with Ravi Ladduwahetty Courtesy Ceylon Today

“I will not agree with what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it. I do not agree with what you write, but I will leave every room for you to write”.

– VOLTAIRE

Hot on the heels of the government messing up with the United Nations by agreeing to co-sponsor the UN resolution with the United States which was extensively debated in this column just last Monday , then comes another a piece of dangerous legislation which is already tabled in the House of Parliament.

That is a Bill which is aimed at punishing the heroic members of the Armed Forces who successfully and at great sacrifice and zealous and passionate commitment, ended a thirty year war, effectively combating the LTTE, widely acknowledged as the most ruthless terrorist group the world has seen or known.

The Unity Government of the political combine and the marriage of convenience of the United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), has been having serious dents, That is not all. Now, it is a dangerous Bill which is before the House of Parliament which has been presented by no lesser than Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on 7 March. That is to give effect within this country, provisions contained in the International Covenant on Enforced Disappearances. The effect of the Bill is to allow any foreign government or any agency acting on behalf of a foreign government to make complaints pertaining to military and political leaders, who are alleged to have given orders to commit war crimes.

The basic concept of this is that of Command Responsibility. This includes acts of both commission and omission. So, political and military leaders could be punished not only for what they have done, but also matters that they have allowed to have happened during their command. This is a far reaching piece of legislation and the government has put itself to be allowed to be under obligation to implement under the provisions of the Covenant, to extradite or hand over under the provisions of the Extradition Act No. 8 of 1977. Even the provisions of Act No. 8 of 1977 have also been taken away.

Now, if Sri Lanka has signed the International Covenant and Treaty of Rome, that will also mean that the alleged will be extradited and be a defendant in the International Criminal Court. So, there is an imminent danger to the political and military leaders who have eliminated terrorism from this country.

There is also provision of the establishment of a special High Court in Colombo to try this category of crimes. There is also no provision for bail in the Bill. The police have been empowered to act even without a complaint.

It is also important to alert the nation that the country’s political leaders will stand under the provisions of this Bill. So, this is indeed the time that the Yahapalanaya has become the Yamapalanaya! Are the members of the government possessed by devils and King Yama to have no sympathy for military and political leaders who finished the war?

WITHER DEMOCRACY?

Then, the other issues such as the government fighting shy to hold the Local Government elections as the result seems to be quite obvious.

President Maithripala Sirisena has been quoted in yesterday’s Edition of the Ceylon Today that he will lead the SLFP to victory in all future elections. We wish him well!

However, if the most recent elections to the Anamaduwa Cooperative Society was anything to go by, the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, which has Prof. G.L. Peiris as Chairman, has won 180 seats, while the UNP, which is in government, has won only a mere 18 seats. The SLFP, the party which the President comes from, has not won a single seat, while it is also ditto for the JVP as well. There are only two years and a little more before Parliament elects its next set of legislators, and it is likely that the same trend will continue akin to the Southern Provincial Council Polls in 1993 which saw the People’s Alliance romp home at the Parliamentary Polls on 16 August 1994 with Chandrka Bandaranaike Kumaratunga being sworn in as Prime Minister on 19 August 1994 and sworn in as President in November 1994. The UNP of the day did not know what hit them. However, it could be argued that the SLFP won the Presidential Polls over the dead body of the UNP Presidential candidate Gamini Dissanayake.

The voters also voted for a change in 2015. They were sick and tired of the excesses of the Rajapaksa Presidency and moreover in the light that nothing was done to reduce the fuel prices, which was plummeting at global level. Nothing was done to reduce the Cost of Living in terms of prices of essentials. But, what this government is doing takes not only the cake, but the icing and the cake structure itself!

Now, of the Central Bank Bond scam, the less said the better. It has now transpired that the transaction was paid for with the help of the EPF Funds. Catch a retired employee trying to raise a loan for effecting repairs to his house, the answer in a known instance to this columnist, was a resounding no. But, the son-in-law of the Central Bank Governor has access to funds, I mean public funds which the father-in-law is supposed to be the custodian of! As the age old axiom goes, “in this country, what matters is not what you know, but whom you know!”

People expected the economy to leapfrog. They also believed that the UNP were better managers of the economy. The proposed Volkswagen deal with a proposed manufacturing plant in Kuliyapitiya too became a damp squib. Now, the government says that it is going to be an assembly plant by the local agent, having had enough egg on its face!

LITTLE OR NO AVURUDU

Now with the cost of living going through the roof, it is also known that the celebrations of the forthcoming Sinhala and Tamil New Year will be curtailed to the core. The price of rice, salt and sugar are unbearably high, taking Wahapalanaya even to the kitchen!

A MORIBUND ECONOMY

The government will have to increase Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) in order to avoid an upcoming Balance of Payment (BoP) crisis. Although the government boasted about attracting FDI, they have fallen way below the expectations. FDI in 2016 had reduced to little over US$ 300 from around US$ 700 received in 2015. This is majorly due to the policy inconsistency of the government, particularly the changes to the Budget proposals relating to taxation.

Further, the government had failed to increase its revenue up to the expected level. Some of the targets given by the IMF were met with regard to cutting down expenditure. However, the inflation rate has risen to 8.2% in February which was the highest year-on-year inflation reported after January 2016.

Dr. Sooriya Gunasekara Courtesy Ceylon Today

උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

ගෝකණ්‌ණ හෙවත් ත්‍රිකුණාමල වරාය පිළිබඳ ඉතිහාසය ක්‍රි.පූ. හයවැනි සියවස දක්‌වා අතීතයට ඇදීයති. පුරාතනයේ සිට වර්තමානය දක්‌වාම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සුවිශාල මෙහෙයක්‌ ඉටු කළ වරායක්‌ වන්නේ ත්‍රිකුණාමල වරායයි. බුදුරදුන්ගේ ශාක්‍යවංශය නෑකම් කියන භද්දකච්චායනා කුමාරි ඇතුළු පරිවාර ස්‌ත්‍රීන් ද මෙරටට ගොඩ බැස ඇත්තේ ත්‍රිකුණාමල වරායෙනි.

ආර්ථික ආක්‍රමණයට ඉඩ සැලසීම නොවේද? මේ හරහා අවසානයේ ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ තවත් එක්‌ ප්‍රාන්තයක්‌ වීමට ඉඩ දිය යුතුද? එනිසා ත්‍රිකුණාමලය විජාතිකකරණය කිරීමට එරෙහිව සියලු දෙනා පෙළ ගැසිය යුතුය.

Editorial Island

April 9, 2017, 9:46 pm
US President Donald Trump has, in a desperate bid to overcome domestic problems and rally support, emulated his predecessors such as Ronald Reagan, George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. He has taken to military action overseas. He had a Syrian airfield bombed last week, claiming that President Bashar al-Assad had to face the consequences of chemical attacks on rebel forces. But, the whole world is aware that Trump is no friend of Syrians going through hell. His anti-Muslim travel ban has amply demonstrated that he does not care a damn about global humanitarian issues, especially the one in Syria.

