By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

In May this year, the government gazetted sweeping amendments to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002. The original Act applied only to specified Commonwealth countries and non-Commonwealth countries which have signed the relevant agreements with Sri Lanka but the amendments now before parliament seek to extend the scope of the Act to all countries that have signed any international convention relating to a criminal matter to which Sri Lanka has become a party. Furthermore, while the original Act applied only to States, the amendments seek to bring international organisations as well within its ambit. The purpose of the original Act was to facilitate the provision of mutual assistance from foreign countries in the location of witnesses or suspects, the service of documents on such persons, the examination of witnesses, the obtaining of evidence, the execution of requests for search and seizure, the temporary transfer of persons in custody to appear as a witness, facilitation of the personal appearance of witnesses, the location of the proceeds of any criminal activity, and mutual enforcement of orders for the forfeiture or freezing of property, etc.

The Secretary to the Ministry of Justice was to be the ‘Central Authority’ for the purposes of that Act. Requests for assistance were to be made to the ‘Central Authority’ in Sri Lanka by the appropriate authorities in the countries that come under the ambit of this Act. The amending Bill seeks to lay the country open completely to all foreign states and organizations, vis-a-vis the granting of assistance in investigations and judicial proceedings, connected with criminal matters. This Bill furthermore seeks to make documentary evidence obtained in a foreign country admissible in a judicial proceeding; and also to make admissible evidence led from a foreign country through video conferencing technology. Another new feature in the amending Bill is that the Central Authority in Sri Lanka (the Secretary to the Ministry of Justice) can authorize any other officer not below the rank of a Senior Assistant Secretary, to act on his behalf and the Central Authority can also designate ‘competent authorities’ (which can be a law enforcement authority) who will process information to requests as directed by the Central Authority.

The Central Authority is also enjoined to ensure prompt action in respect of all requests from abroad and to have a dedicated unit to maintain a proper system to manage incoming and outgoing requests. Requests can also be forwarded by electronic means directly to the relevant competent authority through the appropriate authority of a foreign country or organization. The competent authority is then obliged to immediately proceed to implement the request after forwarding a copy of the relevant request to the Central Authority. The Central Authority and the officers holding delegated authority from him including the competent authorities are to maintain strict confidentiality with regard to requests made under this Act. If confidentiality cannot be upheld, the appropriate authority of a specified country or specified organization, will be informed and this foreign body will then determine whether the request should nevertheless be executed. Any person who fails to comply with this confidentiality requirement commits an offence and the High Court of the Province can impose a fine on that person ranging from a minimum of Rs. 100,000 to a maximum of Rs. 5 million. The Right to Information law will therefore, not apply to anything done under this amended Act.

The context

These sweeping amendments to the 2002 Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act are being brought in a specific context. This government has already established the Office of Missing Persons which is in reality a tribunal for all practical purposes which can examine witnesses, issue summons and hold hearings. Its officers can enter without warrant at any time of day or night, any police station, prison or military installation and seize any document or object they require for investigations. Anyone who fails or refuses to cooperate with the OMP may be punished for contempt of court. Government bodies at all levels including the armed forces and intelligence services are mandatorily required to render fullest assistance to the OMP and the provisions of the Official Secrets Act will not apply to investigations carried out by the OMP. The provisions of the Right to Information Act will also not apply to the work of the OMP. No court, not even the Supreme Court can order any officer of the OMP to submit to courts any material communicated to him in confidence. While the investigative mechanism has been set up in the form of the OMP, the government has also passed the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Act No: 5 of 2018 which makes applicable in Sri Lanka, the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance which has been signed and ratified by the Sri Lankan government. Even though the name of this international convention would convey the impression that it has something to do with ‘preventing’ enforced disappearances, its actual purpose is punitive and it has the effect of broad basing and sharing jurisdiction over offences related to enforced disappearances among all the signatories to the Convention. According to Article 10 of the International Convention, any State in whose territory a person (who can be a citizen of any other member state) suspected of having committed an offence of enforced disappearance is present, can take that person into custody.

According to Article 11, after making an arrest in that manner, the member state concerned can take one of three alternative courses of action – (a) extradite that person to another country in accordance with its international obligations, (b) prosecute that person under its own laws or (c) hand him over for prosecution to an international criminal tribunal whose jurisdiction that member state has recognized. Article 13 of the international convention also states that any member state may request the extradition of a person suspected of being responsible for enforced disappearances in any other member state and all member states are supposed to respect such requests for extradition. After the Sri Lankan government passed Act No: 5 of 2018 to make the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance operational in Sri Lanka, under Section 8 of this Act, where a request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka by the Government of a Convention State for the extradition of any person accused or convicted of causing an enforced disappearance, the Minister shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith notify the Government of the requesting State of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person for that offence.

Section 21 of Act No: 5 of 2018 made it clear that its purpose was to give nothing less than full effect to Sri Lanka’s international obligations under the International Convention. When you read Articles 10, 11 and 13 of the International Convention Against Enforced Disappearances together with Sections 8 and 21 of Act No: 5 of 2018 it is clear that foreign countries which are members of the International Convention now have complete jurisdiction over Sri Lankans who are alleged to have been involved in causing enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. Any member state of this international convention can get a Sri Lankan extradited to their country, and arrest, prosecute and punish a Sri Lankan for such an offence. When a foreign country which has complete jurisdiction over Sri Lankans in that manner arrests a person on suspicion over an offence relating to this convention, and that foreign country also happens to be a member of the International Criminal Court, that person can be handed over to the ICC to be dealt with as they would a citizen of the foreign country that carried out the arrest.

It is in that context that we have to view the changes contemplated to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002. On the one hand the number of foreign countries coming within the ambit of the original Act has been expanded to include every country that is a party to an international Convention relating to mutual assistance in criminal matters, to which Sri Lanka has become a party – which automatically includes the International Convention for the Prevention of Enforced Disappearances. Furthermore, the amendment will make the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002, applicable to organizations associated with combating international crime as well – which will of course automatically be applicable to the International Criminal Court. The punitive measures contemplated by the International Convention for the Prevention of Enforced Disappearances cannot really be implemented without the facilities that will be extended by the proposed amendment to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002.

Changes made by the Supreme Court

In view of the dangers posed by this proposed amendment to the 2002 Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, several petitioners including Admiral Sarath Weerasekera went before the Supreme Court asking for a determination that the Bill before parliament was unconstitutional. He was represented by Manohara de Silva PC, with Canishka G. Witharana. Another petitioner Ven.

Maduruoye Dhammissara was represented by Sanjeewa Jayawardena PC. The SC Bench hearing the petitions consisted of Justices B. P. Aluwihare PC, Sisira J. de Abrew and H.N.J Perera. One of the provisions in the proposed amendment which engaged the attention of the Supreme Court was Clause 5(3) which stipulated that when requests are forwarded by foreign nations or organisations by electronic means directly to the relevant competent authority, the latter is mandatorily required to immediately proceed to implement the request. (The word used was ‘shall; which denotes a mandatory requirement)

The Supreme Court observed that Section 6 of the original Act of 2002 obliges the Central Authority to refuse a request if it violates the Constitution, but that no such restrictions have been put in place to regulate the conduct of the Competent Authority who is to be appointed by the Central Authority under the terms of the proposed amendment. The SC observed that this omission carries significant constitutional implications because Clause 5 (3) of the Bill makes it mandatory for the Competent Authority to directly receive and immediately proceed to implement requests from overseas and furthermore, this is given further impetus by Clause 5 (4) of the Bill which only requires the Competent Authority to inform the Central Authority by forwarding a copy of the relevant request before he responds to it. Therefore, the SC determined that Clause 5(3) is inconsistent with Article 12 (1) of the Constitution which guarantees that all persons are equal before the law and are entitled to the equal protection of the law. The SC held that it is imperative that the Competent Authority have the power under Section 6 of the original Act to refuse a request. This would enable both the Competent Authority and the Central Authority to filter requests.

The SC also made a reference to Clause 5B in the proposed amendment which went as follows: “Nothing in this Act shall prevent the Central Authority from directing a competent authority to spontaneously transmit the information requested relating to a criminal matter to an appropriate authority of a specified country or specified organization on the assurance of reciprocity and on such conditions as may be necessary for the purposes of confidentiality.” In this regard, the SC held that to the extent that clause 5B sets an exception to the normal process, there must be a corresponding justification or a circumstance which warrants the invocation of clause 5B. The clause in its present form permits digression from the normal process in an ad hoc manner and thereby violates Article 12 (1) of the Constitution. The SC stated that if Clause 5B is amended reserving it as a response to exigencies, this inconsistency would cease to exist.

The question that we have to ask ourselves is where we stand now after the Supreme Court determination on the Bill to amend the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002. The first thing to learn is that petitioning the Supreme Court is not an alternative to political action. There are many things that may not necessarily be unconstitutional but are politically and morally unacceptable. With the SC determination on the proposed amendment to the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, No. 25 of 2002 which will enable it to be passed with suitable amendments, we see that the yahapalana government’s war crimes project is now ready for take-off. If there was opposition to having foreign judges to hear war crimes cases, that problem has been solved by having a mechanism whereby members of the armed forces can be tried overseas and even if the person concerned is living in Sri Lanka where he can be requested by a foreign country to stand trial in that country. The only way to prevent what the government has been angling for is through political action.

BY Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA

July 8, 2018, 10:09 pm

Do you recognize this ghastly ideological mix, this monstrous model? Or do you recognize yourself in it and like it? Is it happening to us here in the South too? If so what are you doing about it? I know what I am doing or trying to do, and always have done.

When this chemistry takes place and model arises or is revived in the North, it is applauded or swept under the rug by Northern nationalists and Southern liberals in political parties and civil society. When this fanatical fusion came alive in the North, politicians and civil society excused them as “our boys” and now, “our girls”. It is happening again today. Meanwhile Southern nationalists condemn this phenomenon in the North, but applaud, appease, ignore or excuse the same phenomenon in the South, using the same argumentation that they do in the North. The South can see Northern fascism and the North can see Southern fascism. Each is blind to the fascism in its own part of the island, hidden behind its respective populist-nationalist disguise.

The truth is that Prabhakaran was a Northern Hitler while Hitler was a global Prabhakaran. The Tigers were the Northern Nazis, the Nazis were the global Tigers. It is and was only a matter of scale. Prabhakaran was the most evil leader this island’s history produced, while Hitler was the most evil leader world history ever produced.

I agree totally with the conclusion of one of my few living intellectual heroes, Emeritus Professor Richard Falk of Princeton and the University of California, Santa Barbara, former UN Special Rapporteur on Occupied Palestine, who concludes his latest interview saying: “…I feel it is not too alarmist or misleading to talk of the present era of American political life as ‘pre-fascist’, posing the formidable challenge of reversing the political current in the country as rapidly as possible to avoid any transition from pre-fascism to fascism…” (Wider Consequences of US Withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council, Truth Out July 3rd 2018.

I believe that what Richard says of “the present era of American political life”, applies even more strongly to the present era of Sri Lankan political life, in both North and South: the present situation is one of “pre-fascism” and the challenge is to fight off the danger of the transition from pre-fascism to fascism. I say it applies even more strongly because the US and India have the framework of a strong enlightened Constitution and institutions which ensure a true separation of powers, with guarantees and firewalls. We Sri Lankans do not have anything resembling the same measure of Constitutional protection and the chance for Constitutional change has vanished due to adventurist Northern demands in and out of parliament and the Northern Provincial Council. Having failed to prevent the rise of pre-fascism in the North and South, the elite neoliberal Establishment and its supportive NGO propagandists having actually contributed to it by pushing public tolerance to the brink, we are far more vulnerable to fascism and less able to prevent the transition from pre-fascism to fascism.

Some of us fought the battle of ideas against Tiger fascism and Southern Pol Potism and rebelled against rightist authoritarianism in the 1980s. I did. Most in civil society did not. Today I fight the battle of ideas against the rise of the fascist-flecked Alt-Right in the South as well as against the ‘heroization’ if not deification of suicide-bombing terrorism and fascism in the North. Civil society either fight one battle or the other or none. It also denounces those like me who fight fascist ideology whether it comes from North or South, because to me, fascism is fascism and is plain wrong, plain evil, whoever and wherever it comes from.

The week that the civil society petitioners called for the rejection of my nomination as ambassador, a personality from the opposite end of the spectrum, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, former head of the Civil Defence Force (CDF) told the Irida Lakbima that I wasn’t fit for the post of a “peon” in an embassy. He is a GLSF star at the Geneva sessions and a paper presenter at the Foreign Policy workshop of the recent Viyath Maga daylong session at the Shangri-La which served as an Alt-Right coming-out ball. What roused his ire was my support for the implementation of the 13th amendment. So, the neoliberal civil society activists criticize me because I oppose a move beyond the 13th amendment and the unitary state towards federalism, while Sinhala ultranationalists ex-military brass denounce me because I’m for devolution within a unitary state (13A).

On the morning after the UNHRC vote in which Sri Lanka won 29-12, I was criticized from these same two quarters. The civil society neoliberals denounced me for preventing an inquiry into accountability for alleged war crimes, while Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara criticized me for a reference to the Presidential promise to ” proceed with the implementation of the 13th amendment” in our victorious Resolution. Thus do the extremes mirror each other; complement each other.

The so-called civil society petition against my designation as Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Russia does not provoke me into a personal defense of my record. With my performance in Geneva being mentioned in The Economist (UK), The Times (UK) and dealt with in (non-Sri Lankan) PhD theses, post-doctoral monographs, academic journal contributions and book chapters, sufficient to comprise a modest bibliography, the local “civil society” charges against me only make me smile and shrug.

What the petition does though is make me look critically at the civil society phenomenon in Sri Lanka today.

There isn’t one civil society in Sri Lanka. There are three. There used to be four, but one has died out and there are three. Two of the three civil societies are the polar opposite of each other and constitute extremes. The only thing all three have in common is that they dislike me intensely and manifest that dislike on the record. This tells me I am staying pretty much on the (or a) Middle path or occupying a centrist space.

What are the three contending civil societies that exist? Which is the one that has disappeared? The one that petitioned against me could be politely called pro-Western liberal cosmopolitan civil society. In concrete terms, going by the textual evidence, they all support the 2015 Geneva Resolution. Their civil society rival could be designated Sinhala ultranationalist civil society. The third is the Tamil equivalent of the latter, broadly sympathetic to Tamil Eelam and even to the LTTE.

The first category is perhaps best identified with Dr. Pakiyasothy Saravanamuttu and the CPA, both signatories to the petition against me. The second is best identified with Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekara. As for the third, I wouldn’t quite know whom to name as the most prominent. All three civil societies have their respective Diaspora supporters and bases. In the case of the first, these are on the faculty or student body, or are alumni of Western universities. In the case of the second it is the Global Sri Lanka Forum (GSLF) and its recent breakaway. In the case of the third it is the ‘Great Heroes Day’ commemorating Tamil Diaspora, represented by the TGTE.

There is an interface and overlap between the first civil society category and a milder variant of the third, represented by the British Tamil Forum/Global Tamil Forum (BTF/GTF).

It is not that the liberal cosmopolitan civil society is consistently pro-UNP. When the UNP had its most progressive leadership, explicitly committed to a multiethnic, multi-lingual, multi-religious, multicultural i.e. pluralist Sri Lanka, i.e. that of President Premadasa, most of today’s civil society liberals did not support him and indeed stood actively opposed when he was besieged by a combination of the old UNP establishment, the ultranationalists and the center-left Opposition. I stood with him and almost paid for it with my life, in a lynch mob attack. Even today, none of these liberal civil society activists support the most viable electoral option for the UNP; a young leader with a mass base who has won and lost, but fought many electoral battles in the Deep South.

Not a single one of the signatories to the petition against me raised their voices against the LTTE during its Reign of terror that engulfed the country for thirty years. I fought that ideological battle. I still recall Prof Peter Schalk, a scholar and prominent Tiger supporter, walking me on Galle Face Green, his arm around my shoulder, cautioning me that following the damage I had done to the LTTE on the BBC’s award winning Suicide Killers (1991) by Stephen Lambert, he had seen my name on a magi board in an important Tiger office in Western Europe.

I also recall the iconic father of Sri Lanka’s Special Forces and the LRRP, Gen Gamini Hettiarachchi, sending VVIP commando security for me on those annual occasions where I was a designated lecturer at the joint programme between the US Special Forces and a selected 40 men of the Sri Lankan Special Forces. When I asked Gen Hettiarachchi who was the Commandant of the institution that hosted the programme, why he had wasted VVIP Commandos on my security, his answer was that the military has a good assessment of the LTTE’s assessment of me and that whatever I do on my own time was my business but when I was a guest of the Sri Lankan armed forces, I was their responsibility and had to be accorded a degree of security that was commensurate with the threat assessment.

I further recall US Charge d’Affaires at the Permanent Mission in Geneva, later US Ambassador to Kenya, Mark Storella (a New Englander and Ivy Leaguer) walking me to my official car in Geneva, opening the door graciously and asking me if the vehicle was bullet-proofed, and when I laughingly said “no”, he said “but it should be…you are under a greater threat than any one of us here…you have a security threat from the Tigers!”

The Magnificent Hundred civil society activists not only did not fight the battle of ideas against the fascist–totalitarian Tigers, they actively advocated a Chamberlain-like policy of appeasement and supported the CFA. A senior political scientist and prominent petitioner actually placed in print a criticism of the then PM, Ranil Wickremesinghe, that the CFA failed because he did not give the LTTE its due status of equality as a proto-state!

None of these civil society liberals denounced the assassination, unprecedented in modern times, of a Foreign Minister, namely Lakshman Kadirgamar, by the LTTE. Nor had they denounced the LTTE for murdering the liberal Tamil politician and intellectual Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam, a man who had afforded them considerable institutional patronage.

