By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

February 25, 2018, 9:40 pm

Mr. R. Sampanthan has let himself, his cause and his people down. I have always regarded him as the last of the old-school parliamentarians whom I used to watch as a boy, from the press gallery in the old Parliament building near Galle Face, with the blue light atop the flagstaff switched on when the House was in session. His command of the English language, stentorian delivery, his persona of an irascible gentleman all combined to make him a figure of respect and admiration irrespective of one’s opinion of his politics. Most recently though, he has disappointed.

When Parliament reconvened after the Local Authorities’ election, Mr. Sampanthan made a fiery, if mercifully short, speech. That speech was directed entirely and vehemently against former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was seated next to him, separated by the aisle. Now, Mahinda Rajapaksa is fair game, but that is not my point. Mr. Sampanthan demonstrated falsity in argument and folly in politics in his speech, which is not what one would expect of a man of his stature, intelligence and maturity.

Mr. Sampanthan’s short speech was divisible into three parts each containing an argument. The first was a statistical observation of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent electoral performance and a political conclusion derived from it.

The second part was a comprehensive list of failed attempts to address if not solve the Tamil ethno-national question and Rajapaksa’s failure to implement the solutions that had emerged from even those initiatives he had commissioned, compounded by his retreat from the promises he made.

The third and final substantive point made by Mr. Sampathan was that Mahinda Rajapaksa’s campaign this time around was suffused with Sinhala chauvinism and would therefore provide fertile soil for the revival of the Tamil Eelam project, and Mahinda would therefore be far more responsible, or responsible in a manner than Mr. Sampanthan and his party were not, for an Eelamist revival.

Now Mr. Sampanthan’s opening point is laughably hypocritical as I shall demonstrate presently. The second and third points are at best, half-truths which tell a larger lie. Those fallacies apart, Mr. Sampanthan’s speech demonstrated a bigger folly, as I shall point out later.

Mr. Sampanthan opened with what he thought was a knock-out punch. Namely, that for the third time running Mahinda Rajapaksa failed to leap the 50% mark. This was a rehash of Mangala Samaraweera’s strange arithmetic which has been dealt with by many, but none more brutally than his erstwhile quasi-ally Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the leader of the JVP, speaking in Parliament on the same occasion as Mr. Sampanthan. AKD bluntly said that the ‘Hansaya’ vote of January 8th 2015 could not be retrospectively reassembled because that coalition had broken. He urged the Yahapalana government’s leaders “not to dream”, and hammered home the point that “the forces that came together in January 2015 will never come together again! Never!” He, for one, should know.

Mr. Sampanthan’s point is false not only because his arithmetic is retrospective and prospective. It is false and hideously hypocritical because his argument, applied to his own performance, indicts him and his party far more than his argument does Mahinda Rajapaksa and the SLPP-JO. Mr. Sampanthan’s argument, if I may reiterate and paraphrase, is that Mahinda’s ‘Pohottuwa’ hovers consistently in the mid 40 percent range, averaging 45%, and therefore, a greater percentage, more people of this country, have voted again Mahinda than for him. Mr. Sampanthan argued this with great emphasis and no little flourish, so it was his basic point.

Mr. Sampanthan’s point is that he/she who is not with you is against you. Those who did not vote for your party, voted against you and your party–and you should add them all together. That’s if you are Mr. Rajapaksa.

Let us see how Mr. Sampanthan likes a taste of his own medicine. One of the best, most significant political pieces I have read in quite a while is Ahilan Kadirgamar’s analysis of the local government election results as pertains to the North and East. I shall limit myself to his statistics rather than his conclusions, not because I disagree with them but because I would digress.

“The Jaffna District where a majority of the population of the Northern Province resides, the TNA saw a considerable decline with only 35% of the vote share. On the other hand, the TNPF had made considerable gains capturing 21% of the votes. The EPDP with an oppressed caste base also made a good showing with 19% of the votes.” (‘Sri Lanka: Northern Elections and Tamil Politics’, Ahilan Kadirgamar, Red Notes, Daily Mirror Feb 19th 2018)

So, going by Mr. Sampanthan’s argument against Mahinda Rajapaksa, a majority of Tamil voters in the Jaffna District – no less than 65%–where a majority of Northern Province resides, voted against the TNA! Indeed a greater majority voted against the TNA than did the island’s people against Mahinda Rajapaksa, going by Mr. Sampanthan’s argument. What of the other districts? The same point holds true: the TNA had more votes or a greater percentage of votes cast against it.

“In the predominantly Tamil districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu, the TNA got 47% and 42% respectively…Chandrakumar who had broken away from the EPDP a year ago, made an impressive showing leading independent groups, which as a whole got 30% of the votes in Killinochi.” (Ibid)

Therefore, in Kilinochchi, going by Mr. Sampanthan’s logic, 53% voted against the TNA which obtained 47% of the vote, while in Mullaitivu, 58% voted against the TNA which got only 42% of the vote. What then of Mannar and Vavuniya?

“The results in Mannar…and in Vavuniya…the TNA got 28% and 26% respectively. The national parties, including the UNP, SLFP and SLPP, made considerable gains in these districts with close to 50% of vote share. These national parties also polled about 10%, 15% and 30% of the votes in Kilinochchi, Jaffna and Mullaitivu respectively.” (Ibid)

Thus in Mannar, a whopping 72% did not vote for the TNA, i.e. voted against the TNA, going by the Sampanthan dictum. In Vavuniya, an even larger 74% voted “against” the TNA!

Now what if we add up the TNA’s percentages in all those districts and view their performance in the Northern Province as a whole? It adds up to 35+%, which means, if we apply the Sampanthan Doctrine, 65% failed to vote for the TNA which in turn means 65% voted against Mr. Sampanthan and his TNA!

So a much smaller percentage –35%–voted for Mr. Sampanthan and his TNA in his ‘traditional homeland’ than the people of this island did for Mahinda Rajapaksa at this election as well as the earlier ones that Mr. Sampanthan pointedly referred to. And going by the Sampanthan Doctrine, a much greater percentage (65%) failed to vote for the TNA and therefore voted against the TNA, than voted against Mahinda Rajapaksa (55%)! If Mr. Sampanthan’s lecture to Mr. Rajapaksa isn’t the rankest hypocrisy, what is?

Ahilan Kadirgamar’s conclusion shows that Mr. Sampanthan should look to the beam in his own eye before he makes orations in Parliament about the mote in Mahinda’s.

“The outcome of the elections is such that in most Local Governments in the North, no party has an absolute majority and they are forced to form coalitions…The TNA is in decline; both in terms of its vote share and in terms of the enthusiasm for its election campaigns. It continues to be led by an older generation of Federal Party loyalists who lack vigour. The TNA’s confidence that the Tamils in the North will always vote for them by default has been shaken.”(Ibid)

So Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Pohottuwa have not only done far better than the new party, Gajan Ponnambalam’s TNPF, which has done well in Jaffna, but have performed far better than the TNA on its home turf. Far from lecturing Mahinda on the limits of his electoral achievement, Mr. Sampanthan would be lucky if he could ever hope to emulate it.

As for the other two points he made, Mr. Sampanthan is not on a firm footing there either. The many and several proposals to solve the Tamil Question that he lists in his speech were made during the war, in exchange for peace, and when they were on the table, the TNA engaged in nit-picking without backing them fully. I have a memory of how painful a disappointment it was for Hon Lakshman Kadirgamar when Mr. Sampanthan failed to back the August 2000 draft Constitution in Parliament though he had made a solemn promise to do so, to Mr. Kadirgamar. It is a-historical to assume that proposals which were on the table in wartime and spurned with an air of superiority, would be back on the table now, after the war was won at enormous cost by the State.

Mr. Sampanthan’s third point was that Mahinda Rajapaksa had engaged in or encouraged Sinhala chauvinism in the recent election campaign. Anyone who watched the campaign would have noticed that the Pohottuwa campaign was far more populist than Sinhala nationalist, let alone chauvinist. More to the point, Sinhala chauvinism has been mightily assisted by Tamil political behavior ranging from that of Chief Minister Wigneswaran to Tiger demonstrators outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, which have gone without denunciation by Mr. Sampanthan and the TNA. Furthermore, the TNA’s and the UNP government’s allies such as the Global Tamil Forum have further incensed Sinhala opinion by acts such as the insistence of the cancellation of the visas of the family of Brigadier Priyanka Fernando.

Something that disturbed me about Mr. Sampanthan’s recent parliamentary speech was that it was unintentionally ironicin the extreme. . Mr. Sampanthandoes not occupy the moral high ground vis-a-vis Mahinda Rajapaksa. Not only has he no moral right –or empirical evidence– to occupy the post of the Leader of the Opposition he has not had the backbone to criticize the Tigers even though they are no longer a threat to him, for the crimes of murdering his own close colleagues and friends: Amirthalingam, Sivasithamparam, Yogeswaran, Mrs. Yogeswaran, and Neelan Tiruchelvam, to name only a few. Yet it is Mahinda Rajapaksa who he denounces, who ended the killing of his colleagues.

Mr. Sampanthan’s folly is that he does not realize that the man he condemns, Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only counterweight to Sinhala ultra-nationalism; the only one who can contain it; the only firewall.Sampanthan’s friends the UNP and the official SLFP are manifestly on the decline and before they depart the stage late next year, they, together with Mr. Sampanthan and Sumanthiran, would have provoked a powerful Sinhala backlash. As usual, Tamil nationalism here and overseas will comfort itself as it foolishly did in 2005, that a hardline Sinhala administration is but a stepping stone to Tamil Eelam with external intervention, but as was proved then, the old song from the musical Porgy & Bess, may once again prove itself right: “It Ain’t Necessarily So”.

The Sinhala voter is being provoked by a failing political neoliberalism into exercising late next year, what we may call in cinematic terms, the Dirty Harry, Death Wish or Punisher option. If Mr. Sampanthan wants a settlement of the Tamil question, the man he must talk to is the one who should be in the seat he occupies; the one with the largest chunk of political real estate—Mahinda Rajapaksa with his 45%, to which will almost certainly be added on, through defection or osmosis, most of the official SLFP’s 13%, next time around. Mahinda Rajapaksa may be the last leader of the Sinhalese that Mr. Sampanthan and the TNA can talk to. Mr. Sampanthan is not the last Tamil leader the Sinhalese can talk to: as Ahilan Kadirgamar reports, Douglas Devananda has made a significant comeback. But Mr. Sampanthan must talk to Mr. Rajapaksa, not lecture to him while sitting in the latter’s chair, albeit with a smaller percentage vote than the latter! If and when Mr. Sampanthan has the good sense to talk to Mr. Rajapaksa, he may wish to recall yet another line from the old movies: “When you say that—smile!”

By Kelum Bandara Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Nationalist Movement activist Gevindu Cumaratunga,
in an interview with the Daily Mirror, analysed the current political situation in the country. He shared the following:-

• LG election formula made a serious assault on democracy

• People’s verdict is against Yahapalana conspirators

• It is a verdict against Govt ridiculing national conscience

How do you rate the recent election results?

Like the British colonial rulers crippled village leadership of our country after the Kandyan rebellion, the present Government undermined the local leadership after assuming office in 2015. The Government delayed the local elections for three years and denied village level political leadership to people. Today, people have elected to office the political activist, the political party that struggled against such denial. Also, people got the opportunity to compare and contrast the three-year rule of this Government with the government of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. People have overwhelmingly rejected the policies of the current rule. Also, people expressed their firm objection to what this Government intends to do – alienation of national assets, ETCA agreement with India, separatist constitutional reforms etc.

As we see it, this is also a verdict against the Government ridiculing national conscience. In fact, this Government took steps to sing the Buddhist devotional song ‘Danno Budunge’ in opera style, at the Independence Day celebrations. The Prime Minister came out to insult the original version. Then they made a mess of our national anthem. There cannot be a national anthem which is sung after an event and another before the event. For a nation, there cannot be two separate national anthems. In constitutional reform proposals, there were serious assaults on the national identity of this country. The Government pursued the same harmful policy of insulting and harassing war heroes and Buddhist monks.
As in 1956, people have spoken out at this election against these shameful, harmful acts. They have demanded a new leadership, a new path for the country.

“Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged as an iconic figure as he gave leadership to the war against scourge of terrorism that threatened our motherland. He stood up to reactionary forces in certain sections of the international community”

Yet, the Govt maintains that the total amount of votes polled collectively by the political parties that stood together at the last Presidential Election is much higher than the total votes polled by SLPP. How do you view it?

This argument will be valid only if all these forces contested together under one banner. Or if all these parties – UNP, SLFP, UPFA, JVP, and TNA were upholding the actions of the past 3 years, they were asking for a mandate to continue together. As we know, not only did they contest separately SLFP and  UPFA led by President and JVP were asking for a mandate against the present Government policies. UNP also was asking for a mandate to form a pure UNP Government. If they contested as a front under a common symbol and asked for the people’s verdict on their performance during the past three years, this argument will hold some water. It did not happen that way.What did the President say? He said the way the economy was handled by the UNP was a total failure. He said people were reeling under the high cost of living. He sought a mandate from the people to change the economic policies. He asked for a mandate to secure national assets. He asked for a mandate to punish Bond thieves. So, the majority of the 13% votes polled by combined SLFP plus UPFA is a protest vote against the policies of this so-called national Government.

We heard JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake expressing the view that the SLPP failed to poll more than 50%. We ask whether the JVP got votes in favour of selling national assets? Whether they got votes in favour of this government’s economic policies? Whether they got votes in favour of signing of the ETCA with India? If so, the 6% they polled can be considered as an endorsement of the present Government policies. If not, that 6% also has to be considered as a protest vote against this Government. The JVP should spell it out clearly.
SLPP polled 44.6%. The UPFA/SLFP got 13.38%. The JVP 6%. That is a total of 63%. It is a huge percentage against the performance of the Prime Minister. It is a protest vote against the policies of the current Government. It is a protest vote against the so-called National Government. So, the Prime Minister should step down. Party leaders should get together and form a caretaker Government. People should be given an opportunity to form a new Government according to their wishes.

“The constitutional amendments, brought about by this Government, created confusion within confusion in administration. It is an attempt to prevent the formation of a stable Government in Sri Lanka”

Yet, this election is seen merely as something meant for the selection of members for local administration. How do you respond to that argument?

If so, why do they argue about national percentages now? Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) won more than 70% of local bodies. It is a landslide victory gained after weathering all odds placed in its way by the present rule. Yahapalana pundits should be humble enough to accept the people’s verdict.
At the same time this election cannot be considered only as a Local Government Election. Not only SLPP, UNP, SLFP-UPFA and JVP all parties asked people to exercise their franchise considering national policies; national leadership. We find newspaper advertisements placed by the UNP asking for a mandate based on its performance during the past three years. They said the vote for the UNP is a vote for your future. In this advertisement, nothing is mentioned about matters related to local administration. The SLFP/UPFA also carried out paid advertisements asking for a mandate for the President’s leadership; to punish bond fraudsters; to safeguard national assets. Again, these are matters of national significance. The JVP also teamed up with NGO elements and sought a mandate for a ‘new beginning’; for a turning point of national politics. So all parties, in this manner, asked people to vote considering issues of national significance; national leadership. However, people rejected the policies of all these parties and chose the newly formed SLPP instead. Nobody can deny the fact that this is an election of national significance.

• Polls outcome impacted PM’s performence

• SLPP emerge victors in more than 70% of the local bodies

• TNA polled 339,675 against 515,963 at 2015 Parliamentary elections 

• Polls outcome a big blow to conspirators against a unitary Sri Lanka

UNP polled 5,098,927 at the 2015 Parliamentary Elections. In this February 10 elections, it polled only 3,625,510. After governing the country for 3 years and Ranil Wickremesinghe being Prime Minister for 3 years, they have lost 1,473, 417 votes! SLFP-UPFA led by President Sirisena polled 4,732,669 at the 2015 Parliamentary Elections. In this February 10 elections SLFP-UPFA collectively polled 1,487,960 only. So under the President’s leadership SLFP-UPFA has lost 3,244,709 votes! Shouldn’t the President, Prime Minister and their collective Government resign? Not only should they resign from public office, they should resign from the leaderships of the respective parties. 515,963 votes at the 2015 Parliamentary elections. The TNA has also lost a lot of votes. They polled 515,963 votes at the 2015 Parliamentary elections. This February 10th they polled only 339,675. They have lost 176,228 votes. One of my Tamil friends told me that the votes they received this time represented the correct figure; the amount they have lost – which is more than one hundred and seventy five thousand was the amount they rigged (‘hora chanda’) at the 2015 parliamentary elections! Explanation is due from the TNA leadership, who is shamelessly holding on to the Opposition leader’s post.

“UNP polled 5,098,927 at the 2015 Parliamentary Elections. In this February 10 elections, it polled only 3,625,510. After governing the country for 3 years and Ranil Wickremesinghe being Prime Minister for 3 years, they have lost 1,473, 417 votes!”

You work against the Constitution making process of this Government. The Government has been defeated at the local elections, so, do you think it is a blow to the constitution making process as well?

It’s a blow to the conspirators against a unitary Sri Lanka. It’s a victory for the Motherland.
The Government was taking many steps that were disastrous to the country. People have spoken out clearly against them. We wonder whether the Government would shelve such harmful measures now after the electoral defeat or proceed with them hoodwinking the masses. This week, the Government started the latest round of talks on ETCA to finalize the process. Where are the champions of good governance? Where are the NGO pundits who teach us about governing according to people’s wishes? Where are the Western ambassadors who are ever willing to teach us about the value of democracy?
We regret to see some Buddhist monks even belittling the significance of this election and asking the President and the Prime Minister to proceed as usual.Ever in the history, this is the first time people voted against the Government at a local poll. The religious dignitaries, especially Buddhist monks, and the intelligentsia should view this election results with due seriousness and prevail upon the rulers to act accordingly. They should ask leaders of this so-called national government to stop their harmful acts immediately. They should ask them to step down and pave the way for General Elections, so that people can choose a new government, new leadership according to their wishes.

Do you see whether the SLPP should have a departure from its past policies?

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa emerged as an iconic figure as he gave leadership to the war against scourge of terrorism that threatened our motherland. He stood up to reactionary forces in certain sections of the international community. We have to deal with the international community regardless of whatever party is in office. People hold him in high esteem over his action to protect sovereignty of Sri Lanka. He also appeared for the protection of Sri Lanka’s national assets. In business, some make profits, some make losses. Then you have to face criticism. Yet, the Rajapaksa administration didn’t take the easy option of selling or disowning of national assets.
Driven by westerns attitudes and funding, no one has done a proper study into innovative development works undertaken during the Rajapaksa rule. People always talked about mega development projects. Yet, we have to consider the projects such as Divineguma, Gamaneguma and Maganeguma. There were many local level projects which enabled  families with new income avenues, which uplifted the life of the villager. As for the road network, the villages that remained cut-off were linked with the towns and cities. They were opened up from isolation. No one has done proper academic study on these matters. We should proceed with such development work.
We defeated the LTTE under MR’s leadership. Yet, it could not be recognized in the constitution. During his second term, we could not transform our country in line with this great victory. That’s what the SLPP should thrive to achieve.

