Former President condemns government efforts to ‘destroy democratic institutions’

September 21st, 2017

By Sanchith Karunaratna  Courtesy Ceylon Today

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged the people to unite and oppose the efforts rendered by the current government to destroy democratic institutions within Sri Lanka.

In a media release that was circulated today, the former President condemned the concerted efforts of the ‘yahapalana conspirators’ who made several changes to the Provincial Council’s Elections law in order to indefinitely postpone the PC elections. He cited the ruling of the Supreme Court which stated that a referendum and two thirds majority in parliament would be required to establish the proposed constitutional amendment brought forward by the government.

It was further stated that the government can delay PC elections event after they have been dissolved giving the excuse that constituents need to be demarcated clearly suppressing democracy within the system. The former President stated that government officials continuously postpone elections brining forward minor technicalities and amendments causing a severe delay for the elections.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa stated that he sees this as a gross abuse of the law making process and that the people should unite and oppose this attempt made to destroy democratic institutions within Sri Lanka.

The media release reads as follows,

                               MEDIA RELEASE

Indefinite postponement of the Provincial Council elections

The UNP, the SLFP faction allied to the UNP, the Tamil National Alliance, the JVP and other yahapalana conspirators acting in concert have introduced changes to the provincial councils elections law in order to indefinitely postpone PC elections. Even though they tried earlier to introduce a constitutional amendment to extend the terms of the existing provincial councils without holding elections, that move failed because the Supreme Court determined that such a constitutional amendment would require a referendum in addition to a two thirds majority in Parliament. Now all provincial councils will stand automatically dissolved in terms of Article 154E of the Constitution as they complete their five year terms. The Sabaragamauwa, North Central and Eastern provinces are to stand dissolved in a few days time. The other PCs will stand dissolved at various times in 2018 and 2019.

Though the dissolution of the provincial councils will take place as scheduled, the latest changes to the provincial councils elections law will enable the government to indefinitely delay elections to the PCs on the excuse that constituencies need to be demarcated. This was the same excuse this government used to postpone the elections to the local government bodies which have now been delayed by over two and a half years. This government has stood the law making process on its head in their attempt to avoid holding elections. Amendments to Bills at the committee stage in Parliament are brought only to make minor technical changes to facilitate the passage of the Bill. But in the past few days, the government has used committee stage amendments (introduced to Bills brought for a completely different purpose) to change the system of election to local government institutions and the provincial councils.

Such gross abuse of the law making process has never before been experienced in this country. The government brought 31 pages of new amendments to completely change the PC elections system at the committee stage to a Bill less than one and a half pages in length introduced to increase women’s representation in the provincial councils. The manner in which they changed the provincial councils election system with just days to go for the automatic dissolution of the first three provincial councils shows that they will do anything to avoid holding elections. When some political parties said that they will not vote for these amendments unless the proportion of representatives elected on the proportional representation principle are increased from 40% to 50%, the government agreed to that literally on the floor of the house.

However, when the government changed the system of election to local government bodies just days ago, the proportion of representatives elected on the proportional representation principle was fixed at 40%. Now there is a mismatch between the system of election to the local government bodies and the provincial councils. Changes are being made to the election laws without any guiding principles. These hasty and ad hoc changes to the election laws are placing the very edifice of representative democracy in this country in grave danger.

The Eastern Provincial Council will be among the first three PCs to stand dissolved. Thereafter there will be no elected local government bodies or a provincial council in the East. Back in 2008 with the war still raging in the Vanni, my government held elections to local government institutions in the East in March 2008 and followed up by holding the first election to the Eastern Provincial Council in May 2008 because it was vital to introduce democracy and normalcy to that region after liberating the province from the LTTE. A little over a decade ago, there were no local government institutions or a provincial council functioning in the East because of the terrorists. Now there are no local government bodies in the East and elsewhere as well and the existing provincial councils are to go into oblivion one by one because of the yahapalana government.

Even the JVP’s ban on elections in 1988/89 and the LTTE’s terrorism over three decades was never able to bring the electoral process in this country to a complete halt the way the present government has. This government has also openly insulted the judiciary and flouted the Constitution by introducing changes to the provincial councils election law through the back door when the Supreme Court had given a clear ruling that the extension of the terms of the provincial councils or a postponement of elections would require a referendum in addition to a two thirds majority in Parliament. The people should unite and organize to oppose this attempt to destroy the democratic institutions in this country.
Mahinda Rajapaksa
Former President of Sri Lanka

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I will take legal action against ‘footnote’ accusations – Sujeewa Senasinghe

September 21st, 2017

BY Ranjith Kumara Samarakone Courtesy Veylon Today

State Minister of International Trade, Sujeewa Senasinghe says, ‘We spoke strongly about things like good governance and the independence of the judiciary. What these reflect is that our party is on the correct track. Even if it is difficult the masses should accept that.’

‘When our party is exemplary, other parties also will automatically become exemplary. It was always the United National Party that brought about change in this country,’ he noted.

Excerpts of the interview:

? In what areas did the Government fail, in the past two years?

A: If the work that is being done is speedily implemented, it will be nearly impossible to find instances where the Government went wrong.

? In two years of Government, three Ministers have lost their portfolios, and all three were UNP Ministers. It looks as if all accusations are levelled against UNP Ministers.

A: We spoke strongly about things like good governance and the independence of the Judiciary, what these reflect is that our Party is on the correct track. Even if it is difficult the masses should accept that.

When our Party is exemplary other parties will also automatically become exemplary. It was always the United National Party that brought about change in this country.

? However, the Party has to face these accusations?

A: It was a minor accusation against Tilak Marapana, and he resigned. The issue against Ravi Karunanayke was on a rental property and not an accusation of misappropriation. However, they resigned on the basis of decency. This is foreign to our people. Is this the kind of accusation the earlier regime faced, who resigned then? It is this Government that set the precedent.

? It is good to resign when there are allegations. However, if there was no cause there would be no allegations?

A: When work is being done there will be allegations. If no work is being done there will be no accusations also. However, there are massive corruption charges against members of the Joint Opposition. Who resigned then? Nobody.

? It seems as if, you, who shouted in a big way against the Mahinda Government is remaining silent in connection with the wrongs that are taking place in the present Government?

A: No, I do not shout outside, I talk about those issues within the Party and not for the whole country to know. It was I who spoke against Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe at the Working Committee meeting. It was I, together with Palitha Thera, who took the initiative to persuade Ravi Karunanayake to resign. It was I who first told Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, during the time of the Avant Garde accusations, to resign. However, I am disciplined, and will not shout in public and behave like a gangster and try to gain points.

? You shouted inside and got rid of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe?

A: I have no private grudge against him, however, I told the Working Committee of the UNP that due to his actions both the Government and the Party were being blamed. His work is not efficient, also he was being blamed on the Avant Garde issue too, which all resulted in his having to resign from the ministerial post.

? The Committee on Public Enterprise (COPE) Report was another issue which was much talked about. You were also among those of the Committee who were named “Footnote gang”.

A: I have decided to take legal action against that, I complained against those who published that news item. I have noneed to get houses from any one. I was born in a house with 10 rooms. We grew up in comfort from our young days.

? You wrote a book on the Treasury Bond issue, stating that there was no irregularity. There was a rumour on Social Media that you too had received a house.

A: I have no need to do politics to get houses and vehicles. I filed a defamation case for Rs 500 million against C. B. Ratnayake who told this story in public. He had mistakenly said it.

? Whatever you do, you are given a State Ministerial post, can you get any work done.

A: Initially I could not get any work done, however, now I can do something. In the Gazette notification the State Minister’s portfolio is defined as settling disputes of the Board of Investment and so forth. So there was nothing much to do!

? Why are the leaders not treating, Sujeewa, who made a big cry to topple the previous Government, properly?

A: Not only me. Many State Ministers and Deputy Ministers have this problem. This is not a UNP Government only, this is a different Government. We do not get everything we expect. However, I worked hard and we received funding from the World Trade Organization and Harvard University. I was given a leadership role in formulating export and economic policies. At the same time, I am striving to set up the Kalutara Trade Zone, in one year, it is task which takes six years. However, I will complete it in one year. I will work within my limited powers. The Prime Minister is clever, and he will identify the clever ones.

? Your leader whom you say has so much experience, why can‘t he identify the “doers”?

A: No. This was as soon as this Government came into power. It is not the person who is clever at speeches that is talented in work. The leader will identify the clever persons.

? However, didn‘t you expect to be a Cabinet Minister?

A: Everyone has expectations. I do my work in the manner I can. I did a lot of work during the Presidential Election. Even then I did not receive anything big. But I am doing something within my current portfolio. I will not ask for this or that from anyone I will continue with the work I am doing. It is for the leaders to make use of me. I didn’t come to grab positions, if they say I am not good enough and call for my resignation, I will resign.

? Recently Harsha De Silva said that he is disgusted with politics. Are you saying the same?

A: I will not say I am disgusted. If you are disgusted, you have to resign. If Harsha De Silva is disgusted he should resign and become an Economic Adviser. There is no point in just saying it over and over again.

? Recently media published a letter, sent by Ravi Karunanayake on a Government letterhead with the State emblem, to Parliamentarians of your Party, titled ‘Raising the Rural Economy‘; did you also receive such a letter?

A: No, I did not receive.

? What do you think, does he have the right to send letters like that?

A: That is something you have to ask the leader.

? After a lapse of 20 years, the Party is in power and you have not been able to help Party supporters? Are the voters happy?

A: Sometimes they scold us. Those who visit us on Public Days sometimes find fault with us. In one way, their anger is also justified.

? It was the UNP who said that they are the Economic Oscars. That subject was with the Prime Minister. However, after two years the President established the ‘National Economic Council.‘ Finally the President had to intervene in this too?

A: The President is also interested in developing and improving the economy.

? Isn‘t this the subject of the Prime Minister?

A: Yes, if the Prime Minister overlooked something it will be noticed by the President. Is that bad? In the forthcoming years there will be a massive economic development. Various development projects have already been started. China has commenced developing the Hambantota Port. We will carry out work that will go beyond the giant development projects that were implemented during the J. R. Jayewardene era. The UNP won in 1977 but began the Mahaweli Project four years later.

? Though you say that, there are protests and strike everywhere. Isn‘t the Government sitting on a volcano?

A: It is easy and anyone can create non-existent problems. At the same time this Government established nine Commissions, established freedom. Most of those problems are ones that were created during the time of Mahinda Rajapaksa. Just look at the SAITM problem. It was something that began during Rajapaksa’s administration. Just because of that, can we just throw the students out? It is the same with Uma Oya and Mattala.

? Aren‘t most of the things you told the people prior to coming to power now mere dreams?

A: Can’t you see that a lot of work is being carried out? Everything cannot be done overnight. In the future we will gradually provide what the people expect. This Government is still only two years old. On this journey we will speed up relief to the people.

? The Government is on a promise for a new Constitution. However, now the country has changed that stance to one of protests against a new Constitution.

A: Those are general things that happen. Countries such as Sri Lanka and India are like that. When Upali Wijewardena built the Fiat car everyone was opposed to it.

? A statement made by Minister Sarath Fonseka regarding Jagath Jayasuriya has become a big controversy these days?

A: The Rajapaksas are bringing Jagath Jayasuriya especially for this.

When he was captured and dragged by the neck and imprisoned no one spoke up. Anyhow we will stand up for him for his legitimate work in the Army.

? You have written a book, titled Eththa Neththa. You have attempted to convey through this book that the Treasury Bond transactions were not wrong. However, a lot of information have now been revealed…?

A: Yes. I did publish that book. I told the Presidential Commission several times to let me mention the opinion I have regarding that. However, I was not summoned. I told the members the same thing. Up to now I have not been summoned.

? If a fraud has taken place that book will become fiction?

A: I will stand by the facts in the book. I challenged everybody. No one accepted those challenges.

? Why is the Government intervening in sensitive issues like the pin keta and disabled soldiers and asking for trouble?

A: It is there. That is certain people have limited understanding on how to intervene in sensitive as well as non-sensitive issues. If there is no understanding of the situation then there can be problems.

? Tilak Marapana who resigned because of an accusation received a higher post. Can the same happen to Ravi?

A: It can happen. We have to wait and see.

? The back benchers of the United National Party engaged in a big revolution to get rid of Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe.

A: Yes, I provided the leadership for that.

? He was removed and a new Minister appointed. Can she be trusted?

A: She was appointed on a temporary basis. The Prime Minister will decide if she is to remain permanently in the post or not.

? Then, do you think you will get that post?

A: The President had told me that during a Cabinet reshuffle within the next two months that it will happen. However, I do not dream of such things.

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Can LTTE proxy, the TNA dictate what goes into a new Sri Lankan Constitution?

September 20th, 2017

Shenali D Waduge

Everybody including Sri Lanka’s Parliament & the diplomatic community seem to be ignoring some ground realities. LTTE remains banned and TNA is a mouthpiece of the LTTE and often described as LTTE political proxy. If these are mere allegations, then the onus is on anyone in power to launch a Commission and investigate the TNA and remove all doubt. Until such time TNA cannot be dictating terms given that TNA received just 515,963 votes which is 4.62% of all votes cast in 2015 General Elections. The most baffling thing is how TNA leader has become the Opposition Leader in Sri Lanka’s Parliament! There can be no reconciliation when at the back of our minds the fact that TNA are linked to LTTE remains alive – it is a concern for not only the majority Sinhalese or minority Muslims but every Tamil that suffered, died and every Tamil child kidnapped and turned into LTTE child soldiers. All of TNA’s wailings and demands are not worth its water when it sat silent and was an accomplice to LTTE’s crimes over 30 years.

TNA and its leadership cannot pretend that the rest of the world are illiterate. There is enough evidence to prove beyond reasonable doubt of TNA’s links with LTTE. Guilt by association makes TNA culpable for much. LTTE’s terror was brutal and inhuman. No amount of complaints against the Sri Lankan Army can omit the murders, assassinations, bombs, suicides, anarchy for which LTTE was responsible upon not only Sinhalese and Muslims but Tamils too. Justice for the victims cannot be denied claiming LTTE leader and ground force is no more. A lot of people were helping and funding and promoting the LTTE. If the West can hound men over 90s because they were former Nazi’s why are they not going after the LTTE? Among those who helped were not only Tamils but Sinhalese, Muslims, Foreigners and even diplomats, UN personnel, NGOs, foreign governments too. None of these links cannot be ignored by going after the Sri Lanka Army only. Moreover, TNA cannot be allowed to dictate anything until it is cleared of any wrong doing. As things stand TNA is guilty by association and guilty due to collective responsibility for a host of no ordinary crimes. These are unlike the allegations thrown at the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. These have names of victims, footage of incidents and LTTE acknowledgement.

Here are a handful of examples of LTTE-TNA links

The most damning comes from the West itself wherein EU Election Observation Mission Chief Cushnahan released his EU report on 17 June 2004 establishing the LTTE-TNA alliance

Quote: Firstly, the LTTE intended that no other rival Tamil party (or Tamil candidate from the mainstream political alliances) to the TNA would be able to claim to represent Tamil interests. A chilling message to this effect was sent early in the campaign when a UNP candidate and an EPDP activist were murdered. Incidents such as this seriously restricted the right of the parties other than the TNA to campaign freely in the Northern and Eastern Districts. During the 2004 elections, the major incidences of violence was perpetrated by the LTTE, whereas at the earlier elections, the primary source of the violence (although not all), were the two largest political parties. Unquote

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=57713

The amendment to ITAK constitution in 2008 has a footnote endorsing the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution for separatism. ITAK is the main constituent party of the TNA alliance formed by LTTE in 2001.

TNA has no grounds to say it has nothing to do with the LTTE when its party manifestos’ on which it campaigned for elections declared LTTE was the ‘sole Tamil National Entity’ (2001 TNA manifesto) TNA goes on to say Accepting the LTTE’s leadership as the national leadership of ‘Tamil Eelam’ Tamils and the Liberation Tigers as the sole and authentic representative of the Tamil people, let us devote our full cooperation for the ideals of the Liberation Tigers’ struggle with honesty and steadfastness. Let us endeavour determinedly, collectively as one group, one nation, one country, transcending race and religious differences, under the leadership of the LTTE, for a life of liberty, honour and justice for the Tamil people.” (2004 TNA election manifesto)

DBS Jeyraj himself describes how TNA was formed by LTTE – http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/31433

Letter to Indian PM – ‘Mr. Modi, TNA is a LTTE’s proxy’ – Anandasangareehttp://www.mfa.gov.lk/index.php/en/news-from-other-media/5352-mr-modi-tna-is-a-lttes-proxy-anandasangaree-

Should the Government revoke PTA as demanded by LTTE proxy TNA? 

Malin Abeytunge http://www.slguardian.org/2011/09/should-the-government-revoke-pta-as-demanded-by-ltte-proxy-tna/

TNA Still LTTE Proxy –  A. H. M. Azwer 

http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2013/12/15/tna-still-ltte-proxy-upfa-mp-a-h-m-azwer/

When the 8000 students who sat for the G.C.E(O/L) exam were taken away for compulsory training by the LTTE the TNA kept mum. Some of them are now dead” (2009 Anandasangaree)

Woo India: LTTE tells TNA MPs (2006) The advice was given by LTT’E Political Wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan at a meeting with TNA MPs in Kilinochchi.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/040606/news/17.html

LTTE-TNA conference concludes: “Tamil people have no interest in SL Presidential elections” (2005)

TNA leaders to meet LTTE leadership in Killinochchi (2004) Mr. Sampanthan and former national list parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham will be leaving from Trincomalee to Killinochchi Tuesday morning to meet Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan and other LTTE leaders regarding mapping out election strategy, TNA sources said.”

https://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=11238

TNA, LTTE meet on Interim Administration proposals (2003)

It was during the April 2004 election that, according to the PHW, the TNA presented itself for the first time as a proxy for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)” (UN Refugee website) http://www.refworld.org/docid/4f435cce2.html

There are plenty of links with TNA attending pro-LTTE fronts overseas and addressing LTTE sympathetic ‘refugees/asylum’ seekers and other Tamils who had managed to go overseas as economic migrants.

Following the regime change this are some of the statements made by the TNA

The racism of the TNA leaders have had little opposition even from members of Parliament. From Sambanthan to Wigneswaran to Sumanthiran and Sivajilingam there are no signs that the TNA relinquishes any of the demands that LTTE was propagating – bogus homeland, demand that Sinhalese cannot live in the North, removal of Buddhist structures/sites and artefacts, demands to withdraw the army, forbidding Tamils to marry Sinhalese are just some of the racism that regularly spews out of Wigneswaran’s mouth. These are besides the resolutions passed by the NPC some of which are violations of the penal code like claiming genocide when Tamil population figures are increasing which denies any genocide claims. https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/04/04/racism-of-chief-minister-wigneswaran/

Wigneswaran appears to forget he is just one of 9 other Chief Ministers in the 9 provinces of Sri Lanka – https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2013/09/30/c-v-wigneswaran-is-only-a-chief-minister-and-not-president-of-sri-lanka/comment-page-1/

Those who are drumming ‘reconciliation’ completely ignores the extent of racism by the TNA leaders that are infecting the minds of the Tamils too http://www.sinhalanet.net/racism-foundation-stone-of-tamil-nationalism-liberation-struggle

Further reading

How dare TNA and leadership be allowed to even make statements on enforced disappearances or war crimes when they are well aware of the crimes committed by the LTTE for which no TNA leader or even Wigneswaran opened their mouths to object. The meetings and discussions held with LTTE leadership inspite of Tamils living in fear, being kidnapped and turned into child soldiers deprives TNA leaders from claiming to want to take charge of the welfare of the Tamil people.

The audacity with which they come before Parliament and speak without any guilt is incomprehensible. Nonetheless, it is obvious that the TNA is fast becoming a nuisance to the Tamils themselves. The loss of elections at cooperative levels and the fact that TNA leaders are not getting the red carpet welcome by Tamils in the North is clear evidence that people are not going to put up with the TNA nonsense for too long. TNA are where they are because the LTTE gun gave them that power.

However, we must all demand that no constitution can take place, no new Acts can be passed or accepted by a government which refuses to launch a comprehensive Commission to investigated LTTE and TNA links. If TNA believes it to be clean there is nothing to worry. However, the people, the victims must have justice. These victims have names, have addresses and there are death certificates and for all their deaths TNA too stand guilty.

New laws cannot be brought and have these be made applicable to events in the past. However, under existing laws a Commission to investigate links of the TNA to LTTE is possible and a Presidential Commission needs to be appointed immediately and all TNA leaders brought before it and questioned.

Similarly, all those who have disappeared as a result of JVP, UNP (Batalanda) should also be investigated. Until and such times all these people who are guilty in the eyes of the public CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be allowed to determine what the citizens of this country should be given. These parties and individuals have not by their conduct served the nation or the citizens and they should have NO ROLE in any decision making in Sri Lanka leave alone decide what gets into a new constitution.

The People must rise and object until the TNA, JVP, IPKF or even UNP comes with a clean chit for their past crimes which have victims with death certificates not like the bogus figures the LTTE-TNA-Diaspora comes up with on a regular basis.

Shenali D Waduge

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2013/03/23/commission-of-inquiry-on-indian-war-crimes-in-sri-lanka/

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ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය දේශපාලන ඉතිහාසයේ කතන්දර පරිච්ඡේදය

September 20th, 2017

 තේජා ගොඩකන්දෙආරච්චි

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනගේ වැඩිමහලු දියණිය වන චතුරිකා සිරිසේන විසින් රචනා කරන ලද ‘ජනාධිපති තාත්තා’ නම් කෘතිය පසුගියදා දොරට වැඩියේය. මීට සමගාමීව කතුවරිය විසින් පවත්වන ලද විද්‍යුත් හා මුද්‍රිත මාධ්‍යවල සම්මුඛ සාකච්ඡාවන් බොහෝ ගණනක්ද දක්නට ලැබිනි.

නවකතාව (ඈ කියන පරිදි එය ‘චරිතප්‍රධානයක්’ නොව නවකතාවක ස්වරූපයෙන් ලියැවුනකි) දොරට වැඩීමට දින දෙක තුනකට පෙර, චතුරිකා සිරිසේනගේ ඡායා රූ ගත කිරීමක් එනම් ෆොටෝ ෂූට් එකක්ද සිදුකර එම පින්තූර මාධ්‍ය වෙතට නිකුත්කර තිබිනි. එය මෙන්ම පොත දොරට වැඩීමේ උළෙලේ සියලු සංවිධාන කටයුතු සිදුකර තිබෙන්නේ ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය විසිනි. ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකයට අයවැයෙන් වෙන්වන මුදල් කාගේද? 2017 වසර සඳහා වූ අයවැයේදී අධ්‍යාපනයට සහ සෞඛයට වෙන්කල පිරිවැය 50% ක ප්‍රමාණයකින් කප්පාදු කල බවත්, ජනාධිපති සහ අගමැති කාර්යාල සඳහා වූ පිරිවැය තුන් ගුණයකින් ඉහල නැංවූ අයුරු ඔබට සිහි විය යුතුය. මදි හරියට මෙම කෘතිය ‘ජනාධිපති පියෙකු පිලිබඳව දියණියක විසින් රචනා කරන ලද පළමු කෘතිය’ ලෙස ඉතිහාස ගත කරන්නටද ඔවුන් උත්සුක වූහ. හරිනම් කෘතියක් එලි දැක්වීමට පෙර ලේඛිකාව විසින් මහජන මුදලින් ෆොටෝ ෂූට් කර මෝස්තර සන්දර්ශනයක්ද පැවැත්වූ ප්‍රථම අවස්ථාව ලෙසද මෙය ඉතිහාස ගතවිය යුතුය.