At the time of the greatest protracted challenge faced by Sri Lanka, the neoliberal civil society cosmopolitans failed the moral and ethical test.

I had argued on the record in a lengthy interview with the top pro-Tiger intellectual DP Sivaram (aka Taraki) in the Northeastern Herald, January 1993 (Vol1, No 6, pp. 8-12) that the LTTE could be defeated decisively by the Sri Lankan military, and such a defeat should be the goal of the State.

This was reiterated at length in my first book “Unfinished War, Protracted Crisis” (Vikas, New Delhi, 1995). I was consistent in this and wrote a piece in the Island in 2004 entitled ‘Why Prabhakaran Will Lose’.

During the last war, two professorial petitioners wrote that the Sri Lankan state could not militarily defeat the LTTE; could not win the war. They were defeatists as well as moronic analysts.

It is not that neoliberal civil society and its ally, Tamil civil society, did not have chances to make choices. Few artistic interventions have held up a moral mirror before their societies as has “Demons in Paradise”, the factual yet dramatic film (with the actual protagonists, not professional actors) by Jude Ratnam which was shown at Cannes. The film commenced with a reconstruction of the emblematic horror of July 1983, immortalized in a photograph of a man, stripped naked, seated on a step, about to be kicked to death by a group of Sinhala youth. The film starts with an interview with the photographer at the very spot he took the picture. The movie’s dramatic climax is a campfire scene around which activists from the LTTE and other organizations recount the awful atrocities visited by and upon them by each other. This movie, which could have had a cathartic effect, was ignored by civil society here and in the Tamil and Sinhala Diasporas.

The movie had favorable reviews in the quality press in India and the West. None of the ‘liberal” signatories to the petition against me, reviewed the film. It was ignored or not shown at all in the North. It caused not a ripple among the Sinhala ultra-nationalists. Only small audiences appreciated it within the Tamil Diaspora, at screenings which usually followed by denunciatory interventions by pro-Tiger activists. I was one of those who reviewed the film favorably.

I said there were four ‘civil societies’, one of which has gone extinct. That was the real civil society. I have its archeological remnants, from the University of Ceylon magazines of the first post- independence decade, through to the Marga journals, Logos (Fr. Tissa Balasuriya) and of course the Lanka Guardian under Mervyn de Silva’s founder-editorship. This was a civil society that was always autonomous of the state and government, but not necessarily antagonistic to either, and served as a strong counterweight both to the state as well as to non-state and anti-state ultra-nationalist fanaticism. This civil society was modernist, and philosophically universalist in its values. It was culturally westernized but by no means pro-Western politically, economically or in foreign policy terms; it was Third Worldist. Its function was primarily intellectual–a dual role of independent-minded critique and the proposal of well-reasoned, progressive reformist public policy. It would have been utterly unthinkable for that civil society to have drummed up a petition to oppose a nomination of a credentialed public personality however controversial to the post of Ambassador!

Both in terms of its stance in world affairs as well as in Sri Lankan politics, this civil society was genuinely non-aligned, though certainly not neutral or equidistant. That civil society was internationalist, patriotic, progressive and modernist while today’s divides up between the neoliberal-globalist cosmopolitan and post-modernist on the one hand, and the parochial, nativist, ultranationalist and pre-modernist on the other.

In contradistinction to the earlier civil society, today’s civil society consists of an archipelago of non-governmental organizations which behave as if they are or should be the government! Some, such as the signatories to the petition against me, behave as if they run the Yahapalana government or should. Others behave as if they will run a nationalist successor administration or should. Still others think they are a proto Tamil Eelam government which is around the corner (more “round the bend” I’d say). All three current “civil society” streams have abdicated the moral and intellectual responsibility of an authentic, strong autonomous civil society.

The increasing ascendancy– not the coming into being–of Sinhala ultranationalist civil society is due precisely to the disgustingly anti-national stands of the cosmopolitan liberals. Just as Sinhala Only was enthroned in the context of social revulsion towards the culture (and foreign policy) of the UNP of Sir John Kotelawela, today’s ultranationalist civil society groups surf the broad revulsion among the masses to the unpatriotic postures of the neoliberal democrats. It is a classic backlash.

I am accused by the civil society ‘activists’ of being opposed to Reconciliation. Well, I am certainly opposed to a lop-sided policy of reconciliation which has resulted in Black Tiger Day, the day of the suicide terrorists who blew up Rajiv Gandhi, Ranasinghe Premadasa, Gamini Dissanayake and Neelan Tiruchelvam to name just a few, being openly commemorated in the North! I can think of no society anywhere in the world which would tolerate the open commemoration of a terrorist suicide bomb squad within its own internationally recognized and legitimate borders. This brand of appeasement pushed by civil society has derailed the necessary project of reconciliation, and instead resulted in a burning desire in the Sinhala majority areas to see a leader who will crack down decisively on the theatrics of terror. With the ban on Mahinda Rajapaksa running for the Presidency, this has resulted in the default option of an Alt-Right candidacy.

“Whatever one sows that shall he also reap”. (Paul to the Galatians 6:7)

  A.A.M.NIZAM

This is a roundup of news published in the Sinhala newspapers and Sinhala news websites this werk

Vijayakala episode

UNP MP Vijayakaa’s statement for the revival of the LTTE for ensuring peace and harmony in th North and East had been given wide publicity in almost all Sinhala newspapers and news websites. They published statements and comments made by various Buddhist and social organizations condemning Vijykala’s statement and calling for the highest possible punishment to her including disenfranchising her and at the same time deplored the UNP leadership and the speaker for safeguarding her. Several newspapers also published legal opinion from legal luminaries on the need and the possibility of prosecuting her. It had also been pointed out that this was not the first time that she has made statements of this nature, she carried an Eelam map of LTTE in one of her election campaign vehicles and promised to close down all Police stations in the North and demilitarize North if they come to power.

It was also reported that the Chief Minister of the Northern Province Mr C.V.Wigneswaran, many politicians in the North have endorsed her speech and following her speech a Black Tigers Day was held in several areas of Jaffna and the North and many posters appeared in Northern towns with her photograph saying that Vijayakala is their leader thereby she has become a leader of the Northern Tamils overnight..

Only in the pro-Tamil Vikalpa.org website there was an article supporting her titled Taking Vijayakala as a symbol and the atrocity of Chauvinism”.It said that although the need for the revival of the LTTE terrorism remains only as a dangerous dream o f the Sinhala chauvinism. It says that MPs behaved wildly for the sporadic immature statement made by Viijtayakala and asserted that this type of chauvinism cannot get rid for several decades.

Meanwhile, the pseudo Marxist and the Sinhala Tiger Terrorist Vickremabshu Karunaraatne endorsing Vijayakala’s statement has said that such demands can be curbed only by granting Police powers to the Northern Province.  He says that it was a great folly for the government to further delay the promise devolution of power to the North and East..

Another issue that got wide publicity in the Sinhala media was the New York Times allegation about China funding the former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2015 presidential campaign.  The media unit of Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa alleged that a letter sent by MP Namal Rajapaksa in this connection has not been published by the New York Times.  The Media Director of the firmer President Mr. Rohna Weliwita in a media message points out that the New York Times which extensively supported neo liberals Obama and Clinton clan and deliberately antagonized the incumbent American President Donald Trump without meting out due justice cannot be expected to mete out justice for the former President of Sri Lanka..The Sinhala media also carried out the text of the lengthy statement issued by Mr. Weliwita in this connection which was published in some English newspapers as well.

Pruning Military presence in the North

Wide publicity had also being given to a statement made by the National Freedom Front Parliamentarian from the Kalutara district Mr. Jayantha Samaraweera that steps have been taken to remove several army camps in the North including the Nandikadal camp.Addressing a media conference at their party headquarters MP Samaraweera has said that from July onwards 33 army contingents,, 938 officials and 23,264  members of the forces will be removed from the North as per an order that had been issued by the Major General P.D.I.Karunaratne on 14^th June, 2018.   Accordingly he said that more than 100 army camps including the Nandikadal camp will be removed. He has also given details of a plan to send prominent army officials on retirement under various pretexts in order to appease the diaspora and foreign elements.

Sambandan to topple this government!

There was a news item saying that TNA leader R.Sambandan has said that this government will be toppled by joining with anti government forces.  He was reported to have said that if the government failed to fulfil the promises made to the people of the North in any of the future election the TNA would join with any of the opposition forces and topple the government.  He has stated that although the people of the North gave their wholehearted support to Mr. Maithreepala Sirisena in the 2015 presidential election, that they are very much disappointed that the promises given to them have not been fulfilled yet.  He has said even in the local government elections it was the anger with the government that was displayed by the people in the North.

Increase of Fuel prices

The government increased the prices of fuel and in the Very next day it cancelled the price increase.  Now the Finance Ministry has issued a notice saying that price increase of fuel will remain as it is and there will be no reduction and every two weeks prices will be revised.  The Finnce Ministry spokesman has said that the price increase has been made by the Price Formulae Committee approved by the Cabinet and a representative of the Secretary to the Ministry of Petroleum Industry is also a member of this committee.  He has said that sale of fuel should be carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the committee and attention would be focussed to revise fuel prices once a week in the future.

Pohottuwa aaround the country with Popular Tide”

The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramun (SLPP) has planned to hold a series of massive seminars on an electoral level basis to compel holding of the Provincial Council election and against anti people measures being taken by  the government.

This series of seminars named ass Popular Tide” will b held throughout the country under the theme of Anti Government National struggle”

The first stage of the seminar series will be held on July 14.15.21. 22. 28 and 29 under the leadership of Mr. Basil Rajapaksa.   The seminar series will be held giving priority to North Central, Sabaragamuwa and the East provincial council areas the terms of which have already lapsed and North West, Central and North PCs terms of which are due to end in  October.

Parliamentarians Dallas Alahapperuma, KumaraWelgama, Rohita Abeygunawardene, Bandula Gunawardene, Pavithra Devi Wanniaratchi, Prasanna Ranatuga, and Indika Anurudda and the former Governo of the Central Bank Mr. Ajith Nivad Cabraal and Dr. Nalaka Godahew will be addressing these seminars.

All those owning a vehicle should pay Income Tax.  Open Tax Files for them urgently   –  Government.

The Commissioner of Inland Revenue Ivam Dissanayake says that all those who own a vehicle should pay income tax.  He said that all those who owns a vehicle is considered as people with income.

The Commissioner pointed that a lot of people visit overseas for holidays and they should also pay income tax and they should immediately open tax files.

A Muslim has been appointed for the first time as 6the Government Agent in the North

Mr. I.M.Haniffa, a Muslim has been appointed as the Government Agent of Vavuniya district which is the first appointment of a Muslim to this position in the North. He assumed duties after attending an all religious blessing function.   He is from Sammanthurai area in the Batticaloa disttrict and earlier served as the Divisional Secretary of Sainthamrudu.

Sandya Ekneligoda;s appeal

Dayapala Thiranagama reported in the Vikalpa.org website that Mrs. Sandya Ekneligoda has written to President Maithripala Sirisena asking to ensure safety to her life from his close confidante and valued advisor.

විශේෂ ලියුම්කරුවෙකු විසිනි

 සිරසේ ලොක්කා ප්‍රභාකරන් මෙන් රහසිගත ජීවිතයක් ගත කරන රටේ සාරය උරා බොන කල්ලතෝනි ජාවාරම් කාරයෙකි. මොහුගේ සම්පූර්න කථා වස්තුව ලියුවහොත් එය වැඩිහිටියන්ට පමනයි ලේබලයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කල යුතුව ඇත. එහෙයින් මේ කථාව ස්වයං වාරණයකට ලක් කර ඇති බව පාඨකයන්ට දැනුම් දිය යුතුව ඇත. සිරස මාධ්‍ය භාවිතය ගුජුප්සාජනකය. පවුල් සංස්ථාව කඩා බිද දමමින් සංකර ඉන්දිය මොඩලයක්  බිහිකිරීමේ සාහසික ගමනක මොවුන් නියුතුය.  සිය මාධ්‍ය ජාලය හරහා හීන දහම් වලට ආවඩමින් සැබෑ  බෞද්ධ ධර්මය යටපත්  කරනේය. මෙම  සාහසික වැඩ පිලිවෙල මෙහෙයවනුයේ මල නොතලා රොන් ගන්නා සේය. වකුගඩු රෝගය හරහා ලංකාවේ දහස් ගනනක් මිනිසුන් මරා දැමූ තවත් දහස් ගනනක් රෝගී කල ග්ලයිෆෝසෙට් එකාධිකාරයේ අයිතිකරුවන් සිරස සමාගමය  .බිලියන 24 ක් හෙවත් කෝටි 2400 ක් ගෙවා පරණ රුසියානු නැවක් මිලදී ගැනීමේ කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවට පි‍ටුපස සිටින සොර කල්ලියද මොවුන්ය. රුසියානු යුධ නැව් ජාවාරමට විරුද්ධ වීම නිසා  ලංකාවට පහළ වූ දක්ෂතම නාවික හමුදාපතිවරයෙක්  වූ ට්‍රැවිස් සින්නයියා මාස 3න් ගෙදර යැවීම පි‍ටුපස සිටියේද මොවුන්ය. නෙලුම් කුලුන සාදා නිමකල පසු ප්‍රකෝටි ගනනක් වටිනා ගුවන් විදුලි සංඛ්‍යාත රැසක් මොවුන් විසින් සොරා කෑවේය.

යහපාලන ආන්ඩුව පත්වූ විගස හිරුණිකා ප්‍රේමචන්ද්‍ර සහ මල්ෂා කුමාරතුංග ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාවක් පැවැත්වූවාය . එම ප්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡාව සදහා ලංකාවේ සියලුම මාධ්‍ය ආයතන සහභාගි වුවද සිරස මාධ්‍ය ජාලය එය වර්ජණය කලේය. සිරස මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාව වර්ජණය කළේ කවර හේතුවක් නිසාදැයි මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකු හිරුණිකාගෙන් විමසූවිට ඇය කෙලින් උත්තරයක් දුන්නාය. ඇය කියා සිටියේ ‘‘අයියෝ, සිරසෙ ලොක්කා ඇඹලයෙක් නෙ. දවසක් එයා මට කියුව  එයා කියන විදියට වැඩ කළොත් මාව ලංකාවෙ ඉහළම තැනකට ගේනව කියල. එයාට මාව නටවන්න බෑ. කිලීගෙ දේශපාලනය නිසා සිරස විනාශවෙලා ඉවරයි. ඒවගේ චැනල්වලින් අපිව නොපෙන්නුවට කමක් නෑ’’ ඇය මෙසේ ප්‍රකාෂකලේ ‘සිරසේ මාධ්‍යකලාව’ හමුවේ දේශපාලනඥයන් කවරාකාරයෙන් හැසිරිය යුතුදැයි පූර්වාදර්ශයක් සපයමිනි. සිරසේ ලොක්කා යනු සිය  සේවකයක් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ලෙස පත් කරවාගෙන ඔවුන් හරහා තම අවශ්‍යතා ඉටුකරගන්නා කපටි ව්‍යාපාරිකයෙකි. තම මාධය ජලයේ හයිය පෙන්වා පුද්ගලයන් බ්ලැක් මේල් කරන තක්කඩියෙකි

යහපාලන රජය පත්වූ විගස ‘සිරස’ ගාලු මුවදොර පැය විසි හතර පුරා කැමරා අටවාගෙන චීන පෝට් සිටි ව්‍යාපෘතියට බොරු විරෝධයක් පෑවේය. රටේ  නැති පාරිසරික ගැටලු මවා පෑවේය. සිරස මාධ්‍ය ජාලය පරිසරය වෙනුවෙන්ම කැපවන බව පෙන්වමින් පෝට් සිටි ව්‍යාපෘතියට උදේ සිට රෑ වනතුරු පහර දුන්නේය. සිරසට අනුව ලංකාවේ එතෙක් සිදු කෙරුණු අතිශය විනාශකාරී නරකම ව්‍යාපෘතිය පෝට් සිටි ව්‍යාපෘතිය විය. දිගින් දිගටම චීන ව්‍යාපෘතියට සිරසින් එල්ල වූප්‍රහාරයෙන් ගැලවීමට  ප්‍රතිමෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කිරීමට පෝට් සිටි සමාගම  තීන්දු කලේ මේ අතරය. පෝට් සිටි ව්‍යාපෘතියේ ප්‍රතිරූපය ඉහළ දැමීමද ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණක් විය. ඔවුන් මේ සදහා ‍තෝරා ගත්තේ අලෙවිකරණ සහ වෙළද ප්‍රවර්ධනයේ ජාත්‍යන්තර කීර්තියට පත් සමාගමක්  වූ Phoenix – Ogilvy PR අයතනයය. එය ඩොලර් මිලියන ගණනක කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවක් විය.මේ බව ආරංචි වූ සිරස ලොක්කා වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වී තමන්ගේ කණ්ඩායමක් China Port City Development සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක Dr. Lin හමුවීම සඳහා සදහා පිටත් කලේය.

