Did PM’s evidence clear your doubts or trigger more questions? (20.11.17) Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCTUouJabA4

Face the Nation: Can the funds lost in the bond scam be recovered? (20.11.17) Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tOL85wNXxA

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සුද්දන්ගෙන් නිදහස ලැබුණේ 1948දීය. එදා සිට මේ වන විට වසර 69ක් ගතවී ඇත. අපට පසු නිදහස ලැබූ බොහෝ ආසියාතික රටවල් අද ලෝකයේ දියුණුතම රටවල් අතරට එක්වී සිටියදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තවමත් දියුණු වෙමින් පවතින රටකි. මේ යන විදියට නම් තවත් අවුරුදු 50කටවත් මේ රට දියුණු රටක් වේ යැයි සිතිය නොහැක්කේ දියුණුව යනු සාපේක්‍ෂ මිම්මක් නිසාත් ලෝකයේ අනෙක් රටවල් බොහෝමයක් ලංකාවට සාපේක්‍ෂව වේගයෙන් සංවර්ධනය වෙමින් පවතින නිසාත්ය. ඒ අතර අප්‍රිකානු රටවල් රැසක්ද වේ.

නිදහසින් පසු 1954 හා 1955 වසර හැරුණු විට අන් සෑම වසරකම අපේ රටේ අය-වැය පරතරය ඍණ අගයක් විය. පරතරය පියවා ගත්තේ රජය විසින් දේශීය හා විදේශීය ණය ලබා ගැනීමෙනි.

2005දී පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව බලයට එන විට රටේ සමස්ත ණය බර රුපියල් බිලියන 2,222ක් විය. (කෝටි 222,200)
2014 අවසාන වන විට රාජ්‍ය ණය බර රුපියල් බිලියන 7391 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් තිබිණි.

වසර නවයක කාලය තුළ රුපියල් බිලියන 5160කින් රාජ්‍ය ණය බර වැඩිවී තිබිණි. මේ වසරකට දළ වශයෙන් රුපියල් බිලියන 575ක පමණ වැඩිවීමකි. මේ මුදල්වලට සිදුවූයේ කුමක්දැයි වටහා ගැනීමට එම වසර 9ක කාලය තුළ සිදුවූ දේවල් මතක් කර බලමු. වසර 30ක් තිස්සේ රටට විශාල බරක්ව පැවැති ත්‍රස්තවාදය මුලින් උපුටා දමන ලදී.
රටේ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 20 සිට ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 80 දක්වා සිවු ගුණයකින් වැඩිවිය. ආර්ථිකය ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 20 දක්වා වර්ධනය වීමට වසර 57ක් ගතවී තිබුණ අතර එය සිවු ගුණයකින් වර්ධනය කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය වූයේ වසර 9ක් පමණි.

උද්ධමනය 8.3% සිට 3.3%ට අඩුවිය. රැකියා වියුක්තිය 8.3% සිට 4.3%ට අඩුවිය. දුගී බව 15% සිට 8%ට අඩුවිය.
විදුලිය ඇති නිවාස ප්‍රමාණය 73% සිට 98% දක්වා වැඩි විය. පිරිසුදු ජලය ලැබෙන නිවාස ප්‍රමාණය 72% සිට 90% දක්වා වැඩි විය. දුරකතන භාවිතය 37% සිට 120% දක්වා වැඩිවිය. පරිගණක සාක්‍ෂරතාව 0.5% සිට 26% දක්වා වැඩි විය. අය-වැය පරතරය 7.5% සිට 5.7% දක්වා අඩු විය. රාජ්‍ය ණය බර දළ ජාතික නිෂ්පාදනයේ ප්‍රතිශතයක් ලෙස 102.5% සිට 70.3%ට අඩු විය.

කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ සමස්ත මිල දර්ශකය ඒකක 1506 සිට 7299 දක්වා වැඩි විය. 2014 වන විට කොළඹ කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ ආසියාවේ තිරසරම කොටස් වෙළෙඳපොළ ලෙස සම්මාන ලැබීය. කොළඹ නගරය ආසියාවේ වේගයෙන්ම දියුණු වන නගරය ලෙස 2014 සම්මාන ලැබුවේ චීනය පවා පරදවමිනි.
පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුවේ අවසාන වසර කිහිපයේ ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකය වසරකට 7%කට ඉහළ වේගයකින් වර්ධනය වෙමින් පැවැතිණි. බැලූ බැලූ අත සංවර්ධනය දක්නට ලැබිණි. අපි උදාහරණ කිහිපයක් ගෙන බලමු.

මාගම්පුර වරාය ඉදිකිරීම, ඔළුවිල් වරාය ඉදිකිරීම, දකුණු කොළඹ වරාය සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතිය, කොළඹ වරාය පුළුල් කිරීම, කන්කසන්තුරේ වරාය ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණය වැනි වරාය නිර්මාණයන් හා සංවර්ධනය කිරීම්, මත්තල ගුවන්තොටුපොළ ඉදිකිරීම, ඉරණමඩු ගුවන්තොටුපොළ සංවර්ධනය වැනි ගුවන්තොටුපොළ නිර්මාණය හා සංවර්ධනය කිරීම්, කොළඹ – කටුනායක අධිවේගී මාර්ගය, කොළඹ – මාතර අධිවේගී මාර්ගය, පිටත වට රවුම් අධිවේගී මාර්ගය මෙන්ම රට පුරා ඉදිවූ හා අලුත්වැඩියා වූ මහා මාර්ග පද්ධතිය, යාන්ඔය ජලාශය, වෙහෙරගල ජලාශය, දැදුරු ඔය සංවර්ධනය, මන්නාරම යෝධ වැව සංවර්ධනය, ඉරණමඩු හා මුතියංගණ කට්ටුවැව සංවර්ධනය, මොරගහකන්ද ජලාශ ව්‍යාපෘතිය වැනි ජලාශ හා වාරිමාර්ග සංවර්ධනය, නොරොච්චෝලේ බලාගාරය, ලක්විජය බලාගාරය, උතුරු ජනනී බලාගාරය හා විදුලි පද්ධතිය, කෙරවළපිටිය බලාගාරය, මොරොගොල්ල ජල විදුලි ව්‍යාපෘතිය වැනි විදුලි බලාගාර ව්‍යාපෘති, උතුරු දුම්රිය මාර්ගය, මන්නාරම දුම්රිය මාර්ගය වැනි දුම්රිය මාර්ග, ලංකාවේ දිගම පාලම වන කින්නියා පාලම, සේරුනුවර හා සෝමාවතිය පාලම, දෙහිවල, ගම්පහ, පෑලියගොඩ, වේයන්ගොඩ, නුගේගොඩ ගුවන් පාලම්, අංගුපිටිය, මනම්පිටිය, ආරුගම්බේ, ඉරක්කන්ඩි පාලම් වැනි පාලම් නිර්මාණය,

උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර පාසල් යළි ගොඩනැඟීම, පරිගණක තාක්‍ෂණ විද්‍යාල 1000ක් ඇති කිරීම, උෟව වෙල්ලස්ස විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය පිහිටුවීම, සාගර විශ්වවිද්‍යාලය පිහිටුවීම වැනි අධ්‍යාපන පහසුකම් සංවර්ධනය, කොළඹ පැල්පත්වාසීන් වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිකළ තට්ටු නිවාස යෝජනා ක්‍රම, අභිමංසල රණවිරු නිවාස යෝජනා ක්‍රමය වැනි නිවාස යෝජනා ක්‍රම, කොළඹ නගරය නවීකරණය, හම්බන්තොට නගර සංවර්ධනය, තුරඟපිටිය ගොඩනැඟිලි සංකීර්ණය නවීකරණය, ලන්දේසි රෝහල නවීකරණය, ආර්කේඩ් ගොඩනැඟිලි සංකීර්ණය නවීකරණය, නෙලුම් කුලුණ, නෙළුම් පොකුණ කලාගාරය, මාගම්පුර සම්මන්ත්‍රණ ශාලාව, ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර නවීකරණය හා ජල පාලනය, බෙල්ලන්විල සංවර්ධන ව්‍යාපෘතිය, ගාල්ල ලන්දේසි බලකොටුව නවීකරණය වැනි නාගරික සංවර්ධන කටයුතු. ලිපිය දික්වන නිසා මෙහි සඳහන් කළේ එදා අප සියැසින් දුටු සංවර්ධනයෙන් කොටසක් පමණි.
එහෙත් ලංකාවේ ඡන්ද දායකයෝ බහුතරයක් මින් සෑහීමට පත් නොවූහ. ඔවුන්ට වෙනසක් අවශ්‍ය විය. ඒ අනුව 2015 ජනවාරි මස රටේ පාලනය වෙනත් කණ්ඩායමකට භාර දෙන ලදී. ඒ වඩා සාර්ථක පාලන තන්ත්‍රයක් අපේක්‍ෂාවෙනි. එම නව පාලනයේ තේමාව යහපාලනය යන නමින් ජනගත කෙරුණි.

වෙනස සිදුකොට දැන් වසර 3කට ආසන්නය.

නව ආණ්ඩුව බලයට ආවේ කිසිදු සූදානමක් හෝ සැලැස්මක් නැතුවය. මාස දෙක තුනට වරක් රජය අලුත් ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමෙන් එය තහවුරු වේ. ප්‍රමුඛතා හඳුනා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීම නිසා කාලය මෙන්ම සම්පත්ද නාස්ති විය. පරිපාලනයට නව රජයේ ප්‍රධානීන්ට ඇති නොහැකියාවද ඉතා සුළු කලකින් ජනතාවට දකින්නට ලැබිණි.
අප පසුගිය වසර 3කට ආසන්න කාලය තුළ අත්පත් කරගෙන ඇත්තේ මොනවාදැයි මඳක් සිතා බලමු. හදවතින් නොව බුද්ධියෙන් විමසා බලමු. ඒ සඳහා ඕනෑම අයකුට රජයේම දත්ත භාවිත කළ හැකිය. මහ බැංකු වෙබ් අඩවියට පිවිසීමෙන් මෙම ලිපියේ සඳහන් ඕනෑම දත්තයක් පරීක්‍ෂා කළ හැකිය.
රටේ ආර්ථික වර්ධන වේගය අඩාල වී ඇත. එය මේ වන විට 4%ට අඩුය.
උද්ධමනය 3.3% සිට 8.6%ට වැඩිවී ඇත.
රැකියා වියුක්තිය 4.3% සිට 4.6%ට වැඩිවී ඇත.
එහෙත් 2017 වසරේ රජයේ එදිනෙදා වියදම 2014ට වඩා 49%කින් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත. 2018 වසරේ ඇස්තමේන්තුව අනුව 63%කින් වියදම ඉහළ යෑමට නියමිතය.
ජනතාව මත පැටවූ බදු 2014ට වඩා 49%කින් දැනටමත් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති අතර මෙවර අය-වැය යෝජනා අනුව 2018 වසරේ ජනතාවගේ බදු බර 2014ට සාපේක්‍ෂව 94%කින් ඉහළ යනු ඇත.

2018 වසරේදී ජනතාව 2014ට වඩා රුපියල් බිලියන 984ක් (කෝටි 98,400ක්) වැඩිපුර බදු ගෙවීමට නියමිතය. රුපියලේ අගය 17%කින් පමණ බාල්දු වීම නිසා පමණක් රාජ්‍ය ණයවලට ඇති බලපෑම රුපියල් බිලියන 550කින් පමණ ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත.
ලෝක බැංකුවේ ‘ව්‍යාපාර කිරීමේ පහසුකමේ දර්ශකය’ තුළ 2014දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝකයේ 85 වැනි ස්ථානයේ සිටි නමුත් 2017 අවසන් වන විට අප 110 වැනි ස්ථානයට පහත වැටී ඇත.

ලෝ ප්‍රකට බ්ලූම්බර්ග් ආයතනය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ආයෝජනයට අනතුරුදායක රටක් ලෙස නම් කොට ඇත. පසුගිය වසර 3 තුළ විදේශ ආයෝජන ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 1.6කට වඩා ලංකාවෙන් ඉවත් කරගෙන ඇත.
මේ අතර රජය දිගින් දිගටම අලුතින් ණය ගනිමින් සිටී.

2014දී රුපියල් බිලියන 7391ක් වූ රාජ්‍ය ණය බර 2017 ජුනි වන විට රුපියල් බිලියන 10,163 දක්වා ඉහළ ගොස් තිබිණි. 2018 අය-වැය යෝජනා අධ්‍යයනයෙන් පෙනෙන්නේ 2018 අවසන් වන විට රාජ්‍ය ණය බර රුපියල් බිලියන 12,000 ඉක්මවීමට නියමිත බවයි. ඒ 2014ට සාපේක්‍ෂව 64%ක පමණ වැඩිවීමකි.
මේ අනුව පසුගිය රජය වසර 9ක් තුළ අලුතින් ලබාගත් රුපියල් බිලියන 5,169ක ණය මෙන් 90%ක් හෙවත් රුපියල් බිලියන 4,700ක පමණ අලුත් ණය වත්මන් රජය ඔවුන්ගේ මුල් වසර 4 තුළ ලබා ගැනීමට නියමිතය. පසුගිය රජය ආරම්භ කර තිබූ ව්‍යාපෘතීන් වැඩ අවසන් වූ පසු තමුන්ගේ මෙන් පෙන්වා විවෘත කරනවා විනා එදා මෙන් ඔබට ඇහැට පෙනෙන්නට සංවර්ධනයක් අලුතින් සිදු වෙමින් පවතීද?

අනාගත පරපුර වෙනුවෙන් අප ඉතුරු කළ යුතු සම්පත් විදේශිකයන්ට කුණු කොල්ලයට පවරා දී පිටරැටියන් විත් අප රට දියුණු කරනු ඇතැයි යන අන්ධ විශ්වාසයෙන් බලා සිටීම හැර වෙනත් ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ජනතාවට නම් පෙනෙන්නට නැත. දේශපාලන කණ්ණාඩි ගලවා මඳක් සිතුවොත් අප මේ යන්නේ කොයිබටද යන ගැටලුව ඕනෑම පුරවැසියකුට මතුවනු ඇත.

ජනතාව ආණ්ඩුවක් පත්කරගන්නේ රට පාලනය කිරීමට මිස වසර 3ක් තිස්සේ පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුවට ‍ෙදාස් පවරමින් කාලය නාස්ති කරන්නට නොවේ. නමුත් වත්මන් ආණ්ඩුව ඒ හැර වෙන යමක් කරනවා අපට පෙනෙන්නට නැත. වසර කිහිපයකට පෙර අපි අපේ දරුවන්ට පැහැදිලි අනාගතයක් ගොඩනඟමින් සිටියෙමු. ඉගෙන ගෙන පිටරැටියන්ට වැඩ කරන්නට යනවා වෙනුවට තමන්ගේම රටේ අභිමානවත්ව ජීවත් වන්නට අවශ්‍ය පරිසරය ඔවුන් වෙනුවෙන් නිර්මාණය වෙමින් තිබිණි.

කතිරයකින් ඒ ගමන නතර කර දැමුවේ අප අතරම සිටි පිරිසක් විසිනි. තීන්දුව වැරැදුණු බව මේ වන විට ඔවුන්ගෙන් බොහෝ දෙනකු පිළිගනිති. වැරැදීම නිවැරැදි කිරීමට අවස්ථාවක් එනතුරු ඔවුහු බලා සිටිති. නමුත් මෙදා වැටුණු වළෙන් ගොඩ ගැනීම නම් කතිරයකට පමණක් කළ හැකි වේදැයි සැක සහිතය.

By Ravi Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Joint Opposition (JO) will press the Government this week to withdraw or annul the Resolution that it jointly signed and co-sponsored with the United States on Sri Lanka.

“We will press the Government to withdraw the Resolution as it is based on the war crime charges where the numbers of those killed have been found to be grossly inaccurate, JO Leader and Colombo District MP Dinesh Gunawardena told Ceylon Today last night.

He also said, it was based on these false figures that the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) also acted……against Sri Lanka, adding that the Government should move in rapidly to correct the situation.

The TNA also went to world capitals and alleged that there were over 40,000 dead when British Conservative politician Lord Naseby, who has done a detailed study, has found that the correct number was well less than 7,000.

So, the numbers are totally wrong as touted by the international NGO lobby, the Diaspora and the TNA and there is not even a whimper about the inaccuracy of these figures, Gunawardena said.

Lord Naseby has also said that Sri Lankan Army was fighting a war against the most ruthless guerilla group in the world, which was not even a conventional war and the numbers killed on both sides were soldiers and members of the LTTE where no civilians were targeted and that it is all the more reason why the Government should withdraw the Resolution, he said.

He also alleged that the Foreign Ministry has not done anything to even collect the reports that Lord Naseby has done on Sri Lanka.

By Bandula Gunaratne Courtesy Ceylon Today

Even today certain roads in Colombo are known by the names of some Governors who ruled this country during the British colonial era. Maitland Crescent, Maitland Place, Horton Place, Barnes Place, Ward Place, and Rosmead Place are some of these roads. Today, media institutions such as the Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation and the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation are also located at a place named after a Governor.

That is the Torrington Square in Colombo 7. It has been named after Lord Torrington who was the Governor of this country from 1847 to 1859.

Lord Torrington arrived in this country subsequent to Governor Colin Campbell who ruled this country from 1841 to 1847 and his period of administration in this country did not prove to be good for the citizens. It was during the era of Torrington that the people of this country launched a rebellion against colonial rule and it was cruelly suppressed. Another reason was that the burden of taxes on the people also increased during this time.

Edward Barnes who ruled Ceylon prior to Torrington built roads in this country according to the system of Rajakariya. That is the Government paid a certain fee to employees for building roads. This system which Governor Barnes implemented was followed by Governor Robert Horton as well.

However, subsequent to Lord Torrington arriving here, what he did in 1848 was to impose a Road Tax. Every male between the ages of 18 and 55 had to work six days each year on roads. If not people had to pay a fine of three shillings.
People who were used to going on roads that fell through jungles did not benefit from these roads. People had been made to understand that they were wanted by planters. Silent unrest was created in the people of the hill country due to the construction of roads. They disliked it because they thought that as a result of roads, persons engaged in various jobs including traders who came from Colombo would create an upheaval in the lives of village folk in the upcountry and the economy as well, due to their behaviour. As even Bhikkhus had to pay this tax, it was a tax that caused pain of mind to Buddhists as well.

The Governor who had no strategy later imposed taxes on shops, boats and rafts, horse-driven carriages, bullock carts and even dogs.
A tax was also imposed on guns used to protect agricultural crops from wild animals. Therefore, people who depended on agriculture had to pay 2 shillings and 6 pence and use either a gun or other weapon for shooting at wild animals.
As a result, the people went to meet the Government Agent of Kandy in July of 1848. They did not stop there and a large group went to Colombo to express their opposition to the Governor.

In 1848 protests against the government began both in the upcountry and the low country. As a result what Torrington did was to impose martial law in places where revolts were taking place. Persons such as Puran Appu and Gongalegoda Banda were shot and killed.

Editor of the Observer Christopher Elliot, A. M. Ferguson, Lawyer Richard Morgan, Chief Justice’s son and Private Secretary Lawrence Oliphant informed of this rebellious situation to England.
A group including Joseph Hume and Henry Baillie who were members of the House of Commons debated this there.
Henry Baillie said that Torrington’s government was arbitrary and harmful. The only qualification that Torrington possessed to become the Governor of Ceylon was that he was “a director of a railway company,” Member of Parliament Benjamin Disraeli mocked.
Another member of the House of Commons said that during his apprenticeship period in the post of Governor he had spent controlling farming at Kent Place.

As Lord Torrington was the brother-in-law of Prime Minister of England Lord Russell, there was a strong effort to free him of these accusations but due to the equally strong displeasure of the House of Commons, the Cabinet of Lord Russell was defeated. During the next few days a missive from London was prepared for Governor Torrington.

In it was stated that Torrington should be released from the task of ruling Ceylon and instead Sir George Anderson of Mauritius should be appointed as the Governor and that it was being announced with the Queen’s approval.

What Lord Torrington who burdened the people of Ceylon with taxes and carried out an arbitrary rule had to do, it is said, was to flee the Queen’s House in Colombo secretly without informing anyone. At the same time, Emerson Tennant and District Judge of Kandy Edmund Woodhouse, who had supported Torrington, were informed that their services were not required by Ceylon.

By Methmalie Dissanayake Courtesy Ceylon Today

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Development Assignments Tilak Marapana yesterday (25) said that the Government would use Lord Naseby’s statement, regarding the final phase of Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE, in an appropriate forum.

Marapana made this remark prior to the debate on Heads of Expenditure of Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Responding to a question raised by the Joint Opposition (JO) MPs Dinesh Gunawardena and Bandula Gunawardena, the Minister said, “We are not saying that we would not use Lord Naseby’s statement. We will certainly use it at the proper time and appropriate forums. There may be a time, when the UNHRC asks us to conduct investigations into the war crime allegations. We will use this statement when a time as such is raised. Otherwise, our opponents will find counter arguments for this valuable statement. We must use it as an Ace.”

Gunawardena charged at the Government saying that the Foreign Ministry does not use the statement of Lord Naseby, which categorically proved that Sri Lankan troops did not kill 40,000 civilians in the Northern Province during the final phase of the war. “Although Lord Naseby proved that reports used by the UNHRC are erroneous, the Government’s representatives like Dr. Harsha de Silva had made a different statement at Geneva recently,” Gunawardena alleged.

Replying to this, Marapana said he did not agree with Gunawardena’s allegations.

He said, “Dr. Harsha de Silva did not do such thing. We are mindful of Lord Naseby’s statement and we really appreciate his efforts. He has put in lots of research work for it. The forum in Geneva, which Dr. Harsha de Silva attended, was not an appropriate stage to take it up.”

Moreover, Marapana said that the government has invited Lord Naseby to visit Sri Lanka at any time.

By Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

November 26, 2017, 8:54 pm
SIGNING OF THE INDO-LANKA ACCORD: Wasn’t the 13th Amendment forced upon us by India and therefore shouldn’t it be undone or at least ignored and not implemented

“Ignorance never helped anyone yet!”
— Karl Marx

The crisis is escalating and proliferating daily. It is a crisis of the Yahapalana model and strategy. It is a crisis created by UNP’s unacceptable cosmopolitan neoliberalism with its program of foreignization of the economy, combined with the provocative proto-secessionist behavior of the Northern Provincial Council that has generated a reactive social groundswell, which in turn has impacted upon the base of the SLFP and caused a crisis of the ‘unity’ government, all of which has deadlocked the state machinery and the economy. In the vortex of the crisis, toxic extreme nationalism, Sinhala and Tamil, is incubating, metastasizing. To turn Yeats’ famous poem into political prose, with the center unable to hold, things are falling apart, the falcon cannot hear the falconer and a pair of rough beasts are slouching to Bethlehem, or in this case, Colombo and Jaffna, to be born.

The UNP had to fall in 1956 and 1970. It would have fallen right into the fire in 1988 had it not been for Premadasa. In 1956, the UNP’s fall yielded Sinhala Only. In 1970, it yielded Standardization and a new Constitutional architecture in which safeguards for minorities were removed. Today’s UNP is even more out of touch with reality than it was in 1956 and 1970– the reactive defection of JR Jayewardene’s grandson Pradeep to the SLFP-MS is proof and symptom. What will the inevitable fall of the UNP in 2020, bring into being? An administration which is more influenced by Sinhala Buddhist fundamentalism and the vision of a quasi-theocratic state, a Buddhist state in all but name?

Never in my politically conscious lifetime (which senior politicians know goes back over 50 of my 60+ years), I have never known an Opposition movement to be more influenced by and responsive to the Sinhala Buddhist clergy than it is now. Nor have I known Sinhala ultranationalist Far Right discourse to be quite so acceptable in the social mainstream, including among the middle classes. This does not portend well for the fate of Sri Lanka, because the country will be heading back to 1956 or 1970 or pre-1987, while the world’s consciousness, and global and regional power relations have moved on in the opposite direction. Sri Lanka will be doomed; torn apart in our lifetime, between Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim militias—with the Sinhala militia enjoying state power, or actually being the state– and spheres of influence, and soon enough, external intervention will carve up this little island in our lifetime.

The current crisis must be resolved and it can be done only by shifting the axis of this Yahapalana government and creating an interim administration of a moderate-centrist nature, capable of bringing political stability and sustainable economic development. This equation must incorporate Mahinda Rajapaksa and the forces he represents, bearing in mind that those forces are in the ascendancy while the Yahapalana Establishment is on the decline. Today, Mahinda Rajapaksa is a far more important moderate than R. Sampanthan.