“Government delayed the local elections for three years and denied village level political leadership to people. Today, people have elected to office the political activist, the political party that struggled against such denial”

As the professional front/national front linked with SLPP, what do you plan to do to topple this Government?

First, the Prime Minister and Government should resign. We need a parliamentary election without any delay.
The constitutional amendments, brought about by this Government, created confusion within confusion in administration. It is an attempt to prevent the formation of a stable Government in Sri Lanka. Not only at the national level, local Government as well as provincial councils have been made a waste by this Government and their backers.
The new electoral system, introduced under the leadership of MP Dinesh Gunawardane, was supposed to elect 70% under the ward system and the rest under Proportional Representation.Then, people would have more say in these councils as 70% were chosen directly by them. Also, the councils would have got clear, stable leadership. These Yahapalana racketeers changed it to be 60% for wards and 40% for proportional representation. This new formula introduced by this Government has created confusion. The party that won even eight out of ten wards cannot form a stable administration. With more members elected, with more cost to the people, yet without leadership! Yet, without usefulness!!This is an affront to democracy.
The worst will happen to the provincial councils. For them, thanks to the Yahapalana coalition led by JVP and Muslim Congress tribal leadership, the formula is 50-50. Even if a party wins all the electorates, in some councils it will not get a clear majority. Until it is corrected, there is no use of conducting elections in the provincial councils.
So, we agitate for correcting these Yahapalana sins; for a new parliament; for a new leadership.

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy  Adaderana

A group of Sri Lankan nationals today staged a protest in front of the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the British Parliament, against the decision to recall Sri Lanka’s defence attaché in the UK, Brigadier Priyanka Fernando.

The protest was organized by the organisation Patriotic Sri Lankans in Britain and was also reportedly joined by Sri Lankans living in other European countries.

The protesters called for Sri Lankans across the world to unite and take a stand against the injustice faced by the country’s war heroes.

Meanwhile it was also reported that a heated situation arose during the protest when several pro-LTTE protesters arrived at the location and attempted to display the LTTE flag.

Sri Lanka Army Commander Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake on Saturday said the country’s defence attache in the UK was recalled for his own safety after the incident involving Tamil protesters outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London earlier this month.

British leaders had required act against Brigadier Priyanka Fernando for openly making a death hazard at the demonstrators.

The Brigadier, who was serving as the military attaché in the Sri Lankan mission in London, caused controversy when he made throat cutting gestures to Tamil demonstrators opposite the mission in London on February 4.

As the commander of the army, I have to take responsibility for his safety. When he serves in another country his security cannot be guaranteed. So I wanted him to return,” Senanayake expressed in Vavuniya.

Brigadier Priyanka Fernando returned residence on Thursday.

මලින්ද සෙනවිරත්න

‘පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ ප්‍රතිඵල වලින් පෙනෙන්නේ අපගේ වැඩපිළිවලට ජනතාව අකමැති බවයි. අපි එයාලගේ බලාපොරොත්තු බිඳදමලයි තියෙන්නේ. ඒ නිසා අපි තීරණය කෙරුව අපේ වැරදි නිවැරදි කරගෙන ඉදිරියට යන්න.’

මෙහෙම කියන්නේ අගමැතිතුමා. ඒ කියන්නේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායක රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ.  නිහතමානී මනුස්සයා.  වටිනා කියන මනුස්සයා.  ආඩම්බර විය යුතුයි එහෙම කෙනෙක් අපේ රටේ අගමැති වීම ගැන, මන්ද ‘අපි වැරදි කරලා තියෙනවා’ කියල කියන්න තරම් නිහතමානිකමක්, කොන්දක් ඇති දේශපාලනඥයින් අඩු නිසා.

ඇත්තටම ‘අපි පැරදුනා’ කියනකොටම මංගල සමරවීර ට වගේම රාජිත සේනාරත්නටත් කනේ පහරක් වදින්න ඇති.
 එයාල කියන විදිහට ආණ්ඩුව පැරදිලා නැහැනේ. මහින්ද ලා නේ පැරදිලා තියෙන්නේ.  දැන් ඉතින් වෙච්ච දේ ගැන නිල නිවේදනයක් රනිල් ම නිකුත් කරලා තියෙනවා. පස්සේ රාජිතටත් මංගලටත් සොරි කිව්වද දන්නේ නැහැ. කියන්න ඇති කියල හිතෙනවා.  අපේ අගමැති තුමා නිහතමානි වගේම එඩිතරයි.  එඩිතරයි විතරක් නෙමෙයි, නියම ජෙන්ටෙක්. ඒ කිව්වේ ජෙන්ට්ල්මන් කෙනෙක්.  මහත්තයෙක්.

ආයෙත් මතක් කරමු එතුමා කියපු දේ.

‘අපි, ඒ කියන්නේ ආණ්ඩුව, පරාදයි. ජනතාව අපව ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරලයි තියෙන්නේ. එයාල බලාපොරොත්තු වුන දේවල් අපි කරලා නැහැ. කරලා තියෙන්නේ බලාපොරොත්තු නොවුන දේවල්.’
  
රයිට්. දැන් අපි සීරියස් කතාවකට යමු.

රනිල් කියනවා වැරදි හදාගෙන ඉදිරියට යන්න තීරණය කෙරුව කියල.  ඒ කියන්නේ රනිල් පිලිගන්නවා වැරදි කෙරුව කියල.  ඒ වුනාට රනිල් කියල නැහැ අපි මේ වැරැද්ද කෙරුව, අර වැරැද්ද කෙරුව කියල. වැරදි සේරම ලැයිස්තුවකට දැම්මේ නැහැ. දාන පාටකුත් නැහැ.  බලාපොරොත්තු බිඳ දැමුවා කියල පිලිගත්තට බින්දේ මොන බලාපොරොත්තු ද කියල රනිල් විස්තර කරලා නැහැ.

නොකීව එක ගැන කලබල විය යුතු නැහැ.  කොහොමත් මේ දවස් වල මෛත්‍රිපාල ජනාධිපතිතුමා එක්ක අමනාප වෙලා ඉඳල නැත්තම් අමනාපයි කියල පෙන්නලා ආයෙත් යාලු වෙන්න නැත්තම් යාලු වුන බව පෙන්නන්න මහන්සි වෙන්න ඇතිනේ.  අනික කැබිනට් සංශෝධනය. ඒකත් බරපතල වැඩක් නේ.  ඉතින් ඔය හිසරද සුව වුනාට පස්සේ අපේ බය නැති, නිහතමානී අගමැති තුමා, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්තයා, කරපු වැරදි වගේම බිඳ බලාපොරොත්තු කියයි කියල හිතුව. ඒ ගැන කිසිම සැකයක් තිබුනෙත් නැහැ.  එතුමා එඩිතරයි නේ. නිහතමානියි නේ.

දැන් ඉතින් මෛත්‍රී එක්ක තිබුන ‘ප්‍රශ්ණය’ විසඳිලා තියෙන්නේ. කැබිනට් එක සංශෝධනය කෙරුව කිව්වට මහා දෙයක් කෙරිලා නැහැ. සාගලගේ නමට තිබුන ඒ වුනාට තමන් ම බලාගත්ත ‘නීතිය සහ සාමය’ විෂය නිල වශයෙන් තමන්ටම පවරා ගැනීම හැරුන විට කයිවාරු ගහන්න තරම් කැබිනට් සංශෝධනයක් කරලා නැහැ.  ඔය ටික කරගන්න සති දෙකක් මහන්සි වෙන්න අවශ්‍ය වෙනවා කියන්නේ අපේ අගමැති තුමා එඩිතර වුනාට, නිහතමානී වුනාට සරල වැඩක් කරන්නවත් බැහැ කියන එකයි. එක්කෝ ඇඟ හොරයි.  නැත්තම් කයිවාරුව ලොකුයි කෙරුවාව අල්පයි.

පේන හැටියට අගමැති තුමාට හුස්ම ගන්න වත් ඉඩක් තිබිල නැහැ කියන එක නම් බොරු.  ඒ වුනාට දැන් එහෙම කියන්නවත් බැහැ. හොඳට හුස්ම ගන්න බවක් පේනවා. හොඳට හුස්ම ගත්ත බවත් පැහැදිලියි.  ඉතින් අපේ නිහතමානි අගමැතිතුමාට දැන් වංගු ගහන්න බැහැ. ඇල වෙන්න බැහැ. මග හරින්න බැහැ. වැඩ වැඩියි කියන්න බැහැ.

නිහතමානී අගමැති තුමා දැන් කෙලින් කතා කරන අගමැති බවට පත් වෙන්න ඕන.  මෙච්චරයි කියන්න තියෙන්නේ: මොනවාද කරලා තියෙන වැරදි? මොන බලාපොරොත්තුද බින්දේ?

දැන් අර පරණ කතා නම් බැහැ හොඳේ? ඒ කියන්නේ ‘හොරු ඇල්ලුවේ නෑ’ වගේ දේවල් ඔට්ටු නෑ. ඇත්තටම ඒවා කිව්වට ප්‍රශ්නයක් නෑ, ඒත් ඉතැනින් නවතින්න බෑ. කරනවා කියල නොකරපු දේවල්, නොකරනවා කියල කරපු දේවල්.  ඒවා තමයි කියන්න ඕන.

ෂෝට් ඇන්ඩ් ස්වීට් කියන්න තියෙන්නේ එච්චරයි.  නිහතමානී, බය නැති අගමැතිතුමෝ, අපි නොඉවසිල්ලෙන් බලාගෙන ඉන්නවා….   

J.A.L. Jayasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today that the Cabinet reshuffle was pointless as there was nothing new in it, while observing that removing the portfolio of Highways from the Minister from Kandy was a loss to the Kandy people.

Speaking to the media after visiting the Sri Dalada Maligawa and the two prelates of the Malwatte and Asgiriya Chapters in Kandy Mr. Rajapaksa criticized the Local Government Elections Act under which the recent elections were held claiming that the new local government election law has created a mess in many local government bodies as no party had been given the absolute majority in them.

He attributed the situation to what he said the borrowing of clauses from here and there to enact the law. “This is a wrong system. Under this system winner gets less and the opposition parties get more. Parties lost in all wards get a lot of seats” the former President charged.

Accusing that this government has done nothing during its tenure the Kurunegala District MP said what they have achieved so far was only “taking loans and taking revenge” (Naya gaththa, pali gaththa).

He said that the revenge policy of the government was such that a judge and and a former Chief Justice were going to be hauled before the courts just because they had expressed a certain opinion. “This is a very dangerous trend. A judge must have the right and the freedom to deliver a ruling. This applies to the Attorney General’s Department as well. At this rate, even the present Attorney General could be accused of expressing his view on the duration of President’s term” he argued.

Mr. Rajapaksa said that the construction of highways and roads was moving at a snail’s pace as the present rulers did not know how to do it. The main reason is these people do not have money and the monies borrowed from other countries are spent on food. They have taken an incredible amount of loans while accusing the former government for borrowings, he claimed.

The former President argued that economy would not be strong and investors would not come to the country so long as the country is unstable and added that the rupee was depreciating each day, sky rocketing the prices. If the government cannot rule the country, the members of the Parliament must take a decision to dissolve the parliament and hand over the country to somebody who is capable do so. ()

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍ර‍ය

ජනමාධ්‍ය එක්ක ආණ්ඩු කරන එස්මන්ඩ් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ ගේ පුත් අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහට සිය කැබිනට් මණ්ඩල සංශෝධනය හෝ අද ජනමාධ්‍යයට විවෘත කළ නොහැකි විය. ජනමාධ්‍යවේදියෙකුට දෑසින් බලා සටහනක් ලියන්නට අවස්ථාවක් හෝ නැතිව ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ සිදු වූ එකම කැබිනට් සංශෝධනය ඉතිහාසයට එක්වී අවසන් ය.

2008 වසරේ එජාප නායකත්ව අර්බුදය අවස්ථාවේ දී මාතලේ දිස්ත්‍රික් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ඇලික් අලුවිහාරේ රෝද පුටුවෙන් පැමිණ රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ මහතා ට දෙන්නට ලිපියක් එජාප මහ ලේකම් තිස්ස අත්තනායකට දුන්නේය. එහි පිටපතක් කරු ජයසූරියට ද යොමු කර තිබුණි. වසර 10 කට පසුව අලුවිහාරේ ගේ ලිපියේ වැකියෙන් වැකිය පසුගිය පෙබ. 12 සිට 25 දක්වා වාක්‍යයෙන් වාක්‍යය ඉදිරියේ දිග හැරුණේ ය. කාමරයක සිට ජනමාධ්‍යට නිවුස් ප්ලාන්ට් කර බෙදා දෙමින්
රටක් හෝ පක්ෂයක් කළ නොහැකිය.

එම සත්‍යය රනිල් වික්‍ර‍සිංහ මහතාට අද ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ දී ඒ සත්‍ය පසක් වූයේ යම් එය රටටත්, එජාපයටත්, ජාතික ආණ්ඩුවටත්, ජනාධිපතිවරයාටත් හොදය.

පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද ප්‍ර‍තිඑලය විසින් අදට දින 15 ක් රට අරාජික වී ඇත. ඇස්බැන්දුමකින් එය වසා ගැනීමට දැරූ උත්සාහය අද නිර්වත්‍ර‍ විය. වෙනස රැඩිකල් නොවූ අතර ව්‍යුහාත්මක වූයේ ද නැත. විද්‍යෝදය සම්ප්‍ර‍දාය ලිච්චවී පාලනයක් ද නොවීය. රට පුරා පළාත් පාලන ආයතන 160 සභාපති/උපසභාපති වෙන්නට බලාගෙන සිටි එජාප මැම්බර් මහත්වරුන්ගේ බලාපොරොත්තුව බිදී වැටී ඇත!!

විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ හා රවී කරුණානායක ගෙන් හිස් වූ අමාත්‍ය ධූර දෙකක් හිස්ව තිබුණි. එයට යෝජනා වූයේ රවී සමරවීර හා පාලිත රංග බණ්ඩාර ය. රංගේ බණ්ඩාරට කැබිනට් ඇමතිකම දෙන්නට රනිල් සුදානම් නොවීය. ජනාධිපතිවරණයේ මාතලේ දිනාදුන් ඇලුවිහාරේ ගේ පුතා රංජිත් ට නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමතිකමක් වත් ලැබුණේ නැත. ඇඹිලිපිටියේ පාසල් සිසුන් ඇසූ ලෙස බුද්ධික පතිරණට ලැබුණේ ද ඒ ඉරණමයි.

අගමැති ඉවත් නොකර කරනු ලබන කිසිදු ප්‍ර‍තිසංස්කරණයක් වැඩක් නොවන බව ශ්‍රීලනිප ද, එජාපය ද දැන සිටියේය. කරු ජයසූරිය පස්ස ගැසූ පසුව, පළමුව ආණ්ඩුව බේරාගෙන මසක් ඇතුළත පක්ෂ නායකත්වය වෙනස් කරමු යන ස්ථාවරයකට එජාප පාර්ලිමේන්තු කණ්ඩායම පත් විය. මාසයක සිහිනයේ 15 වන දිනයේ එම ප්‍රාර්ථනය බිද වැටී ඇත.

මනෝ ගනේෂන් කියූ ලෙස මේ රටේ ජනතාව කණ පැලෙන්නට ගසා කියා ඇත්තේ කිරිඇල්ල–කබීර් උඩ–යට මාරු කරන්න කියා ද? නැත. රනිල්–සාගලට මාරුකර ගන්න කියා ද? නැත. අජිත්, හර්ෂට රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිකම් දෙන්නට කියා ද? නැත. පසුගිය සති දෙකේ රනිල් ගේ ආරක්ෂකයින් සියල්ලට යන එන මං නැතිව ඇත. තලතා අතුකෝරල–රංජන් රාමනායකට ඒ අතර ය. අගමැති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකයේ නිවුස් ප්ලාන්ට් අංශය විසින් ජනමාධ්‍යයේ පැල කළ සියලු ප්‍ර‍වෘත්ති ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයේ දී අද උදේ පුපුරා ගියේය.

සිකුරාදා සමනය වී තිබු කැබිනට් අර්බුදය සෙනසුරා උදේ ගිණිගත්තේ අර්ජුන ඇලෝසියස්–කසුන් පලිසේන බන්ධනාගාර රෝහල්ගතවීම නිසාය. ලැජ්ජා–බය නැති බව විසින් අද (ඉරිදා) සංශෝධනය සිදු නොවිය යුතු බවට දැවැන්ත බලපෑමක් සෑම දෙසින්ම එල්ල විය. ශ්‍රීලනිප පමණක් නොව එජාපයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් 25 කට වැඩි පිරිසක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා කීවේ දැන් නම් හොදටම ඇති බවය. ඒ අනුව, කිසිදු ශ්‍රීලනිප මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු අද නව තනතුරු බාර නොගැනීමට කතිකා විය. අගමැති ඉවත්වීම සුහදව විසදා ගැනීමට තවත් ඉඩ ඇති බව දක්වන්නට පමණක් නාමිකව පියසේන ගමගේ පමණක් තනතුර බාර ගත්තේය.

තනතුරු බාර ගැනීම ප්‍ර‍තිකේෂප කළ පිරිස අතර සුසිල්–ඩිලාන්–අමුණුගම–දයාසිරි–අමරවීර ද විය. දැන් අර්බුදය තවත් සති දෙකක් ඉදිරියට යන බව ජනාධිපතිවරයා නිල වශයෙන්ම ප්‍ර‍කාශ කර ඇත. තවත් සති දෙකක් යනු ඡන්දයෙන් පසුව සති 4 ක් හෙවත් මාසයකි. මාසයක් යනු කබීර් හෂිම් ගේ නිවසේ දී එජාප නායක හා අගමැති අර්බුදය විසදා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය යැයි කියූ මාසය යි.

පාලිත රංගේ බණ්ඩාර විසින් ආසන සංවිධායකවරුන්ගේ අස්වීම ආරම්භ කළේය. ඒ මාවතේ යන්නට 24 දෙනෙකු සුදානම් විය. කරූ ජයසූරිය අගමැති ධූරය බාර ගැනීම ප්‍ර‍තිකේෂප කිරීමත් සමගම එහි දෙවන අදියර ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවීය. නමුත්, අද උදේ නැවත පාලිත රංගේ බණ්ඩාර ‘අපි පුත්තම් බුරුවෝ‘‘ යැයි දෙවන වෙඩි මුරය ද පත්තු කළේය. එජාප මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් උත්සවයට ආවේ නැත. එජාපයේ සැමගේ ගෞරවය දිනූ රංජිත් මද්දුම බණ්ඩාර දිව්රුම් දීමේ උත්සවයෙන් පසුව ‘තමන් ඉන්නේ ජනතාවගේ මතයේ‘ බව මාධ්‍යයට කීවේ හොදින් සකස් කළ ප්‍ර‍කාශයක් ලෙසිනි.

