By Raj Gonsalkorale

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are the cornerstone for sustainable development, but if they are not appropriately managed, they will impede progress towards the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals. Among undesirable impacts, emphasis must be put on the risk of information security (ISec) breaches, as they pose a potential threat to businesses there. Especially for publicly traded firms, they could create a long-lasting influence on their financial performance and, thus, stock investors’ confidence – MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute.

MDPI (Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute), a major Switzerland-based publisher of over 500 peer-reviewed, open-access journals, founded in 1996, in a review titled The Long-Run Impact of Information Security Breach Announcements on Investors’ Confidence: The Context of Efficient Market Hypothesisby Syed Emad Azhar Ali, Fong-Woon Lai, Rohail Hassan and Muhammad Kashif Shad in an MDPI publication in January 2021) point out that Among undesirable impacts, emphasis must be put on the risk of information security (ISec) breaches, as they pose a potential threat to businesses there. Especially for publicly traded firms, they could create a long-lasting influence on their financial performance and, thus, stock investors’ confidence (https://www.mdpi.com /2071- 050/13/3/1066#:~:text=Especially%20for%20publicly%20traded%20firms, context%20of%20efficient%20market %20hypothesis), In summary, the paper says that when large-scale computer scams are, or are perceived to be, handled poorly or are facilitated by corruption, they lead to a significant loss of both local and international investor reputation, potentially causing capital flight.

fDi Intelligence, a specialist division of the Financial Times, is a premier source for foreign direct investment (FDI) information, providing data-driven news, analysis, and tracking tools. In recent research publication they have stated that Cyber-attacks are on the rise as they emerge as the flipside of the global digital economy and they cost the world $8tn in damages in 2023 alone, and that public institutions at the highest level, particularly in developing economies, have proven vulnerable to such attacks. (https://www.fdiintelligence.com/content/aebb2169-e74e-53b6-b6ca-4b3a521cca8c#:~:text= The%20 stakes%20are%20high.,The%20FDI%20risk). 

Terence Toland, a manager at Kearney, a leading global management consulting firm, has stated that Countries with poor cyber hygiene risk seeing their investment appeal decrease as multinationals limit exposure to such risks and that the reputational damage caused by a big breach, particularly a well-publicised breach, would definitely have a negative impact on the market’s prospect for FDI or being a supply chain destination”. As one would say, it’s not rocket science to say that financial scams pose significant threats to the economic stability and growth of emerging economies. These fraudulent activities undermine investor confidence, distort market efficiency, and divert scarce resources away from productive investments.

In Sri Lanka, a few IT and non-IT related issues, but primarily large-scale computer scams and high-profile cyber incidents appear to have the potential to severely damage investor confidence by eroding trust in the security of financial systems, weakening the reputation of local markets, and introducing significant financial and operational risks.  It is vital for the government to address these issues very urgently and expeditiously and possibly considering the engagement of a reputed international entity specialised in this area to undertake an urgent assessment of the adequacy of cyber security measures in the central bank and all local banks, and management measures in place to detect possible scams.

Amongst the issues that appear to have had a dent in the government’s ability to handle major beaches, both in IT and non-IT related areas, is the controversial container release saga. While it is not a computer related issue, it has raised a considerable amount of debate and discussion, and the government’s position has been that the practice of releasing  some containers without an inspection has been a practice that has been adopted in the past as a means of easing backlogs of containers whenever such backlogs impeded on the efficiency of the Port. A Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) is probing the release of 323 containers from the Colombo Port in early 2025 without mandatory physical inspections, many of which reported were marked “red” (high-risk). With the investigation extended by three months, and a final report expected in the coming weeks, the PSC report will hopefully provide the required clarity and identify any misdeeds, indeed if any, had occurred. However, the time period that has elapsed since the issue hit the headlines and a comprehensive explanation to the public about the circumstances relating to the release of the containers has been far too long, and it has provided ample opportunities for speculation to take hold of whatever it might be the factual situation. 

The context relating to the Sri Lankan Ports situation needs to be mentioned here. Port congestion and delayed cargo clarencein what has beenthe highest-performing months for cargo handling, roughly 4,200 containers had been held up as of April 2026.The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) is attempting to clear backlogs through 24-hour services and is reviewing, as a temporary measure, the use of space in Port City to alleviate yard congestion. Port capacity and developments so far has been unprecedented with theHambantota International Port (HIP) recording its highest single-vessel container volume (13,260 TEUs) on the MSC Marie Leslie in April 2026.The Colombo West International Terminal (CWIT), a joint venture involving India’s Adani Ports, is accelerating development to increase capacity by late 2026, ahead of its 2027 deadline.While some carriers are returning to the Red Sea, continued instability in the region due to the mid-eastern conflict has caused a structural shift in shipping patterns, placing high demand on Sri Lankan terminals as a transshipment hub. The overall situation indicates that while Sri Lanka is successfully positioning itself as a major Indian Ocean logistics hub, it faces severe operational and bureaucratic bottlenecks in handling the increased traffic.

The challenge for the government is to assess whether equipment shortages and/or lack of skilled management expertise is causing port congestion, and if so, what measures should be taken to address these as a matter of priority, as its goal of Sri Lanka being a major Indian Ocean hub may be impacted.

In terms of the three IT related issues, the two Commercial Bank related issues (the scams at the NDB and the one at the Commercial bank), are not directly related to the government, but related possibly to monitoring shortcomings at the Central Bank which is independent of the government.  It certainly appears that the monitoring measures and IT guard rails to detect and prevent scams have not been as effective as they should have been, both within the two institutions concerned and within the central bank. However, as investigations are ongoing, speculations will not assist the investigations, but clarity on this serious matter will have to be considered a very urgent matter as the potential damage to confidence in these institutions could become irreversible otherwise.

The challenge for the government (more the central bank) is to take all possible measures, including obtaining international technical expertise to investigate, strengthen if necessary through legislation, preventive measures and to introduce more fool proof guard rails in all banks so that recurrence of these scams will not happen, and if any attempts are being made by cyber criminals to hack systems, they will be detected before its too late, Besides this, punishment for convicted offenders should be made extremely severe so that would be criminals would think twice before committing them.

What is very concerning and perhaps most serious is the theft of USD 2.5 million dollars from the governments own external resources entity which is inseparable from the treasury itself. To the best of the writer’s knowledge based on information publicly released so far, it appears that a serious management shortcoming has contributed to the eventual cyber theft. This being the apparent failure of the external resources/treasury not to have sought an acknowledgement from the recipient of the funds, the Australian government, way back in January when supposedly, the transfer had been done. Had the treasury assumed that the funds had been transferred on the due date, surely an acknowledgement should have been sought as a matter of routine, or they should have had a management mechanism to identify funds that had to be transferred by a due date but not actually transferred and which would have prompted them to make investigations why the transfer had not taken place. On the face of it, it appears that there had been a clear management failure.

Impact on investor confidence

As mentioned earlier, besides the loss of money, which may be totally or partially recovered, what would be difficult to recover would be the possible dents on investor confidence when Sri Lanka desperately needs direct foreign investments to boost the economy. The IT related scams will result in the erosion of trust in digital finance.

Cyber-enabled fraud, which has tripled recently, erodes trust in the digital channels that modern financial systems rely on. When scams are perceived as widespread, investor trust in digital services decreases, making it harder for financial institutions to maintain confidence. There would be reduced foreign direct investment (FDI), as countries with poor cyber guard rails runs the risk of being characterized as countries with weak governance and not attuned to giving the topmost priority to arresting cybercrime and losing their appeal for FDI as multinationals will take risk avoidance measures and limit their exposure to these hazards. Significant breaches could prompt firms to relocate to jurisdictions with higher security standards. Even if governments are not necessarily weak, investors will view high-scale scams as evidence of inept management or severe operational vulnerabilities within institutions including the central bank. To add to this, the high cost of remediation, along with potential legal and regulatory fines, could impair the institutions’ ability to operate efficiently, making them less attractive to investors.

From the country’s perspective, a national economysuffering from cyber-security breaches may experience increased equity risk, as potential investors could become hesitant to invest, either making only small investments as a risk mitigating measure or demanding higher, short-term returns. Another serious risk that could arise from widespread digital fraud is the flight of capital, posing threats to economic stability. 

fDi Intelligence lists the following as key drivers of reduced confidence

• The adoption of AI and deepfakes by criminals makes scams harder to detect, leading to prolonged periods of risk for institutions.
• In some instances, regulations requiring data to be stored locally can heighten a country’s attractiveness as a target for cyber-criminals, inadvertently raising risks for foreign investors.
• Foreign investors could find their local partners or suppliers as the “weakest link,” exposing the overall investment to contagion risks from low-quality local cybersecurity. 

In conclusion, the following conclusion from Research Gate paper titled Economic Impact Of Financial Scams On Emerging Economies: A Legal Review” is quoted here as it summarises the potential fallout from scams that are becoming quite widespread globally (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/393335164 Economic_Impact_Of_ Financial_Scams On_Emerging_Economies_A_Legal_Review#:~:text=Abstract,) %2C%20and%20financial %20sector % 20integrity)

The rapid advancement of technology has led to significant changes in the global financial landscape. The rise of digital transactions presents new opportunities for financial inclusion and economic growth, but it has also led to a surge in financial fraud. (Lakew & Azadi, 2020). Financial frauds exert extensive and diverse economic impacts on developing nations. Financial fraud undermines economic stability, distorts markets, and erodes trust in financial institutions (Sajid et al., 2023).  The inadequacy of legal and regulatory frameworks in numerous emerging nations have exacerbated the problem further.  Mitigating the economic impact of financial fraud relies on robust legal and regulatory responses. This encompasses the enhancement of national legal frameworks, the augmentation of regulatory oversight, the promotion of international collaboration, and the empowerment of consumers through protective measures and education. (Babu & Xavier, 2015.  The convergence of information technology and financial services has propelled the growth of financial technologies, necessitating legislative reforms to address the interplay of financial products, services, technologies, risks, and institutions. (Tritto et al., 2020).

One hopes that the government has taken heed of the urgency to strengthen all avenues that pose threats to cyber fraud, strengthen management shortcomings via legislation if need be, the utmost urgency to do this as a matter of priority and taking the ordinary people of the country to their confidence by providing open, consistent, accurate updates on the issues concerned and prevent avenues for speculation arising from gaps in what might be known and what is being made known to the public. At present, speculation appears to be ahead and social media proliferation arising from them appears to be getting a foothold about the governments ability to meet these and similar major challenges.

by, Professor Nishan C Wijesinha of the German School of Medicine.

The Jaffna Kingdom (1215–1619 CE) was a major historical Kingdom on the Jaffna Peninsula in the northern part of Ceylon which was popularised by it’s stilts related cultural dancers; within the Peninsular. 

The purpose of this Mahapabbata ritual was to spread the message of the value of agriculture for a productive and self sustainable economy.

Aryacakravarti dynasty — the line of kings who ruled the Jaffna Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka.

Jaffna Kingdom Aryacakravarti line of kings…

Final ruler Cankili II in Jaffna Kingdom before it’s  Dissolution 1619 by the Portuguese.

The illustrations here should be drawn to 4 kings in traditional royal dress with their hands in anjali mudra  pose of Hinduism.

Here these kings  carried a chakra/disc weapon, a symbol of the Aryacakravartis.

Bottom labels in Tamil:

பராசசேகரராசா = Pararasasekararasa / Pararajasekaram

பண்டாரம் = Pandaram

பரநிருபசிங்கம் = Paranirupasingham

சங்கிலி = Cankili / Sangili

Key facts about this:

Jaffna Kingdom 1215-1619: Independent Tamil kingdom covering northern Sri Lanka. The Aryacakravartis ruled for ∼400 years.

Cankili II = The last king.

Portuguese captured Jaffna in 1619, executed Cankili II in Goa in 1623, and dissolved the kingdom. That ended independent Tamil rule in Lanka until modern times.

The 4 kings shown: are the last 4 kings before Portuguese conquest:

Pararajasekaram — ruled early 1500s

Pandaram — disputed ruler, civil war period

Paranirupasingham — ruled mid-1500s

Cankili I or Cankili II — Cankili II was the final one in 1619.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Sri Lanka should plan to benefit from War

The core problem: labour shortage

Middle East pull (especially if reconstruction or instability increases demand) can drain skilled workers like masons, bar benders, and carpenters from Sri Lanka. The Chamber of Construction Industry Sri Lanka has flagged this before—construction here is still heavily labour-intensive and slow to modernize.

steel + prefabricationsteel structures with prefabricated panels—is globally proven:

• China → mass prefabrication, rapid high-rise assembly
• South Korea → modular construction systems
• United States → increasing use of offsite fabrication

Projects like Altair Tower Colombo show Sri Lanka already has exposure to advanced structural systems 

Where your idea is strong

• Labour reduction: Prefab can cut on-site labour by 30–50%
• Speed: Projects completed faster → lower financing cost
• Quality control: Factory production reduces site errors
• Safety: Less manual risk on site

This aligns well with a labour-constrained future.

Places like Alang (India) or Chittagong (Bangladesh) do shipbreaking—but even they don’t directly convert scrap into certified structural steel without heavy industrial processing.

Real bottleneck: ecosystem, not raw material

Even if you had scrap steel, you still need:

• Structural design codes for steel buildings (partially underdeveloped locally)
• Fabrication plants (precision cutting, welding, galvanizing)
• Skilled fabricators and erectors (different from masons—not zero labour)
• Logistics for large prefabricated modules

So the constraint shifts—not disappears.

Cement vs steel – not a simple replacement

Companies like Siam City Cement (INSEE) or Tokyo Cement wouldn’t necessarily lose out” entirely:

• Hybrid systems (steel + concrete composite slabs) are common
• Foundations still require concrete
• Infrastructure (roads, ports) will always use cement

So this is more diversification, not replacement.

What would actually work in Sri Lanka

A realistic version of your idea would be:

• Promote light-gauge steel framing for housing
• Introduce modular prefab panels (walls, bathrooms, MEP units)
• Incentivize offsite construction yards
• Use imported certified steel initially (not scrap-based)
• Gradually build a local fabrication industry

Strategic insight

The real shift is not steel vs cement”—it is:

Moving from site-based construction → industrialized construction

That’s the transformation countries are 

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Sri Lands – මහපොළොවේ හැංගුණු විද්‍යාව සහ ස්මාර්ට් ජීවන රහස් කියාදෙන තැන.

රෑ 2 ට විතර වැස්ස වැඩි වෙද්දී, කන්ද පිටුපසින් ඇහෙන ඒ දිය සද්දෙට කී පාරක් නම් අපේ ඇඟ සීතල වෙලා තියෙනවද?

වත්ත පහළ පිටුපස බිත්තියට රතු පාට ඉඩමේ පස හේත්තු වෙලා තියෙන හැටි දකිද්දී, ඒ “කොළ මඩ” වතුර කෑලි කොන්ක්‍රීට් එක දිගේ ගලාගෙන එද්දී දැනෙන බය අපේ තාත්තලාට, ගෙවල් හදන සොහොයුරන්ට අමුතුවෙන් කියලා දෙන්න ඕනේ නැහැ.

“බැම්මක් ගහන්න ඕනේ…” අපි හැමෝම මුලින්ම හිතන්නේ ඒක. හැබෑවටම අද කාලේ තියෙන බඩු වල ගණන් එක්ක අඩි 10 ක කැපුම් බැම්මක් (Retaining Wall) ලස්සනට ගහගන්න ලක්ෂ 8-10 ක් හොයාගන්න එක ලේසි නැහැ.

හැබැයි ඉංජිනේරු විද්‍යාව ඇතුළේ “BIO-ENGINEERING” කියලා හරිම අපූරු, ලාභ ක්‍රමයක් තියෙනවා. ඒ තමයි “ජීවී යකඩ කූරු” පස ඇතුළට බැස්සවීම.

අපි ගොඩක් අය හිතාගෙන ඉන්නේ ඉඩමක නායයෑමක් නවත්වන්න පුළුවන් අඩි 2 ක් විතර ඝනකම කොන්ක්‍රීට් හෝ ගල බැම්මකට විතරයි කියලා. ඒත් ඇත්තම රහස තියෙන්නේ අපේ පය පාමුල තියෙන පසේ.

නාය යන්නේ යම් ස්ථර දෙකක් අතර ඇතිවෙන එකිනෙකට ලිස්සා යාම නිසයි. මේ තත්ත්වය පාලනය කරන්න අපිට පුළුවන් පස ඇතුළට ‘නියපොතු’ (Biological Nails) ගහන්න.

මේ වෙනුවෙන් ලෝකයේ තියෙන අංක එකේ ගැලවුම්කරුවා තමයි “සැවන්දරා” (Vetiver Grass).

මොකක්ද මේ සැවන්දරා වල තියෙන මැජික් එක? සාමාන්‍ය තැණකොළ ගහක මුල යන්නේ අඟල් කීපයයි. හැබැයි මාස 12-24 ක් ගිය සැවන්දරා පඳුරක මුල් පද්ධතිය පොළොව යටට අඩි 10 සිට 15 දක්වා (මීටර් 2-5) කෙළින්ම පහළට විහිදෙනවා.

විද්‍යාත්මකව බැලුවොත්, මේ මුල් පද්ධතියේ ‘ඇදීමේ ශක්තිය’ (Tensile Strength) 75 MPa විතර වෙනවා. ඒ කියන්නේ සරලවම කිව්වොත් සාමාන්‍ය යකඩ කූරක ශක්තියෙන් 1/6 ක්!

හිතන්න, ඔබේ ඉඩම පුරා සැවන්දරා පේළි හිටවලා තියෙනවා කියන්නේ, පොළොව ඇතුළට අඩි 15 ක් ගැඹුරට ජීවී යකඩ කූරු දහස් ගණනක් බස්සලා පස “stitch” කරලා තියෙනවා වගේ වැඩක්.

හැබැයි මේක කරන්න ඕනේ හරියටම විද්‍යාත්මක ක්‍රමයටයි. සැවන්දරා පැළ දෙකක් අතර පරතරය තදින්ම තියාගන්න ඕනේ (අඟල් 4-6 ක් වගේ – ඒ කියන්නේ මිට මෙලවූ අතක් වගේ ප්‍රමාණයක්). දෙපැත්තට හිටවන්නේ නැතුව ඉඩමේ “Contour” එකේ, එහෙමත් නැත්නම් සමෝච්ච රේඛා දිගේ තමයි මේ පවුර හදන්න ඕනේ.

ඊළඟ වැදගත්ම දේ තමයි, හිටවන්න එපා කියන ගස් ටික දැනගන්න එක. මොකද වැරදි ගස් හිටෙව්වොත් නාය යෑම වැඩි වෙනවා.

අපි ගහන ලොකුම වැරැද්ද තමයි බුරුල් පස තියෙන, ඇලවීම 45 ට වැඩි ඉඩම් වල කොස් (Jak), දෙල් (Breadfruit) හෝ මාර (Albizia) වගේ බර වැඩි ගස් හිටවන එක.