සාකච්ඡා වට කිහිපයකින් අනතුරුව China Port City Development Company ප්‍රධාන විධායක Dr. Lin කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවෙන් Phoenix – Ogilvy PR – සමාගම කපාදමා සිරසට ලබා දුන්නේය. මෙම සම්පූර්ණ කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුව සඳහා කිලී මහරාජා විසින් ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 25 ක් ඉල්ලා තිබුනි. එහි මුල් අදියරේ කටයුතු සඳහා China Port City Development සමාගම ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 03 ක් හෙවත් රුපියල් ලක්ෂ 400 කට ආසන්න මුදලක් ලබා දුන්නේය. මෙම මුදල සිරස මාධ්‍ය ජාලය අයත් කැපිටල් මහරාජා සමාගම වෙත China Port City Development සමාගම විසින් සම්ප්‍රේෂණය කළ බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ FCIB (Foreign Currency Investigation Bureau) මගින් තහවුරු කොට ඇත.  ඇමරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 03ක අත්තිකාරම් මුදලක් ලබාගත් සිරස China Port City ව්‍යාපෘතියට සුදුහුණු ගෑමේ ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ආරම්භ කලේය. සිරස විසින් එම ව්‍යාපෘතිය හැදින්වූයේ ‘රන්බිම ව්‍යාපෘතිය’ වශයෙනි. සිරස ගමින් ගමට ගොස් රන්බිම ව්‍යාපෘතිය ඔස්සේ ගඩොලින් ගඩොල ඉදිවන සාම ස්මාරකයක් ගැන බොරු පම්පෝරියක් ගැහුවේය. සිරස කියුවේ ඉදිවන සාම ස්මාරකය නෙළුම් කුළුනට වඩා උස එකක් බවය. කෙසේ වුවද චීන සමාගමෙන් මුදල් ගත් විගස  එතෙක් පතුරු ගසමින් සිටි චීන පෝට් සිටිය  එක් ‍රැයකින්  අනර්ග ව්‍යාපෘතියක් විය

මහරාජාගේ සාර්ථකත්වයේ ප්‍රභලතම  රහස නම් සිය කූට ව්‍යපාරික සැලසුම්  වලට දේශපාලන අධිකාරියේ අනුග්‍රහය ලබා ගැනීමය. මෙම දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපෘතිය සදහා මග හෙලි පෙහෙලි කරන්නේ සිරස හරහාය. මොවුන්ගේ අලුත්ම දේශපාලන ගෝනි බිල්ලා වී ඇත්තේ ” සිරස ගම් මැද්ද ” ව්‍යාපෘතියයි.ගම්මැද්ද බැලූ බැල්මට ජනතාවට සෙත සළසන වැඩසටහනක් ලෙස පෙනී යයි. නමුත් ගම්මැද්දේ දී කරන්නේ ගමක පාරක්, බෝක්කුවක්, හෝ නිවසක් නැති පවුලක් ගැන හෝ නැතිනම් වතුර නැති පෙදෙසක දුක් කදුලු අලෙවි කිරීමයි . ඉන් පසු අදාල බැංකුවේ ගිනුමකට මුදල් දමන්න යැයි රටට කියයි. පරිත්‍යාගශීලීහූද ලක්ෂ ගණනක මුදල් ගිනුමට බැර කරයි. සිරස කරන්නේ පරිත්‍යාග වලින් ලැබූ මුදල් තමන්ගේම ජල නල කොම්පැනියට ගෙවා අදාල ගමට වතුර දීමයි. අනතුරුව සිරස පමණයි අපට උදව් කළේ කියා ගැමියන් ලවා කියවා ගනිමින් මාධය සංදර්ශනයක් තියයි.  ගම්මැද්ද වැඩසටහනට ඩොලර් වලින්ද අඩුපාඩුවක් නැත . වරෙක ආසියානු ගුවන්විදුලි සංගමයේ වාර්ෂික සැසිවාරයේ දී රජයේ සුභසාදන ක්‍රියාවලිය හෑල්ලුවට ලක් කොට සිරසේ ගම්මැද්ද ඔසවා තැබුවේය. සිරස එසේ කලේ ඩොලර් වලින් තම මඩිය තර කර ගැනීමේ අපෙක්ෂාවෙනි.

බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ විසින් කිලී මහරාජාගේ ගුවන් විදුලි සංඛ්‍යාත හොරකම හෙලිදරව් කිරීමත් සමගම කිලී මහරාජා දන්ඩෙන් පහර කෑ නයෙකු සේ කිපුනේය . ඔහු තම මාධය ජාලය අසික්කිත ලෙස යොදා ගෙන ” අඩෝ , උඹ , පලයන් ” භාෂාවෙන් බැසිල්ට තර්ජනය කලේය. මෑතකදී  මහින්ද -බැසිල්-ගෝඨාභය එක් වෙදිකාවට ගොඩ වීමත් සමගම සිරස මාධ්‍ය ජාලය යලි පරල වී ඇත. පසුගිය මාස කිහිපය පුරා  බුද්ධි අංශයේ හිටපු නිලධාරියෙකු ඩොලර් වලට රට පාවා දෙමින් ලන්ඩනයේ සිට ක්‍රියත්මක වන  වෙබ් අඩවියක් හරහා රණ විරුවන්ට අපහාස  වන අන්දමේ මඩ ප්‍රචාර  ගෙන යමින් සිටියේය. පසුගිය මාසයේ  රජයේ ප්‍රභලයෙකු ලන්ඩන් නුවර කල සංචාරය අතර තුර මොවුන්ට පවුම්  ලක්ෂයක මුදලක් ගෙවූ බවට වෙබ් අඩවි වල වාර්තා පලවිය. මෙම පුද්ගලයා දැන් සිරස මාධ්‍ය  සමග එක්ව ඇති අතර  රාජපක්ෂලාට එරෙහිව මඩ මෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කිරීමට සැලසුම් කරමින් සිටියි.  මේ දිනවල සිරස සුන්දරියන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු මොහු  ලියන බොරු  සමාජ ගතකරමින් සිටින අයුරු දැකගත හැකි අතර , මේ කසකරුවන් කියා සිටින්නේ මඩ  පෙරහැර ලග ලගම එන බවය 

විශේෂ ලියුම්කරුවෙකු විසිනි

C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

July 7, 2018, 8:22 pm
For a more than a week, one of the main topics of discussion in the country was the ‘revelations’ made by the New York Times about massive payouts amounting to USD 7.6 million being paid by China Harbour Co to President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s presidential election campaign in 2014/15. For a while it seemed as if the UNP had finally been blessed with the break they badly needed but things were seriously dampened when it was soon discovered that the New York Times revelation was not a revelation at all and that almost the entire story that about payoffs by China Harbour Co had appeared three years ago on 22 July 2015 as the headline story titled “CID bust massive money transaction during Presidential election” in the government owned Daily News. The bullet points below the headline said “Rs. 149 million transferred from Chinese company’s accounts” and “Money used for T-shirts and caps sporting MR badges”.

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කාලයට අනුව සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් මහින්ද චින්තනය ඉදිරියට ගෙන යා යුතුව ඇති බව හිටප ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝටාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පවසයි.

වියත්මග සංවිධානය ඇති කරන ලද්දේ ඒ සදහා විද්වතුන් ව්‍යවසායකයන් එක් කිරීමට බවද ඒ මහතා පැවසීය.

කොලොන්නාව රජ මහා විහාරයේදී පැවති ‘හරිමග’ සමාරම්භක සමුළුව අමතමින් ඒ මහතා මේ බව සදහන් කලේය.

ඉදිරියේදී ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පොදුජන පෙරමුණ බලයට ආ විට එමගින් මේ රට සංවර්ධනය කරන සැලසුම් වියත්මග සංවිධානයෙන් සකස් කරන බවත් කී ඔහු ඉදිරියේදී පිහිටුවන රජයක් පිහිටුවන්නේ මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් බවද කියා සිටියේය.

by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

General Secretary of the Communist Party and former Chairman of Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) Dew Gunasekera yesterday said the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) owed an explanation to the country on why funds were solicited from tainted primary dealer, Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL), over a year after the exposure of its direct involvement in the first Central Bank treasury bond scam perpetrated on Feb. 27, 2015.

Gunasekera insisted that BASL couldn’t be unaware of the PTL involvement in the largest ever financial scam involving the Sri Lanka Central Bank due to extensive media coverage since March 2015.

Dew

He called for a thorough inquiry into the circumstances under which the BASL had obtained funds for Law Asia 2016 Golden Jubilee Conference held one year after last parliamentary polls on Aug 17, 2015.

Gunasekera was commenting on a Ravaya exclusive in its July 8 edition which was available at news stands the previous day. Ravaya reported that PTL had provided Rs 2.5 mn whereas the Justice Ministry sponsorship amounted to Rs 2 mn.

President’s Counsel Geoffrey Alagaratnam functioned as the President of the BASL at the time of the Law Asia 2016.

President Maithripala Sirisena and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe were present at the inauguration.

Among sponsors were Tokyo Cement, Bank of Ceylon, MAS Holdings, Dialog Axiata, SriLankan Airlines and Aitken Spence.

Gunasekera told The Sunday Island that had the BASL sought funds from PTL before the media exposure of the first Treasury bond scam it could justified its involvement in the third high profile Law Asia event to be held in Colombo. Law Asia gathered in Colombo in 1979 and 1993.

The governing body of the parent, the LAWASIA Council consists of representatives of the apex legal representative bodies in 25 countries. As such, its policies and agenda directly address issues confronting the legal profession throughout the region.

Gunasekera said that he couldn’t comprehend how the BASL had sought funds from PTL at a time it was debated in Parliament and a section of the National Unity Government lodged a complaint with the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Corruption or Bribery (CIABOC) regarding the first bond scam.

Responding to a query, the former minister said that by the time the BASL organized Law Asia, bond racketeers had perpetrated the second far bigger scam in March 2016.

Gunasekera pointed out that a presidential commission of inquiry on bond scams was appointed only in January 2017.

Well informed sources told The Sunday Island that the PTL role in Law Asia event had been leaked by a section within the association. The revelation sent shock waves through the legal fraternity in the wake of the Attorney General Department informing the Fort Magistrate Cour that a Ravi Karunanayake-owned company received a Rs 5mn cheque from PTL in 2017 over two years after the first bond scam.

Gunasekera said that the BASL-PTL deal underscored the need to regulate corporate funding received by key institutions as well as political parties. Gunasekera said that BASL shouldn’t have obtained funds from PTL under any circumstances after the Treasury bond scam exposure. Had BASL not been aware of the disgraced primary dealer’s involvement in the bond scam at the time it first solicited money, it should have either refused or returned the donation once the fraud was known, the former minister said.

Gunasekera recalled how UNP MP and attorney-at-law Sujeewa Senasinghe in the run up to 2015 August 17 parliamentary polls sought the court intervention to stop him from releasing COPE report on the bond scam.

It would be interesting to know who had recommended PTL sponsorship knowing the liquor maker. W.M. Mendis and Co. was a PTL subsidiary.

Civil society activist Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon yesterday told The Sunday Island the PTL had made available funds to a range of persons. But, funding of BASL event after two bond scams in 2015 and 2016 demonstrated its reach. Responding to a query, he said the ongoing judicial inquiry would make further shocking revelations, including the media.

Both Gunasekera and Tennakoon urged the judiciary to address the PTL involvement with a BASL event seriously. It would be their responsibility to restore public confidence in the BASL, they said, adding that the revelation regarding the BASL was as bad as lawmakers receiving funds from PTL.

රුචිර දිලාන් මධුසංඛ උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ආණ්ඩු සමයේ සිදු වූ බව කියන වංචා දූෂණවලට සම්බන්ධ නඩු කඩිනමින් විභාග කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය තීන්දු තීරණ ගැනීම සඳහා වන රහසිගත හමුවක් පසුගිය අඟහරුවාදා (3දා) රාත්‍රියේ අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ පවත්වා ඇති බව විශ්වාස කටයුතු ආරංචි මාර්ග ‘මව්බිම’ට හෙළි කළේය.

එදින රාත්‍රි 10.30ට පමණ පැවැති මෙම විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාව සඳහා අධිකරණ හා බන්ධනාගාර ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ අමාත්‍ය නීතිඥ තලතා අතුකෝරල, සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය රාජිත සේනාරත්න, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන නීතිය හා සාමය පිළිබඳ අමාත්‍ය රංජිත් මද්දුමබණ්ඩාර, අධිකරණ අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්වරිය, නීතිපතිවරයා සහ පොලිස්පතිවරයා මෙම හමුව සඳහා සහභාගි වී ඇතැයි වාර්තා වේ.

එහිදී අලුතින් ඇති කළ විශේෂ අධිකරණවල අදාළ නඩු ගණනාවක් එකදිගට විභාග කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා කර තිබේ.

ඊට අමතරව ප්‍රමුඛතාව අනුව කඩිනම් කළ නඩු පිළිබඳව ලැයිස්තුවක් සකස් කර අදාළ චෝදනාවලට සම්බන්ධ පුද්ගලයන් කඩිනමින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම ගැනද මෙහිදී දීර්ඝ ලෙස සාකච්ඡා කර ඇති බවද වාර්තා වේ.

Following the resignation of UNP MP Wijayakala following her public outburst of wanting to resurrect the LTTE, she was asked to resign from her Ministerial portfolio. However, there is news of posters being displayed throughout Jaffna in Tamil which translated read this message – Politics without any personal benefits. Maheswaran gave his life for the Tamil people then, Vijayakala gave up her ministerial post for the Tamil people today. She is our leader.” If so, we challenge the UNP to send her to Vishwamadu where the LTTE families & cadres live & see how they react to her as against their reaction to Col. Ratnapriya Bandu crying & garlanding him following his transfer. This will really test whether she is the ‘Leader’ & expose UNP plans to fool the Tamil people by claiming to resurrect ‘Eelam Separatism’ via the LTTE something TNA will also wholeheartedly cling on to since its popularity is also diminishing among the Tamil people by the day.

Playing separatist, ethnic politics cannot and does not work all the time. As the saying goes you can fool the people, some of the times but you cannot fool the people all the time. Obviously, UNP is not bothered that its Minister has violated the penal code or the constitution or is unashamedly claiming that she wants a terrorist group back.

What is poignant & shocking is that the call to bring back terrorism is coming from the UNP. We are used to & have come to ignore the separatist calls of the TNA knowing too well that the TNA is itself failing the very people TNA claims to represent & the Tamil people are slowly coming out in protest against TNA. Therefore, the UNP strategy must probably now be to take over the baton of separatist racism from the TNA hoping to cash in on the votes that TNA are likely to lose.

This certainly explains the posters now displayed throughout Jaffna as a psy-ops to again fool the masses. Elections are around the corner. For starters everyone including some UNP MPs were shocked at Wijayakala’s outburst but with the posters now emerging we have to seriously wonder whether the stunt was pre-planned for the UNP to take over the eelam sing-song & win votes!

So let’s put the UNP to the test.

Vishwamadu is where former LTTE cadres & their families live. Actually several villages around Kilinochchi gathered to throw a very sentimental & lavish farewell not to a TNA MP, not to a UNP MP but to a Sri Lankan ‘Sinhala’ soldier. That’s not all, every LTTE cadre, members of their families lined up to actually cry over his departure. They carried him lovingly, garlanded him with flowers & bid a farewell that must have made every TNA member, every LTTE Diaspora member & the UNP frothing mad. The photos that emerged automatically made people question – what is going on, when not a single LTTE cadre garlanded or cried for Wigneswaran, Sivajilingam, Sambanthan or any academic in the Jaffna University lighting candles for LTTE dead, why were LTTE cadres treating a Sinhala soldier like a demi-god? Col.Ratnapriya has commanded the respect & love of the LTTE cadres so now that the UNP Posters claim Wijayakala is suited to lead & that she wants to resurrect the LTTE – let’s put her to the test & see how these LTTE villages greet her. Let us see if they afford her the welcome that they gave to a Sinhala soldier! This would be the test for not only Wijaykala, but the UNP & the TNA or even the JVP which held their May Day rally with the TNA in Jaffna recently.

All are out to again fool the people. The Tamil people must awaken to realities. They have lost entire generations to war. While Wijayakala’s children are obtaining foreign education the Tamils must ask why should only their children end up with an AK 47? It is the same with the JVP too…. they enjoy brainwashing university youth & stall them from passing out & progressing in life. People must now be a little more intelligent & refuse to fall prey to these political tactics & manipulations. If politicians want to start terrorist movements or wars, tell them to take the gun & do so, why should they outsource that task to other people & enjoy life of luxuries after cunning making other people fight.

People must now refuse to pawns of political ploys. As UNP is now gearing up for the elections by strumming the racist song, eelam theme & return of the LTTE – it is time the Tamil people in particular the former LTTE & their families gave them a big thumbs down.

Send Wijayakala to Vishwamadu & let us see if UNP can pull off another racist stunt!

Shenali D Waduge

Ranjith Soysa Media Coordinator  For Global Sri Lankan Forum

The Attorney General
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo

Sri Lanka

REQUEST TO INDICT THE STATE MINISTER FOR CHILD AFFAIRS, Ms Vijayakala Maheswaren

Dear Sir,

We , the Global Sri Lankan Forum,  GSLF write to request you to take URGENT action to indict Ms. Vijakala Maheswaren, MP  in accordance with the article 157 A in the Constitution of Sri Lanka in connection with her public statement calling for the revival of the LTTE Tamil Terrorists Organization, a proscribed terrorist organization.

Further, the LTTE ‘s main objective was to create a separate country based on the claims made by separatist leaders and the organizations. As such the State Minister’s call directly implies that she supports the division of Sri Lanka. The said statement
violates the Chapter 1,2 of the Constitution which affirms that the Republic of Sri Lanka is a Unitary Country.

We, therefore kindly request you to institute legal action on the minister Maheswaren urgently.

Ranjith Soysa

Media Coordinator

For Global Sri Lankan Forum

MAHINDA KARUNARATNE 

British when took over our homeland by conspiracy and force in 1815 which was then SINHALE that is clearly documented in the Up Country Convention” comprised of Maldives Islands which was belonged to the SINHALE Kandyan Kingdom until then and when the bogus duped independence was granted in 1948 was CEYLON sans Maldives Islands.

Well, if the English translation to SINHALE is CEYLON fine.

