Just three days after last year’s presidential election, someone predicted the Perpetual Treasuries Ltd (PTL) bond issue on an online website for stock market investors.

The man wrote on Sri Lanka Equity Forum:Perpetual Treasuries owned by Free Lanka Capital Holdings owners will mostly get a large amount of business volumes of Treasury Bills and Treasury Bonds business in new ‘Yahapalana Government’ of Maithripala-Ranil Regime since new Governor of Central Bank is tipped to be Free Lanka Capital’s driving force Arjun Aloysius’s father-in-law Arjuna Mahendran who is also the top Economic Advisor of Ranil Wickramasinghe [sic] since old times.”  

The new Cabinet had not even been sworn in. The prognosis for the new President and his Government was excellent. They had campaigned on a platform of good governance, meritocracy, transparency and freedom from corruption. There was every confidence that appointments to key positions would reflect those principles. Any suggestion of the sort ‘Business Basil’ made on Equity Forum seemed unwarranted, premature and wholly speculative.

But he was proved right at the Central Bank bond auction of late February 2015. The Government was not two months old when the storm broke. The allegation is that PTL benefited at the auction from a combination of insider information and a late decision to issue an unprecedented volume of bonds.

For those of us who knew how Perpetual did business, it didn’t come as a total shock,” said one investment management source. They were connected with pumping up stocks and dumping them at high prices on the Employees’ Provident Fund, which appeared to be a willing participant in this scheme. What shook us was that the new Government had also allowed what had happened at the bond auction.”

This article was researched over a period of several weeks. Many of those approached for information ran scared. One said that the subject was a time bomb” and that he wanted nothing to do with it. Some laughed when asked about Perpetual’s business practices.

Those who agreed to be interviewed asked to remain anonymous. Every one of them maintained that 33-year-old Mr Aloysius was well-connected, both with the previous administration and the incumbent Government. Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake’s name came up frequently, although he himself denied any special relationship” with the young man.

The Sunday Times messaged Arjuna Mahendran with an offer to interview his son-in-law. He replied that it was unlikely Mr Aloysius would agree. A note sent again this week went unanswered. We also wrote to Mr Aloysius at an email address provided by his secretary. An employee replied that he will do his best to meet our request for an interview once he had spoken with Mr Aloysius.

Arjun is a dealmaker,” said an investment analyst. He gets things done by using contacts, forging alliances, or by other means. This is a man who was smart enough to install Ajith Nivard Cabraal’s sister in one of his companies while he (Cabraal) was Governor of the Central Bank.”

Siromi Wickramasinghe was a director of Perpetual Capital Holdings Ltd (PCHL), which is Perpetual Treasuries’ owning company, from December 2013-March 2015. It was alleged that PTL had gained undue advantage from this connection. In defence, Mrs Wickramasinghe said she had never been a director of Perpetual Treasuries Ltd or been involved in any transaction or bid made by that specific company.

Mr Aloysius’s camp also resorts to technicalities whenever the issue of conflict-of-interest is raised. He wasn’t a director of PTL when the controversial bond auction took place, it claims. This is true. He resigned on January 16, 2015, a week before Mr Mahendran was appointed CBSL Governor. But he has retained other positions in the Group and clearly his influence. Any separation of interests is only on paper.

Investment banker Arjuna Mahendran is the son of Charlie Mahendran, a retired Foreign Service diplomat who had joined the United National Party after returning from his last posting as Ambassador to China. When Ranil Wickremesinghe became Premier in 2001, the senior Mahendran went to New York as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

Arjuna, the son, was simultaneously made Chairman of the Board of Investment (BOI). And again, in January 2015, he was appointed CBSL Governor eleven days after the Sirsena-Wickremesinghe Cabinet was installed. The most well-intentioned warnings about glaring conflict of interest were ignored.

The wedding of Anjali Mahendran and Arjun Aloysius had taken place in 2012, one year before PTL was licensed as a primary dealer. The bride was Hindu; the groom’s family, staunchly Catholic. They even had the Borella All Saints church repainted in white at their cost for the marriage ceremony which was conducted by Joseph Spiteri, Apostolic Nuncio to Sri Lanka.

Arjun is the grandson of Kattar Aloysius, who started out as a dry fish exporter and ended up as one of the country’s most successful businessman. He founded the Free Lanka Group and was a significant shareholder in several companies at the time of his death in 2013. There is a website dedicated to the extended Kattar family which hails from South India. It shows that Kattar Aloysius, whom they call the patriarch, was much loved and respected.

The senior Aloysius was close to Ranasinghe Premadasa. However, a clear distinction must be drawn here between Kattar Aloysius and Aloysius Mudalali” whose real name was Samerasekara Mahamalika Aarachige (S M A) Aloysius and who had much deeper connections, including political, with Mr Premadasa. There was no business or family tie between Kattar Aloysius and Aloysius Mudalali.

A member of the late President’s administration said he (the administrator) first came to know the businessman in 1977, when Mr Premadasa became Prime Minister. Mr Aloysius had good public relations skills, was a great networker and would often assist Mr Premadasa for free, such as helping with food at certain functions or renovating a favourite bungalow in Yala.  

He got up each morning at 4.30 and attended church,” this official said. He wouldn’t start the day without a swim. I liked him because he was religious, honest and likeable.”

The administrator felt the senior Aloysius would have been devastated at the recent turn of events. He also said the old man, towards the end of his life, had expressed disappointment about the direction in which some aspects of his business were being driven. His son Geoffrey Aloysius is Arjun’s father and remains a director of PTL. His other son, Godfrey, was also a director but resigned four weeks before the bond scandal.

The Kattar website (kept alive by various relatives scattered around the world, particularly Canada) records special moments in the lives of the extended family. It provides a window into a deeply devout and united Catholic clan that starts and ends every special occasion with prayer. Several of its members are Catholic priests and nuns. They meet frequently at Christenings, birthdays, memorials, funerals and weddings.

But the page that once published the photographs of Arjun and Anjali’s marriage has been removed. And they are notably absent from the site. In fact, neither Arjun nor Anjali have notable internet footprints. That latter’s Instagram account is private. Even photographs that were once available via a simple Google search are no longer to be seen.

This reticence has helped create an aura of secrecy around Mr Arjun Aloysius. Even at the height of the controversial pump-and-dump market operation in 2011-2012, neither he nor his company were openly identified by the regulator as being part of the well-connected stock market mafia”. Those it did name were prominent businessmen with public personas. Many had granted interviews, given speeches, attended functions, appeared on television and are widely documented on the internet.

By contrast, Mr Aloysius, then still in his twenties, has remained well under the radar. In 2012, he was selected to be a member of the Global Shapers Colombo Hub. At 27, he presented a glowing bio-data and appeared to be a young entrepreneur from Colombo who was doing really well, that understood the market as well as the business environment”.

He was to have attended the World Economic Forum with nine other young Sri Lankans. But this didn’t happen. He came for the first day, didn’t contribute and didn’t participate,” said someone closely associated with the event. He attended two meetings, said he didn’t want to be part of it and left. But he did have an amazing profile and was an emerging millionaire.”

He might write a cracker CV–we have not seen it–but Mr Aloysius played up in school. He was compelled to leave one international school prematurely because the principal found him a difficult prospect. He then had to quit the next international school he was enrolled in because that principal, too, thought him incorrigible”. He gained just two passes at the London GCE O/Levels in maths and English.

A close friend of his, when asked about Mr Aloysius, said he was a bit naughty in school at times, but so was I”. He called him ambitious, intelligent, a hard and diligent worker and not a thief”. I know that there are many people who have said stuff about him or who didn’t quite appreciate the way he went about things,” he said. But I think that as long as we act within the confines of the law, we should admire those who challenge the status quo and go about things in a different way.”

I think it’s important to always have a moral compass when we go about things,” he continued.” But people are in business for profit not for charity. So we have to see it in that way too.”

We know from the letters of demand Mr Aloysius recently sent two media companies that he holds a bachelor’s degree in business from the ‘Bond University’ in Australia (and, no, the irony was not lost on anyone). Online discussion boards about Australian universities say Bond, while it has greatly improved its reputation in recent years, had once been called the rich kid university”.

Mr Aloysius’s results at Bond are not known. In any case, academic achievement is not necessarily a fair parameter. At 21, he was made consultant to the Free Lanka Group. At 28, he was CEO of Perpetual Asset Management–as PCHL is still officially known–and Deputy Chairman of W M Mendis and Company as well as a board member of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC).

Mr Aloysius had entered both Mendis and HDFC boards by virtue of Perpetual Capital acquiring large stakes in each. In May 2011, he became a director of HDFC as Perpetual was among the top five shareholders of the bank in which the National Housing Development Authority held the controlling stake. (Siromi Wickramasinghe was Chairperson at the time). The same year, Perpetual bought the controlling interest of Mendis for a reported one billion rupees or more.

Market sources say it was his grandfather that facilitated Mr Aloysius’s entry into the stock market, by either giving him some shares or access to the sale proceeds of those shares. It started out well. But Perpetual soon edged into murky territory. It started targeting a complicit EPF as a dumping ground for inflated shares.

Perpetual Capital and Perpetual Asset Management quietly joined a tiny posse that was helping to pump up the value of certain shares and unload them on to the EPF. Two of these were Ceylon Grain Elevators (GRAN) and Lanka Orix Leasing Company (LOLC). There was a sort of an insider ring being created with certain people within the EPF and the Central Bank,” said an authoritative source, strictly on condition of anonymity.

Harsha de Silva, then an opposition legislator, was among the first to point out that the EPF was investing in non-blue chip companies in a questionable manner. For instance, Perpetual acquired shares of GRAN for around 50-80 rupees each at the end of 2010. On March 3-4 the following year, EPF bought five million of these shares from Perpetual at Rs 205. The price then fell dramatically to original levels, slaying everyone else that had put money into GRAN after having observed it rise (artificially) in value.

Among those affected in a similar manner were some friends of Mr Aloysius. After helping to inflate orpump up” the prices, they lost millions when the share prices plummeted following his sales.

Some of these shares were taken up to 500% to sell to EPF,” said one stockbroker. Then the price crashed back to the original level.” Perpetual was playing this game in the stock market,” said another. Only when that bubble burst did they shift their attention to the bond market.”

Perpetual Asset Management employed a similar strategy to sell shares of LOLC to EPF and Bank of Ceylon. A study of historic stock market data, including daily price sheets and trading information, reveals much of the above. One stockbroker estimated that Perpetual made Rs 700-800 million profit from each or about Rs 1.5 billion from both.

Also in 2011, Perpetual Capital acquired a large stake in Lanka Ashok Leyland held by an investor named Saliya Perera. This longstanding shareholder had bought 27.8 percent of the company over a period of time. But he was in debt to a private bank.

Perpetual arranged with the bank to repossess a section of Mr Perera’s bloc. The bank force-sold around 12 percent of Saliya’s stake to Perpetual at a massive discount,” a stockbroker said. The share was trading at Rs. 3000 when Perpetual lapped it up at Rs. 1000, causing shockwaves in the industry.

The sale was carried out ostensibly to settle Mr Perera’s dues. But he confided to a friend that the bank had disposed of far more than necessary.

He said he was not someone who got angry,” his confidant told the Sunday Times. He also said greed was Satan and that those responsible will have to answer to God. He was taking deep breaths. He was sad about losing something he had collected for so many years.” Days later, Mr Perera—a bubbly, self-made man”—died of a heart attack. He was in his early 50s.

By now, Perpetual had substantial stakes in HDFC, Central Finance, Lanka Ashok Leyland, Bairaha Farms, LOLC, DIMO and CIC Holdings. As reported above, it also took control of liquor manufacturer W M Mendis and Co.

Those acquainted with Mr Arjun Aloysius say he spoke freely about how Perpetual had engineered the Leyland and Mendis acquisitions. But analysts also observe that he could have earned substantially more on the stock exchange had he sold Perpetual’s stakes in some companies when the respective share prices were peaking. Why, they ask, does he hold on to certain portfolios and divest of them when the market is down?

Looking at the numbers, this is how Perpetual Capital made losses on Bairaha which it sold in stages up to mid-2015,”said an investor who studies trends. I’m not entirely convinced that they are smart investors who do their research well.”

They made headlines in March 2011 with a 1.5 billion rupee stake in Central Finance (CFIN) under Perpetual Capital along with around 800 million rupees under Thurston Investments which is also theirs,” this investor said. They could have sold CFIN for double the money in May 2011, just a few months later. But, like with Bairaha, they chose to hold on.”

They had opportunity to sell CFIN for a decent profit until October that year and could have made at least 20 percent after August 2014,” he continued. Now it’s down again with little hope, it seems, of recovering.”

Perpetual made a lot of its money by establishing connections—one way or the other—and flogging certain shares at high prices. If you have connections, you can sell to anyone,” the investor said. You don’t need half a brain to do that. These are deals. If you know someone who knows someone, you can make it happen.”

The well-documented Central Bank bond issue gave Perpetual another windfall. In August 2016, the Group started buying National Development Bank (NDB) shares using two margin trading accounts: Waldock Mackenzie/Perpetual and Union Bank/Perpetual. They first collected small quantities, then expanded volumes gradually. The two main companies that hold NDB shares are Perpetual Equities and Perpetual Treasuries.

Recently, Union Bank/Perpetual Equities unloaded around 3.9 million NDB shares to Perpetual Equities through a private transfer. Then, Perpetual Equities sold 1.2 million of these shares to Perpetual Treasuries. Ultimately, they are unloading shares to Perpetual Treasuries,” an authoritative source said. The motive is not too clear. However, there is nothing illegal from the point of view of the capital market.”

Incidentally, Perpetual’s recent investment in NDB is already down by ten percent. They typically have a ‘deal’ portfolio that they flip to the EPF at multiples of the market price,” said a senior stockbroking source. And they have a separate strategic portfolio.”

Perpetual is now expanding still further. There is speculation that it wants to buy a stock brokerage (Religare Capital Markets has been mentioned). It is eyeing a television station. Journalists are already being recruited for a national newspaper project.

It is also open secret that Mr Aloysius has been helping to keep afloat a newspaper house which has been in financial difficulties for months on end. He even has an in-house representative, a General Manager named Mahesh Senanayake, who told editorial staff that his task was to protect his investor’s interests.

The money, around Rs 1 million a month, comes in via Perpetual Group advertisements. Employees recently went unpaid for two months after the money failed to come in. Around this time, stories related to the Committee on Public Enterprise’s (COPE) report on the bond issue were published. Some members of the Sinhala language edition went public on websites demanding Mr Aloysius to remunerate the staff. A million was invested again last month.

There is no sign of any action being taken against anyone regarding the 2015 bond scam. The consensus was that Mr Aloysius’s connections–through his father-in-law and of his own making–are too strong. One source related how he had hired a limousine for an influential Government minister in London last year, during an investment road show.

The minister wanted to eat Chinese food but the restaurant at the hotel wasn’t that great,” he narrated. So, Arjun Aloysius took the minister out to dinner in his limousine to China Town. That’s just the tip of the iceberg. He nurtures his relationships and was frequently seen with him during last year’s campaign for the parliamentary election.”

He has covered his bases, whatever the party,” agreed a senior political source. He is confident enough.”

Courtesy The Business Times

Sri Lanka’s cabinet cleared a revised agreement for its Chinese-built southern port of Hambantota on Tuesday, the government said, after terms of the first pact sparked widespread public anger in the island nation.

The port, close to the world’s busiest shipping lanes, has been mired in controversy ever since state-run China Merchants Port Holdings , which built it for US$ 1.5 billion, signed an agreement taking an 80 percent stake.

Under the new deal, which Reuters has examined, the Sri Lankan government has sought to limit China’s role to running commercial operations at the port while it has oversight of broader security.

Chinese control of Hambantota, which is part of its modern-day “Silk Route” across Asia and beyond, as well as a plan to acquire 15,000 acres (23 sq miles) to develop an industrial zone next door, had raised fears that it could also be used for Chinese naval vessels.

Sri Lankans demonstrated in the streets at the time, fearing loss of their land, while politicians said such large-scale transfer of land to the Chinese impinged on the country’s sovereignty.

Details of the new agreement have not yet been made public. But according to parts of the document seen by Reuters, two companies are being set up to split the operations of the port and allay concerns, in India mainly but also in Japan and the United States, that it won’t be used for military purposes.

China Merchants Port Holdings will take an 85 percent stake in Hambantota International Port Group that will run the port and its terminals, with the rest held by Sri Lanka Ports Authority. The company’s capital will be $794 million.

A second firm, Hambantota International Port Group Services Co, with capital of $606 million, will be set up to oversee security operations, with the Sri Lankans holding a 50.7 percent stake and the Chinese 49.3 percent, according to the document.

Ports Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that several foreign missions had sought clarification from Colombo about whether the Chinese navy would be using Hambantota port as it steps up its presence in the Indian Ocean.

We told China that we can’t allow the port for military use and that 100 percent responsibility of security matters should be with the Sri Lankan government.”

China has been building ports in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh and smaller island nations in what military officials call a “String of Pearls” in the Indian Ocean, or a network of friendly ports where its warships can refuel.

Reducing Stake

China Merchants Port Holdings also agreed to reduce its stake in the Sri Lankan joint venture running the commercial operations of the port to 65 percent after 10 years, the document says.

“The cabinet approved the deal and now it needs parliament approval. We will send it for approval this week,” cabinet spokesman Dayasiri Jayasekera said.

He didn’t provide details. A Chinese embassy spokesman said it had no comment to make on the deal. A source close to the Chinese Embassy in Colombo said both sides had reached a compromise and that Sri Lanka’s concerns had been addressed.

“They emphasized that they wanted to maintain balanced relations with other countries. But the deal is still beneficial for China in terms of revenue,” the source said.

The latest agreement relates to the port while the pact for the industrial zone will be handled separately, Sri Lankan officials said.

The revised deal comes weeks after President Maithripala Sirisena reshuffled his cabinet, naming Samarasinghe to the ports ministry after his predecessor had strongly opposed a majority equity stake for the Chinese firm and raised a red flag over possible military use.

Two Sri Lankan sources familiar with the deal said the Sri Lankan Ports Authority would have the right to inspect ships entering Hambantota.

“Sri Lanka will have control over port activities including security, which various parties have raised concerns over earlier,” one source told Reuters. “The agreement clearly says no military ships will be allowed in the port.”

New Delhi in 2014 was alarmed when a Chinese submarine docked in Colombo, where another Chinese firm is building a $1.4 billion port city on reclaimed land.

India has long considered Sri Lanka, just off its southern coast, as within its sphere of influence and sought to push back against China’s expanding maritime presence. In May, Sri Lanka turned down a Chinese request to dock a submarine.

නලින් ද සිල්වා

යාපනයේ සිසුවියකු වූ විද්‍යාගේ ඝාතනය පිළිබඳ නඩුව විභාග කරන  මහාධිකරණ විනිසුරුගේ ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියකු වෙඩි වැදී මිය ගිහින්. තවත් ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියකු වෙඩි වැදී රෝහලේ. මේ පිළිබඳ විවිධ කතා ජනමාධ්‍යයේ කියැවෙනවා.  පොලිසිය කියන දේ විශ්වාස කිරීම අපහසුයි. මාර්ගය අවහිරවීමක් නිසා ඇති වූ ආරවුලක් හේතුකොටගෙන  පොලිස් ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියා මියගිය බවයි පොලීසිය කියන්නේ. එහෙත් වාර්තා වී ඇති අන්දමට විනිසුරුතුමා කියන්නේ තමාට තැබූ වෙඩිල්ලකින් නිලධාරියා මිය ගිය බවයි.