වසන්ත සේනානායක කීවේ, ‘ආණ්ඩුවේ කොමඩි නාට්‍යයේ පළමු කොටස අද කළා. දෙවන කොටස ඉදිරියේ දී කරයි. හැබැයි ජනතාව අඩයි ද? හිනිවෙයි ද? ගල් ගහයි ද? දන්නේ නෑ කියාය. රට වටෙන් ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලයට පැමිණි මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් කිසිවෙකුත් මේ තත්වය බලාපොරොත්තු නොවීය. දස දෙනෙක් තනතුරු උඩ–යට මාරු කරගෙන වැඩේ අවසන් විය.

රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ තමාට එරෙහිව වැරෙන් පහර දෙන සැමට කාලයෙන් කාලයට තනතුරු පුදයි. 2005 තිස්ස–ලක්ෂ්මන්, 2007 ජොන්ස්ටන්, 2012 සජිත්–දයා ගමගේ, 2013 (නායකත්ව මණ්ඩලය) දී කබීර් ලං කර ගැනීම ඒ සදහා උදාහරණ ය. 2018 කබීර් සමග එක්වී රැස්වීම් තැබූ රවී සමරවීරට කැබිනට් ඇමතිකම් ද, හර්ෂ හා අජිත් පී. ට රාජ්‍ය ඇමති ධූර ලැබී ඇත. රනිල් රකින්නට ගිය තලතා, කිරිඇල්ලට තිබූ දේ ද නැතිවිය. හැමදාම රනිල් විවේචණය කළ, මෙදා විතරක් සාමයේ මාවතට පැමිණි රංජන්ට ‘නීතිය හා සාමය‘ කෙසේ වෙතත් රාජ්‍ය ඇමතිකමක්වත් නැති විය. බන්දුලාල් ට ඉන්න හිටින්නට තැනක් නැති විය.

ශ්‍රීලනිප එක් පැත්තකින් අගමැතිට එරෙහි විශ්වාස භංගය ඇරඹී ඇත. එයට සහාය දෙන්නට පොහොට්ටුව පැකිලෙමින් ඇත. පොහොට්ටුවේ දුෂිතයින් දකින්නේ රනිල් නීතිය හා සාමයට පත් වීම තමන්ට කප්රුක පහළ වූ ලෙස විය යුතුය. එජාපය අනෙක් පසින් නැවත ආසන සංවිධායක ධූරයන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වීම අත්සන් තැබීම සදුදා පටන් ගනු ඇත. 2000 සිට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටි උඩරට එජාප මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු කියන්නේ තමන් සමග 42 ක් ඒ සදහා සුදානම් බවය.

ඇලික් අලුවිහාරේ 2008 දී ලියූ ඓතිහාසික ලිපියේ තිබූ කථාව අද සනාථ වී ඇත. 2001 දී එස්.බී., ජී.එල්., කිරිඇල්ල සහ ගාමිණී අතුකෝරල එක් වී සිදු කළ බල පෙරළිය වසර දෙකකින් ගජ මිතුරෝ ආපසු හැරවීය. පක්ෂයේ ඡන්ද පදනම කුළියට දී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ එලවා, 2015 දී ලබා ගත් ආණ්ඩුව වසර 3 ක් ගෙන යන්නට පෙර අර්ජුන්–මලික්–රත්වත්ත ලා විසින් ආපසු හරවා ඇත. තිස්ස අත්තනායක Tissa Attanayake අතේ හෝ එම ලිපියේ පිටපතක් ඇත්නම්, 2005 ජනාධිපතිවරණ පරාජයේ සිට 2008 දක්වා බලය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට රනිල් කළ කී වලින් අද කැරළි ගසන එජාප නායකයින්ට පාඩමක් ඉගෙන ගනු හැකිය.

ප.ලි. අරලියගහ මැදුරු නිවුස් ප්ලාන්ට් එවන හතර දෙනාගේ කල්ලියට ලබා දෙන ලණු දිවරා ගැනීම අපහසු විය හැකිය.

www.mahinda.info

චීන තානාපති cheng xueyuan මැතිතුමන් හා මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් අතර විශේෂ හමුවක් හිටපු ජනාධිපති නිල නිවසේදී සිදුවිය.අතීතයේ සිට පැවති චීන ශ්‍රී ලංකා සබදතා පිළිබදවත් වත්මන් රජය සමග චීන රජය එලබි ගිවිසුම් පිළිබදවත් අවධානය යොමු කළ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමන් තම රටේ ජනතාවට හානියක් සිදු නොවන පරිදි ඉඩම් සංවර්ධන කටයුතු කරන ලෙසත් රජය සිදු කරන ජනතා විරෝධී ඉඩම් ගනුදෙනු ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන ලෙසත් චීන තානාපති වරයාගෙන් විශේෂ ඉල්ලීමක් ද මෙහිදී සිදු කෙරෙනි.

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

February 24, 2018, 8:43 pm

After the recent local government elections, political discourse has been dominated by the overwhelming victory of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna against all odds to emerge as the single largest political entity in the country. The aftershocks of that political tsunami are still continuing even as we pen this column. SLFP ministers in the government are still in a state of shock after their abysmal showing at the LG elections and some have not been seen at Cabinet meetings since that day. Dayasiri Jayasekera the SLFP spokesman has not been seen at Cabinet press briefings. Now a proposed cabinet reshuffle is to take place with new infighting over ministries. While public attention is distracted by these events, a far more dangerous and far reaching development has gone almost unnoticed – the state of near collapse of the Elections Commission. Even though the unprecedented delay in announcing the election result was commented on, it has been pushed into the background by other events.

Elections Commissioner

The Elections Commission is the body that makes representative democracy possible in this country. If this state of dysfunction continues any longer, it’s going to place in jeopardy the entire political system that we have come to take for granted. The state of collapse in the Elections Commission extends to all its functions. For example, this writer wanted to do an analysis of the election results and after accessing the Elections Commission website, clicked on the tab saying ‘Election Results’. This brought up only the results of the recently concluded local government election. Originally, this tab provided access to a menu that had the results of past Presidential, parliamentary, provincial council and local government elections. Now all details of those past elections have vanished and all that is left are the results of the recent local government elections.  Earlier, when there was a new election, its results were displayed on a page that could be accessed through a highlighted link. Now there is only the result of the most recent election in the EC website with no way to compare the latest result with the results of previous elections.

Furthermore, this time the Chairman of the Elections Commission declared that it was not his business to declare a final result. Perhaps the law does not specifically say that a final result should be declared following a local government election. But there is a need to present election data in a manner that can be used by researchers and analysts. There is no law that is violated if the Elections Commission indicates the island-wide aggregate of the total number of votes, seats institutions etc. won by the various political parties and independent groups and also shows the district-wise breakdown of the results. What we now have on the EC website as the results of the 2018 local government election is a long list of the 340 institutions that went to the poll with a link to a page that gives the detailed result of each institution.

As there is no final aggregation and a district-wise breakdown of the election result, anyone trying to do an analysis of the results and to compare them with previous election results will have the Herculean task of preparing the district-wise breakdowns and the national aggregates himself. This is a time consuming task and explains why there have been no analyses of the elections result in the media. The Elections Commission can easily compile district wise and island-wide aggregates of the result with just a click of the mouse. There seems to be a deliberate attempt on the part of the Elections Commission to prevent people from analyzing election related data by presenting election results in a manner that makes it possible only for well staffed institutions to be able to undertake such a task. This is a matter that came to this writer’s notice a couple of years ago and has now been confirmed by the way the Elections Commission has presented the data of the local government election that was just concluded.

Signs of collapse worsening by the day

Some years ago, before the present Elections Commission was instituted, the Elections Department website presented information about past elections in generally satisfactory detail. The national final results were given, the district wise breakdowns, the polling division breakdowns, and those elected on the basis of preference votes were also indicated on the website. However when the Present Elections Commission was instituted, the website also underwent a change and the way the data relating to past election results was presented also changed. When I say that the earlier Elections Department website had adequate information about past elections, I must add that they had only the results of elections held in the new millennium but at least this was available in a usable format. After the change of the website, the same data that was presented earlier in a usable format was now presented as just long lists of elections results by polling division and the number of members elected and some of the more useful information like the names of the members elected and the preference votes they received have been omitted.

The crowning glory is what has happened now with the result of the latest election and the Elections Commissioner himself stating that it is not his business to declare a final result. I recently went to the Elections Commission and made inquiries from the officials there whether I could have the detailed results of all elections from 1947 to the present day. I assumed that they would have all such details on CDs. But they had nothing. All the data that the EC had was on the website and the presentation even of that limited information was being changed in such a manner as to make it unusable.

In contrast to this, if anybody visits the website of the Indian Elections Commission, they have minutely detailed results of all elections at the central government and state level held in Independent India from 1951 to the present day. When data is presented on a website, there need not be any concerns about the number of pages the details will go into. If data relating to election results are to be useful, it should have all the necessary details such as who contested, who won, how many votes the winning candidates and political parties and independent groups got, the number of votes received by the defeated, and the aggregation of all this information at the national level, the district level and perhaps even the polling booth level so that one can observe the trends. A body like an Elections Commission need not be told how vital this information is. They have a duty to provide data relating to past elections to the public.

Firstly, there is what appears to be a deliberate whittling down of information available to the public. Then for the first time in history, there is a failure by the Elections Commission to announce the results of an election on time. If such a thing had happened in the 1970s, it would have been excusable. But today, with it being possible to relay information around the globe in a matter of seconds, such a thing is inexcusable. It was providential that this time, the results of the various local government wards were announced to those present at the polling booths, and the signed documents were photographed and made available on social media and certain websites. So people knew at least informally who had won and who had lost and that ensured that people would remain calm despite the delay in releasing the official results. Can one even imagine what would have happened if there had been no social media to relay the polling booth and ward level results? We are told that the release of the official results was delayed because of calculations that had to be done regarding the number of seats a political party was entitled to on the proportional representation quota. But the results of the election could have been released earlier leaving the announcement of the number of seats each party was entitled to, for later.

Candidates treated like convicts

Furthermore, the public pronouncements of the Chairman of our Elections Commission when an election comes around makes one wonder whether somewhere down the line, we have not lost sight of what an Elections Commission should be doing. When an election comes around, the first thing that we hear is the Elections Commissioner bellowing that those who try to disrupt the election will be shot in the head. Then we hear him listing the punishments that will befall those who violate elections laws. At the last elections we heard him saying that those who hold meetings in temples will be lose their civic rights for seven years. Every time an election comes around we hear these ‘yama rajjuruvo’ style pronouncements from the Chairman of the Elections Commission so much so that one wonders whether he has missed his vocation and should have been the Chairman of a Prisons and Correctional Facilities Commission instead.

Indeed at election time, the candidates are treated like felons by the Elections Commission. During the recent local government election campaign, this writer saw a report in the newspapers to the effect that the former Ududumbara PS Chariman, one Senarath Bandara who had been caught putting up posters had been arrested, hauled before a Magistrate and then released on two bail bonds of Rs. 50,000 each and the vehicle he used to transport the posters released on a bond of Rs. 6 million. The Magistrate had also warned the hapless candidate that if he is caught violating election laws again, he will be remanded until the end of the election. This was just for putting up posters, not for threatening a rival candidate or causing any real harm to anybody. This is obviously a case of overkill. The elections law in Sri Lanka is such that it has made offences of almost everything that candidates do at election time.

If we point this out to the Elections Commission, their reaction will be predictable. They will say in the fashion of typical bureaucrats that such is the law and they only implement the law. Today however the Elections Commission is an independent body and not a government department, and one would believe that it is they who should be making recommendations to make corrections in the elections law. Occasionally, one sees someone taking up the matter of the impractical elections laws. On 6 April 2014, the Sunday Observer carried an article with the title “Election laws outdated and impractical” where the heads of elections monitoring bodies had said that candidates are compelled to breach the elections law since they are so impractical and they stressed the need to amend these laws urgently. Take for instance the following provisions in the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981.

Section 69 – Restriction on processions: From the time nominations open and till one week lapses after the election result is declared, nobody can conduct or take part in processions to promote any candidate. During this period, non-political processions of a religious or social nature may take place, but even at such processions, it is illegal to promote a candidate. Those violating this law are liable to not just a fine but a prison sentence of up to one month as well. Section 74 – Display of handbills & posters: From the commencement of the nomination period until the end of the poll, no handbill, placard, poster, drawing, notice, photograph, symbol, sign, flag or banner of a candidate can be displayed on or across any public road. The same cannot be displayed in any premises whether public or private either. However candidates may display banners and posters on the vehicle used by the candidate. Posters and banners may be displayed in public or private premises only on the day that an election meeting is to be held in those premises.

In addition to the fine and one month prison term for violating this law, a specific provision in Section 74(3) says that the fine and prison term or both can be imposed on anyone even ATTEMPTING to commit the offence described in this section. The police are also authorized to use such force as may be reasonably necessary to prevent the violation of this ban and they are expressly given the authority to seize any handbill, placard, poster, notice, drawing, symbol, photograph of a candidate, sign, flag or banner used in such contravention. Section 75 – Restrictions on house to house canvassing: From the day the nominations close until the day after the poll, candidates and the members of their immediate families are prohibited from going house to house canvassing for votes. They are also forbidden from distributing handbills and election propaganda material from house to house.

What sense can anyone make of these laws which seek to ban candidates from engaging in activities that are most visibly associated with elections? An election is all about candidates marketing themselves by putting up posters and cut outs of themselves, distributing hand bills, going from house to house canvassing for votes and holding processions in support of his candidacy. By doing what he is supposed to do, a candidate becomes a violator of election laws. Very often, a candidate does not know whether he is going to stand for election until the day nominations close. So it is really after nominations close that the election campaign begins in earnest. This is also exactly the period in which the law seeks to place restrictions on candidates from promoting themselves.

Mercifully, the Sri Lankan elections law does not seek to stifle public meetings, that other great sign of an election. Section 70 stipulates that public meetings have to stop only 48 hours before the date of the poll. But as we saw earlier, even with regard to these meetings, posters announcing such events can be displayed only at the venue that such meetings are to be held, and that too only on the day of the meeting itself. How can anyone expect to pull crowds for an election meeting that is not announced beforehand? If someone puts up posters announcing the meeting a few days early, that too will be an election law violation.

In India, putting up posters and cut outs, distributing leaflets, holding processions and house to house canvassing between the time of handing in nominations and polling day are not illegal. According to Article 126 the Representation of the People Act of 1951, in India, election campaign processions, the distribution and broadcasting of propaganda material etcetera is prohibited only in the 48 hours preceding the closing of the poll. As for canvassing for votes, Article 130 of the Representation of the People Act suggests that in Indian elections, canvassing for votes is possible until the last moment even on polling day provided that such activities do not take place within 100 meters of the polling booth. In Sri Lanka however, according to Article 68 of the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1981 canvassing for votes on polling day is absolutely prohibited.

Arbitrary power in the hands of the unfit

On top of all this is the completely arbitrary power that Elections Commission bureaucrats have in accepting or rejecting nomination papers in Sri Lanka. At the recently concluded local government elections dozens of nomination papers were rejected for unbelievably petty reasons. The Nivitigala PS nominations of the United Left Front led by Lal Wijenaike was rejected because there were 15 names in the second nomination paper whereas the requirement was only 12 names. The bureaucrats in the Elections Commission did not allow the ULF to delete the last three names even though they had letters from the three candidates consenting to the removal of their names from the list. The SLPP nominations for the Tirappane PS were rejected because the date had not been written below the party secretary’s signature. The Maharagama UC nominations of the SLPP were rejected on the ground that in the column where the gender of each candidate to be stated, the gender of one female candidate was inadvertently written as “male” instead of “female”.

Once these nomination papers were rejected by elections officials, even the Supreme Court did not intervene to put things right. Thus we have a situation where an Elections Commission that cannot present data relating to past elections in a proper format, and which cannot conduct an election without a major mess up in announcing the results is given arbitrary power to reject nominations on the flimsiest of excuses.  We have to forgive the Elections Commission for failing to release the election results on time, and causing a delay that has never before been experienced in this country in living memory but the Elections Commission fails to ‘forgive’ someone who had written ‘male’ instead of ‘female’ in the column indicating the gender of candidates. In India which has a competent Elections Commission, the bureaucrats are not vested with such arbitrary power over nomination papers. Section 36(4) of the Indian Representation of the People Act of 1951 stipulates that the returning officer shall not reject any nomination paper ‘on the ground of any defect which is not of a substantial character’.

The Indian Elections Commission (IEC) has given specific instructions to its returning officers that there is a presumption that every nomination paper is valid unless the contrary has been made out and further that if there is a doubt as to the validity of a nomination paper, the benefit of such doubt must go to the candidate concerned and the nomination paper should be held to be valid. The IEC has specifically instructed their Returning Officers that a nomination paper should not be rejected for a defect, which is not of a substantial character. Any mistake or error of a technical of clerical nature should, therefore, be ignored. The IEC expected their returning officers to ‘interpret the provisions of the law intelligently and with commonsense’. Under the Indian elections law, if any objection has been raised against a nomination paper, and the candidate needs time to rebut that objection, the affected party can immediately apply to the Returning Officer for time and the latter can allow up to two days for the rebuttal of the objection.

The Indian Elections Commission is what an Elections Commission should be like. In comparison to the IEC, our Elections Commission is in a state of collapse. They can’t present data on past elections in a usable format, they can’t announce election results on time, yet they have arbitrary power to reject nomination papers on the flimsiest of excuses. If this situation continues any longer, future governmental change is going to take place in this country through street action, not through elections. The Elections Department was functioning generally satisfactorily until it became an independent commission and one wonders whether there is a deliberate attempt to run down and undermine the elections mechanism in this country. When you turn it over in your mind, you realize that one creative way to destroy the entire Sri Lankan state will be by running down the body that conducts elections.

Chairman, Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement

Our organisation, The Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement, is extremely alarmed by secret defence reports written by our adversaries, the US, UK, which accuse our Sri Lankan Armed Forces of being responsible for the perishing of civilians during the last phases of the war with no proof whatsoever to prove such bogus charges. In sharp contrast, our contention is that such secret reports written by our adversaries, the US, UK, should be categorically rejected outright.

