BY FAIZER  SHAHEID Courtesy Ceylon Today

A new trajectory has been carved leading into the already existing list of war crimes allegations against the Sri Lankan Army that seeks to reroute the investigations to hold Sri Lanka as a whole accountable. The war crimes charges were filed by South America based International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) in Brazil and Columbia against General Jagath Jayasuriya who was the Ambassador of Brazil, Columbia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Suriname.

The charges were filed against Jayasuriya on 29 August, and the Ambassador returned to the country the very next day. Irrespective of Jayasuriya’s involvement in the armed conflict which concluded eight years ago, the former celebrated Army Commander and the present Minister of Regional Development, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, has given an interesting twist to the tale by offering to testify against his former comrade.

Background

Since 2009, Sri Lanka has politically and diplomatically evaded pressure by the international community to investigate and prosecute the alleged war crimes charges against the Sri Lankan Army. Various charges were levelled against Sri Lanka for allegedly violating the rules of war as contained in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and The Hague Conventions.

Although the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) had at first passed Resolution S-11/1 commending the progress of Sri Lanka, other resolutions followed calling for accountability over war crimes allegations. Resolution 19/2, Resolution 22/1 and Resolution 25/1 were passed calling for an investigation into the war crimes allegations, each of which was ignored by the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime.

Following the advent of the new regime, the Government agreed to co-sponsor Resolution 30/1 to conduct credible investigations among a host of other matters contained within. The newly installed Government had played a diplomatic game where it originally conceded to the demands of the UNHRC and then deliberately delayed implementing the mechanisms contained within Resolution 30/1. Eighteen months later, the UNHRC passed Resolution 34/1 recognizing Sri Lanka’s slow but steady progress and permitting a further two years for the country to implement all of the recommendations in Resolution 30/1.

However, in between Resolution 30/1 and Resolution 34/1, various conflicting remarks were made by the Government. There had been extensive debates waged on the topic of a Hybrid Court and holding the war heroes accountable. Many of the remarks came from President Maithripala Sirisena who claimed that no soldier of the Sri Lankan Army will be prosecuted for any of the crimes alleged by the international community.

The Sri Lankan Government was no longer upfront about its resistance to the demands of the international community. There was an element of hypocrisy evident in the approach of the Sri Lankan Government, which resembled the nature of the current crop of politicians in Sri Lanka. It was increasingly obvious that the Government was delaying the implementation of the resolution by buying more and more time.

In that backdrop, the ITJP had realized that Sri Lanka was not going to prosecute any of the war heroes, and sought an alternative route to meet the demands of the international community. Instead of prosecuting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and clan, the ITJP instituted action against General Jagath Jayasuriya for being complicit to war crimes during his tenure as the Commander of the Vanni Forces.

Aftermath of the allegations

Jayasuriya returned to Sri Lanka hurriedly after the case was purported by the ITJP in each of the countriesunder his purview as ambassador for Sri Lanka. The charges against him were filed in Brazil and Columbia, while petitions are yet to be filed in Argentina, Chile and Peru. Only Suriname had downright refused to permit action to be filed against Jayasuriya.

Upon his return to the country, Jayasuriya expressed his dismay at being charged with war crimes stating that he was primarily involved with the rehabilitation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and surrendering combatants. He claimed he was nowhere near the war front. However, Sarath Fonseka claimed to have some incriminating evidence against Jayasuriya and he had no qualms expressing this to the media. He even stated that he was prepared to spill the beans on Jayasuriya. He stated that Jayasuriya had engaged in the commission of crimes during his tenure as the Vanni Commander and he continued with his ways even after.

However, during the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Convention held on 3 September, President Maithripala Sirisena promised that he would strive to protect the nation’s war heroes. Hence he reiterated his promise to the people that he would not abide by the resolution co-sponsored by his Government in Geneva.

Doctrine of Command Responsibility

Sarath Fonseka implied in his statement that Jagath Jayasuriya was a man of many atrocities, and he promised to testify against him in any Court or tribunal. Fonseka also had no qualms stating that the actions of Jayasuriya were isolated and personal and was not representative of the entire Army.

Perhaps Fonseka may have forgotten that Jayasuriya was being charged with command responsibility in the first place, and not for actions of his own volition. Perhaps, Fonseka had forgotten that he was the Commander of the Army during the final stages of the war when the alleged war crimes was said to have occurred.

Command responsibility was instilled through the Geneva Conventions, and in particular, the Geneva Convention of 1929 on the treatment of prisoners of war. Article 26 of the Geneva Convention of 1929 reads: “The Commanders-in-Chief of belligerent armies shall arrange the details for carrying out the preceding articles, as well as for cases not provided for in accordance with the instructions of their respective Governments and in conformity with the general principles of the present Convention.”

Command responsibility, where a superior officer in the armed forces is held not to be absolved from any war crime of a lesser officer, is incriminated under Additional Protocol 1 (Article 87) and the Rome Statute which Sri Lanka has not ratified. However, command responsibility is also recognized in multiple places in the Hague Conventions, to which Sri Lanka is signatory. The Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions are recognized as Customary International Humanitarian Law, however, the protocols are exempt unless the country has ratified.

Rule 153 of the Customary International Humanitarian Law states that: “Commanders and other superiors are criminally responsible for war crimes committed by their subordinates if they knew, or had reason to know, that the subordinates were about to commit or were committing such crimes and did not take all necessary and reasonable measures in their power to prevent their commission, or if such crimes had been committed, to punish the persons responsible.”

This would mean that, should Sarath Fonseka purvey incriminating evidence against Jayasuriya, Fonseka too would have to face the consequences as the Commander of the Army, particularly due to the fact that Jayasuriya was a subordinate at the time.

Why Jayasuriya left Brazil

As a result of command responsibility, Jayasuriya then could be held answerable in the event sufficient evidence is adduced in a Court of Law. However, the sovereignty of Sri Lanka must always be recognized and the rights of its diplomats protected against vested interests. The rights of diplomats are protected under the Vienna Declaration on Diplomatic Relations. Therefore, Jayasuriya was indeed entitled to diplomatic immunity.

The problem lies in an earlier ruling in the case of Ex Parte Pinochet. This is an interesting case surrounding the arrest of a former Head of State, who was accused of enumerated war crimes in Chile.

Augusto Pinochet was a former President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Chile. He arrived in London, England on 10 March 1998 at an extreme old age seeking medical treatment. By then he had relinquished all his positions except for his position as a lifetime Senator. At the time, a Spanish Judge had filed charges against Pinochet for his alleged misdoings during his presidency and issued an INTERPOL arrest warrant calling for his arrest for alleged acts of torture under the Torture Convention.

He was arrested by the British authorities, but a debate ensued as to whether he should be extradited to Spain. Lawyers argued that Pinochet was entitled to diplomatic immunity and was free from the jurisdiction of the British Courts. In a multi-pronged case, it was decided by the House of Lords that Pinochet was not entitled to diplomatic immunity. He died while in remand with over 300 criminal charges filed against him. Courts had stated that if a person was to be arrested over a crime under Jus Cogens (Peremptory norms), under which war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity among others fall under; any court can seek to arrest a person.

Being so, had the Brazilian or Columbian Courts decided that Jagath Jayasuriya should have been arrested for war crimes, they could have had him arrested.

Prosecution in the ICC

Had Jagath Jayasuriya been arrested, it is still unlikely if the ITJP could have guaranteed an arrest, especially considering the fact that no legitimate evidence of war crimes has ever been adduced. If any whatsoever, there’s nothing to prove the involvement of Jayasuriya or the troops under his command.

However, the lack of domestic instruments and mechanisms to deal with the highly complex war crimes may not necessarily be a mandate for the local Courts of Brazil or Columbia. The more apt stage to contest such a case would be the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC has jurisdiction in respect of the offences of Genocide, Crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.

Problem with the ICC is that, although 139 countries have thus far ratified the Rome Statute, Sri Lanka is not one of them. The Court gains automatic jurisdiction only if Sri Lanka was party to the Rome Statute. If the State is not a party, an allegation of war crimes may be levelled against a citizen of the country only if the State agrees through the Registrar by declaration of intention (Article 12 (2) of the Rome Statute). The same issue arose when the international community purported criminal proceedings against the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Nonetheless, non-state parties may become prosecutable before the ICC under certain circumstances. For this to work, it is mandatory that there is no domestic judicial system set-up to prosecute on the same charges.

Although, Article 15 of the Rome Statute permits the Prosecutor to file charges only within the permissible jurisdiction of the court, Article 87 requires non-state parties to also cooperate in investigations on matters. Therefore, if the Prosecutor chooses to prosecute on a certain matter concerning Sri Lanka, the Prosecutor shall have authority subject to the other requirements and procedures. This is also a requirement under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to which Sri Lanka is a party to.

Secondly, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, the Security Council may authorize holding of any ad hoc tribunals in respect of allegations of war crimes. Should the Security Council pass a resolution, it becomes mandatory for a country to abide by it, or face strict enforceable sanctions as it did in the case of Iran and North Korea recently. Furthermore, Article 94 of the UN Charter requires that all member nations abide by the rulings of the International Court of Justice, failing which; the Security Council may decide what recourse is most suited for the situation. In such an instance, it is permitted to recommend a matter to the ICC for prosecution.

The third situation is where any person accused of war crimes allegations is arrested for the charged offences in a country which is a party to the Rome Statute. This was derived from the ruling in the case of Ex Parte Pinochet where Chile, United Kingdom and Spain were all parties to the Rome Statute. In the case of Jagath Jayasuriya, both Brazil and Columbia are parties to the Rome Statute and should he be arrested in the countries, it is possible to prosecute him for war crimes before the ICC.

Conclusion

It is evident that there are ways and means of arresting Jagath Jayasuriya on allegations of war crimes, but allegations may be filed against any and all persons who had played a major role in the war. This includes former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, incumbent President Maithripala Sirisena, former Army Commander Sarath Fonseka and former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa among others.

Sarath Fonseka, in defying all others in Government and otherwise, holds a grudge against Jagath Jayasuriya for being an ally of Mahinda Rajapaksa during his years in prison. Being so, Fonseka has expressed his willingness to give out evidence. However, he fails to realize that, when he gives out evidence against Jayasuriya, he shall have to absorb the brunt of it purely for his command responsibility.

Perhaps Sarath Fonseka is blinded by his grudge against his enemies during the former regime and does not realize the actual aim of the ITJP. Or perhaps, Sarath Fonseka is willing to lay his life to further humiliate his former comrades and compatriots while holding the Army and country at ransom. In any case, Fonseka may need to realize before making any further moves that, the aim of the ITJP is to utilize Jayasuriya as a pawn to initiate an investigation and later expand it to cover other top officials who played a role in the war.

(The writer is a law tutor and an independent researcher of laws. He holds a postgraduate degree in the field of human rights and democratization from the University of Colombo and an undergraduate degree in Law from the University of Northumbria, United Kingdom)

Editorial Courtesy The Island

September 6, 2017, 10:11 pm

A movement named Eliya [light] was launched, yesterday, with former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as its leader. Its goal is to torpedo the yahapalana government’s efforts to introduce a new Constitution, we are told. With only a couple of more years to go for the next presidential election, yesterday’s event has come to be widely seen as the launch of the Joint Opposition’s campaign for that crucial electoral contest. It looks as though Gotabhaya had thrown his hat into the ring.

The question is why a mass movement has sought to flog a single issue—scuttling the government’s new constitution project—whereas the country is beset with a plethora of problems. Perhaps, the brains behind Eliya have singled out the aforesaid issue as a rallying cry with a view to broadening the focus of their political project gradually? But, if they fail to do so their movement is bound to end up being a mere pressure group with a limited lifespan.

Interestingly, the launch of Eliya coincided with some damning revelations before the presidential commission of inquiry probing the Treasury bond scams. Confidential telephone conversations among Perpetual Treasuries bigwigs, who are under a cloud, were disclosed yesterday. Now, it is clear that there is an open-and-shut case of insider trading, a criminal offence. Why nobody has been arrested so far is the question. All those who tried to make light of the bond scams and even went so far as to defend the racketeers openly in Parliament and elsewhere stand exposed. It wouldn’t have been possible for anyone to carry out two bond rackets of such a magnitude without political backing. Evidence that has emerged before the bond probe commission has the potential to ruin the UNP’s chances of winning the next few elections even if no action is taken on the the commissioners’ report to be submitted.

The Joint Opposition (JO), the real driving force behind Eliya, has sought to soft-pedal the bond scams, an issue it is duty bound to take up in the national interest. The JO leaders are apparently wary of exploiting it because they don’t want to provoke the UNP into ratcheting up its hostile campaign against them and their kith and kin. They and their political enemies responsible for the bond scams are behaving like Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un; both are threatening fire and fury but their bark is worse than their bite! Besides, the JO worthies don’t want to weaken the UNP, and thereby, help strengthen the position of its bete noire, President Maithripala Sirisena in the government. Will Eliya also choose to ignore the biggest ever financial fraud in the country and other such mega issues?

On several occasions, we have seen the light (eliya) at the end of the dark tunnel of Sri Lankan politics and each time we leapt for joy, but it turned out to be the headlight of a moving train. Experience has made us cynics who are sceptical about lights and dawns.

The leaders promising us ‘light’ are in the Opposition at present because they did not care a damn for the people while they were ensconced in power. They were busy feathering their nests without heeding the issues the media shone the spotlight on. They have suddenly become pro-people and so caring thanks to the sobering blows they received from the irate public at the last two elections. You get good politicians only in the Opposition. Vote them into power and they lose their heads in next to no time. It may be recalled that the yahapalana leaders came to power, promising to grant economic relief to the public among other things. Today, they are busy trying to implement a set of draconian tax reforms which will enable them to wring some more money out of the hapless public. This is why people must ensure that all politicians in power get electoral shocks so as to keep them reminded that they won’t go unpunished for their sins against the citizenry.

The success of any mass movement hinges on the ability of those at its helm to convince the public that their intentions are genuine. Whether Eliya will be able to live up to people’s expectations, grow and shine remains to be seen.

by Maheesha Mudugamuwa Courtesy The Island

Alleging that proposed new Constitution would give separatists what they had failed to achieve through terrorism, wartime Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said, vowing to defeat the project.

The proposed constitutional reforms were meant to appease the LTTE rump, pro-LTTE Diaspora and a section of foreign powers, Rajapaksa said, lambasting the ruling UNP-SLFP government for seeking to divide post-war Sri Lanka on ethnic lines.

Rajapaksa said so at the launching of ‘Eliya-Illuminating Aspirations’ at the Golden Rose, Borelesgamuwa. The Gajaba Regiment veteran urged the public to resist the government project to appease the separatist lobby.

Rajapaksa was the keynote speaker on the topic of ‘Out of the Darkness-the crisis of constitutional change.’

The event attracted a large number of professionals, including artistes, doctors, engineers, lawyers, politicians and members of the general public.

Rajapaksa addressing gathering at Eliya launch
pic by Saman Ranaweera

Among those present were former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former speaker Chamal Rajapaksa, former Cabinet ministers, including Basil Rajapaksa, Wimal Weerawansa, Dullas Alahapperuma, Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Bandula Gunawardena, leader of Joint Opposition Dinesh Gunawardene, Janaka Bandara Tennakoon, Gamini Lokuge, Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, former Chief Justice Sarath N Silva, former Governor of Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Manohara De Silva PC, Tamara Kunanayagam, Dr. Dayan Jayatilleke and Maj Gen (retd) Kamal Gunaratne.

The former Defence Secretary said the ‘Eliya’ wouldn’t allow the government to betray the country under any circumstances.

Explaining the movement’s objective, Rajapaksa stressed the importance of guiding the people against the ongoing moves to introduce a new Constitution at the expense of the unitary status of the country.

The former Defence Secretary said that they couldn’t remain silent while an attempt was being made to divide the country through constitutional means. Rajapaksa said that the proposed Constitution had the backing of those countries which had made desperate attempts to save the LTTE during the final phase of the Vanni offensive.

Eliya would oppose the ‘fraudulent’ new Constitution, with might and main, he said, adding that the country had to safeguard what it had achieved from the defeat of terrorism. The armed forces had made tremendous sacrifices to neutralise the LTTE militarily and any effort to undermine the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity must be resisted at any cost, Rajapaksa said.

ශ්‍යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත, සරත් ධර්මසේන උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

එක්‌සත් ජාතික පක්‌ෂ හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රිනී රෝසි සේනානායක මහත්මියගේ පුත් කණිෂ්ක සේනානායක මහතා ගෙන් පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරි කසුන් පලිසේන මහතා 07 වන පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කෝප් කමිටුවට දුන් ප්‍රකාශයේ සම්පූර්ණ පිටපතක්‌ අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතාට ලැබී තිබුණු බව ඊයේ (06 දා) බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමේදී වාදනය කරන ලද දුරකථන සංවාදයකට සවන්දීමෙන් පසු අසන ලද ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන අලෙවිකරු නුවන් තිළිණ සල්ගාදු මහතා කීවේය.

අර්ජුන් ඇලෝසියස්‌ සහ කණිෂ්ක සේනානායක මිත්‍රයන් බව තමා සිතන බවද සල්ගාදු මහතා කීවේය.

ශ්‍යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත, සරත් ධර්මසේන උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

ජනාධිපති බැඳුම්කර කොමිසම හමුවේ සාක්‌ෂි දෙමින් පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගමට සහ එහි නිලධාරීන්ට අදාළ තොරතුරු රැසක්‌ හෙළි කළ එම සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන ගනුදෙනුකරු නුවන් තිළිණ සල්ගාදු මහතාට සහ ඒ මහතාගේ පවුලේ සාමාජිකයන්ට ආරක්‌ෂාව ලබාදෙන ලෙස බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමේ සභාපති ශේ්‍රෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු කේ. ටී. චිත්‍රසිරි මහතා ඊයේ (06 දා) නියෝග කළේය.

තිළිණ සල්ගාදු මහතාට ආරක්‌ෂාව ලබාදෙන ලෙස නියම කරන්නැයි අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් යසන්ත කෝදාගොඩ මහතා කොමිසමෙන් කරන ලද ඉල්ලීමට අනුව කොමිසම එම නියෝගය නිකුත් කළේය.

ශ්‍යාම් නුවන් ගනේවත්ත, සරත් ධර්මසේන උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගමට පෙර නොවිරූ අසාමාන්‍ය අධික ලාභ උපයා ගැනීමට හැකි වූයේ එම සමාගමේ හිමිකරු වන අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතාට ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවෙන් ලැබුණු අභ්‍යන්තර තොරතුරු (Inside Information) සහ මිල සංවේදී රහසිගත තොරතුරු (Price Sensitive Confidential Information) නිසා බව ඊයේ (06 දා) ජනාධිපති බැඳුම්කර කොමිසමේදී පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන අලෙවිකරු නුවන් තිළිණ සල්ගාදු මහතා පිළිගත්තේය.

2015 වර්ෂයේ සිට 2016 වර්ෂය දක්‌වා පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගම රු. බිලියන 11 ක (රු. කෝටි 1100 ක) පමණ අති විශාල අසාමාන්‍ය ලාභයක්‌ උපයාගෙන තිබුණු බවත් එම ලාභ උපයා ගැනීමට සමාගමට හැකි වූයේ අර්ජුන ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා විසින් ලබාදෙන ලද එම මිල සංවේදී රහසිගත තොරතුරු සමාගමේ බැඳුම්කර ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ තීරණ ගැනීම සඳහා යොදාගත් නිසා බවත් සල්ගාදු මහතා කොමිසම හමුවේ පිළිගත්තේය.

අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා භාණ්‌ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර වෙන්දේසියේදී මහ බැංකුව විසින් ලංසු පිළිගන්නා මට්‌ටම පිළිබඳව අන්තිම දශමය දක්‌වාම දැන සිටි බවත් එය ඔහු මහ බැංකුවෙන් දැනගත් බවත් කොමිසමේ සාමාජික ශේ්‍රෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු ප්‍රසන්න එස්‌. ජයවර්ධන මහතා විසින් අසන ලද ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් සල්ගාදු මහතා කීවේය.

එසේ ලංසු පිළිගන්නා මට්‌ටම පිළිබඳ අවසාන තීරණය ගන්නේ මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා විසින් පමණක්‌ බව ද විනිසුරු ජයවර්ධන ඇසූ තවත් ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් හෙතෙම කීවේය.

මේ අවස්‌ථාවේ මහ බැංකු අධිපතිවරයා වූයේ අර්ජුන ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතාගේ මාමා වන අර්ජුන මහේන්ද්‍රන් මහතා බව ද සාක්‌ෂිකරු කීවේය.

එසේම 2016.03.29 දින සේවක අර්ථ සාධක අරමුදල විසින් ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කරන ආකාරය අවසාන රුපියලටම අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා දැන සිටි බව ද සල්ගාදු මහතා කොමිසමේ සාමාජික ශේ්‍රෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු ප්‍රසන්න එස්‌. ජයවර්ධන මහතා ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් කීවේය.

ඔහුට තොරතුරු ලබාදෙන අය එම ස්‌ථානවල සිටි බව ද සල්ගාදු මහතා පැවසූ අතර, ඒ ඉන්දික සමන් කුමාර නේදැයි විනිසුරු ජයවර්ධන ඇසූ ප්‍රශ්නයට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් එය සත්‍යයක්‌ බව ද සල්ගාදු මහතා කීවේය.

එසේම ජාතික ඉතිරි කිරීමේ බැංකුව ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලංසු පිළිබඳ විස්‌තර නවීන් අනුරාධ විසින් ලබාදුන් බව ද සල්ගාදු මහතා පිළිගත්තේය.

ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා විසින් තමා ලද මිල සංවේදී රහසිගත තොරතුරු සමාගමේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරි කසුන් පලිසේන මහතාට ලබාදී පර්පෙචුවල් ට්‍රෙෂරීස්‌ සමාගම ඒ අනුව භාණ්‌ඩාගාර බැඳුම්කර වෙන්දේසි වලදී ලංසු ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට එම අභ්‍යන්තර තොරතුරු සහ මිල සංවේදී තොරතුරු යොදාගත් බවට ද ඊයේ කොමිසම හමුවේ අසන ලද ප්‍රශ්න වලට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් නුවන් සල්ගාදු මහතා පිළිගත්තේය.

දුරකථනයෙන් එවැනි තොරතුරු ලබාදෙන අවස්‌ථාවක තමා අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා සමඟ සිංගප්පූරුවේ සිටි බවත් එය නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාවක්‌ බව හැඟී ගිය නිසා තමා ඒ අවස්‌ථාවේදී අදාළ කාමරයෙන් පිටතට පැමිණි බවත් සල්ගාදු මහතා කීවේය.

කසුන් පලිසේන මහතා සහ අර්ජුන් ඇලෝෂියස්‌ මහතා අතර සිදු වූ පටිගත කළ දුරකථන සංවාදයක්‌ ඊයේ (06 දා) කොමිසම හමුවේදී වාදනය කර අතිරේක සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ යසන්ත කෝදාගොඩ මහතා ඒ පිළිබඳව අසන ලද ප්‍රශ්න වලට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් සල්ගාදු මහතා මේ බව ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

by Shyam Nuwan Ganewatte Courtesy The Island

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry, probing alleged bond scams, resumed sittings yesterday, with Chief Dealer of Perpetual Treasuries (PTL), Nuwan Thilina Salgado, testifying. He said the company had been able to make unprecedentedly huge profits because of inside information and price sensitive confidential information PTL Chairman Arjun Aloysius had received from the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Salgado told the commission that from 2015 to 2016, the company had recorded an unusually high profit of Rs. 11 billion and the price sensitive confidential information provided by Mahendran had helped them take right decisions in placing bids for Treasury bonds.

In answer to a question by commission member Justice Prasanna Jayawardena, Salgado said Arjun Aloysius knew the interest rates at which the Central Bank accepted bids for Treasury bonds.

The final decision on bids were taken by the Central Bank Governor.

The witness said the then Central Bank Governor Arjuna Mahendran was the father-in -law of PTL Chairman Arjun Aloysius.

Answering further questions by Justice Jayawardena, Salgado said that Aloysius had information about the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) would make bids on March 29, 2016.

Salgado said that Aloysius’ informers were within the establishments from where he received information.

When Justice Jayawardena asked whether it was true that Saman Kumara was among them, Salgado answered in the affirmative.

He said the information about the bids, placed by National Savings Bank, had been provided by Navin Anuradha.

Salgado admitted that Arjun Aloysius had made use of the price sensitive confidential, inside information by passing it on to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Kasun Palisena so as to make the bids in a manner favourable to Perpetual Treasuries.

The Chief Dealer of PTL also said that on one occasion when such information was received by Aloysius, in Singapore, he had been present, but he had left the room as it was an illegal practice.

He said so when Additional Solicitor General Yasantha Kodagoda played the recording of a telephone conversation between Kasun Palisena and Arjun Aloysius before the Commission and raised a question.

Commission Chairman Justice K.T. Chitrasiri, said former Central Bank Governor, Arjuna Mahendran, and his son-in-law Aloysius, Chairman Perpetual Treasuries, would be summoned before the Commission during the coming week.

Kodagoda said that though the Commission officers had visited Aloysius’ residence to hand over the summons, they had been unable to meet him.

He told the commission that even Aloysius’ Private Secretary didn’t know where his boss resided.

Additional Solicitor General Kodagoda said Aloysius had two passports and requested the Commission to order Aloysius’ lawyer to submit their numbers to the Commission quickly.

Additional Solicitor General: No one knows the whereabouts of Arjun Aloysius and he has not informed anyone where he was going.

At this point, Aloysius’ lawyer Anuja Premaratne told the Commission that his client had not gone into hiding.

Premaratne said his client was ready to appear before the commission on any date and he would inform his client that the commission was looking for him to hand over the summons.

Additional Solicitor General: The issue is that Aloysius has not informed anyone of his whereabouts.

Premaratne: There are many who disappear without leaving a trace. It is no surprise.

Commission Chairman Justice Chitrasiri said the Commission’s objective as well as responsibility was to inquire into how the bond auctions had taken place and complete its task and if it could be done the commission members would be very happy about it.

Justice Chitrasiri said the commission had to summon more witnesses than expected as it had to ascertain the veracity of evidence some witnesses had given.

Sarath Wijesinghe

Bribery is omnipresent with a long history starting from the time immemorial and spreading fast at all levels of the community.

It is cancerous, and exists all with no borders and barriers. Efforts made by the State, religious leaders, and social workers to arrest or complete eradication of this menace has miserably failed due to excessive greed.

Corruption erodes trust in Governments, businesses and markets. Bribery is an offence punishable under the Penal Code as far back as 1882. In 1994 Act No 19 was created to combat bribery and corruption. The preamble of the Bribery Act states that it is an establishment to investigate allegations of bribery or corruption and direct institutions for precautions for offences under the bribery act and the declaration of Assets and Liabilities Law No 01 of 1975and the matters connected or incidental.

Chapter 36 provides the definition as an act to provide for the prevention and punishment of bribery and to make consequential provisions relating to the operation of other written law.

Commission to investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption will be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Constitutional Council by (Article 41) out of the nominees submitted by the Constitutional Council.”

The Commission is given enormous powers to combat Bribery and Corruption in the entire country with a strong support of professional and technically qualified staff with branches.

• Bribery is omnipresent with a long history starting from time immemorial and spreading fast at all levels of the community.   
• Corruption erodes trust in Governments, businesses and markets.  
• Citizens had high hopes on the learned, and pleasant new Bribery Commissioner who has still not appeared to have started his job in sweeping the dirt.   
• Is it incompetency or lack of interest of the Government on eradication process is in the minds of the citizen sandwiched between the State corrupt officials and incompetence of the Government?  
• If the system is not effective short and long effective genuine methods are to be adopted and implemented to curb it. 

Surprisingly, so far, only 822 complaints and 639 anonymous calls have been received in 2017, incurring an expenditure of Rs. 1, 515,200,392 (Rs. 1.5 bn) as expenditure for the fiscal year, which indicates the loss of interest or loss of trust in the system on using the institution created to combat corruption.

It is in the mandate of the Commission to educate the citizen on their rights and duties jointly combating this menace which has drastic effects on the life if the citizen and the economy of the country.

Part 2 of the Act deals with such offences and could be considered as the most relevant in today’s context  to deal with contractors and others offering any gratification as an inducement, solicits or accepts bribe at any given moment at any given place in the country.

Institutionalized Crime and Corrupt Institutions

President Maithripala Sirisena has strongly echoed in the Sinhala daily paper Ada” on 31.08.2017 that  Bribery, corruption, wastage and inefficiency were in their highest ebb and  has become a sickness in society and that it needs a concerted effort of all parties.”

Presumably headed by the Bribery Commission, which he carefully picked up to lead, to arrest and eradicate bribery and corruption. President in his official capacity as President during his tenure and also as the powerful Health, and Agriculture Minister in the last regime has tirelessly fought against corruption, bribery, nepotism and misuse of national wealth.

Lacille de Silva the able and honest Secretary of the PRECIFAC and Dilrukshi Wickramasinghe DG/BC, who started the cleaning process with lot of energy and funfair with long marches were compelled to exit with disappointments to themselves and the country raises eyebrows of the concerned citizens ready to help the campaign on the eradication of this menace.

Citizens had high hopes on the learned, and pleasant new Bribery Commissioner, who has still not appeared to have started his job in sweeping the dirt.

Is it incompetency or lack of interest of the Government on eradication process is in the minds of the citizen sandwiched between the State corrupt officials and incompetence of the Government?

This reminds us of the Quotation by Wangars Mathis” a Kenyan Activist when you have bad governance the resources are destroyed- there is illegal logging, and soil erosion. I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how there’s issues became linked to governance corruption and dictatorship” . Churchill said what worries him in inaction and not action in the right direction.

Police, Court Administration, Customs, Port, Electricity/Energy, Water, Motor Traffic, Immigration, and the highest echelons of the legislature are among the most corrupt institutions the Bribery Commission can deal with at any given moment with no notice.
The President should be credited for attempts made and steps taken and excellent speeches on the subject

While the sharks are free to exploit the nation further with the power gained and money swindled, the small time bribe takers are busy exploiting the masses in the absence of a consolidated disciplined and forceful mechanism country wide with the network of Police officers.

President’s speeches are fine and attempts to curb corruption are commendable attempting to arrest and prevention corruption, but it appears that there is something wrong somewhere for which an immediate solution is to be found.

It is time the professionals and the genuine activist groups take to the streets. Enough is enough. Bribery and corruption appear to be in the hands of those who are in the office.
The protection of the politicians shows that the menace purely originated and groomed by politicians for personal benefits.

Bribery and corruption is the oldest and most prevalent crime.

In 1931/47 seven members of the Legislature were found guilty and1959/60 six Parliamentarians were found guilty for bribery and corruption by Talgodipitiya Commission.

Since then to date there are no records of any attempts of legal process though the menace was thriving with a terrific speed when Singapore the worst corrupt nation in 1952 has reached the 4th position on clean bill of health in world standards.

The secret is simple- in 1987 Prime Minister inquired into the corruption of Minister Ta Wing Van” – while the inquiries are in progress, the Minister committed suicide leaving a letter to the Prime Minister because he knew the Prime Minister is genuine and serious in clamping the menace, which is not the case in Sri Lanka.

This shows that there should be a genuine desire from the above and the top of the pyramid should be straight and clean.

Parliament should be an honourable shrine and the conduct of its members should be serious, educative, and vision based.

Can one compare the CB bond sale controversy-an issue of national importance, to James Bond Episode”?

When the economy needs tough measures, one wonders what avenues are left of the citizen helplessly awaiting for justice and fair play from the rulers entrusted with the nation as trustees for a short period of time.

It is noted with regret that only four members of the legislature have provided the declaration of assets in which non-declaration is a criminal offence!

Payment of 21 million for an unoccupied building to date continuously is a day light robbery and Corruption Commission should take steps on its own volition as a matter of urgency!

Way forward

Obviously corruption and bribery cannot be eradicated and the attempts should be made to minimise it as far as possible. If the system is not effective short and long effective genuine methods are to be adopted and implemented to curb it.

It is difficult to combat bribery and corruption as corruption is linked to drug, underworld, politics, money political power and Government machinery on contracts and development projects.

Corruption in the Transparency International – one of the largest money making NGOs have disassociated a lawyer, who has charged 3.5 million for an insignificant inquiry and submitting an substandard report

It is alleged that no receipts were issued and break down is not given as required by the rules of profession. Political intervention and excessive media circus are to be avoided.
Modern IT developments should be made use of for the citizen participation when the citizens are armed with mobile phones and knowledge on Technology  and Communication skills.

Witness protection, remuneration, inducements, offers, to be streamlined and modified and modernised.

Payment of 21 million for an unoccupied building to date continuously is a day light robbery and Corruption Commission should take steps on its own volition as a matter of urgency!

Officers should be given incentives and proper training encouragement should be given to the civic minded citizens in the campaign against corruption.

Imprisonment and fine should be increased and incentives to be offered to the concerned activist citizens.

Government Servants are privileged with lot of perks and future stability with pensions and similar benefits over other employees in the Private Sector. They should be educated and trained to live within means a simple and contended life devoid of extravagance to repulse bribe and corruption.

No lenience should be shown to those responsible for bribery or corruption inefficiency and inaction on their duties.

The writer could be contacted sarath7@hotmail.co.uk

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

සෝමපාල ගරුසිංහ මහතා 71 අප්‍රේල් කැරැල්ලෙන් පසු පුරා වසර 6 කට ආසන්න කාලයක් නීති ඇසින් බේරී වනගතව සිටියේය. ඔහුගෙ නිවහන කැලෑව විය. ජීවිතය රැක ගැනීම සඳහා ඔහු ප්‍රාථමික මිනිසුන් ගත කල කැලෑ ජීවිතයට හුරු විය. වනගතව සිටි කාලය අවිනිශ්චිතතාව, ධෛර්ය හා පරිසරය පිළිබඳ කුතුහලය දනවන කතා පුවතකි. අපි ඔහුට සවන් දෙමු.

මගේ ගම් පලාත මාතර අකුරැස්ස. මගේ පියා ධනවතෙකු නොවුවත් ඔහු අදීන පුදගලයෙක්. අයුක්තිය ඉදිරියේ සැලූනේ නැහැ. ඔහු අපගේ අධ්‍යාපනයට වෙහෙසුනා. මට ඉගෙන ගැනීමට ආශාව හා දක්ෂතාව තිබ්බා. මා ප්‍රාථමික අධ්‍යපනය ලැබුවේ තෙලිජ්ජවිල මධ්‍ය මහා විද්‍යාලයේ. මම ශිෂ්‍යත්ව විභාගය ඉහලින්ම සමත් උනා. ඉන්පසු උසස්පෙළ අධ්‍යාපනය සඳහා මාතර රාහුල විද්‍යාලයට ගියා. පාසල් සමයේ සිටම මට විවිධ අසාධාරණයන්ට මුහුණ දෙන්නට සිදු උනා. ඒ අසාධාරණයන්ට නොබියව මුහුණ දීම තුලින් මම ආත්ම ශක්තිය ගොඩ නගා ගත්තා.

මම කරේ ගුරු වෘත්තිය. 1968 මම පුහුණුව සඳහා මහරගම ගුරු අභ්‍යාස විද්‍යාලයට පැමිණියා. නවකයෙකු ලෙසට මට ෙජ්්‍යෂ්ඨයන්ගේ නවක වදයට ලක් වීමට සිදුවීම මතකයි. මෙම නවක වදය කලේ උඩරට පහතරට වශයෙන් පටු බේදීම් ඔස්සේ බව වැටහුනා .මම නවක වදයට විරුද්ධව පෙනී හිටියා. මේ කාලයේ මම ජූඩෝ රෙස්ලිං වැනි ක්‍රීඩා කලා. එබැවින් මා වටා නවක වද විරෝධී ශිෂ්‍ය ගුරුවරු පිරිසක් එකතු වී හිටියා.

මේ කාලයේ සරත් ප්‍රනාන්දු, හා විමල් ප්‍රනාන්දු යන දෙසොහොයුරෝ මා සමග මිත්‍රව සිටියා. ඔවුන් දේශපාලන වශයෙන් දැරුවේ සමසමාජ අදහස්. සරත් ප්‍රනාන්දු කෑගල්ලේ සරත් විජේසිංහව අඳුරනවා. ඒ නිසා සරත් විජේසිංහ හරහා කල්යානන්ද තීරණාගම අපි හමුවීමට ආවා. අපට මාක්ස්වාදය පිළිබඳ මූලික අවබෝධයක් ලබා දීමට. මෙ කාලයේ පේරාදේණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ සමාජවාදී සංගමය සරත් විජේසිංහ වැනි අයගේ මූලිකත්වයක් තිබුණා. ඒ වගේම සුමිත් දෙව්නුවර, ගාමිනි යාපා

වෙන වෙන කණ්ඩායම් වශයෙන් කි්‍රයා කලා.

