By Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge

The word autism was coined by the Swiss Psychiatrist Eugine Bleuler in 1910. In 1938, Hans Asperger of the Vienna University Hospital adopted Bleuler’s terminology and in 1981 the Clinical Community widely recognized Autism as a separate diagnosis. Autism is classified as a Pervasive Developmental Disorder affecting young children and adults in which impaired development in communication, social interaction and behaviour are more pronounced. The degree of autism can range from mild to severe.

According to the DSM4 (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) the essential features of Autistic Disorder are the presence of markedly abnormal or impaired development in social interaction and communication and a markedly restricted repertoire of activity and interests. Manifestations of the disorder vary greatly depending on the developmental level and age of the individual.

What causes Autism?

Some researches have speculated the genetic basis in Autism. Although some have queried childhood vaccines as the causing agent the vaccine hypotheses lack any convincing scientific evidence. Therefore, contemporary views deny the vaccine theory.

There have been numerous studies and theories about the cause of Autism. Researchers believe it is multifactoral. Abnormal development of the brain inborn errors of metabolism and viral effects are under speculation. Recent studies have found that the gene for at least one kind of familial autism may be on chromosome 13. The holistic view highlights combination of environmental (including infections, toxins, nutrition) and genetic factors contribute to the development of autism.

The prevalence of Autism

The prevalence of the Autistic Spectrum Disorder is about 6 per 1,000 people with about four times as many boys as girls. (Rutter M 2005). Higher numbers of cases have been reported since 1980 may be due to awareness and sophisticated diagnostic tools, but some point out environmental pollution and a higher range of artificial chemicals in food affects the genetic factor. Autism can cause structural and functional changes in the brain. Therefore, symptoms tend to continue through adulthood.

Risk Factors

Autism affects children of all races and nationalities. Studies show that boys are three to four times more likely to develop autism than girls are. Families who have one child with autism have an increased risk of having another child with the disorder. Research increasingly suggests that having an older father may increase a child’s risk of autism. One large study showed that children born to men 40 years or older were almost six times more likely to have autism spectrum disorder than were children born to men younger than 30 years.

Main features of Autism

Autism typically appears during the first three years of life. Autistic children show less attention to social stimuli, a reciprocal smile, (often not responding to their names), less attachment towards their caregivers, meagre eye contact. Sometimes Autism is associated with aggression, destruction of property, and tantrums .Children with a history of language impairment can go into tantrums quite frequently. Autistic children can display many forms of stereotyped (hand flapping, head rolling, or body rocking), compulsive behaviour (follow strict rules such as arranging objects, resistance to change), repetitive behaviour, ritualistic behaviour and restricted behaviour (limited in focus, interest, or activity) Autistic children fail to form the normal social contacts. Affected behaviours can include facial expressions and body postures as well. Although Autistic individuals demonstrate affection and bonding may differ from others, many are capable of exhibiting in their own way. They find difficult to develop normal peer and sibling relationships. Habitually the child seems isolated. Affected children have little interest in normal age-appropriate activities. Deficits in language comprehension include the inability to understand simple directions, questions, or commands. Sometimes hypersensitivity to sensory input through vision, hearing, or touch is associated.

How to Diagnose

A qualified child Psychiatrist must make the diagnosis after a series of clinical observations. Early diagnosis is important because early intervention can be recommended. Comprehensive assessment and evaluation must be done to establish the diagnosis and determine the level of deviation.

Treatment of Autism

There is no magic bullet for the treatment of Autism. Treatment models are designed for the educational and clinical settings. Treatment options may include different modes.

Behavioural and communication therapies

Behaviour analysis should be done via careful longitudinal and sometime surreptitious observations. Behaviour analysis would help the therapist to modify the erroneous behaviour. Modification of the environment would help the child to minimize unwanted and disturbing stimuli. Creating a safety environment around the child is essential.

Some autistic children have accident-prone features. The child should be exposed to favourable stimuli that would enhance his communication skills and cognitive development. Behaviour modifications focus on reducing problem behaviours and teaching new skills. Other programmes focus on teaching children how to act in social situations or how to communicate better with other people.

Speech Therapy

Some autistic children lack marked impairment in speech and language skills. Speech and language therapies have been developed to address the range of social and language difficulties associated with autism.

The chief focus of skill development for children with autism is communication because it is the most pervasive area of developmental delay. Communication is most crucial for socialization and cognitive development, and it relates to the occurrence of problem behaviours.

Instruction in communication is designed to provide a generative tool that will serve many immediate needs throughout the child’s life.

Drug therapies

Sometimes medication has been prescribed to control repetitive and aggressive behaviours. Medication should be prescribed by a qualified Physician after intricate clinical analysis.

Educational therapies

Children with autism often respond well to highly structured educationprograms. These educational programmes are geared to improve reading skills, writing skills and develop mathematical ability. Children with autism often respond well to highly structured education programmes.

Successful programmes often include a team of specialists and a variety of activities to improve social skills, communication and behaviour.

Educational Psychologists advise autistic children should be placed in a mainstreamed classroom to absorb vicarious learning from the healthy children and minimize social discrimination. Apart from the normal educational programme, autistic children need extra lesions and special educational therapy. In educational therapeutic environment autistic children are benefited by Speech language therapy, Social skills therapy, Occupational therapy, Sensory Integration therapy and

Integrated Cognitive therapy.

Art and Music Therapy

Autistic children have aesthetic skills that can be aroused in therapeutic settings for growth promotion. Art Therapy provides them to express themselves creatively and artistically, using a wide variety of art materials. The power of music should not be undermined in the treatment. It can be used as a healer, relaxation mode and to reduce impulsivity.

Play therapy

Play therapy enhances autistic children’s own interests or obsessions to develop relationships and social/communication skills. Various colourful toys can be used to pick the child’s interest and attention.

Play therapy builds reciprocal skills, imaginative skills and sometimes-abstract thinking skills (putting together puzzles, solving problems) give knowledge and enjoyment as well.

Diet and Vitamin Therapy

As a complementary approach, some researchers recommend diet, vitamins, and minerals to affected children. Professor Vevskaya a researcher in Spectrum Disorders recommends natural food supplements without artificial ingredients for Autistic children since food allergies can negatively affect the metabolism. Some Australian researchers too concur and in addition, recommend natural bees honey as a good food source for these children.

How to ease parental stress

Parents are often devastated when they hear that the child is being diagnosed with Autism. Parents too need counselling on how to cope with an autistic child and they should be taught how to enjoy the child’s ongoing success and not to compare him with other children, not to be over vigilant about child’s behaviour in public. With appropriate treatment and guidance the child can successfully become himself which is worth to them the whole wide world.

Autistic children can be trained as fun lovers. Sitting and cuddling together, tickling, hugging give more warmth, affection and ease to the parents rather than thinking and suffering. Other families struggling with the challenges of autism can be a source of useful advice. Many communities have support groups for parents and siblings of children with autism. Do not regard other people’s opinions and comments. The autistic child has a mind of his own even enjoying the childishness of his autistic behaviour would give more satisfaction and stress release to the parent.

Parents are the best Teachers

Autistic individuals must be taught how to communicate and interact with others. Parents of an autistic child must continually educate themselves and help the child to develop. Parents are the best mentors if trained properly to handle autistic children.

Gifted Features in Autism

Every person on the autism spectrum is unique. About 10% of people with autism have some form of gifted features such as memorizing lists, calculating calendar dates, drawing, or musical ability. The famous Hollywood movie Rain Man (starring Dustin Hoffman) narrates a series of gifted and specific abilities of an Autistic person.

Therefore, the parents should discover and improve the stereotyped gifted feature in the child rather than comparing and judging him.

Editorial Courtesy The Island

September 26, 2017, 8:31 pm

What we witnessed last Wednesday was, not to put too fine a point on it, gang rape of democracy. The Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has frowned on the manner in which the yahapalana government secured the passage of the Provincial Council Elections (Amendment) Bill. It has issued a media statement inveighing against the government for contravening the due legislative process.

The passage of the aforesaid Bill is, in our book, the legislative version of the Treasury bond scams. The BASL has said it will take up the issue with President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. That will surely be an exercise in futility because what the government did in a desperate bid to postpone the PC polls, which its fears, obviously had their blessings. Meeting the President and the PM over this blatant undemocratic act with a view to having the situation remedied is akin to powwowing with Aloysius and Mahendran on the bond scams!

Let the BASL be told in no uncertain terms that firing paper missiles at the yahapalana leaders, who are intoxicated with power and, therefore, impervious to criticism, won’t do if it is really desirous of knocking some sense into them. The BASL is duty bound to goad this regime into respecting parliamentary traditions and desisting from crippling democracy and, above all, causing affronts to the dignity of the Supreme Court because it was at the forefront of a campaign to bring the present-day leaders to power. The apex court has received a thundering slap across its face at the hands of the yahapalana bigwigs who pontificate on the virtues of good governance ad nauseam. Never have the national legislature and the judiciary been insulted in manner! The BASL top guns must take up this issue both locally and internationally and, do everything in its power, to rein it the monster it helped create.

The government has set a very dangerous precedent; it introduced a Bill purportedly to increase female representation in the PCs and, subsequently, smuggled thereinto some provisions contained in the proposed 20th Amendment, which failed to pass muster with the Supreme Court. Then, it unflinchingly had the Bill passed. This, the yahapalana leaders did, having pledged to end the practice of presenting urgent Bills, which foreclose judicial review!

Now, any leader can muster a parliamentary majority by bribing some MPs with ministerial posts etc, manipulate the composition of Parliament to ‘appoint’ a servile Opposition of his choice and have laws passed according to his whims and fancies. All he has to do is to present seemingly innocent Bills to Parliament and subsequently insert unconstitutional provisions thereinto at the committee stages before having them ratified. Hereafter, there will be no need for the government to heed the people’s right to challenge Bills in the apex court and the constitutional provision for the judiciary to review draft legislation so challenged. It may even be able to introduce a brand new Constitution without any judicial review surreptitiously.

The path is now clear for a political leader, present or future, to make laws to declare himself an emperor like Bokassa or Idi Amin.

All those who backed the PC polls (Amendment) Bill must be ashamed of themselves. They will go down in history as a bunch of self-seeking politicians who did the biggest disservice to democracy. The less said about the TNA, the better! It views all issues through the prism of federalism. The Rathu Sahodarayas also supported the Bill. Fearing elections, they are shamelessly colluding with the UNP the way they did in the late 1970s, when the JVP was derisively dubbed ‘Jayewardene Vijeweera Peramuna’. Time was when they resorted to extra-parliamentary methods to destroy democracy. It looks as if they were currently using parliamentary means to achieve that end! The Attorney General who facilitated the gang rape of democracy has no moral right to remain in his post any longer. It is a pity that he has not cared to emulate the brilliant counsel of his department, assisting the bond probe commission, fearlessly in spite of threats and political pressure.

The official Opposition is a political hermaphrodite, to say the least; it has the characteristics of both the government and the Opposition. The Joint Opposition is self-castrated; it is dead scared of taking up issues which are likely to provoke the government leaders into going the whole hog to expedite cases and investigations against its leaders and their kith and kin. Its bark is worse than its bite! No wonder the yahapalana government is surviving like Mike the Headless Chicken.

The term of the Sabaragamuwa PC has expired. But, there will be no elections thereto in the foreseeable future. The same fate will befall all other PCs sooner or later. The government has been able to postpone PC polls in this despicable manner because our Constitution doesn’t provide for the post-enactment judicial review of legislation. Anything parliament passes automatically becomes a fait accompli. A remedy is called for immediately. The BASL, the media, civil society organisations and all those who cherish democracy must campaign hard for having necessary provisions incorporated into the Constitution via an amendment forthwith to enable post-judicial review of legislation.

by Dr. Palitha Kohona Courtesy The Island

September 26, 2017, 8:47 pm

(Continued from yesterday)

On April 25, General Sarath Fonseka, the Commander of the Army, was targeted by a pregnant suicide bomber who had managed to infiltrate the military hospital compound in Colombo. He barely managed to survive and had to be airlifted to Singapore later for treatment. (He survived and led the military to its final victory). Sixteen of his body guards and bystanders were killed. With panic and fear spreading among leaders and the population alike and serious questions being asked of the usefulness of negotiations with the LTTE, I was asked to go before the TV cameras and explain the government position, and this appearance was to be followed by regular such appearances before the media, mainly the international media, over the next three years. The proscription of the LTTE by the EU which happened soon thereafter caused the LTTE to demand the withdrawal of EU members attached to the SLMM. This was followed by an outrageous atrocity when the LTTE exploded two claymore mines targeting a packed civilian bus in Kabilitigollawa. The dead exceeded 70, including pregnant women going to attend their weekly clinic. The attack on General Parami Kulatunga, Deputy Chief of Staff, killing him, caused even the SLMM to question the usefulness of the cease fire agreement. The seriousness of the LTTE in seeking a negotiated end to the conflict was very much in doubt.

A US study made available to the government of Sri Lanka at the time suggested that the LTTE would seek to take over Trincomalee which was of seminal strategic importance and was the hub from which the Jaffna peninsula was resupplied. The land route was no longer useable by the security forces. The LTTE having infiltrated and consolidated itself in the southern part of the bay, the government also set about taking necessary steps to quietly strengthen Trincomalee.

The government and its Peace Secretariat still persisted in the hope of resuming discussions with the LTTE in April or even later. For its part, active preparations continued.

With demands for the April talks being made by the Government, the LTTE asked that its Eastern leaders be permitted to consult with the Northern leadership prior to the negotiations and that they be transported in a government military helicopter. The military refused to oblige for fear of risking the safety of its helicopters. Every alternative offer made by the Government Peace Secretariat to provide transportation to the Eastern leaders to travel to the North, including by ferry, chartered helicopter and by seaplane, was rebuffed by an over-confident LTTE. The Eastern contingent once boarded the ferry provided but refused to undertake the voyage. A large chartered helicopter brought across from South Africa at great expense by Decan Air, was not used. The sea plane that was brought over from the Maldives and was flown by a Canadian pilot remained idle for weeks. The talks that the government delegation so enthusiastically anticipated, never happened.

However, the government Peace Secretariat continued to maintaining links with the Norwegian peace facilitator, by now, Jon Hansson Bauer (playfully referred to as Handsombua by the then Foreign Minister, Samaraweera). Jon Hansson Bauer asked for a private meeting with me away from the public glare to work out possible options for another round of talks with the LTTE. We agreed to meet somewhere that the local media would not notice and the LTTE would not be able to observe us. All major capitals of Europe were ruled out. Eventually we agreed to meet secretly in Barcelona where there was hardly a Sri Lankan, especially a Tamil, community. Over two days of discussions, we agreed to restart the talks, perhaps talks about the talks, at a lower level.

A Government delegation led by me, as the Secretary-General of the Peace Secretariat, went to Oslo on the invitation of the Norwegians in June 2006. A LTTE delegation led by Thamilselvam was flown to Oslo by the Norwegians. Curiously, the legal advisor of the LTTE team was the former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Shiva Pasupathi. Someone mischievously observed that the Tamils could not have been that marginalised if they could have advanced to so high a position in the judicial field in Sri Lanka. Even more curiously, Shiva Pasupathi preferred to sit with the government delegates at dinner and not with his own team. The two delegations stayed in the same hotel, dined in the same room but the LTTE just refused to come to the negotiating table. The LTTE delegation, instead spent the day playing with a frisbee on the lawn outside while the government delegation sat at the negotiating table. All efforts, including by Jon Hansson Bauer, to get the LTTE delegation to come to the table failed. There was suspicion among us that Thamilselvam came to Europe with Norwegian funding, not to engage in talks with the government delegation but to meet with LTTE leaders in Europe to brief them on the next phase of their campaign and to collect funds. It took a persistent effort on the part of the Government delegation at the end of the day to get Erik Solheim to issue a statement blaming the LTTE delegation for the talks not happening. He would have been happy to let the LTTE off the hook with no consequences for their determined effort to wreck the talks. The government delegation left Oslo that evening and returned home via London. Interestingly, Shiva Pasupathi sat next to me on the way to London (he was going on to Australia, his adopted home) and was full of disappointment that the talks did not occur.

During this period, while the government of President Rajapaksa was making every effort to engage the LTTE in a dialogue, Prabhakaran appears to have had other plans. In July, the LTTE, in an unprecedented provocative move, cut off the water supply to 65,000 farming people in the Eastern Province by occupying the Mavil Aru, which is located in the Trincomalee District. The government Peace Secretariat intervened directly with the LTTE through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission to get them to release the water as thousands of acres of paddy were beginning to wilt in the heat. The LTTE Peace Secretariat and its political wing leader Thamilselvam kept floating ideas and eventually suggested constructing a water tower to provide an equal amount of water to Tamil residents of the area. This was not a serious proposition as water for agriculture was traditionally supplied via canals and not by using a tower. The toing and froing continued until the government decided to resolve the impasse by force. A battalion of troops had to be secretly brought down from Jaffna as the government lacked troops for the operation. General Henrikson, commander of the SLMM, after having failed to convince the LTTE that they were seriously in breach of the Cease Fire Agreement by occupying Mavil Aru, suddenly got himself in to the battle zone to monitor the breaches of the Agreement by the security forces. He suggested, almost farcically, that the government by not discussing the conditions conveyed to him by the LTTE, was in breach of the ceasefire agreement. The government saw no reason to bargain on the basis of a public utility which had up to the occupation  by the LTTE served the people adequately. After 10 days of difficult fighting, the LTTE combatants were forcibly evicted by the Security Forces. The campaign was short, but bloody.

This provocation was followed by massive attacks by the LTTE on Security Forces positions, in Trincomalee, Sampur to the south of Tricomalee and Jaffna and the forcible eviction of over 54,000 Muslims from Muttur. The scenario outlined in the assessment of the US team with regard to Trincomalee was being enacted in reality. In the days prior to the attacks, leaflets were circulated in Muttur, a predominantly Muslim town, demanding that the Muslims leave. In a brazen breach of the CFA, the LTTE landed heavily armed men on the beaches of Muttur and quickly overran the naval detachment located there and shortly thereafter, the police post also withdrew. The civilians, mostly Muslims, fled en mass along the Kanthale Road. Some perishing at the hands of gun happy LTTE cadres; others being executed for collaborating with the security forces. The Ticomalee harbour was shelled from Sampur across the bay, with artillery with no regard for possible civilian casualties. Three army camps to the south of Trincomalee were attacked, including with heavy weapons.

Despite the ferocity of the attacks, the camps remained in government hands, putting the LTTE on notice that the soldiers were now willing to hold their ground and fight. A different and more determined attitude was beginning to manifest in the security forces. A massive bombardment took place across the Muhamalai line in the North and that defence line also held.

The security forces counter attacked and relieved Muttur. During this fighting, 17 volunteers with the ACF (Action Against Hunger) had defied evacuation orders and remained in their compound. Their dead bodies with bullet wounds were discovered when Muttur was relieved. However, the ACF deaths, which were subjected to an ongoing investigation by the police and by a magistrate, continued to be played up by the LTTE propaganda machine and doubts cast on the security forces. My deputy in the Peace Secretariat, Kethish Loganathan, a Tamil, was murdered on his own doorstep by the LTTE on 12 August 2006.

After expelling the LTTE from Sampur, the security forces continued to fight their way through the Eastern Province until all LTTE strong points were taken. When the security forces successfully cleared Sampur, reflecting the strong inclination of the Western media to reflect LTTE propaganda lines without verification, Dumita Luthra of the BBC ran a heart rending story of 41,000 civilians being uprooted by the security forces operation. She was forced to retract the story when the government Peace Secretariat demonstrated that there were only less than 16,000 civilians in the entire Sampur area and most of them, in fact, had remained in their homes.

The ceasefire agreement of 2002 was now reduced to a piece of paper. The government urgently, almost in panic, asked the Norwegians, Erik Solheim, to get the peace talks restarted. The inclination of President Rajapaksa still was to talk to the LTTE. In response, Jon Hanssen Bauer arrived in Sri Lanka. The Norwegians may have judged that the parity of status between the LTTE and the government which they had advocated for serious negotiations to begin, may have arrived.

Against this background, the next round of talks were convened in Geneva in October by the Norwegians. They were essentially scuttled by the LTTE walking out after a day and a morning, making impossible demands, including the reopening of the main road to Jaffna, the A9.

It was against this background of three failed attempts to engage the LTTE in talks and continuing large scale assaults on the security forces and civilians using murderous IEDs, that the Government of President Rajapaksa opted to deploy the military in strength against the LTTE. Many observers believe that Rajapaksa had been ready to make major concessions within the context of a unitary state  to achieve a negotiated end to the conflict. Despite what he has been portrayed to be, a leader bent on using force, he possessed a strong underlying sense of fair play and humanity. In this respect, the blame for not encouraging Prabhakaran also to seek a solution for any grievances of the Northern Tamils instead of seeking to recreate a Tamil kingdom through violence, terrorism and war must be shared by the Norwegians, Solheim included, who enjoyed his trust, the European and other sympsthisers, including funders providing endless resources to him. Not much effort appears to have been made to correct Prabhakaran’s myth obsessed aspirations by those enjoying his trust and confidence. So many more lives, both of the security forces and of civilians, could have been saved and the country would have advanced much more, economically, socially and politically.