As Russia pointed out at the UN Security Council meeting last week, the spirits of ISIS terrorists who have become a threat to the entire world were greatly raised by the US attack at issue. In a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Saturday over the situation in Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov pointed out that “an attack on a country whose government fights terrorism only plays into the hands of extremists, creates additional threats to regional and global security.”

Meanwhile, Trump’s air strikes have yielded the desired results in Europe. France and Germany lost no time in welcoming them. They told Assad, in no uncertain terms that he had provoked the missile attacks and, therefore, was responsible for it. If only the US had reacted similarly in the 1980s when Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein carried out chemical attacks on Iraqis and Iranians! It was the only country that voted against a UN Security Council statement in 1986 condemning the mustard gas attacks by Iraq on the Iranian forces!

The US also allowed its companies to export chemicals to Iraq, which used them on humans. All chemical attacks by Saddam on the Kurds under the Anfal campaign, which left over 150,000 Kurds dead, more than 1,000 Kurdish villages destroyed and about 300,000 Kurds displaced had the blessings of the West. The crop spraying helicopters used for those attacks had came from the US! Strangely, those massacres had no impact on the trade that Iraq had with the West.

The West later gave the world a scare by proclaiming that Saddam was about to acquire nukes. But, he got uranium from Portugal, France and Italy and assistance for centrifuge enrichment came from Germany. The US Senate during one of its inquiries in 1995 stumbled on a startling fact: The United States had, during the Iran-Iraq war, provided Saddam with samples of all the strains of germs used for making biological weapons!

Fear is being expressed in some quarters that unless the Syrian crisis was defused urgently there might be a confrontation between the two leading nuclear powers. But, this fear is unfounded in that the US and Russia have avoided collision over far more serious issues in the past. After all, a confrontation with Russia is the last thing President Trump wants at this juncture. He hasn’t apparently taken leave of his senses to resort to a course of action which is sure to precipitate a nuclear winter.

Speculation is rife that Trump will order strikes on North Korea as well. But, all signs are that he won’t dare do so because he knows that North Korea possesses nukes and is blind to the consequence of its action. In case of a US strike, the North Korean dictator is likely to turn to soft targets if it cannot take on the US.

Assad, no doubt, has to be tamed and the onus is on Russia to do so diplomatically. The general consensus is that President Vladimir Putin has not done enough to make Assad act with restraint. It will be interesting to see how the US and Russia tackle the Syria issue when Tillerson and Lavrov meet for talks tomorrow.

Senaka Weeraratna   

Throughout Sri Lanka’s Buddhist History lasting for over 2300 years Vesak has been an exclusive Buddhist Festival with only Buddhist symbols and decorations been displayed to mark the most important occasion in the Buddhist calendar. Even at worst of times during colonial rule under three Christian powers, this festive day for Buddhists was never adulterated with symbols of other religions.

However this year ( 2017) this long established tradition of Vesak being an exclusive Buddhist festival appears to be under threat if we are to take cue from an Advertisement placed in the ‘Sunday Times’ newspaper which has been running for 4 weekends. The focus of the advertisement is on celebration of Vesak but the margin of the advertisement at both the top and bottom ends is lined with the symbols of four religions namely Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.

The rationale for inserting non – Buddhist religious symbols in respect to celebration of Vesak, in a  newspaper advertisement is inexplicable except in terms of Multi –culturalising and downsizing Vesak as an exclusive Buddhist Festival. It is not a secret that the space for Buddhists and Buddhism is getting diminished in a land that once took pride as the centre of Buddhism and was accordingly given that recognition throughout the world.

Buddhism and Buddhist values were the pride of the Sinhale nation for over two millennia. Nothing that this country stood for brought international attention both from near and far than the nation’s commitment to safeguard and foster Buddhism. Buddhist values were the term of reference in national policy making by Sinhalese Kings. Even the Nayakkar (Tamil) Kings of the Kandyan Kingdom respected Buddhist values and never diluted them with ideas alien to Buddhism. Now all what this ancient nation stood for is under grave threat from a Government that is bound by Article 9 of the Constitution to give foremost place to Buddhism and accordingly to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana.

We are indeed living in strange times. An advertisement placed in the national newspapers on February 4, 2017 called on people to engage in shared values between religions. This would appear to be nothing but a shameless exercise to bury Buddhist values within a seemingly innocent move to harmonise values that are in-congruent.

The First Precept is very clear on the ethical conduct required of Buddhists. The principle ‘ Kill and Eat’ which is at the core of Abrahamic religions is anathema to Buddhist followers, by and large.

Is the ‘ Shared Values’ policy meant to encourage Buddhists to ‘kill and eat’ and accordingly violate the First Precept?

https://www.spur.asn.au/2017/02/07/stop-fake-shared-values-campaign-from-replacing-buddhist-values-that-illuminated-sinhale-nation-for-over-two-millennia/

The current advertisement in Today’s Sunday Times 2  (April 9, 2017) page 10, attempts to dissuade the Buddhist public from having Dansals to feed the poor, engaging in celebration of Vesak in a special fitting manner being a once a year occasion and projecting Sri Lanka as a pre- dominant Buddhist country.

While austerity is being advocated for Buddhists in celebration of Vesak, no such caution was sounded when Christmas was celebrated under Government patronage last December. An exorbitant amount was spent in decorating Colombo streets and public squares with fancy lighting and bulbs to show case Christianity including the erection of a fake Christmas Tree on Galle Face Green, despite protests from the vast majority of Lanka’s citizenry.

There must be a limit to appeasement. It should never be done at the expense of Buddhism or downsizing the celebration of Buddhist festivals. It would indeed be tragic if the forthcoming UN Day of Vesak 2017 Conference due to be held in Colombo (May 12 – 14, 2017) were to be used for promoting an inter – faith and multi-cultural agenda whose ultimate hidden goal is nothing but to drive out Buddhism from public life in the country.

Senaka Weeraratna

By Colonel W. Patrick Lang http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

April 08, 2017 “Information Clearing House” –   Donald Trump’s decision to launch cruise missile strikes on a Syrian Air Force Base was based on a lie.  In the coming days the American people will learn that the Intelligence Community knew that Syria did not drop a military chemical weapon on innocent civilians in Idlib. Here is what happened:

1. The Russians briefed the United States on the proposed target. This is a process that started more than two months ago. There is a dedicated phone line that is being used to coordinate and deconflict (i.e., prevent US and Russian air assets from shooting at each other) the upcoming operation.
2. The United States was fully briefed on the fact that there was a target in Idlib that the Russians believes was a weapons/explosives depot for Islamic rebels.
3. The Syrian Air Force hit the target with conventional weapons. All involved expected to see a massive secondary explosion. That did not happen. Instead, smoke, chemical smoke, began billowing from the site. It turns out that the Islamic rebels used that site to store chemicals, not sarin, that were deadly. The chemicals included organic phosphates and chlorine and they followed the wind and killed civilians.
4. There was a strong wind blowing that day and the cloud was driven to a nearby village and caused casualties.
5. We know it was not sarin. How? Very simple. The so-called “first responders” handled the victims without gloves. If this had been sarin they would have died. Sarin on the skin will kill you. How do I know? I went through “Live Agent” training at Fort McClellan in Alabama.