Two things must not happen. The status quo must not remain and it must not be replaced by the radical Right. The status quo must be replaced by a national-democratic and social democratic center-left, not by a Trumpian Alt-Right. The country must escape this confusion and disintegration and go forward, not back. The neoliberal UNP wants to take the country back to pre-1956 if not pre-1953. The Sinhala Alt-Right wants to take it back to pre-1987; preferably to 1970 or 1956—if not an earlier millennium. The new Establishment must not be replaced by the old, still less the archaic and ancient.

Ex-President Musharraf is back in politics at the head of a broad multiparty coalition. These days, when everybody is pontificating about Sri Lanka’s ethnic question and what should and should not be done, I constantly recall a point that Musharraf made in his autobiography. He said that it was bitterly ironic that parents spent so much of their hard earned money, finding the best qualified tutors for their school-going children, while going by the opinions of mullahs who are abysmally untrained in political subjects, giving opinions on complex matters of national politics and foreign policy! As in Pakistan so also Sri Lanka, and as with mullahs, so also civil society figures and those retirees from different professions which provide little training and experience in politics, Constitution-making, ethnic relations, foreign policy etc.

While making the obvious allowances for the difference between the exact or ‘hard’ sciences and the Social Sciences and Humanities (which UNESCO calls the Social and Human Sciences–SHS), it is truly awful when the body politic has been suffering from an affliction for decades but those who respond to it and are if a position to do something about it, simply cannot make the right diagnosis. I refer to the problem of nation-building and within it, the national/nationalities, ethnic, and center-periphery or majority-minority question.

Imagine how frustrating it can be for a trained specialist in a branch of medicine, when he/she hears that the patient’s family has preferred to go to a witch doctor to find a cure? That’s the way that I feel as a trained student (with post-graduate degrees), a former teacher and an internationally published author of books in the field of Political Science, when I listen to and/or read about discussions regarding the Tamil Question. My sense of exasperation is all the more when I have to revisit and reiterate points that I made on matters I published about at length when I was 22 years old, in 1979!

The ideology, worldview and mental universe of the Sinhala Alt-right remind me of those who continued to insist that the earth was flat, the sun revolved round the earth, or stranger still, that the earth rested on the back of a giant turtle who rested on the back of another one and it was “turtles all the way down”!

For the Sinhala ultranationalists, ‘the nation’ (‘jaathiya’) is the Sinhala nation, and the state is a Sinhala Buddhist state. The nation is seen as the State and the State as essentially the monks and the military. By contrast, for any politically literate, rational-minded democrat and Realist (I) the nation–any nation–is built upon a viable, non-hierarchical relationship between the constituent, component communities, while being above and larger than any community or combination of them and (II) the State protects the country and fights against armed enemies, internal and external, while being the impartial mediator, umpire and judge, between the constituent communities.

Five major points are made by the Sinhala Alt-Right with relation to the ethnic issue. Firstly, what and where’s the problem that needs addressing, and isn’t that problem imaginary? Secondly, how can there be a solution of devolution of power to a territorial unit when most Tamils live outside the North and East? Thirdly, isn’t the very notion devolution of power as a solution a dangerous non-solution, forced upon us by Tamil separatists, federalists and the West? Fourthly, wasn’t the 13th Amendment forced upon us by India and therefore shouldn’t it be undone or at least ignored and not implemented? Fifthly, why can’t we be like Israel in the face of international pressure—after all, wasn’t the Goldstone report on Gaza overturned?

All this not only reveals an abysmal level of ignorance due to a lack of formal education in the subject—since no First year undergraduate in Political Science could pass an exam while holding on to such unscientific views. Secondly this reveals a dangerous mindset; a collective mindset which in power, would inadvertently and inevitably take us beyond the traumatic events of the coercive external intervention of July 1987, to one of partition a la Cyprus, Pakistan-Bangladesh, and former Yugoslavia, through external intervention and a permanent external presence on our soil.

Perhaps the most grotesque absurdity is the Sinhala Alt-Right line “what’s the problem? It is an invention or a conspiracy; there was no ethnic problem, only a terrorist problem and now it’s over”. One of the greatest, most original political thinkers and leaders of the 20th century, Antonio Gramsci, wrote that:

“A crisis occurs, sometimes lasting for decades. This exceptional duration means that incurable structural contradictions have revealed themselves (reached maturity)…” (Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 178)

When one has had a problem of “exceptional duration”, that led to a Thirty Years War, but existed long before it and continues after it, then surely it is a symptom of a deeper structural malaise, the roots and the cause-effect nexus of which have to be uncovered and addressed; managed if they cannot be solved.

The Sinhala Alt-Right spokespersons and ideologues are obviously quite unaware that a whole football field at the least could be covered with scholarly books written over the last hundred years, in all international languages and taught at universities as well as higher military and Police academies the world over, on the related and variously defined cluster of issues embracing the national/nationalities question, the ethnic problem, self-determination, minority rights etc.

These Sinhala Alt-Right ideologues are also ignorant of the fact that the concept of national self-determination they are scoffing at were first put forward around the same time, by two of the finest minds of the 20th century from quite opposite sides of the ideological spectrum: President Woodrow Wilson of the USA (former President of Harvard University) and V.I. Lenin of Russia. Now it is one thing to argue that this concept does not apply in the manner the founders intended, to countries such as Sri Lanka, or that it does so only to a limited extent, or that it does not apply except in a limited manner to minorities —as I do, among so many others—but it is quite another to be blissfully ignorant of the paternity of the concept, its seriousness and its universal recognition.

The argument that the Sinhala Alt-Right waves about with a flourish, namely that the majority of Tamils live outside the North and East and therefore the devolution of power would be no solution at all, is an argument that no undergraduate towards the end of his or her year as a ‘fresher’ would deploy. That is because he/she would have read enough books from the library to know that ethnic self-determination, devolution etc. pertained precisely to territory. It is not a question of how many or what percentage of a community live outside a given territory it identifies with, but a question of the political status of the territory in which that community, speaking that language and sharing that identity and culture, constitute a majority, and have resided in for a long historical period.

(To be concluded tomorrow)

Editorial Courtesy The Island

President Maithripala Sirisena, speaking at a gathering of North Western Province entrepreneurs in Kurunegala on Saturday, highlighted the all-pervasive ill-effects of unbridled economic liberalisation. Citing an example, he lamented that children no longer engaged in the pleasurable pursuit of making kites; instead, he said, they flew imported kites the local market was flooded with.

Time was when children not only made colourful kites, Vesak lanterns etc but also fashioned toys out of virtually anything they got hold of. But, no longer are they interested in any such leisurely pursuits thanks to cheap imports and screen-based entertainment. Their mindset represents, in microcosm, the world view of Sri Lankans in general and their rulers in particular. President Sirisena went on to stress the need for protecting local industries and being cautious in handling foreign investment. Some foreign investments were even fraught with the danger of undermining the country’s sovereignty, he said.

One cannot but agree with President Sirisena on this score. But, the question is why the yahapalana government’s policies are out of sync with his. Take the leasing of the Hambantota Port to China for example. The government has had to lease the Trincomalee oil tank farm to the Indian Oil Company (IOC) to placate India. What it will have to offer to the US and other world powers which want to have a finger in the Sri Lankan pie is anyone’s guess. Warships of powerful nations which don’t reciprocate Sri Lanka’s friendship now call at the Colombo Port the way feudal lords used to pay unwelcome visits to their vassals’ wives and daughters!

Unequal contest is disastrous for local industries which need state protection for survival, as is common knowledge. The government has put the Sri Lankan footwear industry in jeopardy by allowing an India leather giant to set up shop here as a Board of Investment project. This will cause many local footwear companies to shut up shop. It is not being argued that the door must be slammed in the face of foreign investors in the name of protecting local industries. There has to be healthy competition. The IOC’s entry into the local petroleum market jolted the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) into transforming its ‘cowsheds’ into modern filling stations and improving its service. But, it will be a colossal blunder to allow the IOC to gobble up the CPC and monopolise the petroleum sector. Blatantly lopsided economic pacts with other countries will be the kiss of death for the local industries. The ETCA (Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement) is a case in point.

It is also imperative that big-time Sri Lankan companies, driven by corporate greed, be restrained from endangering the survival of small businesses. The ever expanding supermarket chains with some of their suburban outlets the size of village kades are driving small-time retailers out of business. This presages trouble for the consumer who will eventually be at the mercy of ruthlessly profit-seeking supermarket giants.

Dirigisme is, no doubt, an anachronism in the modern world, but the onus is on the state to make interventions wherever necessary to prevent the exploitation of the public. Nowhere in the world is found perfect competition which is said to make the consumer the king. Markets are always manipulated by cartels which are the order of the day as evident from the increasing prices of rice in the local market. There has been no shortfall in the paddy supply, we are told, but the rice prices continue to rise. The same goes for coconuts whose farm-gate prices remain relatively low; the middleman is obviously making unconscionable profits at the expense of producers and consumers.

Now that President Sirisena has convincingly argued his case for protecting local industrialists and treading cautiously in accepting foreign investment, he ought to prevail on his coalition partners to operate within the ideological parameters he has set. He should ask his Finance Minister why there has been a budget proposal for a para tariff reduction which will suddenly expose local industries to stiff external competition without sufficient time to adapt and shift their production into new areas. This ill-conceived measure could create short-term unemployment, take its toll on economic growth and, therefore, warrants a rethink. Let the President be urged to tell anyone who refuses to toe his line to go fly a kite.

By SANJA DE SILVA JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

Following Sri Lanka’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held at the Human Rights Councils in Geneva on the 15th of November 2017, and the adoption of its Report on the 24th, a draft outcome document called “Draft report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review”, which includes recommendations was circulated in the Council on Friday, the 24th November 2017.

Recommendations are made by UN member states on measures that can be taken to improve the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka has the three options of accepting, rejecting or taking note of those recommendations.

While it was stated during the debate in Parliament on the Foreign Ministry budget that officials of the Foreign Ministry are of the view that Lord Naseby’s recent revelations on the casualty figures had not been used thus far because they feel that the evidence he unearthed should be used optimally in the most appropriate forums, it is unclear how the UN Human Rights Council did not qualify during a universal review by all UN member states of Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Situation, especially since there were several references to Resolution 30/1 during the review.

At the same debate, answering a question from Bandula Gunawardene MP, as to when exactly the Minister thought they would be using Lord Naseby’s statements, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said with unfathomable logic, that if they announce this “everywhere”, we’d be giving our opponents plenty of time to come up with counter arguments, therefore we should bring it up only when the subject of war crimes allegations come up. But they had already come up at the UPR!

With all due respect to the Minister, since the false allegations of genocidal numbers of civilian causalities in Sri Lanka are repeated “everywhere”, shouldn’t the Ministry disseminate Lord Naseby’s evidence-based challenge to those numbers as widely as possible, everywhere, and anywhere they can, especially because those falsehoods are being used “everywhere” to denigrate and endanger Sri Lanka’s standing in the world and those who fought the war?

Withholding this information for fear of counter arguments hardly inspires confidence in the Ministry’s ability or competence to carry out its expected tasks.

Listed below are some of the recommendations that the Govt. delegation has accepted on behalf of Sri Lanka:

(The figures on the left refers to the number allocated to each recommendation)

116.70. Guarantee completion of ongoing investigations into abuse committed against civilian population during the civil war. (France)

16.73. Hold security forces and government officials accountable for human rights violations and abuses. (United States of America)

116.74. Deepen investigation of cases of human rights violations committed during the conflict, punish the perpetrators and provide adequate reparation to the victims. (Argentina)

116.76. Fulfil all the commitments made on transitional justice, including through the creation of an accountability mechanism which is credible, victim-centric and supported by international practitioners and through full operationalization of independent and impartial work of the recently established Office of missing persons. (Slovenia)

116.77. Establish comprehensive transitional justice mechanism, including operation alizing of an Office of Missing Persons, a truth-seeking commission, an Office of Reparations and a judicial mechanism with a special counsel as committed to. (South Africa)

116.90. Fully implement the commitments agreed to in Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. (United States of America)

116.91. Fully implement its commitments under Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. (Australia)

116.130. Strengthen the democratic control of the defence sector, in particular suspend the involvement of members of the armed forces in economic activities, in order to ensure guarantee of property of citizens, as well as their livelihoods. (Switzerland)

116.131. Accelerate the restitution of lands confiscated by the army and set up a satisfactory compensation system. (France)

Given below are some of the recommendations that the Sri Lankan delegation have exercised the option of ‘noting’ rather than ‘rejecting’:

117.36. Take comprehensive measures to ensure that the alleged war crimes and other human rights violations committed during the internal conflict are investigated and prosecuted with the aim to end impunity. (Estonia)

117.37. Expedite the ongoing process and establish a clear timeline to establish a truth-seeking commission and an Office on Reparations as well as a special court to investigate allegations of serious human rights violations. (Republic of Korea)

117.39. Develop a clear timeline and benchmarks for the full implementation of Sri Lanka’s commitments under Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1. (Germany)

117.40. Develop a clear timeline and benchmarks for the full implementation of its commitments in Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. (Norway)

117.41. Develop an unambiguous timeline accompanied with a monitoring framework for the full implementation of its commitments under Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. (The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)

117.42. Act on its commitments in Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 including to establish transitional justice mechanisms, and to establish a clear timeline to this end. (Austria)

117.43. Develop a clear timeline and benchmarks for the full implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 30/1. (Denmark)

117.44. Foster reconciliation through accelerated implementation of Human Rights Council resolution 30/1, including by launching the Office of Missing Persons, ending military involvement in civilian functions, returning lands to civilian owners, and establishing a judicial mechanism with the participation of foreign investigators, prosecutors and judges. (Canada)

117.45. Fully implement the recommendations of the Consultative Task Force on Reconciliation, including to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act and replace it with international best practice legislation. (Australia)

There were several Voluntary pledges and commitments made by Sri Lanka including to “Fulfill commitments contained in United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 30/1 towards the operationalization of the Office on Missing Persons, and the establishment of a truth seeking commission, an office for reparations, and a judicial mechanism with a special counsel.”

At its next UPR and other sessions of the Human Rights Council, Sri Lanka will be reviewed on its progress on the recommendations that it has accepted.

While ‘noting’ does not commit Sri Lanka to implementing the recommendations so noted, it is surprising that given the stand that President Sirisena has publicly taken on the issues, the recommendations for ‘timelines’ and ‘the participation of foreign investigators and prosecutors and judges’ have not been rejected by Sri Lanka.

The delegation to the UPR was headed by (Dr.) Harsha de Silva, MP Deputy Minister of National Policies and Economic Affairs and included the following members: Prasad Kariyawasam, Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ravinatha Aryasinha, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva; Nerin Pulle, Deputy Solicitor General, Attorney General’s Department;Mrs. Samantha Jayasuriya, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Geneva;Ms. Mahishini Colonne, Director General/ UN, US, Canada, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

තේජා ගොඩකන්දෙආරච්චි

බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමට සාක්ෂි ලබා දීමට අගමැතිවරයා කැඳවීම පිලිබඳ පුවත මේ දිනවල රටේ දේශපාලන කතාබහ අතර ප්‍රධාන තැනක් ගනී. නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්බන්ධ කතිකාවන්ගෙන්ද අඩුවක් නැත. ඒ පිලිබඳව ජනතාව අතර විවිධ මත ගැටුම් ඇතිවෙත්දී, උතුරු පලාත් මහ ඇමතිවරයා විසින් පාසලක පැවති උත්සවයකදී ජාතික කොඩිය එසවීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම, එම මත ගැටුම් තීව්‍ර කිරීමට හේතුවක් විය. නමුත් මේ කතාබහ, අගමැතිගේ බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමට කැඳවූ කතන්දරයත්, ඒ හා සමගාමීව රට පුරා තාප්පවල ඇලවුනු ‘බය නැති අගමැති’ පෝස්ටරයත් හමුවේ යට ගැසෙන ස්වභාවයක් පෙන්නුම් කරයි. නමුත් අගමැතිවරයාගේ බය නැති කමට වඩා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අනාගතයට බලපෑ හැකි ජාතික කොඩි කතන්දරය වැදගත් වේ.

බැඳුම්කර වංචාව පිලිබඳව අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ විසින් සාක්ෂි ලබා දුන්නේ ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් ඉදිරියේය. ‘අගමැති’ පදය ඉවත ලා බලන කල ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් ඉදිරියේ සාක්ෂි දීම රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ නම් පුද්ගලයාට අලුත් දෙයක් නොවේ. 1996 දී ඔහුගේ වත්මන් සුහද මිතුරිය වූ, එවකට හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනිය විසින් පත්කරන ලද බටලන්ද කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි දෙන්නට එදා රනිල්ට සිදුවිය. එදා ඔහු ‘හිටපු අගමැති’ ය. ඒ වනවිට 17 වසරක එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පාලනය අසීරුවෙන් අවසන් කරගෙන වැඩි කාලයක් ගතවී නොතිබිනි. ඒ 17 වසරේ පාලනය ඇරඹෙද්දී පරාජයට පත්වුනේ චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායකගේ මෑණියන්ය. 1975 දී නිම වන්නට තිබුනු සමගි පෙරමුණු රජයේ කාලය තවත් වසර දෙකකින් දීර්ඝ කිරීමේ වරද නිසා සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතියද එජාප රජය විසින් අහිමි කරන ලදී. ඒ අනුව ඈ විසින් දැරූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වය මෙන්ම පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී ධූරයද අහෝසි වූ අතර, 1982 දී පැවති ජනාධිපතිවරණයට ඉදිරිපත් වීමේ අවස්ථාවද ඇයට අහිමි විය.

1977 ජුලි මස පැවති මහ මැතිවරණය අති විශාල බලයක් සහිතව දිනාගත් පසුව අගමැති බවට පත්වූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන ශ්‍රී ලංකා පොලිසියට සතියක නිවාඩුවක් ලබාදුන් නිසා, ඒ දිනවල ඇති වූ පශ්චාත් මැතිවරණ ප්‍රචන්ඩ ක්‍රියා තුල ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ෂිකයන්ද දැඩි පීඩනයකට ගොදුරු වූහ. එමෙන්ම හිටපු අගමැතිනියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය අහෝසි කිරීමට මුල්වූ මැතිවරණ කල් දැමීමේ වරදම ඊට වඩා මඳක් වෙනස්වූ අයුරකින් එජාප රජය විසින් සිදුකලේ 1982 දී පැවැත්වූ ජනමත විචාරනයක් මගිනි. ඒ වන විටද මැතිනියගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය ලැබී තිබුනේ නැත. ඒ ජනමත විචාරනය, පැවති රජය දිනාගත් අයුරු එදා සිදුවූ සිද්ධීන් මතකයෙන් නොමැකුන ජනතාව හොඳින් දනිති. මෙතෙක් කලක් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනයේ ගතයුතු හරයක් ඉතිරිව තිබුනා නම්, මෙවන් දරදඬු, අසාධාරණ තීන්දු තීරණ හරහා ඒවා වාෂ්ප වී ගියේය.

1983 ජුලි මස 23 දා ඇතිවූ වර්ගවාදී කලබල සම්බන්ධ චෝදනාව ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ පිට පටවමින් එම පක්ෂය තහනම් කිරීම තුල එදා එජාපය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ තට්ටු මාරු දේශපාලනයට විකල්පයක් ලෙස ගොඩ නැගීගෙන ආ බලවේගය අහෝසිකර දැමීය. ඒ සමගම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනවර්ග අතර යලි පිරවිය නොහැකි හිදැසක් නිර්මාණය විනි. ජවිපෙ තහනම් කරමින් තරුණ පරපුර වෙත ක්‍රියාත්මක කල මර්ධන හස්තයේ කුරිරු හා දරදඬු බව විසින් 87-90 සමයේ ඇතිවූ තරුණ නැගිටීමට මග පෑදීය. මේ සියලු ක්‍රියාවලීන් තුල එවකට ප්‍රබල කැබිනට් ඇමතිවරයෙකු වූ වත්මන් අගමැතිද ප්‍රබල භූමිකාවක් ඉටු කරන ලදී. 1977 දී ප්‍රථම වරට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පත්ව ආ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ නම් අංකුර දේශපාලකයා ලාබාලම කැබිනට් ඇමතිවරයා ලෙස බෞතීස්ම කරන ලද්දේ ඔහුගේ අගමැති මාමා විසිනි. ඒ තුල ඔහු මාමාගේ ලෝකයේ ඔටුණ්න හිමි කුමාරයා වූයේය. එම වගකීම ඉටු කරනු පිනිස එජාප රජයේ දා හත් වසරක පැවැත්ම උදෙසා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ වෙතින් ඉටුවූ කාර්යභාරයේ එක් සුවිශේෂ සළකුණක් සංකේතවත් වූයේ මේ බටලන්ද කොමිසම මගිනි. ප්‍රථම වරට ඔහුට ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් ඉදිරියේ සාක්ෂි දීමට සිදුවනුයේ ඒ අනුවය.

සාමාන්‍යයෙන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනය තුල කෙනෙකු දැරූ තනතුරට ‘හිටපු’ යන විශේෂණ පදය එක්වූ කල ඇතිවන බලපෑම අමුතුවෙන් විස්තර කලයුතු නැත. එදා 1977 දී හිටපු අගමැතිනියට අත්වූ ඉරණම ඊට හොඳ උදාහරණයකි. ඒ නිසා අද බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි ලබා දී ‘බය නැති  අගමැති’ බවට පත්වුවද, හරිනම් රනිල් තම නිර්භීත භාවය ප්‍රදර්ශනය කර ඇත්තේ හිටපු අගමැති ලෙස බටලන්ද කොමිසමේ සාක්ෂි කූඩුවට නැගීම හරහාය. ඔහුට එසේ බිය නොවන්නට හේතු තිබිනි. ඒ, තම මාමණ්ඩිය විසින් ඇතිකල තුප්පහි දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතිය තුල මෙවන් වැරදි තමන්ට බලපාන අන්දම ගැන ඔහු තුල පැහැදිලි තක්සේරුවක් තිබීම නිසා විය හැක.

අද, බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමේ තොරතුරු කතා කරන අගමැති සහ මැති ඇමති ගනයාගේ කතාබහ තුලද පසුගිය රජය සමයේ සිදුවූ දේ ගැන නිතර කියැවෙනු ඇසේ. ඒ ‘හිටපු’ හෝ ‘පසුගිය’ යන දේශපාලන යුගයන්ට අප රටේ අත්වන ඉරණමයි. ඊට අනුව රනිල් සමග පෙරහර සැදී බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම් ගොඩනැගිල්ල වෙත ගිය ඇමතිවරු, 2008 දී පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස් සමාගම සමග එවක පැවති රජයේ ගණුදෙනු, කතාබහ ගැන පවසති.  රජයේ මූල්‍යමය ක්‍රියා පටිපාටීන් හා සම්බන්ධ වන සමාගම් සහ රජයේ වගකිව යුතතන් අතර පුද්ගලික මට්ටමේ සංවාද තිබිය යුතු නොවන බව සැබෑවකි. එමෙන්ම මෙවැනි සංවාද පලමු වතාවට ඇති වන්නට ඇත්තේ 2008 දී නොවේ. දේශපාලනය යනු බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට සල්ලි උනන උල්පතක් බවට පත්වූ පසු අපට සුපිරිසිදු ගණුදෙනු අපේක්ෂාකල නොහැකිව ගියේය. නමුත් මෙතැන ඇති ප්‍රශ්නය 2014 දී මිලියන 250-300 ත් අතර වූ පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස් සමාගමේ බැඳුම්කර කොටස් සඳහා වූ ලංසුව 2015 වන විට, පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස් සමාගමේ හිමිකරුගේ මාමණ්ඩිය මහ බැංකු අධිපති පදවියට පත්ව මාසයක් ඇතුලත, මිලියන 3000 දක්වා ඉහල ගියේ කෙසේද යන්නයි.

මේ හිමිකරුගේ මාමණ්ඩිය මේ තැනට ගෙන ආවේද, මේ කිලිටි ගණුදෙනුව හෙලිදරව් වී තිබියදීද ඔහුගේ සේවය දීර්ඝ කරන්නට දැඟලුවේද, බැරිවූ තැන අලුත් තනතුරක් නිර්මාණය කර, අදාල සේවා ගිවිසුමත් රැගෙන තමන්ම සිංගප්පූරුවට ගොස් අත්සන් කරවාගෙන ආවේද වත්මන් අගමැතිවරයා බැවින් ලැජ්ජාවක් ඇතිනම් ඔහුට මේ ප්‍රශ්නයේදී ලෙහෙසියෙන් අත පිසදා ගන්නට නොහැකිය. පසුගිය රජය කල කී දේ මේ ප්‍රශ්නයේදී සමාවට කරුණක් නොවේ. දැන් සිදුවී ඇත්තේ හොරකම් කරනවා මදිවාට ඒවා පිලිබඳව උදම් අනන්නටත් ඉදිරිපත් වීමය. මෙය බයට වඩා ලැජ්ජාව පිලිබඳ කාරණයකි. බුදු බණේ තිබෙන්නේද පුද්ගලයෙකු තුල පාපය කෙරෙහි ලැජ්ජාව සහ බය තිබිය යුතුයි කියාය.