(Concluded)

By Dr. Dayan jayatilleka Courtesy The Island

September 26, 2017, 8:32 pm

The report of the Steering Committee could be said to be the draft Constitution in embryo and must be understood as such. However unsatisfactorily rendered it addresses two of the oldest, most vital questions in our contemporary history and indeed that of any state. One is the ethno-national question and the other, the question of models: presidentialism vs. parliamentarism. Taken together, the two issues pertain to the nature and structure of the state itself.

One would think that given the stakes involved, the discussion would be honest and serious. Instead, the both the government, led in this instance by the Prime Minister, but not limited to him, and the opposition led by former president Rajapaksa have started off on the wrong foot. The PM has kicked off with the mega-lie that the minority parties have agreed to a unitary state. This is a lie on two counts.

Firstly, even the Tamil word in the UNP submission which is coterminous with the Report, defines the state as “one and indivisible” or “united and indivisible”, NOT as unitary. So the Sinhala word says unitary, the English word unitary appears nowhere and the Tamil word does not mean unitary at all, and says something else instead!

Secondly, the TNA’s document annexed to the Report says that Sri Lanka should be regarded as a union of provinces. When the definition is not that of a single center representing the whole, which shares power downwards and to the periphery to sub-national units, then the name of the game is not devolution within a unitary state. When the definition is of constituent components which form a union and that union is the whole, then that’s the federative principle, not the unitary one.

So, the PM, Leader of the House Lakshman Kiriella and Mano Ganeshan among others, are lying through their teeth. That is not an auspicious start for a process of such national consequence.

As for the Opposition, its national leader, former president Mahinda Rajapaksa says that there is an attempt to introduce a secular state. However the Report makes no such recommendation. Only the TNA’s document calls for a secular state. No one else has agreed to it and most call for the retention of the status quo. The UNP-drafted Report entertains two possibilities, one of which is the retention of the status quo while the other envisages a minor amendment so as to introduce the phrase non-discrimination in a multi-religious scenario in which Buddhism still retains primacy of place. Neither formula calls for anything like a secular state.

The Steering Committee report also puts paid to the debate on the unit of devolution. All the parties represented have opted for the province as the unit of devolution with the sole and quite minor exception of the JHU which opts for the district. Thus it is not merely the case that not a single Tamil or Muslim party is willing to accept the district as the unit, nor is any Southern party, except for the JHU!

The TNA of course stands for merger, while no other party does. In an irony of history, and a posthumous triumph for Vijaya Kumaratunga, Daya Pathirana, Nandana Marasinghe and other leftists who were murdered by the JVP in the latter half of the 1980s, the JVP urges that the powers conferred on the provinces should not be taken back. The TNA wants the governor to act on the advice of the Board of Ministers while most parties, including the JVP, do not want the powers of the governor diluted.

To return to the main theme of this article, that of dishonesty, I am unhappy to say that the next large piece of dishonesty comes from the place it should least come from, namely the Left. Representing one wing of the left, Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne says that the left has always stood for the abolition of the executive presidency. The JVP sings the same song. There are two dishonesties involved here. Firstly, Jayampathy ignores the issue of the unitary state except to decry the unitarist mindset of this or that section of society. The JVP seems to consider the danger to the unitary model as far less of a problem than the apparently unadulterated boon of the abolition of the executive presidency.

Jayampathy ignores the fact that the first ever global organization of the working class, namely the First International, split because of the huge fight between Marx on the one hand and the Anarchists led by Mikhail Bakunin on the other, and one of the main lines of demarcation was precisely Bakunin’s advocacy of federalism and Marx’s bitter hostility to it. If there ever was a state centralist it was Karl Marx.

Secondly, the great unitarist in Sri Lankan politics was Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, a literate Marxist and Leninist and the winner of the best prize for History throughout the British Empire. In the debate over Constitution-making in 1972, he made a brilliant exposition, completely devoid of any reference to Sinhala Buddhism, of why Sri Lanka needed a unitary form of state and could not countenance any form of federalism.

Thirdly, at the broadest ingathering of the left on the issue of constitutional and ethnic reform, namely the Political Parties Conference of July 1986, convened by President Jayewardene in response to a letter from Vijaya Kumaratunga, Vijaya, Colvin and Pieter, the giants of the democratic and rational Left, proposed provincial devolution and non-merger, within a unitary state and without advocating any change to the Presidential system.

Worst of all is the stand of the Left on the matter of the executive presidency. If there were no executive presidency in Venezuela today, the pro-US rightwing dominated Parliament would have triumphed. It is in Nicaragua and Venezuela that the two term limit on the executive presidency was abolished. Every left wing government in the world, as well as those who are not left wing but anti-hegemonic and are locatedin a left wing or progressive political culture and revolutionary heritage, have installed and retain an Executive Presidential system: China, Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Nicaragua, Bolivia, El Salvador, Uruguay and many more, including of course the great legatees of bourgeois and socialist revolutions, France and Russia. Thus the JVP, ex-left civil society freaks and remnants of the old left (such as Jayampathy W, Kumar David and factions of the CPSL and LSSP) which support or tilt towards the UNP, are engaging in the worst intellectual and ideological dishonesty when they advocate as “progressives”, “radicals” or “leftists”, the abolition of the executive presidency and soft-peddle the dilution of the unitary state.

Finally, we have the TNA, which is “betting the farm” as the phrase goes, on a new Constitution beyond 13A and its (negotiated) implementation. You bet all, you stand to lose all. Given the results of the recent German election and the rise of the Alt-Right even in a prosperous and successful country, only a foolish incumbent administration and its nihilistically irresponsible Tamil allies would opt for change that requires a referendum in an economically low growth, inflation-ridden, religio-ethnically polarized Third World society, over a reform that is more modest but much less risky, and can secure a genuinely national/island-wide all-parties consensus (a la the 19th amendment) or be passed by a two thirds majority.

Shenali D Waduge

 Why is there a hurry to pass a new constitution? Look at the parties and individuals demanding a new constitution. Everyone EXCEPT 99% of the People want a new constitution. This is quite hilarious given that to this 1% even foreign envoys and foreign NGOs are also involved. So what are they all after – POWER for themselves, their families & their henchmen and we the citizens have to foot the bill. We must firmly put our foot down and reject this. Two main reasons to reject his new constitution is that the majority of Sri Lanka’s citizens did not ask, need or want a new constitution that is tweaking everything to the advantage of a handful while those seeking it are having hidden agendas including the foreign interest groups.

Is increasing Parliament going to provide any relief to an already inefficient and ineffective Parliament? No as it is with 225 Parliament, Provincial Councils, Municipal Councils etc what is the relief or service people are getting? Even the garbage problem cannot be solved by them. People are still without roads, proper housing, proper schools, how many schools has any government built? How many university hostels has any government improved? Against this look at the costs of re-renovating their official residences and the colossal amount of money they waste for helicopter rides, escort vehicles with security waving white hands and becoming a public nuisance to us all.

Let the provinces be reminded that over and above the funds allocated to the Centre to spend on the provinces the Provincial Councils request a separate budgetary allocation and the Northern allocation has always been 2^nd to the allocation requested by the Western Province. However, at no given time has the Northern Province spent the full allocated quota on the people and the amount gets returned to the Treasury. So much for the Northern Chief Minister thundering about looking after the welfare of his people!

Why insist to change existing Unitary Constitution? The parties promoting Federalism under which confederal features are currently being craftily inserted are those whose party have propagated a separate mono-ethnic state. Why would they insist to change the Unitary Constitution otherwise? The present constitution is no impediment for the to serve their people if that is the real motive. It is because within the present unitary structure they cannot maneuver their hidden agenda. The provision to insert that the people of the provinces can decide to demerge is part of this insidious plan. Isn’t this why we should object, why should a handful of people’s hidden agendas be incorporated to a document applicable to all? We do not wish to be party to any constitution that is attempting to cut the country to pieces just so that a bunch of people can reign supreme forever over the people living in these areas.

Every new clause is controversial. Why should constitutions be changed to suit the whims and fancies of one or two controversial Chief Ministers whose credibility is at stake? Why are they eternally insisting on land powers, police powers, foreign aid, foreign relations, fiscal powers etc… ? TNA is a political proxy of the LTTE which ran its own police, own courts, had its own currency, own schools… let’s not forget this. Without exonerating TNA of LTTE links are those in power insane to be delegating these demands into provincial councils removing all checks and balances and ability for the Centre to control them? When the Chief Minister of the North is on record demanding no Sinhalese should live in the North and demanding the removal of Buddhist sites which have been in existence for before the Tamils arrived from South India, why is no one in the Centre objecting to these demands?

Mono-ethnic enclave but rest of the country has to foot the bill. The most hilarious part of wanting one’s own mono-ethnic enclave is that they want the Centre to fund that area, provide resources to that area and even allow people of that area to live, buy property, go to school and even work in all other parts of the island. But people in other parts of the country cannot buy property, work or live and soon they might not even be allowed to enter that mono-ethnic enclave without permission.  The people who are accepting these demands need to seriously get their brains checked.

Let’s also remember that present day demarcation of countries including their names are creations of the West and as a by-product of colonial rule. These artificial demarcations/borders etc are the reasons for many of today’s conflicts. The island originally had 3 administrative units – Ruhunu, Maya, Pihiti

Elections/Referendums

No one has still explained why there was any need for a man who had been living all his life in Colombo, went to school in Colombo, became a Supreme Court judge would need to be parachuted to the North and the Tamils of the North who didn’t even know who he was were asked to vote for him and that’s how he became the Chief Minister. What kind of democracy is this? Therefore, we cannot trust in elections or referendums if the element of cheating and rigging is not dealt with. Simply having a bunch of people calling themselves election monitors who issue a basic report cannot remove the reality that voters have been influenced by different means and methods to vote. This is certainly no democracy.

Tamil/Muslim Deputy President – Another career goal of politicians that has no relevance or use for the ordinary voters and will become another tax burden to the People who will end up having to pay to maintain this title. We do not need such a title to waste our money. None of the titles people hold currently have given us dividends for the expense we incur to maintain them and their families. We do not want to have this title.

We don’t need to increase Government    

Sri Lanka is an island nation. We are a small country. India is 48 times the size of Sri Lanka. We don’t need to be dividing or carving territories copying what other countries do. Let’s not forget the British ran the country with just 1 Governor and the Kachcheri system. More the systems, more the confusion. Look at the present Government and the overlapping of portfolios – no Minister is taking charge because several ministers are in charge of virtually the same thing and it is confusing the public service and the secretaries.

While these politicians are nicely being Father Christmas to each other – our problems whether town/district/province-wise remain unsolved. Garbage is not collected on time, drains are not cleaned, mayors are bribed to put up illegal structures, municipalities are bribed to put up condominiums above the accepted floors, environmental hazards are not looked into, restaurants and hotels are serving dirty food in unhygienic kitchens and bribery often results in no action, the poor man gets jailed for minor offences the rich man gets away despite whatever offences, to pass a file for approval from municipalities/provincial councils ends up having to take more than a day’s leave and plenty of begging and pleading, while it is a pleasure to drive outstation as the roads are fantastic just look at the pot holes in the roads in Colombo! From school admission to basic health services in government hospitals the service is getting poorer and it is not to say that private sector is the solution. All of the private hospitals are places where they end up draining your money dry coming up with all types of reasons to fatten one’s bill once admitted – no doctor today can give an assessment of the ailment without prescribing upteen tests.

Women Quota

Now there is a new flurry for women’s quota being debated in Parliament. If everyone is to be treated equally why should there be separate quotas for women? Is this a ruse to enable the present MPs to bring their wives, daughters and even daughter in laws to power to make a full family affair as campaigning too would be easier!

More importantly, an important article by Lasanda Kurukulasuriya asks a poignant question Is SL Being Used by Big Powers into Making the Indian Ocean Another South China Sea?” while another by Tamara Kunanayakam claims Sri Lanka: The New Constitution – A Neo-colonial Project! There is no need for the UN officials, or foreign envoys to be going campaigning for a new constitution in the form of lobby groups taking with them handsome handouts… if proven, these are tantamount to bribery.

People would not be making these assertions if there was no background foundation to them. It is the seriousness of what these scenarios are depicted that entails the Citizens to rise against all attempts to pass a New Constitution by these opportunist and power hungry and self-serving politicians who have no love for the country or its citizens. Every change that they are planning to introduce is going to be tax burden on us the Citizens and for that reason alone we should come out and reject it.

Shenali D Waduge

Dilrook Kannangara

Over 90% of Tamils and over 90% of Tamil speaking Muslims live in Tamil Nadu, India. Due to proximity and slavery during the Dutch and British periods, close to a million of them were brought into Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Since then they have grown into 5 million with a very high population growth rate and due to illegal migration into the island. Until the end of the war in 2009, some of their extremist elements kept a low profile fearing repercussions. After the war, they are bringing more and more of their relatives from South India, Maldives, Bangladesh and Myanmar while slaying Sri Lanka’s human rights record claiming discrimination against minorities!

If minorities are so badly discriminated against in Sri Lanka why do hundreds of thousands of Tamil Nadu people and Maldivians want to come to Sri Lanka? The latest of foreign outcastes to creep into the island are Rohingya (Bangladeshi) Muslims. Unless their plans are disrupted, Sri Lanka is heading into a three-pronged war.

Hindustan Sponsored Hindu Expansionism in Sri Lanka (1972 onwards)

In late 1970s, India (Hindustan) created a number of Hindu terrorist organisations to fight for a separate nation in the island. Their first targets were Tamil Christians. Gradually they started killing people of all ethnic groups. In 1987, Sri Lankan military closed in on them in the north. India intervened to save their terrorists. India imposed 13A to the Lankan Constitution which created a clear pathway towards the formation of a separate nation for (Tamil) Hindus in the island. It goes with India’s geopolitical and strategic ambitions in Asia. Although Sri Lanka kept its side of the deal, India didn’t.

After the end of the war, Indian interference worsened and hundreds of thousands of South Indians made their way into the island. They pose a demographic threat to the island nation. India is on a mission to take over the island’s economy. Supported by Indian sponsorship, Hindu expansionism in the island can be seen in every province. They have created an extension of India. Malaysia, Myanmar and Singapore have been very careful not to allow it.

Middle East Sponsored Islamic Expansionism in Sri Lanka (1990 onwards)

Countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MINA) are known for sponsoring terrorism and Islamic expansion. Since 1990, they were sponsoring the spread of Islam in the island. Initially their sponsorship was in housing for Muslims. Saddham Hussein City, Muammar Kaddafi City and Dharga Town were built with these sponsorships. However, until 1995 the government was careful not to allow other forms of sponsorship. In 1994 the People’s Alliance came to power with the help of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC). Using its bargaining position, the SLMC made various inroads into decision-making and governance. By 1999 various foreign funded Madrasas mushroomed throughout the island. Things worsened progressively.

Since 2006, the government entered into various agreements with Kaddafi and Ahmadinejad for economic projects in return for more space for their religious activities. Although Sri Lanka kept its promise and allowed a large number of their expansionist projects, none of these countries kept their promise.

2011 was another turning point in Lanka’s collapse into Middle Eastern demands. A number of Islamic countries voted for Sri Lanka against US sponsored UNHRC resolutions. However, Sri Lanka lost all these resolutions! Sri Lankan government was obliged to reciprocate the favour. A very large number of Islamic universities, schools, prayer centres and even colonization schemes took root. The regime elected in 2015 had heavy Islamic support. As a result, it panders into Islamic demands. Today Middle Eastern nations are investing in Islamic expansion in Sri Lanka at an unprecedented scale. Local Muslims connive with Middle Eastern nations to force the Lankan government to take in Myanmar Rohingya refugees. Most of them are running away from due prosecution for their horror crimes including terrorism.

Kashmir, Syria and Myanmar Combined

If these two streams of illegal migration continue, Sri Lanka will end up worse than other hotspots around the world. It will be a combination of Kashmir, Syria and Myanmar. Not only Islamic extremists will be killing Buddhists, Christians and Hindus, they will also be killing each other. Already some of these groups have started sporadic attacks on locals.

This chaotic situation works perfectly well for Indian and US plans. They will have enough reason to intervene in the island, building their military bases to counter China.

They compel Sri Lanka to pander into Tamil Nadu and Arabic Diaspora demands. A new constitution is being finalized to appease Tamil Nadu and Arabic Diasporas in the island.

Sri Lanka Running Out of Peaceful Options

With 325 persons per square kilometer, there is certainly no room for immigrants in Sri Lanka. Limited resources and opportunities are stretched to the limit. In addition to extremism fueled violence, there will be economic violence as well. The state trying to resolve it peacefully will run of options. Resultant clashes will actually save Sri Lanka by preventing further illegal migrants into the island and frustrating foreign sponsors. The national and natural identity of Sri Lanka must not be allowed to be altered. Even war is justified to retain what is near and dear to the island nation. Sri Lanka has a history of winning all wars it fought. However, it has a bad history of falling prey to peaceful conspiracies. Sri Lanka is the only country to attempt reconciliation with terrorists. Others even refuse to talk to them! Japan, one of the most prosperous nations, shut its doors to Islamic refugees and enjoy peace in the absence of terrorist attacks. All generous nations suffer enormously after taking in Muslim refugees. It is time Sri Lanka took a tough stand on the two-pronged infestations plaguing the nation from outside.

ආචාර්ය චන්න ජයසුමන  ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය  වෛද්‍ය පීඨය, රජරට විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලයේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාව 2017 සැප්තැම්බර් 21 දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය. මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ සාමාජිකයන් 21 දෙනෙකි. වාර්තාවේ මාතෘකා 12 ඔස්සේ කරුණු දක්වා ඇත. සිංහල පිටපතේ  පිටු 85 කි. 

යහපාලන රජය ඉදිරිපත් කරන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ හෝ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයේ හැඩරුව පිලිබඳ මෙම වාර්තාවෙන් අවබෝධයක් ලැබිය හැකිය. වාර්තාවේ 12 වන පරිච්ජේදය වෙන් කර ඇත්තේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටු සාමාජිකයන් සිය පක්ෂයේ අදහස දක්වමින් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ  ලිපි කිහිපයක් වෙනුවෙනි. එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය හැරුණු විට මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුව නියෝජනය කළ සියලු පක්ෂ තම පක්ෂයේ අදහස් වෙන් වෙන් වශයෙන් දක්වා තිබීමත් ශ්‍රීලනිප, ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්ෂය, ජවිපෙ, ජාහෙඋ දක්වා තිබූ අදහස් එතරම් තැකීමකට ලක් නොකර අතුරු වාර්තාව ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබීමත් නිසා මේ වාර්තාව එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂයේ අදහස ලෙස සැලකීම  වැරදි නොවේ. එහි දක්වා ඇති කරුණුවලට අනුකුලතාවක් දක්වා ඇත්තේ දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානය සහ ජයම්පති වික්‍රමරත්න මහතා පමණි. රිෂාඩ් බද්යුදීන් මහතාගේ සමස්ත ලංකා මක්කල් කොංග්‍රසය, රාවුෆ් හකීම් මහතාගේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මුස්ලිම් කොංග්‍රසය,  මනෝ ගනේෂන් මහතාගේ දෙමළ ප්‍රගතිශීලී සන්ධානය සහ ඩග්ලස් දේවානන්ද මහතාගේ ඊපීඩීපී ය මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාවේ ඇතැම් කරුණු සමග එකඟ නැත. 

මෙහෙයුම් කමිටු අතුරු වාර්තාව කියවා බලන ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට ඉතා පහසුවෙන් තේරුම් යන දෙයක් නම් රටේ ඒකීය බව නැති කිරීමට ඍජුව සහ වක්‍රව එහි උත්සාහ දරා ඇති බවයි. දකුණේ ජනතාව ෆෙඩරල් වචනයටත් උතුරේ ජනතාව ඒකීය වචනයටත් බියක් දක්වන බව ජනාධිපතිතුමා පවසා ඇති බවත් ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව යනු ජනතාව බියක් දැක්විය යුතු ලේඛනයක් නොවන බවත් එහි දක්වා ඇත. අපි ෆෙඩරල් වචනයට මෙන්ම ඒ වචනය පිටුපස සිටින අයට ද බිය වෙමු. ඒ ඔවුන්ගේ කල් ක්‍රියාව දන්නා හෙයිනි. එහෙත් උතුරේ ජනතාව ඒකීය වචනයට බිය වී ඇත්තේ කොතැනක කවරක් හෙයින්ද යන වග පැහැදිලි නැත. සිංහලයන් රැවටීම සඳහා මෙහි දී කපටි වංචනික පිළිවෙතක් අනුගමනය කර ඇත. එනම් ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂාවේ unitary state (යුනිටරි ස්ටේට්) යන වචනය ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අරභයා සුදුසු නැති බවත්  ඒ වෙනුවට ඒකීය/ ඔරුමිත්ත නාඩු ලෙසම ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් යෙදීම සුදුසු ලෙසත් දක්වා ඇත. ඒ  අනුව ඉංග්‍රීසි පිටපතේ දක්වා ඇත්තේ Sri Lanka (Ceylon) is a free, sovereign and independent Republic which is an aekiya rajyaya / orumiththa nadu” ලෙසය. එවිට සිංහලයන් සිතිය යුත්තේ රට ඒකීය ලෙසය. එහෙත් දෙමළෙන් ඔරුමිත්ත නාඩු යනු එකතු වීමෙන් නිර්මාණය වූ රට” යන්නයි.  Unitary state යන වචන දෙකෙන් කියැවෙන රාජ්‍ය ස්වභාවය ගැන සම්මුතියක්  ලෝකයේ  ඇත. මේ උත්සාහ දරන්නේ Aekiya”  යනුවෙන් නව රාජ්‍ය විශේෂයක් බිහි කිරීමට යි. එය Unitary state” ලෙස හැදින්වෙන රාජ්‍යයක් නොව වෙනත් රාජ්‍ය විශේෂයක්ය. මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාව තව දුරටත් අධ්‍යයනය කල විට පෙනී යන්නේ Aekiya” ලෙස මෙහි හැදින්වෙන්නේ ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් මිස අන් යමක් නොවන බවයි. මාස 17ක් 73 වරක් රැස් වී මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුව සිංහලයන් රැවටීමට සොයා ගෙන ඇති මහා සොයා ගැනීම මෙයයි. ඔවුන් සිතන්නේ සිංහලයන් යනු කවර ආකාරයේ මෝඩයන් පිරිසක්  කියාද?