Those of us who have actually lived in the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. know very well that these countries routinely lie about those countries that they do not like, in their secret defence reports. In Sri Lanka’s case, although the said secret defence reports were apparently produced by the US, UK defence attachés who were resident in May, 2009 in Sri Lanka, in actuality, these secret defence reports have been produced by the CIA and the MI6. What we think is that the US, UK’s fallacy spread about forty thousand civilians perishing was proved totally false. Then the US, UK spread the next fallacy which was twenty thousand civilians perishing. This also, over the years, proved to be totally false. Therefore the US, UK have now produced secret defence reports suggesting that in the case of the UK, seven thousand civilians perishing and in the case of the US, five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!). We think that these secret defence reports were produced maybe a few months ago, but backdated to show as if they were produced in May, 2009, in order to cover up the previous fallacies of the US, UK etc. However, these charges are totally false with no proof whatsoever to prove such bogus charges. Therefore, our contention is that the Sri Lankan Government should categorically reject outright such bogus charges since our Sri Lankan Armed Forces fought only with LTTE terrorists and only LTTE terrorists died, as a result, during the last phases of the conflict. No civilians perished during the last phases of the conflict at the hands of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces as we have shown by use of irrefutable proof below.

Our best informant as far as the last few months of the war is concerned is our own Sri Lanka Army who was there all the time, after all, and knows exactly what happened. It is our own Sri Lanka Army, Navy etc. and those commandeers who commandeered those divisions of the Sri Lanka Army, who we should turn to for factual information.

When observing the events of the last year or so of the war, the LTTE itself admitted that they drove the entire civilian population under their control all the way from Mannar in the North West coast, all the way up to the North East coast of Mullaitivu way before the Sri Lanka Army reached any of the LTTE held towns such as Kilinochchi, Mankulum etc. Around 300,000 civilians, partially from the Mannar and Vavuniya districts and totally from the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, were driven away by the LTTE all the way up to the North East coast of Mullaitivu. Once the Sri Lankan Army commenced advancing from Mannar, the LTTE quickly evacuated the Vanni civilians and made them travel deep into the Vanni inlands. Therefore, civilians were not anywhere near the fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE until mid February to mid May, 2009. Therefore, when the army captured Kilinochchi, Mankulum etc. and all other LTTE towns, there were no civilians there to be affected. The army only fought with the LTTE terrorists at all these places. In newspaper reports we read, the Sri Lanka Army stated that when they entered Kilinochchi, it was a ghost town, since all the civilians have been made to move deep into the Vanni inlands quite sometime prior to the arrival of the army. In a programme on TV, the Sri Lanka Army stated that at Mankulum, which was an LTTE held town, when the army took over, around 60 LTTE terrorists perished, according to the army.

Even at Puthukudiyiruppu, which was a major LTTE camp where a major battle took place, there were no civilians there to be affected, since the army fought only with LTTE terrorists. Therefore our contention is that there could not have been any civilians casualties all the way from Mannar, via capturing of Kilinochchi, Mankulum, Puthukudiyiruppu etc. since there were no civilians at any of these places at all since all the civilians were driven away by the LTTE deep into the Vanni, as the LTTE itself admitted. The army only fought with LTTE terrorists and both our soldiers and LTTE terrorists did perish, as a result. Subramanium Sivagami alias ‘Colonel’ Thamilini, leader of the LTTE women’s political wing, in her book published prior to her death due to an illness recently, says that after the Sri Lankan Army secured Kilinochchi, the final counter offensive launched by the LTTE at Puthukudiyiruppu during the first week of April, 2009, led to the loss of over 600 LTTE cadres, including several senior LTTE personnel. This, again, suggests that it is the LTTE terrorists alone who the army encountered and it is only the LTTE terrorists who perished in these operations.

It is only during the last few weeks of the war that the army even encountered any civilians, after reaching the Nandikadal lagoon area. Here, the army was given strict instructions to use only light weapons when dealing with the LTTE terrorists by the Sri Lankan Government. To acquire an idea of how vast this area is, the Nandikadal lagoon is a vast lagoon which is as vast as the Negombo lagoon. Therefore, imagine how vast this area is. There was a vast land area to the North of the lagoon. It is best to purchase a map of the area from The Survey Department in order to acquire a knowledge of how vast this area is. The LTTE built earthen berms at one end of the vast land area stopping the army from advancing. These berms however covered only a small strip of this vast land area. The army wanted to breach a point of these berms and fired at the LTTE terrorists who were on the other side of the earthen berms but using light weapons. Therefore, since these earthen berms covered only an infinitesimally small area of this vast land area, only the LTTE terrorists on the other side firing back at the army could have been affected by the army firing at them. Civilians, we are sure, took refuge in the vast land area beyond and therefore they could not have been affected by the firing between the army and the LTTE terrorists across these earthen berms since the earthen berms took up only an infinitesimally small area of this vast land area and to the South was also the vast Nadikadal lagoon, as large as the Negombo lagoon itself.

One thing to keep in mind is that there is irrefutable independent confirmation that the army used light weapons only during this time. This confirmation is contained in a book published recently, written by Sri Shiv Shankar Menon, the Indian Foreign Secretary at the time. He states in his book that a troika inclusive of Shiv Shankar Menon flew to Sri Lanka regularly using the Indian Air Force in order to meet their counterpart troika in Sri Lanka i.e. Basil Rajapakshe, Gotabhaya Rajapakshe and Lalith Weerathunga. Shiv Shankar Menon states that Pranab Mukheerjee the Indian Foreign Minister was kept informed at all times of every meeting and happening that took place. He says that all the requests of the Indian Government i.e. only to use light weapons due to the civilian presence in the area, corridors for civilians to escape, adequate food and medicine deliveries into the area by sea, safe areas where no conflict was to take place and where civilians can take refuge, evacuation of all persons who were ill by sea, Indian medical teams at standby at Pulmuddai, Trincomalee etc., requests to the LTTE terrorists to put down arms and surrender and no harm will come to them etc. all these requests by the Indian Government were adhered to and implemented by the Sri Lankan Government to the satisfaction of the Indian Government. Therefore there is irrefutable proof that the army used light weapons only.

Since the LTTE terrorists shut all land routes by the end of January into the area by use of earthen berms, civilians who fell ill due to normal illnesses or LTTE terrorists who were injured due to firing between the army and the LTTE terrorists across the earthen berms, all were evacuated by ICRC ferries from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, according to the ICRC. Regular ICRC press releases at the time states that from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, a period of twelve weeks, the ICRC evacuated 13,500 persons in total from the area, from Puthamathalan to the Pulmuddai base hospital by sea where there were Indian medical teams as well as Sri Lankan medical teams to treat all patients. Of the 13,500, only half were patients i.e. 6,750. The rest, 6,750, were a relative or a friend who accompanied each patient. Of the 6,750 patients, half were evacuated due to normal illnesses such as flu, cold, cough, diarrhoea, pressure etc. who we can assume were civilians i.e. 3,375. Only the other half, i.e. 3,375 were evacuated due to conflict related injuries i.e. LTTE terrorists since all, LTTE terrorists and civilians, were evacuated during this time. We can conclude that if only 3,375 LTTE terrorists were injured during these three months, then around 1,125 (taking into account a 1:3 ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries) LTTE terrorists would have actually perished. Taking a 1:4 ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries, 845 LTTE terrorists would have perished. Therefore around 1,125 LTTE terrorists would have perished from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009 due to the conflict. How did we come up with this ratio? Major General Kamal Gunaratne in his just released book says that over 5,900 Sri Lankan Forces were killed while over 29,000 were injured from 2007 until May, 2009. This provided us with a 1:5 ratio which should be similar for the LTTE terrorists. However, since the fighting near the Nandikadal lagoon area was more continuous rather than intermittent events spanning over many months and years, even if light weapons were used, a higher ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries would have taken place. What is interesting is that Major General Kamal Gunaratne says that between January, 2009 until May 2009, around 2,500 Sri Lankan Army soldiers perished in the war.

We also know of an incident where the LTTE fired at and killed around one hundred civilians who tried to escape to the army’s side from mid February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009. There was also the incident where an LTTE suicide bomber dressed as a civilian blew herself up near a makeshift IDP reception centre killing Sri Lankan military personnel as well as a few civilians. The one hundred civilians fired at and killed by the LTTE would have been buried at the LTTE graveyards created by the LTTE within the area concerned.

What also needs to be taken into consideration is that by the 11th of May, 2009, the LTTE leadership let the civilians leave to the army’s side. From the 12th of May 2009, there were no civilians in the Nandikadal lagoon area. Therefore, from the 12th of May 2009 until the 18th of May 2009 there was only Prabhakaran and his gang of around three hundred LTTE terrorists who hid in the Nandikadal lagoon area and the army went after them from the 12th of May 2009 onwards. From newspaper reports from that time, we read that Prabhakaran and around three hundred LTTE terrorists died at the hands of the army from the 12th of May 2009 until the 18th of May 2009 around the Nandikadal lagoon area. We also read from newspaper reports that once the conflict was over on the 19th of May 2009, our soldiers were told to bury those LTTE terrorists that perished during this time in the LTTE graveyards that the LTTE already created in the area. Therefore around three hundred perished LTTE terrorists would have been buried at these LTTE graveyards after the 19th of May 2009 by the army.

The Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) acquired and analyzed commercial high-resolution satellite imagery of the area concerned. Imagery analysis was initially requested by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International USA (AI-USA) (the ill intention of HRW and AI-USA was to place the Sri Lanka Army in trouble, of course). However, only three gravesites were found from satellite imagery taken of the area concerned on five separate days, the 23rd of March 2009, 19th April 2009, 06th May 2009, 10th May 2009 and the 24th of May 2009. One contained 342 graves and was considered to be an LTTE graveyard. Another contained 960 graves and was considered to be an LTTE graveyard. The third contained 44 burials and was considered to be a civilian’s graveyard. Therefore in total around 1,346 graves were found in the area concerned as three separate graveyards.

What is noteworthy is that the LTTE graveyard containing 960 graves was present prior to the 6th of May, 2009 and did not expand since that time. The civilian graveyard of 44 graves was also present prior to the 6th of May, 2009 and did not expand since that time. However, the Southernmost LTTE graveyard expanded from the 19th of April, 2009 to the 6th of May, 2009 by 195 graves. From the 6th of May, 2009 until the 10th of May, 2009, this Southernmost graveyard expanded by another 77 graves. By the 24th of May, this Southernmost LTTE graveyard expanded by a further 70 graves to 342.

This suggests that when the army breached a berm and advanced further on the 20th and 21st of April, 2009 (with most of the civilians evacuating to the army’s side as a result, however with some civilians and LTTE terrorists remaining), the army took extreme precautions when engaging with the LTTE terrorists since that time, since the LTTE graveyard expanded only by 272 graves from the 19th of April until the 10th of May, 2009. By the 11th of May, 2009, the LTTE leadership allowed all the remaining civilians to evacuate from the area to the army’s side. From the 12th of May until the 18th of May, 2009, the army went after Prabhakaran and a gang of perhaps three hundred LTTE terrorists within the Nandikadal lagoon, located further to the South. Prabhakaran and his gang of LTTE terrorists are presumed to have perished at the hands of the army during the crossfire between them. Therefore the expansion of the Southernmost LTTE graveyard by a further 70 graves by the 24th of May, 2009 would have been the army itself burying these perished LTTE terrorists at this LTTE graveyard since in numerous TV programmes, we saw that the army was told to find and bury any perished LTTE terrorists within the Nandikadal lagoon area from the 19th of May, 2009 onwards, once the conflict ended.

In conclusion, two LTTE graveyards of 960 and 342 graves and a civilian’s graveyard of 44 graves have been found in the area concerned. Of this, around 1,125 and a further up to three hundred, are of LTTE combatants themselves as shown above. Over one hundred civilians were shot at and killed by the LTTE itself may have been buried at these graveyards, too. Since, as stated above, the around 300,000 Vanni population were driven by the LTTE itself deep into the Mullaitivu area, the army did not encounter any civilians as their operations advanced, until mid February, 2009 onwards. Therefore civilians could only have perished from mid February, 2009 until the 12th of May 2009. However, only 1,346 graves have been found in the area concerned, which are overwhelmingly of LTTErs. Therefore, apart from the one hundred civilians who were shot at and killed by the LTTE itself, where is the proof that any civilians perished at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army? The overwhelming conclusion from the evidence above is that almost all those who perished until the 18th May 2009 at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army were LTTE terrorists.

In the secret defence reports the US, UK have produced suggesting that in the case of the UK, seven thousand civilians perishing and in the case of the US, five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!), where is the proof on the ground that these bogus claims are true? The only conclusion is that this is a fallacy similar to all the other fallacies that the US, UK came up with over nearly three decades as far as Sri Lanka is concerned.

We suggest to the US, UK to provide Sri Lanka with the names, the identity card numbers of those they claim perished during the last five months of the conflict so that we can cross check as to their whereabouts. After all, these persons should have a name, an identity card number, a birth certificate, an address etc., surely, if they actually existed and also figure out if they were an LTTE terrorist or not. The US, UK will never ever provide such proof since their bogus claims come straight from the separatist terrorists themselves and are total lies.

One thing to note seriously unlike the US, UK’s totally bogus charges is that the United Nations Country Assessment Team and the UN representative in Sri Lanka, just a week after the conflict concluded, declared 7,721 persons (meaning LTTE terrorists and all others and not ‘civilians’ as even some mistakenly call this figure since persons means LTTE terrorists and all others which may have included a few civilians too) killed and 18,479 persons (again meaning LTTE terrorists and all others) injured from August 2008 until 13th May 2009. However, we think that the UN had no time to investigate anything just after the conflict concluded and extracted this figure from Tamilnet, the mouthpiece of the LTTE, since they had no other sources to extract their information from, as far as what happened on the LTTE’s side is concerned. We think this information was extracted from Tamilnet since Tamilnet also had very similar figures in its reports at that time. Therefore these figures are totally unreliable too and almost certainly untrue. What can be estimated is that from August 2006 until May 2009, over 6,600 Sri Lanka Tri Forces members perished and therefore it can be estimated that a similar number of LTTE terrorists also perished from August 2006 until May 2009.

It should be noted that when the ICRC evacuated any patients from Puthamathalan from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, they were brought by ferry by sea from Puthamathalan to Pulmuddai where there was a base hospital. At Pulmuddai were Indian medical teams as well as Sri Lankan medical teams ready to treat any patients of any illnesses or LTTE terrorists of any conflict related injuries. They could then easily access the main hospital in the entire province which was at Trincomalee and even Colombo by air. Food and medicine too were regularly shipped by the ICRC by use of the ferry into the area concerned, for use by civilians. Once the conflict was over, around 300,000 civilians left the area concerned and were held in IDP camps by the Sri Lankan Government. At the conclusion of the conflict, over 11,300 LTTE terrorists surrendered too. All these persons were given medical examinations by Indian medical teams at the IDP camps, without exception. In fact, after about one month, the Indian medical team stated, as we read in newspaper reports at the time, that they have examined all the around 300,000 civilians and that they have nothing more to do and so they left after a successful task completed back to India.

One thing to note is that in spite of the LTTE terrorists preventing them doing so, the safe zone enabled a large number of civilians to escape the LTTE terrorists in April, when the earthen berm confining the civilians who were now the LTTE’s captives was breached by the army at a certain point while loosing many of its own soldiers circa 20th to the 21st of April, 2009. However, a segment of persons, mostly loyal LTTE cadres and a segment of civilians moved to the Southern segment of the safe zone.

During the last few months of the conflict, ITN and Rupavahini journalists were embedded with the Sri Lanka Army. There were also The Hindu correspondents, Kanchan Prasad and Muralidar Reddy. Contrary to claims that there were no witnesses to events that took place, several journalists, e.g. Kanchan Prasad and Muralidhar Reddy from The Hindu, and reporters from Doordarshan TV of India were embedded with the 58th Brigade on the Sri Lanka army’s side. David Gray, a Reuters correspondent, had also been touring the battlefield for a month in April, 2009, and clearly states that the soldiers were feeding those civilians that escaped etc., and no mention of any ‘indiscriminate attacks’. Reddy indicates having access to the internet (and being aware of allegations of civilian casualties that were being made at the time), they would have acted and reported any such incidents if they ever took place, which they did not, of course. Sri Lankan academics (e.g. Dr.Tammita-Delgoda, a historian at the Kadirgamar Institute) and other local journalists were also embedded with the Sri Lanka army. There were approximately 535 NGO workers who were with the LTTE terrorists, and all of them returned unharmed at the end of the conflict!

When observing the food distribution etc. the ICRC was present throughout the conflict, and suspended operations only on the 12th of May 2009, since all the civilians had successfully escaped the LTTE entrapment by that time. The government had issued the ICRC 104,765 metric tons of food and medicine to be taken to the conflict zone. There were also the UN/WFP convoys providing food and medicine, and the Darusman Report mentions 7,435 metric tons of food being delivered over five months, but omits the 104,765 tons delivered by the ICRC. A measure of food needs accepted by the UN can be obtained from the UN-run Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Northern Kenya: they shelter approximately 535,000 refugees, and were supplied 10,000 metric tons/month of food by the UN/WFP. This was prior to a 20% cut in November, 2013. This suggests that the around 300,000 hostage population held by the LTTE would need 5,610 tons/month, or about 28,050 tons for five months. Hence, using typical UN/WFP food-supply rates, it is clear that roughly four times the needed amount of supplies were provided by the Sri Lankan Government via the ICRC and the UN/WFP combined.

If the OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. want to know what really happened, why not inquire from the Sri Lanka Armed Forces themselves? They can talk to the ITN, Rupavahini journalists, The Hindu journalists Kanchan Prasad and Muralidar Reddy. They can talk to the Reuters journalist David Gray. They can talk to the Doordharshan TV of India’s journalists who were embedded with the 58th brigade of the Sri Lanka Army. They can talk to the Sri Lankan academics (e.g. Dr.Tammita-Delgoda, a historian at the Kadirgamar Institute) and other local journalists who were embedded with the Sri Lanka army. They can inquire from the Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon who, after all, wrote about this in his book. Why not talk to the Indian medical teams who examined all the civilians of around 300,000, once the conflict ended and the Sri Lankan medical teams who treated patients. The OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. will not talk to the above mentioned persons since this is not about seeking the truth but a witch hunt against Sri Lanka.

It should also be kept in mind that over 6,600 Sri Lankan Tri Forces members i.e. the army, navy and the air force perished due to the conflict from August 2006 until May 2009. This means that at least 33,000 of our Sri Lankan Armed Forces members would have been injured during this time from August 2006 until May 2009 too. We can add a few hundred police forces members who would have perished too, to this figure. Over 626 overwhelmingly Sinhala civilians were blasted to pieces by various incidents such as bomb blasts, claymore mine blasts in buses, trains, shops, roadsides etc. all over the country by LTTE terrorists during this time (we have obtained incident by incident of individual incidents which have been lodged with the police as police incidents, as a list, and counting the victims led us to this figure). Therefore, around 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons have been massacred by the LTTE terrorists during this time. Our question is who is questioning the LTTE terrorists, those of the Tamil diaspora who supported the LTTE terrorists, the TNA etc. and other separatists, the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. who indirectly supported the LTTE terrorists, who is questioning them as to why around 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons died during this time at the hands of the LTTE terrorists? Why is the OHCHR not interested in investigating as to why over 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons perished at the hands of the LTTE terrorists from August 2006 until May 2009?

