagement, said the US. US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Ambassador Shannon is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in November 2017 to take part in the next round of the Partnership talks.

In December 2016, Board of Directors of the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) selected Sri Lanka to develop a Compact.  The Compact was a five-year grant program, with the Government of Sri Lanka that aims to reduce poverty and promote economic opportunity for Sri Lankans.

MCC announced Rs. 1.1 billion ($7.4 million) in funding to Sri Lanka to support the development of the Compact, including identifying and analyzing specific projects for potential investment. The country became eligible for assistance after passing 13 out of 20 indicators on MCC’s policy scorecard. MCC is an independent agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. MCC’s grants and assistance to Sri Lanka is an immense contribution to its efforts in advancing good governance, fighting corruption and in the protection and promotion of human rights, said admirers.

A delegation from the MCC visited Colombo in July, 2017, to advance progress on the development of the MCC compact. Sri Lanka will receive approximately USD 700 million within a period of 5 years from the US to invest in three priority areas such as policy stability, access to land and transport.

Yahapalana has established a project management unit, the “Sri Lankan Compact Development Team”, within the Prime Minister’s Office, to work with MCC on the Compact. The goal is to develop a high-quality, evidence-based and sustainable compact aimed at addressing these economic challenges in a way that drives growth and reduces poverty. MCC holds partner countries accountable through rigorous oversight, monitoring and evaluation.

A 3 year economic plan for Sri Lanka, put together by a team of foreign and local experts led by Harvard university academic Ricardo Hausmann,  was presented at Sri Lanka Economic Forum, January 2016.  It was funded by the Open Society Foundation of George Soros.  Soros was also one of the main participants along with Harvard’s Joseph Stieglitz. Local economists and social scientists dismissed the plan. The analysis was defective, they said. The plan showed no understanding of the country needs. Hausmann has offered no sound policy alternative to Sri Lanka problems. He has used Venezuela as an example Stieglitz was no better.  The media also observed that there were two teams heading to Harvard for a Harvard study programme, each unaware of the other, one from PMs Office and the other from the Finance ministry.

Trade connections fared better. This is an auspicious time for American firms to do business in Sri Lanka, said the US embassy in Colombo. United States and Sri Lanka will engage in more business together. American firms are eager to do business in Sri Lanka and the US Government is engaged in ways to increase bilateral trade between the two countries. Sri Lanka will become closer friends and will do much more business together, said Deputy Chief Hilton Speaking at the Annual General Meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka.

Assistant U.S. Trade Representative Mark Linscott visited Colombo in September 2017 and encouraged the Government of Sri Lanka to implement policies that will increase trade and improve the business climate.    He brought up the current one-year limit on residence visas as a barrier to foreign investment  and was told  Yahapalana  government will be lengthening the duration of residency visas to three years, U.S. firms will then migrate to Sri Lanka.  As they do, Sri Lanka will be able to import more high quality U.S. goods.  We are all contributing toward a Sri Lanka that is more inclusive, more just, more peaceful, and more prosperous.  And, through our hard work, the United States and Sri Lanka will become closer friends and allies and will do much more business together.  We will all benefit, concluded Linscott.

A five member USAID team led by Davnie Eston arrived here and mapped out ways and means in which USAID could collaborate on ventures of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. We are empowered to work with the private sector” said USAID. USAID was also asked to improve the soft skills of Lanka Sathosa personnel to match the country’s competitive retail market environment. The U.S. Department of State’s Export Control and Related Border Security (EXBS) Program and the World Customs Organization (WCO) trained 34 Customs Officials from Sri Lanka in strategic trade controls enforcement in September 2017.

The US government through its development agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with the business leaders and the Sri Lankan Government launched the ‘You Lead’ in October 2017. ‘You Lead’ is a new employability and skills development project with a US investment of USD 12 million. The project is intended to create a more market-oriented, skilled and flexible youth workforce. To help young Sri Lankans between the ages of 16 and 35 to become more competitive in the labor market. You Lead’s regional focus is on the provinces with the highest youth unemployment, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern and Northern Provinces. The project also aims to foster increased opportunities for self-employment by improving the skills of young entrepreneurs and working with financial institutions to encourage more lending to youth-led start-ups.

Now we turn to warfare. There are increasing naval links between the Sri Lanka navy and US navy. The U.S. Navy and Marines and Sri Lankan Navy and Marines launched the annual Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercise in Trincomalee in October 2107.  US navy said ‘it was pleased to add Sri Lanka to our list of CARAT partners in 2017 as part of our larger efforts to expand both bilateral and multilateral maritime security engagement across the Indo-Pacific region.’

CARAT Sri Lanka 2017 is part of a series of bilateral CARAT military exercises between the U.S. Navy and the armed forces of Bangladesh, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Thailand.  U.S. Navy participation in CARAT Sri Lanka 2017 include Commander Task Group 75.5, Coastal Riverine Group 1, Underwater Construction Team 2 and U.S. Marines with Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team Pacific

The week-long exercise focused on maritime security skills and operational cohesiveness among participating forces.  CARAT training encompasses small boat operations, evidence collection, diving procedures, and anti-terrorism security.  It also builds relationships between military participants through community development projects, sports, and social events.

Robert Hilton, Chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Embassy in Sri Lanka, noted at the time  that, ‘as the Government of Sri Lanka continues to make progress on reconciliation, justice, and human rights, cooperation between our militaries will continue to grow to include further opportunities like this.   CARAT is entering its twenty-third year, and Sri Lanka is among the newest CARAT partner nations, demonstrating a shared commitment to maritime security in the Indian Ocean.’

USA’s Nimitz Carrier Strike Group visited Colombo in October 2017. These carriers are used for offensive operations. The Group included the USS Nimitz, the cruiser USS Princeton, destroyers USS Howard, USS Shoup, USS Pinckney, and USS Kidd. USS Nimitz is a super carrier of the United States Navy, and the lead ship of her class. It is one of the largest warships in the world. It is more than 23 stories high from the keel to the top of the mast and is approximately 333 meters long.  It can accommodate more than 5,000 personnel.  This was the first aircraft carrier to visit since1985. It was parked 150 nautical miles off Colombo.

The visit was given a PR look. I’m delighted that U.S. sailors will have the chance to visit Sri Lanka, meet with its wonderful people, and take part in public service activities at schools, hospitals, and rest homes that will improve the lives of Sri Lankans of all ages,” said the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka. While in port, sailors will also work with local non-profit organizations to support community service events at a local hospital, an orphanage, and other sites.

The local media   kept very quiet about this visit. Foreign newspapers did not.   Asia Times had a paragraph on the event, starting with the headline, ‘US sends super carrier USS Nimitz to Sri Lanka in flag-showing visit aimed at China’.  This is what Asia Times said.

‘The US Navy, against a backdrop of quickening relations between Sri Lanka and China, is sending the USS Nimitz to make the first port call by a US aircraft carrier to the Indian Ocean nation in more than 30 years. The huge carrier will dock in Sri Lanka’s port of Colombo on Saturday for three days, in the first such visit since the mid-1980s. USS Nimitz and its escorting warships are currently one of three US carrier strike groups operating in the western Pacific. The show of force is a US response to continuing tensions with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program. The Nimitz’s flag-showing exercise in Sri Lanka also seems designed to counter a growing Chinese presence in the strategic nation’.

The 7th Fleet of the US Navy however appears to be accident prone.  In August 2017, the guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain, smashed into a tanker as the warship headed to Singapore, tearing a huge hole in the hull. The collision killed 10 sailors and injured five others. Another destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald, had collided with a Philippine-flagged cargo ship off Japan in June, leaving seven sailors dead. Two non-deadly incidents also occurred in 2017. In January, the USS Antietam ran aground near its base in Japan and in May, the USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel. Following the USS McCain incident, the Navy sacked the Commander of the Seventh Fleet and three top commanders. Several other officers and enlisted sailors were relieved of duty or reprimanded.

USA has now started to make its future military plans clear to those listening in Sri Lanka. At the Galle Dialogue 2017, Admiral Scott Swift, Pacific Fleet Commander said they look forward to the expansion of our military to military relations. It was necessary to build trust and cooperation to address multilateral challenges. With [certain] realities creeping into the Indian Ocean, maintaining the Indian Ocean as a sea of tranquility seems increasingly problematic.

Addressing the 3rd Annual Colombo Air Symposium, October 2017, United States Air Force Major General James Eifet called for increased partnership and information sharing among nations in the Indo-Pacific region in the face of a nuclear threat from North Korea. It was not only USA, the Republic of Korea and Japan who were at risk from a possible missile attack but also other countries in the region. Sri Lanka was also within the range of an attack by ballistic missiles from North Korea, he said.

Eifet also castigated China over its claims in the South China Sea. He said that the US considered China’s maritime claims as excessive and that it affected the freedom of navigation in the ocean. North Korea is the most urgent threat but we cannot ignore the threat of China in the South China Sea and the US is watching China carefully to consistently call upon China not to continue to build, reclaim and militarize disputed territories, as US flexed its muscles in the air and maritime domains it asked for greater partnerships with nations in the region. Strong partnerships enable us to advance collective interest including security, he said.

Shamindra Ferdinando observed that the US had twice commented on Sri Lanka-China relations, in an extremely negative way. One statement was made in Washington and the other in Colombo.

Alice Wells, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, in the second week of Sept 2017, declared in Washington, the US was seriously concerned over what she called unsustainable debt burden on Sri Lanka due to non-concessional loans from China. She had told a Congressional Sub Committee, China is providing non-concessional loans that promote unsustainable debt burdens, which I think are increasingly now of concern to the Sri Lankan people in the government. In Sri Lanka, we’re the largest grant provider of assistance. China is providing non-concessional loans that promote unsustainable debt burdens, which I think are increasingly, now of concern to the Sri Lankan people in the government. But what we bring to our relationship are multiple tools, she concluded. US grants are channeled primarily to NGOs working to the US agenda, observed Shamindra.

Rear Admiral Donald D. Gabrielson, of the US Navy, declared at the Galle Dialogues 2017 that every country should be cautious when working with China for want of transparency in certain engagements. The Rear Admiral was responding to a query regarding Chinese presence in the region, particularly Sri Lanka. Many an eyebrow was raised when Rear Admiral Gabrielson spoke ill of China, in Colombo, said Shamindra.

This created a reaction, at least among the readers and columnists of the media. Shamindra Ferdinando in his regular column stated If not for China, Pakistan and Russia, Western powers and India would have had isolated Sri Lanka in Geneva during the Rajapaksa administration. Their support had been special because they also provided military hardware, as well as much required training. China provided a range of arms, ammunition, equipment, aircraft, as well as artillery, on loan schemes. Chinese manufactured T-56 remains the standard assault rifle in use among armed forces here.

Shamindra went on to say, China provided jet planes to Sri Lanka in spite of Indian and Western pressure.  When the No 5 jet squadron was created in 1991, the Air Force had sought Chinese manufactured A 5s, capable of carrying a higher payload, external pressure compelled China to provide F7s. But Air Force pilots had to be sent to Pakistan to receive training in jet ground attack maneuvers as the Chinese weren’t prepared to share experience and knowledge.

Air Force   acquired four F7 GS jet interceptors on a soft loan, in June 2007. In Sept 2007, the Air Force acquired Chinese JY 11 three dimensional radar (3D) though India had strongly opposed such deployment. Unfortunately, Several LTTE ships hunted down had also carried weapons and ammunition of Chinese origin. Sri Lanka government had to request China to take tangible measures to prevent the LTTE from acquiring weapons with the help of corrupt officials.

A final comment on the United State of America. USA is continuously confronted with its unattractive past. 39 recently declassified US Embassy documents covering the period from 1964-1968, have revealed that the US government had intimate knowledge of the Indonesian army’s bloody anti-communist purge in the 1960s. Historians say up to 500,000 alleged Indonesian Communist Party [PKI] supporters were killed between October 1965 and March 1966 by soldiers and civilian militias after the army launched a campaign to crush the Indonesian communist party and its leaders following a failed coup. General Suharto, who put down the coup, blamed the Indonesian Communist Party and rose to power on the back of the bloodshed, going on to lead the world’s most populous Muslim nation with an iron fist for three decades.

During his rule, the massacres were presented as necessary to rid the country of communism – Indonesia had the world’s third-biggest communist party after China and the Soviet Union before the killings. The declassified documents show how American officials across the archipelago knew of the massacres, including the complicity of prominent Muslim civil society groups in the killings. In one telegram sent from the city of Surabaya on November 26, 1965 the US consul said the number of reports coming in from East Java were an indication [of] widespread slaughter” adding as many as 15,000 Communists may have been murdered in a single massacre.

The USA  continued to  strengthened its links with the Yahapalana government in 2018 .Sri Lanka took part in the biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) maritime exercise  2018  held in  Hawaii and Southern California in June 2018., This was  the first time Sri Lanka   was participating in this exercise. RIMPAC 2018 was an American led combined live field training exercise that included operational and tactical level training. The Sri Lanka team also had a week of Field Training Exercise and similar training engagements with Royal Australian Navy Marines and US Marines in Townville, Australia.

Army Commander Lieutenant General Mahesh Senanayake attended the US Army’s ‘LANPAC Symposium and Exposition’, organized by the Institute of Land Warfare in Honolulu, Hawaii, in  June 2018. This annual world-class international forum of military intellectuals highlighted this year, the role, and contribution of land forces in the Indo-Pacific theatre. The theme was ‘The Future of Land Force Integration; Multilateral Approaches across the Indo-Pacific’.

Lieutenant General Senanayake also called on US Army Commanding General, Pacific Command, General Robert B. Brown and discussed several issues of concern as well as matters relating to continuing defence cooperation. Senanayake was also among the invitees to a special banquet, hosted by General Brown. Lieutenant General Senanayake’s retinue to Hawaii included Military Assistant to the Army Commander Colonel K.A.A. Udaya Kumara and Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) Warrant Officer I.W.M.S.P. Wijesinghe, perhaps for the first time in the Army history in a Commander’s entourage”.

United States Air Force Airmen from across the Indo-Pacific met with their Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) counterparts at the SLAF Headquarters in Colombo recently for ‘Airman to Airman’ talks. The two groups focused on enhancing regional security, future training opportunities and exercises geared toward strengthening interoperability and professional military education opportunities for both SLAF and USAF airmen. According to Maj. Gen. Eifert the engagement was very successful. At the two-day meeting both sides gained valuable information to share with key decision makers. The information would help both forces strengthen their bonds and bolster interoperability. “The SLAF did an outstanding job of communicating their needs and priorities which we are able to take back to HQ PACAF. It was a great opportunity to be here and improve the Sri Lanka, U.S. relationship,” .Eifert said.

