Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada

14 April 2017

Mayor John Tory
City Hall, 2nd Floor
100 Queen Street W
Toronto, On.
M5H 2N2

Dear Mayor John Tory:

I wish you a Happy Sinhala &  Tamil New Year.

Your personal observation piece on Sri Lanka in the Toronto Star, ‘The quest for healing and justice in the homeland of Toronto’s Tamil community’, came to my attention this morning.

While I was reading my concentration was interrupted by voices at a distance with Tamil accents singing a modern version of the nursery rhyme –

Let’s go gathering
Canadian-politico nuts in May,
Nuts in May, Nuts in May,
and in January, February, March
and April, on a Toronto’s
frosty Tory morning.

It sounded like a Toronto separatist-Tamil winner’s circle celebration of some sort about Canadian politicians.

Mayor Tory, you said, You probably know a lot less about their home country and how many of the, mostly Tamil, came to be here in Toronto.”  And you continued,

In fact, many were either escaping or just getting away from a lengthy and tragic civil war in Sri Lanka – a war with many chapters over many decades.”

Mayor Tory, of course I do, and here is what I know and you may want to check the veracity of what I have to say with your new Tamil Councillor Neethan Shanmugarajah, who I am told had come to Canada as a refugee when he was 16 years old.

The Tamils flew out of Jaffna raven’s nest not because they were persecuted or discriminated by the majority Sinhalese but was for another reason.  They were the privileged minority of 12.6% compared to  the wronged majority (Sinhalese) of 75% for almost 450 years of colonial rule and far beyond the years after Ceylon’s (Sri Lanka) Independence on 4th February 1948.  They were opportunistic Tamils  who flew out searching for greener pastures. And they flew out bypassing their Motherland India, thumbing their noses at her, where 55 million (1983) Tamils lived just 18 saltwater miles away from the northern tip of Jaffna, after the western floodgates were opened for them after the July 1983 riots.  What lucky people!  That riot was a God’s send for these Tamils. Their Mother India would have embraced them with affection if they had  so desired to go home.

They were economic refugees and not Convention refugees as they claimed to be.  I can bet my last dollar that 85% who landed on Canadian soil couldn’t have had a snowball chance in hell if they had tried to immigrate to Canada on the point system. These Tamil Convention refugee claims in the West turned out to be a million dollar business for some ‘enterprising Tamils’  for helping their Tamil clients to hurdle over International territorial boundaries with forged passports and forged immigration documents, et cetera.    So Mayor John Tory, don’t try to sell me your bleeding-heart poppycock.  Give me a break.

Here’s why I said that the Tamils were the privileged minority, and one would ask the question why on earth did  the majority of these Tamils get on  a plane with legitimate passports at Colombo’s International Airport and when they arrived at the Toronto’s Pearson International Airport almost all had learnt the magical ABRACADABRA disappearing trick to let their passports vanish into thin air. Once they had the passports in their hands and then Haro..Hara and Soooosh…” they disappeared into the airline’s lavatory commode, and then there were no passports to show the Canadian Immigration Officers when they told them that they were refugees running away from discrimination and persecution in Sri Lanka and had no passports to show, A brilliant ruse to say that they were refugees which almost always worked to their benefit.

When Colombo was burning with riots on July 24th, 1983, after the 13 bodies of army soldiers who were ambushed up North by the Tamil Tigers and killed and were brought to Colombo for burial, the Tamil student population of 207,524 in the predominantly Tamil Jaffna District in the North were the privileged minority (12.6%), with 555 Government schools, and the capital city of Colombo had only 251 such Government schools for 231,690 multi-ethnic students of which the majority were from the  wronged majority Sinhalese population.  Would you honestly call this persecution and discrimination of the minority Tamils!  Ha! What green-bin garbage.

I hope, I didn’t choke you Mayor John Tory.  Take a deep breath and hold onto it as there are more to come as I do not want your bleeding-heart baloney about the Toronto Tamils who landed as refugees claiming that they were running away from persecution and discrimination only to get on the first plane home after they received their Canadian passport..

Now to continue with the privileged minority Tamils of the North of Sri Lanka.  Forty-One percent of these Jaffna District Government schools had approved science laboratories compared to the island’s average of 19.6%.  These Tamil students were far better off than the Outport community students in Government schools in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, as I had the privilege of helping such students in Geology and Palaeontology lab work at MUN,  during my Graduate study research time after dinner hours.

I could quote many such incidents but I will tell you of one more privileged incident of the Tamil minority who flew away and ended up in places like the City of Toronto in far away Canada.

On July 24, 1983, the day of the riots in Colombo, and note that there were no such  riots in the Northern Jaffna peninsula,  Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police was

Mr. Rudra Rajasingam, a  Jaffna Tamil and NOT a Sinhalese.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was Mr. S. Sharvananda another Jaffna Tamil and NOT a Sinhalese’   And the island’s Attorney General was another Jaffna Tamil, Mr. Siva Pasupathy, and NOT a Sinhalese.  You were  not told of these Facts, were you.  In my understanding all these facts do not equate to Discrimination or  Persecution of  the minority Tamils.  What a crock of cod’s wallop!

What ‘healing’ and what ‘Justice’ are you talking of, Mayor John Tory?

You know what Mayor John Tory!  I wish you had taken off your ‘disingenuous  dark glasses’ when you toured the North of Sri Lanka. My stomach went into Ha!…Ha!! somersaults when I read your statement which I suppose was a clinical analysis of ‘today’s situation in the North of Sri Lanka’ by an Eelam leaning Canadian politician.  We had many of your kind who traipsed along the toddy- palm fringed kabook red soil of the Jaffna peninsula and spat out reams of stupid Tamil vote soliciting rubbish after their return to Canada.  Do I smell one more rat in you too?  I have had a belly full of your type of politicians, many were federal politicians like Jim, like Paul, like Jack, like Maria, like Judy, like Jason, like Deepak, like Bob,  like Patrick, like Derek and scores of others.  All didn’t want to antagonize the Tamil bloc voter base in case they lose their votes at the ballot box.

Just a minute I am hearing another Tamil accented voices singing, I believe it is a modern nursery rhyme squeezed lilting through my den’s window.   I believe it is wafting from Little Jaffna in Toronto.  Let me listen to it and then will continue with my letter to you:

Jim, Maria, Paul and Jack,
the Four blind mice
See how they run
we caught the fifth
blind sucker John into our net
it was not cheese that got him
but a blood- red blank ballot
and green Bank notes
as election funds
spilling out of a leather wallet,
So we got the fifth
sucker John inside our net
adding him to the four blind mice
Jim, Maria, Paul and Jack of the
Canadian-Parliamentary Tamil
Blarney Gong Show fame.

You know, Mayor John Tory, there is one important word, the main ingredient that is lacking in the vocabulary in your Toronto’s separatist -Tamils who have not given up wanting their piece of real estate in the North of Sri Lanka, to claim their second Tamil Homeland Eelam. The first being Tamil Nadu in South India, and who knows there will be the third Tamil Homeland in Canada – Eelam-Markam, and time will tell.

The word is S-O-R-R-Y.  This is the Manthra of Healing.

Please…please…. Mayor John Tory, this healing is a two way street and stop

expecting  the wronged majority Sinhalese to keep saying Sorry” to the privileged minority Tamils.  Enough, is enough.  Enough of this disingenuous crap, Mayor John Tory.  These Tamil Tiger terrorists, who your Councillor Neethan Shanmugarajah is a sympathizer of  I am told, crept in the indigo dark  nights into fisherfolks and farmers adobe huts in border villages of the North and East of the island, chopped the unarmed peasants with machetes, shot them at point blank range, plucked the infants from the mother’s breasts and bayoneted them as if playing a War Game – Tamils Eelam War: The Mother of all Terrorist Wars with stuffed toys bought at Toys R Us.

Wow! Man!!  There is no memorial or monument for the Tamil community in the Northern Province to remember their loved ones who were lost during the war”  you said. That is nasty and heartless, isn’t it Mayor John Tory!   I see your bleeding heart has spoken well for the Tamils who died, who lived by the gun and died by the gun, during the Eelamist generated 27-long years of  that brutal war.  That is incredulous.  So was your political stunt to gather the Tamil votes in the Greater Toronto Area.  I would give you an A for being that cunning-smart.

But, hey! Mayor John Tory, but there is something horribly missing in your sympathetic conviction.  I believe in reciprocity which you lacked in buckets in a nasty way. If you had let your bleeding heart bleed a little more of your Ketchup blood you may have noticed and you would have said – ”There is no memorial or monument in the North and East for the Sinhalese brave sons who fought the separatist Tamil Tiger terrorists and got killed, while wanting to give back to the 20 million Sri Lankan peoples their paramount human rights, the ‘right-to-life’ that was hijacked by the Tamil Tigers for 27 long years.”  That would have been a new brand of Mayor John Tory, a stamp of honesty which is a rare trait in politicians around the world.  But you missed that opportunity Big Time., Mayor John Tory.

And if you were taken to the border villages of the North and East war theatre where peasant farmers and fisherfolk were massacred by the Tamil Tigers you would agree with me that each such border village would have wanted a memorial of some sort to remember their loved ones snuffed out by Tamil Tiger terrorists.

*Ask your Tamil Councillor Neethan Shanmugarajah what did happen up North on Friday, 30th November of 1984 around 5:30 in the morning?  If his mind has gone blank, then let me relate to you:

That eventful morning, the Tamil Tigers, about 100 of them in a sudden and unexpected attack massacred and killed over 60 farming folk at the Dollar Farm settlement in the Mullaitivu District.  Among those brutally killed were 4 women and 3 children.  And all who were killed were of the Sinhalese community.   And do I, as a Sinhalese, have to say S-O-R-R-Y to these separatist  Tamils?  Na!  Not in this life, Mayor John Tory.  I want a Lest we forget-–memorial at this site of the massacre by the Tamil Tigers.  Perhaps there is a rock propped up as a memorial.  This I don’t know.

*Ask your Tamil Councillor  Neethan Shanmugarajah what did happen up North on Saturday, 1st December 1984, where he was  born?  If his mind has gone blank let me tell you and I hope I won’t puke with anger while I relate the incident.

It was two hours after dusk that Saturday, by then the most inhuman and beastly attack of unarmed innocent fisherfolk by the Tamil Tigers took place  in the two fishing villages of Kokilai and Nayaru

That fateful day as many as 14 innocent Sinhala civilians were brutally butchered by these Tamil terrorists.  That day they didn’t even spare innocent children.  Two young sisters in their early 20s  were tied to each other with their long hair and then shot through their faces at close range,  These two girls had died embracing and hugging each other.

In Kokilai where they attacked first, the first victim was Nalin Thushara, a baby of 10 months, who was happily sucking his Mum’s breast.  The mother panicked and ran for life with her baby pressed to her bosom.  Mayor John Tory, do you know what these Tamil terrorist no-good rascals did?   They shot two bullets and killed both Mum and her infant. The revolting bastards!

And you seem to be concerned about not having a memorial for the Tamils who died at war.  I will underline in red my concerns to you.   I want reciprocity. I demand reciprocity.  I want a ‘Lest we forget…” memorial for  my Sinhalese people who were killed by these inhuman ruthless Tamil terrorists at every village where the innocent unarmed Sinhalese became victims to the Tamil Tiger machetes, bullets and hand grenades.  Nothing more and nothing less.  I hope you got it.

These are the 4th and 5th of the Tamil Tiger killer events in my catalogue of hundreds of such brutal massacres.  I will leave it at that now that you may have got a taste of it and also realizing that you are walking on thin ice and telling yourself –  To hell with the Tamil votes, I am going to keep my Mouth Shut without giving this guy Asoka Weerasinghe of Ottawa to come after my  exposed jugular.”  Right, Mayor John Tory!

And you went on to say, The entire experience of visiting the Northern Province of Sri Lanka was incredibly moving precisely because we met real people who had experienced real trauma and who had still not seen action by the government adequate to constitute justice and promote real healing.”

O my God! Mayor John Tory, who the hell do you think you are kidding!  No, you didn’t meet all the real people who had experienced real trauma…”  That is a bunch of baloney.  You only met the Tamil sector who were traumatized for the very reason that you wanted to garner their votes back home, with a  Tamil witness watching you  exposing your bleeding heart for their Eelam cause.  Right, John Tory !  That was a bit sick, wasn’t it!

Mayor John Tory, you are guilty in my eyes not being honest.  The real people who were traumatized in this war in the North were the Sinhalese who had lived there for generations.  They  were terrorized, stoned and were ethnically cleansed, and those in the border villages were massacred, chopped with machetes, shot with bullets and some officials locked in  kerosened-buildings and burnt alive.

I will accompany you the next time you visit the North of Sri Lanka, so that I can force-squeeze tears out of your eyes, and watch you cry for my people who were traumatized.  And kneel at a murder site and say a prayer for their souls.  I will pay my way.  I want to witness your heart bleed not only for the Tamils, but for my people, the Sinhalese too.  Let’s make a deal. Let’s do it, and give my people a break, and correct your Northern Tour path as you had been taken along the Eelam Liar’s Boulevard. I am aware of the right path to show you where the Sinhalese were chopped, quartered and shot, where the Sinhala humanity was trampled and spat  at by the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists – the Sinhala Metta Road to Love.

Mayor John Tory, you amazed me when you said, One of the first things that strikes you as you travel the North is the extraordinary military presence.  Every couple of miles there is a military presence.  Every couple of miles there is a military base, far in excess of what you would expect to see even a highly militarized democratic country.”

Well, Mayor John Tory, you didn’t go South, did you?  If you had you may have noticed that there are military presence even in the rest of the country.  That is what any government would do for the security of its territory and its nearly 21 million people. Your international geography is skewed Mayor.  The North of Sri Lanka is still part of that beautiful island and the Tamils up North better start accepting that reality, and so it should be with their foreign  friends like Mayor John Tory of Toronto in Canada.  While you have your job cut out to take care the interests of the huge City of Toronto, just don’t make your job difficult by adding to your Mayoral  duty agenda, to act as an unsolicited consultant as another Canadian political crap-shooter for the Tamil Eelam cause, and tell the Sri Lankan Government how to govern the North of Sri Lanka because some of your Tamil voters still carry Tamil Tiger flags on special occasions, and still  have not extinguished the flames of  dreaming for their mythical mono-ethnic, racist. separate Tamil state, Eelam, from their bellies,  And more over it is none of your business Mayor John Tory.  Just keep your nose and your Tamil curry-dirtied fingers out of my historical Sri Lanka, my Motherland, that I am still romancing with. I hope you heard my voice of dragon spitting anger loud and clear.

In your opinion piece you said, Those who know members of our community from Sri Lanka in Toronto will know they are enterprising, successful, engaging people.”

While I am happy to acknowledge the enterprising  and successful members of the Tamil community’, so would I of Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese, Muslim and Burgher immigrant communities who you have intentionally ignored to extol their enterprising and successful virtues.  There are many around Greater Toronto Area and its suburbs that you don’t seem to care, as Tamils have the numbers and the Tamils have the bloc- vote.  Right, Mayor John Tory!  Don’t you feel stupid about all this, and I think it is time you renounce your membership at the Canadian Politician’s Club of Crap-Shooters for an Eelam cause as it will take you nowhere.

Oh..sure…sure, you talk of the Tamils saying Those who know members of our community from Sri Lanka in Toronto will know they are enterprising, successful, engaging people.”  Of course, they are smart and enterprising.  But did you know that among the enterprising Tamils in the Greater Toronto Area, there are the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.  And I know that you have blanked out those who are Bad and the Ugly.”  Shish!…Mayor John Tory, that is a bit disingenuous on your part, isn’t it.  Stop painting  gold haloes over the Tamils in your community, just because you want their vote.  Silly, you!  What of the Sinhalese, Muslims and Burgher community members. They have a vote too, don’t you know?

But let me inform you about the bright enterprising Tamils in your neck of the woods, who were on their way to becoming millionaires in a jiffy until they got caught to the Durham Regional Police ‘Project Off-Guard’  Fraud Net.

In November of 2012, around 24 smart enterprising Tamils were arrested in a Massive Fraud Bust and charged in connection with a debit card forgery ring that garnered tens of thousands” of dollars. Sure…sure…Mayor John Tory.  You were right a 100%  when you stamped these Tamils as enterprising and engaging.”  And I hasten to add that that there are genuine hard working, smart Tamils who are enterprising, successful, lucky and done extremely well in life in Canada,  And I doff my hat to them.

The Durham Regional Police confiscated tens of thousands of dollars, and debit card forging equipment (is this what you called enterprising) dismantled and seized.  A warrant was executed at a Scarborough address and a debit card lab was dismantled,  Numerous safes, hundreds of forged debit cards and $10,000 in cash were seized.,  Some Tamil suspects were arrested in Vaughan and there were more goods seized including $35,000 in cash.

I suppose, Mayor John Tory, you must be pretty disappointed that you lost 24 young Tamil enterprising” millionaires in your community until their luck ran out and, very likely they may be behind bars now.  So be judicious with your enthusiasm extolling your community’s enterprising Tamils.