1987 වසරේ දී හඳුන්වා දුන් 13 වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයෙන් මෙරට ඒකීය බව නැති වී පූර්ණ ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයක් වීම නැවතුනේ  ප්‍රධාන කරුණු දෙකක් නිසාය. ඉන් පළමු වැන්න ජනාධිපතිවරයා පත් කරන [පළාත් මහ ඇමතිට ඉහලින් සිටින] විධායක බලය සහිත ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයකු සිටීම යි. දෙවැන්න සමගාමී ලැයිස්තුවක්” ව්‍යවස්ථාවට ඇතුලත් වීමයි. එතෙක් සෑම විෂයයක් ගැනම මධ්‍යම රජය සතු වූ රාජ්‍ය බලය සංවෘත ලැයිස්තුව( මධ්‍යම රජයට පමණක් හිමි වන), පළාත් සභා ලැයිස්තුව (පළාත් සභාවට පමණ හිමි වන ) සහ සමගාමී ලැයිස්තුව (මධ්‍යම රජයටත් පළාත් සභාවලටත් මැදිහත් විය හැකි) ලෙස කොටස් 3 කට බෙදී වෙන් විය. සැලසුම් කිරීම, අධ්‍යාපනය,කෘෂිකර්මය, වාරිමාර්ග, සෞඛ්‍යය ඇතුළු වැදගත් විෂය 36ක් සමගාමී ලැයිස්තුවට ඇතුල් වීම නිසා පළාත් සභා පුර්ණ ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍ය වීම යම් තරමකට මග හැරිණි. 

මෙහෙයුම් කමිටු අතුරු වාර්තාව මගින් දිගින් දිගටම යෝජනා කරන්නේ ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාගේ බලය කපා හැරීමටත් සමගාමී ලැයිස්තුව අහෝසි කිරීමටත්ය. කොටින්ම දැන් තිබෙන ව්‍යවස්ථාවට මේ වෙනස්කම්  දෙක කර ගත්තානම් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුර්ණ ෆෙඩරල් රාජ්‍යයකි.

මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාව පුරා දිව යන්නේ බලය බෙදීමේ ප්‍රධාන ඒකකය පළාත විය යුතු බවත් පළාතට සෑම විටම ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දිය යුතු බවත් ය. මෙය බැදී ඇත්තේ දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී උගතුන් හඳුන්වා දුන් අභිලාෂයක් මතය. ක්‍රමිකව වර්ධනය වී  1976 මැයි 14 වැනි දින යාපනය වඩුක්‌කොඩේ සම්මේලනයෙන් එලි දැක්වුණු උතුරු-නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ  සාම්ප්‍රදායික නිජබිම වේ” යන්න එම අභිලාෂය යි. එම ප්‍රදේශයේ දෙමළ ජනතාව ජාතියක් බවත්, එම ජාතියට ස්‌වයංනිර්ණ අයිතිය ඇති බවත් ඒ හා බැදී ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙමළ  ජනතාවගේ සාම්ප්‍රදායික නිජබිමක් බව පැවසීමට කිසිදු  ඓතිහාසික, පුරා විද්‍යාත්මක, වාග් විද්‍යාත්මක හෝ ජෛව විද්‍යාත්මක සාධකයක්  නැත.දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී උගතුන් සහ දේශපාලකයන් මහත් අභිරුචියෙන් ගෙනහැර දක්වන සාධක හුදු හිතළු මිස සනාථ කළ  හැකි දේ නොවේ. 

අතීතයේ මෙරට රුහුණු, මායා සහ පිහිටි රට ලෙස ප්‍රධාන පාලන කලාප 3 ක් විය. මෙරටට පළාත් ක්‍රමය හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ 1833 කොල්බෘක්-කැමරන් නිර්දේශ හේතුවෙනි. උතුර, දකුණ, නැගෙනහිර, බටහිර සහ මධ්‍යම ලෙස පළාත් 5 ක් ඒ ඔස්සේ බිහි විය. එදා උතුරු පළාතට නුවර කලාවිය ද ඇතුල් විය. එනම් අද අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ වැඩි කොටසකි. එදා නැගෙනහිරට බින්තැන්න සහ තමන්කඩුව ද අයත් විය. එනම් අද පොලොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ සහ ඌව පළාතේ වැඩි කොටසකි. වයඹ නමින් පළාතක්  ඇති වූයේ 1845 දී ය. නුවර කලාවිය සහ තමන්කඩුව එක් කර උතුරුමැද පළාත බිහි වුයේ 1873 වසරේදී ය. එනම් එවකට තිබුණු උතුරු පළාතෙන් නුවර කලාවිය ඉවත් වී  අද තිබෙන උතුරු පළාත බිහි වුයේ ද 1873 වසරේදී ය. ඌව පළාත බිහි වුයේ 1886 වසරේදී ය. එනම් එතෙක් නැගෙනහිර පළාතට අයත් වූ බින්තැන්න ඌව පළාතට එක්වීමත් සමග අද දක්නට ලැබෙන නැගෙනහිර පළාත  බිහි වූයේ ද 1886 වසරේදී ය. අද දක්නට ලැබෙන පළාත් බෙදීම සම්පුර්ණ වූයේ 1889 වසරේ දී සබරගමුව පළාත බිහිවීමත් සමගය. මේ අනුව පෙනී යන්නේ අද දක්නට ලැබෙන උතුරු පළාතට 1976 වඩුක්‌කොඩේ සම්මේලනය පවත්වන විට තිබී ඇත්තේ වසර 103 ක ඉතිහාසයක් බවත් නැගෙනහිර පළාතට තිබී ඇත්තේ වසර 90 ක ඉතිහාසයක් බවත් ය. 

ඉංග්‍රීසින්  හඳුන්වා දුන් පළාත්” ඔවුන්ගේ පහසුව සහ බලය පවත්වා ගැනීම මිස භූගෝලීය, දේශගුණික, සමාජයීය ආර්ථික හෝ සංස්කෘතික සාධක මත පදනම් නොවීය. මේ නිසා 1955 වසරේ දී පළාත වෙනුවට දිස්ත්‍රික්කය රටේ ප්‍රධාන පරිපාලන ඒකකය බවට පත් කරනු ලැබීය. එවකට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 21ක් විය. කෙසේ වෙතත් දෙමළ  ජාතිවාදී උගතුන්ගේ සහ දේශපාලනඥයන්ගේ බලපෑමට නතු වූ ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතා 1978 දී පළාත” නැවතත් රටේ ප්‍රධාන පරිපාලන ඒකකය බවට පත් කළේය. ඒ පිටුපස තිබුණු අවශ්‍යතාව  වූයේ උතුරු-නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ නිජබිම බව තහවුරු කිරීමයි. එපමණක් නොව උතුරු පළාතට 1978 දී මුලතිවු ලෙසත් 1984 දී කිලිනොච්චි ලෙසත් නව දිස්ත්‍රික්ක 2 ක් ලබා දීමට ද ජයවර්ධන ජනාධිපතිතුමා ක්‍රියා කළේය. 1978 දී යළි මතු  කරගත් පළාත” 1987 දී ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුම මගින් සිය ගණනක් මල මිනී උඩින් කල එලි බැස්සවීමට ජාතිවාදීන්ට හැකි විය. කෙසේ වෙතත් වර්ධරාජා පෙරුමාල් ගේ නොඉවසිලිවන්තබව නිසාත් ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය නිසාත් දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී උගතුන් සහ දේශපාලනඥයන්ට ෆෙඩරලය අභිෂේක කර ගැනීමට නොහැකි විය. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලයේ මෙහෙයුම් කමිටුවේ අතුරු වාර්තාව මගින් සිදු කර ඇත්තේ දෙමළ  ජාතිවාදී උගතුන් නිර්මාණය කළ උතුරු-නැගෙනහිර පළාත් දෙමළ ජනතාවගේ  සාම්ප්‍රදායික නිජබිම වේ” යන මූල ධර්මය තව දුරටත් ඉදිරියට ගෙන යෑම සදහා උල්පන්දම් දීමකි. ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව මගින්ම පළාත”ට අසාමාන්‍ය රැකවරණයක් තහවුරු කිරීම මිස වෙනත් කිසිදු නව යෝජනාවක් මෙම අතුරු වාර්තාවේ නොදැක්වේ. මෙහි දක්වා ඇති සෑම කරුණකින්ම ඍජුව සහ වක්‍රව සිදු කරන්නේ පළාත” ශක්තිමත් කිරීම යි. එනම් දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී උගතුන්ගේ හිතලුවක් උදෙසා මුළු රටක් නොමග යැවීමයි.

ආචාර්ය චන්න ජයසුමන 

ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ කථිකාචාර්ය 

වෛද්‍ය පීඨය, රජරට විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය 

jayasumanalk@yahoo.com   

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MAATARA

The government completely ignoring the sacrosanct declaration made by the Mahanayake Theros of the Tri-Nikayas to shelve the introduction of a new constitution or making amendments to the existing constitution seems to be in a peculiar hurry to adopt a new constitution, despite stern opposition by the majority of the people in this country, but solely to appease the Tamils. Tamil diaspora, UNHRC, NGO vultures, the JVP, the accidently born Sinhalese (Ranil, Chandrika, Rajitha, Wickremabahu, Lal Wijenayake, Viyangoda, etc), the western powers depending on the Tamil block votes in their countries and the hegemonic India.

Although this government was established with over 95% of Tamil votes it is not morally obliged and right to serve only to fulfil the illusory Tamil aspirations at the expense of the majority people in this country.  First and foremost the government should realize that the Tamils are not indigenous people of this country.  They are descendents of illegal immigrants, aggressors, invaders, and labourers brought to this country by the Dutch and British colonialists. The Dutch and British colonialists provided special treatment to them by imparting education, other facilities, professional and skills training and government employment wilfully depriving all these facilities to the native Sinhalese.  They also inculcated the myth in the hearts of the Tamils that they are a community superior to the Sinhalese.

The government should also realize that there are around 76 million Tamil populations throughout the world and other than the 60 Million living in India the other 16 Million have migrated to many countries including Sri Lanka in a similar way they came to be in Sri Lanka.  (surf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamils for details of Tamil population statistics the world over). It is because of spineless qualities of Sinhala political leaders that they attempt to get a government exclusively for Tamils established in this country under various pretexts and because Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru boldly rescinded and thwarted their attempt to establish such a Tamil homeland in Tamil Nadu.  Sri Lankan politicians should also emulate Nehru and totally ban making any form of demand for a federsl or separate State by these alien Tamils. .

It was due to the arrogance inculcated in them by the British imperialists that the Malaysan born Chelvanayagam, the father of Separatism said that when the gaining of independence to this country was discussed at the State Council ‘If independence is to be granted to Ceylon, Tamils should be granted independence to rule their traditional homeland areas as a separate entity since Tamils are superior to the Sinhalese and hence inferior Sinhalese cannot be allowed to rule the Superior Tamils.’ (S.J.V.Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism: A Political Biography – written by his Son in Law A.Jayaratna Wilson). It was this same arrogance and the haughty headedness that was displayed by G.G.Ponnambalam in his 50-50 demand.

It is delighted to find that professionals, scholars, many politicians and patriotic masses have come forward to scuttle the government’s attempt to adopt the so-called new constitution destined to make this country a Federal and Secular State, devolve powers to provinces and amalgamate North and East as a Single Province.

A significant move in this regard was taken recently by the former Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa by launching the movement named Eliya” to enlighten the public about the disastrous nature of the new proposed Constitution.  By launching the movement he said that Parliament shouldn’t be allowed to reverse the victories which were accomplished by uniting the country after defeating terrorism

Veteran political analyst C.A.Chandraprema writing his weekly political column for the Sunday Island on 10^th September 2017 commented that the event of launching Gota’s Eiya was highly successful and said that among the speakers were Ven. Prof. Medagoda Abhayatissa Thera, Dr Dayan Jayatilleke, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, Dr Seetha Arambepola, Rev. Fr. Wimal Tirimanne, Tamara Kunanayagam, Lawyer Rushdi Habib, and Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne. Chandraprema also gave brief accounts of their speeches and all of them have emphasized the need to wreck the attempts being made to introduce a federal and secular constitution. It is important that the ‘Eliya’ group should organize country wide seminars to be held throughout the country to muster the people against the proposed constitution with a view to hold demonstrations and footwalks to sustain the opposition to a new constitution alive throughout the country.

Despite the aloofness of the non Tamil politicians about the threat of the proposed new constitution the separatist Tamil elements seems to be very active in making their demands on the shape and form of the constitution.  Quoted below is a translation of the policy statement adopted by an outfit called Tamil People’s Council said to have been represented by professionals, political leaders and the people. The outfit has met at the Weerasingham Hall in Jaffna on 5^th September and adopted the following demands:

1. The solution for the national question of Sri Lanka should be a one that provides a permanent solution upon identifying the reasons for the question
2. The solution for the national question is the right to self-rule in the north and east area and a federal and secular solution. Such an arrangement would become an impetus to establish a permanent peace under which all communities will be able to live in amity by respecting peace and honour of Sri Lanka.   This is a basic political aspiration of the Tamil people.

It is also the democratic aspirations clearly stipulated several decades through election promises, Thimpu declaration, and declarations of Pongu Tamil and Elingu Tamil events.

A federal solution in acknowledgement of the sovereign right of self rule in the North East is a political demand that cannot be left out.  Any solution for the national question of Sri Lanka presented under these conditions will be just and long lasting.

3. The Sinhala and Muslim people living indigenously in the Tamil area of amalgamated North and East (other than those people who were forcibly settled under a planned manner) will be entitled to all rights under that federal solution. The Muslim people living in the amalgamated North East area have a right to demand for their political power.
4. The proposed constitution of Sri Lanka should satisfactorily provide the political aspirations and the basic rights of the hill country Tamil people.
5. In order to sustain the existence of our community from the planned genocide being carried out by the Sri Lanka government for the last 70 years against the Tamil community the above political demands should be accepted.

Further, the International Court, or International Crime Tribunal under the observation of the United Nations Organization under an international criminal law mechanism should investigate about this genocide and provide justice to the victimised people.  Our appeal for a political solution and the matter of accountability for the genocide cannot be waived for alternatives.  The Tamil people will receive righteousness under natural justice by fulfilling the above referenced two matters.

6. It is a practice of deception being adopted by the Sri Lankan government for the last several years to give promises of instituting political solution and upholding accountability at international forums and refraing from fulfilling such promises. The Sri Lanka government is is adopting this poicy of giving false promises to get it safeguarded from international pressure.

Accordingly there is no difference between the present government and the past governments. The promises made by this government at the United Nations Human Rights Council in the years of 2015, 2016 and 2017 have not been made honestly by enquiring from the victimised people.

It is nominally engaged in deceiving the international community. The international powers should focus their attention to statements being made by the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of this government in a manner challenging the integrity of United Nations Human Rights Council and the countries that have reposed trust on the democratic sytem clearly rejecting the recommendations made by the UN organization on international judges, repealing of the Prevention of Terrorism Act etc.

7. Although the people presented their political aspirations and on accountability to the people’s committee for a new constitution on several occasions it seems that the President, the Prime Minister and the Ministers of this government are presenting the views of the Chairman and officials of the committee to accept views and suggestions from the people on constitutional reorms.

Official rejection of government’s high ranking personnel the trust of the Tamil people on this government in respect of accountability has dwindled and hence the international countries should directly interfere in this connection and steps should be taken to provide a reasonable justice to the Tamil people. (end of the statement)

Meanwhile the Tamil National Alliance, which attempts to gain politically and deceptively what Prabhakaran failed to achieve through military might has expressed their fullest support to a constitution that amalgamates the North and East and making Sri Lanka a federal and secular State.

The Tamil diaspora leaders who were operating hitherto from overseas are on visits to Sri Lanka and operating from within the country. Father. S.J. Emmanuel, leader of the UK based Global Tamil Forum (GTF), arrived in Sri Lanka last week on what his organisation officials describe as a low profile” visit, which coincided with the Constitutional Assembly releasing its Steering Committee’s Interim Report on constitutional amendments. This terrorist leader hiding under the cloak of a Christian Father met leaders of Tamil political parties while in Colombo and later travelled to Jaffna. Staying at the Bishop’s House, he attended an event at the Jaffna University and has told the media that he is in Sri Lanka on the invitation of President Sirisena.

While in Colombo, this diaspora terrorist leader met US Ambassador Atul Keshap. Later Mr. Keshap tweeted pleased that Father Emmanuel is striving to secure lasting equality, peace, justice and happiness for all in a united, reconciled Sri Lanka.” According to some sources, Fr. Emmanuel planned a long stay in Sri Lanka. This will help him keep in touch with authorities over new constitutional reforms and the ongoing efforts at reconciliation,” these sources said.

The bone chewing shameless SLFP goup in the government, Sirisena’s lapdogs, are reported to be making various unpatriotic moves to help Ranil Wickremasinghe to get this repulsive constitution adopted and their tactical moves include deceiving the former President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa saying that some of them would join the joint opposition at the time of voting for th new constitution and thereby attempt to wreck JO agitations against the constitution.

In the meantime, media outlets are replete these days with views presented by prominent writers, politicians and community leaders about the unit of devolution that should be granted in the event of adopting a new constitution.  It is a well known fact that Provincial Councils system is a white elephant forcibly imposed on us by the hegemonic India and it has not made any contribution for the development of the country other than grooming the children, siblings and spouses of politicians to become next generation politicians and duplicating several administrative functions.  It was a system forced by India for the benefit of the Tamils when we had a vibrant indigenous administration system. The expenditure being incurred for sustaining these Provincial Councils including providing perks and privileges, luxury vehicles, is an utter waste of our country’s resources

Quoted below is a translated extract written by Dr. Channa Jayasumana in his ‘facebook’ page under the title The whole counyry is misled on behalf of Tamil Chauvinists.  Interim report of the Constitution flays Sinhala Scholars.  Here is the hidden trap”.

In the ancient Sri Lanka there were three main administration rregions namely, Ruhunu, Maya and Pihiti.  It was by the recommendations of Callrook-Camaron the province system of this country came into being.  Accordingly, 5 provinces namely North, South, East West and Central were introduced. The Kandy region and major portion of the Anuradhapira were also included in the North province then.  Bintenne, and Thamankaduwa came under the province of East. That was today’s Polonnaruwa district and a large part of present day Uva Province. A province under the name of ‘Wayamba’(North Western) came into existence in 1886. The North Central Province consisting Kandy region and Thamankaduwa was created in 1873. Uva province came into being in 1886.  As Bintenna which was under Eastern province joined the Uva province the present day Eastern Province came into being in 1886.  The present day provinces became complete with the creation of the Sabaragamuwa province in 1889. Accordingly the Northern province when the Waddukkodai conference was held in 1976 had a history of only 103 years and the Eastern province had a history of only 90 years.

The provinces introduced by the Britishers had beem created only for their convenience and maintain their power and they were not based on any geographical, climatic, social, economic or cultural foundation.  Therefore in the year 1955 the district was made the main administrative unit in the country.  By that time there were 21 districts in Sri Lanka.  Nonetheless J.R.Jayawardene who became under the influence of Tamil chauvinist politicians and scholars made ‘Province’ once again the main administrative unit of the country in 1978. The reason behind that was to affirm the Northern and Eastern provinces as the homeland of the Tamils. Not only that, President Jayawardene also took action to add two new districts to the Northern province, Mulativu in 1978 and Kilinochchi in 1984.  The chauvinists were able to make hundreds of corpses through the revived provinces in 1978 and through the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.  However the Tamil chauvinists could not get their Federal intentions achieved due to the impatience of the Varadarajaperumal and the terrorism of Praabhakaran.

