Early results shows a landslide victory for Mahinda Rajapakse’s party (SLPP)

February 10th, 2018

Sri Lanka News

Based on early results a landslide victory for Mahinda Rajapakse’s party is expected. Following a successful campaign SLPP Sri Lanka podujana peramuna has convinced the voters that the present government is corrupted to the core and unsuccessful in every field.Based on the election results released so far, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) is heading towards a victory at the Local Government election garnering 45 per cent of the majority votes.

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ON 10 FEBRUARY 2018 SRI LANKAN GENERAL PUBLIC SAID “SORRY “ AND APOLOGISED TO PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE FOR CAUSING HIS DEFEAT ON 8 JANUARY 2015

February 10th, 2018

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

On 8 January 2015, Sinhalese in Sri Lanka dropped a bomb-shell on President Mahinda Rajapakse.  Deeply disappointed for the foolish behaviour of his own men and women   and the way they let him down, The Great President of Sri Lanka disappeared quietly. He loved Sri Lanka, he loved Sinhalese and the mere fact was that as a consequence of his great love them, he Trusted them.  But Sinhalese did not trust their own man.  Sinhalese did not trust the man who saved their lives, children and above all for providing freedom to them.

It did not take months and years for Sinhalese to realize their foolish act, in fact it did not take even one month, just 3 days after giving the Marching Orders to their Saviour, they realized and cried for their own mistake.  They could not live without Mahinda.  They could not eat their meals without Mahinda.  They could not control their minds without Mahinda. To seek forgiveness, droves of clergy, men, women, children made daily trips to his private residence.

Having said Sorry, having promised to themselves never to make the same mistake ever again, the Sinhalese had to wait for 3 years to place their confidence on Mahinda.

The Election on 10 February was not about Local Government Elections.  The Election on 10

Feb was not about teaching a lesson to President Sirisena and PM Ranil.  The Election was not about their anger against the new draft Constitution.  The Election was not about rising cost of living, unemployment or Bond Scam.  The Election was a golden opportunity for the Sinhalese to say Sorry” to their man and urge him   to take care of them, because their is no one else they can love and trust.

Therefore, today is a day of celebration to Sinhalese, as they are released from the Mind Pressure suffered by them for 3 years. 

President Mahinda Rajapakse will also feel very happy today to accept the  Recall for Duty by Mahinda’s Army of People.

Pundits and forecasters were proved wrong.  Pundits may now predict these results may not necessarily translate to another massive victory for Mahinda either at the next Presidential or General Elections.

Lets ignore Astrologers and political pundits.  Lets leave the decision about future elections in the hands of Mahinda’s Army.

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Real peace can only build by stopping a covert action of bad politician

February 10th, 2018

By Palitha Ariyarathna,Propaganda secretary,National Buddhist Authority

These days Tamil politician and LTTE propagandist harassing Buddhist and engaged in activity such as name changes of Sinhala villages to Tamil names and further now they are trying to convert name of ‘Naga deepa ‘to Nayinativu’(Tamil fantasy name).

So far Srilanka government did not agreed with a such falsify work and announcement by Sri Lanka Government promised that they will not change the name of Nagadeepa Island to ‘Nainativu’, Minister of Local Government and Provincial Councils, Faizer Mustapha has said its in his verbal statement Cleary.The Minister Faizer Mustapha made this observation in response to a proposal that is to be gazetted and approved by the Northern Provincial Council on 5th November to change the name of Nagadeepa Island to ‘Nainativu’.

Nagadeepa Vihara- Image courtesy by Google

Majority of Buddhist has been hurt by proposal given by North Council and some of Sinhala Buddhist says it’s and jokes and funny story ever they heard in their life time. Also many are claim that they couldn’t laugh enough seen such a Gazette.

However effort of C. Velupillai Kandaiah Sivagnanam (Northern Province Council Chairman) shows what exactly many Tamil politician needs.

Nagadeepa Island is a small island off the coast of Jaffna Peninsula in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The ancient and historic Nagadeepa Rajamaha Viharaya in the Nagadeepa Island is one of the sixteen most sacred places of worship by the Buddhists in Sri Lanka. The Buddha paid three visits to Sri Lanka.

Image courtesy by Google

The Buddha’s first visit was in the ninth month after Buddhahood on Duruthu (January) Full Moon Day.(1 B.E. or 528 B.C.) That was to Mahiyangana where the Yaksa Clan of the entire island was meeting in the Mahanaga Garden. On this visit, the Buddha not only won the Yaksas/Raksas to Buddhism but also succeeded in getting the Naga clan King Maniakkhika of Kelaniya, who came to Mahiyangana to meet the Buddha, to embrace Buddhism.

Image courtesy by Google

The second visit was in the fifth year of Buddhahood (5 B.E. or 523 B.C.). The Buddha on seeing an imminent war between two Naga Kings – Culodara and Mahodara, uncle and nephew, over a Jewelled Throne, visited Nagadipa (Jaffna), settled the dispute and handed over the custody of the Jewelled Throne to Naga King Maniakkika of Kelaniya. On this visit the Buddha was accompanied by Samiddhi Sumana, a representative of Persian King Darius, who came to be referred to as Sakka (Sakkra), the King of Kings of Deva clan. Samiddhi Sumana brought with him a tree from Jetawanarama, which was also presented to Maniakkhika who in turn constructed a Cetiya covering the Jewelled Throne in Kelaniya and also planted the Na tree which precints is Kelaniya Viharaya.

Image courtesy by Google

The Buddha visited Sri Lanka for the third time (that was the last time, too) at the invitation of King Maniakkhika. On this third visit that the Buddha placed an imprint of his left foot on top of Sumanakuta (Samanalakanda) on the invitation of a Naga Prince named Sumanasaman as he left his foot imprints in Narmada and Saccabaddha in India. The Sumanakuta, after the arrival of the colonialists also came to be called Adams Peak.

(Observation by Author and popular truth -Every invader likes to change many Sinhala village or popular places and its names for their own taste of religion or belief or nationality. Currently many extremist are in favour of such a covert act which lot of Sinhala Buddhist much not aware. Name change can easily uses in future for a fraudulent or other illegal purpose. There for Srilanka must forbidden even writing or publically speaking such act.

In British period more than 3000 thousand Sinhala village names are has been change to Tamil abbreviation witch must re-correct now to show that there not living in Tamil Country but they are living in a Sinhala country. If historical mistaken are revise. It may help to educated Tamil for thinking their claim is wrong.

When Elara was a just king, his Tamil followers harassed the Buddhists and were actively engaged in anti-Buddhist activities. King Dutugemunu’s (161 BC to 137 BC) efforts ensured territorial integrity as well as cultural integrity. So is that current powers of Tamil leader are in opposition party make such a hidden names change game against Sinhala land? Answer can be No or Yes. But in the same time Sri Lanka’s opposition leader R Sampanthan said the demand by the Northern Provincial Council earlier this month to change the official name of an island of the Jaffna peninsula back into Tamil from Sinhala was a stupid proposal”.

Many Tamil politician can acting like a Fox and tiger covered with sheep skin. There for Sinhala Buddhist must aware about many things and they have to maintain their interest around protecting their own country.

Finally ending writing saying do we have a leaders likes Anagarika Dharmapala or King Like a Dutugemunu? A person for lead or protect us and who care deeply about Sinhala Buddhist problems and their mother country.

Theruwan Saranai!

Famous appeal to the Sinhala Buddhists’ in 1926 by Anagarika Dharmapala

Sinhala Buddhists – Wake Up!

A majority race declines because of its own failures

when that happens the minorities take advantage

the minorities become stronger and begin to dictate terms to the majority.

That is what has happened to the Sinhalese Buddhists. 

So long as Sinhalese Buddhists continue to divide themselves;

by caste – Govigama, Karawe, Durawe

by location – upcountry, low country

politically by party divisions

And if even the Buddhist clergy are divided by nikaya and sermons

even in marriage…..and Sinhalese Buddhists kept busy with these divisions

will realize too late their fall. 

Why do Sinhalese not grow jak fruit but instead grow grass

Why do Sinhalese look to the seas to await flour from the west

Does the Sinhalese not realize that in exchange for their resources they get tuppense?

Dayawati’s have changed their names to Daisy, Piyadasa’s are now Peter,

Look at the Muslims, have they ever taken any other name?
Sinhalese have given up their religion for a piece of meat

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The Auditor General’s revelations about public debt

February 10th, 2018

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

On Wednesday February 7, 2018, the day on which campaigning closed for the local government elections, the Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe called a media conference and made several explosive statements about Sri Lanka’s state of indebtedness. His statement received wide publicity over all TV channels. The Auditor General distributed a document titled “Public Debt Management in Sri Lanka” dated February 2, 2018 to journalists at this media briefing. The other side did not have the time to respond to his comments before the election. The words of the Auditor General taken from the Derana news bulletin were as follows:

“If anybody asks me what the debt of the country is, I will have to tell him to ask Vaima (the son of God Sakra). I can’t say what our national debt is because the management of public debt has been turned into such a mess over the past ten years….There has been excessive recourse to debt and the debt limits set by parliament have been exceeded. Debt has been shifted to other places to conceal the excessive debt…. The former Secretary to the Treasury referred to by some as an ‘economic assassin’ has done much to destroy the financial discipline of the country…The debt figures compiled by the finance ministry include only transactions that go through the consolidated fund. The debt of the provincial councils, local authorities and state enterprises have not been included in the public debt figures of the finance ministry, resulting in a situation where there are piles of debt everywhere….”

“It may be the case that long term loans with payment periods of 30 to 40 years, instalments may still be being paid even after they had been paid off in full…..Over the past five years, a lot of loans were taken and we are now in the grace period before the repayment of these loaans commence… All this happened because the Treasury Secretary began to work under the President with his powers…. If the Kapuwa defecates inside the devale, the God does not make an issue of it….”

In the part that Sirasa TV broadcast of the Auditor General’s speech, he was shown stating among other things that “Debt according to the records of the Central Bank is Rs. 10 trillion but the balance sheet contains only Rs.1.1 trillion in assets. Because they could not control debt, they concealed the debt. The loans taken for the Norochcholai Power Plant are with the CEB, and the Loans for the Mattala airport and the Suriyawewa stadium are with the Aviation authority and loans amounting to Rs. 136 billion taken for rebuilding rural roads are with the RDA. The Pensions Dept. has loans amounting to Rs. 37 billion taken to pay pensions and the interest payable for this money amounted to Rs. 1.3 billion in 2016.”

This was the Auditor General of the country telling the public that he has no idea of how much the country owes. The very next day, the Central Bank moved swiftly to control the damage. The CB issued a media release without referring to the Auditor General but to ‘recent media reports about the recording of government debt’. In this media release, the Central Bank has stated among other things that “the CBSL compiles and publishes Central Government debt based on its database on issuance of domestic debt and international commercial borrowings on behalf of the Government and also the information it receives from the Ministry of Finance and the External Resources Department…Central Government debt so compiled by CBSL has been reviewed and accepted by international agencies including the International Monetary Fund… to date, the Government of Sri Lanka has maintained an unblemished record of debt servicing…” The anxiety of the Central Bank to set the record straight was understandable. What got Greece locked out of the international financial markets and caused its spectacular financial collapse was the admission that it had been understating the size of its budget deficits.

How could the Auditor General not know?

Regarding the claim that the Auditor General is unaware of the total government debt because the figures compiled by the finance ministry relate only to debts that pass through the consolidated fund and did not include the debt of the state owned enterprises, provincial councils and the local authorities, it has to be pointed out that according to Article 154 of our Constitution, the Auditor General’s assigned task is to audit all departments and agencies of the central government, each and every public enterprise where the shareholding of the government is 50% or above, and all provincial councils and all local authorities – each taken separately. Article 154(5) of the Constitution vests the Auditor-General with sweeping powers to enable him to carry out his duties, making it mandatory for information to be provided to him and giving him as access to all books, records, returns and other documents, stores and other property belonging to the institutions that come under his jurisdiction.

According to Article 154(6) of the Constitution, the Auditor-General is mandatorily required to report to Parliament within ten months after the close of each financial year and as and when he deems it necessary, on the performance and, discharge of his duties and functions under the Constitution. It should be noted that the Auditor General’s responsibility according to the Constitution is not just to audit the yearly accounts but to make interventions “as and when he deems it necessary”. Moreover the position of Auditor General is an independent office answerable only to Parliament. Since it is the Auditor General’s responsibility to audit each and every agency and department in the central government, and each public enterprise, each provincial council and each local authority separately, he is the last person in this country who can say that he is unaware of how much money each such body owes and to whom.

When the Auditor General says that the debt owed by the public enterprises, the provincial councils and the local authorities have remained unaccounted for the past ten years, that raises the question as to how the four or five Auditor Generals over the past ten years including Gamini Wijesinghe himself had been signing the audit reports of these bodies all this while. Furthermore, there are only a limited number of state owned enterprises, a limited number of provincial councils and a limited number local authorities all of which fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Auditor General and if he comes before the public and claims that he does not know how much these bodies owe and to whom, the Auditor General should be removed from office immediately because he has not been doing the only task assigned to him. Furthermore, our local authorities and provincial councils cannot borrow money from overseas and they would borrow money only from local banks. Even our state owned enterprises will borrow only from local banks.

Only one or two of the best state owned enterprises like the National Savings Bank will have the clout to be able to raise money in international financial markets and that too only with a Treasury guarantee. So even the local banks will be able to provide the Auditor General comprehensive breakdowns of how much they have lent to what government body. Thus the Auditor General can collect the debt data from each public enterprise, provincial council and local authority and combine it with the debt passing through the consolidated fund and announce the sum total of public debt to the public.

Example of the RDA & the PCs

The Auditor General also charged that the Road Development Authority (RDA) which is not a revenue earning body also had debts of Rs. 136 billion, thus suggesting to the public that some shady practice has been going on. However in actual fact, Section 15 of the Road Development Act No: 73 of 1981, which goes as follows, expressly permits the RDA to borrow: “The Authority may, with the consent of the Minister, borrow temporarily by way of overdraft or otherwise, such sums as the Authority may require for meeting the obligations of the Authority in discharging its duties under this Act. Provided that the aggregate of the amounts outstanding in respect of any temporary loans raised by the Authority under this section shall not at any time exceed such sum as may be determined by the Minister in consultation with the Minister in charge of the subject of Finance.”

According to Section 14 of the RDA Act, the RDA shall have its own Fund, to which shall be paid all such sums voted for the RDA by Parliament, and all such sums of money as may be received by the Authority by way of loans, donations, gifts or grants from any source whatsoever. The RDA Act also lays down the purposes for which the Fund of the Authority can be used. “The Authority may utilize the funds of the Authority for the purpose of defraying any expenditure incurred in the management of the affairs of the Authority, the transaction of business of the Authority, the payment of remuneration to the employees of the Authority, the exercise of the powers and the performance of the duties and functions of the Authority…”

Hence, any loans taken by the RDA are perfectly legal and they are meant to be repaid as and when Parliament votes funds for the RDA through the annual budget. Most if not all state owned enterprises such as the Ceylon Electricity Board and the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation are authorized by their Statutes to borrow and repay loans and these function for the most part are like what prevails in independent business enterprises; the only difference between such enterprises and a private company being that the state owned enterprises are owned by the state whereas private companies are owned by individuals. The functioning of the state owned enterprises is a matter that is specifically dealt with by the IMF in its Article IV consultations with the Sri Lankan government. The IMF has been pushing for market pricing of electricity and fuel so that these enterprises will be able to run on their own incomes with no reliance on fund infusions from the government.

Sections 35 and 36 of the Provincial Councils list in the Ninth Schedule of our Constitution confers on the Provincial Councils the power to borrow money and to levy certain taxes and fees. Under Section 154R(3) of the Constitution, the Central Government is obliged to vote from the annual budget only such sums as are necessary to meet the shortfall between the revenue of the provincial councils and the funds necessary for them to function. Hence the both the debt and the revenue of the provincial councils do not appear on the books of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank. However the Auditor General has access to all this information in the provincial councils as well as the local government institutions because he has to audit them as well and he cannot claim ignorance of what the outstanding liabilities of these institutions are.

Even though the Auditor General claims to be clueless about the money owed by the state owned enterprises, the provincial councils and the local authorities, we don’t seem to hear of any local authority or provincial council or a public enterprise that has been denied credit by a bank for default. That we have not heard of such a thing even in the chaotic situation following the election to power of the yahapalana government appears to be testimony to the resilience of the system.

The ‘assets’ of the nation

One of the most questionable statements made by the Auditor General was that the country had borrowings of more than Rs.10 trillion in its books but that the assets of the country were only Rs. 1.1 trillion. The universal method of measuring the level of indebtedness of a country is to measure the total debt against the GDP. It is the growth in the GDP and the increase in government revenue that determines our ability to repay our debt. While this is the basic way of measuring debt used by all nations, it would appear that some countries have a convention of indicating the estimated value of a nation’s assets in its ‘balance sheet’. Privately owned companies indicate the value of their assets in their balance sheets which means the total value of the land, buildings, equipment, patents, rights, and even furniture and fixtures they may own. In fact as far as a private company is concerned, the balance sheet may be more important than the profit and loss account. Even if a private company has been making losses in its profit and loss account for years, still if it has more assets than liabilities, the company is still officially afloat.

Those of us educated in Sri Lanka would be quite familiar with the idea of a private company having a balance sheet but we were never taught to look at a country’s balance sheet with assets and liabilities! When a nation also adopts a convention of indicating the value of its assets, that means the value of everything in that nation to which a monetary value can be attached. Deposits of minerals, cultivated and uncultivated land, the value of every house, building, car, lorry, patent, and tourist attraction and the value of the human resources in that country can all be categorized as the assets of a nation. All this is added up and a notional figure of ‘assets’ of the nation are produced. Thus we see some writers claiming that there is nothing to be upset about the USA being about 19 trillion dollars in debt because the assets of the USA run into hundreds of trillions of dollars! Trying to measure the debt of a nation against the value of its assets serves no purpose other than to provide some psychological comfort to the inhabitants of that country.