නාය යන වෙලාවට මේ ගස් වල තියෙන අධික බර (Surcharge weight) නිසා මුළු පස් තට්ටුවම ඉක්මනින් පහළට ඇදලා ගන්නවා. ඒ විතරක් නෙවෙයි, තද හුළඟක් එද්දී මේ ලොකු ගස් හුළඟට අහුවෙන “ප්‍රතිරෝධක” (Sails) විදිහට ක්‍රියා කරලා මුළු පසම ලිහිල් කරලා දානවා.

ඒ වෙනුවට අපිට හිටවන්න පුළුවන් ආර්ථික බෝග දෙකක් NBRO එකෙන් නිර්දේශ කරනවා. ඒ තමයි කරාබු (Clove) සහ කෝපි (Coffee).

මේ ගස් දෙකේම මුල් වල තියෙන ශක්තිය සහ පස අල්ලාගෙන සිටීමේ හැකියාව කඳුකර ඉඩමකට ඉතාම ආරක්ෂිතයි.

ඔබේ ඉඩමේ පස අසීමිත ලෙස තෙත් වෙනවා නම්, ඒ ජලය ‘පම්ප් කරලා’ ඉවත් කරන්න හොඳම ගහ තමයි ගිරිසීඩියා (Gliricidia). ගිරිසීඩියා වැටක් හිටවන එකෙන් පස ඇතුළේ තියෙන පීඩනය (Pore water pressure) අඩු කරන්න පුළුවන්.

මතක තියාගන්න, ඉඩමක නාය යෑමේ මුල්ම ලකුණු මතු වෙන්නේ ඔබේ දොරවල් හෝ ජනෙල් හිරවෙන්න ගත්තමයි. එහෙම නැත්නම් තාප්ප වල හෙල පල්ලම් ලකුණු හෝ ගේට්ටු කණු ඇල වෙලා තියෙනවා නම්, ඔබ දැන්ම ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්න ඕනේ.

සැවන්දරා පඳුරක් අද කාලේ රුපියල් 15-50 වගේ ඉතාම සුළු මුදලකට ගන්න පුළුවන්. ලක්ෂ 10 ක් වියදම් කරලා කොන්ක්‍රීට් දාන්න කලින්, පොළොව හිර කරන මේ ජීවී පවුර ඔබේ ඉඩමේ හදාගන්න.

වැස්ස දවසට රෑ 2 ට බය නොවී නිදාගන්න, සොබාදහම අපිට දීලා තියෙන මේ අපූරු විසඳුම අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම පාවිච්චි කරන්න.

අමතක වෙන්න කලින් මේ විස්තර ටික Save කරලා තියාගන්න. ඔබේ ඉඩමට විතරක් නෙවෙයි, හදිසි අවස්ථාවක කාට හෝ උපදෙස් දෙන්න මේක වැදගත් වේවි.

කඳුකර ප්‍රදේශ වල ඉඩම් තියෙන, ගෙවල් හදන ඔබේ හිතවතෙක්ට මේ කරුණු ටික දැනගන්න දැන්ම මේ ලිපිය Share කරන්න!

මේ පොස්ටුවේ සම්මත තොරතුරු අධ්‍යාපනික අරමුණු සඳහා පමණි. මේවා වෘත්තීය හෝ ආයෝජන උපදෙස් වශයෙන් නොසලකන්න. ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නට පෙර සම්මත වෘත්තීයවෙකුගේ උපදෙස් ගන්න. © Sri Lands | සියලු අයිතිවාසිකම ඇතුළත් වේ.

Sri Lands – මහපොළොවේ හැංගුණු විද්‍යාව සහ ස්මාර්ට් ජීවන රහස් කියාදෙන තැන.

– චමිල ලියනගේ. උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

මෙම සටහන ගැන ඔබ උරන විය හැක. එහෙත් මම මාගේ අදහස ඉදිරිපත් කරමි. 

ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ ටෙක්සාස් සිට වොෂින්ටනය දක්වා ඉතා අසීරු පරිසර සාධක මැද කිලෝමීර් තුන්දහසක් හෝ ඊට ආසන්න ගණනක් පයින්ම වැඩම කළ පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියන් ඇතුළු භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාගේ ව්‍යායාමය දෙස ඉමහත් සතුටින් බුද්ධාලම්භන ප්‍රීතියෙන් බලා සිටි, ඒ ගැන බොහෝ දෑ ලියා පළ කළ මට, උන්වහන්සේලාගේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාද චාරිකාව දැකීමෙන් – නම් කර ඇති පරිද්දෙන් ඒහිපස්සිකෝ – එබඳු සැනසිලිදායක, නිවුනු පහන් සිතක් උපදින්නේ නැත.

මම ඒ ඇයිදැයි කල්පනා කරමි. ඊට හේතුව ඝර්ම කලාපික අපි, බොහෝ විට අත්විඳින්නට ආශා කරන, ඇතැම් රටවල ශීත සෘතුවේ පරිසර සාධක නොවේ. ආලෝකා නම් ලද සුනඛයාද නොවේ.  මා සිතන්නේ බෞද්ධයකු ලෙස අප බොහෝ දෙනෙකුගේ සිත් බැඳගත්තේ උන් වහන්සේලාගේ අපේක්ෂාව හෝ කාර්යභාරය (purpose) ය. ඇතැම් ඇමරිකානුවන් බුද්ධශ්‍රාවකයකු, දුටුවේ පළමුවතාවට විය හැක. එසේම, තමන්ගේ බසින්ම සරළ බුදු වදනක්, ශ්‍රවනය කිරීමෙන්, අන්‍යාගමික හෝ නිරාගමික වූ ඒ මිනිසුන්ගේ වියලි, හිස් හෝ විසිරුනු සිත් වලට යම් ශාන්තියක් දැනෙන්නට ඇත. අස්සජි මහ රහතන් වහන්සේගෙන් ‘යේ ධම්මා හේතුප්පභවා‘ පාඨය ඇසීමෙන් උපතිස්ස කෝලිත පිරිවැජියන්ගේ සිත් පුබුදු වූ තරමින් නොවූවාට ඒ සිදුවීමට සමාන්තර කුඩා සුභවාදී යහපත් සෙලවීමක් හෝ බුදු වදන් නෑසූ ඒ මිනිසුන් තුළ සිදුවන්නට ඇත. එය ඉතාම ප්‍රවේසමෙන්, උපේක්ෂාවෙන් පාගමනින් වඩින ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලා එකම නිමිත්ත කරගනිමින් නවීන මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේ විසුරුවා හැරි මාධ්‍ය මෙහෙයුම තවත් ඇමරිකානු හා ඉන් පරිබාහිර ලක්ෂ සංඛ්‍යාත මිනිස් සිත් සතන්, ආමුලිකා ශ්‍රද්ධා සිසිලකින් හෝ ඊටත් ප්‍රාථමික හැගීමකින් තෙමාලන්නට සමත්වූයේය. 

බුදු දහමට, ශාසනික කරුණු වලට මුලුමනින්ම ආගන්තුක වූ ඇමරිකාවේ සිට ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධි අංකුරයක් වැඩමවීම මුඛ්‍ය පරමාර්තය කරගනිමින් පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියන් ඇතුළු භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ වඩින්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවටය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු සලකන ලද රටේ සමස්ථ ජනගහනයට සාපේක්ෂව වැඩිම බෞද්ධයින් පිරිසක් ජීවත්වන ලොව 5 වන හෝ 6 වන රටය. 

මේ සියලු සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන අනාවරණය කරන්නේ උපතින් බෞද්ධ පිරිස මිස පිලිවෙතින් බෞද්ධ සංඛ්‍යාව නොවේ. මා මෙහිදී පිළිවෙතින් බෞද්ධ යනුවෙන් හඳුන්වන්නේ ජනප්‍රිය බුද්ධාගමේ අන්තයටම ගමන් කළ, ශාක්‍ය වංශිකයන් පවා අභිබවා තථාගතයන් වහන්සේට අයිතිවාසිකම් කියන පිරිස නොවේ. සියලු අගතීන් කැටිව නිමැවුනු ජනප්‍රියවාදී වතාවත් පුරන බෞද්ධයින්ද නොවේ. ග්‍රාම්‍ය උදාහරණයකින් පවසන්නේ නම්, ලංකාවේ ලොම් ගානට බෞද්ධයින් සිටියාට, පිලිවෙතින් බෞද්ධයින් සිටින්නේ අං ගානට ය. උන් වහන්සේ මෙහි වැඩියේ පාගමනින් වැඩම කිරීමට උවත්, අවසානයේ සිදුවී ඇත්තේ ජනප්‍රිය මාදිලියේ වැඩැම්ම්වීමකට මුහුන දෙන්නට ය..!! 

මා මේ සටහනට භාවිත කරන, අන්තර්ජාලයෙන් සපයාගත් ඡායාරූපයේ පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියන්ගේ මුහුනෙහි සියුම් කළකිරීමක් දකිමි. ඒ කලකිරීම, උන්වහන්සේ අත්විඳි ජනප්‍රියවාදී නිසාම ආක්‍රමනශීලී ව්‍යාජ ශුද්ධාව නිසා ඇතිවූ වෙහෙස හා කැළඹීම යැයි සිතමි. දශක ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ ජනප්‍රිය පුද්ගලයන්ට, විශේෂයෙන්ම තම ගෝත්‍රයේ, පක්ෂයේ නායකයන්ට, ලංව සිටීමට, එසේ ලංව සිටීමෙන් ඕලාරික බලපුලුවන්කාරකමක් සුලු වේලාවකට හෝ මමත්වයෙන් යුක්තව ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමට, මන්ත්‍රියා ඇමතියා මාධ්‍යයට කතා කරද්දී පිටුපසින් හිටගෙන රූපරාමුවේ පෙනීසිටීමට, ලංව සිට ඡායාරූප ගැනීමට හුරුකරන ලද සිල්ලර මිනිසුන් මෙන්, උන්වහන්සේ වෙත සමීප ව සිටින, ඇමරිකානු ආදර්ශය සිහිකරමින් අසාර්ථකව අනුකරණය කිරීමට උත්සහ දරණ, විපරීත හැසිරීම් නිසා ඒහිපස්සිකෝ රූපරාමු පිරිසිදු නැත. එක් අතකින් මංගල දිනය දවසේ නිදහසේ සිටීමට නව යුවතිපතීන්ට ඉඩනොදෙන කලබලකාරී ඡායාරූප ශීල්පීන් නිසා එවැනි සංස්කෘතික අවස්ථා විකාරරූපී වන ආකාරය මට සිහිපත්වේ! 

(උන්වහන්සේ වෙත ශ්‍රද්ධා බුද්ධි සම්පන්නව සමීපව වන්දනා කරන අතලොස්සක් දෙනා මට කමත්වා! – මේ කියන්නේ ඔබ ගැන නොවේ) ඊටම නොදෙවෙනිව, එක්සත් ජනපදයේ චාරිකාවට බාධා නොවන අයුරින් සලසා තිබූ ආරක්ෂක සැලසුම් සමග බලද්දී වෙනුවට අපේ ආරක්ෂක විධිවිධාන අසාමාන්‍ය ලෙසින් බාධාකාරී හා විකාරූපීය. ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදය විසින් බුදු සව්වන් ඝාතනය කළ අග්නිදිග ආසියානු රටක, සන්නද්ධ සොල්දාදුවන් සමග පිඬු සිඟා වඩින භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේ සහිත ඡායාරූප කලකට ඉහතදී අපි දුටිමු. 

ඇත්තෙන්ම පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාද චාරිකාවක නිරතවිය යුතුද? ඉන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය බෞද්ධයාට/රටට හෝ පොදුවේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයාට ලැබෙන ප්‍රතිලාභ මොනවාද?  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඊලාම් යුද්ධයට පෙර උතුරු පලාතේ උන්වහන්සේලා පාදචාරිකාවෙහි නිරතවූවා නම් පාද චාරිකාව සාරම්මනය. උත්තුංගය!

 උන්වහන්සේලා මෙරටට වැඩමවීමේ අරමුණ ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධීන් වහන්සේගේ අංකුරයක් ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයට වැඩමවීම නම්, ඒ ප්‍රමුඛ අරමුනට රාජ්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය උපරිමයෙන් ලැබීම වැදගත්ය. මේ ජාත්‍යන්තර බෞද්ධ දූත පිරිස, උතුරු හා නැගෙනහිර පලාත් වෙත නොවඩින්නේ ඇයි? සුලභ වශයෙන් නාමික බෞද්ධයින් ජීවත්වන ප්‍රදේශ පමනක් මේ පාද චාරිකාව විසින් ආවරණය කරන්නේ ඇයි? පින්වත් අහිංසක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලාගේ වටිනාකම් දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් හෝ වානිජ වශයෙන් අවභාවිත වන්නේදැයි සාධාරණ සැකයක් පහල වන්නේ මෙවැනි නොගැලපෙන විගඩම් දැකීමෙනි. ආණ්ඩුව පත්වූ වහාම සිදුකල ශ්‍රීමත් දන්ත ධාතූන් වහන්සේ ප්‍රදර්ශනය, ඉකුත් පෙබරවාරියේ සංවිධානය කළ  කළ භාරතයේ ගුජරාට් දේශයෙන් වැඩමවූ සර්වඥ ධාතූන් වහන්සේ කොළඹදී ප්‍රදර්ශනය, ආදියෙන් අපට ගම්‍ය වූයේ, බෞද්ධයාගේ හෝ ශාසනයේ අභිවෘද්ධිය පිනිස එම මහෝත්සව සංවිධානය කරනු වෙනුවට, ජනප්‍රියවාදයෙන් හා මිත්‍යාවෙන් අන්ධවී ඇති, ඕලාරික බෞද්ධයැයි කියාගන්නා පිරස ‘බැලන්ස්‘ කිරීමේ උපාය ලෙස මේ වන්දනීය වස්තූන් අවභාවිත වන බවය. 

ඇමරිකානු ජනමනසට මෑත කාලයේදී බරපතලම මතවාදී බලපෑම කළ පුද්ගලයා පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියෝය. මා සිතන පරිදි, ථේරවාදයේ මූලස්ථානය ශ්‍රී ලංකාද්වීපය නම්, අප කළ යුත්තේ අපේරටේ උගත් ධර්මධර විනයධර මහා ස්වාමීන්ද්‍රයන් වහන්සේලාගේ අනුශාසනා හා අනුග්‍රහය මැද, පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ හා තවත් දහස් සංඛ්‍යාත ධර්මධූතයන් වහන්සේලා පුරුදු පුහුනු කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපෘති ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමය. මේ අද්විතීය අසාමාන්‍ය ධර්මයේ අවිච්ඡින්න පැවැත්ම තහවුරු වන්නේ එවිටය. ඇමරිකාව හරහා වැඩම කරද්දී අරහත් ධජය, බුදු පුතුන් දුටු,  සරල දහම් කරුනක් ඇසූ ඇමරිකානුවන් අතලොස්සක් තුළ හෝ දහම් පිපාසයක් ඇතිවුනි නම්, එය සංසිඳවීම කළ හැක්කේ එවිටය. 

යුගමෙහෙවරක නිරත දුර්ලභ ධර්මදූතයාණන් වහන්සේ නමක ලෙසින් පූජ්‍ය පඤ්ඤාකර හිමියන් පිළිබඳ මා සිත්හි ඇති ගෞරවය මදකුදු අඩුවන්නේ නැත. එහෙත්, ථේරවාදයේ මූලස්ථානයයි කියාගන්නා මේ රටේ තමන් වහන්සේ දරණ වෙහෙස නිෂ්ඵල නේදැයි උන් වහන්සේටද සිතී ඇති සැටියක්, මේ පින්තූරයෙන් මට පෙනේ. 

කිසිවකුටත් රිදවීමට නොලීමි. සමාවන්න!

– චමිල ලියනගේ.

Courtesy Hiru News

Nineteen out of 22 Buddhist monks arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) with a large stock of narcotics have tested positive for drug use, according to the Judicial Medical Officer.

The suspects were taken into custody on April 25 after arriving from Thailand with 112 kilograms of Kush” cannabis and Hashish,” valued at over Rs. 110 million.

They are currently being detained and questioned by the Police Narcotics Bureau.
Investigations have revealed that a group of monks had previously traveled to Thailand, during which narcotics had allegedly been smuggled and later hidden at a residence in Athurugiriya. The homeowner has also been arrested.

Police further uncovered plans to send another group of approximately 40 monks to Thailand next month.

The monk believed to have coordinated the operation locally, was arrested in Gampaha while in hiding. The monk is alleged to have fled the BIA on the day of the arrests after arriving to collect the narcotics consignment.

Authorities have also stated the operation was organized by two individuals posing as businessmen, one of whom is known by the alias Haji.”

Further investigations are underway.

ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ මෛත්‍රී ගුණරත්න  නීතිඥ අතුල ද සිල්වා කැඳවුම්කරු

ෆී ලෝයර්ස් සංවිධානය විසින් මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ මංකොල්ලය හෙළිදරව්කර අද වන විට දින පහක් (5) ගතවී ඇත.  මේ අපරාධය සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ දක්වා අවම වශයෙන් විමර්ශකයින් මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයකට ‘කරුණු වාර්තා කිරීමක්’ හෝ සිදු කර නැත. 

වැඩ තහනමට ලක්වී ඇති නිලධාරීන්ගේ සාක්ෂි සටහන් කිරීමක් හෝ විමර්ශකයින් විසින් සිදු කර නැත. 

එවැනි පසුබිමක,  අප සංවිධානය මේ සිද්ධිය පිළිබඳ අතිගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමාට සහ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට විවෘත ප්‍රශ්න 22 ක් මෙලෙස යොමු කරමු.

මහජන සුබසෙත උදෙසා කටයුතු කරන නීතිඥවරුන් ඇතුළු වෘත්තිකයින්ගේ එකමුතුවක් වන ‘‍ෆී ලෝයර්ස්’ සංවිධානය අවධාරණය කරන්නේ ජනාධිපතිතුමන් සහ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල මෙම ප්‍රශ්න 22 ට  විවෘත පිළිතුරු ලබාදිය යුතු බවයි.

1.      ජනරජයේ ජනාධිපතිතුමා, භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ ඩොලර් මි. 2.5 ක් අස්ථානගතවී හෝ මංකොල්ලකෑමකට ලක්වී ඇති බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

2.      මේ සිද්ධිය සිදූවූ දිනය පිළිබඳ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස ඔබ වෙත කරුණු වාර්තා කර තිබුනේ ද?

3.      2025 සැප්. 6 හෝ ඒ ආසන්න දිනක ඔබතුමන් අමාත්‍ය ධූරය දරන මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ දත්ත පද්ධතියට සයිබර් ප්‍රහාරයක් එල්ලවී  තිබූ බව ජනාධිතිවරයා/මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස දැන සිටියේ ද?

4.      එම ප්‍රහාරය එල්ල වූ බව භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම් විසින් ඔබතුමන් සහ මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යතුමන්  දැනුවත් කර තිබුණා ද?