පොලිසිය වෛද්‍ය පීඨ ශිෂ්‍ය නායකයකු වූ රයන් ජයලත් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම ගැනත් සංගත නොවන කතා කියනවා.  මෙහි දී වෛද්‍යවරුන් කියන කතාවත් පොලීසිය කියන කතාවත් විශ්වාස කළ යුතු නැහැ. රයන් පැහැර ගෙන යෑමට මහදවල් වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගම් කාර්යාලය ඉදිරීිපිටට දෙනෝ දාහක් මැද පොලීසිය පැමිණේවි යැයි හිතන්න බැහැ. එහෙත් පොලීසියට අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට වුවත් මෙයට වඩා වෙනස් අයුරකින් ක්‍රියාකරන්න තිබුණා. ආණ්ඩුව කළේ අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමක්වත් පැහැර ගැනීමක්වත් නොව වැඩ වර්ජනයකට කැඳවා ගැනීමක්,  භීෂණයකට අතවැනීමක්. භීෂණයට අත වැනීම ගැන වෛද්‍යවරුන්, ජනමාධ්‍ය, පෙරටුගාමීන් හා ජ වි පෙරමුණත් වගකිව යුතුයි. සයිටම් ප්‍රශ්නය විසඳා අවසානයි. සයිටම් අහෝසි කිරීම එකම විසඳුම වන්නේ වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට, කාලෝට, පෙරටුගාමීන්ට, ජ වි පෙරමුණට හා ආණ්ඩුව පෙරළීමට තම මාධ්‍ය හා සේවකයන් යොදා ගන්නා මාධ්‍ය ලොක්කන්ට පමණයි. මේ මාධ්‍ය ලොක්කන් තම මාධ්‍ය ආණ්ඩුවට විරුද්ධව මෙයෙවන ගමන් රනිල්ට මධුවිත වක්කරනවා. සයිටම් නැත්නම් වෙනත් අයිටම් මගින් ආණ්ඩුව භීෂණයක් දියත් කරනවා. පෙරටුගාමීන් හා ජ වි පෙ එයට ආධාර කරනවා. වෛද්‍යවරුන් හා ජනමාධ්‍ය පෙරටුගාමීන් පසුපස යනවා. වෛද්‍යවරුන් සමහරකුට ඇතැම් මාධ්‍ය ලොක්කන්ට මෙන් ම දේශපාලන අරමුණු තිබෙනවා. අපට ගේම් කාරයන් කීවත් මාධ්‍ය ලොක්කන්  තමයි නියම ගේම් කාරයන්.

යාපනයේ සිද්ධ වන්නේ වෙනම ම දෙයක් නො වෙයි. කොළඹ සිදුවන දෙයමයි. එහෙත් පිටපත තරමක් වෙනස්. ආණ්ඩුව ඊනියා සංහිඳියාවක් ගැන කතා කරමින් ත්‍රස්තවාදයට හිස එසවීමට ආධාර කරනවා. විිද්‍යා ඝාතනය ගැන අප අධිකරණයට බලපාන දෙයක් කියන්නේ නැහැ. එහෙත් මේ ස්විස් කුමාර් කවුද? විනිසුරුවරයාට වෙඩි තැබීමට තැත්කළ ත්‍රස්තවාදියා හුදෙක් බීමතින් සිටියකු ද? ඔහු හා ස්විස් කුමාර් අතර සම්බන්ධයක් තිබේ ද? ඔහු කොටියකු බව ඔහුගේ සහෝදරයකු කියනවා. අද දේශපාලනඥයන් නැවත කොටි සංවිධානයක් බිහි කිරීමට උත්සාහ කරනවා. ආණ්ඩුවට පැවැත්මට හා  නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්පාදනය කර සහසන්ධීය රාජ්‍යයක් පිහිටුවීමට ත්‍රස්තවාදය හා භීෂණය අවශ්‍යයි.

විනිසුරුැවරයා දෙමළ, ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියා සිංහල. සාමාන්‍යයෙන් විනිසුරුවරයකු හැසිරෙන ආකාරයට නො වෙයි මේ විනිසුරු හැසිරී තිබෙන්නේ. ඔහු තම ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියාගේ බිරීයට පහත් වී නමස්කාර කර තිබෙනවා. අනෙක් නිලධාරියා හමුවීමට රෝහලට ගොස් හැඟුම්බර ව ක්‍රියා කර තිබෙනවා. ඇතැම් පඬියන් ඔහුට චෝදනා කිරීමට ඉඩ තිබෙනවා විනිසුරු නිලයේ ගෞරවය නොරැකි බව කියමින්. ලංකාවේ තරම් පඬියන් වෙනත් රටක නැතුව ඇති. ආණ්ඩුව ඇති කිරීමට තැත් කරන්නේ යැයි කියන ඊනියා සංහිඳියාව වෙනත් අයුරකින් රටේ ම තිබෙනවා. විනිසුරුවරයා කොටි බලවත් කාලයේ සිට ම රැක බලාගෙන ඇත්තේ මියගිය ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරියා. සාමාන්‍ය දෙමළ ජනයා ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් නො වෙයි. ඇතැමුන් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් බව ඇත්ත. ඒත් ඒ කිහිප දෙනයි. ඒ කිහිප දෙනා අතර දේශපාලනඥයන් ඉන්නවා. ඔවුන් බලය සඳහා දෙමළ ජනයා කුපිත කරන කතා කියනවා. ආණ්ඩුවත් උතුරේ දේශපාලනඥයනුත් සංහිඳියාවක් ගැන කියමින් තිබෙන දැන හැඳිනීම් මිනිස්කම් නැති කරන්න උත්සාහ කරනවා.

බොරු වැඩවර්ජන, වෙඩි තැබීම් ආදිය අවසානයේ දී සේවය කරන්නේ ආණ්ඩුවටයි. ඇතැම් විට ආණ්ඩුවේ නියෝජිතයන් මේ වෘත්තීය සමිතිවල ඉන්නත් පුළුවන්. මේ සියල්ල  විද්‍යුත් මාධ්‍යයෙහි ඊනියා රියැලිටි ෂෝ වගේ. රියැලිටි ෂෝවලටත් පිටපතක් තියෙනවා. ඒත් අප හිතන්නේ කිසිම පුහුණුවක් නැතිව ඒ විකාශය කෙරෙන බවයි. අද දේශපාලනය ඊනියා රියැලිටි ෂෝ එකක් වගේ.

අපේ රටවල ප්‍රශ්නය කසිකබල් සමාජයීය විද්‍යාඥයන් කියන ආකාරයට පශ්චාත් යටත්විජිත රාජ්‍යයක් ගොඩ නගා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වීම නො වෙයි. මේ බොහොමයක් සමාජයීය විද්‍යාඥයන් දොස්තරලා ආදීන් දන්නේ දෙන දෙයක් පාඩම් කර ගෙන විභාගවල ලකුණු ගැනීම පමණයි. ඔවුන් නිර්මාණය කළ එක සංකල්පයක් ප්‍රවාදයක් තියෙනවා ද? ඔවුන් දන්නේ පශ්චාත් යටත්විජිත රාජ්‍යය, පශ්චාත් නූතනත්වය වැනි බටහිර පට්ට ගහන සංකල්ප පඬියන් මෙන් පුනරුච්චාරණය කිරීම පමණයි. එක පඬියකු නිවන ගැන කතා කරන්නේ තියෙන දෙයක් ලෙස සලකමිනුයි. එය තියෙන්නේ නිව්ටෝනීය අවකාශයේ ද, අයින්ස්ටයිනීය අවකාශ කාලයේ ද එයිනුත් පිටත ද කියලා කිව්ව නම් හොඳයි.

මෙරට එක් ප්‍රශ්නයක් නම් බටහිර බොරු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය බලය ලබා ගැනීමට හා රැක ගැනීමට බටහිරයන් මෙන් සියුම් ව යොදා ගැනීමට බැරි වීම. මෙරට දේශපාලනඥයන් බටහිර බොරු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය යොදා ගන්නේ ගොරහැඩිව. ඔවුන් මොනවා කළත් හෙළිදරව් වෙනවා. දේශපාලනඥයන්ට ම හරියන පොලිස් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශලාත් ඉන්නවා. මෙරට තවත් ප්‍රශ්නයක් නම් අප අපේ පැරණි දැනුම බල්ලට දැමීම. පඬියන් එය සලකන්නේ මිථ්‍යා ලෙස. ඒ බටහිරයන් ඔවුන්ට කියා ඇති ආකාරයට. අප ආධ්‍යාත්මික බලය ගැන කතා කරන විට ඔවුන් හිනහවෙනවා. අපට මෝඩයන් නාකි මැන්ටල කියනවා. දෙවියන් පෙන්නන්න කියනවා. මා ඒ අභියෝගය පිළිගෙන තිබෙනවා. එහෙත් එයට පළමු පඬියන් ගුරුත්වාකර්ෂණ බලයක් තිබෙන බව පෙන්වන්න ඕන. මා ඔවුන්ට අවකාශ කාල වක්‍රතාව පෙන්නන්න කියන්නේ නැහැ. ඔවුන්ට එය තේරෙන්නේ නැහැ.

අප බටහිර දැනුම මුළුමනින් ම ප්‍රතික්‍ෂෙප කරන්නේ නැහැ. අපට එය අවශෝෂණය කර ගැනීමට තේරෙන්නේ නැහැ. පඬියන් නිකම් ම ගිරවා දමා පශ්චාත් යටත්විජිත  රාජ්‍ය ගැන දොඩවනවා. එවැනි පඬියන් පොල්පිත්තකින් කපා ගන්න පුළුවන්. මේ පොල්පිති පඬියන් දොස්තරලා ආණ්ඩුවේ භිෂණ උගුලට වේගයෙන් ඇදී යන්නේ එයට අත වනමින්.

නලින් ද සිල්වා

2017 ජූලි 25

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

ට්‍රාන්සිල්වේනියා බ්ලොගය කියවූ ප්‍රමාණය මේ වන විට ලක්‍ෂ 6ක් ද ඉක්මවා තිබේ. 2014 වසරේ ඇරඹි මෙම ට්‍රාන්සිල්වේනියා බ්ලොගයේ මේ වන විට පෝස්ටු 870 කි. ට්‍රාන්සිල්වේනියා බ්ලොගය ඇරඹීමට අත හිත දුන්  දිවංගත විචා තුමා (මේජර් ගුණරත්න ) මෙන්ම නන් අයුරින් දිරිමත් කල හිතවතුන්ටද මාගේ ස්තූතිය මේ අවස්ථාවේදී  පිරිනමමි.

ට්‍රාන්සිල්වේනියා බ්ලොගය සඳහා ලින්කුව මෙතනින් 

https://transyl2014.blogspot.ca/2017/07/blog-post_24.html

ALI SUKHANVER

On 5^th of December 2011 ,the Delhi police crime branch claimed to arrest two fresh recruits of the Pakistani spy agency, including a woman, from the New Delhi railway station. According to the claim they were arrested when they arrived at New Delhi railway station with a plan to kill the chief minister of Gujrat. But a news-story about the same couple narrated in Nepalese newspapers negated the claim of Delhi police and the legal documents of the arrested couple also supported the story narrated by the Nepalese newspapers.

According to the details Mr. Imran Yousaf Chippa, son of Mohammad Yousaf and Sofia Kanwal were married in October 2011 in Karachi, Pakistan. They went to Nepal for their honey moon on 17 November 2011 with the return ticket of 24 November.

On the departure day as the two were going to Katmandu air port in a taxi, a Suzuki gypsy jeep cut them off and four unknown persons from the jeep asked their identity. As they saw their Pakistani passports they forcefully pushed them into the jeep and their hands were chained and their eyes were blindfolded with a cloth. Almost after twenty days the Delhi police claimed they were arrested on their arrival at Delhi railway station.

Later it was revealed that the unknown persons in the jeep were the agents of RAW working in Nepal. It is a daylight fact that RAW is more active in Nepal than Nepal’s own security agencies.

Now in 2017, the same story has been repeated in Nepal but this time the abducted Pakistani was a retired officer of the Pakistan Army. Col (R) Zahir Habib, after his retirement from Pakistan Army in 2014, started applying for some job through emails in different international companies. Indian intelligence agencies picked up his bio data from there and hatched a conspiracy to trap him by offering a UN affiliated job in Nepal. Col. Habib reached Nepal to meet Mark Thomson, a senior Recruiter of ‘Stratsolutions.biz’ on 6th April 2017. Since then there is no news of the whereabouts of Col(R) Zahir Habib.

In spite of the repeated requests of the missing Pakistan’s family nothing has yet been done by the government of Nepal for the rescue of the missing Pakistani. Recently his wife wrote another letter to UNHRCP regarding mysterious disappearance of her husband from Lumbini, a border town of Nepal where he was called for a job interview.

In the beginning lines of her letter she says, I am once again writing to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights with the hope that Humanity is still alive and I along with my children am not living in a lawless world with no justice and no compassion. I have learnt that there are very convincing indications of involvement of Indian nationals in my husband’s  mysterious disappearance from  Nepal and evidences collected so far strongly suggest incident as a premeditated kidnap plot.” Though the helpless government of Nepal remained silent on the issue but some of the Nepalese journalists have raised their voices against abduction of Col (R) Zahir Habib in very bitter tones. Swaviman Nepal is an esteemed magazine of Nepal.

It said in a report, India is using Nepalese territory for leveling its scores with its opponents. Uncontrolled abductions of foreigners from Nepalese territory by Indian intelligence suggest that Nepal is no more a safe tourist resort and anybody could be abducted or killed by Indian sleuths.” Indian interference in Nepal has become a continuous basis of conflict between the government of Nepal and the people of Nepal.

The people of Nepal are of opinion that Indian interference in their internal as well as in foreign affairs is depriving Nepal of its own identity and sovereignty. It is because of Indian interference in Nepal that the whole social, political and economic set up of Nepal is heading towards a catastrophic ending. Indian interference in Nepal has become a serious threat to the law and order situation in the country too.

The hidden agents of R&AW are always there to damage Nepal’s repute at international level. The government of Nepal never seems willing to give these agents a hard time or to take them to task for their mischievous activities; disappearance of a retired officer of Pakistan Army from Nepal is also one of such heinous activities. This slavish behavior of the government of Nepal and of the politicians there and the helplessness of the security forces of Nepal must be alarming and eye-opening to the people of Nepal.

If no one in Nepal tried to put a check on the increasing interference and influence of India, this country of beautiful people and wonderful mountains would become an Indian colony. Keeping the neighbouring countries under pressure, particularly the countries weaker in strength and resources, has been an old practice of India. Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka are the worst example in this regard.

Sri Lanka is very fortunate that it has a nation blessed with marvelous will and determination. It is simply because of this determination and courage that the people of Sri Lanka did not let India succeed in its heinous plans of making Sri Lanka an Indian colony. The people of Nepal also need the same courage and determination as the Sri Lankan’s have.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

’77 විප්ලවය‘ නැතිනම් සංවෘත්ත ආර්ථිකයික් ‘විවෘත ආර්ථිකයට‘ ලංකාව මාරුවී වසර 40 ක් ගතවී ඇත.  රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ මහතා ගේ දේශපාලන ජීවිතයට ද වසර 40 කි. 

77 විප්ලවයෙන් පසු වසර 40 න් මුල් වසර 17 ක් එජාපය බලයේ සිටියේ ය.  ඉතිරි වසර 22 යි මාස 6 එජාපය සිටියේ විපක්ෂයේ ය. නැතිනම් අර්ථ විපක්ෂයේ ය.  එනම් පූර්ණ විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍ර‍මයක් ඇති රටක, රාජ්‍ය නායක බලය නැතිවය.  ලංකාවේ මාධ්‍ය සහ ප්‍ර‍චාරකපට බහුතරයක් ජූලි 22 දකින්නේ 77 විප්ලවයේ දිනය ලෙස පමණී.  77 පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සිට  රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ පමණක් නොව  කටුගම්පොල මන්ත්‍රී ගාමිණී ජයවික්‍ර‍ම පෙරේරා ගේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු දිවියට ද වසර 40 කි.  එතකොට ගාමිණී ජයවික්‍ර‍ම පෙරේරා කේක් කපන්නේ නැත්තේ?  ඔහු ටික කලක් වයඹ පලාත් සභාවේ ප්‍ර‍ධාන ඇමති වී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොසිටි නිසා විය හැකිය. 

සැබවින්ම රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ එජාපය 1946 සිට 1977 දක්වා පැමිණි ගමන් මග වෙනස් කල එකම නායකයා ය.  එජාපයේ ‘සම්ප්‍ර‍දාය‘ වෙනස් කළ පුද්ගලයා ය.  එජාපයට ආවේනික පක්ෂ අනන්‍යතාව වෙනස් කළ පුද්ගලයා ය.

එජාපටය 77 මහා මැතිවරණයේ දී අති මහත් බලයක් ලබන්නට හේතු කිහිපයකි.   සංවෘත ආර්ථිකය විසින් ඇති කළ පීඩාව, මර්ධනය, මැතිවරණ කල් දැමීම හා ජේ.ආර්. ගේ සංවිධාන ශක්තිය ඒ අතර ප්‍ර‍මුඛ ය. 

එදා එජාපයේ තැනක් ලබන්නට ශිෂ්‍ය, තරුණ සමිති, වෘත්තීය සමිති, එජාප සමිති සමාගම්වල, ගම් සභාවේ හෝ තෙම්පරාදු විය යුතුව තිබුණි.  පක්ෂයට වැඩ කළ යුතුව තිබුණි.  අඩියෙන් අඩිය පඩි පෙළේ ඉහළට නැගිය යුතුව තිබුණි.  77  මැතිවරණයෙන් ජයගත් කිහිපදෙනෙකු හැර අති බහුතරයකට ඒ පොදු ලක්ෂණය තිබුණි. නමුත්,  රනිල් වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ මහතා 77 බියගමට එන්නේ එයට හාත්පසින් වෙනස් පරිසරයකිනි. ඒ  පවුලේ දේශපාලන නියෝජිතයා ලෙසිනි.  එවකට තරුණ පෙරමුණේ සභාපතිවරයා වූ ජිනදාස නියතපාල මහතා කියා ඇති පරිදි මැතිවරණයට තරග කරන්නට තරුණ පෙරමුණේ සාමාජික කාඩ්පත පස්ස දොරෙන් රනිල්ට දෙන්නට නියතපාලට සිදු විය. එජාපය නම ලැබුණේ ද, හැදුවේ ද, නැතිකළේ ද මාමා-බෑනා සංයෝගයන් ය.  

1977 සිට 1994 දක්වා එජාප පාලනයේ වික්‍ර‍මසිංහ සලකුණ ගැන බොහෝ සුරංගනා කථා ලියැවී ඇත.  ජනාධිපතිවරණ දෙකකට ඉදිරිපත් වූ ලංකාවේ ප්‍ර‍මුඛම පක්ෂයේ නායකයෙකු ගැන එවැනි කථා ලියැවීම පුදුමයක් නොවේ.  අධ්‍යාපනය, තරුණ කටයුතු, යොවුන් පුරය එජාපයේ වැඩසටහන්වල පස්වන – හයවන තැන් හි වූවේය.  නමුත්, බටලන්ද වදකාගාරය ඇතුළු මර්ධනය නම් එසේ නොවේමය.

ප්‍රේමදාස, ලලිත්, ගාමිණී ඝාතනයෙන් පසුව 1994 අවසානයේ එජාප නායකත්වය පත්වන රනිල්, එදා මෙදා වසර 22 යි මාස 6 ක් පක්ෂයේ නායකයා ය.  ඔහු එජාප නායකත්වය පාර කැපී තිබූ එකම තරගයේ දී විපක්ෂ නායක ධූරයට ගාමිණී දිසානායකට පරාජය විය.   දේශපාලන කුමන්ත්‍ර‍ණ දෙකකින් අවස්ථා දෙකක දී වසර දෙක බැගින් ඔහු රටේ අගමැතිවරයා වී ඇත. ජනාධිපතිවරණ දෙකක්, මහා මැතිවරණ, පළාත් සභා, පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ 31 ක් පරාජය වී ඇත. පරාජය නියත බැවින් අවස්ථා දෙකක දී පොදු අපේක්ෂකයින් මතින් ජනාධිපතිවරණ මගහැර ඇත.