කල්යානන්ද තීරණාගම නීතිඥයෙක්. ඔහු ජීවත් උනේ ඉතා සරල විදිහට. කල්යානන්දට අවශ්‍ය කලා මහජන විප්ලවය පිලිබඳව මිනිසුන් දැනුවත් කිරිමට. ඔහු ඒක හැදින්නුවේ මහජන යුද්ධය කියලා. කල්යානන්ද තීරණාගම අනුගාමිකයන් එවකට 100-200 විතර ඉන්න ඇති. මට යම් ආශාවක් තිබ්බා ගරිල්ලා භටයෙකු වීමට මම චේ ගේ පොත් පත් කියෙව්වා. කැලෑ ජීවිතය ගැන හැදෑරුවා.

1969 මැද භාගයේදි විතර මම විමල් ප්‍රනාන්දු හා ඥානතිලක සමඟ කෑගල්ලේ සරත් විජේසිංහගේ ගෙදර ගියා. මේ කාලයේ සරත් විජේසිංහ කල්යානන්ද තීරණාගමගෙන් කැඩිලා. මම ඒ පිළිබඳව හරිහැටි දැනගෙන හිටියේ නැහැ. සරත් විජේසිංහ ලංකා ලයින් එකක් ගැන කථා කලා. තිරණාගම කථා කලේ වෙන ක්‍රමයක් ගැන මේ නිසා යම් යම් මතවාදී ගැටලූ දෙදෙනා අතර තියෙන්න ඇති. 

අපි සරත්ගේ ගෙදර යන කොට සරත් නැහැ. ඒත් විජේවීර හිටියා. ඥානතිලක විජේවීර ගේ මොස්කව්හි ලූමුම්බා සරසවියේ සමකාලීනයෙක්. ඥානතිලක ඉංජිනේරු උපාධිය අවසන් කරලා හිටියේ. ඥානතිලක විජේවීර  ගැන දැගෙන හිටියා. දෙන්නා ආගිය තැන් කථා කලා.

මේ සිද්ධියෙන් ටික කාලෙකට ඉස්සර සරත් විජේසිංහ  පේරාදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය හා මහරගම ගුරු අභ්‍යාස විද්‍යාලය අතර රෙස්ලිං තරඟයක් සංවිධානය කලා පේරාදෙණියේ. ඒකට මම පේරාදෙණිය ගියා. එහිදි සරත් සමඟ මම රෙස්ලිං තරඟයක් කොට ජය ලැබුවා. තරඟයෙන් පස්සේ සරත් විජේසිංහ  මට විෙජ්වර්ධන ශාලාවේ නවතින්න ආරාධනා කලත් මම එදාම කොළඹ ආවා. මේ හේතුවෙන් සරත් විජේසිංහ  සහ මා අතර යම් හැඳුනුම් කමක් තිබුනා.

අපි සරත්ගේ ගෙදර ටිකක් වෙලා ඉඳලා යන්නට පිටත් උනා. ඥානතිලක ඒ වෙලාවේ අපි පාරට ආවම කිව්වා සරත් ලොක්කා නිසා අමාරුවේ වැටෙනවා යනුවෙන්. අපි කෑගල්ල ඉස්පිරිතාලය ලඟට එන කොට අපට සරත් විජේසිංහ  හමු උනා. සරත් මට පෙරැත්ත කලා  අපේ ගෙදර යං  කියලා. විමලූයි, ඥානසේනයි. විමල්ලාගේ කෑගල්ලේ ගෙදර ගියා. මම සරත් විජේසිංහ  එක්ක සරත්ගේ ගෙදරට ගියා.

එදා රැ විජේවීර  කෑගල්ලේ වීරරත්න කියන ගුරුවරයාගේ ගෙදර පන්තියක් කලා. වීරරත්න මහරගම ගුරු අභ්‍යස විදයාලයේ පලමු වසරේ කෙනෙක්. සරත් මෙ පන්තියට මාවත් ගෙනිච්චා. රෑ අටේ සිට අළුයම පහ දක්වා විජේවීර  කථා කලා. මේ පන්තියට කට්ටිය 10-15 විතර ඉන්න ඇති. ඔහු කථා කලේ ආර්ථීක අර්බුධය ගැන ලඟ එන හමුදා ආණ්ඩුවක් ගැන කිව්වා. මම විජේවීර ගේ කථාවට බොහොම පැහැදුනා. පසුවදාම කොළඹ ගියාම මම කල්යානන්ද තිරණාගම හමු වෙලා විජේවීර  හා ඔවුන්ගේ දේශපාලන අන්තර්ගතය ගැන පැවසූවා.

කල්යානන්ද 1930 ගනං වල චින කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ මාංචින් කියන අතිධාවනකාරී පුද්ගලයා පක්ෂයට කල විනාශය ගැන මාඕ ලියූ ලිපිය කියෙව්වා. විජේවීර ගේ දේශනයේ අන්තර්ගතය විවේචනය කලා. මේක මාක්ස්වාදය නෙවෙයි කෙටි ප්‍රයෝජනවාදය, තැනේ හැටියට ජාතිවාදය කුලවාදය අදින ස්ථීර ප්‍රතිපත්ති රහිත සර්ව සංග්‍රහ වාදයක් කිව්වා. මම විජේවීර ගේ පන්තියට ගිය නිසා තිරණාගම මාව ටිකෙන් ටික අයින් කරන්න ගත්තා. අපේ බෝඩ්මේ හිටපු රත්නපාල කියන සගයා මා සමග දැඩිව ගැටුනා. විමල් ප්‍රනාන්දු මට මැදහත් විදිහට සැලකුවා. මගේ පැරැණි මිතුරන් බෝඩිමෙන් අස්වෙලා ගියා. මගේ මේ හේතුවෙන් මම වඩාත් සරත් විජේසිංහ දෙසට තල්ලූ උනා.

කල්යානන්ද මා සමඟ දිගටම සංවාදය මගින් මට කරුණු අවබෝධ කිරීම වෙනුවට කලේ මාව කපා දාන එක. ඒ නිසා මම සරත්ලාගේ පිලට ඇදී ගියා. ඉන්පස්සේ මාව හමුවෙන්න ලොකු අතුල, බෝපගේ, මිල්ටන් සුනිල් වික්‍රම එහෙම එනවා. විජේවීර ත් එනවා. සමහර දවස්වලට රෑ මගෙ බෝඩිමේ නවතිනවා. විජේවීර  මම හරහා මහරගම ටේ‍රනිං කොලේජ් එකට සම්බන්ධකම් ඇති කර ගත්තා. මම මහරගම ටේ‍රනිං කොලේජ් එකේ පිරිසක් අධ්‍යාපන කඳවුරකට සහභාගි කෙරෙව්වා. ඒ පන්තිය කලේ ප්‍රේමපාල. ඩී.ඒ. ගුණසේරත් සහභාගී උනා. මෙහෙම යන කොට මහරගම ගුරු අභ්‍යාස විද්‍යාලයේ 30 විතර පිරිසක් අපිට හිටියා. බෝපගේත් පන්ති කලා මේ පිරිසට. 1969 අග වෙන කොට මමත් පන්ති පැවැත්වූවා.

1970 ජනවාරි මාසයේ මට ත්‍රිකුණාමල මහා විද්‍යාලයේ පත්වීමක් ලැබුනා. විමල් ප්‍රනාන්දු ගෝමරන්කඩවල විද්‍යාලයට ගියා. විමල් දිගටම හිටියේ කල්යානන්ද එක්ක. මම ත්‍රිකුණාමල මහා විද්‍යාලයට යන කොට එච්.එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දු එහි කුඩා කණ්ඩායමක් හදලා තිබුනේ. 1970 හයිඩ් පාක් එකේ ජ.වි.පෙ. රැස්වීමට මම එච්. එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දු එක්ක ගියා. එච්.එන්.ට පියතිලකව හඳුන්වලා දුන්නා.

එච්.එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ කණ්ඩායමේ කුමාර ජයසේකර. මරතඩියේ ප්‍රේමදාස, ති්‍රකුණාමල දුම්රිය දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ ලිපිකාරයෙකු වන කටු අතුල හෙවත් ගුණරත්න හිටියා. හුංගම රංජිත් පූර්ණකාලීනයෙකු හැටියට වැඩකලා. මම ත්‍රිකුණාමල මහා විද්‍යාලයට යනකොට එච්.එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දුට මාරුවක් ලැබිලා. ඒත් එච්.එන්. ප්‍රනාන්දු එයා හදපු කණ්ඩායම මට අඳුන්වලා දුන්නා.

අපි ටිකින් ටික සන්නද්ධ වෙන්න පටන් ගත්තා. ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ පතුරං මිලට ගන්න අමාරුවක් නැහැ. මම පතුරං සල්ලි වලට ගන්නවා ඒවා ලයනල් බෝපගේට යැව්වා. මම කෝච්චියේ කොළඹ එනකොටත් පතුරං ගේනවා. වරක් මම පතුරං අරගෙන එන කොට මාත් එක්ක දුම්රිය නිදන මැදිරියේ ත්‍රිකුණාමල පොලිසියේ ඒ.එස්.පි. ත් ආවා.

මම පාසලේ ඉගැන්නුවේ භෞතික විද්‍යාව මේ වනවිට අප 100-150 විතර ව්‍යාපාරෙට සම්බ්න්ධ කරගෙන. ඒත් මගේ ශිෂ්‍යයන්ට කොකු ගහන්න ගියේ නැහැ. පාසැලේ විදුහල්පති වැඩවසම් අදහස් තිබු කෙනෙක්. එයා කැමති නැහැ අපි ළමයින්ට උගන්නනවට. මුන් මාළුකාරයන්ගේ පුත්තු උන්ට ඉගෙනීමෙන් වැඩක් නැහැ කියලා නිතරම ගුරුවරුන්ට කියනවා.

අපි ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ පන්ති කරනවා පෝස්ටර් ගහනවා. සමහර විට මමයි කටු අතුලයි පෝස්ටර් පොලිසියෙ තාප්පේ පවා ඇලෙව්වා. මේ වන විට සී.අයි.ඩී. එකට අපි ගැන ඉව වැටිලා. අපේ බෝඩිමේ ඉදිරියේ අමුතු හිඟන්නෙක් ඉන්නවා කකුලක් කුණු කානුවක දාගෙන. මට හිඟන්නා ගැන සැකයක් ආවා.

දවසක් අපි මාළුකාරයෝ වගේ පලල් වාටි තියන තොප්පි දාගෙන රෑ පෝස්ටර් අලවන්න ගියා. සිවිල් දෙන්නෙක් අපිව අල්ල ගත්තා. මට හොඳට ජූඩෝ පුලූවන් නිසා මම මාව අල්ල ගත්ත කෙනාව බිම දැම්මා. පහර දෙන්න යන කොට ඒ අය පොලිස් හැඳුනුම්පත් පෙන්නුවා. මම පැනලා යන්න දුවන්න අවශ්‍ය උනත් කටු අතුල කිව්වා අපි වරදක් කරලා නැහැ නීත්්‍යානුකූල පක්ෂයක පෝස්ටර් ඇලෙව්වා විතරයි අපි පොලිසි යං කියලා. ඒ නිසා අප පොලිසියට ගියා අපි දෙන්නම පොලිසියේ කූඩුවට දැම්මා. කට උත්තර ගත්තා ඇඟිලි සලකුණු ගත්තා. අපේ විස්තර ගන්ත කොස්තාපල් හිටියේ බීලා. මගේ විස්තර ලියා ගත්තේ කටු අතුලගේ නම තිබ්බ පෝර්මේ. මම ඒක දැක්කා. දැකලා කටවහගෙන හිටියා. ශරීර විස්තර ලියන කොට මගේ ශරීර විස්තර යටතේ ලියන්නේ කටු ඇතුලගේ ශරීර සලකුණු. කටු අතුලගේ ඛෙල්ලේ ඔපරේෂන් මාක් එකක් තිබ්බා ඒක මගේ සලකුණක් හැටයට මගේ නම තිබ්බ කොලේ ලියැවුනා. මම සැඟවිලා ඉන්න කොට පසුකාලෙක පොලිසිය මගේ ශරීර විස්තර ලෙස ඉදිරිපත් කලේ ඛෙල්ලේ තුවාල කැලලක් තියන කෙනෙක් හැටියට. මාව අහු වෙලා සී.අයි.ඩී. ගෙනාවම ඒ අය හිතුවේ මම ප්ලාස්ටික් ශල්‍යකර්මයකින් කැලල මකාගෙන කියලා. ඒ අයත් දැනගෙන හිටියේ නැහැ මගේ ඛෙල්ලට කැලල දැම්මේ බීමත් පී.සී වග. 

අපි කූඩුවේ ඉන්න කොට මම දැක්කා අපේ බෝඩිම ඉදිරියේ හිටපු හිඟන්නා ඇවිල්ලා පොතක අත්සන් කරනවා. මට තේරුණා මෑන් පොලිස් ඔත්තුකාරයෙක් බව. අපිව උසාවි දැම්මා. මම ඇල්ලූවා නීතිඥ ආර්. සම්බන්දන් අපිට ඇප ලැබුනා. රෑ 10 විතර අපිව නිදහස් කළා අපි දෙන්නා යලි බෝඩිමට එනකොට හිඟන්නත් ඈතින් අපේ පිටිපස්සෙං ඇවිත් බෝඩිම ඉදිරියේම වාඩි උනා. මම හිමීට ගිහිල්ලා එතන හිටපු ධීවර පිරිසට කිව්වා පොලිස් ඔත්තුකාරයා ගැන. මේ ධීවරයන් අතර හොරබඩු බිස්නස් කරන අයත් ඉන්නවා. ඒ නිසා ඒ අයට පොලිස් ඔත්තුකාරයෝ පේන්න බෑ. කට්ටිය ඇවිල්ලා පොලිස් ඔත්තුකාරයාාට ගහලා පැන්නුවා. ඊට පස්සේ මෑන් අපේ බෝඩිම ලඟට ආවේ නැහැ.

දවසක් බෝපගේ ආවා මාව හමුවෙන්න. මාව ගෙනිච්චා කතරගමට. කතරගම දෙටගමුවේ විජේවීර  ඉන්නවා. මෙ වෙන කොට සරත් විජේසිංහ විජේවීරගෙන් ටිකක් ඈත් වෙලා. විෙජ්වීරට අවශ්‍ය වෙන්න ඇති මම සරත් විජේසිංහගේ කල්ලියේ කෙනෙක්ද කියලා බලන්න. මගෙ ස්ථාවරය ගැන විජේවීර  සතුටු වෙන්න ඇති.

අප්‍රේල් 5 දින ප්‍රහාරය ගැන මට කිව්වේ නන්දන මාරසිංහ. එයා 1971 අප්‍රේල් 3 දා මට ප්‍රහාරය ගැන කිව්වා. අපට නියම වෙලා තිබුනේ අනුරාධපුර සුනාත  ශාලාවේ තිබූ හමුදා කඳවුරට පහර දෙන්න. පිරිස 50 විතර ආවා. ඒත් ප්‍රහාරය කර ගන්න බැරි උනා. අසංවිධානාත්මකයි. අපි ඉන් දවස් දහයකට පස්සේ නච්චිදූවේදි ප්‍රතිසංවිධානය වෙලා ගලෙන් බිඳුනු වැවට ගියා. එහිදි අපිට නන්දන මාරසිංහ හමු උනා. 

1971 අප්‍රේල් අග වෙන කොට පිරිස 100-150 එක්ක අපි රිටිගලට ගියා. අපි රිටිගල කළු දැවේ කඳවුරු ගැහුවා. අපි කෑම රැස් කලා. හාල් මිටි කඳවුරට ගෙනාවා. අපි පිරිස 200 විතර හිටියා. නන්දන මාරසිංහ නායකයා, ලොකු බන්ඩා, ඒකනායක, සී.බී. සෙනෙවිරත්න,   කැකිරාවේ විජේසිංහ එහෙමත් අපි අතරේ හිටියා. 1971 මැයි වෙන කොට අපි කඩවලින් කෑම එකතු කලා. ගලෙන් බිදුනු වැව සමූපකාරය කඩලා හාල්. සිනි, පාන් පිටි එහෙම ලබා ගත්තා. ඒ එක්කම හමුදා ප්‍රහාර දැඩි වුනා. අපිත් ප්‍රති ප්‍රහාර දෙනවා.

මාරසිංහ කිව්වා අනෙක් අපේ සාමාජිකයන් විජේවීර  මුදාගෙන විල්පත්තුවට ගෙනල්ලා අපි විල්පත්තුවට යන්න ඕනේ කියලා පිරිස කණ්ඩායම් කිහිපයකට ඛෙදුවා. ශක්තිමත් පිරිස මාරසිංහ තමන්ගේ යටතට අරගෙන මගෙ කන්ඩායමට ආවේ අබල දුබල අය. ලෙඩවෙලා හිටපු අය ඇතුළු ගැහැනු ලමයි 6 දෙනෙක් දැම්මා.

මාරසිංහ විජේවීර  හමුවෙන්න යනවා කියලා කණ්ඩායමක් එක්ක විල්පත්තු ගියා. මම 1971 අග වෙනකං විශ්වාස කලේ විජේවීර හිරෙන් පැනලා විල්පත්තුවේ ඉන්නවා කියලා. මාරසිංහගේ කණ්ඩායම විල්පත්තු ගියාම අපේ කණ්ඩායම ලෑස්ති උනා යළි විල්පත්තු යන්න. අපි ටිකෙන් ටික ඉදිරියට ගියා. මට තේරුණා. ඉදිරියෙන් හමුදාව එන බව සමහරු යෝජනා කලා මාරසිංහ විල්පත්තු ගියා වගේ බස් එකක් පැහැරගෙන විල්පත්තු යන්න. මාරසිංහත් අපට කිව්වේ එහෙම කරන්න කියලා. ඒත් ඒක මේ අවස්ථාවේ භයානකයි. සමහරු කිව්වා අපි ගිරාතලාන – රැස් වෙහෙර හරහා විල්පත්තුවට යං කියලා. මට හිතුනා කලා ඔය දිගේ විල්පත්තුවට යන්න එත් අපට ඒ වගේ දුර ගමනකට කෑම හිඟයි. මඟදී ප්‍රහාර වලට මුහුණ දෙන්නත් සිදුවන නිසා මම පිරිස අරගෙන යළි රිටිගලට ආවා.

1971 ජුනි වෙන කොට 35 කන්ඩායමක් සමඟ කළුදැව කඳවුර ඉසව්වට ආවා. අපේ කඳවුරේ හංගපු හාල් මිටි පුච්චලා. කෑම ඔක්කොම හමුදාවෙන් විනාශ කරලා. අපි හාමතේ අඩපන වෙලා හිටියේ. හොඳ වෙලාවට කඳවුරට අදින්න බැරි වෙච්ච හාල් මිටි 5 කළුදෑවේ වැව්  බැම්ම අසල හැංගු බව මතක් උනා. ඉක්මනට ගිහිල්ලා ඒ හාල් අරගෙන පිරිසට උයලා කන්න දුන්නා.

අපි රිටිගල මකුළුඔයට එනම් මල්වතු ඔයේ ආරම්භය වෙන තැනට ගියා. එතනින් කියුලේකඩ කැලේට ගියා. අපි ගමන් කලේ අමාරුවෙන්. ලෙඩ්ඩු මැලේරියා උණකාරයෝ උස්සගෙන වත්තං කරගෙන හිමිට හිමිට ගියා. සුනිල් පියදාස, පී.බී. සෙනවිරත්නට වෙඩි වැදිලා තුවාල වෙලා හිටියේ. අපි කියුලේකඩට එන කොට බමුණුත්තුවේ දි හමුදාවෙන් වෙඩි තිබ්බා. ඒ පිරිස මෙහෙයවලා තියෙන්නේ කර්නල් නාරම්පනාව බව මට පසුව අත්අඩංගුවේදි දැනගන්න ලැබුනා. අපිත් එක්ක ගිය බන්ඩාගේ අතට වෙඩි වැදුනා.

හමුදාව දිගටම වෙඩි තියනවා ඒ අතරේ කියුලේකඩ කන්දට හෙලිකොප්ටරයකින් බෝම්බ දානවා. අපි කෝටු කටේ ගහගෙන බිම වැතිරුණා. අපිත් එකක හිටියා කහපත්විලගම දිසානායක කියලා දඩයක්කාරයෙක්. මිනිහා ඉලක්කයට වෙඩි තියන්න දක්ෂයා. මිනිහගේ අතේ තිබ්බා 1971 අප්‍රේල් අගදි හුරුල්ලෙගේ වලව්වෙන් ගත්ත රයිෆල් එකක්. දිසානායක ඉලක්කය අල්ලලා හෙලිකොප්ටරයට වෙඩිතිබ්බා. ඒ වෙඩිල්ල හෙලිකොප්ටරයට වැදුනා. හෙලිකොප්ටරය හරවා ගෙන ගියා. පසුව නඩු විභාගයේදි මට දැන ගන්නට ලැබුනා ඒ වෙඩි පහර නියමුවාගේ අතට වැදිලා හෙලිකොප්ටරය අනුරාධපුරයට අරගෙන ගිහිල්ලා බාපු වග.

1971 අගවෙන කොට මට තේරුනා විජේවීර  විල්පත්තු කැලයේ නැති විත්තිය. ප්‍රධාන පෙළ නායකයෝ සෑම දෙනාම වගේ අත්අඩංගුවේ.  රේඩියෝ එකේ මගේ නම කියනවා මට ඇහුනා. අපි ලඟ තිබ්බා අලගොල්ලෑව පල්ලියෙන් ලබා ගත් ටෙලිෆන්කන් රේඩියෝ එකක්. ඒකේ ප්‍රවෘත්ති වගේම සමහර විට හමුදා පණිවිඩ හුවමාරු පවා අපට ඇහෙනවා. අපි හිමීට රේඩියෝ එක දාලා බලනවා හමුදාව වෙනස් ක්‍රමයට සංඥා යවනවා නැත්තං කෙලින්ම කථා කරනවා. සංඥා ඇහෙනකොට අපි දන්නවා ලඟ හමුදාව කියලා.

1972 වෙන කොට අපි හිටියේ කන්තලේ කැලේ. 72 අප්‍රේල් වෙනකොට මාරසිංහ ආවා. මාරසිංහ මම ගැන ටිකක් අප්‍රසාදයෙන් ඉන්න බව තේරුණා. කැකිරාව පොලිසියට පහර දීම අසාර්ථක වීම ගැන අප දෙන්නා අතර පොඩි විරසකයක් ඇති කලා. මම ගල්ගුහාවේ බිත්තියෙ අඟරු කැටයකින් ලියලා තිබ්බා සටනින් තොර ජයග්‍රහනයක් නැත කියලා මේක මාරසිංහ දැක්කේ එයාට ලියපු අපහාස වැකියක් හැටියට.

පසු කාලයක මම හලාවත පැන්ටිස්ගෙන් දැන ගත්තා මාරසිංහ මට වෙඩි තියන්න පැන්ටිස්ට කියා තිබුනු බව. පැන්ටිස් ඒකට අකමැති වෙලා තියනවා. මම මේ කරුණ දැනගත්තෙ මාරසිංහගේ මරණෙන් පස්සේ. 

1972 අගදි මාරසිංහ අපේ කට්ටියක් අරගෙන අනුරාධපුරේ හිරගේ කඩන්න ගියා. අපි ත්‍රිකුණාමල කැලේට ගියාම බෝල සමරේගේ 35 ක පිරිසක් හා ගාමිණී  බාස්ගේ කන්ඩායමෙන් ඉතුරු වෙච්ච 18 දෙනෙක් එකතු උනා. අපි 1973 යළි කන්තලේ කැලේට ගියාම බෝල සමරේ අපේ කන්ඩායමෙන් ගියා.

1972-73 අතර කාලයේදි අපේ කන්ඩායමේ කොටසක් පැනලා ගිහිල්ලා හබරණ ප්‍රදේශයේ මංකකොල්ලකෑම් කලා. මේකට නායකත්වය දුන්නේ ඩී.එස්. රණසිංහ.

1973 අගදි මමයි ඒකනායකයි රූ 15 000ක ත්‍යාගයකට ගැස්ට් කරලා. ගමේ ඛෙදලා තිබ්බා පත්‍රිකාවක්. චන්දරේ විහිළුවට ගහක ඇලෙව්වා මට පේන්න. එතකොට අපි කන්තලේ කැලේ. රේඩියෝ එකේ අප දෙන්නාගෙ නං කියවෙනවා. මට හිතුනා අපි දෙන්නා මෙච්චර ලොකු මිනිස්සු දෙන්නෙක්ද? අපිට වැඩිය හිටපු නායකයෝ කෝ? අපිවගේ සොච්චං දෙන්නෙක්ව මෙච්චර ඩිමාන්ඩ් ඇයි.

අපි තීරණය කලා කැලේ විසිරෙන්න. මාත් එක්ක 5 දෙනෙක් ආවා. අපි සමූපකාර කැඩිම හමුදාව එක්ක ගැටීම නැවැත්තුවා මේ වෙන කොට අපේ පැවැත්මට සමූපකාර 12 විතර කඩලා තිබුනා. අපි සමූපකාර කැඩුවට ගත්තේ හාල් මිටි 2-3, සීනි, ධාන්‍ය වර්ගයක් වගේ දේවල් විතරයි. මංකොල්ලකෑම් මම තහනම් කලා. වරක් අපි තුවක්කු හොයන්න ගිහිල්ලා ගල්මැටියංකුලම බංගලාවට කඩා වැදුනා. අපිට හමු උනා වටින ඔරලෝසු තොගයක් මම තුවක්කු විතරක් අරගෙන ඔරලෝසු යලිත් භාර දුන්නා.

සමූපකාර කැඩුවේ අපිට කෑමට යමක් නොතිබුනු වෙලාවලට. සමූපකාරය කඩන්නට පෙර අපි රියසල් දානවා. විනාඩි 20 බඩු සියල්ලම ඇදලා ඉවර කරන්න ඕනෑ. කෙනෙක් ඔත්තු බලනවා. මම ශිෂ්‍ය කාලේ   The Great Train Robbery චිත්‍රපටය බලලා තිබ්බා. ඒ චිත්‍රපටයේ අනුව සමූපකාර කඩන්නට පෙර ඒ අවට කෙනෙක් ගැවසී තත්වය බලා ගැනීම හමුදාව ගැන විමසිලිමත් වීම කරනවා. රෑට තමයි සමූපකාරය කඩන්නෙ. ගන්න ආහාර ගෝනි කරේ තියාගෙන හැතැප්ම 10-12 ඇවිදගෙන යනවා. කැලේ ලොකු ගහක මැස්සක් බැදලා වැල් ආධාරයෙන් ආහාර කොටසක් මැස්සට අදිනවා. ඒ කරලා කොල අතු වලින් වහනවා. බිම ඉඳගෙන බලන කෙනෙකුට මැස්ස පේන්නේ නැහැ.

අපිට හාල් වගේ ආහාර ද්‍රව්‍ය සමූපකාර වලින් ලබා ගැනීමට සිදු උනේ දුර්වල අසනීප සාමාජිකයින් නඩත්තු කරන්න. අප උයන්නේ අළුයම් යාමේ. උදේ 6 වෙන කොට උයලා කාලා හැලි වලං හොදලත් ඉවරයි. දවල්ට කථා කරන්න තහනම්. ගස් වල අතු කඩන්න තහනං. වැසිකිලි ගිහි්ලලා අසුචි පස් වලින් වහන්න ඕනේ අඩි සලකුණු තියන්න තහනම්. අපි ගත කලේ නියම ගරිල්ලා ජීවිතයක්.

ආහාර හිඟ උනාම දඩයමක් කර ගන්නවා. කුළු හරක්, මුවෝ, වල් ඌරෝ මම දඩයංකරා. පතුරං පරිස්සං කර ගන්න අවශ්‍ය නිසා ගිනිකුරු වලින් පතුරං හැදුවා ගිනිපෙට්ටි 5ක වෙඩි බේත් වලින් වඳුරෙක් මරා ගන්න පුළුවන්. හරක් තෙල් වලින් ඉටිපන්දම් හැදුවා.

අපේ සාමාජිකයන්ගේ මොරාල් එක හීන වීම වලක්කන්න අපි රැස්වීම් තිබ්බා. ක්ෂණික කතා, විවාද පැවැත්තුවා. මම සමහරුන්ට අකුරු ලියන්න කියවන්න ඉගැන්නුවා. අපගෙ කන්ඩායමේ හිටියා අකුරු නොදත් කිහිප දෙනෙක්. ඒ අය අකුරු ඉගෙන ගත්තා. අපි ලඟ පොත් සඟරා තිබ්බා. ඒවා කියවනවා. මම සැබෑ මිනිසෙකුගේ කථාවක් පොත කියවා අවසන් කලා. මේ කටයුතු කෙරුනත් සැම විටම පරිස්සම තිබුනා. හමුදාව ප්‍රදේශයේ දඩයක්කාරයන් අල්ලගෙන අපිව වටලන්න එනවා. උල්පත් වැව් අසල සැඟවිලා ඉන්නවා අපිව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න. ඒ නිසා අපි ජල මූලයන් හා අප අතර සබඳතාව නිරන්තරයෙන්ම වෙනස් කලා. ස්ථීර සබඳතා තියා ගත්තේ නැහැ. ජලය හිඟ කාලෙට වැල්ලේ වලක් හාරලා වතුර කළ දෙක තුනක් උපරිමයට ලබා ගන්නවා. ඒ වලවල් යලි හොයන්න බැරි විදිහට වහනවා. නිතරම ජලය පරිස්සම් කර ගත්තා.

අපි කැලෑ පරිසරයේ කොටසක් බවට පත් උනා. එතකොට මට තේරුණා අපිට සතුන් ගෙන් පවා ඔත්තු ලබා ගත හැකි බව. වඳුරා, වැලි මුවා, ද~ුලේනා, හොඳ ඔත්තුකාරයෝ. කිසිම මිනිහෙකුට කැලෑ වදින්න බැහැ මේ සත්තුන්ට හොරා. මිනිහෙක් දැක්ක හැටියම අමුතු සද්ද වලින් කෑ ගහනවා. සතුන්ගේ ඉරියව් නිරීක්ෂණය කලහම මට තේරුණා උන් අපිට තොරතුරු කියන බව.

කැලේ ජීවිතය භයානකයි. ආරක්ෂක අංශ විතරක් නෙවෙයි කොටියා, වලහා අලියා. පවා පහර දෙන්න පුළුවන්. දවසක් කොටියෙක් පැන්නා. හොඳ වෙලාවට ඒකනායක ඌට වෙඩි තිබ්බා. පස්සේ කොටියා හම ගහලා හම වේලලා ගම්මුන්ට දුන්නා ගිනිපෙට්ටි, ලූණු වගේ දේවල් ගන්න. දවසක් අලි අපට පහර දෙන්න ඇවිල්ලා අපි මුළු රැයක්ම ගස උඩ නිදා ගත්තා. සමහරවිට තනි අලියා පහර දෙන්න එනවා. ඒ වෙලාවට වෙඩි තියන්න පවා සිදු වුනා.

අපි ගම් වලට යන කොට අලි පස්සේ යන්න පුරුදු උනා. අලි යනකොට ගම්මු මඟ හැරලා යනවා. අපි අලි පස්සේ යම් දුර ප්‍රමාණයක් තියලා යනවා. අලි ගම් වලට ගියහම අපිත් ඒ ගම් වලට යනවා ඒ මිනිසුන්ගේ දෑස් වල නොගැටී.

සමහර විටක විස සර්පයන්ගෙන් කරදර ආවා. අපෙ අය කීප දෙනෙක් පොලොංගු කෑවා. නයි පොලොං විසට ප්‍රතිකාර කරන වෙද මහත්තයෙක් යකල්ලේ හිටියා. උණAඩියා කියලා. උණAඩියා වෙද මහත්තයා ප්‍රතිකාර කරලා ඒ අය සනීප උනා. උණAඩියා වෙදා මට දුන්නා සර්ප විෂ තෙලක්. මේ තෙල මම ගස් ඛෙනේක ගහලා තිබ්බා. දවසක් මාව දිවි මකුළුවෙක් කෑවා. විස මගේ අත දිගේ යන අයුරු මට දැනුනා අත සීතල වේගෙන ගියා. මම උණAඩියා වෙද මහත්තයා දුන්න තෙල් ටිකක් එතන ගෑවා. මගෙ අමාරුව ඉක්මනට ඇරිලා ගියා.

1975 විතර වෙන කොට මමයි ඒකනායකයි තමයි වඩාත්ම අවශ්‍ය කැරලිකාරයෝ දෙන්නා. අනික් හැමෝම වගේ අත් අඩංගුවේ නැත්තං බාර වෙලා. අපේ මිලත් වැඩි කරලා රුපියල් 15000 නියම කරලා තිබූ ගණන දැන් රුපියල් 45000යි. අපිව 45000ට ගැසට්කර වග ආරංචි උනාම අපි තවත් ආරක්ෂිත පියවර ගත්තා. මමයි ඒකනායකයි වෙන වෙනම තැන් වල හිටියා. මාස 3 සැරයක් සාමාජිකයන් නම් මාරු කරනවා. පරණ නම් වලින් කථා කරන්න තහනම්. මට නම් හය හතක් තිබ්බා. එක එක කාලෙට වෙන වෙන නම්. මාව සී.අයි.ඩී. ගෙනියැව්වම මහින්දලා 6ක් ඉන්නවා. සිරිසෙනලා 7-8 ඉන්නවා. සී.අයි.ඩී මහත්තුරු පඹ ගාලක පැටලිලා. මාව අල්ලලා දෙන කෙනෙකුට රු. 45000ක තෑගි මුදලක් දෙනබවට විස්තර පත්‍රිකා ගම්වල ඇලෙව්වා. හෙලිකොප්ටර් වලින් පත්‍රිකා දැම්මා. මගෙ නම උනාට පත්‍රිකා වල නියම ශරීර ලක්ෂණ කටු අතුළගේ. 

අපි වෙඩි පාවිච්චිය අඩු කරා. කැලේ මීයක් කඩාගෙන කනවා. හේන් ගොවියන් දඩයක්කාරයොA අපිට හිතවත්. ඒ අය ආහාර පවා අපිට දෙනවා. මාව රුපියල් 45000 ගැසට් කරලා තියන බව දැන දැනත් ගම්මු අපිව පාවලා දුන්නේ නැහැ. දවසක් කැලේ දී  බන්ඩා විදානේ කියන දඩයක්කාරයා මට කිව්වා මහත්තයා පාරට යන්ට එපා. මේක ගන්ට කියලා උන්දෑ මට තමන් දඩයම් කරපු සතා අතට දුන්නා.

අපි ගම්මුන්ට හේන් කොටන්න උදව් කරා. ඇලවල් කපා දුන්නා. ඒත් පරිස්සම නිතරම ඔළුවෙ වැඩ කරා. 1975 කාලයේ දවසක් මමයි ගැමියෙකුයි ගමක් අසලට ගියා. මම ගහක් ලඟ ඉඳලා ගැමියා ගමේ ගෙදරකට යැව්වා. පණිවිඩයකට. ගැමියා මට බනිස් ගෙඩියකුත් ගේන්නං කියලා කිව්වා. කැලේ කෑම කාලා ඉඳහිට බනිස් ගෙඩියක් එහෙම කන්න මම ආසයි.

මම නිතර ආරක්ෂක පියවර ගත්තා. කෙනෙක් ගමකට යැව්වොත් මම හිටපු තැන ඉන්නේ නැහැ. වෙන තැනක ඉඳං නිරීක්ෂණ කරනවා. පිටතට ගිහිල්ලා එන සාමාජිකයා මුණ ගැහෙන්නෙ  තැන් තුන හතරකට යවලා. මුලින්ම ගහක් යට ලියුමක් තියනවා. ඒ ලියුමේ තියනවා අහවල් පඳුර ලඟට යන්න. එතන තව ලියුමක් මේ විදිහට තුන් හතර තැනකට ගෙන්වලා තමයි අන්තිමට මම මුණ ගැහෙන්නේ.

මම ගඟ ලඟ ඉන්න කොට තුවක්කුවක් ගත්ත කෙනෙක් එනවා සරමක් ඇඳලා ගැමියෙක් වගේ. මිනිහගේ කොන්ඩේ ක්‍රීම් ගාලා පීරලා රැවුල බාලා. මට සැකයක් ආවා. මගෙ අතේ තිබ්බේ ෂොට් ගන් එකක්. ඒකේ පතුරම මගේ අතේ. තුවක්කුව හිස්. මට පතුරම දාගන්න වෙලාවක් තිබුනේ නැහැ. මිනිහා  මම ලඟට ඇවිල්ලා කථා කරා මම උත්තර දෙන කොටම මිනිහාගේ අතේ තිබ්බ තුවක්කුව මගේ පපුවට එල්ල කරලා කිව්වා දඟලන්න එපා තුවක්කුව බිම දාපං කියලා. මම ඇසිපිය හෙලන මොහොතක දී පැත්තකට පැන්නා මිනිහා වෙඩි තිබ්බා ඒත් වෙඩිල්ල පත්තු උනේ නැහැ. මම හිතන්නේ උන්ඩේ හිර වෙන්න ඇති. මම එතකොට තුවක්කුව මිනිහාගේ පපුවට එල්ල කරලා උඹේ තුවක්කුව බිම දාපං කියලා නියෝග කලා. මගේ තුවක්කුව හිස් මම කලේ ප්‍රයෝගයක්. මිනිහා දාඩිය වලින් නෑවුනා. ඒත් වෙව්ලන අතින් තුවක්කුව කඩලා පතුරම් පරීක්සා කරනවා. මට තිබ්බේ සුලූ කාලයයි. මම පැන්නා පහර දෙකෙකින් මිනිහව බිම දාලා තුවක්කුව මගේ අතට ගත්තා.