එදා බටලන්ද කොමිසමේ කරුණු විභාගයේදී රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ විසින් තම බලය අයුතු ලෙස භාවිතාකර ශ්‍රී ලාංකික පුරවැසියන් දහස් ගණනක් වද බන්ධනයටද, මරණයටද පත්කරන්නට පාර කැපූ කරුණ ඔප්පුවන බව එම වාර්තාවේ සඳහන්ව තිබිනි. නමුත් එසේ ඔප්පු වූවා කියා ඉන් එහාට සිදුවූ දෙයක් නැත. එම කොමිසම් වාර්තාව මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වන කාල සීමාවේදී පමනක් රනිල්ට පහර ගැසීමටත්, ඒ හරහා 87-90 සමයේ තම සමීපතම ඥාතීන් අහිමිව සිටි මිනිසුන්ගේ හැඟීම් රිදවා ඡන්ද ගරා ගැනීමටත් යොදාගනු ලැබිනි. ඒ ප්‍රහාර තුල අද සිටින බය නැති අගමැති, බටලන්දේ වෘකයා විය. එපමනකි. එදා තමන්ට දේශපාලන බලයක් නැති තැනදී කරුණු සිදුවූයේද එසේනම් අද අගමැතිවරයා ලෙස ඔහු කුමට බිය වන්නේද? මෙය ජනාධිපති කොමිසමක් බව සැබැවි. නමුත් මෙතැන ජනාධිපතිගේ ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැත. ඔහුට විශේෂයෙන් ඩිසයින්කල ටී ෂර්ට් එකක් හා කැප් තොප්පියක් අන්දවා බ්‍රෙසියරයක් හෝ මයිලෝ පැකට් එකක් අතට දුන්විට මොන මොනවා හෝ කියවා සමාජය විහිලුවෙන් කුල්මත් කරනු ඇත. එදා රනිල් ප්‍රමුඛ එජාපය පලවා හරිනුවස් මිනී වලවල් හෑරූ, බටලන්ද ජනාධිපති කොමිසමේ නිර්මාතෘවරිය අද ඔහුගේ පාර්ශ්වයේ සිටිමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය නන්නත්තාර කිරීමේ අරමුණින් කටයුතු කිරීම තුල තම ප්‍රබලතම දේශපාලන ප්‍රතිවාදියා වූ ශ්‍රීලනිප ය සම්බන්ධව බිය වන්නට කාරණයක් නැත. අනික යහපාලන රජයේ බහුතරය එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයෙනි.

2015 දී මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන නම් එවකට හිටපු ශ්‍රීලනිප මහ ලේකම්වරයා පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා ලෙස එජාප ය සමග දීගයට පොලඹවන විට ඊට උඩගෙඩි දුන් සියල්ලෝ, එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස රනිල් අගමැති බවට පත්වන බව දැන සිටියහ. එමෙන්ම මේ සියලු දෙනාම රනිල්ට අත්වැල ඇල්ලූ ප්‍රධානතම හවුල්කාරිය වන චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ පැටිකිරියද දැන නොසිටියාය කියා කිව හැකිද? මෙවර රනිල් අගමැති වූයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනි අන්දමිනි. එතැනදී භාවිතා වූයේ විධායක ජනාධිපති බලතලයි. රනිල්ගේ දේශපාලන ඉතිහාසය ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන නොදන්නවා නොවේ. ඉතින් මේ තමන් හොඳහැටි දන්නා අගමැතිවරයා, දේශපාලන කෙමිසමක් හරහා දේශපාලනිකව අගතියට යවන්නට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වුවමනාවක් ඇතැයි සිතිය නොහැකිය. තම තමන් ලද තනතුරු අනුව ජනාධිපති හා අගමැති එකිනෙකාට කලගුණ සලකා ගන්නා තත්වයක් තිබියදී රනිල් කුමට බය වන්නද? සමාන්‍ය පරිදි එක පක්ෂයක් රාජ්‍ය බලය දරන කාලයක නම් තමන්ට සිහිනයක් විය හැකිව තිබූ ඇමති සැප විඳින සන්ධාන ඇමති කැල ගැන රනිල් බයක් ඇතිකර නොගනු ඇත. නමුත් මේ ඇමතිවරුන් තුල, පවත්නා දේශපාලන වාතාවරණය මත ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ෂිකයින් තමන් වෙතින් දුරස් වේද යන බියක් තිබිය හැක. මෙත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා සිංහ වෙස් ගෙන කෑ ගසනුයේ මේ බිය තුරන් කරන්නට මිස රනිල් ගැන අහිතකින් විය නොහැකිය.

මෙතැනදී සිතාගත හැකි එකම දේ නම් ලඟ එන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය යනු තම සුලු ජාතික ඡන්ද පදනම රැක ගැනීමට බලපාන ප්‍රධානතම සාධකයක් බැවින් ඊට බාධාවන ජනතාවගේ අවධානය වෙනතකට යොමු කිරීමට මේ සිදුවීම් යොදාගත හැකි බවයි.

මෑතකදී ජාතික කොඩිය එසවීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කලේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජනරජයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාවට අනුව දිවුරුම් දී, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ වැටුප් හා වරප්‍රසාද ලබන උතුරු පලාත් සභාවේ ඇමතිවරයෙකි. මේ සියලු වරප්‍රසාදවලට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සෑම අසු මුල්ලකම සිටින ජනතාව විසින් ගෙවනු ලබන බදු මුදල් දායක වේ. තමාටද ජාතික කොඩිය ගැන ප්‍රශ්න ඇති බව උතුරු පලාත් මහ ඇමති විග්නේශ්වරන් කියයි. ඒ සිංහයා සහ සිංහලයා පටලවා ගත් නිසා විය හැකිය.

ජාතික කොඩියේ ඇති සිංහ රූපය සංකල්පය රැගෙන ආවේ ක්‍රි. පූ. 486 දී දිවයිනට පැමින, පැලපදියම් වූ විජය රජු විසින් බව කියැවේ. ඒ අනුව මේ සිංහයාද ඉන්දියාවෙන් ආනයනය කරන ලද්දකි. ක්‍රි. පූ. 162 දී එළාර රජු පරදවා ශ්‍රී ලංකාව (එකල ත්‍රිසිංහලය නම් විය) එක්සේසත්කල දුටුගැමුණු රජ මේ සිංහයා සහිත බැනරයට ඉරත්, සඳත් එක්කර නිර්මාණය කල ධජය 1815 දී රට ඉංග්‍රීසීන් යටතට පත්වන තුරුම රජවරුන් විසින් භාවිතා කර ඇත. 1815 දී ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින් තම අධිරාජ්‍ය සංගමයේ ධජය, යම් සංශෝධනයක් සහිතව ‘සිලෝන්’ වෙනුවෙන් යොදාගෙන, එතෙක් භාවිතාකල සිංහ ධජය එංගලන්තයේ චෙල්සී රාජකීය රෝහලේ තැම්පත් කරන ලදී. 20 වන ශතවර්ෂය්දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් වෙතින් නිදහස ලබාගනු පිනිස සටන්කල ඊ. ඩබ්. පෙරේරා සහ ඩී. ආර්. විජේවර්ධන යන මහත්වරු එම ධජය එංගලන්තයේ ඇති බව සොයාගෙන, එය පිලිබඳව දිණමින පුවත්පතේ විශේෂ මුද්‍රණයක් හරහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා වාසීන් වෙත ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කලහ. 1948 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් වෙතින් නිදහස ලැබුන විට ත්‍රිසිංහලේ අන්තිම රජුගේ කාලය තෙක් භාවිතාකල එම කොඩිය යොදාගත් අතර එම වසරේදීම අගමැති ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක මහතා විසින් ජාතික කොඩිය ප්‍රතිනිර්මාණය කරනු පිනිස කමිටුවක් පත්කරනු ලැබීය. එහි නිර්දේශ මත ඉර හඳ ඉවත්කර, සුලු ජාතීන් සංකේතවත් කරනු පිනිස තැඹිලි සහ කොළ වර්ණ සහිත තීරු දෙකකුත් බහුතර ජාතිය වූ සිංහල නිරූපනය කරන මෙරූන් පැහැ කොටුවේ සතර කොණට දාගැබක කොත් කැරැල්ලේ රූපද යොදන ලදී. 1972 දී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පූර්ණ ජනරජයක් බවට පැමිනි පසුව එකම ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජාතියක් සංකේතවත් කරමින් වටේ රන් පැහැයෙන් යතු බෝඩරයක් එක්කල අතර 1978 දී සතර කොණ ඇති කොත් කැරලි 4 බෝ පත් 4 ක් බවට වෙනසක් ඇති කලේ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන රජය ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කල ධර්මිශ්ඨ රාජ්‍යය සංකේතවත් කරනු පිනිසය.

මෙහි සිංහයාගෙන් සංකේතවත් වනුයේ සිංහලයා නොව නිදහස හා අපේක්ෂාවයි. මෙය සියලු ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයනට පොදුය. එබැවින් ජාතික කොඩියේ කතන්දරය උතුරු පලාත් සභාවට අකැප වන්නේ කෙසේද යන්න අපැහැදිලිය. එහි ජාතීන් සියල්ල නියෝජනය වේ. කවුරුන් කැමති වුනත්, අකමැති වුනත් 74.5% ක් වූ සිංහල ජාතිය බහුතරයයි. මෙහි වෙනසක් කල නෙහැකිය. කෙසේ හෝ මේ විරෝධය තුල කියැවෙන්නේ ඔවුන් වෙනම ධජයක් අපේක්ෂා කරන බවයි. මෙවන් සිදුවීම් තුල ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය දෙස උපේක්ෂාවෙන් බලන අයට පවා බියක් දැනීම සාධාරණය. මෙවන් කරුණු පිලිබඳව රජය මුනිවත රැකීම එතරම් යෝග්‍ය නැත. තම සීයා විසින් සොයාගෙන ආ සිංහ කොඩිය ගැන මුණුපුරා වන රනිල්ට විශේෂ හැඟීමක් තිබිය යුත්තේ එම සීයලා විසින් අපේක්ෂා කල නිදහස ගැන අවබෝධයක් ඔහු තුල තිබිය යුතු බැවිනි. සංහිඳියාව යන්නනිර්වචනය විය යුත්තේ මේ ආකාරයෙන් නොවේ. බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්ෂි දී, ඇඟ බේරාගෙන තම නිර්භීත බව රටවැසියාට ඔප්පු කරනවාට වඩා එය වැදගත්ය. 

එසේ නොවුවහොත් ජනතාව සිතාගත යුත්තේ මෙම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයද ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජනතාවගේ යහපැවැත්ම උදෙසා නොව දේශපාලකයන් කොටසකගේම යහපැවැත්ම උදෙසා සිදුවන්නක් බවයි. 

එස්. අකුරුගොඩ

ඉතිහාසය පුරාම ආක්‍රමකයින් බලය ලබාගැනීම සහ පවත්වා ගැනීම සදහා අවිආයුධ වලට අමතරව ජනමතය විවිධාකාරයෙන් යොදවාගත් ආකාරය අපි අසා දැන ඇත්තෙමු.  ජාතිද්‍රෝහීන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපයන් හේතුකොටගෙන අපි ශතවර්ෂ ගණනාවක් විදේශීන්ට යටත්ව සිටියෙමු.

 1815 -1818 කාලය තුල බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය  ආක්‍රමකයින් රට තුලින්ම සොයාගත් බලලෝභී පුද්ගලයින් මගින් ජනමතය හසුරවමින් බලය ලබාගත් ආකාරයත් බලය තහවරු කරගැනීමට යොදන විවිද උපක්‍රම මේ දිනවල ‘දෙරණ’ නාලිකාව තුලින් රඟදැක්වෙන ‘මුතුකුඩ’ ටෙලිනාට්‍යයෙන් දැකබලා ගතහැක.

දෙවන ලෝක යුද්ධය නොවන්නට අදත් අප රට යටත් විජිතයක්ය. නිදහස ලැබීමෙන් පසුවද විවිද පාලනයන්තුල හුදු ආත්මාර්ථකාමය තකා කටයුතුකල පුද්ගලයින්ගේ පාවාදීම් නිසා එම පාලනයන් කඩාහැලුනු අපගේ ජීවිත කාලය තුලදීම දැකගත හැකිවිය.

1964දී සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණියගේ රජයේ සභානායක  සහ ඇමතිවරයෙකුවූද, ශ්‍රී ලoකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ උපසභාපතිවූද සී.පී.ද සිල්වා ඇතුලු මoත්‍රි පිරිසක් මගින් එම රජය පෙරලා දැමීමත්, 2015 දී මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජයේ ඇමතිවරයෙකුවූද, ශ්‍රී ලoකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ ලේකම්වූද මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන ඇතුලු පිරිසක් මගින් එම රජය පෙරලා දැමීමත් කදිම නිදසුන්වේ. 1964දී සිදුකල පෙරලිය පිටු පසින් සිට පිහියෙන් ඇනීමක් බැව් බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිණිය පැවසීමෙන් පසු එම ක්‍රියාව ‘සී-පිහි’ නමින් කලක් සමාජගතව පැවති  ආකාරය මතකයට නැඟේ. 2015 දී ද සැබැවින්ම සිදුකලේ පිටුපසින් සිට පිහියෙන් ඇනීමකි.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජය යටතේ තිස්වසරක කුරිරු ත්‍රස්තවාදය නිමකිරීම, බටහිර හා ආරම්භයේ සිට පුහුණුකරලීම් මගින් ත්‍රස්තවාදය පෝෂනය කළ රටවලට ඉමහත් ප්‍රශ්නයක් වූවාට සැකනැත. ත්‍රස්තවාදය නිමකරලීම, එල්ටීටීයේ දේශපාලන හස්තයවූ දෙමළ සන්ධානයට, ගෝලීය ද්‍රවිඩ සoසඳයට, ඊනියා දේශපාලන විසඳුම් ගැන කටමැත දොඩමින් ඩොලර් මත යැපෙන රාජ්‍ය නොවන සoවිධාන, ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සමග සාම ගිවිසුම් ගැසූ දේශපාලකයින්ටද තම ඉදිරි පැවැත්ම ප්‍රශ්නයක් විය. කෙසේ හෝ රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය පෙරලා තම අරමුණු ඉටුකරගත හැකි රූකඩ පාලනයක් පත්කර ගැනීම එහි ප්‍රතිඵලය විය.

අද අප රට කම්භ හොරුන්ගේ පරාදීසියක් බවට පත්ව ඇති බැව් නොරහසකි. භාණ්ඩාගාර බිල්පත් වoචාව හමුවේ රාජ්‍ය බැoකු වලට සහ සේවක අර්ථ සාධක අරමුදලට සිදුකර ඇති මහපරිමාණ අලාභයන්ට වගකිවයුතු වoචනිකයින් මූල්‍ය  නීති උල්ලoඝනයකිරීම හා දූෂණ චෝදනා යටතේ අධිකරණය ඉදිරියට පමුණුවා අත්අඩoගුවට පත්කිරීමට  අපමණ  සාක්ෂි තිබියදීත්, එසේ නොකොට කල්මරමින්,  විමසීම් කමිටු සහ කොමිෂන් සභා පත්කරමින් වoචනිකයින් ට නිදැල්ලේ හැසිරීමට අවශ්‍ය පසුබිම සකසා තිබේ.

නොයෙකුත් කූට උපක්‍රම මගින් ජනතාව මුලාකරමින් මැතිවරණ සිතියම හකුලා දමා ඇත. රාජපක්ෂ පාලනය අවසන් කිරීමට අතහිත දුන් බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ මනදොල පිරවීමට අවශ්‍ය,  ව්‍යවස්ථා , යුද අපරාධ අධිකරණ  ආදී සියලු කටයුතු සම්පාදනය වෙමින් පවතී.

දශක 6කට ආසන්න කාලයක් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ විරෝධී නායකත්වයක් සැපයූ ශ්‍රී ලoකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයත්, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ රජයක් යටතේ තම නායකයා ඇතුලු 60,000  ක ක්‍රියාකාරීන් පිරිසක් මැරුම් කෑ ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත්,  බෙදුම්වාදී ත්‍රස්ථවාදයට, දෙමළ සන්ධානයට, ප්‍රභා-රනිල් ගිවිසුම  ආදියට සිය ආරම්භයේ සිටම විශාල හඬක් නැගූ  හෙල උරුමයත් අද සිරිකොතේ මාර්ගෝපදේශකත්වයට පත්ව ඇති ආකාරය වත්මන් පාලනය මෙහෙයවන බලවේගයන්ගේ සැලසුම්වල තරම මැනවින් පෙන්වා දෙයි.

එවන් සැලසුම් සහගත ක්‍රියාකලාපයන් හමුවේ ඉදිරි මාස කිහිපය අප රටට ඉතාමත් තීරනාත්මක කාලයක් වනු ඇත.

එස්. අකුරුගොඩ

සෝමපාල සෙනරත්

ජනාධිපති තුමා

දූෂණයට, වංචාවට එරෙහිව තීන්දු තීරණ ගන්නාවිට එයට විරුද්ධව තමාට චෝදනා එල්ල කරන්නේනම් තමන් සියලූ තනතුරු අතහැර ජනතාව සමග එක්ව එම සටන ඉදිරියටම ගෙන යාමට සූදානම් බව ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතා අවධාරණය කරයි.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

මේක පොඩිඑකාගේ ලිවුම වැනි බොලඳ කියමනකි.අපි ඔබතුමා පත්කලේ පාරට බැසීමට නොවේ. දූෂණයට, වංචාවට එරෙහිව  ඔබට ගතහැකි හොඳම තීන්දුව සහ තීරණය ඔබතුමාට පහසුවෙන්ම කළ හැකි දෙයක් වන අගමැති තුමාත් ඔබට චෝදනා කරන ඔය ඇමති වරුනුත් තනතුරුවලින් පහ කිරීමයි. ඔබතුමාට අපි චන් දය දුන්නේ ශ්‍රී ල නි ප පක්‍ෂයෙන්  පැමිණි අපේක්‍ෂකයා ලෙස නිසා නොවේ.  දූෂණයට, වංචාවට විරුද්ධ වූ නිසයි. එසේ නම් ඔබතුමා පක්‍ෂ බේධ වලින් තොරව මේ කාරණයට කැපවේ යයි අපි සිතුවෙමු. එහෙත් රැවුලයි කැඳයි දෙකම බැරිවා සේ  හොරුන් පිරිවරා ගෙන මේ නිර්මල ක්‍රියාව කල නොහැකිය.

අනික් අතට ජනපති බලතල ඇති ඔබ, ඒවා හැරදමා අපිට එකතුවී මොකක් කරන්නද ? අපිට ඇති බලයක් නැත. අපේ දරුවන් අපේ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් දෙමවුපියන් දස දහස් ගණනින් දෙමළ වර්ගවාදීන් විනාශ් කිරීමට ජීවිත පූජා කොට අවසන් ය. ඔබට ඇත්තේ එතුරුටික වන 13 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථාව ඉවත් කොට, පළාත් සභා සුදු අලියා නැති කොට, රට දියුනු කිරීම සඳහා ඔබේ බල තල යොදා ගැනීමයි. ඔබ කරන්න යන්නේ ඒ ජීවිත පූජාව පාවාදී වැර්දි ආකාරයේ මිනීමරු සටනක් ගැන ගිය ජනවර්ගයාගේ දුකට පමණක් සවන් දී ඔවුන්ට බලතල බෙදන කඬායමකට නායකත්වය දීම යි. අපේ දරුවන් මේ බව දන්නේ නම් සටනට නොයනු ඇත. එසේනම් ඔබ දැනටමත් කොටි ත්‍රස්තයින් ට ගොදුරුවී අවසානය.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ ආණ්ඩුව වැරදි කළ නිසා ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ අපේක්ෂකයා 2015 වසරේදී පරාජයට පත්වූ බවත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ පිරිස් ද ආණ්ඩුව තුළ සිටිමින් එම වැරදි සහ අඩු පාඩු එලෙසම සිදු කරන්නේනම් ජනතාව එය අනුමත නොකරන බවත්  ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙහිදී කියා සිටියේය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

ඔව්. අපිද එයම අවධාරණය කරමු. ඔබේ බලතල යොදා ඔය ඔබට චෝදනා කරණ ඇමති තුමා අස් කරන්න. මේ ආණ් ඩුවේ  හොරුන් ට දඬුවම් කරන්න. එසේම ගිය ආණ්ඩුවේ (ඔබ හොඳින්ම දන්නා)හොරුන්ටද  දඬුවම් කරන්න. කිසිම හොරෙක් හෝ මිනීමරුවෙක් හෝ ආරක්‍ෂා කරන්න එපා, එසේ කිරීමට ඉඩ දෙන්නත් එපා. එසේ වුවත් ඔබේ දේසනා පමණකි. කොමිසම පත්කිරීම හැරුනු විට, වැඩ නම් අපි තවමත් දැක්කේ නැත. අපට මේවා කියා වැඩක් නැත. ජනාධිපති බලතල අතට ගන්න. දැඩි ලෝභය , පක්‍ෂග්‍රාහීත්වය අත් හරින්න. ඔබේ එඩිතරකම් ක්‍රියාවෙන් පෙන්වන්න.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

වෙන්වීම පහසු බවත් එක්වීම අපහසු බවත් පැවසු සිරිසේන මහතා දේශපාලන ළදරුවන් නොවී පරිණත සහ බුද්ධිමත් දේශපාලනඥයින් ලෙස බෙදීම්වලින් තොරව රට වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරියට යාම සියලූදෙනාගේ වගකීම බව ද කීය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

හොරුන් සමග එක්වී රටට වැඩ කල නොහැක.  මහජනයා වශයෙන් අපි එක් වුනෙමු. අපි අපේ  දරුවන් ගෙන්,  අපේ සහෝදර සහෝදරියන් ගෙන්, දෙමවුපියන් ගෙන් සදහටම වෙන් වුනෙමු. ඒ දෙමළ වර්ගවාදීන් විනාශ කිරීමට යි.  දැන් ඔබ ඔබේ සගයින් ගෙන් වෙන් වෙන්න. රට වෙනුවෙන් දූෂණයට, වංචාවට එරෙහිව සටන් කරන්න.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

දේශපාලන බලය හා පුද්ගලික න්‍යාය පත‍්‍රවලට අනුව කටයුතු නොකර රටට හා ජනතාවට ආදරය කරන දේශපාලනඥයින් බවට සියලූදෙනා පත්විය යුතු බව ජනපතිවරයා පැවසීය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

ඔව්. අපි එක හඬින් එක හදින් මෙය අනුමත කරමු. එහෙත් සත් පුරුෂයින් සහ කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍රයින් කියා දෙකොටසක් සිටින බව බුදුරජුන් දෙසා ඇත​. ඔබ් එය අසා නැති බවක් ක්‍රියාවෙන් අපට පෙනේ.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

කවුරුන් කෙසේ කීවද තම වසර 50 ක දේශපාලන ජීවිතය තුළ සැමදා කැපවූයේ පිරිසිදු සහ  යහපත් දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතියක් සඳහා බවත් තමන් පුරුදුවීමට දේශපාලනයට පැමිණි අයකු නොවන බවත් ජනපතිවරයා ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

කරුණාකර මෙය ක්‍රියාවෙන් ඔප්පුකරන්න.බොරු කීම පිරිසිදු  සහ  යහපත් දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතිය  නොවේ.  එය මහා පාපයකි. රත්තරන් අශ්වයින් කෝ ? සුවිශේෂ ගුවන් යනා කෝ ? පවුල් පාලනයට දොස් කියමින් බලයට පත් විගස තම සහෝදරයා ලොකු වැටුපකට ලොකු තනතුරකට පත් කිරීම පිරිසිදු  සහ  යහපත් දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතිය ද ? අපි මේවායින් කලකිරී සිටිමු. බොරු පුරාසාරම් නවතා රට දැන්වත් වැඩක් කොට කල පව් සෝදා ගන්න. සතුටින් මැරෙන්න හැකිවන්නේ එවිටයි.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණය කල් දැමීම පිළිබඳ චෝදනා එල්ල කළ ද ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයට ද අවශ්‍යව ඇත්තේ ඉතා ඉක්මණින් මැතිවරණයකට යාමට බව පැවසූ ජනපතිවරයා ඊට අවශ්‍ය සියලූ කැපවීම් මේවන විට සිදුකර තිබෙන බව  ද කියා සිටියේය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

ඔබේ ඔය කැපවීමෙන් අවසාන ප්‍රතිඵලය කුමක් ද ? මුස්ලිම් ඇමති වරයෙක් පත් කොට ඔහුට වුවමනා හැටියට විල්පත්තුව අසල මෙන්ම ශ්‍රීපාද ප්‍රදේශයේද  චන්ද කොට්ටාශ තීරණය කිරීම ඔහුට බලය දී , එසේම  නීතියට ද විරුද්ධව වැඩ කොට නැති ප්‍රශ්න ඇති කොට තිබියදී ඔබ නිදි බවයි අපට පෙනෙන් නේ. වහාම අවදිවන්න.