If Sri Lanka also began giving notional values to our assets, the debt of 10 trillion will look trivial indeed. The land prices in Colombo rival that of developed Western countries. What should be understood is that different conventions apply to the accounts of a private company and to national accounts. While the assets vs liabilities balance sheet will be all important in a private company, it has little or no relevance for a nation state. For a nation state, what counts is the debt to GDP ratio and the revenue figures. In Sri Lanka it is the Department of State Accounts in the Treasury that compiles the national accounts in keeping with accepted international accounting conventions.

Our Department of State Accounts does not include an estimate of the value of the total assets of Sri Lanka. You cannot seek a correspondence between the debt incurred and the assets of a nation. If a project is being built with a loan, then there will be some correspondence between the debt incurred and the asset that is left at the end of it. But if a World Bank loan is taken for poverty alleviation, there will be no physical asset at the end of the programme unless you attach some notional value to human resources. In every nation in the world, as in Sri Lanka, a large proportion of the debt incurred is for recurrent expenditure which leaves no asset remaining. If the USA is 19 trillion dollars in debt, there wouldn’t be many assets that have been acquired with this 19 trillion dollars.

In a private company, the debt of the company appears as a liability in its balance sheet along with all its tangible and intangible assets. But national accounts are not prepared in that way. Those of us educated in this country have been looking at GDP figures and government revenue figures budget deficits and the like but we have never had a practice of looking at the assets of a country! Fortunately for us, the financial markets and the multilateral agencies such as the IMF that do business with Sri Lanka are well aware that this country was turned into a madhouse after 8 January 2015, and they do not take the pronouncements by leaders of this government seriously. Recently, when the President said that the country was Rs.10 trillion in debt but had only Rs. 1.1 trillion worth of assets to show for it, the former Governor of the Central Bank issued a statement to Reuters asking the financial markets not to panic and that the Sri Lankan leaders don’t know what they are talking about.

Now no less a personality than the Auditor General of the country has personally held a press conference and echoed the President by saying that the country was Rs. 10 trillion in debt and had only Rs.1.1 trillion in assets to show for it. Still, no one seems to have taken the slightest notice. The stock market did not collapse, and the exchange rate did not go haywire. Anywhere else in the world, the kind of pronouncements made by the President, the Prime Minister and now the Auditor General would have immediately resulted in a collapse of the economy and we would have been locked out of the international financial markets. Here miraculously, the country is still afloat despite the bizarre statements being routinely made by holders of high office. The question that all this raises is, how long can this irresponsibility continue before the chickens come home to roost?

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Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe draws flak for timing of national debt claim SLPP slams govt. over AG’s conduct, polls monitors differ

February 10th, 2018

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Alleging that Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe has issued a controversial statement in respect of national debt beneficial to the ruling coalition ahead of the Feb. 10 local government polls, National Polls Observation Center (NPOC) has urged the National Election Commission and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka to inquire into the official’s conduct.

NPOC National Organizer and attorney-at-law Rasanga Harischandra yesterday told The Island that Wijesinghe had thrown his weight behind the government at the expense of other political parties in the fray.

Pointing out that there was a sharp difference between the debt calculations by the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, Wijesinghe said that the total debt, foreign and domestic, of Sri Lanka had been Rs. 10.3 trillion by November 30, 2017.

In a letter hand delivered to the CEO, Institute of Chartered Accountants, Aruna de Alwis on Thursday, Harischandra called for an immediate and comprehensive inquiry into the conduct of Wijesinghe, a Chartered Accountant, in accordance with Section 17 of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka. The NPOC has requested that the investigation especially deal with breach of the “General Applications of the Code’ as well as the breach of the Code by “Professional Accountants in Public Practice.”

Aruna de Alwis confirmed receiving a letter assuring that due process in respect of such a complaint would be followed.

Harischandra stressed that as the Auditor General had never played politics previously and Wijesinghe’s move had surprised them. Harischandra faulted Director General Information Sudarshana Gunawardena for allowing Wijesinghe to use the Information Department to address the media on Feb. 7 morning.

Harischandra stressed that Wijesinghe had no right whatsoever to disclose information pertaining to public sector institutes subjected to auditing process. The NPOC spokesman said that the outfit was yet to receive response from Chartered Accountants and the National Elections Commission.

Information Chief Gunawardena strongly defended his decision to allow the AG to use the Information Department. Gunawardena insisted that the AG’s right to use Information Department to deal with national debt couldn’t be challenged under any circumstances. Gunawardena was responding to a query by The Island as regards allegations made by NPOC and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP).

SLPP Secretary and attorney-at-law Sagara Kariyawasam has, in a letter to Gunawardena, warned that he will be appropriately dealt in future. Kariyawasam has accused Gunawardena of running a special unit within the Information Department to undermine the SLPP/Joint Opposition.

Gunawardena made available a copy of the letter received from Kariyawasam to The Island.

CAFFE Executive Director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon told The Island that his outfit really appreciated the AG’s stand. Of course anyone could challenge Wijesinghe in respect figures released at the media briefing, Tennakoon said, adding that the national economy wouldn’t have been in crisis if proper auditing systems had been in place. Tennakoon pointed out that Wijesinghe’s statement should be viewed against the backdrop of the Rajapaksa administration decision not to enact the National Audit Bill for a decade and the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government holding it up for the last three years.

PAFFREL chief Rohana Hettiarachchi told The Island that political parties or any other organisation couldn’t find fault with the AG for making a public statement regarding national debt. It would be the responsibility of politicians and relevant officials to address concerns expressed by the AG. However, the AG shouldn’t have caused unnecessary controversy on the eve of countrywide election, the first in three years, by calling a special media briefing, Hettiarachchi asserted. The civil activist said that different groups viewed the AG’s move from different perspectives.

Transparency International Sri Lanka representative told The Island that those responsible should take tangible measures to address concerns raised by the AG. Asked whether the TISL felt that the AG’s statement had given some advantage to a particular political party, the spokesman said: “While the timing of the revelation just before the moratorium on election campaigning is unfortunate, it is important for the integrity of the electoral process that it is interpreted as an issue of financial discipline and not as a politically sensitive matter.”

The CAFFE, PAFFREL and TISL admitted that there should be national discussion on the national debt issue.

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Britain’s VVIP Terrorists the LTTE: Case of Brigadier Priyankara Fernando

February 9th, 2018

We want truth & justice” – oh yes, so do we. But we need to get some facts cleared first. Can the British Government please explain to the world why LTTE remains banned in the UK since 2001 while LTTE supporters are free to carry LTTE flags, hold pro-LTTE rallies and scream Our Nation Tamil Eelam – Our Leader Prabakaran? We are a little puzzled why banned terrorist movements get police protection for these rallies too. Why should the British Government molly-cuddle LTTE terrorists & their supporters. We would very much like to have an answer to this. British MPs are openly canvassing for LTTE fronts. This is totally against every protocol the Brits preach and nowhere near the supposed gentlemen’s behavior the British are so cocky about. Britain has a lot to answer in giving VVIP status to a terrorist organization that remains banned in the UK and it is damn hilarious to find the perpetrators of crimes pointing fingers and getting away because Governments like the UK are playing footsie.

Let’s first start with the issue at hand.

On 4th February 2018 Sri Lanka celebrated what we presume to be 70 years of independence. That same day a bunch of people holding LTTE flags decided to stage a protest outside the Sri Lanka High Commission in London. For what reason the Mission decided to send its officials out of the compound, we do not know, but we did see Brig. Priyankara Fernando serving as the Defense Counselor giving a hand message to the terrorist supporters. Let’s get it clear that there were LTTE supporters as they were all carrying LTTE flags and screaming Our Leader Prabakaran.

Our nation : Tamil Eelam

Our Leader : Prabakaran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7WhDtGLWBzQ pro-LTTE protest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uTiyacA22w pro-LTTE protest

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwcn7l6qABQ&feature=youtu.be the video of Brig. Fernando making a throat slitting hand gesture.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu6T5nfLZmA – an Indian questioning the Brig about 500 Indian fishermen killed… another fairytale

The video having gone viral over social media, suddenly has the Foreign Ministry suspending the Brigadier & recalling him back to Colombo sans investigation or explanation which days later led to the intervention of the Sri Lankan President to revoke the suspension.

Protestors carrying LTTE flags and shouting Our Eelam and Our Leader Prabakaran are NOT representing Tamil civilians. Let’s get that cleared. UN & International Community are on record and enough evidence is available to conclude that Tamils were kept as human shields and hostages during the final stages of the conflict despite appeals to release them and plenty of Tamils were shot by LTTE when trying to flee and enter Sri Lankan Government areas. Therefore, anyone commenting on the incident has to realize that the protestors were promoting LTTE and Eelam and using civilian slogans as a camouflage only. Anyone promoting a terrorist organization are no cherubic angels!

What a farcical tragi-comedy unfolded thereafter. The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam – that ‘government’ in the sky which continues to, by the way remain banned under UNSC 1373 as an LTTE front is urging the British Government to take action against the Brigadier for war crimes, genocide. The hilarious part about this allegation is that the intellectually-weak who actually believe and accept this notion have not thought for a minute to check the population statistics and wonder how Tamil population can be increasing while a genocide is taking place. Hilarious isn’t it? Maybe they all need a new maths teacher!

Meanwhile, the real crusader of truth, Chair of All Party Parliamentary Group on Sri Lanka, Lord Naseby remarked: If there is any genocide in Sri Lanka it is by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who hold civilian Tamils by force as a human shield in the war. This talk about genocide is rubbish. The only people who are causing genocide are the LTTE who are holding the civilians as a human shield.” (March 2009)

While the TGTE members, that government in the sky has been living in the UK and other foreign climes, making hay with the money generated from the very lucrative LTTE business kitty of illegal and legal activities, it was people like Brig Fernando who liberated many Tamils who were kept as hostages and human shields by the LTTE and the Tamil people he saved continue to shower praise.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8QhSNwcau4

About Brig. Priyankara Fernando

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7nWiGffJ7I a friend’s version of Brig. Fernando

The social media circulated 2 letters the first letter was sent by Joan Ryan & Siobhan McDonagh.

This letter addressed to Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs and signed by MPs Joan Ryan and Siobhain McDonagh on 5th February 2018 claimed that Members of the Tamil community had been ‘congregating peacefully’ outside the Sri Lanka High Commission wherein Brig. Priyankara Fernando had made a throat slitting hand gesture and should be expelled from UK.

Who is Joan Ryan? Joan Marie Ryan, is a former Labour MP from Enfield. She is presently the CEO and Policy & Communication Advisor of the British Tamil Forum (named as a LTTE from in 2014 and removed by the present Government in 2015 and part of the umbrella organization headed by Global Tamil Forum also banned in 2014 and ban removed in 2015)

Her election campaign was helped by Dr. Muregeshu Vinayagamoorthy from Nottingham who provided Pratheepan Thavarasa, a former bodyguard of Prabakaran & later deputy head of LTTE procurement safe haven in his home. Dr. Moorthy was jailed in US for 4 years having attempted to bribe US officials to delist LTTE. His right to practice was also removed in the UK.

The All Party Parliamentary Group is one of the 4 Advocacy Lobby wings of the British Tamil Forum explicityly set up to lobby UK MPs. The other 3 groups are the Tamils for Labor, British Tamils for Liberal Democrats, British Tamil Conservatives. The tapped British MPs are in turn able to influence British Public Officials and the Commonwealth Office. Why else did David Miliband dash over to stop the military offensive in 2009 J The authenticity of this was confirmed in a wikileaks that revealed Milibands trip had nothing to do with human rights but everything to do with obtaining Tamil votes.

Now you can guess why British MPs are 24×7 issuing statements against Sri Lanka! How else are fronts associated with the LTTE able to hold inauguration sessions inside the British Parliament. You won’t find Al Qaeda or ISIS being so lucky – so what’s this special treatment the Brits are giving to LTTE?

If anyone is in doubt about the LTTE links, here’s another example the 1st President of BTF was Kandiah Senthilkumar who was an associate of then LTTE UK Chief Shanthan (cousin of Prabakaran’s wife) who was arrested by the British police in June 2007. The LTTE web site www.eelam.com was registered in A. C. Shanthan’s name, with the LTTE HQ, Eelam House, 202 Long Lane, London SE1 as the registered address

This is what former Tamil Guardian editor Rajasingham Jayadevan wrote of the LTTE-BTF relationship

Shanthan used the services of Liverpool basd Dr. N Satchthananthan & Senthilkumar to extend his forceful takeover efforts. Senthilkumar who is the present head of the British Tamil Forum who successfully brought the IBC and TTN under LTTE control while Dr. Satchithananthan played his role obediently to take over the Tamil Guardian. Those who did not co-operate were branded traitors & treated with contempt”.

The BTF set up the APPGT in May 2007 and its Chairman was Keith Vaz Labor MP who was investigated for corruption and of late for pimping too J APPGT Vice Chairman was MP Simon Hughes.

Anything coming out of their mouths is therefore controversial and biased given that they are holding portfolios in these fronts.

Incidentally, Simon Hughes constituency is Southwark and Burmondsey in London where the international headquarters of the LTTE is (Eelaam House 202 Long Lane, London) Britain you seriously need to redefine what a banned organization is because we are somewhat puzzled how a banned terrorist organization can openly run an international office in London itself!

By 2011, the BTF managed to expand APPGT to 69 British MPs which included Lee Scott as Chair, Virendra Sharma, Siobhain McDonagh, Gavin Barvell, Robert Halfon. It is alleged that the LTTE through its regional finance head Vasanthan from Southall funded the by-election which Sharma contested.

The 2nd letter’s authenticity is very much in question given that the date was 2nd February 2018 (2 days before the pro-LTTE protest) and signed by Mangala Samaraweera as Foreign Minister though he is no longer the Foreign Minister and does not have any mandate to sign as Foreign Minister. What is shocking about this letter is that it is claiming that the PM recommended to the President to suspend the defense attache and court martial him upon his return.

It is at the behest of the letter by pro-LTTE British stooges that the Foreign Ministry of Sri Lanka issued a media release on 6 February 2018 suspending the Defense Attache.

Foreign Ministry response on 6 February 2018 – http://www.mfa.gov.lk/images/stories/MediaRel-SLUK.pdf

The manner that the British MPs holding posts in the pro-LTTE fronts called for the removal of the Brigadier and the foreign ministry reaction automatically reasserts the allegation that Sri Lanka foreign policy was being decided and lobbied from overseas. This allegation gathers further momentum in the 2013 Singapore Principles where the former Foreign Minister and present promoter of a new constitution assured to change the Sri Lankan constitution to meet the desires of the LTTE diaspora lobby that they met in Singapore. 

UK banned LTTE (British Terrorism Act 2000) in February 2001 months before 9/11. Nevertheless, LTTE had been operating Eelam House” located in Mitcham, Surrey since 1970s which was opened by Bishop Rayappu Joseph. Anton & Adele Balasingham freely operated from UK. Adele who trained females & Tamil children to kill and even commit suicide lives very happily in the UK. What is stopping the UK government from pursuing criminal charges against her?

Are these ban’s worth its weight if the promoters of the banned organization get to hob-nob with British MPs and determine policy through their lobbying?

Every country that has banned LTTE but allow its fronts to influence foreign MPs are violating the rights of the citizens of these countries. British politicians are voted to represent the British people not citizens of foreign nations.

Here are a number of events that questions the policy of the British Government.