මම මිනිහට කිව්වා මම උඹව මරන්නේ නෑ. මෙහෙම පැය භාගයක් බිම වැතිරිලා හිටපං නැත්තං උඹේ ජීවිතය නැති වෙයි කියලා. බියට පත්වූ මිනිහා එහෙම්ම බිම ඔළුව ගහගෙන හිටියා මම පැත්තකට මුවා උනා. ගමට ගිය මගේ හිතවතා ඒ එක්කම වෙන පාරකින් එනවා. එයා වෙච්ච කලබලය ගැන දන්නේ නැහැ. එයා මට බනිස් එකකුත් ගෙනල්ලා.

මම වෙච්ච සිද්ධිය කිව්වා. බලන කොට හමුදාව ඒ ගම වට කරලා. මට තුවක්කුව එල්ල කරපු මිනිහා වෙස් වලා ගත්ත හමුදාකාරයෙක්. එයාගේ තුවක්කුව මම පරීක්ෂා කලා. ඒක හොඳ වර්ගයේ එකක්. අපි අපේ තිප්පොලට එන කොට උඩ රූස්ස ගහක වඳුරෙක් හිටියා. අපේ තුවක්කු වලින් එච්චර උසක දඩයමක් එලා ගන්න අමාරුයි. මම අලූත් තුවක්කුවේ පතුරම යලි සකස් කරලා වඳුරට එල්ල කරලා කොකා ගැස්සුවා. වඳුරා බිම එදා අපි අළුත් තුවක්කුවයි දඩයම් කරගත් වඳුරයි අරගෙන තිප්පොලට ගියා.

අපි කණ්ඩායමක් වශයෙන් හැංගිලා හිටපු කාලේ මහ ඉලූම්පල්ලමේ දී  ග්‍රාමාරක්ෂකයන්  5 දෙනෙක් කැලේ යනවා අපි ඒ අය වට කරලා අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තා. තුවක්කු ගත්තා පිරිසට හානියක් කලේ නැහැ. මේ අය යන්නේ ග්‍රාම නිලධාරයාගේ ගෙදරට. එතන තමයි මෙහෙයුම් මධ්‍යස්ථානය. අපි ග්‍රාම නිලධාරියාගේ ගෙදරට ගියා. ග්‍රාමසේවක අපිව දැකලා බයවෙලා. අපි ග්‍රාම සේවකගේ තුවක්කුව අරගෙන යන්න හදන කොට ග්‍රාමසේවක අපිට අලූත් කමිස වගයක් දුන්නා. ග්‍රාම නිලධාරියාගේ සතුට ඉහවහ ගිහිල්ලා අපි එයාගේ ජීවිතයට හානියක් නොකරපු එකට.

අපි හැම සාමාජිකයාටම ගෝනි වලින් සැක් මහලා හදිසියකදි ආහාර, බේත්, වගේ දේවල්, පැක් කරා ඒක අපේ survival kit  එක. ඒ වගේ යම් ප්‍රහාරයක් උනොත් ඉදිරියට යන්න තහනම් කලින් දවසේ රෑ හිටපු තැනට එන්න ඕනේ.

අපේ සමහරක් සාමාජිකයන්ට වෙඩි වැදිලා මැරුණා. ඒ ගැන හරි දුකක් දැනෙනවා. සීප්පුකුලමේදී නාවික හමුදා වාහනයකින් අපිට වෙඩි තිබ්බා. අපි ප්‍රති ප්‍රහාර එල්ල කරලා පසු බැස්සා. මාවනවැවදී එල්. බී. සෙනවිරත්නට වෙඩි වැදුනා. ග්‍රාම ආරක්ෂකයන් අතින්. එල්. බී. ගේ බඩට වෙඩි වැදිලා තිබුනේ. තුවාල වෙලා දවසකට විතර පස්සේ එල්.බී. සෙනවිරත්න මැරුණා. කෝංවැව සමූපකාරය කඩන්න ගිය අවස්ථාවේදි අපි 25-30 විතර ගියා. පොලිසිය අපිට වට කරලා වෙඩි තිබ්බා. අපේ සාමාජිකයන් දෙන්නෙක් මැරුණා.

ඒ වාගේම වරක් විල්පත්තු යන්න හදපු වෙලාවෙත් ප්‍රහාරයකට මුහුණ දුන්නා කටියාවේ දී. අපි ගමන් කරන කොට ඉදිරියෙන්ම පස් දෙනෙක් යනවා වඩා ශක්තිමත් හා අත්දැකීම් තියන අය. මැද දුර්වල හා ලෙඩ්ඩු. පසුපස අත්දැකීම් සහිත අය. මේ විදියට තමයි ගමන් කරන්නේ. කටියාවේදී ඒ ක්‍රමය කැඩුනා. අපිට වෙඩි ප්‍රහාර එල්ල වෙන්න ගත්තා. වලගම්බාහුවල මෛත්‍රි හා දයාපාල මැරුණා. සුනිල් පියදාසගේ දණහිසටත් වෙඩි වැදුනා. මම මෛත්‍රි උස්සං ගියා. මෛත්‍රිගේ පපුවට උන්ඩය කා වැදිලා. මම මෛත්‍රිව සනසන්න කිව්වා බය වෙන්න එපා. අත පොඩ්ඩක් තුවාල වෙලා තියනවා. අපි අරං යන්නං කියලා. එතකොට මෛත්‍රි කිව්වා මගේ පපුව රිදෙන්නේ මොකෝ? ටික දුරක් යනකොට මෛත්‍රි කිව්වා මගේ සාක්කුවේ ලියුමකුයි සල්ලි වගයකුයි තියනවා. ඒක ගන්න කියලා. පපුවට වැදුණු වෙඩි පහරින් මෛත්‍රි මැරුණා.

සමහර වෙලාවට තනිවට පැලකට වැදිලා මේවා ගැන හිතන කොට ඇෙ~නවා. මට අකුරැස්ස පොලිසියට පහර දෙන්න ගිහිල්ලා මිය ගිය මගේ මල්ලි සරත් ගරුසිංහව එහෙමත් මතක් වෙනවා. ඒ වෙලාවට දරා ගන්න බැරි පාළුවක් සිතේ මෝදු වෙනවා.

අත්නිමට කාලවල මම තනිවම වගේ හිටියේ. ඒකනායක වරින් වර හමුවෙනවා. 1976 අගෝස්තු අග වෙනකොට මම ඒකනායක, කළු සිරා හුරුළු වැව පඩිකාරමඩුව නුවරඑළි කොළනියේ වැව් ඉස්මත්තේ හේන් පැල් වල හිටියා. මෙතෙන්ට එනවා හම්මිල්ලෑව පාසලේ ජයසිරි කියලා ගුරුවරයෙක් ඒකනායකගේ ඇඳුනුම්කමකට. ඒකනායක පඩිකාරමඩුවේ ගුරුවරයෙකු ලෙස සේවය කරන කොට පාසැලෙත් කට්ටි පැන්න කොල්ලෙක් තමයි ජයසිරි. ඒ කාලේ ජයසිරිට කිව්වේ ජානිස් නැත්තං ජානිසා.

ජානිස් හබරණ කඩවල ඉස්කෝලේ යන්නේ නැතුව ඉන්න කොට ඒකනායක මූව කනෙං ඇදගෙන ඇවිල්ලා ලඟ නතර කරවාගෙන ඉගැන්නුවා. ජානිස් එහෙම ඉගෙන ගන්න ගමන් එස්. එස්. සී. ත් පාස් කළා. ඒකනායක මැදිහත්වෙලා ජානිසාට ගුරු පත්වීමකුත් අරගෙන දුන්නා. පත්වීම ලැබුනේ හම්මිල්ලෑව පාසලට. ගුරුවරයෙකු වුනාම ජානිස් නම වෙනස් කළා ජයසිරි කියලා. ඒත් ගමේ අය මිනිහා නැති තැන කිව්වේ ජානිස් කියලා. මට මුලදි ඉඳම්ම ජානිස් ගැන සැකයි. ජානිස්ගේ ඉරියව් මට ඇල්ලූවේ නැහැ. 

ගමේ මිනිස්සුත් අපිට හරි හිතවත්. වරක පොලිසියෙන් අපිට දෙන්න කියලා පාන් පිටි එක්ක වස වගයක් දීලා තියනවා. ගමේ මිනිස්සු පාන් පිටි වෙනමයි වස වෙනමයි අපේ අතටම ගෙනත් දුන්නා. මට ජානිස් සැක උනත් ඒකනායක ජානිස්ව විශ්වාස කලා මගේ ගෝලයෙක් මූ මාව පාවලා දෙන්නේ නෑ කියලා.

මට මුලින්ම ජානිසා ගැන සැකය ආවේ ගොවියෙක් වගේ වෙස්වෙලාගෙන හමුදාකාරයා ආපු වෙලාවේ. ජානිස් වරක් ඒකනායකට අළුත් කමිසයක් තෑගි කරා. මේක නයිලෝන් වගේ රෙද්දකින් මහලා තිබ්බේ චොකලට් පාට එකක්. ඒ වාගේ කමිස ගම් පලාත්වල නැහැ. මේ කමිසය මගේ මතකේ තිබ්බා එදා ආපු හමුදාකාරයත් ඇඳගෙන හිටියේ මේ වගේ චොකලට් පාට කමිසයක්. මට සැකයක් ආවා හමුදාව හා පොලිසිය ජානිස්ව අල්ලගෙනවත් ද කියලා. මම ඒකනායකට මගේ සැකය කිව්වා ඒත් ඒකනායකට තමන්ගේ ගෝලයා විශ්වාසයි.

1976 ඔක්තෝම්බර් පළවනදා මම හුරුළුවැවට පඩිකාරමඩුව නුවරඑළි කොලනියේ අර්නෝලිස් කියන හේන් ගොවියාගේ පැල් කොටේ හාන්සි වෙලා හිටියා. ඒකනායක හිටියේ තව හේන් තුන හතරකට විතර දුර තියන පැලක. අපේ පැල තිබ්බේ වැව අද්දර. එදා කිරි බැබලෙන හඳපාන. මුළු කැලෑවම එළියයි. බල්ලෝ බුරන සද්දයක් ඇහුනා. අපේ ආරක්ෂාවට අපි වරින් වර බල්ලොත් ඇති කළා. බල්ලෝ බුරන නිසා මම පැල්කොටෙන් කර පොවලා එළිය බැලූවා. ගැමියෝ වගයක් අපේ පැල් දිහාට එනවා. මම හිතුවා වැවේ මාළු කොටන්න යන මිනිස්සු කියලා. ඒ පිරිස අපේ පැල්කොටේ පැත්තට හයියෙන් හයියෙන් එන්න ගත්තා. අපේ පැල බැඳලා තිබ්බේ රූස්ස ගහක. ඒ නිසා පහලින් එන ඕන කෙනෙක්ව පේනවා. මට තේරුණා මේ මාළු කොටන්න ආපු පිරිසක් නොවන වත්තිය. 

මම අවුරුදු ගානක් පුරා ලඟ තියාගෙන හිටපු ෂොට් ගන් එක අතට ගත්තා. අර්නොලිස් නිදි.  ගරුසිංහ යටත් වෙයං වටකලරා තියෙන්නේ  කියලා රළු කට හඞකින් කෙනෙක් කෑ ගැහුවා. ඒ එක්කම අහසට වෙඩි වැලක් තිබ්බා. මට තේරුණා මේ පිරිස එක්ක ෂොට් ගන් එකෙන් මුහුණ දෙන්න බැරි බව. මට ඒතතු ගියා මේක මගේ අවසානය බව. පොලිසිය මාව වටකරලා. අවුරුදු පහක් මාස අටක මගේ කැලේ ජීවිතයට විරාමයක් ගෙනල්ලා. දඩ බල්ලෝ වගේ පොලිසිය හමුදාව ආවත් මම ගත කලේ නිදහස් ජීවිතයක්. අද රැයෙන් ඒක හමාර උනා. මට මතක් උනා ඉලූක් හෙවත් ඉලූක්තැන්නේ පී.කේ. සේනාරත්න වරාය පොලිසියේ රඳවාගෙන ඉන්න කොට අඟ=රු කැටයකින් බිත්තියේ ලියූ වගන්තිය.  මෙය කෙලවර නොවේ මඟ සලකුනක් පමණි. 

මට තේරුණා තව දුරටත් සටන් කිරීමෙන් ඵලක් නොවන බව.  මෙය කෙලවර නොවේ මඟ සලකුනක් පමණී කියන පේලිය තොල් මතුරමින් මම අත් දෙක උස්සාගෙන නැගිට්ටා. එක කොස්තාපල් කෙනෙක් හිටියා හැඩි දැඩි. ඒ කොස්තාපල්ට කිව්වේ යකඩයා කියලා. මේ යකඩයා නොහොත් කරුණාපාල කොස්තාපල් ලණු ඉනිමඟ දිගේ අපේ පැලට නැග්ගා. අනික් අය වටේට මම දිහාට තුවක්කු මාන ගෙන. යකඩයා පී.සී. මගේ එක අතකට මාංචු දාලා එයාගේ අතට අනෙක් මාංචුව දැම්මා. ඒ කරලා කිනිස්සක් මගේ පපුවට තියලා කිව්වා  කළබල නොකර බැහැපං කියලා.

මම පැලෙන් බිමට බහින කොට අනුරාධපුර එච්. කිව්. අයි. නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා ලඟට ආවා. ඇවිත් කිව්වා  උඹ තමයි මේ ගරුසිංහ කියන්නේ නේද?  කියලා. මම කතා කලේ නැහැ. මම බිමට අඩිය තිබ්බ ගමන් උල්කාවක් පළාතම එළිය කරගෙන කඩාන වැටුනා. පොලිසියේ මහත්තයා හිතුවේ ඒක අපේ සාමාජිකයෙක් දීපු සංඥාවක් කියලා. මගෙන් ඇහුවා ඒක මොක්කද? මම කිව්වා සර්ලා ගහපු පැරා එකක් නැත්තං දේවතා එළියක්.

නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ මට ලං උනා.  ගරුසිංහ අපි තමුසෙට කිසිම හිංසාවක්? වදයක් දෙන්නේ නෑ අපිට ඒකනායක අල්ල ගන්න උදව් කලොත්. ඒකනායක හිටියේ 29 පැලේ මට අවශ්‍ය උනා ඒ දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා ප්‍රකෝප නොකර ඒකනායකව බේරගන්න. ඒ හිතලා මම කිව්වා මම ඒකනායක අල්ලා දෙන්නං හැබැයි අපිට කිසිම හිංසාවක් කරන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න එපා කියලා. දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා ඒකට එකඟ උනා.

මම කිව්වා ඒකනායක ඉන්නේ 53 න පැලේ කියලා. මට ඕන උනේ කට්ටිය ඈතට ගෙනියන්න අපි ඒකනායක හිටපු පැල ලඟින් යන කොට බල්ලෝ බුරන්න පටන් ගන්නවා. එතකොට ඒකනායකට කාලය තියනවා කැලෑවට වහංගු වෙන්න. මේ වෙලාවේ පොලිසිය අර්නෝලිස්වත් මම හිටපු පැලෙං බස්ස ගත්තා. මගේ තුවක්කුව පොත්පත් පැලේ. ඒවාට පොලිසිය සැලකිල්ලක් දැක්කුවේ නැහැ. අර්නෝලිස් මෝඩ පහේ මිනිහෙක්. මම බය උනා අර්නෝලිස්ගේ කටින් ඒකනායක ගැන යමක් කියවෙයිද කියලා.

මම කිව්වා ඒකනායක ඉන්න 53 න පැලට යන්නේ මෙතනින් කියලා. පරංගියා කොට්ටේ ගියා වගේ දුරින් යන පාරක් තියන අඩිපාරක් පෙන්නුවා. එතකොට අර්නෝලිසා කට දාපි.  53 ට මෙතනින් ලඟයි කියලා නියම පාර අර්නෝලිස් අතින් පෙන්නුවා.  දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයාට සැකයක් ආවා. ඒ පාර යකඩයාගේ අතේ තිබ්බ මාංචුව ගලවලා මාවයි අර්නෝලිසුයි එකට තියලා මාංචු ගැහුවා. යකඩයාට බලය දුන්නා අපි සැක හිතන යමක් කරොත් ඒකනායකට වෙඩි තියන්න. මම කකුලින් සද්ද කරන ගමං ඒකනායක හිටපු 29 පැල මඟහැරවලා 53 පැල ලඟට පිරිස ගෙන ගියා.

පස්සේ මට දැනගන්න ලැබුනා ඒකනායක අපිව දැකලා පැලෙන් පහලට බැහැලා හැංගුන බව. පොලිස් පිරිස 53 පැල ලඟට ඇවිල්ලා පැල් කොටේ උඩට වෙඩි තිබ්බා. පැලේ හිටියේ ගුනපාල කියන හේන් ගොවියා. ඒකනායක නැහැ. දෙල්ගොඩට තරහා ගිහිල්ලා මගේ යටි බඩට පයින් ගැහුවා. මම ඇදගෙන වැටුනා.

මම කිව්වා සර් ඒකනායක හිටියේ මෙතන සර්ලා සද්ද බද්ද කරගෙන එන කොට බල්ලෝ බිරුවා. ඔහොම ගිහිල්ලා ඒකනායකගේ වල්ගෙවත් අල්ල ගන්න බැරි වෙයි. ඒ පාර දෙල්ගොඩ නිහඞ උනා.

මේ අතර මම හුරතලයට හදපු මී මින්නා පැටියෙක් මගේ කකුලේ දැවටෙනවා. ඌ දන්නේ නැහැ මේ අපි එකට ඉන්න අන්තිම මොහොත බව. මීමින්නා මගේ පයේ දැවටෙන කොට දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයාට අනුකම්පාවක් ඉපදෙන්න ඇති. මට ඌව අතට ගන්න කිව්වා.

එතන හිටපු පී.සී. ජයසිංහ කියන කොස්තාපල් කිව්වා සර් ඉස්ෆොා්මන්ට් කියපු හැටියට ඒකනායක මේ පැල් වල එකක ඉන්නවා. අපි පැල් ඔක්කෝම සර්ච් කරමුද කියලා. දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා ඒකට වැඩි උනන්දුවක් පෙන්නුවේ නැහැ. ඒත් එවෙලාවේ බැලූවනං 29 පැලේ ඒකනායක ඉන්නත් තිබුනා. ඈතින් කෙනෙක් හිටියා අපි දිහා බලාගෙන. ඒ තමයි පී.සී. ජයසිංහගේ ඉන්ෆෝමන්ට්. මට තේරුනා එතන ඉන්නේ ජානිසා බව. ජානිස් ගැන මා තුල තිබ්බ සැකය හරි.

මාව අත්අඩංගුවට අරගෙන ඉක්මනට පොලිසියට ගෙනියන්න දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයාට අවශ්‍ය උනා. මාව අල්ලලා දවස් 5 ක් ඇතුලත. නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ ඒ.එස්.පී. ප්‍රමෝෂන් ලැබුනා. පීසිලා සාජන්ලා උනා. හැමෝටම රු 2500 ගානේ මුදල් තෑගි ඉන්ක්‍රීමන්ට් දෙක බැගින් දුන්නා.

මාවයි, අර්නෝලිස්වයි ගුණපාලගෙයි අත්වලට මාංචු දමලා ඇස් බැන්දා අපිව ජීප් එකේ දාගන හම්මිල්ලෑව ඉස්කෝලේ ලඟට ගෙනාවා. ඉස්කෝලේ ලඟදි වාහනය නතර කලා. කෙනෙක් වාහනෙන් බැස්සා. මට තේරුණා ඒ ජානිස බව. ජානිස් බැහැලා ගියහම අපේ ඇස් වැහිලා තියනවාද කියලවත් බලන්න පොලිසියට ඕන කලේ නැහැ. ජානිස් අපිව පාවලා දීලා රු. 45,000 තෑග්ග අරගෙන තියනවා. ඒත් 88/89 භීෂණ කාලේ ජානිසාව කනුවක බැඳලා වෙඩි තියලා තියනවා කටට සත 10 කාසියක් ඔබලා. ඒත් එකේ අනෙක් පැත්ත ජානිස් මරන්න නියෝග දුන්න අයම 88/89 මාවත් මරන්න නියෝග දීම. 

ඒ කොහොම වෙතත් අපිව හබරණ හන්දියට ගෙනාවා පොලිසියේ අය. තේ බිව්වා. මටත් තේ දුන්නා. මාංචු නිසා මට රාලහාමි කෙනෙක් බනිස් හා ආනමාලූ කවලා තේ එක පෙව්වා.

මට ඕන කලා අර්නෝලිස්ව ගුණපාලවයි බේරන්න. මම කිව්වා සර් මේ අය අහිංසකයි අපිට උදවු කලේ අපි කවුද කියලා දන්නේ නැතිව මේ අයට යන්න දෙන්න කියලා. ඒත් ඒ අයවත් රඳවාගෙන හිටියා. හබරණ ඉඳං අපිව කෙලින්ම අනුරාධපුර එස්.පී. නිල නිවසට ගෙනිච්චා.

නිල නිවාසේ ලඟ වාහනෙන් බැහැපු නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා යුනිෆෝම් එක හදාගෙන එස්.පී. බංගලාවට ගියා. ටික වෙලාවකින් අනුරාධපුර එස්.පී. වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා එලියට පැමිණියා. ගරුසිංහව පණපිටින් අරං එයි කියලා මම හිතුවේ නැහැ ගුඩ් ජොබ් කියලා දෙල්ගොඩට ප්‍රශංසා කලා.

එතකොට දෙල්ගොඩ කිව්වා මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න කොට උල්කාවක් කඩා වැටීම පිළිබඳව. එස්.පී. වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා මගේ අල්ල බැලූවා. ඒ බලලා කිව්වා කාටවත් තමාව මරන්න බැහැ. ඊට පස්සේ අපිව අනුරාධපුර පොලිසියට ගෙනිච්චා. මාව එක කූඩුවකටයි ගුණපාලයි අර්නෝලිස්වයි වෙන කූඩුවකටයි දැම්මා. අපි කූඩුවල පැයක් හමාරක් ඉන්න කොට මාව එලියට අරගෙන විශාල ශාලාවකට ගෙන ගියා. ඒ ශාලාවේ පොලිසියේ හමුදාවේ උසස් නිලධාරින් 30 විතර වාඩිවෙලා. හැමෝම කුතුහලයෙන් මා දිහා බලනවා. ගරුසිංහ අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්ත කියලා ඒ අයට විශ්වාස කරන්නත් අමාරුයි. එතන කොබ්බෑකඩුව මහත්තයත් හිටියා වගේ මතකයි.

ඒ කාමරේ ප්‍රධාන මේසේ වාඩිවෙලා හිටියේ වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ අනුරාධපුර එස්.පී.  මේසේ පුවරුවක ලියලා තියනවා නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ කියලා. මගෙන් ඇහුවා තමා දන්නවද මම කවුද කියලා? මම කිව්වා නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා. මම එහෙම කිව්වම හොහ් හොහ් ගාලා හිනා උනා. ඒ තමයි තමා අත් අඩංගුවට ගත්ත කෙනා. මම ඊගාවට කිව්වා වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා? එයා අහපි කොහොමද දන්නේ. මම අහලා තියනවා රේඩියෝ එකෙන් පත්තරෙන් පසුගිය කාලේ හම්බන්තොට ගංජා සංහාරය කරපු වීරයෙක් කියලා මම කිව්වා.

වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයාට දැන ගන්න ඕන කලා මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්න කොට මම හිටපු ස්ථානය. එතන බිත්තියේ ගහලා තිබ්බා අඟලේ සිතියමක් මම හිටපු තැන පෙන්වන්න කිව්වා මම විනාඩියකටත් අඩු කාලයකදි මාව අත්අඩංගුවට පත් වුනු ප්‍රදේශය සිතියමේ නියමාකාරයෙන් පෙන්නුවා.

වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයාගේ ඇස් උඩ ගියා හැමෝටම ඇහෙන්න කිව්වා ගුඩ් මැප් රීඩර් කියලා. ඊගාවට මම දිහා බලලා ඇහුවා ඇයි බාර නූනේ? මම උත්තර දුන්නා. බාර වීම නිවට කමක්, අපට අවශ්‍ය උනේ පසු බැස ප්‍රති සංවිධානය වෙන්න.

එතකොට එස්.පී. වෝල්ටර් මහත්තයා කියනවා ඔබ තමයි අපි අල්ලගත්ත වැදගත්ම කෙනා. හිටපු කැරලිකරුවන්ගෙන් අපට උදවු කරපු අය ගැන කියනවාද? 

මම ප්‍රති උත්තර දුන්නා මට උදවු කරපු අය පාවලා දෙන්නෑ. ඒක මනුස්සකම. එතකොට එතන හිටියා අයි.පී. ඒකනායක කියලා නිලධාරියෙක් එයා කිව්වා කයිවාරු කාරයෝ කථා කරවන හැටි අපි දන්නවා?

අනුරාධපුර පොලිස් අධිකාාරි වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මගෙන් අන්තිමට ඇහුවා තමා පැනලා යනවාද? මම මොහොතක් ඇස් දෙක දිහ බලලා කිව්වා අවස්ථාව ලැබුනොත්. ඒක කරනවා හිරගෙදර මෙන්න මේ මහත්තයා ලඟට ගියාම. (මට ඇඟිල්ලෙන් අනුරාධපුර බන්ධනාගාරයේ එස්.පී. ව පෙන්නුවා) මම තමාව මට නීත්‍යුනුකූලව ලඟ තබා ගන්න පුළුවන් උපරිම කාලය මෙහේ තියා ගන්නවා නඩු කට උත්තර ඒවා උසාවි එක්ක. කවුරුහරි සැකකාරයාට පහර දුන්නොත් ඉන්ටඩික් කරනවා හැබැයි පැනලා යන්න උත්සාහ කරන තෙක් එස්.පී. වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා හැබැයි පැනලා යන්න උතසාහ කරන තෙක් කියන පදය දෙපාරක්ම කිව්වා. ඉන් පසුව නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ දිහා බලලා කිව්වා කවුරු හරි මිනිහට අත තිබ්බොත් ඉන්ටඩික්.

නලින් දෙල්ගොඩ මහත්තයා සැලූට් එකක් ගහලා නියෝගය පිලිගත්තා. වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා මගෙන් ඇහුවා බඩගිනිද කියලා. එතකොට දෙල්ගොඩ කිව්වා මට ආනමාළු. බනිස් දුන්න බව. මට තේ එකක් ගේන්න කිව්වා. ටේ්‍ර එකක තියාගෙන තේ එකක් පියන් කෙනෙක් ගෙනාවා.

මාව පොලිසියේ දවස් 20 තියාගත්තා. හැමදාම රෑට වෝල්ටර් ලියනගේ මහත්තයා මාව බලන්න එනවා.. කිසි කෙනෙක් මට පහර දුන්නේ නැහැ. අපිට කෑමට දුන්නේ ආහාර පොඩි ප්‍රමානයක් අපිට ඒවා මදි. මම දවස් 3 කෑවේ නෑ. මගේ කෑම අර්නෝලිස්ටයි ගුණපාලටයි දුන්නා. මේක දැක්ක පී.සී. කෙනෙක් පොලිස් මෙස් එකේ උයපු බත් එකක් රෑ ගෙනල්ලා මට දුන්නා. මේ පී.සී. මාව අල්ලන්න එදා මගේ පැලට ආපු කෙනෙක්.

මට බත් එක දෙනවා සාජන් කෙනෙක් දැකලා පැමිණිළි කළා. ඒ. එස්. පී. චන්ද්‍රා මෙන්ඩිස් උදේ මේ ගැන විභාග කළා. මගෙන් ඇහුවා කවුද තමාට බත් ගෙනාවේ? මම බත් ගෙනාව පී. සී ව පාවලා දුන්නේ නැහැ. මේ සිද්ධියෙන් පස්සේ පොලිස් පොඩ්ඩෝ මාත් එකක් යාළු උනා.

මගෙන් කට උත්තර ගන්න කොළඹින් සී.අයි.ඩී. නිලධාරින් ආවා. එතන හිටියා අයි.පී. අළුවිහාරේ. මගෙන් ප්‍රශ්න කරන කොට අයි.පී. ඒකනායක මූ එස්.පී. මහත්තයත් රැවැට්ටුවා කියලා මට පයින් ගැහුවා. මම ඒ පහර කට් කරලා යලි පහර දුන්නොත් පහරට පාර දෙන්න සුදානමෙන් හිටියා. තොට කොළඹ ගෙනිහිල්ලා දෙන්නං අයි.පී. ඒකනායක ගෙරෙව්වා. සී.අයි.ඩී. නිලධාරින් මගෙන් කට උත්තර ගන්නවා. රළු විදිහට ප්‍රශ්න කරන්නේ මම තෝරලා බේරලා උත්තර දෙනවා. මූව කොළඹ ගෙනිහිල්ලා මහන කරමු ඒ නිලධාරි කථා වෙනවා. 

මට කට උත්තරේ අත්සන් කරන්න කිව්වා. මම අත්සන් කරන එක ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළා. මම කිව්වා මේක තියෙන්නේ ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන්. මට තේරෙන්නේ නෑ නොතේරෙන ලියවිල්ලකට අත්සන් කරන්නේ කොහොමද? අයි.පී. අළුවිහාරෙට තරහා ගියා. තමා කිහිප තැනකදිම ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් කථා කල බව අපි දන්නවා. වහාම අත්සන් කරනවා කියලා නියෝග කලා. මම යලිත් කිව්වා මම නොදන්නා භාෂාවකින් තියන ලියවිල්ලකට මම අත්සන් කරන්නේ නැහැ.

තරහා ගිය අයි.පී. අළුවිහාරේ කියනවා මුං එක්ක Psychological warfare

මේ කාලයේ පේරාදෙනිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ වීරසුරිය ශිෂ්‍යාගේ මරණය පොලිස් වෙඩි පහරකින් වෙලා අනුරාධපුර පොලිසිය ලඟ පෙලපාලි මේ කලබල නිසා මාව කොලඹ ගෙනල්ලා මැගසින් බන්ධනාගාරේ රිමාන්ඩ් කලා.

මාව සී.අයි.ඩී. එකේ 4 තට්ටුවට ගෙනගිහිල්ලා විජේවීර ගේ පාපොච්චාරනය අඩංගු ටේප් එක වාදනය කලා. ඒකේ තැනක අහනවා පොලිස් නිලධාරියෙක්, ති්‍රකුණාමලයේ දිසා ලේකම් කවුද? විජේවීර  පිලිතුරු දෙනවා ගරුසිංහ වෙන්න ඕනේ. ඊට පස්සේ මම ගැන තොරතුරු කියනවා.

මැගසින් බන්ධනාගාරයේදි මාව දැකපු උයන්ගොඩ, බෝපගේ මාව වැළඳගත්තා. විජේවීර  නොදැක්කා වගේ ගියා.

දැන් 1977 වසරත් ලබලා නඩු ගොඩක් අයගේ ඉවරයි. මගේ නඩුව නීතිඥ රංබන්ඩා සෙනෙවිරත්න භාර ගත්තා. 

මහ මැතිවරණයේ දී  යූ.එන්.පී. ආණ්ඩුව බලයට පත් උනා. මගේ නඩුව කල් යනවා. මගේ නීතිඥයා නඩුව අහන්නෙ නැත්තං ඇප දෙන්න කියලා මෝසමක් දැම්මා. අවසානයේදි නීතිපති මට විරුධව තිබූ නඩු ඉල්ලා අස් කර ගත්තා. 1977 දෙසැම්බර් වල මාව නිදහස් කල බව දැනුම් දුන්නා. 

මම නිදහස් කරන දවසේ මම ඉල්ලීමක් කරා සෙසු සිරකාරයන්ගෙන් සමුගන්න ඉඩ දෙන්න කියලා. මාව ඇඩ්ඩිං කියන ෙජ්ලර් මහත්තයා එක්ක හිර ගෙදර වටේ යැව්වා පිරිසගෙන් සමු ගන්න. මට විජේවීර ගෙන් සමු ගන්න ගියාම විජේවීර  මාත් එක්ක කථා නැතුව අනෙක් පැත්ත හැරිලා නිදා ගත්තා.

 ඔයා ඉස්සරහ එයාට අවදි වෙන්න බැහැ.  ඇඩ්ඩිං ෙජ්ලර් විහිළුවෙං මගේ කනට කරලා කිව්වා.

මම පිරිසගෙන් සමු අරගෙන සිරගෙයින් නිදහස් ලෝකෙට ආවා. කැරැල්ල කැළෑව, සිරගෙදර. මේ ලෝක තුනේ ගත කරපු කාලය අවසන්. මම එතකං නීතිඥ රන්බන්ඩා සෙනවිරත්න ගුණදාස කපුගේ එක්ක බොරැල්ල වයි.එම්.බී.ඒ එකේ හිටියා. අපි ගියා තේ බොන්න.

මම රන්බන්ඩා සෙනවිරත්න ගුණදාස කපුගේ අපි බොරැල්ල උපවංශ හෝටලෙන් තේ බිව්වා. නිතිඥ රන්බන්ඩා සෙනවිරත්න මට කිව්වා සුමානයක් නිවාඩු අරගෙන ඉන් පසු වහාම වැඩට වාර්තා කරන්න ත්‍රිකුණාමල මහා විද්‍යාලයට යන්නෙයි කියලා. මම එකඟ උනා.

1978 ජනවාරි මාසේ මම මගේ පරණ ඉස්කෝලේ ත්‍රිකුණාමල මහා විද්‍යාලයට ගියා. 1971 අප්‍රේල් මම පාසලෙන් ගිහිල්ලා 1978 ජනවාරි යලි එනවා. අවුරුදු ගානකට පස්සේ ශිෂ්ඨාචාරය එක්ක ගනුදෙනු කරන්න කාලය ඇවිත්. පාසල වෙනස් වෙලා අළුතින් ගොඩනැගිලි ඇවිදින්.

1971 කාලේ මාත් එක්ක ඒ පාසලේ ගුරුමන්ඩලේ හිටපු හේවාවිතාරණ තමයි දැන් විදුහල්පති. මගේ ගෝලයෙක් වෙලා හිටපු නවින් චන්ද්‍ර දැන් ගුරුවරයෙක්. මම ඉස්කෝලෙට ගිය දවසේ කට්ටිය මාව සාදරයෙන් පිලිගත්තා. ඒ කාලේ විද්‍යාගාරේ විද්‍යාගාර සහායක මෙරිල්. මෙරිල් මට ලැබ් එකට කථා කරලා ෆයිල් එකක් දුන්නා.

ඒ පයිල් එකේ මට ආපු රාජකාරි ලිපි සියල්ලම මෙරිල් අරන් තියලා. සර් කවදා හරි මුණගැහෙනකං මම මේ ලිපි ආරක්ෂා කරගෙන හිටියා. මෙරිල් කිව්වා. මට මෙරිල් ගැන ලොකු සෙනෙහසක් දැනුනා. ඒ ලියුම් මට විශ්‍රාම යන තෙක් උපකාර උනා මගේ රාජකාරි වැඩ වලට.

1982 දි මම බැන්දා. අපිට ළමයි 3 ලැබුනා. මම නොයෙකුත් පාසල් වල සේවය කළා. සමහර පාසල් වල අය මම චේගුවේරා කාරයා ත්‍රස්තවාදියා කියන ලේබලය අලවලා මගේ පිටිපස්සට කසු කුසු ගෑවා. ඒත් ඒවාට මම සැලූනේ නැහැ. කැලේ ජීවිතය පොලිස් සී.අයි.ඩී. ප්‍රශ්න කිරීම් හමුවේ අභියෝග වලට මුහුණ දුන්න මට හැංගිලා ගල් කැට විසිකරපු නිවටයන් වචනයකින්වත් අභියෝගයක් උනේ නැහැ. වැඩි පිරිසක් මගේ අත්දැකීම් වලට සැලකිල්ලක් ගරුත්වයක් දැක්වූවා.

1988/89 භිෂණ කාලේදි මට යලිත් ප්‍රශ්න ආවා. 88/89 භිෂණයේදි දේශප්‍රේමී කියාගන්න තුවක්කුකරුවන් මගේ පස්සෙන් ආවා. අනෙක් පසින් පොලිසිය මාව  දෙවන කැරැල්ලට සැක කරලා සිර කරන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා. පොලිසියෙන් මාව අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන මාතර පොලිසියේ රඳවලා තිබ්බා. මම මාතර පොලිස් කූඩුවේ ඉන්නකොට සාජන් බැද්දගේ ආවා. මෙයා මගේ 1971 මිස් වෙච්ච ටාගට් එකක් කිව්වා. 