ජනාධිපති තුමා

19 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සම්මතකර ගනු ලැබුවේ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ආසන 47ක් පමණක් පවතින අවස්ථාවේදී වන බවත් ශී‍්‍ර ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය ප‍්‍රමුඛ එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ 142 ක් ඒ සඳහා ඡන්දය ලබාදුන් බවත් ඒ මහතා පැවසීය.

සාමාන්‍ය වැසියා

කරුණාකර අවසාන ප්‍රථිපලය දෙස බලන්න​.  මෙසේ දෙපක්‍ෂයක් එකතු කිරීමෙන් සිදුවී ඇත්තේ හොරු තවදුරටත් ආරක්‍ෂා වීමත්, සුලු වර්ග වාදීන්ට තව තවත් අසාධාරණ , අනිසි වාසි වීමත් එමගෛන් රටේ සමෘද්ධිය​, සමගිය , භෞමික අඛණ් ඩතාවයට තර්ජන නැවතත් එල්ලවීම පමණි.

by C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

* Prez. Sirisena desperately woos JO for his political survival
* UNP in frantic moves to expedite elections to hobble Sirisena
* JVP in bid to wash off its sins in voting for new elections laws

November 25, 2017, 7:37 pm

Virtually everything said in this column about the local government elections and the possibility of the yahapalana government postponing them with a Puthukudiirippu-Maritime Pattu style operation by petitioning courts came true last week with the Appeal Court issuing a stay order on the local government delimitation gazette. Every political maneuver that this government makes can be accurately predicted months ahead. Frantic talks are now being held by the SLFP with their estranged colleagues in the Joint Opposition to form an alliance to contest the local government elections. However this can’t happen without some significant political changes. Virtually all SLFP parliamentarians in the Joint Opposition have been sacked from their SLFP electoral organizer positions and others have been appointed in their place. A tie up cannot take place unless President Sirisena re-appoints all the sacked SLFP parliamentarians to their former positions and sacks those whom he appointed to those positions not so long ago.

Furthermore, the speaker will have to recognize the Joint Opposition as a separate group in parliament so that the Opposition Leadership goes to the Joint Opposition. The most important change required will be that the SLFP will have to leave the government before the elections because it will be impossible for members of the Joint Opposition and the SLFP to stand together on the same platform if the latter remains a part of the government. If the SLFP ministers in the government try to participate in a JO rally while still remaining in the government, they will all be hooted off the stage and not one will be allowed to speak. Those that have gathered around the JO is an uncompromisingly anti-government crowd. So even though the SLFP central committee passed a resolution last Thursday to the effect that they will contest together with the JO, many changes will have to be made before that can even be contemplated.

Even though this tie up is still at the discussion stage, yahapalana circles are highly agitated at the mere prospect of such a thing taking place. The banned Lanka e News website reported that several yahapalana officials involved in investigating the corrupt deals of the Rajapaksas had rung them up and said that they are making plans to flee the country and seek political asylum overseas as their lives are now in danger. This columnist has been saying all along that President Sirisena’s objective was to destroy the hierarchy of the UNP and to ensure that when the next Presidential election comes around, that the UNP voters have no option but to support him for another term. A part of that has been achieved because the image of the UNP has been seriously damaged by the bond commission and they are in no position to face a presidential election.

However, if the expectation was that the UNP would begin to disintegrate when the Prime Minister was called before the Bond Commission that did not take place. When Ranil Wickremesinghe went to the Commission, he was accompanied by dozens of UNP ministers to make a public show of standing by him and the UNP backbenchers expressed their solidarity with their leader by lashing out at President Sirisena and the SLFP. The Sirisena camp’s grand strategy had misfired, the UNP was still in once piece and no one in the UNP seems prepared to abandon Wickremesinghe and the UNP and to join Sirisena’s SLFP. This columnist has been saying all along that the way the UNP can finish Sirisena off before he finishes the UNP off was by having the local government or PC elections. The UNP seems to have realized this. Last week, UNP backbencher Mujibur Rahaman was suggesting that if there are complications in the gazette notification relating to the new system of elections, they can with a simple majority in parliament reintroduce the provisions of the former system of proportional representation and go ahead with the election – a suggestion which certainly has merit and can be resorted to if all attempts to expedite the elections under the new system fail.

In the meantime, the UNP has joined the Joint Opposition and the JVP in doing everything possible to expedite the holding of elections. At the party leaders meeting held on Friday, the Attorney General had agreed to file a motion in the Court of Appeal calling for the early hearing of the petition filed before the Court of Appeal against the gazette related to local government polls. So there is the possibility that the CA may take up the matter as early as Thursday next week. The Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya had also attended the meeting and had said that elections could be held to 133 local government bodies which had not been affected by the gazette. Thus the noose is tightening around President Sirisena. It is in this context that rumors began flying around Colombo that Gota was to be arrested. One story said that it was the UNP faction in the government that was trying to get Gota arrested in order to make a tie up between the SLFP and the JO an impossibility and that therefore President Sirisena had blocked it.

Corruption involving a burial ground

In the meantime UNP sources have been saying that it is not they but Sirisena himself who is trying to have Gota arrested and prosecuted so that he will be eliminated as a possible contender at the next presidential elections. The only thing that everyone seems to agree on is that he is to be arrested over the allegation that government money was misappropriated in building the D.A.Rajapaksa memorial in Medamulana. However, arresting Gota over the Medamulana memorial is going to be a bad mistake. The facts of that case are not known to the wider public at the moment. Only the readers of The Island and the Divaina would have some understanding of that case because this writer wrote about it to both newspapers. However those articles were written at a time when there was no national focus on this particular case.

Now however if Gota is arrested over the Medamulana memorial, every newspaper, TV Station and Website in the country will start looking for details of this case and what they will find will not confer any advantage on the government. In fact the government is going to end up with egg on their faces on this matter. When this government first came into power, they spoke of massive corruption running into billions of US dollars in kickbacks. But now when the Rajapaksas are being arrested, it will be over insignificant matters that hardly merits mention and which government in its right senses would ever have tried to characterize as corruption. If the government is expecting to discredit Gota by arresting him over the Medamulana memorial, the final result will most probably be the opposite of what they expect.

If as has been reported in news websites such as Colombo Telegraph the AG is showing diffidence in arresting Gota over the Medamulana memorial matter, that is because this will be a political witch hunt and not a genuine case of misappropriation of state funds. The issue in a nutshell is as follows. In early 2014, the D.A. Rajapaksa Foundation, a public body created by statute wanted to build a proper memorial at the spot where D.A. Rajapaksa was interred. It was by the Board of Directors of a body that was under Gota, the Sri Lanka Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (SLLRDC) which undertook the construction of the memorial in the basis that the cost would be reimbursed to them by the Foundation. The SLLRDC board minutes specifically states that funds for this project will be received from various sources, and that the collection of the same would be done by a committee.

It is not clear whether this committee referred to was to be a body of the SLLRDC or of the D.A.Rajapaksa Foundation or of both. Be that it may, it was the responsibility of the D.A.Rajapaksa Foundation to reimburse the money to the SLLRDC. The construction was to be done by the Navy and it was the latter who had given an estimate of Rs. 33.9 million for the entire memorial. The memorial had in due course been completed, and on 21 August 2015, the General Manager of the SLLRDC had informed the Rajapaksa Foundation that they were in the process of preparing the final bill which will be sent to them shortly, and asking for an advance payment of Rs. 25 million. This money was duly paid by the Rajapaksa Foundation. However when the final bill arrived, the Rajapaksa Foundation was in for a shock. The SLLRDC had sent a final bill for Rs. 81 million. There had been no revision of the original estimate and no change to the design of the memorial had been made and the Rajapaksa Foundation had said that this could not have cost that much.

Then the SLLRDC sent a letter of demand through a law firm to the D. A. Rajapaksa Foundation asking for the remaining Rs. 56 million. A valuation of the memorial was carried out by the Chief Government Valuer in January 2017 and it has been valued at the originally estimated cost  – Rs. 33.9 million. The Rajapaksa Foundation had since paid a further Rs.9 million thus meeting the full cost of the project as originally estimated.

We learn that the final bill had ballooned to an estimate of Rs. 81 million is because the construction of the D. A. Rajapaksa memorial had been lumped together with some other minor projects being carried out by the SLLRDC in that area including the building of a police station and referred to collectively the ‘Weeraketiya Project’. The costs of the other projects too had been included under the D. A. Rajapaksa memorial project and charged to the Foundation. So there is no reason why the D.A.Rajapaksa Foundation should pay the extra charge. There is no way that the original estimate could have ballooned to over twice the original cost within the short time it took to build the memorial. This is the issue over which Gota is to be arrested. If the SLLRDC feels they have not been paid their dues and they have sent a letter of demand, that should be pursued as a civil suit. But then again, if the original cost was estimated at Rs. 33.9 million and the government valuer has estimated it to cost that much and nothing more, is there even a case for a civil suit, if that money has already been reimbursed?

The reason why this government is failing on all fronts is because they spend so much of their time and effort pursuing such inanities. Prof. G.L.Peiris the Chairman of the SLPP and himself a former Professor of law told the Sunday Island that this government since it came into power has arrested over a dozen MPs as well as several other senior officials on flimsy grounds for no other reason than to keep them in jail and to convey the impression to the public that they may have done something wrong. Most ordinary people are unaware that the courts are bound to remand a person charged under certain laws. It is the police that files charges and it is possible for the political authorities using the police, to get their political opponents remanded by misleading the courts. A recent example of this was the remanding of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s former chief of staff Gamini Senarath. After having spent two weeks in jail, the Magistrate’s court granted him bail on the grounds that the offence he is supposed to have committed did not involve state funds.

Prof. Peiris said that the Joint Opposition will in due course initiate action against the individual police officers responsible for filing charges against the political opponents of the government. He stated that the police will be subject to a delictual liability for their actions. A delict, is defined as a violation of public or private duty which includes wrongful acts which, while directly affecting some individual, also have public consequences. He points out that The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights confers on any person who has been the victim of unlawful arrest or detention, an enforceable right to compensation and that the common law remedy of a delictual action for damages for false impri­sonment and malicious arrest is available to a victim of unlawful arrest or detention.

When Basil was arrested in 2015

One of the cases that will clearly qualify as an instance of wrongful arrest and detention was that of Basil Rajapaksa when was arrested and kept in remand for three months in 2015. That was on the charge that in October 2014, Rs. 2,500 had been released to each Divineguma recipient to make improvements to their houses under the Isurumath Niwahanak programme and that the money had been advanced to the Divineguma Department from the Divineguma Prajamula Bank until it was reimbursed by the Treasury. The FCID had submitted to courts that according to article 44 (b) of the Divineguma Act, the money in the Divineguma Prajamula Banks was state property and therefore came under Article 5(1) of the Offences Against Public Property Act No: 12 of 1982.

However, Article 44 of the Divineguma Act did not declare that the Divineguma Prajamula Banks was state property. What Article 44 of the Divineguma Act sought to do was to repeal the The Samurdhi Development Authority Act  No.30 of 1995, the Southern Development Authority Act No.18 of 1996 and the Udarata Development Authority Act No.26 of 2005. Upon the repeal of these Acts, “all property movable and immovable, belonging to the Samurdhi Development Authority, Southern Development Authority and Udarata Development Authority were deemed to be the property of the Government.” Article 44(b) of the Divineguma Act refers only to the ‘movable and immovable property’ of the Samurdhi Authority and other bodies that had been abolished and not to the deposits of members in the Samurdhi Banks which had been seamlessly converted into Divineguma Prajamula Banks with the passage of the Divineguma Act.

The provision that applies to the Divineguma Prajamula Banks is not article 44(b) as stated by the FCID to courts but Articles 44(g) and 45. By Article 44(g) of the Divineguma Act, all Samurdhi Banking Societies and Samurdhi Banking Federations that were in operation were deemed to have become Divineguma Prajamula Banks and Divineguma Prajamula Banking Societies respectively. Article 45 of the Divineguma Act stipulated that the trusts and funds established by the Samurdhi Development Authority shall be managed by the Divineguma Department without any change in the beneficiaries and the objectives and the purposes for which such funds were established. Hence the funds in the Divineguma Prajamula Banks do not belong to the State but to the Divineguma beneficiaries and the money disbursed to the Divineguma recipients to make improvements to their houses was their own money and not money belonging to the state.

Furthermore, according to Article 28(d) of the Divineguma Act, one of the functions of the Divineguma Prajamula Banks was to ensure ‘the welfare of the depositors and members of their families’ and providing a grant to make improvements to the houses of Divineguma beneficiaries was well within the scope of the Prajamula Banks. Furthermore the Rs. 2,500 advance had been paid only to 1.1 million Divineguma beneficiaries and not to the general public. Basil Rajapaksa was arrested at a time when the yahapalana government was still new and the JO was not organized in its present form. So the details of his case were not made public the way they should have been. Now however the situation is different. If any of the Rajapaksas are arrested, the details of the case will be released to the media along with the relevant documentation. In fact On Friday last week, The Maubima Surekeeme Jathika Sanvidhanaya led by Ven. Muruttetuuwe Ananda held a press conference and explained at least in part what the Medamulana issue was all about. If Gota is indeed arrested there will be many more people explaining in greater detail what this was all about.

Politically speaking, arresting a Rajapaksa on the eve of the local government elections will be what the Joint Opposition needs to add that extra element of energy or elemental energy (whichever way one likes to put it) to the election. If the expectation of the government is that such an arrest will discourage the JO, the effect it will actually have will be exactly the opposite. The bid to have elections held has gathered strength from the fact that the JVP has also joined in the campaign. They will in fact be very eager to prove their bona fides before the public by shouting louder than the others, because they too are responsible for the postponement of elections by going along with the government to change the electoral system for reasons of their own survival. Now because of the ignominy of having collaborated with the government, they are at risk of losing what they tried to preserve through that very collaboration and they will have to take a leadership role in the campaign to win elections if they are to retain at least their existing vote base.

Despite JVP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake roaring in Parliament that they are willing to join with anybody to win elections and invited the JO to join them in the struggle, JO leader Dinesh Gunawardena was quick to point out that it was the JVP for their own selfish reasons who provided this government with the two thirds majority needed to pass the law that effectively postponed the PC elections. If not for what the JVP did, we would by now have been in the middle of the elections to the Sabaragamuwa, North Central and Eastern elections. As we go to press the news is just in that the Elections Commission has decided to call for nominations to 93 LG institutions which are not affected by the disputed gazette. Thus the fat is now in the fire.

පුවත්පත් නිවේදනය විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සංවිධානය

ඡන්දය කල් දමා ගැනීමේ දේශපාලන අරමුණ ඇති පෙත්සම්කරුවන් හරහා අධිකරණය මගින් ඡන්දය කල් දමා ගැනීමේ ගිලටීනයට හසුව නැති පළාත් පාලන ආයතන 93 ක ඡන්දය විමසීම සදහා මැතිවරණ කොමිසම කටයුතු කළ යුතු බව කැෆේ සංවිධානය නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් පවසයි.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නිකුත් කළ ගැසට් නිවේදනය පාදක කොට ගෙන පළාත් පාලන ආයතන 93 ක ඡන්ද විමසීම පැවැත්විය හැකිය.  ඒ සදහා ඡන්ද විමසීම නිවේදනය කිරීමේ ගැසට් පත්‍ර‍ය ප්‍ර‍කාශයට පත් කිරීමට මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාවට බාධාවක් නැත.   ඡන්ද සිතියම අකුලා දැමීමේ කුමන්ත්‍ර‍ණය පරාජය කළ හැක්කේ මෙම ආයතනයන් සදහා නාම යෝජනා කැදවීම මගිනි.

එකම දිනකට ඡන්ද පැවැත්වීමේ මිත්‍යාව

සමානුපාතික ක්‍ර‍මය යටතේ ලංකාවේ පළාත් පාලන ඡන්ද  විමසීම් කිසිදු අවස්ථාවක ඉතිහාසයේ එකම දිනක පවත්වා නැත.  1991 මැයි 11 ඡන්දය පැවතියේ පළාත් පාලන ආයතන 237 කට පමණී.  මඩකලපුව,අම්පාර, ත්‍රිකුණාමලය දිස්ත්‍රික්ක හා වව්නියා නගර සභා මැතිවරණය පැවතියේ 1994 ජනවාරි 13 දිනයි.

1997 චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග රජය යටතේ ද ලංකාවේ එකම අවස්ථාවක  ඡන්දය පැවැත්වූයේ නැත.  යාපනය හා පච්චිලපලෛයි ඡන්දය පැවතියේ 1998 දී ය.  2002 පෙබරවාරි හා මැයි වට දෙකකින් එදා තුන්වන පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ වටය පැවැත්විණි.   2006 පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දය 2006 මාර්තු හා මැයි වට දෙකකින් පැවුත්වුණි.  2011 මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජය විසින් පෙබරවාරි, ජූලි සහ ඔක්තෝබර් ලෙස වට තුනකින් ඡන්ද විමසීම පවත්වා ඇත.

ශ්‍රීලනිපයේ ආධාරකරුවන් විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කළ අමාත්‍ය ෆයිසර් මුස්තාෆා මහතා ගේ අනුදැනුම සහිතව සිදු කළ බවට විශ්වාස කරන පෙත්සම මගින් පලාත් පාලන ආයතන 203 ක ඡන්දය පැවැත්වීම අභියාචනාධිකරණය මගින් මේ වන විට තහනමට ලක් කොට ඇත.  නමුත්, නඩු නිමිත්ත බවට පත් වූ බහු ආසන ඇත්තේ එයින් 64 ක පමණී.

දෙහිවල ගල්කිස්ස, කැස්බෑව, කෝට්ටේ, මහරගම, හෝමාගම, පෑලියගොඩ, වත්තල මාබෝල, මිනුවන්ගොඩ, ජා ඇල හා බියගම ඇතුළු පලාත් පාලන ආයතන 93 ක ට මැතිවරණ කොමිෂන් සභාව විසින් ඡන්ද විමසීම සදහා නියෝග නිකුත් කිරීමේ නෛතික බාධාවක් මේ වන විට නොමැත.

කීර්ති තෙන්කෝන්

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සංවිධානය

2017 නොවැම්බර් 25

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

My motherland – whatever label you may wish to ascribe to it – Heladiva, Helabima, Sinhalay or Sri Lanka, has existed from ancient times, as a single political entity or an island nation, within the same natural oceanic borders. The boundaries of all ancient countries have undergone changes at different times in the past. In this respect, Sri Lanka may be considered as the oldest country in the world within the same national or political boundaries. Sri Lanka has existed within the same distinct island borders as an independent sovereign nation from as far back as the 6^th century BCE or more than 2500 years. Ours is among very few countries in the world with an unbroken written history that goes back to more than 2500 years. This written history matches perfectly with foreign records and archaeological findings.

The Sinhala Buddhist culture is the national culture of Sri Lanka. It is one of the World’s oldest, continuous, unchanged cultures in existence and a culture that is unique to Sri Lanka. The island’s Buddhist culture has achieved an individuality and identity that distinguishes it from its neighbors. It is important to note that whatever cultural traits brought from India have undergone significant changes and independent growth, largely influenced by Buddhism which was formally introduced to the country in the 3rd century BCE. Then and now, what our motherland clearly projects are its Sinhala Buddhist imprint.

The strength of this cultural foundation was tested several times in the past, during periods of foreign invasion, devastation, and exploitation. But the nation stayed intact, withstanding threats, perils, and calamities, largely owing to the power and potency of its Sinhala Buddhist cultural foundation. It is the inspiration of this strong Buddhist foundation that is reflected in the lives of the people.

NATIONAL CULTURAL HERITAGE

The unique Sinhala Buddhist identity of our country began to take shape starting in the 3rd century BCE. This was reinforced with the development and widespread use of the proto-Sinhala language based on the Prakritic language used popularly in the numerous ancient lithic inscriptions found across our country. Starting in the 3rd century BCE, for as many as 15 centuries or for over 1500 years, Sinhala Buddhists almost exclusively inhabited our island. This period witnessed the development of a vast civilization based on a hydraulic agrarian system and a rich culture and a system of administration and governance, based on Buddhist norms and principles. This period saw the rise to power of many outstanding Sinhala Buddhist kings who ruled the country from the Capitol City Anuradhapura for some 1200 years and subsequently from the capitol Polonnaruwa for some 300 years until about the 13th century.  This 1500-year period in the country’s history can be considered, indisputably, as its golden age. During this period, there were violent invasions of our country by South Indian Tamil-speaking Dravidian mercenaries. Although some of these South Indians were able to dislodge the seat of Sinhala power for limited periods of time, they were eventually ousted, and the country was unified under the rule of Sinhala Buddhist monarchy. During their invasions and rule, the country was plundered of its wealth and much destruction was caused to priceless monuments of the country. The 700-year-old Sinhala Royal palace in the citadel of Anuradhapura was burnt down. Relic chambers of stupas were broke open and valuables including gold images enshrines in them were taken away. Often after plundering the treasures, they destroyed these historic structures for good. Perhaps the saddest of all was the destruction of Thuparamaya, the oldest monument in South Asia. This exquisite Buddhist monument housed the Buddha’s right-collar bone and the Alms-bowl. The Relic chamber of Thuparamaya was broke open to pay South Indian Tamil mercenaries. The crowning ornament on Thuparama was robbed and the great canopy over Thuparama, that protected it from bad weather, was smashed to get the priceless gems and golden decorations fixed on it.

In mid 10the century the Chola invaders looted Anuradhapura extensively. The huge domes- roofs decorated in gold and silver, and embedded with gems, built to cover the large Dagaba’s and to protect them from bad weather, were destroyed again. That Included the golden umbrellas over Mirisavetiya Dagaba, and Thuparamaya. The main library in the citadel, housing the sacred books, was maliciously burnt. Jethavanaramaya, the gigantic monument recorded in history as the third tallest structure of the world, was destroyed. Temple of the Tooth Relic in the citadel was destroyed. Golden doors were ripped off from buildings. The pride of the nation, skyscraper LovaMahapaya was maliciously destroyed completely. This was the 6th time it was destroyed by the Dravidian plunderers. This was the end of the city of Anuradhapura.

BUDDHISM

The Buddhist tradition in Sri Lanka is one of the oldest there is. The Sinhala people have been practicing Buddhism continuously, far longer than anyone else in the world. Buddhism has been and continues to be the basis or foundation of the country’s culture. for over 2300 years. All deeper aspects of the country’s culture are reflective of Buddhist ideology, principles, ethics, virtues, values, morality, traditions, customs, thoughts, temperament, attitudes, and way of life. Whatever new elements that have been absorbed into the culture at different times, were subject to appropriate modifications, adjustments, and adaptations to make them compatible with Buddhist principles and values. Buddhist principles were intertwined in these new additions although there may be exceptions which often are those elements which are in the process of being adapted to fit into the cultural norms of the country.