චතුරිකාට අනුව නම් ඇගේ පියා ඉතාම සාමාන්‍ය ගොවි පවුලක ඉපිද, ජනාධිපතිකම දක්වා පැමිනි ඉතාම සරල මිනිසෙකි. මේ දරුවන් ජනාධිපති මැදුරේ එක රැයක් ගතකර නැත. තාත්තා තවමත් කන්නේ අම්මා අතින්ම උයා පිහා, කෙසෙල් කොලයේ ඔතා දෙන බත් එකයි. කෙසෙල් කොලයේ එතූ, මිල අධික වූ ‘ලම්ප් රයිස්’ නොහොත් සිංහලෙන් කියනවා නම් ‘බත් ගෙඩිය’ අනුභව කරන ලොකු ලොක්කන් ඕනෑ තරම් සිටිති. හැබැයි මෙතැන ඇති විශේෂය ඒ ලම්ප් රයිස් එක හැදෙන්නේ ජනාධිපති ආර්යාව අතින් වීමයි.

පොත නොකියවා මේ පොතේ අන්තර්ගත කරුණු ගැන අදහස් පල කිරීම අසීරුය. මා යම් කරුණු අහුලා ගත්තේ චතුරිකා සිරිසේනගේ කෘතිය පිලිබඳ සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ එකක් නෑර කියවා බැලීමෙනි. ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් එක දෙයක් කිව හැකිය. ජනාධිපති වුව, චතුරිකාට මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන යනු තාත්තාය. නමුත් ජනතාවට ඔහු රටේ නායකයා වුව, තවත් එක දේශපාලකයෙකු පමනි. තාත්තෙකු අතින් තීරණය වන දරුවෙකුගේ අනාගතය සහ, බලය හමුවේ ගිනිකණ වැටුනු නව යුගයේ දේශපාලකයෙකු අතින් තීරණය වන රටක අනාගතය අහසට පොලව මෙන් වෙනස්ය. එමෙන්ම තම දරුවන්ගේ ක්‍රියා පටිපාටිය, ජනාධිපතිවරයාට තාත්තෙකුගේ ඇසින් බැලූකල සාධාරණ විය හැකි නමුදු, සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවට එසේ නොපෙනීම පුදුමයක් නොවේ. පොත එලි දැක්වීමට පෙර ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය විසින් කල චතුරිකාගේ ෆොටෝ ෂූට් එක මෙන්ම පොත දොරට වැඩීමේ උත්සවයද එවන් ක්‍රියා පටිපාටියක කැපී පෙනෙන අංගයන්ය. ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය හරහා මේ විගඩම්වලට වැයකලේ මහජන මුදල්ය. මේ මුදල් වැය කිරීම සඳහා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අනුමැතියද අවශ්‍ය වන අතර, ඒ අනුව බලන කල දුව මෙන්ම තාත්තාද කියන තරම් සරල නැත. මෙවන් ප්‍රචාරයකට ජනාධිපති මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය හරහා මුදල් යෙදවීම තුල තම ප්‍රතිරූපය වෙනස්ම ආකාරයකට ගොඩ නගා ගැනීම උදෙසා ජනාධිපති සිරිසේන තුල වන කැමැත්ත පැහැදිලිව පෙනේ. මේ පෙත එලිදැක්වීමේ සිදුවීම් දෙස මතුපිටින් බලා අපට මෙසේ කතාකල හැකිය. නමුත් ඇතුලතින් මොන මොන කතන්දර ඇත්ද කියා කවුරු දනිත්ද?

2014 නොවැම්බරයේ ඔහු හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා සමග එකට ආප්ප කා, එලියට බැස, පොදු අපේක්ෂකත්වය භාරගත් කරුණ ජනතාව දකිනුයේ චතුරිකා දකින ඇසින් නම් නොවේ. ඒ තුල ඔහු විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය තුල ඇතිකල බෙදීම අදටත් ඉවරයක් නැත. මොකද්දෝ හේතුවකට මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයා විසින් මැතිවරණ පැවැත්වීම දිනෙන් දින කල් දමන නිසා මිසෙක එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය උඩ පැනගෙන මැතිවරණයට ලැහැස්ති වන්නේ කල දුටු කල වල ඉහ ගැන්මට බව මේ දුවට නොවැටහෙන්නේ ඇයි? මේ ජනාධිපති තාත්තාගේ ක්‍රියා කලාපය තුල ශ්‍රී ලාංකික දේශපාලනයම විහිලුවක් බවට පත්වූ අතර, හොරුන් නැති බංගස්තාන කරන බවට පාරම් බාමින් ජනතා කැමැත්ත තමන් වෙතට හරවා ගත්තෝය. ඊලඟට ඔවුන්ම පට්ට ගැසූ හොරුන්ගෙන්ම කොටසක් ඇමතිකම් වරදාන ප්‍රදානය කරමින් බිලී බා ගත්තේ තම බලය පවත්වා ගැනීම පිනිසය. ඒ අනුව ඔහු ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය යලි පාස්සනු නොහැකි ලෙසින් කඩතොලු කලේය. ඔහු ඔය කියන තරම් සරල, සාධාරණ අයෙකු නම් තම ප්‍රතිවාදියා වන මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගේ කැරැට්ටුව පතුරු අරින්නටත්, ඒ හා සමානවම හෝ ඊටත් වැඩි යහපාලන රජයේ වංචාකාරීන් කර උඩ තබා ගන්නටත් කටයුතු කරනුයේ කෙසේද? රවි කරුණානායකගේ නීල හොරකම් ඇස් පනාපිට ඔප්පු වී තිබියදීත් ‘ඔහු ජනතාවට ආදර්ශයකි’යි පවසනුයේ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනගේ යහපාලන දීගයේ සම කොටස්කරුවා වන අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහය. මෙතැන ඇති එකම හේතුව බලයට ඇති නොසන්සිඳෙන ආසාවයි. දියණියට හෘද සාක්ෂිය කියා දෙයක් ඇති නම් මේ ගැන විවේචනයක් ඈ ලඟද තිබිය යුතුය.

 දුව පවසන පරිදි තාත්තා 71 කැරැල්ලට හසුව, සිරබත් කා, මාංචු පිටින්ම උසස් පෙලට ලියා ඇත. මේ කතාවල ඇත්ත නැත්ත දන්නේ තාත්තාම පමනි. මගේ මතකයේ හැටියට, තමා ශ්‍රීලනිප සාමාජිකත්වය ලබා ගත්තේ 1968 දී බව සෑම පක්ෂ සංවත්සර රැස්වීමකදීම ඔහු පවසයි. එසේ නම් ශ්‍රීලනිප රජයක් පවතිද්දී ඔහු ජවිපෙ සැකකරුවෙකු ලෙස මාස 15 ක් සිරගතවසිටියේ කෙසේද? ඔහු නිදහස ලැබූ වහාම අනුර බණ්ඩාරනායක සාමාජිකත්වය දැරූ සමස්ත ලංකා ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ යොවුන් පෙරමුනේ ලේකම් තනතුරට පත්ව ඇත. එවන් තනතුරක් ලබාගැනීමටද අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම යම් දීඝර්‍ කාලීන පලපුරුද්දක් හා පක්ෂය තුල පිලිගැනීමක් තිබිය යුතුය. ලේඛණගතව ඇති ආකාරයට ඔහු පක්ෂ සාමාජිකත්වය ලබාගෙන ඇත්තේ 1978 දී ය.

චතුරිකාට අනුව ළමාවියේ සිටියත් ඈට 80 දශකය අග භාගයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිදු වූ තරුණ නැගිටීම මතකයේ ඇත්තේ ඒ වන විට පියාගේ දේශපාලනයද යම් තත්වයක තිබූ බැවිනි. මෙය – දෙදෙනාම පෙනෙන ආකාරයට සම වයසේ නිසා – චතුර සේනාරත්නගේ මතකය බඳු නොවේවා කියා ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි. කෙසේ වුව දුවට ඒවා මතක ඇත්නම්, ඒ වනවිට වයස තිස් ගණන්වල පසුවූ පියාට (අද වනවිට මතකයේ යම් ආබාධයක් මතුව නැත්නම්) ඒ සිදුවීම් මතකයෙන් ගිලිහී යන්නට ක්‍රමයක් නැත. එකල පැවති එජාප රජයේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම්ද, බටලන්ද වධකාගාරය වැනි ඉතිහාසගත ජීවමාන අපායවල නිර්මාතෘන් ගැනද හොඳින් දන්නා ඔහු 2014 දී ඒ සා වැදගත් තීරණයක් ගෙන වරක් අප රට විසාලාවක් බවට පත්කල වුන්ගේම දෑතට භාර දුන්නේ බලය ඉදිරියේ තමා පෙනෙන තරම් සරල නොවන බව ඔප්පු කරමින් නොවේද?

අද පක්ෂයේ සභාපති ලෙස, සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක පිලිරුවට මල්මාලා පලඳන විට ඇගේ ප්‍රජා අයිතිය අහෝසි කරන්නට තරම් දරදඬු වූයේ කවුද යන්න ඔහුට අමතකව ඇති සේ ය.

ඒ ජනාධිපතිවරණයට පෙර එවකට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ තුනෙන් දෙකක බලය හිමිව තිබූ එක්සත් ජනතා නිදහස් සන්ධානයේ කැමැත්ත පරිදි, ව්‍යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කරමින් තමන්ට තුන්වන වාරය සඳහාද බලය ඉල්ලීමට හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයා පෙලඹුන ආකාරය පමන ඉක්මවා යාමක් බවත්, කිසිසේත්ම සාධාරණීකරනය කල නොහැකි බවත් සැබෑවකි. නමුත් එයට විසඳුම ලෙස තමා බලයට පත්වූ විගස ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පිටින් ගොස් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතර බලයක් නොමැතිව සිටි එජාපයට බලය ලබාදී රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඇතුලු එජාපයේ මනදොල සැපිරීමද කිසිසේත් පිලිගත නොහැක. පලමු දින සියය කෙසේ වෙතත් 2015 අගෝස්තුවේ එළැඹුනු මහ මැතිවරණයේදී පක්ෂයක් ලෙස යම් භේද බින්නකම් අතහැර ශ්‍රීලනිපය ජයග්‍රහණය කරවීමට ඔහුට අවශ්‍යතාවයක් ඇති බවක් පෙනුනේ නැත.

ඔහු සතුව ඔයකියන තරමේ දේශපාලන බුද්ධියක් හා සංවිධාන ශක්තියක් වී නම් හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ තෙවන වර ඉල්ලීමේ අපේක්ෂාව පරදවාලන්නට කටයුතු නොකලේ ඇයි? මේ යෝජනාවට නොඅනුමානවම මොහුද අත ඔසවන්නට ඇත. මේ යෝජනාවේ ඇති හරි වැරැද්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පහදා දෙන්නට කෙනෙකු සන්ධානයේ නොසිටි බව පැහැදිලිය. එසේ වූයේ බියකට වඩා කවුරුන් හෝ බලයේ සිටින කෙනා මුරුංගා අත්තේ තබා ඒ ඔස්සේ තම බඩ වඩා ගැනීම මේ මැති ඇමති ගොල්ලගේ එදත් අදත් ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වී ඇති බැවිනි.

මෑතකදී විජිත් විජිතමුණි සොයිසා ඇමතිවරයා පැවසූ පරිදි එකල ඔවුන්ට සිදුවී තිබුනේ හිටපු ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අධෝමුඛය සිඹ සිඹ ඉන්නටය. ඔහුට එසේ කරන්නට බලකලේ කවුද? ජනතාව නම් නොවේ. ඒ ඔහුගේම තෝරා ගැනීමයි. ඔහු කියන පරිදි ‘පුෂ්පෙට පොල්, මට වල්’. තමන් ලද ඇමතිකම ඔහුගේ තත්වයට මදි වූයේ එලෙසය. තමාට එසේ ඇමතිකම සම්බන්ධ මදි පුංචිකමක් දැනුනා නම්, ඉන් ජනතාවට වැඩක් කරන්නටද බැරි බව වැටහුනා නම්, ඔහුට පිට කොන්දක් ඇතියෙකු ලෙස ඉල්ලා අස්වන්නට තිබිනි. එසේ නොකර නායකයාගේ අධෝ මුඛය සිඹ සිඹ කල් යල් බැලූ ඔහු නායකයා පැරදුන පසු අනිත් පසට එකතු වූයේ එම ප්‍රතිපත්තියම ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන්නට මිස වෙන කුමකටද? චතුරිකාගේ ජනාධිපති තාත්තා, රනිල් තමාට අත්කර දුන් වාසනාවට කලගුණ සැලකුවේ, බලය සඳහා ඕනෑම අයෙකුගේ අධෝ මුඛය සිඹ සිඹ ඉන්නට සැදී පැහැදී සිටින, ජනතාව වෙතින් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කෙරුනු මෙවන් පුස්සන් රැලක් ජාතික ලැයිස්තුවෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට කැඳවා ගනිමිනි.

ඇත්තෙන්ම සන්ධාන මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් කොටසක් විරුද්ධ වූයේ මොහු එජාපය සමග ඇරඹූ දීගයටය. 2015 අගෝස්තු මැතිවරණයේදී මෛත්‍රී පිලෙන් පතුරු ගැසුනේ මහින්ද පිල මිස එජාපය නොවේ. බලය ඇති තැනට එක් රොක් වනුයේ බලයේ රස වැටුනු බඩජාරියන්ම මිස වෙන කවුරුන්ද? තම පියා ජනාධිපති වේ යැයි සිහිනයක් තමාට කිසි දිනෙක නොවූ බව දුව පවසයි. දුවට තබා එවන් සිහිනයක් තාත්තාට වත් තිබෙන්නට නැත.ඉතින් එවන් අනපේක්ෂිත රජ පුටුවක තමාව හිඳවූ රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ප්‍රමුඛ එජාප නඩයට කළගුණ සැලකීම ඔහුගේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයේ අංක එක වනු ඇති බව නියතය. අද ඔහු මහින්ද හිතවාදීන් ලෙස සැලකෙන, ජනතා මනාපය වැඩිපුර ලබාගත් පිරිස එකිනෙකා කප්පාදු කරමින්, නෙරපා හරිමින් ගමන් කරන්නේ මේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රය ඔස්සේය. පක්ෂය තුල සිදු කෙරෙන මේ සෝදා පාලු ප්‍රතිසංවිධානයේ අරමුණ පැහැදිලිය. ඒ දෙවන වතාවටද බලය ලබා ගැනීම මිස අන් කවරක් නොවේ.

ජනාධිපති මැදුරේ රැයක් නොගෙව්වාට, ජනාධිපති දියණිය මිලදී ගත් අති සුඛෝපභෝගී නිවාස, ක්‍රිකට් ආයතනය ඇතුලුව රජයේ දැන්වීම් එකක් නෑර ලැබෙන ඇගේ දැන්වීම් ආයතනය ආදිය ජනතාවට රහසක් නොවේ. සරල ජනාධිපති තාත්තා හෙලිකොප්ටර්වලින් හෝ රථ දහය පහලව සහිත පෙරහරවලින් ගමන් යද්දී, මේ සරල මිනිසාගේ දියණියටද රාජ්‍ය උත්සවයන්හිදී සම්මතයට පිට යමින් රතු පලස එලනු ලබයි. පසුගිය දිනෙක වකුගඩු රෝගයට ප්‍රතිකාර ගන්නට ගිය මිනිසුන් දෙදෙනෙකු, අපරීක්ෂාකාරීව පැදවූ තම සුඛෝපභෝගී රියට යටකර මරාදැමූ බාප්පා, ඔවුන්ගේ ආදායමේ හැටියට කජු ඇට, කොස්ඇට ගණනට වැටෙන රුපියල් ලක්ෂයක් වැනි සොච්චම් මුදලකට අැප පිට මුදා හැරුනේ තම පියාගේ තනතුර හමුවේ නීතියද නැමෙන බව ඔප්පු වන කරවමින් චතුරිකාට නිකමට හෝ සිතුනාද?

පොතේ පිදුම මෙතෙක් සිටි ජනාධිපතිවරුන්ගේ දියණියන්ටය. ඉන් ඩී. බී. විජේතුංග ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ දියණිය අද ජීවතුන් අතර නැත. සිටියත් වචනයේ පරිසමාප්ත අර්ථයෙන්ම සරල මිනිසෙකුගේ සරල දියණියකව සිටි ඈට නම් තාත්තාගේ පම්පෝරිය ගසා පොත් ලියා ඉතිහාස ගතවීමේ උණක් නොතිබෙන්නට ඇත. පොත දොරට වැඩීමේ උත්සවයට ජැන්ඩි පහට සැරසී පැමිනි ප්‍රේමදාස දියණියද පොතක් ලබා ගත්තාය. එදා ඒ අම්මලා දුවලා ඒ ජනාධිපති තාත්තාගේ බලතල භාවිතා කල හැටි අමතක නැති ජනතාවක්ද තවමත් ඇති බව නිසැකය. එමෙන්ම චතුරිකා සහ ඇගේ සොයුරු දහම්හට හෘද සාක්ෂියක් ඇතිනම්, තමන් කරන කියන දේ පිලිබඳව නියම අරුත තමන්ටම වැටහෙනු ඇත.

දුවගේ පොත දෙස ආදරයෙන් බලන පියා මෙන්ම, පියාව සතුටු කරනු වස් ඔහුගේ අධෝ මුඛය සිඹින්නට වුව සූදානම්ව සිටින හෙංචයියලාද මේ පොත දකිනු ඇත්තේ පියෙකු වෙනුවෙන් දුවකගේ සිතේ මතුවූ දයාබර හැඟුම් සමුදායක් ලෙසයි. එයද සැබෑවකි. එහෙත් මොවුනට අමතකව යන්නේ මේ මව් පිය දූ දරු ආදරය සියලු මනුෂ්‍ය ගණයාට පොදුය කියාය. එය රාජපක්ෂලාටද අදාලය.

නමුත් රාජපක්ෂලා වේවා, සිරිසේනලා වේවා තම මව් පිය දූ දරු සෙනෙහස නිසා තම දූ දරුවන්ගේ අපේක්ෂාවන්, ආශාවන් මුදුන්පත් කර ගැන්මට තම දේශපාලන බලයද, මහජන මුදල්ද යොදා ගන්නේ නම් එය ඉතාම අසාධාරණ වන්නේ, තමන් ලඟද දු සෙනෙහස උතුරා යන්නට තිබුනත් ඊට සවි ශක්තියක් නැති මව්පියන් ලක්ෂ ගණන් අප රටේ සිටින බැවිනි. මෙයට චතුරිකාගේ තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ උපාධියද, නාමල්ගේ නීති උපාධියද, චතුරිකාගේ පොත් ලිවිල්ලද, නාමල්ගේ රගර් ගැහිල්ලද යන්න අදාල නොවේ. විශේෂ වරප්‍රසාද යන වචනය මින් එක අයෙකු සඳහා යෙදේ නම් එයම අනිත් අය වෙනුවෙන්ද පොදු යෙදුමක් වනු ඇත.

එබැවින් මහජන මුදල් යොදාගෙන වත්මන් ජනාධිපති දියණිය විසින් සිදුකරන මේ පීතෘ වන්දනය සහ ප්‍රතිරූප ගොඩනැගීම දෙස පසුගිය සමයේ දේශපාලන දරුවන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකාරකම්වලට වඩා වෙනස් විදියකට බැලුවොත් එය අනිකුත් දේශපාලන දූ දරුවනට කරන අසාධාරණයකි.

එහෙමය කියා එදා වූ වැරදිඅපට සුලුවෙන් තකන්නට බැරිවා මෙන්ම, මෙහෙමය කියා අද සිදුවන අවභාවිතාවන්ද සරලව බලා ඉවත ලිය නොහැකිය.

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එක් සත්‍ය කතාවක්

September 20th, 2017

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

2006 වසරේදී විශේෂඥ  මනෝ වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා යටතේ ජාතික රෝහලේ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය සායනයේ සේවය කරන විටදී මානසික ව්‍යාකූලතාවක් සමග ඉතා තරුණ කාන්තාවක් කිරි දරුවෙකු සමග ආවාය​.  මෙම තරුණ කාන්තාවගේ තනියට ඇයගේ මවද ගැබිණි නැගෙනියද ඇවිත් සිටි අතර සුපුරුදු ලෙසින් මම ඔවුන් ගේ විස්තර විචාලෙමි. ඔවුන් පැවසූ කරුණු අසා මම කම්පනයට පත් වූයෙමි. 

මේ පවුල ඉතා දුප්පත් ය​. පියා වර්තමානයේ රැකියාවක් නොකරන්නෙකි. සහෝදරියන් දෙදෙනා සහ ඔවුන් ගේ අට හැවිරිදි සොහොයුරා ජීවත් වන්නේ මව විසින් සොයන ආදායමෙනි මව කුලී වැඩ කරන්නීය​. මව ගෙදර නොමැති අවස්ථාවලදී පියා විසින් වැඩිමහල් දුවට පහර දී බිය වද්දා ඇයව දූෂණය කොට තිබේ. මෙලෙස දූෂණයට ලක් වීම නිසා ඇය ගැබිනියක වූවාය​. මින් අතිශයින්ම කම්පා වූ මව එය  පවුලේ රහසක්ව තබා ගත්තාය​. කල් ඉකුත් වීමේදී වැඩිමහළු සොහොයුරිය දරුවෙකු ප්‍රසූත කලාය​. මේ එම දරුවාය​. වැඩිමහළු දුව දරු ප්‍රසූතිය සඳහා රෝහල් ගත වූ විට ඇය අසල සිටියේ මවය​. දරු ප්‍රසූතියෙන් පසු දුව සහ බිළිඳා ගෙදර ගෙන එන විට මව දුටුවේ තවත් ව්‍යසනයකි. ඇය ගෙදර නොසිටි කාලයේ සැමියා දෙවන දියණියද දූෂණය කොට තිබුනාය​. දැන ඇයද ගැබිනියකි. 