මට මතකයි 1971 දි සාජන් බැද්දගේ පී.සී කෙනෙක්. 88 වෙන කොට යන්න ප්‍රළුවන් උනේ සාජන් දක්වා පමණයි. ඒත් මිනිහා කථා කලේ අති දක්ෂ පොලිස් නිලධාරියකුගේ විලාශයෙන්.

මාව උසාවියට ඉදිරිපත් කරලා චෝදනා නැති නිසා මහේත්‍රාස්ගේ අත්සනින් නිදහස් කරන්න නියෝගයක් දී තිබුනත් මාව රඳවගෙන හිටියා. සමහර විට අතුරුදහන් කරන්න වෙන්න ඇති. ඒ අවස්ථාවේදි විජය කුමාරතුංග ඒ වගේම මහින්ද විජේසේකර , හඞ නගලා තමයි මාව නිදහස් කර ගත්තේ. මම විජය කුමාරතුංග, දේවබන්ඩාර සේනාරත්න එක්ක දේශපාලනය කරා යලිත් ආයුධ අතට ගන්න දේශපාලනයක් අවශ්‍ය උනේ නැහැ.

දේවාට වෙඩි තියන කොට මම ඒ අසලත් හිටියා. ඝාතන දේශපාලන සංස්කෘතිය නිසා අපට ඉතා යහපත් මිනිසුන් රැසක් අහිමි උනා. මාව 1988 දි අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම පිලිබඳ මම මානව හිමිකම් නඩුවක් පැවරුවා. මට හිතෙන්නේ ඒ කාලේ දාපු ප්‍රථම 88 සිද්ධින් සම්බන්ධ මානව හිමිකම් නඩුව වෙන්න ඇති. නඩුව කරේ මගේ පැරණි දේශපාලන ගුරුවරයා නීතිඥ කල්යානන්ද තිරනාගමයි. 

විශ්‍රාම ගැනීමෙන් පස්සේ මම දැන් පොත පත කියවනවා. අතීත සිද්ධීන් ස්මරනය කරනවා. මෑතකදී මම විදුහල්පතිවරු කණ්ඩායමක් එක්ක රිටිගල ප්‍රදේශයේ චාරිකාවක නිරත උනා. මම කැලේ ඉන්න කොට හිටපු තැන් මට යළි දැක ගන්න ලැබුනා. 

මාව අත්අඩංගුවට පත් වෙලා මාසයකින් විතර ඒකනායකත් අත්අඩංගුවට පත් උනා. දැන් ඒකනායක විශ්‍රාමික ගුරුවරයෙක්. අපි ඉදහිට හමු වෙනවා දුරකථනයෙන්. කථා කරනවා. පැරණි මිත්‍රත්වය තාම තියනවා.

අපේ සමහරු 1971 වැරදි වලින් ඉගෙන ගත්තේ නැහැ. 71 අත්දැකීම සැඟවීමේ ශාපය තමයි 88දි මතු උනේ. 71 වැරදි වලින් පාඩම් ඉගෙන නොගත් නිසා දේශපාලනමය, සදාචාරමය මෙන්ම හැම අතින්ම විනාශකාරි වූ කැරැල්ලක් තමයි 88 දී  මතු උනේ. යළිත් මෙවැනි විනාශ අයේ සමාාජයේ විය යුතු නැහැ.

(වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංගගේ 71 කැරැල්ල ආරම්භයේ සිට අවසානය දක්වා පුර්ණ සමාලෝචනයක් කෘතිය ඇසුරෙනි)

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලෙයේ විසිහත් වන සැසිවාර යේදී මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්වරයා විසින් සිදු කළ වාචික කරුණු දැක්වීමේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යුධ අපරාධ කර ඇති බව උලුප්පා දක්වා ඇත.එම කරුණු දැක්වීම අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය සහ ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය එක්ව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව යෝජනාවක් ඉදිරිපත් කර සම්මත කළහ. එහිදී සංහිඳියාව සහ වගවීම ප්‍රවර්ධනයට කිරීමට එකඟ විය යුතු බවද දෙමුහුන් අධිකරණයක් ස්ථාපිත කළ යුතු බවද ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩු ක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 13 වන සංශෝධනය සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ක්‍රියත්මක කිරීමට මෙන්ම එය ඉක්මවා යන බලය බෙදීමකට එකඟ විය යුතු බවටද එහිදී ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත. මෙම කාරණා යලි යලිත් මතක් කරමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට බලපෑම් කරමින් ඇත.එයට හේතුව මානව හිමිකම් නියෝජිතයන්ට මෙම මානව හිමිකම් කටයුතු සඳහා අත පෙවීමට ඉඩදීමේ රජයේ එකඟතාවයයි. එසේම මහජන ආරක්ෂක පණත සංශෝධනය කරමින් ත්‍රස්තවාදය වැලැක්වීමේ පනත අහෝසි කළ යුතුය යන බලපෑමද කොට ඇත. ඒ තත්ත්වය තුළ 2015 වසරේ සිට ගත වුණු කාල වකවානුවේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය අතුරුදහන් වූවන් සඳහා වූ පනතක් සම්මත කර ඇත. එසේම සංහිඳියාව සහ වගවීම පිනිස ලංකාවේ නීති රිති අධ්‍යාපනය ආදී ක්ෂේත්‍රයන්හි ව්‍යුහාත්මකවෙනස් කම් රාශියක් කරමින් තිබේ.මෑතකදී බෙන් එමර්සන් මහතා ලංකාවට පැමිණ ඉහතකී තීන්දු තීරණ ගැනීමේ ප්‍රමාදයන් ගැන තර්ජනාත්මකව විමසා තිබේ. මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස් තුමනි.ඔබට ලැබී තිබුණු සාක්ෂි පට්ටපල් බොරු යයි වෙනත් වාර්තා වලින් ඔප්පු වී තිබියදීත් මෙලෙස ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍යයකට බලපෑම් කිරීම සහ තර්ජනාත්මකව සැලකීම කුමන අන්දමේ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික කටයුත්තක් දැයි විමසමි.බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය මෙන්ම ඇමරිකාවද මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝණය කරන කල්හි නිශ්ශබ්දව සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කෙරෙහි පමණක් ඇඟිල්ල දිගු කරන්නේ දෙමළ ගෝලීය සංසදයෙන් ඔබට යහමින් මුදල් ගෙවා ඇති නිසා නොවේද.

වර්තමානයේ මානව හිමිකම් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය 1815 වසරේ දී ගිවිසුමකින් ලංකාව භාරගත් පසු මෙරටදී කරන ලද යුධ අපරාධ රාශියක් තිබෙන බව මේ මොහොතේ දී මතක් කර සිටිමි. සිංහල ජනතාව සහ රදළවරු මූලික කරගෙන 1817 දී ඇතිවූ විමුක්ති අරගලයේදී සහ 1848 ඇති වූ මාතලේ නිදහස් අරගලයේදී ලංකාවේ සිංහල ජනතාවට අරභයා විශාල වශයෙන්  යුධ අපරාධ සිදු කිරීමට බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය හමුදාව කටයුතු කර ඇත.1817 විමුක්ති අරගලයට මේ වන විට වසර දෙසීයක් සපීරී තිබේ. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය සොල්දාදුවන් සහ නිළධාරීන් සිංහල පිරිමින් සහ කුඩා දරුවන් අමානුෂික ලෙස ඝාතනය කළ ආකාරය පිළිබඳ වාර්තා රාශියක් ඇත. එසේම සිංහල ජනතාවගේ වතු පිටි කුඹුරු ගිනිතබා විනාශ කරමින් ගවයන් ඝාතනය කොට ළිං වලට එම මළ කුණු ඇද දමා දුර්භික්ෂයක් ඇති කර නිහීන ලෙස අරගලය පරාජය කළ හැටි පෙන්වා දිය හැකිය.එසේම මෙම අරගලයට නායකත්වය දුන් රදළයන් රාජ ද්‍රොහීන් ලෙසට නම් කර රටින් පිටිවහල් කරන ලදී. ඔවුන් ගේ දරුවන්ට හිමි විය යුතු වරප්‍රසාද පවා අහිමි කරන ලදී.අදටත් මාතලේ මහනුවර පමණක් නොව නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ පවා ප්‍ර වේනි ඉඩ කඩම් වල උරුමය තහවුරු කරගනු බැරිව සිංහල පැරණි පරම්පරා දුර්වලව සිටී.

අප මුතුන් මිත්තන් මහා බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රජුට රට භාර දුන්නේ මෙවැනි අපරාධ කරන්නට නොවේ. පෙර සිරිත අනුව රට පාලනය කරන්නටයි. එම ගිවිසුම ද උල්ලංඝණය කරමින් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යටත් විජිත ආණ්ඩුව 1948 තෙක් අඛණ්ඩව රට පාලනය කර ඇත. ඉන්පසු රට ස්වදේශිකයන් අතට භාර දුන්නද මහ රැජිනගේ බලපෑමෙන් මිදෙන්නට ඉඩ නුදුන්හ. උතුරු සහ නැගනහිර ප්‍ර දේශ 1766 ට පෙර සිංහල රජුන් යටතේ පාලනය වූ පළාත් ය. එම ප්‍ර දේශ වල සිංහල ජනතාව විශාල වශයෙන් ජීවත්ව සිට ඇත. නමුත් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යන් බලයට පත් වූ පසු මලබාරයෙන් ගෙන්වූ වහලුන් එම ප්‍ර දේශ වල පදිංචි කරමින් රටේ දේශපාලන අස්ථාවරත්වයක් ඇති කර තිබේ. දැන් එම මලබාරයන් ගෙන් පැවතෙන මෑත පුරපුරේ දේශ පාලනඥයන් ලක් රජයෙන් සවයං පාලනයක් ඉල්ලවති. එහිදී ඇති වූ සිවිල් අරගලයේදී හමුදාව යොදවා එය පාලනය කර ත්‍රස්තවාය පරාජය කරන් ලද්දේ රටේ සාමය සහ නීතිය ආරක්ෂ කර ගැනීමටයි. එහිදී ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවේ නිළධාරීන් දිවි පරදුවට තබා ත්‍රස්තවාදය පාලනයට රජයට සහාය දැක්වූයේ රජයේ අණ පරිදිය.රටේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කිරීම ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවක වගකීමයි. එම නිසා එම ක්‍රියාන්විතයේ යෙදී සිටි සියලුම හමුදා නිළධාරීන්ට විශේෂ මුක්තියක් හිමි විය යුතුය.මහා විජයබාහු රජු ගේ පනාකඩුව තඹ සන්නසේ සඳහන් පරිදි  පෙර රජ දවස  රජු වෙනුවෙන් කළ සේවයට ලබා දුන් විශේෂ මුක්තිය  මගින් හෙළි කරනුයේද එවැනි වරප්‍රසාදයක් හමුදාවට හිමි විය යුතු බවයි..

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යන් සහ ලන්දේසීන් විසින් පදිංචි කරනු ලැබූ මලබාර් වහලුන් ගෙන් පැවත එන කිසිවකුට රටේ පවතින බලය දුර්බල කොට සවයං පාලනයක් දීමේ අවශ්‍යතාවයක් නැත. වර්තමානයේ රටේ ජීවත් වන සිංහල දෙමල මුස්ලිම් ජනතාව සියල්ලම රට වැසියන් ලෙසට සැලකුවහොත් ඔවුන් ගේ එදිනෙදා වැඩ කටයුතු පහසු කර ගැනීමටත් දේශපලන වැඩ කටයුතු වල යෙදීමටත් තිබෙන නිදහස උපරිමයෙන් පවතින බව කිව යුතුයි. 1815 දී බ්‍රිතන්‍ය න් ට රට භාර දෙන කල්හි රටේ දේශපාලන බලය මැනවින් ශක්තිමත්ව තිබුණි. රජු රටේ භාරකරු විය. නමුත් ගම් මට්ටමින් පැවති ගම් සභාව සහ පළාත් මට්ටමින් පැවති රට සභාව ආදී තැන් වල ජනතාවගේ වැඩ කටයුතු කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය බලයක් ප්‍රදානය කර තිබුණි. නමුත් සියල්ලන්ම රජුට යටත්ව එම රාජ කාරි ඉටු කළහ. බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයන් රට භාරගත් මුල් කාල වකවානුවේදී 1833 න්  පසු මෙම රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කරන ලද්දේ විය. ඉන්පසු රටේ පරිපාලනය බිඳි වැටුණ අතර මහ ගංවතුර සමයන්හිදී වාරිමාර්ග  බොහොමයක් කැඩී බිඳි ගියහ. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ජාතිකයන්ට තමන් කළ වැරැද්ද තේරුම් ගියේ එවිටයි. ඉන් පසු ඔවුහු ක්‍රමයෙන් රටේ සංස්කෘතිය තෙරුම් ගනිමින් ගම්බද පරිපාලන ක්‍රම ශක්තිමත් කළහ.එහි පළමු පියවර වූයේ 1871 ගම් කාර්ය සභා පණතයි. ඉන්පසු 1920 දක්වා මෙම පණත් සංශෝධනය මගින් ගම් සභාවලට යලි බලය පවරමින් බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ආණ්ඩුව නීති රීති සකස් කළහ.

1916 දී බස්නාහිර පළාත් ඒජන්ත වරයා වූ ජේ.බී. ප්‍රෙෂර් මහතාගේ මූලිකත්වයෙන් පළාත් පාලන ක්ෂේත්‍රය පිළිබඳ කරුණු සොයා බැලීමට කොමිසමක් පත් කර ඇත. මෙහි වාර්තාව 1918 දී පිටවිය. මෙම වාර්තාව පදනම් කරගත් රජය 1920 අංක 11 දරණ පළාත් පාලන ආඥා පනත සහ 1924 අංක 9 දරණ ගම්කාර්ය සභා ආඥා පනත් දෙක සම්මත කර ගෙන ඇත.1924 පනතින් විශේෂ වෙනස්කම් දෙකක් මූලිකව ඇති කරන ලදී. ඒ නම් මෙතෙක් නිල බලයෙන් ගම් කාර්ය සභාවල මූලිකත්වය ගෙන කටයුතු කළ ගම් මුලෑදෑනීන් ඉන් ඉවත් කිරීමයි. අනෙක නම් අතුරු ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදනය ට හැකි වන පරිදි ගම් කාර්ය සභාවේ බලතල පුළුල් කිරීමයි.1927 දී පත් කරනු ලැබූ ඩොනමෝර් කොමිසම මගින් ලංකාවේ පළාත් පාලනය පිළිබඳ පුළුල් අදහස් විමසා වාර්තාවක් සකස් කළහ. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන්  1932 සහ 1933 පනත් මගින් ගම් සභිකයන් පත් කිරීම ඇති කරන ලදී.මෙහි උච්චතම අවස්ථාව නම් 1938 අංක 60 දරණ ගම් කාර්ය සභා ආඥා පනතයි. මේ මගින් පළත් පාලන ආයතන තව දුරටත් පුළුල් කරන ලදී. මේ යටතේ සෑම ගම් කාර්ය සභාවත්ම පොදු දේපළ තබා ගැනීම පොදු මුද්‍රාවත් තබා ගැනීම බදු අය කිරීම සහ  ව්‍යවස්ථා පැනවිය හැකි නීතිගත සංස්ථාවක් බවට පත් වීම සිදු විය.

1946 අංක 53 පනත මගින් මෙතෙක් ගම්සභා සහ නගර සභා සඳහා වූ මැතිවරණ නීතිය වෙනස් කොට සියලුම පළාත් පාලන ආයතන මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස්වරයා යටට පත් කරන ලදී.එසේම 1945 අංක 43 පනත මගින් සියලුම පළාත් පාලන සේවකයන් පළාත්පාලන සේවා කොමිසම යටතට පත් කර ඇත. 1955 දී රජය විසින් පත් කරන ලද චොක්සි කොමිසම මගින් පළාත් පාලන ආයතන වල ස්වයං පාලන හැකියාව විමර්ශනය කොට යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබේ. මේ නිසා 1971 අංක 48 දරණ පනතින් ආදායම් එකතු කිරීමේ වගකීම ද 1977 අංක 24 දරන පනතින් පළාත් පාලන ආයතන ප්‍රධානීන්ට අයවැය අනුමැතිය දී සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද බලතල පවරා ඇත. ඒ අතින් බලන කල්හි පූර්ණ බලතල බෙදීමක් මෙම සභා හරහා සිදුවී ඇති බව පැහැදිලි වෙයි. නමුත් 1977 කාලයේදී කොටි ත්‍රස්වාදීන් විසින් දියත් කළ රට බෙදීමේ ඊලාම් සටන නිසා බිය පත් වූ රජය 1980 අංක 35 දරන පනතින් දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන සභාවන් පිහිටුවීමට තීරණය කළහ. ඒ එකළ විපක්ෂ නායකායාව සිටි ඒ .අමිර්තලිංගම් සැනසීමටයි.රජය ගත් මෙම අදූරදර්ශී තීරණය නිසා ගම්සභා සහ සුලු නගර සභා සියල්ල අහෝසි විය.1980 ජූන 30 වන විට ගම්සභා 547 ක් සහ සුලු නගර සභා 83 ක් පවත්වාගෙන පැමිණ ඇත.දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන සභා ඇති කිරීම නිසා ග්‍රාමීය ජනතාවට ඉතාමත් සමීපව කටයුතු කරල ආයතනයන් අහෝසි විය.එම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ  කරන ලද්දේ පැවති එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ රජයයි. ඒ වෙනුවට දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන සභාවලට අමාත්‍යංශ 11කට අදාල විෂයයන් 15 ක් පවරනු ලැබූහ. පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වරුන්ද මෙම සභා වල අසුන් ගෙන කටයුතු කළහ.එයින් සිදු වූයේ ජනතාවට බලය යෑම නොව දේශපාලන නායකයන් හට බලය ලැබීමයි. එහිදී ගමේ ඇති නියෝජන අඩුව සම්පූර්ණ කරලීමට 1981 දී ග්‍රාමෝදය මණ්ඩල පිහිටුවනු ලැබූහ.නමුත් මේ කිසිවකින් ගම් මට්ටමේ ප්‍රශ්ණ විසඳීම පහසු නොවීය.ඒවා අවසානයේ දූෂිත ආයතන බවට පත් විය.පසුව ඉන්දීය රජයේ බලපෑමෙන් ඇති කළ පළතා සභා නිසා මෙම දූෂීත භාවය දෙතුණ තෙගුණ විය. බලය දේශපාඥයන්ට හුවමාරු වීමෙන් ඇති වූ දුර්භාග්‍ය අද මුළු රටම වෙලා ගෙන ඇත.

1987 දී නැවත උප දිසාපති කොට්ඨාශ මටිටමින් ගම් කාර්ය සභා පාලන ප්‍රදේශ එක් කර ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා පිහිටුවීමට කටයුතු කරන ලද අතර. අද රට පුරා මහ ජන චන්දයෙන් තේරී පත්වූ සභිකයන් සහිතව ප්‍රා දේශීය සභා ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙයි. ඒවා තුළින් රට පුරා සෑබෑ ලෙසටම බලය බෙදා හැර තිබේ.පරිපාලනය ශක්තිමත් කර තිබේ.නමුත් පළත් සභා පනත මගින් එම බලය නැවත උදුරා ගෙන ඇත.2015 වර්තමාන ආණ්ඩුව පත් වූ පසු දිගින් දිගටම පළාත් පාලන චන්දය කල්දමමින් ජනතාව සතු බලය අව භාවිත කරමින් සිටින්නේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස් ඇතුළු ජාත්‍යන්තර ආයතන විසින් ලබා දුන් න්‍යාය පත්‍රය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම උදෙසා කල් මැරීමටයි.මෙවැනි ක්‍රියා යහපාලන ගණයේ උසස් ක්‍රියා නොවේ. දේශපාලන තක්කඩියන්ගේ අමන ක්‍රියා වේ. එම නිසා සැප්තැම්බර් 11 වන දිනට රැස්වන මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සැබෑ තත්ත්වය වටහා ගෙන ව්‍යාජ සාක්ෂි ඉවත දමා ලංකාවේ ස්වාධීන පැවැත්මට හිතකර යෝජනා පමණක් සම්මත කර සැබෑ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රිකයන් ලෙසට  හැසිරෙනු ඇතැයි  බලාපොරෙත්තු වෙන් සිටිමි.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

By Shehan Chamika Silva Courtesy The Daily Mirror

After listening to several phone conversations taken place between Arjun Aloysius (PTL owner) and Kasun Palisena (PTL CEO), which were previously deleted and missing from PTL’s recording system, Attorney General’s Department officials late last night have uncovered the vital information about what took place during the controversial February 27, 2015 bond issue and thereafter, sources close to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Bond issue told the Daily Mirror yesterday.

According to the sources, these conversations were about how to deal at an auction and how PTL had received inside information.

The contents of these phone conversations between Aloysius and Palisena will be placed before the Commission tomorrow (Wednesday 6) during the cross-examination of Kasun Palisena by the AG, sources also said.

Nuwan Salgado, the chief dealer yesterday submitted the original back up voice recordings to the Commission and thereby, the Attorney General’s Officials had started listening to those missing conversations by yesterday evening.

Earlier, the PTL had provided voice recordings stored in its phone recording system but some conversations were found to have missing.

However, in recent testimonies, PTL IT executive, Sachith Devathantri and Chief Dealer of PTL Nuwan Salgado admitted that they had deleted voice recordings on the instructions of Kasun Palisena.

ආචාර්ය විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ බොරුකාරයන්ගේ රෙදි ගලවයි: සම්පූර්ණ වීඩියෝව

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

September 5, 2017, 7:58 pm

War-winning Army Commander and Regional Development Minister, Sarath Fonseka last Saturday (Sept 1, 2017) declared that wartime Security Forces Commander, Vavuniya, the then Maj. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya had committed crimes during his tenure as the senior officer based in Vavuniya.

Sinha Regiment veteran Fonseka, who now holds the rank of Field Marshal, alleged that Jayasuriya had subjected those who were arrested by troops, under his command, to ‘criminal activity’.

In early Feb. 2016, the UNP accommodated Fonseka on its National List in the wake of M.K.A.D.S. Gunawardena’s demise. Having unsuccessfully contested the last general election, in Aug. 2015, on the Democratic Party (DP) ticket, Fonseka was lucky to enter parliament, courtesy UNP National List. In late March 2016, President Maithripala Sirisena promoted Fonseka to the rank of Field Marshal.

July 23, 2009: Lt. Gen Jagath Jayasuriya presents a memento to his predecessor General Sarath Fonseka at a ceremony at army headquarters in Colombo.

Fonseka didn’t mince his words when he stressed that Jayasuriya had continued such criminal practices, even after becoming the Commander of the Army.

Jayasuriya succeeded Fonseka, in July 2009, amidst political turmoil caused by the latter indicating desire to enter national politics through the UNP. The change of command took place about eight weeks after the successful conclusion of the war.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Fonseka as the Commander of the Army, on Dec 6, 2005, on the recommendation of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, who, too, had served the Army during eelam war I and II. Rajapaksa served as the Commanding Officer of the first battalion of Gajaba Regiment at the time Fonseka held the same position in the Sinha Regiment.

Fonseka dropped the latest bombshell immediately after newly appointed Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, and Navy Chief Vice Admiral, Travis Sinniah, made courtesy calls on him at the Regional Development Ministry, Rajagiriya. Sinniah is also embroiled in a defamation case following former Navy Chief Wasantha Karannagoda initiating legal proceedings against a statement allegedly given by Sinniah to the CID in respect of the disappearance of 11 Tamil youth, in 2008.

Minister Fonseka offered to furnish information available with him in respect of Jayasuriya’s activities, in case the government initiated an inquiry.

FM Fonseka made his move close on the heels of South African lawyer, Yasmin Sooka, on behalf of the International Truth and Justice Project, accusing Jayasuriya of war crimes during the Vanni offensive in Eelam War IV (Aug 2006 to May 2009). BBC’s Newshour programme quoted Sooka as having said:”In the pivotal period, between 2007-2009, Jayasuriya was really in charge of what was happening in the Vanni area.”

Sooka served as a member of the questionable three-member UN panel, headed by former Indonesian Attorney General, Marzuki Darusman. Sooka’s allegations, directed at Jayasuriya, should be examined against the backdrop of her role as member of UN Panel of Experts (PoE), which covered its tracks by instituting a caveat by which the unnamed witnesses it had cited would not be divulged for 20m years. The panel, in its report dated March 31, 2011 accused the Sri Lankan military of massacring over 40,000 Tamil civilians. Let me reproduce the relevant section verbatim: “In the limited surveys that have been carried out in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, the percentage of people reporting dead relatives is high. A number of credible sources have estimated that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths. Two years after the end of the war, there is no reliable figure for civilian deaths but multiple sources of information indicate that a range of up to 40,000 civilian deaths can not be ruled out at this stage. Only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of all of the victims and to the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of civilian deaths.”

Jayasuriya received appointment as SF Commander, Vavuniya, on Aug. 7, 2007. The armoured corps officer held that post until he was unexpectedly summoned to take over as Commander of the Army, on July 15, 2009, at the onset of the battle between the Rajapaksas and Fonseka.

As FM Fonseka very clearly pointed out, at a media briefing, on Saturday, Jayasuriya, in his capacity as SF Commander, Vavuniya, hadn’t enjoyed command and control responsibilities over fighting formations, deployed on the Vanni west and Vanni east fronts. Jayasuriya had been tasked with ensuring supplies and basically looking after the area under government control. Jayasuriya’s functions had been similar to those assigned to SF Commander, Jaffna. Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri and SF Commander, East.

When the Rajapaksa administration bluntly told Fonseka to accept the post of Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the war-winning Army Chief wanted Chandrasiri to succeed him. But, the government picked Jayasuriya at the expense of several other deserving senior officers over their perceived loyalty to Fonseka.

Jayasuriya, way down the seniority list, was lucky at that time to secure the command of the war-winning Army.

Fonseka received the appointment as CDS on July 14, 2009.

Fonseka, in a letter dated Nov 12, 2009, addressed to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, sought permission to quit the largely ceremonial post on Dec 1, 2009, as he finalized arrangements with the UNP-led coalition to contest the presidential election.

President Rajapaksa declared presidential election, on Nov 15, 2009, though some advised him to abandon the plan to call for early poll. They urged Rajapaksa not to face Fonseka.

Since then, Fonseka, widely called Sri Lanka’s best army commander, had flayed the Rajapaksas, Mahinda and Gotabhaya, for their conduct during the war, and after. Fonseka sent shock waves through the country, in early Dec. 2009, when he claimed, in an interview with the then editor of The Sunday Leader, Frederica Jansz, that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa had ordered the Army to execute surrendering LTTE cadres on the Vanni east front. Jansz, in 2004, reported the disappearance of a soldier attached to the then Eastern Commander Maj. Gen. Nanda Mallawarachchi, under mysterious circumstances. Mallawarachchi was blamed for the disappearance. Subsequently, the man who had been reported killed was arrested by the Veyangoda police.

Fonseka alleged that the change of command was made against the backdrop of speculation that there could be a coup in the aftermath of the final triumph over the LTTE. Referring to Jayasuriya, Fonseka strongly condemned the government’s decision to promote wartime SF Commander, Vavuniya, as the Commander of the Army, at a time he was facing a disciplinary inquiry. Fonseka, while calling Jayasuriya commander of holding formations deployed there, explained the circumstances leading to his decision.

Fonseka strongly criticized the then government having suspicions about him as well as questioning the loyalty of the Army. It would be pertinent to mention that former Indian Defence Adviser Shivshankar Menon’s ‘Choices: Inside the making of India’s foreign policy’, launched in 2016, dealt with the issue. Menon explained how President Rajapaksa swiftly and decisively moved to rein in the powerful Army soon after the successful conclusion of the war. Obviously, Menon was making a reference to the alleged coup bid in Sri Lanka in Oct 2009, an assertion strongly denied by Fonseka, in Nov. 2009.

The continuing battle between Fonseka and the ‘Rajapaksa camp’ should be examined against the backdrop of the former entering politics through the UNP in late 2009. Both Fonseka and the UNP exploited the then political situation to their advantage.

In the wake of Sri Lanka’s signal triumph over the LTTE, in May 2009, the UNP had no option but to field Fonseka to deprive the then president of heavy political advantage. Fonseka received the blessings of all those who had been wanting to see the back of the Rajapaksas. The US was desperate to bring the Rajapaksa rule to an end. The four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) declared its support for Fonseka at the behest of the US. Having repeatedly accused Fonseka’s Army of massacring Tamil civilians, raping Tamil women and committing a range of battlefield atrocities, the TNA urged Tamil electorate to vote for the retired Army Chief. The TNA comfortably delivered predominately Tamil electoral districts, including Jaffna, to Fonseka whereas the South largely voted for Rajapaksa.

Those who had been demanding accountability on the part of Sri Lanka never bothered to seek an explanation from the TNA. In fact, the TNA, at the previous presidential election, in Nov. 2005, ensured Mahinda Rajapaksa’s victory by ordering the Tamil electorate not to exercise their franchise in support of UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe. Rajapaksa managed to secure victory in 2005 by less than 200,000 votes, thanks to the TNA directive issued at the behest of the LTTE.

Against the backdrop of the TNA’s support for Fonseka, the very basis of accusations that Sri Lanka had conducted, what Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran called genocidal war against Tamils, sounds hollow. The Tamil electorate wouldn’t have overwhelmingly voted for the former Army Chief, as directed by the TNA, if it really believed in the war crimes accusations. A classified US diplomatic cable, revealed by whistle blowing Wiki Leaks, quoted TNA leader R. Sampanthan as having told the then US Ambassador in Colombo, Patricia Butenis, his party would support the Rajapaksas as they were the lesser of the two evils. But a few days later, the US brought in pressure on the TNA to go along with the overall plan to oust the Rajapaksas.

Butenis also forgot that in another classified cable, dated January 15, 2010, she dealt with the contentious issue of war crimes accountability. Butenis implicated President Rajapaksa, his brothers, Gotabhaya and Basil, and Gen. Sarath Fonseka. Butenis pointed out “that responsibility for many of the alleged war crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa, and his brothers, and opposition candidate.

Print media coverage of Fonseka’s media briefing, as well as various reactions, indicated that many construed the war veteran remarks as war crimes accusations directed at Jayasuriya. Allegations, pertaining to Jayasuriya’s conduct, during his tenure as SF Commander, Vavuniya, cannot be in anyway related to alleged war crimes. Jayasuriya had absolutely no command responsibility in respect of fighting formations on the Vanni west or east fronts. Fonseka directed five fighting Divisions and Task Forces assigned to clear the Vanni region in the absence of Overall Operations Commander (OOC) responsible for the offensive. General Officers Commanding and Brigadiers responsible for Divisions and Task Forces received battlefield commands directly from Fonseka.

There is absolutely no basis for Sooka’s assertion that Jayasuriya had given leadership to the Vanni offensive, at any stage of the offensive. Jayasuriya had been overseas before taking up the appointment in Vauniya, a few months after Fonseka launched the Vanni campaign.

In the wake of the International Truth and Justice Project moving court against Sri Lanka’s ambassador, in Brazil, Jayasuriya on the eve of his departure, after completing a full term, the BBC, in a story, datelined Aug 29, 2017, headlined ‘Sri Lanka’s Jagath Jayasuriya wanted for war crimes’ declared: “Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Suriname was in charge of troops in the north-east of the island who are alleged to have attacked hospitals and abducted, killed and tortured thousands of civilians.”

Jayasuriya received the diplomatic posting in Aug 2015 though he was considered loyalist of the previous government.

The BBC didn’t attribute its allegation to anyone. Contrary to the BBC’s claim, Jayasuriya hadn’t commanded ground forces in the Eastern Province (Aug 2006 to June 2009), Vanni region (March 2006 to May 2009) or Jaffna theater (Oct/Nov 2008 onwards until the war in the norther theater was brought to an end). A section of the international media had backed expensive diabolical campaigns to haul Sri Lankan officers before international courts and international war crimes court. Interestingly, in their haste to exploit Sooka’s case against Jayasuriya, they (media) hadn’t even bothered at least to verify commands held by the officer concerned. There had never been any previous reference to Jayasuriya in respect of alleged war crimes before the International Truth and Justice Project recently moved court against him.

There had been various unsubstantiated allegations directed against the Army over the years with a section of the international community and the media accusing the previous government of forcing foreign relief workers to leave the Vanni region in 2008. Interestingly, Jayasuriya had been SF Commander Vavuniya at that time though he didn’t exercise operational command over fighting formations engaged in the offensive. The 57 Division and Task Force I / 58 Division had been deployed west of the Kandy-Jaffna A9 and 59 Division east of A9. Jaffna based 53 Division as well as 55 Division had joined offensive action east of A9 after the celebrated 58 Division evicted the LTTE from strategic Elephant Pass area. In addition to them, multiple task forces had attacked enemy fortifications across A9 (west to east).

Obviously, Sooka, in spite of being a member of the Darusman panel and over eight years after the conclusion of the war, still lacked a clear idea about the Vanni theater of operations. Sooka seems to be interested in appeasing her sponsors, hell bent on stepping up pressure on Sri Lanka.

Fonseka had repeatedly declared that he was directly in charge of the non-stop offensive that began with the recapture of Muttur on the eastern front, in early Sept 2006. Throughout the war, the then main Opposition, the UNP, flayed Fonseka. The UNP accused the then Army chief of being behind attacks on reporters, a charge strongly denied by the army.

In July 2008, Gampaha District UNP MP Joseph Michael Perera told parliament that the attacks were carried out by a “special team” controlled by Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka.

MP Perera said the government should arrest the offenders and “immediately bring them to justice”.

“We are told by those in the army itself that journalists are abducted and subjected to grievous injury by none other than a special unit, under the army commander,” MP Perera, a former parliamentary speaker, said. The media quoted the then military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara as having said:”We have nothing to do with the attacks against journalists. “If the MP has evidence, he must present it to the police.”

During Fonseka’s command, the Army was accused of killing Lasantha Wickrematunga on Jan 8, 2009, attempt to kill the then Rivira editor Upali Tennakoon on January 23, 2009, abduction and assault on Deputy Editor and the then defence correspondent of The Nation, Keith Noyahr, on May 22, 2008.

The UNP mercilessly targeted Fonseka until the war was brought to a successful conclusion, leading to Fonseka’s unceremonious exit in July 2009. Jayasuriya was brought in from Vavuniya to take over command of the victorious Army. Fonseka’s arrest, under controversial circumstances, weeks after his defeat at January 2010, presidential polls further complicated the situation. Jayasuriya dispatched troops for Fonseka’s arrest and the former commander was taken into custody by the Army. The decision to hold Fonseka at Navy headquarters, in spite of Admiral Karannagoda not being at the helm, made matters worse. Karannagoda retired in mid July 2009 in accordance with overall changes that compelled Fonseka to accept the post of CDS.

In Nov 2011, a three-judge Bench of the Colombo High Court sentenced Fonseka to three years in prison after he was found guilty of “inciting violence” in the ‘White Flag Case.’

Fonseka claimed that he was quoted out of context.

Fonseka was serving a 30-month jail term imposed by a court martial when Colombo High Court delivered its judgment.

During Fonseka’s imprisonment, the US repeatedly brought pressure on the previous government to release him. Once, Colombo based US diplomat met the then SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena to deliver a strong warning to President Rajapaksa. The US diplomat warned President Rajapaksa to pardon Fonseka or face the consequences. The then SLFP General Secretary Maithripala Sirisena himself told the writer about him receiving a message from US diplomat and passing it on to President Rajapaksa. The then President, too, confirmed it to the writer.

Various interested parties had tried to move foreign courts against senior military officers, including Majors Gen. Jagath Dias (General Officer Commanding 57 Division), Shavendra Silva (GoC 58 Division) and Chagi Gallage. In fact, Field Marshal Fonseka has been denied a US visa-while Australia turned down a request for a visa by Gallage on the basis of unsubstantiated war crimes allegations. Australia found fault with Gallage for giving leadership to the 59 Division, from May 7, 2009, to July 20, 2009.

The Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection has extensively cited Report of the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) on Sri Lanka (OISL) to turn down Gallege’s request. On the basis of OISL report, Geneva adopted Resolution 30/1 to pave the way for foreign judges in a domestic judicial mechanism.

Australia also cited the UN panel of experts report on accountability issues released on March 31, 2011. The report accused Sri Lanka of massacring over 40,000 civilians and depriving the Vanni population of their basic needs. The combined security forces brought the war to a successful conclusion on May 19, 2009.

Australia has cited a statement attributed to Shavendra Silva that unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) real time footage had been made available to ground commanders marking targets, to justify its decision. On the basis of Silva’s statement, Australia has alleged that Gallage had been aware of artillery strikes on the third no fire zone.