  • 2013 – Feb 27: Global Tamil Forum 3rd anniversary conference held at House of Parliament, Committee Room 14 – Speakers ere Nick Clegg, Ed Davey MP, Ed Miliband MP, Simon Hughes MP, Keith Vaz MP. Baroness Warsi, Yolanda Foster (Amnesty International), Erik Solheim, David Miliband and Callum Macrae. Vote of thanks was delivered by Rt. Hon Joan Ryan, Policy Advisor, GTF.
  • 2012 – Nov 10 – World Tamil Conference held at British House of Parliament.
  • 2011 June 15: After release of Channel 4 documentary, UK presses Sri Lanka to investigate alleged war crimes or face international inquiry.
  • 2009 – Jun 19: Arunachal Chrishanthakumar (A C Shanthan) of British Tamil Association jailed for 2 years for providing equipment for LTTE.
  • 2009 – May 31: Demonstrations outside UK Parliament by pro-LTTE demonstrators for 43 days has cost UK police 8million sterling pounds (Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson). Police had to reduce policing in London streets, demonstrators had pelted stones and other missiles at the Indian High Commission breaking the bullet proof windows and even stoning SL High Commission. Pro-LTTE supporter also waved LTTE flags with LTTE insignia – all violations of UK anti-terror laws.
  • 2009 – May 24: Pro-LTTE supporters attack 5 ‘Sam’ Chicken’ outlets owned by Sam Chandrasingha in Wembley, Kingsbury, Wilsden, Sudbury Hill and Cricklewood.
  • 2009 – May 14: Sri Lankan Buddhist temples in London attacked by LTTE
  • 2009 – May 13: Sri Saddhatissa International Buddhist Center in Kingsbury North West London attacked with stones. Ninth occasion that the temple has been attacked.
  • 2008 – Aug 7: Sri Lankan Tamil jailed in UK for 2 years and 9 months after confessing cloning credit cards of British customers for LTTE – sterling pounds 175,000 theft to LTTE.
  • 2008 – May 8: British police charge 4 Tamils for conspiring to support LTTE – Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar alias AC Shanthan, 51; Jegatheswaran Muraleetharan alias Muralee Tharan, 46; Jeyatheswaran Vythyatharan alias Vithy Tharan, 39; and Murugesu Jegatheeswaran alias M Jegan, 33.
  • 2008 – Apr 22: London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, addresses meeting co-organized by British Tamil Forum, an LTTE front though warned at highest diplomatic levels about terror links. At a BTF meeting held at Excel Center, Docklands on 27 Nov 2007 a video message from LTTE leader Prabakaran was played where he praises suicide bombing.
  • 2008 – Jan 22: a 2008 Calendar depicting LTTE logo and map of separate state of ‘Tamil Eelam’ sold outside Hindu temples in London on Jan 1st at the rate of five pounds and 10 pounds each.
  • 2008 – Jan 16: British Tamil Forum calls for boycott of Sri Lankan Airlines to deny estimated earnings of £12 million every year from British Tamils travelling to Sri Lanka – head of BTF Ivan Pedropillai also urged British tourists not to travel to Sri Lanka.
  • 2008 – Jul 16: British Tamil Forum organizes photo exhibition in British Parliament attended by UK MPs, Members of House of Lords, former cabinet ministers, mayors, international and UK organizations, even 3 MPs of TNA Ms Padmini Sithamparanathan MP, Jayananthamoorthi MP and Gagendran MP.
  • 2007 – Aug 28: LTTE cadres receiving ‘police’ training in UK after 2002 ceasefire agreement probed after arrest of LTTE suspect Kalimuttu Vinodkumar who informed that he was one of 12 LTTE cadres sent for a 3month training to Northern Ireland after CFA was signed and conducted by foreign instructors with help of Tamil translators.
  • 2007 – Jul 8: UK places LTTE as 2nd most dangerous terrorist group after Al Qaeda. UK has 44 groups on its list of terrorist organizations.
  • 2007 – Jul 5: UK Court freezes bank accounts of LTTE leader A C Shanthan – Krishnatha Kumar and wife. 28 charges are filed againt Shanthan including extortion, operation of business enterprises, printing press and oil storages with ill-gotten wealth. All employees were LTTE members. These businesses had earned sterling pounds 4billion upto Jul2nd. Goldan Lambert arrested along with Shanthan is under house arrest. Lambert faces charges of kidnapping for ransom and extortion. Pakyadevi a LTTE female cadre is absconding.
  • 2007 – May 16: London court told that Senthuraj Thavapalasingham alias ‘Psycho’ of Romford is leading LTTE extortionist gang called ‘East side boys’ in Newham. Chief Inspector Derrick Griffiths says ‘to my knowledge there are around 5 Tamil gangs operating in London. This is a gang of about 30 young men aged between 15 and 32 years paid by an organization called the LTTE. They were paid to extort money from local businessmen and residents. Their victims were paying anywhere between Pounds 5,000 and 25,000 a year. In one case a businessman was paying 25,000 a year for four years.”
  • 2007 – May 6: BBC report on Armulmihu Hindu temple in Tooting south London said to raise nearly £500,000 each year, is said to have links to the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
  • 2007 – Jan 19: Chennai police arrests G Elango, LTTE agent carrying a British passport along with 28 ATM cards. Elango withdraw INR30 lakhs from ATMs and sent to UK. Elango is a shareholder in ‘Thamilini’ a cash and carry grocery shop in UK.

Pro-LTTE Organizations

  • Tamil Rehabilitation organization (TRO)  –banned in the UK in August 2005 but not before it transferred its funds £1.3 million to White Pigeon. TRO quickly re-registered as ITRO. One of the trustees of TRO, UK, N. Sathyamoorthy is a director of ITRO. TRO has declared to the British authorities that since 1995 approximately 2.5 million pounds have gone from Britain to LTTE control, tax free, via the charity under the guise of rehabilitation work”. TRO has raised approximately 3 million pounds since 1995 and have no staff costs, most of those who canvass for the TRO are working for the other two charities and the Housing Association and are receiving salaries courtesy of the British tax payer. The total salary costs since 1995 of the Housing Association and the two charities (excluding TRO which has no salary costs) is approximately 1.5 million pounds.
  • White Pigeon transferred approx. £500,000 (SL Rs 98.64 million) from its account at the National Westminster Bank, Sutton branch. It regularly transmits funds to the Bumiputhra Commerce Bank in Kuala Lumpur which is the bank account of the World Tamil Relief Fund for procurement of military hardware for the LTTE.
  • World Tamil Movement (WTM),
  • Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC),
  • Tamil Youth Organisation UK (TYO UK)
  • British Tamil Association (BTA)
  • British Tamil Forum(BTF) – launched in 2006,
  • Tamil Youth Organization (TYO),
  • London Tamil Manram
  • Tamil Co-ordinating Committee
  • Eelam Solidarity Campaign
  • Tamil Information Centre
  • International Federation of Tamils – publishes Kalathil a Tamil journal, N Satyendran, son of late S Nadesan QC legal brain of LTTE is its advisor
  • World Saiva Council
  • International Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (ITRO registered immediate after TRO was delisted).
  • The Tamil Refugee Action Group even got a British National Lottery grant of 78,450 pounds on 2nd December 1998.
  • Tamil Refugee Education and Training Centre received a British National Lottery grant of 155,484 pounds, on 4th March 1999.
  • The two leading LTTE front organizations are the BTF and the GTF (launched on 24 Feb 2010 at the UK House of Commons in the presence of then British Foreign Secretary David Miliband). There is also the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T). The Chair is Lee Scott MP, Ilford North while Siobhain McDonough MP Mitcham and Morden is Vice Chair. MP Robert Halfon (Treasurer and Secretary)
  • Both BTF and GTF were launched in the UK.
  • GTF is led by 75 year old Catholic priest Father S J Emmanual
  • British Prime Minster Gordon Brown met with representatives of the GTF. The Conservative shadow” foreign secretary William Hague, and his Liberal Democrat counterpart, Ed Davery, addressed the GTF conference. Conservative Party leader David Cameron and Robert Blake, the current US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia and a former US ambassador to Sri Lanka, sent greetings. Reverend Jesse Jackson, who was introduced as President Obama’s friend,” gave a speech welcoming the GTF’s founding. Is this not imperialistic patronage at its best?

 

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=YOUR_MAJESTY_Are_you_aware_that_UK_MPs_openly_support_LTTE_terrorist_fronts_20130306_03

Human Rights Watch ‘Funding the final war- LTTE intimidation and extortion in the Tamil Diaspora, a case study of UK and Canada’ – extortion range from £2000 to £100,000 from Tamil families and businesses. Killings for non-payment ex: Subramaniam Sivakumar, a Tamil businessman operating a grocery (Apna Bazaar) in North West London was killed on 5 January 2006

Tamil gang violence – stabbing to death of a Tamil on 16 February 2006 at McDonalds, Tooting. In 2005, 16 killings were reported involving Sri Lankan Tamils.

Kovils collecting money – Sivayogam Temple in Tooting sending explosives as tsunami aid, sponsoring LTTE boatyard at Sampoor 

Annual remittances from UK is about £10 million through extortion and other illegal activities

UK Government watches LTTE stage 2 annual events held on 27 Nov (Prabakaran’s Birthday) and 25 July (Black July) 

If UK has banned LTTE in 2001, is it correct for

  • Keith Simpson to address British Tamil Conservatives in January 2010?
  • Siobhain McDonagh MP to demand UK take action against Sri Lanka – hansard transcript http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm101027/debtext/101027-0001.htm#10102752000011
  • Hon. Douglas Alexander to call for an international commission on inquiry at a Tamils for Labor event?
  • MP Gareth Thomas raising concerns about UK decision to deport Tamil asylum seekers?
  • MP Lee Scott who is the Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils calling for ‘justice for Tamils’
  • 41 British MPs to write to David Cameron in 2011 calling for an international inquiry against Sri Lanka?
  • Attendance of many UK MPs and foreign VIPs at the World Tamil Conference held in the British Parliament in 2012 where a resolution calling for the removal of the Sri Lankan military in the north, stopping Sinhalization of Tamil Homeland, stop decimation of Tamil Nation were endorsed

British MPs should focus on finding out how many Britishers who go to fill petrol and pay by credit card have their details cloned and their money illegally sent out to fund terror? LTTE operatives in the UK are key culprits of this crime.

British voters must demand that its Parliamentarians and the UK Prime Minister get hold of the organized crime taking place under their very noses.

LTTE fronts were forcing Tamil Diaspora to make ‘voluntary’ donations now every Britisher is being targeted. How many British citizens are aware that their money is being indirectly used to fund terror?

There are 9500 petrol sheds across the UK – calculate how many of these have LTTE operatives working in them and the credit card scams that take place. Already 200 filling stations have been identified in Edinburgh, Norwich, Bury St Edmunds, Peterborough, Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol and Hull. Conservative Party MP Andrew Selous wife was also a victim with 1000 pounds stolen from her account (in New York)

British MPs should find out how many other LTTE charities are manipulating the kindness of the British public and using their donations to buy arms and ammunition sending out the money tax-free.

British MPs should be concerned about how LTTE a foreign terrorist organization has defrauded the British Treasury, Her Majesty’s Inland Revenue and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise of over 1million pounds by raising over 3million pounds in the UK without paying value added tax on turnover and transferring over 2.5million out of UK since 1995 exploiting the ‘charity status’ it has deceptively acquired.

British MPs must begin to wake up to the fact that LTTE fronts are at the center of everything from credit card frauds to money laundering, drug trafficking to international narcotics trade and operating illegal shipping network as well. With LTTE ground force now no more why have these LTTE fronts not discontinued its money collection? Annual remittances from UK through various illegal activities is around £10 million – this money belongs to Britain and not to LTTE fronts.

What can be more treacherous or diplomatically incorrect than a Brigadier showing a gesture with his hands & a government co-sponsoring a legally flawed, procedurally questionable resolution that accepts that its own national army committed war crimes and is agreeable to create tribunals in order to punish them? Anyone is welcome to take their time to answer the question.

Shenali D Waduge

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The Government Distracts the People From Its Imminent Plans to Present in Parliament the ‘Sri Lanka-for-Sale’ Bill

February 9th, 2018

By Gandara John

What a circus! What a spectacle! The government has adroitly manoeuvered the forthcoming election on 10 Feb 18 to be fought, once again, on the theme of ‘Corruption’.

Corruption, as Sri Lanka’s great bank robbery revealed, is wildly rampant at all levels of our polity.

After evidence had been led at the ‘Bond-Scam’ hearings, Wickramasinghe has been, with reason, portrayed by the media as a common or garden swindler who, despite the revelations, continues to remain in office impeding further investigation and the cause of justice.

Sirisena, a self-styled Maoist, was by public admission a member of a family which had only 5 chairs to show as assets; today, the family is one of the richest in the country owning hotels, hospitals and warehouses.

Evidently, anyone having a monopoly of ownership of warehouses, as the Sirisena family has, is in a position to ‘fix’ the price of rice in this country.

Clearly associated with the heist were Wickramasinghe, Karunanayake, Samarawickrema, Hashim, Mahendran, Aloysius and a number of bit players like Senasinghe and the ‘foot-note’ battas who make up the numbers in the gang.

With the election drawing closer, Sirisena joined the circus, cracking his whip or rather ‘swinging his sword wildly’ more in the fashion of a ‘gam batta’ than a ‘dasa maha yodaya’.

With Sirisena’s pretentious display of anger and Wickramasinghe’s puerile behavior in parliament as a cheer leader at a Big Match, it is evident that the duo is attempting to divert the attention of the voters at the forthcoming election from the diabolic plans made by the government, which could result in the destruction of Sri Lanka, perhaps forever

With the ‘Bond scam’ spectacle, the Government cleverly concealed its imminent plans to ‘sell-off’ Sri Lanka piecemeal to the powerful countries operating in the Indian Ocean.

When the subject of discussion and address at election rallies should have been whether Sri Lanka, in its present configuration, could survive to the end of this Century as a Nation State (especially when plans are afoot to auction-off the country piecemeal to foreign powers), the opposition fell into the government trap by lending themselves to campaigning on a platform of ‘Corruption’.

Has the government been honest and told the people that it has already prepared this disastrous Bill and that it will be presented to parliament in February or March this year?

Has the government divulged the contents of the Bill which confers the powers of the Executive President, re leasing of land, to a Chinese (‘Government-controlled’) company?

Has the government revealed to the public the contents of the Bi-lateral Agreements, hurriedly signed between the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore, when their respective Heads of State made sudden official visits to the island, all within the space of one week?

Do the public of the country not have a right to know the detailed contents of those Agreements?

All these critical issues were drowned in the cacophony of the Bond-Scam; Sirisena and Wickramasinghe remain mute on the matter of the government literally auctioning off Sri Lanka piecemeal to foreign powers.

Ranawaka made a vague comment; he alluded to a Bill being presented to Parliament that would cover the Megapolis zones. He dared anyone, to go before Court if they were to consider the Bill unconstitutional.

The news on the grapevine is that the bi-lateral agreements hurriedly signed recently with the three visiting Heads of States are connected to the ‘Sri Lanka-for–Sale’ Bill. Was it a case of putting the cart before the horse or was the government working backwards to make sure the controversial Bill is a fait accompli?

The opposition must act more responsibly; they must demand that the draft Bill be made public as it affects the future of our Motherland.

It is very unlikely that the Government will divulge the details of the Bill, before the Election, as that would be a sure recipe for an ignominious defeat for the government at the polls.

Although the long-delayed election is not a National Election, it has taken on the aura of a National Election considering the dubious and treacherous track record of the government; a vote against the government, analysts say, is a warning shot over the bow of the government, to change immediately its policy direction.

The foreign governments that interfered in the 2015 Election are unhappy with the course of events and are back in business, pumping in huge sums of money to influence the election results; even media outlets that did not take a sycophantic line are now receiving money in the form of advertisements.

The ‘Sri Lanka-for-sale’ Bill is the ‘Colombo International Financial City’ Bill.

The Bill was drafted by Baker Mackenzie, the largest US law firm which works hand in glove with the US State Department and the CIA in their project for globalizing the world and achieving their ‘One-World-Government’ objective.

Baker Mackenzie, a company which Christine Lagarde once headed, works in lock step with the IMF and the World Bank.

John Flood, writing in the Boston College Law Review describes Baker Mackenzie as a ‘Born Global’ company which helps the process of globalization (US Colonisation) at an accelerated rate.

The Government of Sri Lanka hired the services of this undercover CIA legal company for a period of three months, paying it a 1.2 Million US Dollars to meddle with the Constitution and the land laws in the country.

Sri Lanka’s Constitution is discerningly silent on the matter of land rights and land ownership. Consequently, all land in the country belongs to the people and this land is held in custody, by the Government, for the people.

The powers of vesting, gifting, transferring, leasing et cetera of land are conferred on the President of Sri Lanka.

Baker Mackenzie, in drafting the ‘Sri Lanka- for- Sale’ Bill, has in blatant violation of the Constitution, conferred the powers of the President of Sri Lanka in this regard to the Chinese Company which will be managing the Colombo Port City; presently the extent is 269 hectares with the distinct likelihood of the Chinese Company’s jurisdiction extending far beyond.

The Chinese Company in terms of the treacherous Bill can sub-lease any portion of the 269 hectares to any person, company or country it pleases for a period of virtually 200 years (10 Generations).

But worse is to follow. If development projects similar to the Colombo Port City are initiated for instance in Jaffna or Anuradhapura or Kandy or even Bintenne for that matter, the ‘Sri Lanka-for-Sale’ bill has given latitude for this Chinese Company to extend its jurisdiction to these ‘annexed’ territory on the same conditions as the ‘Port City’.

The Bill also includes default clauses which empower the Chinese Company to seize, any land of its choice within Sri Lanka, to make good any default.

This Bill sounds the death knell for Sri Lanka.

What, with these enclaves, there would be Americans, Indians, Japanese, Australians, Chinese and whatever swarming all over the country for the next 200 years with no toe space for Sri Lankans to stand on.

In these ‘alien’ enclaves Sri Lankan laws and Courts will cease to exist; the laws would be British and the Courts would be foreign, both outside the purview of the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka.

And our professionals will have to contend with so-called high end professionals from abroad who are being encouraged into the Port city in numbers.

Our professionals will perforce have to register themselves anew, this time with the professional bodies regulating the Port city and ‘annexed’ cities, if they desire to practise their profession in the ‘enclaves’

And to boot what would we have, if atop all this, a new Constitution is adopted and the Centre (The Government) devolves its power to the provinces!

Baker Mackenzie was paid $1.2 Million by the people of this country from monies received as loans from China.

To avoid detection the government, unlike the proverbial ostrich, formulated a devious scheme; the government set up a local Company which would receive monies from foreign agencies, like US AID, Chinese Banks, Norwegian NGOs and a host of others.

When discreet payments have to be made, it is this Company that is made use of.

The Baker Mackenzie payment was made through this company; this company needs to be urgently investigated for money laundering, subversion and illegal election funding.

It is sad that a former, not-too-efficient, and out-of-job Attorney General lent himself to partake in this skullduggery.

The news on the street is that he made contact with a ‘friend’ working in Wickramasinghe’s office, to secure for himself, a ‘Directorship’ in the company and a fat cat salary.

Sadly, this former AG acts today as a conduit and a money launderer. For a few dollars more it is pathetic to see the former AG having no qualms in participating in the destruction of his Motherland.

When the Baker Mackenzie draft Bill had to be reviewed, the former AG hired another aging ‘gunman-for-hire’ from Australia; this worthy is no stranger to Sri Lanka having previously been hired by the Central Bank -using US AID funds – to draft Sri Lanka’s proposed new Constitution.

The ‘Sri Lanka-for-Sale’ Bill, violating the Constitution, has tinkered with the Land laws of the country, repealing certain provisions in the ‘Crown Land Ordinance No 12 of 1840, the Land Settlement Ordinance No 20 of 1931 and Act No 8 of 1947 which deal with the President’s powers over Land.

The ‘Sri Lanka-for- Sale’ Bill has empowered China no end, vis-à-vis Sri Lanka. The Bill enables China to ‘trade-off’ portions of Sri Lankan territory to any country – friend or foe – for any concessions China could exact from such countries.

For example, India is drilling for oil, off Vietnam, in the South China Sea. The Chinese are very unhappy about it and tensions have flared. If China, under the ‘Sri Lanka-for-Sale’ Bill is able to offer Trincomalee Harbour to the Indians for 200 years, it would be very likely that the Indians would stop their drilling in the South China Sea. Similarly, Japan and the US have serious problems with China in the Chinese Seas.