5.      එම දැනුමත් කිරිම සිදුව තිබුනේ නම්, ඔබතුමන් මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යතුමන් ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගනු ලැබූ ක්‍රියාමාර්ග කවරේ ද?

6.      ඔබතුමන් ඩිජිටල් කටයුතු, මුදල්, ක්‍රම සම්පාදනය, ජාතික ආරක්ෂක විෂය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ සිදු වූ මංකොල්ලය පිළිබඳ වගකීම දැරිය යුතු බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

7.      එසේ නම්, ඔබ ජාතික ආරක්ෂාවේ මුලික විෂය පථයට අයත් අංශ හතරක් මේ වන විට බිඳවැටී ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව අනතුරට පත්ව ඇති බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

8.      ඔබතුමන් භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම් ඔබතුමන් විසින් පත් කළ බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

9.      මුදල් ලේකම්වරයා ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ/මාලිමාවේ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

10.  ඔහුට භාණ්ඩාගාරය හා මුදල් හා ක්‍රම සම්පාදනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසිදු පුර්ව අත්දැකීමක් නොමැති බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

11.  ඔහු විසින් මේ වන විට මුලික විමර්ශනයට අදාල පත්වීම් හා වාර්තා වෙනස් කරමින් මෙම ම‍ංකොල්ලයේ සාක්ෂි විනාශ කරමින් සිටින බව ඔබතුමන් දැන්වත්ව තිබේ ද?

12.  මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් පත් කිරීමෙන් පසුව මෙම මංකොල්ලය සිදුවු බවත්, ඉන් පසුව මුල්‍ය අපරාධයක දී අනුගමනය කළ යුතු මුලික පරිපාලන ව්‍යවහාරයන් පවා ලේකම්වරයා විසින් පැහැර හැර ඇති බව ඔබතුමන් පිළිගන්නේ ද?

13.  මෙම මංකොල්ලකෑම සිදුවූ දිනය හා එයට මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයෙන් සම්බන්ධ වූ පුද්ගලයින් කවුරුන්ද යන්න  ඔබතුමන් දන්නේ ද?

14.  මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබ විසින් පත් කරනු ලැබූ භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ ලේකම්, ඔබතුමන් දැනුවත් කරනු ලැබූයේ කවදාද?

15.  ‍ෆී ලෝයර්ස් සංවිධානය විසින් කථානායකතුමන් දැනුවත් කිරීමට පෙර මේ පිළිබඳ ඔබතුමන් දැනුවත්වූයේ නම්, මේ පිළිබඳ ඔබ ජනරජයේ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව 148 ව්‍යවස්ථා ප්‍රකාරව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට හෝ ජනතාව දැනුවත් නොකළේ මන්ද?

16.  සෑම මසකටම දෙවරක් හෝ එයට වැඩි අවස්ථාව දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඇමතීම සඳහා පැමිණෙන ඔබතුමන් මේ පිළිබඳ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙන් කරුණු වසන් කිරීම වරදක් බව පිළිගන්නේ ද?

17.  මේ මංකෝල්ලය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔබ විසින් පත් කරනු ලැබූ භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම්තුමා, අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දොපාර්තමේන්තුවට හෝ ප‍ොලීසියට හෝ 2026 අප්‍රේල් 21 දිනට පෙර ( අපගේ හෙළිදරව්වට පෙර)  පැමිණිලි කර තිබේ ද?

18.  මේ පරිගණක අපරාධය පිළිබඳ පරිගණ අපරාධ හදිසි විමර්ශනය සඳහා ස්ථාපති ආයතන වෙත පැමිණිලි කරනු ලැබූයේ කවදාද? කවුරුන් විසින්ද?

19.  එසේ නොකර තිබුණා නම්, එය බලවත් වරදක් බව ඔබ පිළිගන්නවාද?

20.  මේ තරම් අක්‍රමිකතා, අතපසුවීම්, වගකීම් විරහිත බව, වංක ලෙස කටයුතු කර තිබෙන මුදල් ලේකම්වරයා කෙරෙහි ඔබට තවදුරටත් විශ්වාසයක් පවතින්නේ ද?

21.  මෙහු එම ධූරය දරණ තාක් කල් සාධාරණ විමර්ශනයක් සිදු කළ හැකි බව ජනාධිපතිතුමන්/මුදල් අමාත්‍යතුමන් ලෙස ඔබට විශ්වාසයක් පවතින්නේ ද?

22.  හර්ෂණ සුරියප්පෙරුම මහතා පුද්ගලයා වහා ක්‍රියාත්මක වන පරිදි මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් ධූරයෙන් ඉවත් කර නිසි විමර්ශයක් සිදු කිරීමට අවකාශය ඔබතුමන්ලා විසින් සලසා දෙන්නේ ද?

ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ මෛත්‍රී ගුණරත්න  නීතිඥ අතුල ද සිල්වා
කැඳවුම්කරු

Shenali D Waduge

We are in agreement on one point: on 21 April 2019 Zaharan and a team of suicide bombers targeted 3 hotels and 3 churches causing 269 fatalities.

PART 1 — ESTABLISHED FACT
Zahran carried out the attacks

PART 2 — THE BUT” CLAIM
Zahran acted with the support of military intelligence

This second claim is not a minor extension of the facts—it is a serious allegation of state complicity in mass-casualty terrorism for political change.

Under basic principles of criminal law and evidence, such an allegation requires strict proof, not speculation.
The standard applicable is not conjecture or suspicion, but proof based on credible, admissible, and independently corroborated evidence.

It is this second claim that now seeks to redefine the entire incident.

In doing so, serious implications are being made against national security institutions and individuals who have served the country—often without demonstrable evidence, and through widely circulated social media claims only.

Unverified allegations of this magnitude, if normalised without proof, risk creating a broader institutional consequence—where those tasked with national security functions may face personal and legal exposure based on assertion rather than evidence.

This has implications not only for individuals, but for the future operational confidence of national security institutions and likely to impact the security & safety of the nation itself.

It is crucial for readers to understand this distinction at the very outset.

Let us start with what we already know:

1. THE FIRST CLUE

As early as 2016, there were warnings in Parliament that Sri Lankan individuals had already joined ISIS.

This established that Islamist radicalisation and recruitment networks were already present in Sri Lanka.

They followed the exact same pathway as Zaharan (which intel had internally reported):

• Radicalisation
• Ideological indoctrination
• Recruitment networks
• Commitment to martyrdom

By 2016, the public was aware that 38 individuals from Sri Lanka had left to join ISIS.

THE QUESTION THAT CANNOT BE AVOIDED

For those 38 individuals:

• Was military intelligence controlling them?
• Was there a hidden command structure behind them?
• Were they tools” of a political operation?

No such claim was made—even after deaths were reported overseas.

Why was no such claim made?

WHY THE DIFFERENCE NOW?

This question must be asked—and answered—before any new theory is accepted.

This selective introduction of an external orchestration” theory only in one instance, despite identical behavioural and operational patterns, raises a question of evidentiary inconsistency.

In law, similar fact patterns must be assessed by consistent standards—not selectively reinterpreted to fit a later narrative.

Zahran followed the same trajectory:

• Radicalised ideology
• Recruited followers (including family)
• Conducted training camps
• Prepared explosives
• Declared violent intent

SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?

If:

Radicalisation explains the 38 who left for ISIS
AND

Radicalisation also explains Zahran’s network & subsequent actions – why has the narration on Zaharan shifted to a political agenda from religious radicalization?

If external orchestration” is being introduced only in Zaharan’s case, it must be supported by independent, superior, and verifiable proof—not assertion.

2. THE BURDEN OF PROOF

Any allegation of military or intelligence involvement constitutes a grave imputational claim.

Therefore, the burden lies entirely on the party making the allegation to establish, through:

• A provable command-and-control structure
• Authenticated communication records (not anecdotal references)
• A traceable and forensically verifiable financial/logistical chain
• Independent corroboration across multiple credible sources

It therefore cannot form the basis for legal liability, institutional attribution, or public accusation.

The existence of 38 Sri Lankans who radicalised, mobilised, and pursued martyrdom before 2019 is not incidental—it is a precedent.

It demonstrates that: Radicalisation alone is sufficient to produce such outcomes.

Without a complete evidentiary chain proving otherwise,
the BUT” is not an explanation—
At best, such claims remain unsubstantiated hypotheses.
At worst, they amount to defamation by insinuation, particularly when directed at identifiable individuals and institutions without proof.

The unavoidable question then is—why is there an attempt to impose a contradiction to an already established pattern?

What are their motives for changing the story line and why?

3. THE SUPPORT” CLAIM

Anyone making support” claims cannot disrepute a critical security institution or members of it by making wild allegations.

Names cannot be introduced, insinuations made, or conclusions drawn in the absence of proof and evidence.

1. Financial Support

• In evidentiary terms, financial support must be established through a documented and auditable trail.
  Unsupported references to funding” without such traceability are legally inadmissible assertions.
• Where is the money trail?

Bank records? Transfers? Intermediaries?

Absence of traceable evidence means the claim remains unproven.

In 2021 October claims were made about receipts being available.

Where are these receipts? Have they been submitted & independently verified?

Gold and cash were found in Sainamaruthu – were the origins of these traced?

The Ibrahim brothers made donations to Zaharan – for what purpose?

1. Operational Direction

Where is the communication evidence?

• Calls, messages, instructions?
• There has to be a chain of calls over years for such a suicidal task. Isolated or limited communication is insufficient to establish operational direction—particularly in a coordinated mass-casualty attack.
• For operational control to be established, evidence must demonstrate effective direction and decision-making authority—not mere contact, acquaintance, or alleged interaction.

No command chain = no control

a. Target Selection

An isolated or unverified claim of showing a target” does not meet the legal test of material contribution to the offence, unless supported by corroborated evidence establishing intent, planning, and execution linkage.

Without such linkage, the claim fails the test of causation.

Where is CCTV / location data / witnesses?

Why only 1 target – who showed the remaining 5 targets?

If military intelligence was behind the entire operation, why would only one target be shown?

b. Logistics / Material Support

• Weapons? Explosives? Training?
• Already shown to be internally developed
• The Presidential Commission & FBI affidavit give extensive details of how Zaharan’s team obtained urea and learnt from online how to make IEDs. If military intelligence supported them why would they need to go through all this trouble? This contradiction remains unexplained.

4. EVIDENCE VS INFERENCE”

Courts draw a strict distinction between evidence and inference:

• Evidence = verifiable, testable, corroborated material
  • Inference = interpretation drawn from incomplete facts

A conclusion as serious as state complicity cannot be sustained on inference alone.

So we must ask: Are these claims based on:

Verified evidence?
OR

Interpretation of gaps?

Every person making such claims must provide the evidence.

Since 2019 we have only heard stories but no evidence.

5. REFRAMING THE ENTIRE ISSUE

Serious allegations of what is being made across social media platforms on a regular basis require a complete evidentiary chain:
motive → communication → funding → execution linkage.”

Such a chain is missing – those making claims cannot replace evidentiary data with sensational stories.

6. WHERE IS THE SUPPORT MECHANISM

If Zaharan carried out the attacks with support of the military intelligence – where is the support, what support was given, and how was it given?

• Where is the evidence of that support?
• Money trail?
• Communication records?
• Operational orders?
• Independent corroboration?

None of the above have been presented – however there is sufficient proof for

Intent, radicalisation, recruitment, and training already documented.

Without proof of control, funding, or direction—
support” remains a claim, not an established fact.

7. Zaharan Did it – Facts Exist

Zaharan was supported by Military Intelligence – No Evidence

Any attempt to fill evidentiary gaps through:

• Uncorroborated witness testimony
  • Retrospective statements
  • Associational links
  • Repetitive media amplification

does not satisfy the legal requirements of:

• Reliability
• Admissibility
• Corroboration
• Causation

In criminal law, particularly in cases involving conspiracy or state complicity, each link in the chain must be proven—not assumed.

Facts given

The alternative explanation is incomplete

In an age of information, the public will not accept unsupported narratives.

Already a rising wave of people are questioning the sensationalism behind the stories.

Therefore, the architects of this alternative theory will push to address the gaps.

They will most probably rely on producing witness accounts or introduce new or previously unexamined material

Even if they try to fill the gaps, the evidentiary standard does not change.

There is a standard their evidence must meet—and this is why typical gap-filling won’t meet it.

What they are likely to do

a. Rely on witness testimony

insiders / intermediaries

I was told…” or I saw…” claims

Testimony must be independently corroborated, not stand alone and for a radicalization program ending in suicide a few witnesses claiming I was told” or I saw” does not hold water.

b. Use circumstantial links

meetings, phone contact, proximity, old photos

association = involvement”

Association ≠ control ≠ direction – none of these can prove or establish that the military intelligence or personnel trained or funded a team of people to commit suicide.

c. The pattern”

multiple weak pieces combined but unrelated to the incident

Multiple weak inferences combined do not become strong proof of command or orchestration for a mass suicide

d. post-event narratives

• retrospective claims
• statements emerging later

Greater weight must be given to contemporaneous evidence over later recollection – in 2021 October when the 1^st public statement linking Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay to Zaharan was made by Fr. Cyril Gamini, resulting in the former making a CID complaint and filing defamation lawsuit, Fr. Gamini had the best opportunity to present the evidence based on which he made his claim. Why wasn’t this done?

Why is he relying on Channel 4 Asad claim of 2023 and Fr. Rohan’s complaint in 2026 to ask CID to find the evidence that he claimed existed in October 2021?

Any Claim

Any claim of external support must be established through a complete evidentiary chain—independently corroborated, forensically supported, and directly linked to operational decisions.

One or two testimonies, unrelated or unprovable inferences, or associations alone is insufficient to prove a group of people were trained to commit suicide.

Suicides are not comparable to contract killings.

Who are these Witnesses

Testing the Witnesses

A witness statement, in isolation, is insufficient unless supported by independent material evidence.

Courts treat uncorroborated testimony—especially when emerging post-event—with heightened caution, particularly where such testimony is untested, delayed, or unsupported by material evidence.

Who are they

• Is it corroborated?
• Is there documentary/forensic support?
• Is it contemporaneous?

If not:

Insufficient for high-level attribution

Causation Test

Did this alleged support direct the attack?

If so, it must be demonstrated that the alleged support is causally linked to each critical preparatory action undertaken by Zaharan.

Preaching – Course Content – Drawing students – Hiring venues for preaching – hiring venues for training camps – why weapons training were done by Zaharan’s brother and not trained military personnel – money trail – transportation & other logistics.

Even if more new claims are introduced:

Are they independently corroborated?

Are they supported by forensic evidence?

Do they prove command, funding, or direction?

If not, they do not meet the threshold for proving external orchestration.

So far, the type of evidence required for this claim has not been produced.

Extraordinary claims require a complete evidentiary chain—not isolated testimony, not inference, not isolated witnesses appearing from nowhere, and not repetition.

Until such time as a complete, independently corroborated evidentiary chain is presented, the claim of military or intelligence support remains:

• unproven
• legally unsustainable
• evidentially deficient

Repetition does not convert allegation into fact—

it merely amplifies the claim.

Shenali D Waduge

Shenali Waduge

THOSE WHO GOVERNED & HEADED SECURITY DURING EASTER ATTACKS 2019

·     President (Minister of Defence) – MAITHRIPALA SIRISENA-2015-2019

·      Prime Minister – RANIL WICKREMASINGHE -2015-2019

·      Defense Secretary – HEMASIRI FERNANDO -Jan 2018-May 2019

Police Leadership

·      IGP – Pujith Jayasundara – 2016 – October 2019

Intelligence Services

·       Chief of National Intelligence (CNI) – Sisra Mendis – 2015-2019

·       Head of State Intelligence Service (SIS) – Nilantha Jayawardena Mar 2015 – Dec 2019

Criminal Investigation Department

·       Senior DIG CID – Ravi Seneviratne – 2015 – July 2019

·       Director CID – Shani Abeysekera –2015 SSP / 2017 – Director CID to July 2019

TID (Terrorism Investigation Division) leadership / reporting to IGP

·       Director TID – DIG Nalaka de Silva – Feb 2015 – Oct 2018 (interdicted)

·       SSP W S E Jayasundera Dec 2018 to Apr 2019 (4 months)

·       After May 2019 TID placed under CID SDIG Ravi Seneviratne (he headed CID & TID)

Commander of the Army 

·       Lt. Gen. Chrishantha de Silva – 2015 – 2017 (Jan)

·       Lt. Gen. Mahesh Senanayake – 2017-2019 (Aug) – During Easter attacks

Commander of the Navy 

·       Admiral Jayantha Perera – Jul 2014 to Jul 2015

·       Admiral Ravindra Wijegunaratne – July 2015 – August 2017

·       Admiral Travis Sinniah – August 2017 – October 2017

·       Admiral Sirimevan Ranasinghe – October 2017 – December 2018

·       Admiral Piyal De Silva – January 2019 – July 2020 (during Easter attacks)

·       Admiral Nishantha Ulugetenne – July 2020 – December 2022

Commander of the Air Force  

·       Air Chief Marshal Kolitha Gunathilake – Feb 2014-Jun 2015

·       Air Chief Marshal Gagan Bulathsinghala – Jun 2015 – Sept 2016

·       Air Marshal Kapila Jayampathy – Sept 2016 – May 2019 (during Easter attacks)

·       Air Chief Marshal Sumangala Dias – May 2019 – Nov 2020

·       Air Chief Marshal Sudarshana Pathirana – Nov 2020 – Jun 2023

Attorney General

·       Jayantha Jayasuriya – Jan 2016 to 29 April 2019

·       Dappula de Livera – 29 April 2019 to May 2021

THEY KNEW

2015 – Decision to monitor ISIS network

2016 – Wijayadasa Rajapakse on 32 Sri Lankans joining ISIS Syria

2017 – SIS flags radicalizing trends to Def Sec / surveillance authorized

2017 – July Arrest warrant for Zaharan Batticoloa magistrate/Jun 2017 TID opens file

2018 – Sri Lankan with AlQaeda links arrested in Turkey/Pakistan warning/Mawanella

2018 – 2 July TID B report / Colombo Magistrate issues Open Warrant on Zaharan.

2018 – 7 Jul – TID sends Zaharan file to AGs dept – no action taken

2018 – 9 July onwards CID takes over Zaharan case

2019 – Jan Wanathawilluwa camp / weapons

2019 – April 2 onwards Indian intel briefs giving targets, names of attackers බලයේ සිටි ආරක්ෂක ප්‍රධානින් මෙතරම් සහරාන් ගැන දැන සිටියත් / විදෙස් අනතුරු ඇගවීම් තිබිය දීත්මුකුත් නොකරේ ඇයි 

Hiru News

ෆී ලෝයර්ස් සංවිධානය

දැන් ලංකාව ‘තාක්ෂණිකව ණය පැහැර හැරි රාජ්‍යයකි’ (technical default)  

පරිගණක මුල්‍ය අපරාධ, හැකින්, ස්කෑම් ගැන ජනතාව දැනුමත් කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව, රටේ භාණ්ඩාගාරය තමන් යටතේ තිබූ ‘රාජ්‍ය ණය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව’ විසින් ආරම්භ කර, නඩත්තු කළ ‘ඕස්ට්‍රෙිලියානු ණය ගිණුම්’ හි සිදුව ඇති අක්‍රමිකතාවය පිළිබඳ රටටත්, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවටත් සත්‍යය හෙළි කළ යුතුව ඇතැයි ‘ෆී ලෝයර්ස්’ සංවිධානයේ රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් පවසයි. 