තව දුරටත් රහස් ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමෙන් එලක් නොවන බව තේරුම් ගත් ඇය පොලිසි ගියාය​. දැන් පියා රිමාන්ඩ් භාරයේය​. එහෙත් දැන් මුළු පවුලම ගිනි ගොඩකට මැදිවී සිටියි. මේ චිත්තාවේගී පීඩාවන් නිසා වැඩිමහල් සොහොයුරිය විශාදයේ ලක්‍ෂණ පෙන්වන බව පෙනී යයි. මෙම පවුලට ඖෂධ වලටත් වඩා අවශ්‍ය කෙරෙන්නේ උපදේශනය සහ මනෝ සමාජීය සහන සේවාවන් වෙති. එහෙත් ජාතික රෝහලේ සීමිත පරාසයක සේවය කරන අප කෙසේ මේ ව්‍යසනයට පත් වූ පවුලට මනෝ සමාජීය සහන සේවා සපයන් ද ? නමුත් සුනාමි සමයේදී අපගේ රෝගීන්ට මනෝ සමාජීය සහන සේවා සැපයූ ආයතන මතක් වූයෙන් මම ඔවුන් ව එකී ආයතන වලට යොමු කලෙමි. 

ඉන් පසු මෙම පවුල යලි සායනයට පැමිනියේ නැත​. දෙවන දියණියද දරුවා ප්‍රසූත කරන්නට ඇත​. ඔවුන් ගේ පියා සිරගෙට නියම වූයේද නැතහොත් ඇප ලබා පැමිනියේද කියා මම නොදනිමි. එහෙත් කුඩා ශරීරයකින් හෙබි සියළු දුක් පීඩා වලට මුහුණ දුන් ඔවුන් ගේ මව තම අන්තිම හුස්ම පොද දක්වා ඇයගේ දරුවන් සහ ව්‍යභිචාරය නිසා උපන් කිරි දරුවන් දෙදෙනා පෝෂණය කරනු ඇත​. 

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

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කොළඹ ප‍්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාලය පවරා ගැනීමට විරෝධය

September 20th, 2017

සභාපති – ලංකා තැපැල්  සේවා සංගමය

ගරු අමාත්‍ය අබ්දුල් හලීම් මැතිතුමා,
තැපැල්, තැපැල් සේවා හා මුස්ලිම් ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශය,
6 සහ 7 වැනි මහල,
තැපැල් මූලස්ථනාන ගොඩනැගිල්ල,
310, ඞී.ආර්. විජේවර්ධන මාවත,
කොළඹ 10.

ගරු අමාත්‍යතුමානි,

කොළඹ ප‍්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාලය පවරා ගැනීමට විරෝධය පළකිරීම

  1. 09. 08 වන දින තැපැල් හා තැපැල් සේවා හා මුස්ලිම් ආගමික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් තුමා ගේ ප‍්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවති පසුවිපරම් කමිටු සාකච්ජාවේදී, කොටුව ප‍්‍රධාන තැපැල් කාර්යාල ගොඩනැගිල්ල ගරු අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් පවරා ගන්නා ලද බව, ගරු අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම් තුමා විසින් ප‍්‍රකාශ කරන ලදි.

මෙම ගොඩනැගිල්ල පිහිටි ස්ථානය තැපැල් සේවා කටයුතු පවත්වාගෙන යෑමට ඉතාමත් උචිත ස්ථානයක් වන අතර, මෙය පවරා ගැනීමෙන්, තැපැල් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතු වත්කමක් අහිමි වන බවද පෙන්වා දෙමු.

එම නිසා, මෙය තව දුරටත් තැපැල් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සතුව පවත්වා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සලසන ලෙසටත්, මෙම ගොඩ නැගිල්ල තැපැල් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවෙන් පිට පෞද්ගලික අංශයට බදු දීමට, පැවරීමට, විකිණීමට, උත්සහ නොකරන ලෙසත්, එසේ නොවන්නේනම්, ඒ සම්බන්ධව සංගමයක් විදිහට අපගේ දැඩි විරෝධය පල කරන අතර, සමස්ත තැපැල් සේවකයින් හා වෘත්තිය සමිති එක්ව මෙයට එරෙහිව වෘත්තිය කි‍්‍රයාමාර්ග ගැනීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් කාරුණිකව දන්වා සිටිමු .

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට, 

ජගත් මහින්ද  

සභාපති – ලංකා තැපැල්  සේවා සංගමය

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The ordinary people hardly think of the healthy aspect of the food, they just eat

September 20th, 2017

Dr Hector Perera     London

The magazine Health Which? Examined the nutritional content of typical meals from Chinese, Indian, Thai, Italian and Tex-Mex menus.

Recommended daily guidelines (men/women)

These are the daily recommended amounts for men and women

Fat 95g/70g, Saturates 30g/20g, Calories 2,500/2,000, Sodium 2.5g/2g, Fibre 18g, Sugar 70g/50g.

In particular they looked at levels of fat (including saturated fat), sugar, fibre and sodium – all of which can be bad for health in high quantity.

The researchers found that certain dishes from each type of cuisine contained worryingly high levels of fat and sugar that is one way they make them so tasty.

Some Chinese dishes were particularly unhealthy again due to fat and sugar in them. A portion of battered sweet and sour pork with egg fried rice contained 60g of fat and 44g of sugar that means far too much the recommended dose. Even in frying rice they add fat, thinking they are making them very tasty. And the popular dish crispy duck had around 31g of fat per portion.

Indian takeaways

The popular Indian dish chicken tikka masala with pilau rice – recently described by former foreign secretary Robin Cook as Britain’s new national dish – contained around 47g of fat. Would you think that is a healthy amount to be there in one person’s portion of food? Vegetable biryani contained around 43g of fat, and lamb passanda with pilau rice had around 24g of saturated fat. All these have plenty of fat in them, actually added while cooking.

Some of the Italian food tested was healthier. The dish pasta with arrabiata sauce contained only 12g of fat, 6g of sugar, and 0.5g of sodium. However, the highly popular dish lasagne contained around 45g of fat – more than a McDonald’s Quarter pounder with cheese and small fries. This really puts me off eating these kinds of food because they are unhealthy but may be tasty. The researchers found that many of the accompaniments that go with Tex-Mex food were laden with fat and calories, such as sour cream and cheese. Not only that dishes such as chicken enchiladas and chilli con carne are also high in fat.

Thai food

Traditional Thai dishes tend to be relatively healthy, as many are based on steamed rice and vegetables, fish, lemon and garlic.

For instance, stir fried chicken with plain steamed rice (phad khing hai) has 13g of fat, only 3g of which is saturated fat that is a small amount when compared to others.

But there were some unhealthier Thai options, for instance, green curry with sticky rice has around 29g of fat – largely down to coconut cream.

I think there’s nothing wrong with eating out or having the odd takeaway but not eating them on regular basis. If you want to reduce your fat intake in particular, go for plain rice, stir-fried or steamed food. In making rice, they fry in far too much fat that is where the problem start.

Claire Mac Evilly, a nutrition scientist for the British Nutrition Foundation, said it was perfectly okay to eat takeaway food, such as a curry, once a week – provided a person’s diet was otherwise balanced and healthy.

But she admitted: “As a nation of curry eaters, I don’t suppose this type of research is going to do very much to deter people.”

New research from the food industry think tank, the Institute of Grocery Distribution, predicts people are going to want much more convenience food in future. Here is a list of curries then you have to decide if they are healthy to eat or not.

What is a Balti Curry?

The name for this mixed meat/vegetable curry means bucket” in Hindi, and likely refers to the flat-bottomed wok-type pan it is usually cooked in. The dish could have originated in northern Pakistan, but the British city of Birmingham claims it was first cooked there in the 1970s, and they’re sticking to the story.

Balti has served Birmingham well – it’s Balti Triangle” boasts dozens of restaurants specialising in the dish. Balti is, though, a firm favourite right across the British Isles and beyond as a takeout or dine in.

Balti comes in a variety of versions. Marinated meat (usually chicken or beef, fish or prawns) are stir-fried quickly in the wok-type pan along with vegetables like onions, spinach, potato, mushrooms or aubergines and selected spices. The result is a fairly dry rather than saucy curry, which is served with rice.

The secret, of course, in the spice mix used, and it’s a pretty long list, including Garam Masala, curry leaves, coriander, cumin, cloves, cardamom and others (more about spices further on too), all forming a marinade/cook in sauce in a base of stock with tomato puree and peanut oil. Remember to some people peanut oil is allergic so you need to be careful.

Balti is usually listed on the menu (especially in a specialist Balti House) in different heat strengths of mild, medium or hot. Generally those who can’t take too much spicy heat even find the mild version hot! The traditional way to eat Balti is scooping it up with chunks of a sweetish-flavoured Naan (flat) bread. Other good accompaniments are a cucumber and yogurt raita and/or a fruity chutney.

What is a Bhuna Curry?

Bhuna is actually an Asian cooking method, rather than a dish, so it applies to any lean meat cooked in that style, usually chicken, lamb or beef. The cooking process requires simmering the meat in a spicy sauce for an hour or two, allowing the sauce to reduce until it is thick and coats the meat, which is very tender. This results in a rich, pungent flavour, concentrating the spices. The dish is usually garnished with green capsicum and shredded onions, and served with rice and naan bread. The basic sauce for the bhuna generally contains varying proportions of cumin, coriander, mustard seed, chilli, fennel, shallots, ginger, garlic, tomato and curry leaves.

What is a Biryani Curry?

This was originally a simple Persian (Iranian) dish, where rice and meat was baked together in the oven. Over time spices and other ingredients were added. Nowadays in the Indian takeaway a biryani is usually a stir-fry of pilau rice with chicken or lamb (cooked up in the bhuna way), usually with almonds, sultanas and various vegetables.

What is a Korma Curry?

The origins of creamy korma curry date back to the 16th century in northern India and Pakistan.  Traditionally it involved meat being marinated in yoghurt, then braised on low heat until marinade and juices reduce down to a thick sauce. Nowadays the takeaway chef speeds things up a little, and the ingredients have been adapted, often including almonds, cashews and coconut milk along with thick cream and the requisite spices, but the delectable flavour remains the same. A good korma is mild, but should never be bland.

Chicken Biryani

Soak the rice in warm water, then wash in cold until the water runs clear. Heat butter in a saucepan and cook the onions with the bay leaf and other whole spices for 10 mins. Sprinkle in the turmeric, then add chicken and curry paste and cook until aromatic. Stir the rice into the pan with the raisins, then pour over the stock. Place a tight-fitting lid on the pan and bring to a hard boil, then lower the heat to a minimum and cook the rice for another 5 mins. Turn off the heat and leave for 10 mins. Stir well, mixing through half the coriander. To serve, scatter over the rest of the coriander and the almonds.

Chicken biryani in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka one of the favourite things is chicken biryani. If they are freshly made then safe to eat but in some five star hotels they store them in the freezer or fridge until any customers request chicken biryani. This is where the trouble starts because the germ bacillus cereus on rice grow and multiply. When someone eaten them even after reheating that some of germs still thrive and multiply causing trouble. I can safely say this because it happened to me so be careful. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk

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SRI LANKA: Innocent man illegally tortured and arrested by Padukka Police

September 20th, 2017

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information that Mr. Mahinda Dammika Manawadu was illegally arrested and severely tortured by police officers attached to the Padukka Police Station. After Dammika got into a dispute with the owner of the garage where his three-wheeler was under repair, the owner requested the intervention of the police. Two police officers arrived and severely assaulted Dammika, leading to his loss of consciousness. He was then taken to the Padukka police station and put in the lock up in an unconscious state. Although an investigation was initiated into the case, it has not progressed due to political influence.

Case Narrative:

Mahinda Dammika Manawadu (34) of Siyabalanduwa, in Siyabalanduwa Divisional Secretariat in Monaragala District, is married and a father of one child. He drives his own three-wheeler for hiring.

When his three-wheeler was diagnosed with a default, he contacted a three-wheeler repairing garage at Meegoda, High-level Road, Homagama Divisional Secretariat. The owner of the garage gave him an appointment of 8 a.m. on 8 August 2017. Dammika went to the garage at the appointed time, but waited there for many hours. Finally, at 3:30 p.m., Dammika questioned how long he has to wait for his repair. The owner shouted at Dammika angrily, and they both engaged in a heated argument, as Dammika explained that he came to the place following his appointment, and he has to travel a long way to his home.

Dammika then observed the owner making a telephone call and requesting help. By listening to the conversation, Dammika learned that he was speaking to a police officer. Several minutes later, two police officers who identified themselves as attached to the Padukka Police Station arrived, and started to assault him. Along with the two police officers, the owner also assaulted him. As a result of the severe assault, Dammika lost consciousness.

Upon regaining consciousness, Dammika found himself inside the lock up of the Padukka Police Station. Later, when he started vomiting, the police officers took him to the Padukka Government Hospital. As the doctors on duty informed the police officers of the severity of the patient’s condition, the officers then took him to the Homagama Base Hospital.

While Dammika was getting treatment at the hospital, his father made a complaint to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Colombo regarding the police torture of his son. As a part of the investigations, on two occasions Dammika’s statements were recorded by two police officers while he was in the hospital. Dammika was discharged on the evening of August 10.

On August 11, Dammika was asked to come to the Padukka Police Station for an inquiry. Though he waited there from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., the officers did not call him for any inquiry. Then he was requested to come on August 12 as well. On that day as well, he waited until 4 p.m., but the officers did not question him or make any inquiry. Due to the recurrence of severe pain, Dammika was again admitted to the Homagama Basic Hospital on the evening of August 12.

Later, one officer approached him and informed him that as a senior powerful politician who is a close subordinate of the senior cabinet minister is involved in the torture matter, they cannot make any independent investigation into the case.

Suggested Action:

Please send letters to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the illegal torture, arrest and detention by the Padukka police. Those found responsible must be prosecuted under criminal law. They must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of department orders. 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 police officers.

To support this case, please click here:

 

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ________,

SRI LANKA: Innocent man illegally tortured, arrested and detained by Padukka Police

Name of Victim: Mahinda Dammika Manawadu (34) of Siyabalanduwa in Siyabalanduwa Divisional Secretariat in Monaragala District

Alleged perpetrators: Police officers attached to the Padukka Police Station

Date of incident: 8 August 2017

Place of incident: Padukka Police Division

According to the information I have received Mr. Mahinda Dammika Manawadu (34) of Siyabalanduwa, in Siyabalanduwa Divisional Secretariat in Monaragala District, is married and a father of one child. He drives his own three-wheeler for hiring.

When his three-wheeler was diagnosed with a default, he contacted a three-wheeler repairing garage at Meegoda, High-level Road, Homagama Divisional Secretariat. The owner of the garage gave him an appointment of 8 a.m. on 8 August 2017. Dammika went to the garage at the appointed time, but waited there for many hours. Finally, at 3:30 p.m., Dammika questioned how long he has to wait for his repair. The owner shouted at Dammika angrily, and they both engaged in a heated argument, as Dammika explained that he came to the place following his appointment, and he has to travel a long way to his home.

Dammika then observed the owner making a telephone call and requesting help. By listening to the conversation, Dammika learned that he was speaking to a police officer. Several minutes later, two police officers who identified themselves as attached to the Padukka Police Station arrived, and started to assault him. Along with the two police officers, the owner also assaulted him. As a result of the severe assault, Dammika lost consciousness.

Upon regaining consciousness, Dammika found himself inside the lock up of the Padukka Police Station. Later, when he started vomiting, the police officers took him to the Padukka Government Hospital. As the doctors on duty informed the police officers of the severity of the patient’s condition, the officers then took him to the Homagama Base Hospital.

While Dammika was getting treatment at the hospital, his father made a complaint to the Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Colombo regarding the police torture of his son. As a part of the investigations, on two occasions Dammika’s statements were recorded by two police officers while he was in the hospital. Dammika was discharged on the evening of August 10.

On August 11, Dammika was asked to come to the Padukka Police Station for an inquiry. Though he waited there from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., the officers did not call him for any inquiry. Then he was requested to come on August 12 as well. On that day as well, he waited until 4 p.m., but the officers did not question him or make any inquiry. Due to the recurrence of severe pain, Dammika was again admitted to the Homagama Basic Hospital on the evening of August 12.

Later, one officer approached him and informed him that as a senior powerful politician who is a close subordinate of the senior cabinet minister is involved in the torture matter, they cannot make any independent investigation into the case.

I request the intervention of your good offices to ensure that the authorities listed below open an immediate investigation into the violation of 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 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.lk or 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)

Read this UAC online

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SRI LANKA QUALIFIED AS 8TH TEAM FOR ICC WORLD CUP 2019

September 20th, 2017

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

It has been a nervous waiting for Sri Lankan cricketing fans to see the initial outcome of England v West Indies matches.   As a result of West Indies seven-wicket defeat against England in the first ODI at Old Trafford, Sri Lanka squeezed into the top 8 teams, viz. Australia, Bangladesh, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and  South Africa.

In preparation for the major event, Sri Lanka will have ample opportunities to improve its performances.   Its busy schedule of 36 matches (subject to change) expected to be played prior to World Cup includes:

5 ODI against Pakistan in Dec 2017

3 ODI against Bangladesh in January 2018

5 ODI against India in March

5 ODI against West Indies in June

5 ODI against England in October

3 ODI against New Zealand in December

5 ODI against Australia in January 2019

5 ODI against South Africa in March

Of the top eight teams, unfortunately the management of Sri Lankan cricket is in an absolute mess.  The seasoned skipper Angelo Mathews resigned under pressure, since then game of musical chairs took place for the position of Skipper.  Upul Tharanga, my opinion is the second best to Angelow, yet he seems to have a problem of managing over rate.  Upul on the other hand had been a consistent performer with the bat  with clever field placements.  He also command respect from the team.

Changing Sanath Jayasuriya with Graeme  Labrooy is an idiotic move. Bringing Asanka Gurusinghe from Melbourne, was another  wrong move.  The current Minister Mr Dayasiri Jayasekera  and Thilanga Sumathipala have messed up the cricket administration.  They failed to motivate the players, instead played the role of Bull in the China shop.

These weaknesses place an additional pressure on the skipper and players.  We are still hunting for a Head Coach.  All other 7 teams have been able to establish a long term leadership succession with clear career path.  Sri Lanka has failed in this key area.

Once again, direct involvement of Mahela, Kumar, Dilshan, Murali, Sanath, Arjuna and Vaas at the top of cricket administration is vital.

 

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Sri Lanka minister takes cover after close shave

September 20th, 2017

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lanka_minister_takes_cover_after_close_shave-3-8756-10.html

News Item quotes that the Hon Minister of Transport has gone to India to seek divine help to beat the railway strikers or Private bus owners or Three wheeler drivers.The news gossips about his shaving of the hair presumably to get rid of the ticks” ( Ticka’s -how we called railway guards during our school times.) as all railway strikers intend to cripple the transport system .It may be a hair  pulling exercise for the minister to find a solution.

Few  front -line politicians like Kothalawala ,JR and Chandrika ( may even be Sirimavo did not seek divine help) All other presidents like Premadasa.MR ,MS and even RW have been  seeking Indian god’s intervention .

They are not satisfied visiting Kata agama ,or Indigolla St Jude’s or Dawatagaha mosque .but also seek other foreign gods in India.

( People should see the Indian Movie Called OMG ( Oh my god) to understand how  these agents of divine gods operate .

We as Buddhist should not be believing in god or creations by god, but we shall believe in Karma

Shaving hair or wearing a talisma  or carrying a gold dagger may not help anyone and even breaking coconuts ( a coconut is about 90 Rs now) may not help either

There is a saying that people who go to temple are all God Fearing people than God Loving …. ( quote from OMG)

Or we have to preach God Save This Country from these God fearing people who may have been doing sins in the past

I quote my opinion about God Kataragama

Tense situ at Kataragama Devalaya Nilame and shamans fight over keys

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

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‘මට මතක නෑ.. මං දන්නේ නෑ..’ ගම්මන්පිලට අන්නන්න ගෙන ආ බ්‍රයන්ටත් රවීගේ ලෙඩේම හැදේ..

September 20th, 2017

– අරවින්ද අතුකෝරල lanka C news

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල කූට ලේඛණ සෑදූ බවට චෝදනා කිරීමට ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවෙන් ගෙන් වූ බ්‍රයන් ෂැඩික් පවසන්නේ බොරු බව ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ ශවේන්ද්‍ර ප්‍රනාන්දු සාක්ෂි සහිතව පෙන්වා දීමෙන් පසු ඔහුගේ හරස් ප්‍රශ්න වලට දිගින් දිගටම පිලිතුරු සැපයුවේ ‘මං දන්නේ නෑ.. මට මතක නෑ’ යනුවෙනි.

එවිට ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ ශවේන්ද්‍ර ප්‍රනාන්දු අධිකරණය අමතමින්,

‘ස්වාමිනි, මම හිතා ගෙන හිටියේ දන්නේ නෑ මතක නෑ කියන ලෙඩේ හැදෙන්නේ ලංකාවේ දේශපාලකයින්ට විතරයි කියලා. දැන් බැලින්නම් ලංකාවට එන විදේශිකයින්ටත් ඒක හැදෙනවා.

මගේ සේවාලාභියා පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයට මුහුණ දෙන්න සති දෙකක් විතරක් තිබිය දී මෙයාව විරුද්ධ දේශපාලකයෙක් ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා පැමිණිල්ලක් කෙරෙව්වේ ඡන්දයට බලපෑම් කරන්නයි. වාසනාවට ජනතාව මෙයාගේ බොරු විශ්වාස කලේ නෑ. මෙයා මේ බොරු පැමිණිල්ල කලේ දේශපාලකයෙකුගෙන් මුදලක් අරගෙන’ යයි කියා සිටියේය.

 

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A passport to impunity?

September 20th, 2017

Editorial Courtesy The Island

September 20, 2017, 12:00 pm
A claim made by former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran’s counsel ,before the presidential commission of inquiry probing bond scams, on Tuesday, has raised many an eyebrow. He said his client could not be compelled to give evidence as the latter was a Singaporean. The commission had previously ruled that it could not compel Perpetual Treasuries owner Arjun Aloysius to testify. Mahendran, however, chose to give evidence unlike his son-in-law, Aloysius. The commission has said Mahendran has to testify and he is not above the law. However, the recent developments in the bond investigation have left the public confused.

One shouldn’t be faulted for arguing that there is no guarantee that the AG’s Department officials will be able to ascertain crucial information they need to trace the masterminds of the bond scams.

The yahapalana leaders came to power, vowing to take action against the corrupt members of the Rajapaksa government and eliminate corruption on their watch. Thankfully, some action is being taken against their political foes, but their cronies involved in corrupt deals, remain above the law. The Opposition revealed in Parliament on Tuesday a sinister attempt to prevent some corrupt deals involving the Central Expressway project from being probed by the COPE (Committee on Public Enterprises). We suggest that a presidential commission, vested with adequate powers, be appointed to probe allegations of corruption as regards all expressways including those under construction.

The claim that Mahendran cannot be ordered to testify before the bond commission because of his Singaporean citizenship has vindicated the widely held view that foreign passport holders must not be appointed to key positions in the state sector here. When the yahapalana leaders came under fire for appointing Mahendran as the Central Bank Governor on the grounds that he was a foreign citizen they sought to justify their decision and brush aside criticism!