A 17-member delegation of the United States Land Forces in the Pacific Command arrived in Sri Lanka for participation in ‘Land Forces Pacific Programme’ sessions In April 2018. There were preliminary discussions which addressed issues related to matters of interest to the US such as security cooperation. They also exchanged views on current developments in the region and other matters of mutual interest and concern.

Dr. Geoffrey F. Gresh, Department Head of International Security Studies – National Defense University in Washington, D.C and Associate Professor at the College of International Security Affairs (CISA), paid a courtesy call on Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Admiral Ravindra C. Wijegunaratne in June 2018.  He was accompanied by LTC Douglas Hess, Defence attache, US Embassy. A cordial discussion was held between the delegates on matters of mutual interest and cooperation. The two officials also discussed matters related to Indian Ocean Security dynamics and maritime security cooperation in the region. Mementos were also exchanged subsequent to the discussion.

The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS “Mercy” arrived in Trincomalee on April 25 to conduct the 2018 Pacific Partnership mission.” Pacific Partnership is the largest annual multilateral Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HA/DR) preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Asia-Pacific. It aims to enhance regional coordination in areas such as medical readiness and preparedness for disaster situations. Personnel from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, and Japan took part in this year’s programme working side-by-side with Sri Lankan medical professionals.

This year’s Sri Lanka stop was similar to 2017’s mission. U.S. and partner nation service members  joined their Sri Lankan counterparts in civil engineering projects, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HA/DR) readiness training, and public outreach throughout the local community. ” they conducted a range of  activities for schools, hospitals, community centres and locals in and around the Trincomalee district.

The USNS Mercy” contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000 bed hospital facility, digital radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT-scan and two oxygen producing plants. The ship is equipped with a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters.

US and Sri Lankan surgeons conducted the world’s first ever robot-assisted surgery aboard the USNS Mercy. The team successfully completed a cholecystectomy, or gall bladder removal, on a Sri Lankan citizen using a Da Vinci XI Robot Surgical System. This was the first time I have ever operated aboard a ship,” said Dr. Vyramuthu Varanitharan, a general surgeon at the Muttur Base Hospital.

During the ship’s stay, USN doctors along with Lankan doctors performed 24 varying surgeries onboard, out of which the robotic surgery performed onboard was the 1st in the world.  They also treated over 5,500 patients conducting medical clinics at various locations in and around Trincomalee in addition to over 500 veterinary surgeries and vaccinations. There were also special musical performances presented by the US 7th Fleet Band partnering with the Sri Lanka Navy in a blend of US-Sri Lankan music genres.​ From medical clinics to free public concerts, our sailors will bring the best of America to local communities,”

The US State Department Special Project has made provision for a Resident Legal Advisor in Colombo to provide anti-corruption and asset recovery training and also support the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery and Corruption (CIABOC).The State Department has said this in a statement headlined The Global Forum on Asset Recovery: Assistance for Combating Corruption in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Ukraine The State Department has said that since 2016, the US provided assistance for anti-corruption efforts in Sri Lanka to improve the functioning of Sri Lanka’s legal system and civil society, and to enhance good governance.

The United States Department of Agriculture, together with the Government of Sri Lanka, on Thursday launched the Market-Oriented Dairy Project to strengthen and grow the country’s dairy sector. The project will help Sri Lanka’s dairy farmers and other dairy-related businesses to meet growing demand by increasing productivity and expanding the trade of milk and dairy products in Sri Lanka. The 4.5-year, US$ 14.1 million  initiative is implemented by US-based International Executive Service Corps.

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera and a delegation left for USA   in June 2018, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on technological cooperation with Michigan State University. The agreement is expected to improve agricultural research activities, exchange study materials, implement scholarship programmes, and conduct joint research.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) “YouLead” programme and Microsoft Sri Lanka signed a partnership to launch the new “YouthWorks” information technology portal at the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training in Colombo). USAID funds YouthWorks under its $12 million YouLead initiative that supports youth employability, entrepreneurship, and skills development in Sri Lanka. YouLead is implemented by the International Executive Service Corps (IESC) and administered by the Volunteers for Economic Growth Alliance (VEGA).

YouLead will work with Microsoft, the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training, and the private sector to develop and upload content for the YouthWorks portal in Sinhala, Tamil and English. The portal is currently being used in 18 countries .YouthWorks is a flexible portal that can improve the technical and vocational skills of the Sri Lankan workforce and help bridge the gap between required skills in a competitive economy and those existing among Sri Lanka’s young population. The portal will provide career guidance, technical and vocational courses, a mentorship platform, job placements, and a variety of other tools to support Sri Lanka’s young job-seekers and entrepreneurs.

In October 2014 the Access Micro scholarship programme was launched in four new districts, Kurunegala, Trincomalee, Jaffna and Vavuniya  October 2014.. It is also offered in eight other locations in Sri Lanka. Access is an international scholarship program for English training.    It is sponsored by the US Embassy

The U.S. Embassy launched an American Innovation Hub (iHub) in Matara  in March 2018 in partnership with the Matara District Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The iHub is located in the Matara Chamber of Commerce building. The iHub offers thematic programs, all free of charge, and a selection of U.S. books and DVDs. It is intended to promote English language learning, encourage study in the United States, and introduce the local community to American culture and values. The U.S. Embassy  also has American Spaces in Colombo, Kandy   and  Jaffna. These locations offer books, DVDs, English language programs, entrepreneurship programs, U.S. speakers, and more.

To mark seven decades of diplomatic relations betwixt Washington and Colombo, the US  presented trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and the International All Stars for a series of performances, completely free of charge. There were several performances at varied locations in metropolitan Colombo, Galle and Matara, where the band played before all sorts of people, who ranged from those that were merely curious about a band playing out there, to those who were able to recognize the inherent value in hearing and seeing a sophisticated musical exploration in improvised music, by a group of consummate professionals with authenticity behind every note they played, said Arun Dias Bandaranaike. ( CONCLUDED)

Sudath Gunasekara

25.7 2018.

It is reported in the press that the Canadian Prime Minister Trudo is coming to Sri Lanka to commemorate the So-called Black July 1983 in support of the LTTE Tamil cause and share the grievances of the Tamil community.

Is he aware that the LTTE was the deadliest terrorist organization ever existed in this world that had declared war against the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka

I she aware of the colossal destruction and damages the LTTE did to this country over a period of 30 years in terms of national wealth, in Rupees and cents and human life.

Why can’t the Government ask the Sri Lankan Ambassador to brief the Canadian Prime Minister on this issue and request him not to make this visit as it goes against all accepted and civilized diplomatic norms between two independent countries.

In the event if he does not comply with our request I suggest we recall our Ambassador and discontinue all our relations with Canada.

After that Truedo can invite all his Tamil friends in Sri Lanka to come to Canada and offer them full citizenship and help them to form a Liberation Tamil Tigers Canadian (LTTC) so that he can take over our headache thereafter.

He should have known what July 1983 was and that there were many more black julys in Sri Lanka far more blacker than July 1983.

He should also understand that he is acting against the Sri Lankan State a fully independent sovereign State and its people, which is not a part of Canada or a colony of Britain or France any longer as he may have thought mistakenly.

If the Government fails to do that we will have to consider this as not our Government anymore and also that there is no government in this country.

Also the Government must make this an opportunity to stop all foreign Governments and their diplomats interfering with our domestic affairs as all such actions amounts to blatant violations of the Geneva Convention of Non-Intervention (Non-interference in domestic affairs)

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේ දුර්විපාක සමාජය හඳුනාගන්නා කාලය තෙක් මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක රෝගාබාධයක් වූ පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය (Post-traumatic stress disorder -PTSD)  ශ්‍රී ලාංකාවට ආගන්තුක රෝග තත්වයක් විය​. වියට්නාම් යුද්ධයෙන් පසුව ඇමරිකානු සමාජය වියට්නාම් සින්ඩ්‍රෝමය හඳුනාගත්තාක් සේ ඊලාම් යුද්ධයෙන් පසුව ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජය පලාලි සින්ඩ්‍රෝමය හෙවත් සංග්‍රාමික පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය හඳුනා ගන්නා ලදි.  එහෙත් මෙම ආබාධය හඳුනාගන්නා විට එකී ආබාධය විසින් සමාජය තුල පුද්ගල මෙන්ම පොදු සංකූලතාවන් ඇති කොට තිබුනි.  තිස් වසරක ඊලාම් යුද්ධය විසින් සාමූහික ව්‍යසනයක් (Collective Trauma ) ඇති කරන ලදි 

ඊලාම් යුද්ධය නිල වශයෙන් ආරම්භ වන ලද්දේ 1983 ලෙස සලකනු ලැබේ. එහෙත් ඊට පෙර කාලයක සිටම උතුරේ ආයුධ සන්නද්ධ ක්‍රියාදාමයන් සිදු වන ලදි. 1972 වසරේදී ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රහාරාත්මක කණ්ඩායමක් විසින් යාපනයේ දොරේ අප්පා ක්‍රීඩාංගනයේ බෝම්බ කිහිපයක් පුපුරවන ලදි. 1974 වසරේදී කන්කසන්තුරේ පොලිස් ස්ථානයට  අත් බෝම්බයක් විසි කරන ලද  බවට වාර්තා වෙයි . 1975 ජූලි මාසයේදී ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් යාපනේ පුරපති දොරේ අප්පා මහතාව ඝාතනය කරන ලදි. 1981 දී එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සංවිධානය විසින් යුද හමුදා සෙබළුන් දෙදෙනෙකු යාපනයේදී වෙඩි තබා ඝාතනය කරන ලදි. 

මෙලෙස සුළු වශයෙන් පැවති අවි ගැටුම් 1983 දී විශාල ප්‍රහාරයක් ලෙස එලි දැක්කේය​. 1983 ජූලි මාසයේදී ප්‍රභාකරන් සමග ඔහුගේ සාමාජිකයන් විසින් බිම් බෝම්බයක් අටවා හමුදාවේ සාමාජිකයන් 13 දෙනෙකු මරා දමන ලදි. මෙම සිද්ධිය වාර්ගික කෝලාහලයක් ලෙස පැන නැගුනේය​. මෙලෙස 1983 නිල වශයෙන් ඇරඹි ඊලාම් යුද්ධය 2009 වසරේ මැයි මාසය දක්වා පැමේ කාලය තුල පුද්ගලයන් දස දහස් ගනනක් මරු දුටුහ​, බොහෝ පිරිසක් කායික මෙන්ම මානසිකව​ ආබාධිත වූහ​. එසේම රුපියල් බිලියන ගනනක් වටිනා දේපළ විනාශ විය​. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාව ද්‍රවිඩ බෙදුම් වාදීන්ට එරෙහිව යුද මෙහෙයුම් ගනනාවක් දියත් කරන ලදි. 1987 වසරේ මැයි මාසයේ ඇරඹි වඩමාරච්චි මෙහෙයුමේ සිට 2009 වසර දක්වා යුද මෙහෙයුම් තිබුණි.යුද්ධයේදී තුවාල වන සොල්දාදුවන්ට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රශස්ථ වෛද්‍ය සේවයක් පවත්වාගෙන යාමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාවනට හැකි විය​. යුද්දයේදී සිවිල් වෛද්‍යවරු මෙන්ම හමුදා වෛද්‍යවරු සේවය කලහ​. 

ඉතා විශිෂ්ඨ ගනයේ ශල්‍ය වෛද්‍යවරු යුද කළාප වල සේවය කලහ​. එහෙත් මෙම 30 වසරක යුද කාලයේදී   සුදුසුකම් ලත් එක මනෝ විද්‍යාඥයෙකු හෝ ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදා සතු නොවූහ​.  මනෝ විද්‍යාඥයන් ගෙන් සහ මනෝ චිකිත්සකයන් ගෙන් තොරව ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේ ප්‍රධාන අවධීන් ගෙවී යන ලදි. යුද , නාවික සහ ගුවන් හමුදාවනට අනුබද්ධව තාවකාලික පදනමින් මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරු ස්වල්ප දෙනෙක් සතියට දිනක් හෝ දෙවරක් හමුදා රෝහල් වල සේවය කලහ​. මුළු යුද හමුදාව සඳහා 2006 වසර තෙක් යොදවා සිටියේ  සතියට එක් දිනක් පමණක් හමුදා රෝහලට පැමිණි එක් බාහිර මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු පම​ණි. 

යුද මෙහෙයවුම් සැලසුම් කල විශේෂඥයන් මූලික වශයෙන් අවධානය යොමු කලේ  යුද්ධයේදී සිදු වන කායික තුවාල වලට පමණි. යුද්ධයේදී සිදු වන මානසික තුවාල වලට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම ඔවුනට අතපසු වන ලදි. මෙය ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේදී සිදු කරන ලද ඉතා බරපතල වරදක් වූ අතර එම නිසා සොල්දාදුවන් දහස් ගනනක් යුද ආතතියට මෙන්ම බොහෝ මානසික රෝග වලට ගොදුරු වූහ​. යුද්ධයේ ආරම්භයේ සිටම සංග්‍රාමය සමග බද්ධ වූ මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක දුර්විපාක පිලිබඳව දැණුමක් හමුදා නායකයින් තුල නොවීය​. බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට එය නොදැනුවත්කම නිසා අතපසු විය​. මෙම සාධකය ඇතැමුන් විසින් පෙන්වා දුන්නද යුද මොරාල් එකට ඉන් අහිතකර බලපෑමක් වනු ඇතැයි සාවධ්‍ය නිගමනය මත එය පසෙකට දමන ලදි. මේ නිසා යුද කලාප වලදී බොහෝ සංග්‍රාමය සමග බද්ධ වූ මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක සංකූලතා මතු විය​. සොල්දාදුවන් බොහෝ දෙනෙකු යුද කළාප වලදී සිය දිවි නසා ගන්නා ලදි. එසේම බොහෝ පිරිසක් හමුදාවෙන් පළා ගියහ​. 

එහෙත් තීක්‍ෂණ ඥානයක් තිබූ ඉතා සුළුතරයක් වූ හමුදා නිලධාරීන් පිරිසකට යුද්ධය ආශ්‍රිතව මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක සාධකයන් මතුවන බව වැටහිනි. මොවුන් පළවන මෙන්ම දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධය සහ වියට්නාම් – කොරියානු යුද්ධයන් පිලිබඳ කියවා මනා දැණුමකින් සිටි පුද්ගලයන් වූහ​. තමන් ගේ ඒකක වල සොල්දාදුවන් විසින් සටනේදී සහ සටනින් පසුව පෙන්වන ලද මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක ප්‍රතික්‍රියා පිලිබඳව අවධානයක් ඔවුන් විසින් යොමු කරන ලදි. එහෙත් බහුතරයක් වූ නිලධාරීන් මෙම ප්‍රතික්‍රියා බියගුළු කම නිසා මතු වන බව සලකා යුද ආතතියෙන් පෙලෙනවුන්ට ඉතා කර්කශ ලෙස සලකන ලදි. මේ නිසා බොහෝ දෙනෙකු ගේ රෝගී තත්වයන් උත්සන්න විය​. 