Buddhism is not a religion with a dogmatic canon. Buddhism functions not through crusades, but through tolerance, openness, and the persuasive power of its philosophical foundation. Tolerance and the enormous adaptability of Buddhism are qualities that have remained unchanged throughout its remarkable history.  Buddhism upholds everything worthy and meaningful. It promotes peace, peaceful coexistence, and democratic principles in governance. It promotes human rights, development of individual and community virtues and discipline in accordance with the pancha seela”. Non-violence and compassion towards all living beings has been the cornerstone of the national culture of Sri Lanka from early times. Peaceful cohabitation was promoted by Sinhala Buddhist kings from early times. Respect for the natural environment and sustainable and participatory development of resources and upheld in Buddhism. In addition, Buddhism strongly promotes tolerance of other faiths, religious and social harmony, and cordial relations with other nations

OLDEST BUDDHIST COUNTRY

Ours is the oldest Buddhist country in the world with Buddhism arriving in the island and establishing itself far and wide since 237 BCE, or about 2247 years ago. Buddhists across the world respect Sri Lanka as the country where pure Buddhism or Buddhist teachings in its original form prevails – the Theravada tradition. The significance of this should be seen in the light of the following background. Sri Lanka accounts for about a mere 1% of the estimated 1472 million total Buddhists population in the world. There are about 25 countries in the world with Buddhist populations. Of them, 17 accounts for a substantial number of Buddhists which qualifies them to be referred to as Buddhist countries. The 150 million Theravada Buddhists of the world are found
basically in six countries and Sri Lankan Buddhists account for about 10% of the total Theravada Buddhist population across the world. It is also noteworthy that the traditional Sri Lanka Buddhist flag has become the global Buddhist flag.

Despite invasions, threats, challenges, Buddhist culture did not disappear from our island, unlike in the case with several other countries. Today, over 70% of the total population of Sri Lanka is Buddhists. The simple and uncomplicated lifestyle promoted by our culture, is based on the five precepts of Buddhism. Their mind-set, temperament and attitude towards life are clearly reflective of Buddhist norms and values such as compassion, non-violence, tolerance, morality, and peaceful coexistence with other living beings and with nature.

BUDDHIST SITES, MONUMENTS, AND INSTITUTIONS

The outstanding imaginative and creative powers of the Sinhala people, their talents, skills, and foresight are well evident in what remains as marvels architecture, sculpture, art, literature, and other forms of visual culture, in irrigation technology displayed magnificently across the country as living evidence of an outstanding cultural heritage. The world recognition of the greatness of this unique Sinhala Buddhist culture is reflected by the UNESCO designating our ancient royal sites as World Heritage Sites – Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Mahanuwara (Kandy), Sigiriya and Dambulla, all built upon and strongly reflecting inspiration drawn from Buddhism. It is a fact that, if there is anything unequivocally worthwhile that our country can offer to the world today, it is the Buddha three visits of the Buddha at three different times in the past. During these times the Buddha set foot on 16 different places within our country which are still venerated as sacred sites. Dhamma and its outstanding culture and attitude towards life and its natural habitat.

Ours is the only country in the world that had the privilege of having some of the most venerated relics of the Buddha are found in Sri Lanka, including the Tooth relic, the right collar-bone and the Alms Bowl. Sri Lanka and Thailand are the countries with the largest collection of relics of the Buddha.

Oldest Institution in the world is Sri Lanka’s Sangha Sasana, which is still active and operational in our country.

The oldest recorded tree in the world – the Sri Maha Bodhi, is found in Sri Lanka.

Oldest Buddhist monuments, dagabos, architecture, sculpture, paintings, literature, poetry are found in our country

There is ample evidence that our ancient builders and planners were quite familiar with the principles of building construction or structural engineering. Some of their structures have lasted for over 1600 years

The Lovamahapaya is the world’s oldest skyscraper which is 145 feet high with 9 stories and 1000 rooms. The largest brick structures of the world are the ancient Buddhist dagabos of Sri Lanka such as the Jetavanaramaya, Abayagiriya, Ruvanweliseya, and Tissamaharamaya.  The Jetavanarama Stupa is about 400 feet high and is the largest brick structure in the world.

The oldest religious building/structure in Sri Lanka is the Thuparamaya stupa built by King Devanampiyatissa (307-267 BCE).

CULTURAL HERITAGE

Cultural heritage encompasses material culture, in the form of objects, structures, sites, as well as living (or expressive) culture as evidenced in forms such as music, crafts, performing arts, literature, oral tradition and language. Sculpture, architecture, paintings, and other forms of fine arts were used profusely in Sri Lanka from very early times to express Buddhist ideas and sentiment. The exceptionally rich heritage of visual arts of the Sinhala people of Sri Lanka extends to a period that exceeds 2300 years, from the 3^rd century BCE to the 21st CE.  A spectacular collection of ancient sculpture, architecture and paintings adorns the island’s culture. They are conspicuous elements of the island’s Buddhist culture even today.

Culture is organic and evolving. There is however, cultural continuity from the past, through the present and into the future. Some cultural elements are preserved in an original or earlier state, whereas other cultural materials, elements and forms may have observed dynamic change, adaptation, and development with time and with exposure to other cultures, circumstances, and environments. The outcome of this dynamic change is often something unique but not necessarily completely new. However, it is peculiar to the culture concerned. It is an outcome which reflects a combination of elements of several cultures blended together but in keeping and compatible with the fundamentals of the long preserved cultural and social values of the culture. This outcome reflects a unique identity that is special to the culture. The evolution of the Buddha statue, the stupas of Sri Lanka, Buddhist paintings and the Sinhala language, are good examples.

SINHALA LANGUAGE

All salient aspects of our national culture – tangible and intangible, either grew or evolved within the borders of our country. Sinhala language and literature originated in Sri Lanka. Sinhala language in fact is the most important defining element of our nation’s culture and heritage, from historic times. The Sinhala language grew out of Indo-Aryan dialects and exists only in Sri Lanka and has its own distinguished literary tradition. Sinhala is one of the world’s oldest living languages.  There have been a wide range of languages in the world, particularly in Asia which lived and died without leaving evidence of their existence, because they were never written down. This is not the case with the Sinhala language. All other languages used in Sri Lanka originated in other countries.  It is significant to note that the overwhelming majority of people of Sri Lanka are distinguished by their language – Sinhala, which even today has a strong unifying effect in our motherland helping to reinforce the solidarity of our people as a unique cultural entity in the world. Almost all place names of the country from historic times, are in the Sinhala language – in the North, South, East, West and Central regions.

Indigenous national sovereignty of a country is an inalienable right based on profound justice. Sovereign national rights of Sri Lanka rests with the Sinhala people who are indigenous to this country, forming its dominant majority community for over 2500 years. Sri Lanka is the only national sovereign motherland of the Sinhala people. Their culture, way of life and their Sinhala language originated and developed in Sri Lanka.

Tamils, Muslims, and Malays are non-indigenous minority communities of Sri Lanka who settled in the island at different times in the past, coming from their own motherlands. The Tamils came from their motherland, the Tamilnadu where their culture and language originated. The Tamil nation of Tamilnadu is seven times bigger than Sri Lanka, where one must be a pure Tamil to hold any high official position. Wherever they live, the Tamils have their national heritage and aspirations protected within their nation – the Tamilnadu.  Any initiative that would dilute or threaten the national sovereignty of the Sinhala people is not only unjust but also illegal, and will not be acceptable to the Sinhala community.

Within any sovereign national country many non-indigenous minorities have settled down, but they do merge with the host nation into a single file. It is only by upholding the right of national sovereignty throughout the land that it will function without being violated. The granting of excessive rights to minorities in the form of alien-national rights of language, cultures and religions and exclusive ethnic areas will threaten a country’s sovereignty.

Hence, strict controls of immigration to a country are paramount in protecting its national sovereignty and territorial integrity – a basic human right of a nation of people ONLY in their indigenous national motherland.  Finally, high political positions in Sri Lanka including national leadership must be kept within the genuine Sri Lankan Hela nationals. It is noteworthy that for a high position in the Tamil Federal State of Tamil Nadu, first qualification is one must be a full-blooded Tamil.

Those settling down or have already settled down in host countries have a bounden duty to merge with the host nation into a single coherent nation of members.  It is basically, a state of mindset, not necessarily physical interaction. Within these host countries, human rights and civic rights of the host nation are what the settler minorities are entitled to and not the alien-national rights of the countries of their national origins they left behind for pastures anew. Their alien-national rights will shift to the private domain when in host countries and not to threaten the national sovereignty of the host countries either.

Sri Lanka wants all non-indigenous minorities of our nation such as the Tamils, Muslims, Moors and others of whatever label, to be a part of our Nation, to join the country’s mainstream, just the way how minority communities are expected to do in all countries of the world, especially in places like Canada, Australia, USA, UK, Norway and help to strengthen our nation founded on the noble principles of non-violence, tolerance, compassion, where peaceful co-habitation has been the cornerstone from historic times. Forgiving and forgetting” has been the attitude of our people, even to those who have harmed us repeatedly from historic times, because our people know that eventually justice and truth will prevail.

.Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Rajan Philips

The reactions to the Prime Ministers testimony and answers last week at the Commission of Inquiry have been as mixed as the varying opinions about the man himself and his politics. “Ranil resolute before Bond Commission” exulted one admiring headline in a financial daily. Being resolute means: admirably purposeful; determined; unwavering. The senior Ministers of his Party were all at the Commission to show solidarity. The Commission put the PM in his place as a witness but with all due dignity to the person and his position. His detractors outside were not impressed, though. They thought the PM got favoured treatment. The full serial fans missed out on the drama of the cross-examination of a prime witness. His inveterate critics took seemingly gender turns to throw left and right punches. From the left, they said they saw the PM’s Yankee hoofs when he fawningly talked about a US Treasury expert flying in to help Sri Lanka book keep its debts and bandy its bonds. From the right, they audited what they claimed were the PM’s half-answers and inconsistencies. In this never ending battle, the UNP seems to be having the last word – for now – through posters insisting about the fearlessness of their Prime Minister.

The bond scam is not so much about fearlessness as it is about foolishness. As for crimes that may or may not have been committed, it is for the courts to determine once the findings of the Commission of Inquiry are released. But there are questions arising from the answers the Prime Minister gave before the Commission, which may not rise to the threshold of criminality but which are not conducive to the goals and objectives of good governance. The questions start with the very process of hiring Arjuna Mahendran as the new Governor in January 2015, almost as soon as the new cabinet was sworn in by the newly elected President Maithripala Sirisena.

The nationality, rather the citizenship, of Mr. Mahendran has become a convenient distraction to what should be the obvious question: why was not a competitive selection process undertaken if the cabinet of ministers wanted an outsider to head the Central Bank. It would have been a different matter if an insider was selected in keeping with tradition and based on seniority. The name of Mark Carney, the Canadian Governor of the Bank of England, is often mentioned as an example of a foreign national heading a national central bank. What is conveniently left out is the fact that Mr. Carney was selected through an international competition, and he was easily the best candidate in the world to head perhaps the world’s oldest central bank. He had to be simply that good to pass muster in a highly skeptical British Parliament. As it turned out, he has proved himself to be even better by his professional excellence and independence both before and after Brexit.

No comparison

There is no comparison between the selection of Mark Carney in England and that of Arjuna Mahendran in Colombo. Nor is there any comparison between the way Mark Carney handled himself both before and after a momentous event like Brexit, and the way Arjuna Mahendran handled a rather routine matter like issuing bonds. Mr. Carney expressed his professional opinion fearlessly before and after Brexit. He did not become a mouthpiece or his master’s servant to his Finance Minister or the Prime Minister. In contrast, Mr. Mahendran’s first line of defence – when questioned about changing course from the private placement of bonds to public auctioning, was that he was acting on the instructions of the Prime Minister. This was getting it backwards.

It is the duty of professionals to make technical recommendations to elected officials, not the other way around. Soon after the bond fiasco, there were dozens of articles written by technical experts on the pros and cons of the two methods of bond issuance and the circumstances when one method could be more appropriate than the other. An experienced banker should be able to make that judgement call and does not have to wait for internal studies to know what decision to make. Equally, the same banker should be able defend that decision and explain it persuasively. Unfortunately, no such explanation was forthcoming at the inquiry.

It was somewhat puzzling to note the application of the term ‘due process’ to institutional decision making. At one point during the inquiry, Mr. Mahendran said he had never heard it before and rightly so. Due process is a rule of law term – indicating the requisite balance in applying the law and protecting the rights of individual citizens. As human rights activists in the late 1970s, in the good company of Paul Caspersz, Suriya Wickremasinghe, UpaliCooray and others, we used to complain about ‘due process violation’ in instances of arbitrary arrest and detention of people. Institutional procedures for decision making are a different matter. Whether these decisions are right or wrong, they are not by themselves criminal. And is what is right and what is wrong depends on the benefits and costs as outcomes. A very costly wrong decision might necessarily lead to being fired from the job, but not necessarily to a jail term. In the matter of issuing bonds in February 2015 and March 2016, plenty of other factors were at play in addition to or even overriding technical considerations. That is something for the Commission to determine. Be that as it may.

It would seem that Mr. Mahendran’s difficulties partly arose from the manner of his appointment, as well as his divided reporting structure to the Minister of Finance who was responsible for the Monetary Board, on the hand, and the Prime Minister, who had brought the Central Bank under his wing, on the other. We do not know if the appointment of Mr. Mahendran as Governor and the relocation of the Central Bank under the Prime Minister were connected or not. It would be interesting to see if these matters would be addressed by the Commissioners in their report. But as I wrote last week, the government doesn’t have to wait for the Commission’s report to start undoing some of its unnecessary misdoings. First on the list should be to send the Central Bank back to Finance.

Hidden accounts, hidden understandings

One matter that the Prime Minister alluded to before the Commission and was conveniently overlooked by his detractors was his reference to the practice that apparently started under the previous government – the practice of having two accounts for project expenditures. One was included in the government’s budgetary allocations and the other was not. The apparent reason was to circumvent the agreement with the IMF to keep project investments under a certain limit. Most of the projects under the hidden account were highway projects. The present government’s claim has been that a large scale bond auction was necessary to make good on payments due to contractors carrying out projects under the hidden account. But what is inexplicable is that why the government has not been able to make a clear statement on the state of the finances it inherited from its predecessor – including both the budgeted and the hidden accounts and outlining the path that the government has been taking for the last two years.

All that the public is being told comes in dribs and drabs and the absence of a comprehensive statement can only lead to all manner of speculations. Is it because both finance and highways portfolios were under the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the UNP leadership is sparing Mr. Rajapaksa from the embarrassment of public disclosure of financial mismanagement, if not potential corruption? Is it because the government does not want to make too much noise about past projects as that would scupper its own plans to keep undertaking questionable new mega projects, like the Central Expressway? Or, is it simply because the government is not overly keen about putting government business in any reasonable order?

The Prime Minister’s sweeping assurance that parliament is going to wrest control over the Central Bank and public finances is neither here nor there. Parliament is already in control of everything that it needs to be in control of under the constitution. What has gone out of control is the ability of parliamentarians, government and the cabinet of ministers to exercise that control diligently and systematically. Restoration of that control was what was promised in the elections of 2015. What we have got instead is a full blown bond scandal right in the Central Bank and a Commission of Inquiry to decipher the wrongdoings.

More speculations

The Commission has now retired from public view to write its report. But there is no retiring of political speculations in the public domain. And the speculations are as divided as the opinions about the Prime Minister. At one extreme, the question is whether the Prime Minister can politically survive the bond scam. That leads to a range of scenarios involving the survival of the government. Political infighting is all over the place. A government minister has lashed out at the President for launching the inquiry into the bond scam, and has suggested that the President is out to destroy not only the UNP leadership but also the Rajapaksas to enable a presidential rerun in 2020. The official SLFP lost no time in rushing to defend their President.

And the President is not pulling punches either. Addressing a meeting in Nikaweratiya on Friday, President Sirisena warned that if MPs were to criticise him for exposing corruption, he is prepared to reach out to the people and involve them directly in the fight against corruption. He has reminded the UNP that the passage of the 19th Amendment, the government’s only achievement in two years, would not have been possible if he had not corralled 142 SLFP MPs into supporting 19A. The UNP had only 47 MPs at that time. Good for the President to show signs of some latent maverick flair.

The JO groupings are palpably divided in their likes and dislikes of the President and the Prime Minister. The non-SLFP elements are hard on the PM and soft on the President. Vasudeva Nanayakara has his own line – fixated on neither man but the woman who is now a former President. He will not give up picking on old motes even as he sits among crossbeams of corruption. On the other hand, President Sirisena is anathema to the Rajapaksas and their fledgling SLPP. Personal feelings are mutually and implacably hostile as neither Maithripala Sirisena nor Mahinda Rajapakasa would countenance the futile efforts of SLFP kapuwas to rejoin the two. Feelings continue to be mutually cordial, however, between bond-smacked UNPers and the down-but-not-out Rajapaksas.

The TNA and the JVP are the only two parties that have their identities and integrities intact, and their boundaries unviolated. The JVP is selective in its alliances while the TNA is hoping for at least a one-off grand alliance of all the parties in parliament to give the new constitutional proposals a lot more consensus than the minimum requirement of a two-thirds majority. The 19th Amendment had only one vote cast against it. But that was ages ago on the political timescale.

The latest and the looming battleground is over Local Government elections. And the courts are again dragged into the maelstrom of Sri Lankan politics, to recall one of AJ Wilson’s many criticisms of the 1978 Constitution. Political circles are reportedly confused over the interim order of the Court of Appeal against a gazette notification, issued in February 2017, even though the courts could justifiably think and perhaps come out and say that it is the parliament and the political leaders who are confusing everybody including the Courts.

Ada Derana

by : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Faizer Mustapha is a blend of arrogance, bluffing, misleading, deception and cheating.  There has never been a parliamentarian possessing all these negative characteristics in Sri Lanka or may be anywhere in the world and I presume that this man, the son of a popular legal luminary of this country and a successful former Ambassador was compelled to display these negative qualities on the behest of Sirisena as a result of Sirisena’s extensive election phobia. It was obvious that he was playing the game of Sirisena’s election phobia as he has been severely slated by parliamentarians and politicians of every hue except Sirisena’s lap dogs and the Tamil politicians of the tamed opposition..

The island editorial writing on this subject on 22^nd November said that at the rate elections are being postponed on some pretext or the other people might forget how to vote and the much treasured ballot box might be a museum piece. It said that there is the danger of people’s franchise suffering from disuse atrophy, as it were, with democracy wasting rapidly. It asked who would have thought, when the Rajapaksa regime was ousted nearly three years ago, people would be deprived of their franchise in this manner. It said that the Court of Appeal order suspending the local government polls gazette till Dec. 04 came close on the heels of the resignation of Robert Mugabe as the President of Zimbabwe after sticking to power like a limpet for nearly four decades. It said that politicians the world over, especially the greedy ones in this country, should draw lessons from Mugabe’s fall and nobody can wield power forever. It further stated that it needs to be added that even in Mugabe’s land elections were held however rigged they may have been but our blessed land has been without elections for more than two years and, worse, there are no signs of an electoral contest in the foreseeable future.

(I will do anything for you Boss)

In this background, the Joint Opposition has urged the government to sack Faizer from his ministerial portfolio as he had failed to perform his duties. Addressing a media briefing at Dr, N.M.Perera Centre in Borella JO members have said that Minister Mustapha should take the full responsibility for postponing the LG polls for two and a half years and violating people’s franchise. JO MPs alleged that the country had been without elections for the last two and half years and Mustapha had to be blamed for the situation. Meanwhile, the JO MPs also tabled a no-confidence motion against Minister Mustapha in Parliament on Thursday (23^rd Nov,).

The motion was signed by 12 JO members and accuses the Minister of deliberately delaying the LG elections.The motion was signed by MPs Dinesh Gunawardena,  Ranjith Zoysa, Dilum Amunugama, Udaya Gammanpila, Piyal Nishantha, Janaka Wakkumbura, Sisira Jayakody, Bandula Gunawardena, Weerakumara Dissanayaka, Vijitha Berugoda,Wimalaweera Dissanayaka  and Padma Udayashantha Gunasekera.

JO Parliament leader Mr. Dinesh Gunawardene said that the allegations presented in the motion against Mustapha includes failure to take responsible action relating to hold elections as per the gazette notification issued on holding local government election, creating a situatiin conducive to make conflicts on delimitation matters, and failure to compy with the pledge given to parliament that LG elections will be held in January.

Earlier, Matara district JO MP Mr. Kanchana Wijesekera (son of former Minister Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera) disclosed in the Parliament that it was Sirisena loyalists who filed an appeal to postpone the elections.  He said that out of the 6 six petitioners one was from the Matara district who is the Coordinating Secretary of the Southern PC Member Pasanda Yapa, the son of State Minister Lakshman Yapa Abeywardene.  It was also revealed that the Lawyer appearing for these 6 petitioners was a junior lawyer working in the office of Minister Faizer’s father’s legal firm. It clearly showed that the despicable Minister too was behind the petition.

Faizer has also drawn flak from the UNP. UNP back bench parliamentarians have challenged Minister Faizer Musthapha to resign from his portfolio before the gazette on delimitation was proved incorrect. UNP’s Gampaha District MP Kavinda Jayawardhane has told a news conference held at the parliament complex that the minister should resign and sit at the back row as an ordinary MP. Several other UNP Parliamentarians also have expressed similar sentiments. The Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella has predicted that it will not be ale to hold election until at least April next year and he has cited as the Courts vacation from December 4^th reason for this.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake well known as deal Dissanayake of the deal opposition” has told the Parliament that the JVP as a party would take every possible legal action to expedite the elections. He has said certain things could not be achieved through the Judiciary and has stressed that they would take to the street to get the elections soon, and will join any force or movement despite their political differences in the struggle to win the elections. He has invited the Joint Opposition members and civil society groups to join in the struggle. He has also stated that the case filed in court to postpone the election was not done with good objectives but it was the use of court to fulfil petty political objectives.

He has pointed out that Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Mustapha was aware of the mistake in the Gazette and charged that Minister Mustapha purposely ignored it. He said that Minister Mustapha should resign from his portfolio as he has gone abroad when the case was taken up in court against him. He should have been in court and it was a planned conspiracy,

The JVP Leader has said that their members did not place their signatures on the No Confidence Motion submitted by JO as its content had not been drafted properly and they have submitted a separate motion against Minister Mustapha to the Speaker on Friday,  There is suspicion whether this separate motion by the JVP on this matter to the docile Speaker is the result of another episode of a clandestine deal to scuttle the JO NCM as they are well known for making moves only to protect and safeguard this foreign slavish government they laboured much to bring in to power with all sorts of lies and malicious slanders. There is valid reason for this suspicion as if they are genuinely interested in getting Mustapha, Sirisena’s lap dog, ousted they could have made all their criticisms in the debate of the JO NCM and also vote in support of the JO NCM.

It is pertinent to remind here that the former UNP Minister Dr. Wijedasa Rajapaksa has gone on record saying that the UNP gave Rs. 25 Lakhs to the leadership of the JVP during last elections and the JVP cannot be trusted. There were also many reports in the grapevine that the government sources gave Rs. 30 Million to Deal Kumara Dissanayake to make JVP MPs (6 MPs) vote for the Provincial Council Amendment Bill presented by Faizer Mustapha to override the Supreme Court objection to the 20^th Amendment.

The Speaker was to hold a Party Leaders’ meeting yesterday (Friday 24^th) to decide about holding the election and news about this meeting was not available at the time of writing this article.

Meanwhile the convenor of the Joint Opposition Parliamentarian Prasanna Ranatunga flaying the government has demanded to hold elections soon.  He has said that this government came to power by uttering all possible lies and promising to strengthen democracy in the country but people have been deprived of getting their representatives elected to local government institutions through which they can get their needs attended to.  He has pointed that there is no anti democratic act than snatching away the people’s right to franchise.

After the Court of Appeal issued an interim stay order, widespread speculation, contradictions and confusion along with questions as to who is trying to do what have arisen. The Court of Appeal interim order was granted on the gazette notification issued on February 17 this year. The notification related to the Delimitation Committee Report on the boundaries of local authorities, the number of members and the constituent parts of wards. The notification was issued by Minister Faizer Musthapha, an acolyte of Sirisena.

Among the political questions being raised is why the petitioners waited nine months to file this petition. Joint opposition leaders including former president Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa have alleged that President Maithripala Sirisena’s SLFP faction was responsible for the petition filed by electors from the Colombo city, Kandy, Panduwasnuwara, Hali-Ela, Matara  and Embilipitiya. The JO alleges the pro-Sirisena SLFP fears it might be defeated into the third or fourth place if Local Government elections are held in January next year, with JO front-liner Basil Rajapaksa claims that the new Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) would win as many as 200 of the 340 councils. But the pro-Sirisena SLFP has denied these allegations and claimed it was confident of victory. Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa is reported to be taking a strong stand as regards the Sirisena-faction and most political analysts believe a reconciliation is not possible. Sirisena has said he would not compromise on his principles for any reconciliation with the Rajapaksa faction but some SLFP ministers are reported to be keen on reconciliation mainly because they do not agree with the UNP’s socialist market economic policies. These include the handing over of the Hambantota Port area to a Chinese company, the Trincomalee oil farms to India, or Japan or both and the proposed free trade agreements with India, China and Singapore.