Although China has major problems with India, US and Japan in the China Sea, they appear to work in amity, in Sri Lanka.

India, Japan and the US are members of the Malabar Military alliance. Moragoda’s Pathfinder NGO, with close links to India and the US has worked hard to bring Sri Lanka into this military alliance; interestingly China has acknowledged this NGO as one of its top ten partners.

How does China’s policies, one of Sri Lanka’s closest allies during the terrorist conflict, harmonise with the changing scenario?

Having a firm control of Sri Lanka, lying in the Ocean centre, linking Europe, Africa and Asia, fits neatly into the Chinese plan of ‘One-Belt-One-Road’ (OBOR), which the US Neoliberals describe in slightly different terminology as ‘One-World-Government’.

In 2013, there was a paradigm shift in China’s policies when Xi addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, proclaimed to the world, that China accepted globalisation (World Colonisation) and was willing to give leadership to that process in the context of Trump’s purported reluctance to retain leadership.

Said Xi,  We must remain committed to developing global free trade and promote trade and investment liberalisation”.

‘One-Belt-One-Road’ and ‘One-World-Government’ are two sides of the same coin.

The circumstances suggest that China will sublease Sri Lanka to other foreign powers for a period of 200 years while ensuring their security at home in South and East China sea.

The result would be that Sri Lanka would be in smithereens.

Is this what Sri Lankans want in the name of ‘laptop’ development?

The people must show their opposition. The people are sovereign. Bear in mind that One man is a majority.

If Sirisena or Wickramasinghe claims that what has been said about the ‘Sri Lanka-for-Sale’ Bill is false, this writer politely requests either of them to bring the document into public domain immediately, for the public to judge.

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LTTE  demonstration in London

February 9th, 2018

P.A.Samaraweera

It has become the common practice for LTTE supporters to brandish Tiger flags whenever they demonstrate against Sri Lanka. The LTTE is banned in the UK as a terrorist organisation. Despite this, British authorities and the Police permit LTTE  sympathisers to display terrorist flags during their parades.

During the recent incident, where Brigadier Fernando, Defence Attache, was involved, those who demonstrated in front of the Sri Lankan High Commission in London, had not only carried LTTE flags but also shouted slogans supporting the LTTE. In the past as well, there had been comments that these LTTE demonstrations displaying Tiger flags had  been provocative. Therefore, the Sri Lankan govt should protest to the British authorities against LTTE supporters demonstrating with terrrorist flags. Apart from this, Britain has also given refugee status to terrorist leaders who disappeared after the war from Sri Lanka. A prominent figure among them is Adele Balasingham, who was the leader in distributing cyanide capsules to young boys and girls, and who is now living comfortably in the UK. British govt because of their double standards is silent over these.

There had been two British MP’s leading the Tiger demonstration. Obviously, they are manoeuvring for Tamil diaspora votes. During the last days of the war, the LTTE terrorists were shielding Tamil civilians and all those who tried to flee from them were shot dead. Where were all those British MP’s who had come to the forefront now ? It is these British MP’s vying for diaspora votes who are fuelling the flames of hatred between the Sinhalese and the Tamils . What is also surprising is the attitude of the Foreign Ministry which is under a UNP Minister. The UNP leaders lost no time in suspending Brigadier Priyanka Fernando, Defence Attache, most probably to please Tamil politicians, who were one time henchmen of the terrorists. By the quick intervention of the President and revoking the suspension, UNP politicians had to bite the bullet. May be, the President took this step to score some points because of the Local Govt elections. Otherwise, he too would have been silent, in the name of so called ‘reconciliation”. 

During the ceasefire agreement under the UNP govt in 2001-2004, LTTE leaders were given VIP treatment, and stooped so low as to host them in five star hotels. UNP leaders have not changed. From this incident we hope UNP leaders and the UNP lackeys in the Foreign Ministry saw the patriotism shown by Brigadier Fernando, to the LTTE rump.

Sri Lankans should support and stand with Brigadier Fernando for his patriotism and the courage shown to the Tiger demonstrators who were slandering Sri Lanka.

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No probe against Brigadier Priyanka-Army Chief

February 9th, 2018

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake said that they would not be conducting an inquiry the actions of the Defence Attache of the Sri Lankan High Commission in UK Brigadier Priyanka Fernando after he was spotted making a throat slitting gesture towards protesters who thronged the Embassy office in the UK.

“On the day of the incident the protesters who were carrying LTTE flags had shouted slogans against the Sri Lankan government and sung songs in praise of Prabhakaran. The Brigadier who was standing inside the premises of the Sri Lankan HC had pointed to the Sri Lankan flag on the shoulder of his uniform and gestured that the Sri Lankan government had already ‘taken care’ of Prabhakaran,”the Army Commander explained, added that it was not in any way or form a threat meant for the protesters, a claim made by those who had viewed the incident on the internet.

He said he would update the President on what had taken place tomorrow(9).(Indika Ramanayake)

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Navin slams ‘pathetic’ British MPs supporting LTTE fronts

February 9th, 2018

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy Adaderana

In scathing letter to the two British Labour MPs who had called for the expulsion of Sri Lanka’s defence attaché in London, Sri Lankan Minister Navin Dissanayake charges that their continued support to LTTE front organization is self-serving and pathetic” at a time when all communities are building bridges to live as one nation.

MPs Joan Ryan and Siobhain McDonagh had sent a letter to Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, over Brigadier Priyanka Fernando’s attempt to intimidate” a group of protesting Tamils.

They urged Boris Johnson to make immediate representations to Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner about this matter and also requested that he withdraw  diplomatic papers and expel Sri Lanka’s Defence Attaché in London.

However, in his letter addressed to the two British MPs, Dissanayake says that Brigadier Fernando was within the premises of the Sri Lankan mission and his acts cannot be questioned as he enjoys full diplomatic immunity for acts done within the embassy compound.

Read the full letter below: 

Dear Hon John Ryan, MP/Siobhain McDonagh, MP,

In reference to your letter dated 05.02.2018 to Honorable Boris Johnson asking for the withdrawal of diplomatic status to Brigadier Priyanka Fernando I wish to make the following observations.

I am the son of the late Hon. Gamini Dissanayake, presidential candidate and deputy leader of the United National Party who was assassinated by the terrorist organization LTTE, the political wing which both of you surreptitiously support. The said organization has been banned in your country and has been designated as a terrorist organization by many countries including yours and the United States.

On the day in question 4th of February which marks the national day of independence for your country a day of joy and celebration to all Sri Lankans, the front organizations of the LTTE which the both of you support gathered a few hundred supporters to protest outside our Embassy in the UK. What is most disturbing and offensive to us Sri Lankans was the carrying of the LTTE flag and the abusive and vituperative comments made by the protesters. Brigadier Fernando was within the premises of the SL mission and his acts cannot be questioned as diplomatically and legally he is within Sri Lanka” and he enjoys full diplomatic immunity for acts done within the embassy compound. This tradition is accepted practice in diplomatic regulations and the tradition is followed in all countries.

As the protesters’ behavior was offensive to Sri Lanka, Brigadier Fernando a valiant officer of the Sri Lanka army pointed to the lion emblem in his uniform to countenance the disgust he felt when he saw the tiger flags displayed in front of him.

Both of you have been carrying a deeply hateful, vindictive and offensive campaign against Sri Lanka. At a time when brutal terrorism has been eradicated and all communities are building bridges to live as one nation your continued support to front organization of the LTTE is self-serving and pathetic. Tell your contacts in these front organizations to contribute to their own brethren in the north and east without continuing to fuel the flames of hatred and ethnic division. Sri Lanka needs a real sense of reconciliation without individuals like you trying your utmost to break the real achievements that are being done on the ground. In any event we stand with Brig. Fernando steadfastly and he will continue as our defence attaché in UK.

Navin Dissanayake (M.P.)
Minister of Plantation Industries

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Before choosing right president or minister at Srilanka

February 9th, 2018

Article by Palitha Ariyarathna

Current transcend of political Changes in Srilanka must be reviewed rightly by its people for choose right president or minister.

My own obligation here as an author for this article can be various but Srilanka politics needs psychology change right now as we are going to choose right candidate for specially presidency ship. Wrong choice of the next President and Prime minster can destroy whole nation and can be lead to the falling under LTTE mafia or western interested.

Srilanka Citizen should never ever underestimate the coming president election and staying at home saying we will choose thou we will chose thee. To choose real leader is a quit difficult as many medias and propagandist (perfectionist) telling a story about each candidate. Citizen who don’t have a real political judgment can easily choose wrong one for become power (even who can destroy advance human civilization- traditional Sinhala Buddhist Culture.

There is much evidence that public opinion is downer these days. A majority of citizen rate current presidency ship for the future success of Srilanka also many journalists committed to same message.

Politic is full of trouble and ironic for many of us. War, crime, ignorance, disease, depression and anxiety, international human right issues, power. Ignorance has been produce by media in a people heart is a big challenge at Srilanka and apathy is increasing and right candidate for presidency ship has been become level to farmer who even don’t know well about paddy field.

Finding an expert to become a president or prime minster is an important subject. Peoples of srilanka looking for Stars and walking on dark ground without knowing there is many snakes nearby their feet on a ground looking for the right time for bite them.

As I told ignorance is danger and apathy must be overcome by us.

Death of democratic is not a slow process it’s happening by long term goal. Killing by an ambush is not unplanned operation. Don’t forget it has its own trick. Current political fear at Srilanka can lead to some action. Some politician need to stay continue in power and some are want to overtake the power. Those feared anger can lead to kill someone and take over the power. There for I would like to suggest following action for maintain peaceful election.

  1. Know about your candidate
  2. Read about your candidate
  3. Listen to them
  4. Watch them
  5. Judged them by how they seem to act on public stage
  6. Talk about current politic trend peacefully with family and friends
  7. Avoid involve your children in politic agenda
  8. Read article by smart and ambitious journalist
  9. Listen to expert
  10. Be realistic
  11. Study the history of action took by candidate
  12. Always remember news about your candidate can be a complex
  13. All the candidates can be talk bureaucratically
  14. Every candidate need to win the power, chose the right one who defend your countries and origin
  15. Listen to all political parties agendas and screen their action
  16. Carefully look where former LTTE propagandise going to support and witch candidate and why?
  17. Listen to local priest who are not proclaiming hidden agenda
  18. Take advice from Maha-Sanga
  19. Leave your physical and emotion weapon beside and never use them for defend your candidates
  20. Don’t involve in political fight
  21. Don’t spared rumours and gossip
  22. Make a list of prospective candidates and check each party political planning and study there website and other media source. Watch their answer to key response to the major question
  23. Do not influence by miss information given by site
  24. Try hard
  25. Avoid political disaster

There are many moral problems about ruling and each problem is different to each country. Confused voter naturally laps over in to the moral they do understand. Everyone have an weakness. But look for the candidates who not gambling, who not still other things and women. Srilanka and its people must be never neglecting current political trend and we should vote right person at the right time. Decision must be taken early not late after the election.

President character must be not simple and don’t forget qualities of character related to the strong government. Don’t throw away simply your vote and just pick up the better one even half hypocricts imperfect.

 

 

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Sri Lanka celebrating independence in chains of its own making

February 9th, 2018

BY 

ON

First of 2 parts 
Bangkok: Sri Lanka is celebrating” this month 70 years of independence from British colonial rule, yet at no time since gaining independence in 1948 has Sri Lanka’s sovereignty stood threatened as it is today. One could say that Sri Lanka is celebrating independence in chains.

The strategically placed Indian Ocean island is an important lynchpin in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which Western powers—especially the United States and Britain—are keen to sabotage as its success would end their hegemony in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

How it started
Sri Lanka’s predicament started in early 2009 when the country’s armed forces were about to crush one of the most ruthless terror groups in the world – the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). In April 2009, British Foreign Secretary David Milliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made a beeline for Colombo and met the then President Mahinda Rajapakse and his brother Gotabaya Rajapakse to call for a ceasefire under the pretext of saving civilians which the LTTE had taken as human shields. Rajapakses told them in no uncertain terms that it was not on and Sri Lanka would crush terrorism once and for all.

Sri Lankan forces had already opened a safe route” for civilians to escape and it was the LTTE that was not allowing them to do so. On May 19, 2009, Sri Lankan forces finally crushed the LTTE, killing their entire military leadership in the battlefield. It was no doubt a bitter bloody end to the conflict, but, many civilians were able to escape to the safety of the military, thousands more were killed in the final battle as well as an estimated 4,000 Sri Lankan soldiers. The formidable LTTE propaganda machine of the Tamil diaspora in Western capitals such as Toronto, London, Oslo and Washington were left unscathed, and with an estimated war chest of $300 million, they immediately went into action claiming war crimes with 40,000 civilian deaths, which many Western media reported uncritically (fake news” as President Trump would describe it).

Milliband and Kouchner who went back like humiliated bullies, were quick to pounce on this propaganda with some of their own, to mobilize the international community” that included many of the Western media and also international human rights organization and even the United Nations that included UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay (an ethnic Tamil from South Africa). They used arguments of accountability, though conveniently ignoring the fact that none of them have accounted for war crimes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. They embarked on a campaign to destabilize the Rajapakse regime, which was enjoying tremendous support within the country for ending a 30-year-old civil war.

Geopolitical factor
There was another factor—geopolitical issues arising from Sri Lanka’s strategic location in the middle of important shipping lanes in the Indian Ocean. When the West refused to sell arms to Sri Lanka, threatened to cut aid and take the issue to the UN Security Council (that would have forced a ceasefire and saved the LTTE), it was China that came to Sri Lanka’s aid. If Sri Lanka was allowed to get away with it, this would have encouraged many other developing countries to take the same path, ignoring Western pressure. With tacit support from neighboring India—which was worried about China’s incursions into the island such as building a port and an airport—the West mobilized its media, human rights organization and the UN, with Ban Ki-moon and Navi Pillay happy to join the bandwagon.

The Western media ignored the frantic rebuilding efforts of the Rajapakse regime where soldiers—without their guns—were working with Tamil civilians to rebuild their homes, roads and bridges destroyed during the war. This effort was mainly aided by Asian countries such as China and India. The Western media kept on harping about accountability for alleged war crimes. Britain’s Channel 4, for example, regularly broadcast unauthenticated video clips shot on mobile phones, provided presumably by the LTTE diaspora, claiming evidence of war crimes by Sri Lankan forces.

Having accused Sri Lankan armed forces of indiscriminate killing, Ban Ki-moon appointed a UNSG panel of experts (POE) in 2011 led by former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darussman to submit to him a report. The Sri Lankan government refused to cooperate. The New York-based POE collected information by calling for submissions on their UN-based website. Failing to attract much interest, they subcontracted a Toronto-based so-called independent, non-partisan, human rights organization Center for War Victims and Human Rights (CWVHR) which provided sample letters and canvassed the Tamil diaspora to submit these to the POE. When it produced the report claiming to endorse the 40,000 figure, the Sri Lankan government questioned its credibility. But the UNHRC used the report to mount an accountability campaign against Sri Lanka leading to a UNHRC resolution in March 2012.

This campaign put enormous pressure on the Rajapakse government with threats of Western economic sanctions. At the same time, the West funded many NGOs within the country to mount a pro-democracy and anti-corruption campaign against the regime, especially the Rajapakse family. This succeeded in unseating the Rajapakse regime in January 2015, when the president unwisely called an early election. Many young voters were swayed by this NGO propaganda.

Asian version of ‘Arab Spring’
This was an Asian version of the Arab Spring,” which the West was able to successfully implement to the disbelief of many Sri Lankans. President Maitripala Sirisena, who defected from the Rajapakse government, was elected on a yahapalanaya (good governance) platform to rid the nation of endemic political corruption. But, what has followed is a cunning manipulation of the political system to serve the needs of Western powers. The divisive issue of framing and adopting a new constitution has taken over from rebuilding the nation. There are attempts to retrain” the military to serve US needs in the Indian Ocean. And the worse of all, the government has been entangled in the worst financial scandal in the country’s history perpetuated by the Governor of the Central Bank who was personally appointed by Sirisena’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. The latter is currently doing his best to cover up the scandal.

This scandal, which has been widely reported and debated in Sri Lanka has been hardly covered by the Western media. This multi-billion rupee bond scam has drained the treasury leading to the government doing a deal with China to pay off debts by granting a 99-year lease of the China-built and -financed Hambantota harbor last year. The government is believed to be negotiating a similar deal with India for the adjoining China-built airport.

While we cannot expect the Western media to question the credibility of a government that is subservient to the West, the tragedy is that the Asian media has not picked up on this story. If the West succeeds in recolonizing” Sri Lanka, next in line will be countries like Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia that are also strategically important for China’s BRI. (To be continued tomorrow)

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“පූර්ව මැතිවරණ සමය සාපේක්ෂව සාමකාමීයි – ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියාවල සාහසික බව අඩුයි. දේපළ හානි කිරීමේ පරිමාව පහළ මට්ටමක“

February 9th, 2018

– කැෆේ  සංවිධානය

2018 පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණය නිරීක්ෂණය සඳහා නිදහස් හා සාධාරණ මැතිවරණයක් සඳහා වූ ජනතා ව්‍යාපාරය හෙවත්  කැෆේ සංවිධානය දිවයින පුරා සියලුම දිස්ත්‍රික්ක නියෝජනය වන පරිදි මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂකයින් 5000 කට අධික පිරිසක් පෙබරවාරි 9 සහ 10 දිනවල යෙදවීමට නියමිත ය.   නව මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමයට අනුව ස්ථාපිත කෙරෙන ගණන් කිරීමේ මධ්‍යස්ථානවල ද මැතිවරණ නිරීක්ෂණ කටයුතු  සඳහා  කැෆේ සංවිධානය කටයුතු යොදා ඇත. 