යුද්දය නිසා මතුවන මානසික ප්‍රතික්‍රියා පිලිබඳව බොහෝ වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට දැනුමක් තිබුනේ නැත​. එහෙත් 1978 වැනි කාලයක උතුරේ සේවය කල එක් පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙකු විසින් පෙන්වන ලද ක්ලමථ ප්‍රතික්‍රියාවන් පිලිබඳ මීගමුව ප්‍රදේශයේ  සේවය කල එක් වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු  ගේ අවධානයට ලක් විය​. එහෙත් ඒ පිලිබඳබ සායනික කථිකාවක් සිදු නොවීය​. 

යුද්ධයේ භයංකාරත්වය සමග යුද ආතතිය සොල්දාදුවන් තුල වර්ධනය විය​. එහෙත්  හමුදාවන් වල සිටි තීරණ ගැනීමට බලය තිබූ උසස් නිලධාරීන්ට ඒ පිලිබඳව ප්‍රාග් ඥාණයක් නොවීය​. එසේම මේ කාලයේ  හමුදාවන් වල සේවය කල වෛද්‍යවරු බොහෝ දෙනෙකුටද මෙම තත්වය ගැන කිසිදු අවබෝධයක් නොවීය​. මේ කාලය තුල යුද ආතතිය හෝ සංග්‍රාම විඩාව පිලිබඳව කිසිම සායනික  සාකච්ඡාවන් වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රජාව අතර සිදු නොවීය​. 

1984 වැනි අතීත කාලයක එක් ලුතිනන්වරයෙකු තමන් ගේ ඒකකයේ සිටි සමහරක් සොල්දාදුවන් විසින් පෙන්වන ලද යුදමය ක්ලමථ ප්‍රතික්‍රියා නිරීක්‍ෂණය කරනු ලැබීය​. ඔවුන් අතර පැතිරෙන නොසන්සුන්කම , සමහරක් විට විනය නොතකා ක්‍රියා කිරීම , නින්දේදී බියට පත් වීම​, අධි කෝප ප්‍රතික්‍රියා , ඔහුගේ විමසුමට ලක් විය​. එහෙත් උසස් නිලධාරීන් කිසිවෙකු මේ ගැන කිසිදු සැලකිල්ලක් දැක්වූයේ නැත​. 

1985 වසරේදී කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් විසින් අනුරාධපුර නගරයට කඩා වැදී සිවිල් වැසියන් සිය ගනනාවකට වෙඩි තබා ඝාතනය කරන ලදි. මේ අනපේක්‍ෂිත ඝාතන නිසා අනුරාධපුර නගරයේ වාර්ගික කෝලහල පැන නැග්ගේය​. නගරයේ සිටි ද්‍රවිඩ වැසියන් ආරක්‍ෂාකාරී ලෙස ඉවත් කිරීම ඇරඹිනි. මේ අවස්ථාවේදී අධි කෝපයට පත්වූ එක් සෙබලෙකු විසින් තම ගිනි අවියෙන් වෙඩි තබා නිරායුද ද්‍රවිඩ සිවිල් වැසියන් කිහිප  දෙනෙකු ඝාතනය කරන ලදි. තීව්‍ර  ප්‍රතික්‍රියාවකට ලක්වූ මෙම සොල්දාදුවාව පාළනය කර ගැනීමට ඔහුගේ අණ දෙන නිලධාරියාටද නොහැකි විය​. ඒ නිසා අණ දෙන නිලධාරියා විසින් වෙඩි තබා උක්ත සෙබලාව මරා දමන ලදි. මෙකී සිදුවීමෙන් පසුවද යුද්ධය හා ක්ලමථ ප්‍රතික්‍රියා පිලිබඳ කතිකාවක් ගොඩ නඟා ගන්නට බලධාරීන් අසමත් වූහ​. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාවන් සහ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සංවිධානය අතර යුද ගැටුම් උත්සන්න වෙමින් පැවතිනි.   මේ නිසා හමුදා රෝහල් තුවාලකරුවන් ගෙන් පිරී යන ලදි. එහෙත් ප්‍රමුඛතාව දෙන ලද්දේ කායික තුවාල වලට පමණි. යුද්ධය නිසා මානසිකව තුවාල ලැබූවන් නොසලකා හරින ලද්දේය​. ඔවුන්ව හඳුන්වන ලද්දේ ව්‍යාජ ලෙස රෝගාබාධ පෙන්වන්නන් / චොකලට් සොල්දාදුවන් / බොරුකාරයන් / බියගුල්ලන් ලෙසටය​.  කායික තුවාල ලද්දන් සඳහා  ප්‍රතිකාර කරන ලද්දේ ඔවුන් ගේ කායික තුවාල වලට පමණි.  ඔවුන්  මානසිකව ලත් තුවාල උග්‍ර වීමට ඉඩ දෙමින් කායික  තුවාල සුව වූ වහාම ඔවුන්ව නැවතත් යුධ පෙරමුණට යවන ලදි.

මේ අතර යුද කලාප වල වර්ධනය වන සිය දිවි නසා ගැනීම් , ශාරීරික හානි කර ගැනීම් (self harm)  , විනය විරෝධී ක්‍රියා., මෙහෙයවුම් වලදී පෙන්වන අඩු අභිප්‍රේරණය, හමුදාවෙන් පළා යාම් නිසා හමුදා නායකයන් සිටියේ විමතියෙනි. මේ සඳහා හේතු කුමක්ද කියා බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට අවබෝධයක් නොවීය​. සියළු අසාමාන්‍ය චර්‍යාවන් විනය විරෝධී චර්‍යා ලෙසට පොදුවේ හඳුන්වා මූලික ප්‍රශ්නය යටපත් කර දමන ලදි. අවම වශයෙන් යුද ආතතිය පිලිබඳ සොයා බැලීමට විද්වත් කමිටුවක් හෝ පත් කිරීමට හමුදා නායකත්වයට දැණුමක් තිබුනේ නැත​. 

 පළවන ලෝක මහ යුද්ධයේදී  ,  දෙවන ලෝක මහ යුද්ධයේදී  , කොරියානු යුද්ධයේදී     සහ වියට්නාම් යුද්ධයේදී යුද ආතතියේ ලක්‍ෂණ සොල්දාදුවන් විසින් පෙන්වනු ලැබීය​. එම ප්‍රතික්‍රියා යුද හා වෛද්‍ය විද්වතුන් විසින් අධ්‍යනය කරන ලදි. එහෙත් ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේදී බොහෝ කලක් යන තෙක් මේ කිසිවක් සිදු වූයේ නැත​. මේ නිසා යුද්ධය විසින් ඇති කල මානසික රෝගී තත්වයන් වර්ධනය විය​. 

යුද්ධය නිසා උතුරේ මෙන්ම දකුනේ සිවිල් වැසියන් බොහෝ දෙනෙකු කායික මෙන්ම මානසික රෝග තත්වයන්ට ගොදුරු වූහ​. 1998 වසරේදී මනෝ වෛද්‍ය දයා සෝමසුන්දරම් මහතා ඔහුගේ Scarred Minds කෘතිය හරහා ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේදී සිවිල් වැසියන්ට සිදුවූ කායික මානසික හානි පිළිබඳව පෙන්වා දෙනු ලැබීය​. එහෙත් යුද ආතතිය පිලිබඳව දකුණ තවමත් සිටියේ තම නොදැනුවත්කම යන අන්ධකාර වනාන්තරය තුලය​.   

යුද්ධය නිසා මානසික රෝග වල වර්ධනයක් තිබෙන බව මේ කාලයේදී මනෝ වෛද්‍ය රනිල් අබේනායක මහතා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය​. එහෙත් හමුදා නායකත්වය සංග්‍රාම විඩාව හෝ යුද ආතතිය තම හමුදාව ආක්‍රමණය කරන බවට සිතීමට මැලි වූහ​. තවද සමහරක් මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරු පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය ඇමරිකානු රෝගයක් බවත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය දක් නට නොමැති බවත් ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ කියන්නට වූහ​. මෙම සාවද්‍ය මතය නිසා යුද ආතතියට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම තව දුරටත් ප්‍රමාද විය.    

 වෛද්‍ය සරත් පඞුවාවල  සහ වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු යුද හමුදාවේ බාහිර මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරු ලෙස සේවය කළහ​. ඊලාම් යුද්ධය ආශ්‍රිතව මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක ක්ලමථ මෙන්ම කාංසා අක්‍රමතා ඔවුන් නිරීක්‍ෂණය කලහ​. වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු කොලඹ යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ යුද ආතතියට ප්‍රතිකාර කිරීම සඳහා 2002 වසරේදී මධ්‍යස්ථානයක් ගොඩ නැගීමට මූලික විය​. මෙම ඒකකය මගින් යුද ආතතියට ලක්වූ සොල්දාදුවන්ට උපදේශන මෙන්ම මනෝ ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා දෙන ලදි. මේ ඒකකය ක්‍රියාත්මක වූයේ බොහෝ බාධා මෙන්ම කඩාකප්පල්කාරී ක්‍රියාවන් මධ්‍යයේය​. යුද ආතතිය මෙන්ම සංග්‍රාමික පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය  පිලිබඳව එවකට කොලඹ යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ සිටි අණ දෙන නිලධාරියාට දැණුමක් මෙන්ම විචක්‍ෂණභාවයක් නොවීය​. මේ නිසා නිසි අයුරින් මෙම ප්‍රතිකාර ඒකකයට සම්පත් ලබා දුන්නේ නැත​. එසේම මෙම නිලධාරියා ගේ මුල් වීමෙන් 2006 වසරේ මෙම ඒකකය වසා දමන ලදි. මේ නිසා ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා ගත නොහැකිව යුද ආතතියෙන් පෙළුණු සොල්දාදුවන් බොහෝ දෙනෙකු දිවි නසා ගන්නා ලදි. 2012 වසරේදී හමුදා ප්‍රකාශක බ්‍රිගේඩියර් රුවන් වනිගසූරිය මහතා පෙන්වා දුන් අන්දමට 2009 – 2012 අතර කාලයේ යුද හමුදාවේ සොල්දාදුවන් 400කට ආසන්න ප්‍රමාණයක් දිවි නසාගෙන ඇත​. මේ සඳහා වගකිව යුතු හමුදා නිලධාරීන් තුල තිබූ නොදැනුවත් භාවය , සත්‍ය පිලි ගැනීමට තිබූ අකමැත්ත , අසංවේදී බව යන සාධක කැපී පෙනුනි. අවසානයේදී ඊලාම් යුද්ධයේ මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක දුර්විපාක නිසා වින්දිතයන් බවට පත් වූයේ යුද පෙරමුණට ගිය සොල්දාදුවන් වූහ​. 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

( ලියුම්කරු වෘත්තියෙන් වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු වන අතර මනෝ   වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා යටතේ කොලඹ යුද හමුදා රෝහලේ මානසික රෝග ඒකකයේ  2002 වසරේ සිට 2006 දක්වා සේවය කලේය. ඔහු කැනඩාවේ යෝක් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මනෝ විද්‍යා උපාධිධාරියෙකි. එසේම වර්තමානයේ ඔස්ට්‍රියානු විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක  මනෝ චිකිත්සනය පිළිබඳව ආචාර්‍ය උපාධිය හදාරන්නෙකි. තවද අන්තර්ජාතික  Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED)  සම්මේලනයේ වෛඥානික කමිටු – International Scientific Committee සාමාජිකයෙකි. පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන ක්ලමථ අක්‍රමතාවය පිළිබඳ පරියේෂකයෙකු වන ඔහු Shell Shock to Palali Syndrome -PTSD Sri Lanka Experience ග්‍රන්ථයේ කතුවරයාය ) 

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and the then Minister of Public Enterprise Kabir Hashim had instructed the Board of Directors of SriLankan Airlines to confirm Capt. Suren Ratwatte in service as the airline’s CEO prior to his performance appraisal, which was mandatory for his confirmation, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) on irregularities at SriLankan Airlines, SriLankan Catering and Mihin Lanka was told yesterday.

SriLankan Airilines Secretary Dalreen Thirukumar said that according to the terms of the appointment at issue, a performance appraisal and a development evaluation were required for Ratwatte’s confirmation. It was to be done after the conclusion of his six months’ probation period on April 14.

“At the board meeting on February 26, 2016, appraisal forms were distributed among the directors. They were to be filled individually and sent to an audit firm.

However, at the following board meeting on March 24, 2016, it was announced that the Ministry of Public Enterprises had ordered the extension of the probation period of Ratwatte by another six months. This was due to the uncertainty that prevailed regarding the airline as the government was attempting to restructure it. Thus, the appraisal of Ratwatte was postponed.

On April 28, 2016, Wickremesinghe and Hashim asked the board to confirm Ratwatte. “Directors did not object and acceded to the request of Wickremesinghe and Hashim. Ratwatte was confirmed without an evaluation of his performance.”

Following Kapila Chandrasena’s exit as the CEO, in March 2015, SriLankan advertised for the post in May and 59 local and foreign candidates had applied, Thirukumar said.Out of the 59 applications 14 had been shortlisted, which included 11 foreigners.

“The three local shortlisted applications, Manoj de Vass Gunawardena, P.A.W. Kumarasiri and Suren Ratwatte were interviewed by SriLankan board members on July 15, 2015,” she said.

Thirukumar said that during the board meeting on August 25, 2015,

Chairperson of SriLankan, Ajith Dias told members that Ratwatte was the best candidate, given his qualifications and personality. Dias also proposed to give Ratwatte a salary of Rs. 3 million and a Rs. 10 million bonus if budget targets were met. The board deferred taking a decision on the matter. However, Dias presented a draft board paper on Ratwatte’s appointment and this was presented to the Board Meeting on Sept. 21, 2015. The board did not approve the appointment on that day as well. Thirukumar said Dias had instructed her to draft Ratwatte’s appointment letter, which was issued on Sept. 22.

Thirukumar told the commission that Ratwatte had been appointed without the approval of the board of directors.

Lahiru Pothmulla  Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Joint Opposition (JO) yesterday said the government should take into consideration the mounting opposition to the Free Trade Agreements (FTA) without acting in an authoritarian manner.

Addressing a news briefing, Professor G.L. Peiris said that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa considered the grievances of and complaints made by local business community members to the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) during the previous government’s tenure.