There are members of the U.S. military who were aware this strike would occur and it was recorded. There is a film record. At least the Defense Intelligence Agency knows that this was not a chemical weapon attack. In fact, Syrian military chemical weapons were destroyed with the help of Russia.

This is Gulf of Tonkin 2. How ironic. Donald Trump correctly castigated George W. Bush for launching an unprovoked, unjustified attack on Iraq in 2003. Now we have President Donald Trump doing the same damn thing. Worse in fact. Because the intelligence community had information showing that there was no chemical weapon launched by the Syrian Air Force.

Here’s the good news. The Russians and Syrians were informed, or at least were aware, that the attack was coming. They were able to remove a large number of their assets. The base the United States hit was something of a backwater. Donald Trump gets to pretend that he is a tough guy. He is not. He is a fool.

This attack was violation of international law. Donald Trump authorized an unjustified attack on a sovereign country. What is even more disturbing is that people like Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, CIA Director Mike Pompeo and NSA Director General McMaster went along with this charade. Front line troops know the truth. These facts will eventually come out. Donald Trump will most likely not finish his term as President. He will be impeached, I believe, once Congress is presented with irrefutable proof that he ignored and rejected intelligence that did not support the myth that Syria attacked with chemical weapons.

It should also alarm American taxpayers that we launched $100 million dollars of missiles to blow up sand and camel shit. The Russians were aware that a strike was coming. I’m hoping that they and the Syrians withdrew their forces and aircraft from the base. Whatever hope I had that Donald Trump would be a new kind of President, that hope is extinguished. He is a child and a moron. He committed an act of war without justification. But the fault is not his alone. Those who sit atop the NSC, the DOD, the CIA, the Department of State should have resigned in protest. They did not. They are complicit in a war crime.

Colonel W. Patrick Lang is a retired senior officer of U.S. Military Intelligence and U.S. Army Special Forces (The Green Berets). He served in the Department of Defense both as a serving officer and then as a member of the Defense Senior Executive Service for many years. He is a highly decorated veteran of several of America’s overseas conflicts including the war in Vietnam. He was trained and educated as a specialist in the Middle East by the U.S. Army and served in that region for many year. http://turcopolier.typepad.com/

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House.

See also

Lest we forget: U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime’ January 29, 2013: Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying ‘the idea is approved by Washington’

U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime’

• Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying ‘the idea is approved by Washington’
• Obama issued warning to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that use of chemical warfare was ‘totally unacceptable’

By LOUISE BOYLE

PUBLISHED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013

Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad’s regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country.

A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme ‘approved by Washington’ is outlined explaining that Qatar would fund rebel forces in Syria to use chemical weapons.

Barack Obama made it clear to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that the U.S. would not tolerate Syria using chemical weapons against its own people.

Scroll down for video

War games: An explosion in the Syrian city of Homs last month. It has been now been suggested that the U.S. backed the use of chemical weapons to spur international military intervention

According to Infowars.com, the December 25 email was sent from Britam’s Business Development Director David Goulding to company founder Philip Doughty.

It reads: ‘Phil… We’ve got a new offer. It’s about Syria again. Qataris propose an attractive deal and swear that the idea is approved by Washington.

‘We’ll have to deliver a CW to Homs, a Soviet origin g-shell from Libya similar to those that Assad should have.

‘They want us to deploy our Ukrainian personnel that should speak Russian and make a video record.

‘Frankly, I don’t think it’s a good idea but the sums proposed are enormous. Your opinion?

‘Kind regards, David.’

Britam Defence had not yet returned a request for comment to MailOnline.

Enlarge 

Leaked: The email was allegedly sent from a top official at a British defense contractor regarding a ‘Washington approved’ chemical attack in Syria which could be blamed on Assad’s regime

The emails were released by a Malaysian hacker who also obtained senior executives resumés and copies of passports via an unprotected company server, according to Cyber War News.

Dave Goulding’s Linkedin profile lists him as Business Development Director at Britam Defence Ltd in Security and Investigations. A business networking profile for Phil Doughty lists him as Chief Operationg Officer for Britam, United Arab Emirates, Security and Investigations.

The U.S. State Department had not returned a request for comment on the alleged emails to MailOnline today at time of publication.

However the use of chemical warfare was raised at a press briefing in D.C. on January 28.

A spokesman said that the U.S. joined the international community in ‘setting common redlines about the consequences of using chemical weapons’.

Countless losses: Families attempt to identify the bodies of Syrian fighters shot and dumped in a river in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo today

Devastation: People gather at a site hit by what activists said was missiles fired by a Syrian Air Force fighter jet from forces loyal to Assad, at the souk of Azaz, north of Aleppo on January 13

A leaked U.S. government cable revealed that the Syrian army more than likely had used chemical weapons during an attack in the city of Homs in December.

The document, revealed in The Cable, revealed the findings of an investigation by Scott Frederic Kilner, the U.S. consul general in Istanbul, into accusations that the Syrian army used chemical weapons in the December 23 attack.

An Obama administration official who had access to the document was reported as saying: ‘We can’t definitely say 100 per cent, but Syrian contacts made a compelling case that Agent 15 was used in Homs on Dec. 23.’

Mr Kilner’s investigation included interviews with civilians, doctors, and rebels present during the attack, as well as the former general and head of the Syrian WMD program, Mustafa al-Sheikh.

Dr. Nashwan Abu Abdo, a neurologist in Homs, is certain chemical weapons were used. He told The Cable: ‘It was a chemical weapon, we are sure of that, because tear gas can’t cause the death of people.’

Threats: Barack Obama said during a speech last month that if Syria used chemical weapons against its own people it would be ‘totally unacceptable’

Tyrant: Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, pictured with his wife Asma, is facing increasing international pressure over his brutal massacre of his own people

Eye witness accounts from the investigation revealed that a tank launched chemical weapons and caused people exposed to them to suffer nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, delirium, seizures, and respiratory distress.

The symptoms suggest that the weaponized compound Agent-15 was responsible. Syria denied using chemical weapons and said it would never use them against citizens.