There have never been specific allegations against Maj. Gen. Gallage before.

The US also denied visa to Maj. Gen. Sudantha Ranasinghe for commanding 53 Division after the conclusion of the war.

Today, people have forgotten how the US tried to entice Maj. Gen. Prasad Samarasinghe to betray Sri Lanka for monetary gain. Samarasinghe brought the US attempt to the notice of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa. Unfortunately, the previous government conducted an inquiry. But, the government could never absolve itself of the responsibility for not taking advantage of wartime US Defence attache Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith’s contradiction in early June 2011 of battlefield executions in May 2009. The US statement was undoubtedly Sri Lanka’s best defence though the previous government failed to capitalize on it. The Island exclusive on the US military official’s statement was denied by the State Department as it struggled to contain damage caused by Smith.

There was no need for the State Department to be worried about Sri Lanka’s reaction. Sri Lanka never officially referred to that statement yet.

(To be continued on Sept 13)

By Dr Kamal Wickremasinghe Courtesy The Island

September 5, 2017, 12:00 pm

The recent public airing of political corruption by way of evidence emerging before the Presidential Commission points to a much bigger problem than individual acts of political corruption per se. These excuses shed a new light in to a proverbial ‘code of thieves’ that seems to govern the world the political thieves inhabit.

Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s stubborn refusal to show remorse even after the surfacing of damning evidence against him and his pathetic attempts to seek some sort of moral high ground as a ‘victim’ of a monstrous betrayal by a band of equally corrupt colleagues provided glimpses of this new disgraceful ‘code’ that appears to have been developed among politicians in Sri Lanka.

Karunanayake’s loss of memory during the cross examination and the other more ridiculous excuse of lack of knowledge about the most basic of his domestic affairs were predictable in view of the weight of evidence the law enforcement officials had in their possession. The ‘corpus delicti’ of the alleged offence, relating to the receipt of a luxury accommodation paid-for by a crony lay before the Commission, of inquiry for the country to see; common decency would have dictated a prompt resignation from all political posts, pending proper legal proceedings.

Karunanayake’s alternative response of attempts to continue denial of events and to air ‘grievances’ that he was the victim — on the grounds that there are many others who steal, is deplorable. His playing the victim also included attempts to moralise ‘friendship’ by complaining that he had trouble accepting ‘betrayal by friends’. He alluded to alleged corruption by some of his Cabinet colleagues and even accused the current Central Bank Governor of being a former employee of the corporate crook, Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving an 11-year jail sentence in the US on securities fraud. Karunanayake also cast aspersions on the character of the woman-owner of the apartment as a ‘scorned woman’ seeking revenge from a former lover by victimising his innocent self.

Karunanayake’s behaviour, following the appearance before the Commission, including his stubborn refusal to resign, further showed that he clearly believed in a perceived ‘unfairness’ of singling him out for punishment. His resignation speech sounded like that of a national hero to be exonerated by history and time, rather than that of a politician exposed before a commission of inquiry. To add insult to injury, the speech was delivered attired in a ‘Blue and Gold’ tie showing that he had no qualms about dragging the sacred symbol of his alma mater through the mud with the forlorn hope of garnering support.

But, Karunanayake was not alone in this moral quagmire. The regime’s failure to sack him promptly, based on the incontrovertible evidence that came up before the Commission, was the death-blow to any continuing claims of it being interested in so-called yahapalanaya (good governance) principles; the failure to sack Karunanayake on the face of such damning evidence pointed to the lack of fortitude on the part of the regime and its leaders.

The moral integrity of the current regime is obviously compromised by the presence of thieves among its inner core, including the worst who were associated with the previous regime. This is the more worrying aspect of the current hell of political corruption that seems to afflict Sri Lanka and its so-called democracy. A review of the performance of individual politicians and governments of Sri Lanka, over the last three decades or so, shows that, in effect, the country has been turned in to a kleptocracy of a series of regimes ‘ruled by thieves’ who have been making themselves rich by systematically stealing from the public on a vast scale, amassing unimaginable wealth for themselves.

A proper evaluation of the phenomenon of political corruption and its driving forces is necessary before committing Sri Lanka to an anti-political corruption strategy. Corruption, defined as‘illegal payments to public agents with the goal of obtaining a benefit or avoiding a cost’, has been ubiquitous in all societies throughout human history.

Looking to the West — as President Sirisena did by attending the former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s almost comical ‘global anti-corruption summit’ of 2016 as one of the select invitees —is unlikely to be fruitful. Corrupt practices are woven into the fabric of the so-called Western democracies through the activities of lobbyists, moneyed groups with vested interests and rent-seeking corporations.

The more ‘sophisticated’ forms of political corruption prevalent in the West, Britain and the US in particular, typically take the form of top government officials huddling in secret with executives of multinationals and foreign governments with vested interests to work out the details of such key policy areas as defence, energy and land development. These policies are later imposed on the taxpayer, dressed as ‘national policies’, costing them more tax dollars and higher consumer prices. As the 2003 Iraqi invasion scandal demonstrated, sending the military to god forsaken lands—in the name of enhancing national security — has been a fundamentally corrupt operation in these countries since the 1950s. Corrupt politicians later steer billions of dollars of government money to various companies formed by them upon retirement.

Politicians in America engage in corruption with impunity, routinely trading government contracts and other favours for millions of dollars laundered as campaign funds and other ‘donations’. Recent revelations of such corruption have made citizens view their governments with cynicism and contempt. According to a 2015 Gallup poll, 75 per cent of Americans believed corruption to be widespread in their government. Donald Trump capitalised on this sentiment with his promises to ‘drain the swamp’.

In addition to not taking any meaningful measures to curb corruption domestically, the US helps nurture a culture of corruption in countries of the developing world. Facilitating corruption by political leaders of these countries is the primary means through which they gain entry into these countries and influence everything including domestic politics.

The puppet government of Hamid Karzai, in Afghanistan, established by the US following the bombing of that country in 2011 was a prime example of the corrupting influence of the US on other countries. The extended family of Karzai including three of his brothers extracted the blood of the Afghani people for nearly 13 years through US government contracts, cement manufacturing and private banks, and by facilitating opium traffic in the region.

The US Ambassador in Colombo meeting Ravi Karunanayake (in The Island), just the day before he was due to appear before the Commission of Inquiry in to the Bond Scam came as no surprise.

Despite inaction to effectively curb corruption, the West has seen an anti-corruption zeitgeist in the past two decades with the establishment of anti-corruption commissions or ‘watch dogs’. This sudden upsurge of focus on corruption was, in fact, part of the globalisation push that saw corruption (primarily bribes to local politicians) as an additional cost that inflated the cost of business to global multinationals. As usual, the UN carried the US agenda by announcing a Governance and Anti-Corruption strategy in 2007, announcing anti-corruption and good governance as requirements for economic development. But, the scourge continues unabated.

As with many phenomena, useful discussion on corruption is often limited by language. The particular connotations of the word ‘corruption’ in modern English, though still stigmatises individual cases of such behaviour as beyond the moral pale, fails to convey the meaning as signifying a state of moral decay and degeneration, on the part of corrupt politicians at least. Also, it fails to recognise that corruption essentially involves pursuit of selfishness without concern for the common good, or to emphasise any need for governments (or citizens) to be completely dedicated to the common interest; it almost appear to accede to living with a balance between the pursuit of public and private interests, failing to provide a clear definition of corrupt and non-corrupt politics.

This deficiency becomes clearer when the historical considerations of corruption are considered: historically corruption has been seen as much more than individual cases involving abuse of public office definable by statute; it has been viewed as an evil signifying decay and spiritual degeneration of the moral and political character of individuals, corporations, governments or states.

Probably, the first to shed light on the human propensity for corruption was the minister in the court of Chandra Gupta Maurya, Kautilya also known as Chanakya (371-283 BC), the author of ‘Arthashastra’. To begin with, from a utilitarian point of view, Kautilya identified corruption — a manifestation of unethical behaviour where private gains are made at the expense of the public— as a serious impediment to the successful running of an administration.

Kautilya’s brilliance helped identify the craftily disguised unethical behaviour by the corrupt: he likened swindlers to fish moving under water, drinking unmeasurable volumes of water.

Kautilya provides a list of 40 kinds of possible embezzlement by government functionaries such as the treasurer, the chief officer, the prescriber, the receiver, the payer, and the ministerial servants, requiring the state to create mechanisms capable of reducing the opportunities for graft and corruption. He advocated strict vigilance over ‘capricious’ superintendents of the government through a holistic system of checks and balances that included spies and whistle blowers, appointments on the basis of educational qualifications, a system of tenure with frequent transfers and a system of rewards and recognitions.

A similar trend to see corruption as a result of frailty of human nature has also existed in Greek culture, to the extent that Socrates rejected the life of the politician as riddled with the unavoidable risk of corruption, making it incompatible with the pursuit of knowledge. Socrates’ views on political corruption inspired subsequent philosophies such as Cynicism, Epicureanism and Stoicism that advocated total rejection of all government as irredeemably flawed.

Aristotle, probably a contemporary of Kautilya, chose the middle path of not altogether renouncing the world of politics, but relegated it to the inferior realm of the senses in a dualistic universe where the superior, eternal unchanging realm was accessible only to pure reason. Plato, in The Republic, uses the word ‘pthora’ (546a) — Latinised as corruption — to describe the process of decay of an ideal state to the nadir of tyranny through the descending stages of timocracy (a form of government in which possession of property is required in order to hold office), oligarchy and democracy. The gradual degeneration was typified by increasing assertion of individual self-interest by rulers at the expense of the common good.

The view of corruption (corruzione) as the nemesis of virtue (virtu) was later adopted, ironically, by Nicollo Machiavelli (1469-1529), a man not renowned for moral integrity himself! Machiavelli identified corruption as a threat to the pursuit of the general good and the health of the republic by the noble active citizens collectively, insisting that the ‘inevitability of corruption’ was ‘the one great observable fact in human affairs’ apart from death.

The culture of political corruption in Sri Lanka has become so pervasive that the derelicts who engage in it appear to have developed its own sub culture in which offences termed ‘vice’ in mainstream culture have become ‘virtue’ in their corrupt purview. The current endemic levels of corrupt behaviour among politicians in Sri Lanka make the use of the term ‘corruption’ inadequate to describe such individual acts.

Corruption involving the individual politician or official violating important ethical standards for personal gain most certainly needs to be tackled at the individual level through exposure and punishment of the guilty. At individual level, refraining from corruption should not necessarily involve committing to heroic ideals, but to basic standards of honesty. Breaching such standards for personal gain constitutes an abhorrent betrayal of public trust and the legal and other processes need to reflect the gravity of such breaches. Corrupt behaviour however is as much to do with institutional structures and social as individual moral weakness, as Aristotle recognised. Though collective assessments of corruption can be made in terms of the amount of individual corruption that occur, systemic corruption that incorporate cultural factors would be the harder part of the scourge to deal with.

One only needs to scan the list of more than hundred names in the list of so-called cabinet members to see the almost eternal presence of some politicians who seem to be popping up like bad one-rupee coins, changing sides after every election. Looking at their performance over the last two to three decades in terms of the country’s worsening plight, it can safely be presumed that they are ‘in it’ for corrupt financial gain rather than any notion of ‘public service’. This situation makes dealing with corruption at the level of whole-of-government — the imposer of standards and rules for judging individual cases — far more challenging.

One needs to go back to the first principles of governance and periods of relatively corruption-free times looking for possible answers. Historically, successful Sri Lankan regimes of great ancient kings, as well as non-corrupt governments elsewhere appear to be characterised by one common feature: rulers who rule in the common interest rather than in the interest of themselves. Political corruption has always involved the rulers’ pursuit of their own private interests against the common interest.

Aristotle, like Plato before him, set virtuous rulers wholly focused on the common interest and would never consider pursuing their own interests at the expense of the good of the community as the vital requirement for ideal, non-corrupt states. This is not to say that Aristotle’s ruling aristocrats did not have their personal interests, but insofar as they acted politically they would be wholly devoted to the good of the polis.

The risk of corruption among the wider polity, as recognised by Aristotle led him to reduce the three types of correct constitution—kingship (rule of one), aristocracy (rule of few) and polity (rule by a virtuous majority)— unified by the common feature of rule in the common interest to just absolute kingship and aristocracy where power lies with a citizen body consisting of virtuous men of property.

The problem of the current regime effectively dealing with ingrained corruption goes back to the illegitimacy of is formation back in 2014, through an amalgamation of disaffected individuals with political axes to grind, failed former and current politicians envious of the immense popularity of the leader of the previous regime (by no means a lilly himself) and the support of some of the most corrupt who served in the previous dispensation.

The need to maintain the ‘unity’ of what passes for government at the moment clearly overrides the imperative to rid the scourge of corruption. In the meantime, the Sri Lankan ‘polity’ goes about looking for their next meal, having no inkling that their blood is being drained without their knowledge.

Sri Lanka provides a blueprint for how a kleptocracy should operate without fear of recrimination. It’s shameful!

Editorial Courtesy The Island

Wednesday 6th September, 2017

September 5, 2017, 8:28 pm

The present government has mastered the art of selling family silver. Having handed over the country’s only inland port to China for a song and undertaken to lease the second international airport to India, the yahapalana politicians are now eyeing poor wild animals as a source of foreign exchange. They have already launched a night safari project to torture animals at the Dehiwala zoo and, thereby, boost its revenue.

Deputy Minister Karunaratne Paranavithana has gone a step ahead. He has said the solution to the human-elephant conflict is to sell wild jumbos to foreigners! He says there are 6,000 elephants in the country at present though our forests can accommodate only 4,000 of them. So, he wants as many as 2,000 wild jumbos exported! We hope the government won’t set up a separate ministry for selling elephants as part of its regaining Sri Lankan programme.

The yahapalana politicians seem to have taken leave of their senses if their inane utterances are anything to go by. It is popularly said that ‘bale thiyanakota mole ne, mole thiyanakota bale ne, [when one has power one has no brains and when one has some brains one has no power].

True, the country’s forest cover is shrinking rapidly and the attendant problems are numerous. There are several reasons for this unfortunate situation, the main being illicit felling by racketeers with political connections and slash-and-burn or fire-fallow agriculture many villagers are dependent on; and elephants are losing their habitat as a result. It is only natural that some wild elephants stray into villages in search of food and water. Villagers have to either slay these jumbos or be slain as the Wildlife authorities have done precious little to protect them. People die in wild elephant attacks almost daily. The last several years have seen scores of elephants including calves being killed by hakkapatas (improvised explosive devices which blow off animals’ jaws) etc.

The solution, however, is not to sell elephants to other countries, but to take urgent action to tackle the issue of deforestation by cracking down on illicit fellers and launching a comprehensive reforestation campaign while short-term measures are adopted to de-escalate the human-elephant conflict. The government should seriously consider having solar-powered elephant fences erected in areas prone to wild jumbo attacks. Some human settlements are situated in areas which were once elephant habitats. Elephants never forget and try to reclaim their land. These villages have to be relocated with better facilities provided to their inhabitants so that both humans and elephants can live peacefully without confronting one another. President Maithripala Sirisena, as the Minister of Environment, ought to work out a strategy to tackle this ever worsening situation.

A few weeks ago two elephants were found struggling to remain afloat in the choppy seas off the eastern coast; the Navy had to fight quite a battle to save them. During the war, the Navy fought Sea Tigers. Thereafter, it was tasked with seizing Australia bound human smuggling vessels. Now, it has had to save jumbos! Is it that the elephants have also given up hope and are trying to flee the country, fed up with yahapalana politicians?

Now that the yahapalana pundits have sought to deal with what they call an increase in the number of elephants by selling some of the animals to foreigners, what will be the government’s solution to the issue of increasing human population? Will it legalise and promote the sale of babies to foreigners by way of population control?

The newly ratified amendments to the local government election laws are bound to lead to a massive increase in the number of local councillors. There are also too many ministers, most of whom are without any work and making silly statements. Is there any possibility of selling these useless politicians to foreigners maybe for a few dollars each?

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

September 5, 2017, 8:28 pm

Civilians, in conflict zones, have two choices. One is to leave the conflict zone and seek refuge in transit refugee camps, set up within the country, in which the conflict is taking place, or seek the safety of transit camps, in other countries, despite the uncertainties and risks of living on the charity of others. The second is to stay put whatever the risks – even death – and face the full scope of the challenges of surviving in a conflict zone.

These choices are personal and are made today by people in countries such as Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and in other regions where conflicts are ongoing, or even where conflicts had previously occurred, such as Sri Lanka.While each of the two choices carries a different set of challenges,the focus of this essay is to address issues associated with those who opt to stay behind, in the conflict zone, and face whatever the odds.

Although the challenge civilians in conflict zones have to face is how to survive, it could take a dramatic turn depending on how the conflict turns out for one of the parties to the conflict. If one of the parties to the conflict realizes that their prospects are waning and that there is an imminent threat to their survival, there is a strong possibility that civilians would betaken hostage and used as a human shield for the party’s own protection.

Civilians were used in Sri Lanka by the LTTE during the final stages of the armed conflict, and are currently being used by the Islamic State in the conflicts in Iraq and Syria. The challenges to the government security forces, in Sri Lanka, and to the Iraqi forces and their partners, in the U.S.-led military coalition, are how to prosecute the conflict while taking measures to protect the civilians. Balancing measures adopted to prosecute the conflict against loss of civilian lives is so daunting an undertaking that whatever strategies are adopted, one could always find cause to fault parties to the conflict in the sober light of dawn. However, those charged with alleged violations of human rights and war crimes as well as crimes against humanity, have more to do with the political clout of the parties involved in the conflicts, than on the adopted strategies themselves.

Notwithstanding these complexities, the standard response of the International Community, represented by the U.N., is to ease or cease military operations, despite the inevitability that such a strategy would only prolong the conflict and compromise the security of the civilians indefinitely, as long as the latter refuses to leave the conflict zone. Such responses are often made without considering the follow through consequences. They indicate that the U.N. has failed to fulfill its responsibilities to prevent serious humanitarian catastrophes from occurring. What it has “accomplished” instead,is the capability to pass resolutions and conduct inquiries for violations committed by the parties to the conflict,after the dust has settled.

CONFLICT in IRAQ

Conveying the standard response of the U.N., a report in The Washington Post of August 25, 2017 states: “The United Nations urged international powers to ease military operations around the Islamic State’s de facto capital Thursday amid intensifying concerns about the safety of thousands of civilians trapped inside… The rare call to pause hostilities in Raqqa underscores the severity of the humanitarian crisis there. As Islamic State militants use snipers and threats of arrest to prevent residents from fleeing, monitoring groups have blamed the U.S.-led coalition forces for hundreds of civilian deaths”.

The standard strategy of the U.N.has been to do whatever possible to encourage civilians to escape. However, such possibilities are limited, since the Islamic State continues to do everything in its power to prevent civilians from escaping. The above report states that “More than 270,000 people have fled the city since the coalition offensive began, and many of them are stuck in ramshackle camps in the Syrian desert”.

In the meantime, the view of Col. Joe Scrocca, a coalition spokesman, was that the coalition does “everything within our power to limit harm to civilians…The unfortunate death of civilians is a fact of war that weighs heavy on our hearts. However, if the Islamic State is not defeated, the cost will be even higher”.

According to another report, also in The Washington Post, the U.S. Defense Secretary, Jim Mattis had, stated: “There had been no military in the world’s history that has paid more attention to limiting civilian casualties… That said, an enemy that literally hides behind women and children or forces innocent people to stay in an area that they intend to turn into a battlefield are clearly showing who are the people violating every standard of decency” (August 24, 2017).

The assurance that the coalition is doing “everything in its power to limit civilian harm” or death and that “no military has paid more attention to limiting civilian casualties” would be accepted as credible without question by the U.N. because the coalition is led by the U.S.. However, it would NOT be acceptable if the very same assurances are given by any other party to an armed conflict, such as the armed forces of Sri Lanka when the LTTE trapped and used over 300,000 civilians as a human shield. This reflects nothing but ingrained racism. While a mere statement from the U.S.-led coalition is acceptable in one conflict, but is subjected to U.S.-led UNHRC resolutions demanding a formal accountability exercise in the case of another, namely, Sri Lanka,reflects the differences in the treatment of Member States.If this difference is due to an acceptance that the Islamic State should be defeated,but not the LTTE,it must mean that it is international politics that determines who is prosecuted and who is not.

ARMED CONFLICT in SRI LANKA

Trapping civilians during an armed conflict when the situation becomes desperate for a party to the conflict, is not a new phenomenon. Following the fall of Kilinochchi, in January 2009, the LTTE violated all attempts to isolate civilians by hiding behind women and children and forcing innocent people to stay and shooting others who attempted to escape. The plan of the U.S.-led International Community was to save the LTTE leadership, which would have meant that the conflict would drag on indefinitely; a fact that was disclosed during a Panel Discussion at the Brookings Institute in the U.S. On the other hand, the thinking of the Sri Lankan Government was similar to that of Col. Joe Scrocca in Raqqa; in that if the LTTE was not defeated, “the cost will be even higher”.

There were appeals made to the Sri Lankan Government to “pause” hostilities during the final stages of the conflict. An attempt was also made by a joint visit to Sri Lanka by Foreign Secretaries from the U.K. and France, Milliband and Kouchner, respectively. The fact that all these appeals were made to the Government and none to the LTTE convinced the Government that all these efforts were to save the LTTE leadership. Furthermore, it convinced the Government that the U.N.-led International Community’s recommendation would prolong the conflict in Sri Lanka indefinitely; a prospect the Government was not prepared to accept, because at the end the cost would be even higher in terms of blood and treasure.

The cost for not having complied with the appeals to cease hostilities and for defeating the LTTE is what Sri Lanka is currently facing, first initiated by a visit to Sri Lanka by the former UN Secretary General, Ban-Ki-Moon, within a week of cessation of hostilities, for the sole purpose of holding Sri Lanka accountable for strategies adopted during the final phase of the armed conflict. Given the contrasting response by the U.N. to Sri Lanka versus the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, the lesson is clear: some will be held accountable, while others will not.

CONCLUSION

Choices for civilians in conflict are limited. One choice is to be displaced within the country away from the conflict zone,or as refugees in some other country. The second choice is to become victims of the conflict by not leaving the conflict zone. The challenges faced by each group are different. However, those who decide to stay in the conflict zone present challenges to the parties to the conflict; the most trying challenge being when civilians are taken hostage by one party to the conflict in its desperation for survival.

How parties to a conflict balance the safety of the civilians with military gain is a variable that depends more on the international ranking of the parties to the conflict and much less on the adopted strategies themselves. For instance, despite calls from the U.N. to “pause hostilities”, the intense bombing in Raqqa and Mosul by the U.S.-led coalition forces that includes Britain,is causing the death of “hundreds of civilians”. As far as the U.S. Secretary of Defense and Commanders in the field are concerned, the campaign to defeat the Islamic State militants has to continue, while assuring that everything in their power is being done to limit civilian deaths and casualties because “not to do so would cost even more”.

During the armed conflict in Sri Lanka, too, there were calls to “pause hostilities”. Although these calls were made in the name of saving civilians,they had another purpose, that being,to save the leadership of the LTTE; a fact that was disclosed during a panel discussion at the Brookings Institute in the U.S. and by the joint visit to Sri Lanka of Foreign Secretaries Milliband of the U.K. and Kouchner of France.It is this background that made the Sri Lankan Government realize that it had no alternative but to defeat the LTTE while doing everything in its power to minimize civilian casualties, similar to the reality that the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq has now come to accept. Furthermore, just as the Sri Lankan Government came to accept this reality, the U.S.-led coalition, in Iraq, has now come to accept that “if the Islamic State is not defeated the cost will be even more”.

The difference between Iraq and Sri Lanka is that in the case of Iraq the assurances given by the representatives of the U.S.-led coalition are accepted by the UN, and the US.-led coalition forces would not be subjected to formal accountable processes. This, however, is not the case with similar assurances given by the Sri Lankan Government, judging from the measures adopted by the UNHRC which continues to hold Sri Lanka accountable for the strategies adopted during the final stages of the armed conflict.

The most that would be expected from the U.S. and Britain would be for them to hold internal inquiries, and that, too, if circumstances warranted; a matter that would be left entirely to their discretion judging from the comment by Prime Minister Theresa May that British forces would never be subjected to international inquiries. Sri Lanka’s internal inquiry in the form of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission was condemned by the UN appointed Panel of Experts even before the Report was made public. In addition, the report of the Paranagama Commission of Inquiry that even had the benefit of internationally renowned expert opinions and focused primarily on accountability, was not acceptable.

It is this difference that an internal inquiry is acceptable in one instance and not in another is what is unacceptable – a difference that arises from an ingrained racism that manifests itself in various forms and shades despite the guiding principle in the U.N. Charter that all Member States are equally sovereign. These are reflected in the decisions as to who should be held accountable and who should not. The fact that the U.N. and its subsidiary, the UNHRC, permit such decisions to influence their judgement means that they are violating the impartiality and the neutrality mandated by the world body for which they should be held accountable.

Courtesy The Island

Joint Opposition leader Dinesh Gunawardena will raise the LTTE backed Tamil Diaspora move against General Jagath Jayasuriya following Regional Development Minister Field Sarath Fonseka alleging that the wartime Security Forces Commander, Vanni had committed crimes and he continued violations of human rights after becoming the Commander of the Army in July 2009.

The following question has been submitted seeking answers from Foreign Minister Tilak Marapana under Standing Order 23/2:

“General Jagath Jayasuriya, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Suriname, the former Army Commander, Chief of staff and head of the Joint Defence Council, who was actively in the forefront of the struggle against terrorism, is being hunted by ex-LTTe and Eelamist Diaspora legal teams, who have brought war crimes prosecutions against him in Brazil and Colombia. The statement made in this regard by HE President Sirisena is contradicted by the statement made by Minister Sarath Fonseka.

1. Will the Hon Minister explain and place before the house the details of the above-mentioned legal action being taken against General Jagath Jayasuriya, and any other members of the Sri Lanka security forces, Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic Corps and civilians who hold or have held office in the Government?

2. What is the precise position of the Government in regard to such legal action against General Jagath Jayasuriya, and any other members of the Sri Lanka security forces, Ambassadors and members of the Diplomatic Corps and civilians who hold or have held office in the Government, and what action is being taken to protect them in the above mentioned countries and in other countries?

3. Do the statements made by Minister Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka represent current Government policy, and if not, what action does it propose to take against this and against further betrayals of the country’s heroic forces by members of the Government or by its supporters holding high office?

ආචාර්ය චරිත හේරත් උපුටාගැණීම ලංකාදීප

–මේ දිනවල අපේ රටේ දේශපාලනයේ එක් ප‍්‍රධාන මාතෘකාවක් වන්නේ ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කර හෝ එසේත් නැතිනම් පනත් සංශෝධනය කර හෝ මැතිවරණ කල් දන්නේ කේසේද කියා හොයන එකය. මේ සමහර ඒවා දැනටමත් කාලය නිමා වී ඇති පලාත් පාලන ආයතනය. සමහර ඒවා ඉදිරියේ විසිරෙන්නට තිබෙන පලාත් සභාය. මේ වැඬේ ට ගොස් ආණ්ඩුවම ඉන්නේ යම් ආකාරයක අවුල් සහගත තත්වයකය. ජන්ද කල් දමන එකත් යහපාලනයටම අයිති දෙයක් යැයි හිතෙන තරමට මේ තත්වය කිසිදු හිරිකිතයකින් තොරව අගේට කර ගෙන යන්නට තරම් ආණ්ඩුවේ සමහරු නිර්භීත වීම පුදුම සහගතය. අනෙක් අතට එමගින් පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය පැත්තෙන් ගොඩ නැගෙන අතිශයෙන්ම භයානක අනතුරක්ය. ‘අපිට හිතුනොත් ජන්ද තියන්නෙම නැහැ’ වැනි ප‍්‍රකාශ පවා කියන්නට සමහර අය භය නැත්තේ මේ හේතුව නිසාය. මේ සටහනින් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ මැතිවරණ කල් දමන අරමුනින් ව්‍යවස්ථාව හෝ මැතිවරණ පනත් සමග කරන භයානක ගනු දෙනුව ගැන කරුණු කීපයක් සාකච්චජා කරන්නටය.

නිශ්චිත මැතිවරණ පොරොන්දුවක් ලෙසින් පුර්ණ ව්‍යවස්ථා වෙනසක් පිළිබද අදහස මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයේ ප‍්‍රධාන මාතෘකාවක් බවට පත් වුනේ 1970 මැතිවරණයත් සමගය. ඊට පෙර තිබූ 1948 1952 සහ 1956 මැතිවරණ වල මේ කාරණය ආවේ භාෂා ගැටලූවට විසදුමක් ලෙසින් ඉදිරිපත් වූ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන මිස පුර්න ව්‍යවස්ථා වෙනසක් ලෙසින් නොවන බව මගේ පිළි ගැනීමය. රටක් සංවර්ධනය කිරීම කියන්නේ ඒ රටේ නිති රීති හා ව්‍යවස්ථාමය ක්ේෂත‍්‍රය වෙනස් කිරීම් ද ඇතුලත් කලාපයක් බව සැබෑය. එහෙත් නිදහසින් පසු අපේ රටේ දේශපාලනයේ ප‍්‍රධාන ම වැඬේ වන්නේ අලුතින් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ලියන එක කියා හිතන්නට පටන් ගත්තේ 70 මැතිවරණයත් සමගය” එතනින් පසුව පැවති හැම මැතිවරණයකම පාහේ පළමු පොරොන්දුව වූයේ ‘අපි ආවොත් අලූත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදනවා’ කියන කාරණයය. එද සිට හැම ආණුඩුවක්ම පාහේ තමන්ගේ වසර පහක පාලන කාලයේ වැඩි හරියක් ගත කරන්නේ මේ අලූත් ව්‍යවස්ථා හැදිමේ ක‍්‍රියාදමයටය.

1977 ජන්දය සදහා එජාපය ඉදිරිපත් කළ මැතිවරණ ප‍්‍රකාශයෙන් තර්ක කළේ රටේ ප‍්‍රශ්නවලට ප‍්‍රධාන හේතුව වන්නේ ඊට අවුරුදු පහකට පෙර (1972) හදපු අලූත් ආණ්ඩු ක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව බවය. ඒ නිසා ඒ අය කීවේ තමන් බලයට පැමිනිය හොත් කරන පළමු වැඬේ මේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව වෙනස් කරන බව කියාය. ජයවර්ධන මහතා බලය ගෙන වසරක් ඇතුලත බරපතල ආකාරයකින් සිදු කළේ අලූත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් හදන වැඬේය. පක්ෂයේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව හදනවාටත් වඩා වේගයෙන් තමන්ටම ගැලපෙන්න රටේ ව්‍යවස්ථාව ඔහු හැදුවේ විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු හය හත් දෙනා තඹ සතේකට මායිම් කරන්නේ නැතිවය. 1978 ව්‍යවසථාව කියන්නේ එහෙම කළඹලයෙන් හදපු ඒ ව්‍යවස්ථාටය. ඒ ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ කෙටුම්පත පාරලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර සාකච්ජා කර අවසන් කිරීමෙන් පසුව කාරක සභා අවස්ථාවේ තිබෙද්දි පවා හදිසියේ එයට එකතු කරපු දේවල් පවා රටේ නීති බවට පත් වූ ආකාරය ඒ කාලයේ දේශපාලනය ගැන දන්නා අයට මතකය. උදහරණයක් වශයෙන් හදිසියේ ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පතට එබ්බවූ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය පිළිබද වූ අන්තර්වාර ක‍්‍රියාදමය සැලකිය හැකිය. එතෙක් සිටි ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ සේවයේ නියුතු විනිසුරුවරුන් නැවත පත් කරන බවට අන්තර් ක‍්‍රියාකාරීත්ව නීතියක් 78 ව්‍යවස්ථාවට දැම්මේ එය අනුමත වෙන්නට ඔන්න-මෙන්න කියා තිබෙද්දි කාගෙත් ඇස් වසාය. කාටත් හොරෙන්ය. එතෙක් සිටි ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුතුමන්ලා එම තනතුරුවලින් ඉවත් කෙරෙන බව සහ අලූතින් විනිසුරුවරුන් යලිත් පත් කරන බව ව්‍යවස්ථාවට ඇතුලත් වී ඇති බව සමහර විනිසුරු වරුන් පවා දැනගත්තේ ඒ ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත වීමෙනුත් පසුවය. 1994 මැතිවරණයේ පොදු ජන පෙරමුනේ මැතිවරන පොරොන්දුව වූයේ විධායක ජනාධිපතිධුරය ඉවත් කරමින් අලූත් වයවස්ථාවක් ගෙනෙන බවය. ජ. එල්. පීරිස් මහතා වැනි ඒ කාලයේ සිටි නීති විශාරධයින් කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට ගත්තේ ඒ වැඬේ කරන්නටය. ‘සුදු නෙලූම්’ ‘තවලම්’ වැනි වැඩසටහන් හරහා ඒ ආණ්ඩුව තමන්ගේ මුලූ කාලය පුරාම මහන්සි ගත්තේ ත් අලූත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගේන්නටය. ඒත් එජාපය එද හැසුරුනේ විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරය තියාගන්නට නිසා 2000 ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත කරන්නට පොදු පෙරමුනේ ආන්ඩුවට හැකියාවක් ලැබුනේ නැත.

දැන් පසුගිය 2015 ජනාධිපතිවරණය පුරාම මේ රටේ දේශපාලන භුමියේ සාකච්ජා කළ මාතෘකාව වූයේ විධායක ජනාධිපති ධුරයේ බලතල පාරලිමේන්තුවට හිමි වන පරිදි හදන අලූත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගැනය. ඒ සිහිනය සැබෑ කරන්නට කියා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ව්‍යවස්ථාදයක සභාවක් බවටද මේ වන විට පත් කර හමාරය. මේ ආන්ඩුව යන්නේ ලිච්චවී ක‍්‍රමයට බවත් එයත් පළල් ප‍්‍රජාතන්න‍්‍රවාදි රාමුවක් බවත් නිතර නිතර කියන්නේ අගමැති තුමා ය. ඒ සියල්ල එහෙම කියන ගමන් පලාත් පාලන ජන්දය හැකිතාක් දුරට කල් යන පරිදි මැතිවරන පනත මළානික අයුරින් සංශෝධනය කළේත් අනික් අතින් පළාත් සභාවල පාලන කාලය ජනතා වරමකින් තොරව තව ටිකක් කල් අල්ලාගෙන සිටීම සදහා 20 සංශෝධනය ගෙනෙන්නේ ඒ යහපාලන රජය විසින් මය. ලිච්චවී වගේ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදි වන්නට කථා කරන ගමන් සිම්බාබ්වේ වගේ මැතිවරනයක් පේන්න බැරි තැනකට ගමන් කිරීම තේරුම් ගන්නේ කුමන දේශපාලන විද්‍යාවකින් දැයි අපට තෙරෙන්නේ නැත.

මේ රටේ දේශපාලනයේ ජන්ද කල් දමන්නට නියමින් හෝ අනියමින් වැඩ කළ ආණ්ඩු වලට අත් වුන බරපතල ඉරනම සමහරුන්ට දැන් මතක නැති ගානය. 1975 පවත්වන්නට තිබු මැතිවරණය අවුරුදු දෙකකනික් කල් දමන්නට ගොස් සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරනායක මැතිනියට ඊට පසු පැමිනි මැතිවරණ ගනනාවක්ම එක දිගට පරදින්නට වූ බව අපේ මතකයට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය. මැතිනියට විධායක ජනාධිපති වෙන්නට කවමදවත් හැකි වුනේ නැත. ශ‍්‍රීලනීපයට ආන්ඩුවක් ආවේ අවුරුදු 17 පසුව 1994 ය. අනෙක් අතට 1982 පවත්වන්නට තිබුනු මහ මැතිවරණය කල් දමමින් ජනමත විචාරණ සෙල්ලමක් දමන්නට ගොස් රටටත් එජාපටයත් මුහුන දෙන්නට වුනේ බරපතල ප‍්‍රති විපාක වලට බව අපගේ මතකයට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය. ඒ ජනමත විචාරණය නිසා ප‍්‍රජාතන්‍්‍රවාදයෙන් පිටමන් වු තරුණයින් ආපසු ආවේ ටී පනස් හය අතේ තියාගෙනය. අනෙක් අතට එජාපයට ඒදයින් පසුව අද දක්වාම තනියෙන් ආණ්ඩුවක් හෝ තමන්ගේ පකෂයේ ජනාධිපතිවරයෙක් පත් කර ගන්නට නොහැකි වී තිබෙන්නේ ඒ මැතිවරණ සිතියම හැකීලීමේ ජනමත විචාරන මෙහෙයුම නිසා බව සිහියට ගැනීම ඉතාමත් වැදගත්ය.

පලාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ පනත සංශෝධනය මන්දගාමීව කරන්නට ගොස් සිදුකර ගත්තේ යලිත් පිරිසිදු කරගත නොහැකි ගානට දේශපාලනයේ ක්ෂේත‍්‍රයේ අපවිත‍්‍ර වීමය. පලාත් පාලන ආයතන නැති නිසා නගර අපවිත‍්‍ර වුවාට වඩා කුණු ගොඩක් මේ මැතිවරන පනත සමග සෙල්ලම් කරන්නට ගොස් ආණ්ඩුව ගා ගත්තේය. ඊට අමතරව ඒ ජන්දය කල් දැමීමෙන් තවත් පැත්තකින් සිදු වුනේ නාගරික හා ග‍්‍රාමීය ක්ෂේත‍්‍රයේ පරිපාලනය කඩා වැටීමය. අනෙක් අතට මේ නිසා පලාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යංශය හිමි පක්ෂය ලෙසින් ශ‍්‍රීලනීපයට වැදුනේත් නරක පහරකි. මට හිතෙන හැටියට පළාත් පාලන ඇමතිතුමා කොච්චර විශාලෙට කටවුට් ගැසුවත් දැන වැටී තියෙන්නේ කවමදවත් ම ජනතාවගේ ජන්දයකින් දිනන්නට බැරි තරම් අගාධයකට ය.

දැන් අගමැති තුමා විසින් 20 සංශෝධනය ගෙනත් ඇත්තේ මෙවැනි පරිසරයකටය. මේ සංශෝධනයෙන් කියන්නේ එකකි. කෙරෙන්නේ තවත් එකකි. මේ මගින් බලාපොරොත්තු වනවා යැයි කියන්නේ සියලූ පලාත් සභාවල ජන්දය එක දිනක තියන්ටය. ලිච්චවී පන්නයේ ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදයක් යෝජනා කරන නිසා එසේ එක දිනක ජන්දය තියන එක හොද දෙයක් යැයි මොහොතකට සිතුවත් එසේ ජන්දය එකට පැවැත්විය යුත්තේ පලමුවෙන්ම කාලය නිමා වෙන පලාත් සභාවේ දිනයට මිස අවසාන පලාත් සභාව දක්වා අනෙක් ඒවා ජනතාවගෙන් අහන්නේ නැතිව අල්ලාගෙන සිටීමෙන් නොවන බව සාමාන්‍යයෙන් තේරෙන අයගේ මතයය. ජනතාවගේ බලයක් ඔවුන්ගේ අනුමැතියකින් තොරව අල්ලගෙන ඉන්නවා යනුම කිසිම ලිච්චවී ධර්මයකට අයිති එකක් නොව මහ දවල් ප‍්‍රජාතන්ත‍්‍රවාදය යටපත් කරන ක‍්‍රියාවක් බව අපි තේරුම් ගත යුතුය. 1975 මැතිවරණය පවත්විය යුතු දිනට වඩා එක දිනයක් වත් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිටීමට තමන්ට වරමක් නැතැයි කියා දකුනු කොළඹ ආසනයෙන් ඉල්ලා අස් වූනේ ජෙ ආර් ජයවර්ධන මහතාය. ඒ මහතාගේ පක්ෂයේ අද සිටින නායකයෝ කියන්නේ එද ජයවර්ධන මහතා කළ වැඬේ වැරදි වැඩක් කියා දැයි මා දන්නේ නැත.

මේ 20 සංශෝධනයට විරුද්ධ බව එළිපිටම කීවේ නිල ශ‍්‍රීලනීපයත් එකාබද්ධ විපක්ධයක් ජෙවිපෙත් පමණය. අද සමහර පලාත් සභාවල ශ‍්‍රීලනීපයේ හා ඒකාබද්ධයේ පලාත් සභා මන්ත‍්‍රීවරු 20 සංශෝධනයට පක්ෂව ජන්දය දෙන්නේ තම තමන්ගේ පක්ෂවල තීරණවලට විරුද්ධවය. මේ පලාත් සභා මන්තී‍්‍රවරුන් 20 සංශෝධනයට පක්ෂවීමෙන් කියන්නේ ජනතාවගේ ජන්ද අයිතිය නියමිත දිනයට පසුව අල්ලාගෙන සිටිම නිවැදියි ඔවුන සිතන බවය. ජනතාවගේ නියෝජතයෝ මේ කොකා පෙන්වන්නේ ජනතාවටය. මේ කාරණය ජන්ද දයකයින් හරියටම තේරුම් ගත යුතුය. තමන්ගේ ජන්ද අයිතිය නියෝජනය කරන්නට පලාත් සභාවලට යැවු නියෝජතයින් ජනතාවගේ ඒ අයිතිය යලිත් ජනතාවට ලබාදිමට එරෙහි වන්නේ නම් ඒ කිසිම සභිකයෙක් අපි නැවත පලාත් සභාවලට පත් කර යැවිය යුතු නැත. මේ රටේ මාධ්‍ය සිවිල් සංවිධාන හා බුද්ධිමතුන් මේ ගැන අවධියෙන් සිටිය යුතුය. 20 කණ්ඩායම ලෙසින් නම් කළ හැකි මෙ පිරිස හැර ඕනැම අයෙක් ඒ ඒ පක්ෂවලින් පලාත් සභාවලට යැවීම සදහා ජාතිකමය වූ කථිකාවක් ඇති කර ගත යුතු බව මගේ අදහසය.

අනෙක් අතට ශ‍්‍රීලනීපයේ හා ඒකාබද්ධයේ නායකයින් සිතිය යුත්තේ එජාපයේ මේ ගුග්ලි පන්දුවට නිපරාදේ දැවී නොයා යුතු බවය. මේ සියල්ල මැද පක්ෂයේ හා ජනතාවගේ තීරණය තමන්ගේ තීරණය කරගෙන 20 වන සංශෝධනය පරාජයට පත් කළ ඌවේ ප‍්‍රධාන ඇමතිතුමා ඇතුලූ ශ‍්‍රීලනීප හා ඒකාබද්ධයේ මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන්ට අපගේ ප‍්‍රනාමය හිමි විය යුතුය.

ආචාර්ය චරිත හේරත්
01 -09- 2017 – Lankadeepa

Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec, Canada.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekera has used the up-coming 150th anniversary of Tea plantations to present a patriotic lament which we should resonate with. But we  should remember that when Sri Wickrama R  was captured in Kandy, the situation was qualitatively no different to what we have today., with a bunch of traitors running the country.  The country was handed over to the British by a set  of Adigars” who were scheming against each other and some of them were already in cahoots with the British. Half of them signed the Kandyan treaty in Tamil. Meanwhile, Britain was  a nation already into the industrial revolution, and reigning mightily over half the world, from the Americas and India to the Orient. Historical evolution is also government by Darwinian evolution. If we cannot acquire the tools and the know-how that the west has, and continue to go back to traditional knowledge” while condemning scientific knowledge,  we will be doomed for ever.

The plantation technology that the British brought to Ceylon was the very best available at the time, and  some of the best British brains from the top Universities came here as administrators and used their talent in this country. They excavated and validated  the archeology, the historical  ruins etc., that had been dismissed as being mere legends, re-exposed the historical chronicles,  and  made catalogues of animals, plants, fishes, geology and  drew maps when our culture did not really have any. Even today, when scientists need to identify a butterfly, bird or plant, they go to Western compilations, specimens in Kew Gardens etc. The ruined cities were re-discovered and repaired by them. The village tanks, as well as many of the major tanks were repaired by them; a superb rail and road infrastructure as good as any in the Empire at the time was built here using the new know-how and tools coming from rising industrial revolution blossoming in  Manchester and Birmingham in the 19th century. The British infrastructure served until the Rajapaksa era when a number of new highways, bridges  and railroads were built.

Why did the British  do all this? Of course, to exploit the wealth of the land more efficiently and more  knowledgeably. This WAS sustainable agriculture as it did last 150 years, compared to some of the things we do today that crumble even before they are built.  Those modern” (for the 19th century) methods also led to the availability of more food, and a rapid increase in population, the population in 1800 was less than half a million, while by 1900 it was close to 4 million;  all this  actually brought the country from a medieval feudal society where the peasants lived under the autocratic york of the Adigars and the Rate Mahathhayas. The local lord,  when he went about in his Dolawa”, if he saw a pretty girl, he would require her  to come and sleep with him that night – the right of the Lord and the girl was expected to be thankful!  Most other things, properties etc  were his and done as he wanted and there was no recourse to any other justice. There was much mal-nutrition, vector diseases (even dengue), influenza  epidemics, small pox, TB, dysentery, hookworm etc, etc.,  and high infant mortality. If you allowed for infant mortality the average life expectancy was about 35 years or less for the ordinary man (hence there was hardly any  cardio-vascular and chronic diseases which take time to develop).

The Adigars were replaced by the White Masters who  exploited the peasants in a more uniform and efficient manner. Some of the turn-coat leaders and Pandankarayas”  won  special favours and became   Gate Mudliyars and such  officials of the invading regime. These same Pantharanaike and Ramanathan types   were given vast extents of land taken from the peasants;  their kith and kin  are still in power today.

Unfortunately, after  70 years of Independence, things have not improved from what it was in 1948. There is less justice and fair play in the courts than under the British judges. Even Gandhi good a good deal under the British judges.

Today the  Local Lords” do  not go in Dolaws”, but they go in expensive fleets of cars that they get duty free at state expense. They can  even black-market their cars  at 40 million rupees a piece and import a new car periodically. They do not need the pretty village girl as they have pretty courtesans brought for them from Russia and Thailand and other countries, complete with packs of Viagra, paid for from secret bank accounts held abroad.

Filing cases against the British for damages
And yet, in spite of what our leaders are, Dr. Sugath G proposes to  file a case in the international courts against the Government and people of the United Kingdom claiming compensation for all the crimes and conspiracies they have committed against us including….”. Someone who does not know Dr. Sugath might think that he  must be dreaming! So he thinks that our Mankalai Samarahora,  Ranil Westenpuppet, Maiththiram Thirisanaa will file a case!. No, they will file a case stating that it is Sri Lanka itself which is guilty, just like at the UNCHR in Geneva. They will say the following instead of
what Dr. Sugath says (in italics).

1.Sinhalese as a people have lost their traditional Home land on the hills first to the British and now it is on its way to losing to South Indian estate Tamil labour:.  Surely, Sinhala leaders willingly divided the land and the resources and gave it to the British in the name of cooperation with his majesty George-III who is going to look after us. The British are not guilty. We are guilty.

2. The divide and rule colonial policy they have left behind to destroy the Sinhala Buddhist Civilization had already been invented by the Sinhalayas and that if any one should be punished, then the Sinhalayas should be co-punished. The British learned the Divide and rule policy from the Mahawamsa after Turner translated it from the Pali for the first time in the latter half of the 19th century.

3. Demanding  to repatriate all our archaeological and literary treasure is a good thing, but on second thought, why not keep half in Britain and divide the rest between the good supporters of the West like Mankalam, Chanthrika Pantharnaik,  Ranil and  Maiththiram Thirisanaa?. The Sri Lankan museums are really not safe, and not dependable, just as the Sri lankan cops and the judges are not dependable. We need foreign judges, foreign cops and foreign guards, and foreign museums. When our children go abroad to study they can look at them there. Why bring it here and let it get stolen?

4. Demanding  the British  to take back all Indians they have left behind when they left the shores of this country in 1948 is after all a silly request because there are already enough curry joints and Dhose Kades”  in London by now;   it is hard to find any real Briton anyway. So who do you ask? Even Chandrika lives there most of the time. Do we ask her or The Global Tamil Forum?

5.  Demanding  both the British and Indian Governments to immediately stop interfering with the internal affairs of this country at least now as we are a fully pledged free and independent Nation and ceased to be a colony of theirs long time ago” is just rhetoric. Who said that we are a fully pledged free nation? Or no, we are always ready to oblige all the US diplomats, Indian diplomats, and Chinese diplomats to tell us what to do; it is simplest to let them run our ports, our airfields, and even our businesses and they will also write our constitution.

6. Demand them to apologize for all crimes they have committed against our country and its people.
Indeed we can demand that, but remember, we are equally guilty, and Lanka  should say mea culpa” as we did in Geneva when Mankali Samarahora formulated our very wise policies drawn up in Washington with the help of our Eelam friends.

7.  We should immediately declare all land over 5000 ft as strict forest reserves and restore the physical stability of the nation’s watersheds lest this green paradise Island become semi arid country for lack of perennial water. Why limit it to 5000 feet?  Of course a Gazette notification will be made to  that order right from 100 feet above sea level; but you see, our  friend Mr. Bathurdeen needs to also settle some displaced people coming not only from SL, but from Pakistan; and some of us need holiday bungalows in these forests; and Maiththiram’s  Brother runs a tourist business and we need more hotels inside these forests. We need development, not forests. Mr. Champi Ranaya  and Venerable” Rasputin are setting up this toxin free nation” and most of it is going to be located as a megalopolis built on that  wonderful place known as the ever expanding  Meethotamulla (i.e., the place where we export honey=mee),  where only fools think we have garbage  rather than honey.

What shall we do about the tea estates?
Dr. Sugath thinks that the tea estates are not profitable. Surely, Dr. Sugath, it is simple. Today the estates are run inefficiently, by local CEOs who warm chairs and draw high salaries. Kick them out and hand over the Estates to Brook Bonds and Liptons to run them. They will run them efficiently, beautifully, and with a profit, as they did before. Again, Lanka should say, mea culpa”, we are at fault. Mr Ranil Wickemasinghe will readily  agree to leasing the Tea estates for the next 150 years to Liptons , so  the problem is solved. Of course he will say” that it will be run by a Liptons and Sri Lankan consortium!

Dr. Sugath G and the toxins in our rivers.
Of course  Dr. Sugath G knows very well the kind of  political set up we are having in Sri lanka today.  He knows that we are a free and sovereign nation only in name; he knows that we are run by a bunch of traitors and ruffians who are dismantling the country and selling the family jewelery and even the old pots and pans.  What we have to discuss is not how to file a case against the British, but how to get rid of this bunch of cutthroats, without putting back the previous set of cut throats in power. There are new leaders emerging from among the Ranviru, and civil activists like Kodithuwakku, and perhaps Wiijedasa R?

But there are other matters where Dr. G  is actually in error  (here I am being serious).  Dr. Sudath G  has taken Ven. Ratana and the  Vasa-Visa Naethi Ratak” stuff  seriously and writes:
The destruction of the natural forest cover led to eroding down millions of tons of fertile soil in to the ocean converting the central hills once covered with dense natural forests to an eroded, degraded, unfertile and almost barren land. This situation required heavy use of chemical fertilizer, insecticides and pesticide’s to keep the tea plantation going. The enormous toxic matter annually washed down the rivers from these vast stretches of plantations and extensive vegetable cultivations has polluted all rivers in the country killing valuable aquatic life and particularly filling the Dry Zone Tanks with toxic matter where water gets stored still. The resulting toxic deposits have been the main reason behind the widespread kidney disease which might turn the entire Dry Zone completely unsuitable for human habitation in future”

This lament is actually a commonly held view of the public not familiar with the available scientific information. To blame agrochemicals for all our problems is the most common wisdom found in the internet and forms the basis fake panic. But even though  seemingly  the earth is  flat, the real truth is different.

The soil in the country is NOT TOXIC, as seen by the hundreds of egrets (Kokku”) that crowd behind every farmer who is tilling the soil as has been pointed out repeatedly by Dr. Amarasiri (a retired Directior General of Agriculture) in his articles criticizing Ven. Ratana’s disastrous agricultural policies . The Kokku come to eat the earthworms and other bugs in the soil. They live in the soil because the agricultural soil everywhere is quite healthy. Even though fertilizers have been increasingly used since the 1960s, they do NOT lead to any toxicity if used correctly. This is true even in countries like New Zealand where they use 25-35 times more agrochemicals per hectare per year than Seri lanka does  (see some of the articles by Prof.  Dhramawardana, Dr. Waidyanatha and others) . However, the  main problem today is overuse which has led to excessive inputs of phosphates into our water streams. But even so, there is much less phosphate in our waters than in a glass of Coca Cola.

So, fortunately the very opposite of what Dr. Sugath G says  is true regarding toxins. Anyone with any knowledge of plant growth will know that if we are to extract so many tons of tea leaves(or any other crop)  per hectare, then you need to input the corresponding amount of Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and water  etc into the soil.  Until about 1978 the correct amounts (as dictated by scientific agriculture) were added and there was NO excess fertilizer washed off from the hill country. Then came Yankee Dikee” Jayawardena who decided that fertilizer sales  should be handled by the free market”  (Mudalalis beholden to politicians) and not by the technical men of the agriculture department. This led to vegetable farmers (but not tea estates) using sometimes  as much as five times the needed amount of fertilizers! And yet, a recent study of the Mahaweli waters by the Geology department of the Peradeniya University concluded that there were  only negligible amounts of metal toxins in the Mahawel water (see: Diyabalanage S, Abekoon S, Watanabe I, et al, Has irrigated water from Mahaweli river contributed to the kidney disease of uncertain etiology in the dry zone of Sri Lanka? Environtal  Geochemistry & Health,  volume 38, pages 439– 454, DOI 10.1007/s10653-015-9749-1, year 2016). The WHO-NSF study of the water and soil in the Rajarata published in 2014, the Japanese study (which resulted in the Kawakami Atlas of metal toxin levels in Sri Lanka), as well as the   Jayasinghe-COSTI study of water inputs to reverse osmosis (RO)  machines,  all  unanimously show that the irrigation waters and water in our tanks, rivers are  NO TOXIC.  People have been scared into believing that such water is toxic so that NGOs can sell their RO machines and trap the country into a regular buying cycle.

Peradeniya scientists and the Kandy Center for Research into Kidney Disease (CERKID) have shown that the killer kidney disease is caused by drinking stagnant well water in certain areas of the Rajarata. These wells contain high amounts of naturally occurring fluoride and hard water (Kivul watura”). This has been shown to be a deadly nephrotoxic combination by many experiments including feeding such water to laboratory animals (as shown by a research report in the prestigious journal Nature, 2017). Unfortunately, instead of following the advise of scientists, the government has followed the advise of the most  Venerable” Ratana (now not so venerable as he has been found to be engaged  in selling duty-free  cars in the black market).

Ven” Ratana  pushed the  ban on glyphosate claiming to get rid of the killer disease, although even traces of this herbicide have not been found in the affected areas or in the blood and urine of the sick people. According to several Chinese studies, glyphosate is actually beneficial to the soil and soil organisms because it removed metal toxins by converting them to insoluble matter.

So, even if we convert the tea estates into forests, ban fertilizers and agrochemicals,  we will still have Kidney Disease unless we provide clean water (i.e., free of  fluoride and hardness) to the affected areas. The most successful strategy seems to be the harvesting of rainwater. This however is unpopular with the NGOs selling RO machines (and even with Ven”. Ratana?).

Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec , Canada

Dr. Carlo Fonseka, a leftist with the credentials needed to survive any regime has now stated that he will  work to topple the government on the SAITM issue. Ostensibly, he is fighting to save free education”.  Why did he not do anything to stop the granting of degrees in Chemistry, Management, Engineering and a whole host of other subjects done by private and professional institutes in Sri Lanka?
Don’t all that make an indent into free education, if that is what is sacrosanct?
Is it only the doctors who have a right to protect their turf? It is these same doctors who engage in private practice after having got a free education. If they can do private practice t is absolutely essential that the private sector also engage in medical education.

It should also be remembered that in the 1940s, when A. Ratnayake and C. W. W. Kannangara launched the campaign to have Free Education in Ceylon, Dr. N. M. Perera even wrote a book stating that free education should NOT be established until AFTER the REVOLUTION! It  was argued that free education will be used as a tool to brain wash the people against revolutionary ideas and the inexorable dialectical out come of a revolution will be delayed by the introduction of free education. The ambivalent attitude of many revolutionaries” to welfare measures and Fabianism were also based on the argument that the rise of a middle class with bourgeois values” was detrimental to creating a militant revolutionary people who should be in a state of saa duka” (hunger) to rise up in arms.

But today, many leftists identify with free education as if they championed it. Today, they use it as a means of currying favour with student organizations. These student organizations have rarely bothered about the academic progress of the students; instead they agitate for political ends. In our era as undergraduates, in the last quarter of the 20th century, it was normal for the 3 year B.A or B. Sc degree to take five or six years due to strikes launched by the JVP and other leftist” organizations who had forgotten the Lichchavi-Buddhist culture of this land and embraced the principles of violent agitation, false propaganda and the satanic claim that the end justifies the means”.

Of course, the bond scam, highways-construction scams, toxin-free” nation scams, exhuming dead bodies scams,  hauling war-heroes to courts, building Volkswagon-factories scams, and all the other corrupt acts of this government   as well as its bid to sell the country to the West, the East and the Indians have put the writing on the wall. Seasoned politicians like Carlo Fonseka know that the ship is sinking. So, it is best to jump the ship and find a heroic excuse to do so. But at least Fonseka has recognized the nature of this government, put in place with the shrill support of other so-called leftists (e.g., Kumar David, Chandrika Bandaranaike) who were in fact witting or unwitting puppets of the West executing its plan for regime change. Let others also see the writing on the wall, and unite to topple the government, not because of SAITM, but because it is the most corrupt and most treacherous government that Sri Lanka ever had.

Bodhi Dhanapala, Quebec , Canada.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Contrary to what  Ananth Karthikeyan has stated in his article published in the Lankaweb on September 03, 2017, titled The Imperial Cholas’ Conquest of Sri Lanka”  mentioned, Sri Lanka was never captured and controlled completely by Dravidians at any time in its history. The following is an outline of Dravidian invasions and their outcome according to Sri Lankan sources of information and evidence from Sri Lanka.

Recorded history states that Sri Lanka was invaded as much as seventeen times by South Indian Dravidian speaking invaders since 230 BCE. Coming with armies of Tamils from South India they ruthlessly wiped out entire Sinhala villages along their way to Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa the royal capitals of the past. These highly prosperous Sinhala Buddhist capitals were ransacked and plundered and the people subject to untold atrocities. They killed Sinhala Kings or forced them to the retreat to the south. These Tamil invaders sat on the Sinhala throne and ruled over the Sinhala people for about 170 years at different times.

The Tamil threat to the Sinhala Buddhist kingdoms had become very real in the fifth and sixth centuries CE. Three Hindu empires in southern India–the Pandya, Pallava, and Chola, were becoming more assertive. Tamil ethnic and religious consciousness matured during this period. In the meantime, in India, Buddhism was becoming vulnerable to pressure and absorption by Hinduism and its influence was receding. It was during this time that Chola, Pallava and Pandya Tamils   were instrumental in repeated invasions and threats to our Buddhist Sinhala rulers.

Sri Lanka experienced terror in its worst forms never known in our land before,  during the invasions and rule of the Dravidian Kalinga Magha and later in recent years under the Tamil terrorist Prabakaran. The crime-prone rule of Kalinga Magha prevailed for 21 years from the year 1201. The Tamil Pandyan and Tamil Nayakka intrusion into Sinhala royal families led to our traditional royalty going into disarray after the 13^th century, and the eventual decline of the stability and magnanimity of the Sinhala Buddhist nation.

Some Dravidians came to Sri Lanka as mercenaries. Propensity to violence and criminal activities is not a recent development among Tamils. The history of Tamil involvement in our country is marked by excessive violence. This characterizes the history of Tamil invasions and involvements in our country from early times. This makes one think whether violence has become a part of the mental and psychological structure of the average Tamil.

Whether the outrageous and violent attitudes of Dravidians, especially the Tamils in general, towards Sri Lanka have changed in recent times is questionable when one learns of the outrageous public pronouncements of Tamil leaders of Tamil Nadu – the Homeland of Tamils.  It was as recent as May 2009 that Jayalalitha called for Indian troops to invade Sri Lanka to help create a Tamil state. This dim-witted  woman who died a few days ago, was the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu the homeland of the Tamils.

FIRST  DRAVIDIAN TAMIL INVADERS – SENA AND GUTTIKA (22 Years)      The first invasion around 230 BCE, was by two brothers who ruled on the Sinhala throne over the Sinhala people for 22 years till they were killed by a Sinhala prince from the south. The first reported account of South Indian Tamil rule in Sri Lanka was during the period 237-215 BCE by the horse dealers. SENA and GUTTIKA. who killed the Sinhala king Suratissa and usurped the Sinhala throne and occupied the throne at Anurādhapura for twenty two years. In 215 BCE, Sinhala king ASELA, the brother of Surastisssa   and brother of King Devanampiyatissa regained the kingdom from Tamil invaders and ruled from 215 to 205 BCE.

DRAVIDIAN TAMIL ELARA (44 Years)                                                                 Ten years later, a Chola Tamil South Indian invader named Elara, came and slew the legitimate Sinhala king Asela, and ruled Rajarata from Anuradhapura. He held the Sinhala throne for 44 years (205-161 BCE). This Tamil invader was slained by Prince Dutugemunu and the entire country was unified under his rule.

WAR WAGED BY SEVEN DRAVIDIAN TAMILS                                                  Valagambahu became the king of Anuradhapura Kingdom in103 BCE.  Five months after becoming king, he was overthrown by a Tamil invasion from South India. Seven Tamils waged war against king Valagambahu – Pulahatta (or Pulahatha), Bahiya, Panaya Mara,  Pilaya Mara, Dathiya. In 88 BCE these Tamils were deposed by Valagambahu ending Tamil rule. Valagambahu I (89-77) BCE restored the Dutugamunu dynasty.

SIX PANDYAN TAMIL INVADERS (428 – 452 CE)                                              There was a twenty-four year period from 428 to 452 CE, when six Pandyan Tamil invaders ruled the country- Pandu – 428-433, Parinda – 433, Khuda Parinda – 433-449, Tiritara – 449, Dathiya – 449-452.  King Dhatusena defeated the last two of these Tamil usurpers and ruled our nation from 452 to 470 CE.

PANDYAN AND CHOLA INVASIONS IN THE 9^TH CENTURY CE                      By the middle of the ninth century, the Pandyans had risen to a position of ascendancy in southern India, invaded northern Sri Lanka, and ransacked Anuradhapura.  During the period 846 to 866 CE, Pandyan Tamils invaded and plundered Anuradhapura.

TAMIL VIOLENCE LED TO ABANDONMENT OF ANURADHAPURA -THE ROYAL CAPITAL OF 1400 YEARS                                                                    In 993, the Chola Emperor Raja raja-I invaded Sri Lanka, forcing the then Sri Lankan ruler Mahinda V to flee to the southern part of the country. Rajendra I son of Raja raja -I, launched a large invasion and Mahinda V was captured and taken prisoner to India where he died in 1037. Mahinda V (917-1007), was the last Sinhala king to rule from Anuradhapura. These Cholas ransacked the city of Anuradhapura and moved the capital to Polonnaruwa and subsequent Sri Lankan rulers who came into power after the Chola reign continued to use Polonnaruwa as the capital, thus ending the Anuradhapura regime.

TAMIL PLUNDER OF ANURADHAPURA                                                           Rajadhiraja Chola II (1166–1178 C.E.) who was a Chola king in India had serious disputes with the Pandyans and the Sinhala rulers on the opposite side, bringing untold misery to both sides. This civil war that resulted between the Cholas and Pandyan Tamils brought power to Pandyans resulting in invasions and plunder of Anuradhapura.

ROYAL CAPITAL RELOCATED IN POLONNARUWA OWING TO TAMIL INVASIONS AND VIOLENCE

CHOLAS OUSTED FROM POLONNARUWA

VIJAYABAHU- I (1045-1095 CE) ousted the Chola Tamils from Anuradhapura and regained the Rajarata Sinhala kingdom. He chose Polonnaruwa as his capital. It is also significant that Hindu Devale’s were respected and Tamil soldiers were maintained in the service of the king.  King Vijayabahu had Leelavati as his chief queen, but also married a princess from Kalinga Royal Family as his second wife. From her he had a son named Vikrama Bahu and a daughter named Ratnavali.  His sister, Mitta, was given in marriage to a Pandyan Prince who had three sons, the eldest of whom named Manabharana, became the husband of Ratnavali. Their son was Parakrama Bahu. I.

NISSANKA MALLA (Kirti Sri Nissanka) 1174-1183 CE was a Kalinga Prince and his reign was followed by a period of utmost political instability resulting in downfall of the Rajarata kingdom and the former glory of Polonnaruva.

TAMIL INVASIONS DURING POLONNARUWA ERA                                          During the reign of Queen Lilavati 1197-1198 CE – the Widow of King Parakrama Bahu – a South Indian Pandyan Tamil invader deposed her and became the king and ruled for three years.

KALINGA MAGHA INVASION (1201-1222 CE)                                                     In 1201 Sri Lanka was invaded by MAGHA a Dravidian Kalinga prince who took the king captive, tortured him and robbed him of all riches. He ruled for 21 years until 1222 CE. The ferocity, cruelty and barbarism of Tamils were unprecedented. These Tamils ransacked the kingdom, killed man and beast, broke images, destroyed temples, viharas, tortured the rich of their wealth and gave land to Cholas. The Tooth and Bowl relics were hidden. Kalinga Magha tyrannized the inhabitants of Raja Rata and extended his invasion to the south of the country where he was counter-attacked by the Sinhala and this Tamil terrorist escaped death and ran back to India with some of his soldiers. These Tamils ransacked the kingdom, killed man and beast, broke images, destroyed temples, viharas, tortured the rich of their wealth and gave land to Cholas. The Tooth and Bowl relics were hidden. Kalinga Magha tyrannized over the inhabitants of Raja Rata and extended his invasion to the south of the country, but was compelled to retreat by the forces of Vijaya Bahu-III of Maya Rata (1222-1226 CE) and was killed by the Sinhala on his way back to India.

INSECURITY BROUGHT ABOUT BY TAMILS A MAIN REASON FOR RELOCATION OF CAPITALS    

VIJAYA BAHU -III (1222-1226 CE) who expelled Magha the Tamil invaders from Maya Rata, moved the seat of government to Dambadeniya.  He had two sons named Parakramabahu and Bhuvaneka Bahu.

PANDITHA PARAKRAMA BAHU- II (1226-1257 CE) – the eldest son of Vijaya Bahu- III became the king after his father Vijaya Bahu- III. The new king was known as Panditha Parakramabahu – II, on account of his great learning. Chandra Bhanu the Tamil, who claimed to be a ruler of Jaffna, went to war with Panditha Parakrama Bahu and was defeated mercilessly. Although Panditha Parakramabahu was crowned at Polonnaruwa he ruled at Dambadeniya. He reigned as king over the whole of Lanka for thirty five years and upon his death was succeeded by his son, Vijaya Bahu who ruled for two years and political instability followed with several kings who ruled for short periods of time.

REPEATEDLY INVADED BY INDIAN TAMIL FORCES 

BHUVANEKA BAHU- I ascended the throne in 1259 and ruled until 1270. During the early part of his reign our country was repeatedly but unsuccessfully invaded by Indian Tamil forces. He initially ruled from Dambadeniya and later shifted his capital to Yapahuva. The life of Yapahuva as the capital of Lanka lasted only till the death of King Bhuvaneka Bahu- I, when it was subjugated and despoiled by another Tamil invasion.

INVASION OF TAMIL PANDYAN ARMY

PARAKRAMA BAHU – III, the nephew of Buvaneka Bahu- I, became king in 1270 and ruled for five years in Polonnaruwa. During his reign the island was invaded by a Pandyan army led by one Chakravarti. The invaders succeeded in capturing the forces of Yapahuva and carrying off the sacred Tooth-Relics to India. The Sinhala king succeeded in bringing it back to Lanka and placed the relics in Polonnaruwa.

BUVANEKA BAHU – II (1275-1277CE) – Son of Buvaneka Bahu- I, cousin of Parakrama Bahu- III who had a Pandyan connection ruled from Kurunegala.

PANDYAN INVASION  

PARAKRAMA BAHU – IV (1277-1301 CE) – son of Buvaneka Bahu II proclaimed himself king against the Pandyan Emperor Kulasekera.   Kulasekera came himself to avenge the killing of his nephew Parakrama Bahu- III by Buwanekabahu -II. He invaded Yapa Patuna Kingdom and captured it.                   

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

Dr Hector Perera        London

I have some interest in cooking for a long time even while I was doing my GCSE ordinary level. With the scouts group, I went on camping for about a week when we had to cook. Honestly I didn’t know much cooking but I have observed some cooking at home done by my mum and also by the servants. That time we had nothing but firewood stoves at home but not gas or electric cookers. In a way they are interesting because unless you keep the fire going even with difficulty, there is not enough fire to cook. I really didn’t like any takeaway food from early days because when I get a lunch packet from a hotel, it looks like all mixed up that really lost my appetite for hotel and takeaway food.

At the start we never knew the science of cooking

With two of my friends who attended the same Advanced Level science class at Stafford College in Colombo, I tried some cooking. We had to try by trial and error to find out how to cook rice but cooking fish and meat was not quite a problem because once we added some ingredients then gave about half an hour to cook. Just like our servants we had to shower with cooking aroma a few times as we kept on opening the cooking curries then kept on stirring then tasting several times. When I think about what we did in the past it was really stupid mistake since every time we opened the cooking curries, a shower of cooking aroma escaped then some of them very likely to get deposited on us. We thought that was a normal procedure in cooking. Those two friends also never knew any cooking but we all just tried to cook and eat other than getting takeaway food. Those two friends got through Advanced Level science with high grades and got selected to do medicine but I didn’t get enough passes to do any University courses. Fortunately I got a teaching post in the same college to teach chemistry and physics practicals.

Thinking in the right direction

When I came over to England for further studies again I tried my best to cook and eat than depending on takeaway food which I treat as junk food. I was studying chemistry based studies at Kingston Polytechnic. I had to study, cook and sleep in one room unlike in Sri Lanka. When I went to University, my clothes smelled like a tandoori kitchen. Soon I started to cook in the adjoining room that was abandoned as a storage room. Thinking in the right direction, soon I discovered the scientific method of cooking. British TV cooking shows are no better than our servant’s cooking on firewood stoves. The contestants always opened the boiling curries then tasted the uncooked curries several times then their spit and saliva also got into the curries, is it right? The contestants had no idea of applying any science at all that is why I compared their cooking to our servants back home in Sri Lanka. Those servants are highly experienced in cooking but doing mistakes is a common thing. I am sure if they had the modern facilities they would have cooked much better than some of the British TV chefs who always made mistakes in cooking. The judges always showed funny facial expressions while their competitors cook but than watching any techniques of cooking. Later they go by the taste of the food not the techniques used in cooking. Then the so called winners are chosen by their taste of the food but any techniques of cooking were totally ignored. One must see the programmes carefully, actually to me they are like comedy shows than cooking shows. The contestants run run all over the kitchen area like tandoori chickens and they totally ignore about drops of oil, water or pieces of vegetables on the floor. To me kitchen is like a chemistry laboratory since all the food we eat and drink are made out of complicated chemicals. One cannot say none of the food are not made out of chemicals. I cannot point out in one article the more mistakes the so called contestants make while cooking.

Higher the fire, faster it cook?

When they cook, they do not have any control of the fire. Probably they think, higher the fire faster they get cooked but not thinking anything with respect to science. As I mentioned before they constantly taste the uncooked food and keep on adding their spit and saliva several times, who would agree that is correct? Then the cooking food gives out a stream of cooking aroma and they love to shower with cooking aroma. All this work is observed by the so called judges with funny facial expressions but they do not utter a word about these mistakes. Sometimes there are six contestants cooking different types of food with the intension of winning the cooking competition. Nearly all of them shower with cooking aroma either by boiling or frying and judges keep on moving around the cooking area, I am not quite sure what they are looking for. I think they should make a note of the techniques of cooking as well than just go by their taste of food as the winner in the cooking competition. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk

Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka (RASSL)

A Special Public Lecture

 Combining Theory and Practice in Buddhist Meditation”

by

Keith Munnings

PGCE MTH (Master of Theology), Buddhist Chaplain in UK

on

Thursday Sept 7^th at 5.00 p.m.

at the

RASSL Council Room

Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka

No. 96, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Colombo 07

ALL ARE WELCOME

Keith Munnings is a well-known British mediation teacher who has practised Samatha meditation since 1973 and has taught the practice for over thirty years. He was involved from the early days of developing the Samatha Association in the UK. In recent years, he has been working in hospitals and universities as a volunteer Buddhist Chaplain.

by Senaka Weeraratna

The White Man enslaved the Brown Man and the Black Man for centuries. The Yellow Man liberated them. This is the true outcome of the Second World War. The Brown Man enslaved for nearly 500 years is free today because the Yellow Man fought the White Man at Port Arthur in 1905 followed by the epic attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941.

Had the Yellow Man not fought the White Man, the Brown Man may still be in Chains, because none of the Colonial countries had any serious intention to give freedom to the black, brown and yellow races, except engage in deceitful talks of a never, never kind. The Black and Brown Races were too weak to do battle on their own or take on the might of the Coloniser then in occupation of vast swathes of Asian and African territory.

It is time to acknowledge world’s debt to Japan for Asia’s liberation from Western colonialism. This is undoubtedly Japan’s greatest achievement in the 20th century, which led to the retreat of the West from the East and its colonies all over the world, shortly after the end of the Second World War.