මහා භාණ්ඩාගාර මංකොල්ලය ගැන ලේකම් හර්ෂණ සුරියප්පෙරුම, මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමති අනිල් බොරු, අසත්‍යය පතුරවමින් ඇතැයි ප්‍රකාශ කළේ තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා ප්‍රකාශ ‍කළේ  අද නිපෝන් හෝටලයේ පැවති පුවත්පත් සාකච්ඡාව අමතමිනි.

භාණ්ඩාගාර මංකෝල්ලය ‘පරිගණක අපරාධයකට ලඝු කිරීමට රජය උත්සහ දරයි. එය පට්ටපල් බොරුවකි. මිත්‍යාවකි.  සත්‍යය නම් මෙම ගිණුම් ස්ථාපනය කර, පවත්වාගෙන ගොස් ඇත්තේ භාණ්ඩාගාරය සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව යි.  මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ ආධුනික ලේකම් හර්ෂණ සුරියප්පෙරුම ඇතුලු නිලධාරීන් 16 ක් මෙම ගෙවීමට සෘජුව සම්බන්ධවී ඇත.

ලංකාව දැන් ‘ණය පැහැර හැරි රාජ්‍යයකි’ (technical default)

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සහ ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදල ණය හිමියන් සමඟ ලිඛිත එකඟතාවයක් ඇති කරගෙන ඇත. ඒ අනුව, ණය ගෙවීමක් ප්‍රමාද කළ හැකි උපරිම කාලය ‘දින 90’ කි.  පසුගිය දෙසැම්බර් මස සිට මේ වන විට දින 100 ක් ගතවී ඇති බැවින් දැන් ලංකා රාජ්‍යය ‘ණය ගෙවීම පැහැර හැර ඇති රාජ්‍යය’(technical default) කි. 

2022 අප්‍රේල් මස මහ බැංකු අධිපති නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ මහතා විදේශ සංචිත නොමැතිවීම නිසා ‘බුන්නත් භාවය’ ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළ අතර, දැන් නැවත වරක් 2026 අප්‍රේල් මස තාක්ෂණික වශයෙන් ණය ගෙවීම පැහැර හැරි රාජ්‍යයක පත්වයට පත්ව ඇත. මෙම ‘තාක්ෂණික වශයෙන් වු බංකොලොත් භාවය’ රටට – පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට නිල වශයෙන් හෙළි කිරීමට පවා මුදල් අමාත්‍යවරයා, මුදල් ලේකම් සහ මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා තවමත් කටයුතු කර නැත.

අනෙක් අතට, මුදල් රෙගුලාසි අනුව මෙම කරුණ සම්බන්ධයෙන් විධිමත් විමර්ශණයක් සිදු කර අවසන් වන තුරු, අදාල ණයකරුවන්ට නැවත මුදල් ගෙවීමට ද හැකියාවක් නැත.  ලංකා රාජ්‍යය හා ජාත්‍යන්තර මුල්‍ය අරමුදල හා ණයකරුවන් අතර ඇති එකඟතාව බිඳවැටීම වලක්වා ගැනීමට රජය වහා පියවර ගත යුතුව ඇත.

අත්දැකීම් නැති, පරිපාලනය නොදන්නා සූරියප්පෙරුම වැනි ලේකම්වරයෙකුට එය සිදු කළෙ නොහැකිය.

අභ්‍යන්තර විමර්ශනය ලේඛන වෙනස් කළේ මෙහෙමයි

අභ්‍යන්තර පරීක්ෂණය සඳහා ඒ.එන්.හපුගල නියෝජ්‍ය භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම්වරයාගේ සභාපතීත්වයෙන් යුතුව තවත් සමාජිකයින් සිව් දෙනෙකුගෙන් සමන්විත ‘Technical Investigation Committee’ යක් අංක MF/01/16/02/01/2025/1 හා 2026 මාර්තු  24 දිනැතිව පත් කර තිබුණි. පසුව, එම අංකය හා දිනය සහිතවම ඒ.එන්.හපුගල හා එස්.එස්. මුදලිගේ නියෝජ්‍ය භාණ්ඩාගාර ලේකම්වරුන්ගේ සම සභාපතීත්වයෙන් යුතුව තවත් සමාජිකයින් තිදෙනෙකුත් සමන්විත ‘Technical Investigation Committee’ පත් කළ බවට ලිපියක් නිකුත් කර ඇත.  සම සභාපතිවරුන් දෙදෙනා ගේ නම් සහිත කමිටුව පත් කිරීමේ ලිපිය,  භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ අංශ වෙත යොමු කර ඇත්තේ 2026 අප්‍රේල් 21 හෙවත් ‘‍‍ෆී ලෝයර්ස්’ සංවිධානය කරුණු අනාවරණය කිරීමත් සමඟය. පෙර දාතම කර තිබූ මෙම ලිපි එම කාර්යාවලවල දී දින මුද්‍රා තබා ඇත. මංකොල්ලය අනාවරණය කිරීමෙන් පසුව මෙම ලේඛන  සියල්ල නැවත බලවත් අධ්‍යක්ෂ ‍ජනරාල්වරියක විසින් සිය භාරයට ගෙන ඇත.

2026 අප්‍රේල් 10 දිනැති වාර්තාව සුරියප්පෙරුම ලේකම්වරයා බාරදී ඇති අතර, 2026 අප්‍රේල් 17 දින ශ්‍රී ලංකා සැලසුම් සේවයේ හා ගණකාධිකරණ සේවයේ නිලධාරීන් සිව් දෙනෙකුගේ වැඩ තහනම් කිරීමට එම වාර්තාව පදනම් කර ඇත. ඒ සඳහා පදනම් කොට ගත් ලේඛන මේ වන විට වෙනස් කර ඇත. 

අභ්‍යන්තර පරීක්ෂණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලේඛන වෙනස් කිරීම තුලින් අපරාධය හා එහි මුලික විමර්ශනය විකෘති කිරීම තුලින් අපරාධයට සම්බන්ධ සැබෑ පාර්ශවයන්ට ගැලවීයාමට මාවතක් මේ වන විටත් මුදල් ලේකම්වරයා විසින් විවෘත කර ඇත.

මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය මේ වන විට දින මාරුකරමින්, විමර්ශන ලිපි සකස් කරමින් කටයුතු කරන  ලේකම් හර්ෂණ සුරියප්පෙරුම මෙම ධූරයේ තබාගනිමින් ඉදිරියට කටයුතු කළ නොහැකි බව අවධාරණය කළ යුතුය.

2025 සැප්තෑම්බර් 7 සිදු වූ පරිගණක පද්ධතියට ඇතුළුවීමේ සිද්ධිය රහස් පොලීසිය වෙත වාර්තා කරනු ලැබූයේ අප්‍රේල් 21 දිනයි.  රහස් පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් භාණ්ඩාගාරයට පැමිණ විමර්ශන අරඹා ඇත්තේ එයට පසු දිනය.  අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ පරිගණක, ලැප්ටොප්, සිම්පත්, හා දුරකතන සිය භාරයට ගෙන ඇත්තේ ඊයේ (අප්‍රේල් 25) යි.  

මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමති ඊයේ කිව්වා, මේ සිද්ධිය දේශපාලන වාසි ගන්නට (පොලිටිකල් ඈන්ගල් එකකින්) කලාද? කියලා සොයා බලන බව.  සුරියප්පෙරුම ලේකම්වරයා අඩුම ගානේ තමන්ගේ නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමතිවරයාට මේ ගැන නෑ ‍අපේ හෙළිදරව්ව සිද්ධ කරන කල්.  භාණ්ඩාගාරය පහුගිය මාස 12 ක් පාලනය වෙන්නේ ‘දේශපාලන කල්ට් එකකින්’.  දැන් මුදල් නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමති හීනෙන් නැගිටලා බයිලා කියනවා. ලිපිකරුවෝ මත මේකේ වගකීම පටවන්න හදනවා.  ලැජ්ජයි! 

අද පුවත්පත් වාර්තා කරලා තියෙනවා ප්‍රංශ ණයක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන ලේඛනත් මේ විදිහටම අතුරුදන් වෙලා තියෙනවා කියලා. විමර්ශකයින් සොයා බලන්න ඕනි ‘මුලික විමර්ශනයේ ලේඛන උස්සන කෙනාමද මේ ප්‍රංශ ණය ගණුදෙනුවේ ලේඛන’ අතුරුදන් කරලා තියෙන්නේ කියලා.

භාණ්ඩාගාරය දේශපාලනීකරණය කිරීම

මහා භාණ්ඩාගරයේ තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ ඒකකයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ධූරය 2025 සැප්තෑම්බර් මස සිට පුරප්පාඩුව පවතී.  තව ද, විදේශ සම්පත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව, වෙළඳ හා තීරුබදු ප්‍රතිපත්ති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වැනි ‍ස්ථාන ගණනාවක පළපුරුදු හා ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් ගණනාවකට දේශපාලන හේතුමත ස්ථාන මාරුවීම් ලබාදී ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ රාජ්‍ය ණය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව 2026 ජනවාරි 1 දින සිට නිල වශයෙන් වසා දමා ඇති නමුත් ප්‍රශ්නගත ගෙවීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් සියළු මුලික කටයුතු සිදුව ඇත්තේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව සහ මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය ඒකාබද්ධව කටයුතු කරමින් තිබූ අවස්ථාවක දී ය.

පරිගණ මුල්‍ය අපරාධ සහ වෙනත් විද්‍යුත් මාර්ගගත මුල්‍ය අපරාධ පිළිබඳව නිරන්තරයෙන් ජනතාව දැනුවත් කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව තම සෘජුවගකීම යටතේ පැවති ගණුදෙනුවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ දක්වා ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කර නැත. මෙම වංචනික‍ ගෙවීම සම්බන්ධයේ පියවර ගණනාවක දී, ලේඛන සැකසීම, ගිණුම් සැකසීම, ලිපි හුවමාරුවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව පාර්ශවකරු බවට පත්ව ඇත.

ෆී ලෝයර්ස් සංවිධානය විසින් අනාවරණය සිදුකිරීමට දින කිහිපයට පෙර මහ බැංකුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා හමුවී පැවැත්වූ සාකච්ඡාවේ දී හෝ මේ පිළිබඳව ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමන්, මුදල් අමාත්‍යතුමන් දැනුවත් කිරීමට මහ බැංකුව පියවර ගෙන නැත. මහ බැංකුව විසින් ද කිසිදු විමර්ශණ ආයතනයක් වෙත මේ මංකොල්ලය සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැමිණිලි කර නොමැති බව මේ දක්වාම කිසිදු අධිකරණයක් වෙත කරුණු වාර්තා නොකිරීමෙන් පෙනී යයි.

52.1 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පත් කරුනු ලැබූ මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරයා කෙ‍‍රෙහි තවදුරටත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ විශ්වාසය පැවතැන්නේ දැයි ඔහු ප්‍රකාශ කළ යුතුයි.

මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය සහ මහ බැංකුව ගොපල්ලෙකු නැති බැටළු රැළක් වෙලා

2022 ආර්ථික අර්බුදයට හේතු වූයේ එවකට පැවති අසමත් රාජ්‍ය මුල්‍ය කලමනාකරණයයි.  රට බංකොලොත්වීමට එවකට පැවති මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය, භාණ්ඩාගාරය සහ මහ බැංකුවේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති හා වගකීම් රහිත ක්‍රියාකලාපය හේතුවිය.  2022 අගෝස්තු සිට මහබැංකුව හා මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය නිවැරදි දේශපාලන නායකත්වයක් යටතට පත්වීම හේතුවෙන් රාජ්‍ය මුල්‍ය කළමනාකාරණය හා ආර්ථිකය යථා තත්වයට පත් කිරිමට හැකි විය. මේ වන විට නැවත වරක් මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයට හා මහ බැංකුව ගොපල්ලෙකු නැති බැටළු රැළක තත්වයට පත්ව ඇත.  

ෆී ලෝයර්ස් සංවිධානය

නිපෝන් හෝටලය    2026 අප්‍රේල් 26

e-Con e-News

e-Con e-News 19-25 April 2026

blog: https://eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 19-25 April 2026

Shocking revelations – about the USA inveigling Indian & Sri Lankan officials to comply with their murder of over 100 naval cadets – have been made by the Iranian captain of the ship IRIS Dena. The captain last week appeared live on Iranian TV, revealing the dirty details of the ambush by the USA in Sri Lanka’s Exclusive Economic Zone. The USA had been made aware that the Dena was unarmed – a condition that India had insisted upon and verified when the Iranian ships invited by India had first entered that country’s waters for friendly international exercises. The USA had first scuttled the propeller, and then deliberately fired a 2^nd torpedo at the cadets – who had assembled in full view on deck to surrender, as demanded by international protocols. The captain’s revelations (see ee Random Notes) suggest that the USA had got India to delay providing shelter to the ships after the US war broke out, forcing them to take a longer route to safety. They also got Sri Lankan officials to comply with that dastardly deed, despite SL officials also inviting the ships to visit Sri Lanka.

     US Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Steve ‘Webby’ Koehler visited Sri Lanka from February 19-21, visiting New Delhi. This was less than 10 days before the outbreak of war. In Colombo, Koehler generously announced the departure from the US of a 4^th Coast Guard vessel ‘donated’ to Sri Lanka. Koehler also met SL Navy Commander Kanchana Banagoda (who had extended, when in India for the exercises, an invitation for the Iranian ships to vist Sri lanka), Deputy Defence Minister Maj Gen. (retd) Aruna Jayasekera and Defence Secretary Air Vice Marshal (retd) Sampath Thuyakontha. Koehler also visited the Indian-military-suborned Colombo Dockyard ‘to explore maritime collaboration’. Koehler had first visited Sri Lanka in October 2024, shortly after AK Dissanayake was elected President, and met with the President & other officials ‘to consolidate US military ties with Sri Lanka’. Between Koehler’s visits, the USA & Sri Lanka formalized the defence partnership between the Montana National Guard, the US Coast Guard District 13, and the Sri Lanka Armed Forces under the US Department of War’s State Partnership Program (SPP). The JVP-led NPP government then delayed their decision on a one-year moratorium on all foreign research vessels entering Sri Lankan waters, designed to block Chinese vessels despite allowing other country’s warships to enter. The ban had long lapsed on December 31, 2024.

     Koehler’s 2^nd visit coincided with meetings between the Montana SPP & Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Washington, Mahinda Samarasinghe, which promised ‘significant investment’ in Sri Lanka’s graphite sector. The Montana delegation included Lt Colonel Chris Cory & James Mooney, founder of Mooney Group, which targets military-linked minerals.

     A few days later the USA invaded Iran. Sri Lankan officials took time to deny any prior indication of the attacks on Iran by ‘Webby’ Koehler, who appears to have inured the country in his web. Koehler’s 2^nd visit took place midst the International Fleet Review & multilateral naval exercise MILAN 2026, organized by the Indian Navy in the port of Visakhapatnam from Feb 15-25. Participating Iranian warships had left India’s territorial waters before the US war broke out, and entered into international waters. It was Koehler’s command that alerted Sri Lanka, on the morning of March 4, on the sinking of the unarmed Iranian Dena (see ee 28 March 2026).

     When news started to filter out about official Indian & Sri Lankan complicity in the US ambush, US Special Envoy (US ambassador to India) Sergio ‘Gorgeous’ Gor rushed to Colombo, staying rather long from March 19-24. Gor met President Dissanayake, ‘but apart from an ‘X’ post by the president, with a formal handshake photo,” there was little other publicity regarding this visit on the Sri Lankan side’. However, the very next day after Gor’s arrival, on March 20, over 2 weeks after the ambush, & under Gor’s watchful gaze, President Dissanayake revealed in parliament, that on Feb 26 – the same day that the government received a request from 3 Iranian ships to make goodwill visits on March 9 & 13 – there was a request also from the USA for 2 fighter aircraft from Djibouti, to be allowed to land at Sri Lanka’s Mattala International Airport. ‘Even at that time there were signs of imminent war. We took the position of protecting our country’s neutrality (‘madyastha bhavaya’). We turned down both requests.’

      Sri Lanka’s National Joint Committee (NJC) has reiterated Sri Lanka’s pathbreaking call for the Golu Muhudha (Indian Ocean) as a Zone of Peace and demanding compensation for the human & ecological costs following the Dena disaster. The effect of the NJC’s call can be measured by the response made by the USA’s principal diplomatic instrument Prasad Kariyawasam (a paid agent of the US Development Alternatives Institute – a CIA front & implementing agency for USAID) pooh-poohing the ‘reflexive citation’ of such demands (see ee Quotes, UN Jawjaw).

*

‘The prices are going up… gonna hurt people little bit…

But they still have money to spend. They still have jobs.

Markets are unpredictable, & they are looking at what

could go wrong. We should all hope nothing goes wrong,

We should all hope these bad people… that we should win

this thing… clean up the straits, & Iran is no longer a

threat to anybody… the markets will be concerned until its

over… it’s much more important that this be successfully

completed, than what the market does… I hear some

people say they weren’t an imminent threat… these

people have been doing something bad for 47 years.’

– JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie ‘Demon’ Dimon (aka Papademetriou), a New York son of immigrant Greek bankers (Greek shippers have been making a killing off the US wars, see ee Quotes), is credited with pushing the US President to continue bombing West Asia, just after Trump had decided to admit the USA had failed in their warring (see ee Quotes, Real Power). JPMorgan Chase is a leading investor in US wars. A supine media who look for ways to absolve the US government for these wars  would rather blame a psychotic Trump or craven Jews, have now taken to claiming the Iranian leadership has been rendered either non-existent, or divided among themselves. But now we know, that it is Trump’s mind, which is divided, cluttered as it is by the shifting market-compliant caprices of bankers & real-estate agents and weapons merchants & shaky US Republican Party midterm aspirants. (see ee Quotes, Massivest Murderers – The 5 largest military firms on the planet are exclusively US) 

*

‘Its tracking signal indicated it was heading toward Singapore.

The Tifani has in recent years carried out numerous ship-to-ship

oil transfers off Singapore & Malaysia & made multiple round

trips between this area & destinations including Iran & China.’

– see ee Sovereignty, US intercepts sanctioned oil tanker

between SL & Strait of Malacca

The USA is blocking Sri Lanka’s access to oil exacerbating the enormous prices the country is paying for energy. It is now clear that it is the US (and their insurance agents) who all along has been blockading the Straits of Hormuz. The USA claims it is only Iranian oil tankers they’re intercepting, yet they are also escalating their piracy throughout the Indian Ocean, taking the opportunity to spread their warring to Sri Lanka’s doorstep once again (see ee Sovereignty, USA Imposes Worldwide Blockade on Iran’s sea trade, redirects tankers away from India, Malaysia & SL).  