Another important fact to note is that after the conflict concluded, for months and months, we saw on ITN, Rupavahini etc. the vast amounts of weapons caches that the Sri Lanka Army found in the Northern Province which belonged to the LTTE. There is no doubt that the LTTE possessed the most advanced and the most sophisticated weapons in vast quantities, either equivalent to in sophistication or superior to and in quantities equivalent to or greater than the Sri Lankan Tri Forces themselves. In effect, the LTTE possessed sufficient weapons to blow up the whole of Sri Lanka three times over, if necessary! Our question is, why is the OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. not paying any attention to the fact that the LTTE was a well armed terrorist group and the Sri Lankan Tri Forces engaged with such a well armed terrorist group and not normal Tamil civilians as they seem to call the LTTE terrorists.

One more thing we need to point out is that countries such as the US, UK, who have routinely lied about Sri Lanka at every stage by use of fallacies such as forty thousand civilians perishing with no proof whatsoever to prove such a fallacy and then a second fallacy of twenty thousand civilians perishing again with no proof whatsoever to prove that fallacy too, are we stupid enough to accept their latest fallacy of seven thousand civilians perishing or five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!), again with no proof whatsoever? If so, we Sri Lankans must be the stupidest people on earth. We should instead categorically reject outright any secret defence reports produced by our adversaries, the US, UK. Our Sri Lankan Armed Forces should only accept facts that can be proven by evidence on the ground and certainly not any fabrications by any quarter whatsoever.

We note, however, that Lord Naseby who obtained these reports using the Freedom of Information Act of the UK, is a good hearted person who has helped Sri Lanka (an unfortunate victim of our adversaries) at all times. However, all he did was obtain these secret defence reports. It is up to our Sri Lanka Armed Forces, The Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lankan Government to verify if these secret defence reports are true or not and categorically reject them outright as fallacies since there is no proof whatsoever to prove these fallacies. Our own Ministry of Defence, our own Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the Sri Lankan Government have all the information at their disposal to prove that these are all fallacies.

We also urge the Sri Lankan Government to categorically withdraw from being the co-sponsor of the UNHRC resolution since the other co-sponsors i.e. the US, UK are actually our adversaries who have lied about Sri Lanka for nearly three decades, who have placed Sri Lanka in deep trouble by concocting up fallacies about civilian casualty figures again and again and have been found out. The US, UK etc. have indirectly supported the LTTE terrorists throughout the nearly three decades of conflict and the their ulterior motive is to partition Sri Lanka via an amendment to the constitution and they are trying to scare Sri Lanka into passing such an amendment by use of totally bogus war crimes charges.

The build up to and the manner in which Sri Lanka is being treated, despite freeing around 300,000 civilians whilst providing a safe nation for 21 million people to live in, seems not to hold any importance to those drafting resolutions and they forget their silence for over 26 years when the LTTE terrorists massacred with impunity and are now making a hypocrisy of themselves investigating what may or may not have happened during the last five months of a long drawn out conflict with ulterior motives in mind.

Kind regards,

Chairman,

Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement

Sudath Gunasekara

23 /1 2018.

An open letter to the President

Dear Mr President

Please take a look at the news item attached below under the caption as it is happening under your Government.

‘Following Governor’s objections

Govt. pressures CBSL to endorse controversial payment platform project

NPP apolitical, will promote economic growth – Harsha’

Also please draw your special attention to the Minister Harsha de Silva’s emphasis on apolitical will on economic growth.

I personally feel that it is more than enough that they have taken you along a blind allay for 3 years and almost have now fixed you against the wall  at which point at least  when you have to take a serious decision as what your mission should be.

As the news item reveals they are heading for a third CB scam as if what they have done for the past three years is not enough

At least now  the 200 million odd people in this country desperately urge you to revert back the Central Bank to the Ministry of Finance to prevent further disasters, if you are unable to dissolve the Cabinet as advised by all legal experts without waiting any further before a major political disaster takes place. You will know it better than anybody else as to what will happen if by any means Ranil replaces you as the President of this country.

Since you are the Head of the State by law, you are finally responsible for all the commissions, omissions and blunders done by your Prime Minister and his Cabinet and the entire Government

This I think this is the fourth time I am drawing your attention to this danger, although you have not cared a damn about my advice. I am making this warning as a senior and responsible citizen of this country as I love my motherland and its people more than any present day politician.

I urge you and make this fervent request to listen to the advice given by eminent lawyers regarding the dissolution of the Cabinet, at least in self-defense, even if you are not concerned about the country or the people, to take an immediate decision and dissolve the present illegal Cabinet that will enable you to get rid of the PM and avert a major calamity without hanging on to this disastrous regime.

Mr President the time is running faster than you think. Therefore take a decision before your UNP friends overtake you by surprise at any time, may be even before sun rise for tomorrow.

If you do that and arrange for an interim Government acceptable to the people you will at least remain safely as the President until your period expires in 2019.

Attached Article

Following Governor’s objections Govt. pressures CBSL to endorse controversial payment platform project NPP apolitical, will promote economic growth – Harsha

February 22, 2018, 10:55 pm

By Shamindra Ferdinando

On the instructions of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, his deputy, Dr. Harsha de Silva has initiated talks with the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy to iron out differences over proposed controversial National Payment Platform (NPP).

Dr. Coomaraswamy has been called for a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) on Wednesday evening at Temple Trees after The Island published his confidential letter to E. M. S. B. Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister.

In his letter, dated Feb. 15, Dr. Coomaraswamy strongly opposed proposal for a separate hybrid enterprise with the involvement of the CBSL and Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) to facilitate single button transactions. Asked by The Island whether the government would go ahead with NPP against the backdrop of Treasury bond scams controversy and also in the immediate aftermath of heavy drubbing at Feb. 10 local government polls, Dr. de Silva said that he would work with ICTA and CBSL in that regard. The Deputy Minister said: “We discussed at CCEM with Governor Coomaraswamy and ICTA and agreed to come up with a possible solution shortly. I will coordinate with both sides. The objective is to create the right ecosystem for digital payments to ignite entrepreneurship in the SME sector across across the country for both domestic and export business.”

Deputy Minister de Silva stressed that the decision on NPP had been apolitical and was meant to spur growth.

Dr. Coomaraswamy succeeded Singaporean Arjuna Mahendran in June 2016 in the wake of treasury bond scams involving the Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) in Feb. 2015 and March 2016.

Alleging that CBSL had been deliberately deprived of an opportunity to attend CCEM meeting on Jan. 10, 2018 at which the decision was taken, Dr. Coomaraswamy has pointed out that Sri Lanka could comfortably manage retail payment and settlement system as well as large value payment and settlement system with existing arrangements. The economist primarily opposed the project on the basis Sri Lanka with 21 mn population could manage on its own like the National Payments Corporation of India (NCCI), which catered to a staggering 1.324 bn people.

Dr. Coomaraswamy has also brought the move to the notice of President Maithripala Sirisena through Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers, in addition to the Secretary, Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Secretary, Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure and the Director General, department of Project Management and Monitoring.

The CBSL comes under the purview of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs.

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

Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Dehiwela

Mr. President, This is not the end of the world! But it is a wake up call!

I am surprised at the halla baloo created around the recent MC election results. Why is that even the President is taking the results like a General election results?

Obviously everyone knows that these results do not affect the sitting government in any way at all. True, it reflects the mentality and preferences of the citizens but it is not one to change the parliament or the Yahapalanaya mandate. So the rumor that the President is going to reshuffle the ministers, if true, is silly. There is no need to get upset about the results since it is only a municipal council election.

But certainly, Mr. President, it is a wake up call for you. You are  blessed to have a wake up call; everyone are not lucky like you. Obviously people have given a clear verdict they don’t like how you are running the show, but that does not mean they want you to step down. They want you to run it better. This is a golden opportunity for you to rectify your ways!

In the aftermath of the election, you have  been reminded ad nauseum that YOU ARE THE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNTRY – LOCK, STOCK AND BARREL,  not of the SLFP alone. In fact when you crossed over  to contest the presidential election,  you  should have stopped being an SLFP’er. You are now  the president of the UNP, SLFP, SLPP, JVP etc. etc. including all those who did not vote for you too in the Presidential election. When you are given the post of the supreme commander of the country you’re trying to be the leader of a small group of people!

It’s time you gave up the post of Chairman of SLFP. As I wrote earlier you cannot wear two hats at the same time. Your hat approved by the whole nation is to be the President. So be the President and govern the way you  promised us to, at your Presidential election campaign. You promised to wipe out corruption, put the robbers who blatantly pilfered  the nation behind bars, get rid of the over crowding at the top, govern with an iron hand with truth, honesty and sincerity. And you can.

You may worry about what the SLFP will say about you in the long run,  but you should be worried more so how the history of the country will write of you. You still have almost half of your term. It’s not too  late yet. With Ranil, you can steer the country for the better if only you take the bold step of removing all the dead weights you have taken over in order to protect your SLFP identity, which you don’t need  anymore. If anything, that is the message the people have given you at this MC election.

Please, Mr. President, the country needs you, please wake up to the call.

Sent by:

Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai, Dehiwela

Sarath Wijesinghe – former Chairman Consumer Affairs Authority- former Ambassadors to UAE and Israel

Consumer in Sri Lanka

Consumer in Sri Lanka is not organized as in other parts of the world in protecting and enhancing their due rights under the legal system. They accept whatever is given by the trader, manufacture, industrialist, and the state (regulator – that is the Consumer Affairs Authority) in the absence of a vigilant and a powerful consumer movement. In the United Kingdom the Consumer movement and media (with magazine WHICH” the powerful consumer magazine) are in the forefront working together assisted by – DTI Department of Trade and Industry the main regulator in UK on consumerism. Gas is a clean and cheap form of energy utilized in the household now spread in the villages as a necessity in the industry especially in the food industry in large scales, which has a direct impact on cost of living with price increases on increase of gas. Traditional methods of generating energy has replaced by gas industry monopolized by two leading giants Laughf” and Litro” (previously Shell) all over the country which has a direct impact on the cost of living. They have the countrywide network of distribution as a necessary consumer item which has a direct political and economic impact on the citizen and the state.

Why only Gas as a source of Energy

Every drop of gas which is a by-product in the oil industry, and also fond independently ( such as in Israel) is imported, stored in terminals in liquid form and distributed by the network of the two companies, now demanding price increases via the regulator Consumer Affairs Authority which has the authority under Section 18 of the CAA act to permit companies for increase of prices on an application made after due consideration by the regulator on the justification of the request having considered all aspects of the demand for the increase. Gas is a protected item under the CAA with few other items declared by a gazette notification to control the maximum price to ease the consumer in the receiving end while protecting the trader who is expected to be fair and reasonable. Gas has become so impotent by the consumer and industrialist that it has become a powerful voice of the citizen to maintain the price to combat fast growing cost of living due to other factors and price increases of food and consumer items. Traditionally Wood has been the main source of energy which has an impact on environment and leads to deforestation and environmental issues. Many other innovative methods of cheap, clean and environmental friends methods were introduced but not property marketed by the state instructions. Coconut/Paddy husk, Bio Gas, solar Energy, Energy Saving methods, and many kinds and types of alternate energy were used with no success and popular appeal.

Gas prices and cost of living

Gas prices have a direct effect and impact of the cost of living as it increases the cost of the household and the other bakery, consumer, industrial products and many food/ consumer and

manufactured items as the a main source of energy next to electricity which is expensive. Unfortunately with the increase of the gas prices the trend is disproportion price increases of all consumer items which have no control by the CAA the main regulator responsible for the price increase. CAA is expected to make a decision considering all circumstance heavily contested by the powerful companies with the legal team in higher courts which often obtain their redress with high pressure legal and political as the inquiring officers at the CAA (generally politically appointed members of the CAA board) are influenced by the Minister in charge who always takes political decisions through the political appointed Chairman who are often not competent to handle a situation. We take this opportunity to demand the State to make arrangements to appoint the CAA Chairman by the Constitutional Council to be independent and competent.

CAA the main Regulator/Player on combating cost of living

CAA as the main Player/Regulator on combating cost of living here are series of decided cases in the legal domain on this contentious issue which has a direct political and economic impact on the country as a whole for which careful consideration is necessary as a matter of compromise/importance. It is inevitable the companies will take to litigation if they are not satisfied with the new price formula. Arriving at a compromise solution may not be easy especially with the incompetent and inefficient CAA head and some members who appear not delivering goods with millions spent out of tax payer’s money for the maintance of this defunct and ineffective institution which has enormous powers to act for the public benefit. It is learnt that the President is contemplating to meet the CAA in order to find their views to combat the rising cost of living through the recently formed Apex body on handling economy!. CAA is the best available main regulator responsible to the public in combating cost of living by establishing consumer organizations and activism in educating the consumer, industrialist and trader for a proper consumer regime. How many such organizations are formed and to what extent the CAA has been in a leading role is a matter the consumer/citizen will be in a position to judge.

Way Froward

Gas is commonly used by the citizen, manufacturer and industrialist in day to day life and industry which is a sensitive topic which has direct impact and relevance to the citizen. This has to be careful handled with a short and long term solutions. Control of price increments are to be handled carefully, and long and short term changes in the CAA is a necessity by appointing able and competent head selected by the constitutional council and not on political criteria. Chairman is preforming a semi judicial functions and a person with legal background or a retired Judge is preferred. Alternate energy providers such as solar and new innovations should be explored especially cater the villages and a powerful consumer activism and formation of consumer organisations should be formed with countrywide network. Special emphasis should be given Israel way of innovative methods of generating energy with the abundance of our resources, such as solar, wind, bio, waste, and introducing various forms saving mechanisms. Let CAA start the campaign to mobilize the citizen/organizing consumer organisations/education programs countrywide with the help of legal aid unit and civil society, on 15th March 2018 the world consumer day!

Writer who takes responsibility for the contents could be contacted on sarath7@ Hotmail.co.uk

by Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

February 23, 2018, 11:14 pm

The government has, under heavy pressure from the UK, carried out its decision to recall Sri Lanka’s military attache in London, Brig. Prinyankara Fernando, despite a presidential intervention. When the government announced its decision to recall the brigadier, following an incident where he allegedly made a throat slitting gesture in front of a group of British LTTE supporters of Sri Lankan origin, in London, on Feb. 04, President Sirisena, ordered that he be reinstated.

Sources said the UK had called for swift action again the military attache.

The LTTE supporters protested near the Sri Lankan High Commission in London while Prince Edward and Sophie Wessex were in Colombo for Sri Lanka’s 70th Independence Day celebrations.

Brig. Priyankara Fernando

Sources said that the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office had informed the influential Global Tamil Forum (GTF) of immediate measures taken by the UK following the incident.

Brig. Fernando returned on Thursday (Feb. 22) hours after the GTF was informed of the specific measures taken by the British government against over the Feb. 4 incident.

Suren Surendiran, on behalf of the GTF on Feb.10, complained to Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson of the incident. The GTF urged the UK to declare the officer persona non grata.

Responding to the GTF’s plea, the South Asia Department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on Feb. 22 assured Surendiran that the UK took the incident ‘very seriously’ and Minister for South Asia personally got in touch with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana.

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

February 23, 2018, 10:02 pm

I was born at a particular moment, 1956, into a center-left familial universe and culture. In 1956, Mervyn, aged 26, was introduced to SWRD Bandaranaike by his senior at university, Nimal Karunatilleke, a former Communist who had joined the MEP, the winning coalition of 1956, and whose victory in Matale, beating the feudal UNP candidate, was the first result that came in on Radio Ceylon, heralding the Silent Revolution.

SWRD Bandaranaike promptly instructed Mervyn to take over as the foreign affairs commentator of Radio Ceylon, in place of the Britisher the UNP had typically kept in that sensitive post.When Mervyn protested that he knew nothing of the subject, his proper province, including on the airwaves, being English literature and literary criticism, Bandaranaike had walked into his library, returned with an armful of books and dumped them into Mervyn’s lap. “Atoms for Peace” was the title of one, Mervyn recalled decades later.

SWRD Bandaranaike

From 1956, Mervyn was firmly of the pro-SLFP center-left in political terms while remaining temperamentally and intellectually the left-liberal he had always been.His firmest friends in 1956 were the Rajapaksas, Lakshman and George. My father was an SLFP and Bandaranaike loyalist, who was buddies with the Rajapaksas and quite fond of Mahinda. Mahinda Rajapaksa wrote in the Daily News shortly after my father’s death in 1999 that:

“Whenever I met him, which happened to be at least twice a month during the last 25 years, I always made it a point to have a serious chat even for a minute…First I came to know Mr.de Silva through my cousin the late Mr.Lakshman Rajapaksa. Both of them were regulars at the Orient Club. Being a Royalist he was also very close to late Mr. George Rajapaksa, his fellow alumni.Being only a student of politics, I remained a passive participant at the meetings Mr.de Silva had with my cousin, Lakshman and George, gathering valuable points. However I came still closer to him after I became a Member of Parliament in 1970. The frequency of meetings grew after the formation of the Sri Lanka Committee for Solidarity with Palestine, when the journalists who launched this organization elected me as its President. Mr.Mervyn de Silva was one of the Patrons.”

Mervyn was recruited to Lake House by Esmond Wickremesinghe, the present PM’s father. In a heated exchange in Parliament in 1978 over the journal Lanka Guardian which my father had founded that year, Ranil Wickremesinghe and Anura Bandaranaike hurled at each other the accusation that Mervyn had been the “blue-eyed boy” of each of their fathers! They were both right, only at different times and in different spheres of endeavor—journalism in the former case, and politics, especially international politics, in the latter.

Of course Mervyn and the present PM’s mother Nalini did not have the ambivalent relationship that Esmond and Mervyn had. She was an ideological hardliner and cold warrior, and Mervyn as Editor Daily News and she as Director and the founder’s daughter, fought out the Cold War in Lake House, much to the bemused horror of her brother and Mervyn’s boss, the Chairman of Lake House, Ranjit Wijewardene, a cultured and charming man (whose classmate my uncle had been at St. Thomas’s and whose wife had been a student of my mother’s).

My mother taught Sunethra and Chandrika at St. Bridget’s Convent and clearly urged me from her hospital bed in 1999, after my father had died, to support Chandrika against Ranil at the Presidential election late that year because she “is not a dangerous person and wouldn’t intentionally harm anyone”.

I have never taken my political or intellectual cue from my parents but the older I get the more aware I am of the influences that shaped me and the heritage I carry. Where I am at is shaped by where I am coming from.