Speaking to Pentagon reporters at the time, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said his biggest concern was how the U.S. and allies would secure the chemical and biological weapons sites scattered across Syria and ensure the components don’t end up in the wrong hands if the regime falls, particularly under violent conditions.

Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out brutal warfare in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT :  ‘SYRIAN REBELS TESTING CHEMICAL WEAPONS
ON RABBITS’

 

Play Video

By Sulochana Ramiah Mohan Courtesy Ceylon Today

Sixty-five-year-old Rtd. Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, also a former UPFA MP says he is against the UN resolution cosponsored by the government. “As the Chief Coordinator of the Federation of National Organizations, consisting of experts such as Shenali Waduge, Dharshan Weerasekara, Shamindra Ferdinando, Kalyana Thiranagama and Dr. Wasantha Bandara, I have compiled a dossier with facts, statistics and letters obtained from various diplomats and reports from international NGOs and vetted by former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva to prove that there were no war crimes committed by the security forces. Another organization, the Global Sri Lankan Forum, headquartered in Dubai is sponsoring their cause to fight against alleged war crimes charges.”

He adds, “I have a list of ‘traitors’ and when a new government takes over, if possible, we will file a case against them for treason. If proved guilty they will be sentenced to death.”

? The former government and security forces were defensive about the allegations levelled against them on alleged war crimes whereas the international civil societies and Tamils of the North and East urge the UN to probe alleged human rights violations that took place during the war period and beyond with proof. Since these weren‘t addressed by the then government, don‘t you think the country is in a fix, facing the resolution sponsored by the super power?

A: When I was in Geneva during the UNHRC session last month, the entire pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora coming through various NGOs were saying that Tamils are discriminated in Sri Lanka. They claim genocide, torture and rape camps run by the military. I am asking you, are you being discriminated? What about the Sinhalese in the North who cannot settle there, aren’t theydiscriminated? The Tamil Diaspora says since the Tamils are discriminated they want a federal State. I am totally against these accusations. We don’t have that feeling of hatred. To me all Sri Lankans belong to one family.

People should understand that we won the war and it was Germany with 17 other countries that tried to propose a resolution against us at the UNHRC but it was defeated by the non-aligned countries. The first ever resolution was a positive. We were congratulated for defeating the war.

? But at that time there wasn‘t any evidence coming out but eventually it did emerge. Victims‘ families began to question what happened to their loved ones who were with them during the last phase of the war and they went about looking for those who surrendered and imprisoned. Can‘t that be the case?

A: Those were compiled later on by the Tamils living overseas. Why did Mahinda Rajapaksa lose in the election in 2015? It was because he didn’t listen to the West. The West wanted us to halt the war and smuggle Prabhakaran out. The Tamil Diaspora was angry with Rajapaksa for killing him and that is why former US Secretary of State John Kerry said they are part of the victory when Rajapaksa was defeated. How can he be part of ousting Rajapaksa?

? There are several protests being held in the North and they are urging the government to release the list of people who surrendered to the security forces. They say they handed over their loved ones personally in good faith and have the names of military officials. So do you think these are bogus claims?

A: Such incidents are inevitable, but those individual offences against people are not war crimes. Offences committed by some are not war crimes. When you say war crimes, they are systematically planned by the high command and then executed. The claims that there were genocide, enforced disappearances, rape camps and deliberately not sending aid to the Tamil areas are defined as war crimes and that never occurred in Sri Lanka. We are against war crimes claims but crimes committed by individuals should be dealt with definitely.

? Did the Rajapaksa regime deal with those ‘individual‘ cases as you call them?

A: Why not? There were several Court Marshall cases and soldiers were sentenced to jail. My point is that if some soldiers have committed crimes, they should be dealt with according to the prevailing judicial setup.

? So you think Court Marshall for crimes committed by the soldiers is sufficient?

A: Why not? Also there are civil cases. In the Krishanthi Kumaraswamy rape case the accused soldiers were sentenced to death.

The government also gave the order to dig the mass graves. So there are enough and more verdicts by the judiciary.
? Don‘t you think the current government is dealing with individual cases too?

A: We are living in peace now because we have eradicated the LTTE. We should respect our soldiers, but we don’t do so. The government wants to take them to the International Criminal Court (ICC) with false war crime charges levelled against them. The UNHRC report shows seven charges against our security forces and that is bullshit! We have denied all those seven charges with proof. Earlier, we hired international human rights experts such as Sir Geoffrey Nice, Sir Desmond de Silva, and John Holms who said soldiers did not commit war crimes. Why didn’t Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera forward that document to the Human Rights chief Zeid Raad Al-Hussein?

? What about the murder of ‘Sunday Leader‘ editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, cartoonist Prageeth Ekneligoda and the ruggerite Wasim Thajudeen? Why didn‘t the former government probe such murders and disappearances?

A: Those are not war crimes.

? But these cases are also alleged to have links to the security forces and you have not addressed them. Don‘t you think so?

A: There are thousands of cases still not attended to and you are talking about Ekneligoda. Is he a journalist first of all?

? Journalist or not, why don‘t you condemn his disappearance?

A: You said he was a journalist and I am saying he is not. He wrote only one article. I saw his wife Sandya in Geneva. From Geneva she left for Paris.

? What do you mean by that?

A: She went to Paris to see her husband. That is the truth.

? Are you sure he is in Paris and how do you know it?

A: Many people have seen him there. It’s okay if she has gone to see him.

? If what you say is correct, why didn‘t you or the Rajapaksas get him down or publish his photograph because his ‘disappearance‘ has ruined the reputation of the security forces?

A: True. We failed to bring him down, but now we cannot do anything about it. Over his disappearance, 13 soldiers were remanded. Under section 296 of the Penal Code the body of the missing person should be found or there must be an eye witness to charge or remand someone. However, the soldiers were remanded without any charges. Also Major General Chaggi Gallage was not issued visa to travel to Australia.

? There were no ‘fair‘ trials under the Rajapaksas and people of all communities lost faith in the judiciary. This has been acknowledged by many in the South too. Haven‘t you heard so?

A: There are sections of the people who are against the soldiers and politicians against the UN resolution.

? There are old women, mothers and sisters in the North who are urging the government to tell the truth about their loved ones who had disappeared or surrendered to the security forces. Who are they in your opinion?

A: Do you know that many of those “missing” people are living aboard?

? Isn‘t this an assumption? Do you have any proof?

A: How many were killed by the LTTE? We don’t know.

? People were urging the former government to probe what happened to their loved ones. But there wasn‘t any action. Why did you leave these people to protest for so many years?

A: The Paranagama Commission took action and they tried to do something.

? But that commission also came under criticism and even Paranagama told the media that there were some cases that need to be studied with foreign expertise because there were elements related to international human rights laws and they need to look into them.