If it is true independence we need our Kingdom of Thun Sinhale RUHUNU, PIHITI and MAYA, Our Sinhale legal system and everything else associated with it and more importantly the Maldives Islands back, unless we are yet a partial colony of British and which is why they fingering on all our affairs to date.

Whatever they plundered should be returned, our Heritage, Assets, Lands and Environment, Sinhala medical system and everything that was robbed from us. British colonials have no self-respect if they decline and they are mere invaders, robbers, conquerors and bastards.

The British also should take care of the estate Tamils who were brought here and gave us another unwanted shit to become headache so far, we did not ask southern Indian Tamils to come here. There can be no Tamil Malayanaadu here.

Dutch who brought Indians for Tobacco cultivation and settled in North should also be taken back and given their homeland elsewhere, because we did not bring them here nor they have any hereditary rights here for a claimed homeland with the help of their colonial masters.

All of them speak Tamil language whether they are Hindu, Christian or Muslims belonged to same above and has no land rights here. Thus there is no question of Tamil or any other Homeland or Designated areas for minorities, illegals and cult followers.

Sinhela people should learn this reality, learn the history, comprehend the cause of all the problems and garbage we are enduring and stop voting politicians who maintain and feed MULTICULTURALISM that will over the time decimate SINHELA nation, our Motherland, Culture.

Your future generation will curse you living today for not having done the duty of the era and our millions of forefathers, mothers, infants alike, who gave their lives in a sacrifice and faced brutal, inhuman punishments at the hand of western occupiers.

You cannot expect relief from any of the problems and you will be plundered continuously by duped politicians who follow damn multiparty democracy enforced on us by bloody colonials.

This land that was offered several times to Buddha and his noble Dhamma is polluted, colonial rules practiced and we are being cursed by Devas.

You continue to slave these bastards and their preaching, endure pain, get decimated and get lost!

• Devas unhappy are cursing you.
• Kings and Hela people who built this land and culture over two millania are cursing.
• Dhamma is disappearing from land, the Cause and Effect taking on you.

Simply, Multiparty democracy cannot do !

Courtesy The Times (UK)

The government of the Indian state of Goa is promoting cosmic farming” to channel spiritual energy into the soil.

Vijai Sardesai, the agriculture minister, said that local farmers should sit and meditate in their fields, chanting Vedic prayers as a holistic alternative to chemical fertilisers.

Promotional videos from the state government have gone viral on WhatsApp in rural communities.

The state government, led by Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has also employed the Hindu guru Avdhoot Baba Shivanand, who is known as Babaji”, to host workshops on meditation for farmers.

Mr Shivanand has described the technique as tapping the cosmic shakti through the third eye”. He said that 20 minutes of intensive meditation after seeds are sown can accelerate their bond with the soil and increase yields. His videos encourage farmers to drown out negative destructive sounds around the field” and push the universe’s positive vibrations towards healthier seed germination”.

Mr Sardesai said that he had been convinced to try the unusual method by his wife, who tested cosmic farming on the orchid flowers on their porch.

I was sceptical at first too but it’s not magic,” Mr Sardesai told the newspaper Indian Express. There are studies backing this method. After meeting Babaji and reading his studies I am also convinced. The general thrust is to focus the energy into the soil, be less dependent on fertilisers.”

The prime minister, Mr Modi, and his Hindu nationalist government have promoted a resurgence of traditional Indian knowledge and techniques in many elements of society. Religion has assumed greater prominence and the BJP has promoted yoga and traditional Hindu medicine, known as ayurveda.

Farming has been a key focus, with Mr Modi urging a return to traditional methods, including the use of cow dung as a fertiliser. Chemical fertilisers and pesticides have been widely used in Indian agriculture since the 1960s but there have been concerns for years that heavy, unregulated use was damaging human health as these chemicals entered the food chain and contaminated water supplies.

Several states have begun to promote organic farming and the northeastern region of Sikkim banned chemical pesticides altogether in 2014.

Farmers are also a key constituency ahead of national polls next year, when Mr Modi will seek re-election. Rural communities were hit hard by the prime minister’s bombshell demonetisation” scheme in 2016 and the botched rollout of a new tax code last year. Both the government and the opposition have targeted farming regions as battleground constituencies as early campaigning gets under way.

Sudath Gunasekara 6.7.2018

It was reported few days back that the government has decided to appoint the Ex-Secretary to the President Austin Fernando as Ambassador to UK.  In this backdrop I have a brilliant suggestion to fill the vacancies in New York, Moscow and Singapore. Lf there is no vacancy at Singapore then they can create one  Because necessity is the mother of invention.

Now that the Prime Minister has requested the President to temporally suspend Vijayakala Maheswaran wife of late Prabhakaran for her famous Kilinochchi   speech instead of sacking her from Parliament and putting her behind bars for violating the Constitution and instigating the Tamils to take to arms.  It is obvious that he is playing with time, being his usual game, until the people forget in 15 days a, to bring her back to Parliament or at least appoint het to a high post under his own Ministry as he did to Mahendaran for robing the Central Bank, why not he ask the President to this LTTE woman to one of the vacant positions, preferably to New York as she would be the ideal person to help Atul Kesap and US State secretary to handle the Sri Lankan case at the UN and Geneva.

Secondly, I strongly suggest that the PM ask the President to appoint Arjun Mahendran as High Commission to Singapore, perhaps he can take the letter of appointment by hand and hand it over to his chum when he goes there on this Sunday. Singapore will be more than happy to have  Arjun as their Ambassador as he has all the qualification to hold that high post. Apart from him being a Singapore citizen who will look after their interests he also has helped to empty the Central Bank of Ceylon and he is also trusted by the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. If Ranil feels it not practicable then he can at least bring him back with him when he returns after the Singapore meeting and hand over Mahendran to the CID to prove the country that Ranil is honest enough to hold that post for some more time. This mission want be a problem in any case as he will definitely meet his old chum at least to find out whether he is in good health. After all it is his family obligation.

Such appointments will fall in line with the Government’s policy of appointing defeated politicians, or spouses of dead MPP, Army and Police high up who have failed in war and keeping peace at home or close relatives and friends of ministers and some of those people who have helped the Government at elections etc as Ambassadors.

Past experience proves that the President will never say no to Ranil if he makes this suggestion. Because he can’t afford to say no to him. First he is there today thanks to Ranils votes and second as he has repeated time again and time again he owes an obligation to Tamils as he thinks the they have voted en-masse to him although that is far from the truth and it is only wild imagination he etched in his mind.

Lionel Rajapakse

No question, Sri Lanka is in a muddy puddle because of the politicians we selected during the last couple of decades and their actions. Lots of Gurus are talking about how can Sri Lanka get out of this muddy puddle. There is no second alternative,  Gotabhaya is the only hope for Sri Lanka in the horizon.

So, to help him to get Sri Lanka out of this muddy puddle, can we suggest the basic things he has to address when he becomes the next President of Sri Lanka. Followings are the few things he should give priority as I think.

• Give priority for the development of rural economy rather than giving priority to urban developments.
• Work out an independent system to recruit for public service and other affiliated institutions such as state banks and corporations on merit system, without any interference from the politicians.
• No political interference for any appointment either in public service or private sector.
• Make it compulsory for Sinhalese public servants to learn Tamil and Tamil public servants to learn Sinhala.
• Make it compulsory for the Sinhalese students to learn Tamil from the grade 3 and vice versa.
• Make a full review of the judicial system. Consult Naganada Kodituwakku and get his views / assistance
• Get rid of the provincial councils as it is a waste of money. This may be a hard task and some one can come with an alternative.
• Review foreign service and open it for only qualified people. No political appointments.
• Let JVP to suggest what they expect from Gota. Implement whatever suitable.

I invite all of you to add what you think it is necessary for Gota to do to get Sri Lanka out of the current muddy puddle. There are lots of Pundits who talk about big changes to happen in Sri Lanka. Let us get real and suggest the simple things the common man expect from the next leader in Sri Lanka.

කතෘ – වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග  ගොඩගේ  ප්‍රකාශකයෝ  විසිනි  

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග විසින් ලියන ලද ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකය පිලිබඳ මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක විශ්ලේෂණයක් නම් කෘතිය ගොඩගේ ප්‍රකාශකයන් විසින් එළි දක්වා තිබේ.   මෙම කෘතිය හරහා වේළුපිල්ලේ ප්‍රභාකරන් තුල තිබූ නායකත්ව සාධක මෙන්ම ඔහු තුල තිබූ සමාජ විරෝධී පෞරුෂ ලක්‍ෂණද පෙන්වා දෙනු ලබයි.  

ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ තිස් වසරක යුදමය ක්‍රියාදාමය පරාජය කිරීම ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලත් සුවිසේෂි ජයග්‍රහණයකි. මෙම ජයග්‍රහණය ලබා ගත්තේ දහස් ගණනක ජිවිත පරිත්‍යාගයෙනි. මෙම යුද්දය නිසා කායික සහ මානසික වශයෙන් ආබාධිත වූ සංඛ්‍යාව සටනින් මියගිය ප්‍රමාණයටත් වඩා අධික ය. එසේම එල්.ටී.ටී.ය විසින් ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන වලට කරන ලද පහර දීම් සහ සිදුකල විනාශයන්, යුද්දය සඳහා සිදු කල වියදම් මෙන්ම යුද්දය විසින් ඇති කළ ආර්ථික අවපාතය නිසා ගතවූ කාලය තුල ලංකාවට අහිමි වූ මුදල අතිශයින්ම විශාල ය. එම නිසා යුද්ධය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට කළ විනාශය අති දැවැන්ත බව පැහැදිලි කරුණකි. මේ හේතුවෙන් තිස් වසරක යුද්දයක ශාපයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මිදීම යනු, මේ රටේ සිංහල දෙමල, මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව ලත් ජයග්‍රහණයකි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල ඇතිවූ යුද ගැටුම සමහරු අර්ථකථනය කරන්නේ ජනවාර්ගික ගැටලුවක් ලෙසට ය. සමහරු එය ත්‍රස්තවාදී ප්‍රශ්නයක් ලෙස දකිති. ඇතැමෙකු එය ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදයේ අතුරු එලයක් ලෙස පෙන්වා දෙති. කුමන අර්ථකථන තිබුන ද යුද්දය සෑම ජන වර්ගයකටම විනාශයක් වූ බව ඇස් පනාපිට ඔප්පුවූ කරුණකි. දෙවන ලෝක මහා යුද්දයෙන් පසු ආසියානු කලාපයේ රටක දැවැන්ත ගරිල්ලා යුද්දයක් ඇති වුයේ කෙසේද යන්න අධ්‍යනයට, විමර්ශනයට සහ විශ්ලේෂණයට බඳුන් කළ කරුණක් වුවද ඊලාම් යුද්දය වාර්තාකරණය මිස හැදෑරීම පසුගිය දශක තුන පුරා ලක් කොට නොමැත. එය හැකි ඉක්මනිම සිදු කළ යුතු කර්තව්‍යකි.

සමාජ විද්‍යාත්මක කෝණයෙන් බලන විට අවිහිංසාව ගරු කළ උතුරේ දෙමල සමාජය තුල හිංසනය සහ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පැන නැගුනේ කෙසේ ද යන පැනයකි. පෘතුගීසි යුගය දක්වා ඉතිහාසය බලන විට දමිල ප්‍රජාව අතර රණකාමීන්ට සිටියේ සන්කිලියන් පමණි. සියවස් ගණනාවක් පුරා උතුරේ ද්‍රවිඩ සමාජය තුල ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය සඳහා හිතකර උපස්තරයන් නොවිය. නමුත් 1976 පමණ කාලය වන විට මෙම තත්වය උඩු යටිකුරු වන්නේය. මහාචාර්ය රාජන් හූල් පෙන්වා දෙන අන්දමට 1970 දශකයත් සමග ද්‍රවිඩ ප්‍රජාව තුලින් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී පරමාර්ථ ක්‍රමක් ක්‍රමයෙන් ගිලිහි යාමට පටන් ගනියි. මේ සඳහා දකුණේ දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාකාරකම් ද ඉවහල් වූ බව නොරහසකි.

ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකය යනු නිදහසින් පසු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව මුහුණ දුන් බරපතලම අර්බුදය විය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන ආර්ථික සහ සමාජ ගමන් මග වෙනස් කිරීමට ප්‍රභාකරන්ට හැකි විය. ඔහුගේ මරණින් පසුවද ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකයේ තර්ජන අවසන් වී නැත. ප්‍රභාකරන් යනු සාධක රැසකින් ජනනය වූ විනාශකාරී බලවේගයකි. සිංහල සහ ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතිවාද විසින් ප්‍රභාකරන් නමැති ප්‍රපංචය නිර්මාණය කරන ලදී. ඔහු තමන්ගේ ජනතාව පවා අනතුරේ හෙළුවේය. ඔහු ද්‍රවිඩ සමාජයේ අධ්‍යාත්මය විනාශ කළේය. ද්‍රවිඩ ඩයස්පෝරාව විසින් උපයන මිලියන ගණනක මුදල් සහ එකී මුල්‍යමය වාසි නිසා ඇතැමෙකු ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකයේ පැවති විනාශකාරී පාර්ශවය ගැන කතා නොකල ද යම් දිනක ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාව විසින් ම ඔහු පිළිබඳව විනිශ්චයක් දෙනු ඇත.

ප්‍රභාකරන් තුල ව්‍යාථවේදී පෞරුෂ සාධක දක්නට ලැබුණි. නමුත් මේ ගැන කතිකාවට බඳුන් වී ඇත්තේ ඉතාම අඩුවෙනි.  ප්‍රභාකරන් තුල දැඩි ආත්ම කේන්ද්‍රියතාවක් (self centered) තිබුණි. ඔහු සංවෘත (introverted) පෞරුෂ ලක්ෂණ දැරිය. එසේම ධ‍්‍රැවගත සහ ඒකාකෘති චින්තනයකින් යුක්ත විය. හීන වූ සහකම්පනිය අවබෝධයක් සහිත නාසිස්ටික නිව්රෝසියතාවයේ (Narcissistic Neurosis) ලක්ෂණ ඔහු කෙරෙන් දැක ගත හැකි විය. (හීන වූ සහකම්පනිය අවබෝධය නට්සීන් තුලද තිබු බව හර්මන් ගෝරිඞ් ඇතුළු නට්සි නායකයන් මනෝවිද්‍යාත්මකව විශ්ලේෂණය කළ ගුස්ටාව් ගිල්බර්ට් පෙන්වා දෙයි) ඔහු මරණයට බිය විය. (මේ පිළබඳව ද්‍රවිඩ කවියෙකු වූ කාසි ආනන්දන් පවා කියා තිබේ) එම නිසා මරණය කල්ට් වන්දනාවක් ලෙස කරමින් මරණය උත්කර්ෂයට පත් කරමින් මරණය වන්දනා කරන කළු කොටි සංකල්පය ඔහු බිහි කළේය.  හිංසනය ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කල සම්ප්‍රදායික දමිල සමාජය උඩු යටිකුරු කරමින් සයනයිඩ් සංස්කෘතියක් ඇති කළේය. ළමා සොල්දාදුවන් ඇති කිරීම මගින් ද්‍රවිඩ සමාජයේ අනාගතය ද විනාශ කළේය. මේ සියලු විනාශකාරී ක්‍රියා සිදු කළමුත් නාභිගතවූ චින්තනයක් සහිත වූ ප්‍රභාකරන් දැඩි ආත්ම ශක්තියකින් යුක්ත විය. පුරා වසර 30 ඔහු ලංකාණ්ඩුවට එරෙහි ව්‍යාල යුද්දයක නිරත විය.

මෙම පොත පිලිබඳ අදහස් දක්වන විශේෂඥ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය සරත් පඞුවාවල ප්‍රභාකරන් සාධකයේ සැඟවුනු මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මක පාර්ශවයන් කතුවරයා විසින් හෙළි කරන බව පෙන්වා දෙයි. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The spokesperson said that Chinese loans are not the main part of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt. According to the Annual Report 2017 of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the total external debt of the Island country counts US dollars 51.824 billion, among which outstanding Chinese loans takes up only about 10.6% with the amount of USD 5.5 billion. 

Besides, 61.5% the Chinese loans (USD 3.38 billion) are concessional ones with a much lower interest rate than the international market. The commercial loans from China are also negotiated at an appropriate rate by the two sides according to then international market.”

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka says that some foreign forces without willingness or abilities to help, are fabricating lies to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka and keep Sri Lanka in the trap of poverty.

Mr. Luo Chong, Spokesperson and the Chief of Political Section of Chinese Embassy, made remarks on the so-called Debt Trap” allegations and some other related issues during an media briefing at the Chinese Embassy on Thursday.

During the Q&A session, Mr Chong stressed that Sri Lanka is indeed trapped, not by Chinese debt but by the lack of development due to historical and external reasons.

What China has been doing is to provide all kinds of support including financial assistance to help Sri Lanka pulling out of the trap, while some foreign forces without willingness or abilities to help, are fabricating lies only trying to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka and keep Sri Lanka in the trap of poverty.”

The spokesperson said that Chinese loans are not the main part of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt. According to the Annual Report 2017 of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the total external debt of the Island country counts US dollars 51.824 billion, among which outstanding Chinese loans takes up only about 10.6% with the amount of USD 5.5 billion. 

Besides, 61.5% the Chinese loans (USD 3.38 billion) are concessional ones with a much lower interest rate than the international market. The commercial loans from China are also negotiated at an appropriate rate by the two sides according to then international market.”

He said the so-called Debt Trap” is a false proposition created by the Western media, with a direct attempt to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka, while the fundamental purpose is to maintain the Western world’s traditional” superior position in the international and regional politics and economics.