I have tried to be loyal to what I learned from President Premadasa by warning the UNP against precisely that erroneous path that Premadasa warned his party against and the consequences of which he rescued it from against all odds. It was this disastrous path he took his party away from. The UNP has since returned to it and is determined to stay on it, though it had, very recently, the chance to turn in the correct direction. I am not going to waste my time on attempting to rectify the UNP’s political choices which stem from the very mentality that Premadasa strove to liberate it from.

My positive experience with the UNP was episodic: the last year of President Jayewardene and the turbulent, progressive years of President Premadasa, and a few post-Premadasa years with his Segundo, Sirisena Cooray (the first to be double-crossed by Ranil Wickremesinghe who owes the latter much of his modest political achievement). Throughout the rest of my decades-long engagement with politics, my relationship with the UNP, especially in government, has been adversarial, as has that of my father (despite his friendly, respectful yet sharply critical association with President Jayewardene, of whom he was a longtime neighbor).

The relationship with the SLFP and the center-left is a thicker one. Of course I had rebelled against the SLFP administration of Sirimavo Bandaranaike, and the first time I was taken for questioning was in the mid-1970s, as a teenage high school student awaiting entrance to university and member of a revolutionary left group, Mitipahara, comprising of ex-JVP and ex-Communist Party elements, and of which Rohan Samarajiva and Asoka Pieris were also members as university students.

However, because of the milieu I came from, a milieu created primarily by my father, the SLFP and the larger center-left was for the most part seen as an ally, a rearguard, a friend—unlike the UNP, which was for the most part an enemy, or The Enemy (with Premadasa an exception for Mervyn, well before he became President).

Right now, I am in a somewhat complex situation because my heritage as it were, has split. The problem is not that the daughter of SWRD Bandaranaike has gone one way, into alliance with the UNP, while the sons of DA Rajapaksa, the cousins of my father’s friends George and Lakshman, have gone another. Clearly the anti-UNP, anti-imperialist banner is with the Rajapaksa sons and not the Bandaranaike daughters.

I have no dilemmas whatsoever in that department and am confirmed in my choices when I have my weekly telephone call from LA from Auntie Roma, daughter of a founder member of the SLFP and SWRD’s aristocratic Finance Minister Stanley de Zoysa and his private secretary in the 1956 administration. Her brusque rejection of the Western ambassadors’ apprehensions about a Rajapaksa return (“none of their business”) and her instinctive aversion to the UNP-TNA bloc, overcome any attachment to the official SLFP. Her loyalty is to the founding idea of the SLFP established by SWRD and her father and their friends (she has the signed copies of the founding draft and owns the table on which the document was signed), rather than to what the SLFP has now become. Stanley de Zoysa’s secretary-daughter’s clear, unambiguous identification is with Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and the new political formation, in which she sees the reincarnation of the original SLFP’s moderate nationalist and progressive anti-UNP project. She is delighted by its rapid electoral success.

So my problem is not there. I am happy that the new party (‘Pohottuwa’) was founded and indeed had suggested it publicly and privately in 2015, once resulting in a dispute at ex-President Rajapaksa’s temporary residence in Mirihana in August 2015 in the presence of the whole JO leadership, with Minister Susil Premajayanth, an intelligent man I rather like and have a positive view of. My position remains that which it did from, and in, 2015. Mine was a Leninist-Gramscian position based on Gramsci’s approving invocation of Lenin’s tersely dialectical advice to Italian Communists: “Separate yourselves from Turati and then form an alliance with him”. In short, split and ally; split from, and then ally with. I strongly felt that the populist Rajapaksa project should secede from the SLFP and launch a new formation, while reuniting with it not as a single or ‘unitary’ party but as federation or confederation i.e. a united front.

Today, that united front can either be in a Transitional Government (with the JO supporting a non-UNP dominated government or an SLFP government while remaining in Opposition), or in the Opposition. The SLFP need not organizationally unite with the JO under the leadership of Mahinda Rajapaksa if it chooses not to. It can remain a social democratic or liberal nationalist party of the moderate center, while the SLPP-JO remains progressive, patriotic and populist. But the SLFP must establish a relationship with Mahinda Rajapaksa and his 45% vote base, by recognizing him as the pre-eminent leader of the anti-UNP forces.

The longer the SLFP stays in this government with Ranil as PM, the more of its 13% vote share it loses. If it remains in this government it must be provisionally, and must alter the balance of forces in the government through the impending Cabinet reshuffle, wresting away the commanding heights of the system from the UNP.

The SLFP is facing electoral extinction just as and for the same reasons that the proud LSSP and CPSL did in 1977.The possible, probable, fade out of the blue banner which my father identified with more than with any other colour in the political spectrum, saddens me somewhat. 1956 was tale of two shawls: blue (SWRD) and ‘kurakkan’ maroon (DA Rajapaksa). Towards the end of her second Presidential term, Chandrika broke the Bandaranaike alliance with the Rajapaksas of the Ruhuna, by allying instead with Mangala, the son of defector to the UNP, Mahanama Samaraweera.In 2015 she followed it up by crossing the barricades and relocating the blue banner alongside the green. She literally returned to the UNP headquarters, which her father and Mahinda’s had left, firmly shutting the door behind them.

I am delighted at the success of the Pohottuwa. My problem lies with the fate of the SLFP. I cannot regard President Sirisena as I do the UNP, as an enemy. And I cannot but be saddened at the self-destruction of the SLFP. I wish to see the blue banner flying in its rightful place next to the maroon, on the opposite side of the barricades as the green, someday soon. In 1956, the maroon was the ally and adjunct of the blue, but this time around, in the 21st century, the roles will have to be reversed.

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

February 23, 2018, 11:03 pm

A fortnight of jiggery-pokery in politics has now led to big talk about a Cabinet reshuffle.

Can any shuffling of this set of politically crooked persons engaged in bad government bring anything good for the people? The two weeks of a power struggle within a hugely skewed team in government, and the pretense of an attempted power grab by the suddenly booming team of the continuing scoundrels in politics, and a government that could hardly bring any benefits to the people.

The proposed shuffle is a move by the President, who leads this pack of knaves, to show he is not out of the reigning knavery in this largely defeated democracy.

This pack has everything from hearts that cheat the people, diamonds that hoodwink the voters, spades that shovel the dirt of corruption, and clubs that beat the people to dirty profit, with kings, queens, and knaves or jacks of these four types. Of course, there are jokers too – those who believe the people are meant o be fooled.

What can this pack ever achieve, however much it is shuffled? In the three years since they were elected by the people, after the election of the President, they have hugely ignored the promise given to the people to fight corruption – which was the slogan of their victory, over the crooked of the past. In fact, what they did was kicking that pledge away from their stuff of governance.

Yes, there was an amendment to the Constitution, which broke the plans of the former Big Man to be in office for decades, like some of those governing knaves in Africa. The Presidency was given a shorter term. There are more signals being sent that the President does not really know the meaning of the changes he introduced, when the heat of victory was still pushing him into action. The achievements were wholly limited. The pledge to fight the clan of the earlier robbers was largely ignored.

The Greens in the pack – the UNPrincipled, UNParliamentary, UNProgressive etc – as one left-wing leaflet in the mid-1940s described them, were proved correct in full measure. The PM persuaded the President to appoint a Master Knave on crooked banking to head the Central Bank. And the Greens can hardly look clean after that.

Of course, they had loads of other dirt too, in how the National Carrier – SriLankan -was hugely mismanaged through crooked relations and dirty manipulations. They had their “Hoaxwagen” fraud hugely exposed, and their Finance Ministerial Knave did help manipulate the Bond Scam and also profited by way of millions in Perpetual Rent for his luxury penthouse, in a mastery of ignorance. And, we can certainly ask today whether success in the production of soap with Kohomba fragrance, was any qualification for a High Commissioner to the United Kingdom?

But the Blue Knavery, promoted by the Big Knave was also the stuff of the hugely crooked. The key knaves in that team won the election, but made the leap to the profits and perks of ministerial knavery. Several of them were in fact beaten by the voters, but crept into Parliament through a dirty twist to the National List. They were the rouges of the past, joining a new team of pretended Good Governance, to ensure the roguery of the past would continue.

They were doing a Dance of the Blue Knaves, in a mock performance to help the Big Knave, but their dance brought no results.

But their knavery was displayed from the start in nepotism – of brotherly appointments, the deliberate delays in probes into the crooks of the knaves of yesterday, the protection of big knaves of the past, the manipulations to prevent arrests and the call to the court of the uniformed knaves of the past. Their striking knavery was to never let the probes into the murder of Lasantha Wickremetunga, and the missing Prageeth Eknaligoda to continue as they should have.

The new performance they did after the recent election, to make a leap into the camp of the Crooks of the Past, whose flower bud was blooming, was also a dance that failed to deliver.

This is the mockery that politics and governance are facing today. The shuffling of this pack of knaves, crooks, cheats, fraudsters, and political scoundrels can bring no benefit to the people and the country. The Big Knaves can make noises about a coming re-shuffle. They are now divided in the politics of the crooked, but united in the cheating of the people.

The re-shuffle may come, and the knavery would continue.

NIRANTHA EDIRISINGHE Courtesy The Island

February 23, 2018, 10:06 pm

So Mahinda Rajapaksa [MR] is back with a bang, a huge bang, which has left the government with no clue whatsoever of what actually hit them. After he lost the 2015 election, many a cat call emerged asking him to retire from politics, suggesting that his days were over. But I firmly believed that MR had the right to remain in politics as he obtained 5.8 million of votes, just 4 lakhs of votes short of his opponent. In Asia, politicians cannot retire on their own. They can only be retired by the people. When people decide that enough is enough, the politicians lose the crowd support and will find themselves lost in their own backyard. MR has continued to remain as the most popular leader in the country, and the only people who wanted him to retire were the politicians who feared him. What makes it special is that more than 70% of Sinhala people had voted for him in the 2015 Presidential election, which is why he cannot retire. The Sinhala people are the majority of this country, and no one in his proper senses can argue that MR was rejected in that election and I would say he was only “Defeated” not “Rejected.” The word “Rejection” can be used in the 2010 Presidential election, as MR had beaten his opponent by a massive number of votes which counted to 18 lakhs. The scenario was completely different in 2015 where he got thumping majorities in the South and won most of the electorates in the country, so the endorsement of the majority of the Sinhala people goes a long way and he cannot back away or mind his own business; thus betraying all those Sinhala voters who trusted him.

Most Tamil and Muslim people believe that MR is a Sinhala leader. What they have meekly forgotten is that he ended a terrorist war that crippled the country for over 30 years, and gave us all citizens the right to live and a freedom of movement that no other country can boast about. Had he arranged for the Provincial Council election in the North just after he ended the war, he could have mustered at least a simple majority and continue ruling that region with an iron grip, using the Tamil politicians who were on his side. The TNA wouldn’t have had much clout as they were endorsing whatever the LTTE did, and they lacked the ability to regroup as a political force moving away from the LTTE ideology. But MR didn’t play politics then, instead he decided to uplift the basic needs and living conditions of the Tamil people. He launched a massive development drive in the North and resettled the IDPs in a very short period of time. Once he completed the development, all what the TNA had to do was to walk in to their home base as free politicians. This backfired on MR, and the TNA didn’t even thank him for creating the groundwork and freedom to be there but continued with the ideologies of LTTE.

People say that MR won the war but didn’t bring the desired peace for the Tamil people through reconciliation. To be fair by him, there was no moderate Tamil leader in sight to talk or reconcile. There was no way he could change the mindset of the old guard, namely the aging politicians of TNA.This is why we cannot expect anything fruitful to happen even in the near future, as the Tamil politicians’ mindset has not changed at all. Listening to the TNA leader R. Sampanthan’s speech in Parliament this week, one would feel that he had suddenly woken from a deep slumber. Here is the man who officially announced the LTTE decision asking the North & East people to refrain from exercising their franchise in 2005. The same man boasted that the LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamil community at that time. Not to be outdone of his racial comments, he went so far to warn the Sri Lankan government to be prepared with thousands of body bags for the SL soldiers, if they dare try to enter Kilinochchi in early 2009. Now he dares to say that the “Pohottuwa” is blooming to create Eelam, completely forgetting that he and the TNA’s actions severely dented the relationship of the Sinhala and Tamil people as a whole. For 70 years since independence, the Tamil politicians led their people to disaster creating disharmony, and they could go on for the next 70 years with no hope of a solution if their present trend of attitude continues. Mr. Sampanthan must realize, even at this late stage of his life, that the only way out is to come down on their stance on Federalism and their concept of self-determination.

No way will the Sinhala majority allow removing the Unitary status of this country, and there is no other leader in this country capable, other than MR, to negotiate a suitable deal in this regard. The government too must realize that MR is the key and cannot be kept aside in decision making, and it is only MR who can convince the Sinhala people of any negotiable solution as the Local Council election results have given the people’s verdict in black and white. They are prepared to trust in MR and he is perhaps the only person the Sinhala people wish to listen to. With great power comes great responsibility and MR who has that power is a seasoned politician to understand that reality.Like any other human being, MR made glaring mistakes in his last years of governance, yet it is beyond doubt that it was MR who was responsible for the greatest and the most rapid development the country has ever seen after we gained independence.

The present government that ousted MR sighting his government was corrupted to the core has so far virtually done nothing to change the pattern of governance. We now have a coalition government which has no clue of what “Good governance” means, allows daylight robberies to take place under their own noses, such as the Central Bank bond scam. Development has come to a standstill, the economy is in ruins, and the only thing this government wished to achieve in the last 3 years was to deprive MR of a “Come back”. The general public has fallen from the frying pan to the fire with not a day passing without a public protest of some sort. Both the UNP and SLFP are “honeymooning”, blind to the fact that people go through severe hardships due to rising prices of all essentials. Now the people are once again trying to find solace through MR, the only other option available in the horizon. We don’t have an official Opposition in Parliament now, as the JVP and TNA are pussyfooting with the government. The joint opposition may not be the “Angels of Heaven” as one is to expect, but their strong presence with MR as their leader is the only available force which keeps the government in check at present. Whether we like it or not, if the present trend continues, MR will never be allowed to retire by the people as they would find him as the only savior to pull our country out of this mess. The present government is digging their own grave by not seriously solving the issues of the country, but have been only working overtime for the last 3 years to deprive MR’s resurgence; thus failing pathetically in everything what they do and the February 10 election says it all.

We all must realize the true fact that there have been no good governments in our country after 1977. Every government was corrupt but they were shielded by the presence of terrorism until 2009. Though MR gave our country the greatest development ever, the new freedom he created through the absence of terrorism, and the newly formed social media exposed the corruption that prevailed, boomeranged on MR which paved the way to his downfall. Corruption cannot be annihilated. It is a myth in the present world. Corruption can only be controlled, but that too to a very limited extent in the present day world. Not many will agree with me, but whether we like it or not our voters will have no option but to create a government that would develop the country with corruption in existence.

This is the bitter truth we will have to face, and MR has a lot to prove if he wants to be back in the saddle. He cannot be President again but a “Leader” necessarily need not be a “Captain” at all times. He should be able to humbly accept the mistakes he had done in the past which cost him dearly, and he should realize that through his downfall, the entire country is in a mess at present, and he is partially responsible. He has a huge vote base and the majority of the Sinhala people depend on him to restore the lost prestige of our nation as a whole; and to achieve that, he has to regain the trust of the right thinking people by promising not to repeat the mistakes he did in his former tenure.

NIRANTHA EDIRISINGHE

Editorial Courtesy The Island

February 23, 2018, 10:01 pm
Sri Lanka’s latest global Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) ranking proves the present government has failed to make good on its main election promise. All anti-corruption circuses we were treated to during the last three years have been in vain in spite of yahapalana politicians’ rhetoric.

Sri Lanka has been ranked 91st out of 180 countries on the CPI index. It has moved up four slots but its score (38) hasn’t improved at all, compared to 2014; it is well below the average score of 44 for the Asia-Pacific region. In other words, the country remains almost where it was under the previous government in spite of the present administration’s promises to eliminate corruption. What has gone wrong?

Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), the local arm of Transparency International, which prepares the CPI, has identified several factors which prevent this country from achieving progress in its fight against corruption. It says people continue to be troubled by corruption in the public sector despite the strengthening of anti-corruption agencies through constitutional means. This points to the failure on the part of the incumbent government to ensure the smooth functioning of anti-corruption mechanisms which are already in place. TISL has attributed this situation to a lack of bureaucratic and political will as evident from the delay in the implementation of the legal reforms such as the National Audit Bill, which has been put on hold indefinitely.

One cannot but agree with TISL that the aforesaid factors have taken a heavy toll on the present government’s anti-corruption campaign. It may also be argued that the public perception of corruption, as reflected in the country’s CPI score, stems from a sense of hopelessness prevalent among the people owing to the hypocrisy of the anti-corruption crusaders who themselves have been found to be utterly corrupt.

The present-day rulers campaigned on an anti-corruption platform in 2015 to engineer a regime change and, in the process, raised public expectations beyond measure. People, who were highly taken up with what was made out to be an all-out war on corruption, expected quick results. They wanted the former rulers, accused of having stolen public funds and carried out various mega rackets at the expense of the country to be brought to justice immediately. After all, the yahapalana leaders said they possessed irrefutable evidence and all crooks would be arrested and arraigned on charges of corruption overnight. But, instead of making arrests and taking action to curb widespread waste and corruption, the new government committed the biggest ever financial crime within weeks of its formation.

Despicable attempts by the government leaders to cover up the mega bond scams left the public disillusioned and resentful. People were awaiting an opportunity to give vent to their pent-up anger. The government kept on postponing elections but had to conduct the local government polls eventually. This may explain why it suffered a debilitating electoral setback a fortnight ago.

What is really disconcerting about the present situation is that people have apparently taken corruption for granted after mistakenly pinning their hopes on the yahapalana leaders who undertook to create a clean Sri Lanka. Corruption was the main reason why most people voted against previous government in 2015. But, three years on, they have overwhelmingly backed the same leaders of that administration. It cannot be thought by any stretch of the imagination that people have done so because they think the allegations of corruptions against those leaders are false. In this small country, people know politicians for what they really are and don’t get so easily duped. A plausible explanation of the landslide victory of the former rulers may be that, given a choice between several groups of equally corrupt politicians, people did not take corruption into consideration when they voted; they considered other factors such as efficiency in deciding whom to vote for. This kind of attitude, smacking of listless unconcern, nourishes corruption. There lies the rub.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ තරුණ සහ රැඩිකල් මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් විසින් පසුගිය දිනකදී සිරිකොත පැවති රැස්වීමකදි බහුතරයේ කැමැත්ත මත සම්මත කරගනු ලැබුවේ මසක් ඇතුලත පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වය ඇතුළු ඉහළ තනතුරු රැසක් ස්ථිර වශයෙන් වෙනස් විය යුතු අතර එසේ සිදු නොවුනහොත් සිය ආසන සංවිධායක ධුර වලින් සියළු දෙනා ඉල්ලා අස් වන බවටයි.