අපේක්ෂකයින් 52000 කට අධික පිරිසක් ඉදිරිපත්ව  සිටින මෙවර මැතිවරණය, ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ විශාලතම මැතිවරණයයි.  පළාත් පාලන ආයතන 340 ක ට ඡන්ද විමසීම පැවැත්වේ.  2012 අංක 22 දරණ සංශෝධිත පනත් සංශෝධනය මඟින් මෙම නව මිශ්‍ර මැතිවරණ ක්‍රමය හඳුන්වා දෙනු ලැබීය. මෙම ක්‍රමය යටතේ සමස්ත ආසන සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් 60% ක්  එනම් ආසන 5092 ක්  සඳහා කොට්ඨාස  ක්‍රමය යටතේ තෝරා ගන්නා අතර ඉතිරි 40% එනම් ආසන 3394 ක් සඳහා නියෝජිතයින් තෝරා ගැනීම සමානුපාතික ක්‍රමය යටතේ සිදුවෙයි. මෙවර පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද විමසීම සඳහා ලියාපදිංචි ඡන්ද දායකයින් සංඛ්‍යාව 15,760,867 කි. එයින් 48.6% ක් පිරිමි වන අතර 51.4% ක් කාන්තාවන්  වෙයි.

මෑත ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ පැවති වඩාත්ම සමකාමී ඡන්ද විමසීම මෙය වෙයි.  ප්‍ර‍චණ්ඩක්‍රියාවන් හි ස්වරූපය හා දේපල හානිවීම් ඉතාමත් පහත මට්ටමක පැවතුණි.  මේ වන විට ප්‍ර‍චණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා සදහා සම්බන්ධ වූ පුද්ගලයින් 56 කට වැඩි පිරිසක් පොලිස් අත්අඩංගුවට පත්වී ඇත. නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මකවීම ඉහළ මට්ටමින් පැවතීම තුල මැතිවරණ නීති ආරක්ෂා වී ඇත. 

මේ දක්වා වැඩිම ප්‍රචණ්ඩ ක්‍රියා වාර්තා වී ඇත්තේ නැගෙනහිර පළාතෙනි. එයින් බහුතරයක් සංවිධානාත්මක නොවන හුදෙකලා සිදුවීම් වීම විශේෂත්වයකි.   

ප්‍රචාරණයේ නිහඩ කාලය තුල ඊයේ සහ අද ලංකාවේ ස්ථාන 6 කින් සිදුවීම් වාර්තා වී ඇත.  මේ දක්වා කැෆේ සංවිධානය වෙත පැමිණිලි 345 ක් වාර්තා වී ඇත. 

Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon
Executive Director/CaFFE

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භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේට පහරදුන් ඌව මහ ඇමති සම්බන්ධව නීතිය වහා කි‍්‍රයාත්මක නොකරන්නේද?

February 9th, 2018

පූජ්‍ය වකමුල්ලේ උදිත හිමි ලේකම්  ජාතික භික්‍ෂු පෙරමුණ

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමා
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය
කොළඹ.

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි,

භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේට පහරදුන් ඌව මහ ඇමති සම්බන්ධව නීතිය වහා කි‍්‍රයාත්මක නොකරන්නේද?

රැුකියා විරහිත උපාධිධාරීන්ට රැුකියා ලබාදෙන ලෙස, සාධාරණ ඉල්ලීමක් වෙනුවෙන් ඌව පළාත් මහ ඇමතිතුමන් මුණගැසීමට ගිය කණ්ඩායමේ සිටි තැන්නේ ඥානානන්ද ස්වාමීන් වන්සේට පහරදී සිදුකළ නින්දාසහගත කි‍්‍රයාව දැඩි පිළිකුළෙන් හෙළා දකින්නෙමු.

එම අවාසනාවන්ත සිදුවීම සම්බන්‍ධව දැනටමත් ඔබතුමන් පෞද්ගලිකව හා ජනමාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේත් දැනගෙන ඇතිබව අපි විශ්වාස කරන්නෙමු. ගුරුවරියක දණගස්වා රටම ආන්දෝලනයකට ලක්කරමින් හා ගුරු පරපුරටම නින්දා කළේද මෙම මහ ඇමතිවරයාමය. එකී කි‍්‍රයාව සම්බන්ධව පරීක්‍ෂණ කටයුතු සිදුකෙරෙන අතර තුරම, එහි උණුසුම මැකීයන්නටත් මත්තෙන් නීතියට හෝ යුක්තියට හෝ සදාචාරයට හෝ කිසිදු නතුවීමක් නැති චාමර සම්පත් දසනායක මහ ඇමතිවරයා මෙසේ ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ නමකට පහරදී තවත් පාපතර කි‍්‍රයාවකට දායක වී ඇත. තමන් සුදුසු මහ ඇමතිකමට නොව මැරයෙකුගේ භූමිකාවට බව මේ ඇමැත්තා මෙයින් ඔප්පුකර ඇත. තවදුරටත් ඔබතුමාගේ යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවේ පැවැත්මට හෝ යහපාලන සංකල්පයට හෝ මෙවන් මැර මහ ඇමතිවරු ආශිර්වාදයක්දැයි අපි ප‍්‍රශ්න කරන්නෙමු. ඔබ පාලනය යම පාලනයක් කරන්නේ මෙවැන්නන් නොවන්නේද?

දූෂිතයින්, අපරාධකාරයින්, මැරයින් නැති යහපාලනයක් ඔබ පාලනය නිමාවීමට මත්තෙන් ගොඩනගන බව නිතර උස් හඬින් රටට කියන ඔබතුමන් භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ නමකට පහර දුන් මේ මහ ඇමතිවරයා සම්බන්ධයෙන් වහා කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කරන්නෙ කවර කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක්ද? ඒ සම්බන්ධව අප ද ඇතුළු භික්‍ෂු සංවිධාන හා නීිතියට, සාධාරණත්වයට, යුක්තියට සහ යහපාලනයට කැමති මහජනයා ඇතුළු සැම බොහෝ අපේක්‍ෂාවෙන් පසුවෙති. 

සඟ සසුනට නිගාදෙමින්, පවට ලජ්ජා නැතිබව ඔප්පුකරමින් ඌව මහ ඇමති චාමර සම්පත් දසනායක නමැත්තා සිදුකළ කි‍්‍රයාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් වහා නීතිය හා විධානය ක‍්‍රියාවට නගන ලෙසත්, අපටත් රටටත් සෑහීමකට පත්විය හැකි කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ගයක් ඉතා කඩිනමින් ගන්නා ලෙසත් අපි ඉල්ලා සිටින්නෙමු. අඩු තරමින් ඔහුගේ සියලූ වගකීම් හා ධූරයන් තාවකාලිකව හෝ ඉවත්කර නීතිය වහා කි‍්‍රයාත්මක කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන ලෙසද අවධාරණයෙන් දන්වා සිටින්නෙමු. ඔබතුමා ගන්නා යුක්තිගරුක හා නීතිගරුක ඉක්මන් කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ග සම්බන්ධයෙන් අප අවධානයෙන් පසුවන බවද කාරුණිකව දන්වා සිටින්නෙමු.  

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පිටපත් :-

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  3. සභාපති – ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාව – අවශ්‍ය කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ග සඳහා
  4. සියලූ ජනමාධ්‍ය

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Vital national issues involved in tomorrow’s poll

February 9th, 2018

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Whatever the results of the Local Council election tomorrow, one important factor is clear. The sovereign people, most of them now well informed largely because of high technology — will no longer tolerate corrupt politicians.

We hope those who are coming into politics will examine their conscience and ask whether they wish to sincerely, selflessly and sacrificially serve the country, people of all races and religions and bring about ethnic and religious unity in diversity. Specially during the past four decades, political corruption has become like a cancer.

According to Sri Lanka’s traditional culture and civilisation, a simple and humble lifestyle or ‘Alpechchathawaya’ is vital for the building of a just, fair and peaceful society. To indulge in wasteful expenditure, luxuries and vulgar extravagance even with an individual’s own money is regarded as wrongful if not immoral, at a time when so many millions of people are struggling on or below the poverty line into which a selfish and wicked society has pushed them. But to indulge in luxury and extravagance with money plundered from public resources is a grave crime that requires
severe punishment.


Therefore after February 10 non-party civic action groups need to give leadership and information to the people whenever and wherever bribery, corruption, serious frauds or other political crimes take place. In the January 8, 2015 Presidential Election, the main pledges included the restoration of democracy, the rule of law and tough action against those who indulge or indulged in bribery, corruption or serious fraud.
To a large extent the restoration of democracy has come a long way specially with the 19th Amendment to the Constitution and the Right to Information (RTI) law being implemented effectively from February 3 last year. Last month alone there were about 100 appeals to the RTI Commission and the civic action groups are urging the people to make use of this RTI law to exercise their fundamental rights to the freedom of information and know what politicians are doing with public money.

But sadly, corruption continues more than three years after the historic Presidential Election and some two and a half years after the two major
parties joined to form a National Unity or Consensus government.

Tomorrow’s election will also be a major test for the new electoral system where 60 percent of the candidates will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis while 40 percent will be on proportional representation. Most analysts say some adjustment is needed, because voters will cast their ballots for a party and most of them do not know who the candidate is and whether he or she has been working with honesty and integrity. We hope that at the next election some adjustment will be made after consultations and consensus among all party leaders.

Another important feature in tomorrow’s election will be that for the first time women will have a 25 percent representation. The elected women need to be aware that they have not only obtained a basic right but also have a serious responsibility. Most  social analysts believe that without the strong voice, intuition and other qualities of women and specially mothers, all-male or excessively male decision making is often seriously flawed.

So with all these important issues involved, we hope that responsible citizens will see tomorrow’s election as a vital event and cast their votes without giving excuses or claiming that there is little purpose in choosing the lesser of the rogues. Voters need to think and act positively for the common good of our country and help build a peaceful, just and all-inclusive society.

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Voting tomorrow: SL will remain SL SL would continue to be with China economically and growing Sinhala dominance politically

February 9th, 2018

 Kusal Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Fate of Sri Lanka already decided by other factors that led to the election after this Unity Government 

No strong assurances on investments from the West compelled the Unity Government to turn towards China 

This Government’s position is no different to that of Rajapaksa’s 

President Sirisena continuously contradicted his own pledges on non-interference 

President Sirisena continuously contradicted his own pledges on non-interference 

Tomorrow Saturday, February 10, 15.8 million people have been called to vote at the long-delayed Local Government Elections to establish 341 councils.

A half-hour after polls close, counting will begin at polling booths themselves for Ward representations.

That result can be declared tomorrow evening itself, according to statements made by the Elections Commission. Ward level elected representation this time in LG bodies comes after almost 49 years with an addition. This time it comes with 40 percent more councillors elected on proportional representation.

For all the calculations required, including 25 percent mandatory women representation, would take another 24 hours or more.

For voters to know where they stand on how they voted, they may have to wait for another day at least. Meanwhile, there will be guessing done on the outcome of Ward based results, that can indicate which way  the wind blows.

Leaving predictions on results and horoscope reading of leaders, for post-election recreation, what can be said with certainty is, the fate of Sri Lanka will not be decided by election results.

Brigadier Priyanka Fernando

The fate of Sri Lanka has already been decided by other factors that led to the election after this Unity Government dodged voters for over two years.

The year 2016 led to the year 2017 with conflicts brewing between the United National Party (UNP) and President Sirisena’s faction of the SLFP in Government.

In a Government that was proudly hyping its ability to have defeated Rajapaksa and nothing more, they included everything from economics to politics to personality clashes.

A wholly unprincipled alliance it is, with no clear economic strategy and left to continue on fast-tracked free market economics, this Unity Government was unable to stay within the expected geopolitical framework of the Western allies.

It is common knowledge in the West, especially the US administration and the EU wanted this Yahapalana Government to distance itself from Chinese influence, Rajapaksa established.

Therefore in 2015 January, the West expected a Government led by their trusted political ally, the UNP, to change course. The new UNP led Yahapalana Government, in turn, expected the US and the EU to step in with investments and financial aid to prop up the economy and overcome unaccounted for borrowings during the Rajapaksa era.

However, there were no strong assurances on such investments which compelled the Unity Government to turn towards China again.
After the change of regime in 2015 January, with expected support from the West, Sri Lanka agreed to have alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity probed with international participation on a Co-sponsored Resolution adopted at the UNHRC Sessions in Match 2016.
On the Co-sponsored Resolution, the Unity Government also agreed to have the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) repealed and replaced by another with internationally accepted standards, establish mechanisms for investigations into enforced disappearances and also provide a political solution to long-neglected Tamil aspirations among many others.

The West would use Tamil diaspora protests and agitations to their advantage. Diaspora activities, in turn, would be used here in the South to strengthen Sinhala Buddhist politics

With such assurances on the card, the TNA leadership has been supporting the Unity Government expecting to have a new Constitution that would provide a Federal State or something close to that and more than the present 13A.

We would complete two years one month after the LG Elections conclude since the Co-sponsored UNHRC Resolution was adopted and made Sri Lanka binding to adhere and implement its agreed terms and conditions.

It is now almost two years since this Unity Government gradually withdrew from its international commitments.
Backtracking began with President Sirisena announcing he would not agree to international interferences in probing ‘war heroes’.
He thereafter ruled out any investigations that could involve war heroes, with PM Wickremesinghe endorsing that to continue
in Government.

Thus there is neither internationally-supported investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity nor local investigations.
President Sirisena has very emphatically said there would be no investigations into alleged war crimes, leaving the PM non-committal on that.
Now, this Government’s position is no different to that of Rajapaksa’s.

War heroes have not committed crimes during the war. They liberated Sri Lanka from separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)”.
Therefore, by its own rationale the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) Bill that was passed in Parliament in 2016 August, does not require implementing and still remains to be activated and enforced after one year and six months.

The PTA too remains with a proposed draft for replacement opposed by HR activists as more crude and brutal than the PTA itself.

This also provides political importance to the security forces. With especially in the North, more and continuing protests demanding private land occupied by security forces, answers for enforced disappearances and against continued heavy military presence, all interpreted by intelligence as linked to unknown LTTE presence in the diaspora, security forces have been turned into a necessary political factor in the Sinhala South.
With embedded journalism giving credence to these tall stories of a possible regrouping of LTTE remnants, the two major political parties in Colombo give weight to security forces in making political decisions.

The Co-sponsored UN Resolution almost forgotten here in Sri Lanka, in international fora where the West dictates terms, Sri Lanka has once again become a sore thumb.

With a change of regime in 2015 January that was only possible with Tamil and Muslim communities voting anti-Rajapaksa, both international HR and interest groups and the Tamil diaspora expected some sanity in the new Government in resolving post-war issues.

So did the people in the North-East, who voted out Rajapaksa.

All of them have been terribly misled and let down leading to protests and agitations. As I tweeted two days ago, …some now believe it’s the LTTE path to freedom. Some believe the TNA would create enough space to continue and some others are struggling to find alternate paths”.
There is definitely resentment building up in European and North American cities like in Kepapulavu, with renewed Tamil diaspora campaigns.
The London pro-LTTE protest in front of the Sri Lankan High Commission on the Independence Day is proof.

The fault is not with protesting Tamil groups wherever they are. That fault is with the Sinhala political leaders.

As I tweeted, Fault lies with Sinhala political leadership (irrespective of parties) that cannot accept the answer lies in decent and civilized compromise for equality and human dignity”.

Sadly racial insanity not only prevails but also grows with this Government leadership that was brought to power to do exactly the opposite.
There is no doubt, this Sinhala Buddhist dominance would keep growing post-LG Elections from how President Sirisena, who will be in office till 2020 acted on the London High Commission political mess (Not diplomatic as most would want to say) on Independence Day.
There were strong protests in London and an official protest from Her Majesty’s Government that compelled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) to immediately issue a public communiqué accepting it was unwarranted on the part of the Defence Attaché Brigadier Priyanka Fernando and announcing he would be immediately removed.

Within 24 hours as reports say, President Sirisena intervened and instructed the MoFA to withdraw its decision immediately and allow the Defence Attaché to resume work.

President Sirisena has continuously contradicted his own pledge to be a non-interfering President and would not usurp powers as Rajapaksa did.
Where his Sinhala Buddhist image matters, he has always interfered on his own volition to change Ministry and Cabinet decisions using his powers as Executive President.

The Post-LG Elections, in his bid to wrest total political power in Government, there is every possibility this Sinhala Buddhist dominance would be on the high.

The Post-LG Election period would, therefore, drag Sri Lanka into more resentment in international fora including the next scheduled UNHRC Sessions in March.

Already the EU Joint Staff Working Document (SWD/2018/31 Final) on Special Incentive Arrangement for Sustainable Development and Good Governance (‘GSP+’) assessment of Sri Lanka covering the period 2016 – 2017” reels out their resentment in very diplomatic but strong words.
We are fundamentally back to where we were. Post LG elections we would continue to be with China economically and with growing Sinhala dominance politically.

Thus it would not be voters at the LG elections who would decide the fate of Sri Lanka, but Chinese presence and Western geopolitical interests.
Obviously, the West would use Tamil diaspora protests and agitations to their advantage. Diaspora activities, in turn, would be used here in the South to strengthen Sinhala Buddhist politics.

It is a life of a stubborn racist society dominating others for no real democratic and civilised advantage, despite elections that are mere procedural interventions.

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Sri Lanka added to EU’s money laundering blacklist

February 9th, 2018

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has been added to the European blacklist of third countries thought to be at high risk” of money laundering and terrorist financing.

Despite intense efforts by some MEPs, they failed to achieve the 376-vote absolute majority needed to reject the inclusion of Tunisia, Sri Lanka, and Trinidad and Tobago to the European Commission’s list of non-EU countries considered to have strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and terrorism financing regimes.

The vote on Wednesday reflected the split in EU Parliament over the issue, with 357 votes in support of the motion, to 283 votes against, and 26 abstentions.

MEPs who tabled the motion focused their opposition on the inclusion of Tunisia. They believe the addition of the North African country is undeserved; that it is a burgeoning democracy in need of support and that the listing fails to recognise the recent steps it has taken to strengthen its financial system against criminal activity. The other two countries were included in the same delegated act.