Mr. Rajapaksa informed me of the concerns raised by our businessmen who said CEPA was destructive to them. Mr. Rajapaksa asked me to inform India that we cannot go ahead with the agreement in this manner. However, the incumbent government is not listening to any concerns raised by professionals to the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) or the FTA with Singapore,” he said.

He said it was surprising to note that TNA MP M.A. Sumanthiran who complained about the lack of Tamil translation of the Bond Commission report, raised no issue when there is only the English copy available on the FTA with Singapore.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Introducing a new Constitution is only a dream because the government has run out of time already, National Integration Minister Mano Ganesan said.

He said this at the National Inter-religious Symposium held yesterday at the BMICH. The event was organised by the National Peace Council.

I personally feel there is a need for a new Constitution as there are so many problems to be solved. However, it was supposed to be introduced during the first year of the ‘Yahapalana Government’ but we couldn’t make it happen. It is impossible to devise a new Constitution before this government’s term expires,” he said.

https://youtu.be/VUhW-bHMDgM

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 24 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka’s Finance Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, on Tuesday said the island would soon have ‘tourist friendly tuk-tuk’s’ as three-wheeler’s would now not only be a mode of transportation, but the tuk tuk drivers would also serve as local tourist-guides.

With more than 1 million three-wheeler drivers in Sri Lanka, Samaraweera said the three-wheeler industry was indeed a major sector of the country and the ‘Sri Lankan tuk’ had in fact become something of an icon as it was used in myriad aspects.

It is an affordable means of transport for small business, providing last mile connectivity for SMEs and entrepreneurs. Three wheelers are a means of affordable private transportation as well, and is increasingly popular in the tourism industry,” Samaraweera said.

He said thus far 589 drivers had undergone training to serve as local tourist guides as well and the ‘tourist friendly tuk-tuk’ concept was being launched in collaboration with the hospitality industry. This programme provided for existing three-wheeler drivers to register with the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority.

He further said this policy was initiated to create a win-win situation for all stakeholders involved and improve the quality of services provided in the tourism industry.

Meanwhile Samaraweera said the country would launch electric tuk tuk’s by 2020 as part of the government’s efforts to introduce ‘zero-emission’ vehicles, which would cause minimum levels of pollution and carbon footprint.

Samaraweera said the introduction of electric tuk tuk’s, was an important new policy and as part of the Paris agreement, Sri Lanka had pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent in the transport sector by 2020.

He said the number of three-wheelers in Sri Lanka had increased eight-fold since the year 2000 and fuel consumption per person had increased from 90 litres to 150 litres during the same time.

In 2017, Sri Lanka spent nearly 3.5 billion US dollars to import fossil fuels for the generation of electricity and transportation. This is equivalent to around 4 percent of GDP.

As a result, Sri Lanka’s excise tax is now structured in a way that diesel and petrol vehicles are taxed at a higher rate, making hybrids and electric vehicles more attractive, Samaraweera said.

P.K.Balachandran/South Asian Monitor

Colombo, July 25: Over the past year, as India kept making a bid to acquire the Mattala airport in South Sri Lanka, which is universally derided as the World’s Emptiest Airport” with little or no traffic, many have wondered why New Delhi wants to buy into a failed enterprise with little or no perceivable prospect of turning the corner.

Some said it was a vain move to match” and checkmate” China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka. Many wondered if India can ever go to war with China over some military activity by the latter in Hambantota when, nearer home in Doklam on the Bhutan-China border, it scrupulously avoid going to war and settled the matter diplomatically and quietly, only letting the media spew fire and brimstone.

China Lukewarm About Mattala

China showed a strong interest in, and bargained hard over, Hambantota port when, in 2015-2016, the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was re-negotiating the Sino-Lankan deal entered into by the previous government led by Mahinda Rajapaksa.But Beijing was lackadaisical and lukewarm as regards the Mattala airport.

Explaining this, Adm.Dr.Jayanath Colombage, former Commander of the Sri Lankan navy and now an expert on strategic affairs said: Initially, the Chinese did make an offer to acquire Mattala. Having a Chinese administered airport near the Hambantota port is useful. It is only 40 km from Hambantota harbor. The airport will be useful, specially if the Chinese-built Economic Zone spread over an area of 15,000 acres around Hambantota does come up. But still, the Chinese did not consider Mattala airport to be of much value.”

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe told parliament that the Chinese had made an offer, but added that it was not attractive.”

In July 2016, the Sri Lankan government suggested to the Chinese that China could consider swapping debt for equity and run the Hambantota port and the Mattala airport as Joint Ventures with Sri Lankan government entities.

But the then Chinese Ambassador in Colombo, Yi Xian Liang, shot down the idea. He told Wickremesinghe that China’s laws do not permit the conversion of debt into equity. However, by July 2017, the Chinese had agreed to covert the US$ 1.12 billion debt vis-à-vis Hambantota port into equity with the Chinese company China Merchant Port Holdings Company (CMPort) taking a 70% stake.

Interestingly, in the case of Mattala airport, there was no forward movement on the debt-equity path.

Explaining the difference, Colombage said: The difference lies in the relative value of the Mattala airport for China’s principal global project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI is principally a string of ports around the globe. Other transport projects, which China has undertaken, are only adjuncts to the ports under BRI though they are included in the BRI broadly.”

Perhaps China was not interested in acquiring equity in a liability like the Mattala airport at a time when it was yet to make Hambantota economically viable and be an important part of the BRI, Colombage said.

Lankan Stance

On its part, the Sri Lankan government has been firm about taking the Joint Venture route in respect of strategically important projects.

Explaining the logic of this, Colombage said: In a joint venture, the foreign party will have an interest in ensuring the success of the enterprise. Both profits and losses will be shared. This is not the case when financing is only through a loan.”

In contrast to China, India has consistently pitched for a Joint Venture model for its economic projects in Sri Lanka, including the Mattala airport. It recently agreed to a Joint Venture even in the case of the Trincomalee oil tanks which were given entirely to India in 2003.

Colossal Losses  

A massive Chinese loan of US$ 210 million is to be repaid. Since the beginning of operations up to February, 2018, Mattala’s total losses amounted to LKR 19.4 billion (US$ 126 million).

Revenue during the first two months of 2018 was at LKR 4.5 million (US$ 28,336) while the operational expenditure was at LKR 393 million (US$ 2.4 million). The total expenditure, including interest payments for the two months stood at LKR 737 million (US$ 4.6 million).

The Government has to repay the Chinese in installments of Rs. 1.7 billion (US$ 10.7 million), the Deputy Minister of Civilian Aviation Asoka Abeysinghe told parliament in July. Three such installments had been paid through earnings from the Bandaranaike International Airport in Colombo.

After the five-year grace period, now we have to start paying back the loan, but there aren’t enough earnings from the airport to pay back. While earnings from the airport are only Rs. 6.5 million (US$ 40,931) expenses are Rs. 2.9 billion (US$ 18.8 million),” he said.

The total investment of the troubled airport is US$ 252 million inclusive of a US$ 39.6 million price escalation claimed by the contractor and another $ 4 million invested by Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (AASL).The average operational cost, including loan interest, without exchange loss per year is US$ 20 million, the minister said.

Indian Case

Why would India want to take the Mattala airport, the running cost of it sans business is a huge burden? Despite the dim scenario, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) expressed interest in starting a joint venture and the Sri Lankan cabinet considered it in July 2017. The AAI said that it will take a 70% stake and the management of the airport.

India initially valued the airport at US$ 252 million but finally agreed to put it at US$ 325 million as per the recommendation of the Lankan Chief Valuer.  Sri Lanka set preconditions too.

India would only do commercial operations and will not have any military activities or military aircraft landings there.  All air navigation systems will be manned by Sri Lankan authorities. Perimeter and internal security will be maintained by the Sri Lanka Air Force. All emergency services including firefighting will be manned by Sri Lankans,” Civil Aviation cabinet Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva told parliament.

India agreed to these conditions. But there are two more hurdles to cross, the Minister said. Firstly, Lanka’s civil aviation law has to be changed to allow foreign entities to own Sri Lankan airports. The other hurdle is the business model to make the airport profitable. The Indians are yet to give a satisfactory and detailed business model, the minister added.

Not Wasteful

Adm.Colombage is of the view that said that the Mattala airport cannot be considered wasteful” and that efforts should be made to make it profitable.

As on date, Sri Lanka has only one functioning international airport and that is in Colombo. The country needs a second international airport. Planes going to South Indian airports may also need an alternative airport to land in an emergency. Since a modern airport is already there in Mattala, it makes sense to use it,” he argued.

Colombo airport is crowded with 9.8 million passengers using it every year. According to Joint Opposition MP Namal Rajapaksa, the bulk of them are transit passengers who could use Mattala if the airlines could be persuaded to redraw their routes. But this is no easy task.

However, Colombo feels that Mattala could be a destination if the attractions in the area are exploited.

Tourist spots around Mattala like the Yala National Park, Arugam Bay resorts and the temple of Kataragama for Lord Skanda or Murugan could be exploited to attract tourists from the West and pilgrims from South India. Good hotels could be built and these could be successful ventures as the Hong Kong-based Shagi-La in Hambantota has shown,” Colombage said .

If the Economic Zone comes up over 15,000 acres in Hambantota, the airport should become busy. But the government should see to it that the Economic Zone does not become an exclusive Chinese zone. That will allay apprehensions in India and the West,” he added.

Fortunately, China has been saying that it is ready to receive  non-Chinese foreign investments in its BRI projects.

Sino-Indian Factor

Adm.Colombage feels that the Chinese may have played down their interest in Mattala in order to allay India’s fears. China is interested in strengthening economic relations with India and take bilateral the trade from US$ 84 billion to US$ 100 billion by 2015,” the maritime security expert noted.

Strategic Value

Asked about India’s strategic interest” in Mattala, Colombage said that the term strategic interest” does not refer only to the military aspect. There are other dimensions which are not military” as such, but are related to it indirectly.

An India-China war of skirmish over Hambantota is not on the cards at all. But having a strategic asset near another country’s strategic asset has a psychological and practical value. For example, India and China may post intelligence personnel in their sites to keep a tab on the other.”

And although the agreements say that these assets cannot be used for military purposes, the fact that China holds a majority stake in Hambantota port and India is expected to hold majority stake in Mattala airport, gives the two countries a major say in the running of the facilities,” Colombage pointed out.

And there is only a thin line dividing modern military and civilian technology  Military functions are increasingly becoming dual purpose and interchangeable,” he added.

Lastly, it is to Sri Lanka’s advantage to accommodate both China and India. It can gain from both, while using one against the other to maintain its independence.

(The featured image at the top shows the arrival lounge at of the Mattala airport with a Buddha statue done in the Chinese style) 

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 25 (newsin.asia): India is likely to replace China as the contractor to build 40,000 houses for the war-affected people of North Lanka in view of objections to the current scheme voiced by Tamil political leaders and a section of the Lankan government.

Following a heated discussion in the cabinet on Tuesday, President Maithripala Sirisena asked Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe to discuss the housing question with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs from the Northern Province and the Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, to finalize an alternative project.

According to sources, the India-built houses will be made of brick and mortar. The builders are likely  to be Indian companies using buyers‘ credit from the government of India’s financial institutions.  The houses will be environmentally and culturally compatible, unlike the Chinese built houses.

Previously the cabinet had given the green signal to conduct negotiations with the China Railway Beijing Engineering Group Co Ltd and its country representative Yapka Construction (Pvt) Ltd.

Environmental Suitability

According to Sunday Times, the Chinese company had planned to use Autoclaved Lightweight Concrete (ALC) panels and a Light-Gauge Steel (LGS) roofing system. A house could be built in 14 days. The Chinese company was to build 40,000 such houses, at a cost of about US$ 8000 each.

The cabinet had also given the green light to a Consortium of Humanitarian Organizations to build 25,000 traditional brick-and-mortar permanent houses. This group is led by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), Habitat for Humanity Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society.

While the contract to be given to the UN consortium has not been controversial,  the Chinese plan has been found to be environmentally and culturally unsuitable as was the case with the 65,000 pre-fabricated houses which were to be built by the international steel giant, ArcelorMittal, earlier.

Meanwhile, difference of opinion arose between politicians and non-politicians.  Politicians belonging to the Tamil as well as national parties had been wanting to build 65,000 houses before the January 2020 Presidential elections to capture votes in the North even if it meant compromising on durability, comfort and cultural compatibility.

But environmentalists have been opposed to short cuts saying that if houses are to be built, they should be suitable for the climate and culture of the place and long lasting too.

India Factor

In Tuesday’s cabinet meeting , Sagala Ratnayake, Minister of Project Management and a confidante of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe, raised another issue, namely, the possibility of alienating India if such a huge project is given to the China in the North Sri Lanka.

India has a strategic interest in North Lanka in view of its close proximity with Tamil Nadu and South India. India has already constructed 50,000 houses there and is going to rehabilitate the Palaly airport and the Kankesanthurai harbor. India will be worried if the Chinese too get to the North and grab a piece of the cake.

Ratnayake’s statement, read together with President Sirisena’s instruction to the Prime Minister to talk to the Indian High Commissioner and TNA MPs about the housing project, indicates that there is bipartisan agreement on how to proceed. Government is therefore expected to  start talks with India soon.

Lack of Coordination

But officials said that talks could be hampered by the lack of coordination in the Sri Lankan government. The subject of housing is handled by a multiplicity of ministries with each ministry claiming to be the nodal one.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 25 (Daily Mirror): China will gift a frigate to the Sri Lanka Navy, a top Chinese military official said here on Monday.

Addressing a reception held in Colombo on Monday night to commemorate the 91st anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Senior Colonel Xu Jianwei said Chinese military attaches great importance to improving relations with the Sri Lanka military.

China is willing to enhance mutual strategic trust and is keen to see both countries continue supporting each other on issues for core interest. China wishes to boost the development of Belt and Road initiative to strengthen the pragmatic cooperation between two countries and two militaries,” Xu said.

He said Chinese-funded auditorium complex at the Sri Lanka Military Academy would also be completed.

In the past few years, Colonel Xu said two militaries have witnessed the deepening communication and cooperation in the areas of personnel training, joint training and maritime security.

He said as a good and true friend, over the past decades, China has provided powerful support to the social-economic development and military and defense construction of Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile，he said the PLA has made indelible historical contribution to the Chinese People’s Liberation, socialist construction and reform, safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, maintaining world peace and promoting human progress.

The PLA has become world-famous as a formidable, civilized and peaceful military force. China adheres to an independent foreign policy of peace and development. Under the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on diplomacy, the major-country diplomacy with Chinese Characteristics will uphold high the banner of building a community with shared future and help make the global governance system fair and more reasonable.