කෙසේවෙතත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වය සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාගේ යටතට පත්කළ යුතුයැයි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨයෝ පිරිසක් කල යෝජනාවේදී රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අහක බලාගත් අතර පිළිතුරු දීමෙන්ද වැලකී සිටියා.

පසුදා නැවතත් රැස්වූ කමිටුව ඉදිරිපිටට සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා කැඳවාගෙන ආ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා හට කමිටුව ඉදිරිපිට අදහස් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දෙනලදී. එහිදී සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා තමා පක්ෂයේ භාරකත්වය නොගන්නා බවත් ඊට සුදුසු පුද්ගලයා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා බවත් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියා.

එමෙන්ම ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලඟට සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා සහ කරූ ජයසූරිය මහතාද විටින් විට කැඳවාගෙන එමින් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ ඔවුන් අගමැතිකම භාර නොගන්නා බවයි.

එමෙන්ම රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා වෙනුවෙන් මාධ්‍ය ඇමතීමේ වගකීම සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහතාට පවරන ලදී.

පක්ෂයතුල රැඩිකල් කණ්ඩායමටද අමාත්‍ය දුර සහ විවිධ විෂය පථයන් ලබාදීමට අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය වරයා මේ වන විට සැලසුම් සකස් කර තිබෙනවා. සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස, හරින් ප්‍රනාන්දු, හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා, නවීන් දිසානායක, බුද්ධික පතිරණ, සුජීව සේරසිංහ, වසන්ත සේනානායක ,රන්ජන් රාමනායක ඇතුළු පිරිසකට වැඩි වාසි සැලසෙන අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල සංශෝධනයක් කිරීමටද අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය වරයා පොරොන්දු වී තිබෙනවා. එම වරප්‍රසාදයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය වරයා පෙරලා බලාපොරොත්තුවන්නේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයට විරුද්ධව නැඟී සිටීමෙන් වලකින බවට පොරොන්දුවයි.

රනිල් විරමසිංහ මහතා පක්ෂ නායකත්වය තමාගේ ලග තබාගනිමින් සෙසු තනතුරු වෙනස්කිරීමට හා එයට විරුද්ද නොවීමට ඒ ජා ප රැඩිකල කණ්ඩායම මේ වනවිට හරවාගෙන අවසන්.

ගෙවුණු සතියේදී ද රැඩිකල් කණ්ඩායම විසින් මසක කාලයක් තුල පක්ෂ නායකත්වය වෙනස් නොවුන හොත් තමන් ඉල්ලා අස් වන බව සඳහන් කරමින් කභීර් හෂීම් මහලේකම් වරයාට යැවීමට නියමිතව තිබු ලිපිය තවමත් මහලේකම් වරයාගේ අතට පත්වී නොමැති බවද අප වාර්තාකරු සඳහන් කරනවා.

කෙසේවෙතත් සුපුරුදු පරිදි එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වයට එරෙහිව ආ බලවේග නැවත වතාවක් පරාජය කිරීමට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාට හැකි වී ඇති බව දේශපාලන විචාරකයින් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටිනවා.

එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ සිරිකොත රැස්වීමේදී තීරණය කල රැඩිකල් වෙනසක් බලාපොරොත්තු වූ තරුණ නායකයින්ගේ ඉල්ලා අස් වීමේ ලිපිය සෙසු පුද්ගලයින් මතක් කිරීම පවා අදවනවිට ඔවුන් අප්‍රිය කොට සලකනවා

How aware are the Governments of the US & India that their two envoys are going overboard with or without their knowledge in the interference into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka? An unprecedented number of Indians have been roped into America’s diplomatic service and at times we can but wonder whether they are serving the US interests or a greater Indian hegemony that India is now eyeing believing it is on par with the likes of China & West. However, the manner that the US & Indian envoys have been blatantly violating every protocol in the manner they behave and issue statements is appalling. It is nothing that the public of Sri Lanka like or appreciate and it only embarrasses and exposes the spinelessness of the government in power as well as reduce any respect for both US & India in the eyes of the citizens.

The first visit of every foreign delegation that arrives in Sri Lanka is to the North/East & to see only Tamil or Muslim politicians. This is becoming a real joke to observe. LTTE killed all communities. Military offensive was against LTTE terrorists not minorities. Majority of victims were Sinhalese. Why have Sinhalese & Muslims been left out of any post-conflict dividends? Why is India & US blatantly violating all protocols of diplomatic behavior?

The Vienna Convention of 1961 provides a clear framework for diplomats in carrying out their duties.

Article 41 clearly outlines how a diplomat should deal with internal matters of the ‘receiving country’.

1. ‘not to interfere in the internal affairs of the State’
2. ‘premises of the mission must not be used in any manner incompatible with the functions of the mission’

How does this correspond to the manner the US envoy declared it would assist in helping Sri Lanka draft a new constitution & partner with its military?

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=149903

Atul Keshap in 2014 (before becoming US envoy) in an interview declared It’s been five years since the war ended and I haven’t seen any meaningful discussion or movement along the lines of a meaningful negotiation of the very tricky political issues related to federalism.” http://www.asiantribune.com/node/86881

The US through USAID using local NGOs like CPA have been running workshops to promote federalism throughout Sri Lanka since 2005 and these are the very players tasked to draft the new constitution http://asiantribune.com/node/91202

The US envoy even uses his official message statement to interfere in internal affairs We support efforts to promote needed constitutional reform” (July 2016 – https://lk.usembassy.gov/u-s-sri-lankan-relations-historic-high-july-4th-message-u-s-ambassador-atul-keshap/)

In August 2017 following the arrival of a US Congressional delegation the US envoy declared Across the three branches of the U.S. Government, we will continue to support Sri Lanka’s commitments to constitutional reform, reconciliation, justice, and economic prosperity.” http://colombogazette.com/2017/08/11/us-congress-backs-political-reforms-in-sri-lanka/ all these are violations of the Vienna Convention.

In September 2017 the US envoy held meetings with the leader of the GTF whose organization was proscribed as a LTTE front under UNSC Resolution 1373 in April 2014 & removed in 2015 by the present government on the flimsy excuse of reconciliation. This is what US envoy tweeted following the meeting Pleased that Father Emmanuel is striving to secure lasting equality, peace, justice, & happiness for all in a united, reconciled #SriLanka,”

http://www.asianmirror.lk/news/item/25416-tamil-diaspora-leader-fr-emmanuel-visits-sri-lanka-meets-with-us-ambassador-keshap-in-colombo

On 13 February 2018 both US & Indian envoys called on the President & Prime Minister of Sri Lanka. Hectic discussions to salvage the outcome of the Local Government election sent shockwaves to both countries that helped steer regime change. The US supporting the international propaganda campaign against the previous government through the UNHRC Resolutions plus diplomatic demarches & influence over local NGOs & media while the Indian exerted its might tapping its trigger points in Tamil vote base, Estate Tamil vote base, politicians, political parties, & ‘academics’ on Indian payroll.

In 2013 the Swarnahansa Foundation sent a letter of complaint to the US envoy against a US diplomat who had visited Navatkuli to question the Sinhalese who returned to their original homes. This was the same diplomat who was exposed by the Sunday Leader newspaper for links with Sun Master of the TNA to whom an unrehabiliated LTTE cadre had been supplying signed but blank UNHRC submission forms to submit to the OHCHR & OISL investigators.

USAID ‘Election Support through Voter Education Program’ in July 2014 would have helped the regime change that took place in January 2015. Rs.190m had been allocated for this program to be rolled out through NGOs. It fitted well into Ranil’s one-month grooming stunt in the US the same month. The Sunday Times editorial on February 8 2015 noted: It is an open secret that the former US Ambassador in Colombo reached out to the Opposition, especially the then Leader of the Opposition [Wickremesinghe]” and moved away from engagement with former President Rajapakse. The 100 day program was a clear giveaway of US sponsored regime change.

In 2016 some 50 research assistants from the Sri Lanka Parliament was sent for training to a workshop organized by USAID for which Rs.73m had been allocated – what does this all eventually add up to?

The setting up of the YouLead youth program echoes other initiatives that were part & parcel of US destabilizing operations – same USAID funded Cuban musicians in a covert program set to create a network of youth to be their ‘change’ operatives. ZunZuneo was Cuba’s Spring. In Ukraine, USAID partnered with Omidyar Network to kickstart the Kiev Spring. USAID has also ‘trained’ 100,000 Brazilian police in 1960s and many died as a result, USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy began pouring funds into opposition groups opposed to Haiti’s Aristide in 1990s, USAID donated $35m for mass sterilization program in Peru in 1990s, in 2006, the Washington Post revealed a covert $2 million USAID helped the moderate” Palestinian Authority’s election bid against Hamas. Is it no surprise that Russia closed down USAID in 2012?

Knowing the nature of USAID, some of its operations in Sri Lanka should raise more than a few eyebrows when $60m has been allocated for 2015-16 alone especially when the present USAID head was formerly working in Kosovo the newly created independent state. Former Times of Ceylon journalist Hassina Leelarathna revealed that USAID had allocated $3.4m towards UNP victory in August 2015. http://srilankaexpress.org/usaid-3-4m-support-unp-2015-elections Rajapakse himself is on record to say the US had spent $650m to get rid of him.

In August 2017 the trade unions were up in arms against the intention of the Ministry of International Trade & Development Strategies to work with USAID to advise on changing Sri Lanka’s labor laws & worker rights. In US many a worker commit suicide on account of their hire & fire schemes when after arriving to work they discover they have no job!

In a crass interference in internal affairs the US envoys tweet is self-explanatory “Conveyed warmest #Pongal greetings to Chief Minister Wigneswaran and had a good discussion on Northern Province issues as well as the need for #SriLanka to fulfill its Geneva commitments to ensure lasting national reconciliation and a brighter future for all its citizens,” Mr Keshap tweeted.

http://www.tamilguardian.com/content/us-ambassador-calls-sri-lanka-fulfill-un-resolution-thai-pongal

The interference of foreign envoys brings to mind the 1991 expulsion of the British High Commissioner David Gladstone by the Premadasa Govt for interfering in local elections.

The role of India in destabilizing Sri Lanka is nothing new and a factor Sri Lanka’s Governments have taken too lightly. Its scope of influence has only enlarged making India exert influence in virtually all spheres of life in Sri Lanka. Ajit Doval is said to have been the main driver of India’s role in the recent regime change.

India suffers a misconception that Sri Lanka can be used as India’s punching bag as and when it pleases. We have not forgotten or will forgive India for the 30 year suffering caused to the citizens by helping and fanning LTTE terrorism allowing Tamil Nadu to be used as a logistics hub by LTTE over the years and allowing Tamil Nadu politicians to exert unwarranted calls for a Tamil Homeland in Sri Lanka when ideally it should be in Tamil Nadu where 98% of world Tamils reside.

India has been exerting influence through its various deputy missions in Jaffna, Kandy, Hambantota culturally, economically, socially and even diplomatically. The pressure exerted to sign the ETCA allowing Indians to live, work & set up businesses in Sri Lanka is detrimental to the demography of the country which Sri Lanka’s politicians & advisors seem not to have the brains to realize. Imagine a country with over 1.3billion population being allowed to arrive live, work in Sri Lanka with a population of just over 20million? Already we are being dumped with everything India wants to throw away. Sri Lanka has become the garbage yard for India. India has exerted control over the government in many ways – Sampoor was simply a farce, Mattala airport was to turn it into an Indian airbase, Trinco oil tanks was merely to turn a very strategic area into an Indian naval base, Colombo port was also to stifle Sri Lanka’s development. Do our leaders have an iota of brains to understand that a fully functional Colombo & Hambantota Port would reduce profits for Chennai & Singapore ports, isn’t this why they want to have stakes in Sri Lanka so that they can mitigate and reduce Sri Lanka’s capacity to develop on its own?

How is it that large caches of arms & ammunition are suddenly appearing after the regime change culminating in an entire bus getting burnt following a grenade/bomb explosion a few days back resulting in armed forces personnel getting injured too. LTTE cadres are even being recruited to the Sri Lankan Army! Let’s not forget that the Tamil Nadu Liberation Army continues to exist in India.

The manner that India allows its fishermen to blatantly violate the international territorial boundaries using banned bottom trawlers thus stealing Sri Lanka’s fish and destroying Sri Lanka’s maritime areas goes unnoticed under the façade of diplomatic pressure exerted on Sri Lanka using Tamil Nadu filmstar politicians. It has become a joke to see Indian fishermen getting arrested enjoying free food and then being released while they make off with the profits and Sri Lanka is forced to enter discussions to come to an agreement where the violations of India are completely ignored. It is no different to the manner India is now interfering & meddling into the internal affairs of both Nepal & Maldives.

In fact none of India’s neighbors can boast to have any good relations with India and whose fault is it? India as a result of its own self-elevated superior attitude, has created for itself diplomatic debacles one after the other in all of the South Asian countries that surround it. Instead of being jealous of development of other countries and trying to stifle them is it not better for India to improve India’s own poverty & other ills first? How can India complain of other countries interfering into India’s internal affairs when India is doing exactly that in other countries!

The US & India may have brought this government to power & are trying their best to keep this government in power but the local government elections together with the postal votes reveal that not only the general public have lost confidence in the government but the public sector has too & the results are a clear denunciation of the government & the interferences by US, West & India into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.

The manner that US & India behave is no different to a child throwing tantrums just because he cannot get the candy he wants.

Shenali D Waduge

Ratanapala

22 Feb 2018

Local Government elections have come and gone. The Sammuthiwadi Government tried their level best to postpone these elections but to no avail. It was like postponing death, but the day did come and it was as expected a devastating blow to the ‘pretenders’ of Yahapalanaya. The day of reckoning has to come, it has come and it is on them now!

Quite regardless of the outcome, quite regardless of the pre-election vituperative and the vitriolic utterings (which are at most times just a side show for the benefit of the public,) it behooves the President of this unfortunate nation to address the citizens and thank them for a well conducted election and on the choices they have made in the name of democracy and good governance. After all it is people’s verdict and a testimony on 3 years of Yahapalana conduct.

He should be a level above others and show by example he could be above politics at least for a moment. This was what he promised when taking over as President – that he would be different, that he would be an adjudicator and not a partisan. Alas it was not to be. It is now over 12 days since the elections, the President of the country is yet to face the nation and at least thank the miniscule who had faith on him and voted in his favor. This he has not done so far. This clearly shows the character of the man who we now call our President.

To understand this unbecoming conduct of a man, one has to look at who Sirisena is?

Maithripala Sirisena never aspired to be President. He never dreamt that he would one day be President of Sri Lanka. His only dream was becoming the Prime Minister and joining the ranks of Ratnasiri Wickramanayake and D M Jayaratne and fading into political oblivion. He is a ‘luck by chance’ President. According to Tissa Attanayake the former Secretary of the UNP, part of the coup to dislodge Mahinda Rajapakse was hatched at the Naga Vihara in Kotte with Maduluwave Sobhitha as President of Saadharana Samajayak in the lead. At one time this deluded priest too was a contender for President among others that included Shirani Bandaranayake former Chief Justice and Karu Jayasuriya instead of Ranil – who was discarded as ‘un-marketable’. At this time, they apparently had prior knowledge that Sirisena would be joining them with 35 other SLFPers to help the overthrow Mahinda Rajapakse. He was to be given the post of the Prime Minister for this favor – a position he wanted but denied in favor of aging and do nothing DM Jayaratne. When it became apparent that the UNP – who was until then insisting that a UNPer should be contesting for President –  had no takers nor backers that Sirisena became the ‘luck by chance’ contender and in the ensuing melee’ the President of Sri Lanka. It is a sordid tale of treachery and how history repeats bringing unsavory characters to leadership of nations!

Sirisena talks of Sammuthiyawa as if he is part and parcel of the whole Sammuthiyawa Concept. It is not true. The bogus Sammuthiyawa – consensus politics also termed Lichchavi Palanaya was plotted in the US/ UK and that was where Ranil was coached on this ploy as a means to topple the Mahinda Administration, taking the sensibilities of Sri Lankans, majority of whom are Buddhists and their culture into account.  Sirisena is only an ungrateful, unpatriotic, unprincipled and uncouth person who was tapped on the shoulder by Robber Queen of Horagolla ( a very apt Sinhala name _ Horagolla means – The Thieving Lot ) Chandrika Kumaranatunge  (herself a decendant of a spy who betrayed Sri Lanka and became rich) to betray his party and colleagues at the right time. The disinformation campaign aided by Mahinda’s authoritative style of government and the votes of Racist Tamils together with Jihadist Muslims helped topple Mahinda Rajapakse administration.

Sirisena simply does not have what it takes to make a leader having being a subservient follower and not a leader all his life. He does not have a political ideology he can call his own. All he has is a hotch-potch of ideologies, most of them contradicting each other – part Marxist, part capitalist, part liberal and probably parts he picks up from the latest gossip columns in Newspapers. All he has is unmitigated and unquenchable ambition, greed and a certain amount of cunning – which are his readily seen political attributes or what he has picked up doing backdoor dirty politics over the years. He came to know of the ruse – Sammuthiwadaya – Consensus Politics only after betraying his party and colleagues in November 2014. Even though today after 3 years in office he is trying hard to portray as a leader his whole demeanor and actions belie his real nature and character.

The suit never fits, though he has tried different attires at different times and at different occasions. He has tried local and foreign attires, suits of different colors and even padding to straighten his ever sagging back without success. It is the same with his work, approach towards politics.  Unguarded utterings full of vituperative, anger and sheer hatred – qualities, all of which are the very antitheses of his name – Maithree, has prompted his former boss Mahinda Rajapakse to exclaim Is he the same Maithree we knew before”?

Even as he was being made up as the President of Sri Lanka, his political future was doomed. In the first place, he takes up his new position under obligation to the UNP, which had serially failed in finding a leader who could outdo the opposition. Even though he tries to imagine that 6.2 Million voted for him personally in Jan 2015, that is not true. It was simply an anti- Mahinda vote –  the deciding vote coming from Racist Tamil and Jihadi Muslim votes. These are all block votes that reflect the political positions their leaders take to further their political objectives – nothing more. Among these voters there is no democracy. For the Racist Tamils the times have not changed even though Prabhakaran is dead! For the Jihadist the times have not changed even though Bin Laden is dead! Their ideologies continue and their acolytes – the TNA and Jihadist parties the Muslim Congress and other variants continue their expansionist policies to bring Sri Lanka under their domination, physically – acquiring territory, demographically by population increase and financially by dominating economic interests and strategic economy centers.

The fall of Mahinda Administration was brought about by a severe disinformation and regime change project run from the US as well as from India. Ranil was simply their acolyte. This was aided by Mahinda Rajapakse’s arrogance and foolhardy acts that followed the 2010 elections and those of his sons. Although there are still millions that throng around him out of gratitude, he has tainted his record of going into history unblemished as one of the great leaders in Sri Lanka’s history who managed to unify the country.