     The US actions have ensued, despite Sri Lanka’s recent ‘temporary’ suspension of our tea-for-oil barter arrangement with Iran. This was to apparently ‘avoid exceeding the $250mn repayment target of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC)’, according to the Tea Board (SLTB). Sri Lanka has to repay a $251mn oil debt to Iran with tea, a deal agreed upon in December 2021. The SLTB was rather quick to add, this has nothing to do with the US war. They do not mention the US threats.

     Sri Lankan officials finally admitted last week, after the usual PR ambiguities, that they had paid, what London’s Financial Times called ‘eye-watering’ prices for oil. It is still unclear who Sri Lanka paid such prices to. The government has also been ambiguous about buying oil directly from Russia, too. Perhaps, they rather prefer to go through the complex of middlemen buying Russian oil via India & Singapore. Many middlemen between Sri Lanka & Singapore & India stand to gain – some have tagged it the Colombo-Madras–Singapore Chettiar Mahendran Pipeline – it’s no wonder Sri Lanka won’t buy Russian oil directly – there’s just too many commissioners’ palms to oil! Indeed, it is these very same Singapore middlemen who gained in the scuttling & delaying of DJ ‘Laxapana’ Wimalasurendra’s vision to make the country self-sufficient in energy, a century ago.

‘In a series of speeches made at the State Council,

especially during 1933-34, Wimalasurendra identified

the broad alliance that worked against the Hydroelectric

Scheme. He used different names at times to identify this

alliance: ‘Big Business’, ‘Oil & Coal Combine’, ‘Almighty

Oil Interests’, ‘Big Business & Alien Combines’, ‘Imperialistic

Element’, ‘Big Business Element’, ‘Big Business Party’…’

– BD Witharana, Negotiating Power & Constructing

the Nation: Engineering in SL (see ee 1 Aug 2020)

Let us recall the principal agents thwarting Wimalasurendra included such colonial politicians as the gem merchant and Minister of Communications & Works, knighted ‘Sir’ Muhammed Macan Markar; English colonial officials (related to English engineering firms), as well as the coal-, oil- & steel-importing Boustead Bros, Shell Oil, and Whitehall Securities Corporation (now Pearson plc, the major textbook publisher & exam conductor that once owned London’s Financial Times & sonorous sermonizer The Economist).

     Similar deep-penetration saboteurs are at work to block Sri Lanka now developing Trincomalee:

The Trincomalee energy hub is no longer a matter of strategic

vision. It is fast becoming an urgency for execution.

– see ee Sovereignty, Trincomalee energy hub back

in focus as SL deals with fallout from US war

*

Is it more than cute that the Sri Lankan media focused on the visit of Indian Vice President CP Radhakrishnan, rather than on Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, who accompanied the VP. It turns out that the ‘implementation of the Trincomalee petroleum project in a meaningful way is being felt across the board…[and] the matter was discussed’. The Kashmiri Pandit Misri told a ‘post-discussion press conference on Sunday evening that there was no time to lose on a strategic project such as this, but no timeline could be fixed for its conclusion given its complexity and significant financial requirements’. Misri once also served in Sri Lanka as Deputy High Commissioner from September 2008 to Sept 2011, during and after the ‘conclusion’ of a terrorist war that India had sponsored, ensuring that little postwar ‘reconciliation’ including economic reconstruction could take place minus Indian proprietorship.

     Misri once again, rather yawningly, called on ‘business entities & commercial entities to look at opportunities in Sri Lanka’. He happily ignores that Indians (Muslims & Tamil traders) already control – albeit as agents of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) – large swathes of Sri Lanka’s economy, using token Sinhala fronts to grease the wheels. He did add: ‘On that front, I think there has been one significant development recently, which is the investment in Colombo Dockyard.’ There has been rising concern over the Indian military’s grabbing of an important company, which recalls Sri Lanka’s historical shipbuilding industry that was sabotaged by the English (see ee Sovereignty, Shenali Waduge’s ‘Silent shift in SL from Sovereign Control to India-centric System Dependence’). However, it is the ongoing blockage of any attempt by Sri Lanka to attain energy security & sovereignty that has continuously drawn outrage (see ee Quotes, India Blocks out Trinco). History again, shows us why:

‘The Trincomalee tank farm was constructed in the 1930s to supply

the English Navy across the Indian Ocean & beyond. The facility

houses 99 storage tanks. A pipeline that once connected the tanks

with the jetty existed in the past, but no trace of it remains today.

A feasibility study is needed to locate it.’

Rather than advance Trincomalee’s clear potential as an industrial base, more fanciful fantasies that would cripple us even further are being proposed. These include: ‘India-SL energy connectivity’, with ‘a multipurpose pipeline’ to ‘strengthen regional energy security’.

*

Treasury Fraud & Hacking Kites – If it is to be believed: The Australian High Commissioner Matthew Duckworth and Indian Consul General in Jaffna S Sai Murali were flying kites in Jaffna as the chief guests at a kite festival i January, when official Australian loan-sharks quietly informed Sri Lanka that debts had not been paid on time, after the Ministry of Finance systems were purportedly hacked. How did we incur debts to Australia? We are now buying Australian parippu, and millions are drained for youth to be degreed as dubious accountants that can’t count what really matters. And so we didn’t pay up on time, & thus, the media takes to their famed pastime: awash in teary cries of scandal and crisis, either by brain-drained academics in the USA or the Hague, or aspiring politicians, one after another, who endlessly scream corruption this & corruption that –  such superficial sensationalism being their bread & butter, or arrack & soda. But what exactly is the crisis, as SBD de Silva, liked to ask? The romantic Leftists, he liked to point out, were always claiming, such & such a calamity was lurking around the hairpin bend, at the edge of an abyss. But what, actually, yawns?    

*

Banks in Sri Lanka have earned Rs539.2bn in profits, but from where did these profits come? Over half a trillion! It turns out that banks have been robbing people – and not the other way around as the media loves to headline. This ee exposes the real bank frauds ­that have been taking place. No, it is not just from hackers laundering their loot from a leaky Treasury or a privatized ‘development’ bank, hijacked to sell suppurating Scandinavian batteries to unsuspecting rural folk. Nor is it the cosy cartels wherein the external auditors of NDB Bank having been Ernst & Young (of which the Managing Partner is Duminda Hulangamuwa – Senior Economic Adviser to the President) will now be replaced by another US agency, KPMG. All these goings-on are all very legal, too (see ee Focus)

Nearly 1 rupee in every 3 of banking profit was extracted

not through the intermediation of credit, not through

financing a factory or funding an export order, but

through transaction charges, account maintenance

fees, service levies, & penalty income imposed on

a customer base that has nowhere else to go.

This is as we suspected – the prevention of investment in modern industry is the real corruption, the real fraud, in fact, and the sabotage by merchants of any such endeavours (see ee Random Notes, Bengal). This ee Focus reproduces Bradley Emerson’s eye-popping expose of the banking business which baldly asks, Are Banks Making Profits at the Cost of the Economy? He answers with a resounding Yes! These profits have not come from helping the economy recover but from stealing ‘fees’, etc. Ah! The old ‘commiss!’ Ah! the high commissioners! The digitalization the tech bros love to extol has not helped the small & the medium shop or workshop, the media thrill to sanctify, but have only helped themselves to even more. Indeed, Emerson offers more proof these banks are sharks bleeding their victims. And they are not really banks at all, refusing to invest in productive assets, or in upskilling people. Meanwhile, the World Bank living in la-la-land, Washington DC, is insisting that it is the private sector that can employ people with dignity:

‘Without stronger growth & greater private investment,

the economy will create only around 300,000 new formal

jobs – leaving roughly 7 out of every 10 young job seekers

without access to a quality job’ – ee Economists, USA’s

World Bank Group promotes Private-sector-led job creation

Yet the private sector has consistently refused to employ people with dignity. While the merchant media hangs halos around the heads of these traders, who they love to claim are always beset by corrupt politicians & commission-sucking bureaucrats, this ee offers a cameo of one of Sri Lanka’s beloved political leaders, SA Wickramasinghe, the Morawaka Atamassa, as the benighted Sir DB Jayatilleke liked to call him. Wickramasinghe’s classic contributions to a sovereign pharmaceutical policy, by joining with pharmacologist Senaka Bibile (an LSSP member), to bring about the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), is recalled by Shiran Illanperuma. He projects SA’s life story through the travails of the country, from the colonial shotguns of 1915, to the campaigns for local language in official usage, and relief from malarial pestilence, leading to the real-world-conscious resistance that set up of the Ceylon Communist Party. SA’s analysis of the colonial plantation economy led to an alternative outlook, encapsulated in SA publishing The Way Ahead: an Economic Policy for Ceylon in 1955. Illanperuma describes the context: how commodity prices had collapsed after the USA’s war on Korea, the 1953 Hartal against World Bank demanded price increases, and the formation of the SLFP, even as the Soviet Union & China were consolidating agrarian reform & large-scale industrialization.

     Illanperuma summarizes the book’s survey of the character of the ruling class, the structure of plantation economy, the resulting agroecological disasters, Sri Lanka’s natural resources, and a critique of imperialist-backed development projects.

*

‘The central economic question in our country today

is the development of the rural productive forces.’

– GVS de Silva, 1973

We recall SBD de Silva’s sarcastic comment that if the 2004 tsunami had wiped out the port of Colombo, this would have enabled Sri Lanka to advance economically. He was referring to the parasitism of the countryside by the urban-based import-export economy. And this is the subject of GVS de Silva’s discussion as ee Focus continues reproducing his book Some Heretical Thoughts on Economic Development. The timing is redolent and apt. Energy prices are skyrocketing. Remittances drying up. Calling for ‘The Development of the Rural Productive Forces’, he points out how rural life is doubly exploited, both by the towns and by the colonial relationship between country and the imperialist centres:

‘The development of the urban productive forces is helplessly dependent on foreign equipment, technology, inputs and expertise.’ Our hydra-headed ‘foreign exchange problems’ can be more easily resolved by ‘the swift development of the productive forces [that] exist in the rural, but not in the urban sector’. GVS was writing when Vietnam, whose cities had been destroyed by US bombers, by relying on their rural powers, had yet defeated the imperialists, who there too had threatened to send them back to the ‘stone age’. Such hidden strengths can only be unleashed by changing ‘relations between the rural economy & the urban economy, and the relations within the rural economy itself’.

     GVS then describes the economic parasitism that saps rural-urban relations: the super profits appropriated by the urban traders in rural produce and the shilling of imported industrial products, alongside the roles of the urban transport contractor and absentee landlordism that siphon the rural surplus to the towns. He then proposed solutions such as cooperatives and banking that invests their profits in rural industry, giving a very high priority to rural electrification, with related equipment & parts made in the villages themselves:

Agricultural experimentation must be done in the cultivator’s field

& technical improvisation in the village smithy, with the

full & intelligent participation of the rural people.

GVS called for ‘subordinating the urban to the rural economy’. Our ‘grossly underutilized’ urban talent must plan & direct an attack on rural economic backwardness, and ‘most importantly, the rural producer must have preference over the urban consumer, and the rural consumer preference over the urban producer’.He concludedthat a ‘genuine national culture can never flourish in the arid wasteland of our urban cosmopolitanism’ (see ee Focus).

*

• One of the much-advertized myths about English rule in colonial Ceylon is how great & white & pure & clean & (add another adjectival noun) was the colonial civil & public service. And how us brown natives ruined it. First, it is important to note here that the early crop of planters in Sri Lanka & India were those who had ‘operated slave labor’ in the USA. The collusion between English officials, judges & police with planters & merchants, in the oppression & exploitation of workers, is the subject of this ee Focus‘ excerpt of SBD de Silva’s classic The Political Economy of Underdevelopment.

     Here SBD provides much evidence of the inadequacies of the laws meant to protect workers, and the courts’ collusion & lax treatment of planters who, after all, were their compatriots. The Cooly Wages Ordinance was undermined by magistrates and ‘Court decisions generally condoned breaches of the law by planters’. Officials themselves had their own private interests, and many spent more time looking after their businesses. Planters behaved like kings in their district domains, threatening the few government officials who tried to do their jobs, while defaulting on wages, falsifying accounts, and whipping workers… How they sanitized these practices and painted themselves whiter than white is another ‘postcolonial’ tale yet to be told…

*

________

Contents:

A Short History of English Corruption in the Colonial Civil Service of Ceylon

By Rohana R. Wasala

Continued from April 16

Part II of this write-up concluded with a reference to the perceived anti-Buddhist (and anti-Hindu) mindset of the ex-Marxist strategist who advocated the abolition of the institution of executive presidency as the single pivotal goal to be fought for by the promoters of the engineered regime change  at the 2015 January presidential election. (I describe the 2015 regime change as ‘engineered’ with powerful external support and corresponding internal collaboration, not based on any special information that I have discovered on my own; I do so based on what I have heard and read from dozens of highly knowledgeable and trustworthy political commentators in and on the free media.) The late Kumar David (whom I used to respect as an intellectual with advanced linguistic capacity, despite his politics) held that an executive president undermined Sri Lanka’s democracy. But the architects of the executive presidential system introduced with the adoption of a new constitution in 1978 by the UNP  believed that a strong executive presidency was essential for preserving the unitary status of the Sri Lankan state as a bulwark against ethnicity based fragmentation of the country by ethnicity based separatists that threatened intercommunal peace, national security, political stability, and economic development. 

Under the presidential system, the president became both the head of state and the head of government, whereas under the Westminster style parliamentary system that survived the proclamation of the first republican constitution of 1972, the prime minister held the most power and the non-executive president was only the nominal head of state. Under the current several times amended 1978 constitution, national sovereignty lies in the people. The president is directly elected by the people. He or she acts as the people’s supreme representative as well as the symbolic personification of national sovereignty. But the president is under the constitution, not above it. A morally adequate executive president does not jeopardize democracy. 

Regime change supporters have made much against Article 9 of the constitution that offers the foremost place for Buddhism, though it does so without making it the state religion. They argue that it threatens the secularism of Sri Lankan democracy.They have also objected to describing Sri Lanka as a Buddhist country/nation. (May the impartial reader judge the fairness of this criticism in comparison with the status given to majority religions in other democratic countries, except in neighbouring India, where 80% of the people are Hindu, but Hinduism is not the state religion.. The only democratic country in the world that shares Sri Lanka’s susceptibility to criticism in this respect is Israel, which has no state religion but ensures freedom of religion to all its diverse ethnic groups, while giving Judaism a privileged place, and calls itself a ‘Jewish democratic state’.) It is beyond dispute that Israel, Sri Lanka, and India are the most accommodating towards religious multiculturalism.  

Despite this, a trend towards relaxing the observance of Article 9 emerged during the civil conflict, especially in the worst affected northern and eastern provinces, and it became more apparent after January 2015. Acts of discrimination against the Sinhalese Buddhists left  after ethnic cleansing by the separatists in those areas, and vandalizing of pre-common era Buddhist archaeological sites notwithstanding the protection provided by  the supposedly powerful Antiquities Ordinance, sabotaging of the commemoration of the 270th anniversary of the bringing of the Higher Ordination ritual from Siam (Thailand) in 1753, that was being organized by the Siyam Nikaya during UNP’s Ranil Wickremasinghe’s presidency in 2023; the fate of its 275th anniversary in 2028 is yet to be seen.  The same propensity seems to be continuing under the ruling JVP/NPP, whose leaders made common cause with the regime changers who had sought the abolition of the executive presidency. Concerned legal experts might accuse incumbent Anura Kumara Dissanayake of having subjected Article 9 to constitutional neglect by effectively scrapping (?) a separate ministry for Buddha Sasana and by appointing an alleged non-Buddhist to take care of Buddha Sasana-related affairs, and a Muslim Maulavi, an alleged owner of madrasas, as his deputy. The seemingly subtly sabotaged progress of the Walk for Peace under the apparently unsolicited patronage of the government is leaving a bad taste in the mouth.This is in spite of the president having been recently trying to downplay his secular persona.    

A gesture that president Anura Kumara Dissanayake made towards that was when he invited  Pope Leo XIV to visit Sri Lanka on a still unspecified date in the future. His official invitation was handed over to Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States, at the Vatican by Minister Bimal Ratnayake on March 3, 2026 during the latter’s recent state visit to Italy. President Dissanayake has also opted to offer state patronage to the Walk for Peace monk delegation headed by Vietnamese American Theravada Buddhist Bhikkhu Ven. Pannakara Thero of the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth Texas, USA, currently visiting Sri Lanka. 

President Dissanayake might deserve Sri Lankans’ appreciation for these hopefully pious decisions. But he should remember the following lines from Verse 1 of Dhammapada:

If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts – suffering follows him like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.”

Verse 2 says:

If with a pure mind a person speaks or acts – happiness follows him like his never-departing shadow”

Both verses state a natural law. There is nothing magical or mysterious here, because

Mind precedes all mental states –  mind is their chief, they are all mind-wrought.” 

The responsibility for the cultivation of sound mental states, arriving at well thought out decisions, and taking the right actions weighs infinitely more heavily on the ruler of a country than it does on a single individual.

Hence the daily prayer of Buddhist monks: raja bhavatu dhammiko ‘May the ruler be righteous!’  

Leader of the Walk for Peace Bhikkhu Pannakara constantly stresses the importance of restraining our ever-shifting ‘monkey mind’ (that is always in a state of restlessness, confusion, and continuous chatter) to let inner peace and happiness bloom. 

Although the Walk for Peace monks are absolutely devoid of any political or missionary motive beyond disseminating that simple but profound message of peace and compassion, the people of Buddhist majority Sri Lanka could unobtrusively use their visit to raise the  image of Sri Lanka as a nation with a rich Buddhist cultural heritage that has survived for over twenty-three centuries based on a moral framework that asserts the values of karuna (compassion), metta (loving-kindness), ahimsa (non-violence), mindfulness, panna (wisdom), and shanti (deep inner peace) which is the genesis of national and world peace. These are the humane values that the Walk for Peace monks demonstrate and teach for individuals to assert in their lives in order to reduce their own suffering, while helping create a society that is peaceful and happy. This is broadly what the Buddha advised his first sixty disciples to do, when he started his ministry after  setting the Wheel of the Dhamma” in motion:  Go forth O bhikkhus, for the good of the many, for the happiness of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the benefit, welfare and happiness of gods and men”. 

Right now, though, as strongly hinted by the independent media and as constantly argued by the Opposition, President Dissanayake is living a lie, nay, is lying in a bed of lies with sharp teeth that he has himself made. He pretends to be committed to a secular liberal democracy that he seems to have no clear idea about, and tries to show proof of his secular credentials by implicitly disowning the Sinhalese Buddhist culture he was born into. His conduct as president doesn’t reflect any awareness, on his part, of the remarkable compatibility of that culture with the ethical standards of modern secular democracy. The socially egalitarian and ethically progressive spirit of democracy that Buddhism, across all its denominations, infuses into societies is being increasingly recognized and respected around the civilized world. Dissanayake’s profound ignorance of, or callous insensitivity to, this fact is a glaring instance of his internalized racism (i.e., involuntary adoption of Western prejudices and stereotypes against one’s own non-White race), which prompted him to disparage Sri Lanka as a ‘hunduwa’ for what he has identified as its underdeveloped economic capacity. 

