BY Edward Theophilus

Sri Lanka has been relegated to a sharp debate on the constitutional reforms since the political independence in 1948 as the constitution, which was given to the country by the Solebury Commission in 1947 was subject to many criticisms in regard to various matters. The constitution established to the country was not purely originated by a participative exercise of representatives of Sri Lanka in a constitutional council represented by selected agents of all communities considering the deviated interests of them. As a developing country the views of Sri Lanka’s educated community in relation to the national unity and the flexibility of the constitution for decision makings in relation to policy and economic development, plan implementation and efficient service delivery, were significant factors that should have been addressed by a broader constitutional council. The impact of constitution for international relations and the opinions of religious leaders of the country were also vital exposures that should have critically considered and assessed by a constitutional reforming committee at that time. When we were studying at schools and the universities, our educators’ honest opinion was that the constitution was given to Sri Lanka by the Ceylon Constitution order in Council 1946 was not a product that carefully considered above points or issues.

However, the Solebury Commission had an understanding that Sri Lanka was a multi-ethnic and religious state with a majority of Sinhala people, who associated with Buddhism.  Since the Colebrook Cameron Commission in 1827 Sri Lanka had also been subjected to a critical debate on the concept of power-sharing in the political administration. Who initiated such an idea of power-sharing on ethnic basis was clearly unknown, but it seemed that there were no serious practical differences between Tamils and Sinhala people at bottom level on the basis of scientific, biological and anthropological factors as the operational activities and cultural attitudes appeared to be similar. In spite of existing peaceful environment, the ethnicity related issues came front in political reforms. The identity of Sinhala and Tamil people is purely based on the language, which was not a biological or anthropological identity but a factor that added after the birth of a person as a result of the adaptation into the environment.  However, the indigenous people (Vaddas), might had a biological, anthropological, language and cultural identity that was not considered by the authority of political reforms in the colonial era. The history of the Kandyan Kingdom clearly indicates that the right of indigenous people (Vaddas) was recognized and the executive power of the country under the Royal leadership was reasonably distributed to them by the Sinhala King.

The British administrators attempted to introduce a unitary status of government as the population ratio of ethnic communities and the small geographical area of the country clearly proved that an inflexible unitary system would be the most appropriate political administration to maintain the unity of the country than a republican style with provincial legislative bodies. The idea would have contributed by many factors such as social, political, economic, religious and others. The developing ideology in regard to power sharing contained germs of potential conflicts between the central government and the provinces. Spreading such conflicts to practically armed bloodletting at regional level should have prevented by a responsible administrative authority. The prime responsibility of the British colonial rule was to prevent possible future conflicts and ensuring a peaceful environment in the country, otherwise, the colonial rule would be incriminated to the world, if there would be ethnic related conflicts in the dominion administration of Sri Lanka.

The case in Sri Lanka was not similar to India.  One of the main contributor to drafting the constitution introduced in 1947, Sir Ivor Jennings too firmly believed in the concept of the unitary framework of government, which would be a successfully applicable status for small Sri Lanka. When we read his famous work, Cabinet Government, it is distinctly understandable how Sir Ivor respected the unitary framework of governments. We can see that Britain is still reluctant to change its unitary system as it provenly help to unite people in a small country.

The concept of republic administration was not practically experienced by different communities in Sri Lanka, either Sinhala or Tamil or Muslims during the past thousands of years. The idea of republican administration came to light or understood in Sri Lanka as a result of the influences of textbook political theorists looking at the operations of Indian states rather than a practical participation of power-sharing activities in the past by Sri Lankans. India also had a more flexible unitary system under the British colonial rule despite the divided states in the history, however, the operational activities of India were consisting of more decentralized and convenience controls. There were political advisors such as Chanakya and many religious leaders such as Lord Buddha in India talked about the practical aspects of political administration but they did not talk about ethnic-based dividing politics.  Indian history is crystal clear that Mahatma Gandhi did not want to divide the country but religious differences forced for the divisions. The political authority in Sri Lanka must clearly understand that ethnic and religious differences of the community are more vicious elements to destroy the harmony of the community if it uses ethnic criteria to decide the form of constitution of Sri Lanka.

Few textbook theorists were associated with the teaching of political science in the university or any other higher education institutions in the country might had opinion on ethnic base division of the country for a constitution. Those theorists had the knowledge to talk about political theories and individual Western Political Theorists’ ideas in relation to federalism but they never represented in the administration authority of a federal system to gain real practical experience with a view to converting such political knowledge in university teaching to educate how to apply such theoretical views in the practice federal power sharing.

The unitary style of government was successfully operated in the United Kingdom for centuries and Prof Jennings would have accurately considered that Sri Lanka, a small country in the world must be a unitary state in which the supreme power vested with the central government.  In terms of unitary system, the power sharing should be materialized within the central government in a manner agreed upon in the country and it should be written in the constitution.  The unitary style of government was also the best consideration in regard to specific factors such as cost and controls, which are the most effective determinants to success of the governing style. The provincial councils in Sri Lanka has created a fiscal mess and corruptions in regional Sri Lanka and has become a major factor to uncontrollable inflation in the country pushing poor villages to unmitigated poverty.  The practical experience in regard to the operations of the 13th amendment to the 1978 constitution later proven that the creation of provincial councils has become a waste of resources creating tremendous economic and governance related problems such as corruptions, nepotism and waste of resources, excessive public spending and other fiscal issues to the country.  As a result of the operations of provincial councils, a large sum of scare resources, which should have been applied to rural development wasted as administration expenses.

The history of Sri Lanka too provided evidence that although the political administration of the country was divided as Ruhuna, Maya, and Pihiti in some eras, such a divisive administration was not an ethnic based separation of one country into different federal states with different names, but a single ethnic group, Sinhala people alone divided one county into three areas. Sometimes, it leads us to assume that historical administrate divisions in Sri Lanka was based on the concept of Grama Rajya of King Pandukabaya, which was not a federal concept based on ethnicity of people. Later in the Kotte era, the country was divided into administrative areas by Sinhala kings purely based on personal reasons and power hungry.  Historians also believe that during the time when Lord Buddha visited Sri Lanka, the country had a division as Devils, Cobras and Gods, which were assumed to be religious groups within one nation on the basis of the worships of people, but they were not federal style power sharing divisions. Therefore, we can see power sharing on ethnic basis would be alarmingly risk to the country. Why cannot the current Sri Lankan politicians to consider historical facts and future possible risks when reforming the existing constitution?

A written constitution has not been used by the reigns of Kings and Queens in Sri Lanka, however, Sir John Doyly, who was the advisor and translator of Sir Robert Brownrigg has published a book title ‘A Sketch of the Constitution of the Kandyan Kingdom’, which gives a clear idea on the pattern of the constitution of traditional Sri Lanka. Below I quoted the beginning of the book.

The power of the King is Supreme and absolute”

The Ministers advise but cannot control his will.”

The King makes Peace and War, enacts ordinances and has the sole power of Life and Death”

“He sometimes exercises Judicial Authority, in Civil and Criminal cases, either in the original jurisdiction or in appeal.”

The acts of his government are presumed to be guided by the institutions and Customs of his Kingdom”

Before innovations of importance are carried into Effect it is customary to consult the Principal Chief and frequently the Principal Priests and when other matters of the Public moment are in agitation the same Persons are usually called to his Councils.”

The Authority of the King is exercised through many officers of the State.”

The principal officers employed in the administration of public affairs, are, The Two Adhikari’s, commonly called Adhikari”.

The map of Sri Lanka in the Kandyan Kingdom in 1815 attached in the book clearly indicates that the Kandyan Kingdom was a large area of the country except a small area of seaside and the rule of the King of Kandy was accepted by all citizens of the country. The Kandyan Kingdom also covered a large area of the North and the East of Sri Lanka and the map further proves that there was not an area covered as a Tamil homeland in the country, despite current Tamil politicians’ a claim that there existed such a land area. The Kandyan convention signed by Adigars of Sri Lanka was signed in Tamil except two Adhikari’s, who were signed in Sinhala. As the King of the country at that time was a Tamil National, many Adigars signed in Tamil with a view to respecting the Tamil King.  This is a very good evidence that there were Sri Lankans who used the Tamil language as a national language in the country, but they never demanded a physical division of the country like in a federal system, but they respected the unitary system and successfully integrated to the country as Sir John Doyly illustrated.  The Tamil king, Vijaya Rajasinghe in 1707 started reigning in the Kandyan Kingdom, he took oath to secure the tradition and the religions of Sinhala state.

A unitary state defines in dictionaries as a state of government with a single power in which the central government is ultimately supreme and any administrative divisions (subnational units) exercise only the power the central government chooses to delegate.  In the British system the parliament is using the power of the crown and enacts laws, no other can challenge them.  The British encyclopedia further explains that the parliament sovereignty is commonly regarded as the principles of the British Constitution.  Parliament can create or abolish the law and the rule of law, the separation of the government into executive, legislative and judicial branches are basic principles of the British Constitution.

The constitution given to Sri Lanka in 1947 contained an anti-discrimination clause under the section 29 which reflected that the constitution was a rigid administration instrument which restricted the flexible amendments.  The section 29 of the 1946 constitution contained (a) no law could prohibit or restrict the free exercise of any religion (b) make person of any community or religion liable to disabilities or restrictions to which persons of other communities or religions were not made liable (c) confer on persons of any community or religion any privilege or advantage which was not conferred persons of other communities or religions or (d) after the consultation of any religious body except with the consents of the governing authority of that body.  The constitutions in in 1972 and 1978 included Chapter VI on Fundamental Rights and Freedom, when repealed the section 29 of the 1946 constitution.  The inserting of fundamental rights and freedom in 1972 and 1978 constitution was more broader and stronger clause than the section 29 of the 1946 constitution.

The major difficulty in the 1946 constitution for its amendments was the requirement of a two-thirds majority of members of the parliament and the political environment at that time clearly indicated that it was a difficult task for any political party as they haven’t had superior policy to unite voters with a view to gaining absolute power.   The ethnic ratio of the country consisted of more than 75% of Sinhala people, who could have obtained more than two third of majority of the parliament but they divided on political party basis with economic, social, religious, caste and many other differences.   However, the general election held in 1970 re-established the political environment of the country as the collision group of SLFP, LSSP and CP were able to claim a great victory with a two-thirds majority of members to the government and such a huge victory opened the way to introduce a new constitution to the country. The attractive victory of 1970 election was purely based on economic reasons as the government of Mr Dadly Senanayake elected to office in 1965 apparently failed to look after poor people and find an effective solution to increasing unemployed in the country.

In 1972, the Solebury constitution was abolished and new constitution was introduced in a unitary framework of republic government, the main contributor to the 1972 constitution, Dr. Colvin R de Silva strongly believed that Sri Lanka is a small country, which should be in a unitary framework rather than distributing of the legislative power and vital policy-making authority of the central government to provincial states. As a highly educated historian and an eminent lawyer of the country, Dr. Colvin R. De Silva, the Minister of Constitutional Affairs considered several strong logical points in support of a unitary state and Dr. NM Perera, who earned two Doctorates in Political Science and Economics was also agreed with the points of Dr. De Silva.  Again, the constitution was changed in 1978 because the elected UNP government observed that lack of executive power to the president in 1972 constitution restrained the vigorous policy-making and implementation authority for the benefits of the country. The operation pattern of the parliament in Sri Lanka was appeared to be gossiping and less disciplined taking place when compared to the operations of legislative assembly in UK, Australia, Canada, USA France and Germany etc. and it clearly appeared that vesting executive power to a president directly elected by people was a more practically successful method to the country where had less experience in the use of parliamentary or liberal democracy.

Historically Sri Lanka was subject to many internal conflicts and after the independence, two conflicts, Emergency of 1958 and JVP insurrection in 1971incurred in the country.  In these two occasions, it clearly seemed that executive decision making through the parliament was very weak and a journalist in the Lakehouse, Tassie Vittachchi in a booklet on the Emergency of 1958 explained that although the Governor-General, Sir Oliver Gunatilake, who was a nominal executive representing the Queen was taking the executive power of the parliament into his hand has efficiently acted to control the problem of the country. The Prime Minister, SWRD Bandaranaike later confirmed that Sir Oliver acted on the advices of him, but Vittachchi in his book confirmed that Sir Oliver acted alone to control the situation of the country and Mr Bandaranaike later depended the situation stating the governor General acted on the advice of the Prime Minister.  The booklet was banned in Sri Lanka as it was recorded as a black dot in Westminster style of democracy in Sri Lanka.

BY Edward Theophilus

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 26 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lanka and China, on Thursday launched the construction of a mega luxury mall complex in the heart of Colombo which will transform the island’s capital into an attractive shopping destination in South Asia.

Odel, owned by Softlogic Holdings Limited, will fund the construction of the new Odel Mall, which will be constructed by China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC).

The mall will be be constructed over 645,000 square feet and will dubbed as a ‘green boulevard’, as it showcases a sky garden and several other environmental friendly features.

Group General Manager of Softlogic, Channa Caldera, speaking at the inauguration of the construction ceremony said this mall will consist of high quality facilities and will include a five storeyed basement, which will be the first of its sort constructed for commercial purposes.

General Manager of CSCEC, Sri Lanka Branch, Zhang Xiaofu said the Odel mall will have over 20 stores which will feature the latest local and international brands and will emerge as a new landmark in Colombo.

The Editorial Courtesy The Island

Midterm electoral defeats have a sobering effect on governments, intoxicated with power. Nothing scares politicians more than the prospect of being trounced. Once elected, they lose the ability to think, and they regain it when they are relegated to the political wilderness. The potentates of the last government are, today, campaigning against bribery and corruption and taking up cudgels for the rights of the people!

The Feb. 10 local government polls disaster has jolted the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration into mending its ways, in a bid to win back public sympathy and regain lost ground. The yahapalana leaders have apparently realised the need to heed public opinion.

President Maithripala Sirisena is reported to have said those who seek ministerial positions should be internationally recognised. One cannot but agree with him. But, one cannot forget the fact that he had no qualms about appointing a bunch of politicians who were not acceptable even to the people in their electoral districts and, therefore lost elections, to Parliament through the backdoor in 2015; he went to the extent of appointing them to the Cabinet. Thankfully, some of these political rejects have lost their ministerial posts owing to their abortive attempt to oust the Prime Minister.

It is heartening that President Sirisena has, perhaps with the benefit of hindsight, wised up to the fact that the country needs intelligent, capable men and women, as ministers. If he really means what he says and wants to have a team of internationally recognised ministers like the one in Singapore, then he will have his work cut out to remove the square pegs in round holes in the present Cabinet and replace them with persons acceptable to the local populace as well as the international community. We are reminded of Diogenes, the Cynic, who, carrying a lighted lamp during daytime went about, looking for an honest man. However, if the criterion, suggested by the President, is strictly followed in appointing ministers, we will be able to downsize the Cabinet as there are only a handful of such MPs within the government ranks, or in Parliament, for that matter.

If a country is to achieve any progress, its Cabinet should consist of mavens of integrity, drawn from vital fields, such as finance, economics, foreign relations, science and technology and international trade. Development goals elude countries that have nincompoops at the helm. This may explain why Sri Lanka has been lagging behind many other nations. A fish is said to rot from the head down.

The yahapalana leaders, before capturing power, promised to appoint ministers ‘scientifically’. Science and politics are as different as chalk and cheese, and it defies comprehension how scientific methods could be applied to political affairs. The ministerial appointments, made by the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government, do not conform to even the principles of home science, so to speak.

Having the right people in key positions of the government is half the battle in hoisting the country from the politico-economic mire it finds itself in. This country is not short of men and women, capable of helping make it a better place for us to live in, but they avoid politics like the plague, for obvious reasons. US President Donald Trump has drawn heavy flak for using the term, ‘shithole countries’ to describe some parts of the Global South, characterised by poverty, corruption, conflicts etc. But, can anyone think of a better term to describe the countries where people enthrone rogues and deify them, while whingeing about corruption, abuse of power and lack of progress?

A perquisite for getting intelligent, honest, capable men and women to help develop the country is to drain the stinking Diyawanna swamp. The onus is on the three main parties, the SLFP, led by President Sirisena, the UNP and the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, to end the practice of nominating political dregs to contest elections. No amount of lamenting will do.

Courtesy The Island

April 26, 2018, 12:05 pm

Cabraal

Former Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal yesterday said that during the past one week, the Sri Lankan rupee had depreciated Rs. 1.58 (from Rs. 157.46 to Rs. 159.04) against the US dollar. Since the foreign debt of Sri Lanka was approximately USD 30 billion, the depreciation of the currency, during the past week, had increased the total public debt by around Rs. 47 billion, he added

To understand such debt increase in perspective, the following facts were relevant, Cabraal said: a) The investment on the Colombo-Katunayake Expressway was Rs. 48 billion, b) The investment on the Mattala airport was Rs.30 billion, c) The expenditure in 2014 for the Samurdhi benefit and the Fertilizer subsidy was Rs.47 billion, he said.

Sharan Poovanna Courtesy Livemint.com

Community leaders of Sri Lankan repatriates in Karnataka are trying to bring everyone under one umbrella to gain better leverage to bargain for their cause

Sullia: Tea and rubber estate workers, who were originally from India and shipped back home from Sri Lanka as part of the Sirimavo-Shastri pact of 1964, are re-grouping in Sullia and Puttur constituencies of Dakshina Kannada district to try press their demand for permanent homes in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.

The community, numbering around 10,000 now, have decided to vote en masse to the party—thought to be Congress —or leader willing to help them resolve their long standing demand of retaining their homes.

The community, who were allocated jobs and homes in the Karnataka Forest Development Corporation (KFDC)—a government-run rubber plantation—held several protests before the 2013 elections demanding caste certificates.

For years we supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate, but couldn’t even manage to get a caste certificate. This was given to us after (Karnataka chief minister) Siddaramaiah came to power and the local Congress leader helped us,” said, H. S. Chandralingam, a 59-year-old second generation repatriate.

Around 525,000 Sri Lankan Tamils were repatriated to India as part of the 1964 pact between prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri and his Sri Lankan counterpart Sirimavo Bandaranaike amid rising tension between minority Tamils and majority Sinhala in the island nation. They were settled in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, (unified) Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

Fragmented into different groups and political parties over the decades, now the community leaders are trying to bring everyone under one umbrella to gain better leverage to bargain for their cause, which is seen to side with the Congress currently.

The offer to vote en masse for the Congress could help the party break the BJP’s hold over the region. S. Angara of the BJP won for the fifth consecutive time in Sullia in 2013 and has been named as the party’s candidate for the 12 May polls.

Puttur constituency is held by Shakuntala Shetty of the Congress .

Though Tamil repatriates were granted citizenship, the authorities are clear that only employment was part of their rehabilitation and not homes. The rehabilitation is only through work and not residences,” Kamala.K, the deputy conservator of forests, Mysuru division said.

This plantation was started as a rehabilitation excise. They cannot throw us out of our homes after service. We are being treated as government employees and not repatriates,” N.Lokanathan, 38, said. The community cite the Tibetan settlement in Bylakuppe (Mysuru) whose occupants have been given a reserved space from where they cannot be evicted.

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

Tamils have no intention of dividing the country, says Sri Lanka’s Leader of Opposition

By ANA PARARAJASINGHAM Courtesy Asia Times

Former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resounding performance at the local-council elections in early February has prompted the observation that Rajapaksa is back in politics and poised to regain political power. This is a blow to the unity” government that replaced the Rajapaksa regime in January 2015.

The regime change that resulted in the formation of a unity” government came about when former Rajapaksa loyalists joined the opposition right-leaning United National Party (UNP). The unity” government suffered its first setback when a Rajapaksa-backed no-confidence motion was made against Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe on  April 4, and 16 members of the unity” government voted for the motion.

Although the prime minister survived the motion, the government was weakened, with those 16 members who voted in favor of the no-confidence motion crossing the floor and taking their seats in the opposition benches.

Regime change

The regime change was welcomed by New Delhi and Washington. On  January 9, 2015, even before the formal announcement of the election result, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first foreign leader to call and congratulate the new president, Maithripala Sirisena, on his victory.

On the eve of the election, US secretary of state John Kerry had telephoned Rajapaksa to insist that he conduct a free and fair election” and ensure a peaceful” handover of power if Sirisena won the ballot. The high-level involvement by Washington in Sri Lanka’s presidential election implied that US interests were at stake.

Both Washington and New Delhi had found the increasing influence of China over Sri Lanka under the Rajapaksa government to be a threat to their own influence in the strategically significant island nation.

Since late 2009, Washington had been deeply worried about Sri Lanka’s drift toward China. A December 2009 US Senate Foreign Relations Committee report, Sri Lanka: Re-charting US Strategy after the War,” had noted that Sri Lanka’s strategic drift toward China would have consequences for US interests in the region and that the United States could not afford to ‘‘lose’’ Sri Lanka. It called for increasing US leverage vis-a-vis Sri Lanka by adopting a multifaceted, broader and more robust approach to secure US interests.