What the interim report of the steering committee of the Constitution Council has made is motivating to carry forward the fundamental concept of Northern and Eastern provinces are traditional homeland of the Tamil people” innovated by the Tamil chauvinist Erudites.  Other than providing an unequivocal safeguard to the province” there is no other proposal in this interim report.  All the proposals containing in the interim report directly and indirectly strengthen the province.  That is misleading the whole country to appease the Tamil chauvinist Erudites,  (unquote)

At present the media channels and national newspapers are replete with arguments about the unit of devolution that should be adopted in the new constitution being formulated.  It is a constitution wanted only by Tamils and their Sinhalese stooges and all attempt should be made to impede this attempt. These arguments are based on whether the unit of devolution should be the province or the district.  Similar to the attempts that should be taken by the country as a whole to reject the proposed secular federal constitution all efforts should be made to scuttle the provision of power devolutions to provinces.  This government which has become notorious for evading Supreme Court injunctions and introducing abhorrent laws through the back door undemocratically may certainly attempt to bring in separate legislation to grant devolution in the event the people become successful in forcing it to abandon the new constitution process.  Along with demands to roll back the new proposed constitution stern demands should also be made to annul the Indian imposed 13^th amendment to the constitution together with its baby white elephant Provincial Councils. Devolving of powers to provinces will be the fulfilment of the demand made by Chelvanaagam requesting for a separate entity for Tamils saying that they are superior to be ruled by the inferior Sinhalese.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Copy of the slide above was extracted from a presentation made by a consultant from EU- Trade and Commerce Organization who are in Sri Lanka to advise Export Development Board ,on how to enhance our export market .I was also invited EDB as a boat builder with few others who build and export boats for the Regional Forum of the program where they have invited all the stake holders from Government Sector as well.

Program was held in Light House Galle (started late as the organizers have not done well) ,Divisional secretary form Hambnatota ,Galle and Port Authority ,BOI from Koggale also came for the workshop

There were three sectors, namely boat building ,Apparel/Spice and Wellness sectors which ADB has identified as potential industries to develop and we sat in Boat building workshop .

The graph above was shown, where Sri Lankan Exports were compared with Vietnam and Indonesia.As you may note our export sector has declined ( red line ) where as both other two countries have grown

Vietnam being a country which came out of a long war have developed so fast ,and I understand that it is because of the fact the leaders and decision makers take the matter very serious .I know that one of the local manufacturer of herbal cosmetics have opened up a plant in Vietnam and the establishment process took only three months .In Sri Lanka in will take three years !

Boat building is finally identified as a potential export commodity, and the idea of identifying an export zone having access to water has been discussed .Someone has given a dead rope that  a 5-6 acre land in Beruwala next to the fishery harbour can be developed for boat building ,but no one has done any investigations that the area is highly populated and the inhabitants will never allow any industry .Technically the protected area of Beruwala is having the same entrance to the harbours  for  fishermen as well , hence and they will never allow a Boat Building Marina in the location .

The team has identified a land near Iranawila neat Chilaw and the team decided to investigate.

I am trying to highlight the fact that none of responsible people from BOI, Land Ministry ,SLPA BOI ,Customs ,Inland Revenue  have attended these forums and make a decision .EDB with EU consultants intends to put the proposal for 2018 budget ,and I am not sure that there will be a government by that time to make a decision.

There is no vision or a mission.

Politicians talk big in meetings promise employment and nothing is happening ( other day I noted a news item where even Apparel makers wants Indians to work in Sri Lanka !.boat builders like dockyard depend on foreign labour !)

We hold annual Presdinetial Award ceremonies and present Garment makers with gold cups and the potential to move away into more high-tech industries are not even in the horizon.

We have minister for Strategic Development and he may not have in teeth as the gazette is not yet issued ?

Read More

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/09/14/presidential-export-awards-today-at-bmich/comment-page-1/

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Glyphosate weedicide ban and the government’s failure to introduce an alternative weedicide has cost at least 20 per cent of tea production annually. In addition, a lack of an alternative weedicide has also led to tea planters using other weedicides, which are unauthorized by the country’s export partners, risking export restrictions on Sri Lanka’s tea exports. Addressing the AGM of The Planters’ Association of Sri Lanka, Chairman, Sunil Poholiyadde said, “Almost two and a half years have elapsed since the Glyphosate weedicide ban, however, no research institute has come up with an alternative chemical or weedicide for Glyphosate . Hence, planters are unable to control weeds during the monsoon season and as a result, fertilizer application has to be restricted. We presume it has caused at least a 20 per cent drop in tea production.”

Meanwhile, delivering the keynote speech at the AGM, Sri Lanka Tea Board, Chairman, Rohan Pethiyagoda warned……”When the Government banned Glyphosate , they didn’t give any additional resources to the Tea Research Institute (TRI) to research alternatives. The consequence of this is that many plantation owners have begun using alternatives which are not authorized in our export market. These unauthorized substances have been found in our tea exports to Germany and Japan. Sooner or later, our tea export partners would impose restrictions on Sri Lankan tea exports. This is a serious situation. However, I cannot wake the Government up to think seriously about the issues facing the tea industry.”

Pethiyagoda also warned that due to climate change, Sri Lanka’s tea sector was in danger and enough research was not being done by the TRI due to a shortage of funds. He said “Nuwara Eliya has become the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka, with less than 2000mm rainfall. If you tea is to be planted in this area, you need to carefully think of sustainability and how we are going to find a way to make it sustainable. ‘That’s the responsibility of the TRI”. ”However, do you know the current annual budget of the TRI?” he queried. ”It’s a mere Rs 90 million. We need new soil management technique and irrigation techniques, to combat climate change”, he added.
Pethiyagoda pointed out that there was no rational explanation or responsible party behind the ban on Glyphosate in 2015. He asserted, “The Government banned Glyphosate almost three years ago. But who made this decision? We have a Registrar of Pesticides and the Tea Research Institute to look into matters such as these but none of them claimed that they took this decision. It is as if somebody woke up one morning and said let’s ban Glyphosate . To this day, there is no one accountable for this decision”, he added.

Moreover, he revealed that despite many efforts of the Minister of Plantation Industries, the government have failed to provide a solution. He elaborated ”

The minister has been working hard to get the ban lifted and already have submitted three Cabinet papers. However, no one is looking in the eye and saying why it was banned despite the cost to the tea industry and to the economy.”

According to latest tea export data, the country earned $ 1.002 billion during the period from January-August 2017; up a sharp 20% on last year’s earnings of $ 834 million. The highest US dollar earned from exports for the eight-month period was $ 1.092 billion achieved in 2014 due high tea prices in the global market. However,Pethiyagoda warned that the country’s tea sector might not be sustainable in the long-terms, unless the goverment adress the internal issues of tea planters. (NF)

By Tamara Kunanayakam Global Research, September 18, 2017

As we meet here this evening, a radical overhaul is underway – of our political, economic, financial, social and cultural system. A new Constitution is being discussed, at the same time a plethora of radical reforms are being rushed through. The fact that many of these reforms are being challenged as unconstitutional indicates that the new Constitution is aimed at making what is un-Constitutional today, Constitutional tomorrow, making legal what is illegal by a simple trick of changing the Law!

The issue is not whether a new Constitution is needed or not. It is the fundamental and inalienable right of the people to determine the economic, social, political and cultural system in which they choose to live. But that choice will be their choice only if it is freely made, not with a gun pointed at their heads. Today, Sri Lanka finds itself practically under a form of tutelage to the US, a global power whose strategic objective is to maintain its global hegemony.

It is indeed symbolic that the US Ambassador chose to announce Washington’s decision to assist” Sri Lanka draft its Constitution and implement the Human Rights Council resolution from the amphibious warship USS New Orleans, which is used to land and support ground forces on enemy territory and patrols provocatively close to China. It is also ironic that it is from Temple Trees that the Acting US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells declared, last week, that

the United States is – and will continue to be – an Indo-Pacific power.”

She was the first to announce America’s first ever naval exercise” in Sri Lanka in October, in Trincomalee.

You will agree that rewriting the Constitution under such conditions can only advance Washington’s cause, not ours!

There are also other guns pointed at us: the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution and the notorious IMF/World Bank conditionalities, including in particular the political conditionality misleadingly known as ‘Good Governance,” a neoliberal project inimical to the national interest.

Yes, ‘Good Governance” – or Yahapalana” as we know it here – was not invented by Ranil, Chandrika, Sirisena or Mangala! The IMF, World Bank and the US Treasury coined the term in the late 1980s as a political conditionality for the enslavement of indebted Third World countries such as ours to make us permanently indebted and dependent, facilitating external interference and domination!

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Good Governance” takes politics out of government and manages a shift from government to governance. By doing so, it has undermined nation-building wherever it has been implemented, and fuelled identity conflicts especially in multi-ethnic societies. You will find the same buzzwords in the Human Rights Council resolution and in the ‘good governance’ conditionality: rule of law,” democracy,” devolution,” participation,” etc.  These are the same buzz words parroted by the Yahapalana regime.  In January 2016 last year, thePrime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe told Parliament that the purpose of the new Constitution was, among other things, to establish a political culture that respects the rule of law and strengthens democracy.”

The aim of ‘Good Governance’ is to convert whatever remains of the State into effective and strong state agencies that guarantee the interests of foreign capital in particular. This not only means that the State will no longer serve the public interest; it will actually be turned into a repressive State against the very people it must serve. Even the World Bank admits that good governance is anti-democratic, that it demands measures directed against the expectations of the majority of the people. In a 2002 report, the World Bank was explicit:

Good governance requires the power to carry out policies and to develop institutions that may be unpopular among some − or even a majority − of the population.”

Behind both these threats  –  the Human Rights Council resolution and the IMF/World Bank conditionality – is the same face: Washington’s!

Let’s be clear. The demands contained in the Human Rights Council resolution are not Burundi’s or Cuba’s or Russia’s or China’s. They are Washington’s. It was Yahapalana’s abject servility that made it possible for Washington to turn it into a weapon against the Sri Lankan people and their nation. As for the international financial institutions, they are dominated by Washington, which controls nearly 50% of the IMF vote share compared to Sri Lanka’s 0.19%!

The reforms demanded of us are so fundamental that they cannot be implemented without changing the Republican Constitution. A hybrid court is one. Another is the so-called devolution of power, which is a project to dismantle the State. Yet another is the conversion of our armed forces into an auxiliary of the US armed forces against our national sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. That will require wide-ranging security sector reforms; demilitarisation of the North and East (which means two-thirds of our coastline); external control over recruitment and vetting of employees and officials; ending military involvement in civilian activities; etc. etc.

Underpinning the resolution is the demand for accountability, accountability is the pillar on which the so-called Responsibility to Protect” (or RtoP) stands, and the goal of RtoP is to legitimise US intervention and domination!

In the late 19^th century, the US and Great Britain justified their savage wars of peace” as the White Man’s Burden” to bring civilization and progress” to barbaric non-Western, non-Christian, non-white peoples. Today, the justification is Responsibility to Protect,” which is claimed by the US and its junior partners in the West as the right to intervene in other countries under the pretext of protecting citizens of those countries. The moral rhetoric is human rights and humanitarianism. The victims are the same – non-Western, non-Christian, non-white.

RtoP is a project of re-colonisation, associated with tutelage. In a report on Responsibility to Protect, the UN Secretary General called for revising the UN Trusteeship System, i.e., the system of tutelage for non-self-governing” colonial territories (2013). The original proposal came from former US Ambassador Edward Marks who was Deputy Chief of Mission in Sri Lanka, in 1987. Marks talked about an international regime of tutelage for multi-ethnic societies, which he said were failed States.” His argument is that

the transition from colonial rule to political and economic independence in the nation-state model is proving to be too much for some very fragile multi-ethnic societies.”

The implications of the resolution are far reaching in terms of the ability of foreign powers to intervene in the sovereign affairs of a country, despite domestic opposition. An OHCHR Report on Rule of law tools for post-conflict States (2006), is unambiguous. According to it, in case of domestic opposition to international involvement, an international mandate provides international actors with the authority and means to intervene directly in domestic affairs and overrule domestic procedures if necessary.”

US interference in Sri Lanka began long before the resolution was adopted. It was, however, the Yahapalana regime that gave it wings and also international legitimacy.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Sri Lanka to fix the road map even before a legitimate Government was in place. The two visits to Sri Lanka of Jeffrey Feltman, the UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs, are also significant. On his first visit shortly after the 2015 Presidential elections, Feltman declared he was here to assist in the process of accountability and reconciliation.” On his second visit last month he revealed that accountability and reconciliation had meant changing the Constitution. He came to monitor progress.

Feltman is a former US Assistant Secretary of State, a neoconservative hawk linked to Robert Kagan – their theoretician, Victoria Nuland and Samantha Power. Feltman has been involved – at the highest level – in regime change, destabilization, the break-up of sovereign States into ethnic enclaves, fomenting violence. I would require more time to give an account of his role in covert operations in the Ukraine, Russia, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Moldova, Georgia, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador, etc.

Other significant visits include that of Samantha Power, also known as the Liberal War Hawk,” and George Soros, US multi-billionaire who believes we don’t have enough constitutional democracy.”

Once the Council resolution was adopted, things moved into high gear. Three months later, the Prime Minister announced the establishment of the Constitutional Assembly, two months later, along with USAID, he said assistance would be obtained from Washington, the European Union, and the UK through the Foreign Office funded Westminister Foundation for Democracy, which was set up in 1992  to organize political parties in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the socialist bloc. In July 2016, the US Assistant Secretary of State Nisha Biswal visited Sri Lanka and admitted there was a direct link between the Council resolution and a new Constitution. She said the Constitution was part of the work foreshadowed” in the Council resolution and that as ‘co-sponsor,’ the US felt it was a shared responsibility to help this process through.” That was just before the US Ambassador’s announcement from USS New Orleans that Washington would assist with the drafting.

What began as an agenda to abolish the Executive Presidency was transformed overnight into a full-blown reform of the Constitution.

With the new Constitution, as with the resolution, the Yahapalana regime is trying to convert us Sri Lankans into Washington’s little soldiers who will defend a hegemonic vision based on invisible threats.” With the arrival of the Yahapalana regime, there has been a strengthening of military ties between the two countries, as confirmed before the US Congress by Acting US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells. The recent launch of the US-trained Sri Lanka’s first Navy Marine Force trained for rescue and evacuation of US troops in case of attacks at sea, and the Indian Ocean Conference at Temple Trees, are part of a process that will permanently affect Sri Lanka’s independence and sovereignty.

It is significant that the Minister holding the Foreign Affairs portfolio at the recent Indian Ocean Conference in Temple Trees (August-September) had been involved in drafting a military agreement with high-level US military officials in secret meetings in 2002. He was then Minister of Defence. The Prime Minister on both occasions was the same and was believed to have met with the then US President George Bush in Washington to discuss the Agreement that was to be signed in December.

Coming back to the invisible threats” to Washington that Sri Lanka will be called upon to fight, what are they? Where is the evidence? These are legitimate questions.

The response to these questions by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld shows that Sri Lanka will be dragged into wars and conflicts over which it has no knowledge or control. Rumsfeld was referring to Iraq and so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction, which turned to be a fiction of Washington’s fertile, but sick, imagination, but for which a modern day savage war for peace” was fought, people massacred and a country destroyed. Here’s what he said:

the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence….There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don’t know we don’t know. … Each year, we discover a few more of those unknown unknowns.”

In this regard, I will leave you with a question for further reflection. It was posed by the famous American writer and filmmaker, Errol Morris:

Imagine someone tells you that there is an elephant in the room. You search the room, opening drawers, checking closets, looking under the bed. No elephant. Absence of evidence or evidence of absence?”

Friends, fellow Patriots, if the Constitution is to be ours, written by a free people, we must first resist this diabolical project!

Note: This is the text of a speech delivered at the launch of the movement Elya (Light) during a mass and very successful meeting in Colombo on September 6th. 

The original source of this article is Defend Democracy Press

Copyright © Tamara Kunanayakam, Defend Democracy Press, 2017

By Lasanda Kurukulasuriya Global Research, September 18, 2017

The Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) organised by the India Foundation and held at the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s official residence ‘Temple Trees’ from Aug. 31 to Sept.1, was billed as a gathering of Indian Ocean Region countries and ‘other concerned nations’ with a view to advancing ‘Peace, Progress and Prosperity” in the Indian Ocean. While this is no doubt a laudable goal, the absence of perspectives from regional players like China and Pakistan points to somewhat more partisan objectives than those advertised.

The delegate described as ‘Principal, Ambassadors’ LLC Group, China’ was actually an American citizen, and while there was ambiguity as to the interests she represented it would be safe to surmise that she did not represent the People’s Republic of China. However, the US, also an external power, was represented by its Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asia, Alice Wells.

A post on the Conference’s Facebook page points to objectives not revealed elsewhere. It describes the gathering as being part of India’s efforts to rejuvenate ties with IOR countries and increase its outreach in the region to counter growing Chinese influence in the region.” The IOC’s real purpose is candidly stated:

The event can be seen as an effort to counter China’s growing influence in the IOR.”

India’s worries over China’s growing maritime footprint are shared by the US, resulting in converging interests in the IOR.

Given its economic downturn, the US seeks like-minded democracies in the Indo-Pacific region to balance China” says Indian Ocean researcher Lindsay Hughes in an article published by ‘Future Directions International.’ It has strong relationships with Australia, Japan and South Korea” but It lacks a similar partner in the eastern Indian Ocean …”

Referring to Washington’s agreement with Delhi to share military facilities and its efforts to sign an intelligence-sharing agreement as well, this analyst says that a close partnership with India suits Washington’s strategy of passing some of the responsibility for maintaining security in the Indian Ocean Region to regional partners.”

Wells in her Colombo address unequivocally asserted that

the United States is and would continue to be an Indo-Pacific power.”

It may be noticed that the terms ‘Indo-Pacific’ or ‘Indo-Asia Pacific,’ combining the two oceans as if they are a single entity, is increasingly used now by American officials. The terminology may be intended to make the increasing US assertiveness in the IOR seem ‘normal’ although the US lacks presence in the Indian Ocean comparable to its massive build-up in the Pacific theatre. The US’s deepening ties with the Sri Lanka Navy in recent times are also worth noting in this context. At the conference, Wells announced the first ever US-Sri Lanka naval exercise to be carried out in October. According to reports this exercise will be conducted by the US Seventh Fleet in Trincomalee, a strategically located deep water port on the country’s East coast.

The US has increasingly referred to ‘Freedom of Navigation and Over flight’ in its rhetoric, seeking to enlist the support of partners in its enforcement. While in her speech Wells called on others to adhere to a common vision that respected international law as reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention,” it is ironic that the US itself has not acceded to the LOS Convention. All the same the US has been in the habit of challenging other states when they act in ways that the US believes pose a threat to ‘freedom of navigation,’ by sending its warships into the waters concerned. These ‘Freedom of Navigation (FON) assertions by the US have dangerously racked up tensions with China in the South China Sea. In the latest incident reported last month, the USS John S. McCain sailed within 12 nautical miles (the internationally recognized territorial limit) of Mischief Reef in the Spratly islands, causing Beijing to express displeasure over what it called an act of provocation. The incident took place in disputed waters where China’s claims are contested by neighbours. The volatility of the situation is compounded by the fact that this was a time when China’s help was being sought to defuse tensions with North Korea over its missile tests.

Armitai Etzioni of The George Washington University, Washington DC says the US is acting, as it is often accused, as the world’s policeman.

.. as far as FONA (Freedom of Navigation Assertions) is concerned, the United States decides on its own which new restrictions introduced by any nation in the world are ‘‘excessive,” and what it considers the correct interpretation of international law and UNCLOS” he said in a 2015 research paper. And it unilaterally applies its military force ….. to enforce the rules. In short, in these matters the United States acts as accuser, judge, jury, and executioner.”

Etzioni warns that these types of actions add a security risk as they can quite readily escalate into dangerous clashes between the forces of the super powers.”

It is in this context of ambiguity as to the motives of various parties, that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged at the IOC that Sri Lanka would take the lead in initiating a discussion to deliberate on a stable legal order on freedom of navigation and over flight in the Indian Ocean.” In view of the US’s eagerness to strengthen military ties with Sri Lanka, the question arises as to whether the US agenda of containing China has been taken on as well. The language used by India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, by comparison, was more circumspect, and did not refer to ‘freedom of navigation’ but rather Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ (SAGAR). Given the prevailing tensions in the IOR Sri Lanka will need to beware of being used as the cat’s paw of any big power in its games of brinkmanship – it does not need to become another South China Sea!

Palitha Kohona (Source: Asian Tribune)

Asked to comment, Palitha Kohona, former head of the UN Treaty Section in New York expressed the view that Sri Lanka must again take a high profile position in discussions relating to the oceans and the blue economy. Dr. Kohona was also Chair of the UN Sixth Committee (Legal), Chair of the UN Committee on Biological Diversity Beyond National Jurisdiction and Chair of the Indian Ocean Committee. He made this assertion given that Sri Lanka, with its 200-mile EEZ and potentially vast continental shelf would increasingly turn to the ocean for its future prosperity (fisheries, petroleum and mineral extraction, environmental protection, including coral reefs, dolphins and whales, migratory fish species, tourism, etc).” On an optimistic note he added that Sri Lanka’s input will be respected where the Convention on the Law of the Sea needs further elaboration or clarification, including in the formulation of codes.”