පක්ෂයේ අනන්‍යතාව නැතිවීම

එජාපය රටේ අංක එකේ ධනපති පක්ෂයයි.  ධනපති පක්ෂයක ස්වභාවය කුමන පසුබිමක හෝ වේවා දක්ෂයාට තැන දීම ය.  දක්ෂ කලමනාකරුවාට, කථිකයාට, නීතිඥයාට, වෘත්තිකයාට, ව්‍යාපාරිකයාට, ව්‍යවසායකයාට, ‘ජාතික අනන්‍යතාව‘ රැක ගනිමින් තැන දීම ය.  එජාපයට පසුගිය වසර 22 තුල අලුතෙන් එවැන්නන් කොපමණ පිරිසක් එක් වී ඇති ද යන්න වෙනම ලිපියක් ලිවිය හැකි කරුණකි.  නමුත්, මේ කාලය තුල එජාප පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු 42 ක් එජාපය හැර ගියේය. නායකයාගේ එහෙයියන් ඉතිරිවී නායකත්වයට තර්ජනයක් විය හැකි සැවොම පක්ෂය හැර ගියේය.

පක්ෂයට ඇති ශක්තිය පක්ෂ ව්‍යුහය, වෘත්තීය සමිති, ශිෂ්‍ය, තරුණ, කාන්තා සමිති ය.  නව නායකයින් හැදෙන්නේ එතැනිනි.  එජාපය අද නැත්තේ ද, ඒ පක්ෂ ව්‍යුහය යි.  ජනාධිපතිවරණය දුවවන්නට, පෝස්ටර් ගැසීම ජනාධිපතිවරණ දෙකක දී ජ.වි.පෙ. විසින් සිදු කිරීම නිසා එය දැනුනේ නැත.  මනාප ක්‍ර‍මයට දුවන අපේකෂකයින් නිසා එහි අඩුව දැන්නෙන්නේ ප්‍ර‍තිඑල නිකුත් වන විට පමණී.  සෑම මැතිවරණයකින්ම ‘නායකයාගෙන් තොර පැවැත්මක් නැති‘ පිරිසක් ඉදිරියට ගැනීමට ඔහු සමත් විය.  ඒ පිරිසටද,  ‘කොන්දේසි විරහිතව නායකයා රැකීම හැර‘ වෙනත් වගකීමක් තමන්ගේ ධූර කාලයේ දී කරන්නට වන්නේ ද නැත. වත්මන් එජාපය පක්ෂ යාන්ත්‍ර‍ණයක් නොමැති රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ජාලයකින් ජන මතය හදා මැතිවරණ දිනනන්ට නොව දේශපාලන කුමන්ත්‍ර‍ණ වලින් බලයේ රැදී සිටින්නට වෙර දරණ ‘කල්ලිය‘ කි.

රට පුරා හැම තැනම පක්ෂයේ බල කේන්ද්‍ර‍ බවට පත් වූ එජාප පවුල් සිටියේය.   මාතලේ අලුවිහාරේ පවුල, වැලිමඩ සමරවීර, පුංචිනිලමේ, මැතිව් එවැනි පවුල් වෙති.  මේ පවුල් එජාප බලකේන්ද්‍රයෙන් ඉවතට ගියේ 77 විප්ලවයේ අවසාන වසර  22 තුලය.   රටක් දිනන්නට දිස්ත්‍රික්කයක් දිනිය යුතුය. දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ඉහළින්ම දිනන උදවිය රට ද, පක්ෂය ද දිනිය හැකි බැවින් දෝ පුත්තලම, මාතලේ වැනි දිස්ත්‍රික්ක වලට 2015 ජනවාරි විප්ලවයෙන් පසුව කැබිනට් ඇමතිකමක් හෝ ලැබුණේ නැත.  කැබිනට් ඇමතිකමක් දීමේ නිර්ණායක බඩයි, උසයි වුවත් වැලිමඩ සමරවීරලාට – මාතලේ අළුවිහාරේලාට ඇමතිකම් ලැබිය යුතුය.   හැම දිස්ත්‍රික්කයකම ජයප්‍රියම පුද්ගලයාගේ බලය කැපීම 77 විප්ලවයේ අවසාන සමයේ තවත් සුවිශේෂත්වයකි.   මොණරාගල රංජිත් මද්දුම බණ්ඩාර, මාතර බුද්ධික පතිරණ, පුත්තලම රංග බණ්ඩාර එවැනි උදාහරණ වෙති.

සුළු පක්ෂ දුරස්ථවීම

අතීතයේ එජාපය‘ජාතික‘ පක්ෂයක් විය.    හැම ජාතියකම, වර්ගයකම උදවිය එජාපයේ එදා සිටියේය.  අද එජාපයේ ද්‍ර‍විඩ නායකයා ‘ස්වාමිනාදන්‘ ය.  මුස්ලිම් නායකයා ‘මරික්කාර්‘ ය.  ජන පදනමක් ඇති ඉම්තියාස් බාකිර් මාකර් වැන්නවුන්ට අවම වශයෙන් නාම යෝජනා හෝ ලැබෙන්නේ නැත.  ඒ අඩුව කාලයෙන් කාලයට පුරවන්නේ ‘හකීම්-මනෝ-රිෂාක්-දිගම්බරම් ය. නැතිනම් තොන්ඩමන් ය.  එජාපයේ ‘ජාතික‘ ස්වරූපය වියැකීයාම තුල රටතුල සිංහල බෞද්ධ අන්තවාදය ව්‍යාප්ත විය.  ඒ මැතිවරණයට පිටපතින් ආනයනය කරන සුළුජාතික පක්ෂවල ජාතිකවාදී ව්‍යාපාරයන්ට එරෙහිවය.  අනෙක් අතට එජාපයට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ හිමිවන මන්ත්‍රී ධූර සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් ලොකු පංගුවක් මේ කුඩා ජාතික පක්ෂ වෙත වෙන්වන්නේය.  එජාපයට 1999 සිටම වුනේ මැතිවරණයේ දී ඉලක්කම් ලියවුණාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුල පක්ෂයට හිමි වූ මන්ත්‍රී ධුර සංඛ්‍යාව ක්‍ර‍මයෙන් අඩුවෙමින් පක්ෂයේ ශුද්ධ බලය බිම් මට්ටමේ දී අඩුවීම ය.

77 විප්ලවයේ අවසන් වසර 22 ½ තුල එජාපය දිගින් දිගටම සිදු කළේ දේශපාලන වරද්දාගැනීම්ය.    ඉන් පලමුවැන්න, සුළු ජාතිකයින් ට පක්ෂයේ අවස්ථා අහිමි කිරීම හා එහි ප්‍ර‍තිඑලයක් ලෙස ජාතිය පදනම් කොට ගත් දේශපාලන පක්ෂ මැතිවරණයක දී පමණක් සන්ධාන ගත කරවා ගැනීමය.  දෙවැන්න,  2004 වසරේ දී ශ්‍රීලනිපයේ සිංහල-බෞද්ධ ඡන්ද පදනමට කඩන්නට යැයි කියා මලික් සමරවික්‍ර‍ම හරහා සිහළ උරුමයට, පසුව හෙළ උරුමයට සහාය දීමය.  එජාපයට එහි ජාතික අනන්‍යතාව මුළුමනින්ම නැති විය.  දැන් සුළු ජාතිකයින් හැලී ගොසිනි.  සිංහල බෞද්ධ නායකයින් ද ගැලවී ගොසිනි. 

අද එජාපයේ අර්බුදය පක්ෂයට නායකයින් හෝ විකල්ප නායකයින් නැතිවීමය. 

එජාපය පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ බහුතරය ලබා ගත් අවස්ථා දෙකේ දීම එය විපක්ෂයට ‘සැපතක්‘ ද එජාප පාක්ෂිකයින්ට ‘විපතක්‘ ද විය.  2002 දී ඉතා ඉක්මනින් නැවත බලයට පැමිණීමට ශ්‍රීලනිප බල කදවුරට ඒ අනුව අවස්ථාව ලැබුණි.  එය එජාපය පාක්ෂිකයින්ට නොසලකමින් සිදු කළ ‘දිවි නසා ගත්තේය‘.   මහපොළොවට සම්බන්ධ නැති ‘රාජකීය සමාජයක්‘ ව්‍යාපාර කරන්නට ගොස් එජාපය නැත්තටම නැති කළේය.  2015 දී,  විපක්ෂයට සැපතක් වෙමින් ‘දුෂිතයින් සමග ඩීල් දමමින් ඔවුන් රැකගෙන දැන් ඔවුන්ගේ පාට් බලමින් නෝංජල් වන්නේය.  රාජකීය සමාජය බැදුම්කර, විදේශ ආයෝජන, මුදල් ඇතුළු සියළු අපකීර්තිමත් ගණුදෙනු හා ඩීල් පෙරදැරිව පක්ෂ පදනම විනාශයට තල්ලු කරන්නේය. බැදුම්කරය විසින් අද එජාප නායකයා ද, උපනායකයා දුෂිතයින් ලෙස හංවඩු වැදී විනාශ කොට ඇත්තේය. 

ඒ සියල්ලටම වඩා අද ගමේ-නගරයේ තම ශක්තියෙන්-ධෛර්යයෙන් නැගී සිටී බිම් මට්ටමේ නායකයින්ට පලාත් පාලන මන්ත්‍රී  ධූරයත් අහිමිව තිබේ. තමන්ගේ සමාජ වටිනාකම අහෝසි කරන දේශපාලන පක්ෂයට  කිසිදු යමක්-කමක් ඇති, හැකියාවක් ඇති ධනේෂ්වර නායකයෙකු පෙම් බදින්නේ නැත. නාම යෝජනා ලබාගන්නට එන්නේ ද නැත.  එහි ප්‍ර‍තිඑලයක් ලෙස මැතිවරණයකට මුහුණදීමට බැරි තැනකට එජාපය  වසර දෙකක් තුළ බිද වැටී ඇත.  අඩපණවී, දුර්වල වී ඇත.

අවස්ථා දෙකක දී ශ්‍රීලනිපයේ මහ ලේකම්වරු (එස්.බී. දිසානායක හා මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන)  පක්ෂ මාරුකොට පැමිණ එජාප නායකයාව වසර දෙක බැගින් අගමැති පුටුවේ වාඩි කර ඇත.  ඒ දෙවරම, කෙටිකලකින්ම තමන්ට අගමැති ධූරය ලබාදුන් පාර්ශව සමග ඔහු ගැටුම් ඇති කොට ගත්තේය.   එයටත් වඩා ලංකාවේ විශාලතම පක්ෂය යැයි ව්‍යවහාරයට කියන නමුත්, මැතිවරණයට සති කිහිපයකට පෙර පිටතින් පැමිණෙන පුද්ගලයෙකු තම නායකයාට වඩා පාක්ෂිකයින් අවස්ථා තුනක දී (2010 දී සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ද ඇතුළුව) ආකර්ශනීය වී ඇත. එජාප පාක්ෂිකයින්ගේ විශ්වාසය, කැමැත්ත දිනා ඇත.   

77 විප්ලවයේ හතලිස්වැනි සැමරුම එජාපය නායකයා ද, පක්ෂය ද පසු කළේ එවැනි පසුබිමක ය.  හතලින් වසකින් පළමු වසර 17 ශ්‍රී විභුතිය මත, පරාජිත වසර 22 ½ ක කැළල වසා ගැනීමට ය.

හතලිස් වස් පිරෙන දා, උත්සවාකාරයෙන් සමරන්නට තරම් වැදගත් කමක් ඇතිනම් ඒ අනාගතය සදහා වන දැක්මක්, බලාපොරොත්තුවක් සහිතව විය යුතුය.  නමුත්, වසර හතලිහක් තුල පළමු වසර 17 ½  එක දිගට බලය රැක ගැනීමට, එතැන් පටන් වසර 22 ½ පරාජය වැලද ගැනීමටත් සිදුව ඇති පක්ෂයකට පැවතිය හැක්කේ අනාගතය පිළිබද ප්‍ර‍ශ්ණයක් පමණී. 

එජාප පාක්ෂිකයින්ට නම් එක දිගට වසර 22 ½ පරාජයට පත් වූ, 2015 දී රාජකීයන් දුසිම් කිහිපයකට බලය ලබා දුන් මේ අගමැති ආණ්ඩුවෙන් වැඩක් නැත.  එජාපයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු, පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් බහුතරයකට ද එසේමය.  පළාත් සභා තුනක් කල් දමන්නට යන විට එජාප පළාත් සභා මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් තමන්ට බලය කෙසේ වෙතත් තියෙන මන්ත්‍රීපට්ටම ද නැති බව බව දනී.  නමුත්, රංජන් රාමනායකට මෙන් එළියට ඇවිත් තවම ඒ දේ කියන්නට ශක්තියක් නැත.  ඔවුන් අතරින් බහුතරයක් බලාගෙන ඉන්නේ තවත් වරක් කවුරුන් හෝ පිටින් පැමිණ තමන්ට බලය අරගෙන දේවි යැයි මිස, මේ නායකයා සමග 2020 තරගයට යන්නට නොවේ.  රාජපක්ෂ යුගයේ බිම බලාගෙන සිටි මෛත්‍රීපාල මහ ලේකම්තුමා අවසානයේ රාජපක්ෂ ලා පරාජය කළේය. 

77 විප්ලවයේ ජයග්‍ර‍හණ අවසන් වූයේ 1994 දී ය.  පරාජය අවුරුදු 22 ½ ක් ඇදී යමින් තිබේ.  ’77 පරම්පරාව අවසන් ය.  මේ 77 විප්ලවයේ දරුවන්ගේ කාලය යි.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

V.Anandasangaree  Secretary General -TULF

Lack of talented female persons in Politics and in Political Parties is a great set back in Sri Lankan Politics that had compelled the government authorities to find a remedy for this short coming. In this connection the Election Commission has requested the various Political Parties to provide 25% of the vacancies in the Central Committee and to reserve another 20% for female officers in the Party.  I can recollect from memory at least half a century back two ladies who had held office as Chairwomen of Delft and Pandatharipu Village Councils Mrs. Kodiveliyar and Mrs.Perly Athanasiyar respectively. But there had been many who held membership in various Village Councils. These days it is hard to find one person active in local Politics. Although the reasons for this short comings cannot be spelt out, there had been reasonable grounds for the women showing reluctance to come to politics. The Chairman of Election Commission has informed us of the need to bring in women into Politics.

The TULF’s political activities virtually came to an end with the 2004 General Election at which it was virtually routed by threat and intimidation. The TULF still has not raised its head in Politics. With various developments taken place around us, the TULF believes that it can do well in politics with the substantial number of talented women joining us. The TULF is now determined to face all elections that come on its way. It will adopt a new pattern that was very much in demand at the 2004 election but failed due to some self interested personalities. The TULF will call upon all Political Parties to come under one banner with the common symbol and a common policy. This was the proposal of most of the Tamil Organizations and Tamil Political Parties to unite under one banner in spite of any difference of opinion or animosity the various Political Parties may have among themselves. This was exactly what everyone wanted. Even the LTTE wanted to unify the Tamil Community. If it had been adopted at the 2004 General Election the war would have come to an end in 2004 itself with a satisfactory solution also found for the ethnic problem and several thousands of lives would have been saved and billion rupees worth of property would not have been destroy. Above all almost all those who died during that period will still be living. In future at all elections the TULF will adopt this policy for which we will need several educated and talented women to be nominated as candidates.

One need not have the fear anymore that the TNA was a creation of the LTTE. The TNA was actually created by the TULF. It is a myth that it is managed by the Liberation Tigers. The TULF will base its manifesto on the grounds that all several interest groups in the North and East should be brought under one Tamil National umbrella.

The TULF strongly urges all those who had been our members and supporters in the past to rejoin or join our party which is holding its annual general meeting on the 06^th August 2017 followed by its annual convention the next day.  

V.Anandasangaree  Secretary General -TULF

කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් 

උමා ඔය හේතුවෙන් ගොවිතැන් විනාශ වූ වැලිමඩ/හාලිඇළ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශවල ජනතාව වෙත වන්දි ලබාදෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍ර‍ය පරිසර හා මහවැලි සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම්වරයා වෙත ඉල්ලීමක් කළේය.

බණ්ඩාරවෙල සහ ඇල්ල ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයන් හි වගා හානි සිදු වූ ගොවීන් හා ඉඩම් හිමියන් හට වගා හානි වන්දි  ගෙවා ඇති නමුත් එය වැලිමඩ සහ හාලි ඇළ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශය මේ දක්වා ක්‍රියාත්මක නොවන එම මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍ර‍ය පවසයි.

බණ්ඩාරවෙල හා ඇල්ල ව්‍යසනය උමා ඔය හේතුවෙන් සිදු වූ බව රජයේ නිලධාරීන් තහවුරු කොට ගෙන ඇති නමුත්, වැලිමඩ (සහ හාලිඇල සහ වෙනත් කළාප) හානිය සිදුව ඇත්තේ උමා ඔය හේතුවෙන් බව අදාළ රජයේ පාර්ශව විසින් මේ දක්වාම තහවුරු කර, නිර්දේශ හා සහතික කිරීම් සිදු කොට නොමැත.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂවරයා පවසන්නේ, උමා ඔය පළමු විනාශය සිදු වූයේ පුහුල්පොල, දික්කාපිටිය ප්‍රදේශයටත් හාලිඇළ පනංගල ප්‍රදේශයටත් සිදු වූ ව්‍යසනයට උමා ඔය හේතු වූ බව රටම දන්නා කරුණක් බවයි.  වැලිමඩ දික්උල්පත, වැවතැන්න හා  එළමල්ලන්ද වැව් මේ වන විට සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම සිදී ගොස් ඇත.  හාලි ඇල පනංගල වැව ද වගාවන් සදහා තවදුරටත් ජලය ලබා දිය නොහැකි මට්ටමට පත්ව ඇත. ප්‍රදේශයේ ජල උල්පත්, ජලාශ, දිය ඇලි, දිය කදුරු 3150 කට වැඩි ප්‍ර‍මාණයක් උමා ඔය විනාශයට ගොදුරු වී ඇත.

ලියන්ගහවෙල ඇති වූ දැවැන්ත නාය යාම උමා ඔය ඉදිකිරීම් නිසා ඇතිවීවූවක් නොවන බව රජයේ නිලධාරීන්ගේ වාර්තා දක්වයි.  නමුත්, උමග හා නාය ගිය ස්ථානය අතර දුර කි.මි. 1.2 කි.  උමගට කි.මි. 2.5 ට වඩා දුරින් ඇති ස්ථානවලට ද මෙහි බලපෑම සිදුවන බව දැන් විද්‍යාත්මකව තහවුරු වී ඇත.

වැලිමඩ සශ්‍රීකම බිම් කොටස මුළුමනින්ම පිට්ටනියක් බවට පත්ව ඇත්තේ උමා ඔය ව්‍යවසනය නිසා බව නැවත නැවත කිව යුතු නැත.  එය ඇසට පෙනෙන, ව්‍යවහාරික බුද්ධියට දැනෙන දෙයකි.  එය විද්‍යාත්මකව තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට, අර්ථ ගන්වා ගැනීමට සමත් රාජ්‍ය නිලධාරීන් අප සතුව ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කළ හැකිය.