New Delhi became particularly concerned after Colombo, brushing aside India’s concerns, permitted two Chinese submarines to dock in Colombo within a space of seven weeks in late 2014.

As such, Washington and New Delhi had common grounds to welcome a change of government in Sri Lanka. Indeed, it has been suggested with some justification that New Delhi with Washington’s backing had played an active role in the regime change.

Reports from Colombo accused the chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), K Ilango, of helping the opposition oust Rajapaksa as president. In the run-up to the presidential election, Ilango was transferred. In an interview given to an Indian journalist,Rajapaksa accused the West of working with RAW to oust him.

The regime change came about when Maithiripala Sirisena, a senior member of the Rajapaksa government, chose to defect with some members of his own party and challenge Rajapaksa at the presidential election of 2015. Although Sirisena won the election, he was unable to garner a majority of the Sinhala votes; he won because the Tamils and Muslims voted for him.

The Tamils had suffered immensely throughout Rajapaksa’s rule, and later in his term, Muslims were subjected to state-condoned violence. Tamils voted for Sirisena for various reasons. Some believed that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) had reached an understanding with Sirisena to implement a new constitution permitting self-rule for the Tamil-dominated northeast, while others were persuaded by Sirsena’s promise to conduct an open inquiry into war-crimes allegations, and many who had lived under oppressive conditions for almost six years believed that a new administration would be an improvement.

Heavy voter turnout in the Tamil-majority areas of Sri Lanka has also been interpreted as a negative vote cast against Rajapaksa. But there is no gainsaying that the challenge to oust Rajapaksa succeeded mainly because the Tamils voted for Sirisena.

Re-embrace of China

The regime change soon proved to be illusory for all those who had hoped to benefit. No attempt was made to address Tamil grievances. Colombo, having initially sought to balance its relationship with New Delhi and Beijing, soon began to tilt once again toward Beijing.

Sri Lanka’s re-embrace of China is attributable to two factors. The first is China’s debt-trap diplomacy, which involves providing large loans at commercial rates to countries like Sri Lanka to develop infrastructure projects in strategically significant locations. These loans are often extended in circumstances where the country is in no position to service them, forcing the borrower to lease back the asset to China.

In Sri Lanka, the management of Hambantota Port, which was built with Chinese loans, is no longer under the direct control of the Sri Lankan state. Its operation is controlled by China via its state-owned China Merchants Ports Holdings, to which Colombo sold a 70% stake as it was unable to meet its loan-repayment obligations.

Sri Lanka’s re-embrace of China was also driven by another factor: the Sinhalese fear of India’s interventionist agenda.

Ever since Sri Lanka became independent, its foreign policy has been driven by this fear of its giant neighbor. It is this perception about New Delhi that caused Sri Lanka to sign defense agreements permitting Britain the use of naval and air bases in Trincomalee immediately upon independence; take up a pro-Pakistani position during India’s war against Pakistan in 1971; seek help from countries inimical to India during the early stages of the civil war; and surreptitiously involve China during the final phase of the war without letting India know.

As far as Colombo is concerned, irrespective of the government in power, its foreign policy has always been underpinned by a compulsion to counter Indian influence.

India’s response

Undeterred, New Delhi has tried to bring Colombo within its own sphere of influence either through coercion, as Indira Gandhi did by arming Tamil rebels to exert pressure or through an alliance, or as theIndian government under Manmohan Singh attempted by helping Colombo defeat the Tamil rebels.

The latest attempt by the Indian government to bring Colombo within its orbit through regime change” failed because New Delhi failed to grasp that the majority-Sinhala nation harbors strong reservations and resentment when it comes to India. These reservations were openly articulated by Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s former envoy to the United Nations, when in April 2015 he declared that India is not Lanka’s natural ally.

Nevertheless, New Delhi is unlikely to give up on Colombo. But any such effort is bound to clash with Beijing’s own robust agenda to establish its presence in Sri Lanka. Currently, Sri Lanka owes China US$8 billion of its total $65 billion of debt and as such continues to be exposed to China’s debt-trap diplomacy, not to mention Colombo’s own desire to stay out of New Delhi’s orbit.

For the foreseeable future, Colombo will continue to remain a challenge for New Delhi.

තුසිත බාලසූරිය, ප්‍ර‍ධාන ලේකම්, සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

අවුරුදු සමයෙහි හටගත් කෘෂි බෝග අස්වැන්නෙහි අතිරික්තයක් නිසාවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කෘෂි කර්මාන්තය මුහුණදෙන දැවැන්ත අර්බුද රැසක් ඉස්මතු විය. මාධ්‍ය වාර්තා කරන පරිදි එම අර්බුද වස විස තොර ගොවිතැන නිසා ඇති වු පොහොර හිඟය, පොහොර සහනාධාරය ලබා නොදීම හෝ පොහොර මිල නිසා ඇති වු ගැටලු නොව කෘෂි කර්මාන්තයට අදාළ ප්‍ර‍තිපත්තිමය ගැටලු‍ වෙති.

නව සංකල්පයක් ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක කෙරෙන වස විස තොර ගොවිතැන රජය විසින් ගන්නා ලද වැදගත් ප්‍ර‍තිපත්තිමය තීන්දුවක් වුවද ගොවීන් ඊට හුරු කර ගැනීම අසීරු බව පෙනෙන්නට ඇත. ගොවීන්ගේ උවමනාව පරිදි රසායනික පොහොර යොදා සිදු කරන අතිරික්ත නිෂ්පාදනය නිසාවෙන් අනාගතයේ ආහාර හිඟයක් සහ ගොවීන්ට දරාගත නොහැකි පාඩුවක් සිදුවනු නිසැකය.

අතිරික්තයක් ඇති නොවන පරිදි බෝග වගාවන් නියාමනය කිරීමට ඇති ආයතන වසා දමා තිබීම, අතිරික්ත අස්වැන්න කල්තබා ගැනීමට ක්‍ර‍මයක් නොමැති වීම, අතිරික්ත අස්වැන්න යොදාගෙන වෙනත් නිෂ්පාදන කිරීමට නොහැකි වීම, අපනයන තත්වය සහිත අස්වැන්නක් නොලැබීම සහ තාක්ෂණික දැනුමෙහි පවතින අඩුපාඩු මෙම අර්බුදය තවදුරටත් උග්‍ර‍ කර ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍ර‍ධාන වානිජ බෝගයන් වන තේ සහ පොල් වගාවන්ද සමාන අර්බුදයන් රැසකට මුහුණ පා ඇති අතර ඊට ඇති එකම විකල්පය නව වානිජ බෝග රටට හදුන්වා දීමයි. ඊට බහුකාර්ය වානිජ බෝග වගා කිරීමට, නව තාක්ෂණික උපක්‍ර‍ම හදුන්වා දීමට සහ වගා ආශ්‍රිත කර්මාන්ත හදුන්වා දීමට රජය, ගොවීන් හා පෞද්ගලික අංශයන්හි අලුත් හවුලක් ඇති විය යුතු ය.

විශාල වානිජමය වටිනාකමක් සහිත බෝගයක් වන කංසා වගාවට ‍මෙරට ඉඩ දියයුතු බවට සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය විසින් රජයට යෝජනා කරන්නේ බිඳ වැටෙන කෘෂි ආර්ථිකය නගා සිටුවීම පිණිස ය. එමගින් මෙරට කෘෂි කර්මාන්තයේ විප්ලවීය වෙනසක් සිදුවනු නොඅනුමාන ය. එය වස විස තොර ගොවිතැනක මෙන්ම වස විස නැති ශ්‍රී ලංකාවක් ගැන අප දකින සිහිනයයි.

තුසිත බාලසූරිය
ප්‍ර‍ධාන ලේකම්
සමාජ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍වාදී පක්ෂය

Mahinda Karunaratne

The Vesak poya falls naturally on the 29^th May which by means that the Vesak should be in the month of May according to Julian calendar we follow worldwide. From time and memory there had been no shifting of Vesak (or even Poson) festival.

Since the Yahapaalana govt. came in to power, it is taking all decisions and acting on behalf of Tamils and Muslims and persecuting majority Sinhelaya and destroying and attacking Buddhism. (While the Temples, places of worship and Historical sites being destroyed and bulldozed by Tamils and Muslims,) yet the Yahapaalana govt. asks Sinhela Buddhist people surrender and reconcile with Tamils and Muslims.

This year the Ramadan supposed to be started on 17^th May which will go on for the next 29 days, the Muslims opposed and does not want the Vesak festival come in between their Ramadan period where the 29^th May Poya falls right in the middle of their fasting.

The Sirisena – Ranil alliance knowing but maliciously agreed to the Muslim demand and shifted the Vesak to April, whatever arguments and theories brought in to justify this, the bottom line is that Sinhelaya and Buddhism being decimated and destroyed under this Anti Sinhala, Anti Buddhist govt.

Ira de Silva Ontario, Canada

Mr. Jack MacLaren MPP, Carleton-Mississippi Mills,

Queens Park

Ontario.

 Dear Sir:

 I have just watched the video of your statement in the legislature at Queens Park and read a comment in the Toronto Sun of April 12,2018 bylined Bonokoski in which he sums up your attitude as “naive, foolish thinking”. My question to you is, who provided you with the information on which you based your statement and what you hope to achieve. Are you a secret admirer of terrorists and terrorism?  

It is well documented that members of all political parties in Canada have made false, unsubstantiated, biased statements on Sri Lanka in support of the LTTE  merely to get Tamil votes in Canada. You are the latest. How many “Tamil votes” were you “promised” by the Tamil terrorist sympathisers in your riding for the 1.44 minutes you spent to read the statement in the legislature?  Was the content given to you or are you responsible for it based on your own research?  Mr. Bonokoski concludes you were naive and foolish. However, it is possible that you were not naive but calculating, not foolish but deliberately making statements that expressed your support for LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka with the full knowledge that the LTTE was recognized in the world to be the most ruthless terrorist organization, that they were funded from Canada for decades by their many supporters some of whom you obviously have met, that even after 2009 they are still attempting to destabilize Sri Lanka to divide the country with the continued support of politicians such as you. Throughout the decades of LTTE terrorism, Canadian politicians attended political meetings supporting the goals of the LTTE terrorists. Canadian politicians attended fund raising events to support the murder of innocent civilians of all ethnic groups in Sri Lanka. The combination of millions of dollars from Canada used by the LTTE for terrorism and the political support  of LTTE terrorism by Canadian politicians enabled the LTTE to carry out their terrorism for decades and it now seems to have morphed into efforts such as yours to continue the efforts of the LTTE supporters in Canada to achieve their goal of a separate state in Sri Lanka.

Your admiration for the extreme terrorism of the LTTE is evident when you describe the Tamil Tigers as a “strong and effective force” ignoring the fact that by their actions they were recognized in the world as extreme terrorists.  They were strong and effective in bombing civilians in places of worship, in buses and trains on their way to work, children going to school, murdering and massacring anybody and every body they believed would help their cause, destroying villages to deprive the people of their livelihood, destroying infrastructure to affect the economy and creating an atmosphere of fear through terror.  You believe that this strong force suffered “complete decimation” at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces. The fact is that it was only the hierarchy of the LTTE fighters that were killed in the final battles. The rest of the LTTE fighters are still very much alive, some of them outside of Sri Lanka and may even be part of your electorate while in Sri Lanka there are regular reports of them attempting to revive terrorism.

Those LTTE supporters in Canada who demonstrated on the streets of Canada in their thousands in 2009 to save the LTTE leadership are still very much alive and continuing the LTTE goal with assistance from Canadian politicians such as you. Those who remained in Sri Lanka and others outside Sri Lanka could very easily re-group to be a fighting force with help from the LTTE in the west and politicians like you. Is that what you are trying to achieve? Did it give you satisfaction that Canadians were part of this “strong and effective force” and do you want to help resurrect the LTTE terrorist force? They were and are still terrorist supporters so the terrorist designation is needed. Unless you too are a LTTE terrorist supporter, please re-consider your call to remove the Tamil Tigers off the terrorist list to prevent another blood bath in Sri Lanka paid for and supported by Canadians.

Yours truly,

Ira de Silva

Ontario, Canada

Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management

At least two members of the Christian community, Rashid Khalid and Azhar Iqbal, were killed and another five were injured in a firing incident near a church in the Essa Nagri area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, on April 15, 2018. Quetta’s Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police, Abdur Razzaq Cheema, stated that the incident occurred when worshippers were leaving after attending the Sunday service at the church. Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) claimed responsibility for the attack through the Amaq ‘news agency’, its propaganda wing.

On April 2, 2018, four members of a Christian family were shot dead by unidentified assailants on Shah Zaman road in Quetta. A minor girl was also injured in the attack. The family was travelling in a rickshaw, when armed assailants on a motorcycle intercepted them and opened fire. Belonging to Punjab, the family was visiting relatives in Quetta on the occasion of Easter on April 1, and was likely being tailed by the assailants after they had identified them as Christians. Moazzam Jah Ansari, Inspector General of the Balochistan Police, observed that it appeared to have been a ‘targeted attack’. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack.

On December 17, 2017, at least 11 civilians were killed and 56 injured in a suicide attack by two Daesh terrorists on the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta. Police Guards stationed at the church entrance and on its roof killed one terrorist, but the second detonated his explosives-filled vest outside the prayer hall, causing all the casualties. DIG Abdur Razaq Cheema disclosed further that another two terrorists managed to escape. At the time of the incident there were nearly 400 worshippers in the church for a pre-Christmas service.

Terrorist attacks on Christians are not a new phenomenon in the theocratic state of Pakistan. Indeed, according to partial data compiled by the Institute for Conflict Management (ICM), Pakistan has witnessed at least 27 such incidents resulting in 252 fatalities and 609 injuries since March 2000 (data till April 22, 2018). The Christian community has faced the brunt of some of the worst terrorist attacks in the country in recent years. Some of the major terrorism-related incidents targeting the Christian community across Pakistan included:

March 27, 2016: At least 74 people were killed and more than 300 injured in a suicide blast inside the Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park in the Iqbal Town area of Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, when Christians were celebrating Easter. Ehsanullah Ehsan, ‘spokesperson’ of the Jama’at-ul-Ahrar (JuA), a breakaway faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), had declared, We had been waiting for this occasion. We claim responsibility for the attack on Christians as they were celebrating Easter. It was part of the annual martyrdom attacks we have started this year.”

March 15, 2015: At least 15 persons, including 13 Christians and two Policemen, were killed and more than 70 were injured, when two suicide bombers attacked two churches near the Youhanabad neighbourhood in Lahore, sparking mob violence in which two terrorists were killed. Youhanabad is home to more than 100,000 Christians. JuA had claimed responsibility for the attack as well.

September 22, 2013: At least 79 worshippers, including 34 women and seven children, were killed and another 130 were injured when two suicide bombers attacked a Christian congregation at the historic All Saints Church in the Kohati Gate area of Peshawar, the provincial capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), on September 22, 2013. Ahmed Marwat, ‘a spokesman’ for the Jundullah group, a faction of the TTP, had claimed responsibility for the attack, and declared, in a statement to the media, “Until and unless drone strikes are stopped, we will continue our attacks on non-Muslims on Pakistani land. They are the enemies of Islam, therefore we target them.”

The entry of Daesh into this ‘campaign of targeting Christians’ has created a more insecure environment for this minority. The Voice of America, quoting Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) parliamentarian Tariq Christopher Qaiser, who belongs to Christian community, expressing serious concerns about the increasing number of targeted attacks, both on different Muslim sects and on Christians, stating, on April 7, 2018,

Mehdi Hassan, chairman of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), noted, on April 7, 2018,

Attacks on the Christian community by Daesh is really a matter of concern, and this will worsen [the] religious extremism situation in Pakistan. In a country where extremism exists in so many forms, any outfit (including Daesh) can triumph.

RAJEEWA JAYAWEERA Courtesy The Island

According to media reports, President Sirisena met with British Peer Lord Naseby during his visit to the UK to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

A long-standing friend of Sri Lanka with an involvement of over 50 years, he started the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka in 1975 and is currently its President.

Naseby managed to obtain 39 pages of confidential dispatches by Lt. Col. Anton Gash, Defense Attaché at the British High Commission in Colombo in 2009, during the final stages of the Vanni campaign. He received the documents, albeit in a highly censored state, after relentlessly pursuing the matter with the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office over a period of almost three years and the intervention of the British Information Commissioner.

Despite being highly redacted, the 39 pages shed light on several issues. Chiefly among them; estimate of 7,000 and 8,000 civilian death during the closing phase of the conflict with around a quarter of them being LTTE cadre in civilian clothing and the lack of evidence that GoSL / SL Army deliberately targeted civilian targets.

Naseby raised the issue in October 2017 during a debate he initiated in the House of Lords.

It was highlighted, contents in the censored dispatches contradicted opinions expressed in the Panel of Experts (PoE) report (Darusman Report) to the UN Secretary-General. It stated; “there is still no reliable figure for civilian deaths,” but then guessed at 40,000. The PoE was the basis for the contentious United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) Resolution 30/1. The Sirisena-Wickremesinghe administration, after relegating the local initiatives LLRC and Paranagama Commission Report to the dustbin, co-sponsored the UNHRC resolution.

During the debate, Naseby stated, “I have discovered an unpublished report from the United Nations country team, which stated that from August 2008 up to 13 May 2009, the number of civilians killed was 7,721. The war ended six days later, so it cannot possibly have got up to 40,000.” Some of his other remarks based on uncensored sections of the documents were; (i) It is not possible to distinguish civilians from LTTE cadres as few are in uniform (ii) from 16 February: IDPs being cared for in Trincomalee. Welfare appears to be overriding security considerations (iii) On 20 January they say, “no cluster munitions were used (iv) on 26 April, civilians killed Feb 1-April 26—6,432.

He further stated the need for the UK government to “recognize that this was a war against terrorism, so the rules of engagement are based on international humanitarian law, not the European Convention on Human Rights.” He also stated, “We in the UK should reflect on the sacrifices of thousands of young Sri Lankan soldiers who died to create peace in that country. Finally, I reflect that Sri Lanka came to our need in two world wars and had casualties, and it was one of just a handful of countries who supported the UK over the Falklands.”

Naseby urged “the West, and in particular, the US and UK must remove the threat of war crimes and foreign judges that overhangs and overshadows all Sri Lankans, especially their leaders. Now is the time to offer the hand of friendship and act to lead the international community to recognize what the truth really was.”

According to reliable sources, Naseby has forwarded a set of the documents to the UNHRC in Geneva urging that Resolution 30/1 be revisited in light of the new information available.

The spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Colombo, in October 2017 dismissed Naseby’s revelations outright. She stated: “engaging in arguments and debates in the international domain over the number of civilians who may have died at a particular time in the country will not help resolve any issues, in a meaningful manner, locally, except a feel-good factor for a few individuals who may think that they have won a debate or scored points over someone or the other.”

President Sirisena, taking a different view, took the initiative of sending a letter of appreciation dated November 02, 2017 to Naseby. It states; “Your intervention, in particular, would assist Sri Lanka in its efforts towards truth-seeking and countering some of the propaganda leveled against this country.” Sirisena entrusted the Foreign Ministry to deliver the letter to Naseby. Due to the involvement of the Foreign Secretary himself, it was delivered to Naseby after 19 days, on November 21, 2017.

However, since that date, neither the Head of State nor his government has made any effort to make use of Naseby’s revelations and his efforts in the British House of Lords in seeking a review of the Geneva Resolution with UNHRC. During a recent media briefing, he responded to a query raised by The Island representative with a meaningless “Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva and the ministerial delegation that had represented the country had performed well.” He was referring to the Marapana-Amunugama-Musthapha triumvirate representing Sri Lanka at the recently concluded 37th session of the UNHRC in Geneva.

Minister Marapana’s statement in Geneva (nay, report on good behavior) referred to government efforts in Operationalizing Office of Missing Persons, Return of Private Land, RTI, Office for Reparations, Protection from Enforced Disappearances, Repealing of PTA and female representation in LGs and PCs among other matters.

The Sri Lankan delegation did not submit a request for the review of UNHRC 30/1.

Retired Navy Chief of Staff and former UPFA Deputy Minister Rear Admiral (Retd.) Sarath Weerasekera is on record stating GoSL “refused to at least refer to Lord Naseby’s disclosures and didn’t bother to counter lies propagated there.” Weerasekera represented civil society organizations at a series of meetings in Geneva on the sidelines of the UNHRC session.

Speaking at a media briefing upon his return from his visit to the salubrious climes of Geneva, Special Assignments Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama, who accompanied the delegation as the President’s representative is on record stating ‘the government must boycott the next year’s regular session of the UNHRC in Geneva.’ Considering his performance in Geneva, it was a statement with no meaning and meant for the gallery.

According to local media reports, Naseby, during their recent meeting in London, had informed President Sirisena of Geneva-based UNHRC and European countries not being adequately briefed on the wartime situation.