The AG’s Department counsel and the Central Bank officials have displayed, before the bond commission, their courage, professionalism and passion for battling corruption and, thereby, endeared themselves to the public. They have done the country proud and made it difficult for the government politicians involved in the bond scams to torpedo the presidential probe. Else, the yahapalana champions would have gone the whole hog and derailed the investigation by getting all key witnesses to refuse to testify.

Meanwhile, it is only natural that the bond commission ruling as regards Aloysius has raised the AG’s Department counsel’s hackles. Curiously, the commission has stressed on several occasions that it does not consider anyone a suspect and everyone who appears before it is a witness. Journalists covering its proceedings have been given to understand that even terms such as cross-examining should be avoided. So, it defies comprehension how a key witness has been able to refrain from testifying by pretending to be an ‘accused’. It is hoped that the AG’s Department will clear the air by seeking the opinion of a court of law on the issue lest a precedent should be created and witnesses will refuse to give evidence before the fact-finding commissions to be appointed in the future as well.

If the bond racketeers and their political masters succeed in making a mockery of the bond probe through devious means, public resentment will be directed at President Maithripala Sirisena. The President acted out of expediency in 2015, following the first bond racket and dissolved parliament thus scuttling the first COPE report thereon. The second bond scam was carried out the following year. It is, therefore, imperative that the President ensure the probe he ordered helps expose all those involved in the bond scams and charges are preferred against all of them. That is the only way he can atone for his executive action which stood the bond racketeers in good stead.

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Attempt to mislead President Sirisena on Disappearances Bill

September 20th, 2017

by C.A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

September 20, 2017, 10:46 pm

It is not the policy of this newspaper to comment on articles published by other newspapers or websites. However given the importance of the ‘Bill to introduce into local law the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced isappearance’, and the campaign of misinformation surrounding this proposed piece of legislation, an exception will be made in this instance. In an article posted on D.B.S.Jeyaraj’s blog titled “Extradition Clause in Enforced Disappearances Bill is Identical to Section 7(2) of Torture Act Passed in 1994”, its author one Gehan Gunatilleke has argued that Clause 8 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance Bill is identical to Section 7(2) of the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment Act, No. 22 of 1994. The two passages have been quoted as follows by the author of the said article.

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President Sirisena

Clause 8 of the Disappearances Bill: “Where a request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka, by or on behalf of the Government of a Convention State for the extradition of any person accused or convicted of an offence under sections 3 or 4, the Minister shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith notify the Government of the requesting State of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person for that offence”.

Section 7(2) of the Convention Against Torture Act of 1994: “Where a request is made to the Government of Sri Lanka, by or on behalf of the Government of any State for the extradition of any person accused or convicted of the offence of torture, the Minister in charge of the subject of Foreign Affairs shall, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, forthwith inform the Government of the requesting State, of the measures which the Government of Sri Lanka has taken, or proposes to take, for the prosecution or extradition of that person, for that offence”.

On this basis, the author of this article who is not known to this writer, but is said to be advising the yahapalana government, has stated as follows: “The President should be informed that there is absolutely nothing to worry about in this clause. It is a standard clause, and we have had the identical clause in a very similar statute for over 20 years!” We view this as an attempt to mislead the President of the country by conveying the wrong information to him.

Clause 8 of the Bill to introduce into Sri Lankan law, the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance refers to Sri Lankans whose extradition has been requested by foreign countries on the grounds that they were responsible for causing enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka. No such thing is possible under Act No: 22 of 1994 which was passed to introduce into local law the provisions of the International Convention Against Torture. Under the 1994 Act, any Sri Lankan who is alleged to have committed torture can be tried only in Sri Lanka and there is certainly no provision to extradite Sri Lankans suspected of committing torture in Sri Lanka to stand trial in other countries for crimes allegedly committed in Sri Lanka.

Section 7(2) of the Convention Against Torture Act of 1994 refers to foreign nationals wanted in their own countries over allegations of torture, who may happen to be in Sri Lanka. In such cases, when a request is made for the extradition of that foreign individual, Sri Lanka will be obliged to comply. However Clause 8 of the proposed Bill to introduce into Sri Lankan law, the provisions of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is designed to extradite Sri Lankans who are deemed by foreign nations to be responsible for causing enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka to stand trial overseas.

There is a vast difference between the two and the President should be made aware of this attempt to convey wrong information to him.

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Mahendran must testify, says commission

September 20th, 2017

Sarath Dharmasena and Shyam Nuwan Ganewatta Courtesy The Island

September 20, 2017, 10:55 pm

Justice K. T. Chitrasiri yesterday said former Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendra should abide by the law. Although the Counsel for Mahendran had said that Mahendran was a Singaporean, once appointed as Governor he was under Sri Lankan law, Justice Chitasiri said at the conclusion of Mahendran’s evidence led by his counsel.

Mahendran received appointed from President Maithripala Sirisena in January 2015 on the recommendation of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. President Sirisena declined to extend Mahendran’s term in mid 2016 in the wake of the second bind scam in march 2016.

Referring to the media coverage in the wake of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) deciding not to compel owner of Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) Arjun Aloysius to give evidence, Justice Chitrasiri said that though the CoI didn’t respond to media reports, he availed himself the opportunity to clarify matters.

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Mahendra

Justice Chitrasiri emphasized that the ruling given in respect of Arjun Aloysius wouldn’t apply to Mahendran.

Justice Chitrasiri pointed out that Arjun Aloysius said that he had been accused of irregularity in respect of Central Bank bond transactions. Although, Arjun Aloysius had said that he could face criminal charges in High Court over alleged transaction whereas Mahendran didn’t say such things.

Justice Chitrasiri: “Mahendran didn’t say he can be an accused. He came before the CoI willingly. Therefore, CoI can compel him to give evidence.”

Justice Chitrasiri said that the CoI had decided against compelling Arjun Aloysius to give evidence in accordance with the law.

Justice Chitrasiri said that the CoI had refrained from compelling Arjun Aloysius as he could have moved higher court and caused substantial delay in the CoI process.

The CoI chairman said the decision had been taken to in accordance with the Section 16 of the Presidential CoI Act.

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Mahendran cannot be compelled to give evidence as he is Singaporean – Counsel- Assurance of ‘good conduct’ sought from AG’s team

September 19th, 2017

By Sarath Dharmasena and Shyam Nuwan Ganewatta Courtesy The Island

September 19, 2017, 12:00 pm
Former Central Bank Governor Arjun Mahendran’s Counsel Romesh De Silva, PC, yesterday told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI), probing the alleged bond scams that his client couldn’t be compelled to give evidence before CoI as he (Mahendran) was a Singaporean.

President Maithripala Sirisena appointed Mahendran Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recommendation in January 2015. Mahendran was replaced soon after the second bond scam involving the Perpetual Treasuries Limited (PTL) came to light in March 2016.

Counsel De Silva said that Mahendran would give evidence before the CoI to prove his innocence though the CoI had informed PTL owner Arjun Aloysius that he (Aloysius) could remain silent.

Mahendran yesterday gave evidence before the CoI on the instructions of his counsel.

Before Mahendran got into the witness box, PC De Silva said that the CoI couldn’t pressure his Singaporean client.

PC De Silva said that though Mahendran could have emulated his son-in-law Arjun Aloysius and refrained from giving evidence, he had instructed the former Governor to testify.

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PC De Silva said that, however, his client would give evidence on the condition that the lawyers representing the Attorney General’s Department would ensure that, during questioning, they wouldn’t behave in a manner derogatory of Mahendran.

CoI member justice Prasanna Jayawardena: We treat all witnesses well. It is our responsibility.

Counsel De Silva: We expect the same of lawyers representing the AG’s Department.

Additional Solicitor General: Is he a saint?

Counsel De Silva: Witnesses should be treated properly. If you don’t know that, learn.

Counsel De Silva said that the CoI couldn’t pressure Mahendran to hand over documents or affidavits. Although the former CBSL Governor wasn’t required by the law to hand over his communication equipment in addition to mobile phones, he had done so in deference to the CoI directive, the counsel added.

Justice Chitrasiri: Call Mahendran to give evidence now.

Counsel De Silva: Is he (Mahendran) the last witness?

Senior Additional Solicitor General Dappula De Livera said that Mahendran wasn’t the last witness.

Counsel De Silva said that he had been informed that Mahendran was the last witnesses

Justice Jayawardena said that was wrong. Mahendran was one of the last witnesses.

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Prisoners, docs and pundits

September 19th, 2017

Editorial Courtesy The Island

September 19, 2017, 8:39 pm
Some UNP MPs have taken exception to the admission of former President’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga to the Welikada prison hospital after being sentenced to three years RI. They claim he has received preferential treatment. A senior prison doctor has been transferred by way of punishment for allegedly favouring him. One is intrigued by their brouhaha and line of reasoning.

The UNP MPs’ conclusion that Weeratunga should not be in prison hospital is based on the premises that politicians and other influential persons, remanded or sentenced to jail, get themselves admitted to prison hospital so that they don’t have to languish in cells; Weeratunga has also been admitted to prison hospital and he is an influential person and, therefore, his admission to hospital is wrong. But, their contention does not stand to reason. Here is a case of hasty generalisation, a fallacy which negates the logical validity of their argument. If their contention is true then one can claim that any person wearing a full-face helmet should be suspected of a bank robbery because all bank robbers wear full-face helmets.

We hold no brief for anyone who has got into trouble by doing wily politicians’ bidding. Weeratunga, with an impeccable track record as a civil servant, knows FRs by heart and he should not have carried out the controversial executive order to allocate public funds for distributing sil redi in the run-up to a crucial election. But, the fact remains that he has not been in the best of health for the last several years. He has also undergone surgeries on a couple of occasions. The rude shock he received upon being sentenced to three years RI may have aggravated his condition. If the government had had any reason to believe that his condition was not so serious as to warrant hospitalisation and/or the prison doctors had been partial to him, it could have got him examined by some other physicians instead of getting the likes of Ranjan Ramanayake to protest, calling for the transfer of the acting chief medical officer of the Welikada prison hospital.

No minister should be allowed to have doctors transferred to please some of his parliamentary colleagues or according to his whims and fancies. Disciplinary action should be taken against doctors or other state employees, for that matter, only if they are found guilty of wrongdoing following impartial inquiries. No suspect should be considered guilty without a fair hearing in which his or her right to respond to allegations against him or her is guaranteed—audi alteram partem. Regrettably, the yahapalana politicians are acting as cops, prosecutors, judges, jurors and jailers! They even summon the Attorney General and tear into him for not preferring charges against their political rivals.

Now that two senior civil servants have been sent to jail over the controversial sil redi distribution, Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne, Ramanayake et al must campaign for bringing the racketeers who caused massive losses amounting to billions of rupees to the state and the workers’ superannuation fund through bond scams. They are intelligent enough to know that billions are bigger than millions, aren’t they? If they think they can divert people’s attention away from the biggest ever financial crime in the country by clamouring about Weeratunga in prison hospital, they are mistaken. In politics, Ramanayake tries to be the hero he plays in some third-rate, low-budget flicks, where he destroys the evil with a quick flick of the wrist. He is also a self-appointed campaigner against corruption and runs around like a headless chicken, cursing public servants and insulting judges. But, strangely, he baulks at calling for action against bond racketeers!

Let it be stressed that the bad practice of politicians et al in good health being admitted to prison hospitals or the National Hospital after being remanded or sentenced must be brought to an end. A permanent mechanism needs to be put in place to find out malingerers in prisons. Political pundits full of themselves should not be allowed to take it upon themselves to do so.

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SRI LANKA: Female migrant-worker expresses harassment in Saudi Arabia

September 19th, 2017

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAM

Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Mrs. K A Nilanthi Karunarathna. A resident of Baddegama Police Division, she migrated to Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper on 19 January 2015. Within several months at her employer’s house she started to experience severe harassments and complaints. She requested her family members to bring her back to Sri Lanka. The husband made complaints to the Employment Agency which sent her to Saudi Arabia and the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLEFU). None of these authorities have taken any positive steps to help the victim out of the difficult situation she is facing. The husband requests that Officers of The Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE) set up an impartial, independent, professional investigation into his complaint. They should take all means available to protect Nilanthi’s life by bringing her back to Sri Lanka to reunite with her family.

CASE DETAILS:

The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information regarding Mrs. K A Nilanthi Karunarathna, of No: 13, Pederu Colony, Halpatota, Baddegama in Galle District. Nilanthi was married to Mr. M W Nihal. They have a daughter, M W Roshani Madumali (17) and a son. She and her husband struggled to raise their two children amid enormous financial difficulties. Finally, she decided to migrate to Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper to alleviate their money problems. Due to their socio-economic status, they could not afford to educate their children and build a house at the same time. Her main target in migrating was to assist her husband in building their own house and to assist both children with higher studies. She left Sri Lanka on 19 January 2015.

Several months after Nilanthi’s departure, her husband Nihal received 8 telephone calls from his wife. She was facing enormous difficulties at her employer’s home. She pleaded with him and her two children to get her back to Sri Lanka at any cost.

Nilanthi said that her both hands were highly irritated from the washing detergent. But the employer did not provide any medical treatment for her injuries. She was stopped from using the telephone to prevent her from complaining to her family about her situation. In addition, the employer confiscated her mobile phone which she brought from Sri Lanka. Showing no compassion, the family, when they left the house, locked her in the washroom to prevent her from running away. One of the employer’s relatives was kind towards Nilanthi. If she visited the house, she allowed her to use her phone to contact her family in Sri Lanka and inform them of her current circumstances.

Immediately Nihal registered a complaint with the employment agency in Sri Lanka, which sent Nilathi to Saudi Arabia. He pleaded with them to bring her back to Sri Lanka. The Employment Agency insisted Nihal that had to stay in Saudi Arabia for one year. This is what she consented to and signed a contract for. However, they did confirm that her salary had not been paid for 2 ½ years. After another year went by, Nihal again requested the Employment Agency to honor their promise and bring his wife back as two years had passed. Later they promised to bring her back after the Ramasan Festival. Not surprisingly, they did not implement their promises.

Meanwhile, Nihal made an official complaint with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. His complaint was recorded with reference CD-192-1502 on 9 February 2015. Still no positive action has been taken regarding the case. In early August, Nihal was requested to participate in the court case in Kaduwela Courts in Colombo for the case which SLFEB had filed against the Employment Agency. At this point, the Agency insisted Nihal sign a letter giving consent for his wife to stay in Saudi Arabia. In return, the Employment Agency promised to give him a monetary return. Nihal states that the Employment Agency is violating his rights.

Nihal made three observations: neither the Agency nor the SLFEB took any action to investigate his wife’s harassment in Saudi Arabia: no actions were taken to bring her back to Sri Lanka: no steps were taken to protect her life. He and his children want an independent, efficient investigation into his complaint. Nilanthi’s life must be protected by returning her to Sri Lanka to her family.

Suggested Action:

Please send letters to the Authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case. Request an immediate inquiry into allegations of non-investigation of a complaint by SLBFE officers. All officers involved must be examined by an internal investigation for Criminal Negligence and breach of the Duty of Care. Please appeal to the SLBFE to set up a special investigation into this migrant worker’s case.

To support this case, please click here:

 

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ________,

SRI LANKA: Female migrant-worker expresses harassment in Saudi Arabia

Name of Victims: Mrs. K A Nilanthi Karunarathna, of Pederu Colony, Halpatota, Baddegama in Galle District
2) Two children of the victim, K A Nilanthi Karunarathna and her son
3) M W Nihal, husband of K A Nilanthi Karunarathna

Alleged Perpetrators: Officers of the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau
Employment Agency

Date of incident: 19 January 2015
Place of incident: Saudi Arabia

I have received information regarding the case of Mrs. K A Nilanthi Karunarathna, of No: 13, Pederu Colony, Halpatota, Baddegama in Galle District. Nilanthi was married to Mr. M W Nihal. They have a daughter, M W Roshani Madumali (17) and a son. She and her husband struggled to raise their two children amid enormous financial difficulties. Finally, she decided to migrate to Saudi Arabia as a domestic helper to alleviate their money problems. Due to their socio-economic status, they could not afford to educate their children and build a house at the same time. Her main target in migrating was to assist her husband in building their own house and to assist both children with higher studies. She left Sri Lanka on 19 January 2015.

Several months after Nilanthi’s departure, her husband Nihal received 8 telephone calls from his wife. She was facing enormous difficulties at her employer’s home. She pleaded with him and her two children to get her back to Sri Lanka at any cost.

Nilanthi said that her both hands were highly irritated from the washing detergent. But the employer did not provide any medical treatment for her injuries. She was stopped from using the telephone to prevent her from complaining to her family about her situation. In addition, the employer confiscated her mobile phone which she brought from Sri Lanka. Showing no compassion, the family, when they left the house, locked her in the washroom to prevent her from running away. One of the employer’s relatives was kind towards Nilanthi. If she visited the house, she allowed her to use her phone to contact her family in Sri Lanka and inform them of her current circumstances.

Immediately Nihal registered a complaint with the employment agency in Sri Lanka, which sent Nilathi to Saudi Arabia. He pleaded with them to bring her back to Sri Lanka. The Employment Agency insisted Nihal that had to stay in Saudi Arabia for one year. This is what she consented to and signed a contract for. However, they did confirm that her salary had not been paid for 2 ½ years. After another year went by, Nihal again requested the Employment Agency to honor their promise and bring his wife back as two years had passed. Later they promised to bring her back after the Ramasan Festival. Not surprisingly, they did not implement their promises.

Meanwhile, Nihal made an official complaint with the Sri Lanka Foreign Employment Bureau. His complaint was recorded with reference CD-192-1502 on 9 February 2015. Still no positive action has been taken regarding the case. In early August, Nihal was requested to participate in the court case in Kaduwela Courts in Colombo for the case which SLFEB had filed against the Employment Agency. At this point, the Agency insisted Nihal sign a letter giving consent for his wife to stay in Saudi Arabia. In return, the Employment Agency promised to give him a monetary return. Nihal states that the Employment Agency is violating his rights.

Nihal made three observations: neither the Agency nor the SLFEB took any action to investigate his wife’s harassment in Saudi Arabia: no actions were taken to bring her back to Sri Lanka: no steps were taken to protect her life. He and his children want an independent, efficient investigation into his complaint. Nilanthi’s life must be protected by returning her to Sri Lanka to her family.

I request the intervention of your good offices. Ensure that the Authorities listed below open an immediate investigation into the following allegations: not investigating a complaint: not taking appropriate actions to protect and provide legal safeguards for the victim’s life in Saudi Arabia. All Officers of the Sri Lankan Foreign Employment Bureau (SLBFE) involved should be subject to an internal investigation.

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
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

4. Mr. R. K. Obeyesekere
Chairman
Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment
No: 234
Denzil Kobbekaduwa Mawatha
Koswatta, Battaramulla
Email: info@slbfe.lk

Thank you.

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

2 Comments »

An overlooked blooper

September 19th, 2017

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A few days ago the eastern Indian media took Prime Minister Narendra Modi to task for claiming that Sri Lanka’s national anthem was composed by Bengali Poet Rabindranath Tagore.

On my international visits, I feel proud to say that Tagore composed national anthems of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India,” Prime Minister Modi was quoted as saying in a speech made in Delhi.

His speech was delivered at a ceremony to mark the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago address and the centenary celebrations of Deendayal Upadhyaya, a towering figure in the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the precursor of the BJP. Since both these leaders were Bengalis the PM it appeared had opted to mention the Bengali contribution to India and the world at large and thus must have thought of referring to Tagore.

Though Modi’s gaffe was spotlighted by a section of the Indian media, interestingly enough it failed to create even a ripple in Sri Lanka despite the Indian claim for something as symbolic as the national anthem.

The silence from Sri Lankan quarters could be ascribed to a few factors. Firstly the news did not reach a majority of Sri Lankans because of the fact that it was only reported by the eastern Indian press – mainly the Calcutta-based, The Telegraph. The Mumbai and Delhi press, did not bother to follow it up after it made news despite the fact that the speech was delivered in Delhi.As a result it hardly reached the mainstream media here.

Secondly a few who heard about the blooper would have considered it a bona fide mistake because the Indian Prime Minister was very unlikely to have made the statement had he known that it was factually wrong. Generally he is known for offering his due respect and gratitude to deserving Sri Lankan leaders. For instance the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore’s contemporary Anagarika Dharmapala was observed with much pomp and pageantry by Delhi for his efforts to revive Buddhism in India and the Modi government issued a stamp to honour the Sri Lankan Buddhist leader.

Interestingly it was a bearded Dharmapala who is seen seated right next to Swami Vivekananda in the photos taken at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 where both the leaders made a solid impression. While Swami Vivekananda represented Hinduism at the event, Srimath Dharmapala was a speaker for Theravada Buddhism.

Thirdly even most of those who may have heard of the Indian Premier’s gaffe would have decided against making a fuss about it out of respect for Tagore, given his stupendous influence and contribution to the renaissance of Sinhala culture here. The Sinhala culture be it in dress, music or language has always been traced to Bengal ever since the mass wave of migration from the East Indian coast to the island that begun with the arrival of Prince Vijaya. Genetic studies by both Indian and Sri Lankan scientists have proven that nearly 58% to 60% genes of the Sinhalese are of Bengali origin.

It should be noted that though Ananda Samarakoon entered Tagore’s Visva Bharati University in 1936 he returned to Sri Lanka six months later instead of continuing his studies.

Mr. Samarakoon who was also a notable painter however had visited India on and off even after his return from Visva Bharati. It is said that the first few lines of the national anthem were penned on his return from such a trip, on board his first ever trip by air, inspired by the sight of his Motherland through the clouds. On his return Mr. Samarakoon had completed the song and taught it to students of Mahinda College in Galle where he served as the music teacher. This happened in 1940 and eight years before Sri Lanka’s independence. The song was not meant to be the national anthem so much so that by the time a competition was held to pick the national anthem, after independence, Mr. Samarakoon was reportedly not even in the country. It was his wife who had submitted the song to the selectors.

It would be worthwhile therefore that the record on Sri Lanka’s national anthem is put straight in the best interest of Indo-Sri Lankan relations.

2 Comments »

දිවයින ට ආවේශ වී අති  සොලොමන් ලා  ගේ පුහු චින්තන හොල්මන්- II ගොවියාට අවශ්‍ය ග්ලයිඵොසේට් සහ වකුගඩු රෝගය ගැන මිථ්‍යා මත එපා.

September 19th, 2017

තාක්ෂණික  විද්‍යා ගුරු  බොධි ධනපාල  විසිනි.