China will continue to provide selfless support including much-needed funds for the development of Sri Lanka, and would like to work together with Sri Lankan governments, business community, media and the general public to eliminate interference, strengthen confidence, and jointly promote the pragmatic cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and the two peoples.”

Ms. An Xin, Deputy Managing Director of Representative Office of China Habour Engineering Company Ltd and Mr. Tissa Wickramasinhe, COO of Hambantota International Port Group Ltd (HIPG) were also present for the briefing.

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

Since the beginning of human settlements in Sri Lanka, there had many conflicts between communities motivated by different elements.  The history of Sri Lanka affirms that Lord Buddha visited the country on one occasion to reconcile a conflict between Naga leader Chulodara and his uncle, Mahodara and the followers of both sides. The conflict was not associated with religious or ethnic elements but it was a combat between two guys and their followers on account of a gem set throne. This conflict cropped up before Vijaya and his associated arrived to Sri Lanka. This example points out that Sri Lanka obtained outside assistance for conflict resolutions in the history.  This experience recorded before Vijaya embarked and established a kingdom as a Sinhala state. The conflict was among indigenous people, who lived in Sri Lanka before the arrival of Vijaya. It would have been a large-scale fight (Tribal Fight) similar to the civil war has been experienced during 1983 – 2009.

Lord Buddha visited as a mediator who was recognized by two parties to the conflict and this historical example clearly indicates that a successful conflict resolution in Sri Lanka will be dependent on selecting a neutral mediator who is recognized by the parties to the conflict. The next vital characteristic of the mediating role of Lord Buddha was that Tathagata was not involved in a facilitating role, which generally focuses on financing for the negotiations.  The facilitating role for conflict resolution during the LTTE wartime denoted that it involved in many corrupt activities that were not acceptable to the general public, for example, conducting training programs in luxury hotels, offering travel opportunities for influential people in the government and opposition, providing motor vehicles for influential characters, making various supports to temples and many other bribery types supports for the parties involved in the conflict.  The role of facilitation also reflected that it has involved in making hidden influences to the parties, which were not expected from a mediator. The positive outcomes from the conflict resolution were expected by countrymen, but the behaviour of outsiders echoed that the reconciliation process has been involved in a double game more than the expectations of the country (Bandarage, A 2009, The Separatist Conflict in Sri Lanka, Terrorism, Ethnicity Political Economy, NY Bloomington, iUniverse Inc pp 176-200).

The mediating involvement of Lord Buddha had not involved in hidden functions or purposes with strings of hegemony over any party to the conflict.  The historical experience also clearly showed that for a successful conflict resolution and a reconciliation process should have some essential ingredients in the process similar to the practice used by the Lord Buddha. The conflict resolution and reconciliation process between Chulodara and Mahodara did not aimed at setting standards for the future conflict resolutions. However, when negotiations were going on between the government and the LTTE movement, it was not appeared that the negotiators really considered the historical example. As a result, people of the country had a doubt about the reconciliation process.

If the talks between the government and the LTTE movement were based on the pathway illustrated by the Lord Buddha, the civil war could have been ended in 1980 decade at a less damage. It seems that Sinhala Buddhist community had not agreed with the principles followed by the negotiators.  The history of conflict resolution in the world also evidence that a genuine reconciliation cannot be wielded by a forceful condition insistent of outside parties.  The best example was a conflict resolution eventuated under the leadership of Norway in the Middle East and African countries.

After the historical conflict for a gem set throne, there were many conflicts, which were mainly hinged on ethnic and religious issues and some instances castes and class struggles also contributed to bloodletting conflicts, unlike other conflicts, caste related clashes have considerably diminished in Sri Lanka as a result of the rapidly expanding education, which successfully effected in changing the attitudes of people. The education plays a significant role in the society and helps people to understand and evaluate a conflict whether it should be continued or abandoned on the basis of possible outcomes. This situation shows that broader understanding of a conflict by the community would be highly useful to a successful reconciliation. When people have a clear understanding of a conflict and its background, people can get out of the problem or continue with the problem or can suggest an alternative instead of a continuing conflict.

Humans are species with feelings and thinking power. The emerging of conflicts based on various reasons relating to human feeling, however, continuing differences within the community without respecting to the diversity of human will become a prime cause to create a crisis. The emanating conflicts in unpredictable instances would become concerned matters to the public and the international community.  The governing of a country in a conflict environment would be wasting of resources which should apply for much needed human developments. People have observed that Sri Lanka had been wasted a huge volume of human and physical resources during the 30 years of civil war. The conflict diverted a large sum of economic resources for military purposes and nobody has gained advantage from the war except personnel who dealt with military supplies.  This situation invites the development of permanent policies for conflict resolutions in the absence of constitutional and legal provisions for it.  As the government policymakers and the executive of the country did not make attention to this area, the conflicts resolution and the reconciliation have become an unsuccessful drive.

How can apply a successful reconciliation process when a conflict between ethnic, religious or any other groups are going on the basis of different philosophical matters?  The day to day operations of the country show that there are never-ending conflicts of trade unions, university students, farmers and many other groups. The negotiations are always unsuccessful due to the lack of common policy guidelines for negotiations as well as a reconciliation process on the basis of agree conditions of the outcomes of the negotiation. It appears that the major reason to unsuccess negotiations is the dishonesty of either party involved in a conflict or any other reasons, which are not acceptable to either party to a conflict.  This situation is not affordable to the country as it generates high costs, wastage of resources and unresolved disputes between individuals.

The strategic approach to this situation is that the country has to develop conflict resolution and reconciliation policies with the approval of the government and the opposition.  The current practice reflects that a bipartisan approach of political parties in relation to nationally vital issues is not working in the country.  As people of the country are fully aware, the reconciliation process with the international assistance began after ending the Civil War in 2009, but the process has already failed without any meaningful result. What were the contributing factors to the failure?  Although there may be different opinion, the major reason seems that there are no conflict resolution and reconciliation policies in the country.  This situation leads to an anarchic environment.

After the presidential election in 2015, a yahapalana government was established with a view to forming a stronger government with the support of majority of voters. The majority of citizens has been divided as UNP and SLFP by the party politics since the independence. The majority of voters in the country (75%) consists of Sinhala community, however, they divided to two major parties and this division created problems to implement a successful reconciliation process but some international advisors considered that a unity government of Sinhala people would be supported to an effective reconciliation process and making acceptable solution to the ethnic crisis in the country.  However, the formulation of a unity government has displayed lacking transparency to the general public.  As there was not a common program accepted by the public and underhand elements against the political process of the country has been growing during the past several years. The unity government has lost its confidence and the provincial government election in 2008 clearly displayed that there is clear the opposition of the majority of people to the misleading policy actions of the unity government.

The presidential election results in 2015 did not reflect that the majority of Sinhala voters in the country were with Mr. Maithripala Sirisena and many UNP, JVP, Muslim, Tamil political parties wrongfully assumed that election results were to punish Rajapaksa family and catching embezzlers without provable evidence. As a result, within a short period after the elections in 2015, a new political force under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged and Sinhala power divided to three parties and the major promise of the Yahapalana government has blotted disabling performance what they have promised to do.

People of the country or the political representatives in the parliament have not endorsed the process of reconciliation as the government did not disclose what would be really going on in the reconciliation process and what would be the expected outcomes from the process.  For example, the introduction of a new constitution to the country with a federal system was not an outcome expected by the majority of people from the reconciliation process, but the yahapalana government attempted to hide the expected outcomes during the presidential and parliament election as the yahapalana government clearly knew that they cannot attract the majority support. Nearly 76% of Sri Lanka’s population consists of Sinhala people. It is natural that when there is an attempt to draw a conclusion through a reconciliation process that is against the will of the majority of the population would not be successful.

Why the Yahapalana government which was formed to be transparent and was openly talking about transparency before the election attempted to conceal the significant matters in relation to the reconciliation process?  The independent points of views show that the yahapalana government has attempted to mislead to the general public of the country as well as the international community and as a result of the lacking transparency, the reconciliation process has come to grief.   Now a democratic process of review with all political parties would be required to take successful initiatives for concrete policy developments with a view to resolving future conflicts as well as the past conflict.

What were the contributing factors for the failure of the reconciliation process initiated after the civil war in 2009?  We need to critically look at such factors, otherwise, Sri Lanka would be a failed state as well as subject to a playground of international power players with different motives. Ten years after the independence, Sri Lanka would have developed policy guidelines and initiated a reconciliation process in 1958 after the first ethnic conflict.  At that time there was a good environment for a genuine reconciliation process because India was supportive to Sri Lanka and China was not a country where concerning on the policy developments in Sri Lanka. However, nobody was interested in the developing guidelines for conflict resolution policy.  During the British rule, there was a serious crisis between Sinhala and Muslim people, but as the sole administrators of the country, Britain had no interest in such a policy development, perhaps divided ruling was the underhand objective of the British rule, which prevented successful policy development for ethnic and religious harmony.

After the rule of Nehru and his colleague Shastri, Indira Gandhi entered to the political leadership of the Congress Party and won the election in the 1960s. The foreign policy of India strongly aligned to Russian bloc, which expected India to play a police role in the Indian ocean. As a result of the new role, the government of India got away from America and turned to Russia for military purchases and had to face a conflict with China.  In that environment, Sri Lanka genuinely helped India without creating any problem with China.  Sri Lanka has been depending on India for the reconciliation with Tamil community. The support of India to Sri Lankan government visibly ignored the fact that there should be policy guidelines for conflict resolution and reconciliation process for ethnic and religious conflicts.

The elected government in 1970 strongly stressed on making a new constitution and the next major conflict after 1958 was JVP insurrection in 1971, which was militarily defeated by the government with a strong support of India and Pakistan. The history of conflicts in Sri Lanka clearly indicates that the mentality of rulers in respect of conflicts was to apply military power to resolve the conflicts. It is common to other countries too, because there is a strong belief that if the ruling government can successfully control a conflict by using military power, it would be supported to eliminate rebellion and to stabilize the authority of the government.  This principle has positively applied many countries and some countries failed to create an environment that supports long-lasting peace and unity.

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, SLFP Stalwart and Convener – “The Muslim Voice”, July 5th., 2018.

SRI LANKA MUSLIM VOTE BANK MUST HAVE THE COURAGE TO FACE THE TRUTH.

MUSLIMS SHOULD INDIVIDUALLY ACT ON THEIR OWN. WE DO NOT NEED POLITICAL BROKERING PARTIES AND POLITICIANS, SO-CALLED COMMUNITY LEADERS, THE ACJU OR MUNAAFIKKS TO TELL US HOW TO VOTE. 

EACH MUSLIM VOTER SHOULD DECIDE WHOM TO VOTE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY AT LARGE.

IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING AS THE POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020, Insha Allah. GOTABAYA SHOULD REACH OUT TO THE MUSLIM VOTERS, NOT THE MUNAAFIK SO-CALLED POLITICAL LEADERS, COMMUNITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY LEADERS AND THE ACJU.

What WE AS SRI LANKA MUSLIMS HAS FORGOTTENT is about the aspirations and inspirations of the Sri Lanka Muslims and Muslim Vote bank. We/our votes are sold to either the UNP or SLFP (UNF or UPFA) for the benefit of the deceptive “MUNAAFIKK” Muslim political leaders/party leaders. “The Muslim Voice” believes that the country’s thinking that a “CHANGE” in the Prime Minister post is correct. It has been proved beyond doubt that the present PM Ranil Wickremasinghe is really involved in the Bond Scam. Moreover, he has also betrayed the Muslims since he came to power because of the “EN-BLOCK” Muslim votes/vote bank. Since 2014,”The Muslim Voice” spoke in favour of the Sri Lanka Muslims supporting the “MAHINDA PELA” or now JO which has reborn as a political party – the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (POTTUWA).

Why “The Muslim Voice” advocated this view was because, the Sri Lanka Muslims would have worked out to win the confidence of the Mahinda Pela and its Sinhala Buddhist Nationalistic supporters/voters. Today the Muslims, trusting the UNP and flocking en-block and have traded nearly 800,000 Muslim votes to the UNP/Yahapalana (Hansaya) government of Mathripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickremasinghe, has betrayed and dumped the Sri Lankan Muslims in the political dustbin, beaten and penalized as a result of the conspiracies of the UNP/BBS/Rajitha Seneratne, Champika Ranawaka and the so-called Civil Society groups like the Puravasibalaya which is supported by our own Muslim Civil Society groups such as the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka (an ad-hock group gathered without a constitution and by-laws), the National Shoora Council and ACJU.

The political principle/ideology that “The Muslim Voice” advocated and is advocating it even now is because it is based on the political vision shown to us by the late Dr. T.B.Jaya, viz-a-viz – “NOT TO PUT ALL OUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET WHEN IT COMES TO POLITICS”. It is Time up that the Sri Lanka Muslims should rethink their stand to gain advantages for the future by supporting/negotiating with the SLPP or the Mahinda Pela. THEREFORE IT IS BETTER FOR THE SRI LANKA MUSLIMS TO SUPPORT GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA FROM THE BEGINNING AS THE POSSIBLE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE FOR 2020, Insha Allah.

“The Muslim Voice” is followed by many thousands of well-wishers supporters who have appreciated our “NOBEL” cause in the struggle to get rid of the Sri Lanka Muslim Community of “MUNAAFIKK” Muslim politicians, Civil Society groups and the deceptive ULEMA, the ACJU, Alhamdulillah. We will therefore continue our Nobel mission till we achieve the end political goal of creating a NEW POLITICAL FORCE that will be honest and sincere to stand up and defend the Muslim Community politically and otherwise, especially from among the YOUTH, which will have to emerge from within the Sri Lanka Muslim Community to face any new election in the coming future. IF WE DO NOT ACCEPT TO SUPPORT GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA AS A COMMUNITY NOW, OUR MUNAAFIKK” AND DECEPTIVE HOODWINKING Muslim politicians, Civil Society groups and the deceptive ULEMA, the ACJU will give all their support to GOTABAYA RAJAPAKSA, leaving the Sri Lanka Muslims in the LURCH at the last moment with the UNP and praise GOTABAYA to gain personal favours, Insha Allah.

කුසල් පෙරේරා ලංකාදීප

යාපනයේ සාම්ප‍්‍රදායික දේශපාලනයේ විජයකලා මහේස්වරන් තරමක ආන්දෝලනාත්මක චරිතයකි. මීට දින 03 ට ඉහතින් ජූලි 03 වන අ`ගහරුවාදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ඇතිවූ බරපතල නොසන්සුන්තාවට හේතු වන්නේත් ඇය ය. ඒ ගාලගෝට්ටිය නිසා කතානායක විසින් පසුදින තෙක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් තබන ලදී. එයට පාදක වූයේ යාපනයේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ මන්ත‍්‍රීනි වනිතා හා ළමා කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිනි විජයකලා මහේස්වරන් ඊට පෙර දින කළ ප‍්‍රකාශයකි. ‘‘ජනාධිපති ජනතා සේවය’’ වැඩ සටහනෙහි 08 වන ජන හමුව යාපනයේ වීරසිංහම් ශාලාවෙහි පැවති විට ඇය ‘‘කොටි සංවිධානය’’ වර්ණනා කරමින් කළ කතාව උසාවි යන්නටද හේතුවී ඇත. එදින පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කල් තැබීමට අමතරව, කතානායක කරු ජයසූරිය ඇයගේ කතාව නීතිපතිගේ අර්ථ දැක්වීමටද යොමු කළේය. යාපනයේ එම උත්සවයට ජනාධිපති සිරිසේනට අමතරව, මලික් සමරවික‍්‍රම හා වජිර අබේවර්ධන ඇමතිවරුන්ද සහභාගි විනැයි වාර්තා විය. විජයකලා මහේස්වරන් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් වග විභාගයක් නැතිව කතා කරන්නියක් යැයි යාපනයේ දෙමළ ජනතාව අතරද මතයක් ඇත. එහෙත් ඇයගේ මේ කතාව වගකීමකින් තොර නොමේරු දේශපාලන කතාවක් වූවත් එයට කොළඹදී ලැබුණු ප‍්‍රතිචාරය විකාරරූපි ප‍්‍රතිචාරයක් වූවකි.  

ඇයගේ ‘‘කොටි’’ කතාවට විරෝධය පාමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පෙරළි කළ ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂයේ මන්තී‍‍රවරුන් ‘‘හිට්ලර් කෙනෙකු’’ සඳහාවූ දකුණේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ යෝජනාවට හීන් හ`ඩකින් හෝ විරුද්ධ නොවූහ. බලය ලබා ගැනීමට හැකි නම් ඔවුන් ලොව ම්ලේච්ඡුම නායකයෙකු වූ හිට්ලර් වර්ගයේ අපේක්ෂකයෙකු වුවද වැළඳ ගැනීමට සූදානම්ය. එහෙත් දෙමළ දේශපාලනඥයින්ට හිට්ලර්ගේ ‘‘පොඩි මලයා’’ ගැන කතා කිරීමත් තහනම්ය. මේ අතාර්කික පරස්පරයෙහි ඇත්තේ ඒකාධිපතිත්වයට හෝ රට බෙදීමට ඇති විරෝධයක් නොව එවැන්නක් අලෙවිකර දකුණේ සිංහල ඡුන්ද ගොඩ ලොකු කර ගැනීමේ අති බාල උත්සාහයකි. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් හිරිකිතයක් නැතිව නීති තර්ක හදමින් උසාවි යන්නට ඉදිරිපත්වන නීතිඥයින්ද ඇත.