British aristocrats, especially of Naseby’s vintage, are known for their stiff upper lip and extreme civility. They belong to a generation who would go the extra mile to give a sugar coating to a bitter pill.

When informing Sirisena, “UNHRC and Europe had not been properly informed,” did he mean; “What have you done during the last six months about the information I obtained with great difficulty and my initiative in the House of Lords?”

Whether reading between the lines is a competency Maithripala Yapa Sirisena has acquired is to be seen.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

April 24, 2018, 12:00 pm
Winston Churchill famously dubbed Russia a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. How would one describe Sri Lanka, under the yahapalana government? One may call it a tangle, wrapped in a jumble, inside a muddle. Anything King Midas touched got transmuted into solid gold, we are told. The present-day Sri Lankan leaders also have a magical touch of sorts. Anything they lay their hands on turns into an unholy mess, instantly. They have a remarkable ability to bring chaos out of order.

The economy is in total disarray. The rupee has hit an all-time low, and the balance of trade woes worsen with each passing day. People are struggling to keep the wolf from the door. Adding insult to injury, government panjandrums claim that the inflation rate is decreasing! Political instability has manifestly taken its toll on investor confidence. Foreign investors are wary of coming here. The government has secured parliamentary approval for a borrowing frenzy. Parliament is in a mess. So is the Cabinet, part of which turned against the PM recently. Taxes have increased, and Citizen Perera will suffer another body blow at the hands of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation shortly.

We thought the yahapalana bungling was confined to mundane affairs. But, now, we learn that it hasn’t spared even the holy. No less a person than Anunayake of the Malwatte Chapter Ven. Niyangoda Sri Vijithasiri Thera has taken exception to the government decision to celebrate Vesak on April 29 instead of May 29. This newspaper has quoted the venerable Thera as saying that it is absurd for Sri Lanka to celebrate Vesak in April, while all other Buddhist countries are making preparations for Vesak celebrations in May. He has called celebrating Vesak, in the month of April, a joke. One has no reason to doubt what the erudite prelate says; he has, we believe, articulated the position of the Maha Sangha, on the issue.

The government has postponed the International Workers’ Day, which is celebrated on May 1, the world over, to May 07, purportedly in view of Vesak celebrations. Have the yahapalana pundits made a double blunder, as it were, by advancing Vesak and postponing the International Workers’ Day?

Is it that the yahapalana leaders, who think no end of themselves and pride themselves on their punditry, are of the view that their knowledge of Buddhism and Buddhist affairs is far superior to that of the Maha Sangha? They have a monumental penchant for meddling with religious affairs.

Why didn’t the Mahanayake Theras raise objections to the government decision to celebrate Vesak on April 29? The Maha Sangha should have voiced their concern and tried to knock some sense into the yahapalana pundits much earlier.

What do the Mahanayake Theras think should be done now? Will we have to celebrate Vesak both in April and May? (The JVP is planning to have two May Day rallies, one on May 01 and the other on May 07!)

Meanwhile, some government worthies inform us that the faction-ridden ‘unity’ government will go on for the next one and a half years. Who will benefit from the continuation of the trouble-torn political marriage is the question. One is reminded of Mike the Headless Chicken, which, reportedly, lived for 18 months after being beheaded, in Colorado about seven decades ago. Every yahapalana notable is seen running around like a headless chicken.

The present-day political leaders are behaving in such a way that one should be pardoned for doubting their sanity. How else can their bungling be explained? Is their peculiar behaviour related to the moon? We have had four full moons so far this year, and the next one is only a few days away. The famous words of the title character in Shakespeare’s Othello come to mind: “It is the very error of the moon. She comes more near the earth than she was wont. And makes men mad.”

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

It’s the arithmetic, stupid! A no-confidence motion against the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Sampanthan, is logical and legitimate, neither because he is a Tamil nationalist nor because he propped up Ranil in the no-faith motion on the bond scam, but because he, unlike his TULF predecessor in the same post, Mr. A. Amirthalingam, by no means, commands the largest number of seats in the Opposition benches, while Mahinda Rajapaksa does.

Talk to anybody on the street. Listen to anybody in the agora, the public space/s. Citizens talk to me because they recognize me from my fortnightly Sinhala language TV show on Sirasa and my interviews in the Sinhala newspapers. They are sick to the pit of their stomach. They are disgusted, frustrated, and mad as hell; gritting their teeth, clenching their fists and waiting for the chance to end it.

They feel they were swindled in 2015. The mood among the majority of the citizens is radical, militant. It is radical in a populist sense. I find myself trying to defend the ‘SLFP Sixteen’ from youngsters who respond “did it take all this time for them to figure out that this government was bad?” What there is, is a mounting intolerance of the 2015 political Establishment and power elite.

The SLFP’s CBK faction is busy stitching itself up as the shortened tail of the UNP elephant. The only ‘new look’ the dying ‘Unity’ government will sport is that of embalming.

We know who loses at the end of this story. Even if there is a change in the UNP leadership, that party can reduce the margin of defeat, but a party which has not produced a President for almost a quarter century, may be out of that office for quite a while longer.

Meanwhile, the JO-Pohottuwa is plainly not of one mind as to whether the JVP’s 20th amendment should be conditionally supported.

The Yahapalana strategists hope to tempt MR into supporting abolition and then double-cross him in the final reel. Almost all in the JO would prefer Mahinda as the country’s ‘once and future’ leader but many would also stop short at the thought of supporting a move to abolish the Presidency and flatten the apex of the system to bring it within his reach, because many in the JO correctly suspect a UNP-TNA-JVP booby-trap within the ‘abolition’.

The JO senses that the UNP-JVP-TNA ‘reform’ would be rigged to target/neutralize the Rajapaksas as a collective, thereby, decapitate the Opposition and keep the January 2015 outcome going by any means necessary. This is why Vasudeva Nanayakkara, who is no fan of the Executive Presidency, also has no intention of falling into the JVP’s trap!

Of course, there is a problem for the Opposition and within it. But that problem is not with the likeliest or most suitable personality as a candidate at a presidential election. It is with a segment of his constituency. However, a problem with a segment of a potential candidate’s constituency cannot be a decisive factor in opting for a candidate! Nor can it be a reason for flattening a political system so that a candidate with such a sub-constituency within his coalition cannot contest!

Any candidate with a Sinhala Alt-Right support base within his constituency could raise apprehensions that the country could be plunged into a Dark Age of xenophobic, fundamentalist domination. No society can look developmentally forward and culturally backward. No East Asian society ever entered or accelerated modernity under the archaic cultural hegemony of a policy-prescriptive, mono-ethnic, mono-religious social stratum or power-elite. The East Asian leadership model is mainly secular, with national integration and rapid modernization based upon meritocracy, eschewing ethnic or religious biases—not enshrining them!

If the Sinhala Alt-Right becomes politically and ideologically dominant in the State, there could be three violent flashpoints of conflict: an Islamic militant revolt, a Tamil Kashmir, and a far-left Southern youth rebellion. Dreams of a golden era of rapid modernization may turn into ashes.

But these apprehensions, however fanciful, are not going to stop an anti-Establishment candidate from sweeping to victory late next year. The 2015 Yahapalana experience, replete with the fraud and travesty of an Opposition which has a paltry 16 seats while the Southern opposition has over three times as many, has turned the Sri Lankan neoliberal experiment into a nightmare similar to the ‘lost decade’ that Russia spent in a Twilight Zone under Yeltsin. The Russians never want to go back there again. In Sri Lanka, the people’s backlash against neoliberal globalism and its rootless cosmopolitan elite will determine next year’s outcome.

In the terminology of my field, Political Science, the upcoming choice is between a progressive Populist government and an Alt-Right government, i.e. between a progressive, patriotic populism and a reactionary Alt-Right populism. The decisive factor will be Mahinda Rajapaksa and the leadership of the Joint Opposition, which comprises a leadership core with decades of experience in the anti-UNP struggle.

Mahinda Rajapaksa is to Sri Lankan electoral politics what Russia is to the Syrian civil war and the future of Syria. There is no outcome in which Russia is not the predominant variable– only a moron would try to bypass or neutralize it.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

1. Do we hear loud whispers asking where have all the suspects gone? Far, far away we are told!!! Should we ask why??? Arjuna Mahendran was last known to have been in Singapore, Udayanga in Dubai, Jaliya only the good Lord knows!!! We’ll definitely need to keep an eye on that since it was the director of the National Eye Hospital who gave him the green light saying that the surgery could not be performed in our island home!!!

• Mahendran was last known to have been in Singapore, Udayanga in Dubai, Jaliya only the good Lord knows!!!
•  Aluthgamage has been released on bail and he had the distinction of coming out with two Ministers in attendance!!
• When the present IGP took over there was a lot of optimism that he would change the Police Force for the better!!! 

Now, Aluthgamage has been released on bail and he had the distinction of coming out with two Ministers in attendance!!!  We are constrained to ask who is afraid of whom?” Finally, ‘Red Notice’ has been issued on Mahendran, assuming of course, that he won’t disappear to the rural India or some other country before the sleuths get him.

Cabinet Reshuffle
2. Shuffles and reshuffles, still struggling to find their way, in-fighting!!! Postponing the inevitable of who gets what!!! Karunanayake is also being considered for a Ministerial Post!!!  Are we that bankrupt that we have to get these people back into the Government??? Our erstwhile Prime Minister has not yet bothered to tell us why Karunanayake was made Finance Minister in the first instance
Now, he is being given consideration yet again!!! Who should get the credit for this, we wonder!!!

NO LAW AND ORDER!!!
3. The country has never been in such chaos!!! Not even the illustrious Ministers know where they are going!!! How can they, when they cannot even arrive at decisions regarding portfolios??? How can they when they did not realise all these years that they had not concentrated on the development of the country??? So, we are expected to believe that they are going to do it now??? Who is fooling whom??? Let’s first ask, who felt safer with all these conmen being abroad??? Who is really afraid of whom???

What shocks and surprises does the new Cabinet hold??? Why are they so afraid of giving Law and Order to Sarath Fonseka, when he is the only man capable of handling it??? Why is the reshuffle being continuously postponed??? The dates are being shuffled more than the Ministers themselves!!!
4. Rape, drugs, killings, accidents, malfunctions are still happening!!! Isn’t there a single man with a spine, who can stand up and bring proper punishment on all the offences that are going unpunished today?

Don’t we have one man who can call a spade a spade??? Why can’t we do what they did in Bhopal, India???

The Police made all four rapists walk the streets and gave the public the right to stone them or beat them up and the women really did!!! They went for the Jugular” (metaphorically!!!) If India had the guts to mete out such punishment, why can’t we??? Perhaps we need to send someone to purchase some guts” from India???

5. Looking around we need more than guts to get this sorry country back on track!!! Killing one another, fighting one another, accidents by the dozen, buses with passengers overflowing horning and horning always on the wrong side, when they are expected to keep to the left!!! Who gives a damn, who cares???

Do the Police, the men who are expected to maintain law and order to a certain extent at least??? When the present IGP took over there was a lot of optimism that he would change the Police Force for the better!!! What happened to the change???

Nobody can glance at a newspaper these days without a sense of revulsion – accidents, suicides and murders seem to be the order of the day!!! Perhaps it is a general feeling, that despite the Government’s insistence that the economy is improving and one or two small indicators point to some growth, no one is in an optimistic mood, no one feels like spending money!!! Everywhere people are worried about what the effect would be not only on business but on life in this country in general!!!

6. The newspapers of the April 22 and 23 were full of articles and supplements on the late and great Athulathmudali!!! It is correct that there were many glitches but both Lalith and Gamini also worked for the good of the common man!!!

Karunanayake is also being considered for a Ministerial Post!!!  Our erstwhile PM has not yet bothered to tell us why Karunanayake was made Finance Minister in the first instance ….

They left behind lasting monuments of their various noteworthy accomplishments that have lasted 25 years and will certainly go on for more!!! It is such a pity that the present Government cannot at least draw from their glowing examples, be guided by their entrepreneurship and strive to some extent to emulate both Lalith and Gamini.

The people are confused, they wonder if this Cabinet of Ministers cannot even decide on a date when the Cabinet is going to be changed- if it will ever happen-how can the common man ever believe what they are being told???

Postponement of everything seems to be the order of the day and they- from the President down-have not yet come to grips with what they have not done, perhaps because they don’t know, even now, when they are going to!!!

The shame indeed is ours, because we brought them into office!!!

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Ecrasez l’infame!”—Crush the loathsome thing!”
– Voltaire  

Neoliberalism is almost dead in Sri Lanka, and its Government is dying. The choice that is before us is which type/variety of Populism:Right, Left, Centre or Centre-Left?

Even if the JVP’s 20th amendment is supported by the UNP, TNA and misguided/manipulated SLPP pundits, the people will defeat it at a Referendum because (i) they are looking for a chance to reject the Government and the Establishment (ii) the mood is for a strong state, not a weakened one (iii) the ‘NO’ campaign will be led by a neo-nationalist network, as was Brexit (iv) anti-UNP voters (the mainstay of the JO-Pohottuwa) will stay home rather than vote with the UNP-TNA on anything and (v) at a Referendum, the voters do not vote on party lines, therefore party-based arithmetic is superseded by the national mood, and that mood is bitterly antagonistic to the 2015 Establishment. The 20th amendment move will only strengthen the Sinhala Alt-Right backlash and place it at the head of the agenda for regime change,just as ‘Sinhala Only’ did in 1955.

The people have figured out the arithmetic of the minority factor too, and were reminded of it during the live telecast of the vote on the motion of no-confidence, when the leader who appointed Arjuna Mahendran was propped up by his UNP and the‘16 seater’ TNAFake Opposition (Mr. Sampanthan is merely masquerading as the Opposition Leader) with Mangala Samaraweera promising to expedite a new Constitution and ‘Transitional Justice’. The majority of the citizens know that this time around they will have to vote in such numbers that the combined weight of the structurally pro-UNP/ pro-Right minority vote will be utterly overwhelmed by a pan-Sinhala electoral tsunami.

If you put together the historically lowest point the Sri Lankan rupee has plunged to, the lowest economic growth rate the country has had in sixteen years,the massive slew of new taxes, the projected rise in fuel prices, the discontent at the UNP grassroots and the rebellion in the SLFP parliamentary mainstream, then you recognize that the Government’s defeat is a ‘known known’—something we know that we already know.

The only thing that is ‘interim’ about the ‘interim administration’ that the SLFP’s CBK faction is negotiating, is the interim nature of that faction’s electoral existence, which will end in extinction as did the LSSP-CPSL in 1977. Even in the unlikely event of the UNP changing its leadership, it will be too little too late– and anyway the Navin-Sajith succession struggle is already causing dissonance and fissure.

We know how and when (at the latest) the story of the 2015 Yahapalana Government ends. It is as in the title of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s famous novel, ‘Chronicle of a Death Foretold’. We know who loses, but who and what winds up the biggest winner? Nobody and no permutation or combination in the Yahapalana Government can be a winner, because the public mood is so bitterly hostile (crush the loathsome thing!”). Only a candidate who is chosen, endorsed and strongly supported by Mahinda Rajapaksa, and whose campaign is spearheaded by him, stands a chance of winning the Presidency.

The people are poised to bid a long goodbye to the pro-western liberalism and its socially decadent elite.They want a strong, determined, patriotic, populist leader

So the only real questions in Sri Lankan politics today are: Who will wield state power when this Government is buried in 18 months at the latest?Who will Mahinda choose?

Mahinda Rajapaksa himself is easily the most outstanding, mature and experienced political and national leader we have– a truly historic and appealing figure. As do most voters I would dearly like to see him as the leader of the country once more, and I definitely think he is the safest choice, but there is the Constitutional obstacle of the 19th amendment.

The JVP’s 20th amendment is a trap to get the JO-SLPP on the side of a YES vote at a referendum for the UNP. If the UNP wins any nationwide popular vote it will efface the recent defeat at the local elections and gain the oxygen needed to recover.

The 13th amendment cannot be abolished as it is the result of a bilateral agreement, however asymmetric. I do not wish to see the 13th amendment able to operate outside the overarching framework of the Executive Presidency. I do not believe that on a small island neighbouring a large ethnic (Tamil) kin-state, a parliamentary system can adequately manage the Northern and Eastern Provincial Councils which are closer to Tamil Nadu in every sense than they are to Colombo.

I do not wish to see a Parliament and a Prime Minister as dependent upon the sectarian-regionalist parties as I saw this present PM during the no-confidence motion. That will be the permanent state of our politics if we abolish the executive Presidency. Such a Prime Minister will be reduced to merely the Chief Minister of the Southern two thirds of the island; the Chief Minister of the Sinhalese!How can the 13 amendment be controlled by any Prime Minister who is himself/herself dependent upon minority votes in Parliament? If King Dutugemunu were Prime Minister under the proposed system, he would have to secure the TNA’s support in Parliament to leave Maagama to liberate and reunify his country!

All that said, we still confront a major, complex problem. The problem is that the constituency, discourse, project and ideology of any oppositional Presidential candidate should not generate (I) domestic polarization vis-à-vis the ethno-religious/ethno-regional minorities as well as the progressive Sinhala youth, students and trade unions and (II) bring us into direct confrontation with India, the West and possibly the Islamic world, on moral, political and geostrategic terrain in which even Russia and China cannot successfully support us.The strong, unitary Chinese state has constitutionalized the sub-system of Ethnic Regional Autonomy, the Lankan equivalent of which the Sinhala Alt-Right thinks it can dismantle/dilute while on India’s doorstep!

None of these forebodings will prevent a strong, dynamic anti-Establishment personality from rocketing into Presidential office next year. The people are poised to bid a long goodbye to the pro-western liberalism and its socially decadent elite.They want a strong, determined, patriotic, populist leader who will reverse the national decline—a Putin or Erdogan. Contemporary history will shape the backlash which will naturally turn to and draw from the defining social and national experience of our lifetime: the Great War and the successful management of a classic victory.

My conclusions:   
I. Under no conceivable circumstances whatsoever should the JO-SLPP be on the same side of the barricades as the UNP, in Parliament or outside, calling for a YES vote at a referendum on any issue! If it does so, the JO-SLPP will be switching places with candidate Maithripala Sirisena of January 2015 and providing a progressive mask for a UNP-TNA project. It would also be repeating the sad betrayal by the ex-progressive Maithripala Senanayaka at the Dec 1982 Referendum. The JO-SLPP must call for a NO vote at a referendum on any Constitutional reform, go flat out in the campaign and use the massive rejection of the proposal as a method of ousting the UNP-led Government and its SLFP puppets from office.

II. As for the dangers of an Alt-Right driven Presidential candidacy and its aftermath as regime, the solution is to launch the dynamic, anti-Establishment political candidacy firmly under Mahinda Rajapaksa’s leadership;anchored, locked-in and contained within the parameters of a bloc of the JO-SLPP-SLFPRebels. Mahinda must be the Prime Minister that Putin was, not what Madam Bandaranaike was in 1994. That is the only way to reshape a fraught historical conjuncture and risky configuration of forces in which the government and Presidency may be boxed in by an extremist Sinhala Alt-Right constituency and project which will drive us beyond the prudent limits of geopolitical and geostrategic Realism.

By Ranga Jayasuriya Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Reading the Sunday newspapers, I stumbled upon two stories. One was about ‘resettlement experts’ making a hue and cry that the third phase of Central Expressway would cause mass displacement. From a people’s point of view, we are heading for disaster,” one complains. According to the statistics cited, 6,432 people from 1,742 families would be affected. There are 624 people living in the road corridor; 2,098 agricultural landowners; and 25 entrepreneurs.

The second is a report that the US Congress has allocated US$ 35 million for Sri Lanka for FY 2018, subjective to extensive conditions. Conditions, as the Sunday Times reported, goes as further as, returning military occupied private lands in former conflict zones to their rightful owners, setting up a credible office to investigate the plight of missing persons and publishing the lists of persons who surrendered to the Security Forces after the end of civil war in May 2009.”

The substantial reduction of the presence of the armed forces in former conflict zones and implementing a plan for restructuring and reducing the size of armed forces to adopt a peacetime role that contributes to post-conflict reconciliation and regional security,” are among other conditions

The substantial reduction of the presence of the armed forces in former conflict zones and implementing a plan for restructuring and reducing the size of armed forces to adopt a peacetime role that contributes to post-conflict reconciliation and regional security, are among other conditions 

These two stories are in no way interrelated, but they are also microscopic of two contexts which, in our historical experience had a causal effect. There are, of course, two ways to interpret it. The self-righteous one would say that the government’s disregard for the grievances of people such as those evicted by the highway project is a pointer to its overall callousness, which might have warranted such a self –righteous scrutiny by America. The other less politically correct, but more grounded to truth one is that it was this cacophony of endless disagreements over every development project that had held back this country for decades and effectively, this low economic attainment compels it to subject itself to every self-indignation. Also, there is hardly any conclusive evidence that suggest aid extensively tied to human rights and good governance had ever performed better than others, and created growth. In fact, the countries that truly benefitted from the American largess were developmental dictatorships of East Asia, and Chile. They succeeded in part because either Chiang Kai-shek or Pinochet could easily kick out the squatters to build roads, industrial parks and modern cities. Those leaders may not have been globally acclaimed, perhaps with the exception of Lee Kuan Yew, a milder one, and lately Deng Xiaoping. But, at the end of their rule, they all left their countries infinitely better than what they were when they first assumed power.