වැලිමඩ, දික්කාපිටිය, පුහුල්පොල, පනංගල ලංකාවේ වැඩිම ආදායමක් උපයන ගොවි බිම් ය.  වර්ග අඩි 479,160 ක ජල ධාරිතාවක් ඇති දික්උල්පත වැවේ වත්මන් ජල ධාරිතාව වර්ග අඩි 12,000 කට අඩුය. ඒ ද තැන තැන මඩ කඩිති මෙනි.  කුඹුරු අක්කර 99 ක් අස්වද්දන්නට වතුර ද, තවත් අක්කර 72 ක එලවළු වගා කරන්නට වගා බිම් 228 කට කෘෂි ජලය ද, දික්උල්පත වැවෙන් ලැබුණි.   උමා ඔය ව්‍යාපෘතිය විසින් විනාශ කරන්නට පෙර වසරකට වී කිලෝ 235,620 ක් ද, එක් කන්නයකට අර්තාපල් කිලෝ 891,000 ක සාමාන්‍ය අස්වැන්නක් ද ලැබුණි. කත්කාලි, ගෝවා, බෝංචි, නොකොල්, ඇතුළු උඩරට එලළුලු සදහා සරු බිමක් හැමදාම දික්උල්පත වැව විසින් පමණක් සාදා තිබුණි. අනෙකුත් ස්ථාන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව වැනි රාජ්‍ය ආයතන මගින් තහවුරු කළ දත්ත ලබා දිය හැකි බව ද තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා ගේ අත්සනින් යොමු කළ ලිපියේ සදහන් වේ.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

උමා ඔය බහු විනාශකාරී ව්‍යාපෘතිය විසින් වැලිමඩ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කොට්ඨාශයේ ලස්සනම, සාරවත්ම, දික්කාපිටිය ප්‍රදේශයට සිදු කර ඇති විනාශය ඇදහිය නොහැකි තරම්ය. 

වර්ග අඩි 479,160 ක ජල ධාරිතාවක් ඇති දික්උල්පත වැවේ වත්මන් ජල ධාරිතාව වර්ග අඩි 12,000 කට අඩුය. ඒ ද තැන තැන මඩ කඩිති මෙනි.  කුඹුරු අක්කර 99 ක් අස්වද්දන්නට වතුර ද, තවත් අක්කර 72 ක එලවළු වගා කරන්නට වගා බිම් 228 කට කෘෂි ජලය ද, දික්උල්පත වැවෙන් ලැබුණි.   උමා ඔය ව්‍යාපෘතිය විසින් විනාශ කරන්නට පෙර වසරකට වී කිලෝ 235,620 ක් ද, එක් කන්නයකට අර්තාපල් කිලෝ 891,000 ක සාමාන්‍ය අස්වැන්නක් ද ලැබුණි. කත්කාලි, ගෝවා, බෝංචි, නොකොල්, ඇතුළු උඩරට එලළුලු සදහා සරු බිමක් හැමදාම දික්උල්පත වැව විසින් පමණක් සාදා තිබුණි.

කොහොමත් මේ කාලයට නියගය හින්දා වතුර අඩු වෙනවා නේද?  අපේ කණ්ඩායමේ අයෙකු වැඩිහිටියෙකුගෙන් අසයි.

‘කුණු හබ්බ අහගන්න එපා මහත්තයෝ. කවදද යකෝ දික්උල්පත හිදුණේ?‘  මේක උල්පත් වතුර. උල්පත් වතුර. දෙවියෝ දුන්න උල්පත් වතුර.  හිල් කලා. කාලකන්නි හිල් කලා.  දැන් දිග උල්පත නෑ.  වතුරත් නෑ. ගොවි මහත්තයෙක් කියයි. 

පාරම්පරික දික්කාපිටියේ ගොවි මහත්වරු මිස ගොවි කම්කරුවෝ කවදාවත් සිටියේ නැත. හිටියා නම් ඒ රස්සාව සදහා පැමිණි වතු කම්කරුන් ය.

බණ්ඩාරවෙල හා ඇල්ල ප්‍රදේශයන් හි නිවාස හා දේපල විනාශය නිසා ඒ ප්‍රදේශයන්ට ලැබෙන අවධානය වැලිමඩට නොලැබේ. සරුසාර ගොවි බිමක් බොන්නට දිය බිදක් නැති තැනක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. 

ග්‍රාම නිලධාරි වාර්තා අනුව ප්‍රදේශයේ 44% ක් රු. 50,000ට වැඩි ආදායම් ලැබූ අයයි.  (සත්‍ය නම් මේ ගොවීන් එදා ප්‍ර‍කාශිත ආදායම මෙන් හතර පස් ගුණයක් අදායම් ලැබූ ‘ගොවි මහත්වරුන් බවයි)   වැවතැන්න හා  එළමල්ලන්ද වැව් පිහිටියේ මේ ආසන්නයේ ය.  

වැලිමඩ සුන්දරම යුවතියන් සිටින්නේ මේ කලාපයේ යැයි ජන වහරේ වේ.  නිල්ල පිරුණු සශ්‍රීක භූමිය, ඇති තරම් වගා ජලය පෘෂ්ඨිමත් මිනිසුන්, නිරෝගී මිනිසුන්, ඇති – හැකි මිනිසුන් බිහි කර තිබුණි.

පුහුල්පොල සිට ඩයරබා දක්වා කි.මි. 3 ක දිගකින් යුතු උමගත් සමගම වැව් සිදී යාම ඇරඹුණි.  සහනයක් ලැබුණු මිනිසෙකු දික්කාපිටියේ නැත.  නිවාස, මහා මාර්ග විනාශ වෙමින් ඇත.  තවමත් රුපියලක වන්දියක් වැලිමඩ දික්කාපිටියේ ගොවින්ට නම් ලැබී නැත.

අක්කර 26 ක වගා බිම් තිබූ, පවුල් 46 ක් සරුසාර කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයේ නිතර පුහුල්පොල ඕයිල ඇල ව්‍යාපෘතියේ බර වාහන ගමණාගමනය නිසා සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම විනාශවී ඇත. යටලේල්ල ඇල මීටර් 1500 කි.  අක්කර 15 ක්  වගා කළ ගොවි පවුල් 32 ක් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අනාථ ය.

මේ පිරිසට දුක කියන්නට දෙවියන් බුදුන් ද නැත.  ශ්‍රී සුදර්ශනාරාමය, ඛෙත්තාරාමය පන්සල් ඉරිතලා පුපුරා ගොසිනි. බලතොටුල්ල පාසල, දික්කාපිටිය විද්‍යාලය, සර්වෝදය ළදරු පාසල ද ඉරි තලා ඇත.  ග්‍රාමීය බැංකුව, තැපැල් කාර්යාලයට හානි සිදුව ඇත.

ජූලි 10 කොළඹින් බලතල ලබාගත් දිසාපති නිමල් අබේසිරි මහතා, අවම වශයෙන් මේ ප්‍රදේශයට ජල බව්සරයක් ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළේ නැත.  මහවැලි හා පරිසර අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතා මැදිහත්වී ජූලි 18 දින සිට දික්කාපිටියට වතුර බවුසරයකින් ජලය බෙදාදීම සිදුවේ.

රටට විදුලිය දෙන්නට සරුසාර ගොවි බිමක් විනාශ කරන්නේ නම්, මේ සංවර්ධන අනාථයන් රැක බලා ගැනීම රජයක වගකීමකි.  දික්කාපිටියේ අල, බෝංචි, ගෝවා, කැරට්, නොකොල්, රාඹු, තක්කාලි, බීට්, ලික්ස් වගා බිම් තරම් සරුසාර, ආර්ථික වශයෙන් එලදායී වගා බිමක් තවත් තිබුණේ ද?  මෙවැනි අපරාධයට දික්කාපිටියේ බාසාවෙන් යෙදුමක් තිබේ.  එය කන්දෙකෙන් අසනු මිස ලියන්නට නොහැකිය.

(ඡායාරූප වැලිමඩ දික්කාපිටිය දික්උල්පත වැව)

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

This is good news .

Sri Lanka is becoming democratic like the west .Trump and May are both accused of various misdeeds and there is no suppression of justice .AG is doing an independent job. .He seems like not being influenced by the ruling Politians. We should be happy that we have Yahapalanaya and irrespective of the position of the person, justice is being done with no undue influence .

In the past, during MR and RP times judges were appointed and removed at will and now it does not happen.

I am at a loss to understand ,why people are complaining about the President for not being strict .Do they expect him to influence  AG and judges ?

If the ministers involved can tender resignation then we know that Yahaplanaya is really working .

This also a message to GMOA .They keep pestering the government and go on strike  with confidence that Yahapalana  government will not resort to exerting undue pressure on them .They may also know that Judiciary cannot be influenced ,They are not afraid of being manhandled like in the past,We had while vans during last few years and nobody was planning any strikes.

Now we have a   pudding called Yahapalanaya” and we all keep  eating it and enjoying ?

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

V.Anandasangaree   Secretary General -TULF

The Tamil United Liberation Front, very strongly condemns the attempted assassination of the High Court Judge, Justice. M. Ilanchezhiyan   and also expresses its deepest sympathies to the family of Police Sub Inspector Ranawattege Herath   Premachandra, in deep sorrow and prays for the early recovery  of the Police officer who got injured in the shooting incident.

We are not aware whether this incident was premeditated or accidental but the fact remains that shots were fired at random, some of which were also aimed at the Judge. What is appreciable in this incident is the gesture displayed by the two Sinhala  Police officers, both of whom knowing very well what was in store for them, promptly got down from the vehicle, to give protection to a Tamil Judge.

In an incident of this nature an average person would have got panicked and disappeared from the scene to protect himself, but here is a man who had the courage to wait on the spot, facing grave risk, to take the two injured security officers to the hospital. What happened to the two officers is certainly beyond the control of the Judge, but what is admirable is the conduct of the judge.

Although the incident took place quit unexpectedly and for no fault of his, like a child, he wept repeatedly saying that the officer had sacrificed his life to save him. Furthermore the way he expressed his sympathy to the  grieving wife of the deceased officer, when she arrived to see her husband’s body, shocked everyone. The rare gesture displayed by him, putting aside, his prestige, earned the admiration of several millions of Sri Lankans, irrespective of their ethnicity. Justice M. Ilanchezhiyan had proved that he is not only a fair Judge but also his Judgments are always fair.

In fairness to him I should say that credit should go to him for averting any possible unpleasant incidents, about which I should not say anything, but in spite of this tragic situation he had not left any room for any loose talks, but only for admiration of the people for the manner he conducted himself. He deserves commendation for bringing all ethnic groups much closer than they were before.

The demonstrations and protest by the Judges, Lawyers, University Students and the Tamil public although for different purposes,  very clearly show the world that although we belong to different ethnic groups, we are all one and will not tolerate injustice to one another.

V.Anandasangaree   Secretary General -TULF

 P.K.Balachandran Courtesy The Daily Mirror   

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

July 24, 2017, 8:22 pm

The Bill states that it seeks “to give effect to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.” The Convention that was ratified by Sri Lanka on May 3, 2016 came into force on June 24, 2016. The Bill neither specifies the context in which it is intended to operate nor defines “Enforced Disappearances”. Under these circumstances both context and definition have to follow what is stated in the International Convention.

THE CONTEXT: As stated in Article 1 Clause 2 of the Convention:

“No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearances”.

THE DEFINITION: As stated in Article 2 of the Convention:

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

It follows, therefore, that under no circumstances, not even during an emergency which threatens the life of the nation such as happened during the Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka, could Enforced Disappearances as defined be justified. According to the definition, “enforced disappearance” means “depriving a person’s liberty” and refusing to disclose his/her whereabouts etc. etc”…with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State”. Thisprovision violates the Constitution of Sri Lanka relating to “personal liberty” statedin Articles 13(1) and 13(2) during an emergency.

It should be noted that Article 15 (7)subtitled “Restrictions on Fundamental Rights”,states that Articles 13(1), 13(2) “shall be subject to such RESTRICTIONS (emphasis added) as may be prescribed by law in the interests of national security, public order and the protection of public health or morality…”. Therefore, the provision in Article 13(2) that a “…person held in custody, detained or otherwise deprived of personal liberty…”could be subjected to restriction during an emergency that threatens the life of a nation is recognized in the Constitution of Sri Lanka. The Bill on the other hand does NOT recognize any restrictions during an emergency. Thus the provisions in the Bill violate the Constitution.

Notwithstanding such contradictions Article 13(6) states:

“No person shall be held guilty of an offence on account of any act or omission which did not, at the time of such act or omission, constitute such an offence and no penalty shall be imposed for any offence more severe than the penalty in force at the time such offence was committed”.

“Nothing in this Article shall prejudice the trial and punishment of any person for any act or omission which, at the time when it was committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law recognized by the community of nations”. Thus, a provision in the Constitution could become subordinate to a provision accepted by the “community of nations”.

The Convention was adopted by the UN on December 20, 2006 and was opened for signature on February 6, 2007. As of July 23, 2017, ONLY 57 nations have signed and ratified the Convention. While several countries have only signed, but NOT ratified the Convention, others such as the U.S.; U.K.; Australia; Canada; China; Russia and Pakistan and other countries have not signed. Therefore, since it is reasonable to conclude that the Convention is NOT recognized as law by the “community of nations”, its provisions should not be retroactive. Thus, Article 13 (2) does not apply to offences prior to 2007 and Article 13(6) is not applicable to provisions in the Bill,because the Bill is subordinate to the Constitution.

A fact that is clearly evident is that while underemergency situations that”threaten the life of a nation”, as happened during and after the Armed Conflict in Sri Lanka,the Constitution recognizes the principle that certain Fundamental Rights could be derogated for the survival of the nation, the Bill does not. Thus, the Bill is in violation of the Constitution.

Consequently, the options are that either the Bill is revised to accommodate existing provisions in the Constitution or for the Constitution to be amended to accommodate provisions in the Bill. If it is to be the latter route since some of the amendments relate to fundamental rights included as part of the sovereignty of the People per Article 3, any amendments to provisions in the Constitution relating to Fundamental Rights will need a two-thirds majority in Parliament and approval by people at a referendum.

THE ISSUE of EXTRADITION

Article 8 of the Bill states:

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

According to this provision, the possibility exists that any personcould be extradited to a Convention State on a mere accusation. Such accusations could originate in Sri Lanka or in a Convention State. Either way, the Bill has no provision for any procedures that should be followed within Sri Lanka or outside; not even a preliminary investigation, other than what the Minister proposes. The lack of any formalised procedures to establish the credibility of the accusation prior to extradition presents ample opportunities for arbitrariness, selectivity, abuse and victimization.

Notwithstanding the provision in Article 8, Article 6 of the Bill states that the High Court of Sri Lanka “…shall have exclusive jurisdiction to try offences relating to Enforced Disappearances”. It also states that IF an offence is committed outside Sri Lanka, the High Court “shall have the jurisdiction to try such offences as if they were committed within Sri Lanka”whether the person is or is not a citizen of Sri Lanka, a habitual resident of Sri Lanka, or a national of a Convention State. Therefore, the need for extradition if requested by a Convention State does not arise as long as the High Court has jurisdiction to try offences both within and without Sri Lanka. Thus, it is starkly evident that Articles 6 and 8 in the Bill contradict each other, and furthermore, that Article 8 is redundant.

CONCLUSION

The Bill is intended to give effect to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances. In the absence of the context in which the Bill is expected to operate, as well as a definition of “Enforced Disappearances”, it is necessary to rely on the wording in the International Convention upon which this Bill is being based. According to the Convention, the context is that NO exceptional circumstances, even emergencies, “may be invoked as a justification for enforced disappearances”. However, the Constitution of Sri Lanka recognizes that certain circumstances,such as emergencies exist, where the principle of derogation of certain Fundamental Rights is acknowledged. This being the case, the Bill contradicts the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Therefore, either the Bill has to be revised, or the Constitution has to be amended, and since Fundamental Rights are included as a component of the sovereignty of the People in Article 3 of the Constitution, any amendment relating toFundamental Rights would amount to amending an entrenched Clause in the Constitution, which would thus require a 2/3 majority of Parliament and approval by the people ata referendum. Furthermore, since provisions in the Convention also violate provisions in the Constitution of Sri Lanka, the Government should be held accountable for signing and ratifying the Convention.

The Bill states that the High Court has the jurisdiction to try offences relating to Enforced Disappearances whether committed within Sri Lanka or outside it, if committed by any person, whether a Sri Lankancitizen or not, by a habitual resident in Sri Lanka,or a national of a Convention State. Since members of the security forces would be Sri Lankan citizens, and since offences relating to Enforced Disappearances would be tried by the High Court, there are no grounds whatsoever for extradition. Under these circumstances, there is absolutely no justification for the existence of Article 8 along with Article 6 in the Bill.

It is evident from the foregoing that this Bill not only violates the Constitution but also contains Articles that contradict each other. In view of these multiple flaws, the Bill should be withdrawn. Furthermore, as long as existing provisions in the Constitution remain, the provisions in the Convention cannot be accommodated. Sri Lanka should therefore withdraw from being a Convention State.

N.A.de S. Amaratunga Courtesy The Island

July 24, 2017, 8:29 pm

There are three factors, the management of which at this crucial moment, would decide the future of our country; Western imperialism, regional hegemony, and Tamil separatism. Their inter-relationships and interactions are crucial to our very existence at this juncture, when the government is weakened due to inherent internal strife, general bungling and chronic inaction. For instance, the fact that both Western imperialism and regional hegemony support Tamil separatism, is of existential importance to the country and its people. The government in desperation assumes many postures depending on the situation and the audience. It will tell one thing to the people in the South, another to the North, yet another to the Sangha, an entirely different thing at Geneva, and then go down on its knees before the visiting UN racketeers who come in the guise of rapporteurs.There seems to be no shortage of such visitations, and the government says they have been invited. If Joseph-Ignace Guillotin was alive today, this government would invite him to come and do the honours.

We are in a pathetic state. The president has to please one set of local and foreign players, the prime minister has to please another set of local and foreign players, and they also have to please each other and also their entourages separately, while keeping them out of reach of each other’s throats. All this they have to do while making an appearance that everything is hunky-dory though they and we all live on top of a collapsing garbage heap, so to speak. The US/UN duplicity is aided and abetted by the government, which cannot but obey orders due to its inherent weaknesses. It cannot but genuflect before the US/UN imperial presence. Both the president and the prime minister are obliged to the US/European powers, for they helped them to come to power, and to the UN, their vassal. The UN officials who visit this country and lord over us are not distinguished by their honesty, impartiality, sense of justice or any such good human qualities that make them suitable to hold such posts, which sit on judgement and decide the future of people. They have been given these jobs for they have proven their ability to destabilize and dismember countries. They are experts in stoking the fires of separatism on the pretext of reconciliation.

Take for example the UN Special Rapporteur, Ben Emmerson QC, who visited Sri Lanka recently and told us to fall in line – or else. He had been accused of sexual abuse in an elevator and had to resign from a panel that was inquiring into child abuse in the UK. He was acquitted of the charges but they say Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion. Let us leave this personal matter aside and look at his track record in areas relevant to us. His mandate here was to see whether the implementation of the UNHRC Resolution on Sri Lanka is on track and progressing satisfactorily. This Resolution calls for an independent enquiry into the alleged killing of civilians by our armed forces. What is the past experience of Emmerson in this area? He had used his legal acumen to obtain the acquittal of Raush Hardinaj or “Rambo” the terrorist leader of the Kosovo Liberation Front and two others, who were accused of genocide of Serbian civilians. What was his argument? He asked the pertinent question; if genocide has been committed where are the bodies? In Sri Lanka did he ask this question? If 40000 civilians have been killed during the final stages of the war in the North, where are the bodies? He had spoken to LTTE terrorists held in custody, NGOs, Tamil politicians and government ministers. Did he raise this question with any of them? More importantly did our government raise this question with him? The government had an excellent opportunity to shoot him with his own ammunition, but our disabled government, excepting Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, preferred to capitulate. Our prime minister agreed to set up an Office of the Special Prosecutor, probably to prosecute the cases against the armed forces, what else could it be? He should have asked for the credentials of Emmerson before inviting him, which is if he did invite him. But our prime minister may not have that freedom. He is probably ordered to invite these racketeers who come in the guise of rapporteurs.

Would this Office of the Special Prosecutor come under the Ministry of Justice or any other institution of the government? Obviously not. It would probably come under the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights in Geneva. Our independence is further eroded by this means. The US, through its agent the UN, is tightening the noose around our neck, again of course their effort is co-sponsored by our own government, like it did with the UNHRC Resolution. This is yet another knot in that noose which the government put round its own neck, which we don’t mind if it was just the neck of the government, but it’s the neck of the country going round from Mannar to Batticaloa. Further, the government had unashamedly allowed Emmerson to visit the prisons and talk to the terrorists who are accused of heinous crimes and mass murder. No self-respecting government would do this kind of treacherous act. The US has not allowed UN officials to visit Guantanamo Bay prison. India too has not allowed UN officials to visit her prisons where hardcore terrorists are held.