You may want to follow these names through the Durham Regional Police – Nirmalarasan Kanaglingam (32), Vinotha Rajasrikumar (26), Nirojan Kulasekaran (22), Pratheeb Krishnapillai (26), Sujan Sivakumaru (21), Chandrakumaran Tharamarathnam (30), Kajethiran Vijayakumar (39),  Fazilath Omer (25), Pirakalathan Sithamparanathan (20), Mithun Indrakumaran (19), Krishnajith Ramesha (21), Nishanth Ganeshamoorthy (19), and Ravindra Aruncumar (21) and there are more, but I don’t want to burden you any more.  These were your enterprising” Tamils who were on their way to become quick millionaires.  These were the economic refugees who landed on Canadian soil in search of greener pastures and roads paved with gold and wanting to catch moonstone stars raining from the sky.  Well…the rest is history.

This will be an eyeopener for being so stupid for being an Eelam sympathizer.  Just cut it Mayor John Tory….Just cut it.  I have come across many Canadian politicians who were made jokers and fools by the separatist Tamil Eelaml lobby in the Greater Toronto Area, and I notice that you are now their latest recruit been made a Joker and a Fool for their separatist Eelam cause.  What a bloody shame!

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe (Mr)

(A Sinhalese-Buddhist)

Dr  Upatissa  Pethiyagoda.

You may call it foresight, development, modernization, progress or whatever self-satisfying term that you like. I call it reckless profligacy, and I shall attempt to tell you why.

But first, we are broke and possibly soon join the ranks of defaulters”, our exports (Tea Rubber and Coconuts) are as habitual, in the doldrums, we are jolly close to losing GSP Plus, our behavior is such that any thinking person would see the compelling need for Hybrid Courts”, wild cat schemes for inappropriate metal houses”, a little needed Port City and Megapolis” are promoted with stubborn intent. Add to all this, the rash decision to jack-up Public Service (1.2 million) salaries by Rs 10,000/= per month, the Bond Scam fiasco, the obscene increase of MP bonanzas, Duty Free imports of needless vehicles, renting and re-furbishing of official houses and offices, the endless foreign jaunts, where it was explained in Parliament that 25 Ministers (Most have ceased  or cared  to ask out of how many”?) were abroad. Mercifully, the President and Prime Minister (& family”, as wedding invitations say) are seldom out together – each waiting to take the baton as the others return. Good for us, to have the rudder always in safe hands.

When all the indicators are dismal, and while an impotent Blame  Game” continues, a little speculation is permissible. The War, concluded in May 2009, was said to have cost us Rs 60 Million per day (less the necessary maintenance costs). Anyway, it is a huge amount of money saved – a hefty temptation for any spendthrift – especially when it has no identifiable owner. A massive and greedy cluster of Ministers have no difficulty of identifying Projects”. After all, each has to score Brownie Points” to secure tenure. As that Pithy Sinhala saying translates, It is like tying ladders for leaping Monkeys”.

So, bigger the Project, the more likely it is to attract attention (not to mention that x% of transmission losses”, increases with the value of x). So, the ploy is to trump up projects, exercising every ingenuity conceivable. Thus Electronic identity Cards and Driving Licences, Dialysis Units and Electro-osmosis Gear, Computers for every school (toilets can wait),

A handy word is Policy”, used variously, but often equally well-expressed as idea, intention, goal, objective, plan, design and a multitude of other words. So, we have Policies for Agriculture, Health, Housing, Education, Foreign Affairs, Employment, Tourism and so much else. Does this mean that we have wandered aimlessly for the last 69 years?  What the Sanguinary Hades” have been doing then, without a compass to guide us? We have had so many Policies” from time to time, so why more? Policy formulation means Consultancies – handy gifts for friends and relations. After all, we have amended the Constitution (The Supreme Law) no less than nineteen times, so why not periodic policies”? It was hilariously (and solemnly) announced that 2018 will be declared as The Year for the Alleviation of Poverty”. How thoughtful and attainable! What’s in it for 2019, since 2020 has already been designated Election (or Atonement) Year?.

We have disdained many sources of Income, passionately identified on Election Platforms, the Hundreds of Bank Accounts held for the LTTE by former leader-in-waiting Kumaran Pathmanathan? The 18 tons of gold not found in the Swimming Pool of Ambassador-designate ASP Liyanage? The stashes of Stolen Assets in Foreign Bank Accounts? The elusive Ukranian Envoy? These are all resources that were to be recovered and ample to meet every Budgetary need. Why not declare the rest of 2017 as The Recovery of Loot Year”?

Our tank of National Resources is leaking faster than it is replenished. Those who spend money that they do not have are Reckless and Profligate. When such monies are committed for future generation to repay, we are Criminals.

Dr  Upatissa  Pethiyagoda.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dear Sirs

I have written about the garbage problem and a tangible solution many times and I predicted that this will happen

I am writing again with a solution ………..

There is no solution unless we dump garbage into the Sea  !!!!!!

Quote

GARBAGE DISPOSAL EMERGENCY SITUATION AND ACTION PLAN

GARBAGE DISPOSAL EMERGENCY SITUATION AND ACTION PLAN
Posted on May 21st, 2016

නලින් ද සිල්වා

එක්සත් රාජ්‍ය ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානයේ යම් ප්‍රදේශයකට මහා විශාල බෝම්බයක් අත් හැරලා. ඒක න්‍යෂ්ටික නොවන වඩාත් ම භයානක බෝම්බය ලෙස හැඳින්වෙනවා. බෝම්බවල මාතාව නමින් ද එය හඳුන්වනවා. මාතාව කියන එක අපේ සංස්කෘතියෙ නම් උපරිම කැප කිරීම, සෙනෙහස ආදී ගුණාංග සමග බැඳුනක්. අප ඒ සංකල්පය බෝම්බ සමග යොදා ගන්නේ නැහැ. එහෙත් බටහිරයන්ට ඒ ප්‍රශ්නයක් නො වෙයි. ඔවුන් මාතාව යන්න යොදා ගන්නේ වෙනත් අර්ථ සමග. සංස්කෘතික දෙකක වෙනස ඒ උදාහරණයෙනුත් පේන්න තියෙනවා.

ඒ කොහොම වුණත් මේ බෝම්බ හෙළීම මගින් අයිසිස් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් යම් පිරිසක් මිය ගොස් ඇතැයි කියනවා. බෝම්බ දමන්න ඇත්තේ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් එල්ල කරගෙන. අද මුළු මහත් ලෝකයට ම ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් තර්ජනයක් පමණක් නොව කරදරයක් ද බවට පත් ව තිබෙනවා. සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාත් ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් මිය යනවා. අපට ත්‍රස්තවාදය හොඳහැටි පුරුදුයි. ජ වි පෙරමුණේ ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් අප දෙවතාවක් බැට කෑවා. ඔවුන් පහර දුන්නේ පොලීසියට (විජේවීරගේ එක් රැයින් පොලීසිවලට පහර දී බලය ලබා ගැනීමේ  ප්‍රයත්නය) හා හමුදාවට පමණක් නො වේ. ඔවුන් සාමාන්‍ය ජනයා, භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේ ද ඝාතනය කළා. පසුව දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් අප බැට කෑවා.

තම අපේක්‍ෂා මුදුන්පත් කර ගැනීම සඳහා රජය සමග කරන සටන්වල දී සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාට හිරිහැර කිරීම ත්‍රස්තවාදය ලෙස හඳුන්වන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ හිරිහැර මිනීමැරුම් වීම පමණක් නොවෙයි. ජනතාවට භීතිය ඇති කිරීම, ජනතාවගේ එදිනෙදා කටයුතුවලට බාධා පැමිණවීම් ආදියත් හිරිහැර කිරීම්. වැඩවර්ජනය යන්න වැඩකරන අයගේ අයිතියක් වෙන්න පුළුවන්. වැඩ කරන අයට වැඩ නොකර ඉන්නත් අයිතියක් තියෙනවයි කියලයි කියන්නෙ. වැඩ වර්ජනය කියන්නෙත් අත්හැරීමක්. ඒත් එය අපේක්‍ෂා නැති කර ගැනීම සඳහා කරන අත්හැරීමක් නොව තව තවත් අපේක්‍ෂා ඇති කර ගැනීම සඳහා කරන අත්හැරීමක්. එය සිංහල බෞද්ධ සංස්කෘතියේ ඉගැන්වෙන අත්හැරීමක් නො වෙයි.

අද දොස්තරලා හා කොන්දොස්තරලා තම අපේක්‍ෂා ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහා අනෙක් අයට වඩා සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාට හිරිහැර කරනවා. එය කිසිසේත් ම අනුමත කරන්න බැහැ. රෝගීන්ට කරදර කරලා රෝගීන් අනතුරේ දාලා දිනාගන්න දේ මොකක් ද? දොස්තරලා හිරිහැර කරන්නෙ තමන්ට ඉගැන්වීමට කැප කරපු සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාට. දොස්තරලා කියන්න බැරි නැහැ ඔවුන් සටන් කරන්නෙ සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාවගේ දරුවන් වෙනුවන් කියලා. ඒක මහා බොරු කතාවක්. මේ ගැන මා කලින් කරුණු කියා ඇති. බොහෝ දොස්තරලාට, අඩුම තරමෙන් ඔවුන්ගෙ වෘත්තීය සමිති නිලධාරීන්ට නිරවුල් ව හිතන්න බැරි බව නැවත නැවතත් පෙන්වා දෙනවා.  

මා මේ දේ කියන්නේ අප සුද්දන්ගේ සියලු දේ අත්හැරිය යුතුය ප්‍රතික්‍ෂෙප කළ යුතු ය කියන අර්ථයකින් නො වෙයි. සුද්දන්ගේ දෙයක් වුණත් අපේ සංස්කෘතියේ හර පද්ධතිය නැති කර ගන්නෙ නැතිව උරා ගන්න පුළුවන් නම් එහෙම කළාට කමක් නැහැ. අනෙක් අතට අප කර ඇති සමහර දේ සුද්දන්ගේ පිටින් යවන්න ලැහැස්ති වීම අද ඇතැම් ජාතිකවාදීන්ගේ කාර්යයක් බවට පත් වෙලා. නැකැත් විසි හතකට අහස බෙදා චන්ද්‍ර මාස ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කර ගත් අප අධිමාස ඇති කර ගත්තෙ සුද්දන්ගෙ දින දර්ශනයක් අනුව යමින් නො වෙයි. එය සෘතු විපර්යාසය නිසා ඇති කර ගත් දෙයක්. අධිමාස තිබුණෙ නැත්නම් අපට හීතල දුරුත්තක් නැති වෙන්න තිබුණා. බක් මාසෙත් සමහර අවුරුදුවල සීතල වෙන්න තිබුණා. උඳුවප් පෝයට සිරීපාදෙ යන එක නැතිවෙන්න තිබුණ. දැන් ඉන්න තේරුමක් නැති සිංහලයන්ට වගේ නොවෙයි පැරණි සිංහලයන්ට කල්පනාවක් තිබුණා.

අද ලෝකයේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය හැම තැන  ම පැතිරිලා. ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැති කරන්න ඕන. ලංකාවෙ අප නම් දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කළා. එහෙම කෙළෙ පඬියන් දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කරන්න බැහැයි කියපු කාලෙ. අප ප්‍රභාකරන් ඝාතනය කරපු එක ගැන බටහිරයන්ට හොඳට ම කේන්ති ගියා. ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය වුණෙ ප්‍රභාකරන්ට නිදහස දෙන්න. ප්‍රභාකරන් සයනයිඩ් ගිල්ලෙත් නැහැ. ඔහු නිවටයෙක්. ඔහු යටත් වෙන්න සූදානමෙන් හිටිය බව පැහැදිලියි. ප්‍රභාකරන් ඝාතනය කිරීමෙන් පස්සෙ බටහිරයන් දෙමළ ජාතිවාදීන් එක්ක එකතු වෙලා ඊනියා මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් නැති කිරීම් ප්‍රශ්නයක් ඇති කළා. මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් නැති කෙළෙ දෙමළ ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්. මිනිස් වළල්ල ආදිය ගැන ඔවුන්ගෙ පාර්ලිමේන්තු නියෝජිතයා වූ සම්බන්ධන් නිහඬයි. ඒ වෙනුවට ඔහු ඉන්දියාවට ගිහින් දෙමළ ජනයා එක්ලක්‍ෂ පනස්දාහක් මැරුවයි කියලා ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මේලනයක දී කිවුවා. ඒ විපක්‍ෂ නායක ලෙස. ඒ ගැන රනිල් විතරක් නොවෙයි මෛත්‍රිපාලත් නිහඬයි ඒ විතරක් නොවෙයි, ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයත් නිහඬයි.

ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානයෙ බෝම්බය පිපිරිලා සිවිල් වැසියන් කිසිවකු මිය යන්නෙ නැතිව ඇති. අධිතාක්‍ෂණික බෝම්බයක් නිසා ඒක ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පමණක් සොයා ගෙන ගොස් ඝාතනයකරන්න ඇති. ජෙනීවා හි හුසේන් කුමාරයා නිහඬ ඒක නිසා වෙන්න ඇති.  මංගල සමරවීරට මේ ප්‍රශ්නය සැප්තැම්බරයෙදි ජෙනීවාහි මතු කරන්න පුළුවන් ද? අයිසිස් ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැති කිරීම ගැන මා එකඟයි. ඒත් ඒකට බටහිරයන් මැදිහත් වෙන්න ඕන ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය වගේ රටවල ආරාධනයෙන් පමණයි.  මට ප්‍රශ්නය වන්නෙ හුසේන්ගෙ මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් කතා. හුසේන් අපට මාන අයිතිවාසිකම් ගැන කියනවා. ඒත් කොටි සංවිධානයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු නියෝජිත දෙමළ ජාතික සංධානයටවත් බටහිරයන්ටවත් හුසේන් මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් ගැන කියන්නෙ නැහැ. මේක දෙබිඩි ප්‍රතිපත්තියක් නො වෙයි. ඒක තමයි ජාත්‍යන්තරවාදී සුපිරිව්‍යුහයේ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය.

නලින් ද සිල්වා

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A massive mound of garbage collapsed in Sri Lanka, killing 19 people, injuring 13 and forcing more than 600 others to flee their homes during festivities to mark the local new year, officials said Saturday.

Soldiers on Saturday were searching the site in Meetotamulla, a town near the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

Four people were rescued from underneath the mound, but it was unclear whether any others were buried, said military spokesman Roshan Seneviratne, who said five children were among the dead.

Police spokesman Priyantha Jayakody said police were investigating whether the collapse Friday night was a natural disaster or a deliberate act of sabotage.

The site has been used to dump Colombo’s garbage for the past few years as authorities sought to give the capital a face-lift. But residents living in tiny homes in the area have protested against all the waste being dumped there because of health hazards.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Saturday that the government would soon remove the garbage dump from the area.

Seneviratne said 625 people whose homes were either destroyed or under threat from the collapse were being housed in nearby schools. The 13 injured were receiving treatment at the Colombo’s main state hospita

Ram Madhvani

Sadly the same story continues in many other parts of the world even today – in Libya, Afghanistan, Syria and many other smaller nations where locals are set up to kill each other so that the rich can make more riches and justifying those wars on the pretext of protecting democracy, human rights and freedom.

We do not seem to learn from the tragedies of the past….

Colombo Telegraph,News,STORIES | Posted by: COLOMBO_TELEGRAPH

Chairman of Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL) Lakshan Dias and prominent TISL Board Member, J.C. Weliamuna have both stepped down from their positions in the organization in the wake of several Right to Information (RTI) petitions being filed by trade unionists under the RTI Act asking for reports relating to alleged corruption and internal mismanagement at the organization.

JC Weliamuna

The official website of TISL indicates that a new Chairman, SCC Elankoven, has been appointed to the organization while three new Directors have also been appointed. The new Chairman, SCC Elankovan is ‘presently a Consultant to the National NGO Action Front (NNAF) providing support to the NNAF assisting in the areas; of increasing membership especially expanding to the North, East and Plantation areas.’

The Colombo Telegraph learns that RTI petitions filed against TISL have been entertained by an Information Officer appointed by TISL but requests have been denied on the basis that the information asked for does not come within the ambit of the information that the TISL is bound to provide as a Public Authority. The Coalition Against Corruption (CAC) which exercised the RTI powers to submit six RTI applications to TISL has been asked to submit appeals to the Designated Officer who is the CEO of the organization, Asoka Obeyesekere.

Full Story

Dias And Weliamuna Step Down From TISL Following RTI Requests

Mahinda Gunasekera  

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April 14, 2017

The Editor
Toronto Star
Toronto, Ontario

Copy to: His Worship the Mayor of Toronto

Dear Editor,

Mayor John Tory’s Opinion Column published on April 4, 2017 on

 ‘The quest for healing and Justice in Sri Lanka’

I find Mayor Tory’s opinion arrived at after a short visit to the country having spent just a day or two in the north is inaccurate, misleading and obviously based on whatever he heard from a few pre-selected individuals who were given the opportunity to meet with him. He being the Mayor of a city which has a multiplicity of ethnic groups that have made it their home, should avoid taking up the cause of a single ethnic group which has been engaged in a three decade long armed conflict including suicide terrorism in Sri Lanka  to form a break away state with an eye to harness the votes of the expat Tamil community who are mainly residing in Toronto. Such comments could hinder the ongoing reconciliation process in that country, as he has ignored the views of other ethnic groups  from Sri Lanka such as the Sinhalese, Moors, Malays, Burghers, etc. , who also live in his city.