No amount of spin or contortion can change this stubborn fact.

The contemporary Japanese must be made to be conscious and proud about their historic role in Asia’s liberation from colonialism. Freedom did not fall from the sky to Asia. It came due to the blood sacrifices of many local patriots, but mostly daring Japanese soldiers. It is time to acknowledge this blood debt to Japan and the Japanese.

The majority of the Buddhist Sinhalese would have most likely welcomed the Japanese with open arms and great warmth, had they landed on the shores of Sri Lanka in 1942 to liberate the indigenous people from the yoke of tyranny and subjugation, which is what colonialism is.

Of all the major countries that took part in the Second World War, Japan is the only country that had declared as one of its primary goals the liberation of fellow Asians from Western imperialism. No other country in the West or East declared the grant of freedom to Asians and Africans then in a state of colonial subjugation, following victory in the war.

Here are excerpts from the Speech by Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo to the Assembly of Greater East-Asiatic Nations at an International Conference held in Tokyo, Japan, November 5, 1943:

During the past centuries, the British Empire, through fraud and aggression, acquired vast territories throughout the world and maintained its domination over other nations and peoples in the various regions by keeping them pitted and engaged in conflict one against another. On the other hand, the United States which, by taking advantage of the disorder and confusion in Europe, had established its supremacy over the American continents spread its tentacles to the Pacific and to East Asia following its war with Spain. Then, with the opportunities afforded by the First World War, the United States began to pursue its ambition for world hegemony. More recently, with the outbreak of the present war, the United States has further intensified its imperialistic activities, making fresh inroads into North Africa, West Africa, the Atlantic Ocean, Australia, the Near East and even into India, apparently in an attempt to usurp the place of the British Empire.

The need of upholding international justice and of guaranteeing world peace is habitually stressed by America and Britain. They mean thereby no more and no less than the preservation of a world order of their own based upon division and conflict in Europe and upon the perpetuation of their colonial exploitation of Asia. They sought to realize their inordinate ambitions in Asia, through political aggression and economic exploitation; they brought on conflict among the various peoples; they tried to destroy their racial integrity under the fair name of education and culture.

Thus, they have to this day threatened constantly the existence of the nations and peoples of Asia, disturbed their stability, and suppressed their natural and proper development. It is because of their notion to regard East Asia as a colony that they harp upon the principles of the open door and equal opportunity simply as a convenient means of pursuing their sinister designs of aggression, while constantly keeping their own territories closed to us, the peoples of Asia, denying us the equality of opportunities and impeding our trade, they sought solely their own prosperity.

The Anglo-American ambition of world hegemony is indeed a scourge of mankind and the root of the world’s evils. Movements for emancipation have occurred from time to time among the nations and peoples of East Asia, but due to the ruthless and tyrannical armed oppression by America and Britain, or due to their malicious old trick of division and alienation for ruling other races, those patriotic efforts ended largely in failure.

Meanwhile, Japan’s rise of power and prestige was looked upon by America and Britain with increasing dislike. They made it the cardinal point of their East Asia Policy on the one hand, to restrain Japan at every turn and on the other, to alienate her from the other countries of East Asia. It was obviously unwise for them to permit either the rise of any one country as a great Power or the banding together of the various nations and peoples. These American and British methods became more and more sinister and high-handed, especially in the last several years”.

When both Germany and Japan stood condemned like outlaws or pariahs of the international community by the victorious Allies at the end of the Second World War, seeking huge amounts of reparations and heavy punishments for their leaders, political and military, as war criminals, the leaders and people of Ceylon / Sri Lanka adopted an entirely different approach to both these countries. It was an approach based on the Buddha´s teachings.

The words of Ceylon´s delegate Finance Minister J.R. Jayawardene in defence of a free Japan at the San Francisco conference on September 06, 1951 is worthy of reproduction here. He said:

We in Ceylon were fortunate that we were not invaded, but the damage caused by air raids, by the stationing of enormous armies under the South-East Asia Command, and by the slaughter-tapping of one of our main commodities, rubber, when we were the only producer of natural rubber for the Allies, entitles us to ask that the damage so caused should be repaired. We do not intend to do so for we believe in the words of the Great Teacher whose message has ennobled the lives of countless millions in Asia that hatred ceases not by hatred but by love.

It is the message of the Buddha, the Great Teacher, the Founder of Buddhism which spread a wave of humanism through South Asia, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Siam, Indonesia and Ceylon and also northwards through the Himalayas into Tibet, China and finally Japan, which bound us together for hundreds of years with a common culture and heritage.

This common culture still exists, as I found on my visit to Japan last week on my way to attend this Conference; and from the leaders of Japan, Ministers of state as well as private citizens and from their priests in the temples, I gathered the impression that the common people of Japan are still influenced by’ the shadow of that Great Teacher of peace, and wish to follow it. We must give them that opportunity.”

Sri Lanka was very fortunate in gaining independence in 1948 despite not having resorted to arms or used violence to rid the country of foreign occupation. It is valiant soldiers from other Asian countries e.g. Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose, and Japan, who primarily made blood sacrifices to fight western domination of Asia during the Second World War. We were simply beneficiaries of these sacrifices and battles.

Finally, it must be admitted without reservation that because of age old Buddhist links, the Yellow Races of China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos among others, have proved themselves to be eternal friends of the Sinhalese. Their services and heroic assistance in the hour of economic and military need of Sri Lanka must be acknowledged with gratitude and reciprocated.

See also

–        http://www.worldfuturefund.org/wffmaster/Reading/Japan/tojo%20summit.htm

–        Greater East Asia Conference Vol.1, November 5, 1943

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue2LjHchY5k

–        Glorious Imperial Japan, Greater East Asia Conference Vol.2, November 5, 1943

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxwQLbSK-Qg

–        Glorious Imperial Japan, Greater East Asia Conference Vol.3, November 5, 1943

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqF7hlFDgk&t=55s

–        Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbour ignited the liberation of Asia from Western domination

http://www.sdh-fact.com/essay-article/886/

–        http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Japans-attack-on-Pearl-Harbour-.pdf

–        http://www.sdh-fact.com/auther/senaka-weeraratna/

–        Sri Lanka’s Independence – a beneficiary of Japan’s entry to the Second World War which sealed the fate of European Colonialism in Asia

–        http://www.sdh-fact.com/essay-article/924/

–        http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL/Sri-Lanka-Independence.pdf

–        http://www.sdh-fact.com/auther/senaka-weeraratna/

–        The Japanese Peace Treaty – J.R. Jayewardene (1951 Sep 01)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0FTwGA9H0E

–        In Japanese https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZwnCDckWZQ&t=203s

–        Peace With Japan (1951) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWkMKkqYKos

–        JR Jayawardene Memorial Monument in Japan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=are3D0TEaig

User CommentsPost a Comment

It is true to a great extent. The Vietnamese (Indo-Chinese) deserve some credit also for defeating both the French and the Americans.

But the Fall of Singapore in 1942 was the beginning of the end of the Indo-British Empire as it should be called. It was Indian soldiers, sailors, administrators and professionals who made the British Empire functional.

The 70 year Congress Rule was proxy colonial rule made possible by Gandhi and Nehru.

Sri Lanka was very fortunate in gaining independence in 1948 despite not having resorted to arms or used violence to rid the country of foreign occupation. It is valiant soldiers from other Asian countries e.g. Indian National Army under Subhas Chandra Bose, and Japan, who primarily made blood sacrifices to fight western domination of Asia during the Second World War.

We were simply beneficiaries of these sacrifices and battles.

Rajaram
22 Hours ago

Report Abuse

Worth reading. The author has clear views. We appear weak in comparison.

Ravi
6 Hours ago

By Chandre Dharmawardana, Ottawa, Canada.

Commenting on my article entitled The AluthParlimenthuwa” Debate on Glyphosate” that appeared in the Lankaweb ( https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2017/09/02/the-aluthparlimenthuwa-debate-on-glyphosate/),  a writer who uses the fake name Cerberus” has gone shopping for free  on the internet and comes back to tell us that glyhosate causes not only kidney disease, but also many other diseases. In my article I warned the reader that 90% of the internet news, especially on controversial topics  tend to be dominated by  fake news  (adorned by sensationalism). Try the internet news on Sri Lanka and the Eelam wars and you will see how much of it is fake news fully illustrated with Channel-4  movies and even fake tribunals attempting  to try those who put down one of the most ruthless terror groups in the world.

The controversy on Glyphosate is no different.  Much of the stuff on the internet is  put out by individuals and groups who have an axe to grind,  find a place in the lime light,  make money or enhance their agenda.  Cerberus even names Stephanie Seneff, one of the most thoroughly exposed cases of a fake expert” producing fake science” about Glyphosate. Stephanie is a computer engineer who in her retirement  had started a health start-up business”  promising to get you to live healthily up to the age of  110 years if you subscribe to her program. Of course, this program needed some publicity. What is the best way to get some publicity? Well, why not attack the public whipping horse  Monsanto? Why not claim that she is an MIT scientist” and write a research paper” on Glyphosate? But who will publish her paper when she has no data, and no  credentials in health science or chemistry?

But just then a Chinese businessman Mr. C  (who also has an office”  in Switzerland) had launched a new set of journals”  with the look” of serious scientific journals. These journals  have a simple business policy of publishing anything as long as a page charge” of 1500 Swiss francs were paid,  up front and no  more questions are asked!  The journals” were created to siphon off money from the need of many Chinese University graduate students (and third-world faculties) to publish research in international journals”.  Mr. C  can  provide them a European” journal based in Switzerland, but not requiring the stiff standards demanded by proper peer-reviewed scientific journals run by learned societies. Such peer-reviewed journals are run not only by learned societies, but even by very well-established publishing houses like McMillan, Wiley or World-Scientific (based on Singapore) and in such cases they have the backing of a peer. Thus World Scientific  uses Imperial College,  University of London as their  peer reference. But the journals founded by the Chinese businessman Mr. C  had none. Instead, it listed distinguished Nobel laureates  as editors of its journals even without permission from the so-named individuals! One of Mr. C’s journals was named Entropy”, while another was named  International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health” shortened to IJERPH.  So Stephanie Seneff and her co-author opted to send their  article ” to Entropy”.  Seneff et al  claimed that  Monsanto’s line of Roundup Ready genetically modified (GMO) seeds and glyphosate are  causing  most of the diseases and conditions associated with a Western diet,” including gastrointestinal disorders, diabetes, heart disease, depression, autism, infertility, cancer, and Alzheimer’s disease.” Of course, this was the main theme of her Liveto110” business. What better publicity  can she have for her business  than this;  her article” was immediately picked up by the ant-Monsanto lobby and  flashed around the globe via many many Eco-heroic” websites  of the sort that Cerberus is quoting! These sites gave the impression that MIT research” proved it! Even Reuters fell for the bait and  was part of  the fake news that became news.

But the limelight shown on the journal Entropy” by all this revealed the nature of  the journals launched by Mr. C. His journals were blacklisted and included in Beals list”  of predatory journals”  that I mentioned in my original article in the Lankaweb where I gave the link to a report  on predatory journals (see the report in http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/60.summary). Even otherwise, if Cerberus had done some more homework instead of falling into the very first trap on his route  he would have found that respected science journalists like Keith Kloor and Paul Raeburn have written full exposures of the paper and the Reuters article in question. In effect it is NOT a study (no data is presented); the MIT” comes from Seneff’ affiliation with computer science.  That has nothing to do with health science, genetics or chemistry. Here is a sample of  what Kieth Koor (discover magazine)  wrote, given  at the following link:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/collideascape/2013/04/26/when-media-uncritically-cover-pseudoscience/#more-11062
<begin quote>
Anti-biotech activists, like their fellow travelers in the anti-vaccine movement, are masters at pseudoscience. As I’ve previously discussed, the really clever GMO opponents put a veneer of science on their propaganda. One recent example that an anti-GMO website approvingly pointed to was so obviously absurd that I was sure it  would be ignored by media. It’s a paper that suggests a chemical in Roundup, a widely used Monsanto herbicide, can remarkably explain a great number of the diseases and conditions that are prevalent in the modern industrialized world,” such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia, infertility, and developmental malformations.” [UPDATE: As someone puts it on Twitter, the paper reads like it was scribbled on Glenn Beck’s chalkboard.”]
The paper is by two authors with dubious credentials and is such a mashup of pseudoscience and gibberish that actual scientists have been unable to make sense of it. As one of them also noted, the paper is published in a low-tier pay-for-play journal.”
The authors of the paper conclude that glyphosate, an ingredient used in Roundup may be the most important factor in the development of multiple chronic diseases and conditions that have become prevalent in Westernized societies.” This sweeping claim, combined with where it’s made and the backgrounds of the authors (one who works in computer science), should trigger alarm bells in anyone with a functioning brain, particularly journalists on the look-out for a good story”.
<end quote>
Alas, Cerberus swallowed  this  bait-hook-line-and sinker, and regurgitated the stuff  as his comments
on  my article! We can go through each and every one of the websites and links given by Cerberus and show how they are anchored in utter pseudoscience and fake news. But we don’t need to.  Anyone who can put forwards a thoroughly de-bunked person like  Stephanie Seneff with a straight face has to be thoroughly uninformed or a true believer who has forfeited all of his/her critical faculties. As for Dr. Thierry Vrain, I have already written about him, and so have others, explaining how  and why Vrain  began to espouse his fictions.  Cerberus can unearth them  for them himself.

Stephanie Seneff mentioned most of the illnesses she could think of, but did not know about chronic kidney disease. Most interestingly, the paper by Jayasumana, Sanath Gunatilleke, and Mrs Senanayake (the Kelaniya lady who claims to  get her scientific information from God Natha and made notorious by Dr. Nalin de Silva) also chose to publish their research paper” in one of the journals (IJERPH) launched only a year before by our infamous Chinese businessman. They also DID NOT HAVE ANY DATA in support of their claim that glyphosate, arsenic and calcium (from hard water)  form a complex” which causes Kidney Disease in the Rajarata  of Sri Lanka. So they called it a hypothesis”; they  paid the 1500 Swiss francs and published it. Here is the reference:
<begin reference>
Jayasumana C, Gunatilake S, Senanayake P  Glyphosate, hard water and nephrotoxic metals: Are they the culprits behind the epidemic of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology in Sri Lanka? Int J Environ Res Public Health vol. 11, pages 2125–2147, year 2014.
<end reference>
Since then, even three years later, no evidence has been presented by these authors to prove their hypothesis” although public policy has been launched based on it, and some individuals have got faculty positions and kudos based on it. If glyphosate, arsenic and calcium ions in water  make a poisonous complex that causes kidney disease (named CKDu), they should mix the three components in a test tube and SHOW that such a complex IS  actually  formed as the first step. The next step is to show that the proposed complex”  causes CKDu. But NO, neither they, nor the others who have proceeded to ban glyphosate claiming that they want to save” the farmers from CKDu have shown that the culprit” even  exists! But all this fitted in with the pre-conceived views of the Raputin/Lysenko  like figures in SEMA that guide the agricultural policies of the Sri Lankan government!

The facts and evidence we have regarding glyphosate and CKDU point  in the  very opposite direction.
Let us briefly summarize them.
1)There is NO GLYPHOSATE or its break-down products  found in the blood, urine, hair,  or biopsies of CKDu patients even in significant trace amounts.
2) There is NO GLYPHOSATE or its break-down products  found in the water, soil or the environment of the areas where the sickness is found, even in significant trace amounts.
3) The toxic heavy elements that Jayasumana and others claim to have poisoned the water soil of Sri Lanka” have been looked for by many independent research groups including the WHO, Japanese and US researchers, and all have confirmed that there is not even ten parts per billion of these taoxic substances (i.e., not even significant traces have been found). Every farmer knows this as they see the egrets flocking behind their ploughs picking up the thriving earthworms and bugs in the soil, proving that the soil is heaalthy.
4)  There is NO CKDu in areas where glyphosate and fertilizers are used extensively, e.g., in the Hill country and in other agricultural areas in Sri Lanka.
5) Even globally, NewZealand uses 25-25 times the amount of agrochemicals used by Sri lanka. In fact most western countries  which practice intensive industrial agriculture, Malaysia  etc have no CKDu, while countries with lower  use of agrochemicals (e.g., El salvadore, Sri Lanka) have CKDU, why?
6). There is over-whelming evidence that the glyphosate used as a herbicide does its job of killing weeds safely and the residues are rapidly broken down in the hot tropical climate of Sri Lanka, converting glyphosate to soil-nutritious phosphate.
7). There is also strong evidence that  glyphosate remedies soil, when earthworms and other organisms grow better even in soils containing toxic metals (like Cadmium),  by converting the cadmium into insoluble materials, as found by several studies. For instance, an article in a proper peer-reviewed journal known as Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry” states the following:
<begin quote>
The acute and subacute toxicities of cadmium (Cd) to earthworm Eisenia fetida in the presence and absence of glyphosate were studied. Although Cd is highly toxic to E. fetida, the presence of glyphosate markedly reduced the acute toxicity of Cd to earthworm; both the mortality rate of the earthworms and the accumulation of Cd decreased with the increase of the glyphosate/Cd molar ratio. The subcellular distribution of Cd in E. fetida tissues showed that internal Cd was dominant in the intact cells fraction and the heat-stable proteins fraction. The presence of glyphosate reduced the concentration of Cd in all fractions, especially the intact cells. During a longer period of exposure, the weight loss of earthworm and the total Cd absorption was alleviated by glyphosate. Thus, the herbicide glyphosate can reduce the toxicity and bioavailability of Cd in the soil ecosystems at both short- and long-term exposures.
Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:2351–2357. © 2014 SETAC
<end quote>

So, we earnestly invite Cerberus to use only reliable publications and not sources from the internet that have been repeatedly challenged and unmasked for carrying faked news”.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

 All colonial powers associated with Sri Lanka in the past are guilty of serious crimes of acute proportions. The British were the worst of them all. The British occupation of Sri Lanka was not only gravely crime-prone, but one of sheer treachery, exploitation and devastation of our country and people. It is a fact that all colonial powers acted on pure and absolute “self-interest”. British occupation of Sri Lanka was one of sheer exploitation and devastation. Whatever benefits that were derived by local inhabitants were merely incidental to their exploitation of the country’s natural and human resources in order to reap enormous benefits for the British government. The vast changes that they brought about in almost all areas of life in the country, led to the disruption of the long-held Sinhala Buddhist culture, social values and way of life of the island’s main stream community – the Sinhala Buddhists.

The primary motive of the British was the exploitation of the country’s natural and human resources to the fullest, in order to reap benefits for the British government. They installed a well-planned program of activities in Sri Lanka, for a continuous period of about 150 years, which led to the greatest damage to the country’s social cohesion, unity and dignity.

Outer-Oriented Economy

The economic independence of the country was destroyed by the British by converting the long-standing self-sufficient sustainable economy of our country to an outer-oriented, unstable commercial economy dependent on fluctuating external world markets. Sri Lanka’s economy was transformed to become a cheap source of agricultural raw material for industries in Britain. The economy became so badly outer-oriented, a greater part of essential food requirements of the large mass of our people had to be imported from other countries.

Environmental Degradation and Natural Disasters

Forested mountain slopes were cleared extensively, in a most ruthless manner to be converted to commercial crops, especially tea for export. This had a devastating impact on the natural resources base of the country leading to drastic changes in normal environmental processes resulting in excessive soil erosion, landslides, increased flooding alternating with severe drought conditions. These calamities mostly affected local inhabitants in rural areas, especially the indigenous Sinhala Buddhists.

Sharp Decline of Peasant Agriculture

Traditional agriculture declined rapidly with vast areas of former productive land either being abandoned owing to neglected irrigation facilities or being acquired by the British for development of export agriculture – coffee, tea and rubber in particular. Traditional agriculture was a way of life for the people. It had the influence of bringing about social cohesion, or a sense of togetherness among people. They worked jointly helping in each other in their farm activities. It provided them with sufficient leisure time to be engaged in other productive and creative pursuits including cultural and religious activities.

Import of South Indian Tamil Labourers

Under the infamous “Waste Lands Ordinance” plantations were established on lands expropriated from the rural Sinhala people, without compensation. Rural Sinhala people considered it below their dignity to work as virtual slaves for the British in the newly opened coffee and tea plantations. Because the dispossessed Sinhala people were unwilling to work on the plantations the British imported Tamil laborers from South India, who later became a new element in the demographic composition of the country.

Loss of Freedom and Privileges

As far as the ordinary people were concerned, the loss of freedom and privileges that they enjoyed under their kings and traditional leadership had a strong negative psychological impact on people. This situation did not permit the emergence of leaders from rural areas where the large mass of the dominant community lived. Besides, royal patronage was the strongest form of motivation and support for those involved in creative cultural pursuits in ancient times. These supports were no longer available to our people.

British Policy of ‘Divide and Rule’

To serve their narrow self-interests, the British practiced a “divide and rule” policy by setting one community against the other. Their ‘divide and rule’ policy of providing special privileges to Tamils and setting the Tamils against the Sinhala people was definitely the beginning of ethnic problems in Sri Lanka. It is a well-known fact that the British gave special privileges to the Tamil minority and those of the Christian faith. They were provided with better opportunities for education, employment and other government services. The Tamils and Christians soon became privileged communities. In terms of the density of schools per unit area, the Jaffna district had the highest density. In 1870 there were only two Buddhist schools left in the country – in Panadura and Dodanduwa, with an attendance of 246 children as against 805 Christian Schools with an attendance of 78,086 children.

As far as the Sinhala community is concerned, for generations in the past, their traditional places of learning were the Buddhist temples where Buddhist monks were teachers of both religious and secular subjects. These centers and Buddhist monks were not accorded the same privileges/support accorded to Christian missionary schools and teachers in urban areas.

Perhaps there was no other time in the long history of Sri Lanka that so much of blood was shed by the Sinhala people to free the country from British crime and oppression. Prior to the Kandyan Convention of 1815, thousands upon thousands of Sinhala people sacrificed their lives to free the country from colonial repression. More were killed by the British during the rebellion of 1818 and 1848. During the Kandyan rebellion of 1818, every man over 14 years was ordered by the British to be killed and some sixty thousand Sinhala people were massacred. Among the large number of local leaders annihilated by the British, the better known were Veera Keppetipola, Veera Puran Appu and Veera Gongalegoda Banda. This is the story of war crimes of the British in Sri Lanka, but similar or much worse war crimes have been committed by this monstrous nation globally – in Africa, South and North Americas and other Asian countries in the past.

Outer-Oriented Sub-Culture

Kolambe or the Colombo City assumed prominence as the commercial centre and also the center of learning and opportunities for better employment and better amenities for living. This created an outer-oriented, English-speaking urban sub-culture consisting mostly of Sinhala Christians, with attitudes and behavior patterns not too different to the British. They adopted a social value system that was alien to the large majority of our people. Some of our people went after their colonial masters, following their theistic religion and western cultural norms, in order to gain positions and material benefits. This again was an aspect of divide and rule policy of the British.

Most of the local, outer-oriented urban elite which included the so called Sri Lankan leaders, held to half-baked foreign values, superficialities and strange ways of living. They were barely conversant with the plight of the majority of people – the ordinary Sinhala people in particular. They were not representative of the large mass of people, but became the trusted servants of the British administration. Almost all of the qualified professionals belonged to or subscribed to this sub-culture. The British left no room for the leadership to emerge from the truly indigenous people.

The excessively poor living conditions of the large mass of Sinhala rural folk led to migration of youth to Colombo and other big towns. Some were subjected to the influence of the extremes forms of undesirable urban culture that was gaining ground in urban areas. Alcohol abuse, crime and underworld activities of later years, may be explained in terms of this urban migration.

Westernized Colombo Sub Culture

When the British left Sri Lanka in 1948, they made sure that power remained in the hands of the English educated and English speaking few, who were toeing their line. To make matters worse, power -political, administrative, and economic was inherited by those belonging to the westernized Colombo sub-culture dominated by Christians and Catholics. Most of the qualified professionals subscribed to this sub-culture.

It is most unfortunate that we did not have inner oriented, self-less leaders committed to work for the welfare of the common mass of the long downtrodden people.  We did not have leaders in the political arena who were true representatives of the national Sinhala Buddhist culture, who were able to feel the pulse and listen to the heart beat of ordinary people of the nation. The same may be said about the administrative bureaucracy that we had which was nothing but a legacy of the British colonial period.

With several centuries of oppression and undermining to the national culture, the British left behind a country, that was outer oriented economically, socially and culturally. Conditions were not favourable and opportunities were highly limited for the emergence of nationally minded local leaders and eminent professionals accomplished in various fields of human endeavor, especially on various elements of the national culture such as literature, music and performing arts, visual arts and crafts, providing inspiration for our people, especially the younger generation.

Sacrifices of the Sinhala Buddhist People

It is annoying to hear some people say that we did not shed blood to gain our freedom, unlike India. This is plain nonsense. Those who are better conversant with our nation’s colonial history know that much blood was shed for freedom. Prior to the Kandyan Convention of 1815, thousands upon thousands of Sinhala people sacrificed their lives to free the country from colonial repression. Thousands were killed during the 1818 and 1848 rebellions against British rule. During the 1818 rebellion every male over 14 years was ordered to be killed by the British, which resulted in the massacre of some sixty thousand Sinhala people. Veera Keppetipola, Veera Puran Appu and Veera Gongalegoda Banda were among the large number of patriotic local leaders who were annihilated by the ruthless British. How hypocritical of the British to talk today of ‘Human Rights’ violations in contemporary Sri Lanka.

“Independence” With Colonial Connections

On February 4th, 1948, we obtained the so-called Dominion Status with the Queen of England as the Head of State and with the British maintaining military bases in Katunayake and Trincomalee and aging Englishmen being appointed as our  Governor Generals.  At this independence”, the British left for us a highly dependent and outer oriented economy at the mercy of the British and the world market. It took about ten years for our government to take over the Military bases established by the British in our country.  It took twenty years for our government to take the initiative to free Sri Lanka completely from the colonial yoke, by making our country a Republic without any links with the British crown.

NEED FOR A STRONG REVIVALIST MOVEMENT

We need a movement for the revival of the nation’s Sinhala Buddhist culture, where the welfare of the ordinary citizens, particularly the marginalized Sinhala Buddhists, receive priority attention. It should be a movement to revive cultural nationalism with a sound leadership, to save the nation from disintegration, to halt the rapid erosion of social values, and to direct society towards cultural rejuvenation based on the traditional Buddhist value system which is characterized by non-violence, tolerance and peaceful co-habitation with all communities who have made Sri Lanka their home.

A patriotic government of the future, should establish a Commission of Inquiry into the human rights violations and economic devastation caused in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, during the British Rule. Based upon its findings the government should call upon the Government of the United Kingdom to pay suitable compensation for those atrocities committed by the British during their rule in Sri Lanka, then Ceylon. Much publicity has to be given to the findings of such an inquiry supported by historical evidence available in many documents so as to expose the barbaric manner in which the Sri Lankans were dealt with by the British. In the alternative the Sri Lankan Government ought to call upon the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom to initiate such an inquiry and display their genuineness on accountability in such matters”.

Dr. Daya Hewapathirane

By Kanthar Balanathan, Australia

Sprinkled and Speckled Tamils

History reveals that Tamils of various dimension have migrated out of Tamil Nadu and SriLanka, several centuries ago. Recent, legal and illegal migration over a 40-year bandwidth has been on a theoretical accusation/allegation podium of war and human rights violation, which is not the real truth. Some thoughts are that Prabakaran’s (LTTE) theory of sending several of his favourite members of LTTE cadre, overseas was to campaign and receive international support for his terrorist act(s). It’s a fact because several known people have been working on LTTE campaign for international political support.

The scattering of Tamils was not due to discrimination or oppression or any other human rights violation, it’s because of our (imbecilic Tamil) greediness for wealth. Since the day Portuguese, Dutch, French and the British invaded India, Tamils raised their hands to work overseas. This is not only from SriLanka, however, the majority of Tamils left Tamil Nadu (TN) several centuries ago to; E.g. Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion island, Fiji Island, South Africa etc.

Population in Reunion island is 8.5 lakh. One-third of the population is Tamil race of Indian origin. The strangeness of Mauritius and Reunion island and other islands is that none of the Tamils here has demanded separation, or more power or complained about discrimination & oppression. All people live united, however, with their social status disturbed as a result of integration. The question is: why did they move to the further away islands. Can they speak Tamil today? Do they practice Tamil culture today? Do they know their history and heritage? In Mauritius people had a ceremony in favor of Tamil Eelam. What type of ludicrous & ridiculous act is this? Please see links below.

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh1eVBUgE54

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ftNS2aBw1s

Historical reports refer that since French occupied Tamil Nadu, Tamils were taken as slave labor to work on the sugar plantation. The YouTube on Mauritius; one can see that speakers are talking in French and/or Pigeon French. The song sung is the Federal Party anthem from Jaffna. How did this song end up in Mauritius? Can we infer that this is the work of the West to instigate people in the islands to motivate the local and agitate for Tamil Eelam? The truth is that only a few Tamils from Jaffna went to Mauritius during the time of the British. Again, the question is; why are these Tamils not demanding for separation in their domiciled islands or Tamil Nadu separation, or speaking about any discrimination or oppression, but ONLY inflicting wounds on SriLanka. Tamils in Mauritius, one can see that they are giving a speech in French to the audience, who are Tamils by race. It’s worth our Tamil Diaspora orgs to sit down and think and digest of what is happening to Tamils who were taken slaves to work in sugar plantations. If these Tamils were so patriotic of a Tamil Nation, then they should not have left TN. Are they prepared to return to TN in India?

Are these moves by SriLankan Tamil Diaspora Organisations/Associations/Congress, under the direction of the TNA who are being driven by the west to conquer SL for regional power?

Do we think that the vipers from the Indian Ocean are going to come and develop SriLanka/India, and be patriotic to SL/India? Do the Orgs think that they will integrate with the SL Tamils or even the Indian Tamils in TN?

Therefore, the question of dispersed Tamils is nothing but, utter garbage hogwash and compost. It is only a storm in a tea cup. If TD ORGS are switched on with intelligence, high perception, and perseverance, then they should sit down, think, analyze and make a decision not to provoke SriLankan administration, but integrate with SriLanka as one country, one nation, one people and rid of all differences. SriLanka is one country for 267 centuries anyway.

TGTE is a make-believe org formed by an immoderate Attorney who has nothing else to do. If he was a competent attorney, he should be showing his colors in the USA on legal matters, not missing persons and fictitious Tamil Eelam. Some people who have no education, but want to be in the forefront of the TD have joined him to march on the made-up, false platform. What a waste of time and money. The funds wasted by the TGTE could have been invested in the North to build a reservoir, and develop in training the young ones. Every Tamil want to suck the funds from the SriLankan coffer. Recently TGTE group staged a protest in front of the PMs house in the UK. Can TGTE organize one in front of the White House? Why not? It’s because Rudrakumaran may think that if such staging occurs his image may be blemished. He may be a coward to save his image in the USA, however, he thinks it’s okay in other countries.

Every TD who is old and joined their children live on dole (பிச்சை சம்பளம்-Begging salary) overseas, plus they get their pension from SriLanka. They may have not paid one cent tax to their domiciled country. If they do not get one-month pension from SL, then they shout, cry and blame SL on human rights violation and discrimination. What a hypocrisy by us champion Tamils. Our TD orgs should think and address about these declarations & culpability seriously.

What do the TD ORGS do? Take up some topic to blame SL and get onto the road, wasting their time and the economy of their domiciled country.

Tamil Diaspora – Unawareness, and Ignorance on Priorities

What we could read and see is that the TD are wasting their time and money in engaging on wasteful unreal, unproductive acts and propaganda. First of all, there is no necessity for the TD to promote and campaign for a country called Tamil Eelam”, talk about the right to self-determination, two nation theories etc in the 21^st century. Internal problems should be solved internally. We have come out of the country looking for greener pasture.

For example, GG Ponnambalam staged a 50-50% demand in the 50s. 50% for the Sinhalese and the rest of the three races. The uncertainty is; How did GGP plan to divide the rest 50% among the Muslims Tamils and Burgers. He may have come with a formula based on proportion and talked about democracy. GGP failed in his formula fundamentally flashing that he is an educated, arrogant fool. What has Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam got to explain about this formula of his grandfather? Since independence, the Tamil Politicians knew that the only way to keep their political seat in parliament is to engage themselves in fighting for Tamil Eelam. This is where our Tamil imprudent, laughable politicians wasted their time and energy all these 69 years. Fundamentally, the Tamil fools did not give importance to developing the North and East, however, wasted their time in fighting with GOSL all these 69 years. Not to mention since Megha moved into Jaffna in the 13^th century, no megalomaniac did think of developing the North, because they were able to survive with the help of TN. The rest of the Kings in the South and Vanni thought of Water reservoir and constructed, but our hoodwinks never, ever thought of water and reservoir.

Former PM DS Senanayake should be crowned as the statesman for having initiated the structural transformation. DSS and Srimavo should be crowned the best leaders of SL.

Sewerage wheeling and dealing

Most of Jaffna, sewerage is collected in buckets and moved physically by Telangana and Orissa migrants who were brought by the British. It’s a crime that these men are been forced to carry shit buckets and dump sewage into the sea or underground. They are the lowest paid workers in SriLanka. Some parts of Jaffna and the South have septic tank system. One has to think: If engine oil can seep into wells in Chunnakam, is it possible that the effluent from the septic tank will be filtered by the soil 100% as they move. Some Council regulation specifies that a minimum of 25 feet should be maintained between the edge of the tank and the wall. Is that adequate?

There are no water filtration plants in the North. No sewerage treatment works in the North. People just draw water from the wells and drink.

A question: Have we been drinking effluent contaminated water all these years. Why have we not thought of sewerage treatment plant(s)? We boast of Professor Thurairajah etc as leading Civil Engineers. However, have they no motivation and innovation of helping the politicians of such practices. Credit goes to Engineers D.L.O Mendis and Thiru Arumugam for having done some research on water reservoir in Jaffna. Even then our politicians have not got the intelligence to act on their recommendation, but waste their damn time and money on Tamil Eelam and power for their totalitarian attitude.

It is fair enough to blame the SriLankan government also for this lack and shortfall on environmental management.

Tamil Diaspora could initiate a program to construct a couple of sewerage treatment works. Let someone kick up a study and submit a proposal with a plan. We are aware that our TD have no time to go there and work because they have to work in their domiciled countries if not, they cannot survive. However, TD could motivate with a plan and justify a system and submit to GOSL and NPC Council. If not, one has to assume that Tamils culture is deep rooted with the bucket system and consume effluent polluted water. What if nobody wants to wheel this shit? What has our attorney Rudrakumaran and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam got to comment about this? Maybe they do not understand technical issues. They may understand only illogical, unfounded, and nonsensical issues. (Ref: TD should have read about public toilets overflowing in Jaffna)

The priorities should be (i) Sewerage Treatment work(s), (ii) Water reservoir, filtration plants, and distribution system, which will automatically generate feeder industries and small business.

Migration of Youth from SriLanka-North & East.

With love to the motherland, the TD has no idea of what is happening to the population in the N&E. While sitting in their domiciled countries, drinking whiskey and eating chicken, our lack in perception is quite short to understand that people are moving away from SL, colonize foreign countries, but still shout for Tamil Eelam. For whom are they fighting for more power? For a few Sambanthar(s) and Mavai Senathirajah(s)? Every Tamil youth who gets out of the University wants to go South or get out of the country. No one is patriotic to work and develop the N&E. Tamils lack in motivation, innovation and creativity skills.

Can the TD ORGS do something to stop people from getting out of SL? Can they formulate a formula, strategy, a tactical plan to stop people from getting out of SL? Rudrakumaran, instead of shouting for TE, and secession, would he be intelligent enough to prepare a tactical plan to stop youth from getting out of SL? Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, instead of going to Australia and Canada, begging for election donations, can he prepare and campaign to stop the youths from getting out? Same goes to Sambanthar and Mavai Senathirajah.

We know that our Tamil politicians are traveling on a phony political platform, fooling the population, and the Tamil populace is not intelligent enough to understand the fraudulent, charlatan, political activities of the TNA and other Tamil parties.

TD ORGS and the TGTE are fundamentally bogus, like counterfeits, fooling the Tamil Diaspora to collect funds in the name of Tamils in SL. Every college in the North has an old boys’ association and wants to organize dance, music etc, for their pleasure and amusement in the name of the wounded and invalids in SL. However, how much of assistance are they giving to the sufferers? It is only individuals who are able to send some assistance to individuals in SL to be distributed to the sufferers.

Disruption by TD and Tamil Politicians

Since independence, our Tamils and Tamil politicians have been engaged in throwing some form of problems to GOSL, to retard on development and progress. If they find one issue has no claim then they start on another one. The current issue they have started on is missing persons”. What is their objective? Do they want money for the missing persons?

What has all the Tamil politician got to comment about Mathaya”, and 220 of his associates, Rajaratnam, 40 of TELO’ s cadre, the ministers, and politicians and the civilians? Where are they? Who will account for their lives? There were thousands of civilians and politicians went missing due to LTTE’s brutal killing.