එනමුත් ඉකුත් අ`ගහරුවාදා උදය ‘ලංකාදීප’ වෙබ් පුවත් පිටුවෙහි වාර්තාකර තිබූ අයුරු යාපනයේ ජනාධිපති ජනතා සේවය උත්සවයේදී විජයකලා මහේස්වරන් අවධාරණය කර ඇත්තේ නීතිය බිඳ වැටීමෙන් විශේෂයෙන් කාන්තාවන්ට හා ළමුන්ට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුව ඇති බරපතල අවදානම හමුවේ නිරුත්තරව ඉන්නා දෙමළ ජනතාව සඳහා ඇය දකින විසඳුමය. ‘‘උතුරේ කාන්තාවන් බරපතල වශයෙන් දුෂ්කරතා රැසකට මුහුණ දෙනවා. මෑතක යාපනයේ සය හැවිරිදි පාසල් දැරියක ඝාතනය කළා. එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සංවිධානය සක‍්‍රීයව සිටීයා නම් මේ වගේ ඉරණම් අත්වෙන්නට කිසිදු ඉඩක් නැහැ.’’ යැයි ඇය කියා ඇත. ඇය දෙමළෙන් කළ කතාව සිංහලට නගා තිබූ එම වාර්තාවට අනුව ඇයගේ පැහැදිලි කිරීම වූයේ ‘‘අප ජීවතුන් අතර සිටීමට නම්, අපට මහ මග නිදහසේ ඇවිදීමට නම්, අපගේ දරුවන් පාසල් වෙත ගොස් නැවත නිවසට පැමිණිය යුතු විමට නම්, උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල කොටි සංවිධානය හිස එසවිය යුතුයි’’ යන්න ය.

මේ කතාවේ අරුත, දකුණේ නායකත්වයට හිට්ලර් වැනි නායකත්වයක් ඉල්ලා සිටීමේ අරුතට වෙනස් නැත. මෙවර ඇය ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊය ගැන කතා කරන්නේ ‘‘රට බෙදීමට’’ නොවේ. ඊළමක් හැදීමට නොවේ. ඇය යෝජනා කරන ‘‘කොටි සංවිධානය’’ සරළව ගතහොත් 1990 දී කරටිය කඩා දැමූ පසු හීලෑවී කැලෑවෙන් එළියට පැමිණි ජ.වි.පෙ වැනි ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය නොදන්නා නමුත් විනයක් ඇතැයි සිතන සංවිධානයකි. ඇය කතා කරන්නේ ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍යව ඇති අපරාධ වලින් තොර ආරක්ෂාවක් ඇති නිදහස් ජීවිතයක් සඳහාවන කොටි සංවිධානයකි. අස්ගිරි මහ නිකායේ අනු නායක වෙ`ඩරුවේ උපාලි හිමි උන්වහන්සේගේ හිට්ලර් කතාව පසුව පැහැදිලි කර තිබූයේද එවැනිම හේතු දැක්වීමකිනි. රට ගෙන යාමට මේ යුගයේ අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ වහා තීන්දු ගත හැකි, නීතිය අකුරට කි‍‍රයාත්මක කරන්නාවූ නොසැළෙන අධිපති නායකත්වයක් බැව් කීමෙනි.

එවැනි බලහත්කාර පාලන වෙනුවෙන් එළිපිට පෙනී සිටින්නට, තම ස්වාමියා ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ අනුමැතිය ඇතිව ඝාතනය කරනු ලැබී යැයි සැළකෙන වගකිව යුතු උතුරේ දෙමළ ඇමතිවරියක් හා දකුණේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ සමාජයේ උත්තරීතර නිකායක අනු නායක වහන්සේ නමක් වන වෙ`ඩරුවේ උපාලි හිමි ඉදිරිපත් වන්නේ ඔවුන්ගේ තනි කැමැත්තටම නොවේ. එවැනි පාලනයකින් තොරව විසඳුම් නැතැයි යන සමාජයේ දිගින් දිගටම ගොඩ නැගෙමින් ඇති විකල්ප මතයක් දැඩිව විශ්වාස කිරීමට ඔවුන්ටද එකතුකර ගත හැකි වූ හේතු සාධක සමගින්ය. එය තේරුම් නොගෙන මේ දෙපළට දොස් නැගීමේ හා විරුද්ධවීමෙන් සමාජීය ප‍්‍රතිපලයක් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. අන්තවාදී යැයි හෝ බෙදුම්වාදී යැයි හෝ මේ දෙදෙනා හෙළා දුටු පමණින්, ජනතාවගේ ප‍්‍රශ්න වෙනුවෙන් විසඳුම් නැති රටක සමාජ මානසිකත්වය වෙනස් කළ නොහැකිය. ඒ සඳහා අවම තරමින් යහපත් පසුබිමක් හැදෙන්නේද නැත.

සමාජීය ප‍්‍රශ්න ඔඩු දුවමින් සමාජ පැවැත්ම සමග තම ජීවිත අවදානමකට තල්ලූ වන කාලයන්හි ඒ සඳහා පොදු පිළිගැනීමක් සමග ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදී විසඳුම් ඉදිරිපත් නොවන විට සහ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය වෙනුවෙන් යැයි ඉදිරිපත් කෙරෙන විසඳුම් සතු කිසිදු පලයක් අර්ථයක් නොමැති විට, ‘‘සොඳුරු අඥාදායකයෙකු’’ ඉල්ලා සිටීම අපට පමණක් සීමාවන අලූත් අදහසක් යෝජනාවක් නොවේ. දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු එවැනි සාර්ථක ‘‘ආඥාදායකයෙකු’’ ලෙස ආර්ථික වර්ධනයක් ලැබූ සිංගප්පූරුවෙහි පියා ලෙස සැළකෙන ලී ක්වාන්-යූ පිළිගනු ලබන්නේය. හිට්ලර් එසේ නොවී අවමානයට හා පිළිකුලට පත් වන්නේ ඔහු කතා කළ පිරිසිදු ආර්ය ජාතික බලසම්පන්න ජර්මනිය හැදීමට ඔහු අසමත් වූයෙනි. එබැවින් ඔහු ගැන කතා කිරීමට ඉතිරි වූයේ ඔහුගේ කුරිරු, හිතුවක්කාරී අමනුස්ස විනාශය පමණි. පොල් පොට්ටද එයම විය. ‘‘හිට්ලර් ලේබලය’’ නොවැදී ස්ටැලින් යම් පමණකට ගොඩ ආවේ, ඔහුට ඇමෙරිකානු බලයට එරෙහි සෝවියට් බලය පිටු පස සැ`ගවීමට හැකි වූයෙනි. 1961 හමුදා කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයකින් බලයට පැමිණ තමන්ගේම ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් 1963 දී ජනාධිපති වූ දකුණු කොරියාවේ පාක් චුං-හී ගේ දරුණු ඒකාධිපති පාලනය ගැන කතා නොවන්නේද ඔහු දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධයෙන් පසු දෙකඩවී ඉතිරිවූ ඉතා දිළිඳු රටක් ලෙස පැවති දකුණු කොරියාව 70 දසකය වනවිට ආර්ථික වශයෙන් ශක්තිමත් රටක් බවට පත් කළ හෙයිනි.     

විසඳුම් සොයා ගැනීමට වෙ`ඩරුවේ උපාලි හිමි ‘‘හිට්ලර්’’ ලේබලය යොදා ගන්නේත් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ නිදහස වෙනුවෙන් ප‍්‍රභාකරන්ගේ එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊය අවශ්‍ය යැයි විජයකලා මහේස්වරන් කියන්නේත් එවැනි සම්මිශ‍්‍රිත ලෝක අත්දැකීම් අසන්නට දකින්නට ලැබෙන පසු බිමකය. අපේ රටේ උතුරු-නැගෙනහිර මෙන්ම දකුණේ ජනතාවටද තමන්ගේ ප‍්‍රශ්න වෙනුවෙන් වැදගත් යැයි පිළිගත හැකි විසඳුම් නොමැති පසු බිමකය. එවැනි අතරමංවීමක අප රටක් ලෙස නතරව ඉන්නේ අද ඊයේ සිට නොවේ. අවුරුදු 30 ට ආසන්න යුද්ධයකට හසුව ඉන් නොමැරී ගැලවුනු දෙමළ ජනතාව ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවිත සඳහා විසඳුම් ඉල්ලන්නේ මහේස්වරන් ඇමතිනිය කියු අයුරු 2009 මැයි මාසයේ සිටය. ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ඔවුන්ද බුරුතු පිටින් හවුල් වී ඡුන්දය දී පත්කර ගත් මේ ආණ්ඩුවෙන්ද විසඳුම් නොලැබෙන්නේ යැයි ඇය ජනාධිපති ඉදිරියේම කියා තිබුණි. ඇයගෙන් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත් වූ දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ අසහනයෙහි ඉවසීමේ සීමාව සටහන් වූයේ, ආණ්ඩුවේ සාමාජිකාවක් ලෙස අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ සීමාවක් තිබුණද අද දෙමළ ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් ඒ සීමාව ඉක්මවා යෑමට තමන්ට සිදුව ඇතැයි ඇය කියූ කතාවෙහිය.

දකුණේ සිංහල සමාජයේ අති බහුතරයගේ කතාවද ඊට වැඩි වෙනසක් නැත. ආදායම් තත්ත්වය බිඳ වැටීමේ සිට, ළමුන්ගේ හිස් අරුතක් නැති පාසල් අධ්‍යාපනය, මහ මග රස්තියාදු කෙරෙන මගී ප‍්‍රවාහනය, අවශ්‍ය විට වෛද්‍යවරුන්, ෙඖෂධ සහ ඇඳන් නැති රෝහල් සහ සෞඛ්‍ය සේවය, සෑම වසරකම ලක්ෂයකට ආසන්න තරුණ මව්වරුන් හා තරුණියන් මැද පෙරදිග ගෘහ සේවයේ ඛේදවාචකයට තල්ලූ කෙරෙන ග‍්‍රාමීය දිළිඳුකම, කොළඹ නගරයේ ඉහළ පෙල මහල් නිවාස සංකීර්ණ හා යෝධ වාණිජ සංකීර්ණ වෙනුවෙන් ඉවතට තල්ලූ කෙරෙන නාගරික දුප්පත්කම, වැනි අතොරක් නැති ජීවිත ගැටළු වෙනුවෙන් දසක ගණනාවක සිට දකුණේ බහුතරයටද විසඳුම් නැත.

ඒ අතරතුර පිහිටක් පැතීමට, සාධාරණත්වය ඉල්ලා සිටීමට ඇති අධිකරණ කි‍්‍රයාවලියද අද සමාජ විශ්වාසය අහිමි කරගත් කි‍්‍රයාවලියක් බවට පත් වූවකි. නීතියේ ආධිපත්‍ය ගැන විශ්වාසය තැබිය හැක්කේද දේශපාලන හෝ මුදල් බලය ඇත්තේ නම් පමණි. නීතිය රැුකිය යුත්තන්ගේ ලොක්කන් අතර කොන්තරාත් මිනීමැරුම් හා විවිධ අපරාධ වෙනුවෙන් චෝදනා ලබන වුන් සිටීම, සාධාරණ සමාජයක් පිළිබඳ බලාපොරොත්තු පොළොවේ ගසා විනාශ කරන්නක් වැනිය. රටේ ඉහළම විධායකයේ සිට පහළ ග‍්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරි තනතුර දක්වා සමස්ථ රාජ්‍ය සේවාවම අද රීතියක් ලෙස ¥ෂිත වූවකි. මහජන ඡුන්දයෙන් පත් කෙරෙන ව්‍යවස්ථාදායකය බරපතල ලෙස හෑල්ලූවට ලක් වූ හා ජනතා පරමාධිපත්‍ය යන්නෙහි කිසිදු වැදගත්කමක් ඉතිරි නොකළ නියෝජන ආයතනයකි.

මේ වනවිට ඉතිරිව ඇති දේශපාලන පක්ෂ යනු කිසිදු ජන සහභාගිත්වයක් නොමැති කොළඹ කේන්ද්‍රීය ජාවාරම්කාර කල්ලි විසින් හසුරුවනු ලබන ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය නොදන්නා සහ නොසළකන ඒකාධිපති සංවිධාන ව්‍යුහයන්ය. අද වන විට සියලූ රාජ්‍ය හා සමාජීය ආයතන හා සංවිධාන මේ ¥ෂිත දේශපාලනීකරණයට යටත්වී හමාරය. වැදගත් යැයි සිතන හැම වෘත්තියක්ම, හැම රාජ්‍ය ආයතනයක්ම, හැම සේවාවක්ම ¥ෂිතවී, දේශපාලනීකරණයවී අහවර ය. ඒ කිසිත් ස්වාධීන කොමිසම් මගින් ගොඩ දැමිය නොහැකි බැව්, පසුගිය තෙවසරක කාලය තුල ස්වාධීන කොමිසම්වල කි‍්‍රයාකාරිත්වයෙන්ම ඔප්පු කර ඇත.

දසක කිහිපයක් පුරා හැම පැත්තෙන්ම එවැනි ගරා වැටීමකට සිංහල, දෙමළ හා මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව හසුව ඉන්නා මේ රටේ දිග හැරෙන සමාජ ආර්ථික හා දේශපාලන අර්බූද සඳහා විසඳුම් සෙවීම වෙනුවට ඊළග ජනාධිපතිවරණය සඳහා සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයින් සෙවීමේ අනුවණකම රජ වී ඇත. කොළඹ නාගරික ඉහළ මැද පංතිය හා ¥ෂිත සල්ලිකාරයින් පෙරමුණ ගන්නා ඒ හැම සිංහල බෞද්ධ තේරීමක්ම මානව හිමිකම්, වගවීම්, ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය වෙනුවෙන් පොරොන්දු සමග ඉදිරිපත් කෙරුණු තේරීම් වූ නමුත් ඒ ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ගෙන් හා ආණ්ඩු වලින් කිසිවක් නොවූයෙන් දකුණේ ඊළග සිංහල බෞද්ධ තර්කය වන්නේ, ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය අත හැර දමා හයිය ඇති සිංහල බෞද්ධ නායකයෙකු සෙවීමය. වෙඩරුවේ උපාලි හිමිගෙන් හිට්ලර් කතාව කියැවෙන්නෙ එබැවින් ය. ‘කැත්තට පොල්ල’ මෙන් සිටිය හැකි නොසැළෙන නොනැමෙන නායකයෙකු අවශ්‍ය යැයි මතයක් කොළඹ ඉහළ මැද පංතිය හා අතිශය ¥ෂිත ජාවාරම්කාරයින් අතර හැදෙන්නේද ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය පිළිබඳ කතා වලට මෙතෙක් වැදගත්කමක් නොලැබූණු බැවින්ය.

එහි විලෝමය දෙමළ සමාජයේ හැදෙන්නේ කොළඹ සිංහල මැද පංතිය හා ¥ෂිත ජාවාරම්කාරයින් යෝජනා කරන  සිංහල බෞද්ධ ‘‘හිට්ලර්’’ කෙනෙකු වෙනුවට ඔවුන්ගේම දෙමළ ‘‘ප‍්‍රභාකරන්’’ කෙනෙකු යළි සෙවීමෙහිය. සිංහල සමාජයේ පැහැදිලිව මතු නොවන කුල ප‍්‍රකාශනයක්ද එහි ඇත. ප‍්‍රභාකරන් සමයේ බලහත්කාරයෙන් යටපත් කර තිබූ ඉහළ ‘‘වෙල්ලාල’’ කුලයේ බලය විශේෂයෙන් යාපනය හා වන්නිකරයේ දැන් නැවත මතුව ඇත. ‘‘වෙල්ලාල’’ බලය ද්‍රවිඩ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ පමණක් නොව, වෙළඳ හා වාණිජ සමාජයේද යළි තහවුරුව ඇතැයි උතුරුකරයේ ඇති ප‍්‍රධාන මැසිවිල්ලකි. කණස්සල්ලකි. පොදු සමාජයේ ආර්ථික, සමාජීය හා දේශපාලන අර්බූද සඳහා පිළිගත හැකි විසඳුම් නොමැති හෙයින් ඔවුන් නැවත හැරෙන්නේ වඩා යහපත් යැයි ඔවුන් සිතන්නාවූ හා ඔවුන් දන්නාවූ විසඳුම වෙතය.

හිට්ලර් හා ප‍්‍රභාකරන් වැනි මෘග ඒකාධිපතියන් සොයා යෑමේ සිංහල හා දෙමළ සමාජයේ මැද පංතික ප‍්‍රවණතාවයට උත්තර දිය හැක්කේ එවැනි යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කරන කණ්ඩායම් වලට හා පුද්ගලයින්ට පහර ගැසීමෙන් නොවේ. එයට උත්තර දිය හැක්කේ විසඳුම් නැතිව අවුරුදු ගණන් පල් වෙමින් ඔද්දල් වෙමින් ඇදෙන සමාජීය ගැටළු සඳහා තිරසර විසඳුම් සෙවීමෙනි. දකුණේ සිංහල සමාජයේ බහුතරයට බලපාන්නාවූ අධ්‍යාපනය සෞඛ්‍ය මගී ප‍්‍රවාහනය ග‍්‍රාමීය හා නාගරික දිළිඳුකමට සහ ඔවුන්ගේ නිවාස ප‍්‍රශ්නයට ඔවුන්ගේ මාසික ආදායමට උත්තර සෙවිමෙනි. ඒ ගැටළු සියල්ල සමග යුද්ධයෙන් හෙම්බත්වූ දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ සුවිශේෂී ප‍්‍රශ්න සඳහා වහා විසඳුම් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමෙනි. එය මග හැර යළි සිංහල බෞද්ධ හිට්ලර්ලා මගින් විසඳුම් සෙවීමේදී දෙමළ සමාජය යළි ප‍්‍රභාකරන් ගැන කතා කිරීම බලාපොරොත්තු විය යුත්තකි. ප‍්‍රශ්න සඳහා සාධාරණ විසඳුම් නොමැතිව එය මෘග ලෙස තලා දැමිය හැකි යැයි සිතීම අතිශය භයානක මෙන්ම අනුවණ බොළඳ අදේශපාලනික සිතුවිල්ලකි.