Of course, like many rules of international law, the provisions of the LOSC also tend to be interpreted to suit the convenience of those relying on them. Some major powers are not parties to the LOSC but subscribe to its provisions as reflecting customary international law – the US, Turkey and Venezuela among them” he said.

The original source of this article is Defend Democracy Press

Copyright © Lasanda Kurukulasuriya, Defend Democracy Press, 2017

CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA Ottawa, Canada

September 24, 2017, 9:12 pm

It is interesting to read the debate about what the unit of devolution should be. Recent articles, by Dayan Jayatilleke (Island, Sep. 20, 2017) and Neville Ladduwahetty (Sep. 23, 2017) argue for the Province (DJ), and for the District (NL). Interestingly, both the TNA, and their counter organizations pay homage to “the indivisible nature of Sri Lanka”, the “Orumiththa Nadu” and the “aekeeya Rajya”, while also supporting “maximum devolution”, i.e., the opposite objective! In our view, the issue of power devolution to units of government is an obsolete question. However, we discuss them as usual and lastly look at the enormous technological possibilities that exist to leap frog into a system compatible with the 21st century.

Even within the traditional picture, the five burning questions are: (I) Why do we need devolution? (ii) What is the “maximum” that can be “devolved safely”? (III) To what units do we grant this “devolution” of power, and (IV) What over-arching power is retained to prevent the units aggrandizing power and spinning out? The most important question is the fifth (V) Who controls the purse?

Power devolution ultimately depends on how we split the purse. Political power without economic clout is empty. If the “Province” is to be the unit of devolution, does each province depend on its own Income and Taxation, or on equalization payments from the Center? How much equalization payments are going from rich provinces to poor provinces? Instead of leaving it to the private sector, a vast amount of money was spent by the south to eradicate terrorism, de-mine and rebuild the North. If economic independence is proposed, will the North and the East be asked to repay (in time) the expenditure?

Equalization, sharing of water etc., will be the issues that will ultimately allow one or other province to accuse the center of “discrimination” or “exploitation” and go for separation. Minister Wigneswaran had already objected to getting Mahaweli water as it would be an obstacle to “self-determination”. Ethnic factors are not the only reasons for separation. The rich Western province can go for separation from its poor cousins, while a province with fossil fuel may want to go away with it and join Texaco! Furthermore, can a devolved unit accept money from foreign powers and foreign NGOs and there by acquire economic clout, and become, wittingly or unwittingly, an appendage of foreign forces? That would be de facto separation.

The proposed constitution seems to create a Kafkaesque castle with many labyrinths. It invokes many types of local councils, community councils, provincial councils, provincial – interprovincial-cooperation units, constitutional courts, a second chamber, a first chamber, a cabinet and its Prime Minister, the President, 13 PPSCs and its national analogue (?), local and national courts etc. The process of government will grind to a halt in this labyrinth, and nothing will happen in a transparent manner. These will be welcomed by power cliques around the president, prime minister or other figures. They will work to remain in power and to sell bank bonds and backdoor booty! An ideologically driven Province will do what it pleases, especially if it has support from outside the country. Prabhakaran got de facto separatist power even within a “centralized” constitution, purely because of the initial support rendered to him by Indira Gandhi, followed by the continuous support from Tamil Nadu politicians and local politicians funded by NGOs.

More expensive & inefficient

A devolved system makes matters more expensive, more inefficient, and provides room for more misunderstanding. That is why countries make Unions, e.g., European Union, NFTA etc., while zealots and isolationists call for Brexits and build walls, e.g., against Mexico. Devolution was natural or justified at a time when communication was slow, via sailing ship or horse messenger. Today, Sri Lanka is a global village linked with Internet, Facebook and Twitter, served by TV and radio channels, with many coming from outside. People store their family pictures and pizza orders in the Cloud, and plan their weddings to get into Guinness or at least into U-tube, hoping to go viral. Their aspirations are increasingly globalized. With Google-maps and street views available instantly, we get accurate local information non-locally, from any center. Devolution “outwards” is as irrelevant as “localization” on a hologram.

It is claimed in favour of devolution that the insensitivity of centralized power caused the ethnic conflict. Colombo allegedly neglected the “aspirations” of a minority that finally took to arms to redress the problem. This is an easy and invalid simplification of the causes that led to the political polarization of the country on ethnic grounds.The root of the problem was the existence of ethnic enclaves in the North and East, exploited by a class of absentee Landlords who lived in Colombo and remotely held their provincial fiefdoms. They envisioned that militant nationalism can be used to keep their lands and their surfs (lower castes) in their hands. Dr. Jane Russell has documented the situation since the time of the Donoughmore Commission, where we see a clear picture of confrontation as well as cooperation between the landed gentry of the North and the South. This cooperation broke and bottomed when SWRD took power, although the Swabasha revolution was inevitable. Its midwife, blinded with narrow communalism, left room for ethnic confrontation. The confrontational genie escaped; the militants became terrorists who assassinated their own Colombo-based leaders. They usurped the “Arasu” vision for themselves, clad it in Eelam and turned against the State.

Even though the North had many English schools and better links with the West, only a limited segment benefited. They moved to Colombo or to foreign climes as soon as they got the education and the wealth. Given the American-mission schools, the modernity and cosmopolitanism that should have flowered in the North aborted within the Cadjan-fences of Hindu orthodoxy and ethnic insularity. Even today, we have a chief minister in resonance with the white supremacists of Southern USA and advocating pure-race marriages. To the orthodox Jaffna man this also means caste purity in marriage. How can devolved power in such hands create reconciliation?

The size of the unit of devolution – districts or even provinces, was determined in olden times by the distance a messenger can travel on horseback. Today, there is instant communication; a provincial administration can be anywhere in the world where it is cheap to run a call center. But of course it is logical to have it in Sri Lanka, with the best technical support, centrally located by road, rail and harbour, and closest to the most vibrant economy. Today it is Colombo, and tomorrow it may be the Port city built by the Chinese, with all the provincial administrations located in one tower!

Modern communication ensures that the local people cannot be fooled by politicians. Lots of people have cell phones and that can instantly show the local situation. Direct electronic representation is possible without the need for a Kafquesque multi-tier government of the sort proposed by the constitution makers. Old-style constitutions are rapidly becoming nonviable and irrelevant. The center of government becomes a large “call center”, backed by statisticians and data analysts who evaluate opinions posted directly by the public. An institution like “ICTA” of Sri Lanka can be expanded to become the nerve center and brain of the parliament. The Constitution should specify aspects of the algorithm, which tells us how to deal with the opinions directly collected from the people, and partly how the politicians use the data to achieve the visions and aspirations reflected in the messages sent by the people. Any issue can be directly put into a public vote – a referendum- at no cost as the system is already in place. Traditional polls and referenda are also a must to check and verify the “high tech system”. The politicians need visionaries projecting their vision to create public opinion. We do not need many, but we need a few really good ones.

CHANDRE DHARMAWARDANA

Ottawa, Canada

by Avanti  Sri Nissanka – Karunaratna

I believe I am a truly renaissance woman.  In my life I have believed everything is possible, if not it has never stopped me from trying. It was never always about winning, but the fun of trying, for the shear experience of the challenge!

My grandfather H. Sri Nissanka, my mother Yamuna Devi Manel Sri Nissanka, my father Dr. Gemunu Karunaratna, were all painters. I always painted… At Yamuna Mandir , the famous home of my grand father, there was a 20  foot extraordinary painting which hung under the great dome to the sky, painted by Karl Kassman, of the Lord Buddha,  wearing a wonderful red orange robe, descending from the heavens of thusitha to mount meru in the Himalayas, after he had preached to his mother, Queen Maya. This was an image, which was intrinsic with my very being. A grand painting which I grew up with. In Yamuna there were many oil paintings, art was always around my grand father.  My father always painted snow capped mountains and the sea scapes with palm trees, a sense of nostalgia hung in the air.  Mummy painted beautiful landscapes. Therefore it was inevitable that I should develop a love to paint…The paint brush and I became virtually one…It came very naturally.

All my life I have painted, it may not be formally. I painted while in school at Mahamaya College, Kandy. Yet, I never won that school prize for art!

Ms. Avanti Sri Nissanka -Karunaratna displaying the work in progress painting at the Malwatta Temple on March 4, 2017

I studied art for my university entrance examination while, I was in school in New Zealand. Later I found the time to paint with various teachers while living in Sydney.  In many different styles and mediums while I was bringing up a family and while I was working in our business, Germani Jewellery. In 2002, I decided to take time out and have a formal training in art studies in Florence, at the world renowned Michael Angelo Academy.  This was the most exciting and invigorating time of my life. The time I felt I was most alive, to be passionate with a medium and subject I was enjoying most. Training in the Renaissance art. To learn to draw and paint portraits and figures. A unique period of my life. Later I was to paint at the famous Art Students League, New York, and participate in a Collaborative Art with the Tunisian artist Hechmi Ghachem”  introduced  to New York by David Black.

Return to Sri Lanka

I was living in NY, a publisher. One day I was sitting in central park in Manhattan, and suddenly there was a calling, time to go home!  Home to Kandy. On my return to live back in my lovely home up in the udarata; Kandy after 42 years, where I had spent my young life with my loving family, with uncles and loving grand parents, Dr. Willy Karunaratna and my grand mother Florence (Flori), daddy Dr. Gemunu Karunaratna and mummy Yamuna Devi Manel Sri Nissanka, and many aunts and uncles, Dr. Nihal, and Chula, my many cousins, where time had stood still. Now I was older and wiser I hope! What was I going to do after a very exciting and adventurous life on a global platform?

One day a friend came by and asked me what I was doing. I said that I had just started to paint again and set up my studio at home in Kandy, He had just opened a hotel, Sandriana, on the very hill where I lived. He decided to commission me to paint for his hotel. This was a wonderful challenge.

There were paintings of Kandyan dancers, Sri Wickrama Rajasingha, and Elephants, plenty of them! My painting skills and training in art school in Florence, Italy was about to be tested, on very large canvases! It was so stimulating to be covered in paint. It was so far from the world I had left in fine jewellery for the rich and the famous in the world, to the world of publishing in New York, NY.

Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka

While I was still working on this painting assignment, my brother, Prof. Amal Randhir Karunaratna, invited me to attend a Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka sponsored lecture by H.L.D. Mahindapala in Colombo, on ‘the last king of Jaffna’.  While we were on the way to the lecture at the Mahaweli Centre, we found ourselves sharing a lift with another gentleman who got into the lift with my brother and I.  This was a chance happening. After the meeting, we got chatting about the lecture with a few people and this gentleman joined us. His name was Senaka Weeraratna. He asked me what I did, and I said I was a historical artist. Where upon he said, would I be interested in doing a painting  of Devendra Mulachari, the architect of the most iconic building of Sri Lanka, the Paththirippuwa, Octagon of the Dalada Maligawa, in Kandy?

I did not hesitate, and said Yes” I can do it! Even though to me like for many others, I had no idea who this amazing architect was. What I did know was that it was the building I had looked at all my life in Kandy. I walk past it every morning when I went for my walk, and had driven past it every day when I went to school in my childhood days. Now, I can see it from my studio across the Kiri Muhuda – Kandy lake.  I was to discover that not only had Devendra Mulachari,  the architect of the paththrippuwa, but also the creator of the walakulu bamma, diayarally bamma, the kiri muhuda, the ulpange, the island, Kundasala, and the magul maduwa. All very intrinsic to the Kandy history, and further these remarkable designs have been copied and displayed all around our hallowed land.

New Book

In the course of the conversation, Senaka  Weeraratna added that D.D.M. Waidyasekera, the former Tax Commissioner, had written a book entitled ‘Great Royal Artificer of the Kandy Kingdom, Devendra Mulachari’, which he was presenting to the Mahanayake of the Malwatta Chapter, in Kandy on March 4^th,  2017. Could I have some painting ready by then to give colour to the occasion? I was so excited and thrilled to take on a challenge of this nature. Three weeks and no image to go by.  Only a small description from D.D.M. Waidayasekera about Devendra Mulachari’s appearance and bearing.

I must say that Senaka Weeraratna, was very much instrumental in guiding me on how I should attend to this task and present the painting. We discussed it a lot. What purpose should a painting that will showcase the most valuable piece of Architecture of the Kandy period, and the last King of Kandy in his youth, and the brilliant designer and great architect of several Kandyan icons, serve?  My excitement about the subject, my interest in the history of Lanka, appealed to him. He said that the painting must take the form of a celebration through art of a landmark event in the history of the country, namely the opening  of  the Paththirippuwa (Octagon)in 1802.  Australia has the Opera house, we have the Paththirippuwa. We must take pride and admire the high achievements and sense of aesthetics of our Kings and forefathers, and moreover our unique Buddhist civilization. These ideas were swirling in my mind. I cannot allow this opportunity to lapse, I thought.

Nevertheless I was now a bit panicked. I paint in oil, and I know it takes time to paint small details, not just the portrait as I thought I was first going to paint. As I come from a tradition of designing and painting jewellery for 40 years, I am very meticulous in my work particularly, my attention to details.

Meeting with the Mahanayake of the Malwatta Chapter

So I worked and beavered on this painting, day in and day out. March 4, 2017 came. I joined the learned author D.D.M. Waidyasekera, the former Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department, the eminent Historian Prof. K.D. Paranavitana at the Malwatta temple to  meet with the Mahanayake,  Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero of the Malwatta Chapter at 9 am. The Venerable monk seemed very pleased with my artwork, though it was not yet complete. The painting was still in a work in progress state. He suggested I paint another historical figure. The last Queen of Kandy.

I was particularly excited at this opportunity, as my uncle, Dr. Nihal Karunaratna had written three books, of Kandy Past and Present, Governors Palace and Udawatta Kale, and my uncle Jeevaka De Soysa, was the architect of the golden roof of the Maligawa as we see it today. It will be wonderful to be part of bequeathing a legacy of our amazing long and unbroken history of 2300 years of this beautiful island – my home land.

Avanti  Sri Nissanka – Karunaratna

Sept. 25, 2017

Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero of the Malwatta Chapter meeting a delegation of Buddhists comprising the learned author D.D.M. Waidyasekera, the former Commissioner of the Inland Revenue Department, and the eminent Historian Prof. K.D. Paranavitana, among others, on March 04, 2017

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding the case of Sanath Kumara Wijethilaka (34) of Dambulla Headquarters Police Division, who was killed in the early hours of 5 September 2017. Sanath was a transgender man. His dead body was lying on the ground of a private van park in front of the Dambulla General Hospital. Initial police investigations and the post mortem examinations concluded the fact that the victim was murdered by clubbing with blunt weapons. However, the police have been lethargic in completing their investigation and bringing the murderers to court.

Case Narrative:

Sanath Kumara Wijethilaka (34) of Kalundewa, Walgamwewa, Dambulla, is a permanent resident in the Matale District. Sanath was born as male, but as he grew older, he started developing female attitudes and behavioral patterns.

As an adultescent, Sanath started dressing as a woman, and frequently went out like that, even in Dambulla Town. He was well known to the residents of the area for his behavior. The people engaged in commercial activities and the business owners in the city were aware of him as a transgender person. Sanath was a very peaceful and innocent adult. He was never accused of involvement with any crime, or harming any person or property throughout his life.

However, there were several incidents when he was arrested by the police and produced in court due to his suspicious behavior and his different manner of dress. On all these occasions however, respectful judicial officers have taken steps to release him with immediate effect after learning the truth.

On 5 September 2017, Sanath was found lying on the ground of the private van parking in front of the Damubulla General Hospital in Damubulla Town. The incident was reported to the Dambulla Headquarters Police Station by the residents of the area, and Sanath was brought to the Dambulla General Hospital.

After initial investigations by the Dambulla Headquarters Police Station, the police believe Sanath was beaten to death; several clubs that were used in the killing were seen around the crime scene. Furthermore, police said that pools of blood, believed to be Sanath’s, and an umbrella, were also found in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, Sanath’s sister said she received a telephone call at 3 a.m. on that day, from Sanath’s mobile. The caller shouted at her in abusive language, and informed her that they have killed her brother. She mentioned that she could not identify the caller by his voice.

Later police informed the media that Sanath was beaten to death by an unknown individual or a group of persons at 2 a.m.

Even 18 days after the incident, there is no efficient or credible investigation into Sanath’s murder.

This case of murdering an innocent transgender man is related to the insecure state of Sri Lanka’s transgender community. There are no laws safeguarding the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons. The government should enact such laws, and take steps to ensure that the rights of all Sri Lankans are upheld, particularly those of marginalized communities.

Suggested Action:

Please send letters to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into Sanath’s murder, as well as into the allegations of inefficient police action in the matter. Those found responsible for the murder must be prosecuted under the law. Similarly, those officers found guilty of shirking their duties and not upholding the law must also be punished. Further, please also request the National Police Commission (NPC) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to have a special investigation into the malpractices of the police officers for abusing their powers.

To support this case, please click here:

 SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ________,

SRI LANKA: Inefficient police investigation into murder of transgender man

Name of victim: Sanath Kumara Wijethilaka (34) of Kalundewa, Walgamwewa, Dambulla

Alleged perpetrators: 1) an unknown individual or a group of people
2) Police officers attached to the Dambulla Headquarters Police Station

Date of incident: 5 September 2017

Place of incident: Dambulla HeadquartersPolice Division

According to the information that I have received Sanath Kumara Wijethilaka (34) of Kalundewa, Walgamwewa, Dambulla, is a permanent resident in the Matale District. Sanath was born as male, but as he grew older, he started developing female attitudes and behavioral patterns.

As an adultescent, Sanath started dressing as a woman, and frequently went out like that, even in Dambulla Town. He was well known to the residents of the area for his behavior. The people engaged in commercial activities and the business owners in the city were aware of him as a transgender person. Sanath was a very peaceful and innocent adult. He was never accused of involvement with any crime, or harming any person or property throughout his life.

However, there were several incidents when he was arrested by the police and produced in court due to his suspicious behavior and his different manner of dress. On all these occasions however, respectful judicial officers have taken steps to release him with immediate effect after learning the truth.

On 5 September 2017, Sanath was found lying on the ground of the private van parking in front of the Damubulla General Hospital in Damubulla Town. The incident was reported to the Dambulla Headquarters Police Station by the residents of the area, and Sanath was brought to the Dambulla General Hospital.

After initial investigations by the Dambulla Headquarters Police Station, the police believe Sanath was beaten to death; several clubs that were used in the killing were seen around the crime scene. Furthermore, police said that pools of blood, believed to be Sanath’s, and an umbrella, were also found in the vicinity.

Meanwhile, Sanath’s sister said she received a telephone call at 3 a.m. on that day, from Sanath’s mobile. The caller shouted at her in abusive language, and informed her that they have killed her brother. She mentioned that she could not identify the caller by his voice.

Later police informed the media that Sanath was beaten to death by an unknown individual or a group of persons at 2 a.m.

Even 18 days after the incident, there is no efficient or credible investigation into Sanath’s murder.

This case of murdering an innocent transgender man is related to the insecure state of Sri Lanka’s transgender community. There are no laws safeguarding the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender persons. The government should enact such laws, and take steps to ensure that the rights of all Sri Lankans are upheld, particularly those of marginalized communities.

I request the intervention of your good offices to ensure that the authorities open an immediate investigation into Sanath’s murder, as well as the lethargic approach of the police officers in the case. The officers involved in not properly investigating the crime and bringing the culprits before the courts without delay, should also be subject to internal investigations for breach of Police Department orders.

Yours sincerely,

———————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. PujithJayasundara
   Inspector General of Police
   New Secretariat
   Colombo 1
   SRI LANKA
   Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
   E-mail: igp@police.lk
2. Mr. Jayantha Jayasooriya PC
   Attorney General
   Attorney General’s Department
   Colombo 12
   SRI LANKA
   Fax: +94 11 2 436421
   E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk
3. Secretary
   National Police Commission
   3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers
   109 Galle Road
   Colombo 03
   SRI LANKA
   Tel: +94 11 2 395310
   Fax: +94 11 2 395867
   E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lkor polcom@sltnet.lk
4. Secretary
   Human Rights Commission
   No. 36, Kynsey Road
   Colombo 8
   SRI LANKA
   Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
   Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
   E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

Press release – CaFFE Organization

Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) issuing a press release states that the government has deceived women’s rights organizations, civil society organizations and all interested parties ‘by indicating that the recently passed amendments to Provincial Council Election laws ensure higher female representation at provincial councilors.

The stated objective of the amendment is to ensure that 30% of the list of candidates of a political party consist of women. However there are no provisions in the bill to make a list of candidates’ invalid of it does not consist of 30% of women. Thus the selection officer has no power to reject such a list. It is unfortunate that women’s rights organizations and civil society organizations’, who are silent on the undemocratic nature in which this bill was passed last week, have not hitherto realized that the bill does not ensure higher female representation in Provincial Councils.