Be that as it may, his efforts are apparently expended on appeasing the handful of racist Tamil separatists and the few religious extremists hiding safely in plain sight, taking refuge within the larger peaceful Tamil, Catholic, and Muslim mainstream minority communities. The latent resurgence of political (Tamil separatist) and religio-political (Catholic and Islamist) extremism has become a complex social, political, and security issue for the Sinhalese Buddhist majority Sri Lankan state. This problem gets more complicated by the interventionist attention that is focused into its internal affairs by competing global and regional superpowers in the geostrategically supersensitive Indo-Pacific, where Sri Lanka is located, especially by the powerful Western countries that have taken in large Tamil diaspora populations. The Buddhist majority community is not totally free from its own variety of extremists. The agitating monk activists like Balangoda Kassapa Thero and Galaboda-aththe Gnanasara Thero who criticise the Walk for Peace having misunderstood its genuine purpose, are examples; they are doing a great disservice to the genuine causes they are trying to bravely champion. ………..

The most frightening echoes in the next, hopefully the final, part.

History

Introduction:

Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney – at – law, delivered the keynote address at a
Symposium held on the premises of the Japanese Parliament (Conference Room No. 101 of the Diet) on 14th November, 2018 on the topic titled ‘ Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western Domination – Time for Asia to express gratitude to Japan’. 

The Symposium was organized by the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact.
Mr. Weeraratna was the first Sri Lankan and first Asian to thank Japan on the premises of
Japan’s Parliament for making huge blood sacrifices of Japanese soldiers and thereby paving the
way for the liberation of Europe’s Asian colonies including British occupied Ceylon.

Following his speech Mr. Kase Hideaki, Diplomatic critic and Chairman of the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact, proposed the Vote of Thanks. His speech was entitled ‘THE GREATER EAST ASIAN WAR: HOW JAPAN CHANGED THE WORLD’

https://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Kase-Speech.pdf

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Mr.
Senaka Weeraratna for his kind words, especially those pertaining to my father, Kase
Toshikazu.

September 2, 1945 was a day of humiliation for my entire family. My father, then aged
42, was one of the envoys present at the ceremony during which Minister Plenipotentiary Shigemitsu Mamoru signed the Instrument of Surrender. My father stood next to Mr. Shigemitsu as the haughty Douglas MacArthur looked on.

Mr. Weeraratna was kind enough to say a few words about my book, ‘The Greater East
Asian War: How Japan Changed the World’. My father, who lived to the ripe old age of
101, had a habit of looking me straight in the eye and saying, We may have lost the
battle, but we won the war because we liberated the Asian and African peoples.”

I am seldom moved to tears by anything I see on television, but I do remember one
exception. In September of this year American actress Meghan Markle and British Prince Harry got married. Their magnificent wedding ceremony was held at Windsor Castle (the residence of the British royal family, known as the House of Windsor). As it
approached St. George’s Chapel, the horse-drawn carriage bearing the royal couple
looked as though it had been taken straight from a fairy tale, and the silver armor worn by the escort guards gleamed in the sunlight. I was deeply moved.

Inside the chapel an African-American clergyman invited to participate in the ceremony
preached about the power of love, speaking in the African-American vernacular.
When I heard a black gospel choir (also from the US) sing Stand by Me” (originally a
spiritual entitled Stand by Me, Father”), tears streamed down my cheeks. I imagine
many of you reacted in the same way.

Ms. Markle’s father is white; her mother is African-American. Throughout the long
history of the British royal family, the idea that an African American might become the
consort of a prince who is sixth in the line of succession to the British throne would never have crossed anyone’s mind.

Japan deserves credit for helping make this remarkable turn of events possible. We
fought a huge war at great human cost and sacrifice. All the nations of Asia won freedom, and the momentum behind their liberation then spread to Africa, whose nations broke the yoke of colonialism, one by one.

In the late 1950s I traveled to the US to study at Columbia University. In those days
African Americans could not vote. Furthermore, they risked being lynched if they dared
cross the thresholds of hotels or restaurants patronized by whites. There were separate
drinking fountains and public lavatories for whites and blacks.

But when the peoples of Africa won freedom, their nations built embassies near the
United Nations in New York City, and in Washington DC. African diplomats began to
frequent hotels and restaurants that were inaccessible to African Americans. Eventually
African Americans followed their lead.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s civil rights movement began to bear fruit in the 1960s.
Before then sexual relations between whites and blacks constituted criminal offenses; nor was intermarriage between the two races permitted. Discrimination showed no mercy. African-American baseball players could not work in the major leagues until after World War II.

When I was studying in the US, African Americans were barred from golf courses
(unless they were caddies). Today tennis champion Osaka Naomi is playing in
tournaments all over the world, but not so long ago the only African Americans seen on
tennis courts were members of the cleaning staff or ball boys.

As I watched the wedding ceremony of American actress Meghan Markle and British
Prince Harry, it occurred to me that the spirits of Japanese soldiers who gave their lives
on the vast battlefields of the Greater East Asian War must also have delighted in these
nuptials. That thought precipitated another flood of tears.

At the royal wedding Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and Crown Prince Charles, all in
formal dress, were present as Prince Harry took an African-American woman as his bride. An ideal world had materialized, thanks to Japan’s strength. Throughout human history, which revolution stands out the most? The French revolution? The Russian revolution? The Industrial Revolution? The IT revolution? None of these. The greatest revolution in human history was the achievement of racial equality in the world.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration. What is noteworthy here
is that between 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry’s fleet of black ships appeared at Uraga and 1868, the first year of the Meiji era, only 15 years elapsed.

Japan had replaced the Edo Shogunate, which had persisted for 260 years, with a new
regime. We greeted Meiji, a new era. This year, 2018, is the 30th year of the Heisei era, which will come to a close in April 2019. How will we remember the Heisei era? It will have been a 30-year period during which we failed to revise the current disgraceful Constitution, crammed down our throats by the Occupation forces.

We were able to recreate Japan during a 15-year period beginning with Perry’s incursion into Japanese waters. But we could not revise the Constitution over the past 30 years. What have we been doing (and I include myself), for the past 30 years?
Between the last days of the Shogunate and the dawning of the Meiji era we Japanese had two immense dreams. One was the revision of insulting, unequal treaties that had been forced upon us by the imperialist powers of the West. 

Japan could not set its own tariffs for imports and exports. Foreign fleets stationed
themselves in our ports, in Yokohama and Kobe. We did not have the authority to try
foreigners in our courts. We needed to revise those disrespectful treaties.

The other dream was achieving racial equality throughout the world. Many members of
Japan’s warrior class traveled to the West on observation missions between the end of the Edo Shogunate and the beginning of the Meiji era. During their ocean voyages, the
Japanese travelers saw how their fellow Asians were abused by their white bosses, treated like beasts of burden, like slaves.

The Japanese made truly strenuous efforts to get the unequal treaties revised. At the
famous Rokumeikan, Prince Ito Hirobumi and his subordinates felt obligated to learn
ridiculous Western ballroom dances and to wear Western clothing. Surely such
accommodations would prove that Japan too was a civilized nation, and then perhaps the Japanese could make progress with treaty revision.

Until the end of the Edo era (1603-1868) the Japanese wore white when they attended a funeral. However, in the hope of revising the unequal treaties, the Meiji government
decreed that black clothing be worn at funerals, as it was in the West. Such were the
lengths that the Japanese were willing to go to for the sake of treaty revision.
Early in the Meiji era, again looking toward treaty revision, the Ministry of Education
sent notifications to all girls’ schools announcing that students should be prohibited from
urinating standing up. During the war my mother took me to Nagano prefecture to escape the bombing that was occurring in cities. There I saw a young girl urinating, standing up, on a footpath between rice fields.

I used to travel to Indonesia on business. When I spotted a woman urinating, standing
up, at the roadside in a rural area of Java, I felt a wave of nostalgia and thought, They’re just like us.”

When a foreign head of state visits Japan, a banquet is held in his or her honor at the
Imperial Palace. At these banquets the food served is always French cuisine. At the Great Hall of the People, facing Tian’anmen Square, the Chinese serve Chinese cuisine. The Koreans serve Korean cuisine. The Thais serve Thai cuisine. The Indians serve Indian cuisine. Why do the Japanese serve French cuisine?

By the 1970s Japan had just about caught up with the Western powers; at that point
someone suggested serving Japanese cuisine. I said that French cuisine should be served for all eternity. We should serve French cuisine so that the pains our ancestors took to get the unequal treaties revised would not be forgotten.

Apparently we began serving French cuisine at state banquets because Japanese cuisine was deemed barbarian, and no nation would want to conclude treaties on equal terms with barbarians. So the Japanese built the Rokumeikan, imitated the Westerners, wore black at funerals, and served French cuisine. We must never forget these efforts.
We dreamed of and longed for a world of racial equality. In fact, racial discrimination
was one of the primary causes of the Pacific War.

The phrase hakko ichiu, meaning all the world under one roof” appears in a decree
issued by Emperor Jimmu on the occasion of his coronation (ca. 660 BCE). It means that in an ideal world the peoples of the world are living together happily under one roof. The Japanese have no history of racial discrimination.

Earlier Mr. Weeraratna mentioned my father, who was head of the Foreign Ministry’s
North American Division when war between the two nations broke out. He oversaw
negotiations between Japan and the US from Tokyo. The foreign minister at that time
was of Korean descent. His Japanese name was Togo Shigenori. He was a native of Kagoshima; the name on his census record was Pak Mu-dok. When he matriculated at the Law Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University, he changed his surname to Togo, and adopted the Japanese pronunciation of his given name.

Before World War II, Park Chun-gum ran for a seat in the House of Representatives,
using his Korean name. He won, and ended up serving two terms. Tokyo’s Koto Ward,
the district from which he was elected, had some Korean residents, but they were
overwhelmingly outnumbered by Japanese. If the Japanese had discriminated against people of other ethnicities, it is very unlikely that a Korean using his birth name and running from Koto Ward could have won a seat in the House of Representatives, certainly not for two terms.

Nowhere in Japanese history do you find instances of racial discrimination. Nor have the
Japanese ever kept slaves. I once held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Yuraku-cho. On that occasion I voiced my objections to press coverage of the comfort women.

A correspondent from a leading US newspaper posed the following question: It is
common knowledge today throughout the world that the Japanese condemned young
women to a life of misery by forcing them to become sex slaves. How dare you make a
statement that defies common knowledge?”

I replied,” I would prefer not to entertain a question of that sort, posed as it was by a
reporter from a country that practiced slavery until right before Japan entered the Meiji
era (1868-1912).” Japanese and Asian journalists in the audience, which numbered about 150, applauded.

In August of this year (2018) the Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland was host to a session of CERD (the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination). At that session CERD was reviewing the situation in Japan. Apparently the committee’s members, who represent Korea, the US, Belgium, and other countries had denounced Japan, believing that there is a great deal of racial discrimination there. A delegation from Japan’s Foreign Ministry was present; it was led by Otaka Masato, ambassador in charge of UN affairs; Mr. Otaka speaks excellent English.

Mr. Otaka provided a careful explanation of Japan’s position. He mentioned that 
The Japanese government had already offered apologies. In fact, his report was so detailed that it sounded as though he was apologizing again. In his place I would have gone on the offense, emphasizing the fact that the Japanese had never kept slaves, and attacking those nations that had.

There is no point in wasting our tax revenue by paying dues to CERD. It is completely
ridiculous for us to be doing this. The Japanese government should tell them that we’ll
stop paying our share unless they rename Palais Wilson.

February 13, 2019 will mark the 100th anniversary of the Paris Peace Conference (also
known as the Versailles Peace Conference), held after World War I ended. At US
President Woodrow Wilson’s suggestion, those in attendance decided to establish the
League of Nations as an organization entrusted with overseeing the postwar world. The
Japanese delegation proposed including a clause advocating the elimination of racial
discrimination in the Covenant of the League of Nations of Versailles. When the proposal was submitted to a vote, there were 11 votes in favor of (some of them from Europe’s smaller nations) and five votes against its adoption.

However, President Wilson issued a pronouncement to the effect that a unanimous vote
was necessary to approve a matter of such great importance, thus quashing the Japanese proposal. Wilson was a dyed-in-the-wool white supremacist. During his presidency discrimination against African Americans worsened. He stated that people of color are intellectually inferior to whites (those who seek proof need only refer to transcripts of his lectures). Like Hitler, Wilson was a proponent of eugenics.

President Wilson once served as president of Princeton University. Nevertheless,
members of the school’s student body (including white students), recently launched a
campaign to remove Wilson’s statue from the campus. In the 1960s the US Congress
sponsored the establishment of a think tank called the Wilson Center. But here too a
movement has arisen that would change the name of the institution, as Wilson’s name is
now an embarrassment.

The Japanese government delegation should insist that the name of Palais Wilson be
changed. Its members should say that they will refuse to enter the building until it is
renamed. I believe that Japan’s history of equality began with the Jomon era (ca. 14,000-1,000 BCE), even before Japan was born. The Japanese have always valued harmony among people.

Perhaps I am engaging in wishful thinking, but I think that next year China will be on the
road to ruin. I am convinced that as long as Japan does not give in to China’s demands,
the world will see the dawning of an Asian era in which Japan takes the lead.
Monotheism has come to a standstill. As Mr. Weeraratna mentioned, Nazi racial
discrimination was religious discrimination. If you read the New Testament, the new
promises of Jesus, you will find the following reference to the Jews: You are the
children of the devil, and his works ye shall do.”

Since Hitler was the son of a devout Roman Catholic, he carried out Jesus’ teachings to
the letter. Europeans had been massacring Jews for nearly 1,000 years. But the Germans, with their sophisticated technical skills, were able to kill more than 5 million of them. Monotheism is exclusive; it does not value harmony. The adherents of Sunni and Shia, the two main branches of Islam, simply cannot get along with each other. These conflicts have resulted in a great deal of killing. 

The Japanese have always prized harmony. We have harmony when three, or four, or five, or six people gather and say, Let’s work together.” In Japan we have always had harmony — people working together toward a common goal, with the emphasis on the group rather than the individual.

In closing I would like to mention that it has been some time since the world’s attention
has come to focus on Japan like this. From the end of the Shogunate through the Meiji era, Japan exerted considerable influence on the Western world: we had ukiyo-e, Japonisme, Japanese design, and Japanese architecture. But these were visual influences.

However, what has caused Japan to capture the world’s heart and at long last to become the center of attention goes beyond the visual, even beyond the spiritual. As Mr. Weeraratna said earlier, Japan accomplished the most prodigious revolution in the world.  We broached the idea of racial equality to the world. But I do not think we should look to the nations of Asia for gratitude.

But we should be grateful to our heroes, our so-called war criminals. When I go to
worship at Yasukuni Shrine, the shrine for our war dead, I will be sure to thank the
heroes who created this wonderful, ideal world.

Kase Hideaki

PS

Hideaki Kase (加瀬 英明, Kase Hideaki; 22 December 1936 – 15 November 2022) was a Japanese diplomatic critic known for promoting historical negationism.^[1] His father, Toshikazu Kase, was a diplomat under Shigenori Tōgō who negotiated an end to the Pacific war. Yoko Ono is his cousin.  Kase died on 15 November 2022, at the age of 85

See 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hideaki_Kase

https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Did-Japan-contribute-to-Sri-Lanka-and-India-to-gain-independence/172-105069

Japan’s Master Plan for Victory

Japan’s Master Plan for Victory

The speech in the Japanese Parliament (Diet)  that won Japan’s abstention on the Resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC

THE ROMANTIC NOVELISTS’ ASSOCIATION

British Sri Lankan author and former Musaeus College student, Jeevani Charika, is a finalist in two categories of Romantic Novel of the Year Awards 2026. Both books were published last year and have British-Sri Lankan heroines as main characters.

How Can I Resist You? (written as Jeevani Charika) is a contemporary romance/women’s fiction story about Vidya who is trying very hard not to fall for her work colleague and has been shortlisted in the Contemporary Romance Novel category. It is published by HQ (Harper Collins).

Christmas With The Secret Tycoon (written as Rhoda Baxter) is a festive sweet romance about a designer called Madhuri, and is shortlisted in the Shorter Romance Novel category. It is published by Mills and Boon.

Although Jeevani has been writing under both pen names for several years and has been shortlisted for awards before, this is the first time both names have been shortlisted in the same year.

This year is a particularly good year for Sri Lankan representation in the romance industry, because Shalini Abeysekara, a Canadian-Sri Lankan novelist has also been shortlisted for the Romantasy/ Romantic Fantasy category. It is published by Hodderscape.

The Romance Novelists’ Association (RNA) Romantic Novel of the Year Awards is an annual awards ceremony celebrating excellence in romantic fiction in all its forms. In the past awards have been won by writers such as Jojo Moyes, Elizabeth Buchan, Philippa Gregory and Katie Fforde.

UK based mum of two, Jeevani Charika writes romantic comfort reads with a dash of fun. She also writes under the pen name Rhoda Baxter (named after the bacterium she studied while doing her PhD). Her books have been shortlisted for multiple awards. She was born in the South of England, but spent much of her childhood in Sri Lanka, with short forays to Nigeria and Micronesia, before returning to settle in Yorkshire. Taking her father’s advice to focus on science and get a ‘real job’, she studied Biochemistry and Microbiology. She ended up working in university intellectual property. All of this, it turned out, was excellent preparation for becoming a novelist.

Jeevani loves all things science geeky. She also loves cake, Lego and British comedy. When she’s run out of excuses not to, she writes books.

You can find out more about her (and get a free book by signing up to her newsletter) on her website. www.jeevanicharika.com

She commented, I am thrilled to bits to be shortlisted for the awards (twice!). The books are judged by readers, not writers, which makes the awards extra special.

We need cosy and uplifting books in these dark days, and these awards celebrate the best of them. I’m very excited to see my comfort reads listed alongside books by so many authors whose books I love.”

The RNA Chair, Seána Talbot, said, This year’s finalists represent the very best of what our romantic fiction community has to offer—from indie to traditionally published, from cosy to spicy and everything in between. We at the RNA are proud to recognise talented authors across the breadth of romance books, encompassing the full range of romance and romantic fiction subgenres. We look forward to celebrating with the romantic fiction community and can’t wait to announce the winners.”

The RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Awards have eleven award categories and they are: Debut Romance Novel Award, Romantasy/Romantic Fantasy Award, The Romantic Thriller Award, The Festive/ Holiday Romance Novel Award, The Shorter Romance Novel Award, The Saga Romance Award, The Historical Romance Award, The Contemporary Romance Novel Award, The Contemporary Spicy Romance Novel Award, The Romantic Comedy Award, and The Romance Bestseller Award.

The shortlisted novels were determined exclusively by reader-judges and the finalists illustrate the highest standards of romantic fiction across all genres. The winners of the eleven categories will be announced during the awards ceremony on the 18th of May in London, along with the winner of The Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers.