A: After the war you cannot attend to all these cases over the counter quickly. The Lesson Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and Paranagama Commission were initiated. When you compare the missing persons’ statistics the figures are bloated. My concerns are not individual cases but war crimes allegations only. The Paranagama Commission used reputed international experts and they said the government did not commit war crimes and there are seven reports produced by them.

? What did you do with those reports?

A: Let me give you an example how humane we were. Soosai, the LTTE Sea Tiger leader, killed many Naval officers and made their wives widows. But his wife and children were apprehended on the sea at about 11.30 p.m. We could have killed and dumped them in the Dvora boat locker. But we saved them and now they are living happily in Colombo.

? But how can you kill a woman and her children because of Soosai?

A: He was an enemy and we could have killed his family. If we are human rights violators then our action should not be that.

Prabakaran or John Kerry did not know about Soosai’s family. We also apprehended Tiger combatants when they dived in the sea when we approached them, but we captured them with nets and handed them over to the Trincomalee Harbour Police. I have gone with the ICRC to the LTTE controlled area to get the soldiers who were taken hostage by the LTTE after they ran over army camps. When I brought them to our boats their condition was horrible. Their eyes had been removed, tongues and genitals slashed. Their dead bodies had been returned after torturing them.

So, when you see a soldier’s pregnant wife’s belly cut open and the foetus taken out like a fish cut into pieces by the LTTE, what is the mental status of that soldier? They can also go to extremes, but we don’t condone those actions. On the whole, security forces never committed systematic war crimes. I am angry because more than 50 per cent of the Tamils are living among the Sinhalese and claim that they are discriminated. The Tamil Diaspora is trying to establish an Eelam using the UN. Even Prabakaran could not achieve it through terror and everybody congratulated me for saying this.

? So crimes that took place during the war are not considered war crimes in your opinion?

A: There is a distinct difference between war crimes and individual crimes. After the terrorist attack in France they bombed Syria and the French said they are with the government. People never went against them.

? That happened between two countries and France didn‘t fight their own people. Did they?

A: I am explaining to you about patriotism.

? Tell us about the Federation of National Organizations (FNO) of which you are the coordinator. Who is the president and other members?

A: I am the coordinator and there is no president or vice president. Shenali Waduge, Dharshan Weerasekara, Shamindra Ferdinando, Kalyana Thiranagma and Dr. Wasantha Bandara have compiled a dossier with facts, statistics and letters obtained from various diplomats and reports from international NGOs and vetted by former Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva to prove that there were no war crimes committed by the security forces. We have the Global Sri Lanka Forum founded in Italy and the executive committee based in Dubai, UAE. There are branches in Australia, Japan, Israel and France.

? Are you collecting funds to fight the UNHRC claims?

A: We are grouping ourselves to show that Zeid’s report is full of contradictions, lies and omissions and to expose that we have compiled a factfile.

? What response did you receive?

A: They don’t reply immediately. I saw government representatives seated there in Geneva and the NGOs registered with the UN. I observed that only I spoke for 90 seconds in two general debates and I find many separatists Tamil pro-LTTE groups coming through various NGOs including persons like Dr. Paikiyasothy Saravanamuttu, Dr. Nimalka Fernando and Sunanda Deshapriya who spoke against the government and soldiers.

? Don‘t you think persons like Dr. Saravanamuttu reached out to the masses through the Consultation Task Force to compile a report? It was the people who spoke of their loved ones and urged for a probe. They found out the people from all communities have an issue related to disappearances and killings. Shouldn‘t that be appreciated rather than seeing them as people working against the government?

A: I am disturbed to hear some of these NGOs telling that young Tamil women are being used as sex slaves in our army camps. Do you think it’s correct? Persons like Nimalka Fernando should deny such claims.

? Can‘t these crimes take place as you say as ‘isolated incidents‘?

A: They are still claiming even now that Tamil women are being used as sex slaves. If we come to power these traitors should be charged with treason. That is what I would advise the government that comes to power next time. These people are traitors letting down the entire country and the armed forces.

? Aren‘t these claims of abductions, torture and enforced disappearances and ignoring their plea are also part of letting down the country?

A: They are not asking for justice. They are asking for a separate Tamil homeland.

? Do we see people asking for Eelam or justice?

A: In that case the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) should also shout and as I told you these are no war crimes but if there are incidents treat them as isolated cases. Even the Sinhalese and the Muslims have lost their loved ones, but they don’t call them war crimes.

? So do you admit that none of their worries were addressed anyway?

A: The government should address them and take judicial decisions. In other countries it takes years to establish the truth but only we are being rushed by everybody because we defeated the LTTE.

? Do you think that the only way to stop the ‘traitors‘ is to have a military style government?

A: I cannot send anyone to gallows, but I have a list of names. When the next government comes to power, we will file cases against them for treason. If the charges are proved beyond reasonable doubt, the punishment would be death. We don’t need a military government to do that. Anyone can file a case against anybody.

? So, you think people here should be ‘disciplined‘ not to be traitors?

A: Yes. I think as in the US, Singapore and UK, people here must be given military training to be disciplined.

amiesulo@gmail.com

Dharma Voices for Animals Colombo Sri Lanka Chapter

This work in progress painting by Ms. Avanti Karunaratna is expected to be finished in early May, 2017 and will be displayed to the public in time for the celebration of Vesak and holding of the UN Day of 2017 Conference in Colombo.

The Paththirippuwa, which is regarded as the epitome or the most admired symbol and representation of Kandyan Architecture was built in 1802 A.D. by the Master Craftsman and Royal Architect, Devendra Moolacharya on the instructions of King Sri Wickrama Rajasinhe, who was the last King of the Nayakkar Lineage (1798-1815 A.D). The name ‘Paththirippuwa’ derived from the Tamil Language, means – ‘ to sit and see all around’ .

‘ Parthu’ means ‘to see’ and ‘ Irippu’ means ‘ seated’. The octagonal part of this building symbolized the King’s authority.This building being a master piece of Kandyan Architecture was octagonal in shape and the roof was an attractive creation with a steep gradient.

Devendra Moolacharya is also credited with the designing and construction of the Magul Maduwa or the Audience Hall, the Kandy Lake (Kiri Muhuda), Walakulu Bamma” or Cloud Wall, Diyarella Bemma, among many other novel architectural contributions.

The Kandy Lake, which is in the heart of Kandy, adds a unique beauty to the city. This was built in 1807 under the watch and instructions of the last King of Sri Lanka; Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe. This was called Kiri Muhuda” or the Milky Ocean. Perimeter of the tank is 2.1 miles where the maximum depth is 60 feet.

The lake is surrounded by a wall called Walakulu Bamma” or the cloud wall which is 2060 feet in length. This wall contains triangular holes which has been used to light oil lamps in the night. On one side of the lake is the Temple of the Tooth Relic whereas on the other side is the Malwatte Temple. On the Dalada Maligawa side there is a building which is partially situated on the lake which was used by the numerous Queens to bathe and therefore it is known as the Queens Bathing House.