The government’s much hyped foreign policy, which they claim has ushered a new era of good international relations, doesn’t seem to be working in favour of the government or Sri Lanka. The government went out of its way to please the western powers who had helped them to come to power by co-sponsoring a UNHRC Resolution against their own country and betraying the people, and also friends of Sri Lanka like China, Russia who had stood by it through thick and thin. Yet, the western powers had not slackened the noose round our neck, but instead keep on tightening it. It is likely that Emmerson would submit another biased adverse report on Sri Lanka to be presented at the next Geneva meeting. And the government obediently would accept it as factually correct and promise to follow its dictate, as it did in March this year. It is clear that the present foreign policy of the government has not been successful in safeguarding our interests, independence, sovereignty and also our armed forces who saved the country from terrorists paying the supreme price in the process. The government doesn’t seem to have a clear policy on the UNHRC Resolution, shown by its haphazard, incoherent, inconsistent response. To please the West it resorts to what it can easily do and take the path of least resistance, the latest such act being the arrest of a Navy Commodore on baseless charges, apparently to impress Emmerson.

It is obvious that Western imperialism, regional hegemony, and Tamil separatism are at the moment working together to subvert Sri Lanka. The government is helpless and usually capitulates to the dictates of these forces. One would have thought the Western countries, which assisted this government to come to power, would not use the UN to harass it in this relentless manner.What is the reason? Is it because the government has not fully aligned with those powers? Do they suspect the government is two timing and is unfaithful? Our prime minister rushed to China, leaving behind the visiting Indian PM, to show his support for China’s One Road One Path project, which does not receive the full backing of the US nor India. Similarly, the regional power, India, would want Sri Lanka to fall in line and not tilt towards China. But neither of those powers, West and India, have the capacity to assist Sri Lanka come out of its massive economic woes. Hence, the prime minister is forced to eat humble pie and go begging to China. The US does not care about our economic development and neither does it want China to help us. Thus the government is in a quandary and does not seem to know how to manage the situation. Further, its internal contradictions do not permit it to take any firm decisions on issues important to India and Western countries, such as Hambantota harbour, Trincomalee oil farm, federal constitution. It can only scrape superficially like taking war heroes into custody, enact Missing Persons Office Bill and promise to set up an Office of the Special Prosecutor. The government must also be hoping against hope that with time its problems would blow away. But the imperialists would want their pound of flesh. Thus, there is trouble ahead for Sri Lanka.

N.A.de S. Amaratunga

නලින් ද සිල්වා

අස්ගිරි ප්‍රකාශය ගැන සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් යම් පිරිසක් අතර ප්‍රබෝධයක් ඇති වුණා. අපත් එය වැදගත් ප්‍රකාශයක් ලෙස සැලකුවා. එහෙත් උන්වහන්සේලා බැහැ දැකීමට ගිය නීතිඥයන් දොස්තරවරියන් ආචාර්යවරියන් ගැන අපේ කුකසක් තිබුණා. අපේ ලිපිවල ඒ බව සඳහන් කෙරුණා. පසුව මහානායක හාමුදරුවන් වහන්සේත් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් අවශ්‍ය නැහැ කියලා ප්‍රකාශයක් කළා. දේශපාලනඥයන් සහ පඬියන් ඒ ගැන කලබල වුණා. මෛත්‍රිපාල තකහනියක් මහානායක හාමුදුරුවන් බැහැ දකින්න ගියා. සිංහල බෞද්ධ විරෝධී පඬියන් සංඝයා වහන්සේ රාජ්‍යයක් පසුපස තවත් රාජ්‍යයක් කියලා කියන්න පටන් ගත්තා. අපේ හාමුදුරුවරුන් ද එයට විවිධ පිළිතුරු දුන්නා. මහානායක හාමුදුරුවරුන් බෞද්ධයන් ලක්‍ෂ ගණනක් නියෝජනය කරන බව ඇතැම් හාමුදුරුවරුන් ප්‍රකාශ කළා. ඒත් එහි පදනම වූයේ සංඛ්‍යා මත සකස් වූ ඊනියා බටහිර ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය.   සිංහල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යයේ සංඝයා වහන්සේ එක් අංශයක් බව බොහෝ දෙනාට අමතක වුණා. අදත් අමතකයි. බොහෝ දෙනා වැඩ කරන්නේ බටහිර රාමුවක.

ඒ කොහොම වුණත් භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේගේ ප්‍රකාශය වෙනස් කරවන වෑයමක් තියෙන බව පේනවා. පහුගිය දවසක සමස්ත ලංකා බෞද්ධ සම්මේලනයේ පැවැත් වූ රැස්වීම නිසා ප්‍රශ්න මතු වෙනවා. එහි මැදගම ධම්මානන්ද හාමුදුරුවන් වහන්සේත් ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ මනෝහර සිල්වාත් කතා කර තිබෙනවා. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ඊනියා ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලයෙන් ඉවත් වීමට කැමති නැහැ. එහි බොරු සමාජවාදීන්ට අවශ්‍ය සිංහල බෞද්ධ විරෝධී ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්මත කර ගැනීමට. එබැවින් ඔවුන් ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදන ක්‍රියාවලියේ රැඳී සිටිනවා. මනෝහර කතා කර තිබෙන්නේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ විරෝධී බොරු සමාජවාදීන්ට ශක්තිය සපයන අන්දමට.

ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ වාසුදේව, තිස්ස විතාරණ, ඩිව් ගුණසේකර වැනි ඊනියා සමාජවාදීන්ට සිංහල බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියට විශේෂ තැනක් නොදෙන ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් අවශ්‍යයයි. ඔවුන්ට පමණක් නොව ඩලස්ලා වැනි රෝස පාට සමාජවාදීන්ටත් එවැනි ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් අවශ්‍යයි. ඔවුන් සියල්ල එකතු වී බලු වලිගය බල්ලා නටවන ආකාරයට ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය නටවනවා. ඇතැම් ජාතිකවාදීන් යැයි කියාගන්නා අයත් ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදන ක්‍රියාවලියෙහි රැඳී සිටිනවා. මේ ඇතැමුන් පිටුපස විවිධ විදේශීය ඔත්තු සේවාවන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. මහින්ද මේ ගැන හරි තීරණයක් ගන්නේ නැහැ. මහින්දට හැරෙන්න වාසුලාට රෝස පාට සමාජවාදීන්ට ඊනියා ජාතිකවාදීන්ට ඇති ජනබලය කුමක් ද? මහින්ද මේ ප්‍රශ්නයේ දී ඉන්නේ කොතැන ද?

ජ වි පෙ මෙරට භික්‍ෂු දේශපාලනයට ව්‍යාජ සමාජවාදී ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය ඇතුල් කළා. ඊනියා විවෘත ආර්ථිකයත් සමග හඳුන්වා දුන් විවෘත සංස්කෘතිය ගැන බොහෝ දෙනාට අමතකයි. ජ වි පෙ භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ අතට ආයුධ දුන්නේ විවෘත සංස්කෘතියේ පිහිටෙන් නො වෙයි. කසිකබල් මාක්ස්වාදයේ බංකොළොත් ඊනියා ඓතිහාසික ද්‍රව්‍යවාදය උපයෝගී කරගනිමින්. එහෙත් පොඩි හාමුදුරුවන් ලොකු හාමුදුරුවන්ට අවනත නොවන තැනකට ජ වි පෙ රට ගෙනාවෙ විවෘත සංස්කෘතිය ආධාරයෙන්. එය ගෙවල්වල ද ප්‍රශ්න ඇති කළා. දෙමව්පියන් දරුවන්ට අවනත වුණා. සිරසක් නැති සිරසේ සිට දෙරණක් නැති දෙරණ දක්වා විද්‍යුත් මාධ්‍ය ද එයට වග කිව යුතුයි.

භික්‍ෂු දේශපාලනය චම්පකගේ අතින් පාර්ලිමේන්තු ජාවාරමක් බවට පත් කෙරුණා. ජාතික හෙළ උරුමයත් ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණත් භික්‍ෂු දේශපාලනය නොමග යවා ඒ ගිහි නායකත්වයක් යටතට පත් කිරීම ගැන වග කිව යුතුයි. අද පෙරටුගාමීන් හාමුදුරුවරුන් තාප්ප උඩින් සෘද්ධි කරවන්නේ ගිහි නායකත්වයක් යටතේ. ජාතික හෙළ උරුමයේ සිටියවුන් නැවතත් තම දේශපාලන අරමුණු සඳහා තරුණ හාමුදුරුවරුන් නොව වැඩිහිටි හාමුදුරුවරුන් යොදා ගැනීමට උත්සාහ කරනවා.  

මේ බොහෝ දෙනාට සිංහල බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියක නිර්මාණය වූ වියුක්ත කතන්දර නැහැ. වියුක්ත කතන්දර සෑදීම බටහිරයන්ගෙ වැඩක්. ඒත් අපට ප්‍රබල ආධ්‍යාත්මික ශක්තියක් නැති විට වියුක්ත කතන්දර හදන්න වෙනවා. අප කතන්දර හදන්න ඕන අපේ සංස්කෘතියෙහි. බොහෝ නීතිඥයන්ට තබා බොහෝ හාමුදුරුවරුන්ටවත් මේ ගැන වැටහීමක් නැහැ. ජනමාධ්‍ය පඬියන්ට නම් කොහොමටවත් වැටහීමක් නැහැ. ඔවුන් දන්නේ වාචාල කතා කියමින් පුහු වීරයන් බවට පත්වීමට පමණයි. අපට අපේ කතන්දර නැතිව දැනට බටහිරයන් පරාජය කරන්න බැහැ. අද ව්‍යාජ සමාජවාදීන්, ඇතැම් ජාතිකවාදීන් හා පුහු ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන් සයිටම් හා වෙනත් කරුණු මත ඉතා වේගයෙන් ආණ්ඩුව අටවා තිබෙන භීෂණ උගුලට ඇදී යනවා.  

මේ ආණ්ඩුව ඇති කෙළේ ම ඉන්දියාවේ සහාය ඇතිව බටහිරයන්ට අවශ්‍ය ආකාරයකට සිංහල බෞද්ධ විරෝධී සහසන්ධීය (කොන්ෆෙඩරේෂන්) ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ඇති කර රාජපක්‍ෂලාටත් රණවිරුවන්ටත් දඬුවම් දීමට. ඒ අපේ කතන්දරයක් තමයි. මෛත්‍රිපාල අද කියන්නේ මෙයින් රාජපක්‍ෂලාට දඬුවම් දීම අයින් කෙරී ඇති බවයි. ඔහු හා මහින්ද අතර ඇති පෞද්ගලික වෛරය නිසා රනිල්ට රට භීෂණයක් මගින් අගාධයට ඇදගෙන යෑමට අවස්ථාව ලැබිලා තියෙනවා.  රාජපක්‍ෂලාට දඬුවම් නොදුන්නත් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්පාදනය කර ගන්නවා. රනිල්ට අවශ්‍ය එයට රාජපක්‍ෂලාගේ සහාය ලබා ගැනීමට. මේ ඩීල් දේශය බව අමතක කරන්න එපා. අද එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය ව්‍යවස්ථාව ගැන කතා කරන විට ඇතැමුන් කලබල වෙනවා. ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කරනවා. මේ එදිනෙදා කරුණු සිදුවන්නේ මූලික කතන්දරයට අනුව බව ඔවුන් වටහා ගන්නේ නැහැ. එමර්සන්ලා ෆෙල්ට්මන්ලා ලංකාවට එන්නේ මූලික සැලසුමකට අනුව. අපට එහි විශේෂත්වයක් නැහැ. හෙට තවත් අය ඒවි. අප අපේ කතන්දරය මත පදනම් වෙනවා. කතන්දර නැති අය එදිනෙදා ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කර වීරයන් වෙන්න හදනවා.

නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට ජනවරමක් නැහැ. ඒකාද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ව්‍යවස්ථා මණ්ඩලයක් පිහිටුවීමට ඡන්දය දීම ම වැරදියි. එහි සිටීමෙන් මනෝහර කියන කිසිවක් කර ගන්න බැහැ. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය ඒ ද්‍රෝහි මණ්ඩලයේ සිටියත් නැතත් ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්පාදනය වන්නේ බටහිරයන්ට අවශ්‍ය විධියට. ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය අනුකමිටු හයේ ඉඳලා ලබා ගත්තෙ මොනවා ද? ව්‍යවස්ථාව දැනටමත් සකස් වී අවසානයි. භීෂණයත් සමග එය එළියට ඒවි. ජයම්පතිලා, ලාල් විජයනායකලා බටහිරයන්ගේ සුවච කීකරු නව ට්‍රොට්ස්කිවාදීන් පමණයි. අවාසනාවකට අද රටේ වැදගතුන් බවට පත් වී ඇත්තේ බටහිර නීතිඥයන්, දොස්තරවරුන්, ඊනියා විද්වතුන්, ජනමාධ්‍යකරුවන් හා අයිතිකරුවන් ආදීන්. නීතිඥයන් මොන පැත්තේ හිටියත් ක්‍රියා කරන්නේ බටහිර නීතිය අනුව පුරුදු කෙරී ඇති අන්දමට ඔවුන්ගේ නීති රීති සම්ප්‍රදාය අනුව.

ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂය මේ ද්‍රෝහි මණ්ඩලයේ සිටීමෙන් සිද්ධවන්නේ එයට යම් වැදගත්කමක් ලබා දීම පමණයි. සාමාන්‍ය භාෂාවෙන් කියනවා නම් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාව ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේත් ඇඟේ ගෑමක් පමණයි.  දෙපැත්තේ ම දේශපාලනඥයන් අද හාමුදුරුවරුන් වෙනස් කිරීමේ වෑයමක යෙදී ඉන්නවා. මේ දේශපාලනඥයන්ට අවශ්‍ය වචන හරඹයකින් හාමුදුරුවන් ද නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට එකඟ කර ගැනීමට. උදාහරණයක් ලෙස කියන්න පුළුවන් ඒකීයබව රකිනවා නම් බුද්ධාගමට ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය දෙනවා නම් පොලිස් බලතල නොදෙනවා නම් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවකට භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ විරුද්ධ නැහැ කියා. සුමන්තිරන්ලාටත් අවශ්‍ය වචන හරඹයක් පමණයි. ඩොයිලිත් බුද්ධාගම හා දේවාගම ආරක්‍ෂා කිරීමට පොරොන්දු වුණා. රනිල්ටත් එවැනි පොරොන්දුවක් දී ඩොයිලි මෙන් ම ක්‍රිස්තියානිය රජ කරවන්න පුළුවන්.

අද කළ යුත්තේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයකින්  දහතුන්වැනි සංශෝධනය ඉවත් කිරීමයි. නන්දිකඩාල් ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් පසු  එය දේශපාලනික ව වලංගු නැහැ. ඒ බව අප කිහිප වතාවක් ම කියා ඇති නමුත් දේශපාලනඥයන් හා ජනමාධ්‍යකරුවන් ඒ තුට්ටුවකටවත් ගණන් ගන්නේ නැහැ. අප විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමයට ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් ලෙස විරුද්ධ නමුත් දහතුන්වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය තිබෙනතාක් විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය අහෝසි නොකළ යුතු බව කියා හිටිනවා.

ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයේ නායකයන්ගේ අවශ්‍යතාව මත භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ ගත් තීරණය වෙනස් කිරීමට තැත් කිරීමට රනිල්ගේ සහාය ලැබෙන බව පැහැදිලියි. මේ නායකයන් ද මෙත්‍රිපාල ද එකිනෙකාට විරුද්ධ වෙමින් රනිල්ට අවශ්‍ය ව්‍යවස්ථාව සම්මත කර ගැනීමට භීෂණයකට මග පෑදීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. ජනමාධ්‍ය අයිතිකරුවන් අනාගත බලාපොරොත්තු ඇතිව එයට සහාය දෙනවා. ඔවුන් අප ගේම් කාරයන් කියා ඇඟ බේරා ගන්නවා.

නලින් ද සිල්වා

2017 ජූලි 24

By Charles.S.Perera

I did not expect to put any of my patriotic friends against the Joint Opposition when I wrote my last article.

My intention  was not to cause disunity  in the Joint Opposition and get the anti JO elements play their tom-toms in anticipation of a division in the JO. We have the right to question but not with an eye to breakup the JO.

Because JO is the only saving grace” the people have to rid of this useless experiment being carried out to rule the country by the SLFP and the UNP when in fact one the Prime Minster is the UNP leader and the other the  President a UNP sympathiser pretending to be the President of the SLFP.

But  it is becoming obvious from past experience that no one can change the disastrous path this Yahapalanaya Sirisena-Ranil Government is taking to destroy every thing that we as citizen of this resplendent Sri Lanka respect and honour, such as its historical Sinhala Buddhist background, its culture, and the trust and unity that had been built through out the  years with the minority Communities of this Country. If they the Yahapalanaya continue to rule unchecked, the Sri Lanka we knew will not be the same again.

Joint Opposition helped this Sirisena Ranil Government to pass the 19^th Amendment. Joint Opposition helped  Sirisena Ranil Government to pass their Budgets. Joint Opposition helped them in various ways hoping that they will correct their idiotic pursuit of the disastrous path to disintegrate Sri Lanka.

Joint Opposition did not object to writing a New Constitution but on the other hand participated in every one of the Committees set up to write a New Constitution. In being in the Constitution Assembly the Joint Opposition thought they will be able to  take action against the sinister moves of the Yahapalanaya Government to write a New reconciliatory Constitution  to  radically change Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lanka, to a multi racial, multi religious  country, giving the Tamils equal rights by even allowing them to sing the National Anthem in Tamil.

But, to what extent did the Joint Opposition succeed in their efforts to change the march of the yahapalanaya caravan of disaster ?

Every( ?) proposal the  members of the JO made at the Committee stage in the working process for the  writing of a New Constitution had not been accepted by the Lal Wijenayake Committee, and as a result the Joint Opposition withdrew from these bogus Committees.

If the Joint Opposition continues to stay on with the Constitutional Assembly, what is the guarantee it can stop Sirisena Ranil combination writing and passing a Constitution changing Sri Lanka politically from what it had been for more than two thousand five hundred years ?

Did  President Maithripala Sirisena show his gratitude  to the Joint Opposition which contributed much during  Sirisena –Ranil government’s  teething period ” by accepting it as the official Opposition of the Parliament which it very much deserves,  or give the post of Chief Opposition  Whip to the Joint Opposition ?

It is all right if the Joint Opposition remaining in the CA will enable it  to stop Sirisena-Ranil  government carry out secret manoeuvres to fool the people and hoist before them an outwardly innocent  Constitution  with all requirements included to make it Federal in implementation.

But President Maithripala Sirisena  is more UNP than Ranil Wickramasinghe his Prime Minister. We have seen how President Sirisena  steps in  at the correct time to save Ranil Wickramasinghe when he is facing a difficult political or other situation ?

In the case of the Bond issue there was every reason with two COPE reports and Attorney General’s declarations  to have interdicted Arjuna Mahendran- the  ex Governor of the Central Bank, and confiscate his Travel Documents and allow the Attorney General to file action against him.

But what did the President Sirisena do ?

Maithripala Sirisena allowed his Prime Minister to appoint the thief” to a higher post,  perhaps with a higher salary, as the advisor to the Prime Minister himself. Later when the situation was getting too hot to handle , President Sirisena appointed a Commission of inquiry  requiring it to give a report in three months.

After three months the Commission asked for an extension of the sittings of the Commission for six months, and it appears that  they will be asking for a further extension when they have enough evidence  even to hang him” without further investigation.

And again, what happened in the case of the Volkswagen Plant to be set up in Sri Lanka ?