He appears to be repeating some of the wild allegations made by extremist politicians of Sri Lanka’s north that he met, when he says that the military presence is overwhelming with one soldier for every three Tamil citizens. His math is obviously wrong as the number of soldiers in the north has been scaled down from 70,000 during the height of the hostilities to 13,000 to prevent the regrouping of 12,000 former Tamil Tiger fighters who have been rehabilitated and released, and to ensure the safety and security of nearly 800,000 citizens living in the Jaffna peninsula. He is probably mistaking police stations established to serve the people as military bases, which bases are being progressively removed with improvements to the security situation. Despite the elapsing of almost 8 years since the conclusion of the armed confrontation, there have been two attempts to revive the militancy of the Tamil Tigers with funding coming from Tamil expats to renew violent actions. The latest aimed at assassinating a leading member of the Tamil National Alliance, Hon. M. Sumanthiran, MP, came to light on a tip off and the men involved were taken into custody.

The Mayor’s statement that the UN estimated the loss of 40,000 lives during the last stages of the armed conflict is also not correct, as it was a figure quoted by the so called three member Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka appointed by the UN Secretary General for his personal guidance,  and not in a report sanctioned by the UNSC, UNGA or other UN agency. The submissions received by the panel from just one side of the conflict have been locked away for 20 years on the recommendation of the panel till the year 2031. The UN Resident Representative’s office in Colombo came up with a figure of 7,721 deaths from August 2008 to May 13, 2009 compiled from sources within the conflict zone including their local staff from the Tamil community who were not released  by the Tamil Tiger forces was not accepted by Sir John Holmes, UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, stating that the number could not be verified as the UN was not present on the ground.

The Mayor also spoke of middle aged women protesters who brought pictures of male family members who they said based on second hand evidence had been taken away towards the latter stages of the war apparently by the military, who they claimed were missing up to now. The fact is that there is clear evidence to the effect that the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) had fired on members of their community who attempted to flee from their control and seek safety in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Army. Also,  others who fled from LTTE control may well have drowned in the Nandikadal Lagoon which they had to go across to get away. Some are known to have sought asylum in India and are presently living in refugee camps, while a few high profile persons previously said to have been killed in custody have also been later photographed entering India after a 45 minute boat ride .  Several thousands managed to avoid surrendering themselves to the military for screening and rehabilitation/resettlement, and leave Sri Lanka’s shores to seek greener pastures in western countries, some of whom even arrived by boat to Canada and may be living in Toronto under a different identity. It is a very difficult  task to trace them with the limited information being provided by the protesting mothers or middle aged womenfolk. The government appointed Presidential Commissions of Enquiry to collect data and determine their fate, and have even passed legislation to set up a Missing Persons’ Office to handle the subject. The last Presidential Commission recorded a total of 19,000 missing persons including over 5,000 members of Sri Lanka’s security forces personnel reported missing in action during three decades of hostilities. It will be up to the authorities to make further inquiries and reach a finality in each case.

The Mayor has presented a victimhood tale of the suffering endured by the Tamil community probably because they demonstrate and make a lot of noise about their grievances, while the rest of the constituent communities suffer in silence and are ignored by the world. The following video shows the extent of suffering undergone by members of the other constituent communities including dissident Tamils who were opposed to the violence and terror unleashed on them over a period of three decades: i.e.  http://www.youtube.com/embed/4yQaZNQFtoI?feature=player_embedded . The truck bombing of the Central Bank building in Colombo’s financial district on the 31^st of January 1996 killing 94 and injuring over 1,300 has a direct link to the $7.2 million transferred by pro-LTTE Tamils in Canada to a supplier of plastic and TNT explosives in the Ukraine. In the circumstances, it is advisable that the Mayor and other politicians of Canada maintain an impartial stance if they are to help in the healing process in Sri Lanka.

Yours sincerely,

Mahinda Gunasekera

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

ඉතිහාසයේ කළු අකුරින් සටහන් වෙන දුෂිතම රජය බිහිව ගලායමින් පවතී. මේ රජය බිහි කිරීමට හා පවත්වා ගෙන යාමට අවැසි විවිධ ආකාරයේ ව්‍යාපෘතීන් රාශියක්, පරගැති දේශපාලන ප්‍රජාවගේ මුලිකත්වයෙන් නිර්මාණය කර පවත්වාගෙනයාම අප නිතරම දකින සිදුවීම් අතර ඇත. මේ ව්‍යාපෘතීන් ඉතාමත් සුක්ෂම ලෙස නිර්මාණය කරන ලද බැවින්, මෙරට ජනතාවට එකවර මේවායේ ඇති සැබෑ ස්වරුපය හදුනාගත නොහැක. මේ වනවිට මේ පාලනය සුරකින ප්‍රබලම මෙවලම බවට, “සෛටම් අර්බුදය” නම් වූ දේශපාලන නිර්මාණය ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. තවද එය ඉතා සාර්ථකව පවතින යහපාලන රජයට ඉදිරියට ගලායාමට ඇවැසි පසුබිම සකස්කරදී ඇත. මෙවන් තත්වයක් තුලදී, කල යුත්තේ කුමක්දැයි යන්න මෙරට ජනතාවට පහදාදීම එතරම් පහසු කටයුත්තක් නම් නොවේ. අප මේ දෙස නිහඩව බලා සිටිනවාද? නැත්නම් දකිනදේ හා අපට පෙනෙන දේ පවසනවාද යන දෙමන්සලම තුලට වී බලා සිටින මේ මොහොතේ, පවතින තත්වයන් අපට බලකර සිටින්නේ, ජනතාව පිළිගත්තද නොගත්තද මේ සිදුවෙන දේශපාලන නාඩගම සම්බන්ධව, අප දරණ මතයද ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙසයි.

මේ දේශපාලන රංගනයේ, පෙරමුණු බල ඇණිය වන්නේ අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයීය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානයයි. ඔවුන් සටන් පාඨය බවට පත් කරගෙන ඇත්තේ, “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු යන්නය” මේ සටන් පාඨය ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතාගේ යුගයේදී ආරම්භව මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ යුගය පසු කරගෙන විත්, යහපාලන යුගයේදීද දේශපාලන කරලියේදී දිදුලන සටන් පථයක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ. ශ්‍රී ලාංකීය සමාජයේ ජීවත්වෙන අපද විවිධ තත්වයන් යටතේ, විවිධ යුගයන්හිදී මේ සටන් පාඨයන් හා සමීප සම්බන්ධතාවයන් ඇතිව කටයුතු කොට තිබේ. තවද ඒ ඒ යුගයන්හිදී, විවිධ තලයන් තුලදී කටයුතු කොට අපටම ආවේනික වූ අත්දැකීම් වලින්ද පෝෂිතව සිටින්නෝ වෙමු.

සෛටම් යනු මේ යුගයේ, ඇති පුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලයකි. මේ වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලයට එරෙහිව,
1. ශ්‍රී ලංකා වෛද්‍ය සභාව සටන් වදින අතර,
2. අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානයද සටන් කරයි.

පළමුව මෙරට ජනතාව අවබෝධ කරගත යුත්තේ, ශ්‍රී ලංකා වෛද්‍ය සභාවේ සටන හා අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානයේ සටන,  සටන් දෙකක් මිස  එකම සටනක් නොවන බවයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වෛද්‍ය සභාව පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ, මෙය නීත්‍යනුකුලව ලෙස වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලයක් ලෙස ස්ථාපිතව නැති බව හා මේ වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලය හා බද්ධව ඇති ශික්ෂණ රෝහල නිසි ප්‍රමිතියකින් තොර බැවින් ගුණාත්මක වෛද්‍යවරයකු මේ පවතින තත්වය යටතේ,මෙයින් බිහිකළ නොහැකි බවයි. මේ අනුව, ශ්‍රී ලංකා වෛද්‍ය සභාව ඉල්ලා සිටින මේ වැදගත් කරුණු දෙක සම්පුර්ණ කිරීම තුලින් මේ අවුලේ, වර්තමාන පදනම විනාශ කොට දැමිය හැක. නමුත් මේ විද්වත් සභාව පෙන්වා දෙන අඩුපාඩුව නිවැරදි කර එහි ඉගෙනුම ලබන සිසු දරුවන්ට තමන් අපේක්ෂා කරන අනාගතය ගොඩනංවා ගැනීමට ඉඩ සලසනවා වෙනුවට, අර්බුදයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමේ අපේක්ෂාවෙන් වෛද්‍ය සභාව ප්‍රකෝප කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියක රජය නිරතව සිටි. ඒ සමගම, අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානයද, තමන්ගේ සටන් පාඨත් සමග මේ සටන හා බද්ධව ඇත. දැන් හැමෝටම පෙනෙන්නේ, මෙය එකම සටනක් ලෙස මිස සටන් දෙකක් ලෙස නොවේ.

මේ රටේ උගත් බුද්ධිමත් දේශපාලනීකරණය නොවූ වෛද්‍ය සභාව, සිය වෘත්තීය ගවුරවය සුරකින ආකාරයට වෛද්‍යවරුන් බිහිකිරීම කළමනාකරණය කරන ලෙස සටන් වදින මොහොතේම, එය පවුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලයක් බැවින්, එය වසා දමන ලෙස, අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානය බලකර ඉල්ලා සිටි.

 මේ පවතින තත්වය අපව කැදවාගෙන යනු ලබන්නේ, වර්ෂ 1982-1984 යුගයටයි. ඒ අද වෛද්‍ය සභාව ඉල්ලා සිටින කරුණු සියල්ලක්ම සම්පුර්ණ කරන ලදුව, ජනාධිපති ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මහතාගේද, පුර්ණ සහය ඇතුව ඉතා වැදගත් වෛද්‍යවරයකුගේ මුලිකත්වයෙන් ගොඩනංවන ලද රාගම පිහිටුවන ලද පවුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලය වෙතය. මේ වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලය රාගම රෝහලට අනුබද්ධව ආරම්භ කල අතර, බොහොම ප්‍රථමික තත්වයේ ගොඩනැගිලි  සංකීර්ණයක් තුල පළමු අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු ආරම්භ කරන ලදී. මේ වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලය වැඩිදියුණු කිරීමේදී, එහි, Auditorium and Library ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ ඉදිකිරීම් ව්‍යාපෘතියට සහකාර ව්‍යපෘති කළමනාකාරවරයකු ලෙස කටයුතු කිරීමේ භාග්‍යක් මටද උදාවිය. තවද  එහි ඉදි කරන ලද නව ශික්ෂණ රෝහලේ ඉදිකිරීම් කටයුතුද වලටද සහකාර ව්‍යපෘති කළමනාකාරවරයාගේ කාර්යභාරය ඒ ඉදි කිරීම් සමගම යටතේම නිම කිරීමේ භාග්‍ය ලද්දෙමි. මා මේ ඉදිකිරිම කටයුතුවල දී සිටින කාලයේදී, මා දැරූ දේශපාලන මතයට අනුව, මගේ සටන් පාඨය වුයේද, “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු යන්නය” යන්නයි. පවුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාල බිහිකිරීමට එරෙහි මතවාදයක සිටින අයෙකුට, හිමිවූ සුවිශේෂ වරමක් ලෙස එය මම සලකන අතර, මා සේවය කල ඒ කාල පරිච්චේදයේදි උගෙනීම කරමින් සිටි සිසු දරුවන් වෛද්‍යවරුන් බවට පත්ව විදේශයන්හිදී සේවය කරනවිට ඔවුන්ගෙන්ම ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා ගැනීමේ, භාගයද ලැබීමද,මා ලද තවත් සුවිශේෂී වරමක් ලෙස ම්ම් විශ්වාස කරමි. නමුත් දැඩි මතධාරින්ව සිටි අප, අපගේ මතය වූ “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු” යන මතයෙහිම එල්බගෙනම සිටියෙමු. අපේ අත්දැකීම් වලට අනුව, එදා එම සිසු දරුවන්ට කිසිදු රජයේ වෛද්‍ය හෝ හෙදි කාර්ය මණ්ඩලයෙන් පහත් ආකාරයේ සැලකීම වලට මුහුණදීමට  සිදුවුයේම නැත. තවද ඔවුනට වෛද්‍ය උපාධිය සම්පුර්ණ කිරීම සදහා වැයවුයේ ලක්ෂ පහක් පමණ මුදලක් බවද කිව යුතුව තිබේ. ආරම්භයේ පටන් මෙය රජයට පවරා ගන්න තෙක්ම, මෙයින් බිහිවුයේ ඉතා හොද වෛද්‍යවරුන්ය. නමුත් එදා ඒ සටන ගෙනගියේ, එවකට පවතී ධර්මිෂ්ට රජයට එරෙහිව සිටි, අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානය හා රාජ්‍ය විරෝධී ජනතාව විසිනි.

එදා සිට මේ වනවිට වසර 34ක කාලයක් ගෙවී ගොස් ඇත. එදා මෙරට සිසු පරපුර රාගම පිහිටවූ පවුද්ගලික විද්‍යාලයට එරෙහිව සිදුකල සටන ජය ගත්හ. ඒ දකින හා පෙනෙන්නට ඇති මායාවක් බව වටහා ගැනීමට හැක්කේ කාලයක් ගතවූ පසුවය. තවද “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු යන” සටන් පාඨය යටතේ දිවි දුන් සිසු පරපුරේ සංඛ්‍යාත්මක අගයක් කිසිවෙක් දන්නේද නැත. අද තවත් පවුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලයක් බිහිව ඇත. එයට එරෙහිවද, පරණ සුපුරුදු සටන් පාඨය එලි දක්වා ඇත. නමුත් එදා සිට මෙදා දක්වා ආ ගමනේදී, අප දුටු දේවල් සිහිකරමින් පුරුකෙන් පුරුක විශ්ලේෂණය කරන විට, අපට තව දුරටත් සුරකින්න නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයක් ඉතිරිව තිබේද යන පැනය ඉදිරියේ නිරුත්තර වීමට සිදුව තිබේ, ඇත්තටම, අපට සුරකින්න නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයක් ඉතිරිව නැත. මෙය කතා කලයුතු ජාතික ගැටලුවක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ, නැති දෙයක් සුරකින්න වර්තමාන විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය පරපුරව මෙහෙයවන්නේ කවුද? ඒ ඇයි? යන ප්‍රශ්න සම්බන්ධව මෙරට ජනතාව අවබෝධයක් ලබාගත යුතුමය. මේ අරගලය පෝෂණය කරන අයම එහි පලද නෙලාගන්නා බව කිව යුතුව තිබේ. ඒ අනුව වර්තමානයේ පවතින මේ රජය බිහි කිරීමට පුරෝගාමීව කටයුතු කල අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානය විසින් මේ සිදු කරන්නේ, තමන් බලයට පත්කළ රජය ආරක්ෂාකරගෙන යාමේ සටනයි. මේ සටනට ශක්තිය ලබාදීමට ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණද, එහි ව්ත්තිය සමිතිද මේ වනවිට පෙරමුණ ගෙන ඇත. වර්තමානයේ මේ සිසු සංවිධාන  හා වෘත්තීය සමිති මෙහෙයවනු ලබන්නේ, ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රතිගාමීත්වය විසින්ය. විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයට ඇතුලත් වනවිටම නවක වාදයෙන් පෝෂණය කර දීනත්වයෙන් බවුතිෂ්ම කරනු ලබන මේ සිසු දරුවන්ට නිදහසේ අධ්‍යාපනය සිදුකරගෙන යාමට වරම් අහිමි කරන අයම, නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිද? යන පැනය යලි යලිත් ඇසිය යුතුව ඇති අතරම, යුද්ධයේ තීරණාත්මක මොහොතේ, වැඩවර්ජන රැල්ලක් දියත් කිරීමට වෙර දැරූ, රට ගැන නොසිතනවුන්, රටේ සිසුන්  සම්බන්ධවත්, රෝගීන් සම්බන්ධව සටන්ව්දිය යන්නද  මිත්‍යාවකි.