There is a striking little land mass in the middle of the lake. According to legend the King built a dam from the temple of the Tooth Relic to the Malwatte Temple through this island but later he had it removed leaving this island behind.

According to folk lore Devendra Moolacharya had been born in Matale, and had been staying for some time in Kotmale and finally lived in Handessa, till his tragic death when he committed suicide by drowning himself in the Kandy Lake, fearing and feeling ashamed of losing one of his fingers on the orders of the King, who had listened to slander and court intrigue by jealous rivals, against this great craftsman.

Refer ‘ Great Royal Articifer of the Kandyan Kingdom – Devendra Mulachari ‘ by D..D. M. Waidyasekera, Colombo: Stamford Lake, 2017.

P.S.

Any constructive suggestions are welcome in respect to the content of the painting which is still in a state of work in progress.

https://www.facebook.com/dharmavoicesforanimalscolombosrilankachapter/

KALEE BROWN  Courtesy collective-evolution.com

When I first watched the trailer for the Oscar-winning documentary The White Helmets, I cried. It paints a beautiful picture of saintlike, peaceful soldiers saving innocent civilians from the terror in Syria, with the song When The Saints Go Marching In” playing in the background. It ignited a fire of compassion and empathy within me for the Syrians plagued by war.

I knew that I needed to watch the documentary and, more specifically, learn more about this heroic group. Yet to my surprise, I learned that this group isn’t quite as heroic” as the documentary and North American mainstream media paints them to be. Perhaps the only reason this group deserved to win an Oscar was for their acting skills — not their humanitarian efforts.

Why the Documentary White Helmets Is Pure Propaganda

If you’ve seen the documentary, all I ask is that you please keep an open mind when reading this article. I myself admit that it was extremely moving, which is why this form of propaganda is so effective. Human beings are naturally empathetic; if we see someone hurting on the other side of the world, it pulls on our heart strings.

No one wants to see other people brutally tortured or murdered. It’s terrifying, and when these acts of violence are committed, we sometimes allow our emotions to get the best of us, which is completely understandable. Feeling empathy and compassion for people facing war and terror is natural, because we care so much about one another. However, in this case, it’s crucial that we put our emotions aside so we can understand what exactly we’re looking at.

In the documentary, the White Helmets are portrayed as a heroic group saving the lives of innocent Syrian civilians. Their video footage captures the chaos and tragedy that’s taking place in Syria, and features the group peacefully helping injured civilians as they fight, without using violence, against the war and terror that ensue.

Check out the following Netflix trailer for the documentary (full disclosure: it is genuinely heart-breaking, and debatably even more devastating knowing that much of it is propaganda and potentially fake):

As Netflix puts it, the documentary focuses on the perilous work of volunteers who brave falling bombs to rescue civilians from the carnage of Syria’s civil war.”

And the Oscars’ film synopsis reads as follows: In the chaos of war-torn Syria, unarmed and neutral civilian volunteers known as ‘the white helmets’ comb through the rubble after bombings to rescue survivors. Although they have already saved more than 60,000 lives since 2013, these brave first responders continue to place themselves in danger every day.”

As with so much in our society today, the truth of the matter here is that this information was manipulated in order to paint a false picture of what’s actually going on in Syria. Let’s start by debunking the documentary itself.

The film itself is not a real documentary,” explains Patrick Henningsen, a geopolitical analyst at 21st Century Wire. All of the footage used in the film was provided to the producers by the White Helmets themselves. This film production crew – Netflix productions – did not film any of the so-called rescue scenes.”

He continues:

What this film is essentially a PR cushion for a $100-$150 million covert op, which is basically an NGO front funded by USAID, the British Foreign Office, various EU member states, Qatar, and other various and sundry nations, and members of the public, who quite frankly in my opinion and many others, have been duped into donating their money for this rescue group, that is anything but. It essentially functions as a support group alongside Al-Nusra and al-Din al-Zenki and other known terrorist groups operating in Syria. That is a fact that has been proven by a number of eyewitness testimonies.

Eva Bartlett, a Canadian journalist and human rights activist, divulged that their video footage actually contains children that have been ‘recycled’ in different reports; so you can find a girl named Aya who turns up in a report in say, August, and she turns up in the next month in two different locations.”

Bartlett was a speaker at a United Nations panel on the current events in Syria. She delivers an incredibly insightful speech on what’s actually going on in Syria and how the White Helmets aren’t the heroes everyone thinks they are, but rather a strategic terrorist group that’s funded by the U.S. and other interested countries and parties. In regards to the recycled” children footage, you can read more about that in this 21st Century Wire article. They show numerous examples of the White Helmets posting the exact same photos of children, claiming they were taken on different dates.

You can watch the full video footage of Bartlett’s speech below:

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If the White Helmets Aren’t Heroes, Then Who Are They?

Founded in 2013, the White Helmets are largely funded by the U.S., the UK, and Europe. They claim that they receive no funding from outside parties with a vested interest in Syria, but a quick glance at the finances tells a different story.

Vanessa Beeley, an independent researcher and journalist, explains that they are in fact multi-million funded, conservatively speaking, a hundred million dollars, from the US – $23 million via USAID; UK around $65 million; France is supplying equipment.”

The U.S. has been funding the Syrian war for quite some time, so it’s clear that they have a vested interest. U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard actually just returned from Syria, and publicly discussed the U.S.’s interests in the Syrian war (as the U.S. sells arms to ISIS and other terrorist groups), offering a compelling call to action in the process:

I return to Washington, DC with even greater resolve to end our illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government. I call upon Congress and the new Administration to answer the pleas of the Syrian people immediately and support the Stop Arming Terrorists Act. We must stop directly and indirectly supporting terrorists—directly by providing weapons, training and logistical support to rebel groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIS; and indirectly through Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Turkey, who, in turn, support these terrorist groups. We must end our war to overthrow the Syrian government and focus our attention on defeating al-Qaeda and ISIS.

හොඳම මුදල් ඇමතිට උපහාරයක් 

Gamini Gunawardane                             

This is a letter to the Editor of ‘The Island’ newspaper in response to the above mentioned nomenclature used by Prof. Hoole. Island editor did not publish it.

Dr. Sivasegaram, at the end of his response to the review of Prof. Rajan Hoole on Prof. Gananath Obeysekera’s book Doomed King’, in The Island of 11th Maech has stated: I would like a Sinhala scholar to explain the etymology of “devanampiya” which to me seems vastly different from what “deva-nambiya” means in Tamil. I would rather leave such matters to people of the calibre of the late Prof. Leslie Gunawardana or Prof. WI Siriweera.”