ජනාධිපති කාර්යාලයට රිංගාගෙන ඉන්නා ගොවිතැන හෝ පරිසරය හෝ අප ජනයාගේ දුක හෝ නොදන්නා මැක්කන් ගේ  රට  වනසන වැරදි ප්‍රචාරය ගැන මීට ඉහත ලිපියකින්
( https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/09/14/දිවයින-ට-ආවේශ-වී-අති-සොලොම/)
 දක්වීමු. එහිදී “චින්තකයෙක්” ලෙස තමන් විසින් ම නාමාරූඪ කරගත්,  SEMA හෙවත් “වසවිස නැති රටක්‌ ජාතික වැඩසටහන උපායමාර්ගික   ව්‍යසන  කළමනාකරණ ආයතනය”  යන ජාවාරමේ කටයුතු කරන මැක්කෙකු ගේ ලිපියක් ගැන විග්‍රහයක් දුනිමි. නුමුත්, එවැනි මක්කො පමණක් නොව, මහාචර්ය පට්ටම්  ගහගෙන මේ අලුත බිහිවූ සරසවි වලට රිංගාගෙන ඉන්නා, නූගත් සමහර අය ලියන විශ්ම කථා ගැන ද පාඨකයාගේ අවධානය යොමු කල යුතු ය. SEMA සහ පූජ්‍ය රතන සමඟ කිට්ටුවෙන් වැඩකරන මේ අය නලින් ද සිල්වා පුහු “චින්තකයාගේ” මත වලට යටත් වූ කොටසක් ලෙස සැලකිය හැක.  නලින් ද සිල්වා මහතා ගේ තව චක් ගෝලයන් කිහිප දෙනෙක් ගැන ද මේ ලිපියෙන් කියමු.

ඔවුන්ට අත දෙන නවීන ව්ද්‍යාව පිලිබ්ඳ මෙලව හසරක් නොදන්නා සමහර පුවත් කලා වේදීන් ද අපගේ පත්තර වලට අරක් ගෙන සිටී. මෙම ලිපියෙන් මා ඉදිරි පත් කරන්නේ දිවයින පත්තරයේ පල වූ මහා ප්‍රලාපයකට මවිසින් ලියන ලද ලිපියක්ය. මා පමණක් නොව, සුප්‍රකට කෘෂි විද්‍යාඥායෙක් වන  ආචාර්ය පරාක්‍රම වෛද්‍යනාථ ද,  ඇමෙරිකාව, කැනඩාව, යුරෝපය ආදී රටවල ද, ලංකාවෙහි ද සුප්‍රසිධ් විද්වතෙකු වන මහාචාර්‍ය චන්ද්‍ර ධර්මවර්ධන ද, තවත් පිලිගත් ව්ද්‍යාඥයෝ ද  දිවයින පත්තරයට කරුණු ඉදිරි පත් කලෝය. එහෙත්, එම ඉරිදා දිවයිනට අරක් ගෙන ඉන්නා යම් කර්තෘ හොල්මනක් එම ඉහලම පෙලේ  විද්වතුන්ගේ ලිපි ද හලා දමා, නූගතුන්ගේ ලිපි ම පල කරමින් සිටින්නේ ඇයි දැයි විමසිය යුතු ය. එම ආචාර්ය වරු විදේශ කොම්පැනි වල සල්ලි වලට යට වෙච්ච අය යැයි අමූලික බොරු ප්‍රකාශ වලට පවා මෙම හොල්මන් කතුවරයා තම පත්තරයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමට ඉඩ දී ඇත. ඊට පිලිතුරු දීමට ඔවුන්ට කිසි විටක ඉඩ දී නැත.

දිවයින පත්තරෙන් ඉහලින් තබාගෙන ඉන්න, “වස විස නැති රටක්” උපාය මාර්ගික ව්‍යසනය කලමනාකරණ ආයතනයේ (SEMA)  මැක්කන් සමඟ වැඩකරණ,   සබරගමුවේ සරසවි සිසුන්ට වැඩේ දෙන මෙම “මහාචාර්‍යවරයා” ලියා ඇති දේ දෙස බලමු.

සබරගමු ව්ශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ ජී අයි යාපා මහතා “ජාතියේ නාමයෙන් ග්ලයිෆොසේට්‌ මිත්‍යාව
සිංහල පොළවේ නොවපුරන්න” යන මාතෘකාව යටතේ  “ග්ලයිෆොසේට්‌ නයාගේ විෂ නොදකින
ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය කෘෂි විශේෂඥයින්ට පිළිතුරක්‌”  යැයි ලිපි  ඉරිදා දිවයින පත්‍රයෙහි පලකොට ඇත. මෙම සබරගමුවේ කෘෂිකර්ම මහචාර්යා බඩල් ඉරිඟු (සෝගම්) පැලයක් පෙන්නමින් එය “ස්වයං ජාත ගොයම් පැලයක්” යැයි  මුලාවී  කිව්වාලු !

ඔහු ලෝක සෞඛ්ය ආයතයෙහි ලිපියක් සඳහන් කරමින් ඒ
<උකා ගත්…  මුල >
 “වාර්තාව දක්‌වා ඇත්තේ, ග්ලයිෆොසේට්‌ වකුගඩු රෝගයට වන දායකත්වය සියයට සියයක්‌ නිවැරදිව තහවුරු කිරීමට එම දත්ත පමණක්‌ ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවත් එමනිසා පැහැදිලි නිගමනයකට පැමිණීමට නොහැකි බව මිස ”
<උකා ගත්…  අග>
යනාදී මතය ප්‍රකාශ කර්යි. නුමුත් ඔහු එම වාතාව කියවා බලුවානම් එහි කිසි තැනක වකුගඩු රෝගයක් ගැන සඳහන් කොට වත් නොමැති බව දකිනු ඇත.  බඩ ඉඟුරු වත් නොදන්නා ආචාර්‍යා සෞඛ්‍ය වාර්තව ගැන ප්‍රලාප කියන්නට ඉදිරි පත් වීම SEMA   මැක්කන් ගේ අනුසාසනය  නිසා දයි විමසිය යුතු ය.

ලිපියෙහි මාතෘකාවෙන් ද පලවෙන්නේ “ජාතියේ නාමයෙන්”, එනම්  උද්වේගී පදනමකින් පාඨකයාගෙන් ඉල්ලීම් කරන බවයි. මූලාශ්‍ර නොදක්වා ඔහු  ලිපිය ලියා ඇත. සාවද්‍ය මතාන්තර  විද්‍යාත්මක කරුණු ලෙස දැක්වීමට තැත් කර ඇත. එපමණක් නොව, ග්ල්යිඵොසේට් යනු කෘෂි ප්‍රයත්නයට සුදුසු,  ගුණ දායී ද්‍රව්‍යයක් බැව කිවූ දොස්තරවරු, කෘෂි අධ්‍යක්ෂක වරු, මහාචාර්ය වරු ආදීන් දේශ මාමකයන් නොවන බවද යාපා මහතා ඉඟි  කරයි. යාපා මහතා ගේ ලිපියෙහි “විෂ” යන වචනය බහුලව ඇති මුත් එය කුමක් දැයි  ඔහු හෙලි නොකරයි.

“වස විෂ” විභාග කිරීමට් පෙර එම වචන වල විද්‍යාත්මක ව්‍යවහාරය පැහැදිලි කල යුතුය.  සෑම ද්‍රව්‍යයක්ම ප්‍රමාණයකට වඩා අධික ලෙස ශරීර ගත වුවහොත් එය විෂක් වෙයි. සාමාන්‍ය බරක් ඇති කෙනෙක් දිනකට විටැමින් “A” මිලිග්‍රෑම් 0.9ක් ඉක්මවා ගත්තොත් එය විෂක් වේ. නුමුත් ඊට අඩු සුදුසු  ප්‍රමාණයක් දින පතා ගැනීම ශරීරයට ගුණ දායකය. මෙම උපරිම දෛනික ආදාන ප්‍රමාණය (උදෛප්‍රය ) අනුව යම් ද්‍රව්‍යයක් වස-විෂක් ද,  නැත් ද යන්න  තීරණය වේ. සාමාන්‍ය ලුණු (සෝඩියම් ක්ලෝරයිඩ්) වල උදෛප්‍රය  මිලිග්‍රෑම් 2300  හෙයින්, සාමාන්‍ය  පුද්ගලයෙක් දිනකට ශරීර ගත කල යුතු උපරිම ප්‍රමාණය මිලිග්‍රෑම් 2300 කි. ඉන් වැඩියෙන් ලුණු ගත්තොත් මරණය  ලං වෙයි. මෙම උපරිම ප්‍රමාණය සුදුසු දෛනික ප්‍රමාණය (සුදෛප්‍රය ) නොවේ. සාමන්‍ය බරක් (උදා: කිග්‍රෑම් 60ක්) අති අයෙක් සඳහා  සුදෛප්‍රය  ලුණු  මිල්ග්‍රෑම් 1000-1500 පමණ වේ.  සිය දිවි නසාගැණීම් වලට අදාල තීව්‍ර විෂ ප්‍රමාණය (අකියුට් ටොක්සිසිටි අමවුන්ට්, acute toxicity amount) උදෛප්‍රයට බොහෝ අධික හෙයින් එය ගැන මෙහි සාකච්ඡා නොකරමු.

ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය (ලෝසෞසය , WHO) ට සැබ්ඳි  අන්තර්ජාතික පිලිකා පර්යේෂණ ආයතනය (ඉන්ටනැෂනල් ඒජන්සි ෆෝ රිසර්ච් ඉන් කෑන්සර්, IARC )   ග්ල්යිඵෝසේට් දෙවෙනි පංතියේ පිලිකා හේතුකයක් යයි 2014 මාර්තු මස දී  නම් කල විට එය වරද්වා ගත් පුවත් පත් කරුවෝ, සහ “පරිසරය රකිනවා” යැයි කියන එන්ජීඕ ( NGO)  කාරයෝ මහා උද්ඝොෂණයක් කර මහ ජනයා බිය ගන්වා ගති.

 දඩබ්බ ජාතකයෙහි “ඔන්න අහස වැටෙනවා” යැයි  දිව ගිය සතුන්ට බුදු රදුන් දුන් අවවාදය මෙන්, මෙහිදී ලෝසෞසය  (WHO) කිව්වේ කුමක් දැයි විචාරාත්මකව බලමු. මෝටර් රථ දුම් සහ පෙට්‍රෝල්, දුම්කොල, බේකන්, කරාබුනැටි තෙල්, පැඟිරි තෙල්, මත් පැන් වැනි පලවෙනි පන්තියේ  පිලිකා හේතුක සමඟ  නොව දෙවන පන්තියට ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට් දැම්මේ  ඇයි?  අන්තර්ජාතික පිලිකා පර්යේෂණ ආයතනය යම් ද්‍රව්‍යයක් පංති කරන විට එයින් දක්වන්නේ එම ද්‍රව්‍යයෙන් ඇතිවන  සෞඛ්‍ය අවදානම (හේල්ත්  රිස්ක්, Health Risk )නොවේ. එය දක්වන්නේ  එහි රැඳී ඇති සම්පූර්ණ  අනතුර ය (ටෝටල් හැසර්ඩ්, Total  Hazard ).

මහජනයා  වරදවා තේරුම් ගත් දේ පැහැදිලි කිරීමට ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානය (WHO ) සහ ආහාර සහ කෘෂිකර්ම ආයතනය (FAO )  ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට් ගැන 2016 මැයි 16 වැනි දින ප්‍රකාශයක් නිකුත් කලේය.  එය විකිපෙඩියා විශ්ව කෝශයෙහි ද ග්ල්යිඵොසේට් යටතේ දක්වා ඇති හෙයින්  යාපා මහතාට ද  පහසුවෙන් ම  බලාගන්නට හැක. එනම්, ශරීර බර කිලො එකකට ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට්  උදෛප්‍රය  ග්‍රම් දෙකකි.  කිලො 60 ක  ගොවියෙක් දින පතා ග්‍රම් 120 ක්, එනම් සාමන්‍ය ලුණු විෂ වන ප්‍රමාණය මෙන් පස් ගුණයකට වඩ ප්‍රමාණයක් දින පතා ගත හොත් පමණක් එය විෂක් වෙයි! ඔන්න, ඕකට තමයි  යාපා මහත්තයා නයි විෂක් මෙන් සැර විෂක් යැයි කියමින් මුලාවෙන් හඬ නැගුවේ! ඉතින් මහත්තයෝ,  ලුණු ත් තහනම් කරන්නද අර අදින්නේ? ගැරඬියත් නයා වෙලා ද?

නුමුත් විකිපෙඩියා වේ දක්වා ඇත්තට වෙනස් කියවීමක් WHO සහ FAO  බද්ධ  ප්‍රකාශනයෙහි ඇතැයි ගැනීම  නිවැරදිය. අන්තර්ජාලයෙහි තියෙන දේ විචාර ශීලීව, මූලාශ්‍ර සලකා ම අර්ථ කල යුතුය.  WHO-FAO බද්ධ ප්‍රකාශනය අනුව, දියාරු නොකල  (ප්‍රබල) ග්ලයිපොසේට් දිනපතා බොන කිලො හැටක අයෙක්  සඳහ එහි උදෛප්‍රය ය  (maximum daily intake)  මිලිග්‍රෑම් හැටකි.  ඔන්න, ඕකද නයි විෂ කියන්නෙ?

අත්-, පා-,  මුහුනු-  ආවරණ නොමැතිව ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට් දිනපතා  ඉසින ගොවියෙකු ගේ ශරීරය තුලට කෙතරම් ග්ලයිඵොසේට් ඇතුල්වෙයිද? ආචාර්ය අකුඅවෙල්ලා ආදීන් විසින් කල පර්යේෂණ “එන්වයරන්මන්ටල් හෙල්ත් පර්ස්පෙක්ටිව්”  සඟරාවෙහි (2004, 122 කලාපයේ පිටු 321, සහ අනෙක් කලාප ) පලවිය. වෙන අය ද එම ප්‍රතිඵල සනාථ කොට ඇත. ඒ අනුව ගොවියන්ගේ මුත්‍ර වල තුබුනු ග්ලයිඵොසේට් ප්‍රමාණයෙන් පෙනුනේ, ශරීර ගත වන වැඩිම ප්‍රමාණය බිලියනයකින් කොටස් 226කි.  සමාන්‍ය අගය බිලියනයකින් කොටස් 3 කි.  එනම්, කිලෝ 60 ක් වන ගොවියෙකුගේ සිරුරට වැඩිම උනොත්   ග්‍රම් 1/100  විතර ලබේ; නමුත් සාමාන්‍ය වශයෙන් එයින් දහසෙන් පංගුවක් වත් නොලැබේ!

ඉතින්, දිනකට මිලිග්‍රෑම් හැටක් උදෛප්‍රය ලෙස කියා ඇති විට, එයින් 3%  වත් සාමාන්‍ය වශයෙන් ශරීර ගත නොවන හෙයින් මෙය කෙසේ විස වෙයිද?  හෝමියොපැති ක්‍රමය අනුව නම්, ප්‍රමාණය සුලු වූ විට අගුණ දෙයත් ගුණ දෙයක් වේ. නුමුත්, පිලිගත් විද්‍යාව අනුව මෙලෙස  සුලුවෙන් ශරීර ගත වන ද්‍රව්‍ය විෂ නොවේ.

 නුමුත් ග්ලයිඵොසේට් දියාරු නොකොට පාවිච්චියට නොගැනේ. එය දියාරු කොට, ගස් කොල වල ඇලීම දියුණු කිරීමට ටලෝඇමීන් නැමැති එකතුකාරකයකින් (ඇජුවන්ට් )  15% පමණ යොදා “රවුන්ඩප්” යන වෙළඳ නාමයෙන් (ලංකාව ඇර)  සෑම රටකම වාගේ  විකිනේ.  යාපා මහතා කියන අන්දමට
<උකා ගත්  .. මුල >
  “නෙදර්ලන්තය, ප්‍රංශය, බ්‍රසීලය, ජර්මනිය, ආජන්ටිනාව … රටවල තහනම් කිරීමට වහා කටයුතු යොදා ඇත…. යොදමින් පවතී.”  
<උකා ගත් ..  අග >
යම් යම් රටවල දේශපාලන කාරයන් සමහර විට කටින් කිව්වට, “කතාව දෝලාවෙන්, ගමන පයින්” යන ප්‍රතිපත්තිය අනුගමනය කොට ඇත. අන්තර් ජාලය බලා රැවටුනු මහාචාර්ය වරු සබරගමුවේ ඇත
ග්ලයිඵොසේට් කෘෂි කාර්මික ව යොදගැනීම සීමා කිරීමේ  ගැසට් පත්‍රයක් වත්, ප්‍රවුර්ති වාර්තාවක් වත් යාප  මහතාට දැක්වීමට නොහැක්කේ එවැන්නක් නොමැති හෙයින් ය.  පරිසර වීරයන් යැයි කියමින් එය විකුනන එන්ජීඕ (NGO)  කාරයන්ගේ හුදු සාවද්‍ය ප්‍රචාරයක් පමණි. ග්‍රීන්පීස් (GREEN PEACE) කාරයන්ගේ බොරුව හෙලා දකූ නොබෙල් ත්‍යාගී විශේෂඥයන් ගැන අපි පසුව කියමු.

  රවුන්ඩුප්   වල ඇති ටලෝඇමීන් (Tallowamine) විසක් වෙන්නේ කිලෝ 60ක ගොවියෙක්  එයින් ග්‍රෑම් 2 කට  වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් දින පතා ගත්තොත් පමණි. ආචාර්ය අකුඅවෙල්ලා  ආදීන්ගේ පරීක්ෂණ අනුව ගොවියාට දින පතා රවුන්ඩුප් ග්‍රෑම් සියයකින් පන්ගුවක් වත් ලැබෙන්නේ නැත්නම්, එයින් 15% පමණ වන ටැලොඅමීන් සිරුරු ගත වෙන්නේ එයිනුත් සුලු අල්ප මාත්‍රය කි. එහෙයින් ග්ලය්ඵොසේට් වලට ටැලෝඇමීන් යොදා  “රවුන්ඩප්” යන නමින් විකිනීමට ලෝකයේ සැම රටකම ඉඩ ඇත. මහජනයා බියකිරීම්ට රවුන්ඩප් වලට විරුද්ධ  උද්ඝෝෂණ බටහිර ද තිබෙන මුත් කෘෂිකර්මයෙහි පමණක් නොව ඉස්කෝල ගෙවතු, ගොල්ෆ් පිට්ටනි,  ආදී ප්‍රසිද්ධ තැන් වල ද රවුන්ඩුප් පාවිච්චියට අවසර ඇත. නිව්සීලන්තය, මැලේසියාව වැනි රටවල් ලංකාවේ (තහනමට පෙර) හෙක්ටාරයකට පාවිච්චි කල ර්වුන්ඩුප් ප්‍රමාණය මෙන්  30 වාරයක්  පාවිච්චි වූවත් එ රට වල ගොවියන් අතර ගුප්ත රෝග දක්නට නැත. කෘෂිරසායනය අඩු, දුක්පත් රට වල එවැනි ගුප්ත රෝග ඇත. මේ  කෘෂි ද්‍රව්‍ය පාවිච්චිය සහ රෝගීත්ව්ය අතර ඇති ප්‍රති-විරුද්ධ යෝගය ගැන මහාචර්ය චන්ද්‍ර ධර්මවර්ධන මහතා පුවත් පත්  ලිපි වල විස්තර කොට ඇත.

   රවුන්ඩුප්   වල ඇති  ටලෝඇමීන් (Tallowamine) තනිකරව, වැඩියෙන් (උදෛප්‍රයට වැඩි ලෙස ) සිරුරු ගත කලහොත්  පිලිකා ඇති වේ. ආරය නිසාම පිලිකා වලට ගොදුරු වී මියයන හාවන් සහ මීයන් වර්ග ගෙන, උන් ට උදෛප්‍රය මෙන් දෙතුන් සිය ගුණයක් ප්‍රබල, කිසිම අන්දමින් දියාරු නොකරන ලද ටැලොඇමීන් ප්‍රමාණයක් එම හාවන්ට සහ මීයන්ට දී, ඔවුන්ට පිලිකා ඇති වෙන්නේ යැයි කියමින් මාධ්‍ය නිවේදන ප්‍රකාශ කලේ සෙරිලිනි නැමති ප්‍රංශ “මහාචාර්යයෙකි”. එවැන්නන්ගේ “පරීක්ෂණ” වලට මුදල් දුන්නේ ග්‍රීන්පීස් (GREEN PEACE) වැනි එන්ජීඕ කාරයෝ ය. එම  ක්‍රියා හෙලා දකිමින් ග්‍රීන්පීස් කෙරෙහි නොබෙල් ත්‍යාගී  විද්‍යාඥයන් 107 දෙනෙක් වොශින්ටන් පෝස්ට් (ජූලි 4, 2016) පත්තරයට ලිව්වේ එහෙයිනි. සමහර විට යාපා මහතා සෙරිලිනි, ස්ටෙෆනී සෙනෙෆ් (Stephanie Seneff),  වැන්නන්ගේ බොරු “පර්යේෂණ” අසා, එහි සැබෑ තතු නොදැන රවුන්ඩුප් වලින් පිලිකා රෝග,

 “දරුවන් පිළිසිඳ ගැනීමට විශාල බාධා ඇති වීමත්, විකෘති කළල වර්ධනය සහ ගබ්සාවීම් විශාල වශයෙන් වැඩි වීම …. අංශභාගය, පාකින්සන් රෝගය, ආහාර මාර්ගයේ ආබාධ ආදී තවත් රෝග … ග්ලයිෆොසේට්‌ සම්බන්ධ බව තහවුරු වී ඇත”

යි  කියන්නට ඇත. එහෙත් සබරගමු ආචාර්ය  යාපා මහතා තමාගේ  මූලාශ්‍ර වල සැබෑ තතු සොයා බැලිය යුතුය.  දොස්තර මෙර්කෝලා වැනි අන්තර්ජාල “වෙදුන්” ද මෙවැනි දුර්මත පතුරුවන්නේ ඔහුගේ ලිපි  අලෙවි කරගැනීමට මිස ස්ත්‍ය ප්‍රචාරය ට නොවේ.

යාපා මහතා ග්ලයිඵොසේට් සහ ගුප්ත හේතුක වකුගඩු රෝගය (CKDu) ගැන කියන දේ ද සාවද්‍ය ය. ඔහු කියන ලෝක සෞඛ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ  (ඩබ්.එච්.ඕ) ශ්‍රි ලංකා කාර්‍යාලය නොව මුල්  ඩබ්.එච්.ඕ වාර්තාවන්ම ගන්න. එම කිසිවක වකුගඩු රෝගයක් ගැන සඳහන් කොට නොමැත. වකුගඩු රෝගය ගැන ඩබලිව්.එච්.ඕ සහ ලංකා ජාතික විද්‍යා පදනමේ අනුග්‍රහයෙන් කල පරීක්ෂණ (ජයතිලක ආදීන් නමින්) පිලිගත් විද්‍ය සඟරාවක පලවිය. එම් පරීක්ෂණ වලින් ජලයේ ආසෙනික් කැඩ්මියම් නැති බව ඔප්පු විය. නිරෝගින්ගේ සරීර ගතව පමණක් තුබුනු ග්ලයිඵොසේට් ප්‍රමාණයන් බිලියනයකින්  සුලු  කොටසක් පමණකි. අකුඅවෙල්ලා ආදීන් ගේ පරීක්ෂණ වලට මෙය එකඟය. උදෛප්‍රයෙන් අල්ප මාත්‍රයක් වත් නොමැති හෙයින් කිසිම විෂක් නොමැත.