මේ වන විට, තම අතීත සටන් සගයන්ට නිගාදෙමින්, ඒ සගයන්ගේ ඝාතකයින්ව, බලයට ගෙන ඒමට; ඒ සටන් සගයන් බිහි කල අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංගමයම “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු යන්න” ඉදිරියට දමාගෙන මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ රජයට එරෙහිව සටන් වැද, මේ පවතින යහපාලන රජය බිහිකරගත් ඒ බලවේග, මේ සිදු කරන්නේ තමන් විසින් බලයට පත්කළ රජය සුරැකීමේ ක්‍රියාදාමයයි. ඒ ඔවුන්ගේ එකම අරමුණයි. ඉන් එහා ගිය කිසිම දෙයක් කිරීමට ඔවුනට බලයක්ද නැත. මේ තත්වය අප මනාව තේරුම් ගත් කල මේ සිදුවෙමින් පවතින්නේ, “අප විරුද්ධ වෙන්නම් ඔගොල්ලන් බය නැතිව කරගෙන යන්න” යන සංකල්පයට අනුකුලවූ සිසු සටනක් හා කම්කරු වෘත්තීය සමිති සටනක් හා බැදුන අව්‍යජ වෘත්තිය ගවුරවය වෙනුවෙන් සටන් කරන ශ්‍රී ලංකා වෛද්‍ය සභාවේ සටනයි. තවද මේ සටන තීව්‍ර කරමින්, මහා පෙළපාලි යමින්, උද්ඝෝෂණ කරමින් අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිධානය විසින් ජනතා අවධානය තමන්වෙතට යොමුකරවා ගනිමින්, ජනතා අවධානයෙන් අත්කරවනු ලබන්නේ, මේ රටේ සිදු කල මහාම වංචාව වන බැදුම්කර වංචාව, ජනතාවට දිනෙන් දින බදු බර පැටවීම් නිසා ඇතිවන ජන පීඩනය, ජනතාව සතු රාජ්‍ය දේපල විකුණන මේ පවතින රජයට එරෙහිවූ ජනතා සටනයි. එබැවින් මෙරට ජනතාවත්, විශ්ව විද්‍යාල ශිෂ්‍ය පරම්පරාවත් මේ සිදු කරන මහා අපරාධය අවබෝධ කරගෙන, “නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරකිමු” — “අධ්‍යාපනය පවුද්ගලික කරණයට කිරීමට එරෙහිව සටන් කරමු” යන සටන් පාඨයෙන් වියෝවිය යුතුය. අප එසේ කියන විට මතු වන ප්‍රශ්නය වන්නේ, අඩුම වශයෙන් මේ පවතින නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයේ ශේෂයවත් රැකගත යුතු නැද්ද යන පැනයයි. අපට උරුමව තිබු මහා ධන නිධානයක් වන නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයෙන් නිසි පල නොලබා නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය විනාශ මුඛයට අද දමා ඇති බව සත්‍යකි. ඒ තත්වයට අද දැමීමේ ක්‍රියාවලියට අද ශිෂ්‍ය සටන් ව්‍යාපාරය තුල රගදෙන බලවේගයන්ද විශාල දායකත්වයක් සපයා ඇත. නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයට අද ඇති ලොකුම තර්ජනය වන්නේ, ඔය මොරදී පෙන්වා දෙන සෛටම් නම්වූ පුද්ගලික වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාලය නොව, නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය පවත්වාගෙන් යාමට ජනතාව විසින් සපයාදී ඇති මුදල් කන්දරාව පෙනී පෙනී මහා දවාලේ සොරකම් කරන මේ නිර්ලජ්ජිත ආණ්ඩුවයි. හෙට දිනයේදී නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය පවත්වාගෙන යාමට තියා, ආණ්ඩුවේ සේවකයින්ගේ පඩි ගෙවීමටවත් නොහැකි තත්වයක් ඇති වර්තමානය නිර්මාණය කලේ, ඔය සටන් වදිනවා යයි මොරදෙන අන්තර් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලිය ශිෂ්‍ය සංවිදානය හා බැදුන සංවිධාන ජලයයි. නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය සුරැකීමේ, සැබෑ සටනේ, ඉලක්කය වන්නේ මේ හොරා පොලිස් රජය පලවා හැරීමයි. ඒ සදහා පෙලගැසෙමු.

Courtesy breakingnews.ie

At least six people were killed and 10 injured in Sri Lanka’s capital after a massive rubbish dump buried an estimated 40 homes.

A 12-year-old boy and two teenage girls died at the Colombo National hospital where 10 others were being treated after they were rescued, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Three other people who were pulled from the wreckage of homes were already dead by the time they arrived at the hospital.

R Chandrasoma

In this prodigious (and Buddhist) country the Minister of Health is in an unhealthy state of un-supressed agitation when lambasting those he sees as enemies of the anointed government of which he is part – a government that (supposedly) ushered in the Age of Decency and Righteous Governance. It is known to science that extreme agitation leads to hallucinatory story-telling about supposed murderous enemies gearing up for an attack on a person both lovable and innocent. In this instance the cruelly endangered victim is none other than our compassionate President and the potential killers are within the ranks of the Joint Opposition. The far-seeing Minister finds an uncanny repetition of history – a good man destroyed by his own people.  SWRDB – the founder of the SLFP and a paragon of excellence in matters political – was cruelly murdered by his own party men. This famous act of deception and treachery is likely to be repeated – so declares the worthy Minister – and all measures must be taken by true patriots to forestall such a tragic eventuality. He (the Minister) sees MR and his buddies in the joint opposition as a force of evil and as unscrupulous and devilish in their desire to regain power – which means that murder as an instrument of political gamesmanship cannot be ruled out. This kind of thinking will astonish most – but the stubborn fact is that it takes all kinds to enrich the political game. The point of interest to a therapist is the venom and fury with which a matter strictly political is approached – a feature of contemporary Sri Lankan governance that has few parallels in a country that pretends to be civilized. Dissent and opposition have become toxic in Sri Lanka

A point with which to conclude this sad story –  he (the Minister) has declared with great conviction that the GMOA – the Doctors’ Union – is working closely with the political opposition to overthrow the Yahapalana Administration. With great emotion – a gnashing of teeth and purpled face indicating high levels of Adrenalin – he declares that he is more than ready to meet this threat posed by the GMOA and its traitorous medics.. Sri Lanka must be the only country in the world where the Minister of Health has a ‘toxic’ relationship with the healers of their country – something bordering on delusional mania. Politics laced with enmity and intolerance cannot but perish. A famous quote from the Bible enshrines this healing wisdom –  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

නලින් ද සිල්වා

රාජිත සේනාරත්න කියලා තිබුණා යුද්ධය තාවකාලික විසඳුමක් පමණයි කියලා. ස්ථිර විසඳුම් ලෝකෙ තියෙනව ද කියලා රාජිතගෙන් අහන්න මට ඕන කමක් නැහැ. ඒත් මට දැනගන්න ඕන මේ යුද්ධය මොකක් ද තාවකාලික ව විසඳුපු ප්‍රශ්නය මොකක් ද කියලා. රාජිත දත් දොස්තර කෙනෙක්. මේ දිනවල ඔහු සයිටම් ගැන රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරි සංගමය එක්ක වචන හුවමාරුවක යෙදිලා ඉන්නෙ. ඒ සංගමයෙ නිලධාරින් අතර විදේශීය රටවල උපාධිධාරී වෛද්‍යවරුනුත් ඉන්නවා. ඔවුන් හා සංගමය කියාවි ඒ අයට ඒ විදේශීය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලවල විධිමත් පුහුණුවක් ලැබුණා කියලා. මා ඒ ගැන තර්ක කරන්නෙ නැහැ. සහතික සමග තර්ක කරන්න බැහැ.

ඒත් මේ රාජිත – වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරි සංගම්  වචන හුවමාරුවෙන් පැහැදිලි වෙන දෙයක් තියෙනවා. ඒ දෙපැත්තට ම විධිමත් ව තර්ක කරන්න බැරි බව. මා ඒ ගැන පුදුම වන්නේ නැහැ. සමස්තයක් හැටියට ගත්තම ඔය වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ තර්ක ඥානය දුර්වලයි. රාජිත පාදෙණිය ගැන නාථ දෙවියන් සම්බන්ධ කරමින් කියා ඇති දේ පැහැදිලි නැහැ. කොහොමටත් රාජිතට පැහැදිලි ව යමක් කියන්න බැහැ. පාදෙණිය අදෘශ්‍යමාන ප්‍රාණීන් ගැන විශ්වාස කරන බව මා දන්නවා. එය නරක දෙයක් නො වෙයි. පාදෙණියගේ දේශපාලන අභිලාෂ ගැන මට කියන්න බැහැ. පාදෙණිය තමන්ට දේශපාලන අභිලාෂ නැති බව කියාවි. ඒත් පාදෙණිය අදෘශ්‍යමාන ප්‍රාණීන්ගෙන් වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රතිකාර ගන්නවා. ඒකත් හොඳයි. මාත් අරගෙන තියෙනවා. රාජිත අදෘශ්‍යමාන බලවේග විශ්වාස කරන බවක් කියන එකක් නැහැ. ඒත් ඔහු ගුරුත්වාකර්ෂණ බලය විශ්වාස කරනවා. ඔහු සමහර විට පණ්ඩිතමානීව කියන්න පුළුවන් ඔහු එය විශ්වාස කරන්නේ නැති බවත් එය දැනුමක් බවත්. රාජිතට දැනුම හා විශ්වාසය අතර වෙනස කියා දෙන්න පුළුවන් ද?

රජයේ වෛද්‍ය නිලධාරීන්ගේ සංගමය වෛද්‍ය සභවෙන් කාලෝ ඉවත් කිරීමක් ගැන කතා කරනවා. මා දන්නා තරමින් වෛද්‍ය සභාවේ සභාපති ලෙස කාලෝ පත්කර තිබුණේ 2017 ජනවාරි වන තෙක් පමණයි. ඔහුට ඉන් පසු රාජිත සේවා දිගුවක් ලබා දුන්නා. එසේ කෙළේ ඇයි ද කියා අප දන්නේ නැහැ. රාජිත තමන් ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදියකු බව පෙන්වීමට එසේ කළා ද? ඒ සේවා දිගුව මාස තුනකට ද? එසේ නම් දැන් ඒ දිගුව අවසන්. කාලෝ එහෙම නම් දැන් වෛද්‍ය සභාවේ සභාපති නො වෙයි. ඔහු ඉවත් කිරීමේ ප්‍රශ්නයක් පැන නගින්නේ නැහැ. දිගුව මාස හතරකට හෝ වැඩි ගණනකට හෝ නම් කාලෝ තාමත් සභාපති. රාජිත ඒ ගැන පැහැදිලි කිරීමක් අවශ්‍ය අවස්ථාවේ දී කළ යුතුයි.   

ඊනියා යුද්ධයකින් තාවකාලික ව විසඳූ ප්‍රශ්නය කුමක් ද කියන එක නම් රාජිත වහාම ප්‍රකාශ කළ යුතුයි. ඔහුට එය කල් දැමීමට බැහැ. දැන් මේ නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සම්මත කර ගන්න යන්නේත් මොකක් දෝ ප්‍රශ්නයක් විසඳීමටලු. ඒ්ත් ඒ ප්‍රශ්නය මොකක් ද කියලා රනිල්වත් සම්බන්ධන්වත් කියන්නෙ නැහැ. ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැතිව විසඳුම් දෙන එකම රට ලංකාව වෙන්න පුළුවන්!  

1948 නිදහසෙන් පසු මේ රටේ යුද්ධයක් තිබුණෙ කවද ද? 1953 දී ද? 1971 දී ද? 1987 -90 කාලෙ ද? ඒ කාලවල යුද්ධ තිබුණෙ නැත්නම් 2009 දක්වා අවුරුදු තිහක් පමණ යුද්ධයක් තිබුණෙ කෙසේ ද? 1987 –- 90 කාලෙ ප්‍රා සංවිධානය ජ වි පෙ සාමාජිකයන් යැයි හිතූ අය මරා දමපු හැටි රාජිත දන්නවා ද? අනෙක් පැත්තට ජ වි පෙ සාමාන්‍ය ජනයා මරපු හැටි දයලෙක්තිය දන්නව කියන ලාල්කාන්ත දන්නවා ද? රාජිත නම් ලාල්කාන්ත ගැන ඉහළින් කතා කරන්නෙ නැහැ. ඒ කොහොම වුණත් ඒ කාලවල යුද්ධයක් තිබුණ බවක් කවුරුවත් කියන්නෙ නැහැ. යුද්ධාපරාධ ගැන කියන්නෙත් නැහැ. 

ඇතැමුන් තිස් අවුරුදු යුද්ධයක් ගැන කිවුවත් ඒ කාලෙත් යුද්ධයක් තිබුණෙ නැහැ. 1987-90 කාලෙ යුද්ධයක් තිබුණෙ නැත්නම් තිස් අවුරුදු යුද්ධයක් ගැන කියන්නෙ කොහොම ද? මේ අවස්ථා දෙකේ ම සිවිල් යුද්ධ හරි වෙන මොනව හරි යුද්ධ තිබුණෙ නැහැ. අවිගත් ත්‍රස්තවාදී කණ්ඩායම් පරාජය කිරීමට හමුදා මෙහෙයුම් පමණයි තිබුණෙ. ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් පරාජය කිරීමට කරන හමුදා මෙහෙයුම් යුද්ධ වෙන්නෙ කොහොම ද? මෙරට බොහෝ දෙනකුට වගේ ම රාජිතටත් සංකල්ප ගැන නිරවුල් අවබෝධයක් නැහැ. හමුදා මෙහෙයුම්වලින් කොටි සංවිධානය පරාජය කරන්න බැහැ කියලා කියපු අය අතර රාජිතත් සිටියා. රාජිතලාත් පරාජය කරමින් හමුදා මෙහෙයුම්වලින් කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කෙරුණා.    

ඒ මෙහෙයුම් මගින් අවසානයේ දී පරාජය වුණේ මුළු මහත් දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය ම. රාජිත දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයෙ ඉතිහාසය දන්නෙ නැහැ. ඔහු බණ්ඩාරනායක මහත්තය හා මැතිණිය ගැන මොනවා කිවුවත් ඔහුගෙ දේශපාලන ගුරුවරයා කුමාර් රූපසිංහ. කලක් චන්ද්‍රිකාගෙ මස්සිනා. රූපසිංහ සිංහල විරෝධියෙක්. බොරු සමාජවාදියෙක්. ඔහු තමයි ජනවේගය කල්ලියෙ ලොක්කා. රාජිතත් ජනවේගයෙ හිටියා. රූපසිංහලා, සුනේත්‍රලා, පාකියසෝතිලා, චන්ද්‍රිකාලා රාජිතලා සිංහල විරෝධීන්. රාජිත දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයෙ ඉතිහාසය ගැන දන්නෙ නැත්තෙ ඒකයි. ඉංගිරිසින් අනුග්‍රහය දක්වා ආරම්භ කළ  දෙමළ ජාතිවාදී දේශපාලනය 1833 ඉඳලා ක්‍රියාත්මක වුණා. ඒක විවිධ අවස්ථා පසු කළා. රාමානාදන්ලා, අරුණාශලම්ලා, පොන්නම්බලම්ලා, චෙල්වනායගම්ලා, ප්‍රභාකරන්ලා මේ ක්‍රියාදාමයේ විවිධ පුරුක්. පළාත් සභාත් දහතුන්වැනි ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයත් නැති ප්‍රශ්නයකට දුන් ව්‍යාජ විසඳුම්.                 

නන්දිකඩාල් ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් පසු ඒ සියල්ල අවසන්. හමුදා මෙහෙයුම් කියන්නෙ දේශපාලන විසඳුමක්. දෙමළ ජාතිවාදයට දේශපාලන විසඳුමක් දීලා ඉවරයි. දහතුන දැන් දේශපාලන වශයෙන් පරාජය වශයෙන් පරාජය කෙරිලා. දැන් කරන්න තියෙන්නෙ දහතුන ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් ඉවත් කරන එක විතරයි. රාජිතටවත් පාදෙණියටවත් කාලෝටවත් ඕව තේරෙන්නෙ නැහැ. ඒ ගොල්ලන්ට ඇරිස්ටෝටලීයට න්‍යායටවත් එකඟ ව හරියට තර්ක කරන්න බැහැ. 

නලින් ද සිල්වා

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

There are reports reaching  Colombo that the current top man at the Sri Lankan Embassy in Rome is playing games with his countrymen.  For the past several years, Sinhala Classes have been conducted for the Sinhala children living in Italy.  A representative of the HELADIVA THAKSALAWA”  has gone to the Embassy Office to invite  the Ambassador Daya Pelpola to attend an annual ceremony.

Ambassador Daya Pelpola has questioned as to why Teach Sinhala to Children” and had refused to accept the invitation by throwing it back.   An Ambassador is representing the Head of State of Sri Lanka on his behalf and is bound by the Foreign Policy which clearly stipulate that the The Foreign Ministry seeks to ensure the welfare of expatriate Sri Lankans through its network of Missions”.

Ambassador Daya Pelpola is  notorious for his extravagant social life, enjoying colourful duty free top quality Royal Salute 21.  He keeps an arms length relationship with the Sri Lankan Sinhala community, though his best associates are Sri Lankan Tamils living in Rome.  He was an ardent supporter of UNP mafia who worked against Sinhalese.  This is clearly evident by the professional work he has performed as a lawyer to appease the  hierarchy of the Party.   .  Pelpola clan had established connections in Rome since the days of Late George Nissanka Mahasen Pelpola, who was also an Ambassador for Rome.  It seems the position of Ambassador is a perpetual family gift from UNP to the Pelpola Clan, regardless of their contribution to Sri Lanka.

As an Ambassador it is not his task to question the expatriate parents why they teach Sinhala, Tamil or any other language to their children. 

We urge the President to intervene and recall this swollen headed Ambassador and replace with a career diplomat.  These anti-Sinhala conspirators must be ruthlessly pruned out.

Markandey katju Former Judge, Supreme Court of India The article was originally published on The Huffington Post.

India is inevitably heading for a revolution. Why do I say so ? Let me explain

India is potentially a highly developed country, but actually a poor and backward country.

It is potentially a highly developed country because it has two of the basic requirements to be a highly developed country, viz. a huge pool of technical talent, and immense natural resources.

This was not the position in 1947 when India became independent. The British policy was broadly to keep India backward, feudal and largely unindustrialized, so that Indian industry may not emerge as a big rival to British industry. So we were not permitted by our British rulers to set up a heavy industrial base, but were permitted only some light industries like textiles, plantations, etc which, too, for a long time were mainly under British ownership. So till 1947 we had very few industries and very few engineers

The position today in 2017 is very different. Today we have a heavy industrial base, and a huge pool of competent engineers, technicians, scientists, managers, etc. Our I.T. engineers are manning Silicon Valley in California, and American Universities are full of our mathematics and science professors.