China’s armed forces advocate a common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security concept, and will continue to develop military-to-military relations that are non-aligned, non-confrontational and not directed against any third party,” Colonel Xu said.

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 25 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka will get a 100 million US dollar concessionary loan from the World Bank to diversify and upgrade the general education system in the country to global standards, the Finance Ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

We have had 2 Chief Justices removed in the recent past. There was much fanfare over the removal of the first on the premise of unfair removal while the removal of the second was met with virtually complete silence. Let us take both these examples to highlight some of the hypocrisies that prevail. A country’s chief justice is the 4^th citizen of the nation & the 1^st non-political citizen.

Anyone who says the impeachment or removal of CJ Shirani is illegal definitely has to explain the logic behind the removal of CJ Mohan Peiris. The only explanation given by both President & Prime Minister was that the impeachment of CJ Shirani was illegal therefore there was no appointment of CJ Mohan Peiris. If CJ Mohan didn’t exist, both President & PM must explain who was the ghost making judgements as CJ from 2013 to 2015.

It is the Speaker & not the President who has the authority to determine & certify that Parliament has followed due procedure & his ruling cannot be questioned in any court of law. Even JR assigned the removal of CJ Neville Samarakoon to Parliament but a precedence was created by President Sirisena in the manner he removed CJ Mohan. The logic used continues to baffle us no less than the silence of all the supposed to be beacons & virtuous authorities speaking for & working towards good governance. If they took up the case of ShiraniB as victim, why have they not taken up the case of MOhanP as victim too.

In the case of ShiraniB there were a series of steps that was followed. In the case of MohanP he was simply declared not having been appointed as CJ even to be removed. Surely, this calls for some people in position to come forward in his defence.

Let us be clear here that we are taking the case of 2 individuals & the manner they were appointed & removed & the justice & fair play in these removals. It should not matter who appointed them or who removed them. What matters is whether they were removed following a process – in the case of ShiraniB, a process was followed but in the case of MohanP no such process was followed. So who really is the real victim?

What is even more ironic was that President Sirisena was the general secretary of the SLFP the key coalition partner of the UPFA government which impeached CJ Shirani B. In fact Maithripala Sirisena was a speaker at the debate & justified the removal of CJ Shirani & even voted for her impeachment. He was one of the 155 MPs that voted in favor of CJ Shirani’s removal. Also voting in favor of her removal were Minsiters Champaka Ranawaka & Rajitha Senaratne who was even a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee selected to investigate 14 charges against CJ ShiraniB.

All the drum beaters of good governance, transparency & preachers of impartial justice please explain why a government should feel forced to remove a CJ simply because some groups since 12 January 2015 had been organizing mass protests demanding a person’s removal? The BASL President is on record for stating that following discussions with lawyers & the PM on 25 January 2015 the President had agreed to remove CJ Peiris. Sovereignty is certainly inalienable & with the people but certainly not in organized street protests where any one can be paid to protest & hold placards & chant slogans. Is this the good governance that people voted for? The media also carried various versions of bargaining for diplomatic postings in exchange for stepping down another method deviously used to bring down the integrity of the judiciary for the PM has no authority to force a CJ to step down by offering diplomatic postings!

Let’s look at the chain of events

• 8 January 2015 – Presidential Elections
• 9 January 2015 – President-elect Maithripala Sirisena takes oath as President NOT before of the Chief Justice as is customary but Justice K Sripavan the next most senior judge of the Supreme Court.
• 17 January 2015 – BASL called for the resignation of Chief Justice Mohan Pieris in order to preserve the honour and integrity of the Judiciary
• 22 January 2015 – CID for the first time grills CJ Mohan Peiris over a complaint filed by Mangala Samaraweera about an alleged plot to hold power by force on election night by the defeated Rajapaksa regime. The first time a sitting CJ is questioned by the police!
• 28 January 2015 – President Sirisena reinstates CJ Shirani Bandaranayake by revoking Mohan Pieris’s appointment as Chief Justice on the basis that Bandaranayake’s removal was unlawful. If this is the case, then every judgement delivered by Mohan Peiris as Chief Justice from January 2013 to January 2015 would have to be considered as unlawful? Why has no one taken up such a serious matter?
• 28 January 2015 – BASL organizes protest against CJ Mohan Peiris following letter sent by President Sirisena that his appointment was considered null & void as the removal of CJ Bandaranayake was null & void. CJ Bandaranayake arrived to greetings of garlands & cheers.
• 28 January 2015 – Chief Justice Mohan peiris has been threatened by former Deputy Mayor of Colombo and Muslim Tamil Unity Alliance Leader Azath Salley
• 29 January 2015 – CJ Shirani enjoying just 24hours back in office resigns! Why would she resign when she had over 8 years more to retire? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGfSbhqKcVQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYZPD4Tv4C8
• 30 January 2015 – Justice Shri Pavan takes oaths as 44^th Chief Justice of Sri Lanka.
• 31 January 2015 – CJ Mohan Peiris issues statement I have not retired, resigned or vacated my office of Chief Justice, but, due to exertions by external forces reinforced by an extra judicial chain of events, find myself displaced from office by an unconstitutional process having functioned continuously in my appointment for over two years.” http://www.sundaytimes.lk/150201/statement.pdf
• Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s logic is the same. He says CJ Shirani was never removed therefore CJ Mohan was never appointed! Then what about the judgments CJ Mohann made from 2013 to 2015?

Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake (CJ 43)

Shirani Bandaranayake was appointed 43^rd Chief Justice of Sri Lanka o 18 May 2011.

In 1996 (30 Oct) she was controversially appointed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike to the Supreme Court becoming the first female judge (she was a qualified lawyer but had never practiced law & she had never served as a judge)

In January 2013 she was impeached as Chief Justice.

In January 2015 (28^th) her impeachment was declared unlawful while her successor Mohan Peiris’s appointment was declared void Ab Initio.

She was reappointed on 29^th January 2015 & resigned the same day!

1 November 2012 – an impeachment motion against CJ ShiraniB was signed by 117 UPFA MPs with 14 charges http://www.sundaytimes.lk/121111/columns/cj-decides-to-stay-on-and-fight-20090.html

An 11 member Parliament Select Committee consisting 7 ruling UPFA MPs (RajithaS, Nimal Siripala, Dilan Perera, Wimal Weerawansa, Neomal Perera, Anura Priyadarshana Yahapa, Susil Premajayantha) & 4 Opposition MPs (Johan Amaratunga, Lakshman Kiriella)

Impeachment hearings were held on 23 Nov 2012, 4 December 2012, 6 December 2012.

The Parliament Steering Committee report was presented to Parliament on 8 December 2012 declaring 3 of the 5 charges found her guilty & warranted removal from office.

The impeachment motion was debated by Parliament on 10-11 January 2013 & motion was passed with 155 MPs voting for & 49 MPs voting against it. Any MP who is one of the 155 MPs that voted in favor of the impeachment have no right to contest the validity of the impeachment.

President Rajapakse ratified the impeachment motion passed by Parliament

Chief Justice Mohan Peiris (CJ 44)

Mohan Peiris was called to the bar on 19 June 1975. In 1978 he became a Solicitor of the Courts of England & Wales.

In 1981 he joined the Attorney General’s Department in Sri Lanka as a State Counsel.

18 December 2008 appointed Attorney General.

15 January 2013 appointed Chief Justice following impeachment of CJ ShiraniB

It is interesting that the good governance government & all the 50 civil society groups that campaigned to bring them to power did not wish to continue with ShiraniB as CJ after using her for their campaign against the previous government.

If it is a Rajapakase appointee” the whole world clamors to denounce him/her but if it the appointee is anti-Rajapakse” everything is honky dory. This was clearly seen by the manner that the former UNHRC head Pillay denounced the appointment of CJ MohanP but kept mum on the manner he was removed. The International Commission of Jurists condemned Peiris’ appointment too, describing it as a “further assault on the independence of the judiciary”. But why did the International Commission of Jurists not condemn the manner Peiris was removed?

This is very strange actions coming from individuals who are paid handsomely to be unbiased!

When CJ Bandaranayake was impeached Lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects and various other professionals slammed the Rajapakse government claiming the impeachment unfair. BT Options even ran a poll with 90% claiming she did not get a fair trial. http://www.sundaytimes.lk/130120/business-times/no-fair-trial-for-shirani-b-bt-poll-reveals-28818.html

Now the question is, if lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects etc claimed CJ ShiraniB did not have a fair trial are they saying that CJ Mohan Peiris got a fair trial?

In the case of ShiraniB the previous government followed a process before impeaching her (whether it is right or wrong) but in the case of Mohan Peiris he was simply not allowed to enter his chambers and there was no BT poll organized to ask from the people whether this action was right? Was the removal of CJ Mohan Peiris following a due process or procedure because from 2013 to 2015 he was after all the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka!

Why is it that the entities that took the side of CJ Shirani claiming her to be unfairly dismissed not do the same for CJ Mohan Pieris because his removal was one of the most bizarre removals in judicial history, for he was simply not allowed to enter his Chambers & that was the end of his tenure of CJ. Not a buzz came from all the NGOs, international rights groups that wailed about the need to have transparency & good governance.

Can these NGOs, rights groups & civil society decide who is a victim & who is not? Shouldn’t a victim be a victim if unfairly treated. Should it matter whether it is ShiraniB or MohanP? If either was unfairly treated shouldn’t these unbiased & unpartisan NGOs, civil society & rights groups take up both their cases EQUALLY? Why did they take to the streets for ShiraniB and not for MohanP?

It’s not a question of whether Article 125, Article 107 or Standing Order 78A was followed because while it was so in the case of CJ ShiraniB (for right or wrong) nothing of the sort was followed in the removal of CJ Mohan Peiris. If those who claimed the removal of CJ Shirani B to be wrong, shouldn’t they have set an example & applied the legal due process for the removal of CJ Mohan Peiris to show the world that they were after all following the good governance principles that brought them to power?

Over to you for your thoughts & opinion!

Shenali D Waduge

Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga   

Sri Lankans and people in other Buddhist countries may be interested in understanding the essential difference between Early Buddhism, Theravada and other Buddhist schools. The best way to compare these Buddhist schools is to see how far they tally with  Buddha’s preaching and also how they originated. Soon after Buddha’s Parinirvana” there were voices of dissent and to sort out matters and iron out the differences of opinion the First Dhamma Sangayanava was held and the oral tradition of preserving the Buddha word was started by the senior monks. The oral tradition was created, organized and maintained in the most rigorous and methodical  manner by these monks. What was thus preserved by word of mouth was known as Elders’ Views.  These Views collectively are known as Early Buddhism and were written down three centuries after the Buddha’s demise. Early Buddhism therefore is to be found in the Pali Thripitaka and Chinese Agama texts. These texts have included within their cannon later additions such as the Ven Moggaliputta-tissa’s Kathavattu, Thera and Theri gatha etc. However, strictly speaking Buddha’s words are believed to be found in the Vinaya-pitakaya and the four major Nikayas in the Sutta-pitakaya: Dighanikaya, Majjhimanikaaya, Samyuttanikaya and Anguttaranikaya. These were the Nikayas originally assigned to the groups of Bhanakas, the reciters of the Buddha’s preaching, who  at the First Dhamma Sangayanawa, were given the responsibility of learning and remembering the preaching and carrying it down to the next generation of Bhanakas by word of mouth.

Though it is said that the  common feature among the different Buddhist Schools is that they all have the doctrine of the Four Nobel Truths this is only partly correct because the fourth truth which describes the method to achieve Nirvana may be different in the different schools. The main features in which the Buddhist schools differ are the nature of Nirvana, Buddha-hood, Arahath-hood and the method of achieving Nirvana. There may be other minor differences.  It is necessary therefore, to first find out the description of these aspects  in Early Buddhism. The nature of Nirvana in Early Buddhism is described in the Samannaphala-sutta in the Dighanikaya. A careful scrutiny of the description shows that there is no transcendentalism or mysticism in the phenomenon of Nirvana. In the final stage in the Arya Astanghika Marga the total elimination of the three defilement Loba, Dvesha, Moha is achieved and there is no suffering thereafter which was the goal Buddha was looking for. Buddha’s main interest was finding a solution to the human predicament which for him was suffering. He was not looking for a  transcendental existence. Therefore the person who achieves Nirvana such as Buddha and Arahath is not a transcendental metaphysical being. This is borne out by the fact that in the Aggivacchagotta-sutta  Buddha categorically says that Thathagatha is not eternal. In contrast transcendental beings such as gods are eternal.

Regarding the nature of Buddha and Arahath, in Early Buddhism there is no qualitative difference between the two. Buddha found the path to Nirvana by his own effort while Arahath follows that path to achieve Nirvana. The method of achieving Nirvana in Early Buddhism is the Gnana-marga” (Path of Wisdom) as elaborated in the Arya Astanghika Marga comprising Dana, Seela, Bhavana”. There is nothing metaphysical or mystic in the eight steps of the path and it is aimed at getting rid of the three main defilement Loba, Dvesha, Moha” which are entrenched in the mind and which cause suffering. Intense training of the mind and concentration are the key requirements. There is no reference to any other method in the four major suttas mentioned above. There is no alternative to this method involving any mystic practices or faith and rituals.  Early Buddhism very clearly rejects mysticism and transcendentalism. Buddha in Brahmmajala Sutta methodically refutes all metaphysical theories that were prevalent at that time. The path to Nirvana as  described in Ariyapariyesana Sutta is devoid of mysticism. In fact it describes Buddha’s own method of attaining Nirvana and rejects the methods practiced by the two Indian yogis Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta. Here it may be necessary to briefly explain what is meant by transcendental. The word transcendental means beyond the realm of this world and there could be an element of ineffability (unexplainable) in transcendental phenomena.

It must be said that soon after Buddha’s demise there were attempts to introduce transcendental features into Buddha-hood by younger monks. Saddened by his death the younger monks started a campaign to make Buddha a larger than life being who is eternal. This may have been the beginnings of Mahayana thought and the creation of the  line of separation of Buddhism into two main sects, one which believed in the historical Buddha who was born, lived and died naturally and the other which created a super natural being from birth to death and ever afterwards. The older monks objected to this trend but could not prevent a permanent rupture. The main differences that could be seen in the different schools of Buddhism today could be traced back to this early breach caused more by an emotional reaction of immature monks rather than a difference in the interpretation of Buddha’s words. The various Buddhist schools  have adopted to a varying degree these transcendental metaphysical features. Some have been forced to adopt features from other religions like Hinduism as well.