 ග්ලයිපොසේට් වලින් වකුගඩු රෝගය හැදෙන්නේ යයි කිව්වේ ජයසුමන, සනත් ගුණතිලක සහ සේනානායක නැමැති තුන් දෙනෙක් ය. ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයෙහි ඉන්න චීන වෙළෙන්දෙකුගේ කොම්පැනිකින්  මුදල් සැපයීම මිස ශාස්ත්‍රාභිවුර්ධිය නොවන අරමුණකින් ගෙනියන
සඟරාවක “හිතලුවක්’ (hypothesis)  ලෙස ඔවුන් පල කලේ ආසෙනික්, ග්ලයිපොසේට්, සහ හුනු වල පවා තිබෙන කැල්සියම් යන තුන් වර්ගයම එකතු වී අමුතුම “කීලේට්” (Chelate) විෂ වර්ගයක් ඇති වී ශරීර ගත වන බවය. හිතලුවේ තුන් වෙනි කර්තෘ  සේනානායක ආසෙනික් ගැන නාථ දෙවියන් ගෙන් පේන වලින් දැන ගත් බව කියයි! ඇය නලින්ද සිල්වා නමති  පුහු චින්තකයාගේ සගයෙකි.  ජයසුමන මහතා ද  නලින්ද සිල්වා නමති  පුහු චින්තකයාගේ (කැලණි සරසවි ) සිසුවෙකි.

රජරට ජලයෙහි කැල්සියම් ඇති හෙයින් කිවුල් රස වෙයි.  එම වතුරෙහි ආසෙනික් බිලියනයකින් කොටස් කීපයක් වත් නොමැති බව ඔප්පු වී ඇත. ඒ බව ඩබ්ලිව්.එච්.ඕ (WHO) පර්යේෂණ වලින් පමණක නොව, ජපන් විශවවිද්‍යාල කණ්ඩායම් ගේ සහ පේරාදෙනියේ භූවිද්‍යා අංශයෙන් ද ඔප්පු කොට ඇත. ආසෙනික් මතය විකුණන කැලණි සරසවි රසායන අංශයට පවා ආසෙනික් ඇතැයි දැක්වීමට නොහැකි වී තිබේ.  එපමණක් නොව, රජරට ජලයෙහි නිල් පෙඳ, ජපන් ජබර වැනි පැලෑටි ඇති හෙයින් එහි ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට් තිබිය නොහැකිය — තුබුනේ නම් එම නිල් පෙඳ ආදිය මැරී යනු ඇත.

රජරට ජලයෙහි හෝ පොලොවෙහි ආසෙනික් හෝ ග්ල්ය්ඵොසේට් නැත්නම් කොහොමද හිතලුවෙන් කිව්ව “කීලේට්” විෂය ඇතිවෙන්නෙ?  ඇයි කැලණියෙ හෝ රජරට හෝ අනෙක් සරසවියක ඉන්න රසායනඥයන්ට එම කීලේට් ද්‍රව්‍යයෙන් අබ ඇටයක් තරම් වත් හදා පෙන්වන්න බැරි?  ඔවැනි “හිතලු” සහ නාථ දෙවි පේන යොදාගෙන වකුගඩු හටනෙන් මහජන චන්දයටත් එන අය ගැන සැක කල යුතුය.  

පැරණි කෘෂි ක්‍රම වලින් එදා ද ඉතා  සුළු ජනගහණයකට පවා අහර සැපයීමට නොහැකි විය. බුදු බණ අළු විහාරයේ දී ග්‍රන්ථ කලේ අහර නැතිව  සංඝයා පවා මිය යන්නට පටන් ගත් හෙයිනි.  රජ, සඟ, රදළ කොටස් හැර සා දුකින් සිටි ජනයාට තුන් වේලක් ලැබුනේ නවීන කෘෂි ක්‍රමයන් ප්‍රචලිත වූ පසුවය. මේ ගැන සබරගමුවේ ආචර්ය වරයා රජරට ඉතිහාසඥ මහාචාර්ය සිරිවීර මහතාගෙන් අසා ගත යුතු යයි සිතමු.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන් ඉඳ හිට දිවයින පත්තරයෙහි ද හොඳ ලිපි  (http://www.divaina.com/2017/09/03/feature08.html ) ද පල වේ. සැප්තම්බර 3, 2017 සනත්  බණ්ඩාර මහතා  විසින් ලියන ලද ලිපිය එවැන්නකි. එහි බණ්ඩාර මහතා බතලගොඩ පර්යේෂණාගාරයේ එවකට කටයුතු කල බී ජී 300 වැනි දෙ මුහුන් වී ඇට මෙලොවට ඇති කල සහල් පිළිබඳ විශේෂඥ ආචාර්ය එම්. පී.  ධනපාල මහතා හමු වී කරුණු විමසයි. හරිත විප්ලවය බොරුවක් ලෙස පාමින් ලිපි පලකරන දිවයින පත්තරයෙහි ඊට විරුද්ධ, සත්‍ය ප්‍රකාශය මෙහි දී හෙලි වෙන්න්නේ ආචාර්ය එම්. පී. ධනපාල විද්වතාගේ මුඛයෙන් මිස සොලොමන් ලාගේ හෝ  “වසවිස නැති රටක්‌ ජාතික වැඩසටහන උපායමාර්ගික   ව්‍යසන  කළමනාකරණ ආයතනයේ”  (SEMA ගේ)  අනුග්‍රහයෙන් නොවේ.
 
by   Bodhi Dhanapala, Canada.

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සිල් රෙද්දෙන් බෙල්ල කැපීම 

September 19th, 2017

ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න 

මහින්ද  රාජපක්ෂ  සිංහලබෞද්ධ රටේ   පාලකයාවූ සමයේ,,සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්තිය සැමරීම සඳහා උවසු  උවෑ සි යන්ට සිල් රෙදි බෙදා දුනමැනවැය් ජාතියේ මුරදේවතාවන් වන මහා සංඝ රත්නය විසින්  කරන ලද ඉල්ලීම,තම රටේ සංස්කෘතියට  අනුව ගවුරවයෙන් පිළිගත් ඒ පාලකයාතම යුතුකම නොපිරිහෙලා ඉටුකළේය .බෝසත් රජවරු විසින් වසර 2600කට වැඩි කාලයක් තිස්සේ  ජාතියේ මුරදේවතාවන් විසින් කරන ලද මග පෙන්වීම අනුව අපේ පාලකයෝ රටේ වැසියන් වෙනුවෙන් ගොඩ මඩ සරුකරමින්රට බත බුලතින් සරු කළහ .වැවු අමුණු බැඳ අහසෙන් වැටෙන එක ජල බින්දුවක් හෝ ප්‍රයෝජනයට නොගෙන මුහුදට ගලායාම වැළැක්වීමට පි යවර ගත්තේභික්ෂුන් විසින් අනුදැන වදාළ  බෝසත් සිරිතට අනුවය .ඒ රජවරු එපමණකින් නොනැවතී භික්ෂුන් වෙනුවෙන් විහාරාරාම  තනවා පුජාකර සාෂණයේ පැ වත්ම  තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහාගම්බිම් අක්කර සියගණනින් විහාරයට පුජාකළහ ..මහින්ද නම් පාලකයා සිල් රෙදි බෙදා දීම මේ අනුව ”’ලුණු බිකකි ”’ඔහු මීටවඩා විශාල කාර්ය භාරයක් බෞද්ධයින් හා සාෂණය වෙනුවෙන් කල යුතුව තිබුනේය  

                                                     සංඝරත්නයේ ඉල්ලීම මහින්ද විසින් එදා ප්‍රතිෂේප කලේ නම් එයම ඔහු පැරදවීමට ප්‍රමාණවත් වේසංඝරත්නය විසින් ඒ යෝජනාව කලේ”’ තමන් හා සම්බුද්ධ ජයන්තියේත් බොදු උවසු    උවැසි යන අතරත් ඇති සම්බන්ධයත් .ඒඋවසු උවැසියෝ   ශීලයේ පිහිටුවීමෙන් රටේ සතුට සාමය හා දියුණුව උදාවෙන බවත්”’ දන්නා නිසායමහා සංඝරත්නයට එසේ ඉල්ලීම සඳහා පරම යුතුකමක් තිබුනේය .එසේ නොඉල්ලුවේනම් එය සංඝරත්නය වගකීම් පහර හැරීමකි .ඒ ඉල්ලීම මහින්ද නම් පාලකයා විසින් නොපිළිගෙන සිංහල බෞධ්ධරටේ සංස්කෘතියට නිගා කලේ නම් .මහින්ද එළවා දැමීමට එයම ප්‍රමාණවත්ය..     මහසෙන් එළවුවා මෙනි.

                                                        සවුදියේ පාලකයෙක්  හෝ එංගලන්තයේ පාලකයෙක් බෞද්ධයන් සඳහා මෙසේ කලානම් එය ඒ රට වල සංස්කෘතියට විරුද්ධ වීමක් වුවත් සිංහල බෞධ්ධරටේ වසර 2600 ක  සංස් කෘතියට   මේ සිල් රෙදි බෙදා දීමෙන් කැළලක් සිදුවීනැත .වරදක් වී නැත . ඇන්ග්ලිකන් නායකයන් නම්  මෙයට තදින්ම විරුධ්ධවෙනු ඇත .

                           වරදක් වුනායය් යමෙක් කියන්නේ නම් එසේ කිව හැක්කේ මැති ඇමති වරුන්ගේ පින්තුර දැමීම ගැනය් .සංඝරත්නයේ මේ ඉල්ලීම අනුමත කල ඒ සඳහා  දායකවූ මැති ඇමතිවරු තම දායකත්වය පෙන්වීමට එසේ කට යුතු කිරීමද බරපතල වරදක් නොවේ .ඉදින් මේ කටයුත්ත ඉතා සාර්ථකව නිමකළ නිලධාරීන්  ට කොටි ගණන් දඩ ගහන්නට හිරේ විලංගුවේ  දාන්නට කටයුතු සිදුවන විට මහා සංඝ රත්නය ඒ දඩ ගෙවන්නට  මුදල් එකතු කිරීම වරදක්ද .  නොකෙරුවානම් තමය වරද .. සියල්ල සිදුවුයේ රටේ සංස්කෘතියට අනුව සංඝ රත්නයේ ඉල්ලීම පරිදි පාලකයා වැඩ කිරීම නිසාය .පාලකයා මෙයින් ලකුණු දා ගන්නටත් සිතන්නට ඇත . එකත් පින් අතේ වැඩකර අපි පින්  ලබා ගන්නවා වගේ වැඩක් මිස  අනෙකක් නොවේ .

         පිඬු  සිඟා වඩි න භික්ෂුන්ගේපාත්තර වලට ඉඳුල් මස්  සොසේජස් දාන්නට තරම් එජාපයොත් යහපාලකයොත් සරත් ෆොන්සේකාගේ වහල් තිරිසනුන්   කටයුතු කර ඇත්තේ මේ රටේ ඉතිහාසය හෝ සංස් කෘතිය  ගැන උන් අබමල් රේණුවක් වත් නොදන්නා ගල් මුසලයින් නිසාය  උන් හදන්නේ සිල් රෙද්දෙන් ලංකා මාතාවගේ  බෙල්ලම කැපීමටය  

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SRI LANKA FISHING INDUSTRY NEEDS REVOLUTIONARY THINKING ………

September 19th, 2017

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Please see the video clip to see how Maldivian catch Tuna

Our ignorant fishermen go out to sea for 21 days with few ice blocks and bags of salt and return with rotten fish .The fish we eat bought in Supermarkets and  from fish mongers are rotten ,iced fro weeks .We are not blessed to eat good fish .

I am trying to develop concept to build Fish Collector vessels to go out collect the fish from fisherman out at sea for 21 days and bring to shore and give to public

We should stop eating big fish as they are rotten

We should eat small fish caught on the day and it has more calcium

https://mail.google.com/mail/ca/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/15e96dd6af247a6c?projector=1

Government should pay more attention to this industry and make changes

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

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මහා නායක හිමිවරුන්ටත් වංචා කර ගෙනෙන ද්‍රෝහී රණවිරු දඩයම් පනත…සැප්තැම්බර් 21දා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන දේශ ද්‍රෝහී පනතට අත උස්සන දේශ ද්‍රෝහීන් මතක තබා ගනිමු.

September 19th, 2017

-ආචාර්‍ය නාලක ගොඩහේවා-යුතුකම සංවාද කවය

30 අවුරුදු යුද්ධයක් අවසන්කොට රටේ විශාල මහජන ප්‍රසාදයක් දිනා සිටි මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ පරාජය කිරීම සඳහා එදා විපක්ෂයට උදව් දී 2015 දී වත්මන් රජය බලයට ගෙන ඒමට ප්‍රධාන වශයෙන් දායක වූ බාහිර බලවේග 3ක් විය

1. බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමල ඩයස්පෝරාව විසින් මෙහයවනු ලබන ඇමෙරිකාව ප්‍රමුඛ බටහිර රටවල් කිහිපයක්
2. යුද්ධය අවසන් වීම නිසා ආදායම් මාර්ගයක අඩුවූ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන 
3. චීනය හා ලංකාව අතර ගොඩනැගෙමින් තිබුන ව්‍යාපාරික සම්බන්ධතා ගැන උරණ වී සිටි ඉන්දියාව

එදා විපක්ෂයට මුලෝපාමය සහාය ලබා දුන්නේත් මුල්‍යමය ආධාර ලබාදුන්නේත් මේ බලවේග තුනයි. එම සහාය වෙනුවෙන් වන්දි ලෙස බලයට ඒමට බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් සිටි ප්‍රධාන කන්ඩායම් සමඟ පහත දැක්වෙන එකඟතාවන් ඇති කරගන්නා ලද බව බොහෝ දේශපාලන විචාරකයින් විසින් පෙන්වා දී ඇත.

1. යුද්ධය අවසන් කොට ලංකාව සංවර්ධන මාර්ගයට අවතීර්ණ කල මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ හා ඔහුගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයින්ට යලි කිසිදිනක ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය බලය ලබා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වන ලෙස ඔවුන්ව ව්‍යවස්ථාපිතව හා අනෙකුත් ක්‍රමෝපායන් මගින් සීමා කිරීම.

2. දෙමල ඩයස්පෝරාවේ මූලික අවශ්‍යතාව වූ බෙදුම්වාදී අරමුණු ඉටුකරලීම සඳහා පහසුකම් සලසන ආකාරයේ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් රටට හඳුන්වාදීම

3. ලෝකයේ කුරිරුතම ත්‍රස්ථවාදය යුධ ජයග්‍රහණයක් තුලින් අවසන් කිරීම තුලින් මැදපෙරදිග ත්‍රස්ථවාදය පාලනය කිරීමේ ප්‍රයත්නය තුල ඇමෙරිකාව ප්‍රමුඛ බටහිර රටවල නොහැකියාව ලොවට ප්‍රදර්ශනය කල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විශිෂ්ඨ යුධ හමුදාව යුධ අපරාධ චෝදනාවලට පටලා අපකීර්තියට පත්කිරීම.

2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණයෙන් පොදු අපේක්ෂකයා ජයගත් දින සිට නව රජය සිය මූලික අවධානය යොමුකර තිබෙන්නේ මේ පොරොන්දු ඉටුකිරීමටය.

19 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය හරහා පලමු අරමුණ ඉටුකරගත් අතර නුදුරේම ගෙන එන නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව හරහා දෙවන අරමුණ ඉටුවනු ඇත. මේ ලිපිය 3 වන අරමුණ ගැනයි.

2015 ජනවාරි මස රජය වෙනස්වූ වහාම නව විදේශ ඇමතිවරයා ලහි ලහියේ ජීනීවා ගොස් ‘බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥාප්තියට අත්සන් කලේය. කාගේ උවමනාවට කලත් මෙය අනාගතයේ ලංකාවට විශාල හානි ගෙන දෙන පියවරක් විය.

බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥාප්තියට අවමවශයෙන් ඇමෙරිකාව හෝ මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය අත්සන් තබා නැත්තේ තම රටෙහි ආරක්ෂක හමුදාවන්ට ඉන් උදාවිය හැකි තර්ජනයන් නිසාය. ප්‍රඥාප්තියට මෙතෙක් අත්සන් කර ඇති රටවල් 93 නුත් 42 ක්ම තම රටවල් තුල එය මෙතෙක් අනුමත කොට නැති නිසා ඒ අත්සන්හි වලංගු තාවක් නැත. අප අසල්වැසි ඉන්දියාවද මෙම රටවල් 42 ට අයත්වේ. නමුත් ලංකාවේ නව ආන්ඩුවේ විදේශ ඇමතිවරයා මෙයට අත්සන් කලා පමනක් නොව මාස කිහිපයක් තුල වත්මන් රජය විසින් එය අනුමත කොට ලංකාව තුල එහි වලංගුතාවය පිලිගන්න ලදී.

මීලඟ පියවර වූයේ ‘ අතුරුදහන් වූ තැනැත්තන් පිළිබඳ කාර්යාලය පනත’ ලංකාව තුල සම්මත කර ගැනීමයි. මේ අනුව ලංකාවේ රණවිරුවන් දඩයමට අවශ්‍ය සාක්ෂි සම්පාදනය කිසිදු බාධාවකින් තොරව ලංකාව තුලම සිදුකිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසින්ම අනුමත කොට දී ඇත.

තුන් වන පියවර නම් රජය විසින් ඊලඟට සම්මත කර ගන්නට නියමිත ‘බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥාප්තිය සම්බන්ධයෙන්වූ පනතයි’. එම යෝජිත පනතේ මූලික අරමුණ වන්නේ ” බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥාප්තිය” ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුල බලාත්මක කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීමයි. මේ පනතද සම්මත කල විට සමස්ථ ක්‍රියාවලියම සම්පූර්ණය. ඊලඟට තිබෙන්නේ දෙමල ඩයස්පෝරාවේ සිතැඟි පරිදි රණවිරු දඩයම ආරම්බ කිරීමටය. මේ අතරවාරයේ දේශපාලනික වශයෙන් තමුන්ට තරඟ පිටියෙන් ඉවත්කරගන්නට අවශ්‍ය යම් යම් පුද්ගලයන්ද ඉලක්ක කරවීමට වත්මන් පාලකයින්ට අවස්ථාව සැලසේ.

මෙම යෝජිත පනතට අනුව යම් පුද්ගලයෙකු අතුරුදහන් කලායැයි යන සැකය මත පමනක් පදනම් කරගෙන ඕනෑම අයෙක් අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්නට හැකි අතර විදේශ රටකදී චෝදනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් වී නම් එම විදේශ රට තුල දී නඩු ඇසීම සඳහා අදාල පුද්ගලයා අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන ලංකාවෙන් පිටුවහල් කිරීමටත් ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථා සැලසේ. සැකකරු පමනක් නොව ඔහු යම් හමුදාඛන්ඩයක සේවය කල අයෙකු වී නම් ඔහුගේ අණදෙන නිලධාරීන් සියලුදෙනාද මෙම පනත යටතේ අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන නඩු පැවරිය හැක.

බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ පනත ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සම්මත වීමට නියමිතව තිබුනේ පසුගිය අගෝස්තු මස 5 දාය. එය කල් දමන්නට රජයට සිදුවූයේ මහා සංඝයා වහන්සේලා පිරිසකගේ දැඩි උත්සාහය නිසාය.

දැන් බලලා මල්ලෙන් එලියට පැන ඇත. පනත අගෝස්තුවේ සම්මත වේ යැයි බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් කොටි සංවිධාන ආධාර කරුවන් විසින් සකස් කරමින් තිබුනු යුධ අපරාධ නඩුවක් බ්‍රසීලයේදි එහි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති ලෙස ක්‍රියා කරමින් සිටි , හිටපු යුධ හමුදාපති ජගත් ජයසූරියට එරෙහිව දැනටමත් පවරා තිබේ. තවම පනත සම්මත වී නැති නිසා අත් ඩංගුවට පත් නොවී බ්‍රසීලයෙන් පැනගන්නට ජගත් ජයසූරියට හැකි විය. . ජාත්‍යන්තර කොටි ඩයස්පෝරාව හා ලංකාව තුල සිටින ඔවුන්ගේ සගයින් එක්ව සැලසුම් කල පරිදි පනත සම්මත වී තිබුනානම් ජයසූරියට බ්‍රසීලයේදීම වැඩ වරදින්නට ඉඩ තිබුනි. ජයසූරිය බ්‍රසීලයෙන් පැනගත්තත් ඔහුට මින් පසු කිසිදිනක බටහිර රටක විදේශ සංචාරයකට යා නොහැකි වනු ඇත. ඒ ලංකාව ඉහතකී අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥප්තියට දැනටමත් අත්සන් කොට ඇති නිසා අපේ රණවිරුවෙකු විදේශයකදී අත් අඩංගුවට ගෙන නඩු පැවරීමට තවදුරටත් බාධාවක් නැති බැවිනි.

ජගත් ජයසූරියට පමනක් නොව කිසිදු රණවිරුවෙකුට අත තබන්නට තමුන් ඉඩ නොතබන බව වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරය ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ සම්මේලනයෙදී කියනු අසා සිටින විට අපට ඇතිවූයේ ඉමහත් කම්පාවකි. ජනතාව රැවටීම අද කලාවක් වී ඇති අයුරක් මින් පෙනී යයි. රණවිරුවන් ගැන මේ තරම් හැඟීමක් ඇත්නම් ඉහත කී අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥප්තියට අත්සන් කරන්නට විදේශ ඇමතිවරයාට අවසර දුන්නේඇයි. අත්සන් කලා පමනක් නොව එය රජය විසින් පිල්ගත්තා නොවේද ? ඉන් මාස කිහිපයකට පසු තවත් බියකරු පනතක් වන අතුරුදහන් වූවන්ගේ කාර්යාල පනත සම්මත කලේ ඇයි. ඉන් පසු මේ ක්‍රියාදාමයේ අවසාන පියවර වන ‘බලහත්කාරයෙන් අතුරුදහන් කරවීම පිළිබඳ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රඥාප්තිය සම්බන්ධයෙන්වූ පනත’ 21 දා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන්නේ මන්ද ?

මෙම පනත බල පාන්නේ අනාගතයට පමනක් යැයි අගමැතිවරයා පුන පුනා කියනු අපට අසන්නට ලැබේ. අපි ජනතාවගෙන් මෙසේ අසමු. මෙතෙක් මෙතුමන්ලා කි දේ වලින් කීයක් ඇත්තවීද ?

බොරුවෙන් බලය ලබා ගෙන බොරුවෙන් බලය පවත්වාගෙන යන්නන්ගේ බොරුවලට තව දුරටත් රැවටෙන අය තම හිස අතගා බලත්වා ? නොසිතූ දෙයක් හමුවන්නට ඉඩ ඇත.

ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් අප කල ගුණ දත් ජාතියක්ද නැද්ද යන්න ලොවටම හෙලිවන දිනයක් ලෙස සැප්තැම්බර් 21දා ඉතිහාස ගත වනු ඇත

යුතුකම සංවාද කවය

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Issues of SAITM are issues of privatisation

September 19th, 2017

By Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island

The performance record of the current government of Sri Lanka re-establishes a number of principles about politicians promising systemic change. The first of these is the public choice theory of economics that explains political behaviour of all economic actors — politicians, voters and bureaucrats — on the basis of greed. Based on this premise, public choice rules out the potential for major changes in policy outcomes through a change of the identities of the people who hold public office. In this sense, the current government bears living testimony to the public choice theory.

Secondly, in its apparent inaction on several burning national social and economic affairs, the government almost provides a caricature of the type of dysfunctional government portrayed in the much awarded BBC TV sitcom ‘Yes, Minister’ sans the verbal jousts between the main characters that immortalised the show.

The report of the five-member Presidential Committee, appointed to resolve the issues related to the South Asia Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), tends to suggest that the workings at the president’s office are not far removed from the parody of cynical political games portrayed in ‘Yes Minister’: it appears that the SAITM Committee has served the president with exactly the advice he wanted to hear. It can be inferred that in appointing the Committee, the president has acted on advice of the type the irrepressible Ministry Secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby of ‘Yes, Minister’ offered to the Hon Jim Hacker: ‘Minister, two basic rules of government; never look into anything you don’t have to. And never set up an enquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be’.

On the positive side, the brevity of the Committee’s report, of just 11-pages, absolves it of any charges of wasting paper. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only good thing about the report. The report contains only two substantive recommendations for the future: that SAITM be converted into a not-for-profit public-private-partnership (P3) that would collaborate with established educational institutions, and an accreditation and quality assurance body with powers to enforce minimum standards for medical education and training be established.

The two substantive recommendations of the Committee again point to the lack of a robust policy framework — free of ideological baggage — within the government to consider the SAITM issue afresh. The Committee report makes no secret of the fact that it has operated within the framework of the government’s (its UNP component’s at least) total commitment to the out-of-date, neocon trap of privatising higher education including medical education. Embedded within this policy position is the aim of vested interests to make medical education open to anyone who has the ability and willingness to pay for it.

The perplexing solution of a ‘not-for-profit’ P3 offered in the report appears to be nothing more than the means to this end. It does not offer any solutions for the fundamental issues arising from SAITM, within a broad policy framework that takes into consideration the features that makes medical education different from all other forms of education. The government clearly needs to wake up to the universal presumption — in societies relatively free of corruption — that medical education is an inviolable public good that is ethically incompatible with the profit motive.

Firstly, it must be pointed out that the idea of a not-for-profit P3 is a contradiction in terms. Its beyond belief that the self-acclaimed economist who headed the Committee expects that private sector operators would be interested in operating ‘not-for-profit’ medical schools: A P3 venture typically involves a private entity financing a project in return for a promised stream of payments directly from government or indirectly from users. Harsha de Silva would find it easier to locate ‘hens with teeth’ than to find a private sector operator motivated by altruistic intentions of the sort needed!

The recommendation to expedite the establishment of an Independent Quality Assurance and Accreditation Authority (IQAAA) — by 30 November 2017— albeit in consultation with the SLMC — is also a dangerous proposition because the primary objective behind the crafting of the new ‘Authority’ appears to be to relegate the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) from its current care-taker role to a mere advisory role.

The report recommends that evaluation of medical degree programmes for accreditation be conducted ‘jointly’ by the IQAAA ‘and the SLMC’ using the legally empowered minimum standards and in accordance with the provisions of the IQAAA Act. The language of the report that the SLMA ‘shall’ work in collaboration with IQAAA gives the game away, however. It is clearly an imposition upon the SLMC that has stood to defend the current system that has maintained appropriate standards of medical education so far.

The supposed corrective measures as contained in the two substantive recommendations of the Committee will do nothing more than reinforcing the government’s commitment to privatising medical education in Sri Lanka and pushing the SLMC out of the way in order to achieve this target. The sinister targets and the paths chosen to achieve them are based on vested interests and ignorance of the damage such policies are bound to inflict on quality of medical care and patient safety in the country.

Firstly on the government’s apparent determination to privatise medical education, restated in the report by its chief ideologue of neoliberal (neocon) economic agenda. It needs to be recognised at least by the reasonable sections of the mega-cabinet that the purpose of the medical education process is to produce physicians capable of safely providing high-quality medical care to patients. As such, the design and conduct of the educational programmes provided by medical schools and graduate medical education programmes must ensure that new doctors are adequately prepared to face the challenges they will encounter on entry into practice. Current systems, globally, rely on meeting these requirements by imparting a satisfactory level of foundational knowledge through undergraduate training, and in-depth graduate training through residency in a hospital, under supervision.

Sri Lanka, as a low income country with a chronically under-resourced health system typified by chronic shortages of medications, supplies, facilities, and management systems, faces other secondary drivers of the need to strengthen medical education. Experience in India and other less developed countries has shown that private medical schools isolate medical education from the aims of a broader health care’ system, treating medical education as part of a lucrative educational business.

The best way to realise the folly of the government’s approach on the SAITM issue is to look around for relevant experience worldwide. The purpose here is to demonstrate the faults in the government’s commitment to privatising medical education and its devious attempt to ‘beat the SLMC to shape’ in order to achieve this ideology driven by vested interests, with the help of experience in the hotbed of Western medicine, the US and the ‘worst case’ scenario of privatised medical training, India.

An examination of the evolution of the medical education system in the US shows a history of effectively insulating against private sector involvement in this most market-oriented country of the world. Examination of the key features that prompted this particular approach point to vital requirements of effective medical education SAITM currently lacks.

The American ‘medical school’ began as a supplement to the apprenticeship system under a reputable senior practitioner that prevailed during the 17th and 18th centuries. The privilege of being accepted by the ‘preceptor’ had to be repaid by carrying out menial tasks including running errands, washing the bottles and mixing the drugs. The opportunity to gain some clinical experience was afforded only towards the end of the long apprenticeship. The quality of the training varied depending on the capacity and conscientiousness of the master, and keener students went overseas to learn at hospitals of Paris, London or Edinburgh.

The first recorded formal medical education in America began as a course of lectures on anatomy and midwifery —started in 1762 by William Shippen Jr. (1736-1808). Shippen, who had returned with a medical degree from the University of Edinburgh Medical School— after an initial apprenticeship with his father—started a series of lectures on anatomy expressly ‘for the advantage of the young gentlemen now engaged in the study of physic, whose circumstances and connections will not allow going to anatomical schools in Europe for improvement of their knowledge’. He made the lectures open ‘also for the entertainment of any gentlemen who may have the curiosity to understand the anatomy of the Human Frame.’

Shippen, together with John Morgan (1735-1789) —known as the ‘founder of Public Medical Instruction in America’— went on to establish colonial America’s first medical school, attached to the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). John Morgan’s commencement speech ‘A discourse upon the institution of medical schools in America’, delivered at the commencement ceremony of the College of Philadelphia, on 30 May 1765, is still considered highly relevant in terms of setting yardsticks for medical education.

It is significant that the first American medical school was conceived as part of an institution of learning, and connected with a large public hospital. Since that beginning, colleges of medicine have always been ‘branches growing out of living university trunks’. This organic connection guarantees certain standards and ideals medical education could ill afford to forego; The Medical College of Philadelphia offered Bachelor of Medicine and Doctor of Medicine degrees, both involving prescribed coursework followed by an apprenticeship for a year to “some reputable practitioner in Physic” at the Pennsylvania Hospital and a public examination.

The requirement of access to a public hospital is not simply a matter of aesthetics; clinical training component of medical education is vital to the ‘rounding off’ of the young doctor’s preparation; it allows an opportunity to review and systematise knowledge that would only be of theories, through practical experience. That is where theories would be tested under the light of facts relating to the disease and parts affected, with the aid of clinical professors; Such ‘bedside training’ is compulsory for the medical students since books alone can never give adequate knowledge about diseases and the best methods of treating it before the students are sufficiently qualified to prescribe for the sick.

In Sri Lanka, we find the government engaged in a poisonous quarrel with the profession on objections to SAITM granting medical degrees without an affiliation with a reputed university or access to a public hospital, vital for academic credibility and to further clinical training respectively. Any unplanned moves towards allowing more ‘independent’ medical schools of its type would harm medical education and medical practice in unforseen ways.

Even in India where poorly regulated private medical schools have been mushrooming over the last several decades, university affiliated medical education became the norm, since the 1850s with the opening of the first three Indian Universities in Chennai, Calcutta and Mumbai, after the British established the Madras Medical School (1835) and the Portuguese the Goa Medical College (1840).

America also provides the best example of a country taking effective measures to protect its medical education system from being exploited by ‘education merchants’: By the turn of the 20th century, medical education in America had been taken over by profit motivated enterprises, producing a surplus of poorly trained physicians. A majority of the medical schools with low admission standards, poor laboratory facilities, and minimal exposure to clinical material was causing the problem. The situation compelled a group known as the Hopkins Circle (predominantly members of the religious group Philadelphia Quakers) to commission a comprehensive review of the medical education system, resulting in the ‘Flexner Report’ of 1910.

The Flexner report’s decrying of the prevalence of profit motivated medical education led to the implementation of more structured standards and regulations for medical education. A system based on the German model that was already in place at Johns Hopkins Hospital under the influence of the German trained bacteriologist William Welch (known as ‘the Dean of American Medicine’) was adopted. The quality of the student body was assured by limiting admission to students who had a university education prior to medical school. The first two years training was in the basic laboratory sciences before progressing to clinical training at a university hospital under medical professors dedicated to research and teaching. The enactment of state licensing laws to enforce Flexner recommendations sounded the death knell for the profit motivated proprietary medical schools in America, leading to its complete disappearance from the US for decades.

The Committee recommendations of converting SAITM to a P3 project will do nothing to address the complaints of the SLMC and the medical profession in general. It will still be a private institution without affiliation to a reputed university or a public hospital capable of offering enough clinical cases for training of medical students.

Then we come to the other substantive recommendation to establish an IQAAA. Probably, it is a good idea in respect of the so-called ‘international schools’ — found on almost every bazaar along the road from Colombo to Kandy — and for private ‘universities’ to be established in other fields of study. In fact, quality assurance and accreditation became buzzwords of the globalisation merchants eyeing the education sector in developing countries, over two decades ago. The University Grants Commission (UGC) under the previous education administration became an early enthusiastic convert to the processes associated with it, sweetened of course with lucrative World Bank contracts.

The term accreditation means different things to different people: in the US, it refers to a process of review and assessment of quality as a test for accrediting an institution. In the UK, accreditation refers to a Code of Practice by which an institution without its own degree awarding powers is given authority by a university to offer its degrees to students meeting the requirements. Lawyers would be smacking their lips about the prospects the ambiguity of meaning offers to private institutions promising ‘higher education’.

Currently, all medical schools in the United States and Canada must be accredited by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME). The LCME, established in 1972, is sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. It publishes many guides and standards including the Directory of Accredited Medical Education Programs. The LCME in effect, is an expanded SLMC type body with exclusive participation of the medical profession. It currently accredits 134 US schools, including four (4) in Puerto Rico, and 17 in Canada.

The LCME works in collaboration with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), founded in 1981, responsible for accrediting the graduate medical training programs (internships, residencies, and fellowships) for physicians in the US. The board of directors of the ACGME is made of four members each representing the American Board of Medical Specialties, American Hospital Association, American Medical Association, Association of American Medical Colleges, and the Council of Medical Specialty Societies. The most significant feature of the LCME and the ACGME is that they, as bodies governing standards of medical education, are made of medical professional without interference from outside parties, profit motivated or otherwise. In his consideration of the report, the president needs to remove the prism of the UNP’s neocon economic model and take a fresh independent look at the options before him.

As highlighted in a previous item, India as a jurisdiction with ineffective control of privatisation of medical education provides blood-curdling examples of the ill effects of allowing the process; Although the law limits operating private medical schools to not-for-profit bodies, and requires to charge a ‘reasonable’ tuition fee from students, the main source of income in these schools has been reported to be student fees. While course admission into public medical schools is primarily based on academic merit, admission into private institutions is very much on the ability of the student to afford it, limiting medical education to the privileged. Significantly, the Medical Council of India (MCI) is also under attack from the Brookings Institution a key player in Indian domestic policy making these days.

Solutions to SAITM issue need to be sought within the broader framework of the objectives of medical education, recognising the basic truths that effective medical practice involves implementing ‘complex interventions’ requiring competence beyond mere reliance on completing a course of study and passing an exam. Producing competent medical practitioners must include emphasis on competencies beyond medical knowledge and basic clinical skills in order to ensure patient safety.

Overseas experience suggests that enterprises engaged in medical education for profit do not have the commitment to broader health care needs of the country’s population. It’s the domain of the government and it’s the government responsibility to ensure safe and efficacious medical care of the people. Privatisation of the onus of medical education (which essentially is privatisation of health care) is tantamount to the abrogation of the government’sresponsibility.

The cost argument lacks credibility in view of the countless billions of rupees sought and obtained almost on a monthly basis through supplementary estimates for the importation of luxury cars for politicians. The government financing medical education is unlikely to be as costly!

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20-A needs 2/3 majority, approval at referendum-Supreme Court

September 19th, 2017

By Saman Indrajith Courtesy The Island

Speaker Karu Jayasuriya informed Parliament yesterday that the Supreme Court by a majority vote had determined that the 20th Amendment to the Constitution was inconsistent with several Articles in the Constitution and would have to be passed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approved by people at a referendum.

Speaker Jayasuriya said: “I wish to announce to the House that I have received the determination of the Supreme Court in respect of the bill titled ‘Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution’ which has been challenged in the Supreme Court in terms of Article 121(1) of the Constitution.

“The majority of the court has determined that clauses 2, 3 and 4 of the Bill are inconsistent with the Articles 3, 4, 12(1) and 14(1) of the Constitution and under Article 83 the Bill shall become law if the number of votes cast in favour thereof amounts to not less than two-thirds of the whole number of Members (including those not present) approved by the People at a Referendum and a certificate is endorsed thereon by the President in accordance with Article 80.

“I order that the determination of the Supreme Court be printed in the official report of today’s proceedings.”

Joint Opposition MPs thumped their desks welcoming the announcement of Supreme Court decision.

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Sri Lanka general says denied visa to attend UN

September 19th, 2017

Courtesy Mail on line

Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena (L) and then first Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (R) look on during a commemorative ceremony in Colombo on May 19, 2017, marking the eight anniversary of the end of the islands Tamil separatist war

Sri Lanka’s ex-army chief Sarath Fonseka Tuesday said he had been denied a visa to attend the UN general assembly because of unresolved war crime allegations against the military.

The war-time general, who is now minister of regional development, said he was due to travel to New York this week, but he was the only one in the Sri Lankan delegation not issued a visa.

Fonseka said he could not accompany President Maithripala Sirisena who left Colombo on Sunday to address the United Nations General Assembly.

Sri Lanka's President Maithripala Sirisena (L) and then first Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka (R) look on during a commemorative ceremony in Colombo on May 19, 2017, marking the eight anniversary of the end of the islands Tamil separatist war

“I was not given a visa because of the war crimes allegations against the military,” Fonseka told reporters. “That is why I say they must be investigated.”

He said the excesses by a “few” during the final stages of the island’s Tamil separatist war should not tarnish the image of the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The military crushed separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in May 2009 following a no-holds-barred offensive that also triggered allegations against the forces of killing at least 40,000 Tamil civilians.

The government at the time insisted that no civilians were killed by its troops and faced international censure over its dismal human rights record.

Fonseka, who led the military, has maintained that he did not order troops to target civilians, but has acknowledged that there may have been excesses that should be investigated.

The new government, which came to power in January 2015, promised investigations but those are yet to begin.

Earlier this month Fonseka accused his successor Jagath Jayasuriya of committing crimes against Tamil rebel suspects during and after the island’s ethnic war and said he was ready to testify against the former military commander.

A human rights group filed two complaints in Colombia and Brazil against Jayasuriya, who was Sri Lanka’s ambassador to several South American countries until recently.

The group alleged that Jayasuriya oversaw torture camps and was responsible for hundreds of disappearances and extrajudicial killings in the final stages of the conflict when he was a senior officer.

The UN has estimated that at least 100,000 people were killed between 1972 and 2009.

Tiger rebels have been accused of using human shields and killing civilians in their guerrilla war for a separate homeland for the minority ethnic Tamil community in the Sinhala-majority nation.

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Reforms Sri Lanka needs to boost its economy

September 19th, 2017

BY IDAH Z. PSWARAYI-RIDDIHOUGH  Courtesy The World Bank

Many Sri Lankans understand the potential benefits of lowering trade costs and making their country more competitive in the global economy. The majority, however, fear increased competition, the unfair advantage of the private sector from abroad and limited skills and innovation to compete.

Yet, Sri Lanka’s aspirations cannot be realized in the current status quo. 

While changes in trade policies and regulations will undeniably improve the lives of most citizens, I’m mindful that some are likely to lose. However, many potential gainers of the reforms who are currently opposed to them are unaware of their benefits.

Implementing smart reforms means that government funds will be used more effectively for the people, improve access to better healthcare, education, basic infrastructure and provide Sri Lankans with opportunities to get more and better jobs. Let me focus on a few reforms that I believe are critical for the country.  First, Sri Lanka needs to seek growth opportunities and foreign investment beyond its borders.

Joe Qian/World Bank

First, Sri Lanka needs to seek growth opportunities and foreign investment beyond its borders.

Experience shows that no country in the world today has been able to create opportunities for its population entirely within its own geographic boundaries. To succeed in this open environment, Sri Lanka will need to improve its skills base, better understand supply and demand chains as well as produce higher quality goods and services

Experience shows that no country in the world today has been able to create opportunities for its population entirely within its own geographic boundaries. To succeed in this open environment, Sri Lanka will need to improve its skills base, better understand supply and demand chains as well as produce higher quality goods and services.

Sri Lanka attracts less foreign investment than other comparable economies – and only a small proportion of these investments generate diversified exports or jobs. Enhancing the Board of Investment’s capacity to attract and retain foreign investment, creating a one-stop shop that streamlines all foreign investment-related approvals in Sri Lanka, will be key to attracting more businesses.

Second, Sri Lanka needs to improve its trade regime.  

Trade as a proportion of GDP has decreased from 88% in 2000 to 50% in 2016, while the composition of exports has remained stable with a high concentration on garments and raw materials.

The country needs a solid trade policy – a reason why the Government recently approved the National Trade Policy — to provide guidance on how to create the capacity for Sri Lanka to attract foreign investment, access international markets, adopt new technologies, build capacity and enhance trade within and outside the region.

A significant part of this effort will also include improving trade competitiveness by reducing the time and cost required to fulfill regulatory processes to import and export. For this purpose, two key initiatives are the development of a trade information portal and an electronic single window for trade that will bring all aspects of trade onto one easily accessible platform for stakeholders.

It is noteworthy that the trade-related efforts led by Sri Lanka Customs are conducted in consultation with both the Government and the private sector. In fact, many of the Government’s trade and investment-related reforms are being developed in consultation with key stakeholders from the public and private sectors.

The Investment Climate Reforms, launched by the Prime Minister in July 2017, are a great example; the eightfold action plan was developed following in-depth key stakeholder consultations to understand the obstacles business owners and investors face in Sri Lanka.

This engaging and transparent approach is key to the success of the reforms and will contribute to raising Sri Lanka’s Ease of Doing Business ranking from 110 in 2017 to 70 by 2020. Ease of doing business means more and better jobs, higher quality goods and services at lower prices.

I have skimmed through some of the critical reforms but I haven’t touched on how positive outcomes can be achieved.

Follow-up blogs over the next few weeks will offer some insights on how reforms have helped other countries and how Sri Lanka can take advantage of a more competitive economy to create opportunities for its people. So please engage and stay tuned!

This blog originally appeared in the Daily FT on September 18, 2017

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Myanmar Crisis – Parallels with Sri Lanka

September 18th, 2017

Shenali D Waduge

We are not surprised to hear about the crisis in Myanmar. When the US declared its pivot to Asia, we knew that a problem or problems would suddenly erupt in Asian countries. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Myanmar has become a victim. The foot soldiers are the Bengali terrorists & the Guinea pigs are the Rohingyas and collateral damage are the Myanmar Buddhists & Hindus. The scenario is no different to the crisis that erupted in Sri Lanka. Both Rohingyas and LTTE have armed movements and are using bogus historical backing to seek a separate homeland. The West & UN are assisting because Myanmar & Sri Lanka are crucial to their geopolitical and corporate agendas while the destruction of Theravada Buddhism remains an unfulfilled historical objective.

Terrorists are not Freedom fighters

It has become fashionable to promote terrorists as freedom fighters. LTTE armed militants were also projected as representing the Tamil people, the same argument is now being used to justify the Bengali armed militant groups that are firing and attacking while pretending to be innocent Rohingyas. LTTE did the exact same. How and who could determine whether they were civilians or terrorists? The armed Bengali terrorists are plucking out fighters from among the Rohingyas just as LTTE plucked its fighters from the Vanni Tamils. None of the elite high class/caste Colombo Tamils or Tamils living overseas sacrificed their children and none of them stopped a single Tamil child being kidnapped and turned into a child soldier. LTTE created their cadres and child soldiers from these Vanni poor and low caste Tamils. Poverty stricken Rohingyas must be easy bait too. Another common feature is that both entities are international narcotic smugglers and this is one key reason why there are forces that wish to use these armed elements to safeguard the passage for smuggling. Kosovo Liberation Army that the West molly-cuddled were similarly used to smuggle narcotics through Europe! Kosovo independence enabled the setting up of a NATO base and continuity of the smuggling nexus. KLA have many similarities to the LTTE. Kosovars Muslims equalled Tamils and Sinhalese equalled Serbs while the same scenario will apply to Myanmar as well.

NATO treated the KLA as a legitimate representative of the Kosovar Albanians – just as the West is treating LTTE created TNA and soon Myanmar will see the emergence of a political party aligned to Rohingyas whom the West will back.

There have been links to LTTE and Rohingya terrorists too and arrests made in Thailand are evidence.

http://www.ssig.gov.my/blog/2009/06/17/rohingya-with-links-to-ltte-al-qaeda-arrested-in-thailand/

Bogus history & minority discrimination – stepping stone for separatism

Strangely while Rohingya name did not exist until its usage in the 1950s the term Ceylon Tamils emerged only after the 1911 census, prior to that all Tamils were known as Malabar Tamils or Indian Tamils because they found their origins in South India.

Of course Britain has to take the bulk of the blame. It was Britain that transported Muslims from then Bengal to Myanmar to work just as colonial rulers brought in South Indians to then Ceylon as cheap labor. If anyone should be taking descendants of those that were brought from overseas for Britains profit & advantage it should be Britain! Not stopping there, the policies of divide and rule, giving undue and unfair prominence to minorities completely ignoring the rights of the majority is how the colonials created the mentality of minorities believing that they could make any demands and the West would happily entertain them.