There is no correlation between economic growth and democracy, and more often than not, an overdose of competing interests and electoral short-termism have made it harder for countries to achieve growth. That is where the leaders come in. They should navigate across those differences to achieve the long term interest of the country and its people. As historical examples have shown, in regime modernization means matters much less than the end. Short term pain could also be in the overall long term interests of democracy as well. Because, though economic growth, and democracy are not inter-related, democracy cannot be sustained in the absence of prosperity.

There is hardly any conclusive evidence that suggest aid extensively tied to human rights and good governance had ever performed better than others, and created growth

Sri Lanka has a sense of urgency to uplift its people. And our habit of arguing over every development project, till the cows come home and project cost hit through the roof has not helped. Political instability and economic inertia at present would make things worse. That is where, to give the devil its due, the previous regime of Mahinda Rajapaksa should be applauded. That is probably the only period in recent history where there were a manifest sense of urgency and tangible outcome of economic modernization on the ground. Sri Lankans want that pro-activeness and political cohesion in the country’s economic development. They could very well vote the Rajapaksas to power in the next election, but that would cause many other problems and probably roll back whatever the democratic gains achieved so far.
To leapfrog economically, poor countries do not necessarily need dictators, even pro-growth ones. But, they have to have strong institutions that are capable of effectively addressing grievances of people who are affected by development work, and also preventing a microscopic minority of public from disrupting the country’s progress. Sometimes, there may not be a foolproof solution to short term pain and physical and psychological displacement that development, free trade and labour reforms are bound to cause. There, the leaders have to look into the matters in a utilitarian perspective, i.e. the greater good for the greatest number of people, even at the expense of a minority.

Ex-President Rajapaksa got that one right. Unfortunately, this government is neither here, nor there.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While stating that the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) is against the proposal of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to remove the executive presidency, General Secretary of the PHU Upul Wijesekara said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was behind the JVP’s proposal.

Addressing a news conference, he said premier Wickremesinghe anticipated centralizing executive powers unto his purview by making use of the abolishment of the executive presidency.

It is obvious that the Prime Minister is acting according to the agendas of the foreign countries. Premier Wickremesinghe is now bit struggling to act upon the foreign countries as he lacks the executive powers. Once the executive presidency is removed PM would be eagerly waiting to run the country in accordance with the whims and fancies of the foreign countries,” Mr. Wijesekara said.

He said political experts should be consulted in this regard and should see whether it would be worthwhile to the country.

Meanwhile, deputy leader of the PHU Madumadawa Aravinda said there is a visible confrontation in the JVP due to what transpired after the No-Confidence brought against Premier Wickremesinghe.

Although the JVP came to a unanimous decision that they would vote against the PM, some members were not that much in favour of the decision. Consequently, one group of the JVP is with K. D. Lal Kantha whereas another group is with the JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake,” Madumadawa said.

Sheain Fernandopulle Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While claiming that the Central Bank of Sri Lanka lacked sufficient funds to pay back the Treasury bonds and bills before their date of expiry, MP Bandula Gunawardana said the bond market could collapse due to the prevailing situation.

Addressing a news briefing, he said the government needs to pay back the funds of the Treasury bonds and bills before the date of termination and that they were short of funds to do so.

It is with responsibility that I say the Central Bank doesn’t possess sufficient funds to pay back the Treasury bonds and bills before the deadline expires. It has already suspended the release of funds for this purpose,” MP Gunawardana charged.

He said if this situation continues there would be an enormous impact on the Sri Lankan bond market and it would tarnish the monetary credibility among the international community and those who wish to invest in Sri Lanka.

By Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha Courtesy Ceylon Today

By Editor  Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 23 (newsin.asia) – Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has strongly denied reports of Chinese militarization of the Chinese funded Hambantota Port, in southern Sri Lanka, and stressed the Sri Lankan Navy was the sole military force responsible for the security of the Port.

During discussions with China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Cheng Xueyuan, Wickremesinghe said some foreign media irresponsibly hyped the question of militarization of the Hambantota Port out of their own hidden agenda, but time would eventually prove that the Hambantota Port was destined to embrace a prosperous and bright future in business.

Responding to the allegations of Chinese militarization at Hambantota Port, Ambassador Cheng pointed out that there was no military purpose for China to conduct friendly and pragmatic cooperation with Sri Lanka.

China never interferes in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs and is willing to work with the Sri Lankan side to push forward the latter’s economic and social development by promoting new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, win-win cooperation,” the Ambassador said.

He further said China attached great importance to the relations with Sri Lanka, and wished to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries to actively push forward the practical cooperation under the framework of Belt and Road Initiative, so as to bring tangible benefits to the two countries and peoples.

In discussions with Sri Lanka’s Navy Commander S. Ranasinghe, Ambassador Cheng said there were some baseless foreign speculations that the Hambantota Port might be used for military purpose and China and Sri Lanka should keep vigilant against such kind of rumors.

He stressed that both countries must strengthen communication and coordination so as to prevent the China-Sri Lankan relations and cooperation from being disturbed or damaged.

Ranasingha, agreeing with the Chinese Ambassador’s views said that from the first day of operation of the Hambantota Port, the sole commercial use of the port had been clearly defined through legal forms.

Ranasingha said that recently, a warship of Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force smoothly berthed for supplies at the Hambantota Port, reflecting the openness and commercial nature of the port.

It is believed that these unfounded suspicions and rumours will collapse of themselves as more and more vessels including warships from various countries berth for supplies at the Port,” Ranasingha said.

By Editor  Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

By Editor Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Launching a Tamil language book Or Inapprachanaiyum Ou Oppandhamum” (An Ethnic Question and An Accord) on the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 written by T.Ramakrishnan Associate Editor of The Hindu, Sampanthan appealed to the Tamils to eschew skepticism and see past and current efforts to find a political solution in a positive light and as being part of a continuum.

He urged the Tamils to work cohesively for the attainment of the goal of securing maximum devolution of power and to repose faith in the helping hand extended by India and the international community.

Sampanthan appealed to the audience at the Tamil Sangam to realize that the present juncture is ideal for securing the Tamils’ rights, given the hold that the Tamils have on the government and the sympathy and support their struggle is getting from the international community.

Three Requirements

The Tamils, Sampanthan said, need to do three things: First, they should shed petty differences and rivalries and present a united front to the government, the opposition and the international community.

He stress on unity stemmed from a disconcerting fact – chronic divisiveness in Tamil politics. Any move made by a group towards finding a political solution in cooperation with the Sri Lankan government is viewed by its rivals as a treacherous act to be discarded lock, stock and barrel.

The second requirement for a successful struggle is a positive approach to the efforts made in the past and are being made now towards finding a solution to the Tamil question through constitutional means.

All efforts, from the India-Sri Lanka Accord to the Tissa Vitarana committee report submitted to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, have been milestones in the onward march of the constitutional struggle, Sampanthan said.

The third requirement is to repose continued faith in India. Sampanthan stressed the need for having India on board as it is not possible for the Tamils to do without India. The cooperation of the international community is also needed.  It makes sense for the Tamils to utilize the services of India and the international community.

Sampanthan’s strong advocacy of an Indian role in the Tamils’ struggle came in the context of a feeling among the Tamils that India had led them up the garden path promising an independent Eelam or a federal solution and let them down once its geo-political objectives visa-a-vis Sri Lanka had been attained.

India had been insincere throughout, from the time it got involved in the 1980s under the leadership of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to the present day. The TNA’s leadership is continuously lambasted from political platforms and in the media for its misplaced” faith in India, or worse, for being India’s  hand maiden.

Having interacted with both Indira and Rajiv Gandhi, Sampanthan emphatically denied that they were insincere, and that their sole aim was to prevent Sri Lanka from joining the American bloc.

Sampanthan said that both Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi had told the Tamil United Front (TULF) leaders that they were keen on finding a solution to the Tamil question. After Rajiv assumed power, he explicitly told a TULF delegation, that he would follow the policies of his mother, and that he would never let the Tamils down.”

Sampanthan ended his oration by pledging that the TNA would not rest until it had obtained the Tamils’ rights within a united Sri Lanka. The principal goal as spelt out by him is:  Internal self-determination” which means maximum devolution within a single united Sri Lanka.

The Tamil leader believed that this can be attained if the Tamils persist with the current constitution-making efforts, speak with one voice and take the help of India and the international community.

Speaking earlier, A. Varadarajaperumal, who was Chief Minister of the united Tamil-speaking North Eastern Province from December 1988 to March 1990, said that India has virtually abandoned the Tamil cause because it is now interested in economic expansion and not political hegemony.

India is at an economic war” against China in South Asia, Varadarajaperumal said. That being the case, India would rather cultivate the majority community, the Sinhalese, than the minority Tamils. At any rate, the Tamils have nothing economic to offer.

It would therefore not be very prudent to expect India to intercede on behalf of the Tamils on political questions such as devolution of power, Varadarajaperumal said.

H. L. D. Mahindapala

On the night that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe won the no-confidence motion in Parliament (April 5, 2018) three separate but interconnected incidents occurred, within stone’s throw of each other: 1. he held a thanksgiving pooja to the deities at Gangaramaya Temple for saving his  job which was on the line that day; 2. at the Head Office of the MTV station, which is within earshot of Gangaramaya, a mob led by UNP thugs threw stones, lit crackers, and threatened the media staff in an obvious attempt to teach a lesson to MTV which had persistently exposed the  manipulative role of the Prime Minister in the Bond Scam” and 3. in a swift move the leader of the thugs, Kithsiri Rajapakase, a UNP councillor, disappears from the scene of thuggery at MTV only to reappear, more  or less, as the guardian of the Prime Minister standing right behind him at Gangaramaya.

Of all the media institutions it was only MTV that was facing the wrath of the UNP mob on the night of Ranil’s so-called victory.  Why only MTV? It was the only media outlet that had consistently and relentlessly exposed the Bond Scam” – the biggest bank robbery in Sri Lankan history with the advice and consent of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as revealed in the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. The angry UNP mob was aiming to get even with MTV for exposing the roles of the key UNPers in this robbery.

As I was watching the wrath of the mob unfit-olding on online NEWS1 a cold chill ran down my spine. My mind went back to the day when the mob of Mrs.Bandaranaike-Marxist coalition lined up on the pavements of the Regal Theatre and Regal Flats yelling and screaming for the blood of those at Lake House. Ranil’s father, Esmond Wickremesinghe, who was manipulating the anti-SLFP-Marxist politics of Lake House at the time, was watching the mob waiting to break-in. Like my fellow-journalists, I too was watching from the window of the Observer end of Lake House building, facing Regal Theatre directly.

The coalition of Mrs. Bandaranaike and the Marxists had won, despite Lake House campaigning against them, and their pumped-up mob had decided to demonstrate their power opposite Lake House. They were in an aggressive mood to get even with Lake House. Fortunately, they didn’t come in that day. They raided Lake House on a subsequent day and ran berserk, burning precious books and rare back numbers of newspapers. After that came the deluge. It was the beginning of the full frontal attack on free media. What began as a mob attack later developed into a massive assault on free media with the state moving with full legal force to take full control of the historic institution. Denzil Peiris, Editor of The Observer, and I received life-threatening phone calls. We had to go into hiding. Eventually, we had to flee the country we loved.

The MTV footage told me that Ranil was repeating Mrs. B’s history, this time as a pathetic comedy. In Sri Lanka the characteristics and the objectives of violence seldom change. Only the parties that initiate, engineer and perpetrate the violence change. Sri Lankan history becomes so predictable and boring because it repeats itself so often. The three UNP events listed above are not much different from the SLFP-Marxist violence against the media. They stand out as a unique snap shot – or is it a close-up?  — of the prevailing pernicious political culture in  Sri Lanka directed currently by the UNP. MTV footage is also notable for  one other aspect : it is a rare reality show that has captured the thuggery and piety, moving together on parallel lines in a symbiotic relationship, one feeding the other.

The filmic evidence links the head of the government, either directly or indirectly, to a violent mob in the streets. In the opening shots it showed a die-hard UNP henchaiya of Ranil, Kithsiri Rajapakse, leading the mob against MTV. In the next scenes the story takes a tragi-comic turn when the cameras caught the UNP henchaiya, Rajapakse, standing right behind Ranil at Gangaramaya, offering his thanks, with hands put together, for his master’s victory in Parliament.

In a politically charged situation when a wing of a political party operating violently in the streets join hands in a politically sensitive religious centre to offer prayers together with the highest leadership of the land what is the message that  is delivered to the nation? Does it mean that Ranil has tamed another Angulimala? Or does it mean Ranil and Rajapakse (No pun intended!) are both taking refuge behind the yellow robes to cover-up their street violence?

The TV images needed no commentary. When the leader of a violent gang joined his leader in thanksgiving prayers, the TV footage spoke eloquently of the politics behind the thuggery. To this day Ranil Wickremesinghe, the leader of the UNP, has neither condemned publicly the violation of the laws of the land by his henchaiya, nor has the UNP leader apologised to MTV for threatening the journalists – an act which the Yahapalana-ya-kos swore never to do when they condemned the previous Rajapaksa regime.

Needless to say, the UNP henchaiyas of the Prime Minister, who threatened the TV journalists, were making a political statement. First, the underworld henchaiyas linked to the UNP were making a public demonstration of their loyalty to the Prime Minister. They were signalling that their violence at MTV is the pay-back for consistently exposing the Bond Scam” which began with Ranil importing his Singaporean henchman, Arjuna Mahendra, who ganged up with his in-laws to rob the Sri Lankan Central Bank.

Second, they were demonstrating that they could get away with pro-UNP thuggery because they have the protection  of the ruling  party. Third, they know that they are among the protected species like Ravi Karunanayake and Arjuna Mahendra who can get away with blue murder. Some of them have confessed publicly that they were acting under the instructions of the Prime Minister.

For instance, his Singaporean protégé, Arjuna Mahendran, told the Presidential Commission that he acted under the instructions of the Prime Minister. This confession puts the responsibility for the underhand wheeler-dealings of the Bond Scam”, fairly and squarely, on the shoulders of Ranil. The evidence in  the Presidential Commission Inquiry points the finger to Ranil. The damning  evidence robs Ranil of the last two vestiges of respectability that were attached to his name. Well, if the biggest daylight robbery at the Central Bank occurred under his stewardship (and instructions”) of Ranil, aided and abetted by his handpicked henchman, the Governor of the Central Bank, he can no longer be rated as either (1) Mr. Clean” or as (2) the best economic manager”, eh?

Besides, the sly nudge-and-wink he gave as the green light for the overall operations of the robbery at the Central Bank, on the one hand, and the thuggery on the streets, on the other, will not – I repeat NOT — add to his glory. Neither has it gone down well with the voters as seen in the recent local government elections, nor will it get any marks in history books to come. Ranil clearly has fallen from grace into the pathala lokaya” and not all the king’s men and horses can lift him above the crooked rest in his camp.

Which apologist can cook up an excuse to white-wash the role of a known thug joining the Prime Minister at prayers at Gangaramaya immediately after leading his gang to attack critics of the UNP?  It cannot be dismissed as a coincidence or another bit of cynical drama that occurs in every corner of Sri Lankan politics these days. More than the irony, hypocrisy and the cynicism, it is the horror of a thug closely associated with Ranil, standing beside him as his guardian deity at Gangaramaya, which sends shock waves down the spine. At what point of political morality does Kithsiri Rajapakse standing next to Ranil as his help-karaya” justify his commitment to the Lichchvai principles – the oft quoted political mantra of Ranil?

The TV footage also questions whether Ranil is taking refuge in the Triple Gems or in Kithsiri Rajapkase? Or is Ranil saying that he is keeping Rajapakse in the background in case the deities at Gangaramaya fail him?

Ranil combines in his person the twin roles of the Prime Minister and the Presidency of his party, both of which carry the responsibilities of providing security to all citizens of the nation, including the media. As Prime Minister it is his duty to uphold law and order of the country. If he is to deliver the principles he promised in the Yahapalanaya manifesto there is no way that he could be with Rajapakse. (Repeat: No pun intended). Besides, how does he propose to run a fair, just and stable government from Temple Trees” when in the nearby streets thugs allied to him are running amok?

As head of the UNP it is also his duty to control his rank-and-file, particularly those close to him, to inspire confidence in a nation recovering from a destructive war. How can the people place confidence in Ranil when Ranil has placed his confidence in his gangs? Then there is his role as the Asian Head of the IDU which makes it incumbent upon him to use all his powers to guarantee the rights of media to act freely.

Above all, he comes from the Wijewardene-Wickremesinghe families – two iconic families that not only laid the foundations for free media but also fought the greatest battles against the state to protect and preserve the rights of free media. I know the trials and tribulations of those agonising times because I was then a foot-soldier in the frontline of those battles. Ranil’s father, Esmond Wickremesinghe, was awarded the Golden Pen by the IPU for his courageous leadership.

Ranil inherited the moral and political duty to protect the rights of the media from the paternal and maternal sides. His grandfather, D. R. Wijewardene, was the pioneering media mogul, who introduced the nation to mass media and, through it, defined the future of the nation as an integrated, undivided entity that belongs to all those who call it  their home. His mother was steeped in the nationalist traditions that fostered the Sinhala-Buddhist roots.

Perhaps, Ranil’s ambition in his early life to be a journalist was minspired by his father’s courageous stand against the state. With all this familial background what excuse has he for praying at Gangaramaya with a thug who led the attack on MTV? Of course, there is no bar for even fascist killers like Rohana Wijeweera and Velupillai Prabhakaran to pray at Gangaramaya with Ranil. The issue here is not the right of anyone to pray at Gangaramaya but the licence given to one of Ranil’s henchaiyas to attack the media in the streets near Gangaramaya. What is the message he is conveying to the journalists who dare to oppose him? Isn’t he saying: If you come after me I’m going to come after you?”

There seems to be a pattern emerging from the latest act of UNP thuggery at MTV. The pattern highlights Ranil’s links to the underworld. In the beginning it was Gonawila Sunil who was Ranil’s loyal sidekick. It is well known that this convicted rapist of a 13-year-old girl was close to Ranil. It is also well-known that Gonawila managed to get out of jail without serving his full term with the blessings of Ranil. After he came out he was even showered with a JP. One fine day, when Gonawila was becoming an embarrassment to all concerned, he went up in smoke. Boom! That was the end of Ranil’s Gonawila.

He was replaced by a young sub-inspector, Sudath Chandrasekera, who was stationed in Batalanda – the notorious killing field during the JVP reign of terror. He served Ranil as his Personal Assistant / Man Friday for 33 and in his recent letter of resignation – a sensitive and critical document that exposes his master’s character – he reveals how his gang hammered the anti-Ranil forces marching from Matara with cinnamon sticks. Describing himself as red-lipped catamite” of Ranil he says that he risked his life for Ranil and without his attack with cinnamon sticks on the opposition Ranil would not be sitting in PM’s chair today.

Now that Sudath has resigned Rajapakse seems to have stepped into his place. He not only leads attacks on Ranil’s media critics he also puts up massive posters of his master, with him posing as Sancho Pancho in a bottom corner of the poster. It is clear that behind the façade of Ranil’s respectability (Mr. Clean”?) is a dark underworld that does the dirty work for him.

Ranil began his attack on the media by picking on selected journalists who had refused to toe his line and labelling them with crude name-calling. He called them frogs” and cows” etc.. Taking cover from the privileged position in Parliament he looks up at the Press gallery and hurls abuse at non-conformist journalists. His war against the media is like Prabhakaran’s war: any donkey could wage it. It’s a futile war. He should know by now that he can’t win wars against the media unless he becomes a dictator. Using his UNP thugs to attack the media shows signs of escalating his war against the media. Better leaders than him who waged war against the media have come and gone But, as he knows, the war he has declared on the media is not  going to make him a winner. He will have will have better chances if he leaves the media alone and gets down to mind his own bloody business.

Countries have fallen. People have lost lives & homes. Countries are destabilized, split to pieces, locals are armed, locals are roped in as poodles, regime change & system change are all part of a neo-colonial liberal agenda that seeks to destroy the sovereign state system & bring corporate rule to the hands of a miniscule. This agenda has been rolled out a well-planned, well-coordinated, well-funded set of initiatives of which manufactured stories, news, fake videos, false eye witnesses, staged scenes, bogus NGOs, bought over locals and now even child actors are playing a role. In bringing out some of the lies that went to destroy nations, the people of Sri Lanka should now not be naïve to think that there is a bigger picture to the existence of the LTTE, those that funded & supported them & every post-war action taking place against everyone that contributed to the defeat of LTTE terrorism.