The Pali word Theravada means the school of the elder monks” which could mean that it is traceable to the Elders” who were the authors of Early Buddhism. However, subsequently there had been several additions and modifications though may not be in the main doctrines. The Buddhism that was brought to Sri Lanka by Mahinda Thera 236 years after Buddha’s Parinirvana”  was cleansed of all metaphysical and transcendental elements in the Third Dhamma Sangayana conducted by Ven Moggaliputta-tissa who preached Kathavatthu” on that occasion which removed all those impurities. Kathavatthu” was considered important enough to be included in the Tripitaka. This is believed to be the version of Buddhism that was written down at Aluvihare. In the 5^th Century AD however Ven Buddhagosa who came to Sri Lanka  and wrote Visuddimagga” had tried and succeeded in introducing mystical elements to Buddhism. Ven Buddhagosa had lived in South India and may have been influenced by Mahayana. Advent of rituals which are not mentioned in Early Buddhism could largely be attributed to Ven Buddhagosa. Mystic elements, yanthra, manthra, yaga, exorcism etc arrived in the wake of rituals. Mahayana which was the main religion in Sri Lanka during the period 5^th to the 10^th Century also contributed to the development of transcendentalism and mystic elements in Theravada Buddhism some of which  have remained to the present times.

Thus the main difference between Theravada, Mahayana and Tanthrayana is that Theravada, though it has some elements of Mahayana introduced in the 5^th Century AD which happened mainly in Sri Lanka, is largely free of the mysticism and metaphysical concepts that pervade the main doctrines of the other two schools. Nature of Buddha, Buddha-hood, and Nirvana are categorically considered as transcendental phenomena in Mahayana and Tanthrayana whereas it is not so in Theravada.

Mahayana came into being in the 1^st Century BC with the publication of Mahayana ideas and concepts. The first important suthra that spelt out Mahayana tenets, particularly those pertaining to the nature of Buddha-hood and Arahath-hood was Saddharmapundarika-suthra”. This suthra makes the historical Buddha a transcendental eternal being who cannot be understood even by an Arahath but only by another Buddha. On the contrary Buddha had said in the Vimamsaka Sutta that he could be  thoroughly examined by his disciples to find out his nature. In order to elevate Buddha to a transcendental state Mahayanists devalued  the nature of the  Arahath who in Early Buddhism and also Theravada is qualitatively equal to Buddha. Further all texts of Theravada were condemned as fodder for the foolish. In Theravada the Arahath is a person who has attained Nirvana and there is no qualitative difference between Arahath and Buddha.  In Mahayana however  Arahath is not the final status and there is a further distance to travel to attain Buddha-hood which is the final goal.  The Bodhisattva in  Mahayana is a status between Arahath-hood  and Buddha-hood and is a concept borrowed from Hinduism.

Later several Hindu concepts were introduced into Mahayana due to pressure from the politically powerful Brahamans. One such concept that had far reaching effect was the introduction of Bhakthi Marga” as an alternate to Gnana Marga” as the path to Nirvana. Buddha had discovered the latter and had never spoken about a Bhakthi Marga” which is derived from the Bhagavath Geetha” a foremost Hindu text. It was Bhakthi Marga” that introduced rituals into Buddhism which were followed by  yaga, puja, yanthra, manthra, etc. Rituals are not mentioned in Early Buddhist Texts which carry Buddha’s word. These yanthra, manthra found its way into Vajrayana and were further developed and incorporated into its doctrines.

Vajrayana advocates the practice of these manthra etc. as a means of attaining enlightenment. Further even sense pleasures like sexual act are to be practiced by Bodisattva in the path to enlightenment which may be considered as an insult to Buddha. Tibetan Buddhism which is a mixture of Mahayana and Vajrayana claims to teach methods for achieving Buddha-hood more quickly perhaps by engaging in sexual act . Further the version of Mahayana that spread in the East including Sri Lanka has several concepts and tenets such as Bodhisattva, Thrikaya” etc. which were derived from Hinduism. These were forced into Mahayana by the politically powerful Brahmans. These developments finally almost made Buddha an avatar of Vishnu. Further it was Mahayana and Vajrayana that has destroyed the uniqueness of Buddhism, its empiricism, and made it into a religion with mysticism and transcendental features, making it not different from any other religion.

Buddha in Mahayana and Tanthrayana is an eternal, omniscient, supernatural being. In contrast Early Buddhism clearly rejects eternalism, omniscience and transcendentalism as shown in Cula-Malunkya-sutta,  Aggivacchagotta-sutta and Tevijja-Vacchagotta-sutta. Theravada which has retained certain features of Mahayana nevertheless doesn’t make Buddha eternal or supernatural. Theravada may have allowed the depiction of Buddha as supernatural in size as in the temple statues and also borrowed from Mahayana the rituals, the Bodhisathva concept to some degree, and even some aspects of Bhakthi Marga” but the nature of Nirvana, Buddha and Arahath and the Arya Astangika Marga which constitutes the essence of Buddhism has remained largely faithful to the doctrine as found in Early Buddhism.

Prof. N.A. de S. Amaratunga

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada

20 July 2018

OPEN LETTER TO R. SAMPANTHAN MP

Hon. R. Sampanthan, MP representing TNA

Leader of the Opposition of the Government of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Parliament

Colombo, Sri Lanka.,

Dear Mr. Sampanthan:

What is this dishonest garbage that you had cried to the UN Resident Coordinator Terence D. Jones the other day.  Were you on your knees Sam when you cried choking with your cry-baby twaddle with tears

dripping down your cheeks? So you elevated the ego of Terence as the Tamil’s Godfather.   Come on Sam, for Pete’s sake give your non-separatist Tamil clan a break.  Don’t embarrass them, as I know that they think you are a no good fool, as they want to live in harmony with the majority Sinhalese who have been their friends for donkey’s years. Several of them are known to me.

Reading your piffle, you got my goat, Sam, when  you said: We don’t want the military to run farms on OUR lands when they are doing now, we want them to exit from these commercial activities which hinder the livelihoods of OUR people.”

HARO…HARA” You silly silver-haired fool.  Since when did you get the notion that the North of Sri Lanka was OUR”  Tamil land.  Didn’t your classroom teacher, Mrs. Sivalingam Amma at kindergarten  teach you and your school buddies to sing with her cane turned choir mistress’ baton swaying left to right  like the arm of a metronome

This land is your land,

this land is my land,

from Dondra Head  to Point Pedro

this land was made for you and me.

As I was walking that ribbon A9

I saw above me that endless fine

Jaffna-Matara skyway,

I saw below me Tea-green valleys

as this land was made for you and me.”

Don’t you remember?

Don’t you remember as a curious podiyan asking your Appah

(A. Rajavarothiam), in the early 50s, who was then the Superintendent of the Gal Oya Project Stores, where they had relocated the denizens of the dense jungle, where no Tamils lived, yet the jungles were criss- crossed by the  tracks of Veddas, the aboriginal people, the elephants, sloth bears, deer, leopards and the monkeys, and the air

was the territory of thousands and thousands of mosquitoes, before these dense jungles were cleared  for the massive Gal Oya Project  This was the project initiated by our first Independent Ceylon’s Prime Minister D.S.Senanayake Snr. to distribute among the landless Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities land to eke out a living by cultivating them.  And now, you disingenuous bully wants to claim that cleared real-estate as OUR” land.  That is carts loaded of poppycock, isn’t, it Sam?.

Did you not ask your Appah, if we Tamils claim that this area belonged to Our” Tamil community, where did you all find our Tamil People hiding from the denizens of the dense jungle, prior to 1940s?  Surely, there were no large rocks and caves of such for us Tamils to live in hiding?  Were there?  If you did ask, what did your Appah say, I’d like to know?

So let’s cut out your Tamil-Blarney Sam, and cut out your words OUR LAND” from your vocabulary which are really, active words  of ‘spoiling for a fight’ with the other communities that make up the united Sri Lanka.

You say Our (Tamil) people are unhappy with government.” and complained to your Tamil Godfather, Terence Jones. Do you really think that My (Sinhalese) people are happy with the government?   Na…not really!.  I have even heard the expression from some rural Sinhalese people directly – oya okkoma hora yakku, mahaththaya!:  I am tending to believe them.  So what the heck are you bickering and belly-aching about?

Your Tamil people are lucky to have a voice in you to complain. however  arrogant.  But my Sinhalese people, unfortunately, do not have a honest voice to speak for them and they are voiceless. That is the difference with that reality check, Sam.  That is indeed the Rub and you guys are winners by default..

Sam, you who were demanding OUR” land in the North, where the British missionaries  who started to arrive in the island starting in 1812

were able to increase the schools particularly in the North, within a very short time – the Baptists had 16 schools, Wesleyans 81,  the Church Mission 36, the American Mission 96, and the Roman Catholics had 61 throughout Ceylon yet your parents preferred to send you to Christian schools outside your OUR” land, like St. Anne’s College at Kurunegala, and St. Sebastian College in Moratuwa. So they preferred their young Sam, eat, drink and breathe the unpolluted air what the majority Sinhalese youngsters did.  How come Sam? Were you that much of a disingenuous twit  or did you go off the rails later having been brainwashed by the separatist-Tamil notion that there is only one Tamil enclave  in the island  of Ceylon, and that is in the North and East to call it OUR” land?

And so you Tamils went about ethnic cleansing the Jaffna peninsula and the East to make an almost pure Tamil enclave.    Did you tell Terence Jones how you Tamils went about ethnic cleansing the North and East.  If not why not, Sam? Tell him that between 1971 and 1981, you Tamils terrorized and kicked out 27,000 Sinhalese who had  lived there for generations.

Tell Terence how you rascals on 13th August 1977 stoned and kicked out 400 Sinhalese undergraduates and lecturers from the Jaffna campus, They were brought South in a convoy of buses escorted by the Police and Army, while they were lying on the floor away from the hail of stones and rocks.   My nephew was one of them who was studying Statistics at the Faculty of Maths.

Did you tell Terence how in October 1990, your separatist Tamils gave 100,000 Muslims 24 hours starting from Chavakachcheri to get out, leaving all their gold and other valuables at the nearest mosque, making Idi Amin look like an angel as he had a heart and gave Uganda-Indians three months to leave Uganda,  These Muslims lived for generations in the North and East of the island.

Come on, Sam, show me your honesty.  Surely there must be a faint streak of humane humility in your Dravidian bones.  Let’s see it.  Let’s show it.  The island until this repugnant saga was – This land is your land, this land is my land, from  Dondra Head to Point Pedro ….”  Don’t understand you Sam, and you most certainly got my goat.  And as I said earlier – spoiling for a fight.

And you complain to your Godfather, Terence Jones, We don’t want the military to run farms on our lands which they are doing now, we want them to exit from these commercial activities which hinder the livelihoods of our people..”  Sam, that is bullish, that is crap, that is sick.

Alright then, Sam, if I read your logic right, that if the North is OUR” Tamil land, then I assume you would say that the rest of the island is THEIR” meaning the majority Sinhalese-land.  Right Sam!.

I want to know what your reaction would be, if I take your Tamil Godfather Terence Jones by his hand and walk down the mile long Main Street in Colombo’s Pettah, and pointing out to every third shop and tell Terence, I want these Tamil shops – Paskaralingam Jewellery Store, Sorthilingam Thosai Boutique, Ganeshalingam Sari Emporium,   Jothilingam Spice Mill Store, Yonilingam Pharmacy, Kanagalingam Hardware Store,  Sivalingam Buriyani Hut, Amirthalingam Gold Emporium,  and all the other Tamil Stores and Shops along the Main Street strip exit, and go up North to Sampanthan’s OUR” Tamil land as these Tamil commercial activities in Colombo’s Main Street hinder the  livelihoods of my Sinhalese people.”  Touche!  I want ethnic-reciprocity, as what is good for your minority Tamils should be good for my majority Sinhalese.  Won’t you accept my premise?  Let’s be fair, Sam.

You know what, Sam?  My  Made in Kandy knife cuts both ways and not one way as the Made in Vadukkodai knife  does, that you seem to use….  I hope you got it and will not go belly aching to your Godfather Terance saying …”No, no Godfather Terence Jones, I want to have the cake and eat it too.”

And then Sam, I read that you have told the Outgoing  American Ambassador Atul Keshap during his courtesy call .”If the Government does not deliver, the Tamil people are not going to be second-class citizens in this country.”  Phew! Really, Sam, did you really tell him that. I just can’t believe that you are such a blithering, arrogant,  Tamil Senior who has an obnoxious attitude thinking that your Tamil blood is a Royal crimson in colour, better that my Sinhalese blood which you think  is a paler red and not a Royal crimson as yours.”

Sam, I was disappointed in you and I wished that you would have reworded your complaint truthfully thus.

Ambassador Keshap, it’s true that we minority Tamils ruled the roost over the Sinhalese, for 131 years during the British colonial divide-and-rule policy being treated as the privileged minority”, and the majority Sinhalese, 75% of the population as the wronged majority” and as Second Class citizens and were the 10%  Tamils of the population were the First class citizens.  In the eyes of others, this divide seems unfair, but we loved and gloated on it and we didn’t want to let that privilege go.  Ambassador Keshap we are not prepared to accept that classification as ‘second class’ citizenry.  Sorry Sri Lanka, we want to regain our 131 year old privileges as the Privileged minority.”  I say to you Sam, and pass it on to outgoing Ambassador  Atul Kasap,  that this Sinhalese-Buddhist, Asoka Weerasinghe, says: Dream on Sampanthan, dream on!”

A wee voice tells me that you believe that you have finally met the  ultimate Sinhalese-Buddhist racist.  Right, Sam?   Wrong, when this Sinhalese-Buddhist,

1. Came to an agreement with the father of the 7-year old young Tamil Kumar (not real name) to adopt him until I help him to accomplish his dream of becoming a Tailor.

Here  is the story.  Let me roll back the years to January 1975.  I returned home to cremate my Dad who passed-away on 29 December 1974.  I was sitting in the front garden of the house  with my brother who too had returned from Sweden for the  funeral.  This young Kumar, clean looking in shirt and shorts, with three horizontal stripes of ash on his forehead,  he was  awed by the two rateng arepu Mahathayas’.  So we called him.

‘What is your name?’ we asked.  He told us his name.  ‘What

 class are you at school?’ I asked. ‘I don’t go to school’ was his

response. So what do you do during the day?” I asked.  I go

         to work, Sir.” he said. I work for a tailor on Sea Street” he

continued. What do you do at the Tailor shop and how much

         are you paid?”   was my next question.  I sweep the floor,

         keep the Tailor shop clean, make them tea, and sew buttons                                                                                                                                                                                                               

         and buttonholes and I am paid one rupee a day’, he said.