Commission obligations under the AMLD

As part of its obligations under the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Directive, the European Commission is periodically obliged to draw up a list of high-risk third countries”.

Parliament has veto power over the blacklist, which is one of the tools in the European Union’s armoury to protect its financial system against money laundering and terrorist financing. However, for many months, the list has been a source of disagreement between the European Commission and Parliament.

MEPs rejected two previous versions, after disagreements over the methodology used by the Commission for compiling the list. Since then, the two bodies have agreed on a new methodology, which will be introduced from the end of this year, for adding and removing countries.

In mid-December, in line with its custom of following the lead of the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the Commission decided to include Tunisia and the other two states to its blacklist, sparking the present controversy.

In a statement to Parliament on Monday, the Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourová, declined some MEPs’ requests to delist Tunisia immediately. She said the Commission would reassess the country’s progress as early as possible” this year.  However, we are not there yet,” she added.

Source: APO

-Agencies

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The cockeyed and absurd claims about Ranil’s economic expertise

February 8th, 2018

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

Shyamon Jayasinghe, in an article published in the Colombo Telegraph (‘The political tug-o-war in Sri Lanka is cockeyed and absurd: only Ranil talks of economic goals’) dwells on the ‘dooshanaya-discourse’ or the ‘discussion on corruption.’  Shyamon makes an interesting observation:
One never observes any printed or online media that tries to balance the imbalance and put things in perspective. They take some side or the other in the dooshanaya vs dooshanaya battle.”
He rightfully berates Maithripala Sirisena for talking as though corruption was something that the President discovered just the other day.  He then ridicules, quite rightly, ‘the Rajapaksa clan’ for attacking the ruling party of the dooshanaya disease.  The Rajapaksas, he claims, are the main proponents ofdooshanaya.
That’s it.  Nothing of the United National Party. Nothing of Ranil Wickremesinghe. it is as though he would have us believe that there has been no dooshanaya whatsoever post January 8, 2015.  Instead, he claims he is bored by dooshanaya talk.  Interestingly, after these charges and silences, Shyamon laments that he never observes ‘any printed or online media [trying] to balance the imbalance and put things in perspective.’
The reason is not hard to understand, for he then proceeds to sing the praises of Ranil Wickremesinghe. Objective much, one must say (tongue in cheek of course!).  
Let’s fill in some blanks here.  The biggest heist ever that has been associated with the Central Bank happened under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s watch. The man at the centre of the scam is not only a personal friend, but one who has at best an iffy track record when one considers his stint as BoI Chairman when Wickremesinghe was Prime Minister (2001-2004).  He was and is Ranil’s man.  Wickremesinghe defended Arjuna Mahendran even after it became apparent that there had been hanky-panky involving Arjuna Mahendra and his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius.  When the COPE report on the Central Bank bond issue was about to be published, Ranil, through his new found friend Sirisena, got Parliament dissolved. 
Ranil went further.  He took control of the Finance Minister and continued to defend Mahendran.  The UNP’s Deputy Leader, Ravi Karunanayake was implicated, later.  Both disgraced men were rewarded and ‘looked after’ by Wickremesinghe by way of appointments conferred subsequent to them being moved out of their jobs. The fall guy, as they say, is taken care of by the real crook.  
Anyway, Shyamon is bored of dhooshanaya talk.  After leaving out an important part of the dhooshanayastory, he wants us to believe that Ranil Wickremesinghe and Ranil Wickremesinghe alone thinks of ‘The Economy.’  He takes care not to talk about the one tangible economic goal that was secured: the mega bucks his friends made over the last three years. Sri Lanka has slipped in the Corruption Index under Ranil Wickremesinghe’s watch and you can’t just point fingers at Maithripala because they are a thick-as-thieves in this, literally and metaphorically .
To put things in perspective and as a hint regarding what probably happened, the party that couldn’t pay the electricity bill of Sirikotha in 2014 ran a massively expensive election campaign in August 2015 and is currently doling out billions for the local government election.  Talk about having an eye on economic goals, eh?
Instead he talks of positives as per his obviously blind faith in neoliberal economic policies: 
Foreign direct investment is impressive debt management and fiscal management is improving and the economy is slowly looking up. PM goes all over the world on economic missions with little gratitude from even the President who now says he will take over the running of the economy!
Let’s not talk about google balloons, Volkswagen factories and free wifi.  Let’s talk facts.
Waruna Singappuli, in an article published in the Daily FT on February 7 titled ‘Economic policy: are we down the wrong lane?’ gives the data that Shyamon doesn’t seem to be aware of or else ignores altogether in the brain-freeze that seems to creep in when talking about the United National Party and Ranil Wickremesinghe. 
 
The Central Bank figures indicate, as Singappuli points out, that GDP growth has been ‘anaemic,’ being less than 5% over the past two years.  It is predicted that the 2017 figures would probably be lower than 4%, ‘the lowest growth since the war ended in 2009.’  Per Capita GDP is stagnant, the numbers show.  
 
How about the ‘impressive debt management’ that Shyamon talks of? Well, Singappuli, quoting Central Bank figures, demonstrates that ‘in absolute terms the total Government debt has increased by 39% from Rs 7,391 Bn at the end of 2014 to Rs 10,269 Bn by September 2017.  The Debt to GDP ratio, he points out, has gone up from 71% at end 2014 to 79% in September 2017. Singappuli puts it down to poor economic growth.  The policy of boosting government revenue by increasing taxes hasn’t worked, he says.  While acknowledging that tax hikes are not necessarily the only reason for weak growth, it is a key factor, Singappuli adds. 
He goes on to offer options.  I shall not repeat his cogent arguments.  The article can be found here.  
FDIs (calculated without borrowings) stood at US $ 1,685 Mn in 2014, came down to US $ 1,160 Mn in 2015, dropped further to US $ 1,079 Mn in 2016 and went up to US $1,630 Mn (projected) in 2017 thanks of course to China.   The ‘sharp rise’ in 2017 is from Chinese investment which accounted for 35% of FDIs to Sri Lanka in 2017 (until September) according to the Ministry of Development Strategies and International Trade. The Chinese ‘slice’ for 2017 is predicted to be in the region of  US $ 1.36 billion.  So much for the ‘efforts’ of Wickremesinghe and the UNP!
Yes, China.  Since Shyamon talks of the globe-trotting genius prime minister that we have, let’s elaborate. This genius and his party lambasted China for years during the previous regime. It gambled on the West, convinced that the US and Europe would help out.  They had forgotten that China and Japan own North American and European debt.  The wide-eyed wonder of wonders who in Shyamon’s eyes can do no wrong suddenly woke up when Brexit happened.  Out of the blue, the man says, ‘we are planning to look East’. What’s this ‘East’?  China!  So much for ‘going all over the world on economic missions’!  And we are supposed to say ‘thank you Ranil’?  
The economy is not looking up. It can’t when the handlers are navel-gazing and seem to believe that they were mandated to do nothing else than blame the previous regime for present ills. That and lining the pockets of the near and dear.
‘Cockeyed and absurd claims,’ yes.  And there’s nothing more cockeyed and absurd than claiming that Ranil knows a helluva lot about the economy.  Note: talking of economic goals is one thing, delivering is something totally different.  

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What is the only country in the world which has ……..

February 8th, 2018

Sudath Gunasekara

What is the only country in the world which has

1 Two Heads of State

2 Two Prime Ministers (one at Home and the other In Parliament)

3 Two Official Languages   (all over the country)

4 Two National Anthems

5 Two Governments in one

6 Which has no government, No Parliament, No Speaker, No Leader of Opposition, No Public Service and No Public Servants and those who are called Public Servants are only domestic Servants of the political party in power

7 Which has the biggest Cabinet in the world.

8 Which has the highest number of politicians per person (1 to 2000)

9 Which has the highest per-capita number of public servants (1 to 16)

10 Where politicians never serve the people but serve only themselves

11 Where the President and Prime Minister have violated the Constitution of the country over 15 time with impunity

12 Where the President and the Prime Minister jointly rob the country’s Central Bank and accuse all others pointing the fingers to them without knowing that all other fingers point towards self

13 Which is ruled by Leaders who love other countries and their values with no understanding of or love for their own

14 That has leaders who openly say that their country has more than one nation

15That has leader who do everything for immigrant minorities while neglecting the sons of the soil

who have founded the civilization in the country and lived there for 2 1/ 2 millennia.

The one who gets all correct will get one million US $ as the country’s money has no value

 9.2.2018

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ජනාධිපතිට එරෙහිව අල්ලස් හා දුෂණ කොමිසමට පැමිණිල්ලක්..

February 8th, 2018

රංජිත් විතානගේ සභාපති පාරිභෝගික අයිතීන් සුරැකීමේ ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරය උපුටා ගැන්ම lanka C news

ජනාධිපතිට එරෙහිව අල්ලස් හා දුෂණ කොමිසමට පැමිණිල්ලක්..

ජනාධිපති මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට, නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අනුරාධ ජයරත්නට, මධ්‍යම පරිසර අධිකාරියේ හිටපු සභාපතිවරයාට එරෙහිව අල්ලස් හෝ දූෂණ විමර්ශන කොමිෂන් සභාව වෙත පැමිණිලි කරන බව බව පාරිභෝගික අයිතීන් සුරැකීමේ ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරය පවසයි.

මේ බව සදහන් කරමින් එම සංවිධානය විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනය මෙසේය.

රජය ජනතාවට පොරොන්දු වූ යහපාලනය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුත්තේ  විනිවිදභාවයකින් යුක්තවය. රට තුළ යහපාලනය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම පමණක් නොව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බව පෙනෙන්නටද තිබිය යුතු වුවත් අප රට තුල යහපාලන ක්‍රියත්මක වන බව පෙනෙන්නට නැත. ඉහළම පාලකයාද ,පහලම නිලධාරියාද  යහපාලන ප්‍රතිපත්ති ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකරයි.යහපාලනය ආරම්භ කලයුත්තේ රටේ පාලකයාගෙන්ය. එහෙත් අප ජනාධිපතිවරයා යහපාලන තුට්ටුවකටවත් මායිම් කරන බවක් පෙනෙන්නට නැත. එසේ චෝදනා කිරීමට සිදුව ඇත්තේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් යහපාලන පොරොන්දු මහදවල් කඩකර ඇති  නිසාය. ජනතාව   හැටියට අපට කල හැක්කේ ඒ පිළිබදව අදාල ආයතන වලට පැමිණිලි කිරීමය. නීතියෙන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ලැබී ඇති මුක්තියට මුවා වී සිටීමට ඔහුට හැකි වුවත්  සිය හෘද සාක්ෂියට මුවා වී සිටීමට හැකිද? යන්න තීරණය කල යුත්තේ ඔහුමය.

අ. මහ බැංකුවේ බැදුම්කර නිකුතුව පිලිබද සොයා බැලීමට පත් කරන ලද ජනාධිපති විමර්ශන කොමිසමේ වාර්තාව පදනම් කරගෙන ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් කරන ලද ප්‍රකාශයට අනුව  රටට  වූ පාඩුව රුපියල් බිලියන 11  කි. රටට මෙම පාඩුව සිදු කිරීම සදහා වූ සැලැස්මේ මහ මොලකරු අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍ර නම් ඔහු මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපති හැටියට පත්කරන ලද්දේ අගමැතිවරයාගේ නිර්දේශයට අනුව වූවත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාය. මෙරට පුරවැසියෙකු නොවන කෙනෙකු මහබැංකුවේ අධිපති කලේ ඇයිද? යන්න ජනතාව ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම සාධාරණය. මක්නිසාද යත් පොළීසියට කොස්තාපල් කෙනෙකු බදවා ගන්නේද ඔහු පිලිබද නිෂ්කාශන වාර්තාවක් ලබාගත් පසුවය. එමනිසා  මහ බැංකුවේ අධිපතිවරයා පත්කිරීමේ වගකීම ජනාධිතිවරයා විසින්  දැරිය යුතුය.

ආ. මහවැලි සංවර්ධන හා පරිසර අමාත්‍යවරයා හැටියට ඒම අමාත්‍යාංශවල සිදුවන වංචා හා දූෂණ සම්බන්ධයෙන්ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා වගකිවයුතුය.

ජනාධිපතිවරයාට හා නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අනුරාධ ජයරත්නට, මධ්‍යම පරිසර අධිකාරියේ හිටපු සභාපතිවරයාට සහ මධ්‍යම පරිසර අධිකාරියේ නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරකුට එරෙහිව කරනු ලබන පැමිණිල්ල 2018/02/09  දින උදේ 11 ට කොළඹ 7  අල්ලස් හෝ දූෂණ විමර්ශන කොමිසමේදී සිදු කෙරේ.

රංජිත් විතානගේ
සභාපති
පාරිභෝගික අයිතීන් සුරැකීමේ ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරය

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විගණකාධිපති පහත් දීන දේශපාලන අතකොලූ වැඩක.. රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයාගේ පක්ෂය කුමක්ද?

February 8th, 2018

 කුලශී‍්‍ර කාරියවසම් කැදවුම්කරු ජනතා මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය උපුටා ගැන්ම lanka C news

විඝණකාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඊයේ දිනයේ හදිසියේම පැවැත්වූ අති විශේෂ මාධ්‍ය හමුව ගැන අදහස් පල කරමින් ජනතා මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වෙයි.

රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයාගේ පක්ෂය කුමක්ද?

රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයා ඊයේ හදිසියේම ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡුාවක් කැදවමින් කරනු ලැබූ ප‍්‍රකාශය මේ රටේ රාජ්‍ය සේවය හා දේශපාලනය කොතරම් පහතට වැටී ඇත්ද යන්නට කදිම නිදසුනකි.

තම රෝගීන් පිළිබ`ද තොරතුරු ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ නොකිරීම වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ ආචාර ධර්මයක් වන්නා සේම වෘත්තීමය විගණකවරුන් තම සේවාදායකයාගේ තොරතුරු ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ නොකරයි.රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයාගේ සේවාදායකයා ආණ්ඩුවයි.ආණ්ඩුවේ ගිණුම් කටයුතු ගැන ප‍්‍රශ්න ඇතිනම් එ්වා ගැන කරුණු දක්වන්නට සුදුසු තැන් විගණකාධිපතිවරයාට තිබේ. ඔහු වගකිව යුත්තේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පමණකි. එසේම විගණකාධිපතිවරයා රජයේ සේවකයෙකි. රජයේ සේවකයන්ට රජය හෝ ආණ්ඩුව විවේචනය කළ නොහැක. නමුත් ඊයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයා එම වරදද සිදු කළේය.

නමුත් මේ සියල්ලට වඩා වැදගත් වන්නේ ඔහු මෙම ප‍්‍රකාශය කරනු ලැබුවේ කුමන අරමුණක් උදෙසා, කවුරුන් වෙනුවෙන්ද යන්නය. ඔහුගේ මෙම ප‍්‍රකාශය පැහැදිළිවම දේශපාලන අරමුණක් වෙනුවෙන්, දේශපාලකයින්ගේ අවශ්‍යතාව මත සිදු කරන ලද්දක් බව ඉතා හො`දින් පැහැදිලිය. මේ රට ඩොලර් ටි‍්‍රලියන 10ක් ණය ගෙන ඇති බවත් ඒවායින් ගිණුම්ගත වී ඇත්තේ එක් ටි‍්‍රලියනයක් පමණක් බවත් පසුගිය දිනක ජනාධිපතිවරයාද ”අති විශේෂ හෙළිදරව්වක්” කළේය.

රටේ ණය සහ රාජ්‍ය ණය යනු එකක් නොව දෙකකි. රාජ්‍ය ණය යනු රටේ අයවැය හි`ගය පියවා ගැනීම ස`දහා ආණ්ඩුව විසින් ගනු ලබන ණය වන අතර ඒවා බැර වන්නේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ඒකාබද්ධ අරමුදලටය. එකී ණය ගෙවිය යුත්තේද ඒකාබද්ධ අරමුදලිනි. රාජ්‍ය ආයත විසින්ද විවිධ අවශ්‍යතා ස`දහා ණය ගැනීම සිදු කරයි. එම ණය එ්කාබද්ධ අරමුදලට බැර නොවන අතර ගෙවීමේ වගකීම ඇත්තේද අදාල ආයතනයටය.රමේ ණය යනු මෙම රාජ්‍ය ණය හා රාජ්‍ය ආයතන විසින් ගනු ලබන ණය යන දෙවර්ගයේම එකතුවය. වරලත් ගණකාධිවරයෙකු වන රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයා මේ බව නොදන්නා බබෙකු විය නොහැක.

රාජ්‍ය මූල්‍ය කළමණානරනයේ ප‍්‍රශ්නයක් ඇත්නම් විගණකාධිපතිවරයා එය වා්රතා කළ යුත්තේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුටය. සෘජුව ජනතාවට ඒ ගැන කියා සිටීමට ඔහුට අයිතියක් නැත. එසේ තිබියදී ප‍්‍රවෘත්ති සාකච්ඡුා පවත්වා මාධ්‍ය සංදර්ශන පැවැත් වීමෙන් ඔහු අපේක්ෂා කරන්නේ කුමක්ද? ජනතාවට මේ ගැන කළ හැක්කේ කුමක්ද? අදාල වැරුද්දට වගකිව යුතු දේශපාලකයාට හෝ පක්ෂයට ඡුන්දය නොදී සිටීමය. ඡුන්ද විමසීමක් ආසන්නයේ ඊයේ ඔහු තම ප‍්‍රකාශයෙන් සිදු කළේ එවැනි ඇගවීමකි.

මේ අනුව ඔහු ඊයේ කළ ප‍්‍රකාශය පැහැදිළිවම බංකොළොත් දේශපාලනයක් කෙලින් කිරීම ස`දහා ගසනු ලැබූ මුක්කුවකි. එවැනි ප‍්‍රකාශ කිරීම රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයාට නොගැලපෙන ඉතාම පහත් දීන ක‍්‍රියාවකි. මින් පෙර කිසි දවසක රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයෙකු මේ තරම් පහත් තත්වයකට, දේශපාලන අත කොලූවක් බවට පත්ව නැත.