Gulf War – Iraq

This is Gen. Colin Powell. In 2003 he was the US Secretary of State. In February 2003, he lied to the UN holding up ‘evidence’ of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. There was no such WMDs but Iraq was invaded.

He is alleged to have made 254 false statements in the run up to the Iraq War

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ughtKRK78-g – Sec of State Powell lies about WMDs at the UN

Donald Rumsfeld Secretary of Defense also caught lying about Iraq’s WMD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPJCPcYCupY

This is Charles Jaco – CNN reporter covering the 1990 Persian Gulf War. He was made famous for no reason. Leaked footage shows the entire clip was done inside CNN studio and they even went to the extent of putting gas masks amid false sirens! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTWY14eyMFg

Nayirah

This is Nayirah. Her ‘performance’ was part of a $12m package to a US PR firm that coached her to cry before US Congress & manufacture a story about Iraqi troops killing babies in incubators which was quoted even by US President Bush to justify bombing of Iraq. Viewing her act will shock any as to how 15 year olds can be trained to cry & tell false stories. She was the daughter of the Kuwait ambassador to US & Canada & a member of the Kuwait Royal Family. There were no such incubator baby killings but Iraq was invaded!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_JfqkEXdAg&t=22s

Listen to the speeches of both PMs – both are identical & helped pave way to invade Iraq! Who wrote the script?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYfDTsjwE58

Lies that Destroyed Yugoslavia, Serbia & created Kosovo

Media & Western government spread fabricated concentration camps,” rape camps,” and similar Nazi- and Auschwitz-like analogies

This is Fikret Alic, a Bosnian Muslim. He was used as a symbol by West against Serbia in 1992. He is shown as an emaciated man standing behind a barbed wire fence but he was not in any concentration camp as alleged.  It was from a videoclip by a British TV team to which C4 also participated. His physique was a result of a birth defect!

The picture that fooled the world – https://fbreporter.org/2015/07/12/the-picture-that-fooled-the-world/

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/LIE/BOSNIA_PHOTO/bosnia.html

Serbian Concentration Camp fabrication – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xss0Ep1MJM (remember the concentration camp/internment camp stories that were making the rounds against Sri Lanka)

The Pulitzer Prize for international reporting on Yugoslavia was given to John F. Burns of the New York Times in 1993 for his articles on the destruction of Sarajevo and the barbarous killings” in Bosnia. The prize was based heavily on his interview with alleged Serb killer-rapist Borislav Herak. However, Herak later confessed that he was tortured to admit to rape by his Bosnian Muslim captors.

The Markale Market massacre on August 27, 1993 received the same attention the International Community gave Sri Lanka to LTTE crimes – ignored & turning a blind eye. But when Bosnian Muslims claimed 200,000” dead without even providing evidence it became worldwide news just like the inflated figures falling from the sky regarding the ‘dead/missing’ in Sri Lanka – no names, no dead bodies not even skeletons! In Kosovo too the inflated figures of 200,000 eventually had to come down to a realistic 2000 & those exaggerating were never punished. The same scenario prevails in Sri Lanka! KLA are equivalent to LTTE & post-Kosovo KLA are ruling while LTTE’s TNA are now at the helm in Sri Lanka!

The West’s interference & interventions in the Middle East & parts of Africa have been based on lies. Lies manufactured and presented through PR firms, lobbied by others & spread by media. How authentic are these military interventions then? Not one military intervention or R2P has been genuine. From the disintegration of Yugoslavia, the creation of mini-states, the lies that led to the independence of Kosovo, then to the liberation of Libya killing its leader and from 2011 it has been Syria.

Lies that led to the bogus ‘Liberation’ of Libya

Gaddafi was projected as a ‘dictator’. Media relayed him as a killer of his own people. Libyan govt was accused of mass human rights violations. The ‘rebels’ the Libyan govt were fighting were armed, trained & financed by Western governments. The West wanted Gaddafi not to step down but – they wanted him dead. He was eventually mercilessly killed while the West watched and applauded. Today Libyans have not been liberated. They have found out their ‘dictator’ was an angel compared to the failed state that exists after Western regime change. Then the West moved on to their next target Syria

https://www.mondialisation.ca/libya-war-was-based-on-lies-bogus-intelligence-nato-supported-and-armed-the-rebels-british-parliamentary-report/5547356

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/03/22/libya-and-the-myth-of-humanitarian-intervention/

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-historical-narrative-that-lies-beneath-the-gaddafi-rebellion-2230654.html

Danny Abdul Dayem

This is a screen shot of Danny Abdul Dayem another fake news manufactured in 2011 to facilitate the invasion of Syria. Danny turned out to be a British citizen & one of the rainbow boys paid to kick start the Syrian colour ‘revolution’. His ‘reports’ were used to build anti-Assad sentiment by BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera. He was dubbed the voice of Homs”. Living in London he was portrayed as a ‘eyewitness’ in Homs & shot by Syrian troops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-DCZxsrt9I

EXPOSED: Danny Abdul-Dayem & CNN Lying…Again – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4YfKIPDS8E

https://www.sott.net/article/242491-Truth-about-Western-medias-favourite-Syrian-activist-Danny-Dayem

OMRAN

Everyone will remember this photo. He is OMRAN who was rescued after an airstrike by White Helmets in Syria/Aleppo. The child’s image was used by western media to show brutality of the Syrian Govt. His father alleged his son was used as propaganda with everyone photographing him without attending to his injuries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5BTFvCUz8

Omran Daqneesh’s Father Exposes mainstream media https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rE0emXxJTo

Is video of Syrian ‘hero boy’ authentic?

This was what was shown to the world

That it was a film was never told!

Is video of Syrian ‘hero boy’ authentic? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjb4XgjuP4A

Millions became captivated by this video of a Syrian boy rescuing a little girl amidst gunfire. The reality was that it was a film by a Norwegian team & the location was Malta not Syria & the boy was not Syrian but a child actor, so was the little girl.

Image of a Young boy sleeping with his dead parents” was circulated on facebook & twitter in 2014.

The staff of the UN had even circulated it.

We were all shown the first photo & not the 2nd

The reality was that it was part of an art project by photographer Abdul Aziz al Otaibi & shot in Saudi Arabia & not in Syria.

Who are the WHITE HELMETS?

Also known as the Syrian Civil Defense claims to be ‘impartial’ ‘non government’ however White Helmets was created in 2013 not by Syrians but James Le Mesurier a former British army officer & working as a UN staff member. The WH were operating solely in terrorist held areas – that explains their close relationship with the al-Qaeda affiliated group Jabhat al-Nusra & thus the defacto ‘eyewitnesses’ (ring a bell regarding the INGOs/NGOs working in LTTE held areas and the ‘eyewitnesses who are LTTE cadres or supporters!) For those that fund both – they are not terrorists but rebels, freedom fighters & civil defense!

Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters denounced the White Helmets civil defense group” in Syria as a fake organization” that spreads propaganda for jihadists and terrorists.” White Helmets sounds so much like the LTTE fronts operating from overseas!

The WH claim to be unarmed – but this photo shows otherwise

    white helmets very much armed!

US State Dept admitted providing $23m assistance through USAID to the WH but its website claims it accepts no ‘money from governments’. Total funding from other governments come to $100m with $65m from UK officially being declared (Vanessa Beeley)

The White Helmets even won an Oscar (we recall how LTTE funded C4 Killing Fields was similarly nominated)

Eva Bartlett says there are no international organization on the ground in Aleppo Syria. West relies on White Helmets & Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – one man report from UK. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6utDs1b_TU (this is a must listen as what Eva says has similarities with Sri Lanka’s scenario)

Vanessa Beeley also exposes the White Helmet as participating against Syrian civilians and on the side of the terrorists! If they are virtually terrorists & they die why does the world mourn them simply because they are projected as ‘rescue workers” did we not experience same scenario in Sri Lanka with those supporting the LTTE claiming to be ‘civilian’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvwvw9z5j3g – the Lies behind the White Helmets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQL3rX6xWRg

The White Helmets not only feel at home on territories controlled by Al-Nusra Front and Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL], but also openly express positive attitudes towards them, providing them with information and even financial assistance,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova said

She noted that there is documentary evidence” showing that White Helmets members were in fact part of certain operations by the terrorists. Zakharova said there are videos showing Syrian troops being tortured and executed in the presence of White Helmets.

Doctors have condemned the techniques used by White Helmets

White Helmets Video: Swedish Doctors for Human Rights Denounce Medical Malpractice and ‘Misuse’ of Children for Propaganda Aims

http://theindicter.com/white-helmets-video-swedish-doctors-for-human-rights-denounce-medical-malpractice-and-misuse-of-children-for-propaganda-aims/

This was a hoax shot made to fool the world

Remember this scene? It was posted as a rescue which was untrue but then it turned out it was just a staged scene & White Helmets posted an apology & removed the clip.

White Helmets apologize – http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38066791

And not surprisingly people are now questioning the authenticites of White Helmet videos just as people are now question the C4 & Callum McCrae’s videos against Sri Lanka.

However given the patronage of powerful governments in the West behind the White Helmets, is it a surprise they won an Oscar in 2017! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytpt4sgoxYI

White Helmets were even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017!

Andrew Korybko’s book, Hybrid Wars: The Indirect Adaptive Approach to Regime Change (available for free shows how NGOs are used as fronts to promote Governmental ‘humanitarian’ missions. The UNHRC is being used for this exercise against Sri Lanka in lieu of Western ‘humanitarian’ intervention given the sensitivity to India’s role in the continent.

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/03/01/who-are-the-white-helmets-do-we-really-know-what-they-are-doing-in-syria/

The “ACTOR” even thanked White Helmets for “RESCUING” him!

AYA being used over & over again by White Helmets

It was the White Helmets that accused the Syrian Government of chemical gas attack on Syrian civilians. On April 7th, in the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta, an area just east of Damascus, an alleged chemical gas attack occurred, killing over 40 people. Pearson Sharp, a reporter for One America News Network visited Douma and found that all the locals say that the so-called April 7 Douma chemical attack had been fabricated by militants and story spread by white helmets.

11 year old Hassan Diab

Russian foreign ministry says Hassan should tell all to the UNSC of the lies spread by White Helmets –

https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201804191063733196-boy-douma-attack-unsc/

No Sri Lanka can ignore these ground realities and compare similarities with scenarios in Sri Lanka. After so doing, the next question is are you going to be part of these regime change destabilizing agenda or will you attempt to safeguard the nation, its people & its national assets?

When reading the expose’s we are happy that Syria has a friend in the Russians who are countering all the lies. We are also happy that journalists like Eva Bartlett & Vanessa Beeley are boldly challenging the corporate media lies & the journalists propagating these lies. In the English local media in Sri Lanka, we have only a handful of such personalities and Shamindra Ferdinando is one that immediately comes to mind. If only Sri Lanka too had a mechanism to put out the truth on the LTTE, the LTTE fronts, LTTE diaspora, the foreign governments, UN officials, NGOs/INGOs on their payroll just as the lies on Syria is helping us to understand the bigger picture – Sri Lanka’s post-LTTE defeat narrative would have been written differently.

Shenali D Waduge

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

මනෝ චිකිත්සකයා සෝපාව මත වැතිරී සිටින තම රෝගියා දෙස උපැස් යුවල යටින් බැලීය. ඔහුගේදර්ශන පථයට හසුවූයේ රෝගියාගේ හිස, කඳ සහ දෙපා පමණි‚. සෝපාව මත වැතිරී සිටිමින්මරෝගියා දෑස් වසාගෙන කථාවේ නිරත වෙයි. ඔහු තම ජීවිතයේ අඳුරු තැන් පවා සංස්කරණයකින්තොරව පවසයි. රෝගියාගේ වචන වලට අවධානය යොමුකරමින් චිකිත්සකයා සවන් දීගෙන සිටියි.මනෝ චිකිත්සකයා රෝගියාගේ හිස අද්දර මදක් පසුපසට වන්නට තබා ඇති පුටුවක වාඩිවී සිටිනබැවින් රෝගියාට තම චිකිත්සකයා නොපෙනේ. කාමරය මඳක් අඳුරුය. චිකිත්සකයා කාමරයේ දොර වසා ඇති බැවින් රෝගියාගේ කටහඞ බැහැරට නොපැතිරෙයි. රෝගියා කථා කළේ සිහින්ස්වරයකින්ය. එහි කලකිරීම, කෝපය වැනි ආවේගයන් ගැබ්වී තිබු‚. රෝගියාගේ කථනය උනන්දුකරවීම පිණිස ඉඳහිට චිකිත්සකයා රෝගියාගෙන් අතුරු ප්රශ්න ඇසීය.

ඔව්, ඔබ විශ්ව විද්යාලයේ ඉගෙන ගන්නා කාලයේදී දේශපාලන වැඩ කටයුතුවලට උනන්දු වුනාකිව්වා නේද? ඊට පස්සේ මොකද වුණේ?˜ මනෝ චිකිත්සකයා තම පැසී ගිය රැවුල අතගාමින්රෝගියාට ප්රශ්ණය යොමු කළේය.

මම ඇදිලා ගියේ රැඩිකල් දේශපාලනයට. අපි යටිබිම්ගතව දේශපාලනය කළා. ඒ කියන්නේ ඩොක්ටර් පොලීසියෙන්, පාලකයන්ගෙන් වසන් වී කරන දේශපාලනය. අපි අභාෂය ලැබුවේ මාක්ස්සහ ලෙනින්ගේ න්යායන් වලින්. ඒත් මට හිතෙනවා අපි මායාවක පැටලී හිටියා කියලා”

මෙසේ පවසමින් රෝගියා මදක් ඇස් ඇර කාමරයේ සිවිලිම දෙස බලා යලි දෑස් වසා ගත්තේය, මනෝචිකිත්සකයා රෝගියාගේ කතාවේ ඇතැම් කොටස් ඔහුගේ සටහන් පොතේ ලියා ගත්තේය.චිකිත්සකයාට මීට වසර 08කට පමණ උඩදී බාඩර් මෙයින්හොෆ් කල්ලියේ හිටපු සාමාජිකයකුවූජර්මානු ජාතික රෝගියා මතක් විය. ඔහුද මොහු මෙන් සිහින් සිරුරැති උස අයෙකි.

අපි කළේ අයාලේ ගිය දේශපාලනය. පංති වෛරය අපි හුවා දැක්වූවා. අපට විරුද්ධ වෙන ඕනෑමඅයෙක් ද්රෝහියකු ලෙසට ලේබල් කළා. ඊට පස්සේ ………..˜ රෝගියා මදක් නිශ්ශබ්ද විය.

ඔව්, ඊට පස්සේ” චිකිත්සකයා රෝගියාව යලි උනන්දු කරවීය.

ඊට පස්සේ , ඊට පස්සේ, ඊට පස්සේ, ඔව්, ඊට පස්සේ අපි කටපුංචාගෙන් තමයි උත්තර දුන්නේ, මමපුද්ගලිකවම කොකා ගස්සලා නෑ. ඒත් සමහර ඝාතන අත උස්සලා අනුමත කරලා තියෙනවා. ඒ නිසාමගේ අතේ ලේ තැවරිලා නෑ කියන්නමත් බැහැ. ද්රෝහියකු මරල දැම්මට පස්සේ ලැඛෙන්නේ පුදුමසතුටක්. ඩොක්ටර්, ඒඑඇ සතුට මට කියන්න තේරෙන්නේ නෑ. සතුට දවස් ගණනක් හිතේ තියෙනවා.උදේ රෑ ඒක ගැන හිතලා සතුටු වෙන්න පුලූවන්. ඒ ඝාතන ගැන අද වුනත් මගේ හිතේපශ්චාත්තාපයක් නැහැ. හිතේ වෛරය, ක්රෝධය පිරී තියෙන කොට පුද්ගලයා ශක්තිමත් වෙනවා.ද්රෝහියකු මරා දමන විට වඩ වඩාත් ශක්තිමත් වෙනවා. රුධිරය තමයි ජීවිතය. මේක තමයි තිත්තඇත්ත. ලේ තරම් මිහිරි දෙයක් මේ ලෝකේ තියෙනවද?”

රෝගියා දත්කූරු කෑවේය. යලිත් වරක් ඇස්ඇර සිවිලිම දෙස බලා ක්ෂණි‚කව දෑස් වසා ගත්තේය.අනතුරුව යලි කල්පනාවේ නිමග්න විය.

අපේ ව්යාපාරය කඩාගෙන වැටුණා පොලීසිය දිවා රෑ අපව සොයාගෙන ආවා. මම ජීවිතය බේරාගන්න සැඟවිලා හිටියේ පල්ලියක. එහෙම සැඟවිලා ඉන්න කොට මට නොයෙක් බිය ජනක සිතිවිලිඑන්න ගත්තා. අපි මරා දාපු ද්රෝහියන්ගේ කට
හඞවල් ඇහෙන්න ගත්තා. මම රෑට රෑට බයවෙන්න ගත්තා. මම නිදා ගත්තේ අල්තාරය ළඟ. ටෝච්එළියක්, වාහන හඞක්, නුහුරු මිනිස් කට හඞක් ඇහුණු කොට මගේ හදවත සැලූණා. දාඩිය දාන්නගත්තා. මම අල්තාරයේ පිටුපස්සේ සැඟවුණා. පල්ලියේ ෆාදර්ගේ කරුණාව නිසා මම තවම පණපිටින්. මගේ සගයෝ ඔක්කොම වගේ ටයර් සෑයවල අලූවෙලා. සමහරු ආගිය අතක් නෑ. මම මෙහෙමටික කලක් පල්ලියේ සැඟවිලා ඉන්න කොට මට හිතුනා යටි බිම්ගතව ඉන්න සාමාජිකයෝ මුණගැහිලා සබඳතා හදා ගන්න. මෙහෙම සබඳතා හදාගන්න යනකොට මාව
හමුදාවට අහුවුණා.”

රෝගියා වීණා තතක් මෙන් ශරීරය ඉහළට ඇද්දේය. ටික වේලාවක් නිහඞව සිටි ඔහු යලිත් ආත්මකථනය ඇරඹීය.

මගේ මහපට ඇගිලි දෙක සපත්තු ලේස් වලින් කිටි කිටියේ ගැට ගසලා බාල්කෙක එල්ලලා තිබ්බා.වේදනාව ඇගිලිවල සිට වැලමිට, උරහිස ඛෙල්ල දක්වා පැතිරී යනවා. මහපට ඇගිලි දෙක හමඉරාගෙන ගැලවිලා යයි කියලා මට හිතුනා. ඒ අතර වාරයේ වධකයෝ එස්ලෝන් බට වලින් තට්ටමටගහනවා. තැලිච්ච තක්කාලි ගෙඩියක් වගේ තට්ටම පුපුරලා ලේ එනවා. තට්ටම දිගේ ගලන ලේ බිමටවැටෙනවා. වධකයන්ගේ බූට්ස් වලට ලේ බිංදු පෑගිලා මුලූ කාමරය පුරාම ලේ පැල්ලම්. යාබද බාල්කවලත් අපේ සාමාජිකයෝ වගේම නාඳුනන උදවියවත් එල්ලලා පහර දෙනවා: සමහරු ධර්මචක්රයේදාලා¦ සමහරුන්ට මුත්රා අසූචි යනවා¦ ලතෝනිය, මරහඞ වගේම වධකයන් ගේ සරදම් සිනහවල් මුලූකාමරය පුරා පැතිරී යනවා.