Sirisena has been used as a cat’s paw to cover up many misdeeds of the Yahapalana fiasco. As soon as Yahapalana Admin came into being they did not waste any time. They knew that there was no money coming from their erstwhile backers the Christian West or from India. This is why they set up the Central Bank Bond Scam and all that followed later. It is no secret now that Sirisena helped cover up the Central Bank Bond Scam that took place less than seven weeks into his administration. It is now apparent that Sirisena was ‘used’ in the appointment of Arjuna Mahendran as the Governor of the Central Bank. Sirisena carry the ultimate responsibility of appointing a foreign national to the post Governor of the Central Bank post. He showed his gratitude to Ranil by dissolving the parliament in June 2015 and preventing the DEW Gunasekara COPE Committee report over the first Bond Scam that took place on 27 Feb 2015 being tabled in Parliament. This led to a series of Bond Scams culminating in an even bigger scam on 29th and 31st of March 2016, the Central Bank still under the stewardship of Arjuna Mahendran and his son-in-law Arjuna Aloysius performing as a Primary Dealer. He is the President of Sri Lanka and the Commander in Chief. He has no business to abdicate responsibility feigning ignorance or coming to know of these crimes only through the newspapers. So many other financial crimes have taken place during his current tenure as President. These include – Sri Lankan Airbus deals, Norochcholai Coal Deals, Cental Highway deals among many others.

Now Sirisena has to carry the can no matter what for having wilfully helped the perpetrators of the Bond Scam in its execution as well as in the cover-up that followed. Now like the proverbial cat that crapped on a slab of rock, he is licking crap doing his level best to cleanup his soiled skin! He too as the head of the Cabinet is responsible for other financial misdeeds of his administration.

Just as much as Sarath Fonseka is only a political non-entity today, Sirisena too will don the same shoes when he is out of power for he has no popular power base. Those who are crowding around him singing hosannas are the same who sang similarly around Mahinda Rajapakse a few years ago. They are only around him for the perks that they can get using his position as the President. They will dessert him just as same as how they left Mahinda, soon after he was out of power. However, unlike Mahinda, it would be expecting too much to think of a future political base for Sirisena in a post-Sirisena era!

Sirisena does not have what it takes to be a national leader let alone a statesman. Time and time again he has proved himself to be a conniving sly fox, nothing else. If he has even an ounce of decency left he should apologize to the nation and resign his post as President, for the harm he has brought on the nation of Sri Lanka since his coming into power.

Patriotic people of Sri Lanka realized their mistake on 9 Jan 2015, but had to wait till 10 Feb 2018 to prove their point. In between what happened was sheer political ignominy!

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

President Maithripala Sirisena says he decided to establish National Economic Council to strengthen the national economy by formalizing the economic management in the country.

He said that the objectives of NEC are to increase the export income and develop the local industry.

 He pointed out there is a need for a stronger program for the development of the agriculture.  ( like Dudley??or for Dudley ?)

The National Economic Council aims at fulfilling the government’s responsibility for the development of industries”, he said.

He stated that the National Economic Council was established after the discussions with the representatives of World Bank, International Monetary Fund, local and international economic specialists and also Sri Lankan specialists, working abroad.

President Sirisena emphasized that the government will not sign any free trade agreement which will bring injustice or challenge to the local industries and entrepreneurs. ( ETCA ?)

He said some groups that are not related to the business sector are making the business community scared by giving them false information.

The government is getting into the free trade agreements with foreign countries only by protecting local industries,” he said ( humbug !)

.The President pointed out that the state patronage for the development of local industries was not sufficiently done in the past. He said the government will implement a new program within next few months to encourage and guide small and medium scale entrepreneurs.

Government is only talking about agriculture and livestock etc .It seems that concept of BLUE ECONOMY based on harnessing vast resources in the ocean surrounding our country is neglected ?

As an example emerging concept of the Blue Economy has been embraced by the Government of Seychelles as a mechanism to realise sustainable economic development based ,around an ocean-based economy.

  Seychelles intention is to implement the Blue Economy concept at the national level as a framework to foster an integrated approach for sustainable development programmes. The critical gap however, is the mechanism for its implementation at the national level. Limited, if any, practical information is currently available to countries, notably small states, wishing to implement these concepts.

This is predominately so, as information that does exist focuses primarily on land-based economic development or has a strong focus on conservation rather than on the sustainable use of the investment in an ocean-based economy for national benefit.

( Rice ,Live stock only ??? )

This roadmap will necessarily require the definition of short, medium and long-term actions across a broad range of sectors and will also require fundamental changes to the traditional institutional arrangements that exist to support  management of marine sectors and resources in Sri Lanka  

A coordinated, whole of Government approach will be a necessary condition for successful implementation of the Blue Economy.

Recent changes in the attitude of Sri Lankan Government should establish a dedicated agency to oversee completion and implementation for the Blue Economy Roadmap. 

However, while Sri Lanka  has existing capacity for some key sectors of the Blue Economy (e.g. fisheries) it lacks the overarching policy and strategic expertise required to make this transition effectively.

As such, the Government of Sri Lanka should seek the assistance of the Commonwealth Secretariat and the World Bank with the provision of a long-term in-country technical expert to assist the Government complete this transition effectively.In addition, up to two additional technical experts may be required on a short-term basis (6 months) to undertake specific technical activities that are expected to arise as the project progresses.

Goal

The project aims to assist the Government of Sri Lanka in developing and implementing a National Blue Economy Roadmap, the purpose being to establish the broad direction for future investment in and development of a sustainable ocean-based economy in our country.

The purpose of the specific request for long-term (and shorter-term) technical adviser(s), is to assist the Government of  Sri Lanka  to review, validate and implement the Roadmap and more importantly, to support Sri Lanka  in its transition to a more integrated ocean-based economy.

Question is whether newly appointed Technocrats have any idea about the Blue Economy ?

As an example a recent visit by Japanese Delegation initiated by the Prime Ministry’s office consisting private companies have expressed willingness, to develop  Fishery

Unfortunately some advisors in the PM’s office is only promoting implementation of   Ice making Plants on Land to conserve fish caught in the deep ocean.

What our so called experts have failed to understand is that 70% of the fish brought on shore is rotten because Sri Lanka has not developed a Mother Vessel Concept  to collect fish as soon as they are caught ,preserve them until they reach the shore .

Fishermen using Multiday fishing Vessels go to Ocean carrying few tons of Ice blocks to preserve fish .By the time they return after an almost three weeks, ice is melted and fish is not even good for making Dry Fish !

Almost all big fish you find in the market is not good for Human Consumption

When this delegation was taken to Dikovita Harbour ( a grandiose western style harbour facility built with foreign funding ) during wee hours of the day by my team ,they were aghast and disgusted to note that the fish unloaded in the morning by fishermen is not suitable for Human Consumption !

One polite young Japanese Lady murmured to us and asked Is this fish for dogs or for making chicken feed ?”

I took the liberty of calling PMs’ office and explained that installation of Hybrid Ice Making plants of Japanese Technology on land is not what we need.

We need MOTHER VESSELS to be anchored in the Ocean with Seawater Ice making Plants to collect them rather than waiting for three weeks

Mother vessels are Stationery Self sustained ISLANDS in the ocean which  can not only provide Ice, but Fuel  and .Emergency Assistance  to multy-day fishing vessels of 40 to 55 feet which hardly have Ice Making Plants on Board  ( They do ot even have generators on board but use batteries for night lights !)

Impact

The successful and sustainable implementation of the Blue Economy Strategic Roadmap will ultimately deliver the following outcomes:

• Ocean ecosystems and biodiversity recovered and protected.
• Increased investment in existing ocean-based economic sectors.
• New data and knowledge on Sri Lankan ocean space available.
• Marine-based aquaculture sector and marine biotechnology products and processes developed and implemented.
• Protective measures and greater use of surveillance and enforcement tools provides greater protection for Seychelles.
• Fisheries and aquaculture management improved through equitable, non-subsidized and sustainable practices.
• Utilization of renewable energy from the ocean, ( i,e Harnessing Wave energy )
• Surveillance of offshore waters strengthened through enhanced maritime domain awareness and law enforcement. The above is expected to contribute to the goals of the Government of Sri Lanka
• Capacity built and new research/data sectors developed.
• Streamlined implementation with an overarching system in place.

The main beneficiaries of the project will be the Ministry of Finance, Trade and The Blue Economy. In addition, a range of government agencies/ministries that have responsibility for the management of marine resources and sectors, including Marine resources, tourism, environment management, maritime transport, economic development and investment, maritime security and offshore petroleum will also benefit.In  this context Ministry of Tourism may  be amalgamated with Ministry in Charge of Fishery and Aqayatic Resources ?

A broad range of relevant stakeholders and citizens will ultimately benefit from this intervention, including existing marine industry sectors, marine user groups and local communities.

Outputs

Implenantion of  accelerated blue economy program ( like Mahaweli for Farmers )

• Comprehensive and strategic advice provided to the Minister of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy, Ministry Secretary and relevant stakeholders including private Sector responsible for the Blue Economy.
• Relevant documentation e.g. policy papers, project management documents, project status and evaluation documents prepared and submitted.
• Review of the current Roadmap ( if any) including additional improvement/amendments in the content leading to the validation of the Road Map.
• Stakeholder engagement and consultation facilitated as required, including the establishment of stakeholder bodies.
• Strategies, focus areas and projects for implementation of the Blue Economy Roadmap identified, approved and implemented.
• Resources (financial, human capacity and technical) necessary to execute projects for implementation of the Blue Economy Roadmap, identify, solicited and secured.
• Strategic partnerships between Sri Lanka and our neighbours such as Maldives and Seychelles and relevant partners including, but not limited to: development agencies, private sector organizations, and marine research institutes, established and maintained.
• Consistent implementation of the Roadmap across government and its respective agencies, in particular, working closely with Sri Lankan Ministry of Fisheries , Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Energy  Ministry , , Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship Development and National Agency for Aquatic Resources etc
• Blue Economy roadmap and policy for Sri |Lanka should be promoted domestically, regionally and internationally.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

On the instructions of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs, his deputy, Dr. Harsha de Silva has initiated talks with the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy to iron out differences over proposed controversial National Payment Platform (NPP).

Dr. Coomaraswamy has been called for a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Management (CCEM) on Wednesday evening at Temple Trees after The Island published his confidential letter to E. M. S. B. Ekanayake, Secretary to the Prime Minister.

In his letter, dated Feb. 15, Dr. Coomaraswamy strongly opposed proposal for a separate hybrid enterprise with the involvement of the CBSL and Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) to facilitate single button transactions. Asked by The Island whether the government would go ahead with NPP against the backdrop of Treasury bond scams controversy and also in the immediate aftermath of heavy drubbing at Feb. 10 local government polls, Dr. de Silva said that he would work with ICTA and CBSL in that regard. The Deputy Minister said: “We discussed at CCEM with Governor Coomaraswamy and ICTA and agreed to come up with a possible solution shortly. I will coordinate with both sides. The objective is to create the right ecosystem for digital payments to ignite entrepreneurship in the SME sector across across the country for both domestic and export business.”

Deputy Minister de Silva stressed that the decision on NPP had been apolitical and was meant to spur growth.

Dr. Coomaraswamy succeeded Singaporean Arjuna Mahendran in June 2016 in the wake of treasury bond scams involving the Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) in Feb. 2015 and March 2016.

Alleging that CBSL had been deliberately deprived of an opportunity to attend CCEM meeting on Jan. 10, 2018 at which the decision was taken, Dr. Coomaraswamy has pointed out that Sri Lanka could comfortably manage retail payment and settlement system as well as large value payment and settlement system with existing arrangements. The economist primarily opposed the project on the basis Sri Lanka with 21 mn population could manage on its own like the National Payments Corporation of India (NCCI), which catered to a staggering 1.324 bn people.

Dr. Coomaraswamy has also brought the move to the notice of President Maithripala Sirisena through Secretary to the Cabinet of Ministers, in addition to the Secretary, Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, Secretary, Ministry of Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure and the Director General, department of Project Management and Monitoring.

The CBSL comes under the purview of the Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs.

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

ජන බල ප්‍රවෘත්ති

රුසියාවේ හිටපු තානාපතිට එරෙහිව නැවතත් රතු නිවේදනයක්‌ නිකුත් කර ඇති බව ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය විසින් යහපාලන නායකයන්ට හේත්තු ගැන්වීමට පසු ඉන්ටර්පොල් රතු වරෙන්තුවක් නිකුත් කල බවට තොරතුරු රැගෙන ජේෂ්ඨ අතිරේඛ සොලිස්ටර් ජෙනරාල් යසන්ත කෝදාගොඩ මහතා හා පොලිස් මුල්‍ය අපරාධ කොඨඨාශයේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ පොලිස් අධිකාරි පී.කේ.ඩී.ප්‍රියන්ත මහතා ඇතුඵ පිරිස 20 දින යළි බුඩායි නගරයට පැමිණ ඇත. එසේ පැමිණ ඩුබායිහි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ නීතිපති දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හෝ අබුඩාබි ඉන්ටර්පෝල් ආයතනයේ ඉහල නිලධාරීන් හමුවීමට උත්සාහ කර ඇති නමුත් කිසිදු නිලධාරියකු හමුවීමට අවස්ථාවක් ලැබී නැත. ඔහුන් පවසා ඇත්තේ පළමුව රතු නිවේදනයක්‌ නිකුත් කර ඇති බව ප්‍රංශයේ ඉන්ටර්පෝල් ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලය හරහා අබුඩාබි ඉන්ටර්පෝල් ආයතනයට ලැබීමට සැලැස්වීය යුතු බවය. මෙතෙක් එවැනි රතු නිවේදනයක්‌ එමීර් රාජ්‍යයට ලැබී නැති බව තවදුරටත් පවසා ඇත. ඒ පිළිබඳ එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ නිලධාරීන් හමුවී සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය හරහා නිසි පරිදි අධාල ආයතන වලින් අවසරය ලබා ගන්නා ලෙස තානාපති කාර්යාලය අවවාද කර ඇත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය විසින් ඉන්ටර්පොල් රතු නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කර ඇති බවට තොරතුරු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම හේත්තුවෙන් එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ බලධාරීන් විසින් රුසියාවේ හිටපු තානාපති උදයාංග වීරතුංග පෙබරවාරි 04 දින ඩුබායි හිදී අඩංගුවට ගෙන පසුව ඔහුව මුදාහරින ලදී. එක්සත් අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ බලධාරීන් පවසන්නේ ඔහුට නිකුත්කර ඇත්තේ නිල් නිවේදනයක් බවයි.

2006 දී ලංකාව යුක්රේනියාවෙන් මිලදීගත් යානා අටම යුද්ධයෙදී භාවිතා වූ අතර තවමත් ගුවන් හමුදාව සතුව පවතී. මේ ගනුදෙනුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ගිවිසුමක් නැතැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය කියන නමුත් ගිවිසුමට අදාළව ගුවන් හමුදාව නිකුත්කල “භාවිත කරන්නාගේ සහතිකය”උපයෝගී කර යුක්රේනියානු රජය ගුවන්යානා 8ක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබා දී ඇති බැවින් ගිවිසුම ඒ රටෙහි භාවිතා වී ඇති බව සනාථ වී ඇත. එසේම එම ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කරන ලද නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ගේනාධි ස්තුදිනිකින් මහතාගේන් ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසිය මෙතෙක් කිසිදු කටඋත්තරයක් ලබා නොගනිමඳ රටට ප්‍රහේලිකාවකි. එදා මුළු ගනුදෙනුවම අධීක්‌ෂණය කිරීමට කැබිනට්‌ මණ්‌ඩලය විසින් පත්කරන ලද ටෙන්ඩර් කමිටුව සහ තාක්‌ෂණික ඇගයීම් කමිටුවක් තිබුණු නමුත් එම කමිටු නිලධාරීන්ගෙන් මෙම විමර්ශන කටයුතු සඳහා පොලිසිය සහයෝගය ලබා නොගැනීම දේශපාලන හේතුවක් මත විය හැක. මිග් ගනුදෙනුවට අදාළ විමර්ෂණ කටයුතු සඳහා හිටපු විදේශ ඇමතිවරයා මෙන්ම සොලිස්ටර් ජෙනරාල් යසන්ත කෝදාගොඩ, පොලිස් අධිකාරි ප්‍රියන්ත ඇතුළු නියෝජිතයන් විමර්ශන කටයුතු සඳහා යුක්රේනයට මීට පෙර කිහිප වාරයක් ජනතාවගේ බදු මුදල් නාස්ති කරමින් සංචාරය කර ඇත. ඊට අමතරව පසුගිය 8 වෙනිදා නිලධාරීන් හත්දෙනෙක් ඩුබායි නගරයට පැමිණි ඇත.

මෙවර ද එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේ රාජකාරි සංචාරය දින 9 කට අනුමැතිය ලැබී තිබුණු නමුත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය විසින් තවදුරටත් දේශපාලන කටයුතු වලට සහයෝගය නොදැක්වීමක් ලෙස මෙම කණ්ඩායමට රාජතාන්ත්‍රික මට්ටමින් කිසිදු හමුවීමක් සුදානම් කරනැත. ඒ හේතුවෙන් යසන්ත කෝදාගොඩ හා පී.කේ.ඩී.ප්‍රියන්ත ඇතුඵ පිරිස අද (22) දින රාත්‍රියේ ශ්‍රීලන්කන් ගුවන් යානයෙන් ලංකාවට බලා පිටත්වීය. මෙම සංචාරය වෙනුවෙන් එක පුද්ගලයකුට රජයේන් ලැබිය යුතු රුපියල් 710,000 (ඩොලර් 4500)ක දීමනාවෙන් මුළු මුදලම ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීමෙන් උරණ වූ නියෝජිතයන් තවත් දේශපාලන ගමන් නොයන බව පවසා ඇත. මෙසේ හිටපු තානාපති අල්ලන්න ඩුබායි යන උසස් නිලධාරීන් මේ කරන සෙල්ලම කුමක්දැයි කාටවුවත් තේරුම් ගත හැක.

2018 පෙබරවාරි 22 වෙනිදා

Passing away of a great monk !

Most Ven. Katukurunde Nyanananda Maha Thero passed away on the early hours of 22 February 2018 at the National Hospital of Colombo. He was an exemplary monk and a scholar. He was one of the few remaining students of late Matara Sri Gnanarama Maha Thero of Mitirigala Nissaranavanaya.

Most Ven. K. Nyanananda Maha Thero wrote a large number of books which were very useful to the serious practitioners of Vipassana meditation. The Maha Thero’s Dhamma series titled ‘Nivane Niveema’ and ‘Pahan Kanuwa Desana’ are quite popular both among the monastery monks and the meditating public.

The funeral will be conducted at Kirillwala Estate, Dammulla, Karandana. (Tel: 0777127454) on Friday, 23 February 2018.