In addition, we have immense natural wealth. India is not a small country like England or Japan. It is almost a continent.

So we have all that is required to be a first-rate modern, highly developed country, like North America or Europe.

And yet the reality is that we are an underdeveloped, poor country, with massive unemployment, malnourishment, lack of healthcare, good education, etc for our masses.

We can consider some facts :

1. the level of unemployment can be gathered from two facts (a) 1 crore ( 10 million ) youth are entering the Indian job market every year, but only 1.4 lac ( 140, 000 ) jobs are being created every year in the organized sector of the Indian economy. So where do the remaining 9.86 million youth go ? They become hawkers, street vendors, bouncers, criminals, the girls often become prostitutes, and many end up as suicides.

(b) In 2015 the U.P. govt. advertised 358 jobs of peons ( chaprasis, i.e. class 4 employees ) for which there were 23 lac ( 2.3 million ) applications. 250 of the applicants had Ph.D. degrees, 2500 were M.Sc., M.B.A. engineers, etc all begging for a peon’s job.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/…/story-OqHzHbvo16gUN2DfTkfYl…

Something similar happened when police constable’s jobs were advertised in Madhya Pradesh, and peon’s jobs in West Bengal

2. 50% Indian children are malnourished., which is a situation far worse than in sub-Saharan countries of Africa like Somalia.

A UNICEF report says that one out every three malnourished child in the world is an Indian child.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malnutrition_in_India

http://unicef.in/Story/1124/Nutrition

https://www.savethechildren.in/…/malnutrition-in-india-stat…

3. Poor people in India have hardly any access to healthcare. There are no doubt some excellent hospitals in big cities of India, but they are exorbitantly expensive. Poor patients simply cannot afford good doctors. AIIMS, ( All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, ) looks like a railway station, with thousands of people sitting there, and no one caring for them, unless one is rich or powerful.. So where do the poor people go when they fall sick ? They go to quacks. Quackery is rampant in India.

4. The govt. spends a huge amount of money on I.I.T.s and elite institutions like JNU, but hardly anything for primary schools in villages, where the foundation of knowledge is laid.

5. 57 individuals in India control 70% of India’s wealth

http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/…/57-billionaires…/

6. Far from there being any ‘vikas’, the Indian economy is lying stagnant, with chances of genuine growth remote. Whatever ‘growth there has been has only benefited a handful of crony capitalists, but not the Indian masses.

According to Mark Twain, there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Statistics is such a wonderful thing that with its help one can manufacture any figure one wants, like a conjuror pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

The latest figures given by the government of India authorities claiming 7.9 percent growth in GDP in the last quarter is an excellent example, and reminds one of Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce), or the Nazi propaganda minister, Dr Goebbels, who kept proclaiming on radio to the German people right till the very end that Germany was winning the Second World War – when in fact it was losing.

According to this claim, the Indian economy is the fastest growing economy of the world, outstripping the growth in GDP of the Chinese economy, which grew by only 6.9 percent in the same period. Evidently, according to this figure, we are heading for an El Dorado sometime in the future, and as Dr Pangloss would say (see Voltaire’s ‘Candide’ ), quoting the German philosopher Leibniz, this is the best of all possible worlds.

But a scrutiny of these figures throws up several doubts. Are the figures true or dressed up, like a Potemkin village? Also, assuming they are true, is this GDP growth benefiting the Indian masses, or only a handful of big businessmen?

Exports have fallen from $187.29 billion in the period April -October 2014, to $156.29 billion in the period April-October 2015, ie a drop of 17.6 percent. So if exports have fallen, and manufacturing has grown by 9 percent, as claimed by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, where have the increased quantity of goods manufactured been sold? In the home market?

But India is a poor country, with 80 percent people holding little purchasing power. And with the sharp escalation in food prices, real incomes have really gone down.

According to the statement of Raghuram Rajan, the RBI governor, most factories are running at 70 percent of their capacity, while in 2011-2012 they were running at 80 percent of their capacity. This apparently shows manufacturing decline, rather than growth. According to a Business Standard report, corporate profitability is below one percent on an average.

Bad loans by banks continue to mount. According to CARE, non-performing assets during July-September, 2015 stood at about Indian Rs3.37 lac crore, an increase of Indian Rs71,000 crore. According to a report by Morgan Stanley, the number of stalled projects – the bulk of them in the manufacturing and infrastructure sectors – went up. Small and medium enterprises are having a difficult time trying to survive. The real-estate sector, which provides a lot of jobs, is down in the dumps, with the construction of new buildings going down, and the number of unsold homes going up.

An article by Andy Mukherjee published by Reuters states that the GDP growth of the Indian economy is one-third a statistical mirage, and real GDP growth is more likely to be about 5 percent rather than 7.4 percent as claimed by the Indian authorities. Mukherjee says:

The illusion comes from a recent supposed improvement in the way India calculates its Gross Domestic Product. In theory, Indian authorities claim that Indian GDP is close to international standards. In practice it has become utterly unreliable.”

What is the real GDP growth of the Indian economy? Breakingviews.com answered that question by looking at three indicators: corporate earnings, auto sales and imports of computer software (since retained earnings finance new investment projects, auto sales are a proxy for consumer demand while software imports reflect productivity gains). Mixing the three in a simple index suggests that growth in the most recent quarter was closer to 5 percent.”

But let us assume that the 7.9 percent figure is correct. The further question that still remains is: is this GDP growth benefiting the Indian masses, or just a handful of big businessmen? Is the rich-poor divide growing? Dilip Shanghvi, Gautam Adani, Mukesh Ambani, Aziz Premji, Pallonji Mistry, etc are worth billions of dollars, while the majority of Indians are struggling to make both ends meet, as prices of food soar.

What has happened to the slogan ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’? It seems it was only a ‘jumla’. The communal fire is being stoked up again in UP and elsewhere. When there is an economic crisis which the govt. cannot resolve, it resorts to fascist methods, as it happened in Germany and Italy with the rise to power of Hitler and Mussolini

India stands at 135th in human development out of the approximately 200 countries in the world. For more on this: http://www.newindianexpress.com/…/2014/07/25/article2348215.

To abolish all this, and raise the standard of living of our people – that must be the goal of all patriotic modern minded people–. we have to create a modern, highly industrialised country in which all our citizens are getting decent lives.

But what has this government done in this direction? The answer is: a big zero, and only jumlas and dramas.

The test of every government or system is one – and only one: is the standard of living of the masses rising under it or not? If not, the government or system is a failure. From this standpoint (and it is the only correct standpoint), the Modi government, like the previous Manmohan Singh govt., is a total failure on all fronts

The question naturally arises that when we have all that is required to be a first rate highly developed country, why is India still poor and backward ?

The answer is that apart from the two requirements to become a highly developed country mentioned above, viz. a huge pool of technical talent, and huge natural resources, there is also a third requirement, which unfortunately we do not have, and that is a modern-minded, patriotic political leadership. Let me explain this in some detail.

India borrowed the parliamentary system of democracy from England, and incorporated it into our Constitution. Now parliamentary democracy is based on majority vote, but the truth is that the vast majority of people in India are intellectually very backward, their minds full of casteism, communalism and superstitions. So when most indians go to vote they do not see the merit of the candidate, whether he is a good man or bad, educated or not, etc, but only see the candidate’s caste or religion ( or the party representing a caste or religion ). That is why there are so many people with criminal antecedents in our legislatures.

Our cunning politicians take advantage of this, and have learnt the skill of manipulating caste and religious vote banks.

The interest of the nation is to rapidly modernize, for which it is necessary to destroy feudal forces like casteism and communalism. On the other hand, the interest of our politicians is to win the next elections, and for that they have to appeal to, and therefore perpetuate, casteism and communalism, which are feudal forces. Therefore the interest of our country, and the interest of our politicians are diametrically opposite to each other. How, then, can our country progress ?

Most of the Indian politicians are rogues, rascals, gundas, criminals, scoundrels, looters and gangsters. They have no genuine love for the country, but only seek power and pelf. They are shameless and incorrigible, and cannot be reformed. They are experts in manipulating caste and communal vote banks, and they polarize society by spreading caste and communal hatred. Don’t such people deserve to be shot, like mad dogs, or like the aristocrats in the French Revolution who were guillotined?

It is thus obvious that parliamentary democracy is not suited to India. Our Constitution has exhausted itself, our ‘democracy’ has been hijacked by feudal minded people, and all our state institutions have become hollow and empty shells.

On the other hand, the socio-economic distress of our people keeps mounting.

I submit that the solutions to the massive problems of India lie outside the system, not within it. No amount of reforms will do, what is now required is a revolution. What form this revolution will take, and how much time, cannot be predicted, but what certainly can be predicted is that it is coming.

It is only after such a revolution, which will be led by some genuinely patriotic, modern minded persons, that a just social order will be created in India, in which our masses get decent lives, and a high standard of living.

Disclaimer: The article was originally published on The Huffington Post.

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Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Authorities have suspended all internet services in the three districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Gandarbal where voting started on Sunday for the parliamentary by-elections.Both mobile internet and fixed line broadband connectivity were suspended in the three poll-bound districts which constitute Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency.”

Though this election has been held in India Held Kashmir where voters expressed their rejection of the rule by India, it is clear indication that India needs to rethink about the strategy.

This may be a good lesson learnt for Sri Lankan, all over the island .When you peruse daily new items and other articles in the papers, and one may note that obnoxious behaviour of our politicians may lead to a similar situation in our country refuse to vote to any one citing the unhappiness about the main stream politics.

Large scale corruption ,nepotism ,abuse of power ,perks demanded by all the  Politian’s such as expensive cars ,salary hikes when the poor people cannot afford a daily meal  ,health service deteriorating ,local politics has become a big business ,people may decide not to exercise their universal franchise .

What will happen if the Northerners refuse to vote for anyone at the nest election and the East follow suit ?

Rather than resorting to violent action to topple the government, people may decide that this is the best cause of action to teach both ruling party and opposition that they hate parliament demo ( Crazy)cracy and want  to have a Benevolent Dictatorship” ???

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න 

  දෙවන ලෝක සංග්‍රාම සමයේ  ඉංග්‍රීසින් විසින් ඉදිකළ ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ තෙල් ටැංකි 103 තිබුනේය .දැන් 99 ක් ඇත 1948 දී මේවා සිංහලයන්ට ලැබුනේ නැත .රන්පවුම් 2,50  000 ක් ගෙවා 1957 දී මේවා ලංකා රජය පවරා ගත්තේය .එහෙත් ඒවා යහපාලන රජයේ අගමැති විසින් ඉන්දියාවට  නැවත බදු දීමට කස කවය් .2017 වෙසක් උත්සවයට පෙර ඔහු මෙම පාවාදීම කරන බවට සපත කරය් 

                                                                                හම්බන්තොට චීනයට.. ත්‍රිකුණාමලේ ඉන්දියාවට .. 2017 සිංහලයාගේ  අවමංගල උත්සවය පැවැත්වීම මේ ද්‍රෝහියාගේ අරමුනය් . වරක්  මොහු  ,,සිංහලයා පෙතිගසා  විනාශකළ පරන්ගියාට ඒ ව්‍යසනය සැමරීම සඳහා ලංකාවට එන්නය් ආරාධනා කළේය ..ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ ප්‍රාන්තයක් කලයුතුයය්  1943 දී මන්ත්‍රණ සභාවට සන්දේශයක් ඉදිරිපත් කලාවූ හා  13 ව්‍යවස්ථාව  අනුමත කර රට ඉන්දියාවට පාවාදුන්  ජේ ආර් නම්  ද්‍රෝහියාගේ  බෑනෙ කුවු  මොහු සිංහල බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍යය අනාගමික රජයක් කරන්නටත් දැන් වලිකමින් සිටීමොහුගේ අලුත්ම ප්රයත් නය  තෙල් ටැංකි  පාවාදීමය් 

                                                                          මේ තෙල් ටැංකි ටැංකියක තෙල් මෙට්‍රික් ටොන් 10000 ක් ගබඩා කල හැක සියල්ලේම දසලක්ෂයක් ගබඩා කල හැක .මුතුරාජවෙල හා කොලොන්නාවේ ගබඩා කල හැක්කේ ටොන් ලක්ෂ  4 කි  මේවා යොදාගෙන උතුර හා නැගෙන හිර අවට පළාත් වලට තෙල් ප්‍රවාහනය කලොත් දැනට යන වියදම් අඩුවී  වසරකට රුපියල් මිලියන  1000 ක් ලාභ උපයා ගත හැකි බව කියවේ  .ත්‍රස්ත විරෝධී සටන් සමයේ උතුරු  නැගෙනහිරට තෙල් ප්‍රවාහනය කලේ ඉන්දියානු තෙල් සමාගමට දී තිබු මේ තෙල් ටැංකි වලින් තෙල් ලබාගෙන නැ ව්මගින් ප්‍රවාහනය කිරීමෙනි  ඒ සඳහා ලංකාව  රුපියල් මිලියන 682 ක් ඒ සමාගමට  ගෙවා ඇත ..මෙසේ ගෙවන්නට සිදුවුනේ  2003 දී රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඉන්දියාව සමග අත්සන් කල ගිවිසුමකින් ටැංකි සමුහයක් ioc  නම් ඉන්දියන් සමාගමට දුන් නිසාය .

                                                   2016 අප්‍රේල් වලදී ඛනිජ තෙල් ඇමති නැවත මේවා ලංකාවට පවරාගැනීමට උනන්දුවී කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ගත්තේ  රනිල්ගේ ගිවිසුම බලරහිත වී ඇති සැටි පෙන්වාදෙමිනි . එහෙත්  ඊට දිනකීපයක් ගතවෙන්නටත් පෙර  යක්ශාවෙෂවූ මේ රනිල් නම්  මිනිසා ,අර ඇමතිගේ කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාව අහෝසි කර වා නැවත ඉන්දියාවේ IOC  සමාගම හා ඛනිජ තෙල් සංස්ථා එකාබධ්ධ ව්‍යාපාරයක් යය කියන එකකට  මේ ටැංකි දීමට කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ගෙන ඇත .  රනිල්   ඛනිජ තෙල් ඇමැතිත් නොවේ  එහෙත් ඔහු මේවාට කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකා  ඉදිරි පත් කරය  . කොහොමද පාවාදීමට ඇති උවමනාව …..ආයෙත් අර ඇමතිවරයා  2016 දෙසැම්බර් වල  නැවත කැබිනට් පත්‍රිකාවක් ඉදිරි පත් කර  ටැංකි 16 ක්  ආපසු ලංකාවට පවරා ගැනීමට  අනුමතුය ඉල්ලනවා  ඒ කත්  කැබිනට් එකෙන් අනුමත වෙනවා 

                                           පුදුම කැබිනෙට්ටුවක් නේද මේක අරකත් අනුමතය් මේකත් අනුමතය් මොකා දැම්මත් අනුමතය් ප්‍රශ්න කිරීමක් නැහැ … 2003 රනිල් ගේ ගිවිසුම බලරහිත වීම නිසා රනිල් ඉන්නේ පොලන්ගෙක් මෙන්  පලිගන්න බලාගෙන .මෙවැනි මිනිහෙක් බලයට පත් කල ජනතාවට විලිලජ්ජාවක් නැද්ද හැබෑවටම  . රට විකුණගෙන කාමේත් සීමාවක් තියෙන්න ඕනේ නේද කියල අහපු  දයාසිරිට  රනිල් බැනල තියෙන්නේ  අමු රස්තියාදු කාරයෙක් වාගේ . ඉතින් පේනවනේ මේ මිනිහහේ හිතේ පැ සවන  ක්‍රෝධය හා වය් රය .

                    සිහලුනි   මේ ද්‍රෝහී මිනිසාගෙන් රට බේරාගැනීමේ අන්තිම සට නට සැ රසෙව් ..භයානකම ද්‍රෝහියා රනිල් මිස සිරිසේන නොවෙය් .සිරිසේන රනිල් නම් ගිරයට අසුවූ පුවක් ගෙඩියක් ගානය්  .සියලු පවු සිරිසේනගේ කර පිටින් තමය දාන්නේ .සිරිසේනට  තියෙන්නේ කරපු පවු නිසා ඉන්න හිටින්න තැනක් නැතිවෙය් කියල මෙහෙම ගියොත් සිරිසේන මහතා .”’හඳුනා නොගත් ලෙඩකින් ” මියදෙන්නත් පුළුවන්  එතකොට රනිල් ඉබේ ජනපති  .. මේ අගමැති බලය අතහරින්නේ නැහැ තව බටලන්දක් ඇතිකරලා මිසක්  එයාට ලේ දැකල පුරුදුය් . යකාට ලේ සුවන්දය් . ..අනුර කුමාරටත් මේක ඉව වැටිලද කොහෙද දැන් ටැංකි ගැන කතා කරනවා ….උන්ටත් රනිල් ආයේ දෙන්නේ නොනගිටින්නමය් . . 