President Sirisena  in order to fool the people  in a highly publicised Ceremony laid a foundation stone to set up a bogus” Volkswagen Plant in Kuliyapitiya. That play acting” of President Maithripala Sirisena was to save the face of his alter-ego Ranil Wickramasinghe .

President Sirisena  promised people a Cabinet reshuffle, because the Finance Minister  Ravi Karunanayake had fallen out of favour with the people. Ranil Wickramasinghe was aginst it because Ravi Karunanayake and Arjun Mahendran are his bosom friends. President Sirisena had to go ahead with his play acting to please the people, without harming the relation between  the President and his alter ego  Ranil Wickramasinghe.

The so called cabinet re-shuffle became an utter farce-a comedy” giving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lotteries Board( the hen laying golden eggs) to Ravi Karunanayake, and the Ministry of Finance and the Media to Mangala Samaranayake,  the other bossom friend of the Prime Minister.

There are many such instances of President Maithripala Sirisena stepping into save face for Ranil Wickramasinghe.

President Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe are political twins”. Nothing will separate them.

Something more drastic has to be done to either separate them and allow President Maithripala Sirisena to deliver himself from the delirium from which he is suffering, that he is ever grateful to Ranil,  and that he is nothing” without Ranil Wickramasinghe,  and make him understand that he should decide to stand or to die with  the leadership of SLFP cast upon him,  and now supported  by a section of the SLFP for their enjoyment of the priviledges and social dignity of being Ministers in  government even if it is taking Sri Lanka on a disastrous  path to be  a failed State. President Sirisena cannot do without the SLFP Presidency either, as otherwise it will be taken over by his sworn enemy Mahinda Rajapakse.

Having regular meetings organised   by the Joint Opposition and  with SLFP Supporters of  the President Mahinda Rajapakse in great numbers is good, but people participate in these meetings,  and thereafter fall into a political” somnolence. The people should be roused up and kept aware of the evil of Sirisena-Ranil Government to the Country and the people.

Just telling them that the Yahapalanaya Government is to a great state manipulated by the Western Countries and the UN, make some start hollering  that  it is creating phantoms               ( බිල්ලෝ මවනවා) or seeing crocodiles in the basin ( කොරහේ  කිඹුල්ලෝ දකිනවා ).

People see these UN and other Western visitors to Sri Lanka coming regularly, and see pictures in the news papers and TV showing   how they shake hands with our President and the Prime Minister and perhaps take it for a great yahapalanaya achievement.

Some of our people may be satisfied  by the mere fact that these great white men  come to shake hands of  our political dignitaries. Some of them may even  not mind prices of commodities going up,  and that they and their familes may  have to forego meal in order to make ends meet, as longs as they are given the priviledge of seeing  the white Western Leaders squeeze the hands of the  President Maithripala Sirisena, and seeing red carpets laid in foreign air ports to meet President Sirisena and the Prime Minister Wickramasinghe.

But in reality some of these visitors like Ben Emmerson QC- the UN Rapporter is not a reputable character.  Emmerson has been accused of child abuse. He was suspended  from being the most senior lawyer on the public inquiry into institutional child abuse in England and Wales .(https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2066530/child-abuse-inquiry-accused-of-staging-a-cover-up-as-sexual-assault-claims-surround-probes-top-lawyer/ )

Now the Jeffrey Feltman another UN Reporter in Sri Lanka was,  it appears involved in the Hillary Clinton e-Mail scandal. There are also the leaked Audio of the American State Department  of Jeffrey Feltman’s  involvement in using UN  with the Administer  of the American State Department. Vijay Prashad’s book –Arab Spring, Libyan Writer, speaks of Jef Feltman’s interference in the Affairs of the Arab countries.  These are the people who interfere into Sri Lank’s reconciliation process and the preparation of the New Constitution.

Ordinary people of Sri Lank do not know these questionable people who squeeze the hand of President Maithripala Sirisena  not for the respect and affection for the man, but to use him for their own purposes. The others who know  pretend not to know calling it  creating phantoms( බිල්ලෝ මවනවා) or seeing crocodiles in the basin ( කොරහේ  කිඹුල්ලෝ දකිනවා ).

Therefore, the JO should prepare pamphlets in Sinhala, Tamil and English explaining every action taken by the government which are detrimental to the country and the people. And also inform the people about the foreign visitors to Sri Lanka and what they do when they come.

The pamphlets should be short in simple language easy to read and understand by people of all sections of the Society. They should be printed in big letters. One pamphlets should cover one issue. They should be issued regularly to the people. So that they will know what President Maithripala Sirisena and his alter ego the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe are up to behind  the scene with those pretentious speeches of high morality, humanity and righteousness, to divide and endanger the independence and unitary state of this land of the Sinhala Buddhists.

I had made this proposal to Dallus Alahapperuma in his face book. But he does not seem to have even read it.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

Government sources indicate that certain MPs in the SLFP Sirisena faction and some disgruntled MPs in the UNP with the assistance of old hag Chandrika are attempting to remove Ranil Wickremasinghe from the post of Prime Minister and appoint Mangala as the Prime Minister to overcome the crisis looming over the potential rebellion by some SLFP MPs and as a measure to save the government in orer to sustain it till 2020 wth a 2/3^rd majority.

Mangala Samaraweera is one of the most ungrateful politicians of Sri Lanka perfectly fitting to the Sinhala adage Kaapu pingaane reepu Ekaa” (the one who has defecated in the very plate that he consumed food).

Following his father Mahanama Sammaraweera’s betrayal of Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike for Ranil Wickremasinghe’s father Esmond Wickremaasinghe’s Rs, 50,000 bribe to topple her government together with C.P.de Silva, this ungrateful and despicable egoist Mangala has betrayed everyone who helped him and the country since the day he entered politics.

When he returned to Sri Lanka as a fashion designer Mr. Anura Bandaranaike took him to Madam Sirimavo Bandaranaike on the recommendation of former Fisheries Corporation Chairman Mr. Dickson Silva of Devinuwara and got him appointed as the SLFP co-organizer of the Matara electorate in 1988 as at that time Mr. Wijesiri who was from  a staunch and dedicated SLFP family of the electorate was functioning as the orgaanizer of the Matara  electorate and in the midst of JVP threats SLFPers being killed by JVP hooligans he had established more than 100 SLFP branch offices in the electorate.  When he came to Matara he did not have a vehicle to travel in the electorate and he travelled in a bicycle and used Ruhunu Kumari train for his travels to Coolombo.

When he came to Matara at the very beginning he did not even have a place to stay, stayed in a house said to be belonging to one of his relations and also did not have sufficient funds and party stalwarts even went to trading community people to collect funds.  It is indeed surprising to find from where he got funds to build a palatial mansion facing Bolgoda Lake in Panadura? It is also reported that he is also building a multi-roomed guest house in the Talalla area facing the sea.

There was a story circulating at the time he came to Matara that Madam Sirimavo Bandaranike has told her confidantes that Anura brought to her a Male Prostitute (Pirimi Vesiyek) to be appointed as Matara organiser.

The first victim of his political journey was Mr. Wijesiri and through various manipulations he got Mr. Wijesiri removed and got himself appointed as the SLFP organiser of the Matara electorate,

At that time Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera, who was the SLFP organiser for the Devinuwara electorate was extensively involved in the SLFP organising activities of the Matara district.  Mr. Mangala Samaraweera came forward to contest elections for the first time in 1989 and he had a great disadvantage in the caste conscious Matara district as majority of the people in the Matara district belonged to the Goigama caste followed by Karawa caste of Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera.  People of his Durawa caste, perhaps the third in the district lived only in certain areas of the Matara electorate.

At this time it was Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who came to help him to overcome from this caste inferiority syndrome.  Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa highly respected by the Goigama people of the South and born in Paalatuwa in Matara as his mother was from Paalatuwa, neglecting his own campaign work in the Hambantota district visited Mr. Samaraweera’s house in the mornings daily and took Mangala in his own vehicle to prominent Goigama people in the district and canvassed for him. It is merely because of the dedicated campaign carried out by Mr. Mahinda, even neglecting his own campaign work, Mr. Samaraweera got elected to the second place out of the three SLFP members elected from the district in that election. Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera was first with a massive lead.  The third was also a candidate from the Goigama caste with a minor difference of votes between Mr. Samaraweera and him. If it was not for the generous and magnanimous canvassing of Mr. Mahinda, Mr. Samaraweera would have never seen even the corridors of the Parliament complex.

Then he became very jealous of Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera due to his massive popularity in the district and all efforts were made to bulldoze him from the SLFP with the assistance of the old hag Chandrika when she became the President.

There is no doubt that this purported move to oust Ranil may have initiated by Mr. Samaraweera himself as he does not allow anyone to cross his path in whatever party he remains.  A very good example is Buddhika Pathirana being kept cornered in the UNP although Buddhika is senior to Mangala in the UNP and in the last few elections he has become first among the Matara district UNP candidates wih significant leads.

All Sri Lankans should be very cautious about this move to make Mangala the Prime Minister for the following reasons:

• He is an utterly pro-western, pro-Tamil, irreligious and a confirmed homosexual.
• He is an anti-Buddhist and this antipathy to Buddhism was clearly displayed when the Buddhist Commission Report was released when he was a Minister in the Chandrika government. By ridiculing the said report he said that it deserves only to be dumped into the wastepaper basket. Against this mockery Buddhists leaders throughout the country held Bodhi Poojas and smashed coconuts cursing him..
• He is a staunch pro-Tamil and the people of Matara say that he is in this stance because his aunt (father’s sister named Malani who functioned as his Private Secretary was married to the swimming legend Mr. Anandan of Velvettithurai who created a record by swimming across the Palk straight, and through this Anandan he is also related to the megalomaniac Prabhakaran.
• Sri Lankans in London say that he was a frequent participant in functions held by Tamils (diaspora elements) in London and they suspect that he was involved in facilitating them in money laundering activities during the war period.
• He also displayed Tamil bias by being strongly involved in old hag Chandrika’s Sudu Nelum” movement committed to serve the Tamils and financed by Norway.
• It is this Tamil partiality that made him to betray this country by co-sponsoring the American sponsored anti-Sri Lankan resolution at the UNHRC in Geneva and making all efforts to get its conditions implemented.
• And it is also due to Tamil favouritism that he is extremely aligned with despicable and treacherous elements that are committed and determined to enforce a federal constitution for Sri Lanka.
• It was in further consolidation of his slavishness to the Tamils he signed an agreement with Sumanthiran in Singapore in 2012 for the regime change in Sri Lanka.
• He is also said to be a confirmed homosexual which is a despicable habit against the culture and traditions of Sri Lanka. The shameless public kiss given by him to Ravi Karunanayake recently is something anathema to Sri Lankans

Let us now revisit Mr. Mahinda Raapaksa’s period to find out more about his cut-throat activities and treachery.

In 2004 just after the general elections under old hag Chandrika’s presidency together with JVP hooligans he attempted to prevent Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa getting appointed as the Prime Minister as anticipated by the people of this country and to get Mr.Lakshman Kadiragamar as the Prime Minister.

When Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa became the President of this country in 2005 everyone expected that Mr. Mahinda’s old friend Mr. Anura Bandaranaike will get appointed as the Foreign Minister of this country as he was the most qualified and suitable person to hold that post at that time.  Despite that Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed Mangala as the Minister of Shipping and Foreign Affairs.

Ministry of Shipping was assigned to him hoping that he will initiate the Hambantota Port construction activities.  But it is claimed that Singapore authorities who are being alleged to have financed his mother’s treatment at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore persuaded him not to proceed with Hambantota harbour construction work and his cohorts sold the machinery that had been brought for construction work as scrap metal.

Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa was the President of the Sri Lanka Friendship Association from the very day of its inception until he became the Prime Minister.  Sri Lanka had a history (tradition) of voting in favour of Palestine at the UN.  For the first time Mr. Mngala Samaraweera made Sri Lanka to vote against Palestine even without the knowledge of the President.  This action infuriated Mr. Mahinda and that was the main reason for dismissing him from Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s cabinet.

After that he became friendly with Ranil whom he extensively criticized previously, particularly during Chandrika’s time, as a person who cannot do anything with the notorious slogan Ranilta Bae” and started working against Mr. Rajapaksa kicking out the ladder which helped him climb into the political arena.

He adopted a Goebbels’s role and started telling various lies gainst Mr. Mahinda and his family members.  The former Minister Mr. Johnston Fernando once said that when they were in the UNP Mangala advised them to tell lies as much as possible about Raapaksa’s and keep on repeating such lies several times so that the people will start thinking that there could be some truth in such allegations.

His lies about Mr. Raapaksa included that he has deposited U.S.$ 18 billion in foreign banks, bought properties overseas, etc.,etc.  None of these allegations have been proved although it is almost three years now since these blatant allegations were made.

There was a video being circulated recently in face book accounts about Mangala’s lies. In this video Rajitha says that Rajapaksas did not earn money through politics and they only earned people.  He says that Goebbels Mangala Samaraweera who alleged Ranil as a thief in the past has become friendly with him intimately.  He points out that when a pick pocketeer steals a pocket from someone and people shout Horaa, Horaa, the pick pocketeer also runs with them shouting Horaa, Horaa and Mangala is like that pick pocketeer.  Rajitha has made this statement when he crossed over from the UNP to Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government.

The damage he could make to the economy of this country as the Minister of Finance is unimaginable, let alone being the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, there is a saying that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. This saying fits very well to the old hag Chandrika in respect of her incessant enmity towards Mr. Mahinda Raapaksa because he scolded her for destroying the Sri Lanka Feedom Party and now she has utilized the current uncertain situation in the government to direct her enmity towards Ranil and kick him out from the PM post since she angrily accused Ranil on many occasions that he was responsible for denying her son admission to the Royal College.  (niz)

THE WAY AHEAD FOR SRI LANKA

The recent silence from Mahinda Rajapaksa and his Joint Opposition grouping regarding present disasters going on in the country is very disturbing. Dengue, garbage, economic collapse, and student strikes are doing untold damage. Uprisings and haarthals in the north and east are weakening the state.

And more importantly the emergency of the upcoming fake war crimes” witch-hunt that the Sirisena-Ranil regime is about to start, targeting the war heroes who fought and died to save the country from the world’s most deadly Tamil terrorist killer group, should concern any right thinking citizen.

Rajapaksa is also adamantly staying as part of the committee that is creating a new, foreign-written constitution for the country.

Does he not realize that the purpose of the new constitution is precisely to lay the foundation for a foreign and minority-extremist dominated government? One in which Sri Lanka is returned to colony status? One in which he and his entire family are classed as war criminals?

The impending war crimes witch-hunt is going to destroy the military and tarnish the image of Sri Lanka.

Mahinda’s attitude however is that he couldn’t care less. Watch here how he grins and laughs without a care in the world, as he stubbornly stays within the constitutional committee:

Does he not realise that in any war crimes investigation, ultimately it is the political leaders of the country who bear most responsibility. If war crimes” occur in any country, those who are punished hardest and most severely will be the leaders of that country.

Mahinda and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa will be turned into international pariahs and will be taken to Europe for their trial” and punishment. They will receive life-long sentences and will never be able to set foot in Sri Lanka again.

Furthermore, the entire Rajapaksa family will be branded as criminals and never allowed to take part in the political field or any other civic activity.

After winning the war and being rightly rewarded with a second term and a two-thirds majority in parliament, Rajapaksa literally went mad with power. He surrounded himself with sycophants, suck-ups and political degenerates. He embraced thugs and protected them, released murderers from prison for New Year, and paid for criminals to be treated abroad.

He cast aside anyone with intelligence or decency as soon as the most immediate use for them was over (Dayan Jayatilleka, Tamara Kunanayakam). He never listened to sound advice. He never stood for principles, but thought he could shape” anyone and everyone, in Sri Lanka and abroad.

All this shows that he took the job of governing to be a huge joke. He took power for granted, and thought he could play the role of magnanimous king.

He intervened to help his nemesis Ranil keep hold of power in the UNP – Ranil repaid him by helping the jealous Sirisena take over the SLFP and eject Rajapaksa from the party. He held a snap election to please the Pope – when the Pope arrived, Rajapaksa was out of power and facing arrest.

With the aim of pleasing his children, he held night-races in Kandy – now his children spend nights in rotten jails. He didn’t ban Facebook even as it was filled with opposition and terrorist-created lies and rumors about him and his family – now he posts the odd message to social media, never knowing when his civic rights will be removed.

The foolish things, the stupid things, and the outright wrong things Rajapaksa did during his time in power finally came back to haunt him.

If he had stood firm against foreign meddling in the country, by shutting down NGOs, regulating the salacious press, prosecuting those like Ravi, Laxman, and Mangala who denigrated the war effort in parliament during the war and who spread filth about war crimes” after the war, and if he created a lawful and just society, he would have won not just a third term but also a fourth, fifth and sixth term.

Now he has come out of the hole he himself made, thanks to the steadfastness and political skill of principled politicians like Wimal Weerawansa and Udaya Gammanpila. The success of the Joint Opposition May Day rally 2017 showed him that he still has huge appeal among the masses, definitely more than in 2015 and perhaps almost as much support as in 2009 after the war victory.

However a May Day rally is not the same as an election win. But the crowd size on the one hand and the total incompentence of the Sirisena-Ranil regime on the other hand has again activated the same big-headedness and over-confidence which doomed Rajapaksa in 2014.

He is taking part in the constitutional committee which will call for a war crimes” tribunal. When he is hauled up before it, and when Rajapksa complains, Sirisena will smugly say well you agreed to this because you were on the committee that proposed it”.

Rajapaksa thinks that he can take part in the committee and then just not vote for it in parliament. But Sirisena will say correctly, that it is hypocritical to take part in the constitution writing committee and then to reject it at the vote. Sirisena will say that Rajapaksa is trying to score political points and isn’t interested in the country’s future.

If Mahinda cannot figure out these elementary truths, Mahinda’s son Namal Rajapaksa as a parliamentarian and lawyer educated abroad should be able to. He should be guiding his father who is stuck in the past and unable to get with the times. He should tell his father that the political landscape has changed, that the old tricks and crossovers and other third-world political games will not work now. He should tell his father that once the constitution process and fake war crimes” investigations begin, it will only end with their entire family in jail.

Alas, he too is blindly following his father into the even deeper hole that is right next to the first hole that Rajapaksa just crawled out of.

Let these words be well remembered: Continuing to take part in the constitutional committee, and not taking to the streets now to denounce this new imperialist constitution and the war crimes” witch-hunt, is a mistake even greater than the combined idiocy of 1.) keeping Sirisena as the SLFP general secretary for ten years and 2.) of not cancelling the presidential election the moment Sirisena emerged as the Common Candidate.

The only way to navigate the dungeon that Rajapaksa has put himself and his family in is to stand up for the principles of no foreign interference in the country, and no fake war crimes” witch-hunts. This can be summed up as standing for national sovereignty.

Stand up for national sovereignty now, before it is too late for you, your family, for our innocent war heroes and for our entire Nation.

THE WAY AHEAD FOR SRI LANKA

මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන ජනාතිපති ධුරයට ආවේ පොරොන්දු කිපෙයක් ප්‍රකාෂ කරලා.ජනතාව ඒවා පිලිගෙන, ඡන්දය දුන්නා, මේ හිමින් කතාකරන මිනිහාව විශ්වස්ස කරන්න පුළුවන් කියලා.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂගේ යුගය දේශද්‍රෝහී දෙමල ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පරද්දලා යුද්දය දිනුවාට,රටේ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ඇතුලේ හැංගිලා හිටපු ද්‍රෝහීන් සුද්ද කරපු නැති නිසා තමයි මේ භයානක තැනට රාජපක්ෂ පවුලයි මුළු රටයි වැටිලා තියෙන්නේ.

කෙසේවෙතත්, සිරිසේන බලය ගත්තේ රට‍ වෙනස් කරනවා කියලා. වෙනස් කරනවා විතරක් නෙවෙයි, බොහෝම හොඳින් පාලනය කරලා, රට‍ දියුණු කරනවා කිව්වා.ඒකට යහපාලනය” කියන නමකුත් දැම්මා. බලමු දැන් මොන යහපාලනයක්ද මේ මිනිහ හදලා තියෙන්න කියලා.