The other slogan used by those who supported the bill is that this bill will ensure that the elections for all nine provinces will be held on one day. Once again there are no provisions on this bill to ensure that. Not only that, a close reading of the bill shows that the elections will have t be held on a staggered basis (at least in two separate occasions).

The bill has also ensured that the parliament will have to debate and come up with provisions to resolve over a dozen of technical issues and confusions that have arisen. The government will surely bring in new proposals to ‘rectify’ issues that arise from things like appointing a new delimitation commission outside the existing one. Given what transpired regarding the amendments to the laws governing local government elections, it is difficult to estimate how long it will take for the Parliament to resolve these issues. This can easily lead to a delay in holding elections, this is exactly what the government wants.

Media unit

CaFFE Organization

පුවත්පත් නිවේදනය – පළාත් සභා පනතේ සංශෝධන කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සංවිධානය   

30% ක කාන්තා නියෝජනය තහවුරු කිරීම සදහා සිදු කළ බව කියන පළාත් සභා පනතේ සංශෝධන තුල කාන්තා සංවිධාන, සිවිල් සංවිධාන පමණක් නොව සමස්ථ රාජ්‍යයම දැවැන්ත රැවටීමකට ලක් කොට ඇත.  මෙම පනත් සංශෝධනයේ ප්‍ර‍කාශිත අරමුණ 30% ක කාන්තා නියෝජනය නාම යෝජනා සදහා සහතික කිරීමය.  නමුත්, යම් නාමයෝජනා පත්‍ර‍යක නියමිත 30% කාන්තාවන් ප්‍ර‍මාණයක්  ඇතුලත් නොවේ නම් නාම යෝජනා පත්‍ර‍ය ප්‍ර‍තික්ෂේප කිරීම සදහා කිසිදු ප්‍ර‍තිපාදනයක් පනතේ සංශෝධනවලට ඇතුලත් කොට නොමැත. ඒ අනුව, ප්‍රායෝගිකව එවැනි නාම  යෝජනාවක් ප්‍ර‍තිකේෂප කිරීම තේරීම්භාර නිලධාරියාට හැකියාවක් නොමැත.  30% කාන්තා නියෝජනය තමන්ට හිමිවී ඇතැයි සිතා පළාත් සභා පනත සංශෝධන කිරීමේ ප්‍ර‍ජාතන්ත්‍ර‍ විරෝධී ව්‍යවහාරය පිළිබද මුනිවත රකින කාන්තා සංවිධාන හා සිවිල් සංවිධාන තමන් දැවැන්ත රැවටිල්ලකට හසුවී ඇතැයි මේ දක්වා අවබෝධ කොට ගෙන හෝ නොමැත.

පළාත් සභා පනත පස්සා දොරන් සම්මත කර ගැනීමට කටයුතු කළ පිරිස් තම උත්සාහය ජනතා ගත කිරීමට උත්සහ දැරුවේ ‘සියලු පළාත් සභා එකම දිනක මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම‘ යන සටන් පාඨයට ගොනු කරමිනි.  පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ පස්සා දොරින් සම්මත වූ සංශෝධනය තුල සියලු පළාත් සභා එකම දිනක පැවැත්වීම සදහා කිසිදු ප්‍රතිපාදනයක් නොමැතිය.  එපමණක් නොව, පැහැදිලි හා ස්ථිර ලෙසම පළාත් සභා කඩින් කඩ (අවම වශයෙන් අවස්ථා දෙකක් හෝ වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක දී) පැවැත්වීමට සිදු වේ.

මෙම පනත් සංශෝධනය මගින් ඇතිකර ඇති තාක්ෂණික ගැටළු සහ මැතිවරණ ව්‍යහාරයේ ඇති නොගැලපීම්  (උදා- ඇප මුදල් තැන්පත් කිරීම) පිළිබද සංශෝධන දුසිම් ගණනක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව මගින් සම්මත කර ගැනීම සදහා නුදුරේම ඉදිරිපත් විය යුතුව ඇත.  පසුගිය පළාත් පාලන පනතේ සංශෝධන සැලකීමේ දී, ඒ සදහා වසර ගණනාවක් ගතවිය හැකිය.  පළාත් පාලන ඡන්දය ලෙසම පළාත් සභා ඡන්ද විමසීම ද හැකි උපරිම කාලයක් කල් දමා ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයට රජය නිරත වේ. 

ඒ සදහා දැනට පවතින ජාතික සීමා නිර්ණය කමිටුවට පරිබාහිරව අලුතෙනින් ‘සීමා නිර්ණය කමිටුවක් පත් කිරීම‘, පළාත් සභා පනතේ හදිසි ව්‍යවස්ථා විරෝධී සංශෝධනය හේතුවෙන් ඇති කළ නොගැලපීම් ‘නිවැරදි කිරීම‘ සදහා තවත් විශාල සංශෝධන සංඛ්‍යාවක් ගෙනඒමට රජය අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම කටයුතු කරනු ඇත.

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/කැෆේ සංවිධානය                             2017 සැප්තැම්බර් 25

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding Mr. Warnasooriya Patabandige Lakshan (21), permanent resident of the Trincomalee District. On 15 June 2017, Lakshan was illegally arrested by Police of the Kantale Police Division. He was not given any reason for his arrest. After detaining him at the Police Station, he was accused of supporting several young men escaping police arrest. The victim was unaware of the identity of the young men. He stated that the Police acted arbitrary, illegally and violated the Law.

Case Narrative:

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about Mr. Warnasooriya Patabandige Lakshan, of No: 17/13, Trincomalee Road, Kantale in the Trincomalee District. Lakshan completed his high school education and was living at home while looking for a job.

On 15 June 2017 at 6 p.m., while Lakshan was at home with his mother, 4 uniformed Police Officers came to his home and asked him to come outside. They then dragged him by his hands into a vehicle parked on the road and brought him to the Kantale Police Station. He questioned the Officers as to the reason of his arrest. The officers accused him of supporting three of his friends to escape arrest and to leave the village. Lakshan vehemently denied the accusation and pleaded for his release. He accepted the fact that he knew the persons by their names by denied the accusation that he helped him to escape the arrest.

On the Next day, 16 June, Lakshan was produced before the Kantale Magistrate and released on bail. Lakshan still did not know the reason for his arrest and was unaware of the reason for producing him before the Courts. Lakshan explained that he did not even know the names of the wanted persons.

Lakshan states that he was illegally arrested, detained in a cell at the Kantale Police Station and had his fundamental rights, guaranteed to him by the Constitution, violated.

Suggested Action:

Please send letters to the Authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case. Request an immediate investigation into the allegations of illegal arrest by the Police. Prosecute those proved to be responsible under the Law for misusing the powers of the State. The officers involved must be subject to an internal investigation for breach of Police Departmental Orders. Please request the National Police Commission (NPC) and the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to open a special investigation into the malpractices of Police Officers who abuse their powers.

To support this case, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _______

SRI LANKA: Young man illegally arrested by Kantale Police

Name of Victim: Mr. Warnasooriya Patabandige Lakshan (21), of No: 17/13, Trincomalee Road, Kantale in the Trincomalee District

Alleged perpetrators: Four Police Officers attached to the Kantale Police Station

Date of incident: 15 June 2017

Place of incident: Kantale Police Division

According to information I have received the information about the case of Mr. Warnasooriya Patabandige Lakshan, of No: 17/13, Trincomalee Road, Kantale in the Trincomalee District. Lakshan completed his high school education and was living at home while looking for a job.

On 15 June 2017 at 6 p.m., while Lakshan was at home with his mother, 4 uniformed Police Officers came to his home and asked him to come outside. They then dragged him by his hands into a vehicle parked on the road and brought him to the Kantale Police Station. He questioned the Officers as to the reason of his arrest. The officers accused him of supporting three of his friends to escape arrest and to leave the village. Lakshan vehemently denied the accusation and pleaded for his release. He accepted the fact that he knew the persons by their names by denied the accusation that he helped him to escape the arrest.

On the Next day, 16 June, Lakshan was produced before the Kantale Magistrate and released on bail. Lakshan still did not know the reason for his arrest and was unaware of the reason for producing him before the Courts. Lakshan explained that he did not even know the names of the wanted persons.

Lakshan states that he was illegally arrested, detained in a cell at the Kantale Police Station and had his fundamental rights, guaranteed to him by the Constitution, violated.

I request the intervention of your good offices. Ensure that the Authorities listed below open an immediate investigation into the allegations of violations of the fundamental rights of the victim by Officers of the Sri Lanka Police Department. The Officers involved should also be subject to internal investigations for breach of Police Departmental Orders.

Yours sincerely,

———————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. Pujith Jayasundara
   Inspector General of Police
   New Secretariat
   Colombo 1
   SRI LANKA
   Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
   E-mail: igp@police.lk
2. Mr. Jayantha Jayasooriya PC
   Attorney General
   Attorney General’s Department
   Colombo 12
   SRI LANKA
   Fax: +94 11 2 436421
   E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk
3. Secretary
   National Police Commission
   3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers
   109 Galle Road
   Colombo 03
   SRI LANKA
   Tel: +94 11 2 395310
   Fax: +94 11 2 395867
   E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lkor polcom@sltnet.lk
4. Secretary
   Human Rights Commission
   No. 36, Kynsey Road
   Colombo 8
   SRI LANKA
   Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
   Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
   E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Program
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)

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Asian Human Rights Commission

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Dr Palitha Kohona Courtesy The Island

Sri Lanka is a rare case where a brutal terrorist challenge to the state was comprehensively defeated, substantially through its own efforts, despite all the advice, reservations and fears publicly expressed to the contrary. Unfortunately, the elimination of terrorism has won it few plaudits internationally. Instead, the tables have been turned and the military success of the Sri Lankan state and its security forces is overshadowed by extensive accusations relating to alleged violations of the norms of war and of human rights. President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led the country to free it of the terrorist challenge, has been accused of not giving negotiations a chance. I will address only this allegation in this overview. Curiously, the terrorist group, the LTTE, which savagely terrorised the population for over 27 years, is hardly mentioned while accusations of gross violations by the security forces dominate the headlines and the state is made to feel guilty of wrongdoing.

Analysts have sought to identify the reasons for this strangely illogical outcome. At the time that President Rajapaksa was elected, many, including senior officials of Sri Lanka, believed that the once feared LTTE could not be defeated militarily. Additionally, the then Opposition was publicly skeptical of the government’s ability to overcome the LTTE. The comments of a senior opposition member of Parliament that the soldiers went to Pamankada (a suburb of Colombo) but claimed to have gone to Alimankada (Elephant Pass in the North) reflected this skepticism. In 2006, the Chief of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) General Henrickson advised Sri Lankan officials at the highest levels, including the Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat, not to entertain any thoughts of confronting the LTTE militarily as the terrorist group was far too good, too professional and better motivated compared with the security forces and its leadership and would prevail in the event of a confrontation  Similar warnings were voiced by many heads of Western Diplomatic Missions based in Colombo, despite their own publicly proclaimed anti-terrorist policies and military actions designed to destroy terrorists far from their own borders, including in the South Asian neighbourhood. Either through pragmatism, desperation founded on experience, or for other reasons best known to themselves, many advocated continued negotiations with the LTTE despite the fact that the multiple efforts to end the conflict through negotiations since 1985, including with Indian intervention, and despite the many concessions made by different elected presidents, had failed.

In fact, it was patent that negotiations had only helped the LTTE to regroup, re-arm and launch fresh assaults with greater ferocity. Some prominent countries represented in Colombo, such as Russia, China and France, did not belong to the group that advocated continued negotiations, perhaps reflecting their own experiences with terrorism and their views on dealing with challenges to national sovereignty.

It is likely that the LTTE and its leader, Prabhakaran, believed in Ho Chi Minh’s dictum, “talk talk and fight fight” and talking was just part of a strategy to create breathing space to regroup and consolidate before striking harder. They were encouraged to believe in their own invincibility by a dedicated and well- resourced following of expatriates some of whom were millionaires, a range of international NGOs based in the West and who hobnobbed with Western diplomatic missions in Colombo, some members of the IGO community and prominent members of Western diplomatic community in Colombo. This was despite the emerging consensus in the West, particularly since the events of 9/11 that there will be no accommodation with terrorism. (Today, this approach has been taken further and even terrorist supporters are eliminated in distant lands before they have had the opportunity to engage in acts of terror). It is possible that a combination of these factors gave rise to the perception that the conflict could be ended only through negotiations (even though it was patently obvious that the LTTE did not want such an end) and when this script was not followed, many attempted to attribute the outcome to gross abuses. It is also speculated that the LTTE ensured the victory of Rajapaksa at the November 2005 elections in the hope that he could be provoked in to a conflict in which his military would be defeated.

Could it be stated that President Rajapaksa, elected to office in November 2005, preferred to settle the terrorist problem through war without giving negotiations a chance. The reality could not be further from the truth. Rajapaksa, who had a deep seated and undisguised attachment to parliamentary institutions, took the critical decision to pursue the military option against the LTTE only after the LTTE itself had scuttled three efforts in 2006 to end the conflict through negotiations. The keenness of the Lankan state to pursue negotiations could be gauged from the fact that a team from Harvard was brought down to train its negotiating team which was headed by the leader of the House, Nimal Siripala de Silva. The writer himself was invited to return home to join the negotiating team, giving up a senior legal post at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Furthermore, few were aware that the military leadership was uncertain of its own capabilities, after having suffered a series of disastrous setbacks in the previous 10 years. The equipment level of the military was inadequate; some senior elements of the military themselves did not believe in the possibility of a military victory and openly said so and a general lack of confidence had seeped in to the psyche of the people encouraged by a negative attitude disseminated by elements of the political leadership and the well resourced NGO community. The peace mantra was being chanted prolifically in the South while terrorist bombs were exploding at regular intervals killing dozens of non combatants and service personnel. There was growing doubt among the majority of the population as to whether the motive of the peace brigade was to demoralize the security forces. Conscious of these factors, Rajapaksa initially sought a negotiated end to the conflict.

Following the election Rajapaksa as president, the LTTE attacks on military personnel and civilians and on government naval vessels intensified. The government responded by putting increasing pressure on the Norwegians, in particular special peace envoy Erik Solheim, to get the two parties together for talks. Rajapaksa believed that there was room for negotiations and compromise. Norwegian and European arm-twisting seemed to produce results. Despite initial disagreements on the location of the talks, in February 2006, following extensive consultations involving Solheim, the government team led by the Leader of the House, Nimal Siripala de Silva, met the LTTE team led by Anton Balasingham in Geneva at a chalet in Celigny provided by the Swiss. The Norwegians were there represented by Erik Solheim, Hans Bratskar et al. In addition to the ailing Balasingham, the LTTE team included the its Political Leader and Secretary General of the LTTE Peace Secretariat established under the Cease Fire Agreement, (Thamil Selvam and Pulidevan), its Police Chief, Nadesan (whose wife was a Sinhalese), their propaganda chief, Daya Master and Balasingham’s wife, the Australian Adele. The opportunities for social interaction between the two delegations, orchestrated by the Norwegians, provided a glimpse in to the thinking of individual members of the LTTE delegation. Balasingham, who knew that he had only a short while to live, was keen to bring the long drawn out conflict to an end but on a successful note for himself and for the LTTE. Adele had little to say but appeared to be focused on Balasingham’s health. Daya Master, the propaganda chief, dreamed of going to Australia to live with his daughter.

At the end of the first day, Balasingham, lived up to his reputation as a bully by threatening to walk away from the negotiations unless the government delegation agreed at least, in principle, to the main LTTE demands, including the recognition of a separate Tamil homeland in the North-East with the LTTE in charge of this entity at least for an agreed period. (Balasingham had completely overawed previous government delegations which he confronted in 2002 and 2003 with his domineering style). There was momentary panic in the government ranks at the prospect of the talks collapsing unless Balasingham’s demands were met. He clearly overplayed his hand. After some internal discussions and in consultation with the government leadership in Colombo, it was decided to reject Balasingham’s immediate demands but further explore options for compromise.

I strongly suggested that Balasingham’s bluff be called as he himself could not go back to his Norwegian benefactors or to the European sympathisers after having wrecked the talks. The following morning Nimal Siripala de Silva took the floor and calmly said that the government remained committed to continuing the talks to find a compromise but as a democratically elected government responsible to its voters was unable to concede Balasingham’s arbitrary demands. While the atmosphere remained electric for a short while, as the government delegation sat silently uncertain about Balasingham’s reaction, the LTTE delegation retired for consultations. A little while later Balasingham returned to the table, with much of his puffed up bravado gone, and meekly agreed to continue with the talks. The LTTE was also forced to concede for the first time that it would not recruit children for combat purposes any further.

After two days, the talks ended on a relatively high note with a commitment to reconvene two months later, at the end of April, 2006.  The Government delegation returned home in high spirits. Nevertheless, some of us remained suspicious whether the LTTE, given its track record, would remain faithful to this commitment. We were also beginning to hear through reliable sources that Prabhakaran was very unhappy with his negotiating team.

As if to underline his displeasure, Prabhakaran unleashed a string of suicide bombers and deployed half a dozen claymore mines causing massive carnage in the south. All apparently designed to demoralise the government and/or provoke a civilian backlash which could then be used to help with recruitment and for propaganda purposes. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians were slaughtered during this murderous campaign, but no civilian backlash occurred. The government also restrained itself and continued to pursue the negotiations option. However, it was becoming increasingly difficult for a democratically elected government to continue without responding. It was also becoming clear to the dismay of LTTE strategists that the sense of maturity and discipline among the civilians would continue. (To be continued tomorrow)

 lanka C news

දස වසරක් පැරණි රුසියානු යුද නැවක් හා පැරණි ජෙට් යානා හයක්, හෙලිකොප්ටර් දෙකක්, යුද ටැංකි තිස් තුනක් මෙරටට මිලදී ගැනීමක් හරහා රුපියල් කෝටි දහස් ගණනක වංචාවක් ජනාධිපති මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනගේ බෑණනුවන් හා සිරස මාධ්‍ය ආයතතනයේ හිමිකරු එක්ව සිදු කරන බවට එජාප හිතවාදී වෙබ් අඩවියක් විසින් හෙලි කර ඇත.

මෙම ගණුදෙනුවෙන් රටට රුපියල් 13,464 ක් අලාබ සිදුවන බවත් ජනාධිපති බෑණා ඇතුළු අතරමැදියන් අතට ඉන් කෝටි 4039 බෙදී යන බවත් එම වාර්තාවේ දැක්වෙයි.

මෙම ගණුදෙනුව සිදුකිරීමට කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ඉල්ලා ආරක්‍ෂක අමාත්‍යවරයා ලෙස ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති කැබිනට් පත‍්‍රිකාවක්ද සමාජ ජාලයන්හි පලවෙයි.

සම්පූර්ණ පුවත මෙතනින්    

http://lankaenews.com/news/6399/si

Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Retired Ministry Secretary and Ex- President Sri Lanka Administrative Services Association 22. 9. 2017

Now that Pradesiya Sabha, Nagara Sabha, Mahanagara Sabha are closed for more than 2 years, Provincial Councils are dis-functioning  and the Parliament is destroying the country through illegitimate and unpatriotic legislations at the behest of Western powers and NGOO representing their personal interests,

Why not close down the Parliament also for the following reasons before, this Government makes it permanently irretrievable and irreversible?

1 It is illegally constituted with defeated candidates holding Ministerial positions therefore the Cabinet itself is illegal

2 The Prime Minister was also illegally appointed

3 So is the Leader of the opposition (a man having 6 seats is appointed as the Leader when there is a     group of 52 MPP in the JO who actually deserves it as democracy has laid down)

4 MPP do not attend its sessions. It is revealed that attendance is less than 25 %. Even the bribe of  Rs 2500 per sitting by Ranil appears to have had no effect

5 So–called elected members in this assembly do not represent the people at all as none of them represent an electorate.  They are called district MPP. They have just collected votes all over the districts by dubious mean like bribing. Since people have no representatives it has ceased to be a legitimate body of representative democracy and become a disgrace to the very spirit and concept of democracy

6 The MPP don’t represent the people who elected them, instead they only carry out he agendas of their real maters in the West and India

7 MPP have ceased to be the representatives of the people, they are only puppets in the hands of the party hierarchies; the parliament on the other hand ceased to be the supreme legislature of the country, and since it represents the interest of the West and India, foreign funded and manipulated NGOO the Parliament has virtually got reduced to be a mere puppet of these elements. Therefore the Parliament is only a mere rubber stamp of those foreign interests serving their interests by leasing and selling national assets. The electors who have put them there is now a forgotten lot

8 It has ceased to be the supreme body of the country making laws long time ago. Today it has virtually turned in to a disgraceful Mariyakade Malukade, rampant with catcalling, bull fighting and obscene visual displays

9 Today under this Government it has been reduced to a mere contracting agency of the Colonial West, NGOO the Tamil Diaspora and the minorities for its survival

10 It also makes legislation through dubious means for the betterment of Politicians only and never for the good of the country or the people who have voted them in to power to get their problems solved. This trend started in 1977 with the election of the UNP in to power

Now look at the following legislations it has enacted in the recent past.