එ දා මුලූ දවසම මට එල්ලලා පහර දුන්නා. ඊට පස්සේ ධර්මචක්රයේ දමලා කරකව කරකව ලී බැටන්එකකින් පහර දුන්නා. මෙහෙම දිගටම පහර දෙනකොට වේදනා සංවේදනය නැතිවී යනවා. ස්නායුපද්ධතිය මැරුණා වගේ ක්‍රියා විරහිත වෙනවා. ස්නායු පද්ධතියෙ වේදනා පණිවිඩ මොළයප්රතික්ෂේප කරනවා කියලා වධකයන්ට දැනෙනවා. මූට දැන් කොච්චර ගැහුවත් වැඩක් නෑ කියලාකියනවා මට ඇහුණා. ඒ සමගම බොම්බඩියර් මූව සෙල් එකට දාන්න කියන හඞක්ද ඇහුණා.කෙනෙක් පුටුවක් උඩට නැගලා මාව හිර කරලා බැඳ තිබූ ගැට කැපුවා. එතකොට දිග දර කොටයක්වගේ මාව බිමට වැටුණා. මගේ මුහුණ වැදුණේ ලේ මුත්රා ගලා ගිය සිමෙන්ති පොළවේ මමඅමාරුවෙන් ඔළුව ඉස්සුවා. නිළ ඇඳුමක් ඇඳගෙන හිටපු සොල්දාදුවෙක් මාව බිම දිගේ ඇදගෙන ගියා.ගිහිල්ලා සෙල් එකකට එබුවා. යකඩ දොර වහලා අගුල දමනකොට තමයි මම ඇස් ඇරියේ. සෙල්එකපුරවලා පොල් පොදි සේ මිනිස් ශරීර. ඔක්කොම වගේ හිටියේ නිරුවතින්. සමහරු නිසලව සිටියා¦සමහරු මර හඞ දෙනවා¦ සමහරු කෙ`දිරි ගානවා¦ සමහරු දෙවියන්ට කන්නලවු කරනවා.හැමෝගේම වගේ ඇ`ගවල්වල තැලීම් තුවාල පැසවලා. කෙනෙකුගේ තුවාලවල ඕජස් තවකෙනෙකුගේ ඇඞේ තැවරෙනවා. ඒ අස්සේ සමහරු මුත්රා කරගෙන, අසූචි තවරගෙන. එකමිනිහෙක් හිටියා දැලි පිහියෙන් කට දෙපැත්ත කපලා. කට දෙපැත්තේ භයානක සිදුරු දෙකක්. සැරවපිරිලා බේරෙනවා. මැස්සෝ සූ ගාලා ඇෙ`ග් වහලා.˜

අපිව දාල තිබ්බේ පොඩි කාමරයක. කාමරය අඳුරුයි කවුලූවක්වත් නෑ. හුළං පොදක් ලබා ගැනිමටසමහරු යකඩ දොර ළගට යනවා. එතන පොඩි හුළං පාරක් එනවා.
ඒත් වෙන සැකකාරයෙක් දාන්න සෙල් එක අරින කොට සමහර සොල්Þදුවෝ යකඩ දොර ලඟ ඉන්නමිනිහට බූට් එකෙන් පයින් ගහනවා. අපිව මේ වගේ සුමාන ගණනක් තිරිසනුන් වගේ රඳවලා තිබ්බා.

මගේ කලිසම කඩමලූ වෙලා. සුමාන ගණනකින් දත් මැදලා මූණ සෝදලා නෑ. අපිට අපේම ශරීරපිලිකුල්. සමහරු වමනේ දානවා. අපි නිදා ගත්තේ එකිනෙකාගේ ඇඟවල් මත. රෑට තිත්ත කරුවලයි.මදුරුවෝ පිරිලා. දවල්ට උහුලන්න බැරි උෂ්ණය. අපි කවුරුත් එකිනෙකා සමග කතා කළේ නැහැඔත්තුකාරයෝ එහෙම හිටියොත් කියලා. සමහරු බනිනවා, කන්නලව් කරනවා, අඞනවා.

එක මිනිහෙකුට පිස්සු හැදුණා, මිනිහා නිතරම හයියෙන් හිනාවෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. මට හිතුනා අපඅතර හිටිය අයගෙන් වාසනාවන්තම කෙනා ඔහු කියලා. මිනිහට කිසි වගක් නැහැ, තනියමකියවනවා.˜

දවසක් ඇර දවසක් මාව ප්රශ්න කරන්න වධක කාමරයට ගෙනියනවා. එල්ලලා පහර දෙනවා. ඔළුව වතුරේ ඔබනවා. මම ශක්තිමත්ව හිටියා. කිසිම සගයෙක් පාවලා දුන්නේ නැහැ. එක දවසක් මාවප්රශ්න කරන්න ගෙනිච්චේ වධකාගාරයට නෙමෙයි. අපි හිටපු ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ උඩ තට්ටුවේ තිබුණුකාර්යාලයකට. එතන මේසයක් ලඟ වාඩිවෙලා හිටියා උරහිසේ තරු තුනක් ගහගෙන හිටපුනිළධාරියෙක්. ඔහු මට වාඩිවීමට පුටුවක් පිරිනැමුවා.˜ දහඩිය, ලේ පැල්ලම්, කුණු තැවරී තිබුණු මගේඅත්දෙක මම පිරිසිදු මේසය මත තැබුවා. හමුදා නිළධාරියා මඳක් පස්සට ගියා. ඉන්පසු මගේශරීරයෙන් එන දුර්ගන්ධය මකාගන්නද කොහේද සිගරැට් එකක් පත්තුකර ගත්තා. මටත් එකක්පිරිනැමුවා. මම හිසවනා එය ප්රතික්ෂේප කළා.˜
ඉතින් තමුසේ අපට ඇත්ත කියන්නේ නැහැනේ.˜ නිළධාරියා මා දෙසට දුම්රොදක් එවමින් කියාසිටියා.

මට කියන්න දෙයක් නැහැ. මම බිම බලාගෙන කිව්වා.

මේක තමුසෙට ලැඛෙන අන්තිම වාරේ. තමුසේ විශ්වවිද්යාලයක උගත් ශිෂ්යයෙක් නිසා තමයි අපිමෙච්චරවත් ඉවසුවේ. නැත්නම් තමුසේ මෙලහකටත් ටයර් සෑයක.˜ —

අපි මැරෙන්නේ එක සැරයයි සර්.˜ මම නිළධාරියාගේ ඇස් දෙක දිහා බලාගෙන කිව්වා. මගේඋත්තරයට නිළධාරියාට හොඳටම තරහගියා. මිනිහාගේ මූණට ලේ පිරෙනවා මම දැක්කා. ඔහුවිධාන දුන්නා මාව අරන් ගිහින් මරා දාන්න කියලා. —පටි දෙකක් ගහපු සොල්දාදුවෙක් මාව ඛෙල්ලන්අල්ලගෙන ගිහිල්ලා වධක කාමරයේ දොර ළගට ගෙනිහිල්ලා මගේ පස්ස පැත්තට බූට්ස් කකුලෙන්පහරක් දුන්නා. මම වධක කාමරයේ මුනින් අතට වැටුණා.˜

කාමරයේ උඩ තට්ටුවේ කොල්ලෝ දෙන්නෙක් ධර්ම චක්රයේ දාලා. කාමරයේ කොනක මියගියතරුණ ශරීර දෙකක් ගෝනි දෙකක දාලා. ඔවුන්ගේ සුදුමැලිවී ගිය පාද මම දැක්කා. ඒ පාද වල වියලීගිය ලේ පැල්ලම් තිබුණා.˜ —මූව අද රෑට අරගෙන ගිහිල්ලා වෙඩි තියලා මේ බොඩිස් එක්ක පුච්චපන්.˜පටි දෙකේ සොල්දාදුවා එතන හිටිය සොල්දාදුවන්ට අණදුන්නා.

මට තේරුණා මගේ අවසන් මොහොත ඇවිල්ලා කියලා. මරණ බය දැණුනා ඇත්ත. ඒත් මේ වේදනාඅවසානයි නේද කියන හැඟීම ඇති වුණා. එක සොල්දාදුවෙක් මොට්ට රේසරයකින් මගේ ඇහි බැමගෑවා. ඇහි බැම බාන්නේ මරලා දමන සැකකාරයින්ගේ කියල මම දැනගෙන හිටියා. මට තේරුණාමම දැන් මරණයට ඉතා ලඟ බව. මළ සිරුරු දෙක සමග මාව අංක තහඩු රහිත වාහනයකටදමාගනියි කියා මට හිතුනා. ඒවගේම වැඩේ පරක්කු වෙන්නේ තවම කරුවල වැටී නැති නිසා කියා මටහිතුණා. මම මරණයේ දොර ළ`ගටම ඇවිල්ලා. මට මතක් උනා විශ්වවිද්යාලයේ මා සමගඉගෙනගෙන දිවි නසා ගත් ඉන්ද්‍රජිත්. මාත් තව ටික වේලාවකින් මළවුන් අතරට යනවා. මටදෙමාපියන් මතක් වුණා. මෙපමණ තරුණ වයසේදී මම මරණය කරා යන්නේ ඇයි?

හිටි හැටියේම තරු තුනක් ගසාගෙන සිටි නිළධාරියා වධක කාමරයට ආවා.

ඒයි මේ බලපං. උඹ නිකන් වීරයා වෙන්න හදනවා. මූව දැකලා තියෙනවද?˜ මම අමාරුවෙන් දෑස්ඇරලා නිළධාරියා ලඟ හිටපු පුද්ගලයා දෙස බැලූවා. මට මගේ දෑස් අදහාගන්නවත් බැරුව ගියා. අපගේ සදාදරණීය සේන සහෝදරයා. මට විශාල සතුටක් දැණුනා. මම හිතාගෙන හිටියේ සේනසහෝදරයා මරා දැම්මා කියලා. සේන සහෝදරයා පණ පිටින් දැකීම කොච්චර සතුටක්ද? හොඳටදේශන තියන්න, න්යාය පහදල දෙන්න පු`ථවන් ඔහුට. සේන සහෝදරයා දෙස මම දයාබර දෑසින්බැලූවා. සේන සහෝදරයා හොඳ පිරිසිදුවට රැවුල බාලා කිරි කොකා වගේ සුදු ඇඳගෙන හිටියේ. මාවදැකලා සේන සහෝදරයා හිතවත්ව හිනා වුනා. මට පුදුම හිතුනා. ඔහුගේ ශරීරයේ තුවාළකැළලක්වත්, ලේ පැල්ලමක්වත් නෑ. කමීසයේ බොත්තමක් කැඩිලාවත් නෑ. මේකෙ වෙන්න පු`ථවන්ද?මම ඔහුදෙස නැවත වරක් බැලූවා. සේන සහෝදරයා මා දිහා බලලා අනුකම්පා සහිතව හිනාවෙනවා.

සහෝදරයා දැන් වැඩක් නැහැ, ඔක්කොම ඉවරයි.˜ ඔහු සිහින් හඬින් කීවා. මේක මයාවක්ද?චේගුවේරා වගේ හිටපු, මව්බිම නැත්නම් මරණය යනුවෙන් කියපු සේන සහෝදරයා අරගලයඅහවරයි කියනවා. මේක වෙන්න පුථවන් දෙයක්ද? —

සහෝදරයා, අපි යථාර්ථය පිළිගන්න ඕනෑ. සහෝදරයා දන්න දේවල් කියන්න.˜ මෙහෙම කියන ගමන්ඔහු තරු තුනක් පැළැද සිටි නිළධාරියාගේ අතේ තිබුණු ගෝල්ඩ් ලීෆ් සිගරැට් පැකට් එකෙන් සිගරැට්එකක් ගෙන දෙතොලේ රුවා ගත්තා. එවිටම නිළධාරියා තමාගේ දැල්වෙන සිගරැට්ටුව සේනසහෝදරයාගේ සිගරැට්ටුව දැල්වීමට දුන්නා. සේන සහෝදරයා තම සිගරැට්ටුව පත්තු කර ගත්තා.

දුම්වැටිය අදිරාජ්යවාදීන්ගේ උගුලක් කියපු, මහමෙර වගේ ශක්තිමත්ව හිටපු සේන සහෝදරයාසතුරන්ට එකතුවුනේ කොහොමද? මට අදහා ගන්න බැරි වුනා.

මූව අරං වරෙන්.˜ නිළධාරියා දුන්නු නියෝගයට අනුව සොල්දාදුවෙක් මගේ ඛෙල්ලෙන් අල්ලා ගෙනඇදගෙන අර නිළධාරියාගේ කාර්යාලයට ගෙන ගියා. මට දම්වැලක් දා ලා නිළධාරියාගේ මේසයටතියලා ඉබ්ඛෙක් දැම්මා. දැන් මම බලූකුක්කෙක් වගේ මේසෙ ගැටගහලා. සේනත්, නිළධාරියත් රවුම්මේසේ වටේ තිබුණු පුටු දෙකක වාඩි වුණා.

අපට බියර් දෙකක් ගේනවා. බයිට් එකකුත් එක්ක.˜ නිළධාරියා විධාන කළා. තවත් සිගරැට්ටුවක්දල්වා ගත්ත නිළධාරියා සේන සහෝදරයා සමඟ කථාව ඇරඹුවා.

අපි දෙපාරක් මිනුවන්ගොඩ ගියා. තාම ජයසිරිව අල්ල ගන්න බැරි වුනා. මිනිහා වෙන කොහේදඉන්නේ?˜

සර්, ජයසිරි විලියම් කියන නමත් භාවිතා කරනවා. ජයසිරිගේ මාමා කෙනෙක් පොලොන්නරුවේටවුමේ බේකරියක් කරනවා. එහේ බැලූවොත් ජයසිරිව හොයා ගන්න පු`ථවන්.˜ සේන සහෝදරයාහෙමිහිට කිව්වා.

මට කන් අදහාගන්න බැරුව ගියා. ජයසිරි අපේ සගයෙක්. ජයසිරි පොළොන්නරුවේ ඉන්න බව මමත්දැනගෙන හිටියා. ගිය සුමානේ හුස්ම හිරවෙනතුරු මගේ හිස කුණුවතුර බාල්දියේ ඔබලත් ජයසිරිසහෝදරයා ගැන මම වචනයක්වත් පිටකළේ නැහැ. මටත් වඩා ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ සේන සහෝදරයා ජයසිරිඉන්න තැන කිසිම ගාණක් නැතිව කියා දැම්මා.

ඊට පසු වීදුරු දෙකක් සමග සුව`ද හමන, කටට කෙළ උනන, බැදපු මස් පි`ගානක් සමග බීර බෝතල්දෙකක් සොල්දාදුවෙක් ගෙනාවා. නිළධාරියා තමයි සේනගේ වීදුරුව බියර් වලින් පිරෙව්වේ.

චියර්ස් ˜ තරු තුනේ නිළධාරියා මගේ දිහා බලන ගමන් කිව්වා. වීදුරුව හිස්වෙන ගානේ තරු තුනේනිළධාරියා සේන සහෝදරයාගේ වීදුරුව බියර් වලින් පිරෙව්වා. සේන සහෝදරයා කිසිම හිරිකිතයක්නැතිව මස් කකා බියර් බිබී ඉන්න අතරේ මාව බල්ලෙක් වගේ මේසේ ගැටගහලා. සුමාන ගණනක්තිස්සේ අපට කන්න ලැබුනේ පරණ පානුයි, තක්කාලි හොද්දකුයි විතරයි. සමහර දවස්වල රෑට කන්නදුන්නෙත් නැහැ. මගේ නහයට බැදපු මස්වල සුව`ද දැනුණා. අපිව රැඩිකල් දේශපාලනයට ගෙනාපු,ප්රධාන පෙළේ නායකයෙක්, අපේ මාර්ගෝපදේශකයෙක්, නිළධාරියා එක්ක බීර බොනවා. අපි සේනසහෝදරයා ගැන විශ්වාස කරලා නේද ව්යාපාරයට බැඳුණේ. අපි අපේ අනාගතය, අධ්යාපනය,ජීවිතය පවා පරදුවට තබලා ව්යාපාරයේ වැඩ කරගෙන ගියේ සේන සහෝදරයාගෙන් ලැබුණු උපදෙස්හා ජීවගුණය නිසා නේද? දැන් සේන සහෝදරයා අපට කොකා පෙන්නනවා. මට සේන සහෝදරයාගැන තද වෛරයක් ආවා.

මූ හොඳ ගල්ටික් පොරක් නේද?˜ නිළධාරියා මාව පෙන්නලා සේන සහෝදරයාගෙන් ඇහුවා. ඔහු මාදෙස බලා ඔලූව වැනුවා.

අපි දවසක් මූව උස්සන්න යනකොට මූ පල්ලියක හැංගිලා බේරිලා තියෙනවා. එදා මට මූව හම්බවුනා නම් මූව ගෙඟ් පා කරනවා.˜” නිළධාරියා තලූමරමින් මස් කෑල්ල කෑවා. හරියට මගේ මාලූ කනවාවගේ මට දැණුනේ. මට දරුණු තරහක් ආවා සේන සහෝදරයා එක්ක. මට දැන් මේ දම්වැල කඩාගෙනයන්න පුථවන් නම් මම සේන සහෝදරයාගේ බොටුව මිරිකනවා.

මූව ගෙනියලා වොෂ් එකක් දෙනවා.˜ නිළධාරියා සෙබලෙකුට නියම කළා. සෙබලා මා ළගට කිට්ටුවෙනවිට සේන සහෝදරයා බැදපු මස් කෑල්ලක් මගේ අත ළගට දුන්නා. මම සේන සහෝදරයාගේඅතට ගහපු වේගයට මස් කෑල්ල වීසිවෙලා ඇතට වැටුණා. එවිටම සෙබලා බූට් එකෙන් මගේ ඉළයටඇන්නා. මට වේදනාවට වඩා දැණුනේ තරහා. සේන සහෝදරයා හිතන්න ඇති මමත් ඌ වගේහිඟමන් කන එකෙක් කියලා. සේනගේ අතට සුථවෙන් හෝ පහරක් දෙන්න ලැබීම මට ලොකු දෙයක්උනා. සෙබලා මාව ඛෙල්ලෙන් අල්ලාගෙන ගිහිල්ලා පහළ තට්ටුවේ තිබුණ වතුර ටැංකියක එබුවා.

සුමාන ගණනකට පස්සේ වතුර ටිකක් ඇෙඟ් වදින කොට සනීපයක් දැනුනා. මම හොඳට මුහුණසෝදා ගත්තා. කිහිලියට දාÞඩිය ගඳ යන්න හෝදා ගත්තා. කඩමාලූ වෙච්ච කලිසම් පාත්කරලා ඉකිලිසෝදා ගත්තා. ඊට පස්සේ මාව අරගන ගියේ වෙන කාමරයකට. එහිදී මට පරණ සරමක් හා ෂර්ට්එකක් දුන්නා. කකුල්වලට මාංචු දාලා කාමරය ඇතුළේ වහලා තිබ්බා. පහර දුන්නේ නෑ.

රෑ වෙලා ඛෙලෙක් පිඟානකට මට කෑමට උණු බත්, අලහොදි එක්ක සැමන් කෑල්ලකුත් ලැබුණා.කාලෙකට පස්සේ හොද කෑමක් ලැබුණ නිසා මම කාමරයේ බිත්තියට හේත්තු වෙලා කෑම පි`ගානඅතට ගත්තා. මට බත් කටවල් දෙක තුනකට වඩා කන්න ලැබුණේ නෑ. සේන සහෝදරයා කාමරයේදොර ළ`ගට ආවා.

සහෝදරයා මාත් එක්ක තරහද? සහෝදරයා මාව තේරුම් ගන්න.˜ සේන සහෝදරයට වචන දෙකතුනකට වඩා කථාකරන්න මම ඉඩ තිබ්බේ නැහැ. බත් පිඟාන උගේ මුහුණට දමලා ගැහැව්වා. සේනසහෝදරයා බත් සමග හොදි නා ගත්තා. මාව මුරකරමින් සිටි සෙබලා මගේ යටි බඩට පයින් පහරක්ගැහැව්වා. මම යටිබඩ අල්ලාගෙන මුනින් අතට බිම වැතිරුණා. කකුල්වලට මාංචු දාලා තිඛෙන නිසාවේදනාව තවත් වැඩි වුනා.

මෝඩයා, උඹව මරණයෙන් ගැලවුනේ මගේ වචනයට” මට පිටුපාලා යන ගමන් සේන සහෝදරයාකියා ගෙන ගියා. තව මොන මොනවාදෝ කිව්වත් අධික වේදනාව නිසා මට තේරුම් ගන්න බැරි වුනා.පා පහර නිසා මට මුත්රා පවා ගිහිල්ලා තිබුණා.

ඊට පසුව මාව මස් මඩුවට ගෙනගියේ නැහැ. මට කෑම, පිරිසිදු ඇ`දුම් ලැබුණා. ඒත් සුමානයකටසැරයක් ප්රශ්න කරන්න ගෙනිච්චා. පහර දුන්නේ නැහැ. මගෙන් ප්රශ්න කළේ උසස් නිළධාරියෙක්.කර්නල් කෙනෙක් වෙන්න ඇති. උරපත්තේ තරු වලට අමතරව ජනරජ ලාංඡනයකුත් තිබුණා. ප්රශ්ණ කරන අතරතුරේ මට ඔරේන්ජ් බාර්ලි එකකුත් දුන්නා. සේන සහෝදරයා නිසා ඇති වෙච්චකළකිරීම මත ව්යාපාරය මට එපාවෙලා තිබුණේ. මට තව රැකගන්න රහසක් තිබුණේ නැහැ. මමඔරේන්ජ් බාර්ලි තොල ගාමින් සියල්ලම වැමෑරුවා.