                                                      සිහලුනි     සිරිසේන ජනාධි පති තුමාට බලකරවූ අගමැති අස්කරන ලෙසට … .ඉල්ලා අස්වී ගෙදර යන ලෙස අගමැතිට බල කරවූ .  එංගලන්ර්තයේ දේශ ප්‍රේමීන් දැනටම උද්ඝෝෂණ පැවැත්වීමට කටයුතුකරන බව ආරංචිය ලොව හැම තැනම සිංහලයෝ උද්ඝෝෂණ පවත් වමින් ලංකා අගමැතිගේ   අවලම් සෙළුව ලෝකයටම පෙන්වීමට කටයුතු කල යුතුය  . ඒ අතර  ලංකා වට ආදරේ කරන සියලු ලංකාවාසීන්  පක්ෂ භේදයකින් තොරව රනිල් එළවා දැමීමට කටයුතු කල යුතුය  ..ජනාධිපති තුමාට කල පවු ක්ෂමා කර ගන්නීමට ඇති මේ අවස්තාව ප්‍රයෝජනයට ගන්නාමෙන් ක්කාරුනිකව ඉල්ලාසිටීමටද කෙනෙක් ඉදිරි පත් වුවහොත් හොඳය   .එහෙමත් කරලා බලමු  හොඳක් වෙනවා නම් කමක් නැහැ .එහෙම වුනොත් සිංහල බෞද්ධයෝ සමාව දෙන්න  අදිමදි කරන්නෙත් නැහැ .

                                                                 බලාසිටින්නට කාලයක් නැහැ .තෙල් ටන්කිය්  එට්කා  එකය් ආවම ඉන්දියන් කාරයෝ ලංකාවේ පිරෙනවා . අපේ උන්ට රැකියා නැතිවෙනවා වතු කම් කරුවෝ  ඇවිත් වුනදේ දන්නවනේ .හොරෙන් එන ඉන්දියන් කාරයෝ උතුර්ය් නැගෙනහිරය්  වසා පතිරීයනවා  එතකොට උතුරහා නැගෙන හිර දෙමල ප්‍රදේශ ලෙස හංවඩු ගැහිලා  කාලෙකදී දෙපළාත ආයේ එකතු කරනවා  . හොරෙන් ආපු අ යට රනිල් ල පුරවැසිකම් දෙනවා    දිවුරුම් පෙත්සම් අරගෙන  ප්රෙමදාස  වතු කම් කරුවන්ට පුරවැසි කම් දුන්න වාගේ……මේ ව්‍යසනය සිදුවෙන්න කලින් කලයුතු  දේ  කරමු    

Elanko Ratnasabapathey – April 4th 2017, Toronto Star

Dear Mayor Tory,

I am writing in regards to your commentary of your trip to the Northern Province of Sri Lanka, published on the Toronto Star dated April 4^th 2017.

I was born and raised in Sri Lanka and lived in the country until I migrated to Canada with my family in 2008.  Being a Tamil citizen myself, I had been exposed to hardships of the 30-year civil war. Since migrating to Canada, I have visited Sri Lanka several times and in turn have made multiple trips to Jaffna, amongst other cities in the Northern Province.

Having said that, I was surprised to read your commentary about the hostile military presence in Jaffna, as I have not experienced this in the past several times that I visited the North.

Recently, I took part in a Canada-Sri Lanka delegation headed by three Canadian Members of Parliament with 23 other Canadian delegates. We travelled by land to Northern, Central and Eastern Provinces and witnessed the progress in Sri Lanka. Specifically, the Northern Province has considerably improved since the civil war and we did not witness the military to civilian ratio that was mentioned in your commentary. We met with present ruling parliamentarians, the opposition MPs from TULF, military personnel, as well as civilians.

It is my understanding that you flew to Mulathiv via helicopter and the visit lasted 24 hours, in which time you were introduced to a group of selected people by few politicians, and did not have the chance to meet the opposition leader, Honourable R. Sampanthan.

Your commentary on the Toronto Star does not accurately depict both sides of the story and I believe that an opinion from an influential person such as yourself would greatly hinder prospects of attracting international investors for projects that develop Sri Lanka.

I hope you understand my point of view, and I will appreciate if you do not include this in your political agenda.

Thanking you,

Sincerely,

Elanko Ratnasabapathey

ලංකා සී නිවුස්

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා වර්මානයේ විධායක ජනාධිපතිවරයා ලෙස හිදිමින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකුට හිමි ඩියුටි ෆී වාහන බලපත්‍රයක් උපයෝගී කරගෙන ජපානයේ නිෂ්පාදිත ටොයොටා ලෑන්ඩ් කෲසර් ජීප් රථයයක් සිංගප්පූරුවේ ටොයොටා සමාගමන් ඇ.ඩොලර් 62500කට ලංකා බැංකුවේ ණයවර ලිපිගොනු අංක Branch 049- Ref No: NU/P/SIL/16/217 යටතේ ඇණවුම් කොට ගෙන්වා ගෙන ඇති බව කොලම්බු ටෙලිග‍්‍රාෆ් වෙබ් අඩවියේ දැක්වෙයි.

මේ සඳහා ශ්‍රීලංකා රේගුව හරහා රුපියල් 33,457,500.00. පමණ බදු සහනයක් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහතාට ලබදී තිබෙන බවත් රුපියල් එක්දාස් හත්සීය පණහක් 1750/= පමණක් අයකර එම සුඛෝපභෝගි මෝටර් රථය 14/10/2016 වෙනි දින හම්බන්තොට වරාය නිදහස් කොට ගෙන ගොස් ඇතැයිද එහි සදහන්ය.

වාහනය ගෙන්වූ බවට වන ලියවිල්ල මෙතනින්

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy  The Hindu

Project developer hopes investments to the tune of $13 billion to start coming in from 2018; targets major investors from South Asia, particularly India

EDITH M. LEDERER AND PAISLEY DODDS ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday urged all countries that provide troops for U.N. peacekeeping missions to hold soldiers accountable for sexual abuse and exploitation, an appeal that came after she cited an Associated Press investigation into a child sex ring in Haiti involving Sri Lankan peacekeepers.

She also warned that “countries that refuse to hold their soldiers accountable must recognize that this either stops or their troops will go home and their financial compensation will end.”

Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon recommended that U.N. peacekeepers accused of sexual abuse and exploitation be court martialed in the countries where the alleged incidents take place and said the U.N. would withhold payments to peacekeepers facing credible allegations.

Haley was speaking after the Security Council voted unanimously to end the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti in mid-October, sending a strong signal that the international community believes the impoverished Caribbean nation is stabilizing after successful elections.

But the peacekeepers will leave with a tarnished legacy. U.N. troops from Nepal are widely blamed for introducing cholera that has killed at least 9,500 people in Haiti since 2010 and some troops have been implicated in sexual abuse.

“What do we say to these kids? Did these peacekeepers keep them safe?” Haley asked, citing the AP’s investigation detailing how at least 134 Sri Lankan peacekeepers sexually abused and exploited nine Haitian children between 2004 and 2007.

Sri Lanka never jailed any soldiers implicated in the abuse yet the country was allowed to send troops to other U.N. missions.

Haley said after the vote that while the departure of the peacekeepers “is seen as a success, unfortunately it’s a nightmare for many in Haiti who will never be able to forget and live with brutal scars.”

Nine children in the Haiti sex ring – some as young as 12 – told U.N. investigators how Sri Lankan peacekeepers offered them snacks or money for sex. One boy said he slept with as many as 100 soldiers, averaging about four per day.

The details of the sex ring were part of a larger AP investigation of U.N. missions during the past 12 years that found an estimated 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and U.N. personnel around the world.

In Haiti, the 2,370 military personnel will gradually leave over the next six months. A new peacekeeping mission will follow for an initial period of six months, comprised of just 1,275 police to continue training the national police force and assist in developing the rule of law and promoting human rights in Haiti.

Haley said the United States and the international community are committed to Haiti’s “democratic development, independence and economic growth.”

“We will, however, continue to push for accountability of those troops in Haiti as well as all troop contributing countries involved in peacekeeping efforts,” she said.

“We owe it to the vulnerable in these countries who desperately need peace and security,” she told Security Council members. “I ask that you join me in this effort.”

Responding to the AP report, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Wednesday: “We need to address the problem, first, for the victims, but also to ensure that the perception of peacekeeping is not a wrong one.”

He stressed it is dangerous work done honorably by “the vast majority” of peacekeepers.

Mark Schuller, an academic studying what happens when international organizations leave countries like Haiti, said for Haitians, the U.N. has garnered a “love-hate” relationship, but the real issue is lack of accountability.

“The U.N. is not accountable to the Haitian government or people. That creates a culture of implied immunity,” said Schuller, a professor at N. Illinois University’s Department of Ethnology who spends part of his time in Haiti.

Jacqueline Nono said she was 17 when she started having sex with a Sri Lankan peacekeeper for money or gifts. She said the sex was consensual but she needed the money to pay for her two children.

“I’ve heard the stories about Sri Lankans abusing Haitians, but I was treated well,” said the 24-year-old in Port-au-Prince.

For Jean-Marie Pascal, there is no love lost for the United Nations.

She said a U.N. peacekeeper sexually assaulted her shortly after troops arrived in 2004 to quell instability following President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s ouster. After the 2010 earthquake struck, her two cousins died from a strain of cholera linked to U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal.

“Haiti has been a playground for the United Nations,” the 43-year-old shop assistant told the AP as part of its investigation.

The United Nations also suffered in Haiti, losing nearly 100 peacekeepers and personnel in the 2010 earthquake that killed as many as 300,000 people.

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

Leaders from China and Sri Lanka have voiced support for a proposed bilateral free trade agreement at a recent meeting.

Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference (PPC), was holding talks with Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe.

The state news agency, Xinhua, said Yu had called on the two countries to speed up bilateral negotiations towards the pact and expand economic cooperation.

Wickremesinghe responded that he “looks forward to boosting cooperation with China in the fields of trade, finance, ports and transportation infrastructure.” He reportedly noted that the Sri Lankan Parliament supports the Belt and Road Initiative, backs the FTA negotiations with China, and expects more friendly exchanges between the two countries.

– See more at: http://www.tax-news.com/news/China_Sri_Lanka_Back_Free_Trade_Talks____73975.html#sthash.aNpEt3V1.dpuf

By Panchamee Hewavissenti Courtesy  Ceylon Today

In an interview with Ceylon Today, General Secretary of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya and member of the Joint Opposition Udaya Gammanpila said, the economy of the country is on the verge of collapse as the inflation rates, interest rates as well as the rate of unemployment are rising sharply with the county’s foreign reserves depleting rapidly.

Member of Parliament Gammanpila arraigns the government, and says that it has fallen flat in restoring the economy and is embarked on a mud-slinging campaign against the former regime, to cover up their own incompetence.

He went on to say that, during the Sinhala-Hindu New Year season foreign goods are being imported to Sri Lanka on a massive scale resulting in an adverse impact on foreign reserves. If the government fails to keep these conditions under control, Gammanpila warned that the economy will face irrecoverable damage. He further remarked that foreign countries will not come to the assistance of the government to help recover the economy. Instead those countries are anticipating a downfall of the economy to take charge of the country in the guise of assistance. He also stressed that there is no reconciliation process in place as boasted by the government; instead the government is supporting separatism, federalism and Islam extremism.

Following are the excerpts of the interview:

?: Do you intend to contest the next election under the banner of the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna formed by members of the Joint Opposition?

A: I contested the last Parliamentary election under the banner of the UPFA. In the wake of the last presidential election, the UPFA got split into two. President Sirisena headed a group of SLFP members and the other group was given lead by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The true members of the Opposition are in the Joint Opposition. Those politicians in Parliament who claim to belong to the Opposition can hardly be called members of the Opposition. Instead of objecting the misdeeds of the government, so called members of the Opposition back the government’s unwholesome activities. The real members of the Opposition formed a political party namely the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. Although I am a member of the Joint Opposition, I will remain a member of Pivithuru Hela Urumaya of which I am the General Secretary. Although, I do not intend to be a member of the Sri Lanka Podu Jana Peramuna, I may consider forming an alliance with the party in future, if circumstances warrant it.

I must mention that I was never a member of the SLFP and will not cross over to that party even in the future. Neither will I obtain the membership of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna. I will remain the leader of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya.

You asked me under what party I will contest the next election. This question is hard to answer at this point of time; as the political future is highly capricious. If you were to pose a similar question to Maithripala Sirisena, somewhere, in October, 2014, he too would have been answerless. He was the General Secretary of the SLFP but joined hands with the arch rival of the SLFP that is the UNP and contested the Presidential Election taking the swan as symbol. See how unpredictable the political scenario in the country is.

Moreover, the government keeps putting off the elections which are due. We are not aware of when the government will hold the elections. We may be compelled to make decisions based on the political backdrop of the country at a particulartime. Hence, it is difficult to say under which party I am going to contest the next elections.

?: Some members of the JO have stated that they are willing to extend support to Maithripala Sirisens to form an SLFP Government. Some members of the Joint Opposition recently had a meeting with President Maithripala Sirisena at his office in Parliament. Some are of the view that the Joint Opposition is in agreement to support the President…

A: I do not say that I will refrain from supporting President Sirisena, because I do not have any personal grudges against him. I oppose his policies. He has shown indifference to promotion of local business and is in favour of privatization and promoting federalism and separatism in the country. The security of the country is curtailed to satisfy a few selfish politicians and he too backs the government’s pro- Federalist stance. Many a flaw can be observed in the manner he rules the country. Although he possesses executive powers, he does not execute them for the betterment of the people of the country. As far as I’m concerned, he is rated the most incompetent President in the history of Sri Lanka.

Maithripala Sirisena is the President of this country after all. Despite our political stance and criticism of his incompetent administration, we make it a point to meet him from time to time to discuss issues of national interest. Likewise, as representatives of the people, we also arrange meetings with the Prime Minister and Speaker to discuss problems faced by the people and to convey the people’s sentiments to the leaders. As people’s representatives it is our responsibility and we believe in the practice of talking over issues on public matters. This type of meeting takes place frequently and people should not misconstrue such meetings as being for personal agendas.

?: Do you admit to the allegation that members of the JO often cause mayhem in Parliament? They are charged with demonstrating unruly demeanour; which is not at all appropriate and damage the dignity of Parliament?

A: I strongly refute the accusation that the deportment of the members of the JO caused damage to the lofty culture and dignity of Parliament. The retaliatory actions of the members of the JO against suppression by the Speaker resulted in a chaotic situation in Parliament. It is a prerogative of Parliamentarians to rise against injustice. The reason for the belligerent behaviour of JO members is the unfair treatment by the Speaker.

When we rise against suppression, they interpret that as immoral behaviour.

?: Do you blame the Speaker for suppressing members of the JO and depriving them of the rights of a break-away political group?

A: JO was formed by a group of members that were of the UPFA. Some of the members of the SLFP entered into an alliance with the UNP, the arch rival of the SLFP to form the so called ‘National Government’. JO operates independently of the SLFP. The Speaker should not discriminate members of Parliament based on the political party that they belong to. He is required to prioritize according to the sittings of Parliament. On the right of the Speaker is the government and on the Opposition sits on the left. Whoever, sits on the left is recognized as being in the Opposition.

Not granting the leadership of the Opposition to the JO is discriminatory. It is Parliamentary tradition to appoint the leader of the Opposition from among the parties which has a majority among the members of Opposition. The present speaker has ignored this tradition and that is why the members of the JO are charged with all types of allegations.

The Speaker is weak in arithmetic. He does not have the arithmetic knowledge of a primary school child.

Although the JO is comprised of 52 MPs, the office of the Leader of the Opposition was given to the Tamil National Alliance which consists of 16 MPs. So, the Speaker perceives 15 members as being higher than 52 members. In a similar manner, the leader of the JVP is appointed the chief opposition whip in Parliament; a party which is represented by 6 MPs in Parliament. Thus, the Speaker perceives that 6 members, is higher than 52 members. It is conspicuous that the JO which has the majority of members is being discriminated by the Speaker. He has denied the democratic rights of the 52 MPs that were elected by the people.

The Speaker should recognize the JO as a break-away group and should treat the group in a justifiable manner.

I can cite many an example of break-away groups and how they were given due recognition by the then Speakers. Although the JVP formed an alliance with the UPFA and contested the election in 2004, the party decided to be in the Opposition in 2005.Despite the fact that the JVP contested under the UPFA, the then Speaker recognized JVP as a different group in Parliament and was treated accordingly.

Wimal Weerawansa too broke away from the JVP and formed the National Freedom Front and that group too was given due recognition by the then Speaker. In 2010, the JVP broke into several groups and the groups were independently recognized by the then Speaker. Break-away groups have been recognized by the Speakers throughout history and this is the first time that a Speaker has denied the rights of a break-away group.

If you see, many SLFP members in the government were not elected by the people’s vote. The defeated candidates were taken in by the SLFP leadership. That is against democracy. I also would like to state that the members of the Joint Opposition have bagged the highest number of preferential votes at the General Election. It is clear that they are accepted and welcomed by the people. Nevertheless, the Speaker cannot recognize the rights of these members who are elected by the people. The suppression of the members of the Opposition means a huge blow to the will of the public. So, I dare say that the present Speaker of Parliament is the most undemocratic Speaker in the history of Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

?: Do you still remain an active member of the Sinhala- Buddhist movement? Don‘t you think that being a member of a Sinhala-Buddhist movement would inhibit the reconciliation process of the country?

A: Yes. I am still in the movement to promote the heritage of Sinhalese ethnicity and our religion Buddhism.