1. ජනවාරි 9 වනිදා, 2015.
ජනාදිපතිකම ලැබිලා, සිරිසේන UNP ආණ්ඩුවක් පත්කරා. මේක තමයි පළවෙනි හොරකම. ඒ වෙලාවේ බහුතර ආසන ප්‍රමාණය තිබුනේ SLFP පක්ෂයට. රනිල්ගේUNP ජන්ද සහ ඊළාම් ජන්ද වලින් ජනාදිපති ධුරයට ආවට, සිරිසෙනට කිසිම අයිතියක් තිබුන් නැහැ මෙහෙම හොර ආණ්ඩුවක් පත්කරන්න.
රටේ නීතියට එරෙහිව, අපරධයක් කරා.

2. ජුලි 2015.
මාස හතක් බොරු චෝදනා දදා, හිටපු ආණ්ඩුවේ නිලදාරියෝ අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙනිය ගෙනිය හිටියා. හොර ආණ්ඩුව තියාගන, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණයක් තියන්නෙම නැහැමයි කිය කිය හිටියා. හැබැයි රනිල්ගේ යාලුවා මහේන්ද්‍රන් සෙන්ට්‍රල් බැංකුව මංකොල්ල කාපු නිසා (බොන්ඩ් ස්කෑම් එකෙන් මහේන්ද්‍රන්ගේ පුතා සල්ලි ගොඩක් හම්බ” කරා), ඒක ගැන COPE පරීක්ෂණ කරලා, රිපෝට් එක එළිකරන්න යනකොට,රනිලුයි එයාගේ පඹයා, සිරිසෙනට හදිස්සියක් ආවා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීමට.

තවත් අපරාධයක් හංගන්න බැලුවා, හැබැයි ඕන කෙනෙකුට පේනවා මේ අපරාධය.

3. අගෝස්තු 2015.
සිරිසේන–රනිල් නඩයට මැතිවරණය දිනා ගන්න බැරිවුනා. රටේ ජනතාව මහින්දට හිතවත් SLFP මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ප්‍රවේශමෙන් තෝරා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට පත් කරා. මහින්දට බැනපු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරා. ජනතාව හිතුවේ SLFP එක මහින්දගේ ප්‍රදානත්වයෙන් වැඩ කරලා, රට පාලනය කරයි කියලා.

සිරිසේන මොකද කරේ?

ඉස්සෙල්ලාම SLFP සභාපතව වෙනස් කරා. මැතිවරණයෙන් පසුව ජාතික ලැයිස්තුව වෙනස් කරලා මහින්දට හිතවත් මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් අයින් කරා. මැතිවරණ කොමසාරිස් දේශප්‍රිය මේ හොර වැඩේ කරන්න සිරිසේනට ඉඩ දුන්නා. (දේශප්‍රිය මහා ලොකු යහපාලනය කාරයෙක්, එයාගේ මල්ලි ස්විට්සර්ලන්තයේ NGO එකක වැඩකරනවා,යුද්දෙ දිනපු දා ඉඳන් ලංකාවට බැන බැන, රටේ නම කැත කර කර ඉන්නේ.)

UNPය, JVPය සහ දෙමළ ත්‍රස්ටවදින්ගේ TNAයත් එක්ක සම්බන්ද වෙලා, සිරිසේන හැදුවා ජාතික” ආණ්ඩුවක්. SLFPයයි UNPයයි එකතු කරලා, හොර රෙජිමෙයක් පත් කලා. මහා ලොකුවට මහින්ද ඇමතිකන් වැඩියෙන් දුන්නා, මේක මහා නාස්තියක්,මාව ජනාතදිපති කරන්න, මම එහෙම ඒවා කරන්නේනැහැ!” කිව්ව මිනිහා ඔන්න පත්කරා ඇමතිවරයෝ සීයකටත් වඩා! එතනින් නැවැත්තුවෙත් නැහැ. 19 වෙන සංශෝධනයෙන් අසීමිත ඇමතිවරුන් ගණනක් නීත්‍යනුකුල කර ඇත.

4. ජනවාරි 2015 – 2017 දක්වා.
මහින්දගේ ආණ්ඩුවේ රටවෙනුවෙන් වැඩ කරපු නායකයෝ, රට බේරපු රණවිරුවෝ,රටේ ආර්ථිකය දියුණු කරපු නිලධාරී, රටේ සංවර්ධනයට කැප වුනු පුරවැසියන්, රට ශක්තිමත් කරපු හැම එක්කෙනාම සහ, ඔවුන්ගේ පවුල් වල අයයි, බොරු පරීක්ෂණ වලට ලක් කර, අත්අඩංගුවට ගත්තා.

මේවා සිදුවෙත්දී, දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ බොරු යුද අපරාධ” චෝදනා රණවිරුවන්ට එරෙහිව දාන්න පටන්ගත්තා.

මේ කාලයතුල සිද්දවුනා සිරිසේනගේ තවත් අපරාධයක්.

5. ජුලි 2017.
සිරිසේනගේ හොර ආණ්ඩුව දැන් කාගන යනවා අළුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවයක් පතිත කරන්න. 2014දි කිව්වේ සංශෝධන මිසක්, තව ලොකු දේශපාලන වෙනස්කම් කරන්නේ නැහැ කියලා. කෙසේවෙතත්, සිරිසෙනටවත්, රනිල්ටවත් දැන් කරන්න යන වැඩේට ජනවරමක් නැහැ. සිරිසේන රෙජිමෙයටයි දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් සහ විදේශීය ආන්දඩුවල් වලට සහ NGO කරයින්ටයි දේශද්‍රෝහිය අළුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවයක් ජනතාවට බල කිරීමට අයිතියක් නැහැ.

මෙන්න තවත් සිරිසේනගේ අපරාධයක්.

මේ පිළිබඳව විමල් වීරවංශගේ ජනතා නිදහස් පෙරමුණය (NFF) පාර්ලිමේන්තු ව්‍යවස්ථා සම්පාදක මන්ඩල්යෙන් ඉවත් වන්න තීරණ කරපු එක ප්‍රසාදයක්. මහා සංඝරත්නයත් මේ ගැන කතා කලා.

6. ජුලි 2017 දක්වා.
පියවරෙන් පියවර සිරිසේන කරන්න හදන්නේ විදේශීය රටවල් වලට යලිත් අපව පාවා දීමටයි. මෙය පළමුව පටන්ගන්නේ රණවිරුවන්ව නිග්ග්‍රහ කරලා, ඔවුන්ව පාගලා,ඊළඟට ඔහුන්ගේ හමුදා නායකයන්ට නිග්ග්‍රහ කරන්න. ඉන් පස්සේ යුද්දෙ දිනවපු දේශපාලන නායකයන්ව නිග්ග්‍රහ කරන්න. මේ ඔක්කොමලා අපරාධකරුවන්” කියන්න. ඊළඟට ඔහුන්ට බලය දුන්න මිනිස්සුන්ට කියයි, උඹලට මොලේ අමාරුවක් තියෙනවා, නැත්නම් කොහොමද මේ වගේ අපරාධකරුවන්ට බලය හම්බවුනේ?මේවගේ දෙයක් අයෙත් වෙන්න දෙන්න බැහැ. අළුත් ව්‍යවස්තවයක් දාන්නේ මේ නිසයි.”

සම්බන්දන්, විග්නේස්වාරන්, හිටපු පොන්නම්බලම් වගේ දෙමළ ජතිවදියෝ සහ දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදියෝ සහ රනිල්, මංගල, රවී, ලක්ෂ්මන්, රාජිත, චන්ද්‍රිකා, වගේ සිංහල” දේශද්‍රෝහී, බෞද්ධ විරෝධී පාලකයෝ මේ රටේ අවුරුදු තිහක් තිස්සේ සිංහල විරෝධී යුද්දයක් ගෙනාපු එක ගැන හැමෝටම අමතකවෙලා කියලා සිරිසේන හිතන්නේ!

7. නිගමනය
මේ කෙටි කාලයෙන් සිරිසේන රටට විශාල හානි කරලා තියෙනවා. බොහෝ අපරාධ කරලා තියෙනවා. මේවා කරනවා කියලද ඔබේ ජන්දය ඉල්ලුවේ? මේ වගේ ද්‍රෝහී වැඩ කරයි කියලා තමයි ජනතාව රනිල්ට කවදාවත් ජනාදිපති ධුරයට එන්න දුන්නේ නැත්තේ, දෙන්නෙත් නැත්තේ. ඒක දැන ගන තමයි රනිල් මේ සිරිසේන කියන ප්ඹයෙක්ව ඉස්සරහට දැම්මේ.

මේ ජරා පාධඩ අපරාධ කරන සිරිසෙනට බේරෙන්න දෙන්න බැහැ!

Upali Cooray Former General Manager of SATHOSA

When you hear someone say it’s like white on rice, what they mean is that the situation is as close as anything can be. In other words, you’ve got it covered the way rice is covered in white.

The controversial purchase of MIG Jets by the Sri Lanka Government from the Government of Ukraine is one instance where what was said to be a government to government (G to G) contract was not so, but a third party named Belimissa holdings, a company based in U.K has played a vital role.   It is alleged funds were transferred through this third party.

A similar mal – practice is being enacted by the yahapalana government on the pretext of importing rice.

According to local media, Sri Lanka government has picked three countries to obtain 200,000 MT of rice immediately to meet the shortfall in the domestic market. The Minister of Industry and Commerce said, a four man team of officials already is in Pakistan to pick rice varieties for the domestic rice market. On July 12, the team will head to Myanmar from Islamabad to test Burmese rice varieties for the Sri Lanka market.

Yala season’s failure and the floods created this rice shortage. We have picked Myanmar, Pakistan and India and the country that did not get in was Indonesia said Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen. The team, after checking both Pakistani and Myanmar markets, will decide whether to choose Pakistan or Myanmar (or both) to purchase the 100,000 MT rice. Whether it is finally supplied by one or both countries, the purchase shall be at Government to Government basis. (G to G)

G to G purchases are a usual ruse adopted by racketeers to dupe the people. The buying prices are loaded with commissions. The contract is signed by officials of the buying and selling parties but the Letter of credit is made transferable. The selling government agency then handover the transferable LC to a third party who is a private trader who is the actual shipper.

While acknowledging that there is going to be a shortage of rice, total lack of transparency in the procurement method makes it shady.

The government procurement procedures are very explicit and do not allow any body to have his own way. The Minister of Commerce is well known for having his own rules “the Kabaragoya (water monitor) becomes Thalagoya (Bengal monitor) when he determines to do something on his own way. This Sinhala proverb explains how an inedible water monitor turns to an edible Bengal monitor for someone who wants to consume the animal.

The government procurement procedure does not permit purchases even from a foreign government agency ignoring the laid down procedure. There cannot be any deviation from the clearly spelt out rules and regulations. The bidder has to furnish a bid bond to ensure maintenance of the bid. The successful bidder then has to furnish a performance bond once the offer is accepted. The shipping terms and conditions such as the specifications of the product and packing are among many other terms and conditions. These conditions have to be complied even by foreign governments’ agencies.

Leaving aside the premium grade, the number one grade specifications are as follows

Moisture  14 %

Foreign matter. 0..05. %

Admixture 2.0. %

Damaged grains 1.0. %

Broken grains  20%

Paddy seeds 10

The usual procedure is for the seller or buyer to appoint a cargo surveyor at the port of loading. In most instances the cargo surveyor is bought over by the seller and certificate of conformity is issued. These certificates issued by unscrupulous surveyors have no value. This is where the seller makes mega bucks which are shared with other connivers.  Imagine 20% broken grains in a shipment of 100000 tons which is 20000 tons.  If the seller fraudulently in connivance with the surveyor makes it 30% Viz. 30000 tons. All other specifications can be manipulated in this manner. There are two solutions for this problem. Send officers with proven integrity to the port of leading for inspecting whether the cargo is according to given specifications.  Any laymen with education can do this. It is not rocket science. The second solution is to buy the rice on what is known as DP (documents on payment). According to this method the buyer does not pay until the cargo arrives at the port of discharge. The buyer has the right to refuse accepting the cargo if it is found to be not according to specifications.

The other question is the availability of storage and scientific stock management.  The Paddy marketing Board and the Food Commissioner had adequate space for storage in the past. These stores have been used for other purposes or abandoned. I hope orders have been placed to ensure shipments of around 10000 tons per shipment to arrive once a fortnight in scattered small lots. The white raw rice is more susceptible to insect attack than Nadu rice. The quantity of rice being imported may become inconsumable in few months if kept lying in stores. Then it will be sold to a distillery or as animal feed. This vicious cycle has to be broken somehow.

One need not teach the President of Sri Lanka about rice or Paddy, as he is from a farming family in Polonnaruwa and his brother is a leading miller in the country. These millers now give emphasis to up – market rice such as Samba.,Keeri Samba and Supiri Kerri Samba. I suspect that the President’s announcement of rice imports could be a strategy to get the hoarders to release their hidden stocks. Well and good.

While the President may have made his announcement with all good intentions, the task of implementing has gone to an already stained hand. Let’s wish that the announcement to import rice is only a strategy to get the hoarders to release their stocks,

Upali Cooray

Former General Manager of SATHOSA

ස.ලං.ප‍්‍ර.සේ.සංගමය

ගරු ජනාධිපති,
මෛත‍්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මැතිතුමා,
ජනාධිපති ලේකම් කාර්යාලය,
කොළඹ 01.

ගරු ජනාධිපතිතුමනි,

ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයේ ආරක්ෂාව පෞද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක සමාගම්වලට පවරා ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමය විනාශ කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලිය, වැළැක්වීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත් වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටීම.

විධිමත් ආරක්ෂක අංශයක් දැනට ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමය තුළ ස්ථාපිත කර ක‍්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් පවතී. ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමය ක‍්‍රමාණුකූලව විනාශ කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලියක නිරතවී සිටින මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ උපදේශකයෙකු වන පාස්කරලිංගම් ඇතුළු ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම ද්‍රෝහී කණ්ඩායම ස්වෙච්ඡා විශ‍්‍රාම ගැන්වීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලිය තුළ ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම ආරක්ෂක අංශයේ සේවකයන්ට ද විශ‍්‍රාම ගැන්වීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය විධිවිධාන සලස්වන ලදී.  මීට ඉහත ද අප සංගමය ආරක්ෂක අංශය විනාශ කිරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලිය පැහැදිලි කර ඔබතුමාට එවන ලද ලිපිය සහ මාධ්‍යවල පළවූ වාර්තා මේ සමඟ ඔබතුමාගේ අවධානය සඳහා යොමු කරන්නෙමු.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම ආරක්ෂක අංශයේ සේවකයින් ස්වෙචඡා විශ‍්‍රාම ගැන්විය යුත්තේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම ආරක්ෂක අංශය තුළ අතිරික්ත සේවකයන් සිටිනවානම් පමණි.  නමුත් ආරක්ෂක අංශයේ සේවකයන් අළුතින් බඳවා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍යතාවය තිබියදී එම සේවකයන්ට විශ‍්‍රාම ගැන්වීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය ඉඩකඩ සළසන ලද්දේ ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම විනාශ කිරීමට බව අප සංගමය විශ්වාස කරන්නෙමු.  මෙම ක‍්‍රියාවලිය මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශයේ දැඩි අවශ්‍යතාවය මත සිදුවූ ක‍්‍රියාවලියකි.

ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම සේවය කරන සේවකයන් බලහත්කාරයෙන් ස්වෙච්ඡා විශ‍්‍රාම ගැන්වීමට සළස්වා එම සේවකයන් වෙනුවට කොන්ත‍්‍රාත් පදනම යටතේ හෝ මෑන් පවර් ක‍්‍රමවේදය යටතේ හෝ සේවකයන් බඳවා ගැනීම තුළ ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයේ අභිමානය, ප්‍රෞඩත්වය අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම විනාශ වන අතර ආරක්ෂාවට ද දැඩි තර්ජනයක් සිදුවන බව අප සංගමය තේරුම්ගෙන සිටින්නෙමු.

විධිමත් ආරක්ෂක අංශයක් ඇති ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයේ ආරක්ෂාව පෞද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක සමාගම්වලට පැවරීමේ ක‍්‍රියාවලිය කඩිනමින් නතර කර ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයට ආරක්ෂක සේවකයන් අවශ්‍ය නම් ශ‍්‍රී ලංගම මගින්ම විධිමත්ව පත්වීම් ලබාදී බඳවා ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය පියවර ගැනීමට සහ පෞද්ගලික ආරක්ෂක සමාගම්වලට ශ‍්‍රී ලංගමයේ ආරක්ෂාව පැවරීම නතර කිරීමට කඩිනමින් මැදිහත්වන ලෙස අප සංගමය ඔබතුමාගෙන් දැඩි වගකීමකින් යුතුව ඉල්ලා සිටින්නෙමු.

ස්තූතියි.

මෙයට,
විශ්වාසී,
සේපාල ලියනගේ
ස.ලං.ප‍්‍ර.සේ.සංගමය

Dilrook Kannangara

Cricketers managed by Charlie Austin include Dickwella, Tharanga, Chandimal, Mathews, Asela, Dilruwan, Prasanna, Lakmal, Malinga and Nuwan. He is the manager of most regular players.

Players managed by Kaustav Lahiri include Amila Aponsu, Chameera, Lahiru Madushanka, Hasaranga and Vishwa Fernando. Rob Ashwell manages Sachith Pathirana and Tissara Perera while Luke Keech manages Milinda Siriwardana. Dhananjaya Silva and Sadheera Samarawickrama are managed by one Mohamed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myfoy45txIA

Do these people have any regard for the nation and the national cricket team? Very unlikely. The sheer number of regular players managed by these foreigners raise alarm bells. Former senior players have not only been their customers but also introduced new players to them. Do these agents pay tax on their earnings? Can they be tried in Sri Lankan courts for offences?

There should be new laws to disallow foreigners manage local players and the number of players an agent can manage.

Monetizing cricket is not the problem. All cricketers and other sportsmen must maximize their earnings while they can. However, when done in excess it can possibly destroy the sport and introduce outside forces to control the game. Minister of Sport must look into this before Sri Lanka cricket disappears into nothingness.

All cricket loving people must thank World Cup winning captain Arjuna for his bold revelation. Other matters he raised including the need to investigate World Cup 2011 Final should also be considered. What is most worrying is the possible existence of a Cricket Mafia that attacks and gangs up against anyone taking on their lucrative industry at the expense of national cricket. Putting all blame on selectors and the cricket board seems a very clever diversion tactic found as found in political platforms. Who knew there were other significant actors behind the wicket!

තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ සංසදයේ සභාපති කපිල පෙරේරා සහ එම සංසදයේ ලේකම් ලසන්ත වික‍්‍රමසිංහ විසින් රචිත ” එට්කා- නෑයෙක්ද? ආක‍්‍රමණිකයෙක්ද?” කෘතිය ජාත්‍යන්තර වෙළඳාම පිළිබඳව ජාතික ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් සම්පාදනය සඳහා වු මහජන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති, කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු උපකුලපති මහාචාර්ය ඩබ්. ඞී. ලක්ෂ්මන් මහතා වෙත කපිල පෙරේරා මහතා අතින් පිළිගන්වන අවස්තාව ඡුායා රුපයේ දැක්වේ.

තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ සංසදයේ සභාපති කපිල පෙරේරා සහ එම සංසදයේ ලේකම් ලසන්ත වික‍්‍රමසිංහ විසින් රචිත ” එට්කා- නෑයෙක්ද? ආක‍්‍රමණිකයෙක්ද?” කෘතිය ජාත්‍යන්තර වෙළඳාම පිළිබඳව ජාතික ප‍්‍රතිපත්තියක් සම්පාදනය සඳහා වු මහජන කොමිෂන් සභාවේ සභාපති, කොළඹ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු උපකුලපති මහාචාර්ය ඩබ්. ඞී. ලක්ෂ්මන් මහතා වෙත කපිල පෙරේරා මහතා අතින් පිළිගන්වන අවස්තාව ඡුායා රුපයේ දැක්වේ.