නාරාහේන්පිට සිගේරා, කැළ‚ණියේ අසිත, දෙහිවල උපුල්, කටුනේරියේ සිරිල්, මේ සිය`ථ දෙනාසැඟවිලා හිටපු තැන් මම කිව්වා. මම කියන තැන්වලට සෙබලූ යනවා. සාමාජිකයන් අරගන මස්මඩුවට දක්කනවා. මම සේන සහෝදරයා කිහිප වාරයක් දැක්කා. දැන් අපි දෙන්නම එකම බෝට්ටුවේ.ඒත් දෙන්නගෙන් එක් අයෙක්වත් කථා කළේ නෑ. මම යන එනකොට සේන සහෝදරයා මාවනොදැක්කා වගේ ඩියුටි ඉවර කරලා ඉන්න සෙබලූන් එක්ක දාං අදිනවා. කැරම් ගහනවා. මට රෑටමාංචු දාලා තිබ්බත් දවල් වරුවේ මාව තියලා තිබ්බේ නිදහසේ. තව සුමාන දෙක තුනක් යනකොටරෑට මාංචු දැම්මෙත් නැහැ.

දවසක් මාව අන්තිමට ප්රශ්න කරපු කර්නල් ඇවිල්ලා කිව්වා අද මාව නිදහස් කරනවා කියලා. මටඒක අදහගන්නවත් බැරුව ගියා. මම හිතුවා මාව අරගන යන්නේ මරන්න කියලා. සෙබලෙක් මගේදෑස් බැ`දලා හමුදා වාහනයක දමා ගත්තා. තව සෙබලූන් කීපදෙනෙක් වාහනයට නැග්ගා. දොරවල් වැහෙන හඞ, එන්ජිම පණගන්වන හඞ මේ සියල්ලටම මම කන් දුන්නා. වාහනය මහා මාර්ගයේ ඒමේ අත යනවා. දෑස් බැඳලා නිසා මට කිසිම දෙයක් පේන්නේ නැහැ.

මෙන්න මෙතැන අයිනට කරලා නවත්වනවා” මට රියදුරු අසුන ළ`ග හිටපු නිළධාරියාගේ කට හඞ ඇසුනා. වාහනය වේගය අඩුකරමින් නැවැත්තුවා. —මෑන්ව බස්සනවා.˜ ඒ හඞ යලිත් ඇසුණා.සෙබලෙක් මාව අතින් ඇදලා එළියට ගත්තා. මගේ දෑස් බැඳලා මොනවාවත් පේන්නේ නැහැ. මටහිතුනා දැන් තුවක්කුවක් මගේ ඔළුව ළ`ගට ළං කරලා කොකා ගස්සයි කියලා. මගේ ඔළු කට්ටපුපුරලා ලේ යන හැටි මනසින් දුටුවා. තවමත් වෙඩි හ හඞ ක් නැහැ. මම ගල් රූපයක් වගේ නිසලවහිටියා. වාහනයේ දොරවල් වැහෙන හඞ වාහන එන්ජිම සැරවෙන හඞ මට ඇහුණා. තාම ඩිෂුම් ඩිෂුම් නැහැ. වාහනය පිටත්වෙලා ගියා. මම තාම ගල් රූපයක් වගේ හිටගෙන. මම හිටියේ කම්පනතත්තවයක. මට බය හිතුනා. මම ඉන්නේ පාර මැද, දැන් ලොරියක් මගේ ඇඟ උඩින් යයි කියලා. මමඋක්කුටිකයෙන් වාඩිවෙලා පාර අතගෑවා. මගේ අතට තාර පාර අහුවුනා. මම මගේ දකුණු අතපැත්තට බරවෙලා පාර අතගාගෙන ගියා. යනකොට මට පේමන්ට් එක අසුවුනා. මම වහාම පේමන්ට්එකට ගොඩවෙලා දෑස් බැඳ තිබු පටිය ගලවා ගත්තා. හිමිදිරි උදය. පාරේ කිසිකෙනෙක් පේන්න නැහැ.මම ගොඩනැගිල්ලක් දැක්කා. මම ගොඩනැගිල්ල අසලට ගියා. එතන තිබුනේ පුවත්පත් කාර්යාලයක්.මම පුවත්පත් කාර්යාලයට ගියා. මුරකාරයා මට කතා කලා. මම මුරකාරයාට කන් නොදී කාර්යාලයඇතුළට ගියා.

රෝගියා හදිසියේම ඇස් ඇරියේය. —ඊට පස්සේ මොකද වුනේ.˜ මනෝ චිකිත්සකයා ඇසීය. රෝගියාසුසුමක් හෙළීය. දෑස් වසාගත් ඔහු යළි කථාව ඇරඹීය.

ඒ කාර්යාලයේ හිටියා මාව දැනගෙන හිටපු කීප දෙනෙක්. ඒ අය මට කෑම බීම දීලා මාව නෑකෙනෙක්ගේ ගෙදරට ඇරලූවා. මම එතැන මාස ගනනක් හිටියා. වැඩිය එලිපහලියට ගියේ නැහැ. මටජීවිතය ගැන කල කිරීමක් දැනුනා. දිවි නසාගන්න තදබල අවශ්යතාවයක් පැනනැගුනා. මෙහෙමඉන්න කොට මම බෞද්ධ දර්ශනය පැත්තට යොමු වුනා. මම මාක්ස්වාදය වෙනුවට බෞද්ධ දර්ශනයකියෙව්වා.˜ අපි පන්ති අරගලය හරහා බලයට එන්න උත්සාහ කළා. ඒක අසාර්ථකයි. මට හිතුනාබලයට එන්න බුද්ධාගම ඉනිමගක් කරගන්න. අපේ අතීත රජදරුවොත් කළේ ඒකනේ. ඒ නිසා ඒකේවැරැද්දක් මම දැක්කේ නැහැ. රතු මගට වඩා බොදුමග බලයට එන්න කෙටිමගක් හැටියට මටපෙනුනා.˜ අත්අඩංගුවේදී මම වින්ද වේදනාව, පාවාදීම්, මගේ හෙළිදරව් කිරීම් ආදිය නිසා මටඅභ්යන්තර වේදනාවක් ඇතිවුනා. ඒ වේදනාව ක්රමක්රමයෙන් වෛරයකට පෙරලූනා. ඒ වෛරය මමඅනුගත කළා අප රට අන්ය ජාතිකයන්ට. හරියට ජර්මානුන්ගෙන් පීඩා විඳපු යුදෙව්වෝ තම වෛරයපලස්තීන ජාතිකයාන්ට බැරකළා වගේ. අළුත්බෞද්ධ අනන්යතාවයක් උඩ මම අන්ය ජාතිකයන්ට,වෙනත් ආගමික ප්රධානීන්ට, වෙනත් පූජ්ය ස්ථානවලට පහර දෙන්නට පටන්ගත්තා. අල්තාරයටමුවාවෙලා පණ බේරගත්ත අතීතයට මම වෛරකළා. ඒ වෛරය නිසා වෙන්න ඇති අද මම පල්ලියටවෛර කරන්නේ. මගේ යටි අරමුණු තේරුම්ගත්ත, මගේ නියම සවභාවය වටහා ගත්ත පුද්ගලයන්ගැන බයත් සමග පිළිකුලක් ඇති වුනා. හැකි සෑම අවස්ථාවකම මම ඔවුන්ව ලේබල් කළා. එන්.ජී.ඕ.කාරයන්, සාම වෙළෙන්දන්, පල්ලියේ බළල්අත්, සී.අයි. ඒ කාරයින් වශයෙන්. මට අවශ්ය උනා ඒ මතින්මගේ නිරුවත වසාගන්න.˜ —ක්රෝධය උත්සන්න වෙනකොට මම මගේ බිරිඳට පහර දුන්නා. ළමයාටබඳපටියෙන් පහර දුන්නා. මම ලෝකයට පෙන්නුවේ ධාර්මික, සිල්වත් මුහුණක්. ඒත් මගේ ලමයා මාවදැක්කම හැංගෙනවා. මගේ ආධ්යාත්මය මැරිලා.˜ —ඩොක්ටර්, මට සමහර වෙලාවකට හැෙඟනවාමම මහා පාලූ කාන්තාරයක අතරමං වෙලා කියලා. මට මගේ අභ්යන්තරය හිස්බවක් දැනෙනවා. මමමහා ප්රතිරෝදතාවක ගිලිලා. ජනතා ව්යාපාරයක නියමුවකු හැටියට ආපු මම අන්තවාදියෙක්,ජාතිවාදියෙක් බවට පරිවර්තනය වෙලා. මට මගේ යථාර්ථය ගැන ගැට`ථවක්, මට මගේ පැවැත්මගැටළුවක්.˜

රෝගියා දීර්ඝ හුස්මක් ගත්තේය. ඉක්බිතිව ගල් රූපයක් සේ නිශ්චලව කල්පනාවේ නිමග්න විය. මනෝ චිකිත්සකයා රෝගියා දෙස නෙතු දල්වාගෙන සිටියි. එහෙත් රෝගියා නිහඞය.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

     මිනිසා ස්වභාව ධර්මයේ අපූරු නිර්මාණයකි. ගැහැනිය සහ පිරිමියා වශයෙන් මිනිස් සමාජය ලිංගිකත්වය අනුව වෙන්ව පවතින්නේ මිනිස් වර්ගයා බෝ කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය මානසික සහ ජීව විද්‍යාත්මක පෙළඹවීම ඉටු කරණු පිණිසය. පුරුෂ ඩිම්බයක් සහ ස්ත්‍රී ඩිම්බයක් එකතු වීම සිදු වන්නේ මේ අපූරු ස්ත්‍රී පුරුෂ සම්බන්ධය මතය. ලෝකයේ සියලුම ස්වභාව ධර්ම ක්‍රියාවලියන් මෙන්ම මෙයටද පටන් ගැන්මක් නැත. අවසානයක්ද නැත. එහෙත් ක්‍රියාවලිය දිගටම සිදු වෙයි. ස්ත්‍රියක් ගැබ් ගැනීම  පිණිස සකස් වන පරිසරය සූදානම් කරන්නේ ස්ත්‍රීයගේ ජීව විධාත්මක චක්‍රය අනුවය. ස්ත්‍රිය තුළ දින 28 ක ආර්ථව චක්‍රයක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙයි. එනම් දින 28 කට වරක් ස්ත්‍රියගේ ඩිම්බ කෝෂයේ එක් ඩිම්බයක් පිටවීම සිදු වේ. ඒ අනුව ස්ත්‍රී මාසයක් නොහොත් චන්ද්‍ර මාසයකට සාපේක්ෂ කාලය තුළ ඇයට දින 14 ක සරු කාලයක් සහ දින 14 ක නිසරු කාලයක් ලබා දෙයි.ඇයගේ මානසික පෙළඹීම පවා සිදු වන්නේ මේ ක්‍රියාවලිය අනුවයි. එය චන්ද්‍රයාගේ හැසිරීමට අනුරූපය. කාන්තාව චන්ද්‍රයාට සම කර තිබෙන්නේද ඒ නිසාවෙනි.නමුත් චන්ද්‍රයාගේ ගමනට සාපේක්ෂකව මෙම අර්ථවය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවේ. එහෙත් අනුරූපී වේ යැයි කිව හැකිය. කෙසේ වෙතත් මනුෂ්‍ය ප්‍රජාවේ බෝ වීම පිණිස පුරුෂයෙකු සහ කාන්තාව එක් වූ විට ස්ත්‍රිය විසින් පිට කරනු ලබන ඩිම්බය සහ පුරුෂ ඩිම්බය දරුමලෙහි තැන්පත්ව කළලයක් දක්වා වැඩීම සිදු කරයි.මනුෂ්‍යකු දරුවෙකු ලෙසින් බිහි කරලීමට පසුබිම සැකසෙන්නේ එලෙසයි.

          සිංහල ජන සමාජයේ වර්තමානයේ ජීවත් වන බොහෝ පවුල් වල අතීතය ගැන කල්පනා කොට බැලුවහොත් ඒ සෑම පරම්පරාවක්ම ළමුන් පස්දෙනෙකුට වඩා බිහි කර තිබේ. ඇතැම් පවුල්වල ළමුන් එකොලොස් දෙනෙකු පමණ සිටි අවස්ථා ඇත. ඉන් කීප දෙනෙකු ළමා වයසේම මිය යෑමද සාමාන්‍ය සිදු වීමකි.නමුත් අද වන විට ඒ සෑම පවුලකම ඊළඟ බෝවීම දරුවන් දෙදෙනෙකුට හෝ තිදෙනෙකුට සීමාව ඇත. අනූව දශකයෙන් පසු විවාහ වන පිරිසෙන්බොහෝ පිරිසකට දරුවන් නැත.මෙම සාඵල්‍යතා හීනවීම නිසා ජාතියක් වශයෙන් සිය වර්ධන වේගය ඉතා අවම මට්ටමකට වට්ටවාගෙන තිබේ. සිංහල ජන සමාජයෙන් බැහැර දෙමළ ජන සමාජයේද මෙලෙසම ඒ තරමට වර්ධන වේගයක් නැත. එහෙත් මුස්ලිම් ජන සමාජය තුළ මේ වේගය ඉතා ඉහළය. එයට එක් හේතුවක් වන්නේ ඔවුහු භාර්යාවන් කීප දෙනෙකු විවාහ කරගෑනීමයයි පෙන්වා දිය හැකිය. එසේම උපත් පාලන ක්‍රම වේද අනුගමනය කිරීමක්ද ඔවුන් තුළ නොමැත.නමුත් සිංහල ජන සමාජය තුල පවතින දැඩි උප්පති පාලනය  නිසා දරුවන් බිහිවීම වේගයෙන් සීමා වන  බව පෙන්වා දිය හැකිය. එය සිදු වන්නට ආරම්භ වූයේ1953  වර්ෂයේ දී පවුල් සංවිධාන සංගමය පිහිටුවාලීමෙනි.ඉන්පසු 1958 දි ලක් රජය ස්වීඩන් රජය සමග ඒකාබද්ධව නියමු ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ඇරඹීමෙන් පවුල් සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාවලිය රජයේ කටයුත්තක් බවට පත් කරවීය. මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය යටතේ මේ වන විට හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලැබූ උපත් පාලන ක්‍රම දහයක් පමණ ඇත.කාන්තාවන් බහුල ලෙසටම භාවිත කරන වඳ  පෙති වර්ගය වන හෝමෝන සහිත ගිලින පෙත්ත (Oral Contraceptive Pills) මගින් සිදු කරනුයේ ස්ත්‍රී බීජ ඩිම්හරණය කිරීමයි.මෙම ගිලින පෙත්ත නිසා ශරීරයට ලැබෙන අමතර හෝමෝනයෙන් ස්ත්‍රී ශරීරය තුල පවතින ආහර ජීර්ණ ක්‍රියාවලිය පවා වේගවත් වෙයි.එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය නම් කාන්තාව ඉතා ඉක්මනින් ස්ථූලභාවයට පත් වීමයි. මෙම අධි පෝෂණ තත්ත්වය නිසා වයස හතළිහ ළං වන් කල්හි ඇය අධික රුධීර පීඩනයට සහ දියවැඩියාවට ගොදුරු වීම  වැළාක්විය නොහැකිය.ගිලින පෙති වලට අමතරව මෙම හෝමෝනයම එන්නත් කිරීමද සිදු වේ.ඒ අධික සාන්ද්‍රණයෙන් යුක්තවයි. ගිලින පෙති සහ එන්නත් විදේශ වෙළෙඳ පොළ තුළ අධික මිළ ගණනින් යුක්ත වුවත් එය ලංකාවේ ජනතාවට ලබා දේනනේ ඉතා අඩු මුදලකටය. එයින්ම වටහා ගත යුත්තේ දරුවන් ලැබීම පාලනය කිරීමට තිබෙන වුවමනාවයි.

      ගිලින පෙති සහ හෝමෝන එන්නතට අමතරව හම යට තැන්පත් කරන හෝමෝන වර්ගයක්ද ඇත. එසේම ලූපය දැමීම වාසෙක්තමී සැත්කම  එල්.ආර්.ටී.සහ පෙන පෙත්ත පවුල් සංවිධාන ක්‍රම අතර වඩාත් ජනප්‍රිය වේ.මේ අතරින් එල්.ආර්.ටී. සැත්කමටත් වසෙක්තමී සැත්කමටත් ජනතාවට මුදල් ලැබේ. එසේම වෛද්‍යවරයාටද මුදල් ලැබේ. මේවා මෙහෙය වන්නේ මාරියෝ ස්ටොප් වැනි රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන වල දායකත්වයෙනි. ඔවුහු කාන්තාවන්ට ලකුණු දීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් ලබා දෙමින් ඔවුන් දිරගන්වමින් මෙම සැත්කම් ක්‍රියාවලිය ඉදිරයට ගෙන යති. එසේම මෑතකදී හඳුන්වා දුන් පසු ප්‍රසව ලූප භාවිතය (PPUD) නිසා දරුවන් බිහි කිරීමට සිටින මව් වරුන්ට විශාල අවදානමක් ඇති ව තිබේ. මෙම වැඩ සටහන් ආරම්භ කරන ලද්දේ 2014 වසරේ දීය. එවකට සිටි සෞඛ්‍ය ලේකම් වරයා විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද චක්‍ර ලේඛනයන් මගින් වෛද්‍ය වරුන්ට දිරි දීමනා පවා ලබා දී තිබේ.මෙයට අමතරව කාන්තාවනට හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලබන පැය 72 ගිලින පෙත්ත ගැනද විශේෂයෙන්ම සඳහන් කළ යුතුය. එය උපත් පාලන පෙත්තක් නොවේ. නමුත් එය නිර්දෙශිතය.එය ගැබ් ගැනීම වළක්වන පෙත්තකි. එය ගැනීම නිසා සදා කාලයටම දරුවන් අහිමි වීමේ අවදානම මතුවෙයි. බොහෝ තරුණ මව් වරු විවාහයෙන් පසු රජකාරි ස්වභාවය මත හෝ විදේශ ගත වීම නිසා මෙම පෙති භාවිත කරති. නමුත් සිදු වන්නේ ඇය ක්‍රමානුකූලව වඳ භාවයට පත් වීමයි. මේ තත්ත්වය තුළ වුවමනාවෙන්ම ආහාරයට හෝ වෙනත් යමකට වඳ පෙත ඇතුල් කිරීම කළ යුතු නැත. රජය විසින්ම මෙම කටයුත්ත අගේට කරනු ලබයි. නමුත් සුරතල් මසුන් බෝ වීම වැළැක්වීමටත් වෙනත් සතුන් බෝ වීම වැළැක් වීමටත් භාවිතා කරන වඳ පෙත් වර්ගද තිබෙන බව කිව යුතුය.මූලධර්මවාදී ආගමික කල්ලි විසින් මේවා නීති විරෝධීව භාවිතා කරන්නේද යන්න ගැන සොයා බැලීම වහා කළ යුතුය.

       මේ තත්ත්වය මෙසේ වුවද කාන්තාවකගේ වඳ භාවයට හේතු වන ස්වභාවික හේතුද තිබූ බව පෙන්වා දිය යුතුය. විශේෂයෙන්ම දේශීය වෛද්‍ය ග්‍රන්ථ වල මෙන්ම ආයුර්වේදයේද මේ ගැන් විස්තරාත්මකව සඳහන් කරන්නේ මෙසේය. දරුවන් හට නොගැනීමට හේතු වශයෙන් ඔවුන් දක්වන හේතු කාරණා  හයක් තිබේ. ඉන් පළමු වැන්න ප්‍රමේහ රෝග තත්ත්වයයි.විසි වැදෑරුම් ප්‍ර මේහ රෝග මනුෂ්‍යාට හට ගන්නා අතර කාන්තාවක් තුළ ඒවා අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙස හට ගැනී ඇත්නම් දරුඵල හීන වේ. එහිදී එය දැන් ගන්නා සරල ක්‍රමයක්ද පෙන්වා දී තිබේ. එනම් ස්ත්‍රියක් හා පුරුෂයෙකු කායිකව එක් වීමේදී ස්ත්‍රිය ගේ හිස කකියා නම් එවැනි තත්ත්වයක් ඇති බවට නිරීක්ෂණය කළ හැකිය. දෙවැන්න නම් ශරීර ප්‍රකෘතියේ තිබෙන වාත ශක්තිය අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙස දරු ගැබෙහි පිහිටීමයි. එය දැනගන්නේ දෙදෙනා එක් වීමේදී යෝනි මාර්ගය ගැස්සීමෙන් යයි කියැවේ. තෙවැන්න නම් දරුමලෙහි මස් වැඩී තිබීමයි. එලෙස කාන්තාවකගේ අසාමාන්‍ය තත්ත්වයක් දැක ගත හැකි වන්නේ සංසර්ගයේදී ළය පැත්ත රිදී කකියා යන බව ඇය විසින් පැවසීමයි. සිවු වැන්න නම් දරුමලෙහි නහර වල විකෘතියයි. සංසර්ගයේදී එක පැහැර ළමැද සහ පියවුරු රිදෙන්ට පටන් ගනී නම් එවැනි රෝගී තත්ත්වයක් ඇයට හිමිය. පස් වැන්න නම් පණු රෝග වින් දරුමල පීඩාවට පත් වීමයි.ස්ත්‍රියගේ පපුව මුල රිදේ නම් එම රෝග තත්ත්වය ඉතා හොඳින් වටහා ගත හැකිය. සය වැන්න නම් යක්ෂ පිශාච ආදී උපද්‍රවයන්ය.යම් දුර්වල මනස් ඇති කාන්තාවන්ට මෙම රෝග තත්ත්වයන් ඇති විය හැතිය. එවිට සංසර්ගයේදී කලාන්ත මලාන්ත වී සිටී .කැරකිලි ඇති වේ. මේ වාට ඖෂධ ප්‍රතකා පුද පූජා බලි තොවිල් පවා එදා සමාජයේ තිබුණි. ඒම රෝගයන් දුරු කරගෙන දරුවන් බිහිකර ගැනීමට ඇයට වාසනවා හිමි වූයේ ඒ අකාරයටයි.ඉතින් වත්මන් සිංහල ජන සමාජයද නැවත් ශක්තිමත් කරගත හැක්කේ දරුවන් බිහිකර ගෑනීමට නොහැකි වන මෙම පලිබෝධකයන් හඳුනාගතහොත් පමණකි. එයට සෑම වෛද්‍යවර්යෙකුගේම සහාය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වේ.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

මෙම ලිපිය සැකසීමේ දී ජාතික පුනරුද ව්‍යාපාරය විසින් ප්‍රකාශිත අත් පත්‍රිකා උපයෝගී කර ගන්නා ලදී.