This government has not implemented a proper reconciliation process. What the government is engaged in, is promoting federalism, separatism and Islam extremism, under the guise of reconciliation. This so called reconciliation would bring more harm than good to the country.

?: What is the reason for the JO to boycott the media house owned by the infamous treasury bonds scam?

A: The JO decided to boycott the media house that belongs to the Treasury Bond scammers on ethical grounds. Everyone in the country is aware of the loss incurred by them to the economy and we, as representatives of the people, have raised our voice against it. It is against our conscience to support such a media house by expressing our views to them in the form of interviews.
The people who are employed at such media organizations are not ethical. I do not think ethical citizens of this country will spend their hard earned money to purchase such newspapers which carry false propaganda.

?: Do you opine that the arrest and the imprisonment of MP Wimal Weerawansa, is related to the government‘s witch-hunt of those Opposition MPs who raise their voice against the wrongdoings of the government?

A: It is conspicuous that the government is on the witch-hunt of those who censure and bring to light their wrongdoings. Detention and imprisonment of Wimal Weerawansa is a good example of the witch-hunt carried out by the present government. The government thinks it can conceal their corruption by detaining and imprisoning the people who speak against the government.
The recent incident of the Prime Minister interfering with the release of Wimal Weerawansa has explicitly evinced that the country’s Judiciary is not independent, as declared by the government. The Judiciary is under the Executive and is interfered with.

?: The May Day rally of the JO is to be held at the Gall Face Ground. Do you think you can fill the Grounds with supporters of the JO?

A: Each day people become disgruntled with the government and they leave the two parties that rule the country and their destination is the JO. People have confidence in the JO as their saviour. We are confident that our supporters, in large numbers, will attend the May Rally of the JO.

?: Will the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa participate in the JO May Day Rally?

A: Yes of course! People hold former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, in high esteem. Holding a May Day rally without former President Mahinda Rajapaksa is akin to holding a wedding ceremony without the bride.

Sudath Gunasekara 11.4.2017.

President says spiritual leaders are the real messengers who connect the hearts of the people and strengthen reconciliation as wished by every religious philosophy.

President noted that the guidance for reconciliation is witnessed in Thripitaka, Bible, Quran and Bhagavad-Gita.  He highlighted that Buddhist monks and all other priests belonging to Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity are expected to make use of the norms of the great teachings.

President Maithripala Sirisena was speaking at the cultural programme, Erabadu Vasantham”, dedicated to enhance ethnic and religious reconciliation. The event was held at Singakkuliya, Dankotuwa this afternoon (09). A programme was also organized to remember the service of late Rev. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody in line with the cultural event.

Speaking further, President stated that our country was built upon on peace and reconciliation among different communities from the ancient times. Sri Lankan nation should come together as a strong human wall while consolidating peace and harmony among different ethnic communities at the present context, President said.

President explained that though some elements would try to insult the term reconciliation”, Sri Lanka’s future will only be fruitful if the term would be given the true meaning and implement it in the society realistically.

President also commended the services of legendry artiste Rev. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody, who earned the hearts of people from all walks of the life in Sri Lanka.

The President presented a token of appreciation in the memory of Rev. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody to a senior member of his family Winifrida Jayakody. The Maha Sanga led by chief prelate most venerable Iththapane Dhammalankara thero, Christian and Catholic priest including former Archbishop Rt. Rev. Oswald Gomis, Hindu priests, Ministers Gamini Jayawickrama Perera, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Chief Minister of North-Western Province Dharmasiri Dasanayake, Deputy Minister Arundika Fernando, President of the Sarasavi Arts Association Ananda Karunarathna were also present at the event”.

My observations.

See the vote hunting ‘political animal’ in the Sinhala Buddhist President of this country.

The above quoted speech by him displays not only his ignorance of our history but also the real picture behind his future expectations. He is talking like a big pundit and a philosopher about Tripitaka, Bible, Quran and Bhagavad-Gita. That is to hit four birds with one stone, Buddhist Christians, Muslims and Hindus but I doubt whether he will realize his election dream. I do not want to contest his deep knowledge about these religious treaties. However I have my reservations on his comments on the potential of reconciliation these religions have as only Buddhism has this quality as a way of life that is clearly embodied in one line Mahakaruniko natho-Hhitaya sabba panino’  That is also the only religion where there is no coercive conversion or killing.

But I would also like all who voted him to ask him as to what positive role Bible, Quran and Bhagavad-Gita and Catholics, Hindu Tamils and Muslims have played either during the ancient or modern period in history towards reconciliation or cultural development in this country and at what period of history starting from 543 BC to date.?  As far as I know Sri Lankan civilization is at least 99% Sinhala Buddhist from 543 BC.

I cannot refrain from laughing my guts out when he says Speaking further, President stated that our country was built upon on peace and reconciliation among different communities from the ancient times. Any student of history will know how Tamils and Muslims have disrupted reconciliation, throughout history in this country.

It is a pity and disgust to note the Presidents ignorance of the history of this country. Even a tiny tot who has studied up to 5^th Std knows this country was known all over the world as Sinhale and Buddhism was the State religion of this country from 543 BC and 307 AD to 1815 Ad. (2358 yrs) as one Kingdom where the King had been always a Sinhala Buddhist, Although there had been South Indian Tamil usurpers  who invaded the Island had been occupying Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa areas for very short times like  (Elara 44 and Magha for14 yrs from 1214-1235). But never in its 2358 years the whole country had been occupied by any foreign power until finally British took over in 1815 in a major conspiracy by giving false promises to  Ehelepola Adigar of the Mahanuwara Kingdom which they called the Kandyan Kingdom meaning the Kingdom on the mountains.

Although there were few Tamil settlement in Jaffna (mostly introduced by the Dutch) and few Tamil settlements along the eastern littorals and few sporadic Muslims clusters (on Land given by the generosity of Sinhala Kings) in certain parts of the interior country the whole country was known as Sinhale up to March 2^nd 1815. British gave the name Ceylon also meaning Sinhale. Even the word EELAM means the land of the Sinhala people. The word EELAm has been in vogue in southern parts of India long before LTTE terrorist used it here to designate their dream Tamil homeland in Northern and Easernt parts of Sri Lanka.

The Kandyan Convention throughout used the word Sinhale to designate this country. But for some mysterious reason instead of that name the word Lanka came to be used until they changed it to read as Sri Lanka in 1972. But even today the English speaking countries call it Ceylon meaning the land of the Sinhala people. It was a pity and a tragedy too that our leaders in 1948 have failed even to restore the original name of the country that had been there for nearly 2500 yrs. Every time Tamils invaded they destroyed whatever within their hands. Always our great kings have restored what was destroyed after chasing the enemy out.

I would like all historians and patriotic people of this country to ask President Sirisena as to from what source of history in this country he learned this. His speech clearly shows that he does not know our history.  His ignorance of our long history Checkered by many a battles due to regular Indian invasions and devastations is displayed by this speech. Apparently as usual he is playing to the gallery hoping two things I think. First, second and last dream he has in mind is minority votes. Collection of the Christian votes was the other dream he has in his head at the next Local elections to his new Sri Lanka Party when he made this speech at this particular place. I am just waiting to see how many Sinhalese will vote his new three wheeler party. Second he must be hoping to become the President for a second term, as has already got his acolyte S.B. Disanayaka  to  crack the whip that ‘he has not said he is not coming for the next Presidential election’.

The name of the event at which he spoke is called’ Erabadu Vasantham”, Using one Sinhala and the other Tamil word he must be thinking that is the way for much spoken reconciliation between Sinhalese and Tamils. That again displays his virtuosity. Probably he must be dreaming that now he has already allowed the National Anthem to be sung in Tamil this is the way to hook the Tamil votes  en-masse like last time.

This event was also said to have been organized to remember the service of late Rev. Fr. Marcelline Jayakody in line with the cultural event. That was a very good thing I am quoting a Sinhala verse here composed by the most Rev Fr Jayakody so that the President could see the perception of Sri Lanka’s history of this Great Christian son of Sri Lanka. Should the President be ashamed to see this great Sinhala patriot Father who was not even a Buddhist loved his nation,

As for me I see Fr. Jayakody as a greater and a better Buddhist than most born Buddhists. As the following four lines depict he appears to have known the role of the Monk  in Sri Lankan society than any present day politician and even perhaps than most monks.

‘Aettak eti setiyen kiva                   yutte

Sivurai panadi  rata reka                 gatte

Sivurei helaye anupana                    ette

Adath nasinne me rata                 matte”

President also stated that our country was built upon on peace and reconciliation among different communities from the ancient times”

This is a revelation, the latest interpretation of Sri Lanka history after Sirisena.  Every Sinhala man who is not a converted Marxist, a westernized Sinhala tuppahiya or a Tamil or Muslim Communalist knows who made the civilization in this country.  The Innumerable extant archaeological, Epigraphic evidence found from Kadurugoda in the north to Devundara in the South and Madakalapuwa in the East to Halawatha in the West and the wealth of literary evidence and Mahavamsa will tell you who made the civilization in this country and how it was achieved by our forefathers sacrificing millions of their lives in battles against the Indian invaders in ancient times from the second Century BC  to save the Motherland to posterity including what Anagarika Dharmapala did to restore the devastation the Portuguese, Dutch and British did from 1505 to 1948 through the Church and with the gun.

I hope President Sirisena will revisit and revise his understanding of Sri Lanka history and culture before he makes his next political speech.

Mr President there is only one way to bring back permanent peace and prosperity among all the people in this country that is first for the Sinhalese to assert their ownership of this country. Then the leaders and if they don’t as not done for the past 70 years after Independence, then, the Sinhala people will have to tell the Tamils and Muslims to accept that non-negotiable. Thereafter Tamils and Muslims have to concede that they are only either decedents of left outs of invaders, settlers accommodated from time to time by the Sinhala Kings on their hospitality or illicit immigrants.  Please at least now tell your Tamil and Muslim buddies to concede to this reality and learn to live amicably without asking for parity and separate Kingdoms within this land of the Sinhalese just as all immigrants in past history have integrated with the native Sinhalese. This how reconciliation was achieved for the past 2500 years, at least in this country Everybody know it was the Tamils and Muslims who have always created problems and caused problems and never the Sinhalese Thereafter all people have to set aside their UNP.SLFP, JVP .TNA, Muslim Congress etc and think as one party and one nation then only sustainable reconciliation will come..

That is the only way Mr President any one can bring about reconciliation in this country and not by fighting for Federalism, self-determination and asking for privileges not enjoyed by the Bhumiputras or some rights and privileges not enjoyed by them on the part of Tamils and Muslims or this type of false speeches made by politicians like your PM and yourself to get minority votes. By doing so you are betraying your own Nation and the Motherland. Furthermore you are adding more fuel to the burning fire and thereby make the situation even worse and intractable.

We know most of you also know this hard fact. But no one wants to come out with that bitter truth fearing they will lose minority votes. This is the stark truth about politics in this country ever since Independence.

Unless and until we change this attitude your asking the Sinhalese to sacrifice will never bring in what you are dreaming.  They will never part with their 2500 year old civilization and Motherland at any cost. The adjustments have to come from visitors and not from the natives.

ඇම් ඩී පී දිසානායක

අපේ අතිගරැ ජනාධිපතිතුමා සරල දිවියක් ගෙවන ආදර්ශමත් ප‍ර්තිමූර්තියක් යන විරැදාවලියෙන් වර්ණවත් කලේ,

හරියටම එතුමා ජනාධිපතිවී සතියක් ඇතුලත ලංකාවට ගෙන්වන ලද අතිඋත්තම ෆැන්සිස් පාප්වහන්සේ විසිනි.

“මම ජනාධිපතිවූ පසු සැහැල්ලු අපිස් ජීවිතයක් ගතකරන බවත්, අරලියගහ මංදිරයේ නොව මගේ සාමා‍න්‍ය  ගෙදර ඉන්නා බවත්, වියත් අවියත් හුදී ජනතාවගේ දැනගැනීම සඳහා මගේ හරකබාන වතුපිටි ඇත් අස්  රිය පාබල පෙන්වන බවටත්” ප‍රිත්ඥා දුන්නෝය.

ජනාධිපති තුමා කෙහෙල් කොලයක තම සුරතින් පරිප්පු ලුණුමිරිස් සමග බත් කන අහිංසක

විලාසය දැක මගේ දෙනෙත් තෙත්විය. මෙවන් අග‍්‍රගනයේ දුර්ලභ සුපේශීලී ශික්‍ෂාකාමි දැහැමි මිනිසෙකු

විවේචනය කිරීම   අධම නොවේදැයි මට සිතුනි.

ඔභුට බත් කන්න බෙලෙක් පිඟානක්වත් නැත, කොච්චර පවුද? ඔහුට ගමන්බිමන් යෑමට ඉංදියාවෙන් රික්ශෝවක්

ගෙනත් දෙන්න දෙමළ සම්බන්ධන් නාටාමී කේවට්ටයාට පුලුවන් නේද?  මෙවන් අපිස් දිවියක්  ගතකරන

ජනාධිපතිතුමාට කෝටිගනන් වැය බෙන්ස් කාර් දීමෙන් ඔහුවත් නරකපුරුදු වලට පුරැදුවලට ඇබ්බැහි කරන්න

හොඳනැහැ නේද?

කෙහෙල් කොලෙන්

බත් කාලා හායිහූයී

බෙන්ස්  එකේ

        මං යනවා  චූං චූං

භැඩවැඩ වෙන්න

ඔයා ලස්සන සලුපළඳා

එනවා ඔබව

සොයා

By M D P DISSANAYAKE

When the Holy Pope  Francis visited Sri Lanka, he said the simple habits and unpretentious nature of President Maithripala Sirisena was similar to his life style. When the Holy Pope said ‘President Sirisena is just like me’ I said ‘no you are just like President Sirisena,” Archbishop said.

Maithripala Sirisena says ” on elected as the president he would not move into official residence Temple Trees but would live in his own simple house. He has also declared his assets for everyone to see. He is keen on leading a simple life and serving the people of all communities.

Photo via President’s media director Dharmasri Bandara Ekanayake’s Facebook Page” Colombo Telegraph November 10, 2016

It was unimaginable for either the President or the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to eat his lunch on Banana Leaves.  Our President is committed to simple life.  Extravagant lifestyle is not his cup of tea.   It is possible that our President has no proper cutlery otherwise why should he eat his lunch through plastic containers in  Parippu and Lunumiris.  A simple man like this cannot afford Porcelain, at least some Stoneware  must be provided to our poor President. Otherwise how can he keep his status?

In fact, the government must provide a Rickshaw for the President.  The Rickshaws are freely available in India and his Tamil friend Sambandan can donate a Ricksaw.  Ricksaw and Banana leaf lunch goes well together.

Our President need not have Mercedes Benz Cars.  It will be humiliating for him to eat his lunch on banana leaf and travel in an air conditioned, chauffeur driven Limousine S600 Mercedes Benz with Biturbo Engine, Magic Body Control.  Extended Length with Handcrafted Luxury Finished Cabin, Heated Power Seats, Multi Contour Seats with Massage, Cabin Automizer Frangrance, 20 inch 10 spoke Alloy Wheel.

All Sri Lankans must admire this great personality.  He defeated a Maha Raja.  He defeated poverty of Sri Lanka. He allowed national Anthem sung in Tamil.  He made a Tamil an Alternative Prime Minister. He does not waste public funds by conducting Elections.  He travel overseas  in Economy Class.   He is committed to a simple life.  He wears traditional leather sandals, like Mahatma Gandhi.  His next lunch ought to be also on Banana Leaf, with Rice, Dhall, Chapati, Yogurt and Brinjal, just like Mahatma Gandhi.

Our Great Illustrious President must be nominated for the next Nobel Prize and he should be our President forever for these exceptional qualities.

ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න (මගේ ”’ජාතිය පාවාදීම ”’ පොතේ කොටසක් ”))

 1832 දී රාජකාරිය තහනම කිරීමේදී  එය වැඩවස ම් ක්‍රමයකට අයත් වහල් සේවයක් බව ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින්  ප්‍රකාශ කරන ලදී  මතු පිටින් මහා සාධාර නයක් කරන බවක්  අඟවමින්  මොවුන්ගෙන් සමහරෙකු කටයුතුකලේ  වෙනෙකක් සිතතුළ සඟවා ගෙනය .. ඔවුන් සිතුවේ  රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය  තහනම් කර  කුලී  සේවකයන්  ඇති කිරීමේ ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කලවිට  ඔවුන්ගේ වතු වගාවන් සඳහා  අවශ්‍ය තරම් කුලීකාරයන්  සිංහලයන්ගෙන් ලබා ගත හැකිවනු ඇති බවය්  .එහෙත් සිංහලයෝ කුලීයට අනුන්ගේ වැඩ කිරීමට කැමති වුයේ නැත . . රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය යටතේ ඔවුන් යෙදුනේ  තම සමාජයේ පොදු වැඩ වලය . එය යුතුකම් ඉටුකිරීමක් ලෙස ඔවුහු සැලකුහ ..ඉංග්‍රීසින් යටතේ කුලීවදට  අකමැතිවීම  උගතුන්විසින්  අර්ථකථනය කරන ලද්දේ   ”’ සිංහලයන්ගේ උප්පත්ති  කම්මැලි කමක් ”’ ලෙසය .(. ජී  සී මෙන්ඩිස් ගේ ඉතිහාසපොතෙන්  මෙය ලියන මම ඉගෙන ගත්තෙත් එසේය >).එහෙත් එය සත්‍ය වශයෙන් නම් ”’ස්වයං පෝෂිත මිනිසෙකුගේ  අභිමානය ””’ ලෙස හැඳින් විය යුතුයය් මම දැන් සිතමි .