Award winning author Brigid Coady will host the evening. The Joan Hessayon Award for New Writers which is sponsored by the estate of Dr David Hessayon will also be presented at the ceremony by Claire McCauley (winner of the Award in 2024 and now its Coordinator). The RNA President and Sunday Times Bestselling Author Sue Moorcroft will present the Contemporary Romance Novel Award and the remaining awards will be presented by the RNA Chair Seána Talbot.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Leonardo Royal Hotel London City, 8-14 Cooper’s Row, London EC3N 2BQ, on Monday, the 18th of  May 2026 at 6.30pm.

Tickets are available here:

For the full list of finalists and contenders please visit the RNA website:

HOW CAN I RESIST YOU?  BOOK BLURB (Publisher: HQ – Harper Collins)

Vidya isn’t in Waterloo Bay for a holiday. Officially, she’s visiting the beautiful, quirky seaside town for work – but unofficially, she’s on a mission. One of her colleagues hooked up with her sister at a party, and now her sister is pregnant. As the sensible one in the family, it’s Vidya’s job to find out who he is.

But there’s a catch: all she has to go on is a vague description of a chest tattoo. Vidya has just two weeks to glimpse her colleagues shirtless without getting fired, but crazy hotel guests, malicious seagulls and her pesky day job keep getting in the way.

And then there’s Leo, the most frustrating, patronising, handsome man she’s ever met…

CHRISTMAS WITH THE SECRET TYCOON  BOOK BLURB (Publisher: Mills and Boon)

Hotel tycoon Tristan needs to lay low after a media scandal…so why not go undercover as a guest at one of his own country hotels? His mind isn’t on work for long, though. When he meets captivating local Maddie, he’s soon swept up in finding someone who cares about him, not his wealth. But Maddie is reeling after being betrayed by her conman ex and Tristan knows trusting him doesn’t come easy… When his true identity comes out, will he lose her forever?

ADDITIONAL MEDIA INFORMATION ABOUT JEEVANI CHARIKA

Jeevani has written eight novels as Jeevani Charika (book 9 coming out in July 2026) and eleven novels as Rhoda Baxter. She has also written two books of writing advice for novelists. She does freelance work as a developmental editor for fiction and runs courses teaching authors all the extra skills you need to learn after you get your publishing deal.

JEEVANI CHARIKA/ RHODA BAXTER MEDIA DETAILS

Website: rhodabaxter.com

Social media links:

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jeevanicharika.bsky.social

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeevanicharikaauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeevanicharika/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rhoda.baxter.5/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jeevanicharika

Sarath Wijesinghe Presidents Counsel Former Ambassador to UAE and Israel President Ambassador’s Forum Uk

DONDLD TRUMP AND USA

Trump is the President of USA supposed to be the richest nation who is self-appointed the world policemen despite the existence of UN and the major five powers which can take decisions for the world through United Nations now appear to be inactive and in effective especially when major nations are fighting, though all nations are equal before the UN Convention on which the organization is formed. There is no world president but UN can be the Parliament as a talking shop considering all nations equal in including Sri Lanka which is a senior member of the UN with an excellent reputation though a small nation. World was has ended but there are mini wars based on various reasons may be border disputes and mainly on economy. World court is too expensive and time consuming to settle disputes. But generally, disputes are settled based on diplomacy and principles of international law and international relations. Those who do not abide by international law and relations are ‘’Pariya’’ Countries and nations are careful to maintain to be Gentlemen in the nation brotherhood. USA is bestowed with  great presidents and it is yet to prove the true colors of  Trump on whom world had hopes as an ant-war President during his campaign for Presidency as a  peace candidate during the elections which he is disproving the expected image by conduct. UN system has 193tions in the world family acting as a world parliament with no executive but five world power to take major decisions including the power of Veto which is powerful to outweigh other proposals by this special power. Family of nations are expected to follow and abide by international law irrespective of the size of the nation as according to the UN convention every country has equally powers and opportunities and every country is expected to follow international law. Do all follow international law is a moot issue known to the world and there is procedure laid down in the UN convention how to engage in a war- just war to punish wrong doers. Iraqi war Bush and Blair used UN to punish Iraqi and find nuclear armaments which they never found resulting complete destruction of the powerful Iraqi shambles  for oil and wealth they possess  and to curtail power of then ruler, and the opportunity was taken to destroy many other leaders in the Middle East powerful being a threat to the west and USA all self-appointed leaders. UAE is a country in the middle East invested the oil they discovered in 1960 wisely mad eit a  a commercial hub using the strategical situation which Sri Lanka should use and made use of, being a better location and full of beauty unlike UAE heaved for tourists.

USA is a country with a history of few hundred hears with an infamous history on humanity full of brutality yet has converted to be a rich country with exploiting the wealth of other countries and continue to continue. It had great leaders such as Kennady , Abram Lincon Rooswelt  and many more though the current President  Donald Trump who came to a compromising candidate for peace against war unfortunately has turned to be different from the expected world leader who was expected to take world towards peace and prosperity has surprisingly changed to be a world leader disappointment the peace-loving world citizen.

Trump  came to power as a anti war President and world has had lot of hopes on him to be a great world leader is in isolation due to his interest on oil resources in countries in the middle east especially Iran a soft target an abundance of iol farm

Is Trump really  Isolated

President Trump is the President of the richest country on the globe and considers him as the world policemen who can control the world based on the ‘’rule of the jungle’’ based on the theory survival of the fittest. Lion is the king of the jungle who is free to take any animal for his pray with no restrictions, and no governance in the jungle controlled by the nature. Now that the cold war is no longer in existence the other leading powers are in the back seat watching the situation carefully but intensively, appear to be active at any stage of need. They concentrate on economy and becoming economic giants when Usa uses different tactics to be the leader wanting to control the world resources especially oil which is the main sources of energy.

Our World

World is the same with the occupants make it spoilt and dirty. World family has had an organization with no leader but an organization that can be somewhat considered a world Parliament with no executive powers There are 193 nations recognized by the United Nations Organization which they say is a toothless lion unable to perform as a strong world organization which is funded by USA and rich members based on the proposals of their income. UN was set up due to the aftermath of the world war with massive destructions, atomic bombing, when the League of Nations was inactive toothless and unable to face fierce world wars.

Nava Thakuria

After months of uncertainties, the Press Council of India (PCI) got its chairman as  Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai assumed the charge on 24 April 2026. The retired judge of the Supreme Court of India, who was nominated for a second term for a period of three years, served as the PCI chairman from 17 June 2022 to 16 December 2025. However, the quotas for working journalists remain vacant as seven members, to be represented by professional scribes (other than editors) and six members, to be represented by journalist-editors, are yet to be picked up to complete the 15^th council (https://presscouncil.nic.in/CurrentMemberPCI.aspx).

Mentionable is that two months back,  Rajya Sabha member Sasmit Patra  urged the Union government in New Delhi to complete the current press council to safeguard democratic principles and strengthen media accountability. Speaking in the upper house of Parliament on 10 February, the Biju Janata Dal leader asserted that the constitution of full-fledged council after the term of 14th council expired on 5 October 2024 was necessary for a free, fair and responsible press. Patra specifically emphasized on appointing the new chairperson, as the PCI remained headless since 17 December last year, to pave the way for completing the  council of the statutory, quasi-judicial and autonomous body.

Currently the PCI has functioning members namely  Sudhanshu Trivedi,  Brij Lal (Rajya Sabha lawmakers), Sambit Patra, Naresh Mhaske and  Kali Charan Munda (Lok Sabha members),  Ashwini K Mohapatra (University Grants Commission),  Manan Kumar Mishra (Bar Council of India),  K Sreenivasarao (Sahitya Akademi), Sudhir Kumar Panda, MV Shreyams Kumar, Gurinder Singh, Arun Kumar Tripathi, Braj Mohan Sharma and Arti Tripathi (who either own or carry on the business of management in big/ medium/ small newspapers). Initiatives continue to fill up the remaining 14 seats even though different hurdles have surfaced in the recent past.

The 29-member media watchdog, which was initially set up in 1966 under the Press Council Act 1965 and later re-established in 1979 following the Press Council Act 1978 with an  objective to improve the standard of newspapers and news agencies in the billion plus nation,  should have 13 individuals representing the professional journalists (out of whom 6 need to be editors and 7 working journalists of newspapers/news agencies), but those seats remain vacant till date. Months back, a good number of media organizations demanded to rejuvenate the PCI with more power to its ambit.

The crisis started as many national journo-bodies opposed a change in the PCI rules to   pick up members from various press clubs instead of the national union of working journalists. Some of them even approached the court making the situation more complex. They argue that the press clubs are basically recreational bodies and their coverage areas normally stick to a particular region, city or town. Often the press clubs offer memberships to non-working journalists (like academicians, writers, film personalities and also diplomats) to enhance their influences, and hence their members may not do justice to the professional media personnel in various crucial junctures. More precisely the  press club/press guild/ media club cannot have an all India body (nonetheless the nomenclature Press Club of India) with representatives from various parts of the vast country. On the other hand, they argued that recognized journalist-unions  usually comprise members from different parts of India.

As the PCI became headless for months (it happened for the first time in the history of PCI), the question arose who was taking  care of the robust Indian print media fraternity (comprising over 100,000 publications, endorsed by the Registrar of Newspapers for India, in various frequencies and languages)? The PCI is authorized to accept complaints against any  newspaper/news agency or an editor/working journalist for their professional misconduct deteriorating the standard of journalistic behaviours. But it has limited power to enforce its guidelines by penalizing  print outlets as well their editors and working journalists for the violation.

Besides the newspapers, the billion plus nation also supports nearly 400 satellite news channels along with millions of portals, whatsapp and other digital media outlets. But those are not yet under the purview of the PCI. In reality, all modern technology-driven news outlets remain out of its purview. As the PCI enjoys  the authority to make observations whenever the conduct of any government is found inappropriate while ensuring freedom of the press. So the  demand to bring  all the news channels, radio and digital platforms under the PCI’s jurisdiction  and its subsequent empowerment continues to grow.

Truth with Chamuditha and Chamuditha News Brief

Shenali D Waduge

The Cardinal has publicly expressed uncertainty as to why churches were targeted in the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. However, this is not an unresolved mystery in terms of established findings. Multiple investigations — including international intelligence assessments, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCoI), Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC), Supreme Court observations, and other formal reviews — have already examined the matter in detail.

1. Established facts are clear

The Easter Sunday attacks were carried out by a structured extremist network led by Zahran Hashim.

Across all investigative findings, a consistent pattern emerged:

• progressive ideological religious radicalisation
• formation of an organised extremist network
• training, logistics, safe houses, and coordination mechanisms
• prior intelligence warnings received by state agencies
• inaction on the warnings to prevent attacks
• coordinated suicide attacks on churches and hotels

The selection of churches was not random.

Globally, extremist movements have repeatedly targeted places of worship due to their symbolic, psychological, and ideological impact. Egypt, Nigeria, Congo are the latest examples.

This fits a known operational logic: attacking symbolic civilian targets to maximise fear, visibility, and ideological messaging.

Established sequence:

radicalisation → organisation → preparation → intelligence awareness → security failure → execution

This chain is consistently reflected across investigative findings and has not been replaced or disproved by any official inquiry.

2. The emerging new narrative” and arrests

A newer narrative has emerged in public discourse that does not dispute the existence of Zahran Hashim’s extremist network, but instead suggests that external actors have influenced, enabled, or shaped the outcome for a political objective.

This version strives to make the external actor the driving force of the outcome and not the religious ideological objective that drove the extremists to their goal.

This creates a major shift in how the events are being explained.
It moves away from the established view that the attacks were driven by extremist ideology, and instead suggests they were mainly caused by outside influence and not for religious martyrdom.

This raises concerns about discussing intelligence matters publicly, especially when claims are made without clear evidence.

When officers who have served the nation are subjected to arrest or public allegation without clearly established evidence, it can have a wider institutional impact. It risks creating a climate of caution within the services, where personnel may become more risk-averse in their operational decision-making, which can in turn affect overall operational effectiveness and, by extension, national security and public safety.

Some versions of this new narrative further imply that selective individuals within state structures played roles in facilitation or coordination of the Easter attacks itself.

However, this poses immediate evidentiary and logical challenges:

• No verified primary evidence has been produced that establishes such operational linkage despite claim in October 2021.
• Many claims emerge years after the event through secondary commentary or retrospective interpretation
• Investigative standards require that allegations must be supported by substantiated material before conclusions are drawn
• The burden of proof lies first with those making claim, not retrospectively on investigative institutions tasked to find the evidence, raising concerns that investigations may be moving toward finding evidence for claims, rather than testing claims against existing

3. Timeline and operational logic do not support external control

Key individuals referenced in newer narratives were not in operational command roles during critical phases, and in some instances were not present in the country during relevant periods.

Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay was arrested and held under CID detention under a 90-day detention order issued under the PTA.

Public commentary surrounding the new narrative has also indicated the possibility of further arrests, with narratives already beginning to build around certain individuals, creating an expectation that they may be targeted for arrest next.

This raises a fundamental question:

How can a locally embedded, ideologically driven extremist network be externally engineered” without embedded operational presence, command access, or sustained ideological infiltration?

Radicalisation is not a remote event.

It is a long-term internal process based on ideology, trust networks, and sustained indoctrination.

Suicide coordination requires deep internal conviction — not external instruction without embedded control.

No established counter-terrorism framework supports the claim of externally directing a fully formed suicide network without ideological penetration or operational command presence.

4. Political outcome theories lack evidentiary grounding

Another strand of the narrative links the attacks to subsequent political transitions.

However, this interpretation does not align with the political realities of the period:

• Likely electoral and governance changes were visible prior to April 2019.
• Public sentiment and political momentum were already changing.
• Institutional instability and governance controversies were shaping political outcomes
• February 2018 local government results / Central Bank Bond Scam / corruptions and mismanagement cases a few examples.

5. What the new narrative is attempting to do

The emerging narrative is not a simple alternative interpretation.

It is a structured reframing of an already established investigative record.

The Actors in the new narrative

Advanced through a convergence of different groups with shared hostility:

• selective interpreters of the official record
• narrative expanders who elevate unverified claims
• political commentators linking events to governance narratives
• emotive amplifiers circulating emotionally charged interpretations
• silent endorsers who reinforce repetition without verification

These actors may not coordinate, but they converge on a shared interpretive direction.

The emotive driver: capture through shared hostility

A significant sustaining force of this narrative is emotive capture.

A recurring undercurrent is shared political hostility toward a particular political leadership and its associated governance period, which appears to be the origins of the new narrative and the reason for its continued persistence and amplification.

This produces three effects:

• lowers evidentiary thresholds in favor of accepting speculative claims
• allows retrospective attribution of systemic failures to personalised political narratives
• it substitutes emotional alignment for factual verification in parts of public discourse

In this environment, acceptance of claims is often shaped less by evidence and more by pre-existing political sentiment.

How the narrative is being sustained

The narrative persists through method rather than proof:

• selective use of unverified statements as quasi-evidence
• reinterpretation of known intelligence gaps as proof of hidden orchestration
• sensationalized narrative repetition across digital and commentary platforms until assertion gains perceived legitimacy through repetition
• relying on emotional interpretation instead of established investigative findings, while at the same time asking investigators to prove claims that were not originally supported by evidence

Over time, this creates a parallel interpretive layer that competes with and even replaces, the established investigative record.

A further concern is the selective direction of scrutiny.

While new theories are being promoted, far less attention is being given to the documented fact that multiple individuals within the security and intelligence structure were already aware of Zahran Hashim’s extremist activities well before April 2019, and that he remained at large despite being a known figure and, at times, a fugitive.

If accountability is the objective, then this raises a fundamental question:

• why is there less focus on those who had prior knowledge and the authority to act, but failed to prevent the attacks?

Shifting attention toward unproven new theories, while established lines of responsibility remain insufficiently examined, risks diverting focus away from the factual record and the core issue of prevention failure.

Additional concerns arise regarding consistency and credibility in the investigative process.

Individuals who were previously subject to findings of negligence and removed from their roles are now again involved in investigative functions.

At the same time, scrutiny appears to be directed toward individuals who were not in command positions during the relevant period, or who had taken some level of action based on available intelligence.

This creates a perception of inconsistency in how responsibility is being assessed.

When lines of accountability appear unevenly applied, and when public narratives begin to focus on selective individuals rather than the full chain of responsibility, it risks shifting attention away from the broader institutional failures that have already been identified in formal investigations.

6. Core contradiction with established findings

The established record consistently confirms:

• ideological religious radicalisation within a structured extremist network
• operational planning and coordination led by Zahran Hashim
• documented intelligence warnings prior to the attacks
• systemic security failures in prevention and coordination

The emerging narrative introduces a different causal model:

• external orchestration as primary driver
• operational influence without documented command presence
• replacement of ideological causation with political attribution

These frameworks cannot simultaneously function as primary explanations.

Because:

• radicalisation is internally developed and ideologically sustained
• suicide operations require embedded indoctrination and organisational control
• no investigative finding replaces ideological causation with external operational command

Therefore, the contradiction is structural, not interpretive.

7. The analytical tension

The durability of the new narrative does not stem from evidentiary strength, but from the convergence of:

• emotional alignment
• selective interpretation of gaps
• retrospective causal reconstruction
• political agendas and a gradual shifting of accountability

It does not disprove the established chain of radicalisation and execution.

It overlays an alternative causation model without dismantling the evidentiary foundation already established through multiple investigations without dismantling the evidentiary foundation already established, while shifting focus toward selected individuals rather than those who held responsibility during the period of the attacks.

This is not a rejection of inquiry, debate or discussions.

Legitimate questions must be asked.

But inquiry must remain anchored in evidence, not reconstructed through selective interpretation and emotional convergence.

The victims of the Easter Sunday attacks deserve justice based on verified facts, not interpretations shaped by retrospective political framing while disregarding the established extremist threat that existed.

Accountability must be built on evidence — not narrative alignment or political agendas. When established findings are selectively reinterpreted, the result is not clarity, but distortion of the investigative record.

Truth does not emerge from repetition or shared hostility.

Truth emerges from evidence — consistently applied, without bias, selective interpretation and without deviation.

We have full faith in the Courts and the Judiciary to distinguish fact from fiction and to ensure truth is not diverted or diluted by the new narratives that attempt to manipulate the truth.

Shenali D Waduge

Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel former ambassador and Chair Ambassador’s forum UK/SL

We congratulate

We congratulate ‘’Mr Mithree Gunaratna’’ PC and the media Giant and attorney -at- law ‘’Diith Jayaweera’’ for having exposed the scam of robbery, or misappropriation of 25 million us dollars to an unknown group in Australia, the funds due to be paid as an installment of the loan due to the IMF for loans granted to Sri Lanka. This scam was not informed to the public until the free lawyers group pointed out that this amount is syphoned, robbed or taken which belongs to the citizen and it appears the government willfully or by ignorance not informed the public or police came to know on January this year until Mr Gunaratna exposed the scam to the public through Free Lawyers’ group which is his civic duty as a lawyer and it is now  time for the BASL  to take the ‘relay’ as it is the duty of BASL to expose such scams against the citizen if it is done willfully by government or a private party.