Since no scholar of the caliber preferred by Dr. Sivasegaram has responded so far, I thought I would venture the following explanation to the best of my knowledge, though I am by no means a scholar at all, but as a mere student of history.

Etymology

If we break down the Pali word Devanampiya”, it would be as follows:

‘Deva’ is a deity.

‘Devaa’ is deities, (plural).

‘nam’ is the dative or genitive case (plural) suffix giving the meaning: ‘to’ or ‘of’.

‘piya’ is pleasing to or a person of whom the deities are pleased with.

Thus, Devaanampiya + Tissa gives the meaning Tissa who is pleasing to the deities or Tissa of whom deities are happy with.

It is stated in the Mahavansa that when Arahant Mahinda encountered Tissa the king in the forest chasing after a deer on a hunt, he had called out to him saying Tissa, Tissa”. The king stopped to see who it was who could call him by his name in his kingdom.

In the contemporary inscriptions, Tissa is mentioned as ‘Tisa maharaja’ in early Sinhala.

History

There is also a history as to how King Tissa came to assume the epithet ‘Devaanampiya’. It is said that King Tissa and Emperor Asoka were contemporaries. King Tissa is said to have sent a good will mission to call on King Asoka, with many valuable presents.  According to Prof. Sirimal Ranawella, formally Prof of History at the SJP, the King’s Envoy is reported to have left Sri Lanka by ship from Dambakola Patuna, the present Sambalthivu in Jaffna Peninsula, as stated in Mahavansa Ch.XI,20-24)     .

King Asoka is said to have been so pleased with the Mission that he had donated the paraphernalia for a coronation ceremony and requested King Tissa to coronate   himself afresh using this paraphernalia and also requesting him to adopt his own epithet Devaanampiya” which King Tissa followed. This is how he is said to have become ‘Devanampiyatissa’. Thereafter, it seems, in the absence of present day Face Book  phenomenon, the two became ‘Adrstha Mitras’ meaning, unseen friends. There seems to be some significance in this story, on that, when Asoka became a Buddhist, he is said sent message to Devanampiyatissa that he had  embraced Buddhism and requested his friend too to follow suite. Their friendship is supposed to have been so thick that, when King Asoka started his Buddhist Missionary campaign, he  chose his own son Ven. Mahinda tocarry the Buddha’s teaching to his friend Devanampiyatissa. Later king Asoka followed this gesture by sending his daughter, Ven. Sanghamitta Their, carrying sapling of the Bo Tree from Buddhagaya, which again King Devanmpiyatissa travelled all the way down to Dambakola Patuna, waded into the sea up to chest level, to receive with great reverence. This incident in fact is parallely recorded among the bas-relief sculptures found in Sanchi believed to have been built by King Asoka. These incidents show that there probably was constant communication between the two friends with much mutual respect.

There is also more recent history around this epithet ‘devanampiya’ which had important implication on modern historiography in India. When the British archeologists ‘discovered’ the many Asokan Pillars strewn over in India in their excavations in the mid 19^th century, they came across a word among the inscriptions which they could not understand. And that word was ‘devanapiya’. These archeologists were also unable to determine the possible date of the Indian Emperor Asoka as by this time Buddhism was wiped out from India.

About the same time the British Civil Servant George Turnor who was stationed in Sri Lanka then, ‘discovered’ a copy of the Mahavansa at the Mulkirigala cave temple deep down in the Southern Province and he translated it into English for the first time. Then, the Mahavansa account of the unseen friendship between the two kings and the historical significance of their close relationship came to light through the name ‘Devanampiya’. The British Archeologists in  India and then  were able to resolve the mystery of the word ‘Devanapiya’ found on the Asokan pillar inscriptions and that the reference to ‘Devanapiya’ was to none other than Emperor Asoka himself. This discovery also led these archeologists and historians to fix the dates of Emperor Asoka’s reign, and thereby straighten the early chronology in Indian History, by reference to Mahavansa. So much for the historicity of the much maligned Mahavansa.

Gamini Gunawardane

J. A. L. Jayasinghe Courtesy The Daily Mirror

On the advice and instructions of Mahanayake Theras of the Malwatta and Asgiri Chapters, Lekakadhikari Theras, Ven Dr. Medagama Sri Dhammananda Thera (Asgiri) and Ven Dr. Pahamune Sri Sumangala Thera (acting Lekakadhikari Thera of the Malwatu Chapter) had presented a letter containing 21 points, in which the two chapters request for response.

This document was presented to the President at his official residence in Kandy during a visit made by him today. The President thereafter met both the Lekakadhikaris and the Monks of the senior Sangha Saba.

• Don’t open road in front of Maligawa

• Is Sri Lanka a narcotics hub?

• Monitor NGO activities

• Introduce solution to N/E issue

• Secure powers of President

The document covered the subject of official vesting of all buildings within the precincts of the Dalada Maligawa, with the Dalada Maligawa, refraining from opening the road in front of the Maligawa, and construction of a broad tunnel up to Louis Peiris Mawatha and Rajapihilla with the aim of easing the traffic congestion in the Kandy town, the concern about Sri Lanka being used as head quarters for drugs, undertake the widening of the Katugastota, Asgiriya, and Getambe road.

The monitoring of activities of NGOs, making people aware if bringing in a new Constitution or making amendments to the present one, ensuring the Wildlife conservation areas, creating awareness on the reconciliation council, its aims and the proposed activities, and in introducing a political solution to the North East issue by further securing the powers of the President and arriving at a solution with powers centered at the central government were highlighted in the 21-point letter presented to the President.

“The Upcountry Village Rehabilitation Commission should be restored and steps should be taken to uplift the Sinhala people living in the land locked villages in between prominently Muslim and Tamil villages. The public representatives in these electorates are virtually Tamils or Muslims who purposely neglect the prominently Sinhala villages. This compels them to sell their traditional land to the Muslims and leave the area. It is necessary to create awareness in this regard,” the letter also highlighted. (J. A. L. Jayasinghe)

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

Only when something comes up in print or exposed on television, people who have been affected by the highlighted topic(s) will emerge out of their shells to either join public protests or respond with their type of experiences (as feedbacks). The Saturday Column on 11 March, in Ceylon Today, on “Bogus Pharmacists galore” managed to bring out mind-blowing responses from various members of the public with their own personal experiences; some even with good advice to improve the pathetic situation of bogus pharmacies where the health of innocent and naïve people has been affected by wrong medicine given by unqualified ‘pharmacists.’