”What do you do with the rupee?” I asked.. ‘I give it to my

          Mother’, he said.  I believe the bus fare from  Dematagoda to

Pettah was 5 cents.  By then I was livid. Go home and bring

 your Father”: I insisted.  He lived in a large compound with about

30 one-room row-houses.  The father came, a Tamil like you

Sam, who worked at the abattoir on Baseline Road.  I admonished

this Tamil saying in Sinhalese (I wasn’t competent to speak

Tamil).”What the heck are you doing to your son?  He doesn’t

         go to school, he can’t read nor write, what do you expect him

         to do when he grows up.  Let’s come to an agreement.  I will

         adopt him until he accomplishes his dream of becoming a

         Tailor.  From now on he only gives his Mother 50 cents  a day

         from his pay.  I will have him bank the money he saves.  For

         every 50 cents I give him one rupee and 50 cents and he

         deposits in his bank account.  And he still goes to work and

         attends evening School at the Buddhist  temple and learn

         English.  And if I hear that you had forced Kumar to take  

         money out of his bank  account and give you the money I

         will lynch you from that mango tree (pointing to the one in

our front garden).

          I met the People’s Bank Manager at the  T-junction, and explained

to him young Kumar’s dream of his life, to become a Tailor. I

want to help him to get him there.  I want to open an account for

him to bank his savings.

The Bank Manager explained that it wouldn’t be a problem as

long as  Kumar could sign his name. So I got him to sign his name

hundreds of time in a ruled exercise book until he was competent

to do it.  The account was opened.

Every time I returned home he was given a Singer Machine

Company sewing kit of scissors, thread, needles, buttons, pins,

pin-cushions, fabric shears, zippers, etc.   The result of this

cooperative  effort was that  Kumar at age 25 was an independent

Tailor, with his own Singer  sewing machine gifted by the

Sinhalese-Buddhist surrogate Dad, and  renting a space in a

Kallathoni-Tamil laundry.  I then cut my adoption-umbilical cord

having given this young poor Tamil Kumar, a son of an abattoir

butcher, a life

My question to you Sam, being a gung-ho Tamil politician

promoting reconciliation with the Sinhalese community, have

you helped a single poor Sinhalese, and given the person a

Life?

With this Metta gesture of mine would you label me as a

  Sinhalese  Buddhist racist who is resisting your claiming the

North and the East of the  island as your Tamil Home” and an

eventual Eelam.  Don’t be embarrassed to tell me, I have done

sweet  buggerall, Asoka” if that is indeed your answer.  At least

you are being honest..

Sam, my coming after you for claiming that the North is OUR”

land meaning, the Land of the Tamils, and excluding me a

Sinhalese-Buddhist who believes that all of Sri Lanka, every

square inch of land belongs all peoples of Sri Lanka, you might

think you have finally met a true Sinhalese Buddhist racist.

Right, Sam!  Na…can’t be, especially when no Canadian-Tamil

who happen to be your people, came out to defend your Tamil

Culture, when Ottawa’s lawyer Matt Garvey argued in court to

defend a Tamil man who still believed that he was in Killinochchi.

and  that he could kidnap a Tamil woman even in Canada’s

Ottawa, was an acceptable Tamil cultural trait.

Do you know who came to the Tamil men’s defence in public?

Sam, sit on a chair and put your seatbelt on in case you drop

onto the floor in shock.   It was yours truly, the Sinhalese-

Buddhist,  Asoka Weerasinghe from Ottawa.  Did I hear you

say Haro…Hara…Praise the Lord!”

The Ottawa Citizen of Friday, September 12, 2003, carried  this

letter of mine:

  Lust, not tradition, led to kidnapping.

          Re: Tamil courtier accepts guilt, Sept. 10.

          Lawyer Matt McGarvey has confused lust with Tamil tradition

          in his defence of his client, Sureshtharan Nadarajah, who

          kidnapped Bamini Maheandralingham to try to force her to

          accept a thali the symbolic marriage necklace.

         Sure, the thali, also known as Mangalayum, is the  most

          important symbolic tradition to be tied around the neck of

          the intended bride, at an auspicious time agreed by the

          families of both parties.

          This gesture implies that she is now tied to his community

           and now takes the responsibility to uphold the ethnic,

           cultural position and status of his family.

           However, the lawyer gives the impression that Tamil men

           have the habit of kidnapping women to force them to accept

           the thali.

           This is nonsense.  Generally, Tamil men know and are

            respectful of this cultural tradition, which also inculcates

            them to respect their mothers, sisters, daughters and

            women in general.

             What Mr. Nadarajah did was to break the golden rule of

             Canada, to live by the law of the land that gave him this

             privilege to live here.  He cannot just kidnap Tamil women

             willy-nilly, as they have the freedom to walk in the open 24

              hours a day in Canada without being harassed.

              It was kidnapping for lust, not because kidnapping a Tamil

              woman who he wanted to marry was an accepted tradition

              in  the rich Tamil culture.

              Asoka Weerasinghe,  Gloucester.”

              So, Sam, do I look like a Sinhala-Buddhist racist?  Na…not

half.   But you would be certainly right if you would say that

this Sinhalese-Buddhist guy, Asoka Weerasinghe in Ottawa

is not happy when we  Tamils claim the North and East of  the

Island as   OUR Land, which excludes him.   Darn right Sam,

Not that he is Not happy”, but he resents it. As he says under

his breath,    Pox on all those who want to dissect Sri Lanka

into two. Even surreptitiously and hoodwinking the masses with

the treacherous adoption of a new Constitution.  You don’t have

to second guess me, Sam!

Let Me try one more incident on you Sam.  Let me roll back the

years to 1994.

So this Sinhala-Buddhist racist, Asoka Weerasinghe’s phone

rang  at breakfast time on 5th December 1994. A voice

introduced  himself as the lawyer representing a Tamil friend of

mine,  a resident of Montreal, Quebec, to inform me that my

friend had  passed away of a heart attack the day before.  He

was  a 72-year old bachelor, a former Virologist at the Montreal

General Hospital and an old boy of Kingswood College, Kandy.

He had appointed me as the Executor of his Will.

That request almost made me fall off the chair. Why me, when

              he had so many Tamil friends in Montreal and a family in

              Ottawa, with whom he spends every Christmas,”  I asked

the lawyer.

  Let us look at it this way, Mr. Weerasinghe.  He obviously

              trusted you with his fortune he had stacked away in the

              Bank.  Please honour your friend with his request”, said the

Lawyer  And I heard my wife’s voice requesting me to Honour

our friend.

So I did,  dispersing his fortune equally to his nephews in Sri

Lanka, and  Australia and a niece in the UK.  Tracked down

two of his sisters in  Madras, India.

Go figure, that one Sam.  This was an act of Metta and

friendship with members of the Tamil community, and not

reconciliation as you Tamils were no Paragons-of-Virtue

 sans the word Sorry” as part of their vocabulary..

So you  want to dissect that beautiful island of Ours into two.

Claim the North and East, which amounts to 33% of the

sovereign real estate bordered by 66% of the coastline as

OUR” meaning Tamilo land. Ha!

That is extreme, that is bullish, that is sun- dried

patties of cow-dung, Sam. Cut out that rubbish, and go get

a life, and you do absolutely  nothing to displace the 54% of

Tamils in the South, who seem to be happy living and inter-

marrying with the majority Sinhalese, or else they too would

have got on a plane with a legitimate passport and arrive at

an airport in the West, saying that they do not have a travel

document, having flushed it in the toilet, and begging for refuge.

Right, Sam!

 Haro..Hara!, give this Sinhalese-Buddhist a break., Sam.

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr.)

(Born and bred in Colombo, son of a CGR steam locomotive-

driver and an old Nalandian)

 නදීරා යුමාලි (BSc. in Agriculture) බෝග අධ්‍යයන අංශය, කෘෂිකර්ම පීඨය,  රුහුණ විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය. උපදේශනය – ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය රංජිත් සේනාරත්න, හිටපු උප කුලපති, රුහුණ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය

 lanka C news

83 කළු ජූලියේදී භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේලා සිවුරු කරට අරගෙන දෙමල ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ගේ කඩ ගිනි තැබූ බව හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද‍්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග මහත්මිය පවසයි.

දෙමල මිනිසෙකුගේ ඇගට පෙට‍්‍රල් වත්කර ගිනි තබන අයුරු තම ඇස් දෙකින්ම දුටුවේ යයිද ඇය සදහන් කරයි.

කොළඹදී පැවති උත්සව සභාවක් අමතමින් ඇය මෙම අදහස් පල කලාය.

මෙරට ජීවත් වන සෙසු ජන කොටස්වලට තම අයිතිවාසිකම් නීතියෙන්ම ලබා දීම සදහා නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හෝ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් උවමනා බවද ඇය කියා සිටී.

අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ මාධ්‍ය ලේකම් ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ- lanka C news

ඉන්දියාවේ හිටපු ආරක්ෂක උපදේශකවරයා ‘ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු ඉන්දියානු වෙරළේ සිට කිලෝමීටර් 14ක් දුරින් පිහිටි ප්‍රහාරක ගුවන් යානා රඳවන යුද නෞකාවක්’ ලෙස සඳහන් කර ඇති බවත් ඉන්දියාව සැමදා සිහින දුටුවේ මේ ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නැමැති යුද නෞකාව හසුරුවන සුක්කානම’ තමන්ගේ අතට ගැනීමට බවත් ඔවුන් මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ මිලදී ගැනීමත් සමග ඒ සිහිනය බොහෝ දුරට සැබෑ වන බවත් ජානිපෙ නායක, විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

කොළඹ සම්බුද්ධත්ව ජයන්ති මන්දිර ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේ පැවති ‘ඉන්දියාවට විකුණන් කන්නේ මත්තල ගුවන් තොටුපළ ද? රටේ ආරක්ෂාව ද ? යන දේශනය සිදු කරමින් ඒ මහතා මෙසේ පැවසීය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා මෙසේ ද සඳහන් කළේය.

අපේ උුවමනාවන්ට සරිලන පරිදි අපට ජාතියේ ඉරණම් කතාව ලියා ගන්නට බැරි වුණොත් සියවස් ගණනාවක් නොනැසී රැකගත් අපේ උරුමය අහිමි වී මේ මව් පොළොව ලෝක බලවතුන්ගේ දඩබිමක් බවට පත් වෙනවා. මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ විකුණා දැමීම කියන්නේ සාමාන්‍ය ගුවන්තොටුපළක් විකුණා දැමීම පිළිබඳ කතාවක් නොවෙයි. එය ජාතියේ ඉරණම හා බැඳුණු කතාවක්. එම කථාව මා වෙත ලැබී ඇති විශේෂ වාර්තා කිහිපයක් සමඟ සැකසූ වීඩියෝ වැඩසටහනක් සමඟ ඔබ හමුවේ තබන්නම්.

‘ ලොව විශාලතම ගුවන් කලාපයක් ’

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කියන්නේ ලෝකයේ විශාලතම ගුවන් කලාපයක් හිමි රටවල් අතුරෙන් එකක්. එම ගුවන් කලාපයට දකුණෙන් ඕස්ටේ්‍රලියාව ද උතුරෙන් ඉන්දියාව ද නැගෙනහිරින් ඉන්දුනීසියාව ද බටහිරින් මාලදිවයින ද දක්වා විහිදුණු වර්ග කිලෝමීටර 17 ලක්ෂයකට වඩා විශාල ප්‍රදේශයක් අයත් වෙනවා. ඒ කියන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එහි භූමි ප්‍රමාණය මෙන් 28 ගුණයක් විශාල ගුවන් කලාපයක් අයත් බවයි. මෙම ගුවන් කලාපය හරහා සිදු වන ‘ඒ 380’ වැනි ලෝකයේ විශාලතම ගුවන්යානාවල ගුවන් ගමන් දිනෙන් දිනම වැඩි වෙමින් තිබෙනවා. ‘ඒ 380’ වැනි විශාල ගුවන්යානා අපේ ගුවන් තොරතුරු කලාපය හරහා වැඩි වැඩියෙන් යාමට නම් එවැනි යානා ගොඩබැස්සවිය හැකි පහසුකම් සහිත ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපළක් අත්‍යවශ්‍යයි.

’ප්‍රශස්ත තීරණයක්’

කටුනායක ගුවන්තොටුපළේ එවැනි විශාල ගුවන්යානා ගොඩබැස්සවිය හැකි පරිදි පහසුකම් තිබුණේ නැහැ. විශේෂයෙන් ගුවන්පථයක් තිබුණේ නැහැ. ඒ නිසයි ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට දෙවන ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළක් අවශ්‍ය වුණේ. ඒ වගේම මෙහිදී සඳහන් කරන්න ඕනෙ එදා දෙවන ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ ලෙස මත්තල නිර්මාණය කරන විට එමිරේට් සමාගම ඔවුන්ගේ ‘ඒ 380’ වැනි විශාලතම ගුවන්යානා ගොඩ බැසීමට හැකි පරිදි එය නිර්මාණය කරන ලෙස ලිඛිතව ඉල්ලා සිටි බව. දැනටමත් මත්තල ගුවන් තොටුපළ කේන්ද්‍රකර ගනිමින් ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන් මාර්ග හතක් නිර්මාණය කර තිබෙනවා. ඒ නිසා අප තේරුම් ගත යුතුයි, එදා දෙවන ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ ලෙස මත්තල නිර්මාණය කිරීම ඉතාමත් නිවැරදි දේශපාලන උපායමාර්ගික තීරණයක් බව.

ඒ වගේම දැන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව බලා පැමිණෙන ගුවන්යානා දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ ත්‍රිවෙන්ද්‍රම් වෙනුවට විකල්ප ගුවන්තොටුපළක් ලෙස මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ යොදාගැනීමෙන් වසරකට ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 13ක මුදලක් රටට ලැබෙනවා.

‘එකට බැඳුණු හම්බන්තොට වරාය – මත්තල ගුවන්තොට’

මෙහිදී තවත් කරුණක් සිහිපත් කළ යුතුයි. ඒ තමයි 2000 වර්ෂයේ මාර්තු 24 දින‘ඒ එන් 12 ’ ගුවන්යානය කඩා වැටුණු පසු ජාත්‍යන්තර සිවිල් ගුවන් සේවා සංවිධානය (ICAO) විසින් නිර්දේශ කරනු ලැබුවේ ද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වහාම දෙවන ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළක් ඉදි කළ යුතු බව. ඒ වගේම හම්බන්තොට වරාය ඉදිකිරීමත් සමඟ මත්තල ගුවන්තොටේ අවශ්‍යතාව දෙගුණ තෙගුණ වුණා. දකුණු චීන මුහුදේ සිට අරාබි මුහුද දක්වා දිවෙන මුහුදේ පිහිටි ලෝකේ ලොකුම වරායවලින් එකක් වන්නේ හම්බන්තොට වරායයි. ඇත්තටම ලෝකයේ විශාලතම වරායවල් අතුරින් දසවන ස්ථානය හිමි වරාය ද හම්බන්තොට වරායයි. තායිලන්තයේ ‘ක්‍රා ඇළ’ නිර්මාණය කිරීමෙන් පසු සිංගප්පූරුවට වඩා වැඩි ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානයක් හම්බන්තොට වරායට හිමි වුණා. ඒ තරම්ම වැදගත් වරායකට සේවා සැපයීමට ජාත්‍යන්තර මට්ටමේ විශාල ගුවන් පථයක් හිමි ගුවන්තොටුපළක් අවශ්‍යයි. ඒ නිසා හම්බන්තොට වරාය හා මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ අපට හිමි ඉතාමත් වැදගත් ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන දෙකක්. ඒවා දවසකින් දෙකකින් ලාභ උපයන්නේ නැති බව රටට ආදරය කරන කුඩා දරුවකුට වුවත් තේරුම් ගත හැකියි.