Election Commission Chairman Mahinda Deshapriya was not named as a respondent in this petition. Critics point out that though there were contradictory reports, the stay order is not connected to the November 2 gazette notification issued by the Minister enabling the Elections Commission to hold local council polls sometime between January 25 and 31 next year. Therefore there are contradictory reports and confusion as to whether the local council election will be held in January or not. Reports indicated that the UNP, the SLFP, SLPP, the JVP and some election monitoring groups want to come in as intervenient petitioners asking that the stay order be suspended by the three-judge bench of the Court of Appeal. If that does not happen, the courts go on vacation on December 4^th and there are doubts whether the local council elections could be held in January.

This is the first time for the last nearly 3 years many members of th government and the Joint Opposition, except exclusively Tamil issues concerned tamed opposition have come to a consensus on a No Confidence Motion and the opportunity should not be missed to make this NCM a success.  People in the country too are dead against this haughty headed tyrant Minister for deliberately preventing them and denying them the opportunity to get their own representatives elected to look after the day to day affairs of their areas and to fulfil their needs.  Under these circumstances it is prudent for this despotic Minister to gracefully resign and go home before the people take up broomsticks against him wherever he goes.  This could definitely happen even if he overcomes the Parliament challenge through various political and pecuniary manipulations.

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

23 November 2017

(KINDLY PASS THIS LETTER ON TO THE EDITOR)

The Editor
The Washington Post
1301 K.Street NW
Washington DC 20071
US

Dear Editor:

The article that you published by Kate Cronin-Furman, Are Sri Lankan officers ordering soldiers to sexually assault Tamil detainees?’ nudged me to come out of retirement temporarily on the Sri Lanka-Tamil ‘Eelam’ refugees file.  I have been active on this file from August 1983 until August 2013.  Active mainly to breakdown the vile attacks on the Sri Lankan soldiers by Tamils who are still smarting at them for annihilating their Tamil Tiger terrorists on 19 May 2009,  after a 27-year blooding war. The Tamil Tiger terrorists fought to give the 12.6% Tamils their much desired mono-ethnic separatist racist state, Eelam, carved out of 33% of that beautiful island’s territory bordered by 66% of the coastline.  Dream on, I say!  And still expect the 54% of the Tamil community presently living in the South happily to continue to live in harmony among the majority Sinhalese population.   These Tamil-Eelamists don’t ask much, do they?

I thought that this story that I encountered in the summer of 1987 should be recorded and  told to clip the present Tsunami of tarring the Sri Lankan soldiers whom I consider ‘human rights angels’ for giving back the 22 million Sri Lankans which includes the Tamil community, their right-to-life, which was hijacked by the Tamil Tiger terrorists for 27 years.  These soldiers also saved the lives of 295,873 Tamil civilians  by the end of the Tamil separatist war, who were herded for 30 months from the west coast to the east coast like starving unwashed cattle under the scorching Jaffna-Kiliniochchi sun as a human shield by the Tamil Tigers.  The Tamil expatriates seem to forget this angelic-act by the Sri Lankan soldiers. And into the mix, the unarmed majority Sinhalese and minority Muslim peoples were ethnically cleansed from the North and East of the island,  having terrorized and killed with bombs, bullets, claymore mines, machetes and suicide bombs by the Tamil Tiger terrorists for 27 warring years, aided and abetted by foreign countries like India, UK, US, Canada, Norway and many others.

The second para of the article Kate Cronin-Furman says But it’s not just the brutality of the assaults that stands out; it’s their routine nature.  Because unsettling, these allegations are not anomalous.  In 2016, the British organization Freedom from Torture reported that 71 percent of the predominantly male Tamil clients said they had been raped or endured other sexual torture. Given the stigma that conservative Tamil culture attaches rape, male victims have a strong incentive to remain silent about such crimes.  The actual incidence is likely to be even higher than the reported rate.” I say, that’s a plane load of poppycock!

You know what Editor, such news as reported by Kate Cronin-Furman always break at an inconvenient time for Sri Lanka, when it is up for its Universal Periodic Review at the U.N., Human Rights Council Sessions.  This has happened always, always, always.   Don’t you ever be surprised if the Tamils come with their next explosive report at an inconvenient time for Sri Lanka, when they will say that the Sri Lankan soldiers tied  elderly Tamil mothers and gang raped them behind barbed wired fences under indigo starless night skies. Would you want to place a  wager on it  I know these lying scammers like the life-lines on my palms.  And that is how the cookie crumbles.

And now here’s my story which always has had a Tamilian pattern of cunning, exaggerated and distorted lies.  In 1986  the Sri Lankan Government appointed the retired Army Commander, General Tissa ‘Bull’ Weeratunga as the High Commissioner to Canada.  Earlier he was the Commander of Security Forces in Jaffna from July 13, 1979 to December 31, 1979, which was the den of Kalashnikov carrying Tamil Tigers with festoons of live bullets around their necks.

The expatriate Tamils in Canada,  mainly Convention  refugees who have the habit of holidaying back home during the winter months, led by a Tamil Roman Catholic priest were ready to pounce on him when he arrived accusing him as a Tamil  detainee torturer.   This Tamil Roman Catholic priest hid his separatist views well under a black pious religious cloak and a white collar starched towards heaven, and every gullible journalist and Canadian politician believed this pious looking foxy man of God.  It so happened that I was introduced to him at a dinner party and within 45 minutes I told this priest, Philip, you are a fraud cloaked in black and I don’t believe you even for a finger snapping moment.”  The party filled with Roman Catholics looked stunned by this Sinhalese Buddhist’s slander.  I didn’t regret it as I knew I was right. I debated this priest on a morning television Talk Show on his Tamil separatist movement, sullying the Sri Lankan Government.  The viewers got to know the other side of the coin on this Sri Lankan Tamil refugee scam.  I relished this opportunity to explain my side of the story. Canadians who viewed it loved it.  Keep going, let us hear more,” they said.  We want the facts!”

The print and audio-visual media hounded the new High Commissioner for days and months and one Sunday in 1987 I was tipped off that a senior journalist  and a News anchor at CBC was flying in a Tamil refugee from Paris, who was known as ‘Baby Para’ whose name very likely was Pararajasekaram to be interviewed who apparently was a victim of torture by the Sri Lankan Army.  He was brought  to prove that the High Commissioner, as an Army General had supervised  him being tortured during his days as Army Commander of Jaffna.  Baby Para showed a mark of a perfect ring on his ankle, which he said was from being hanged from his foot  when being tortured

One would have expected a downward torque of the rope around his ankle due to Baby Para’s  body weight and that is Grade 5 common sense.  But this mark was a  wedding-ring perfect circle around his ankle.

Hmmmm! So, the mark of this perfect ring on Baby Para’s ankle was suspect.  Was it a Hindu penance mark on his way to Kataragama Religious Festival in the South of Sri Lanka to pay a vow for a God to get rid of bad karma, to reach a higher state in life, as they would pierce the tongue and cheeks with needles and piercing the skin of their backs with silver hooks to pull  the chariot  carrying Murti of Murugan.  The westerners wouldn’t know this.   Hmmmm…or was it a permanent bracelet tattooed on the ankle  rather than having a leather or a silver ankle bracelet. These are Oooooo……Ahhhhhh… O…No… gruesome events and naive journalists and politicians swallow these packaged ‘O My God did the military really do it to you’  stories begging for western  bleeding-heart sympathy.  Come on let’s not be so naive,  let’s be real.

These High Commissioner Tissa ‘Bull’ Weeratunga hating Canadian-Tamils were having a Press Conference  with Baby Para in attendance, at 10 on a Monday morning in a room at the Holiday Inn on Kent Street.  I was the only Sinhalese at the Press Conference and the room was packed with television cameras, journalists with boom-mics and members of the Tamil community.  No sooner I entered the room, Fr. Philip, the Roman Catholic priest who was dressed in a black suit and a white collar starched towards heaven and chairing the Press Conference objected to my presence and wanted to throw me out of the room.  The camera’s started to roll as there was a confrontation.  Then a senior Tamil Public Servant, a sympathizer of  Eelam entered the room and seeing the commotion told  the Chairman, that I could stay.  He stood me against the wall and two burly Tamils stood on either side sandwiching me, and told me in  stern voices that I shouldn’t interrupt the Press Conference.

After about 40 minutes I walked out of the room in disgust for the very reason that, when a journalist asked Baby Para a two line question in English which was translated for Baby Para in three Tamil sentences, and Baby Para responds to it in about six Tamil sentences,  These six Tamil sentences of Baby Para were translated in about 20 English sentences.  They were  a well rehearsed concocted torturing story that these Tamils wanted the media to hear. I was able to thread these translated sentences together and was able to decipher what these Tamils were up to. I couldn’t stomach this vicious Tamil blarney which was trying to tarnish the good name of Sri Lanka and her  heroic soldiers and I left the room.  I was in no mood to accept these smelly garamma-sala varnished-crap.

After Baby Para’s Press Conference in Ottawa, the Tamil Tiger Blarney Gong Show travelled 450 miles to Toronto for their second Press Conference to prove that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner, the retired Army Commander, General Tissa ‘Bull’ Weeratunga was a Tamil detainee military torturer.

That afternoon I got a call at work from a senior Journalist from the Canadian Press Bureau asking  me whether he could meet me for lunch the following day at the Japanese Village on Kent Street which was close to my workplace at 200 Kent Street.  He told me that the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Canadian Press had asked him to meet  with me to get some facts on High Commissioner Weeratunga who has been hounded as a torturer of  Tamil detainees, as I was honest and very reliable”.

So we met for lunch at noon the following day at the Japanese Village.  He had  attended the Baby Para Press Conference and had noted my presence and the commotion too.  During our discussion I asked him, Did you not see it strange that when Baby Para responded to one of your journalists two sentence question in English, his response in Tamil was in six sentences, and that the English translation of those six Tamil sentences took 20 to 25 sentences.  It happened all the time.  What was  your take on it as I was disgusted?”

His response was, Funny that you brought it up Asoka, we sent our most senior journalist  to Toronto to cover the Baby Para’s Press Conference.  He phoned us from Toronto to say to forget this story as he had come to know that the Tamil translator did not speak a word of Tamil.”

After all the Baby Para’s accusatory story about High Commissioner General Tissa ‘Bull’ Weeratunga, if my memory is not betraying me, the Press Conference  did not pick up ink in  the following morning’s newspapers nor did CBC carry a news clip about the High Commissioner as a torturer.   The Canadian Tamil Eelamists expected fireworks with their well orchestrated storyline with rehearsed English translations of Baby Para’s simple Tamil responses.

So the Tamil separatist frauds  who orchestrated this Baby Para’s  Sri Lankan Military Torture Travelling Show were exposed as a bunch of liars as this was supposed to be a hot-hot firecracker in their foolproof fireworks to pin the High Commissioner Tissa ‘Bullk Weeratunga, was a Dud that went off with a pooff!”, and so did the Roman Catholic priest who chaired these Press Conferences.  No doubt his starched white collar pointing towards heaven might have turned limp tarnished cursed by an unGodly sinners-shame.  I called him a fraud at that dinner party and I was right.  He just couldn’t  fool me.

The exercise of these Baby Para Press Conferences was to target High Commissioner General Tissa ‘Bull’ Weeratunga who had worn Khaki fatigues once upon a time as  the Army Commander in Jaffna to get him declared as a persona-non-grata by the Canadian Government.  It never happened and the late General Tissa Bull’ Weeratunga who left us in  November, 2003, must have been turning in his grave  howling with laughter.

Editor, if you are so  inclined to verify the veracity of the players in my story – The Hot Dud Firecracker that went ‘Pooff’ in the Tamil Tiger Blarney Fireworks Gong Show, I will be ever so glad to provide you the names of the Senior Journalist of  CBC, the Deputy Bureau Chief of the Canadian Press, who I think is somewhere in British Columbia and the Senior Reporter of Canadian Press who interviewed me is, I believe, somewhere in Nova Scotia.

Well, Editor,  Kate Cronin-Furman should be judicious in future as she is dealing with Tamilian frauds who would do anything to get accepted by a western country as Convention refugees.  I suggest that she ought to go on a trip to Kataragama in south of Sri Lanka during the Hindu religious festivals.   She will see and be amazed how the Tamils undergo gruesome self-torture doing penance. They are maestros at it and it is no big deal for them. to undergo self-torture to accomplish what they want. So let us not be bleeding-hearts and be suckers to their fraudulent ploys and say, ‘The military tortured Tamils who want to land on soils of western countries, bypassing their Motherland, India’s Tamil Nadu which is just 18 saltwater miles away, let us have them. Enough is enough of this varnished-crap which has no value for you to let these stories pick up ink in your worthy newspaper.  The final choice is yours, Sir.

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr)

Tel.613-747-2272

By Rohana R. Wasala

In my opinion, two visiting British women were made to experience different forms of culture shock in Sri Lanka recently.  Both were subjected to discrimination and harassment, though in the later or the second case described here, these elements were almost totally concealed by melodrama. The reference here is to tourist Naomi Coleman, a mental health nurse from Coventry in England, who was arrested on arrival and deported from Sri Lanka in 2014 for wearing a Buddha tattoo on her upper arm, and to Sheree Atcheson, an influential IT business consultant in the UK, who visited Colombo in search of her birth mother. From their stories it appears that their visits were highly emotionally charged events for both of them in their differing individual circumstances, and that therefore they particularly deserved much more humane treatment than they actually got on reaching their dream destination.

Naomi Coleman seems to have got a real taste of culture shock when her dream turned into a nightmare on arriving at the Katunayake International airport on April 5, 2014. The then 37 year old mental health worker  was arrested at the airport and was later ordered by  the court to be deported for the alleged offence aforementioned. She had told the police that she practiced Buddhism, had participated in meditation retreats and workshops in Thailand, India, Cambodia and Nepal. It could be that she was visiting Sri Lanka, known as the centre of Theravada Buddhism, in fulfillment of a special dream she had. After her deportation order was made, she had to spend three nights/four days in detention. She claimed that she was verbally abused by the officers, and that they even demanded bribes. Probably she exaggerated her case. But it appears that her apparent ill-treatment was due to a miscarriage of justice that resulted from the overzealousness of the police officers who decided to arrest her. It could also have been due to the authorities’ fear that the woman’s Buddha tattoo could be offensive to local Buddhist sensitivities. There were then as there still are occasional instances of the Buddha image being deliberately desecrated by religious mischief makers to provoke Buddhists. Although the constitution gives Buddhism, the religion of 70% of the population, the foremost place”, there are no special restrictive laws privileging Buddhism over other religions. There is no ban on Buddha tattoos, either.

On her return to England, Naomi instituted action through her lawyers against the Lankan authorities in a Sri Lankan court for her alleged ill-treatment. A week or so ago, the case was decided in her favour, the woman’s lawyer arguing that her arrest was contrary to the immigration and emigration laws of the country. She was awarded a compensation by the government. The policemen responsible for her unlawful arrest were ordered to pay her compensation, too.  That is justice restored.  So it seems that the buck ultimately stopped  with the government (more correctly, with the state).

I mean to dwell longer on the newer case of culture shock that we witnessed in recent times. Sheree Atcheson is a Sri Lankan-born young British woman who was legally adopted as a baby of three weeks by an Irish couple.  She attended school in Belfast and later studied Computer Science at Queen’s University Belfast. Having qualified as a software engineer at 23 (in 2014), Sheree joined Kainos Software.  While working in that company, she founded the first UK branches of the global non-profit organization known as ‘Women Who Code’ in Belfast  and London. This organization aims to eradicate gender bias in the IT industry. For this purpose she pioneered local centres for empowering  tech women through free hack nights, tech talks and career trainings.

At present she is working at Deloitte UK as a Tech Business Consultant. She also works as the UK Expansion Director of Women Who Code UK and Belfast, of which she is founder. She played an important role in designing the online voter registration system in the UK. She has addressed many global events such as the World Economic Forum as an expert in the IT industry. She writes a blog for the Huffington Post UK, which she has been associated with in that capacity since September 2015. In addition to all these and more, she works as a professional fashion and commercial model.

Sheree says that she founded what she named the I Am Lanka (@IAmLankaOrg) organization last month (October 2017) in order to highlight Sri Lanka’s local and global role models who have accomplished great things in their lives and careers” by empowering and inspiring our people through showcasing the current Sri Lankan change makers, in order to foster innovation and change in our and the next generation”. She appeals to young Sri Lankans of her generation to Be what you can see – because you are us & we are Sri Lanka.” At 26 years of age, already a celebrity in her chosen professional domain, the versatile young Sheree has been listed as one of UK’s top 35 Most Influential  Women in Tech ’17 (by Computer Weekly) among a number of other similar listings. (The source for most of this sketchy account of Sheree’s education and work background is her impressive full professional profile in the linkedin.com website, which is free for view.)

It seems that a few weeks back Sheree initiated a plan to find and meet her biological mother in Sri Lanka. She contacted a private TV channel in Colombo and requested them to help her in this connection. They responded with great enthusiasm, devoting a lot of airtime for broadcasting available clues and bits of information about Sheree’s infancy and her present that would help divulge the whereabouts of the woman if alive who gave birth to her. For a few weeks, the topic dominated the newscasts of the channel concerned. Their dedicated efforts produced the expected result. The woman was found, her motherhood of Sheree was scientifically established without a trace of doubt, and Sheree arrived in Sri Lanka with her British husband to a warm reception at the airport, and at the news office of the TV channel. She had already been warmly greeted aboard the Colombo bound Sri Lankan Airlines plane by the other Lankan passengers who were already familiar with her story. We as Sri Lankans should be grateful to the TV news  team involved in this delicate operation which is personally so sensitive and consequential  for both women (i.e., mother and daughter).  The success of the TV channel’s prompt response to Sheree’s urgent call for help in her attempt to find her birth mother was, no doubt, greatly facilitated by our people’s natural inclination to be actively concerned when a person is in distress as well as by the tireless exertions of the search team.

However, the altruism of a business concern like a private TV company is not unlimited. Sooner or later business interests take charge of even an altruistic operation. It appeared that the particular TV channel indulged in a coldly mercenary type of journalism in this instance. (I sincerely believe  that my criticism will not, in any way, detract from  the general public approval that their dedication to the project has justly met with.) The broadcaster’s constant focus appeared to be on the inherent newsworthiness of the story, rather than on the need to help the two women rediscover their vital connection, without unnecessarily encroaching on their personal space, their privacy, which is their inalienable right. Of course, to the discerning viewer it was obvious that the news team took care not to highlight certain little pieces of information for suitably protecting them from unwelcome public attention. But they were not concerned about the privacy factor overmuch.

Yet, in that context privacy was particularly important for the mother, who was probably a much abused woman, at least in the past, considering the clearly bereft conditions of her past and present life. It is strange that apparently none of the news team members felt that it amounted to a cruel violation of the privacy of the two women fraught with anxiety to have them confront each other for that intensely emotional meeting in their particular personal circumstances in an unfamiliar cluttered office-room, that too, live before the cameras. Wouldn’t it have been better if the meeting had taken place in the privacy of a hotel room or a special room of the news agency itself or elsewhere with one or two members from the news team , a responsible relative of Sheree’s mother, and Sheree’s husband in attendance? A scene subsequent to such a prearranged private rendezvous, featuring  a happier, more relaxed mother and daughter pair could have been casually videoed for broadcast. But that didn’t happen. Instead, they were made to set their eyes on each other for the first time in their life in those unfamiliar surroundings. When that meeting was about to take place the TV anchorwoman revealed that although Sheree knew that she would be interviewed on that occasion, she had not been told that she was going to see her mother at that very moment. I for one failed to understand why she had to be treated to such a surprise  in that context. I suspect it was for the sake of increasing the entertainment value of the ‘reality show’ element of the whole exercise.

Having said that, I must immediately qualify it with the following: I do not have a shred of doubt about the sincerity of the TV news team. I have nothing but praise for them for projecting to the world, through their professionalism enhanced by their dedication to a humanitarian cause, a positive image of Sri Lanka. They didn’t confine themselves to just ‘doing their thing’. They went out of their way to make it a truly compassionate operation. They did that out of a genuine  sense of humanity, which is characteristic of our culture. It was quite clear that the TV news team were required, as in any normal situation, to act according to the wishes of their narrowly profit-focused employers. For this, they had to turn the mother daughter reunion into the kind of reality show suggested above, designed to attract as big a proportion of primetime TV audiences as possible across the country.

Whether or not Sheree experienced any angry disappointment or serious disorientation when she realized that she was misled to appear for a reality show instead of the interview they had requested is not clear. If she did, she successfully concealed it. She looked unfazed by the ‘surprise’ part of that very significant moment in her young life. Sheree’s response to the anchorwoman’s question whether her search for her birth mother was about finding her real identity was a confident but polite dismissal. No, she replied, she already had her own identity. Well said! I thought to myself when I heard that.

The culture she comes from supports the idea that nothing external to you can define you: your birth circumstances, social background, caste, race, economic status, etc. are all insignificant distractions, when it comes to defining your identity. What matters for young women (and young men) is realizing your inborn potential through education and hard work. Sheree is very unassuming, but is appropriately aware of her own abilities and importance. She offers herself as a role model for young Sri Lankans. She is eminently eligible for that. Even in that society there is this problem of gender bias. A lesson that Sheree demonstrates for her young Sri Lankan counterparts to imbibe is that in situations where gender bias manifests itself, women should not passively accept the victim position. Her answer to discrimination based on gender is fighting for equality by empowering women through education.

When her birth mother asked her for forgiveness  for ‘the great crime’ she said she did (by giving her up for adoption when she was an infant), Sheree consoled her saying that there was no need for her to ask to be forgiven. For she had given her the life she has now. It is the sort of life that the ‘wealth of opportunities’ that life in Ireland gave her (as she said in a different context). Sheree seems to have a special warmth towards her country of birth, although she lived there only the first three weeks of her total 26 years. It must be something in her genes, I wonder. What Sheree’s story reminds us is that, given the necessary opportunities, young Sri Lankans can make great achievements. Be what you can see – because you are us & we are Sri Lanka.” Is her message, after all.

Sheree says that already she has got hundreds of messages from young Sri Lankans expressing goodwill, and telling her that they have been inspired by her. The many negative comments made  by her young fans on the TV channel’s perceived culturally revealing lapses in the covering of their own ‘help find birth mother’ operation suggest that she won’t be disappointed in her voluntary role model mission that she has launched on their behalf.

Dr. Ruwan M Jayatunge 

Clinical Meditation is a new form of therapy that can be used to treat a large number of physical / psychological / psychiatric ailments. For centuries meditation was considered as a type of religious practice forgetting its clinical aspect. A large body of research highlights the clinical value of meditation. Meditation enhances neuron connectivity in the brain positively changing the brain chemistry. Meditation experience changes the brain structures predominantly increasing the cortical thickness and cerebral blood flow.

Meditation has many health benefits. Meditation balances the body’s homeostatic system.  Meditation can be used to treat anxiety disorders and depression.  Meditation is a great stress breaker . The meditation practice helps to decrease stress hormones in the body. Meditative techniques are indicated in chronic pain. Meditation strengthens the immune system. It facilitates positive emotions enhancing memory and attention. Meditation brings beneficial changes to physical and mental health and it can be used for overall wellness. However meditation remains an under-utilized therapeutic mode in the medical profession.

Meditation Overview

The word meditation” is derived from the Latin meditari, which means to engage in contemplation or reflection (Hussain & Bhushan, 2010). Meditation has been extensively practiced in many civilizations for thousands of years as a means of cultivating a state of well-being and for religious purposes (Braboszcz et al., 2010). Meditation has a number of definitions.

The U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) defined meditation as a conscious mental process that induces a set of integrated physiological changes termed the relaxation response”. According to Manocha (2000) meditation is a discrete and well-defined experience of a state of thoughtless awareness” or mental silence, in which the activity of the mind is minimized without reducing the level of alertness.

According to  Walsh and Shapiro (2006) meditation is a tool” for spiritual development, where the aim is to reach an inner peace, concentration, positive emotions, while at the same time reducing stress, agitation and negative emotions.

Clinical meditation is a secular psychotherapeutic application that is geared to achieve optimal mental wellbeing.  Clinical meditation helps to combat various psychological / psychiatric ailments such as irresistible stress, severe anxiety, depression, chronic pain and addictions. Meditation is one of the effective psycho- behavioral therapies. It is becoming widely popular as an adjunct to conventional medical therapies (Bonadonna, 2003).

The Clinical Effects of Meditation

Meditation practices are connected with the psychotherapeutic approaches creating a holistic impact. Clinical meditation may mitigate the effects of stress and disease. Clinical application of meditation is indicated in a number of ailments. Meditation is a safe and cost-effective treatment mode which brings effective results. It is a scientifically proven intervention. Numerous researchers have found the    therapeutic benefits of meditation.  Today meditation has become an efficient psychotherapeutic technique in the Western world.