Myanmar Government continues to claim Rohingyas have no historical claim to Myanmar or Rakhine state and that they descend from present day Bangladesh and Bengal came under Islamic settlement only after 12th century. The same argument is used regarding Tamil Nadu being the origins of Tamils as the same ethnic group cannot evolve or originate from two separate countries. Moreover, many of the Northern Tamils have Sinhala birth names is evidence that Sinhalese were living very much in the North and would have married Tamils that had arrived from South India. The many Buddhist artifacts, archaeological sites proves beyond reasonable doubt of a Buddhist civilization in North and East Sri Lanka while the colonial records further establishes this. Other than the South Indian invader rule, where is the evidence of a Tamil civilization?

To hide these truths, tragically even in the academia have been roped in to put their names against a bogus history being peddled, obviously for handsome payments. The Rohingyas are now adopting the same tactic and soon we are likely to see plenty of false history emerging and it would be good for Myanmar to have their history properly documented and ensure that it cannot be tampered with even for payments. Unfortunately, there are some in Sri Lanka’s academic circles and intelligentsia who have readily become part of that bogus history writing.

Diaspora support

While Sri Lanka’s LTTE were able to create a powerful diaspora many whom went overseas following the July 83 UNP government sponsored riots and became the contributors to the LTTE kitty while also creating a powerful lobby and pressure groups many registered as humanitarian organizations, charities etc that enjoyed tax-free exemptions. The LTTE international nexus was so powerful that its annual profits were declared USD300m by Janes Intelligence. It was they who provided material support to the LTTE while engaging foreign parliamentarians making use of Tamil ghetto areas to pressurize foreign parliamentarians to speak on behalf of them in exchange for the Tamil votes. Money talks and foreign MPs walk became the sole reason why many a foreign MP stood on top of pro-LTTE stages that had gigantic cutouts of Prabakaran and some even delivered speeches.

The Rohingyas are having links to Al Qaeda & ISIS both of which have the political backing of the West and the manpower & money supplied by Western-satellite states. Therefore, Rohingyas would not require to create any diaspora in the nature of the LTTE Tamil Diaspora but a group of Rohingya refugees will certainly be groomed and be used to carry out a well-planned and well-funded smearing campaign against Myanmar. Already PR agencies and actor training organizations must be preparing the scripts and footage to use against the Myanmar Government. We have seen a plethora of fake news, false pictures circulating already. Soon the documentaries will come out like C4 funded by diaspora and would probably be used every time there is a UN/UNHRC session or some international forum that the Myanmar Government is attending. These are areas that the Myanmar Government should now itself prepare for.

They’ll be plenty of foreigners screaming ‘allow access to aid workers’ authors will jump to write books ‘counting the dead’ or someone might die to come out of the ‘cage’, there will be non-stop figures being quoted as ‘dead’ all without names, dead bodies or even skeletons. These are factors Myanmar Government should immediately address and for every allegation being made ask the envoys direct questions which Sri Lanka’s Government and envoys failed to do even in the best of diplomatic language. Even after a two weekly consultative sessions briefing envoys by the GOSL on the situation in the war front at no time did these envoys raise concerns but after the conflict they bring out a list of complaints of what the GOSL did not do! They’ll be plenty of foreign MPs giving figures of dead in their parliament as if they stood infront and personally counted the dead.

Therefore, our advice to Myanmar is – every time a UN envoy or diplomat makes an allegation – ask them proof and continue to demand the evidence. Do not accept their statements without drilling them for evidence to substantiate their claims. This is a must that the Myanmar government and officials must take serious note of.

Both had plenty of ‘fake’ refugees which is why they soon became known as economic migrants –

https://www.facebook.com/rick.heizman?hc_ref=ARQU2g4MvxcmTHoIv8fNVAABtUwY8psNzyX6kVj5oMtVGtuKaAdBaN9nBzLzdThvHvU

Geopolitical – Corporate – Neocon agenda

Both countries are important players in China’s Belt & Road initiative. While Sri Lanka is geopolitically advantageous for trade and maneuvering from East-West or West-East, Myanmar abounds in natural resources, gas, oil, jade. What the colonialists could not do during colonial rule the neocons are returning to complete! Look at the manner that immediately after regime change in Sri Lanka, the puppet government removed all restrictions for foreigners to purchase land and are opening arms to invite foreign businesses under any conditions they want while privatizing and selling of national assets and strategic areas are taking place completely ignoring public angst and opposition. Every Tom Dick Harry and yankee are allowed to enter Sri Lanka and dictate terms and given red carpet welcomes!

An article by Chris Kanthan further establishes this  https://www.activistpost.com/2017/09/rohingya-genocide-links-corporatism-geopolitics-wahhabism.html

Media Lies

We cannot comment on Myanmar media but Sri Lanka’s media has definitely been anti-Buddhist, anti-national mainly because it is owned by non-Buddhists and families linked to the UNP or Indian-establishment. At no time throughout 30 years did the media ever call LTTE as terrorists and every strike was always reported as ‘alleged’ apart from a handful of writers many have opted to take a stand of simply reporting but not trying to protect the nation or its people from terror using the power of their pen. Immediately after the conflict the media went on a wave of sensationalism going beyond their mandate completely influencing ignorant viewers/readers.

Myanmar government must keep tab on the news (local & international) as the distortions will start piling. We like to make reference to how media SUBSTITUTED the word ‘EVIDENCE’ when the PoE referred to ALLEGATIONS”. A breakdown of this unethical conduct by media is given below. It is more than likely that the same media presently carrying out a tarnishing campaign against Myanmar and in particular the Buddhists will do the same.

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/05/11/sri-lankas-military-victory-over-ltte-terrorists-media-and-hr-groups-purposely-distorted-ban-ki-moons-panel-of-expert-report/

There’ll be plenty of NGOs & Human Rights organizations jumping to get a piece of the cake. Conflicts are always a lucrative business and zero conflicts means no jobs for them, so you know why there will always be some sort of conflict and these peace angels will be shedding plenty of tears crying for the ‘victims’, spending lots of time compiling reports and preparing documentaries, releasing statements, speaking as panelists and if lucky some may even be called ‘comrades’ of the terrorists and land themselves a role of envoy in a UN humanitarian mission! We’ve seen it all happening in Sri Lanka and we will not be in the least surprised if the same recipe is used for Myanmar.  There may be a little variance the Church was heavily involved with the LTTE while it is most likely that Islamic NGOs funded by the West’s satellite Islamic countries will play a bigger role in Myanmar.

The bias and hypocrisy is visible in the manner that despite over 200 UN Resolutions against Israel nothing happens, while nothing is done against all of the US/UK & NATO illegal invasions, regime change, internal interference, covert operations, sponsoring and funding terrorism, while it is also baffling why the Muslim world are up in arms with Myanmar over Rohingyas but complete silence against Saudi bombing of Yemen leading to virtual starvation and malnutrition of its populace.

Targeting Buddhism

We can recall how Buddhist monks were often referred to as terrorists compared to Al Qaeda and ISIS and the many articles written denigrating Buddhists and bashing Buddhism which is nothing to be surprised about as it is all part of the Abrahamic religions to destroy Dharmic faiths in particular a scientifically proven one when the faith & ritual based religions are being regularly questioned by awakened followers. Both Western Christian & Islamic invaders particularly targeted Buddhist sites, artefacts and killed Buddhists and Buddhist monks. History is witness – destruction of the Nalanda library, Buddhists killed in Maldives, all former majority-Buddhist countries either Islamized or Christianized inspite of Buddhism being the only philosophy to have spread throughout the world among so many divergent communities without having to use a single sword or forced conversion.

Take lessons from Sri Lanka’s mistakes

  • Immediately arrest anyone going against Myanmar’s laws and file charges against them without delay. Log the reasons for the arrest and charges officially and issue letter to all foreign embassies informing them that they can see the transparency with which Myanmar is taking action against people who are going against country laws. Sri Lanka’s mistake was not to denazify the LTTE & take action against the LTTE cadres who were arrested, and the TNA the LTTE proxy in Parliament as well as investigate all those who were directly/indirectly supporting the LTTE whether they were local / foreign etc. Therefore, Myanmar must appoint a Commission to look into these terror links immediately & take legal action against them.
  • We will not be surprised if the new UNSG appoints a personal panel to appraise him of the Myanmar situation. Watch out as this is likely to become the foundation for successive UNHRC Resolutions following oral statements by UNHRC head that would aim directly at changing Myanmar’s constitution, internal legal systems, education and subtly target to ruin the Buddhist history and heritage of Myanmar, already attempts by infamous and notorious civil society organizations that have been well-funded to brain-wash minds of people and create a bunch of western worshipping locals is rolled out. That plan has succeeded in Sri Lanka but it is likely to take a lot more homework in Myanmar.
  • We are very happy to see that Myanmar is taking a bolder role in refusing to allow every UN envoy or their puppets to enter, a mistake Sri Lanka continues to make and has resulted in unnecessary interference in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka to the level of even dictating to the government of what they want done or undone. It is something Myanmar should continue to be aware of and not allow to happen. Meddlesome envoys are only carrying out orders aligned to a diabolical agenda.
  • A silver lining comes in both India, China and even Russia realizing that the enemies are now encircling Asia and none of these countries wish to have an unstable Asia amidst the predicted Asia’s Century. For India, though they played a bully to Sri Lanka believing themselves to be superior to Sri Lanka and attempting to give more prominence to Hinduism over Buddhism, in the context of Myanmar and the Islamic involvement, India will now realize that its own turf is now under threat and India are no fools to decide what India’s priorities are. In the case of China rolling out its revived Silk Route (maritime and land) China does not wish to have any Islamic terrorist group causing trouble which invariably would justify the interference or even invasion of Western forces for which they are now nicely preparing the scenario using the same media that happily lied to enable the illegal R2P invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and a host of other countries.

Shenali D Waduge

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The need for a True Sinhala Buddhist Leader to rescue this country from the present mess and protect its 2600 year old Sinhala Buddhist civilization and heritage

September 18th, 2017

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara

18.9.2017

This article is in two parts. Part 1

This country had been the undisputed Motherland of the Sinhala race from 543 BC and the home of Sinhala Buddhist civilization from 307 BC and it had been ruled continuously by 196 Sinhala Buddhist Kings until it was deceitfully conquered by the Colonial British in 1815. No other country in the world can claim such an unbroken and unique tradition. The Buddhist concept of Bahujana hitaya, Bahujana Sukhaya’ was the pivotal underpinning of its statecraft. Throughout the history of the Sinhale Kingdom, except in few rare occasions like the very short spell during the  Kotte period,  the king had always been a Sinhala Buddhist and the King was expected to have the qualities of a Bodhisatva as described in Buddhist literature. Mahavamsa is very explicit on this when it noted in this country the King, People and the Religion have been always one”, Ever since Arahat Mahinda established Buddhism on this Island in 307 BC Buddhist Monks were the guiding catalyst and also the guardian deities of the destiny of this Island nation. The ruler had always ruled the country according to the advice of the Maha Sangha and anyone who violated this age old tradition was removed by consensus reached after deliberations by Mahasangha or by public revolt. As such the role of the Monk in the Sinhala Buddhist society has always remained supreme and unchallenged.

This situation changed completely after 1815 with the deceitful annexation of the Island by British and as a result the Sinhalese not only lost their King and the country but also all their traditions and cultural elements like their language, religion, native administrative system , the dress and everything that are pivotal in the Sinhala culture.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          We are told that we got political independence in 1948. But unfortunately even after 70 long years we still continue to be governed by the remnants of western colonial powers or their local proxies trained and left behind when British left in 1948. It is a tragedy we never had a true patriotic Sinhala Buddhist Head of State in the post-Independent period, though certain signs of national resurgence emerged during the times of SWRD (1956-59), Sirima Bandaranayaka (1960-77 and 65-70)  and Mahinda Rajapaksa once again in (2005-2009) period.

SWRD created history in 1956 by giving birth to the child of freedom struggling to be born for 141 years, after it was conceived with the 1818 rebellion against the British rule   long years after hard midwifery performed by patriotic Buddhist monks and lay leaders among whom Anagarika Dharmapala was the most outstanding. Bandaranayaka gave a new lease of life to a dead nation by initiating a number of measures like making the Sinhala the Official Language after 141 years since 1815 and restoring the socio-cultural and religious values of the masses like restoring the pride of place to Buddhism, Ayurveda, their dress, food, Pirivena education and recognition to socially depressed classes in society. But before Banda completed his mission he was assassinated by the reactionary forces. Sirima his widow successfully engineered the takeoff. But anti-Sinhala and anti-Buddhist reactionary pro-western forces, both within and outside the country again put the socio-cultural revolution initiated by Bandaranayaka on reverse gears.

A minor resurgence of 1956 nationalistic forces was seen in 2005 with Mahinda marginally winning the Presidential elections thanks to Prabhakaran who stopped the UNP vote bank from the North and the East. Thankfully he unlike all his immediate predecessor Presidents did a wonderful job from 2005 to 2009 culminating in the defeat of the ruthless LTTE terrorists on 9th May 2009 and unifying once again a country that was already divided for nearly 30 years, with actually  two governments, one in the South and another, a Tamil terrorist regime in the North and the East. That was undoubtedly a historic victory in the annals of history of this nation that could be compared only with the historic achievements of unifications done by our patriotic Kings lie Dutugemunu and Vijayabahu in the past.

But unfortunately MR could not consolidate the historic win after the war. I cannot say for certain as to why, whether it was due to wrong advice or lack of good counseling, his refusal to take such advice, over estimation of the victory, failure to assess the reality, underestimation of reactionary forces and conspiracies and ramifications of world politics or above all his failure to do the right thing at the right time. Had he abolished the Provincial Councils and scrap the JR/ Rajiv Accord of 1987 taken sufficient precautions to prevent any future minority resurgence and consolidated the status quo of Sinhala Buddhist imprint that was there for the past two 2600 years, he would have gone down in history as the virtual incarnation of  warrior King Dutugemunu.

Once again reactionary forces raised their ugly heads and won on Jan 8th 2015 and MR was ousted by the dormant reactionary anti-Sinhala and anti- Buddhist forces both at home and outside, India playing a major role in this conspiracy. The country at large is the looser. Was it the misfortune of the nation or the ex-President or the failure on his part to do the correct thing at the correct time, only the future historians will be able to say? The ugly stigmas and the historical injustices committed on the Sinhala Buddhists for 450 years of colonial rule by three Christian invaders Portuguese, Dutch and the British starting from1505 are still to be rectified. The influence of colonial remnants still persists up to date.

Whatever it may be, it is now known in all circles that on Jan 8th 2015, once again, we see the dawn of one of the darkest periods in the history of this illustrious nation. I see it like a political, social, economic and cultural Tsunami submerging this Island nation which was emerging from the dusts of a 30 year barbaric terrorist war. Today apart from a total collapse of the entire social system there is absolute anarchy all over the country. The whole nation is fast nose diving like a jet without a pilot.

Whoever comes to power next will need years if not decades to restore the damages and destructions this unpatriotic government has done during the past 2 years. .Recovering from this Augean mess will be even more difficult than defeating the LTTE.

The need for a strong and ultra-patriotic Sinhala Buddhist leader, blessed by the Mahasangha and all the patriotic Sinhala Buddhist people discarding party politics  to rescue the country.

Only the emergence of a strong and ultra-patriotic Sinhala Buddhist leader, blessed by the Mahasangha and all the patriotic Sinhala Buddhist people joining hands under the Lion  flag, discarding stingy and dirty party politics, who will behave and act like a real Sinhala Buddhist leaders of the yore will be able to rescue this nation. He must be a person of the highest stature who strictly follow the principles and values laid down by Dharmasoka, Sirisangabo (who said Iman saraththan pisitan sareeran Dharemi lokassa hitatta meva (this body of mine composed of blood and flesh, I bear for the wellbeing of my subjects only), Dutugemunu (Mage me vyayamaya hudek rajasepa pinisa nove, Sambhuddha sasanyage chirasthithiya sandahamaya) and Prakramabahu the Great.  Certainly it is not that easy to find a human being like that. But, I am more than convinced that if we all try hard with dedication, commitment, patriotism and love for the motherland, religion and our hollowed social values, there is absolutely nothing under the sun that we cannot achieve.

A Sinhala Buddhist leader is a Statesman who rules the country according to the rules of Statecraft as laid down in Buddhist scriptures, namely the Dasarajadhamma (The Tenfold Kingly Principles of Statecraft) and Satara Sangraha Vastu (The Four Virtues of a King; Dana (Alms giving), Priya Vachana (Civility), Arthacharya (beneficence) and Samanathmata.

This new leader of cause has to start anew from scratch completely under a new political culture with a new approach and a new policy. He has to design the new governance in the light of the following background.

The British ruled the Island under Royal Proclamations from 21st Nov 1818 with suppression until fake Independence was granted in 1948 with a Dominion status. This independence was preceded by 133 years during which time they did everything to maximize their exploitation and destroy the physical environment and the native political, administrative, legal, economic, social and cultural fabric of the country beyond redemption. The political system they introduced including the universal franchise (1931),  the party system (1948) and the administrative and legal systems that were introduced to this country completely replaced the native system of people centered Statecraft that flourished in this country with an alien and exploitive colonial system.

The voting and the party systems divided the nation in to rival camps. The most disastrous outcome was the division of the nation on ethnic grounds by the colonial powers as Sinhala and Tamil in to rival ethnic communities in different parts in the Island on a provincial basis and proving all facilities to Tamils to raise them above the Sinhalese to take over governance of the country or in the minimum to nurture a formidable force to suppress the majority Sinhala people. Emergence and proliferation of political parties after 1948 in order to make the political system completely destabilized and destroyed the native political, administrative, legal and social fabric of the country. Although Tamils started their communal political groups and agitations in early 20th century Muslims formed their communal parties only after 1948. Even though earlier they joined the major national parties later they also formed separate communal parties following the footsteps of the Tamils in order to increase their bargaining powers. The rise of the Middle East to prominence seems to have given them new inspirations to do so. Still later minority political parties became mere tools of ethnic and religious agitations sans any economic or any other broader national policies. Meanwhile the Sinhala electorate polarized around the UNP and SLFP till about early 1970s until the JVP emerged as a radical and militant group. This made things even worse by splitting the Sinhala vote further thereby reducing the strength of the Sinhala vote. Today these parties have come to stay not only as their political parties but also their religion and the nation as well. The biggest tragedy is that even the Buddhist monks are divided as UNP, SLFP, JVP, and LSSP.

On the other hand Tamils and Muslims stay united solidly as separate ethnic and religious groups. Muslims vote only for a Muslim while the Tamils maintain the same solidarity when it comes to elections. Sinhala people on the other hand are divided like cobras and mongoose (nai and mugati) on party basis cutting each other’s throat. This disunity among the Sinhala electorate has made it impossible to form a government without the support of the Tamils and the Muslims. The Sinhala politicians have been psychologically to the incurable syndrome of identifying their political party to be one with their religion and nation. This situation has made the minorities the king makers. As a result their bargaining powers have risen to the heavens. Under this scenario the net value of the 75% Sinhala vote and 70% Buddhists have become almost zero. This is the tragedy of the Sinhala nation as well as the Sinhala politician

Today as a result all Sinhala political parties have become virtual victims of ethnic minorities compelling them to go after the Tamil and Muslim votes. Sinhalese will perish like the proverbial fox that followed a goat greedily hoping its dangling testicles will fall soon and finally got fatally kicked and died. All our politicians had been doing this mistake throughout and betrayed the Sinhala Buddhist majority for their personal political gain for the past 70 years. The fact that Sinhalese are divided on these cancerous party lines like UNP, SLFP and now JVP has made the Sinhala people weaker than the minorities even though they comprise 75 % of the total population in the country. The root cause of this disaster lays in the fact these political idiots and morons do not know their own history, religion, the country and traditions and their responsibilities by the country and the people. I wonder whether they know the fact that even today we have 75% Sinhalese and 70% Buddhists in this country. As a result the country is being virtually ruled by the dictates of the minorities. This situation has persisted from the day we got Independence.

That is why all governments are being dictated by the minorities. This is the main reason for the political instability in the country and the downfall of the Sinhala nation. If someone can win at least 60 % of the Sinhala votes, Tamils and Muslims will have to fly a kite, and they want behave arrogantly like today. They will never ask for parity or self-determination and claim separate Kingdoms within this country thereafter. Instead they will learn to live amicably with the majority Sinhalese. The Sinhala nation has fallen to the status of the ‘silly Barber’ to whom even the goat shows its beard as the famous Sinhala saying goes Nivata Karanavemiya dutuvita eluwath revula panava’

To be continued as Part 11

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Bond scams and Perpetual Trustees

September 18th, 2017

P.A.Samaaraweera

The principal share holder and Director of Perpetual Trustees, Mr. Arjuna Aloysius, has decided not to give evidence before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry has also declined to compel him to give evidence because the law allows him to do so. If those who are  accused can remain silent when called upon to provide evidence to Presidential Commissions then there is no purpose of appointing them as it is a waste of time and money. In the past so many commissions had been appointed but their impact had been negligible. Some of them had been merely an eye wash.

From the ‘Bond Scams’, Perpetual Trustees had earned billions. And it had been reported last year, that the CEO of Perpetual Trustees, Mr. Kasun Palisena had been paid Rs 10 million as a bonus, while other employees had also been offered large bonuses. The beginning of the bond scam started with the appointment of Mr. Mahendran, a Singaporean, as the Governor of the Central Bank. His appointment had been made by the Prime Minister Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe. And Arjuna Aloysius of Perpetual Trustees is the son-in-law of Mr. Mahendran. Therefore, the person responsible for the whole episode is Ranil Wickremasinghe.

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Exclusive : මෛත‍්‍රීත් තම පින්තූර දමා සිල් රෙදි බෙදයි..

September 18th, 2017

 lanka C news

පැවති රාජපක්‍ෂ පාලන කාලයේදී බෞද්ධ උපාසක උපාසිකාවක් සදහා සිල් රෙදි බෙදු දුන් වැඩපිලිවෙල අනුව පොළොන්නරුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේදී ඒවා බෙදු දුන්නේ එවක ඇමතිවරයෙක් වූ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාගේ පින්තූර සහිත අසුරයන්හි දවටා බව මාධ්‍ය අමතමින් දේශවිමුක්ති ජනතා පක්ෂයේ සභාපති ගලගම ධම්මරංසි හිමියෝ කියා සිටියහ.

Exclusive : මෛත‍්‍රීත් තම පින්තූර දමා සිල් රෙදි බෙදයි..

එසේකම මහින්ද අමරවීර මහතා සහම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේදී තම පින්තූරය සහිත සිල්රෙදි බෙදාදුන් බවද උන් වහන්සේ කියා සිටියහ.

මෙම සිල්රෙදි බෙදීමේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය සිදු කරනු ලැබුවේ ගිය රජය විසින් ගත් සාමුහික කැබිනට් තීරණයක් අනුව බවත් එම කටයුත්ත වරදක් නම් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන, රාජිත සේනාරත්න ආදී එදා කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ සියල්ලන්ටද විරුද්දව නීතිය ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කල යුතු බව හිමියෝ කියා සිටිති.

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