1 Act No 1 of 1977 Pension rights for the MPP after 5 year that was extended later to their spouses as well. This was the priority no 1 of the then UNP Govt., whereas it was not even mentioned in the manifesto of that Government. This privilege was given to them  after 5 years and it was a gross violation of the Govt pension minute whereas a professional public servant is qualified for a pension only after 30 years of service of hard work.

2 Setting up Ministers personal staff units of 25 Officers with a Private Secretary (Wife, son, daughter or an in-law) with another Public Relations Officer, Media Officer and Coordinating Secretary named by the Minister from outside the Public Service with facilities like Official vehicles with drivers etc. All these were recruited outside the public service.  They were also made pensionable after 5 years like the politicians

3 Almost all the Amendments to the 1978 Constitution up to date were made for their benefit and survival, most of them were made on flimsy grounds like keeping a defeated MP in Parliament (Pilapiya) or to legitimize a crossing over or to take in defeated candidates through the National list 14^th Amendment. The same could be said of the 16^th 18^th A and the 19^th as well. The 20^th  A is the latest political manipulation designed to postpone the Local and Provincial Elections.

4 Again have a look at the enormous salary increases of politicians, sitting allowance from 500 to 2500, increases in various other allowance culminating in the latest 100,000 for an Office as if they don’t have a house to live where they can have the offices and what is more is as if they run an office at all, Then the fleet of vehicles with drivers and fuel for all politicians  Official residences foreign pleasure trips and duty free vehicle permits worth Rs 20 to 80 million every five years enabling them to sell and make money We all know what they do with these facilities and the nefarious activities they are involved in with these facilities at the expense of the tax payer. To name a few attending weddings for attesting, funerals, functions in temples, schools, sport meets, opening ceremonies of what others have started (very often), and the latest holding the longest wedding saree (As the chief Minister was seen doing last week end in Kandy) where he had ordered 250 School girls of  Alawatugoda named after  him as reported in newspapers.

This is not an exhaustive list as you all know. The tragedy is all this is done at public expense with zero benefit to them. Are these the duties expected out of these politicians is my question? Number of Politicians has increased 15 by 20 fold, so are the institutions and public servants and their privileges. Sri Lanka has the biggest cabinet in the world. The Parliament, Provincial councils and all other political institutions are alarmingly overstaffed. Public sector staff is also equally gone up. It is said that today every sixteen people have one public servant. But in all these spheres compared with the expenditure the return to the country is almost nil. This is the tragedy we are appalled with. Imagine a country with so many Ministers, politicians and public servants now rests at the bottom of poverty in Asia where as it had the highest per capita income in 1948 when we got Independence.

So much so today our Parliament that was once the  supreme legislative body of the country has got reduced to a den of monkeys as H.L Mencken once has said and it has virtually become a mere den of power hungry and self-seeking thieves, thugs and rogues who have no concern or love for the country.  Their only concern is personal aggrandizement, wealth and power. They bleed the nation to virtual death with sky high taxes both direct and indirect for their power and their un-satiable comforts perhaps putting the masses in to similar or even worse situation than that was their in pre revolution time France in the 18^th Century where the rulers had everything before them but the masses had nothing.

So much so today this den of monkeys called the Parliament has virtually got reduced to a mere den of thieves and rogues robing and slaughter tapping the whole nation by extractive an bleeding taxes both direct and indirect with no concern for the suffering masses.

So in sum our Parliament is a big fraud and a classic joke. Keeping it opened is only a colossal wastage of the tax payer’s money amounting to billions every day for a no return situation and it is only a mighty and unbearable burden to the country. It has ceased to perform any useful function especially to the country for the past 2 years. As H.L.Mencken said it has become a mere monkey cage from where the circus called Democracy – the art of deceiving the people is run.

For the past two year its performance is appalling, disgusting and alarming. While it has violated the Constitution which is expected to be protected and upheld for more than 15 times it has passed laws only to suppress the opponents, put them behind bars and enrich the purses of those who are in power and their cronies. The best example is the Central Bank robbery.

Therefore I call upon all responsible patriotic citizens of this country, especially the Mahasangha, who were once dubbed as the Muradevatavo of this Island nation, the intellectuals and legal luminaries both at home and abroad who love this country to rise up to the occasion and save this sacred institution or start a vigorous agitation to close down the Parliament before, this Government makes the situation permanently irretrievable and irreversible?

Shenali D Waduge

1. This Government has lost the confidence of the People including those that voted for them

• Every promise made before elections has been broken
• Coming on the ticket of anti-corruption the reality is that the present is more corrupt than those they accused.
• A lot of irregularities and illegalities have taken place since January 2015
• The manner that Bills are being passed and how MPs are being co-opted to vote for these dubious legislations raises further alarm bells.
• Even in the present context when revolutionary parties suddenly take sides with the government and proceedings are stopped until some promised ‘exchanges’ occur – these scenarios should make the People question why this constitution is being hurriedly passed by tapping to MP weaknesses? If rumors prove to be true, this is unethical and immoral and the People must reject this in toto. Bribery democracy is unacceptable.

2. The bona fides of those promoting a new constitution is questioned

• TNA is the LTTE political proxy – it is not absolved of links to terrorists. Until and unless that is done TNA or its representatives (MPs, NPC Chief Minister) cannot be making demands which are virtually in line with what LTTE sought through the gun
• Some of the NGO heads have a history of being paid to work against the state. They are earning dollar/sterling pounds to destabilize the country and carry out orders of their NGO masters. Such people cannot determine what goes into or is removed in a constitution.
• When foreign envoys are regularly promoting a new constitution – we all must take a step back and wonder why? Why are they more interested in a new constitution than us?
• We cannot omit that immediately after the yahapalana government came into power the extremist sections of this coalition openly claimed that the government would give in to their demands and these would be incorporated into a new constitution. Statements by the TNA over years, statements by LTTE, statements government heads had assured the LTTE diaspora are all aligned to the provisions inserted into the new constitution. These are serious malpractices by a government to fool the people by honoring commitments to them in exchange for bringing them to power.
• Every individual who has a dubious record cannot be allowed to tweak the constitution to fulfill those who are paying them or their own personal ideologies.

3. The PM’s credibility is at serious stake. His appointment of the former Governor who is now using the argument that he is a foreigner and cannot be questioned and the Bond Commission stating that this is the biggest financial scam since 1948 denies the PM to be allowed to make another bigger mistake by tabling a new constitution which is making drastic changes to the country’s periphery.
4. TNA is no representative of the Tamil people. As LTTE proxy, TNA shoulder the responsibility for crimes committed by the LTTE in terms of guilt by association. These allegations need to be exonerated only after an independent Commission investigate LTTE-TNA ties. Moreover, with LTTE committing various heinous crimes upon Tamils, the victims are unlikely to be supportive of LTTE. Therefore, TNA cannot claim to be representative of Tamils. Moreover, it has been proved by TNA Chief Ministers own actions that the Province he has been running as Chief Minister has failed to provide for the people of that Province in so far as the budgetary allocation of funds has not been utilized and gets returned to the Treasury. This goes to show that even the fundamental role of the TNA Chief Minister has not been fulfilled. Moreover TNA has lost several cooperative elections clear indication that the Tamil people are not satisfied with the TNA and they are losing whatever support they had. These dynamics have to be taken into consideration given that TNA is promoting wider powers to the Chief Minister which are likely to be detrimental not only to the province but to the people living in the province and to a larger extent the rest of the country.
5. Several Tamils have openly come out to say ‘we want homes not merger of north-east or federalism’ and these sentiments cannot be ignored just because some politicians and political parties want bigger control for themselves over the people and territory. Sovereignty is inalienable from the people therefore the People’s will is about the Parliament, above the Ministers, above any Provincial Council, District or Municipality. The Will of the People must be taken to account first.
6. We are a small island nation. Do we need to be copying systems in countries 10 times the size of us? Federalism is for those countries. Devolution is for those countries. If the entities already given powers cannot handle the powers they control or serve the people to their satisfaction what good is giving them more powers? The Majority of the People are dissatisfied with performance of the Provincial Councils including the Parliament. All of us are disappointed in the manner the country is run from Prime Minister downwards. In such a scenario what good is going to be done in giving each of the same poor-performers more powers?
7. There are some sine quo non areas that no one can touch especially people whose credibility is at stake.

• The foremost place to Buddhism must remain
• Sri Lanks’s Unitary character must remain Unitary in the translations of all 3 languages. We hear that there are attempts to insert ‘United’ into the English translation.
• The country’s history and heritage cannot be siphoned off and diluted. Its place must remain untouched.
• Land, Police, Fiscal/Monetary, formulation of Education Syllabus, International Aid & Foreign Relations, Archaeological sites etc must remain in total control of the Centre
• Governor appointed by the Centre is above the Chief Minister & his powers cannot be diluted and passed on to Chief Minister with increased powers.
• Federal states need devolution. Sri Lanka is a small island we don’t devolution but only administrative changes enabling provinces to better facilitate the People. At all times the golden rule must be changes must benefit the People not career politicians and their stooges. Demands for power devolution is NOT with intent to serve the People but ONLY with intent to wield more power to the politicians and their henchmen. This is not a healthy scenario and is likely to lead to more trouble.
• No Province can be treated inequally and above other provinces. No Chief Minister can be superior to the other Chief Ministers. Presently we see a lot of malpractice taking place. Every envoy that arrives dashes to the North or the East to see the Chief Minister of these two provinces. Every foreign statement is on these 2 provinces ONLY. Every demand being made is ONLY about these two provinces, ONLY about one community forgetting that others were also victims.

Can a constitution illegally and unethically passed be rejected and unaccepted by the People? Can any lawyers take legal action knowing the ground situation?

There is little point appealing to anyone in the international community – not one of them have raised a single voice against all of the corruptions, illegalities and malpractices being committed by Yahapalana Government which is quite shocking given their clarion calls before January 2015 for good governance and anti-corruption. Goes to show the international community are equally corrupt.

Where is the Joint Opposition? Do they seriously think that the people who are disappointed with the present government are waiting to accept them with open arms? People are not fools now. Every voter is now a disgusted voter. Every member of Parliament has disappointed the People irrespective of the party they belong to. We are maintaining a bunch of opportunist, greedy, power hungry and selfish MPs who think only about themselves and not the country. Rhetoric on the country, the Armed Forces and the place of Buddhism and heritage are simply stage performances to woo voters. Where is the leadership by those not party to the yahapalana illegalities? Why are they not rallying people against the proposed new constitution? People are not going to be coming to any future May Day rally or walk if at this crucial juncture action is not taken to stop something as dangerous as a new constitution being passed.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Yahapalana government has suddenly discovered the Indian Ocean, which has been there for centuries all round us. Several international conferences on the Indian Ocean have taken place in Colombo. These conferences, we are told, are to discuss   global trade in the region and the need for regional cooperation, but it is clear that the ulterior motive is military action. Sri Lanka’s strategic position in the Bay of Bengal has been greatly emphasized, specially the fact that Sri Lanka  is at the crucial entry points of the Bay of Bengal   Sri Lanka location, coupled with Trincomalee  port, is  important for military activity, not trade.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe observed that the Indian Ocean region was now seeing the rise of regional powers with nuclear capabilities. Given the rising conflicts in the Middle East and West Asia, the world’s major powers have deployed substantial military forces in the Indian Ocean Region. This trend will continue until these conflicts are resolved, he said. India, USA and China are increasing their naval presence in the Indian Ocean, he continued. There is a maritime build up taking place. Naval power will play an important role. Countries will compete for naval power and control of the sea in the Bay of Bengal.

USA has made it clear that the United States will continue to be an Indo-Pacific power. ‘This has been a long standing part of U.S. foreign policy and it will not change in the decades to come,’  said Alice G. Wells,  Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian  Affairs speaking  at the Indian Ocean Conference 2017 in  Colombo. US is anxious to challenge China using the Bay of Bengal as the theatre of war. In order to do so, USA plans to take control of the Bay of Bengal quietly without much fuss, using Sri Lanka, India and Japan to do so.

US says it is ready to help protect merchant shipping in the Bay of Bengal. But its real interest is in intelligence and intelligence sharing between the naval services. US also wants greater naval cooperation in the Indian Ocean. The U.S.-India-Japan ‘Malabar’ naval exercise in July 2017 was ‘our largest and most complex to date, involving over ten thousand personnel’ said US. US    said it is committed to building the coast guard capacity of ‘our Indian Ocean partners’ too . US wants to Improve community policing, aviation security, and forensics analysis in the region as well.  That, the US said, was to combat terrorism, transnational crime, human trafficking and illicit drugs. There is no mention of war.

Maritime security in the Bay of Bengal is now a matter of much concern. There are 10 critical choke points in the Indian Ocean that remain vulnerable to air and maritime encounters and possible terrorist attacks, said analysts.   South Asia will need to build military alliances to maintain its security and rate of growth.  They must be able to effectively counter security threats.

A policy on maritime security is urgently needed for Sri Lanka and India continued analysts.  Centre for Indo-Lanka Initiatives at Pathfinder Foundation) and National Maritime Foundation based in New Delhi, India signed a Memorandum of Understanding to embark on research into maritime strategy and security studies in the Indian Ocean. Their first bilateral conference in February 2018 will be on maritime security.

The pro-US countries say they don’t want the Bay of Bengal militarized, while at the same time making sure that it is. They say they want to avoid war in the Bay of Bengal. Frances Adamson, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia said ‘we don’t want the Indian Ocean to become a militarized arena for great power rivalry. We don’t see here maritime and territorial disputes like those in the South China Sea.

India is seen by this group as the leader in the Bay of Bengal. We welcome India’s strengthened relationship with the United States and increased engagement in the broader Indo-Pacific, including with ASEAN-centred forums,” said Adamson. India is an emerging great power and a natural leader in the Indian Ocean region and globally.

The Indian subcontinent is positioned at the centre of this most important ocean said others. India, with a nearly 7,500 kilometers of coastline, is the fastest developing economy and the strongest military power in the region. Sri Lanka has its geostrategic location.  Both need to play a mutually-supporting role in maintaining freedom of navigation and ensuring the sustainable exploitation of resources in accordance with the concept of the Blue Economy, said analysts.

Japan, India and the US are worried that China will use its foothold in Sri Lanka to establish a military base. The Hambantota agreement is a commercial one, not government to government, said Amal Jayawardene. China has no exclusive right to the harbor. Hambantota Port would not be turned into a military base said Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. Only Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces are allowed to carry out military activities in ports and airports.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that Sri Lanka ports will only be for commercial activity and will not be available to anyone for any military activity. Sri Lanka will not enter into military alliances with any country or make the country’s bases available to foreign countries. Sri Lanka would not support or be part of any military activity in the Indian Ocean and was committed instead to ensuring peace and maritime security in the region, said the authorities. Our focus will be on freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean and maritime security,” However, the government will continue military cooperation in training, supply of equipment and taking part in joint exercises with friendly countries.

China is watching developments. In 2014 when the Japanese Prime Minister visited Sri Lanka a Chinese submarine berthed in Colombo port during the visit.   Japan and India saw it as a message to them about China’s influence over the government headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. China also made a      request to send a submarine to dock in Colombo port just when Prime Minister Modi was due to visit Sri Lanka. China said the submarine needed to re-supply on its way to the Gulf of Aden. Sri Lanka refused permission for the submarine to dock in Colombo port during the Indian premier’s visit.

China is, at the moment, leading in the Big Power war. India tried to have a confrontation with China over the Doklam plateau in Bhutan. After ten weeks, the Indian army pulled back from Doklam border, but Chinese army remained. Chinese border troops will continue to be stationed in Doklam said China. Analysts observed that USA kept quiet about the matter and said nothing in support of India.

In august 2017,  US warship USS John S McCain deliberately sailed close to the disputed Spratly Islands, claimed by China. It was engaging in a ‘freedom of navigation operation’, known as fonop”. China repeatedly told the ship to go away. ‘Please turn around, you are in our waters’ China said.  This ‘fonop’ was the third in the South China Sea carried out by the United States since President Donald Trump took office. It was far less assertive than an earlier one in May 2017 when the USS Dewey did a 90-minute zigzag within the 12- nautical-mile zone, said the media.

Vietnam had arranged a joint venture with Spain’s Repsol and Mubadala Development Company of the United Arab Emirates to engage in gas-drilling in a disputed area of the South China Sea.   Chinese authorities apparently threatened to attack Vietnamese military bases in the islands of Truong Sa (Spratly) if the drilling proceeded. General Fan Changlong, deputy chair of China’s Central Military Commission,  visited Madrid to complain of Repsol’s participation in the drilling of a maritime area claimed by China. Vietnam called off the venture, which was in its exclusive economic zone. This shows that even nations with a history of toughness are buckling under intense Chinese pressure, said the media.  (Continued)

Mail On Line

Bride is investigated for using 250 children to carry her two mile long saree during her wedding in Sri Lanka

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1542011/Bride-gets-married-two-mile-long-saree-Sri-Lanka.html

Courtesy straitstimes.com

COLOMBO • Sri Lanka is in talks with two Chinese companies about investing up to US$3 billion (S$4 billion) to build a new refinery at its Chinese-controlled port, a top government official has said.

Sri Lanka wants to build a new refinery in its southern Hambantota port, where China Merchants Port Holdings (CMPH) has a 99-year lease to handle commercial operations.

Located near the main shipping route from Asia to Europe, Hambantota port is likely to play a key role in China’s Belt and Road (B&R) trade route initiative.

Mr Mangala Yapa, a director at the state-run Board of Investment, said two Chinese companies had put forward a joint venture proposal for the refinery, which is expected to produce 5 million tonnes per annum with an investment between US$2.5 billion and US$3 billion.

He did not name the Chinese companies.

“The investment is large and we are discussing with the two companies on that basis,” he told Reuters on Friday, adding that the joint venture plan was chosen from three bids, including one from a United States company through a local partner.

“The refinery needs around 500 acres (200ha) of land and we can’t reserve the land. Many people try to get the land first and then look for investors,” he said. Mr Yapa did not elaborate on the plans of the proposed refinery.

China’s influence over Hambantota port has sparked widespread anger in Sri Lanka. The deal with CMPH, which has a majority stake in the lease, fuelled speculation that the port could be used for China’s naval vessels.

CMPH is also in talks with the government to develop an industrial zone next door.

This year, the government revised its original deal with CMPH to give greater influence to the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, in an effort to allay concerns – including from Japan, the US and India – that the port might be used for military purposes.

The investment zone deal is yet to be signed.

The Hambantota refinery will be the second new refinery the island nation has planned.

Sri Lanka already has a deal for a 100,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) refinery with Indian Oil Corp at the country’s eastern port city of Trincomalee with the aim of exporting fuel.

Sri Lanka’s sole oil refinery, the state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s decades-old 50,000- bpd plant, was originally configured to run on Iranian crude.

But Sri Lanka has had to import more refined oil products after US sanctions led it to stop imports from Iran.

LANDING THE DEAL

The refinery needs around 500 acres (200ha) of land and we can’t reserve the land. Many people try to get the land first and then look for investors.

MR MANGALA YAPA, a director of Sri Lanka’s state-run Board of Investment, on the process of investing in an oil refinery.

REUTERS

Ashish Chauhan|Courtesy Times of India

AHMEDABAD: Bhante Pannasekara (53) was 23 when he sold his acres of crop land to become a Buddhist Monk. Pannasekara had worked as a Buddhist Monk in Sri Lanka for around 18 year before moving to Tanzania- another country, like Sri Lanka, hit by violence, poor healthcare facility and poverty. Since then he has been serving as the chief monk of Tanzania‘s oldest Buddhist temple.

Talking to TOI on his maiden visit to Gujarat, Pannasekara said, “When I saw the people being killed in civil war in Sri Lanka during 1989, I had a thought that properties worth millions was of no means as everyone has to die empty handed. I was into agriculture and cultivation of paddy crops and I was also running a rice mill. But the violence had hit me to the core and I decided to become a monk.”
Pannasekara had moved to Tanzania four years ago to work for the poor people and children begging on roads. “I had set up schools for the poor kids to make attempts to free them from the shackles of ignorance and poverty. We have around 400 students in our schools at present,” he said, adding that he had also set up inter-religious committee of peace comprising nine members of different beliefs in Tanzania so that the peace can be restored in the East-African country.
When asked about his visit to Mahatma Gandhi’s home-land, he said, “I wanted to visit the land of Lord Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi to feel the sublime peace and the positive vibes here. The modern world now needs to return to Buddha’s philosophy of peace and violence now.”
“I had also visited Ashoka’s edicts in Junagadh to see the philosophy of the emperor who was moved away by Buddhist philosophy after shedding blood in battle,” he added.

By Rathindra Kuruvita Courtesy Ceylon Today

Around 2,400 new oral cancer patients are recorded each year in Sri Lanka, majority of these cases are related to chewing betel with areca nut, tobacco and slaked lime, said Dr Hemantha Amarasinghe, of the Institute of Oral Health Maharagama, speaking to Ceylon Today and emphasised on the need to control smokeless tobacco products to combat cancer.