Clinical effects of meditation impact a broad spectrum of physical and psychological   symptoms and syndromes, including reduced anxiety, pain, and depression, enhanced mood and self-esteem, and decreased stress. Meditation has been studied in populations with fibromyalgia, cancer, hypertension, and psoriasis (Bonadonna, 2003). Meditation has become a dominant method for self-regulation. Jindal   Gupta and Das (2013) state that meditation causes improvement in various cardiovascular, neurological, autoimmune, and renal pathologies.

Reibel and colleagues (2001) indicate that mindfulness meditation training program can enhance functional status and well-being and reduce physical symptoms and psychological distress.  Meditation practice can positively influence the experience of chronic illness and can serve as a primary, secondary, and/or tertiary prevention strategy (Bonadonna, 2003). Meditation helps to cultivate positive mental health. Therefore meditation has an immense public health importance.

The Western Theories of Meditation

Although mindfulness meditation has been practiced in the East for more than two millennia, Western scientific research and healthcare programs have only recently drawn their attention to it (Manuello et al., 2016). The Eastern spiritual practice of meditation was brought to the West by various spiritual masters. Among these spiritual practitioners Maharishi Mahesh Yogi was a key figure. He developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and popularized meditation in the Western world. Even Beatles became the followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

Western theories of meditation include Jungian, Benson’s relaxation response, and transpersonal psychology (Bonadonna, 2003). In the early 1970s  Dr Herbert Benson, -founder of the Mind/Body Medical Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston did a number of studies on meditation. Dr Herbert Benson considered meditation is an antidote to stress. Benson and colleagues (1974) surmised that meditation givesrelaxation response by decreasing sympathetic nervous system activity, and increasing parasympathetic activity.

The American Psychologist Robert Evan Ornstein who profoundly wrote about brain’s role in health. According to Ornstein (1972) meditation exercises are designed to produce an alteration in consciousness, which means a shift away from an active, outward-oriented, linear mode towards receptive and quiescent mode with a shift from external focus of attention to an internal one. 

The Australian Professor of Psychiatry Roger N. Walsh states that more than an alternative state of consciousness meditation is associated with calmness, equanimity, concentration, compassion, wisdom, generosity, and perceptual and introspective sensitivity.  

Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn of the University of Massachusetts Medical School performed a number of research in mediation and found its clinical value.  Jon Kabat-Zinn studied the interaction of mind and body towards health. According to Kabat-Zinn meditation has impact on the entire organism–from chromosomes to cells and to brain.

The Buddhist meditation techniques profoundly influenced Jon Kabat-Zinn. However Kabat-Zinn introduced mediation to the clinical community as a secular model. His studies were mainly based on mindfulness meditation. For Kabat-Zinn mindfulness is being awake. He did clinical applications of mindfulness on people with chronic pain and stress-related disorders and found fruitful results.

In 1979 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program was introduced by the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. This program incorporated mindfulness and assisted people with pain and a range of conditions and life issues that were initially difficult to treat in a hospital setting.  Over the years (MBSR) Program gained immense popularity due to its success rate.  MBSR has been described as “a group program that focuses upon the progressive acquisition of mindful awareness, of mindfulness (Grossman et al., 2010).

1. Alan Wallace founder of the Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies describes meditation as cultivating mental balance. Wallace and Shapiro (2006) assume that mental suffering is in large part due to imbalances of the mind and that these imbalances can be overcome by cultivating four kinds of mental balance: conative, attentional, cognitive, and affective (Sedlmeier, 2012).

The Western science views meditation in a neuropsychological lens. Neuroimaging and neuropsychology of meditation states have been studied. According to these research meditation has a positive impact on cerebral cortex, prefrontal area, cingulate gyrus, neurotransmitters, white matter, autonomic nervous system, limbic system, cytokines, endorphins, hormones.

Researchers measured brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in meditators and found   meditation activates the prefrontal cortex of the brain.  Prefrontal cortex is in charge of abstract thinking, thought analysis and responsible for regulating behavior. In addition prefrontal cortex involved in emotional responses. Prefrontal cortex is responsible for controlling neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin that are important in mood regulation. Hölzel and the group found greater activation of rostral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) in mindfulness meditators.

Jensen and colleagues (2014) found increase of grey matter in the hippocampus (hippocampus- involved in memory formation, memory organization, and memory storing) and parietal lobe (   parietal lobe -processes sensory information) among the mindfulness meditators. Grey matter is a major component of the central nervous system, consisting of neuronal cell bodies, neuropil, glial cells, synapses, and capillaries. There is a strong connection between gray matter and intelligence, self-control and decision making.

Meditation produces positive alterations of neurotransmitters, brain activity, and cognitive abilities (Luders, 2014). Practice of meditation triggers neurotransmitters (Krishnakumar et al., 2015). According to Kang and colleagues (2013) long-term meditators have structural differences in both gray and white matter. Furthermore meditation diminishes age-related brain degeneration. Pagnoni and Cekic (2007) state that meditation may have neuroprotective effects and reduce the cognitive decline associated with normal aging.

ALI SUKHANVER

There is a worldwide ban on the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and their precursors under the Chemical Weapons Convention 1993. International law has prohibited the use of chemical weapons since 1899, under the Hague Convention: Article 23 of the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land adopted by the First Hague Conference “especially” prohibited employing “poison and poisoned arms.” In short the whole world is doing all its best to save humanity from the hazards of chemical weapons. Chemical weapons mean specialized munitions that use chemicals formulated to inflict death or harm on humans. Nerve gas, tear gas and pepper spray are three modern examples of chemical weapons. The term chemical weapon may also be applied to any toxic chemical or its precursor that can cause death, injury, temporary incapacitation or sensory irritation through its chemical action,” says the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. But it seems there is no one to keep an eye on the use of chemical weapon in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. The helpless Kashmiris are suffering from very horrible consequences of these chemical weapons used by the Indian troops. They are facing serious skin diseases, breathing problems and many of them are even unaware of the fact that these chemical weapons are poisoning them slowly and steadily pushing towards a painful death. Pakistan has raised its voice against this brutality of the Indian troops so many times on different international forums but no one paid any heed to it.

Be it 2017 or 2006, situation is always the same in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. Here is an extract from a speech delivered by Edolphus Towns eleven years back in 2006. He is a prominent American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2013. He is a Democrat from New York and had been Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee from 2009 to 2011. He made this speech in the House of Representatives. He said, I was disturbed to find out that India has been using chemical weapons in its war against the freedom fighters of Kashmir. Reuters, CNN, the BBC, the Associated Press, and others have all reported that India fired chemical weapons shells into Pakistan. Remember that India’s nuclear tests last year started the nuclear arms race in South Asia.” The same year Dr. Gurmit Singh Aulakh, President of the Council of Khalistan also expressed the same thought in a statement. He said, In war, people get killed, and that is unfortunate. Countries that are moral and democratic do not deliberately kill civilians but the Indian government has murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984. India has also murdered over 200,000 Christians in Nagaland since 1947, more than 60,000 Muslims in Kashmir since 1988, and tens of thousands of Assamese, Manipuris, Dalits, Tamils and others.” The story of cruelty and brutality is still going on; not even a slight change. The people of the Indian Occupied Kashmir are prisoners at the hands of the Indian troops there. They have no liberty, no freedom and no basic human rights. A recent report on human rights abuses in the Indian Occupied Kashmir says, Crimes by militants are said to be incomparable with the larger scale abuse by Indian state forces. Some rights groups say close to 100,000 people have died since 1989 while the official figures from Indian sources state the estimates of number of civilians killed due to the insurgency in the range of 16,725 to 47,000 civilians, in which 3,642 civilians were killed by security forces. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society organization states that there have been over 70,000 killings, 8000 plus forced disappearances, mass torture and sexual violence, the majority committed by Indian armed forces, and that these cases have had zero prosecution in civilian courts.” In short situation of human rights violation particularly against the Muslims and other minorities is getting serious and serious not only in the valley of Kashmir but in the whole country. There is an evident air of rage and hatred against the Modi government throughout India with reference to the human rights violation in the Indian Occupied Kashmir. A few weeks back, in an open letter to the Modi government, 65 senior retired officials from different Central Services of India expressed their reservations on atrocities against the Muslims in India and the Indian Occupied Kashmir. These officers included many retired Chief Secretaries, Ambassadors and officers from the Armed Forces of India. The letter said, A sense of deep disquiet at what has been happening in India has prompted us to write this open letter. Disagreement and dissent are considered seditious and anti-national. There is a growing climate of religious intolerance that is aimed primarily at Muslims and other minorities including the Sikhs and the Christians and even against the low-caste Hindus. Punitive action against the perpetrators of violence does not take place promptly but cruelly, the victims have FIRs registered against them.” Unless the countries like US and UK step forward to help the Kashmiris, the issue of Kashmir could never be resolved.

Views expressed by politicians regarding treasury bond scam බැඳුම්කර සිද්ධිය ගැන පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ මත

Ranjith Soysa

I intend to draw the attention of President Maithripala Sirisena through you esteemed website as his silence and refusal to nail the counter on at least three important issues raise a question whether he is only acting as a baby’s dummy.

The three issues regarding which the President has still not taken any conclusive decision are:

1 The UNHRC resolutions 30/1 and 34/1   which some of the Western countries, FNGOs along with Tiger Terrorist fronts and the big wigs in  UNCHR are continuously pressing SL Government to implement in full is, one of the key items. The President has on several occasions had made public statements indicating that he will not allow foreign judges or other representatives to sit on judgement over our heroic members of the defence for who created a record by defeating the world’s most brutal terrorist organization. BUT, the Sri Lankan foreign minister and the Minister who attended recent UNHCR sessions have emphatically advised the UN body that Sri Lanka will abide by the stipulations of the Council and the Commissioner of Human Rights.

The President must clear the decks and categorically announce his frank opinion and advise his ministers to toe the line or call for their explanation if they continue to treat his words with a pinch of salt, He must consider to take up the issue so that the country will change their opinion about him being a mere pacifier with words only module.. As acknowledged by The President himself, he should also cite the facts revealed by Lord Naseby about LT Col Nash’s report to the UK State Dept and submit a report to the UNHCR to change their stance with regard to the alleged war casualties of Sri Lanka’s war against terrorism. The President must make use of the golden opportunity to retrieve the prestige of the country as further silence only gives consent to the fallacious conclusions.

2  The President Sirisena took the right decision in appointing the Commission on the Bond scam and the proceedings have proved beyond any doubt that some have committed criminal acts in playing out the country’s public funds. But, we do not see the Chief Executive moving on with law so that the criminals will be dealt swiftly before they escape. The President should use all his powers an institute legal action, if one does not want to believe that the President is acting the baby’s dummy.

3 Recently, the Minister of Education in the Northern Province refused to raise the National Flag at the public ceremony and exhibited his intense hatred towards the flag. As per the Sri Lankan Constitution the National Flag is one of the items discussed in detail. This invective act transgresses the Constitution and as per the Provincial Council Act , the President representative, the Governor has the power to take action against the Minister. But, the President is acting as if he had not heard anything illegal and failed to run rings round the offender. Again, I say that President has yet to prove that he stands by his high office and be effective.

Any further slip ups will only tend to prove that mere words uttered to appease the public will not help the Nation

Ranjith Soysa

උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

‘බය නැති අගමැති’ කියා පෝස්ටර් රට පුරාම වැදිලාය. එක්කෝ කවුරුන් හෝ අගමැතිව බය කරන්න ගිහිල්ලාය. එහෙමත් නැත්නම් අගමැති, සොහොනක් අසලින් මහ රෑ තනියම යන්නට ඔට්ටුවක්වත් දාලාය. ඒ දෙකම නොවේ නම් ‘බය නැති අගමැති’ කියන වචන ටිකට මුලින් සටහන් විය යුතු වචන කිහිපයක් හැලිලාය. ඒ හැලිච්ච වචන මේ දිනවල සමාජ ජාලවල එකතුවෙමින් තිබෙන්නේය.

‘දේශපාලනය ලොව දෙවැනියාට පැරැණිම වෘත්තීය යැයි කියනු ලැබේ. එය පළමුවැන්නට බොහෝ සමාන බව මට වැටහුණේ පසුවය.’
මෙහෙම කියන්නේ රොනල්ඩ් රේගන්ය. රේගන් කියන්නේ ඇමෙරිකාවේ සිටි කීර්තිමත්ම ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක්ය. ආණ්ඩුවේ සමහර වැඩ දැක්කම සමහරු කියන්නේ එහෙමය.
ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇමැතිවරුන් තුන්දෙනකුට ඉල්ලා අස්වෙන්න වුණේ අවුරුදු 3ක් පිරෙන්නත් කලින්ය. බැඳුම්කර මගඩියේ පැටලී සිටින ඇලෝසියස්ලාට දුරකතන ඇමැතුම් දී ‘දේශය’ ගොඩනඟන්නට දායක වෙච්ච පිරිස්ද ඒ අතර වෙයි.

‘එහෙම තමයි අපේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය. ඒකට තමයි කියන්නේ යහපාලනය කියලා’.
ආණ්ඩුවේ අය උජාරුවෙන් එහෙම කියන්නේය. බලාන ගියාම ඉල්ලා අස්වීමට වීමත් ඉවත් කිරීමත් ආඩම්බරේට හේතුවෙන දේවල් වගේය.
සමහරු දුරකතන ඇමැතුම් දී තිබෙන්නේ පොත් ලියන්නටය. මේවා දෙපැත්තෙන්ම හිනා යන කතාය.

මොන කයිවාරු ගැහුවත් දැන් ආණ්ඩුවට අවුරුදු 2ක් ඉවරය. ඉතිහාසයේ ඉඳලා සස¼දා බැලුවොත්, අවිධිමත්ම ආණ්ඩු දෙකෙන් එකක් මේකය. මේ රටේ හැදුණු ‘අසාර්ථකම’ පරාදීනම ආණ්ඩුව 2001 එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණු ආණ්ඩුවය. ‘යළි පුබුදමු ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ කියලා සුන්දර වචන සෙල්ලමක් යටින් තිබ්බේ විකුණන් කන රටක ඉරණමය.
එදා එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණ ඡන්දෙට ආවේ ‘ඍණ’ ආර්ථිකයකට රට පත් කළ ‘පොදු පෙරමුණ ගෙදර යවමු’ කියලාය. මෙදා ආවේ ‘පවුල්වාදයට එරෙහිව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය දිනවමු’ කියලාය.

එදා චන්ද්‍රිකාට කල් ඇතිවම ආණ්ඩුව විසුරුවා ඡන්දයකට යන්න වුණාය. මෙදාත් මහින්ද කල් ඇතිවම ඡන්දෙකට ගියේය. එදා ඡන්දෙට යනකොට බලයේ හිටිය චන්ද්‍රිකා ඡන්දෙට ගිහින් පැරැදුණාය. මෙදා බලයේ සිටි මහින්ද ඡන්දෙට ගිහින් පැරැදුණේය.
සමහරුන්ට නොපෙනුණාට දෙවතාවේම සිදු වුණේ ‘කෘත්‍රිම’ වෙනසක්ය.

අස්වාභාවික බලහුවමාරුව පිරිසකට ‘කෙටිකාලීන’ චූන් එකක් වුණාට දිගුකාලීනව රටට ‘හෙණ ගෙඩියක්ය’. ඒක මොනතරම් ඇත්තද කියලා පේන්නේ ඒ ආණ්ඩු දෙකේ පැවැත්ම බැලුවහමය. වසර පහකට ජනතාව පවරා දෙන බලය සදාකාලික එකක් සේ සලකා වැඩ කරන්නට යන ඕනෑම පාලකයෙක් ගෙදර යන්නේ හිතාගන්නවත් බැරි විදියටය.
2001 ආණ්ඩුව ආව ගමන් රනිල් කළේ ‘එල්ටීටීඊය’ එක්ක අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමක් අස්සන් කරන එකය.

එවක හිටිය කැබිනට් එකේ කිසිවෙක් මේ අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුම දැකලාවත් තිබ්බේ නැත. මාධ්‍ය ඉදිරියට ආව ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇමැතිවරුන් නිරුත්තරව ඇඹරුණේ ‘ලොක්කා’ කරලා තියෙන දේ හරියට නොදන්නා හින්දාය. ඒ මදිවට ඒ ආණ්ඩුව රටේ ජාතික සම්පත් කුණු කොල්ලෙට විකුණා දමන ක්‍රියාවලියක් ගෙන ගියේය. ජාතික ආර්ථිකය විනාශ කොට ඒ වෙනුවට අසාර්ථක වෙළෙඳපොළ ආර්ථිකයක් බදා ගත්තේය. හිතුවක්කාරකම සහ මාන්නය ඔඩුදුවා තිබූ නායකත්වයක් රට පරාදීන තැනකට තල්ලු කරමින් සිටියේය.
ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ කොඳු කඩා පරාදීන මානසිකත්වයක් නිර්මාණය වෙන තත්ත්වයට පත්කොට තිබුණේය.

රැකියාවක සිහින දුටු තරුණයන්ගේ අපේක්ෂා භංග වූයේ කිසිදු ‘රැකියාවක් නොදෙන’ ලෙස ආණ්ඩුව ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීන්දුවක් ගෙන චක්‍රලේඛ මඟින් තහවුරු කිරීමත් එක්කය. අහිංසක දුප්පත් ජනතාවට බෙදා දෙන්නට ඉන්දීය ආධාර යටතේ ලැබුණු සෙවිලි තහඩුව පවා ‘සොරකම් කරපු’ ආණ්ඩුවක් ලෙස ඒ ආණ්ඩුව ජනතා අප්‍රසාදයට පත් විය. රැකියා දුන්නේ නැත. බඩු මිල අඩු කළේ නැත. වැඩකරන නියෝජිතයන්ට නිසි තනතුරු ලැබුණේ නැත. සරලම උදාහරණය වූයේ එවක මහනුවරින් දෙවරක්ම මනාප ඡන්ද ලක්ෂය පැන්නූ කෙහෙළිය රඹුක්වැල්ලට මුල්වටයේදී නියෝජ්‍ය ඇමැතිකමක්වත් ලැබුණේ නැත. එවක ආණ්ඩුව ගේන්න ලොකුම ජවය දුන් රාජිතලාට, මහින්ද සමරසිංහලාට පවා මුලින් ලැබුණේ කැබිනට් නොවන ඇමැතිකම්ය. මේවා හින්දා පාක්ෂිකයන් පක්ෂයට එරෙහි විය. ඇතුළේ තම හිතවතුනුත් රටේ පාක්ෂිකයනුත් තමන්ට එරෙහි බව තේරුම් ගැනීමට රනිල්ට නොහැකි විය.

හැබැයි මොනවා නැතත් ‘ලස්සන වචන’ තිබ්බේය.
‘යළි පුබුදමු ශ්‍රී ලංකා’ ‘කටු අත්තේ මල් පිබිදෙනතුරු ඉවසන්න’, ‘ඉතින් හදමු අපි අලුත් රටක්’ වගේ ‘ආලවට්ටම්’ සහිත ‘ඇඩ්වර්ටයිසින්’ ඒ ආණ්ඩුවට තිබ්බේය. හැබැයි ඒ එකක්වත් හරියට වුණේ නැත. සිද්ධ වුණේ අවුරුදු පහට ආව ආණ්ඩුව කටු අත්තත් අරගෙන ගෙදර යන එකය. රනිල් ආණ්ඩුව 2002දී හුස්ම හිරවෙනතුරු දැනගෙන හිටියේ නැත.

අවුරුදු දෙකක් තුළ ‘අරාජිකත්වයට’ රට තල්ලු කිරීම හැර වෙන කිසිවක් ඉතිරි නොකළ එක්සත් ජාතික පෙරමුණ අවසන් ගමන් ගියේ එහෙමය.
ඒ ආණ්ඩුව රට කොටියාට ‘සින්නක්කරේට දෙන’ තැනට පත්කොට යන්න ගියේය. ඒ වෙනකොට හමුදාව සිටියේ කඳවුරුවලට ‘ගාල්’ කරලාය. ආත්ම ශක්තිය තිබ්බේ බින්දුවට වැටිලාය. මහින්ද එහෙව් රට භාර අරගෙන අවුරුදු තුනෙන් යුද්දේ ඉවර කළේය. දවස්වලින් ගත්තොත්, දවස් එක්දහස් අනූපහකින් ඉවර කළේ දවස් එකොළොස් දාහක් තිබ්බ යුද්ධයක්ය.

මහින්ද කළේ මොනවද කියලා අහන අයට ඒකම උත්තරයකට ප්‍රමාණවත්ය. ඒ කාලයේ මහින්දගේ ආණ්ඩුවට කරපු සමච්චල් කෙළවරක් නැත.
‘අලිමංකඩ යනවා කියලා පාමංකඩ යන්නේ’ කියා කීවේ රවිලාය. ‘තොප්පිගල කියන්නේ කැලෑවක්’ කිවේ රනිල්ය. ‘ඕන ගොනෙකුට යුද්ධ කරන්න පුළුවන්’ කීවේ කිරිඇල්ලය.
කරපු සියලු උපහාස අපහාස මැද මහින්ද රට නිදහස් කළා කියන්නේ මිනිස්සුය.

දැන් මේ තියෙන්නේත් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය ප්‍රමුඛ යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුවක්ය. එදයි අදයි වෙනසක් නැත. ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ ‘කෙලිමඩුවක්’ වෙච්ච රටක් මිසක් ජාතිකත්වයක් සහිත රටක් දැන් නැත. ආණ්ඩුව උජාරුවෙන් කීවේ දැන් ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්බාධක ඉවරයි කියලාය. හැබැයි හිටපු හමුදාපති ජගත් ජයසූරිය ගැන ආන්දෝලනාත්මක කතාබහක් ඇවිල්ලා තිබේ. තැන තැන කියන ‘ලිස්සා යෑම්’ හැරුණුකොට ඒ ගැන කෙළින් ස්ථාවරයක් එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයට නැත.

මේ ආණ්ඩුවේ තියෙන්නේත් ‘2001 රටාවමය’.
2025 පොහොසත් රටක් හදන බව කියන්නේ ජනපති අගමැති දෙන්නම එකට ඉන්න වේදිකාවේය. ඒක එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ ආර්ථික සැලැස්මය. හැබැයි 2020 වෙනකම්වත් ආණ්ඩුව ‘යහතින්’ යනවා නම් ඒක ලොකු දෙයක්ය.
‘2025 පොහොසත් රටක් අපි හදා ගන්නම්. 2025 වෙනකොටවත් දෙයියනේ කියලා තොලොංචි වෙලා පලයල්ලා. නැත්නම් අපි එළවනවා’ කියා සමහරු කියන්නේ ‘ඉවසලා බැරිම තැනය.’

එනකොටම ‘මහාපරිමාණ වංචාවකින්’ වැඩ පටන්ගත්ත මේ ආණ්ඩුව තවදුරටත් ‘යහගමනක්’ යයි කියා හිතන්නට කිසිම සාධාරණ හේතුවක් පේන්නට නැත. විහිළු සපයන එකයි, ඇනකොටා ගන්න එකයි, සම්පත් විකුණා දැමිල්ලයි ඇර වෙන දෙයක් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්න පුළුවන්කමක් ඇත්තේම නැත.
මේ ආණ්ඩුව පවතින්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා නිසාමය. ඔහු නොවන්නට මේ ආණ්ඩුව හත අට වතාවක් පෙරළන්නට කල්ය. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් පක්ෂයකට ආණ්ඩු කරන්නට වසර 5ක් ලැබේ. ඒ පහ තුළ රටක් හදන්නට හොඳටම කල් ප්‍රමාණවත්ව. එහෙත් දේශද්‍රෝහී පාලන තන්ත්‍රයකට රටක් විනාශ කරන්න අවුරුද්දක් ඇතිය. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය කියන්නේ වැඩි කලක් බලයේ ඉන්නට සුදුසු නැති එකක් බව ඔප්පු කරලා ඉවරය.

ගෙදර යැවිය යුතු ආණ්ඩුව රඳවා තබාගෙන ඉන්නේ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ‘බලය’ නිසාය.
ඕනෑම දැවැන්ත බලයක් ඕනෑම තීරණාත්මක මොහොතක පෙරළෙන බව ඉතිහාසය සේම වර්තමානයත් උදාහරණ සපයමින් සිටී. මහින්දගේ ආණ්ඩුවේ ‘බලගතුම’ මොහොතේ වරක් ජවිපෙ ටිල්වින් සිල්වා මෙහෙම කීවේය.