 Episode

This episode is carried out with the direct supervision of the Treasury Secretary who is supposed to be an academic/politician inexperienced in such practical and complicated commercial affairs, which is difficult to an academic in other disciplines other than complicated Faisal ad Monitory issues of governances’ affairs. Funds belong to State has to be dealt with sacred and utmost care with no room to rob or taken illegally by illegal means knowingly or unknowingly using diligence as promised to the citizen. We go by news reports and according to press conferences the Treasury Secretary has an interest in Australia and it says and it is doubtful he possesses interests and roots in Australia which is to be found and clarified. If so, he is legally not in position to hold this position and next his experience and qualifications are in question as he is a politician and early an academic and not qualified or experienced to hold this post previously held by highly qualified and experienced personalities on the subject. Many law makers are academics and few professionals and the post of Treasury Secretary is the person who has the ‘Golden Key’ to the Treasury Funds stored belongs to the citizen collected by taxes and borrowed from the world organizations. Citizen must be positive that their money in treasury and banks is safe and in good hands competent to handle international transactions with no leakages such as the current episode, which is worrying.

Banking System in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka stood tall when the world was in crisis as banks in the west were collapsing our banks were careful and maintained standards and stability. Foreign Banks collapsed but only few Banka of ours collapsed due to mismanagement again. Scam at NSB is colossal with loss of billions but the Chairman and board members have not resigned yet though the entire board and the line minister must take responsibility with Central Bank the main regulator whose duty is to regulate banking system of the massive amounts robbed. Are they not responsible to the scam and if so, what is the use and idea of the appointing authority – the line minister appointing then giving responsibilities to run the instruction with all perks and facilities. Writers have to be careful naming people and scams when PTA and emergency is in operation as the powers contain are enormous arbitrary and could be used by some for their promotions. It is a matter to be notices even some state counsels are overdoing and making politically sensitive submissions expecting future promotions which is carefully observed by the legal professions and BASL at meetings discussed these behaviors of some legal professionals giving ‘jucy ‘statements to be picked by the media that will help their future promotions. Loss of the colossal amount from NDB is a hole in the safe and a worrying more than the famous Central Bank robbery by Arjun Mahandran who left Sri Lanka to attend a wedding in Singapore to attend a wedding and now said to be in Singapore or Australia leading a luxurious life out of the funds belong to Sri Lankan citizen.

Way Forward

Digitalization process is on and we must rethink before embarking on new explorations until and unless we are safe and knowledgeable. Citizen is intelligence with high rate of literacy and it literate and with 110% mobile penetration and powerful social media network with many foreign platform active in Sri Lanka. Young generation is very observant and should not be underestimated as they too have a vision for the country they live and love. Therefore, the governance will have to put forward a vision and a strategy for the nation with no corruption and innovative and modern approach for future governance with the future generation in mind. The episodes of this nature have to be avoided and professionalism and professionals including professional politicians should come forward with a new vision that attracts the young and the world. (Wijesinghesarath05@gmail.com 0094766530166)

Senaka Weeraratna 

What should the Government of Sri Lanka do to contain the adverse effects on Sri Lanka in the rest of the World by the spread of the false narrative and pseudo history that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka, including instituting action in court for wilful distortion of historical fact and diabolical undermining of the Buddha Sasana which the State is mandated under Article 9 of the Constitution to protect and foster?  

Query:  Senaka Weeraratna 

AI Overview Response is as follows:

To contain the adverse effects of the false narrative that the Buddha was born in Sri Lanka, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) must act under the constitutional mandate of Article 9, which requires the state to “protect and foster the Buddha Sasana”. 

Proposed actions to combat this, based on calls for state intervention, include:

• Legal Action and Court Proceedings: The State, particularly the Attorney General, is urged to initiate legal proceedings against individuals or groups spreading false narratives that undermine the Buddha Sasana. This includes treating the spread and dissemination of pseudo-history as a “civilizational injustice” and initiating action for distorting Buddhist history.
• Establishment of a Regulatory Framework: The Ministry of Buddhasasana is expected, as an overwhelming legitimate expectation of the Buddhist public, to establish a “Constitutional National Buddhist Heritage Commission” to monitor and protect against the distortion of Buddhist heritage.
• Preventing Misuse of Media: Authorities are called upon to act against social media and online content spreading, as reported, “myths” about the Buddha’s birth and travels.
• Archaeological Evidence and Education: The Department of Archeology is advised to officially refute these claims and bolster the promotion of authentic archeological findings (e.g., Lumbini). Educational curricula should be reinforced to highlight established Buddhist history.
• Utilizing the ‘Kathikawatha’ (Code of Conduct): The Sangha Council can pass regulations (Kathikawatha) to control monks who promote such narratives, in line with traditional methods of purifying the Sasana.
• International Engagement: To mitigate damage to Sri Lanka’s reputation in the international Buddhist community, the government should engage in educational efforts regarding the authentic history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka (as an “island of the Dhamma”) rather than a place of birth. 
• Investigate whether these bogus claimants and distortionists have foreign backers to continue the mission started in 1505 with the arrival of  foreign missionaries to dislodge Buddhism from its paramount place among religions in Sri Lanka 
• Legal Steps

• The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is constitutionally mandated under Article 9 to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana. Addressing the “Buddha born in Sri Lanka” narrative—which mainstream historians and archaeological evidence from Lumbini (Nepal) classify as a myth—involves a combination of legal, archaeological, and diplomatic strategies. 
•  

Legal and Judicial Measures

• Enforcement of Penal Provisions: The GoSL can use Section 291A and 291B of the Penal Code, which criminalizes acts intended to wound religious feelings or outraging religious sentiments through the distortion of teachings.
• Fundamental Rights (FR) Petitions: Legal precedents exist where individuals have filed FR cases in the Supreme Court to compel the Minister of Buddha Sasana to take action against threats to the Sasana’s integrity.
• Buddha Sasana Task Force: The establishment of a Task Force Advisory Council can facilitate formal legal and administrative dialogue on how to prosecute those spreading pseudo-historical claims that cause schisms and hurt to Buddhists, both locally and globally. The historical fact of a Buddhist Civilization built by the Sinhalese Race as seen in the ancient ruins of Anuradhapura, Sigiriya, Dambulla, and Polonnaruwa among others must be treated as a non – negotiable. They provide undeniable evidence of a sophisticated, enduring civilization.  

Administrative and Archaeological Actions

• Official Debunking: The Department of Archaeology has previously stated that myths regarding the birth of the Bodhisattva in Sri Lanka will not be allowed to spread, as they harm the religion’s credibility.
• Scientific Excavations: Conducting excavations at sites associated with these myths (e.g.,

Hiriwadunna

) under the supervision of the Buddhist Advisory Committee to provide empirical evidence that refutes false claims. 

International Diplomacy and Outreach

• World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB): Utilizing global platforms like the WFB to reaffirm Sri Lanka’s adherence to the historical consensus of the Buddha’s birthplace in the ancient Indian subcontinent.
• Diplomatic Reassurance: Engaging with Nepal, India, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam and the wider Buddhist world to distance the State from fringe narratives that threaten international religious harmony. 

Internal Sangha Discipline

• Mahanayaka Thero Intervention: Encouraging the Heads of Buddhist Nikayas to take disciplinary action against ordained monks who lead or support these distortions, potentially through disrobing for violating Dhamma Vinaya.
• https://share.google/aimode/uPo3ACQe9ZNb5JoxM

Source: AI Overview

Sarath wijesinghe President’s counsel and former Ambassador to UAE and Israel

Science Diplomacy

The book on Science Diplomacy is timely, creative, and first attempt on the topic except for few attempts at the other parts of the world, yet the contents and quality of the book is excellent and useful to academics, students, and diplomats. The two editors need no further introductions to the areas they have excelled to the esteem, yet the readers are given an overview on their services sometimes not known to the public. Diplomacy is a part of governance required by the world, world family and states for peace, peaceful co-existence and developments in the changing a competitive world nearing turmoil due to the current crisis every world citizen is worried about and concerned. Had the two authors published the book bit later during the current crisis it would be invaluable contribution to learn and ease the tension world is worried about.

Diplomacy

Diplomacy is a part of governance essential at all ages in the process of governing states confronted with differences, and friendly coexistence where diplomats assist the governments and the people in promoting friendly relations of any country which are important and essential to the promotion of all other areas. diplomacy is a science and an art, which requires education, tolerance, patient and friendly relations with all strata of the society in performing their impartial and responsible duties for the respective nations. Governments give special emphasis for diplomacy and train the foreign ministries out of politics so that change of governments will not bring about drastic changes except main political changes India being a classic example. Both editors are educated diplomats and academics of great repute world over. Experienced and trained diplomats and academics which is a rare breed and an assert to any nation, and we salute them for commencing this arduous novel and creative task with a novel and modern approach. This is a time practical use of science diplomacy is badly needed when rich and powerful countries have chosen war in place of diplomacy which is as powerful as war if properly used and managed.

The Book

Twelve topics and equally powerful and important chapters are chosen by diplomats, academics of the highest caliber care full chosen possible using their goodwill during their carrier as academics and diplomats. All articles are equally important and the selection of the authors are rare and may have obtained with the goodwill of the learned editors. This book in useful to the .ministries of foreign affairs world over, universities, academics and the citizens  as a rare book produced by highly qualified two authors using their , knowledge, reputation and experience which is rare as the book itself and the Ambassador s Forum convey great regard and command the initiative of the two editors to continue the great effects to initiate the novel opening to the foreign policy makers governments and academics. Sarath Wijesinghe PC Solicitor former Ambassador and  President Ambassadors forum 0094766530166

Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel Former Ambassador to UAE and Israel solicitor in England and Wales

Sri Lanka country with educated citizens and educated Law Makers

Sri Lanka is considered to be a nation of educated intellectuals with a great history and exemplary banking system withstood the collapse of banks world over sometime back to the credit to the banking system in Sri Lanka. Today nation is being digitalized to be in per with the age of artificial intelligence with experts heading the ProJet. Sri Lanka is not a rich country and depending on loans granted by International Banks and friendly countries so that every Pounds or  Dollars matter to the citizen and to be treated fuds scared and used carefully with no chances to ‘ROB’ by insiders or outsiders. Country is fortunate to possess a government with a massive majority and professors, and lectures of universities and heads private tuition establishments, whose qualification and integrity has been questioned by some.

Banking System

Central Bank has the supervisory power on private and public banks as a regulator with enormous powers, with unfortunate historical events of the Governor himself broke the bank and left Sri Lanka for a wedding in Singapore, and still continue to live as a citizen of the country, who is said to help his friend who people say helped him to escape. Laws delays applied and nobody is aware of when and where the stage of the litigation is – if there is. Banking system in very tight to the extent is  the hardest job for a citizen to obtain a loan as any bank is so strict asking for barrage of questions and sureties yet researchers say recovery process of colossal amount of robbery is ‘look worm’ slow with vague press conferences by politicians and not professionals as expected. Treasury is the institution that stored and protects our hard earned, and mostly borrowed money with all kinds of guards physical and technical.  NSB Bank is one of the top banks in Sri Lanka among top banks managed by top professionals, and it is to be noted any top appointment is to be approved and consented by ‘invisible hands’ at one of the richest institutions in Sri Lanka. Amount missing is callosal. Line minister who is the political head cannot run away from the responsibility.

Millions Syphoned

Funds Syphoned from Treasury and NSB despite tight security, supervision and pass words, that worries the citizen armed with mobile phones with 110% penetration and internet freely used especially the young in Sri Lanka and abroad watching carefully monitoring the situations via social media and modern platforms Sri Lankans have full access to. Not necessary to repeat the amounts which has been repeatedly brought to notice well and good which is bad news to the citizen finding difficult to make ends meet with fast rise if cost of living.

Hackers or Insiders? As historically it is a former CB Governor who broke the Bank and currently living in Singapore leading a luxurious life

It is such a colossal amount and full-scale inquiry is required against the read thief, and those who neglected the supervisory duty by willingly, negligently, or intentionally. Emergency is in power and under PTA one can be a ‘’Sallay’’ easily on suspicion of being straight in expressing views on public affairs which is a civic duty.

Rethinking on proposed Digitalization of the Nation

Rethink on digitalization process of the economy, treasury and banks in the nation until and until we are fool proof not repeating the same mistake again and again. It is time for Dr Hans Wijesuriya to take more and more precautions before embarking on unknown areas and it is good to learn from Singapore, Hong Kong and Malasia on modern trends. Professionalism is lacking and the university lecture Sers are cot competent to run and administration and fiscal management executed by experienced professionals heading the technical ministries and departments, and English Education too matter lot. We wish and hope Dr Hans Wijesuriya will take care of the digitalization process well.

Who are responsible and who has the supervisory power

It is the line minister, the Secretary and the Central Bank Governor who has the supervisory and administered power and we hope they will do the needful even though the horse has left the stable already.  Other worrying factor is the Secretary of the Treasury is a politician with many interests unlike previous precedents. Citizen hopes and believes corrective measures have already taken and funds lost will be recovered. Interdiction of an official may not be helpful as the funds may have gone overseas in seconds. It is a good idea to appoint an experienced honest professional and not a politician supervised by outside invisible forces to inquire into the episode  where country has lost billions. Citizen has a right to know the real story and whether precautionary measures have been taken or will be taken immediately and properly.  We wish and hope there will be no more robberies and Hakureis by hackers international or local. Sarath Wijesinghe PC

Lanka Leader

ලංකාවේ  බලශක්තිය නිෂ්පාදනයට අදාලව උපරිම දාරිතාව ලබාදිය හැකි ගල් අඟුරු ලංකාවට පැමිණ නැති බව මේ වන විට අනාවරණය වී ඇති බවත්, එනිසා ගල් අඟුරු හරහා විදුලිය නිෂ්පාදනය කිරීමේදී බලශක්ති ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ දැවැන්ත පසුබෑමක් ඇතිවී තිබෙන බවත් දෙවන පරපුර පක්ෂයේ නායක උවිඳු විජේවීර මහතා පවසයි.

මෙම තත්ත්වය යටතේ ගෝලීයව ඇතිවී තිබෙන තත්ත්වයත් සමග මෙම අර්බුදය ලංකාවට ඉතා තදින් බලපා ඇති බවත් පවසන ඒ මහතා මෙයින් ගොඩ ඒම සඳහා රුසියානු රජයෙන් ලංකාවට ඉතා වාසි සහගත දැවැන්ත යෝජනාවක් ගෙනවිත් තිබුනද ඊට රජයෙන් ප්‍රතිචාර ලබාදීම ප්‍රමාද වන්නේ කිසිවෙකුගේ බලපෑමක් නිසාදැයි ප්‍රශ්න කරයි.

සවිස්තරාත්මක වීඩියෝව නරඹන්න..

Lanka Leader

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ ප්‍රථම වතාවට සිදුවූ භාණ්ඩාගාර ගෙවීමක් මගින් සිදුකළ මුදල් වංචාව පිළිබඳව ලංකා ලීඩර් ජාතික සංවිධානවල මතය විමසන ලදී.

මේ වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා දැක්වූ අදහස් ඔහුගේ වචනයෙන්,

“මේක පැහැදිළිවම බරපතළ මුදල් වංචාවක්. බොහෝ පාර්ශ්ව චෝදනා කරන ආකාරයට මෙය සිදුවන්නේ අභ්‍යන්තර දුර්වලකමක් නිසා නම් එය බරපතළ තත්ත්වයක්. එහෙත් වෝහාරික විගණනය මගින් වැරදිකරුවන් සොයාගත හැකියි. එසේම වගකීම් පැහැර හැරීම සහ වගවීමට අදාළව වගකිවයුතු පුද්ගලයින් සොයාගත හැකියි.

නමුත් ආණ්ඩුවේ යම් පාර්ශ්ව කියන ආකාරයට මෙය හැකර්ලා හෙවත් සයිබර් අපරාධකරුවන්ගේ වැඩක් නම් ඔවුන් ඇතුළට සම්බන්ධ වුවද එසේ නැද්ද යන්න කෙසේවෙතත් ඒ මගින් භාණ්ඩාගාරයේ දත්ත පද්ධතිවල ආරක්ෂිත භාවය පැහැදිලි වෙනවා. මීට පෙර සයිබර් අපරාධකරුවන්ගෙන් ආක්ෂාවීම සඳහා පිහිටුවන ලද “සයිබර් ආරක්ෂක මෙහෙයුම් මධ්‍යස්ථානයට” මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය ඇතුළු තීරණාත්මක පද්ධති සහිත රාජ්‍ය ආයතන 27ක් තවමත් ඇතුළුකර නැති බව දැන් හෙළිදරව් වෙලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ මගින් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ ඩිජිටල්කරණය ගැන බොරු කයිවාරු ගැසූවද ආණ්ඩුවේ උපදේශකයන්ගේ සහ වගකීම් දරන පුද්ගලයන්ගේ දුප්පත්කම තමයි. දැන්වත් වරද පිළිගෙන එය නිවැරදි කළ යුතුයි.”

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, April 25 (Daily Mirror) – Australian officers are currently assisting with Sri Lanka’s investigation into the incident in which cyber criminals stole US $ 2.5 million after breaching the computer systems of the Finance Ministry, according to Australian High Commissioner Matthew Duckworth.

The funds were part of a bilateral debt repayment to Australia, with a settlement due in September 2025. The diversion had taken place in January.

Finance Ministry Secretary Dr Harshana Suriyapperuma told a news conference that the cyber criminals had intervened and diverted the funds to other accounts after Sri Lanka made the due payment.

Asked for a comment in this regard, the Australian High Commissioner said, From our perspective, really, the two points I would make. Firstly, we are obviously aware of the incident and our officers in Canberra are assisting with Sri Lanka’s investigation. The second point I’d make is that this doesn’t otherwise undermine our ongoing commitment to supporting Sri Lanka’s return to debt sustainability.”

According to him, the main issues are really for Sri Lanka to resolve through the investigation already undertaken.

Sri Lanka has currently launched investigations into the incident with the involvement of multiple agencies.

Courtesy Hiru News

The International Monetary Fund closely monitors the situation in Sri Lanka following a cybersecurity breach at the Finance Ministry.

Officials confirm that cybercriminals gained unauthorized access to the External Resources Department (ERD) computer systems, resulting in the theft of US$ 2.5 million.

These funds were intended for debt repayment to Australia.

An IMF spokesperson informed Hiru that the organization is aware of the Finance Ministry’s statement regarding the unauthorized access and considers this a significant development.

Deputy Minister of Digital Economy Eranga Weeraratne stated that an international firm volunteered to assist in tracing the destination of the stolen funds.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Committee on Public Finance, Dr. Harsha de Silva, officially summoned the Secretary to the Ministry of Finance to appear before the committee.

Lead Information Security Engineer of the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team, Charuka Damunupola, noted that forensic analysis of the affected system continues and technical precautions were recommended.

International media highlighted the incident, which reports suggest is the first cyber breach of its kind in the nation’s history.