කෘතිය එළිදැක්වීමේ උළෙල පැවැත්වුයේ පසුගිය 19 වනදා කොළඹ, ජාතික පුස්තකාල සහ ප‍්‍රලේඛනාගාර සේවා මණ්ඩල ශ‍්‍රවණාගාරයේදීය. එහිදී මෙම කෘතිය පිළිබඳ දේශන පැවැත්වූ ආචාර්ය ගුනදාස අමරසේකර, හිටපු මහබැංකු අධිපති අජිත් නිවාඞ් කබ්රාල්, මහාචාර්ය සුමනසිරි ලියනගේ සහ යුතුකම සංවාද කවයේ සභාපති ගෙවිª කුමාරතුංග යන විද්වතුන් අතින් කෘතිය විශේෂ ඇගයීමකට ලක්වීම කැපී පෙනිණි.

උත්සවයේ මුලසුන හෙඹවුයේ වෘත්තිකයන්ගේ ජාතික පෙරමුණේ සභාපති වෙද්‍ය අනුරුද්ද පාදෙනිය මහතායි. මේ අවස්ථාවට ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේ, මුරුත්තෙට්ටුවේ ආනන්ද නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ සහ දක්ෂිණ ලංකාවේ ප‍්‍රධාන සංඝනායක පූජ්‍ය කිරම විමලජෝති හිමියන්  ඇතුළු සංඝයා වහන්සේලා, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරුන් සහ විද්වතුන් පිරිසක් සහභාගී වී සිටියහ. මෙම කෘතිය තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ සංසදයේ ප‍්‍රකාශනයකි.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera  

Colombo Marshes being filled un abated …….

I voted the new regime to come to power ,I wonder whether I should regret when I read and see such actions as detailed above which is being ignored .

I drive along the Thalwathugoda Hokandara Road and see the nonstop filling of a Marsh  which is  upstream of the water flow to the Thalangama Tank.There is a culvert crossing the road and I also note that It is being blocked by filling .

I remember when Gota was in charge of SLLRDC ,he  personally came to this location and removed unauthorised filling .He had to come presumably because the UNP ex MP was  threatening the officers .Earth was removed and the marsh was restored.

I see the land in extend of about 1 acre being filled now again under the patronage of the same politician ,As I was a chairman of the same corporation some time back I called the  DGM in charge of prevention such action .I was told in uncertain terms that authority from Agrarian services has been obtained and he cannot do anything and minister is aware of it I was very annoyed and told him that it is not an acceptable response .

If Sirasa TV wants to photograph the area and give publicity ,Minister in charge of SLLRDC as well as Environment Authority will be forced to admit that Yahaplnaya is not working

Dr Sarath Obeysekera   

Footage shows the efforts of smaller boats approaching the elephants in their attempt to tow them back to land, while larger ships monitored the perimeter in order to keep the area clear of any passing vessels.

“Accordingly, the mammoth effort of the rescue teams saw the two jumbos being carefully directed to the shore without causing any harm to the animals,” stated the Sri Lankan navy’s media release. “Having safely guided the two elephants to the shore, they were subsequently released to the Foul Point jungle.”

“They were extremely lucky to have been spotted by a patrol craft, which called in several other boats to help with the rescue,” officials added.

While elephants are known to swim for short periods of time, it is thought the animals nearly drowned when they were dragged out further while crossing shallow lagoons in the region, according to The Guardian.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time an elephant was swept out to sea. On July 11, the navy also helped rescue an elephant that was found at least five miles offshore near the Sri Lankan town of Kokilai.

 VOA News

BY SHIVANTHI RANASINGHE Courtesy Ceylon Today

On 20 June, 2014 Atul Keshap told an English language daily paper, “the US believes in a very bright future for this country and it believes that Sri Lanka has the potential in terms of human capital, in terms of resources, in terms of geographic location, in terms of having secured peace after a very brutal civil war – a country connected to the entire world. It is now a country that is not the subject of a UN Human Rights Council Resolution, because it has perfected its democracy and perfected its respect for human rights.”

This makes more sense if this statement is rearranged as: “If this country is not the subject of UN Human Rights Council Resolution, then there is a very bright future for this country as Sri Lanka has the potential in terms of human capital, resources, geographic location, and having secured peace after a very brutal civil war – a country connected to the entire world.”

According to Keshap, this is possible if only

Sri Lanka has “perfected its democracy and perfected its respect for human rights”. Since, this is not the case; Sri Lanka’s future is blighted.

Keshap is forgetting that his own country has not perfected its own democracy or their human rights record. The 13th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution disenfranchises a large number of Americans, mainly from minority communities. Trump won because a significant group felt marginalized by successive American governments. They were becoming pauperized as job opportunities dwindled. The desperate struggles of the native Americans, to preserve their rights in their meagre reservations exposes the American hypocrisy.

Even France, though shocked by Trump’s vulgarity, is not kind to its minorities. They do not tolerate the burka and sees mocking another religion as freedom of expression, freedom of the press and etcetera. In England, a Muslim in too many layers of clothing in summer is likely to be handcuffed and subject to body search in public. European leaders insist that they are oblivious to skin colour and see all as white. Yet the failure to arrest the rising hate wave against minorities tells a different story.

Is there anywhere in the world where people enjoy a perfect democracy and a perfect human rights record? In Singapore, people are sullen as even septuagenarians must work long hours for the privileges they enjoy. In Nordic countries, the immigrants must be ‘westernized’. Years ago, two Indian children were removed from their parents for been hand-fed and for sharing the parent’s bedroom. It took the Indian government nearly a year to restore the children to their parents.

That is not the first time the Indian government had to step in to help its citizens from other governments’ excesses. Just before Modi, the Indian and American relationship soured when one Indian diplomat was arrested and stripped searched. Overlooking this reality, federalism is the solution Keshap proposes to counter the less than perfect democracy and human rights record in Sri Lanka. The theory is, if the provinces have the political, economic and law enforcement powers, then the minorities have the power in “their” provinces to be “self governed”.

Self determination

What happens to the regional minorities in those provinces is conveniently overlooked. Obviously, this is a solution that has only taken into account the Tamils in the North and East. Clearly, U.S. foreign policy has sided with that group over the relationship with the Sri Lankan Government. Today, the North is under the “self determination” of Tamil National Alliance. When Shivajilingam, a political nonentity, warns the President of Sri Lanka to stay away from the North for a week and that is heeded, no further proof is needed. All foreign delegates, from the UN to the West, and even neutral Singapore, after landing in Colombo make a beeline to Jaffna. They all make a point to shake hands with the Northern Province Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran. Almost none visits the Buddhist Prelates or at the very least Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith.

The Northern Provincial council has no minority issues as the North has no other communities. Yet, for these past two and a half years, have the lives of the Northern Tamils lives improved? Has the North received any significant investment? Has the job prospects increased? Has the Tamil Nadu poaching resolved? Tamil politicians make a huge brouhaha to remember those who perished on the Nandikadaal lagoon. They are demanding answers for the disappeared. Yet, what support the living, especially those households without a man, get? The high level of substance abuse is a revealing indicator of the North’s happiness index. The police, for the slightest excuse, are pelted; their properties torched. The reaction to the police shooting a man who refused to stop is just one example. The TNA is grinning through gritted teeth as they fight amongst each other for power.

Against this backdrop we must evaluate how the de facto federalism helped the Tamils in the North and the country as a whole to perfect its democracy and human rights record.

Events in the North further expose federalism as a solution to Sri Lanka. Though ignored by the self-appointed international community, the Buddhist premises, temples, symbols and other establishments are under severe duress by Muslim extremists.

Desecrated and vandalized images of Buddhist belongings make regular rounds in social media. The Buddhist prelates have also voiced their concerns over these happenings in the East.

Sinhalese living in the East are further harassed by Tamil and Muslim government officials. These Sinhalese fled to escape from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s ethnic cleansing. Today, the bureaucrats are refusing to locate their land deeds or reissue their National Identity Cards. None of the agricultural benefits due to them, including water, is not provided.

It is in this backdrop Keshap visited Batticaloa this year. His visit was to celebrate Batticaloa being the first district to be Anti-personnel Mine free, to which efforts the U.S. has contributed USD 8 million. However, he went one day ahead of the rest of the delegation. Why?

Keshap celebrates Ramadan

Afterwards, Keshap stayed over to celebrate Ramadan. This is very curious when his government is flattening Arabic countries. On 21 July 2017, Gwynne Dyer writes to The Island on ending the siege on Mosul, that the battles probably took more civilians too as the U.S.-led air forces used to compensate the shortage of trained and motivated Iraqi ground forces, regularly took individual ISIS snipers by air strikes that levelled entire buildings.

After nearly 500 years of colonial rule, we should be able to sniff attempts of divide and rule. Yet, we still cannot. Those warning against federalism as a Trojan horse are systematically discredited.

On 12 January 2015, Teresita Schaffer writes in her blog, South Asia Hand, an interesting and a revealing analysis of what the Sirisena-led government would be (Sri Lanka: After the Election Upset, what next? http://southasiahand.com/regional/sri-lanka-after-the-election-upset-what-next). A former Ambassador to Sri Lanka (1992-95), with 11 years of experience in South Asia, serving in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, she is the State Department’s leading expert of the region.

Though her assignment in Sri Lanka ended

20 years ago, she correctly asserts that Mahinda Rajapaksa as the common enemy is the only adhesive keeping the new coalition together. Maithripala Sirisena despite his long political career will depend on his ministers for foreign policy matters. His challenge would be, “to demonstrate to the home audience that any policy changes he adopts are made at home, not in Washington. And Washington will need to lower its voice.”

It is on her advise “to suspend action on the annual U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution on Sri Lanka while the new team gets its balance,” that Sri Lanka got six months respite from the UNHRC for exactly that reason. Her advice was posted four days after elections. The UNHRC took the decision on 21 February 2015 – almost a month and half later. She further advises, “The United States, India and Sri Lanka to quietly work out a plan for implementing some of the most important LLRC recommendations.”

Exactly a week after the UNHRC’s respite, the UN Under-Secretary for Political Affairs, Jeffery D. Feltman stopped at Sri Lanka en route to Myanmar for a four-day visit. He makes his second visit on 19 July 2017 for a three-day visit. Though he is the second highest ranking officer in the UN, both visits have been low key and for closed-door meetings.

Feltman’s interest in Sri Lanka is cause for concern. In his almost 30 years of U.S. foreign services, mostly in the Middle East, he has consistently taken sides in an internal turmoil to push the U.S. agenda. The interested reader should follow the role he played in Lebanon where that government became known as “Feltman Government” and the guidance to the Nepalese politicians in their own constitution-making.

Daya Gamage writes in Asian Tribune, ” Feltman in May 2012 switched from being a US Assistant Secretary of State to UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs. The US essentially owns this UN position (US Lynn Pascoe was Feltman’s predecessor), just as France owns UN Peacekeeping through Herve Ladsous and three other Frenchmen in a row before him. The UK for now has Humanitarian Affairs, twice in a row.”

Thus, Feltman comes to Sri Lanka when the debate is on our constitution not as an international civil servant, but one pushing the U.S. foreign policy. In his capacity in the UN, he advises the UNSG. If America has decided that Sri Lanka must be divided, especially on ethnic lines, the UN assistance we are receiving is not in our interest.

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

BY Sugeeswara Senadhira Courtesy Ceylon Today

This week marks the 34th anniversary of Black July 1983, one of the darkest days post independence in Sri Lanka. The killings, arson, and looting sent shockwaves around the world and soon the ruthless killings by the Tamil terrorists were forgotten by the international community and the blame shifted to the Sinhalese community. The government was unable to protect the minorities (including the Tamil inmates at Welikada Prison) and this only made matters worse. After the violence was curtailed and some normalcy was restored, the intellectual community probed into the reasons for such senseless violence and the opinion of the majority was that early steps should be taken to devolve powers to ensure ethnic harmony. Due to this reason, the need for Constitutional amendments was discussed at length. However, at the end of the day, nobody was able to come up with a proper solution. Today, almost every political party is of the view that the Executive Presidency needs to be abolished.

After the 1983 riots, the Tamil parliamentarians in the Opposition decided to vacate their seats because of the introduction of the 6th Amendment to the Constitution on oath of allegiance. When the Opposition Leader, Appapillai Amirthalingam and other Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) members walked out of the Parliament, the dialogue with the moderate ended and the Tamil militants forcefully took over the Tamil political arena.

There were many rounds of unproductive dialogues like the All Party Conferences, G. Parthasarathy Talks, S. Chidambaram Proposals of 19 December, and Bangalore Talks. Finally, the Provincial Councils were established after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Agreement on 29 July 1987, which came about without an elaborate and lengthy national dialogue.

The 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment stated that “Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, a Provincial Council shall be established for every province specified in the Eighth Schedule with effect from such date or dates as the President may appoint by Order published in the Gazette.” However, the Provincial Council system could not bring about a lasting solution. Although there were 5 more amendments thereafter, including the controversial 18th Amendment, the most democratic constitutional exercise to strengthen democratic norms in the Constitution was the 19th Amendment which was enacted after the Presidential Election of 2015. Marking the beginning of a new chapter in the contemporary political history of Sri Lanka, the Parliament adapted the 19th Constitutional Amendment with an overwhelming majority. The legislation envisaged the dilution of many powers of the Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978.

Some of the important features of the 19th Amendment are: the reduction in the terms of President and Parliament from six years to five years; re-introduction of a two-term limit for the President; the President was only able to dissolve Parliament after four and a half years; the revival of the Constitutional Council and the establishment of independent commissions.

The 19th Amendment

By introducing the 19th Amendment, President Maithripala Sirisena transferred some of the powers of his Executive Presidency to the Parliament, thus ensuring that no person would have too much power. At the same time, those powers were divested with the elected legislative body, thus strengthening the democratic principle of “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” While the 19th Amendment fulfilled some of the demands of the people, all the promises given in the election manifestoes of the Common Candidate for the January 2015 Presidential Election and UNP and the SLFP-led UPFA manifestoes for August 2015 Parliamentary Elections could not be fulfilled. The abolishing of the Executive Presidency was the main promise.

Speaking at the State funeral for Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera, President Maithripala Sirisena pledged that he would take all possible measures to abolish the Executive Presidency as desired by Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera.

“The Thera also voiced the need for a new electoral system and I pledged that I would do my best to make that wish a reality,” he said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also expressed similar sentiments. “The greatest tribute that could be paid to Venerable Maduluwawe Sobitha Thera is to commit to bring about good governance and build a just society where democracy is upheld vibrantly,” he said. Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe further stated “Even when I visited the Venerable Thera in hospital, he spoke to me for around 1 hour about the future plans to bring about good governance and build a just society. It is sad that the Venerable Thera passed away before they were implemented.”

Election Pledge

Although abolition of the Executive Presidency was the main promise of President Maithripala Sirisena throughout his campaign, the Supreme Court ruled that such a significant amendment to the Constitution could not be made without a national referendum and a two third majority in Parliament. The drafting of a new Constitution and getting it passed at a Parliament sitting is the main task now and this process could benefit from the experience gained during the drafting of the 19th Amendment. There are, however, a few hurdles.

The National Freedom Front (NFF) led by Wimal Weerawansa decided to withdraw from the Constitutional Council. Although it is a small party, it has five members in Parliament. Another Parliamentarian, Venerable Athuraliye Rathana Thera although elected to the House on a UNP ticket says there is no need for a new Constitution.

The UNP manifesto stated that the party would cooperate with other parties in the Parliament to adopt a new Constitution. Apart from these few opposing voices, President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe are in a strong position to speed up the constitutional process and obtain the approval of the Parliament.

If the two parties together with their leaders come to a consensus, it will not be difficult to get the approval at a national referendum.

with Ravi Ladduwahetty Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today

The United Nations Human Rights Special Rapporteur Ben Emmerson has exceeded his mandate, which smacks of bigotry.

He should be ashamed of himself. He had no mandate whatsoever to say most of the things he said about the Government of Sri Lanka and its sovereignty. Had he made half of these comments about England or the United States, they would have resurrected half of the allegations of sexual abuse against him and he would have been hiding in some Third World Embassy in London by now like Julian Assange of Wikileaks fame! All this is because Sri Lanka is small and powerless in the eyes of the former colonial overlord.

But that does not give him the licence to say what he said. This is also a sequel to the spineless manner in which Sri Lanka caved into this incursion as far as the cosponsoring the US Resolution in Geneva in 2015 is concerned.

It is also high time that the Government of Sri Lanka restores the dignity of the country and it should take up the matter with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and also the United Nations Secretary General about the high-handed manner in which Emmerson has acted. It is precisely such people who live off the largess of the UN System and its connected networks. Small third world nations such as Sri Lanka are at their mercy of sundry mercenaries in the good books of lobbies with twisted vested interests.

Emmerson said at the news conference and also in a statement, the following:

Many of those who spoke to the Special Rapporteur expressed dismay at the lack of ministerial, parliamentary or public consultation over the proposals. Indeed, even the Human Rights Commission has not been informed or consulted on the draft framework.

Nonetheless, the present draft makes some significant improvements. Notably, it allows the Human Rights Commission unfettered access to individuals in detention and it abolishes the Attorney-General’s right of veto over the grant of bail. It creates an improved framework for administrative and pre-trial detention, with greater scope for independent judicial review.

However, there are a number of central flaws in the current framework draft which, if enacted, would guarantee the continued violation of the human rights of terrorism suspects. Foremost amongst these is a provision preserving the admissibility of confessions made to a Police officer in custody under duress. In a country with such a grave and widespread problem of torture and ill-treatment in custody, the only means by which counter-terrorism legislation could conform to international human rights standards would be the prohibition altogether of the use of confessions made to the Police. That is the position under the general law in Sri Lanka, for good reason, and it should certainly be the position under counter-terrorism legislation, where the risk of torture is at its greatest.

There are problems too with the breadth of the definition of terrorism, which poses a real risk that the legislation could be used in circumstances very far removed from acts of real terrorism, or against minorities or human rights defenders in a discriminatory and sectarian manner. There are also serious problems with a number of provisions of the framework draft directed at the gathering of evidence.

There are also important aspects in which the draft legislation is under-inclusive and fails to deal with modern terrorism phenomena such as the prevalence of Foreign Terrorist Fighters in this part of the world.

The progress of this legislation to date has been painfully slow, and this has, in turn, delayed the wider package of transitional justice measures that Sri Lanka committed to deliver two years ago. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that this inertia reflects the continuing influence of certain vested interests in the security sector, who are resistant to change, and above all, to accountability.

I am pleased to be able to announce today that the Government has undertaken to engage in a process of constructive dialogue with my mandate in an effort to improve the draft legislation before it is placed before Parliament. There is still time to get this legislation right, and for it to become the cornerstone of a new order in Sri Lanka. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has undertaken to consult with my team in Geneva within the next two weeks. The aim of this dialogue is to identify the flaws in the current draft, and to seek solutions for putting them right.

To conclude, then, it is necessary to stand back and look at the picture as a whole. There have been many statements of good intention, but so far little in the way of effective action to bring about a lasting and just settlement to the conflict; one which commands the confidence of all sections of the community. It seems that some small steps are now, at last being taken, in that direction. My plea to the Government and the people of Sri Lanka is to let these be the right steps, and not to allow the process to be diverted by retrograde elements in the security establishment and their allies in Government.

When the two sides of the accountability equation are viewed side by side, the resulting picture is stark: The Government has thus far done almost nothing to hold to account those members of the Armed Forces and Security Services who committed gross human rights violations during and since the conflict. At the same time, it has, until now, continued to operate the cruel and unjust PTA system, a system that has overwhelmingly impacted on the Tamil minority. These are precisely the conditions likely to produce festering grievances, to foster unrest and even to reignite conflict.