ඉන්දියානු සහ බටහිර ඔත්තු සේවාවන් මෙහෙයවන විද්වතුන් හා දේශපාලන සංවිධාන විශේෂයෙන් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ හම්බන්තොට වරායේ ගලක් ගැන කතා කළා. මත්තල ගුවන් කලාපයේ කුරුල්ලන් ගැන කතා කළා. මේ වටිනා ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන දෙක හෑල්ලු කළා. එසේ කළේ ඒවා නොවටිනා තත්ත්වයට පත් කර විකුණා දැමිය හැකි වාතාවරණයක් රට තුළ හදා දෙන්නයි. මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ වී ගබඩාවක් බවට පත් කිරීම නිසා එයට තිබූ ජාත්‍යන්තර පිළිගැනීම පවා අහිමි වූවා. මේක තනිකරම කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරී මෙහෙයුමක්.

‘ඉන්දියානු ආධිපත්‍යය ගැන කතාවක්’

අපි මේ සිදු කරන්නේ මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ පිළිබඳ කතාවක් නොවෙයි. එය ඉන්දියාව අපේ මව් පොළොව සිය ග්‍රහණයට ගැනීම පිළිබඳ කතාවක්. ඉන්දියාවේ හිටපු විදේශ ලේකම්, ආරක්ෂක උපදේශක වූ ශිවශංකර් මෙනන්ගේ ‘තේරීම් : ඉන්දියාවේ විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය හැදීමේ ඇතුළාන්තය’ කෘතියෙන් ඉන්දියාව නැමැති දකුණු ආසියානු බලවතාගේ උවමනාව මනාව පැහැදිලි වෙනවා. ඔහු සිය කෘතියේ එක්තරා තැනක සඳහන් කරනවා ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු ඉන්දියානු වෙරළේ සිට කිලෝමීටර් 14ක් දුරින් පිහිටි ප්‍රහාරක ගුවන් යානා රඳවන යුද නෞකාවකි’ කියලා. ඒ නිසා ඉන්දියාව හැමදාම සිහින දැක්කේ මේ යුද නෞකාව හසුරුවන සුක්කානම තමන්ගේ අතට ගන්නයි. ඒ කියන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තමන්ගේ ආධිපත්‍යය යටතට ගැනීමටයි.

ඉන්දියාව අපේ ගුවන් කලාපය අත්පත් කර ගැනීමට දීර්ඝකාලීන උත්සාහයක නිරතව සිටිනවා. එය ඇරඹුණේ 1971 දීයි. 1971, 1972 හා 1985 යන වසරවලදී අපේ ගුවන් කලාපයේ ඇතැම් කොටස් ඉන්දියාවට නොමිලේම ලබා දී තිබෙනවා. ඒ හේතුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට වසරකට රුපියල් මිලියන 5000කට වඩා වැඩි මුදලක් අහිමි වන බව විශේෂඥ මතයයි.

‘යුදමය වටිනාකම’

අද වන විට මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ ආශ්‍රිත තවත් අක්කර 99000ක් ද ඉන්දියාවට ලබා දීමට සියල්ල සූදානම්. ඉන්දියාව සතුව ඉන්දියානු භූමිය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සමීපව ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළ 18ක් පවතිනවා. ඒ නිසා ඉන්දියාවට වාණිජමය වශයෙන් මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළේ වැදගත්කමක් නැහැ. ඕස්ටේ්‍රලියාව, මැලේසියාව හා ඉන්දුනීසියාව යන රටවලට නම් මත්තල වාණිජ වටිනාකමක් ඇති ගුවන්තොටුපළක්. ඒ නිසා ඉන්දියාවට මත්තල වැදගත් වෙන්නේ යුදමය වශයෙන් පමණයි. මේ ආණ්ඩුව හම්බන්තොට වරාය චීනයට ඉතාම නොවටිනා මුදලකට විකුණා දමා අවසන්. දැන් වාණිජමය වශයෙන් ඩොලර් මිලියන දහස් ගණනක් වටිනා මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ ඩොලර් මිලියන 325කට තක්සේරු කර තිබෙනවා. විකිණීම තමන්ගේ එකම කර්මාන්තය කරගත්තු මේ ආණ්ඩුව මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ සඳහා දැනට වෙන් කර ඇති හෙක්ටයාර 2800ට අමතරව තවත් ඒ ආශ්‍රිත අක්කර 99,000 ක් ද ඇතුළුව තමයි මේ තක්සේරුව කර ඇත්තේ. ඇමරිකාවේ FUGRO සමාගම දැනටමත් මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ ආශ්‍රිත සමීක්ෂණ කටයුතුවල නිරත වී සිටිනවා. අමතර අක්කර 99,000 තුළ ආරක්ෂක නිරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු සිදු කිරීම ඉන්දියාවට භාර කටයුත්තක් වෙනවා. මේ ආරක්ෂක කලාපය, චීනයට විකුණූ හම්බන්තොට වරාය කලාපය වටකර විහිදුවීමට නියමිතයි.

‘ආසියාවේ න්‍යෂ්ටික බලවතුන්ගේ දඩබිමක්’

මේක ඉන්දියාව හා චීනය අතර ගැටුමකට මගපාදා දීමක් නොවෙයි ද? මෑතකදී ඩොක්ලාම් දේශසීමාව අසලදී චීන හමුදා සහ ඉන්දියානු හමුදා මුහුණට මුහුණ හමු වූවා. අද භූතානය සහ ටිබෙටය මේ ආසියාවේ න්‍යෂ්ටික බලවතුන්ගේ ගැටුම මැද්දේ සිර වී සිටිනවා. ඩොක්ලාම් අත්දැකීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනතාවට ළඟදීම මුහුණ දීමට සිදු වේවි. මේ නිසයි අපි තේරුම් ගත යුත්තේ මේක භයානක සෙල්ලමක් කියලා. අවසානයේ අපි මේ ලෝක බලවතුන්ගේ ගැටුමට මැදි වුණු රටක් වේවි. චීනයට හම්බන්තොට වරායත් ඉන්දියාවට මත්තල ගුවන් තොටුපළත් විකුණන් කෑම ඉතාමත් බරපතළයි. ඒක ඉන්දු-ලංකා ගිවිසුමට වඩා භයානක පාවාදීමක්. ඒකයි අපි කියන්නේ මේ රටේ ජාතික සම්පත් විකුණගෙන කන බ්‍රෝකර්ලාගේ සහ ජෝකර්ලා ආණ්ඩුව ඉන්දියාවට විකුණන් කන්නේ මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපළ පමණක් නොවෙයි ඔවුන් රටේ ආරක්ෂාව ද විකුණන් කනවා කියලා.

‘සියල්ල ඉන්දියාවට ’

ගාලු වරායේ ස්ථානගත කර ඇති නාවික හමුදා කඳවුරු ඉවත් කර එම වරාය ඉන්දියාවට දීමට නියමිතයි. ත්‍රිකුණාමල තෙල් ටැංකි දැනටමත් IOC සමාගමට දී අවසන්. ත්‍රිකුණාමල වරාය ද ඉන්දියානු, ජපාන හා සිංගප්පූරු හවුල් සමාගමකට බාර දීමට යනවා. පලාලි ගුවන්තොටුපළට සහ කන්කසන්තුරේ වරායට සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ මුවාවෙන් දැනටමත් ඉන්දියාව අතගසා ඉවරයි. ඒ වගේම ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ සිට තලෙයිමන්නාරම දක්වා දුම්රිය මාර්ගය ඉදි කිරීමත් ඉන්දියානු රජයේ මැදිහත් වීමෙන් තමා සිදුවන්නේ. එතැන් සිට ඉන්දියාවේ ධනුෂ්කොඩි දක්වා හනුමාන් පාලම ඉදි වෙනවා. ඒ වගේම කොළඹ වරායේ නැගෙනහිර පර්යන්තය, පෝට් සිටි ව්‍යාපෘතියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට අයත් කොටස් ඉන්දියාව විසින් ඉල්ලා තිබෙනවා. එට්කා ගිවිසුම වෙනුවට ගෙනාපු සිංගප්පූරු වෙළද ගිවිසුමට අනුව සියලු ක්ෂේත්‍රවලට අයත් ඉන්දියානු ශ්‍රමිකයන්ට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට කිසිදු බාධාවක් නැහැ. ඒ නිසයි මම යළිත් අවධාරණය කරන්නේ මේක මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපෙළ විකුණා දැමීම ගැන කතාවක් පමණක් නොවෙයි. ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදය හා රටේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නයක්’ කියලා.

‘පාවාදීමට වක්‍රාකාරව හෝ හවුල් වෙන්න එපා ! ’

එදා ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදය ගැන රටට කියා දුන්නු, ඉන්දු-ලංකා ගිවිසුමට එරෙහිව රටේ ඒකීයභාවය වෙනුවෙන් දිවි පරදුවට තබා සටන් වැදුණු ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ අද ඉන්දියාවට මත්තල විකුණා දැමීමට අවශ්‍ය වාතාවරණය හැදුවා. බොරු බේගල් අත හැරියා. අද මේ මහා අපරාධය සම්බන්ධයෙන් සම්පූර්ණ චිත්‍රය බොහෝදෙනෙකුට දකින්න බැහැ. ඔවුන් මේ බොරු බේගල්වලින් නොමග යවලා තිබෙනවා. අපි හැකි පමණ දැනුම්වත් විය යුතුයි. මේ රටේ ආරක්ෂාව අනතුරේ හෙළීම හා ඉන්දියානු ආධිපත්‍යය පිළිබඳ කතාව ගමින් ගමට, ගෙයින් ගෙට රැගෙන යා යුතුයි. අද මේ මහා අපරාධය හමුවේ නිහඬව සිටියහොත් අපි එයට වක්‍රාකාරයෙන් සහයෝගය දුන් අය බවට පත් වෙනවා.

ස්වකීය ජාතියේ අනාගතය පාවා දුන් මිනිසුන් ලෙස තමන්ගේ නම් ලියවෙනවාට මේ මව් පොළොව ඇලුම් කරන කිසිවකුත් කැමති වන්නේ නැහැ. ඒ නිසා මේ මහා පාවා දීමෙන් රට බේරා ගැනීමට ඔබ පෙරමුණ ගත යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා ඔබට ධෛර්යය, ශක්තිය ලැබේවා!”

අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ
මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

The current Presidential system allowed all Sri Lankans eligible to vote to have a say in deciding who should be the Head of State, and the 20th amendment to the Constitution seeks to deprive the voting public of that right , leader of the United National Freedom Front (UNFF), Maithri Gunaratne says.

He told the media yesterday, “All citizens vote and that’s true democracy. The President is elected by the people directly. The proposed system will vest that power in 225 MPs.

Is this a good system at a time when almost all MPs have taken money from Arjun Aloysius of the Perpetual Treasuries Limited?”

Most of the MPs have been bought off by the rich and powerful who have sinister intentions and it will be easy to manipulate the lawmakers, Gunaratne said.

“We have recently found that people we expected to be clean have taken money from Perpetual Treasuries Limited. What we can do is to ensure the sovereignty of the people.

Gunaratne said the 19th Amendment to the Constitution had removed the unnecessary powers vested in the Executive President. “Now no one is on the roads asking for the repeal of the post of executive President? No one wants the 20th Amendment. There are people who can’t win elections and they want to hold positions without winning elections. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) by bringing in the 20th amendment is directly helping such persons.”

Courtesy The Journal

The suspension follows Paisley’s failure to declare two family holidays that were paid for by the Sri Lankan government.

DUP MP IAN Paisley has been suspended from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days.

The suspension will come into effect in early September and Paisley’s salary will be withdrawn. He has also been suspended by the DUP pending further investigation into his conduct”.

It comes after the North Antrim MP was found by a parliament watchdog to have broken rules by not declaring two trips to Sri Lanka that were paid for by its government before he advocated on their behalf.

The chair of the Standards Committee, Sir Kevin Barron, said they had concluded Paisley was guilty of serious misconduct”. The Speaker of the House, John Bercow, described it as a regrettable state of affairs”.

Paisley earlier vowed that he will not go quietly into the night”.

The value of the trips, which included helicopter flights for his family, have been put at between £50,000-£100,000.

The breaches have also raised the prospect that the North Antrim MP could be unseated.

MPs who are suspended for more than 21 days can a face recall petition and if it is signed by more than 10% of eligible electors then the seat is declared vacant and a by-election would follow.

But in an article written by Paisley published in today’s Ballymena Guardian, he said he would fight any such by-election if it came.

They are opportunists, some with questionable motives, and I can tell them that I have no intention of going quietly into the night,” Paisley wrote.

If a petition leads to a by-election make no mistake about it, I will seek re-election as I have never run away from an election in my life and I don’t intend to do so now.

Earlier in the article Paisley again apologised but said that, while he accepted the punishment, his actions were the result of an unintentional error.

Paisley said that the rules he broke were confusing” and that the letter he sent advocating on behalf of the Sri Lankan government was interpreted harshly.

I’m man enough to accept that the committee has found against me and will have to live with that consequence, however I am equally prepared to point out what will be my proportionate response, ” Paisley wrote.

Opposing politicians including those from Sinn Féin, the SDLP and the Alliance Party have called on Paisley to either resign, be dismissed or consider his position as an MP.

July 24 (Renewables Now) – Japanese Sri Lanka Friendship (JSF) Corp celebrated on Saturday the start of solar panel production at a facility in Katunayake which became Sri Lanka’s first solar manufacturing plant.

The company, a unit of Japanese firm REK CO Ltd, will sell the photovoltaic (PV) panels under the Sakura Solar brand. It will also offer inverters, batteries and LED lighting.

JSF’s plant is located at the Katunayake Export Processing Zone. The establishment of a local solar factory will support Sri Lanka’s clean energy goals, while it would also export to other markets.