‘මැදමුලනේයි, කොල්ලුපිටියේයි හාමු මහත්තුරු විශ්වාස කරන්නේ රාජ්‍ය බලය පිළිබඳව නම්, ඒ කියන්නේ ආයුධ පිළිබඳව නම්, අපි කියනවා අපි විශ්වාස කරන්නේ ජන බලය පිළිබඳව කියලා. ජන බලය ඉස්සරහ දණ නොගහපු කවුරුත් මේ ලෝකේ නෑ මහත්තයෝ.
අපි නුදුරේදීම හදනවා ධනපති විරෝධී, අධිරාජ්‍ය විරෝධී, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ජනතා මධ්‍යස්ථානය. එතකන් රට කන්න. එතකන් ණය ගන්න. එතකන් බඩ පිනුම් ගහන්න. හැබැයි මතක තියා ගන්න. එහෙම හදලා ඒ මහජන සටන ඔයාලා අවුරුදු පහෙන් පනට ලැගලා ඉන්න අරලියගහ මන්දිරය කියන ගුබ්බෑයම ඉස්සරහට ගේනවා. අන්න එදාට හාමුලා ඔයාලා ගේන්න ඔයාලගේ බලය. අපි ගේන්නම් ජනබලය.

හැප්පිලා බලමු.
ඔයාලා අපේ පන්තිය තීරු තීරුවලට බෙදුවා. සිංහල, මුස්ලිම්, දෙමළ, බර්ගර්, මැලේ, බෞද්ධ, හින්දු, ඉස්ලාම්, කතෝලික මේ හැම විදියටම බෙදිලා ඉන්න අපේ පන්තියේ මිනිසුන් අපි එක සටන් මධ්‍යස්ථානයකට එකතු කරනවා. මහත්තයෝ, එදාට කඳවුරු දෙකයි ඉන්නේ! වැඩකරන ජනතාවගේ කඳවුරත්, ධනපති හාමුලා දෙන්නගේ කඳවුරත් කියන මේ දෙක විතරයි. අපිට 99%යි, හාමුලට 1% අන්න ඒ දවස වැඩි අෑතක නෑ. අන්න එදාට ඔයාලා දෙන්නට යන්න වෙන්නෙත් කලින් හිටපු පාලකයෝ ගිය පාරෙම තමයි.’

ඒ කතාව මේ මහත්තුරුත් හිතේ තියාගෙන ඉන්නවා නම් බොහොම හොඳය.

By Dr. Tilak S Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

We arrived at the Angunna Badulla Junior School in Matara, where 139 students from poor village families get an education. The school Principal M.A Jayasiri, introduced us to three deserving students in need of medical attention.

Among the three was a six-year-old boy, Dilshan, whom we were especially interested in, after seeing him on a TV programme and the way he did his homework, on the floor under a kerosene lamp. Then there was seven year old Deduni and nine-year-old Sajini, who has suffered a sudden stroke and has been confined to a wheel chair.

The school Principal has taken upon himself to ensure that these poor youngsters get their school uniforms supplied to them, with the kind generosity of his staff members and with voluntary philanthropic assistance to the “Angunna Badulla Junior School Development Fund” He has already arranged a full supply of books for all of the 139 children, covering the academic year 2018.

Deduni lives with her parents in a house built on crown land in Wellatota, Paalatuwa. Her parents find it difficult to pay for her medical expenses out of her father’s income as a labourer. Up to May 2016, she had been attending school as a normal healthy girl, but after a sudden illness, she had been rushed to the Karapitiya Hospital for treatment. After the initial treatment in Galle, she had been taken to Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo, with the financial assistance from school Principal and his staff and, including the small kind donations from Deduni’s schoolmates. Deduni was treated at the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital for five continuous months during which period her mother had to be with her 24/7, attending to her personal care, while the medical care was provided by the hospital staff.

Deduni’s medical history shows that she was seen by Neurosurgeon Professor Geethangi Wanigasinghe at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital and on 8 November 2016, Dr. Mrs. S.H. Monika de Silva, Consultant Rheumatologist, at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital, has confirmed Deduni as ‘a child with development regression, seizures disorder and visual impairment, following an acute episode of encephalitis’. She was due to visit the hospital again for “follow up procedures on Rehabilitation in the DDR clinic”, however, it was not clear whether her parents managed to take the child as requested, due to high transport costs, from her village in Matara to the Lady Ridgeway Children’s Hospital in Colombo.At the time of the writer’s visit to the village school, a letter of appeal, dated 10 October 2016, by Deduni’s father, was on display for the benefit of all enthusiastic volunteer donors. It specifically mentioned how the Principal of Angunna Badulla Junior School and how staff members and a few of Deduni’s school mates had assisted the family during the initial treatment; also highlighted the parents inability to cope financially with their daughter’s medical expenses and welfare, due to their poor income. Deduni’s eyesight was getting affected gradually, and the need for her to attend the eye hospital in Colombo for treatment appeared to be vital. The letter was validated with signatures of Sarathchandra Witharana, Divineguma Development Officer (312 Wellatota), Grama Niladhari (349B Division, Meegoda), Matara, and Principal M.A. Jayasiri.

The poor family lives in a house built on State land in Wellatota, up on an elevation with winding pathways full of pot holes and ‘hairpin’ bends. In an emergency, a vehicle or ambulance has no easy access to the house.The vehicle has to be parked a few metres below the house, and she has to be carried to the vehicle, along the craggy path, with her wheel chair, that is not at all easy even for the fittest.

Sajini

Nine-year-old Sajini was the third student deserving assistance.She had been born with birth deformities of an imperfect mouth, hip, leg, and an eye. She lives with her single mother. According to the Principal, her mother, being illiterate and immature, is incompetent on how to seek medical assistance! The catch twenty-two question is, whether society will turn a blind eye to her pathetic condition and allow her to grow up in that manner, and even if she were to come out with flying colours at the end of her education, will she be exposed to social stigma and be discriminated? There are so many charitable and benevolent Sri Lankans and also expatriate associations who specifically concentrate on medical work to qualify for tax entitlements for any type of donations. Australia-Sri Lanka Medical Aid Team (AuSLMAT) and Sri Lanka Medical Association North America SLMANA are two such groups, who are involved in helping the deserving and the ignored in Sri Lanka.

AuSLMAT has been helping Sri Lankans ever since the tsunami disaster. Usually a team of doctors arrives in Sri Lanka annually, and visits various district hospitals holding medical camps et al. They are due to arrive again, in July 2018. In response to the writer’s Saturday Column (18 November) highlighting a family ‘living in latrine conditions’, a member of the SLMANA is expected to arrive in Sri Lanka shortly, and a tour of Matara District has been arranged, especially to visit this family in distress and need.
A big ‘thank you’, is therefore, due to the SLMANA for already finding ‘4 donors from LA, who are willing to help build a house for the family, living in a makeshift home in a latrine’. The writer will accompany the visiting SLMANA representative, on 1 December to facilitate the expatriate to see for himself, firsthand, the atrocious living conditions of this destitute family.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

By Lucien Rajakarunanayake Courtesy The Island

Ranil Wickremesinghe did get a good score by being the first Prime Minister to present himself before a commission of inquiry, with a huge retinue of ministers of all ranks, and other UNP politicians; the cheerleaders who had no place to cheer. He also had the deference of the Attorney General himself present to lead his evidence, with considerable calm and regard, unlike when others were questioned, deservedly.

But, the Prime Minister, in fact, had little cause for joy. The issue of conflict of interest, which has been at the very core of the Treasury Bond scandal, was staring him right in the face, which he had admitted in his affidavits, too. There was little he could say, other than an unverified claim that there had been a general consensus within the Government that Arjuna Mahendran should be appointed to the post of Governor of the Central Bank.

How was the consensus built? Did it have the support of President Sirisena, the leader of the Government, and all Cabinet Ministers? The Attorney General saw no need to pursue this line, respectful as he was.

Even if there had been such a consensus, at the initial stage, why did he have to keep insisting on Arjuna Mahendran remaining the Central Bank Governor, even after the second major bond scam in 2016? What of the clear confrontation with the President over the need to replace him, and the President had to prevail, by appointing Dr. Coomaraswamy?

The Prime Minister admitted to the reality of a conflict of interest, with Arjun Aloysius, son-in-law of the Governor Mahendran, being so closely involved with the Treasury bond dealer, Perpetual Treasuries. Let’s give due credit to the PM for informing Governor Mahendran of this conflict of interest. But, what was the cause for the absence of any action when it was clear the Central Bank father-in-law had reneged on any assurance to sever links with the Perpetual son-in-law, involving Treasury bonds? This is a conflict of interest of major proportions that remains.

What was and is the need to have such a person who did not live up to his “assurance” to deal with the “in-law” conflict of interest, within the administrative structure of the government, and within the Prime Minister’s domain?

The media buzz today is all about the UNP members of COPE who had telephonic contact/dealings with Perpetual Aloysius, while the COPE inquiry was on. We do remember all the concerns they raised by wanting to place footnotes to the COPE report, giving the impression that COPE was going on a course that was in conflict with the UNP thinking on related matters. COPE Chairman, Sunil Handunnetti, even told of the necessity to resign. All that was also a major example of conflict of interest, which did not seem to bother Prime Minister Wickremesinghe.

Is there much doubt that those planned footnotes were an attempt to show that the father-in-law Arjuna was not responsible for any wrong or suspicious and wholly incorrect acts of the son-in-law Perpetual?

The phone links that UNP COPE members had with Perpetual do not seem much different to the contacts that Prime Minister, too, had with this stuff of the conflict of interest. These were not on the phone, but at parties – where the PM was told by Aloysius that his interests were moving towards Mendis Distilleries. There does not seem to be a need to say ‘cheers” – because the conflict of interest remained!

The Prime Minister had his hour of political glory that his party is making a big boast of, including posters covering the walls all over about a fearless PM; but such glory has limitations when the causes of the conflict – of interest and of corruption, still remain. What is the need to have the Central Bank of Sri Lanka under the Prime Minister, when all these years it was under the Ministry of Finance.? It could be that there were concerns about the former Very Forgetful Minister of Finance … Has the situation not changed?

Moving on to another conflict of interest, what action has been taken about Ravi Karunanayake, as Minister of Finance, asking State Bank chairmen to bid low at the Treasury Bond auctions.

If the UNP is so committed to fighting corruption, as we are often told, why is Ravi Karunanayake so crookedly forgetful, still in the leading ranks of the party?

The conflict of interest on in-law connections that have clearly broken the norms and laws of decency will continue to taint the UNP and its leadership. What is even worse is the uncleared Conflict of Corruption that prevails. The Conflict of Perpetual Interest!

by Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

Attorney General Jayantha Jayasuriya has agreed to submit a motion calling for the early hearing of the petition filed before the Court of Appeal against the gazette related to local government polls.

The AG’s agreement was announced at the special party leaders’ meeting yesterday evening at the Parliament complex.  He would call for the hearing of the case on Nov 30, party sources said.

The AG told the party leaders that he would submit his motion on Monday (27).

The party leaders’ meeting was held with Speaker Karu Jayasuriya presiding at his office. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, came directly from the airport after returning from India, to attend the meeting. Chairman of the Elections Commission Mahinda Deshapriya also attended the meeting.

The party leaders submitted various proposals, according to sources.

There were two main proposals––one for expediting the judicial process and the other for submitting to Parliament a substantive motion to pass a law to rectify the delay caused by the error in the gazette.

The Chairman of the Elections Commission stated that elections should be held to 133 local government bodies which had not been affected by the gazette. He said would discuss the matter at the next meeting of the Elections Commission, according to sources.

තිලක් සේනාසිංහ උපුටා ගැන්ම ලක්බිම

ඔහු මධ්‍යම පළාතේ වාණිජ බැංකුවක කළමණාකරුවෙකි.  ඔහුගේ වයස අවුරුදු 45 ක් පමණ වේ. ක්‍රිස්තියානි පියෙකුට දාව බෞද්ධ මවකගේ කුසින් උපන් ඔහු අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා ඇත්තේ කන්ද උඩරට සුප්‍රකට කිතුණු පාසලකය. මව අනුව යමින් බෞද්ධ වත් පිළිවෙත් කෙරෙහි මහත් ඇල්මක් දැක්වූ ඔහු ඉන් පසුව බුදු දහම පිළිබඳ පොත පත කියවීමට ද යොමු වී ඇත. මේ වන විට විවාහක දෙදරු පියෙකු වන ඔහු ඉතා යහපත් සමාජ ආර්ථික පසුබිමකින් යුත් අයෙකි. ඔහුගේ බිරිඳද රජයේ උසස් තනතුරක් හොබවන්නියකි. සාමාන්‍ය ජීවිතයේ දී ඉතා ප්‍රසන්න ඇවතුම් පැවතුම් සහිත ඔහු තම බැංකුවට ගණුදෙනු කරුවන් ළංකර ගැනීමට රුසියෙකි.

එසේ තමන් හමුවට එන ධනවත් ව්‍යාපාරිකයන්ට ජීවිතය, සමාජය, ලෝකය ගැන විවිධ පාඩම් කියා දෙන මෙම බැංකු කළමණාකරු ඉන්පසුව ජීවිතයේ අනිත්‍ය බව, සංසාරය ආදිය පිළිබඳවද ඔවුනට  නොයෙකුත් ධර්ම කරුණු කියා දෙයි. ඔහුගේ මෙම කරුණු පහදාදීමේ හැකියාව කොතෙක්ද යත් කිසිදු ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ  නමකටවත් ඔහු තරම් හොඳින් දම් දෙසිය නොහැකි බව පවසන්නෝද හිඟ නොවෙති. මෙසේ තමන් ලත් බුදු දහම පිළිබඳ දැනුමෙන් ජීවිතයේ අනිත්‍ය බව, සංසාරය සහ නිර්වාණය පිළිබඳව දහම් කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කරන ඔහු තමන්ට අතිශය සමීප වූවන්ට මෙබඳු දහමක් දෙසයි.

“දැනට අපි බුදු දහම කියලා හඳුන්වන දේ පිරිසිදු බුදු දහම නොවේ. පිරිසිදු බුදු දහම පොත පතින් වත්, කවුරුන් කියන දේකින් වත් ඉගෙන ගන්න බැහැ. ඒක ඉබේටම ප්‍රඥාවට නතුවෙන්න ඕන දෙයක්. මීළඟට බුදු වෙන මෛත්‍රී බුදුහාමුදුරුවො ගැන බණ පොත් වල තිබෙන කාරණා පට්ටපල් බොරු. නමුත් මුළු බෞද්ධ සමාජයම ඒවයින් මුලා වෙලා තියෙන්නේ. වැඩි දෙනෙකුට නොකියනව නම් මම ඒ ගැන වැදගත් රහසක් කියන්නම්.”

බැංකු කළමණාකරු තම ගණුදෙනු කරුවන් අතරින් තමන්ට වඩාත් සමීපතම වූවන්ට එසේ කියා මෙලෙස ද කියයි.

 “මම තමයි මෛත්‍රී බුදුහාමුදුරුවො හැටියට ඊළඟට ‍ලෝකෙට පහළ වෙන්න ඉන්නෙ. නමුත් මේ කථාවට වැඩි ප්‍රසිද්ධියක් දෙන්න එපා. කවුරුවත් ඒක විශ්වාස කරන එකක් නැහැ.”

 කෙසේ හෝ තමන් හමුවට පැමිණි ධනවත් ව්‍යාපාරිකයක් කිහිප දෙනෙකුට ඔහු හෙළි කළ මෙම විස්මිත රහස එම ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් අතරේ මුනුමුනුවක් සේ ශීඝ්‍රයෙන් පැතිරෙන්නට විය. අවසානයේ එම බැංකු කළමණාකරු ලවාම ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් වැඩි විස්තර දැන ගැනීමට එම ව්‍යාපාරික කිහිපදෙනෙකුට අවශ්‍ය විය. එනිසා තම හිතමිතුරු පවුල් වල පිරිසක් එක්ව මහනුවරට නොදුරු මහවැලි ගඟ ආසන්නයේ තිබූ සංචාරක නිකේතනයක ඔවුහු මෙම ‘මතු බුදුවන බෝසතාණන්’ ගේ දෙසුමක් සංවිධානය කළහ.

 එවිට ඊට එක්වූ ඔහු කියා සිටියේ මෙම දෙසුම සංවිධානය කරන ලද්දේ සාංසාරික වශයෙන් මෛත්‍රී බුදුන් වන තමන් හමුවේ මතු නිවන් දැකීමට පෙරුම්පුරා සිටින මහා භාග්‍යවන්තයින් පිරිසක් බවය. ඒ අනුව එම දෙසුම අවසානයේ ඔහු විසින් ඔවුනට ‘නිල තල’ ප්‍රදානයක් ද සිදුකරන ලදී.

 ඒ අතර සැරියුත් හිමියන් වශයෙන් එක් පුද්ගලයෙකු නම් කරන ලද අතර මුගලන් හිමියන් වශයෙන් තව පුද්ගලයෙකු නම් කරන ලදී. ඉන් පසුව සුදවුන් රජු, මහාමායා දේවිය, අනේ පිඬු සිටු තුමා, කොසොල් රජතුමා ආදී නිළ තල ද ඔහු විසින් පත් කරන ලද අතර ඊට අමතරව විශාකාව, සුජාතාව, මල්ලිකාව, ආදී වශයෙන් තවත් තනතුරු කිහිපයක් ඔහු විසින්ම ප්‍රදානය කරන ලදී.

ඉන්පසුව ඊළඟ මාසයේත් එම හෝටලයේම පෙරවරුවක මෙම දහම් හමුව පැවැත්වීමටත්; එය අවසානයේ එම දහම් හමුවට එක්වන පිරිස සඳහා නිර්මාංශ ආහාර වේලක් ලබා දීමටත්; එසේ ඔහු වෙතින් නව තනතුරු ලත් ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් කිහිප දෙනෙක් ඉදිරිපත් වූහ. ඒ අනුව දෙවන දහම් හමුවේ දී ඊට තවත් ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් කිහිපදෙනෙකු එක් වූ අතර ඔවුහු මෙම දහම් හමුව දැඩිව විවේචනය කරන්නට වූහ. ඒ මෙය මුළුමනින් බෞද්ධ විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවක් බව පවසමිනි.  එවිට එසේ ‘මතු බුදු වන බෝසතාණන්’ එසේ විවේචනය කළ පිරිස දේවදත්ත, චිංචිමානවිකාව, සච්චක බමුණා ලෙස නම් කරමින් ඔවුන් ඒ දහම් හමුවෙන් පිටමං කරන ලද්දේ තම අනුගාමිකයන්ගේ සාධුකාර හඬ මධ්‍යයේය.

කෙසේ හෝ ඉන්පසු සෑම මාසයකම පෙරවරුවේ මෙම දහම් හමුව පැවැති අතර ඒ සඳහා මූල්‍ය අනුග්‍රහය ලබා දීමට ඔහුගේ මීළඟ බුදු සසුනේ තනතුරු ලත් ව්‍යාපාරිකයින් කිහිප දෙනෙක් ඉදිරිපත් වූහ.

මෙම බැංකු කළමණාකරුගේ අනුගාමිකයන් අතරින් ප්‍රමුඛතම සාමාජිකයෙකුගේ නැන්දනිය මිය යන ලද්දේ ඔය අතරය. ඉන් පසු එහි හත් දවසේ මතක බණ සඳහා මෙම පිරිස සමඟ එම ‘මතු බුදු වන බෝසතාණන්’ ද සහභාගී විය. එදින එම දම් දෙසුම පැවැත් වූ හිමි නම මෛත්‍රී බුදුන් ගේ පහළ වීම පිළිබඳව යමක් කීමට සූදානම් වූවා පමණි; බණ අසන පිරිසේ සිටි ‘බෝසතානෝ’ හනික අසුනෙන් නැගී සිටියහ.

“අනේ හාමුදුරුවනේ; පින් සින්ද වෙයි ඔය පට්ට පල් බොරු නවත්ත ගන්න; මෙතන ඉන්න කිසිම කෙනෙක් ඒවා විශ්වාස කරන්නේ නැහැ.”

ඔහු කෑ ගසන්නට විය.

නමුත් ‍එම මිය ගිය කාන්තාවගේ පවුලේ ඥාතීන් සහ සෙසු ඥාති මිත්‍රාදීන් මෙම ‘බෝසතාණන්’ පිළිබඳ නොදැන සිටීම නිසා ඔහු එම පිරිසෙන් ගුටි නොකා බේරුණේ අනූ නමයෙනි.

එසේම මෙම කලහය අතරට පැමිණි ‘බෝසතාණන්ගේ’ බිරිඳ මෙසේ කීවාය.

“මගේ මහත්තයා හැම අතින්ම හොඳ කෙනෙක්; නමුත් මෙයා හිතාගෙන ඉන්නේ එයා මතු බුදු වන මෛත්‍රී බෝධි සත්වයෝ කියලා. මෙයා ඉන්න හැටියට ඒක අහන සමහරු ඒක පිළිගන්නවා. නමුත් අපිට නම් තේරෙනවා මෙයාගේ මොකක් හරි මානසික විකෘතියක් කියලා. කොහොමත් අපි වුණත් එයාගේ මතයට විරුද්ධ වෙච්ච හැටිය එයා පුදුම විදිහට කේන්ති ගන්නවා.”

බිරිඳගේ එම ප්‍රකාශය හමුවේ ඔහු කියා සිටියේ තම බිරිඳ සාංසාරික වශයෙන් තමන්ට සතුරුව ක්‍රියා කරන්නියක බවත් තමන් බුද්ධත්වයට පත්වූ පසුද ඇය තමන්ට සතුරුකම් කරන බවත්ය.

ඒ කෙසේ හෝ මේ පුද්ගලයාට වැළඳී ඇත්තේ ‘අභිමාන මෝහය’ (Grandiose Delusion) නම් මානසික රෝගය බවත් එම රෝගය වැළඳුණු අය හට සාමාන්‍ය ජීවිතයේ සෙසු කටයුතු වල දී ‍එය බල නොපාන බවත් එහි පැමිණ සිටි ඒ පිළිබඳව තතු දත් අයෙකු පහදා දුන් අතර ඔහු වැඩිදුටත් කියා සිටියේ මෙම පුද්ගලයන් මෙසේ  තමන් එල්බ ගත් වැරදි විශ්වාසය පදනම් කර ගත් කරුණේ දී පමණක් අතිශය සංවේදී වන බවත් කෝප වන බවත් ය. ඒ කෙසේ හෝ මනෝ වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු හමුවී කලක් ප්‍රතිකාර ගතහොත් ඔහුගේ මෙම මානසික විකෘති තාවය දුරු වෙතැයි ඇතැමුන් පැවසුවද ඒ සඳහා ඔහුගේ අනුගාමිකයන් මේ දක්වා ඔහුට කිසිදු අවසරයක් දී නැත. ඊට හේතුව ඔහුගේ එම මානසික රෝගය සුව වුවහොත් ඔහු පවසන ඊළඟ බුදු සසුනේ තමන්ට හිමි තනතුරු අහිමි වන නිසාද විය හැක.

තිලක් සේනාසිංහ

සිදත් මෙන්ඩිස් උපුටාගැණීම  මව්බිම

බැඳුම්කර වංචාව පිළිබඳ අඛණ්ඩව පරීක්‍ෂණ පවත්වාගෙන යා යුතු බවටත්, කොමිසමේ වාර්තාව ජනවාරි මස 08 වැනිදා ජනාධිපතිවරයා වෙත ලැබුණු පසු අධිකරණ ක්‍රියාමාර්ගවලට යොමුවිය යුතු බවටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාවේදී තීරණය කළ බව එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ මහ ලේකම් අමාත්‍ය මහින්ද අමරවීර මහතා පැවැසීය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්‍ෂ මූලස්ථානයේ ඊයේ (23දා) පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී අමාත්‍යවරයා කියා සිටියේ පෙරේදා (22දා) රැස්වූ නිදහස් පක්‍ෂ මධ්‍යම කාරක සභාවේදී මෙම එකඟතාවට පැමිණි බවයි.

බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම පත්කිරීම පිළිබඳ ආණ්ඩුවේ සිටින ඇතැම් ඇමැතිවරුන් පවා ජනාධිපතිවරයාට චෝදනා එල්ල කරන බවත් හොරුන් ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමට විවිධ චෝදනා එල්ල කිරීම බරපතළ වරදක් බවත් අමරවීර මහතා එහිදී පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

පිරිසුදු ආණ්ඩුව තුළ අපිරිසුදු දේවල් සිදුවූ බවත් එවැනි අපිරිසුදු තැන් පිරිසුදු කිරීමට ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන මහතා නොබියව කටයුතු කරන බවත් හතෙම සඳහන් කෙළේය.