It’s time for the Tamil politicians and TD ORGS to sit down and think, make a decision not to provoke the people in SL, to rise against missing persons. We know that there are several Tamil refugees hiding even in Ukraine, South America, etc, changed their name and live as somebody else. The truth is hidden.

Even an illiterate Tamil woman thinks that she knows politics, demography, human geography and comment on: we have not been given anything”. We need more power”. What a stupid comment like a frog in the well. One must listen to Canadian Tamil Radio from 12 midnight in Australia. It’s a laughing matter when we listen women come out and talk nonsense about power and Tamil Eelam. These women have no education, live on the dole, and throw idiotic comments against SL. It’s a joke in Scarborough and Toronto and jokers live in Toronto. God knows when they will be attacked by Canadian Patriots. It will happen soon. Tamil fools in Toronto are converting Toronto, a Sinnakadai/Periyakadai, and Koddadi in Jaffna.

1. I throw a challenge to Rudrakumaran: Go in front of the White House and stage a protest march.
2. A challenge to Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam: Get onto a platform and give a speech to abolish the caste system from the minds of the Tamil Elites. Be united and unite in SL to live as Sri Lankans. Promise them that you will develop the North, if not throw you out of politics.

NPC has been in turmoil for some time for the ministerial position. Have they been elected for their own benefits or to serve the people? You guys have been visiting foreign countries. Don’t you see the system there? CV Vigneswaran is a comedian, farts sporadically when his stomach is full. Suresh Premachandran is another joke; gets up from sleep and makes erratic comments. GGP is another one who travels to Australia to fool the Diaspora.

People: DO you know a section of the SL Constitution, section 157A. Ref: https://www.parliament.lk/files/pdf/constitution.pdf

[157A. (1) No person shall, directly or indirectly, in or outside Sri Lanka, support, espouse, promote, finance, encourage or advocate the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka. (2) No political party or other association or organization shall have as one of its aims or objects the establishment of a separate State within the territory of Sri Lanka. (3) Any person who acts in contravention of the provisions of paragraph (1) shall, on conviction by the Court of Appeal, after trial on indictment and according to such procedure as may be prescribed by law, – (a) be subject to civic disability for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court; (b) forfeit his movable and immovable property other than such property as is determined by an order of such Court as being necessary for the sustenance of such person and his family; (c) not be entitled to civic rights for such period not exceeding seven years as may be determined by such Court; and Prohibition against violation of territorial integrity of Sri Lanka International Treaties and Agreements 127 -Inserted by the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution Sec.3 The Constitution of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka 153 (d) if he is a Member of Parliament or a person in such service or holding such office as is referred to in paragraph (1) of Article 165, cease to be such Member or to be in such service or to hold such office.]

It is to be reminded that any TD member or TD, or any Tamil, Sinhalese, crusade for what has been specified above could be arrested when they visit SL.

Let us keep our lips closed and work for the betterment of SriLanka as One country, one nation, and united. Let the TD ORGS prepare plans to develop the N&E.

Dr. Sudath Gunasekara

22.8.2017.

There is much talk in the press these days about holding a series of Celebratory activities and events to commemorate 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka. It is also reported that action is underway to organize several events by the Authorities to commemorate 150 years of tea production in Sri Lanka.  A Global Tea Party, an International Tea Convention and a charity auction are among the highlights planned throughout the year to mark this event according to Ground View reports. They are organized by The Ceylon Tea Traders Association, Sri Lanka Tea Board and the Tourist Board and tea companies.

Should Sri Lanka celebrate or moan tea cultivation?

Should Sri Lanka celebrate or moan tea production in Sri Lanka is my question? When you go through the list of destructions and devastative effects left behind by this colonial legacy, in my opinion it is definitely the latter and not the former, we should do as a nation. Celebrations are usually held to mark memorable achievements or a happy occasion. A birthday you celebrate but a death you moan. Celebrating something that has brought disaster and destruction to one’s country or a nation makes is ridiculous. When you look at the devastation and the damage the tea cultivation and connected activities have done to this country within the past 150 years since its introduction, no sensible person will ever imagine celebrating the story of Tea industry in this country. I my opinion it is like someone celebrating the death of his own mother. In this instance they are celebrating the loss of their own bellowed Motherland. How crazy and stupid are they.

Quite contrary to the popularly accepted notion that tea has done enormous good to the development of this country it is high time that at least after 70 years of Independence now we critically examine as to what tea cultivation has actually done to this Island nation. Therefore I suggest that someone undertake a proper assessment of the overall impact tea cultivation has had on the physical, economic, political, social, cultural and technological fields and look for measures to redeem the country from the dire depths to which it has pushed this 2600 year old civilization within a span of 150 years.

In this regard I would like to first focus my readers attention to the enormous physical devastation it had brought about on this country.

Physical

In the first place British took over 1.3 million acres of our land by force through colonial invasion and exploitation under various  aggressive devices like the Crown Land Encroachment Ordinance no 12 of 1840, Temple Land Ordinance of 1853 and Wasteland Ordinance of 1897, belonging to the Kandyan peasants and religious institutions like  Buddhist Temples and Devalas. This included the major virgin Forest Reserves (Thanachikele) at the centre of the country declared by Royal decree by the Sinhala Kings as strictly forbidden forest. Out of this over 600,000 acres on the central watersheds were first converted to Coffee and to Tea after 1860. This comprised one of the richest and untouched primordial forest covers in the world with a rich bio diversity not found anywhere else that protected the Central Hill country of this Island nation that provided the mother source for all the rivers in the Island. The entire forest cover, with very few patches here and there, were removed by the vandal invaders to provide for coffee and tea plantations to enrich their Empire and satisfy their greed, depriving a nation’s most valuable natures heritage for the posterity.

The removal of the forest cover also has converted all our torrential and perennial rivers in to trickling rivulets in their upper reaches and sand  silted  river beds leading to menacing flood in the downstream lowlands It has also destroyed the underground water deposits on the high lands that formed the biggest natural ’reservoir’ right at the centre of this Island and drastically affected agriculture all over the country, the very foundation of the economy of this nation by drying up the Dry Zone tanks and causing menacing floods in the Wet Zone. It has also disturbed the climatic conditions due to loss of the montane forest cover and also drastically affected river transportation in the downstream areas making them un-navigable as the Kelani valley Report has pointed out

The nation’s major watershed, that provided the source for all rivers in Sri Lanka that sustained the entire life system and the civilization in this country was thus destroyed and all rivers were left dry in their upper reaches with debris filled river beds in the downstream areas causing heavy floods and playing havocs during rainy seasons.

The destruction of the natural forest cover led to eroding down millions of tons of fertile soil in to the ocean converting the central hills once covered with dense natural forests to an eroded, degraded, unfertile and almost barren land. This situation required heavy use of chemical fertilizer, insecticides and pesticide’s to keep the tea plantation going. The enormous toxic matter annually washed down the rivers from these vast stretches of plantations and extensive vegetable cultivations has polluted all rivers in the country killing valuable aquatic life and particularly filling the Dry Zone Tanks with toxic matter where water gets stored still. The resulting toxic deposits have been the main reason behind the widespread kidney disease which might turn the entire Dry Zone completely unsuitable for human habitation in future. This will have more serious and lasting impact on re-depopulation of the Dry Zone than the conventional malaria and early medieval south Indian Invasions had on its pristine civilization.

Secondly,

Now I would like to briefly touch upon the impact it exerted on economic, political, social, cultural and technological fields.

1Sinhalese as a people have lost their traditional Home land on the hills first to the British and now it is on its way to losing to South Indian estate Tamil labour

2 They were chased out from their historic settlements that resulted in mass exodus in the 19^th century. Those few who survived got caged in to narrow valley bottoms below were reduced to abject poverty were gazing at the rapidly sprawling white man’s Tea Empire all over the hills once belonged to them above their isolated valley bottom settlements then and today they are witnessing the handing over these lands by the government elected by them to Indian migrant Estate labour who will own these lands in future, thus dispossessing the sons of their 2600 year old heritage.

3 In the 1818 and 1848 revolts staged by them against the invaders the natives were massacred in thousands, their ripe paddy fields burned, cattle were slaughtered and home gardens, food and fruit trees were destroyed, all irrigation works were destroyed, native institutions like the village councils they themselves later described as the Magna Carta (Village Council system) of the East and those escaped the gun were made to starve and die.

4 All men over 16 years were killed. As Senali Waduge has once wrote ” The British order issued – ‘Kill every man, woman and child including the babes suckling at their mother’s breast. Destroy all dwelling houses. Burn all crops. Cut down all fruit trees. Slaughter all cattle; take what meat is necessary to feed the troops and burn the rest. Destroy all reservoirs, canals and channels. Poison the wells. Lay waste utterly the countryside denying any relief whatsoever to the rebels.’ Major Callabine – 19th regiment, raped women in the villages and left many children before leaving the country. All temples in Uva Wellassa were ransacked; palm leaves where sacred Doctrine, Ayurveda and literature was written were destroyed”.

5 Their irrigation works were all destroyed and paddy fields were left to fallow and some were cultivated with tea and coffee (Eg large stretches of paddy field under Mana Amuna in Uma Oya basin LB)”

6 Remaining paddy fields were heavily taxed leading to confiscation in default

7 Plantation areas were made out of bound for the native Sinhalese

8 All profits were repatriated to British coffers and all riches were mined and taken home

9 Tamil labour also repatriated all their savings to South India

10 The technology introduced by the British for the plantation agriculture on the hills of Sri Lanka was alien and new to the local environment. Unlike the Indigenous system it did not treat resource management in the entire watershed as an integrated and holistic exercise. It is primarily exploitation oriented rather that conservation and sustainability in agriculture. Its objectives were short term profit. Environmentally and ecologically it was unfriendly and devastative and compared with the age old native system the life span of tea cultivation is very much shorter. It is interesting to note here what John Still (1930) a planter and an antiquarian has predicted in this regard ‘the commercial agricultural system would slide back in to forest quicker than the ancient tank agricultural system on the land. (The Hills of Paradise 2001 Breckenridge)

11 Thus overall it was the British planters, Britain and Indian coolies who benefitted from the tea Industry and its riches, and not the native Sinhalese – the sons of the soil.

12The tea cultivation converted the entire central hill country to an enclave of White men and Indian labourers – the future Home land of South Indian Tamils

13. The British left behind over 1 million Indians coolies whom they brought as indentured coolies when they left the colony in 1948 and leaving behind an ugly political, economic, social and cultural burden and a colonial legacy paving the way for a future Tamilnadu within Sri Lanka, right at the center of the Motherland of the Sinhala nation. Thereby they deprived the Sinhalese, more particularly the Kandyan Sinhalese who fought against the invaders for 500 years from 1505 to defend and protect their Sinhala Buddhist civilization and that was their Motherland land for 2500 years.

This is only a glimpse of what destructions and devastations British have done to this country and particularly to the core of the Kandyan Kingdom and a wee bit of the sad legacies the British colonial invaders and tea cultivation have left behind.

What should we do now?

It is in this backdrop,

I propose that

First, we should organize a massive nationwide mourning and condemnation programme against the Tea Industry instead of the proposed mad celebrations

Second, that the patriotic forces jointly organize a countrywide awareness programme against the crimes the British have committed against this Island nation and its people, from 1797 -1948 an also which they continue to do up to date.

Third, immediately start a struggle to get beck the land the natives have lost during colonial rule

Fourth, file a case in the international courts against the Government and people of the United Kingdom claiming compensation for all the crimes And conspiracies they have committed against us including ,

1. The land and its resources
2. The divide and rule colonial policy they have left behind to destroy the Sinhala Buddhist Civilization in this country starting from 1832 with the setting up of Provinces) inclusive of what they continue to do even now
3. C) Demanding them to repatriate all our archaeological and literary treasure they have plundered and now keeping in their museums and other places.
4. d) Demand them to take back all Indians they have left behind when they left the shores of this country in 1948. In fact the British should have taken their slaves they brought from India as well when they left the shores of this country and handed over vacant possession to the native Sinhalese from whom they took it over in 1815 March 2nd .

These labourers were then British citizens as India was also a part of the British Empire. The temporary occupier is legally bound to take back his servants as well when he leaves).They were not recognized as Ceylon Citizens in 1948.That is why they were called stateless people. In fact they always behaved and thought as Indian citizens. Only their bodies were here but the minds have been always there beyond the shores. They earn their living here but deposited all what they earned back in India which they always considered their motherland. The same situation continues even today. To that extent all estate Tamils are Indian citizens or people of Indian origin who owes allegiance to India as their motherland, though they have been illegally given Sri Lankan citizenship by our unpatriotic politicians to get their vote and cared and looked after by Sri Lanka government at its own expense.

Fifth, Demand both the British and Indian Governments to immediately stop interfering with the internal affairs of this country at least now as we are a fully pledged free and independent Nation ceased to be a colony of theirs long time ago.

Sixth, Demand them to apologize for all crimes they have committed against our country and its people

Seventh, immediately declare all land over 5000 ft as strict forest reserves and restore the physical stability of the nation’s watersheds lest this green paradise Island become semi arid country for lack of perennial water.

Finally

Since Sri Lanka is the only country in the whole world where you get politicians who betray its own native people and commit treachery against them and give preferential treatment to immigrant minorities for political expediency,

I am posing the following question to all those who were supposed to have governed this country from 1948 onwards to date,

1 Have our politicians ever asked the British to hand over a land free from all encumbrances and shackles like the Indian estate labour force,

2 Have you ever asked the British to allow us to make our own Constitution like India

3 Have you ever asked the British for compensation for the enormous damages they have done to this country, particularly to the hill country

4 What have they done to alleviate the problems of the sons of the soils who protected the Motherland from the invaders since 1948

5 Have you restored an inch of their motherland nearing 1.3 million acres they lost to the British?

6 What have you done to implement the recommendations of the Kandyan Peasantry Commission Report of 1951 other than treating the Kandyans as a pack of jack asses since they don’t revolt against the impotence of the Government and the discrimination openly committed against the natives, even worse than what the British had done.

7 What have you done to free the Motherland taken over by the British in 1840, 1853 and 1897 using draconian laws back to  the Sinhala people and Buddhist temples and return them to their original owners.

8 Does any one of you is even aware of the existing crisis the Sinhala people, particularly the  Kandyan are facing, most likely complete extinction within the next 50 years the way the demographic changes are taking place, both in numbers and ethnic polarizations all over the country

9 Have you ever seen at least in your dreams the appalling denial of human rights & land rights of the Kandyan peasantry on whose lands the tea was forcibly grown.

10 Isn’t it is time all those whose lands were forcibly taken away had their grievances addressed first and justice meted out before you run after Tamil labourers for their vote.

The stark truth is NO

In this backdrop is it the British imperialist alone who have to be blamed for all these problems faced by this country and the plethora of unsolved sad legacies left behind for us by the British.

In this scenario I am not against writing by anyone on the Indian estate labour or addressing their human problems like the opinion expressed in ‘From Tamil Nadu to Badulla: A Century in the Tea Estates of Sri Lanka” What I am grieved is against the lethargy, Treachery, inactiveness, and un-patriotism of our own self- centered politicians. My grievance is why don’t we have a single politician or any social leader, ecclesiastic or lay, now, as we had in 1940s, to shed a tear for the millions of Kandyan Peasants who once owned and occupied these lands as their motherland.

Conclusion

All tea estates are now running at a loss. 76 % of production (Ceylon Business) is reported from the small holder sector where as it constitutes a small percentage of the total acreage under tea in the country. Isn’t this a pathetic situation? Why should we maintain such a large extent of large tea acreage with State subsidies right at the center of the hill country which has done so much damage to the nation an continues to do the same. Most of the plantations are marginal and unproductive and the whole tea industry today has become a national curse and a huge white elephant. Are we not maintaining an unpatriotic, parasitic and hostile Indian population from a Sri Lankan point of view, whose total allegiance is to India?  The Estate sector is running with Treasury money. Its management and even the salaries of labourers are paid by the State. That simply means we are maintaining 1.2 m Indian Estate labour force whose hearts and souls are in India and only the bodies are here at Government expense. Furthermore it is also revealed that most of the tea estates are presently owned by foreign interests.

In short first the colonial British administration forcibly robbed more than 1.3 million acres of our motherland for tea cultivation and deprived and fully destroyed the nation, its geographical ‘Heartland’ that remained a national heritage for thousands of years along with all its forests, animals and birds that made it their home was destroyed, resulting in the destruction of one of the richest biodiversity reserves in the world. British left behind a legacy of deforested, eroded, degraded, unfertile land a British hatched long term plan to hand it over to the  Indian Tamil labour they brought here in the latter part of the 19^th century as slaves to work on British plantations and create an Indian sub province within this country just to destabilize and ruin this Island Nation that was once the envy of the whole world . The present government has already made final plans to complete what was started by the British, before 2025. Their programe of giving estate lands to Tamil labour and the Ten Year Upcountry Tamil Village and Infra Structure Development Plan and the special Ministry and the Authority set up for that are conclusive proof of their intentions and traitorous plans.

Above all Tea plantation has planted a deadly political time bomb right in the The Heartland” of this Island Nation thus threatening the future independence and political stability of this Nation State that had remained the only Sinhala Buddhist nation for the past 2600 years. This is the stark reality and the saddest legacy British Colonialism and Tea cultivation has left behind to us.

As for me I am deeply grieved that there is no one to save this country from this virtual nemesis.

So I ask ‘Celebration or moaning’?  Over to you all patriots?.

Dr Sudath Ggunasekara

3.9. 2017

This is for your serious attention please.

From hills to VIP thrills, but the people paid the bills

What came to the Foreign Ministry in a diplomatic bag from an Asian capital raised not only eye brows but also serious concerns.

An upcountry Province Governor and a so-called official delegation wanted to pay a four day visit to that bustling Asian capital which some call the sin city. The official delegation was to comprise family members, staff and relatives.

One would say there is nothing wrong in travelling abroad for they say it broadens one’s mind. However, here is a textbook case which highlights how some holding positions by appointment of the President would resort to devious means to surreptitiously use public funds.

Found in the diplomatic bag was the draft of a letter, which the head of the Sri Lanka mission in that Asian capital was expected to sign recommending that the Governor concerned and his staff be invited to visit that country. It had been sent to that capital by the Governor but the envoy refused to sign it.

The contents of the letter, written in bad English said the Governor needed to come to that Asian capital to promote trade deals for products made in the Governor’s province. The Governor was inviting himself or herself, as the case may be, but wanting the country’s ambassador to say it.

Later, telephone calls had also been made on the Governor’s behalf to the Sri Lanka mission to sign the letter and send it back quickly to the Foreign Ministry, the sources added. Their bags were packed and ready to go, but the formal invitation to justify the official trip on public funds was the delay.

The source said the idea behind the exercise was to turn a private visit, a holiday, into an official one. The Sri Lanka envoy declined to provide such a letter on the grounds that it would be a complete violation of the guidelines set out by the Foreign Ministry. According to the ministry, the envoy had said the furthest they could go was to extend courtesies on arrival and departure, the source revealed.

So, the Sri Lanka provincial delegation of the Governor and family and all went on holiday anyway last month. The official invitation was thus frustrated but the departure from Colombo and the return later were through the VIP Lounge. On arrival in the Asian country concerned, they were received at the VIP Lounge of the airport concerned. The send-off was also from there.

Interesting enough, the departure from Colombo came on a Friday. The delegation returned to Colombo on Monday evening. The intervening holidays made any meetings in the Asian capital impossible but that certainly was not a loss. There were no plans to talk business. They lived like regents in a hotel in the busiest down market shopping district. They were frequent visitors to the shopping stalls next to the hotel. Even a buth kade was within walking distance across the road. Who paid for the travel and other costs? Who else, but the taxpayer. So much for the Yahapalanaya principles.

My comments

I hope you may have already taken action on this matter. No wonder when you appoint people like this as Governors.  Isn’t it like putting a fox in charge of a chicken pen.

Why don’t you order an immediate inquiry in to this fraud and

Recover the public Money robbed and take disciplinary actions against the Governor, officials and politicians if there are any in this delegation

That is the best way to prove Yahapalanaya and a golden opportunity too

In a country where a person has been recently convicted and sent to jail for 20 years (that is  2 years for taking a bribe of one thousand) don’t you think this is a very good case to give them life imprisonment for,

1. a) robbing tax payers money for private leisure and shopping trips
2. b) Trying to get the said envoy also to commit a crime

It is great the envoy has been smart and done the correct thing by sending this letter to the Foreign Minister.

Congratulations! A smart envoy at least in a blue moon!  I also pay my tribute to the smart guys who have divulged given this dirty game to the press.

වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති

මීවැවට යන්න ඕන ගනේගොඩ හන්දියෙන් හැරිලා. ගනේගොඩ හන්දිය තියෙන්නේ නාරම්මල ඉඳලා කුරුණෑගලට යන පාරේ. නාරම්මල ඉඳලා වැඩි දුරක් නෑ. නගර සීමාව ඉවරවෙන්නේ ගනේගොඩින්. අනිවාර්යයෙන් ම, මීවැවේ වැවක් ඇති කියලා පාඨකයන්ට හිතෙන්න පුළුවන්. එහෙම නැතිනම් ඒ ගමට මීවැව කියලා නම දාන්න විදිහක් නැහැනේ. ඒත් දැන් මීවැවේ වැවක් නෑ. නාරම්මල නගරයෙන් වැඩි ඈතක නොවුනත් මීවැව කියන්නේ හොඳ පිටිසර ගමක්. හැබැයි ඒ ගමේ වැව නම් දැන් ඉතිහාසයට එකතුවෙලා. ඒත් ගමේ කුඹුරු තියෙනවා. කුඹුරුවල ගොයම් දකින්න පුළුවන් බොහොම කලාතුරකින්. මොකද දැන් කාලේ වහින එකේ වුනත් කිසි ලකයක් නැහැනේ. ඉතින් වැස්සොත් මීවැවේ මිනිස්සු කුඹුරුකරනවා. ඊට පස්සේ ඒ කුඹුරු මැරෙන දිහා බල බලා හූල්ලනවා. හැබැයි පුරුදුවෙලා තියෙන විදිහට තුන් වේලට ම බත් කන එක නම් ඒ මිනිස්සුන්ට එච්චර අමාරු වැඩක් නෙවෙයි. මොකද නාරම්මල නගරය තියෙන්නේ ළඟපාතනේ. ඉතින් මීවැවේ මිනිස්සු නාරම්මල නගරයට ගිහිල්ලා හාල් ඇරගෙන එනවා.

කුඹුරු කිරිල්ල පැත්තකින් තියමුකෝ. මිනිස්සුන්ට වතුරවලින් කරන්න පුළුවන් තව කොච්චරක් නම් වැඩ තියෙනවා ද? රෙදි හෝදගන්න ඕන. නාගන්න ඕන. බොන්න ඕන. මිදුලේ වවලා තියෙන මල් ගහකට වතුර ටිකක් දාගන්න ඕන. ගමේ ගෙවල්වල හදන සතා සිව්පාවෙකුට වුනත් වතුර දෙන්න ඕන. ඒත් හරියට වැස්සක් වැටුනේ නැතිනම් ලිංවල වතුර පල්ලට හි‍ඳෙනවා. හැබැයි දැන් මීවැවේ පානීය ජල බෝතල් විකුණන්න තියෙනවා. ලීටරයක් රුපියල් තුනයි. ගණන් වැඩියි කියලා කියන්නත් බෑ.

මීවැවේ ඉස්කෝලයකුත් තියෙනවා. ඉස්සර මේ ඉස්කෝලේ හරි සරුවට කෙරුනාලු. ඒත් දැන් ඉස්කෝලේ ඉන්නේ ළමයි තිහක් තිස්පහක් විතර. ගුරුවරු නම් හත් අට දෙනෙක් ඉන්නවාලු. ඒ ළමයින්ට එච්-ටූ-ඕ ගැන කියලා දෙනවා ද කියන එක ගැන නම් මේ ලේඛකයා දන්නේ නෑ. ඒත් ඉතින් දැන් එච්-ටූ-ඕ ගැන නොදන්නේ කවුද? ඒ වගේ දේවල් අපි හොඳින් ඉගෙනගන්න ඕන. ඒ විදිහට විශ්ලේෂණයෙන් ලෝකය ගැන දැනගෙන ඒ දැනුමෙනුත් වැඩගන්න පුළුවන්. දැනුම උපදින්නේ නැගෙනහිර ද බටහිර ද කියන එක ගැන අපි වදවෙන්න ඕන නෑ. අපි හිතන්න ඕන අපිට, අපේ රටට, අපේ අනාගත පරම්පරාවල අයට ඒ දැනුමෙන් ප්‍රයෝජනයක් තියෙනවා ද කියන එක ගැන. ඒ වගේ ම ඒ දැනුමෙන් අපිට, අපිත් අයිති පරිසරයට, අපේ රටට, අපේ අනාගත පරම්පරාවල අයට, අවසාන වශයෙන් මේ ලෝකයට හානියක් වෙන්නේ නැති ද කියන එක ගැන.

ධාර්මික කර්මාන්ත ගැන මග කියාදීපු ආගමක් අදහන අපිට ධාර්මික දැනුම ගැනත් හිතන්න බැරිකමක් නෑ. කාට කාටත් ප්‍රයෝජනවත්, ලෝකයටත් අපිටත් හානියක් නැති දැනුමක් ධාර්මික දැනුමක් කියලා අර්ථදක්වන්න පුළුවන්. ඉතින් අපේ ඉස්කෝලවල උගන්නන්නේ ධාර්මික දැනුම නම් අපිට පුළුවන් බෞද්ධයෝ විදිහට සෑහීමකට පත්වෙන්න. ලෝකයේ තියෙන ඕනෑ ම රටක, ඕනෑ ම සංස්කෘතියක හදා වඩාගත්ත ඒ විදිහේ දැනුමක් අපේ ළමයින්ට ලබාදෙන්න අපි පැකිලෙන්න ඕන නෑ. ඉතින් බටහිර ලෝකයෙන් එන දැනුමක් දිහා වුනත් අපි බලන්න ඕන මේ කාරණය හිතේ තියාගෙන. දැනුම කියන්නේ යම් යම් උවමනා එපාකම් පිරිමහගන්න මිනිස්සු හදාගන්න දෙයක්නේ. ඉතින් අපිටත් අපේ උවමනා එපාකම් ගැන තේරුමක් තියෙනවා නම් ඒ දේවල් වෙනුවෙන් උවමනාකරන දැනුම නිර්මාණය කරගන්නත් පුළුවන්. එහෙම නැතිනම් ඒ වැඩවලට උවමනා කරන දැනුම අනිත් මිනිස්සුන්ගෙන් ඉල්ලගන්නත් පුළුවන්.

දැන් අපි ආයෙත් එච්-ටූ-ඕ කතාවට එමු. මීවැවේ මිනිස්සුත් එච්-ටූ-ඕ ගැන දන්න බවට සැකයක් නෑ. ඒත් මීවැවේ වැවක් නෑ. මීවැවේ මිනිස්සුන්ට තමන් ගේ ඕන එපාකම් වෙනුවෙන් වතුර නෑ. හත්කෝරළයේ තියෙන හොඳ ම කුඹුරු යායක් තවත් ටික කාලයක් යන්න කලින් පුරන්වෙලා යාවි. මේක මීවැවට විතරක් අදාළ ප්‍රශ්නයක් නෙවෙයි. මුළුමහත් වැව් බැඳි රාජ්‍යය ම මේ ප්‍රශ්නයෙන් බැටකනවා. අපේ රටේ වැඩියෙන් ම කුඹුරු කරන හත්කෝරළයේත් රජරට නුවර කලාවියේත් මිනිස්සු මහා සාගතයකට තල්ලුවෙමින් ඉන්නවා. වතුර නැතිකම ගැන ප්‍රවෘත්ති ගංවතුර ගැන ප්‍රවෘත්ති වගේ නැගලා යන්නේ නෑ. ඒත් තව ටික කාලයක් මේ විදිහට වැඩ වුනොත් වතුර නැති හින්දා ලැබෙන නැගලා යන ප්‍රවෘත්ති ටිකක් ඇසීමේ, කියැවීමේ, බැලීමේ වාසනාවත් අපිට ලැබේවි.

අද අපේ රටේ තියෙන ප්‍රධාන ම ප්‍රශ්නය තමයි මිනිස්සු බෙදිලා කා කොටාගන්න එක. ඒකට දෙවැනි නැති තවත් ප්‍රශ්නයක් තියෙනවා. ඒ තමයි අපි කරන ඉවරයක් නැති ඉඩම් බෙදිල්ල. කුරුණෑගල පැත්තේ තිබුණු මහ පොල් වතු සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් දැන් පර්චස් දහය දොළහේ කෑලිවලට බෙදලා ඉවරයි. මේ ඉඩම්වල ගෙවල් හදන්නේ ළිඳකුත් හාරලා. වැව් බැඳි රාජ්‍යය කියන්නේ ගැඹුරු පස් තට්ටුවක් තියෙන ප්‍රදේශයක් නෙවෙයි. ඉතින් ඒ පොළොවේ හැම තැන ම ළිං හාරපු අපේ මිනිස්සු දැන් පොළොව යට තියෙන වතුරත් උඩට ගන්නවා. ඒ මදිවට ඉස්සර වගේ වැව් ඇත්තෙත් නෑ. වැව්වලින් කළේ පොළොව මතුපිට වතුර මට්ටම රැකලා දෙන එක. දැන් උඩත් වතුර නෑ. යටත් වතුර නෑ.

වැව්වලින් පොළොවේ වතුර රැකලා දීපු හැටි පෙන්නන පර්යේෂණයක් කරලා තියෙනවා අපේ ඉංජිනේරු මහත්තුරු දෙන්නෙක්. එක් කෙනෙක් තමයි ජා-ඇල ඒකල ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ඉංජිනේරු පර්යේෂණ සහ සංවර්ධන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේ වැඩකරන වරලත් ඉංජිනේරු කපිල පීරිස් මහත්තයා. අනිත් එක්කෙනා තමයි කොළඹ තියෙන ඉංජිනේරුමය කාර්යයන් පිළිබඳ මධ්‍යම උපදේශක කාර්යාලයේ වැඩකරන වරලත් ඉංජිනේරු සංජීව විජේසිංහ මහත්තයා. ගම් වැව්, මහ වැව් විතරක් නෙවෙයි කුළු වැව් පවා හදලා තිබුණේ පොළොවට වැටෙන වතුර ටික රැකගන්න අරමුණෙන්. පොළොවේ සමෝච්ච මට්ටම් දිගේ හදලා තිබුණු ඇල මාර්ගවලින් පවා සිද්දවුනේ ඒ දේ. කපිල සහ සංජීව දෙන්නා කරපු පර්යේෂණයේ වැදගත් ම කොටස තමයි බිසෝකොටුවෙන් සිද්දවෙන දේ හඳුනාගත්ත එක. ඒ දෙන්නා පෙන්නලා දීලා තියෙන විදිහට බිසෝකොටුව කියලා කියන්නේ වැවේ වතුර එළියට දාන දොරක් නෙවෙයි. ඒකෙන් වෙන්නේ වැඩි පීඩනයකින් වැවේ තියෙන වතුර හෙමින් හෙමින් පිටවෙන්න උදව්කරන එක.

උදුල බණ්ඩාර අවුසදහාමි මහත්තයාත් වැව ගැන සෑහෙන දැනුමක් අපිට කියලා දීලා තියෙනවා. මේ වගේ දැනුමැත්තෝ ලියන ලිපි පත්තරවලත් පළවෙනවා. ගුවන්විදුලියේත් රූපවාහිනියේත් වැඩසටහන් ප්‍රචාරය වෙනවා. මේ මෑතක දී ආචාර්ය එම්. යූ. ඒ. තෙන්නකෝන් පත්තරයකට ලිපියක් ලියලා තිබුණා “වැව සුරකින කට්ටකාඩුව” කියලා. ඉතින් වැව ගැන සංග්‍රහවෙච්ච සෑහෙන දැනුමක් අපි අතර තියෙනවා. වැව කියන්නේ අපේ උවමනා එපාකම් සපුරන නිර්මාණයක්. වැව ගැන දැනුමත් ධාර්මික එකක්. වැව් තියෙන එක අපිටත් හොඳයි, මහ පොළොවටත් හොඳයි, සතා සීපාවටත් හොඳයි, ගහ කොළවලටත් හොඳයි. ඒත් වැව් ගැන අපි දන්නේ බොහොම ටිකයි. මෙහෙම වෙලා තියෙන්නේ ඇයි?

වැව් ගැන දැනුම ඉස්කෝලේ පාඩමක් බවට පත්කරන්න බැරි ද? වැව කියලා කියන්නේ මිනිස්සුන්ට, සතා සීපාවට, මහ පොළොවට, ගස් වැල්වලට උවමනා නිර්මාණයක් හින්දා ඒක ගැන ඉස්කෝලේ පංතිවල කියලා දෙන එකේ වැරැද්දක් නෑ. ඒත් එහෙම දෙයක් අපේ රටේ කෙරෙන්නේ නෑ. මෙහෙම වෙලා තියෙන්නේ ඇයි? අපේ ඉස්කෝලවලින් සෑහෙන ප්‍රමාණයක් ඕල්කොට්තුමා මුල්වෙලා ආරම්භ කරපු හින්දා ද? ඒ ඉස්කෝලවල බටහිර අධ්‍යාපනය විතරක් ලබාදෙන හින්දා ද? මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපිට කරන්න දෙයක් ඉතිරිවෙලා නැති ද?

ඇයි අපි හැම වෙලාවේ ම අනිත් අය ගේ අදකුද ගැන විතරක් කතා කර කර ඉන්නේ? මේ වෙනුවෙන් අපිට කොච්චරක් නම් දේවල් කරන්න පුළුවන් ද? දැන් උදුල බණ්ඩාර අවුසදහාමි මහත්තයා කියන දේවල්, කපිල පීරිස් මහත්තයායි සංජීව විජේසිංහ මහත්තයායි කියන දේවල්, මීට අවුරුදු තිහකට විර කලින් අගමැති අයියා – ඒ කියන්නේ මුදියන්සේ තෙන්නකෝන් මහත්තයා; කියපු දේවල්, ඒ වගේ ම සූරිය ගුණසේකර මහත්තයා කියපු දේවල් පිළිවෙලකට එකතුකරලා පෙළ පොත් ටිකක් විදිහට සංග්‍රහකරන්න අපිට බැරි ඇයි?

මෙන්න මෙතැනයි අපේ වැරැද්ද තියෙන්නේ. පාසල් ළමයින්ට උවමනා කරන පෙළ පොත් ලියනවා කියන්නේ පත්තරවලට ලිපි ලියන එකට නෙවෙයි. ඒක ළමයින් ගේ මනස තේරුම් ඇරගෙන කරන්න ඕන වැඩක්. මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අපිට තියෙන හොඳ ම උදාහරණය තමයි කුමාරතුංග මුනිදාස මහත්තයා. ඒ මහත්තයා ලොකු අයට වගේ ම පොඩි ළමයින්ටත් හරි හරියට ලිව්වා. එතුමා ළමයින්ට ලිව්වේ කවි කතන්දර විතරක් නෙවෙයි. කුමාරොදය, කියවන නුවණ, ශික්‍ෂා මාර්ගය, ප්‍රබන්ධ සංග්‍රහය වගේ පොත් එතුමා ලිව්වේ පාඩම් පොත් විදිහට. ඒ ඒ පාඩම අන්තිමට උත්තර දෙන්න පුළුවන් ප්‍රශ්නත් ඒ පොත්වලට ඇතුළත් කරලා තිබුණා. දැනුමක් කියන එක වර්ධනය වෙන්නේ මේ විදිහට. ඒ විදිහට ක්‍රමවත් ව වර්ධනය කරපු දැනුමක් ඉස්කෝලෙ යවන එක ඊට පස්සේ කරන්න පුළුවන්. ඒකත් කියන තරම් පහසු කටයුත්තක් නෙවෙයි කියලා අමුතුවෙන් කියන්න ඕන නෑ.

ඒත් අපි දැන් කරන්නේ මේ විදිහට සැලැසුම් සහගත ව වැඩකරන එක නෙවෙයි. කාගේ හරි අඩුපාඩුවක් දැක්කා ම ඒක අල්ලගෙන කෑගහන්න විතරයි අපි දැන් කැමැති. ඉතින් මේ විදිහට දුර බලලා සැලසුම් සහගත ව වැඩකරනවා නම් ඕල්කොට්තුමා මුල්වෙලා හදපු ඉස්කෝලවල විතරක් නෙවෙයි රාජකීය, ශාන්ත තෝමස් වගේ ඉස්කෝලවලත් වැව ගැන උගන්නන්න අපිට පුළුවන් වේවි. එහෙම නැතිව බටහිර අධ්‍යාපනය ගැන ඉවරයක් නැතිව ආඩපාලි කිව්වා කියලා අපේ ප්‍රශ්න විස‍ඳෙන්නේ නෑ. මී වැවේ වැව ආපහු හැදෙන්නෙත් නෑ.

වරුණ චන්ද්‍රකීර්ති ෴