Excerpts of the interview:

Q: When we think of the impact of tobacco use we automatically think about cigarettes. However, as the use of smokeless tobacco also has an adverse effect on health, can you elaborate on what are smokeless tobacco and the health implications of use?

A: Tobacco is commonly consumed in two ways. People smoke it or they usually chew it and the chewing is called smokeless tobacco.

For example bulath wita (betel leaf with areca nut, tobacco and slaked lime) is a common smokeless tobacco used in Sri Lanka. There are also products like babul, beeda, parampara which are often imported and sometimes there are similar products made in Sri Lanka. Since the imports of such products were banned a few years ago some unscrupulous people obtained them through illegal means and sell them under different names. Almost all of these products have tobacco and most of them include areca nut, both are highly cancerous.

We have seen a significant number of cases reported, each year, result of smokeless tobacco. Around 2,400 new oral cancer patients are recorded each year in Sri Lanka with majority of them being related to the chewing of betel (bulath wita) with areca nut, tobacco and slaked lime. Three people die each day from oral cancer in Sri Lanka. There is also research that indicates that the use of smokeless tobacco causes several other types of cancer. That is why we are trying to prevent people from consuming these products.

In September 2016 the Government gazetted the ban on import, sale and manufacture of smokeless tobacco products. Police, Public Health and Excise department officials are now implementing them. Those who manufacture concoctions like babul and beeda and sell them will be targeted. We need to stop the production and sale of these products which often target youngsters. We also try to reach out to those who manufacture concoctions like babul and beeda and sell them and make them aware that they are producing and selling a product that has been banned and to stop it before severe legal action is taken.

Q: Have you estimated the number of people who consume smokeless tobacco products?

A: There was a study conducted by the Health Intervention and Technology Assessment Programme (HITAP) in 2015 which showed that 25 per cent of men and 5 per cent of women use smokeless tobacco products. This study was done in collaboration with the National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA) and was supported by the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA).

The other study is Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2015, which is done on students in the relevant grades associated with the age group 13–15 years. This study was conducted in 65 class rooms in 30 schools where a total of 1505 students participated. The study showed smokeless tobacco use among males was 4.2 per cent and 0.5 per cent among females. This is a significant number.

Q: As you said most of these products have been banned. However, we all know that these are still easily available. How is this possible?

A: These products are not openly available, but, those who use them know how to get them. Thus it is obvious that either these products are being manufactured here or that these are being brought from abroad. Health officials are continuously educating the implementing officers as well as the general public about the dangers of these products. A lot of people assume that the bulath wita is a habit only with the elderly. Young bus and trishaw drivers are also known to chew tobacco products as stimulants. I have even seen university students are addicted. We need to address all these issues and keep on educating the people. And we also need to shut down the places that sell these products.

Q: Bulath wita has been consumed for a long time and because of that familiarity, people might ignore the warnings given by health authorities. How do you plan to overcome this challenge?

A: The impact of bulath wita is extremely serious. At the outset I told you that there are around 2400 new cases of oral cancer reported each year and out of that 95 per cent were habitual chewers of bulath wita. So you can see that there is a strong link between the two and people must stop this habit because they are playing with fire.

When the Government issued a directive to combat smokeless tobacco products, the initial action was targeted at products like babul and beeda because they are marketed to school children. However, as the next step I believe that bulath wita should also be banned at least in proximity to schools.

And unlike some I don’t believe that bulath wita is consumed only by the elderly. I see a lot of trishaw and bus drivers using bulath wita as a stimulant. I have even seen university students consume bulath wita. And as surveys show a lot of school children are vulnerable to smokeless tobacco products. So we need to keep educating the people about the dangers of bulath wita and also take steps to remove the product from the market.

Q: Moving away from smokeless tobacco to cigarettes, after the tax on cigarettes was increased; the tobacco company has started a campaign to say that this increase in price has driven people to smoke beedi. Is there any truth in that?

A: Not at all. There is no evidence at all to prove that. There has been a lot of research done on this matter at the global level and there is hardly any evidence to say it is happening. When someone tells you that increase in price has driven people to smoke beedi, ask yourself do you know anyone, who smokes cigarettes, shifting to beedi. I don’t think you will be able to find someone who has made that shift.

What has happened for most part is that people have cut down on smoking and we expect the consumption to go down by 20 per cent this year. The other possibility is that they could shift to cheaper brands. As you know there are several brands of cigarettes and there are some brands which sell for around Rs 20, while the most consumed brand costs about Rs 50. Thus some smokers might shift to the cheaper brand, which is very dangerous because these cheaper brands don’t have a filter. NATA is aware of that possibility and we believe that those cheaper brands should be taxed more so that it is not attractive to make that switch/downgrade.

So what is actually happening is that the tobacco industry is trying to fight back. This is a highly profitable industry, even with the tax hikes, the industry won’t take our attacks sitting down. Therefore they are spreading false information and sadly it seems that some media institutions and journalists are spreading these lies although they are well aware of the truth.

Q: There are also people who say that the tax on tobacco has failed because it has not reached the expected estimates. What is your take on that?

A: This is false. At a recent press conference Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, chairman, National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol (NATA), said that the Sri Lankan Government is expected to generate Rs 103.8 billion from tax on tobacco, which is almost identical to the estimates made by the Authority. We estimated that the tax revenue this year will be Rs 104.5 billion and the expected revenue is Rs 103.8 billion. The Government has collected Rs 51.9 billion from January to June 2017. And we made our calculations expecting tobacco consumption to drop by around 20 per cent and our estimates seem correct.

What happened was that there was some confusion created by the manner in which the Finance Ministry officials behaved. When NATA presented the proposals to increase taxes Finance Ministry officials initially said that this will have a drastic impact on prices.

They didn’t agree with our estimates that the price elasticity for cigarettes was about 0.5 per cent. But then they came up with a projection saying that the tax revenue will be as high as Rs 126.8 billion, and they have come up with this number by assuming that there will be no drop in consumption. And now some media institutes call Finance Ministry officials and report that the tax has failed to achieve its objectives based on this extremely ambitious and baseless figure.

There is a Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which Sri Lanka has ratified, and this highlights the importance of protecting policy makers from the influence of the tobacco industry. In Sri Lanka the Finance Ministry officials get data for calculations from the CTC and there is no transparency of the meetings. NATA does not meet representatives from the tobacco industry. We must ensure that when Finance Ministry officials meet representatives from the tobacco industry, the minutes are available to the people so that we know what is discussed. This is the only way to prevent this kind of confusion from repeating in the future.

The truth is that when we calculate the health and productivity cost of tobacco consumption, this cost far exceeds the tax revenue.

Moreover, everything is not about money and good health can’t be measured in monetary means.

with Ravi Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today

Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system that is corrupt, that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy.

LONGEST SERVING INDEPENDENT IN US CONGRESSIONAL HISTORY, BERNIE SANDERS

After months of deliberations and contentious arguments, in closed door meetings, the Steering Committee, of the Constitutional Assembly, last week approved the final copy of its Interim Report on Constitutional Reforms.

A member of the Steering Committee, confirming that the report is ready for submission, said the Constitutional Assembly was summoned to meet on 21 September morning.

A copy of the report will be handed over to President Maithripala Sirisena.

The interim report, which deals with the vital aspects of Constitutional reforms, including the electoral reforms, devolution of power and nature of the State, spells out the contours of Constitutional Bill.

The Interim Report will be tabled along with the observations made by various parties. Accordingly, the observations of the Joint Opposition, SLFP, TNA, JHU and JVP have been included in the report as annexures.

The report also consists of a separate collective document submitted by the Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) and Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP). Constitutional Lawyer Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne has submitted his own report.

The UNP has not made a separate submission. as the Party agrees with the report in its entirety.

It was deduced that the observations made by various parties indicate contradictions and clashing views on core issues related to the Constitution.

While the SLFP has sought to retain the Executive Presidency, the JVP insists on its abolition. While the TNA is bent on a ‘federal’ solution within an ‘undivided and indivisible country’, the JO is adamant on preserving the clause on ‘unitary state’.

“It is now time for hard bargaining. These views are not fixed positions. Nothing is cast in stone. The challenge is to hammer out an agreement cutting across all parties through compromise and negotiation,” the Steering Committee members said.

Sources said a date for the debate on the interim report would be fixed after its submission and the Steering Committee, headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, would go ahead with drafting the Constitutional Bill based on the proposals and suggestions to be made at the debate.

The Steering Committee, which conducted its first meeting on 5 April 2016 has so far conducted over 70 meetings. The Constitutional Assembly, formed following a resolution passed unanimously in Parliament in March last year, has so far conducted four sittings.

In the meantime, the reports of six sub-committees on “Fundamental Rights, Judiciary, Finance, Public Service, Law and Order, Centre-Periphery” were presented to the Constitutional Assembly by the Prime Minister on 19 November. A three-day debate on Constitutional reforms, initially scheduled to commence on 9 January, was postponed indefinitely as there was no consensus among the political parties. The Framework Resolution for the Constitutional Assembly, in terms of Clause 5 (a), makes provision to establish a Steering Committee comprising 21 members. The Steering Committee is responsible for the business of the Constitutional Assembly and for preparing a Draft Constitutional Proposal for Sri Lanka. As such, the Steering Committee is the entity instrumental in driving the process of constitutional reform and is assisted by six Sub-Committees which were appointed by the Constitutional Assembly in respect of specified subject areas relevant to the making of a Constitution.

At the first sitting of the Constitutional Assembly held on 5 April 2016, the 21-member Steering Committee, chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, was appointed.

The other members of the Steering Committee appointed by the Constitutional Assembly are Ministers Lakshman Kiriella, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Rauff Hakeem, Susil Premajayantha, Rishad Bathiudeen, Patali Champika Ranawaka, D. M. Swaminathan, Mano Ganesan, Malik Samarawickrama and former Minister (Dr.) Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, along with the other Members of Parliament such as TNA Leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, JVP Leader Anura Dissanayaka, Dilan Perera, MEP Leader Dinesh Gunawardena, National List MPs Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, M. A. Sumanthiran, Dr. (Mrs.) Thusitha Wijemanna, along with the JVP’s Bimal Ratnayake, SLFP’s Prasanna Ranatunga, and EPDP Leader Douglas Devananda.

EXECUTIVE PRESIDENCY:TO BE OR NOT TO BE ?

The biggest bone of contention seems to be the Executive Presidency. There is a school of thought in the SLFP that it should remain because President Maithripala Sirisena has aspired to contest despite the powers having been reduced. Some in the UNP have wanted it abolished due to a popular belief that Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has a better chance of being elected Prime Minister and that the real powers are vested with the Prime Minister and also given that he has lost two attempts before, in the race for the Presidency, to former Presidents Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga in 1999 and Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2005, whoever the riders were. The JVP and all the minority political parties have wanted the Executive Presidency totally abolished too as it is seen to be too Draconian.

UNITARY VERSUS FEDERALISM

Another serious issue which is worthy of conjecture is the Unitary Character of the State, which Southern Sinhalese political parties insist on versus Federalism which has been advocated by the TNA and other Northern Political Parties. Even President Maithripala Sirisena told the United Nations General Assembly that the Unitary Character of the State is a sore point to the TNA and that Federalism is a sore point to the Sinhala hardliners and chauvinists.

POSITIVE ELECTORAL REFORMS

It is indeed laudable that the reforms also intend doing away with the preferential votes system or the manape system which has led to a lot of heartburn, rancour and acrimony. It is also positive that Parliamentary elections will be held on the electorate system and not district-wise, which will also make the scale of operation much more manageable for the individual MP aspirant as he/she would be canvassing only in his electorate and not the entire district, which otherwise makes the scale of operation much larger and which could lead to corruption in the funding. A mix of the first-past-the-post system and the Proportional Representation (PR) system would also be beneficial and would be seen as a method to give the ruling party, whatever that is and will be, a comfortable working majority and not have landslides like we saw in 1970 and 1977 vis-a-vis the Hung Parliaments we have seen since 1994 which requires excessive Cabinets where “all have to be appeased” in lieu of support in Parliament or otherwise.

DEVOLUTION AND CONCURRENT LIST

Also what is not decided is the degree of devolution, which is also listed in the 13th Amendment, which is the SLFP (the Maithripala Sirisena faction and not the Joint Opposition ) and the UNP have agreed to go by. But the TNA is insisting that land powers also should be given.

However, whatever land powers that the TNA is griping for, there will be a National Land Commission which will come under the Central Government and the TNA and other political party wallahs will not be able to dance the merry jig to their tunes.

But it all depends on whether the new Constitution will do away with the Concurrent List which will have subjects like education which will be at both the National and Regional and Provincial levels.

This columnist could be reached on ravi.ladduwahetty@ceylontoday.lk

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

We do not realize the ‘Sword of Damocles’ we hung over our heads – not just over those in power, as the anecdote originally implies – when we co-sponsored the Geneva Resolution. Geographically we are strategically placed, rich in resources and our workforce is innovative, educated and ingenious when given the opportunity. Yet, the ‘horse hair’ by which the sword is hung is getting increasingly frayed as international pressure on us is mounting to incorporate provisions of international treaties into our local laws, which they themselves dare not pass in their own parliaments.

The Enforced Disappearances Bill, which was to be presented to the Parliament on 21 September, is a case in point. This is the government’s third attempt to have it presented and passed in Parliament. Each time, due to pressures from various quarters, especially the Venerable Sangha, the government backtracked.

DANGER

Among the many pressure groups this time Eliya too held a press conference on 19 September. Venerable Induragare Dhammarathana Thera, Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, President’s Counsel Manohara de Silva and Veteran Journalist C. A. Chandraprema sat as the panel to explain the danger of this beautifully packaged Bill.

The full title of this bill is, International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPAPED). This title itself is deceptive and false. It clearly states that this is for the protection of all persons from enforced disappearances. Looking at the title only, no one would dispute with it as no one endorses enforced disappearances.

Yet, Article 2 of Part I itself clearly state, “For the purposes of this Convention, ‘enforced disappearance’ is considered to be the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the State or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which places such a person outside the protection of the law.”

TERRORIST

In plain English this means only those attached to the Government will be subjected. This will not extend to any non-state actor. Thus, the full force of this convention falls on the heads of our Security Forces without ever touching even a hair of a single terrorist, who for 30 odd years violated every possible human and humanitarian rights law.

Article 1 states that no excuse will be entertained; “no exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearance.”

In this context, Sanja de Silva Jayatilleka’s Govt. has accepted ICJ’s jurisdiction over Sri Lanka is extremely interesting. Its implications must be fully appreciated now that the Sword of Damocles is swaying so dangerously over our heads. She notes the UK’s reasons cited for its inability to cede the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, despite its pledged commitment to do so, is because the archipelago is still “required for defense purposes”. Mauritius in its letter to the Human Rights Council has expanded the exact ‘defense’ purpose UK is using Diego Garcia for, which is “as a transit point after September 2001 for rendition of persons to countries where they risked being subjected to torture or ill-treatment”.

Britain is free to do so as it has not ratified this international treaty on Enforced Disappearances. Certainly Sri Lanka will not lean on the UK to ratify it. Though India’s economy today rivals that of Britain, India will not prevail on UK. China is not interested in these kinds of arm twisting techniques; neither is Russia. The West who has made it the white man’s burden to civilize the non-Caucasians will certainly never address it.

Thus British state agents will never be subject to the cruelties of this Bill and could go to other countries to ‘forcefully disappear’ those who they identify as ‘enemy combats’. They recognize them as such so they are not bound by international laws that protect the rights ‘prisoners of war’. They are escaping their own laws by taking their prisoners to offshore detention centers. Practicing thus they keep the average British citizen safe from psychopaths as well as those who challenge their status quo.

It must be stressed that our Sri Lankan Security Forces who overpowered terrorism did so within our own soil. They did not violate the borders or the sovereignty of another country to safeguard us. It must be further emphasized that since annihilating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, our Forces had been engaged in peaceful projects like landscaping, farming, tourism, restoration of buildings and so on. Also, as de Silva pointed, with Yahapalanaya, the white van abduction culture has been eradicated.

OMP

He asked if the Constitutional Councils introduced via 19th Amendment made our institutions independent, why do we need a separate Office for Missing Persons (OMP). Does that imply that our Police are not independent or trustworthy?

Both he and Rear Admiral Weerasekera explained that both the OMP and ICPAPED are links of the same chain. Hence, it must be studied together and the two components are just part of a bigger plan.

For eight years our enemies have been levying war crime charges against our forces, pointed PC de Silva without evidence to prove it.

Therefore, they installed the OMP, empowering it to go to any police or military establishment, any time, without prior notice and confiscate any material as evidence. They can record any statement from any person and present it as evidence. In fact, witnesses may present their statement electronically without giving the accused the right to face his accuser, nor the right to cross examine the accusation. This is nothing short of a factory to generate evidence.

Rear Admiral Weerasekera explained that the target is not the perpetrator, but his command hierarchy. Thus, any lower rank soldier can be summoned by the OMP and either threatened, bribed or otherwise coerced to give evidence of a crime. However, it would be his commanding officer that would be held liable for failing to prevent that crime.

The simple truth is, explained the Eliya panel, the first attempt was to import foreign judges and prosecutors to Sri Lanka. When that failed, they moved to the next step, which is to export those who gave leadership to end terrorism to foreign courts.

The most contentious of this is the extradition clause. Chandraprema’s Govt. in attempt to revive PM’s enforced disappearances Bill explains it in detail. The government argues it will not be the case as we are not signatories to the Roman Statue and thus does not come under the jurisdiction of the ICC. However, Article 10 is clear that a foreign government (a member state) can arrest a Sri Lankan who is alleged to have committed enforced disappearances if found in their territories. Once arrested, they may try him according to their own laws, extradite him to another country in accordance with its international obligations, or hand him over for prosecution to an international criminal tribunal whose jurisdiction that member state has recognized. The only recognized international criminal tribunal is the ICC in The Hague.

De Silva explained our current laws allow another country to ask for a Sri Lankan to be extradited. However, if that person can prove that there is a political motivation behind the extradition request, the Sri Lankan government can decline.

However, this Bill has gone to the extent to deny that right to our citizens. Thus, even though it can be proven that Yasmin Sooka’s NGO had a political motivation to charge General Jagath Jayasuriya, this Bill will not heed it.

PM Ranil Wickremesinghe has assured that the Bill is not retroactive. The argument presented is that the Offenses against Aircrafts Act No. 24 of 1982 passed by Parliament were made retroactively for the purpose of prosecuting Sepala Ekanayake for hijacking an Alitalia aircraft.
However, Mohammed Muzammil of the National Freedom Front on 17 September explained that at the time hijacking was not in our statues. When the then government passed ratifying three international conventions the Supreme Court decided the law governing the international convention had been in place before our parliament had passed that law.

EKANAYAKE

The ICPAPED was passed in 1992. Thus its effect will only be applicable to Sri Lankans from 1992, affecting the war heroes alleged to have committed various crimes. Its time frame, he observed, is convenient to those responsible for the enforced disappearances during the second insurgency of the JanathaVimukthi Peramuna (JVP).

Furthermore, in the Ekanayaka case, the hijacking was an offense already committed and in the past. In the case of a person alleged to have disappeared, his status as missing is ongoing until his whereabouts are located or proven to be dead. Thus, the argument of retroactive does not apply at all to an ongoing case. Add to the contention, Chandraprema writes that anyone may report a case of disappearance within three months of becoming aware that such person had disappeared, who may have disappeared even a decade ago.

BIN

As his conclusion, PC de Silva observed it is not those who brought peace to this country who are the criminals, but those divided over political allegiance that passes these bills to be in power. In the question and answer session, the panel was asked what Eliya would do if the worst becomes the reality. The sad truth is, from the assurances PM Wickremesinghe gives it is clear he himself is not familiar with the Bill and appears to be merely repeating assurances given to him by someone else. That means the enemy had infiltrated right into our ranks and is in either position of power or influencing power. We are facing the last line of defense and it is up to the citizens to ensure this Hunt for War Heroes Bill coming in the guise of protection for all of us from enforced disappearances is thrown to the bin and not legitimized as was done with the OMP.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Parliamentary Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) yesterday cautioned the government on large scale losses it could suffer if it failed to inform the relevant companies to stop the manufacture of the four A350 aircraft if the deal to lease them was to be cancelled.

COPE Chairman Sunil Handunetti told Parliament that the government should inform the relevant companies to halt the manufacture of the Air Bus otherwise it would have to pay a huge amount if the deal was cancelled after the company resumes the manufacture of these aircraft.

“The government has already lost US$ 125 million as a result of terminating a deal to acquire four other A350 aircraft earlier and it will have to pay more again if it fails to act with diligence with regard to the air bus deal,” Mr. Handunetti said.

He said COPE will carry out a separate investigation on the deal signed in 2013 to acquire the Airbus and on the termination of the deal to acquire them by the present regime.

Mr. Handunnetti said COPE had suggested that he cautioned the government on the matter.

House Leader Lakshman Kiriella in his response said COPE could focus on such matters only after a query by the Auditor General.

” I have done this for the government’s own good ” Mr Handunetti shot back.