             ජනතා සේවය යය උඩින්  පෙන්වුවත් රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය අහෝසි කිරීමේ යටි අරමුණක් වූ බව ඉමර්සන් ටෙනන්ට් ගේ  මේ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් පෙනී යය් . ….”’….දේශීය ප්‍රභූවරු ට්ටේ රැකියා  හා ජීවනෝපාය  ක්‍රම විෂයෙහි දැක වන  බලපෑම හැකි තරම් පාලනය කිරීම මම නිර්දේශ කරමි . එසේ කරන්නේ මුදල්  ආදායම ගැනම සිතා නොව  බලය තහවුරු කරගැනීම  හා ආධිපත්‍යයේ  අභිමානය අපට වැදගත් නිසාය …..බ්‍රතාන්ය පාලකයෝ  ගම් ප්‍රධානීන් ගේ බලතල කප්පාදු කිරීමට හා  නිලනාම අවලංගු කිරීම……..ආදී කටයුතු  කර ඇති අතර  මහජනතාව  කෙරෙහි විශේෂ  ආධි පත්යයක්  පැතිරවීමට ඇති අවස්තාව නැති කිරීම සඳහා  රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය  නැති කිරීම විශේෂ වේ ..,,,””’

       වර්තමාන සිංහල තරුණ තරුණියනි පාසලේ ඉතිහාසපොතෙන්  මෙතෙක් ඔබ ඉගෙන ගත්තේ ඉංග්‍රීසින් විසින් ඔවුන්ගේ අභිමතය පරිදි ලියන ලද ඉතිහාසයය් සිංහලේ වැඩවසම් ක්‍රමයක්  තිබු නේයය් ද රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය යනු වහල් ක්‍රමයක් යය් ද ඔබටත් මටත් කළු සුද්දන් විසින් උගන්වා ඇත . .අපව ගිලගත් මේ මිෂනාරී අධ්‍යාපනයෙන් කුරුවල් වී සිටි මම නම් ඉන් ගැලවුනෙමි .ඔබට ගැලවීමක් නැත්තේ ඔබ තවමත් මේ මිෂනාරී අධ්යාපනය්යේ හිරකාරයෙක් නිසය් .රජය ඔබෙන් ඉතිහාසය වසන් කරය්.

                                                             ඉන්ග්රීසින්ටත්  උන්ගේ වහලුන් වූ කළු සුද්දන්ටත් එදා සිංහලේ ”රාජකාරිය ”නම්වූ තමන්ගේ වැව පන්සල තමන් විසින් නඩත්තු කර ගැනීම රට රැකගැනීම ආදිය වහල් ක්‍රමයක්සේ පෙනුනත් බටහිර ධනවාදී ක්‍රමයේ ස්වාමි සේවක සබඳතාව යටතේ වැටුප් ලබන  ”කුලී කාරයා ”ට ඔහු ගේ ”’ ‘නව’රාජකාරිය දේවකාරියක්”’ලෙස උගන්වනලදී .”’රජතුමා   ආගම හා වැසියා සමග ඒකීය  භාවයට ‘පැමිණීමේ ”’එදා සම්ප්‍රදාය  වෙනුවට පැරණි රාජකාරිය  අහෝසි කිරීමෙන් පසුව ස්වාමි සේවක  සම්බන්ධතාව ඇතිවී ම නිසා  සේවයේ තෘප්තිය පලාගියේය .

                                                සිංහලයාට ඇති එකම රට රක ගැනීමට නම්,,, ලෝකයේ මේවනවිට ඇති ශ්‍රේෂ්ටතම සංස්කෘතිය රක ගැනීමට නම් සිංහලයා ලෝකයේ අනෙකුත් බලවේගයන් අතරේ දියවී යාම නතර කර කර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍යනම් සිංහල බෞද්ධයෝ එකට එකතුවී දැනට බලවත් වී සිටින සියලු දේශපාලන හා ශාස්ත්‍රීය  මිෂනාරී බලවතුන් ගේ ග්‍රහණයෙන් මිදිය යුතුය .දේශප්‍රේමිත්වය දියාරු කර අපි ස්මාට්  වෙමුයය් කියන්නේ ඔබ යලිත් ඉතිහාසය හදාරා සත්‍යය සොයා යනු වැලක් වීමටය . මේ ප්රෝඩා තන්ත්රවාදයය්.,,,,  

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Higher Education and Highways Minister Lakshman Kiriella, yesterday said that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government wouldn’t give in to what he called a despicable political project undertaken by Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) on behalf of those who had been ousted at the January 2015 presidential poll.

MP Kiriella, who is also the Leader of the House, in a brief interview with The Island emphasised that the ongoing GMOA spearheaded campaign against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) was meant to undermine and humiliate the government.”The GMOA leadership is working overtime for the Joint Opposition loyal to former President Rajapaksa,” Kandy District MP Kiriella said, adding that various people who had received benefits from the previous administration were busy.

“We have the strength to meet their challenge.”

Asked whether the government would seek a consensus with the GMOA in respect of the SAITM issue, Minister Kiriella said the parliament had been briefed and support was sought from relevant parties, including the GMOA to resolve the matter. The UNPer said that the four-point plan had been presented to parliament subject to the judgment of the Court of Appeal and the subsequent appeal made to the Supreme Court by the SLMC (Sri Lanka Medical Council). “We are ready to address the SAITM issue in line with judicial interventions. Unfortunately, the GMOA rejected our proposals, obviously at the behest of its political masters.”

The GMOA leadership had quite conveniently forgotten that the SAITM wouldn’t have been a reality if not for the previous government and extraordinary support given by then President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Kiriella said. Could there be anything as ridiculous as the GMOA forming a common front inclusive of the JO loyal to former President Rajapaksa against SAITM, he asked.

The UNP heavyweight emphasized the importance of stakeholders to the issue knowing the specific proposals made by the government. Minister Kiriella said that their proposals were (1) SAITM students who have already passed the final MBBS examination would be given a further period of clinical training in Surgery, Medicine, Gynecology and Obstetrics, Psychiatry and Paediatrics, one month each in duration, at the Homagama and Avissawella hospitals. (2) Subsequent to this training, candidates would undergo a mandatory examination conducted for granting provisional registration under the joint supervision of the SLMC and the University Grant Commission. (3) Ministry of Health would gazette the minimum standards for medical education in Sri Lanka submitted by the SLMC with the approval of AG. (4) Ministry of Health would initiate the proceedings to bring the Neville Fernando Teaching Hospital under the Ministry of Health and continue to run as a teaching hospital.

Alleging that the GMOA functioned as a trade union affiliated to the JO, Minister Kiriella said their overall strategy was meant to cause chaos in every sector at the expense of both legally elected government and people. Kiriella said that the GMOA shouldn’t expect the government to dance to its tune and thereby give political advantage to the JO.

The Minister flayed the GMOA for rejecting government proposals even without discussing them with relevant parties. An irate Kiriella said that the GMOA should realize that it couldn’t enjoy special status as a trade union. The SAITM dispute or whatever the GMOA and those backing the campaign had chosen to call it, couldn’t be allowed to cause turmoil, Kiriella said, adding that the government was willing to discuss solutions on the basis of the four-point plan.

“We’ll not succumb to GMOA’s tactics”, he said.

The Kandy District MP said the government was planning to introduce Quality Assurance Bill soon to ensure proper monitoring of state as well as private educational institutions. Declaring that the project had received the World Bank backing, Minister Kiriella said that the GMOA couldn’t be unaware of the fact that the country required substantial public sector investments in the higher educational sector.

Having recognized the urgent need for sufficient public sector investments, the previous government paved the way for SAITM, Minister Kiriella said, underscoring the fact that the project got underway in the tail end of President Rajapaksa’s first term.

The Rajapaksa administration threw its weight behind SAITM though the JO now propagated lies, Minister Kiriella said. Having established SAITM in 2008, its management received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) right to award degrees in 2013, Minister Kiriella said. The minister recalled the circumstances under which the former President facilitated Rs 600 mn loan to SAITM. “We are not complaining about support given to the SAITM. The Issue is why one opposed a project once fully supported”, Minister Kiriella said.

The UNPer asserted that it was certainly not fair by those who had to suffer as a result of the GMOA crippling hospitals for political reasons. The Minister acknowledged that further trade union action was likely after Sinhala and Tamil New Year period.

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA

The CIA/M16/RAW-Tamil Diaspora installed Sirisena-Ranil government which has abandoned all development activities, and defied all its promises to the people are however committed and determined only to fulfil the unjust and unsubstantiated demands of the Tamils of the North and East which include enactment of a new constitution, providing land and police powers to the provinces, a federal form of governance, demilitarization of Northern and Eastern Provinces, and merge the two provinces.

In addition to this, the government is also fully committed and resolute in preventing Sinhala and Muslim people resettling in the lands in the North they inhabited for centuries, instituting legal processes and punishing the gallant war heroes who liberated this country from thirty years of terrorist atrocities. The government has no inclination at all to counter the false propaganda being carried out by Sambandan and the Tamil diaspora and their cronies saying that Sri Lankan forces carried out a genocide of Tamils during the last stages of the war despite the fact that our gallant war heroes rescued over 300,000 Tamils who were being used as human shields by the barbarous terrorists.

Sambandon addressing an international Forum in their motherland India has claimed that our soldiers killed 150,000 Tamils while others attribute different figures such as Amnesty International 10,000, Ban ki Moon 20,000, the International Crisis Group 40,000, the pro-LTTE reporter Frances Harrison 70,000 to 140,000  and Yasmin Sooka who was appointed by Ban ki-Moon as one of the three members of the Panel of Experts on Accountability on Sri Lanka, and a close friend of Navi Pillay claimed over 110,000 were killed.

The pro tiger terrorist and NGO vulture Jehan Perera in his weekly Island” article today 10^th April states that there are  24,000 families in Sri Lanka having their family members gone missing as per the number of complaints lodged with the Missing Persons Commission. According to this number at least 6 persons of each of these families should have been killed to arrive at Sambandan’s figure of 150,000

In 2012, the Sri Lankan authorities carried out a census among the residents of the north to determine the number of persons who had been killed in the final stages using Tamil school teachers and public servants as enumerators and arrived at a figure of 7,432 excluding those who had died of natural causes. Strangely, on adding up the monthly number of such casualties reported in the propaganda arm of the LTTE, the Tamilnet, the total killed for the period January 1, 2009 to May 19, 2009 was 7,398 which was below the GOSL census count. It should also be remembered that many civilians fought for the LTTE in civils as its auxilary forces.

Although the Sri Lankan government could have used this information to counter the grossly aggravated figures presented by Sambandan and other war mongers the shameless Tamil and Western slavish Sirisena-Ranil government did not take any action to divulge the truth to the world and hence the bloated figures unfortunately remain unopposed.

At the same time the world also thinks that Tamils are one of the original inhabitants of this country blindly believing in the influential Tamil propaganda since the folly of his concept also has not been exposed

The Tamils of the North and East are new immigrants to this country and as per valid and strong historical records these Tamils were brought to this country by the Dutch from South India for Tobacco cultivation in the North and by the British Imperialists to assist them in their oppressive rule of the native Sinhalese. There is no single archaeological or literary evidence found to prove the existence of Tamil settlements before Westerners arrived in Ceylon. There are no historical evidences in Eastern and Western countries, North or South Indian history to prove the existence of Tamil settlements in Sri Lanka

King Dutugamunu ruled this country from 161-137 Century BC before even the Tamil Language was formed, and not even an ethnic group called Tamils existed. Even Elara was a Kalingan (North Indian) and not a Tamil, and ‘Magha’ from Kalinga was also a North Indian.

I think it is appropriate to present below a few points from Dr. Sooriya Gunasekera’s Ceylon Today article ‘Elara was not a Tamil’ which was reproduced by Lankaweb website.

• There was not even a trace of permanent Tamil settlement in this country till 19th Century. The Shiva and Vishnu Srines in the Vanni District were constructed by ‘Vannairs’ who migrated to the Vanni to protect themselves from ‘Malik Kapoor’ invasion in the 14th Century. Since they were Hindus, those Shiva and Vishnu shrines were built by them. But, gradually they absorbed themselves into the Sinhala Buddhist culture and have become Sinhalese by the 19th Century

• The Treaty between King Dharmaparakramabahu and Lorenzo De Almeda in 1517 says, Rightful Lord of the Empire of Cota and of the Realms of Jafanapatao and Candea.” According to this treaty Jaffnapatao belonged to Kotte Kingdom in 1517. (A true and exact description of the great island of Ceylon by Philp Baladeus, published by Thisara Prakashakayo, first published in 1672.

• According to Malwana Treaty dated 29 May 1597, signed between King Don Juan Dhramapala of Kotte and Portuguese Capt. Aswedu, it states that the countries belong to Kotte Kingdom as Jaffna Patanam, Sithawaka Rata, Gampola rata, Uva rata, Mathale, Wellassa and panama rata etc.” Jaffna Peninsula was under the rule of Kotte Kingdom.

• According to Quiroz Jaffna was a trading post by 1600 AD where Muslims were in trading activities. Jaffnapatao was a Jungle and there were 4 Arrachchi Divisions which came under Muddier of Jaffna along four coasts namely Vediaarchchchi, Pashelapali, Thenarachchi and Welihama (All Sinhala names now these are converted into Tamil names)

• In 1618 when Portuguese captured Jaffna Peninsula they fought with Sinhalese army. There was no clue about Tamils. If there had been a Tamil Kingdom in Jaffna, why should Sinhalese fight with them?”

• The 12,000 Cholas brought by King Gajaba became Sinhalese according to the way of production in Ceylon

• King Rajasinha’s title is described in Philp Baladeus’ book page 396, – Rajasinghe Emperor of Ceylon, King of Candea, Cota, Ceytavaka, Dambadan, Amaray aport, Jaffna Patanam, Prince of ouva, Matare, Dinavaca, and the four corles. Great Duke of seven CorelsMathale, Earals of Cotiar, trikunamale, Batecalo, velase, Vintana, Drembra, Panciapato, Veta, Puttalum, Vallar, Galle” etc.

• Temporal and Spiritual – Book 1, page 49 further states, In cause of time there came some Brahmanes, native of Guzarate, called Arus, who claimed Royal descent; and with the favor of the Nayque of Madure they erected the pagoda of Ramanacor, whence they began to have trade and friendship with Kings of Jafnapatao, and one of them married a daughter of that king; and finally his descendants became heirs to that Kingdom of these, the first that tried to free himself from subjection to the King of Cota, was Ariaxaca Varti who being naturally proud and not brooking the haughtiness of the officers of that King, took the life of the one who governed there, and the King of Ceylon prepared to punish him.
• They say he went to meet him at Ceytavaca and took him some verses wherein he so flattered him with praises of him and his ancestors that he left him completely vainglorious and satisfied, and the verses being helped by a goodly present, he not only made him desist from war, but also obtain olas from him (What we should call provisions) and the title king of Jaffnapatao which his successor preserved paying in acknowledgement only some tribute; and because this was the beginning of their greatness, his descendence from the name Aria, were called
  Ariavance, which means the generation of Aria.”

Despite these facts Tamils always adopted an aggressive approach towards the other communities of Sri Lanka particularly the Sinhalese.  When the 1^st State Council elections were held in 1931 under universal franchise, the Jaffna Tamils boycotted this election.

In the 2nd State Council when the granting of independence to Ceylon was taken up for debate, S.J.V.Chelvanayagam demanded that Tamils should be granted a separate nation since the Sinhalese were inferior to govern over the Tamils. This was strongly opposed by the Muslim Member Marcan Markar saying that Sinhalese being the majority in the country has all the rights to govern the nation and the country should not be divided on ethnic grounds.

The above factors relate to the true history of Sri Lankans despite the bogus claims being made by the Tamils the coolies brought to Sri Lanka by the Dutch and the British Imperialists. Can Sambandan or Wigneswaran or their Tamil buddy Ranil Wickremasinghe or the Tamil’s darling old hag Chandrika or the Tamil slavish Sirisena deny these facts?

SUSANTHA WIJESINGHE

IT was in the news sometime back that the Parliament is to sanction Rs283 million to buy SIX cars for some SIX political suckers. Two of them wanted Rs40 million cars, while another wanted Rs20 million car, and Sambanthan was to be given Rs21 Million to extend his Eelaam Palace. Now The PRESIDENT  imports the aforesaid Cars for his son and Daughter perhaps.

Please watch this ITN news clip. PEOPLE ARE STARVING WITHOUT A MEAL FOR A DAY, and some are living on PLAIN TEA AND A BISCOTHU.

THIS IS CERTAINLY YAHA PAALANAYA FOR PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER, AND THE 225 RATS IN PARLIAMENT, AND NOT FOR THE PEOPLE WHO ARE THRIVING ON PLAIN TEA. IT IS SAD.

What has become of beautiful SRI LANKA ?  Pardon me, it was a Voter set of Sinhalese who brought about this curse.

http://www.col3line.com/itn-news-6.30pm-25-03-2017/30087.html