මේ අන්දමට රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයා පවා තම දේශපාලන වාසි ස`දහා භාවිත කිරීම තරම් ජනාධිපතිවරයා පිරිහී ඇත්නම් අනෙකුත් රාජ්‍ය සේවකයන් කුමන අන්දමට තම වාසි ස`දහා යෙදවා ගනු ඇත්ද? ශක්තිමත්, ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍ය සේවයක් සහතික කරන්නේ මෙසේද? මේ රටේ යහපාලනයක් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි සිවිල් සංවිධාන, ඊනියා බුද්ධිමතුන්, දේශපාලන සංවිධාන මේ ගැන කියන්නේ කුමක්ද?

‘නිදහස්, සාධාරණ, අපක්ෂපාතී, මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීමට උපන්නෙමි” යනුවෙන් වහසිබස් දොඩවන මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ සභාපති වරයා මේ ගැන කියන්නේ කුමක්ද? නිදහස් මැතිවරණයක් පැවත්වන්නට යැයි ඕනෑම පිළිකන්නක වුවද රිංගන මැතිවරණ කොමිසමේ සභාපතිවරයා අඩුම වශෙයෙන් විගණකාධිපතිවරයාගේ ප‍්‍රකාශය නොකළ යුත්තක් බවට හෝ ප‍්‍රකාශයන් කරන්නට සූදානම්ද?

රජයේ විගණකාධිපතිවරයා ඊයේ සිදුකල ප‍්‍රකාශය විගණකධිපතිවරයා ලෙසත්, වෘත්තීය විගණකවරයෙකු ලෙසත් සදාචාර විරෝධී, අයුතු ප‍්‍රකාශයකි. එවැනි සදාචාර විරෝධී වෘත්තීය ආචාර ධර්ම උල්ලංඝනය කළ දේශපාලන ගැත්තේකු තව දුරටත් රජයේ විගණකාධිපති වැනි උත්තරීතර තතනතුරක් හෙබවීමට කිසිසේත්ම සුදුසු නොවේ. ඒ නිසා වහාම තමන් සිදු කළ වරද පිළිබද ජනතාවගෙන් සමාව ගෙන තනතුරෙන් ඉවත්ව යන ලෙස අපි විගණකාධිපති ගාමිණී විජේසිංහ මහතාට බල කර කරමු. එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් ඔහුව තනතුරෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය සුදුසු පියවර ගත යුතු බව අප අදාල වගකිව යුත්තන්ට අවධාරණය කර සිටිමු.

කුලශී‍්‍ර කාරියවසම්
කැදවුම්කරු
ජනතා මාධ්‍ය මධ්‍යස්ථානය

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An unhappy prologue to the swelling act of the imperial theme

February 8th, 2018

By Rohana R. Wasala Courtesy The Island

We must not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we began and to know the place for the first time. S. Eliot

On February 4, 2018, Sri Lanka completed seventy years of independence from Britain. My inclination until that day was not to write anything to mark the day because the information I generally read while browsing the Web about what is currently happening in Sri Lanka in all important spheres, particularly in the political arena, suggests no reason for celebration. However, I changed my mind about it, as this tells you. In the unusually (though unsurprisingly) hotting up local government polls related electioneering atmosphere, the little public enthusiasm about the independence day anniversary that still lingered in the past few days finally  vaporized. (That is the feeling I get from what I gather from the news online.) But the two events (independence day functions and LG polls) together will not be without significance. They frame the crucial week that starts today (Sunday 4th  ) when the independence was celebrated; and the voters are due to go to the polling stations on the last day of the week, that is, Saturday 10th February. The latter date is turning out to be a D-Day for the nation, given that the election result will reflect the real, authentic public perceptions (both positive and negative), as opposed to the mutually contradictory claims of the government and the Joint Opposition, about the ‘change’ that was effected with the help of our foreign well-wishers three years ago.  However, as it is now evident to most Sri Lankans, the January 8, 2015 ‘regime change’, was a retrograde development. The common people eagerly hope that the long overdue LG elections will be held on February 10, 2018 as scheduled, without let or hindrance. It is going to be the first opportunity they get to provide the rulers with some badly needed feedback on their performance.

According to The Island on February 1, 2018 Prince Edward, the third son of Queen Elizabeth II, who had been invited to be chief guest at the state independence day ceremony to be held on February 4,  had already arrived. A couple of days ago, when it was first announced that the prince had been invited and that the invitation had been accepted, it was also reported that invitations had been sent to the royal families of Japan and Thailand (as I read in the Daily Mirror). But there was no news, as far as I know, about any equivalent VVIPs from neighboring countries in the region or elsewhere having been similarly invited to grace the occasion. As reported, the celebrations were going to be dedicated to the theme of One Nation”. The fact that royal guests from Japan and Thailand who, similarly, have little to do with the subject of Lankan independence had also been invited could imply that those who are currently at the helm are preoccupied with the theme of royalty rather than with the really important subject of national independence that they are supposed to be celebrating. Then there is the theme of national unity, which is at present getting a severe battering as never before. The surrealism of this irrational juxtaposition of incongruent images – royalty with independence, illusion of One Nation with the ground reality of threatened national disintegration  through the forced introduction of a divisive federalist constitution– is likely to have been lost on most foreign visitors and interested foreign observers who participated in the celebrations, but, the deeply disillusioned majority of us ordinary Sri Lankans didn’t fail to notice it. The surrealism could symbolize for us  an unconscious revelation of the truth by the powers that be who have brought the country to the brink of disaster, the ominous truth being that the yahapalana regime has by now become a cynical farce whose single motive is to keep going till the end of its term. The absurd show of the independence day celebrations today portends a calamitous future for our beloved Motherland. There is no doubt in my mind that the question of how to forestall that dire eventuality occupies the thoughts of all concerned citizens of all ethnicities.

The scene I feel compelled to conjure up in my mind as I read, watch or listen to news about Sri Lanka (on online media sources of both Sri Lankan and international origin) is one of doom and darkness as in a Shakespeare tragedy. Scenes of extreme undeserved suffering, thieves accusing and punishing innocents, overriding ambition, cut-throat scrambling for power, murderous treachery, betrayal, illusion alternating with reality, portents, ghosts rising or raised from graves, invocation or consultation of the supernatural by the heroes, energetic evil, and even mysterious halos flickering about the heads of doomed characters (I mean in a metaphorical sense: rumours about honours like the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded). What is glaringly lacking in our would be heroes, however, is the unparalleled greatness of the Shakespearean tragic hero and the equally important element of deeply experienced personal remorse over evil committed by them.  Hence the title of this brief opinion piece, adapted from the Shakespeare play  ‘Macbeth’.

The so-called ethnic problem or Tamil Question or minorities against majority crisis or separatist  conflict, in the final analysis, has local roots and must be resolved locally, without foreign intervention if possible, particularly without highhanded interference in the internal affairs of the sovereign state of Sri Lanka. Actually, at the level of ordinary citizens, there is no serious issue that obstructs peaceful co-existence among the communities. The overwhelming majority of the population are culturally compatible Sinhalese and Tamils (Muslims also have the same racial roots, though they are mostly Tamil speaking).  The key requirements are mutual cooperation and interdependence between the different communities; ‘and’ must replace ‘against’.   This was practically demonstrated in 2009, and the problem was effectively consigned to history, but unfortunately, the peace and harmony we achieved at such great cost has now been completely ruined, and we are back at square one, or probably worse, mainly due to the ‘fishing in troubled waters’ sort of intervention by the imperialist global and regional superpowers in pursuance of their  self-centred geopolitical  ends.

With a convenient lack of conscience they exploit the troubled political situation in the country for their own advantage, inflicting great suffering on our people. Post-independence politics has been dominated by the usually hostile, but occasionally cooperative, interaction between four broad political groups: the Anglophile or West-dependent  neocons represented by the UNP,  nationalists led by the (original) left-leaning SLFP (not the faction infested with parliamentary rejects that has formed an unholy alliance with the UNP), unashamedly communalistic regional minority groups organized in the form of a multiplicity of Tamil and Muslim parties, and last but not least the leftists, currently vying for a place in the sun in national politics, who have got divided into a variety of parties with varying membership strengths, though without any significantly large electoral bases. An important point to remember is that all the ethnic, cultural and religious communities are represented to some degree in every one of the four groups, except in the case of the most exclusively racist or fanatical entities within those four groups. So, we may rest assured that not everything is lost.

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උදයංග වීරතුංග නිදහස් කෙරේ.. ජාත්‍යන්තර රතු වරෙන්තු කතාව කෙප්පයක්.. ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසියට ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ නඩු දමයි..

February 8th, 2018

උදයාංග වීරතුංග රුසියාවේ හිටපු ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති

තමන් පසුගියදා ඇමරිකාව බලා ගමන් කරමින් සිටිවදී ඩුබායි ගුවන් තොටේදී එරට ඉන්ටර්පොල් පොලිසිය විසින් නතර කර පරික්ෂා කර බැලූ බවත් තමනට එරෙහිව ජාත්‍යන්තරව කිසි චෝදනාවක් නැති බව හා ඉන්ටර්පෝල් රතු වරෙන්තුවක් නැති බව සනාථ වීමෙන් පසු නිදහස් කයේ යයි රුසියාවේ හිටපු ශ‍්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති උදයංග වීරතුංග සදහන් කරයි.

මේ බව සදහන් කරමින් ඔහු විසින් සිය ෆේස්බුක් ගිණුමේ තබා ඇති සටහන මෙසේය.

පසුගිය 04 වෙනිදා ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය කරා ගමන් කරන අතර මග අරාබි එමීර් රාජ්‍යයේදී එරට ඉන්ටර්පොල් පොලිසිය විසින් නතර කර, පරික්ෂා කර, මා හට ජාත්‍යන්තරව කිසිදු චෝදනාවක් නොමැති බව හා ඉන්ටර්පෝල් රතු වරෙන්තුවක් නැති බව සනාථ වීමෙන් පසු නිදහස් කල බව කිව යුතුය.

එසේ නමුත් මෙම රජයෙන් මට සිදූවන දරුණු දේශපාලන පළිගැනීම් නිසා, දැනට ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට අදහසක් නැත. නමුත් ඔවුන් මට විරුද්ධව එල්ල කරන චෝදනා සියල්ල අමූලික බොරු බව ඉතා වගකීමෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කරමි.

මට පුදුම රටේ උගතුන් බුද්ධිමතුන් යැයි කියන කොටස පවා අද රටේ නිදහස, නීතිය ඉදිරියේ සමානාත්මතාව, අධිකරණයේ ස්වාධීනත්වය වැනි ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී යහපාලන නියාමනයන් පවතීයැයි තවමත් සිතීමය.

මෙම පළාත් පාලන චන්දයට වාසී ලබා ගැනීමට රජය විසින් අන්තිම මොහොතේ මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට ගත් උත්සාහය මෙසේ අසාර්ථක විය.

එසේ නමුත් ලාංකික පොලීසියට එරෙහිව ජාත්‍යන්තරව වන්දි නඩුවක් පැවරීමට ඉතා සුදුසු අවස්ථාවක් මට උදාවීම ගැන සතුටු වන්නෙමි.

අසාර්ථක හිටං හුටං ආණ්ඩුවේ ආයුෂ 10 වෙනිදා ඔබගේ චන්දයෙන් අවසානය පටන් ගන්නවා බව නියතය.

අද රටෙහි භයානක පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක් බිහිවෙමින් පවතින බව ඔප්පු කරන එක් අවස්ථාවක් වුවද, මෙම පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයේ බිහිවීම තුලින් රටට සිදූවන විනාශයට විරෝධය පෑමට පෙබරවාරි 10දා ලැබෙන අවස්ථාව උපයෝගී කර ගන්නා ලෙස ලංකික ඔබ සැමගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

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රුසියාවේ හිටපු ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති

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බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හිමියන්ගේ අපවත්වීමට හේතු සඟවන්නේ ඇයි?

February 8th, 2018

බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හිමියන්ට එක්වරම ඇතා පහරදුන් හැටි විස්ථර කලේ ඒ අසල සිට දුවවිත් හිමියන් බේරාගත් ඇත්ගොව්වායි.

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බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හිමියන්ට එක්වරම ඇතා පහරදුන් හැටි විස්ථර කලේ ඒ අසල සිට දුවවිත් හිමියන් බේරාගත් ඇත්ගොව්වායි.
ඔහු කී පරිදි ඇතා හිමියන්ගෙන් කෑම උදුරා ගත් සැනකින් හිමියන් බිම වැටුන බවත් ඉන්පසු ඇතා දළ දෙකෙන් අනින්නට තැත්කල මුත් හිමියන් දළපාරින් බේරුනමුත් හිසෙන් තද කර හිමියන්ව හොඬ්වැලින් උත්සනලද බවත්ය.

නමුත් බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හිමියන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික ලේකම් ලසන්ත රත්නායක කියන්නේ ඇතාට පලතුරු කවන කොට බෙල්ලන්විල හිමියන් පය ලිස්‌සලා වැටුණා බවයි. පය ලිස්‌සලා වැටුණ පමනින් කිසිම කෙනෙකුගේ ඉලඇට මෙවන් අන්දමින් කැඩීමක් සිදුනොවන බව වැඩිදෙනෙකුගේ මතයයි.

නමුත් බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන හිමියන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික ලේකම් ලසන්ත රත්නායක කියන්නේ අපේ නායක හාමුදුරුවෝ “මියන් කුමාර්” කියන මේ ඇතාට හරිම ආදරෙයි. ඇතත් උන්වහන්සේට ඒ වගේම පුදුම ගෞරවයක්‌ දැක්‌වූවේ. ඇතා උන් වහන්සේට ගැහුවා නොවෙයි. හාමුදුරුවෝ ඇතාට පලතුරු කවන කොට පය ලිස්‌සලා කොන්ක්‍රීට්‌ බැම්මක්‌ මත වැටිලයි උන්වහන්සේ අනතුරට ලක්‌ වුණේ.” යෑයි අපවත් වී වදාළ මහාචාර්ය බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන අනුනාහිමිපාණන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික ලේකම් ලසන්ත රත්නායක මහතා පැවැසීය.

අපවත් වී වදාළ බෙල්ලන්විල රාජමහා විහාරාධිකාරී ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ කුලපති මහාචාර්ය බෙල්ලන්විල විමලරතන අනුනාහිමිපාණන්ට සිදු වූයේ කුමක්‌ද යන්න බෙල්ලන්විල රාජමහා විහාරස්‌ථානයේදී විමසූ අවස්‌ථාවේ ඔහු එසේ කියා සිටියේය.

තවදුරටත් කතා කළ අනුනාහිමිපාණන්ගේ පෞද්ගලික ලේකම්වරයා මෙසේද කීය.

“අපේ හාමුදුරුවෝ මේ මියන් කුමාර්” ඇතාට හැමදාම කෑම දෙනවා. උන්වහන්සේට දණ ගහලා වැඳලයි කෑම කන්නේ. ඇත් ගොව්වා හාමුදුරුවෝ වැඩ සිටින ආවාස ගොඩනැඟිල්ල පැත්තට රැගෙන ආවාම අපේ හාමුදුරුවෝ පලතුරු කවනවා.

“නමුත් මේ සිද්ධිය වුණු පෙබරවාරි 02 වැනිදා මේ ඇතා බලා ගන්න හිටපු ඇත්ගොව්වා නිවාඩු. එයා ගෙදර ගිහිල්ලයි හිටියේ. මේ නිසා හාමුදුරුවෝ තනියෙන්ම ඇතා හිටපු තැනට ගියා. එතකොට වෙලාව උදේ 9.00 ට ඇති. හාමුදුරුවෝ තනියෙන්ම ඇතාට පලතුරු කවමින් ඉඳලා තිබෙනවා. ඒ පලතුරු කවනකොට හාමුදුරුවෝ පය ලිස්‌සලා බිම වැටිලා තිබෙනවා. එතැන තිබුණු කොන්ක්‍රීට්‌ බැම්මක්‌ මතටයි උන්වහන්සේ වැටිලා තිබුණේ. මේ සිද්ධියත් සමඟ ඇතා බයවෙලා පස්‌සට ගිහින් තිබෙනවා.

“ඇතා හාමුදුරුවන්ට ගැහුවා නෙමෙයි. ඇතා ගැහුවා නම් හාමුදුරුවන්ව පාගනවා විතරක්‌ නොවෙයි එහෙනං එතැනට කාටවත් එන්න දෙන්නෙත් නැහැ. හාමුදුරුවෝ වැටුණු බව මට ආරංචි වීමත් සමඟ මා එතැනට ගියා. පස්‌සේ මම උන්වහන්සේව කළුබෝවිල මහ රෝහලට අරන් ගියා. රෝහලට අරන් යන කොටත් අපේ හාමුදුරුවෝ කිව්වේ ඇතාට කෑම කවද්දී පය ලිස්‌සලා වැටුණා කියලයි. රෝහලේ වෛද්‍යවරුන් කිව්වෙත් හාමුදුරුවන්ගේ ඉලඇටලට හානි වෙලා තිබෙනවා කියලයි. හාමුදුරුවන් හොඳ සිහියෙන් සිටියා. කතා කළා. ඉදිරියේ විදේශ රටවල හාමුදුරුවන්ට පවත්වන්නට තිබෙන දේශන නිසා මේ සැත්කම ඉක්‌මනට කරගෙන හොඳ වෙන්න ඕන කියලත් කිව්වා. එයට යැමට අවශ්‍ය ගුවන් ටිකට්‌පත් මිලදී ගන්න ඕන කියලත් උන්වහන්සේ මට කිව්වා.