කුසල් පෙරේරා

ලංකාදීප

2018 ජුලි 06 වන සිකුරාදා දින

Courtesy RT

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, July 5 (newsin.asia): The Chinese government owned China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), which has been accused by the New York Times of funding former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2015 election campaign said on Thursday, that it had faced the same allegation in 2015 and had refuted it with strong evidence.”

It is therefore ready to face a second probe which, as stated by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in parliament on Wednesday, will be conducted by the Crime Investigation Department (CID).

The confidence of the CHEC was expressed by An Xin, General Manager of the CHEC (Sri Lankan Branch), at media briefing in the Chinese embassy here.

This NYT story is stale as this was already reported three years ago. At that time, the CHEC had fully cooperated. Our attitude is still the same. We will fully cooperate with local authorities in any kind of investigation,” An said.

Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe had told parliament on Wednesday that the Crime Investigation Department would probe the NYT allegation that the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC), which built the Hambantota port and has been building the Colombo Port City, had given the then President Rajapaksa US$ 7.6 million as contribution to his 2015 Presidential election campaign fund.

Such allegations are completely inconsistent with the facts,” CHEC General Manager An asserted.

The CHEC has never been involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and even when the matter was initially reported in the media in 2015, and the matter diverted to the Sri Lankan authorities for a probe, CHEC had offered its fullest co-operation to the authorities,” An recalled.

At the same press conference Chinese Embassy spokesperson Luo Chong said that such Western media reports are only preventing Sri Lanka from getting much needed development funds from foreign countries such as China.

This article is full of distorted facts and is full of critical prejudice. China maintains its stance that it does not involve in Sri Lanka’s internal matters,” Luo said.

In 2015 and 2016, the CHEC and Chinese Embassy officials in Sri Lanka had already responded to this issue with strong evidence,” he recalled.

I cannot comment about the political issues in Sri Lanka, but on behalf of the Chinese Embassy we are very confident that all these allegations are false,” he said.

He further clarified that nobody from the New York Times had contacted the Embassy over any issues regarding the controversial article.

If they had really contacted the Embassy it would have definitely briefed the journalists with the true facts,” Luo said.

He then went on to point out how the NYT was selective in its use of information.

I read a very interesting comment made by the former Governor of the Central Bank, Dr Ajith Cabraal. The NYT journalist Ms Maria, if I am correct with her name, met Mr Cabraal and did an hour long interview. The former Governor briefed this journalist about the whole story and finally not a single word uttered by him was written in the article. So even if this journalist had turned to the Chinese Embassy or Chinese companies, not a single word would have been quoted in the article!” Luo said.

Timing of the NYT Article

Pointing out the timing of the publication of the article, Lo said” It was published on June 25, exactly after CMPort made the final tranche payment for  the Hambantota Port. I do not know if it is a coincidence or was done on purpose. But it seems that they somehow do not want to see the smooth growth of our two countries’ cooperative relationship” Luo said.

He said that the Chinese embassy had noted the strong” statements made by Prime Minister  Wickremesinghe, Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasingha and former President Mahinda Rajapakse, dismissing the allegations in the NYT on the Hambantota Port deal.

The co-operation between China and Sri Lanka is not with particular parties or persons. Our co-operation is with the Sri Lankan government and our strong ties in diplomatic relations have only continued even during the island’s civil war, or during the end of the war or in the post war development. And so far the co-operation between China and Sri Lanka has been on a common consensus. We are very glad to see that,” Luo said.

As for allegations that China intends to use the Hambantota Port for military purposes, Chief Operating Officer of Hambantota International Port Group, Tissa Wickremesingha said: CMPort Holdings (which has take the port on a 99 year lease) is a commercial organization and we made a commercial investment on the invitation of the Government of Sri Lanka and that is where we are.”

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

The Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka says that some foreign forces without willingness or abilities to help, are fabricating lies to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka and keep Sri Lanka in the trap of poverty.

Mr. Luo Chong, Spokesperson and the Chief of Political Section of Chinese Embassy, made remarks on the so-called Debt Trap” allegations and some other related issues during an media briefing at the Chinese Embassy on Thursday.

During the Q&A session, Mr Chong stressed that Sri Lanka is indeed trapped, not by Chinese debt but by the lack of development due to historical and external reasons.

What China has been doing is to provide all kinds of support including financial assistance to help Sri Lanka pulling out of the trap, while some foreign forces without willingness or abilities to help, are fabricating lies only trying to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka and keep Sri Lanka in the trap of poverty.”

The spokesperson said that Chinese loans are not the main part of Sri Lanka’s foreign debt. According to the Annual Report 2017 of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, the total external debt of the Island country counts US dollars 51.824 billion, among which outstanding Chinese loans takes up only about 10.6% with the amount of USD 5.5 billion.

Besides, 61.5% the Chinese loans (USD 3.38 billion) are concessional ones with a much lower interest rate than the international market. The commercial loans from China are also negotiated at an appropriate rate by the two sides according to then international market.”

He said the so-called Debt Trap” is a false proposition created by the Western media, with a direct attempt to obstruct the joint development of China and other developing countries including Sri Lanka, while the fundamental purpose is to maintain the Western world’s traditional” superior position in the international and regional politics and economics.

China will continue to provide selfless support including much-needed funds for the development of Sri Lanka, and would like to work together with Sri Lankan governments, business community, media and the general public to eliminate interference, strengthen confidence, and jointly promote the pragmatic cooperation for the benefit of the two countries and the two peoples.”

Ms. An Xin, Deputy Managing Director of Representative Office of China Habour Engineering Company Ltd and Mr. Tissa Wickramasinhe, COO of Hambantota International Port Group Ltd (HIPG) were also present for the briefing.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The question being asked by everyone devoid of party politics is why Vijayakala Maheswaran is so precious for the UNP for the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, UNP General Secretary Akkila Viraj Kariyawasam, the loquacious Rajitha Senaratne and the frog in the well known as Gonjan” Ramanayake to defend her while many UNP MPs have criticised her recent speech in which she has urged for the revival of the LTTE in the North and East?

Vijayakala is the widow of T. Maheswaran, who was a ship owner who transported goods from Colombo to Jaffna and a Member of Parliament who was assassinated by the Eelam People’s Democratic Party, a government backed Tamil paramilitary group, in January 2008. The assassin John Pauline Wellington, was a former LTTE intelligence carder and was sentenced to death.

During the 2015 election she was accused of along with dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo V. T. Thamilmaran helping a Paedophile who was found guilty of gang raping and murder of a young girl Sivaloganathan Vithya in Jaffna. High Court Judge N. Illancheliyan, in his ruling, noted that Vijayakala had taken steps to secure the release of the main accused when he was captured by residents following the rape and murder.

The United National Party (UNP) group leader for Jaffna district Vijayakala Maheswaran denied reports that one of her campaign vehicle No 65-9815 was exhibiting a poster of the Tamil Ealam map.

Reports said that she strongly denied accusation leveled by the High Priest of Naga Vihara in Jaffna that she had told media that under the UNP rule all police stations in the North would be closed. Down.

Making a special statement in Parliament, the Prime Minister said that what action should be taken against the State Minister Vijayakala would be decided after a meeting with her. Defending the bias attitude displayed by the Speaker in preventing the Parliamentarians to demonstrate their protests amid express their condemnation he said that the Speaker had already taken steps to hold an inquiry with regard to the matter. Referring to the commotion made by the Joint Opposition MPs in Parliament Ranil has said that strict action should be taken against their behaviour.  What he had implied was that pro separatist, terrorist elements are free to say anything under his neo liberal democracy and people in the South should not make any protests over such utterances.

The General Secretary of the UNP Akila Viraj Kariyawasam has said that he spoke to Vijayakala and she has made the alleged speech under emotions and severe stress over the rape and murder of a child in Jaffna and he cannot find fault in her speech.

The political chamelom, loquacious Rajiha Senaratnw who in an earlier occasion described Tiger Terroriss as our own children has said that the Anunayake thero of the Asgiriya asking for a Hitler rule and Vijayakala’s demand for a Probhakaran rule are same and there is nothing wrong in her statement.

The frog in the well known as Gonjan” Ramanayake has held a media conference and during which he has contacted Vijayakala over the phone and has carried out a shameless lovers’ chat defending her.

UNP MP, Kavinda Jayawardena, whose father Dr. Jayalath Jayawardene was the most ardent tiger terrorist supporter next to Ranil Wickremasinghe and even addressed LTTE gatherings in Canada and London has said that he feels that Vijayakala  might have become an ally of the extremist groups in the South and has made her statement in a bid to end the controversy surrounding The New York Times article on Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Hambantota Port. And he wonders if Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is behind this..

Commenting on the issue the former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa has asked the government whether thousands of security forces and police personnel sacrificed their lives and limbs for it to welcome the revival of the LTTE. He has pointed out that Vijayakala’s statement clearly showed her motive and the masses were quite aware of her dreams of a Tiger revival.  He has further stated that no right thinking person in this country will forget the services rendered by the security forces during the 30-year civil strife and has added that Security forces, the police as well as the public are disgusted at the statement made by an irresponsible State Minister,.

Patriotic people opine that the views expressed Vijayakala during the ‘Janapathi Nila Mehewara’ gathering in Jaffna, in the presence of the Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana and Home Affairs Minister Vajira Abeygoonewardene is extremely seditious. They point out that stopping short of calling for separation, she claimed “Now we remember how we lived before May 18, 2009. In the present conditions, she has said that their main intention is to bring back the LTTE. They point out that what she has said was iff they want to live freely, if they want to walk freely, and if they need their children to attend schools and return back”.the need to revive the LTTE They allege that coming from a sitting Member of Parliament and State Minister it pushes the boundaries of free speech to an unacceptable level.. It is hilarious to find a person who was safely ensconced in Colombo with no fear of forcible conscription by LTTE of any of her three children perhaps at least until her husband was killed on January 1sr 2008 about the so-called freedom they had enjoyed under LTTE and she should hae.ve asked that from the mothers of teenagers and young men forcibly conscripted by the LTTE.

The organization of ‘Women for Justice’ demanded the relevant Minister to be sacked and arrested. Addressing a news conference – ‘Women for Justice’ Co-President Sharmila Gonawala said what she had proclaimed could not be condoned because she wanted the LTTE, a prohibited organization to come again and put the people of this county in danger.

We can’t remain silent when such controversial statements were being made by State officials. She must have forgotten the miserable era we had during the time of war. We never want such an era again,” Gonawala said.

She said they hoped to lodge a complaint to the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) over the statement of the Minister. ‘Women for Justice’ Secretary Savithri Gunasekara said MP Vijayakala is not even eligible to hold the post of MP She being the State Minister of Child Affairs said the children of the North and East would be safer when the LTTE would come again. She has forgotten how the children were deprived of their education and forced to join the LTTE military groups by wearing cyanide capsule during the war,” Gunasekara said. They insisted the Government to take prompt action over her statement

The National Sangha Council has demanded that Vijayakala be arrested immediately over her recent statement in Jaffna, where she called for revival of the LTTE.

NSC National Organiser Ven. Waga Vijitha thera  has said that her declaration reflected the thinking among the UNP and SLFP parliamentary groups which constitute the so-called National Unity Government.

The thera alleged that a section of the government was taking advantage of an extremely weak National Unity Government to promote separatism.

The JVP which is reported to be having closing links with separatist elements in the North now and had joint May Day functions n Jaffna this year has said that the government has created an environment, which is used by people to make various statements similar to the one made by Vijayakala.  Without blaming or condemning her JVP MP and Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath has told a media conference that the breaking down of the rule of law had left room for Vijayakala to make such a statement. He has said it was the government which was responsible for the breakdown of rule of law and order.

Sri Lanka’s top constitutional lawyer Manohara de Silva, PC, commenting on the issue said that the Attorney General could file an indictment in accordance with Article 157 A against State Minister for child affairs, Vijayakala Maheswaran. He emphasised that the Attorney General could act on his own and in case the Attorney General refrained from acting in this instance, the Court of Appeal could be moved by an interested party.

The Attorney General could be made to fulfil his obligations by filing a writ of mandamus, Counsel De Silva said..He also stated that in accordance with Article 157 A, indirectly supporting secession was also an indictable offence and the police could not take action as only the Attorney had the power to indict a person. Mr. Manohara de Silva pointed out as there was sufficient evidence that the primary objective of the LTTE was to divide the country on ethnic lines, reviving the terrorist group therefore amounted to encouraging terrorism.

To concude this article, here is an extract from the Lanka Web weekly editorial dated 2^nd July which excellently covers the whole issue:

State Minister of Child Affairs Vijayakala Maheswaran  has had the audacity make a public statement to the effect that the LTTE needs to be revived ‘ which is a mind boggling suggestion by her that is not only treasonous but also a violation which points to a suggested breach in National Security and incitement to the Tamil people to help  reorganize the LTTE  and calls for a full investigation.

There should be zero tolerance towards such irresponsible people especially those holding public office .It is treasonous as it suggests a revival of the ineffective terror group which almost destroyed the Nation but was quelled and annihilated with the brave and concerted efforts of a forceful President and his Armed Forces.

She has said in a public statement obviously with no decorum , insight nor intelligence that quote –

” It is seen that there is a huge need of reorganization of the LTTE in the North and East, while addressing the ‘Janapathi Nila Mehewara’ event at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna.

She  has said that reports relating to traces of LTTE reorganizing are heard regularly as a result of the people in the North and the East not willing to discard the LTTE from their hearts”. However it needs to be said that it could well be an expression of her own sentiments where she has no right to such, as it portrays her as an LTTE sympathiser where her puerile dogma is plainly visible and  should never be tolerated remembering the atrocities of the LTTE.

She also says Now we remember how we lived before May 18, 2009. In the present conditions our main intention is to bring back the LTTE If we want to live, if we want to walk freely, if we need our children to attend schools and return back.,” which has a touch of ingratitude to it considering how well the Tamils of Sri Lanka are treated today and perhaps a misinterpretation on her part where she takes kindness for weakness.

She pointed out that a 6-year-old child had been raped and killed and now people feel why they appointed the present President into power.” a whole collection of worthless  albeit typical  LTTE jargon without a semblance of related truth to it beyond speculation and innuendo where the perpetrators of such atrocities could well be LTTE supporters.

She said that they ( presumably the Tamils) had committed a lot to appoint the President ( food for thought indeed ! ! ) and despite not protecting the people, he is working to protect party matters..

PS: Latest reports said that this terrorist tigress has handed over her temporary resignation letter to her confidante Sirisena and the matter should not be allowed to rest with.  People should hold strong demonstrations throughout the country including North shutting down schools, closing down offices and work places including with the participation devoid of party politics demanding to present her in the Courts amid mete out the highest punishment..

When a MP, not once but several times publicly & openly professes to revive a terrorist movement that murdered thousands of innocent people it is an act of treason that cannot be erased simply by removing the person from his/her post. From 1980s to 2009 a wave of horrendous murders, suicide missions, assassinations were committed by the LTTE. Ironically people are mourning the LTTE & neglecting the lives LTTE eliminated for no fault of theirs. It took the lives of over 30,000 soldiers to eliminate the top ranks of the LTTE fighters. That many LTTErs ran away & are living in foreign countries is good enough reason for people to still fear the return of terrorism & force the government to be alert & take precautions to ensure terrorists do not take up arms again. So when a member of the government in the presence of even its foreign minister says that her main target is to revive the LTTE, this statement cannot be taken lightly & as damage control be removed from her portfolio & the citizens forced to forget & forgive her. She has to be charged & sentenced. In a country where people are sent to prison for stealing mangoes to eat, or insulting people when a Minister says she wants to resurrect a terrorist movement the sentence cannot be simply a removal from post & be given another post when people have forgotten the incident!

As per Sri Lanka’s constitution if according to Chapter 7 Article 38 (2) (II) the President can be removed for TREASON, given that Parliament is also voted by the people, an MP committing treason should also be not only removed but criminal charges filed against him/her. No MP can be immune from justice simply because they hold a portfolio of a Minister. Given that MPs enjoy the tax payers money the punishment for committing treason should be harsher.

Capital punishment reinstated since 2004 also includes treason.

Sri Lankan Penal Code Section 120 

Whoever by words, either spoken or intended to be read, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise, excites or attempts to excite feelings of disaffection to the State, or excites or attempts to excite hatred to or contempt of the administration of justice, or excites or attempts to excite the People of Sri Lanka to procure, otherwise than by lawful means, the alteration of any matter by law established, or attempts to raise discontent or disaffection amongst the People of Sri Lanka, or to promote feelings of ill will and hostility between different classes of such People, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.”

The relevance of the 6^th amendment and Article 157A is crucial should also be applied.

Some main points covered in this 1983 amendment are

• it is the duty of the State to safeguard, the independence, sovereignty, unity and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka
• IF the sovereignty, unity and the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka has been threatened by activities of certain persons, political parties and other associations and Organizations…it has become necessary to prohibit such activities and to provide punishments

What are these violations that Persons, Political Parties & Other Associations & Organizations commit in violation of the independence, sovereignty, unity & territorial integrity of Sri Lanka as per Article 157A?

(1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

(2) No political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka.