චන්ද්‍ර ධර්මවර්ධන

2018 අපේ‍්‍රල්19 වැනි දා ‘ඬේලි නිව්ස්’ පුවත්පතේ පළවූ Glyphosate Ban: Has the GMOA studied the Research? නැමැති ලිපියේ සිංහල පරිවර්තනය ‘යහපාලනය ලංකා’ අනුග‍්‍රහයෙනි

ග්ලයිෆොසේට් වැනි ‘හානිකර රසායනික’ හොරෙන් මෙරටට ගෙන්වන්නන්ට එරෙහිව ‘දැඩි පියවර’ ගැනීමට හැකි වන පරිද්දෙන් අලූත් නීති හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුව ඇති බව, අපේ‍්‍රල් 11 වැනි දා පැවති ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡුාවකදී, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය ප‍්‍රකාශ කොට තිබුණි. රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය ග්ලයිෆොසේට් සලකන්නේ ‘හානිකර’ දෙයක් වශයෙනි. මන්ද යත්, එය පිළිකා සහ වකුගඩු රෝගවල හේතුකාරකයක් යැයි කියන බැවිනි. එසේ වෙතත්, පසුගිය නොවැම්බර් මාසයේ ග්ලයිෆොසේට් මගින් ඇති කළ හැකි සෞඛ්‍ය ප‍්‍රතිවිපාකවලට අදාළව මේ දක්වා කරන ලද ලෝකයේ විශාලතම අධ්‍යයනය මගින් සොයා ගනු ලැබුවේ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට්වලින් සිදුවන හානිකර ප‍්‍රතිවිපාකයක් නැති බව ය. මේ අධ්‍යයනය සඳහා දශක දෙකක අත්දැකීම් පාදක කර ගැනුණු අතර, 90,000 ක පිරිසක් එම පර්යේෂණ අධ්‍යයනය සඳහා යොදා ගැනුණි. මේ විෂය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියට පත්ව ඇති ඉතා ශක්තිමත් සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන දත්ත පිළිබඳ විග‍්‍රහයක් ද ඊට පාදක කර ගැනුණි.

2017 නොවැම්බර් 9 වැනි දා ජාතික පිළිකා ආයතන සඟරාවේ පළවූ, දීර්ඝ කාල පරාසයක දිවෙන, විශාල නියැදියක් පාවිච්චියට ගත් මේ අධ්‍යයන වාර්තාව, ජනප‍්‍රිය වල් නාශකයක් වන ‘රවුන්ඞ් අප්’ නැමැති නිෂ්පාදනයේ අඩංගු ග්ලයිෆොසේට් සහ මොනම වර්ගයක හෝ පිළිකාවක් අතර සහසම්බන්ධයක් නැති බව
පෙන්වා දී තිබේ.

මේ අලූත් අධ්‍යයනය සඳහා පාවිච්චියට ගැනුණේ කෘෂිකාර්මික සෞඛ්‍ය අධ්‍යයනයන් මගින් එක්කාසු කර ගත් දීර්ඝ කාලීන දත්ත රාශියකි. 1993 සිට 2010 දක්වා ඉයෝවා සහ උතුරු කැරොලිනා පළාත්වල වෙසෙන 90,000 ක පිරිසකගේ සෞඛ්‍ය තත්වය නිරන්තර පරීක්ෂාවට ලක්කෙරුණි. තම භවබෝගවල කෘමිනාශක භාවිතය සඳහා
බලපත‍්‍රලාභී ගොවියෝ ද මේ පිරිසට අයත් වූහ. කෘමිනාශක වර්ග 54,000 ක බලපෑම පරීක්ෂාවට ලක්කෙරුණු අතර, ඒවායින් සියයට 84 ක ග්ලයිෆොසේට් අඩංගු විය. මේ ගොවියන්ගෙන් බොහොමයක් දෙනා, ග්ලයිෆොසේට් අධ්‍යයනයට කලින් සිටම එය භාවිත කළ ගොවියන් ය. එසේ වෙතත්, දශක දෙකක අඛණ්ඩ ග්ලයිෆොසේට්
භාවිතයකින් පසුව පවා, මේ රසායනිකයට නිරාවරණය වූවන් අතරේ පිළිකා රෝගයේ සැලකිය යුතු වර්ධනයක් පෙන්නුම් නොකෙරුණි.

මේ අධ්‍යයනයේ ප‍්‍රමිතිය, නිරවුල් භාවය සහ නිශ්චිත භාවය, බොහෝ විද්‍යාඥයන් පිළිගෙන තිබේ. මෙම අධ්‍යයනය කරන ලද්දේ රජයේ සහ විශ්ව විද්‍යාල මූලාශ‍්‍රයන්හි අරමුදල්වලිනි. එම අධ්‍යයනයට සම්බන්ධයක් නැති, කේම්බි‍්‍රජ් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්යවරයෙකු වන ඬේවිඞ් ස්පියෙගල්හල්ටර්, මේ විශ්ලේෂණය ‘විශාල සහ
සුපරීක්ෂාකාරී’ එකක් වන බවත්, ‘ග්ලයිෆොසේට් භාවිතය සහ පිළිකා රෝගය අතර සැලකිය යුතු සම්බන්ධතාවක් නැතැ’ යි ඉන් පෙන්වා දී ඇති බවත් කියයි.

එසේ තිබියදී, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයේ අවධානය යොමු වී ඇති රෝගයට අදාළ ග්ලයිෆොසේට් භාවිතය පිළිබඳ කෙරී ඇති මේ නිශ්චිත වූත්, දැවැන්ත වූත් අධ්‍යයනය එම සංගමයේ ඇසට හසු නොවුණේ කෙසේද? විද්‍යාත්මක ප‍්‍රජාව සමග බන්ධුත්වයක් නැති පූජ්‍ය අතුරලියේ රතන හිමියන්ට සහ උන්වහන්සේගේ
සගයන්ට සමාවක් දිය හැකි වෙතත්, මෙම සංවිධානය හුදෙක් ඔවුන්ගේ වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින වෘත්තීය සමිතියක් බව අප පිළිගත්තත්, වෛද්‍යවරුන් වශයෙන් මීට වඩා මේ විෂය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තත්කාලීන වීමේ වගකීමක් ඔවුන්ට තිබේ.

විද්‍යාත්මක සාක්ෂිවල අඩුව රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය සඳහන් කරන වඩාත් ප‍්‍රමුඛ, බෝ නොවෙන රෝගය වන්නේ පිළිකාවයි. ග්ලයිෆොසේට් සමග සහසම්බන්ධයක් නැතැයි දැන් පර්යේෂණ මාර්ගයෙන් පැහැදිළිවම වෙන් කොට දක්වා ඇති රෝගයත් එයයි. දශක දෙකක් වැනි දීර්ඝ කාලයක් තිස්සේ ග්ලයිෆොසේට් පළිබෝධකය ගොවියෙකු විසින් දිගටම සහ බහුලව පාවිච්චි කළත් ඒ හේතුවෙන් ඔහු පිළිකා රෝගයට ගොදුරු නොවන බව මේ අධ්‍යයනයෙන් පෙන්වා දී තිබේ. සමහර විට රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය සිතනවා ඇත්තේ රජරට ප‍්‍රදේශයේ බහුලව දක්නට ලැබෙන වකුගඩු රෝගය ගැන විය හැකිය. එහෙත් එය සනාථ කරන කිසි නිශ්චිත
සාක්ෂියක් තවම සොයාගෙන නැති බව කිව යුතුය. ඒ වෙනුවට අපට ඇත්තේ, එවැනි මතයක් ප‍්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන සාක්ෂි ය. රතන හිමියන්ගේ පුරෝගාමීත්වයෙන් යුත්, දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් බලවත් මුත් එක් කුඩා කණ්ඩායමක් සහ විද්‍යාත්මක ප‍්‍රජාව අතරේ පැත්තකින් සිටින එවැනිම කුඩා තවත් කණ්ඩායමක්, පරිසරයේ සහ ආහාර
නිෂ්පාදනයේ අඩංගු ග්ලයිෆොසේට් හේතුවෙන් මේ රෝගය හටගන්නා බව කියා තිබේ. ඔවුන් පවා එසේ කියන්නේ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට්වලට අමතරව තවත් සාධක තුනක්, එනම් ආසනික්, කිවුල් වතුර සහ වෙනත් සාධක ඊට එක් වීමෙන් මේ රෝගය හටගන්නා බවකි.

එහෙත් රජරට වෙසෙන, බල්ලන්, බළලූන්, ගවයන් ඇතුළු, ගංගා ඇලදොළ වැව් ආදියේ වතුර පාවිච්චියට ගන්නා ගොවියන්ට මේ රෝගය වැළඳෙන බවක් දකින්ට නැත. ඊට ගොදුරු වන්නේ, කුඹුරුවලින් ඈත, තමන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික ළිංවල ජලය පාවිච්චියට ගන්නා පුද්ගලයන් ය. එසේම, ශ‍්‍රී ලංකාවේ මෙන් දස ගුණයක් වැඩියෙන් කෘෂි රසායන පාවිච්චියට ගන්නා මැලේසියාව සහ නවසීලන්තය වැනි රටවල මේ රෝගය දක්නට නොලැබෙන බව ද කිව යුතුය.

විශේෂ ඕනෑ එපාකම්

ඉහත සඳහන් කෙළේ මේ කාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෙම නිගමනයට පැමිණි බොහෝ අධ්‍යයනයන්ගෙන් එකක් පමණි. ලෝකයේ රටවල් 190 ක් මේ කෘෂි රසායනය අනුමත කොට දැනට භාවිත කරයි. කෙසේ වෙතත්, පසුගිය දශක දෙක තුන තුළ, අතීත කාමයෙන් පෙලෙන, විචිත‍්‍ර සිතැ‘ති, කෘෂිකර්මය සම්බන්ධයෙන් බොහෝ කොට අවිද්‍යාත්මක ආකල්ප දරණ දේශපාලනික ව්‍යාපාර ගණනාවක් ඉස්මත්තට පැමිණ තිබේ. ඔවුන්ගේ ශක්තිය වන්නේ, ජනතාව තුළ පවතින අනියත බියයි. එම බිය අවුලූවන මන්ත‍්‍රයක් ඔවුන්ට තිබේ. ඊට අනුව, ආහාර තුළ පවතින රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍ය නිසා අට අසූවක් ව්‍යාධි හටගන්නේය. මේ කණ්ඩායම්, ‘කාබනික ආහාර’, ‘ස්වාභාවික ආහාර’ සහ ‘සාකල්‍ය ආහාර’ ආදී වශයෙන් වන විශාල පාරිභෝගික ව්‍යාපාර සමග අත්වැල් බැඳගෙන සිටිති. මේ කියන ආහාර ප‍්‍රභේද පාවිච්චියට ගන්නේ ප‍්‍රභූ සමාජ කොටස් ය. බොහෝ රටවල දේශපාලනය හසුරුවන්නේ, ලෝක ජනගහනයෙන් සියයට 1 ක් වන, ඔවුන් ය. බොහෝ උගත් පිරිස් මෙන්ම, නවතම පර්යේෂණ ගැන යාවත්කාලීන අවබෝධයක් නැති වෛද්‍යවරුන් පවා ‘අපේ කෑමවල තියෙන වසවිස’ පිළිබඳ මන්ත‍්‍රයේ ගොදුරු බවට පත්වීම පුදුමයක් නොවේ. බොහෝ කෘෂි රසායන වර්ග, පමණට වඩා භාවිත කළොත්, විසකාරක විය හැකිය. ඒ ගැන විවාදයක් නැත. ඒ ධර්මතාව සියලූම ඖෂධ වර්ගවලටත්, ගැසලින්, ක්ලෝරින් සහ නිතර ගෙදරදොර පාවිච්චියට ගන්නා පවිත‍්‍රකාරක ද්‍රව්‍යවලටත් පොදු නියාමයකි. මිරිස් සහ කරාබු නැටි වැනි කුළුබඩු පවා, සීමාව ඉක්මවා පාවිච්චියට ගත්තොත්, විසකාරක වන්නේය.

‘පිළිකා පර්යේෂණ ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනය’ 2015 කළ අධ්‍යයනයක ග්ලයිෆොසේට් පිළිබඳ නිගමනයට ඇතුළත් එක් කාරණයක්, ‘මගේ-කෑමවල-රසායනික-නැහැ’ කණ්ඩායම දේව භාෂිතයක් කරගෙන තිබේ. එනම්, ඉහළ මාත‍්‍රාවෙන් පාවිච්චියට ගන්නා ග්ලයිෆොසේට්, දෙවැනි-පංතියේ පිළිකා කාරක අවදානමක් වන බව, ‘පිළිකා පර්යේෂණ ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතනයේ’ අධ්‍යයනයෙන් කියා තිබීමයි. මේ කියන පිරිස් එය ප‍්‍රචාරක අවියක් වශයෙන් නාමකරණය කොට ඇත්තේ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට් යනු භයානක විසක් වශයෙන් හුවාදක්වමිනි. එහෙත්, ඉහළ මාත‍්‍රාවක් වශයෙන් ගත් විට දෙවැනි-පංතියේ පිළිකාකාරක අවදානමක් වශයෙන් මිස, පොදු සෞඛ්‍ය අවදානමක් ඇති බවක්
එම වාර්තාවේ නිගමනයෙන් ගම්‍ය වන්නේ නැත. ‘මගේ-කෑමවල-රසායනික-නැහැ’ කණ්ඩායම ඉතා ප‍්‍රබල ලෙස තවත් ක‍්‍රියකාරික කණ්ඩායමක් සමග අත්වැල් බැඳ ගත්හ. එනම්, ‘‘ෆ‍්‍රැන්කන්ෆුඞ්’’ (රකුසු-ආහාර විරෝධී ක‍්‍රියාකාරීන් ය. ‘රකුසු ආහාර’ වශයෙන් ඔවුන් හඳුන්වන්නේ ‘ජාන විපර්යාසයට’ ලක්කළ ආහාර ය. තිරිඟු, සෝයා, සහල් සහ එළවළු ආදිය, ඒවායේ අඩංගු ඇතැම් විශේෂිත ජාන වෙනුවට වෙනත් ජාන වර්ග එක් කිරීමෙන් විපර්යාසයට ලක්කොට, ආර්ථික වශයෙන් සහ සෞඛ්‍යමය වශයෙන් යෝග්‍යතම, නව නිෂ්පාදන සාදනු ලැබේ.

‘ජාන ඉංජිනේරුකරණයට ලක්කළ ගොයම’ යනු, පැරණි ‘පැළ බෝ කිරීම’ වෙනුවට යොදා ගන්නා නූතන නිෂ්පාදන ක‍්‍රමයයි. මේ ‘ජාන විපර්යාසයට’ ලක්කළ නිෂ්පාදන ක‍්‍රියාවලිය තුළ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට් භාවිතයක් අඩංගු ය. මේ ක‍්‍රමයට නිෂ්පාදනය කළ ඇමරිකාවේ තිරිඟු පිටි සහ කැනඩාවේ මයිසූර් පරිප්පු දැන් දශක ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ලංකාවේ ජනතාව පරිභෝග කරති.

‘රකුසු-කෑම විරෝධීන්’ තමන්ගේ ව්‍යාපාරය තුළට ග්ලයිෆොසේට් විරෝධයත් එක් කරගෙන තිබේ. ඒ සඳහා සෑම ආකාරයකම සූක්ෂම ප‍්‍රචාරක ප‍්‍රයෝග ඔවුන් යොදාගනු ලැබේ. ඒ අතරින් ඉතාම හාස්‍යජනක සිද්ධියක් වන්නේ, මරී මොනික් රොබින් නැමැති ප‍්‍රංශ මාධ්‍යවේදිනියක් නෙදර්ලන්තයේ හේග් නුවරට ගොස් තමන්ගේම හිතුවක්කාර අධිකරණයක් ප‍්‍රකාශයට පත්කර ගැනීමයි. ඇගේ පෞද්ගලික ව්‍යායාමයක් වූ එම ප‍්‍රචාරක ප‍්‍රයෝගය නම් කොට තිබුණේ, ‘ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණය-හේග්’ යනුවෙනි. එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයට සම්බන්ධ, මෙනමින් යුත් ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණයකුත් තිබේ. මේ මාධ්‍යවේදිනිය තමන්ගේ ප‍්‍රයෝගය සඳහා එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධාන ජාලයට සමාන නමක් යොදාගෙන තිබුණේ, ලෝකයා නොමග යැවීමටම පමණි.

‘සමූහ-නාශක අවියක්’ වන ග්ලයිෆොසේට් පරිසරයට මුදා හැරීමෙන්, ‘මොන්සැන්ටෝ’ නැමැති ව්‍යාපාරය, මනුෂ්‍යත්වයට එරෙහි අපරාධ සිදු කොට ඇති බව, 2017 අපේ‍්‍රල් මාසයේ දී මේ ‘අධිකරණය’ තීන්දු කෙළේය.

රතන හිමියන් සහ දොස්තර ජයසුමන මේ අපූරු අධිකරණ සැසියට සහභාගී වූ ශ‍්‍රී ලාංකීය ‘නියෝජිතයන්’ ය. මේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා ‘නියෝජිත’ කණ්ඩායම එම ‘අධිකරණයට’ ඉදිරිපත් කළ කාරණයක් වන්නේ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට් භාවිතය නිසා රජරට ප‍්‍රදේශයේ සෑම පවුල් 100 කින්ම පවුල් තුනකට විකලාංග දරුවන් උපදින බව ය. එහෙත් සත්‍යය
වන්නේ, මේ කියන සියයට 3 යනු, විකලාංශ දරුවන් බිහිවීමට ඉඩ ඇති සාමාන්‍ය ප‍්‍රතිශතය වන බවයි.

ග්ලයිෆොසේට් භාවිතයක් තිබුණත් නැතත් එවැනි ප‍්‍රතිශතයක් රටේ කොතැනක වුවත් අපේක්ෂා කෙරෙන පරිමාණයකි. මේ සාවද්‍ය ප‍්‍රකාශයම, 2018 මාර්තු 27 වැනි දා ‘දෙරණ’ නාලිකාවේ වැඩ සටහනකදීත් රතන හිමියෝ දේශනා කළහ.

මේ වැඩ සටහනේ දීම ඒ හිමියන් ප‍්‍රකාශ කළ තවත් කාරණයක් වන්නේ, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමයත් තමන් සමග සිටින බවයි. රතන හිමියන් ඉදිරිපත් කරන මේ සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන ඇත්තෙන්ම රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය පිළිගන්නේද? ග්ලයිෆොසේට් පිළිබඳ ලෝකයේ විශාලතම අධ්‍යයනය ගැන රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය නොදැනුවත්ද? වගකිව යුතු වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ සංගමයක් වශයෙන්, රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය, පවතින සාක්ෂි මත පදනම්ව කටයුතු කරමින්, නොමග ගිය අන්තවාදීන්ගේ ව්‍යාජ ප‍්‍රකාශ බැහැර කරනු ඇතැයි අපි අපේක්ෂා කරමු.

(කතුවරයා, ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු උපකුලපතිවරයා සහ රසායන විද්‍යාව පිළිබඳ මහාචාර්යා විය. වර්තමානයේ කැනඩාවේ ජාත්‍යන්තර පර්යේෂණ ආයතනයේත්, කැනඩාවේ මොන්ටි‍්‍රයල් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේභෞතික විද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේත් භෞතික විද්‍යාඥයෙකි)