“අන්න ඒ නිසයි උන්වහන්සේව කළුබෝවිල රෝහලේ ඉඳලා නාරාහේන්පිට පුද්ගලික රෝහලකට රැගෙන ගියේ. උන් වහන්සේට පැය 10 ක සැත්කමක්‌ එම රෝහලේදී සිදු කළා. සැත්කම සාර්ථකයි කියලත් වෛද්‍යවරු කිව්වා. පෙබරවාරි 03 වැනිදා උදේ 6.00 වෙන කොට සැත්කම කරලා තිබුණා. නමුත් උදේ 10.30 ට විතර හාමුදුරුවන්ට හාට්‌ ඇටෑක්‌ එකක්‌ ඇවිල්ලයි උන්වහන්සේ අපවත් වුණේ. නමුත් ගොසිප් වල ප්‍රචාරයක්‌ ගිහින් තිබුණා හාමුදුරුවන්ට ඇතා ගහලා කියලා

ලසන්ත රත්නායකගේ ප්‍රකාශයේ පැහැදිලි නැති කරුණු කිහිපයක් ඇත.

1.කළුබෝවිල රෝහලේ ඉඳලා නාරාහේන්පිට පුද්ගලික රෝහලකට රැගෙන ගියේ ඇයි.?

2.කළුබෝවිල රෝහල නාරාහේන්පිට පුද්ගලික රෝහලට වඩා සැත්කම් පිලිබදව ඉතා උසස් තත්වයේ ඇගැයීමක් ඇත්බව නොදන්නේ ඇයි.?

3.වයස අවුරුදු හැටකට වැඩි රෝගීන්ට ශල්යකර්මයකින් පසු නිසොල්මන් හෘදය ඇණ හිටීම ( ‘silent’ heart attacks) සිදුවිය හැකි බව නාරාහේන්පිට පුද්ගලික රෝහලේ වද්යවරු නොදැන සිටියාද?

4.මේවැනි නිසොල්මන් හෘදය ඇණ හිටීම් ( ‘silent’ heart attacks) වලින් මේයට ප්‍රථමයෙන්ද ලංකාවේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ හිමිවරු අපවත් වුබව නොදන්නේද?

5. එසේ දැන සිටියනම් රුධිරය පරික්ශා කිරීමෙන් නිසොල්මන් හෘදය ඇණ හිටීම වැලක්විය හැකිව තිබූ බව පුද්ගලික රෝහලේ වද්යවරු නොදැන සිටියාද?

‘Silent’ heart attacks remain a significant risk after surgery

Embargo 0001H UK time Friday 20 September-The Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI)
A call is made today for increased awareness of ‘silent’ heart attacks that may follow surgery. In a session at this week’s Annual Congress of the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI), Professor Daniel I. Sessler, Michael Chudahy Chair of the Department of Outcomes Research at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, USA, will present evidence that about one in 11 patients having major non-cardiac surgery will have a heart attack, and among these one in 10 will die within 30 days… -Full Story- (LankaWeb – 04/02/18)

 

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Former President says terrorism had no room during his reign (English)

February 8th, 2018

 

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Not ready to govern with corrupt individuals – President???

February 8th, 2018

By Yusuf Ariff Courtesy  Adaderana

President Maithripala Sirisena says that he is not prepared to govern the country with corrupt individuals.

The President made these comments while addressing the final election rally of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in Polonnaruwa today (7).

The President emphasized that he is not ready to work with the corrupted politicians and further said that he will be committed to build the country while creating a clean political movement as he never allowed room for fraud, corruption and bribery in his political journey.

The President, with regret, recalled the criticisms made by the former President about the development process of the district, when he visited Polonnaruwa recently, and said that at present the process to make new transformations in the development activities of the villages as well as in the towns have been implemented broadly.

‘Today, the people rally around to build a clean political movement with that change’, he said while extending an invitation to the former President as well as to all who leveled criticisms to experience that change by visiting each village and town.

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කව්ද මේ අභීතවත් සෙනවියා?

February 8th, 2018

ඔබේ ප්‍රතිචාරය කුමක්ද?

ලන්ඩන් නුවරදී කොටි හිතවාදීන්ගේ අරියාදුවට පිළිතුරු ලෙස ‘බෙල්ල කට්‘ සංඥාව නිකුත් කළ බ්‍රිගේඩියර්වරයා පිළිබඳ මේ වනවිට සමාජ මාධ්‍ය තුළ විශාල කථාබහක් ඇතිව තිබේ.

ඔහු කවුරුන්ද මේ දක්වා සිදු කළේ මොනවාද යන්න ගැනද ඇතැමුන්ට කුකුසක් පැනනැගී ඇත.

වන්නි මානුෂීය මෙහෙයුමේදී කොටි නායක ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ මුලතිව්  බළකොටුව හා ඒ අවට ගම් වැසියන් මුදා ගැනීම් සටනට 591 බලසේනාව යටතේ 11 වන ගැමුණු රෙජිමේන්ත්තු අණදෙන නිලධාරී ලෙස  එවකට කර්නල් ධූරය දැරූ වත්මන් බ්‍රිගේඩියර් ප්‍රියංක ප්‍රනාන්දු  සුවිශාල මෙහෙවරක් ඉටු කළ අයෙකි.

ඔහු ජාතිවාදියෙකු නොවේ. ඒ බවට හොඳම සාධකය ඔහු යුද්ධයේදී වඩාත් උදව් කරන්නට යොමුවූයේ අසාධාරණයට ලක්වූ ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාවටය.
කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදී ග්‍රහණයේ සිරකරගෙන සිටි 

මුලතිව් මුලංකාවිල් ඇතුළු ද්‍රවිඩ ගම්මානවල වැසියන්ට හා ළමුන්ට විදේශ රටවල සිටින තමි මිතුරන් මාර්ගයෙන් කෑම බීම, පොත්පත්, සපත්තු ඇතුළු අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ බෙදා දීම නිසාම මුලංකාවිල් ද්‍රවිඩ ජනතාවගේ වීරයකු ලෙසින්ද ඔහු ප්‍රකටවූ බව එම ගම්වැසියන්ට අදටත් මතකය.

ජාති භේදයකින් තොරව තම කඳවුරට එන සෑම අයකුටම කෑම බීම පවා දීමටත් කඳවුරට එන ඕනෑම දෙමළ ජාතිකයකු හිස් අතින් නොයැවූ අයෙකු ලෙසත් ඔහු ප්‍රකටව සිටි බව කියැවේ.

ලන්ඩන් සිදුවීම විවිධ කෝණවලින් විග්‍රහ වන්නකි. එතරම් කුපිතවන සුලු ආකාරයකට සිහින රාජ්‍යයක් හා මියගිය නායකයෙකු ගැන උදම් ඇනීම මෙන්ම 70 වන නිදහස් සමරුවට නිග්‍රහ වන ආකාරයට මහකොමසාරිස් කාර්යාල ඉදිරිපිට හැසිරීමද විවේචනයට ලක්ව තිබේ. විදේශ අමාත්‍යංශය ඔහුගේ හැසිරීම මැන බලා ඇත්තේ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික නිලධාරියෙකුගේ වගකීම සම්බන්ධ කෝණයෙනි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් සමාජ මාධ්‍ය වීඩියෝවක් පළනූ පමණින් හමුදා නිලධාරීයෙකුගේ තනතුරක් ඉවත් නොකරන බවත්, පරීක්‍ෂණයක් පවත්වා ඒ පිළිබදව තීරණය කළ යුතු බවත් යුද හමුදාපති ලුතිනන් ජෙනරාල් මහේෂ් ස්නානායක මහතා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මේ වනවිට මාධ්‍ය වෙත දැනුම්දී තිබේ.

 

බ්‍රිගේඩියර් ප්‍රියංක සමග කොටි ඩයස්පෝරා සාමාජිකයින් වාද කරන මෙම වීඩියෝවේදී
බ්‍රිෙග්ඩියර් වරයා සාවදානව ඔවුන්ට කරුනු පැහැදිලි කරන අයුරු දැක්වේ.

‘ඇයි ඔයාලා උතුරේ දෙමළ මිනිස්සු ඉන්න තැන්වලට සිංහල මිනිස්සු ගිහින් දාන්නේ ?‘
‘එහෙම දෙයක් වෙන්නේ නෑ. ඔයා දැක්කද ? එන්න යන්න යාපනයට ගිහින් පෙන්නවන්න. ඒ මිනිස්සු
කොච්චර හොඳට ජීවත් වෙනවද කියලා‘.

ඇයි ඔයාලා තමිල්නාඩුවේ දෙමළ ධීවරයෝ 500කට වෙඩි තිබ්බේ ?
ඔයාලා මේ කියන හැමදේම හරි දේ නෙමේ. ලංකාවේ එහෙම දෙයක් වෙලා නෑ.
මේ මිනිස්සු කියන බොරු කතා අහලා බොරු දේවල් විශ්වාස කරන්න එපා.‘

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The Tiger mob vs. Brigadier Fernando -The London affair

February 8th, 2018

By Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka Courtesy The Island

February 7, 2018, 10:21 pm

“Our nation–Tamil Eelam! “Our leader–Prabhakaran!” shrieked the demonstrators brandishing Tiger flags outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London on the 70th Independence Day of our country. Defense Attaché, Brigadier Priyankara Fernando, can be seen on video, watching the demonstration.

What does the Brigadier see? The Tiger flag, with the crossed rifle-butts and the stylized bullets. The flag of the terrorist enemy that he fought, and was trained to fight. He reacts, not by hurling abuse or throwing something, but by making a gesture. It was gesture with two moves. He taps his shoulder patch, showing that he belonged to the Sri Lankan military. Then he makes a lethal fighting gesture, but only a gesture.

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Defence attache

His reaction was utterly unacceptable as a diplomatic officer. He should have been reprimanded by his High Commissioner. Perhaps even recalled for consultations. But he should not have been immediately suspended and the announcement of the suspension posted on the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry’s website.

The Foreign Ministry has just rewarded those who demonstrated with Tiger flags, i.e. the pro-Tiger, if not LTTE mob, outside our High Commission, by suspending the military officer. The Foreign Ministry statement has not a single word of remonstration about the Tiger demonstrators, nor a word of understanding about the extenuating circumstances triggering the emotional response of the officer.

Would a mob of demonstrators chanting al Qaeda or ISIS/ISIL slogans and brandishing al Qaeda or ISIS/ISIL banners chanting slogans glorifying Osama bin Laden as their leader, be allowed outside a US Embassy if on the 4th of July? In the very unlikely event that such a grotesque exhibition of fanaticism is allowed by the Metropolitan Police, and a member of the Embassy staff had reacted in disgust with a forceful gesture, would he have been immediately suspended and the announcement posted on the US State Department website?

What if, nine years after the US Civil War, a Union (Northern) officer stepped out of a US embassy in Paris or London and was confronted on the Fourth of July by demonstrators waving Confederate flags?

What if nine years after WW2, an Allied officer—US, UK, Soviet or French—were confronted by demonstrators with Nazi flags outside their embassies, waving the Swastika and thrusting their arms out in the familiar Seig Heilfascist salute to Hitler in their faces with complete impunity? There would doubtless have been an incident far more violent than a gesture of lethality. The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry is not meant to stand with the Sinhalese against the Tamils or vice versa. But it is certainly meant to stand with the Sri Lankan state against the Tigers. Without Tiger banners, a Tamil demonstrator against the government or even the Sri Lankan state, is a legitimate demonstrator who happens to be a Tamil. But a Tamil demonstrator who chooses to brandish a Tiger flag and chant Prabhakaran’s name is a fascist, a separatist and a supporter of terrorism.

This incident was not about Sinhalese and Tamils. Brigadier Fernando was not making a racist i.e. an anti-Tamil gesture. He was making an anti-Tiger gesture: a violent gesture towards a monstrously violent movement.

The Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry cannot be a neutral umpire between a Sri Lankan military officer and such fascists—and still less can it punish the military officer while not lodging a protest with the British government about the character of the demonstration.

If the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry, a key component of the Sri Lankan State, reacts with such unseemly lack of restraint and haste against an officer of this country’s military against a mob of fanatical fascist-separatists, especially when that officer has not engaged in an act of harmful violence, then who and what does? Who and what does the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry stand for, and with?

The biggest indictment of what the UNP of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe has done to our independence and sovereignty in this 70th year as an independent nation was best expressed by our first Prime Minister DS Senanayaka’s grandson Vasantha Senanayaka, speaking on the occasion of the commemoration of FR Senanayaka some weeks ago. He said that speaking as the State Minister of Foreign Affairs, he has reason to believe that this country’s foreign policy is decided upon externally, by foreign powers.

State Minister Vasantha Senanayaka has just been proven right. Not only did we make the unprecedented gesture of having as the chief guest on our 70th Independence Day celebrations, members of the British Royalty, which oppressed us and from which we emancipated ourselves 70 years ago, we have just followed it up, days later, by persecuting an officer of our armed forces who fought to liberate us all from terrorism and to reunify our state and whose emotional gesture against a fascist enemy in defense of his country’s self-respect warrants reprimand but not arbitrary punishment.

Who in the Foreign Ministry or outside it decided to promptly suspend Brigadier Priyankara Fernando? Whose interests does it represent?

The Foreign Ministry has just taken sides—the side of the Tiger demonstrators, and against the Sri Lankan military officer. We too must take sides, but the right one. Do we agree with the Ministry that the military officer’s gesture was worse than that of the hostile Tiger mob? Or do we think, as I do, that the Brigadier’s response to the Tiger provocation should be viewed, though not with approval, but with some understanding and sensitivity on our part? On which side do we stand?

President Sirisena has indicated a reshuffle in the aftermath of February 10th. He must either take the Foreign Ministry away from the UNP and vest it in the SLFP (perhaps in himself) or give it to a patriotic UNP gentleman such as State Minister Vasantha Senanayaka. For our part, I would say that Brigadier Fernando’s understandable if misplaced gesture is far better put into effect with a ballot paper on February 10th than with a finger. If we do our duty, then members of the armed forces would not feel the need to make such intemperate gestures.

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President Maithripala Sirisena blasts Foreign Ministry, rescinds Fernando’s suspension

February 8th, 2018

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

An irate President Maithripala Sirisena has rescinded government decision to suspend Brigadier Priyankara Fernando, Minister Counselor (Defence) attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London following allegations that he acted in a threatening manner during a protest staged by some pro-LTTE groups outside the Sri Lankan High Commission in London on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

President Sirisena has lambasted government authorities for taking disciplinary action against the officer. Well informed sources told The Island that the President had pointed out that he should have been consulted before the Foreign Ministry announced the Minister Counsellor’s removal.

The Foreign Ministry has issued the following statement: “Authorities in Sri Lanka have taken serious note of videos being circulated on social and web-based media of an alleged incident involving the Minister Counsellor (Defence) attached to the Sri Lanka High Commission in London behaving in an offensive manner.

In this connection, instructions have been sent to Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in London today, 6 February 2018, to suspend the Minister Counsellor (Defence) from work, with immediate effect. Authorities in Sri Lanka including the Sri Lanka Army will initiate inquiries on the incident immediately.”

The protest had been organized by a group called Tamil Solidarity active in the UK. In a petition to UK government, the group demanded that Brig. Fernando be removed for threatening protesting Tamils.

Ports and Shipping Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told Local Government polls campaign rally at Panadura that people really appreciated President Sirisena’s swift intervention. Samarasinghe declared that President Sirisena’s move recognized the sacrifices made by the armed forces against terrorism.

Former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, told The Island that Foreign Ministry had acted swiftly against a senior officer on the basis of social media reportage of some gestures made by him whereas it turned a blind eye to vital information provided by Lord Naseby in defence of Sri Lankan armed forces.

UNP MP Rajapakse said he immediately wrote to President Sirisena seeking his intervention to reinstate the officer.

The UNPer flayed the foreign ministry for bending backwards to appease Western powers and Tamil diaspora.

Responding to a query, Rajapakse said that extremist Diaspora elements had caused unnecessary trouble outside the Sri Lankan High Commission at a time Sri Lanka celebrated her 70th anniversary of independence from the UK with the participation of Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex and the Countess of Wessex. The royal couple represented Queen Elizabeth II.

“The UK should take tangible measures to stop extremist nonsense,” the MP said, recalling massive protests directed at former President Rajapaksa when he visited the UK several years ago.

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Placing Finance Ministry under President ruins fiscal discipline –Auditor General

February 8th, 2018

by Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

February 7, 2018, 10:53 pm
One of the main reasons for the deterioration of fiscal discipline in the country was the President taking over the Finance Ministry, Auditor General Gamini Wijesinghe told the media yesterday.

“This made the Finance Ministry Secretary lose his head. He wouldn’t even respect a minister and after a while violating the fiscal regulations became the order of the day. Things have become better now after President Sirisena let go of the Finance Ministry,” he said.

Wijesinghe, however, said the Mafia consisting of the secretaries to ministries had been behind the delaying of the National Audit Bill on 24 occasions as they were opposed to powers being vested in the National Audit Commission.

“The secretaries who are also the chief accounting officers of the ministries are the main reasons why there is no fiscal indiscipline in this country.

Wijesinghe said: “The state officials have become too flexible and allow politicians to do what they want. But as the Sil Redi (white cloth) case proved the Secretary to the Ministry can’t say that he did something in violation of the establishment code and other regulations, because a Minister or even the President says so. In the same manner the former Central Bank Governor can’t say he issued a larger tranche of treasury bonds because the Prime Minister said he needs money to pay debts,” he said.

The Auditor General said that some sought to justify the state officials’ behaviour saying that if a ministry secretary ignored the Minister’s dictates, he would be sent to the pool. However, there was no reason for an official to fear being sent to the pool as they continued to receive the same salaries.”

“The only reason they don’t want to go to the pool is that they lose various perks and other incentives,” he said.

Wijesinghe said that once the audit bill was passed, he would be able to recruit necessary personnel and carryout stringent auditing of the economy which would benefit the country. He also expressed the belief that the country needed a Procurement Act as corruption took place during the procurement stage.

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