(3) Any person who acts in contravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) shall, on conviction by the Court of Appeal, after trial on indictment and according to such procedure as may be prescribed by law

It is clearly stated that if a person violates above, IF CONVICTED BY THE COURT OF APPEAL, the punitive measures are:

(a) be subject to civic disability for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court

(b) forfeit his movable and immovable property other than such property as is determined by an order of such Court as being necessary for the sustenance of such person and his family

(c) not be entitled to civic rights for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court

(d) if he is a Member of Parliament or a person in such service or holding such office as is referred to in paragraph (l) of Article 165, cease to be such Member or to be in such service or to hold such office

(4) Where any political party Of other association or organization has as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka, any person may make an application to the Supreme Court for a declaration that such political party or other association or organization has as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka. The Secretary or other officer of such Political party or other association or organisation shall be made a respondent to such application

Therefore, the video which very clearly states that the UNP MP’s desire is to resurrect the LTTE is linked to her appearance in a private television debate which she said life was better under LTTE rule & gave a list of reasons for it. Not only was no action taken by the political party against her comments but she ended up getting a Ministerial portfolio too. What is also interesting is that the banned LTTE fronts are doing their utmost to not only remove the Prevention of Terrorist Act but also the removal of the 6^th amendment too… Their money has even influenced EU, US, UK & UN officials who are plugging aid & other government to government transactions with the assurance of removing, clipping or diluting these provisions & these are all eliminated in the draft new constitution also being promoted by these same players which is enough reason to completely refuse to accept a new constitution by these lobby groups.

Justice cannot be applied selectively and directed against political opponents only. It is only when proper justice is delivered that it serves as a deterrent for others not to commit similar acts breaching the constitution, the penal codes & the general morals that every citizen of Sri Lanka is expected to up hold.

We cannot have a government claiming to be the beacon of good governance & punishing only its opponents while its own MPs are committing a plethora of illegalities & irregularities. No person can be above the law & therefore the whole nation must demand punishment against this Minister so that others don’t follow her thinking they too can stand on stages and dream about bringing back terrorists for there are plenty of people ready to fulfil that dream to open avenues for them to make money. Let us not forget the LTTE while murdering people was & is making $300m annual profits which must have now doubled since they don’t have to spend on procurement of arms & ammunition & the maintenance of its terrorist cadres.

Shenali D Waduge

http://www.pubad.gov.lk/web/eservices/circulars/1983/E/222-1983(e).pdf

https://www.lawnet.gov.lk/1947/12/31/sixth-amendment-to-the-constitution-2/

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

Following President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s response last Sunday to the New York Times article of 25 June 2018 on the Chinese acquisition of the Hambantota port, the NYT published yet another article last Tuesday where they accused parliamentarians associated with the Joint Opposition of intimidating the two Sri Lankan journalists who had helped them to produce the article of 25 June. The original article making the allegation that China Harbour Co had contributed a large sum of money to President Rajapaksa’s 2015 presidential election campaign and that this money had been used among other things, to buy campaign T-shirts and mementoes first appeared three years ago in the government owned Daily News of 22 July 2015. The New York Times by their own admission was helped by the Chief Editor of the government owned Sunday Observer to write their article of 25 June. Informing the public about this at a press conference is not a case of intimidating anybody – this is a case of revealing a material fact which will help the people understand what is going on.

The NYT has not published the rejoinder to their article of 25 June sent last Saturday by Joint Opposition parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa who represents the Hambantota district. All they have done in terms of giving us a right of reply is to post a link to President Rajapaksa’s response as inconspicuously as possible in their latest article.  What we learn from this is that a newspaper that is ideologically aligned to the Obama-Clinton liberal camp and is not fair even to the incumbent President of the United States, cannot be expected to be fair towards the former President of Sri Lanka. In last Tuesday’s article, the NYT has said that it was from a government news release issued in 2010 that they obtained the information that the feasibility studies on the Hambantota port had been negative. In this era, nobody should base a serious allegation on a mere internet post. If the NYT had asked the former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal whom they had interviewed, he could have enlightened them about the feasibility studies done by SNC Lavalin of Canada and Ramboll of Denmark.

As for the money that is supposed to have been given for President Rajapaksa’s 2015 presidential election campaign by China Harbour Co, the present government did not suspend the activities of all Chinese Construction companies in Sri Lanka to check on their engineering credentials or their project experience.  The only matter investigated was whether these companies had any improper dealings with members of the Rajapaksa government. China Harbour Co was cleared of any wrongdoing and all their projects including the flagship Colombo Port City project, were restored to them. In last Tuesday’s article, the NYT has once again said that the present government of Sri Lanka handed over the Hambantota port to China because they were unable to repay the loan taken to build it. The reason why the NYT clings so doggedly to this idea despite President Rajapaksa’s explanation last Sunday, is probably to explain away the embarrassing fact that the Hambantota port was given to China by the very government that the Obama administration had spent hundreds of millions of Dollars to bring into power – as admitted by former US Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016.

Rohan Welivita

Media Secretary to

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ

නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පතේ ඉකුත් ජුනි 25 වනදා හම්බන්තොට වරාය චීනයට නතුවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් පලකොට තිබූ ලිපියට හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතා පසුගිය ඉරිදා මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් මාර්ගයෙන් ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වූ පසු, තම විමර්ශනය සිදුකිරීමට උදවු දුන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික මාධ්‍යෙව්දීන් දෙදෙනෙකුට ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් තර්ජනය කළ බව කියමින් තවත් ලිපියක් නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත පලකොට ඇත. චයිනා හාබර් සමාගම රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ 2015 ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරයට විශාල මුදලක් ලබාදුන් බවත්, එයටී-ෂර්ට්  හා ඡන්ද දායකයන්ට බෙදන නොයෙක් තෑගි බෝග මිලදී ගැනීමට වියදම් කළ බවට වූ චෝදනාව මුලින්ම පල වූයේ මීට අවුරුදු තුනකට පෙර 2015 ජුලි 22 ආණ්ඩුවට අයත් ඩේලි නිවුස් පුවත්පතේය. මේ චෝදනා නැවතත් පුනරුච්චාරණය කරමින් මෙම වසරේ ජුනි 25 වෙනිදා නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පතේ ලිපිය සැකසීමට රජයට අයත් සන්ඩේ ඔබ්සර්ව පුවත්පතේ ප්‍රධාන කතෘ සහභාගී වූ බව පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡාවකදී අනාවරණය කිරීම,තර්ජනය කිරීමක් නොව සිදුවන්නේ කුමක්දැයි අවබෝධ කරගැනීමට මේ රටේ ජනතාව අත්‍යාවශ්‍යයෙන්ම දැනගත යුතු කරුණක් පැහැදිලි කර දීමක් පමණි.

පසුගිය සෙනසුරාදා හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික්කය නියෝජනය කරන නාමල් රාජපක්‍ෂ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පතට යැවු පිලිතුරු ලිපිය ඔවුන් පලකොට නැත. ඔවුන් අපට පිළිතුරු දීමේ අයිතිය හැටියට ලබාදී ඇත්තේ මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමා පසුගිය ඉරිදා කල පැහැදිලි කිරීමට ‘ලින්ක් එකක්’ පමණක් නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පතේ මේ සම්බන්ධ නවතම ලිපියේ පෙනෙන නොපෙනන ආකාරයට පල කිරීම පමණි. අපට මෙයින් පැහැදිලි වන කාරණය වන්නේ, ඇමරිකාවේ ඔබාමා-ක්ලින්ටන් ලිබරල් කඳවුරට මතවාදී වශයෙන් බැඳී සිටින හා ඇමරිකාවේ වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාටවත් සාධාරණයක් ඉටු නොකරන පුවත්පතකින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සාධාරණයක් බලාපොරොත්තු විය නොහැකි බවයි. පසුගිය අඟහරුවාදා පලවූ දෙවෙනි ලිපියෙන් නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත කියා ඇති එක් කාරණයක් වන්නේ, හම්බන්තොට වරාය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කරන ලද සියලුම ශක්‍යතා අධ්‍යයන නිශේධනාත්මක වූ බවට ඔවුන්ට තොරතුරු ලැබුණේ 2010 මගේ ආණ්ඩුව විසින් පලකරන ලද ප්‍රවෘත්ති නිවේදනයකින් බවයි. අද කාලයේ අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් මතුවන ලියවිල්ලක් මත කිසිවෙකුවත් වෙනත් අයෙකුට  චෝදනා නොකල යුතුය. නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත රාජපක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුවේ හිටපු මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා සමඟ සම්මුක සාකච්ඡාවක් කර තිබුණු අතර, ඒ අවස්ථාවේදී ඔහුගෙන් විමසුවේ  නම් කැනඩාවේ එස්.එන්.සී. ලවලින් හා ඩෙන්මාර්කයේ රැම්බෝල් යන සමාගම් දෙක විසින් කරන ලද ශක්‍යතා වාර්තා ගැන තොරතුරු ඔවුන්ට ලබාගැනීමට හැකියාව තිබුණි. 

2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණයට චයිනා හාබර් සමාගම විසින් ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මහතාගේ ඡන්ද ව්‍යාපාරයට මුදල් දීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපට කීමට ඇත්තේ වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පැමිණි විගස සියලුම චීන සමාගම්වල වැඩ තහනම් කරනු ලැබුවේ ඔවුන්ගේ ඉංජිනේරු සුදුසුකම් හෝ ව්‍යාපෘති අත්දැකීම් ගැන සොයා බැලීමට නොවන බවයි. වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව විමර්ශනය කලේ මේ චීන සමාගම් රාජපක්‍ෂ ආණ්ඩුවේ සාමාජිකයන් සමඟ කුමක් හෝ අයතා මූල්‍යම  සම්බන්ධතාවයක් පවත්වාගෙන ගියේද යන්න පමණි. චයිනා හාබර් සමාගම ඒ විමර්ශනයෙන් නිදහස් කොට වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව විසින් කොළඹ වරාය නගර ව්‍යාපෘතිය ඇතුලු ඔවුන් කරමින් සිටි සියලුම ව්‍යාපෘති ඔවුන්ට ආපසු ලබාදෙන ලදී. වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුවට හම්බන්තොට වරාය ඉදිකිරීමට ගත් ණය ගෙවීමට නොහැකි නිසා ඔවුන්ට එම වරාය චීනයට බදු දීමට සිදු වූ බවනිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත ඔවුන්ගේ දෙවෙනි ලිපියෙන්ද නැවත වතාවක් පවසා ඇත. ලංකාව කිසිදු චීන ණය උගුලක  පැටලී නොසිටි බවට රාජපක්‍ෂ මැතිතුමා කළ සවිස්තරාත්මක පැහැදිලි කිරීම ඔවුන් පිලිගෙන ඇති බවක් පෙනෙන්නට නැත. නිව්යෝක් ටයිම්ස් පුවත්පත මේ තරම් උවමනාවෙන් මේ අදහසේම එල්බගෙන සිටීමට හේතුව ඇමරිකාවේ හිටපු රාජ්‍ය ලේකම් ජෝන් කෙරී 2016 දීකළ අනාවරණයට අනුව ඔබාමා පාලනය විසින් ඩොලර් මිලියන සිය ගණනක් වැය කොට බලයට ගෙන එනු ලැබූ ආණ්ඩුව විසින්ම චීනයට මේ වරාය ලබා දීම නිසා බටහිර ලෝකයේ මුලු ලිබරල් කඳවුරටම සිදුවූ මහත් ලැජ්ජාවත් අවමානයත් වසාගැනීමට විය හැකිය.

රොහාන් වැලිවිට

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ මැතිතුමාගේ

මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්

Courtesy Adaderana

The China Harbour Engineering Company says that the speculation by an international media organization that CHEC funded former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s 2015 Presidential Election campaign is completely inconsistent with the facts.

The construction of the Hambantota Port by CHEC was an important national task based on mutual agreement between Sri Lanka and China Governments, and was implemented under a transparent model,” the company said.

CHEC said it has never been involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and that the Hambantota Port was built for the Sri Lankan Government and its people.

We wish to jointly safeguard Sri Lanka’s investor friendly environment. The relevant media report has distorted the facts and provided a false opinion.”

The Chinese Embassy in Colombo held a media briefing today (5) with the participation of Mr. Luo Chong, Spokesperson and the Chief of Political Section of Chinese Embassy, Ms. An Xin, Deputy Managing Director of Representative Office of China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and Mr. Tissa Wickramasinhe, COO of Hambantota International Port Group Ltd (HIPG) who made remarks on the so-called Debt Trap” and some other related issues.

The company also said that Sri Lanka was expecting India to assist in the development of the Hambantota Port, however after India’s lack of interest, Sri Lanka approached China for assistance.

Considering the traditional friendship and long-standing relationship with Sri Lanka, China decided to offer selfless support in Sri Lanka’s national development initiative to construct the Hambantota Port.”

China also provided financial assistance at the request of Sri Lanka including a large sum as a concessional loan, it said. Therefore, it is evident that China never coerced Sri Lanka to construct the Port and nor did China lure Sri Lanka in to any debt trap.”

Full CHEC Press Briefing:

First of all, successive elected Governments in Sri Lanka have invited internationally renowned engineering consulting companies to conduct feasibility studies on the development of the Hambantota Port.

During Honorable Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s previous tenure (Dec 2001 – Apr 2004), the Government invited SNC Lavalin Group Inc., the internationally renowned Canadian engineering consulting firm, to conduct a feasibility study, which was completed in 2003. During former President Chandrika Bandaranaike-Kumaratunga’s two terms Ramboll Danmark A/S, an internationally renowned Danish engineering consulting company, was invited to conduct a feasibility study twice, which was successfully completed in 2007.

In summary, developing a port in Hambantota given its location advantage was to promote the economic development of the Southern Region and Sri Lanka as a whole. This was the consensus among different elected Governments led by the main political parties of Sri Lanka.

Secondly, Sri Lanka did not initially approach China to develop the Hambantota Port. After contacting other countries not receiving any interest, the Sri Lankan Government approached China to support the development of this port.

According to our knowledge and based on official statements released by Government officials, Sri Lanka was expecting India to assist in the development of the Hambantota Port. However, after India’s lack of interest, Sri Lanka approached China for assistance. Considering the traditional friendship and long-standing relationship with Sri Lanka, China decided to offer selfless support in Sri Lanka’s national development initiative to construct the Hambantota Port. China also provided financial assistance at the request of Sri Lanka including a large sum as a concessional loan. Therefore, it is evident that China never coerced Sri Lanka to construct the Port and nor did China lure Sri Lanka in to any debt trap.

Thirdly, China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. is a World-class Port construction Company. Hence, the operations including the construction of the Hambantota Port was carried out in full compliance with international standards.

CHEC’s parent company, China Communications Construction Company Ltd. (CCCC), ranks 103rd in the Fortune Global 500 Companies, and is ranked 3rd amongst the top international contractors in the Engineering News Record (ENR) in 2017, the only company in Asia to be amongst the top 10. CCCC has independently designed and built seven out of the ten largest ports in the World in terms of throughput.

CHEC is well reputed in Marine Engineering, Dredging & Reclamation, Roads & Bridges, Airports, Buildings & Machinery Procurement. CHEC’s Sri Lankan operations began in 1998 and our projects such as the Colombo International Container Terminal Project, the Northern Road Reconstruction & Infrastructure Restoration Projects, and the Colombo Outer Circular Expressway have significantly contributed to the economic development of Sri Lanka and have been appraised by all parties. After the Tsunami disaster in 2004, CHEC also actively got involved in the rescue and reconstruction activities, and carried out the construction of the Fishing Harbor Project aided by the Chinese government, reflecting the Company’s commitment towards social responsibility.

Based on above-mentioned factors, both Sri Lankan and Chinese governments invited CHEC to participate in the construction of the Hambantota Port in 2007. As the project is financed via a loan by the Chinese Government, it is reasonable and also in line with international practice to invite a Chinese company to carry out the construction. This practice is also followed by countries such as Japan, South Korea and India when providing loans to Sri Lanka.

Fourthly, the construction of Hambantota Port follows the principle of business and is in compliance with the laws of the market from beginning to end, reflected by the principle of wide consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.

Port construction of such size is a big project in any country. The port construction process will bring a lot of employment and help the economic development of the country. Throughout the construction of the Hambantota Port, 6,500 local workers were employed both directly and indirectly.

The development of the Hambantota Port project was carried out in on the basis of equality and friendship between Sri Lanka and China and has been following the principle of business and in compliance with the laws of the market from the beginning to the end. The specific construction situation is open and transparent. In particular, the majority of the funds for the entire project are loans of a concessional nature provided by the Chinese Government; and even the small proportion of commercial loans provided was lower than the international market interest rates at that time.

Finally, the speculation by an international media organization that CHEC funded former President’s 2015 Presidential Election campaign is completely inconsistent with the facts.

The construction of the Hambantota Port by CHEC was an important national task based on mutual agreement between Sri Lanka and China Governments, and was implemented under a transparent model.

CHEC has never been involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. The Hambantota Port was built for the Sri Lankan Government and its people. We wish to jointly safeguard Sri Lanka’s investor friendly environment. The relevant media report has distorted the facts and provided a false opinion.

Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

the New York Times report that it funded the election campaign of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, China Harbour Engineering Company said today it would cooperate with any investigation by the Sri Lankan authorities in this regard.

Addressing a press conference, Joint Managing Director An Xin said the speculation by an international media organization that the CHEC funded former President’s 2015 Presidential Election campaign was completely inconsistent with the facts.

She said the construction of the Hambantota Port by CHEC was an important national task based on mutual agreement between Sri Lanka and China Governments, and was implemented under a transparent model.

CHEC has never been involved in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka. The Hambantota Port was built for the Sri Lankan Government and its people. We wish to jointly safeguard Sri Lanka’s investor friendly environment. The relevant media report has distorted the facts and provided a false opinion,” she said.
She said her company would fully cooperate with the Sri Lankan authorities three years ago.

We will give any kind of cooperation to the Sri Lankan authorities in any kind of investigation according to the law,” she said.