‘Ananda’ from the US commented: “Thank you for bringing this issue of unlicensed pharmacists to light, for it exposes the health of the people of the country to great danger and uncontrolled abuse of many drugs, which can be used as narcotics by drug addicts. In addition to enforcement of licensing and oversight requirements, the entire pharmacy system should be computerized nationwide. Each prescription should be dispensed together with written information on use and the hazards of misuse, and each patient provided a verbal consultation by a licensed pharmacist if the medicine is a prescription new to the patient. Control of stock and the daily sales journal maintained by each pharmacy should be part of that computer database. Such a system would not only safeguard the health of the patient, but would contribute to reducing drug use by addicts, and enable bulk buying by the government to deliver the lowest possible price and highest possible quality to patients. However, I must say this: Most medicines are much cheaper in Sri Lanka than in the United States, which is a boon for our citizens in Sri Lanka (sic).

Fowl scratches

Kingsley Wijesinghe came out with an exceptionally vibrant and appropriate suggestion pointing a finger at some of the doctors who write prescriptions akin to ‘fowl scratches,’ which are highly illegible. “Unqualified pharmacists sometimes incorrectly fill such prescriptions. Why do doctors have to write prescriptions in virtually illegible squiggles, which can lead to genuine mistakes even by qualified pharmacists”?

He cited an incidence where his friend’s mother died having taken the drug ‘Peritol’, (an anti-histamine) given by a pharmacist, whereas the doctor’s prescription had been ‘Peritrate”, coronary vasodilator, which dilates blood vessels. The death of course was debatable but it could well be attributed to the pharmacist’s erroneous reading of doctor’s prescription, not being one hundred per cent legible. With that comes his question as to “why can’t the Sri Lanka Medical Council or the Ministry of Health or whatever the appropriate authority concerned, make it mandatory for prescriptions to be written in block capitals, so that such mistakes do not occur?

Computerization

This suggestion blends one hundred per cent with Ananda’s idea where “the entire pharmacy system should be computerized nationwide,” but just by computerisation of pharmacies alone could not be the one and only answer to overcome this debacle.

Because it would then be much easier for any cashier to refer to the computer and issue the drug where qualified pharmacists presence become less imperative. The ideal solution would be for drug inspectors to regularly visit pharmacies throughout the country on spot checks and to effectively carry out investigations.

Whereas, in the case of “fowl scratches” on prescriptions, the ideal solution to overcome this obstacle would be to emulate GPs and the government hospital model in the UK, where prescriptions pop out of a printer once the medical officer taps on the keyboard of his computer.

With the help of advanced technology, tailor-made computer data packages, designed exclusively for doctors, are available in the UK. Such programmes help the medical officers to record patients’ health history into the database where at the touch of a finger, patients’ whole medical history will be on the screen. In the UK everyone has to be registered with a GP in the area. The British law stipulates that any patient visiting a GP three consecutive times with the same complaint should be referred to a specialist hospital. In such instances a referral is given to patients and the hospital after treatment writes back to the GP concerned so that the patients databases could be updated.

Wrong drug

‘Sanath’ from Thalawatugoda came out with two episodes where he experienced from a pharmacy in Kadugannawa .The “pharmacist” had given him the wrong drug that nearly killed his grandmother. The owner of this particular pharmacy is allegedly working at the Kandy hospital, and his presence at his pharmacy is limited; apparently during his off times from work only. The insincerity of the occurrence was compounded when Sanath brought this incident to the notice of the licence holder of the pharmacy (owner), where his reaction to the problem had only been a derisive grin. Sanath seems to believe that many a complaint by several others, akin to his grievance, has fallen on deaf ears.

A local resident received Betadine Antiseptic Liquid, by a cashier working in a pharmacy, used for cuts and abrasions, when actually his request had been for Betadine Germicide Gargle for sore throat and mouth sores. With the presence of mind the patient managed to read the label on the bottle before use, and rushed back and complained, but the response from the pharmacy was only a pathetic ‘ sorry.’

Grin and bear

Ben Simon in Moratuwa, who had been working in the UN, Geneva, wrote to say: “What do we do rather than to read articles like yours and grin and bear? We are blessed by God to experience and develop our own patience and compassion. As both my wife and I are heart patients, we know how much of medicine we gulp down every day at exorbitant costs, just to survive another day. We continue to do so, with or without knowing whether the pharmacist is qualified or not. Yet, are we not naïve or reluctant, unlike someone like you, to ask whether the pharmacist is qualified? Having read your article, I made a few copies to give to the owners of two or three pharmacies we patronize, so that they could make sure they employ qualified pharmacists and save our souls for a few years more.

tilakfernando@gmail.com

Courtesy RT

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

We as voters are quite happy that parliament attendance details of MP’s ( including ministers ) will be placed in the web.

Secretary to the Parliament who takes such initiative should  also create folders for each MP in the web to show following ,

• School qualifications
• Higher education Qualifications ( if any)
• Profession (other than being and MP)
• Parents name ,qualification and professions
• Properties owned by MP before and after becoming and MP
• Children’s attending school ( private or public)
• Any relatives employees by him or her
• Any court cases and allegation in court of law
• Any offences proved and punished
• Amount of government funds spent for travel abroad
• Details of car permits obtained and ownership
• Income tax file number
• ( number of times MP has fasted unto almost death for the sake of principles and face book name!)

Under the RTI act such information can be published so that we as voters would know who we have voted for and who will not vote in the future

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

නලින් ද සිල්වා

මා සිංහල අවුරුද්ද ගැන බොහෝ දේ ලියා තිබුණත් තවමත් ඒ කරුණු ඇත්තේ පොත්පත්වල පමණයි. මේ ලිපියටත් ඒ ඉරණම අත්වීමට ඇති ඉඩකඩ අධිකයි. එයට මූලික හේතුව විද්‍යුත් ජනමාධ්‍ය අවශ්‍ය ප්‍රචාරය නොදීමයි. ජනමාධ්‍යවේදීන්ගෙන් අති විශාල බහුතරය පඬියන් වීම සිංහලයන්ගේ කරුමයක් වී ඇත. අපි අවුරුද්ද ගැන කරුණු කිහිපයක් නැවත කියමු. ඒ අතර අලුත් කරුණක් දෙකක් ද පළමු වරට මෙහි සඳහන් කරමු. පළමුවෙන් ම කිව යුත්තේ ඊනියා විද්‍යාඥයන් කුමක් කීවත් ඉර පොළොව වටා ගමන් කරන්නේ යැයි කීමෙහි කිසිම වරදක් නැති බව ය. පොළොවේ සිට බැලූ විට පෙනෙන්නේ, නිරීක්‍ෂණය කෙරෙන්නේ ඉර යන බවයි. කිසිම චලිතයක් නිරපේක්‍ෂ නැත. සෑම චලිතයක් ම සාපේක්‍ෂ වෙයි. ඉරේ සිට නිරීක්‍ෂණය කළහොත් පොළොව ඉර වටේ යන බව පෙනෙයි. හඳේ සිට නිරීක්‍ෂණය කළහොත් ග්‍රහ වස්තුවල චලීිතය කෙසේ නිරීක්‍ෂණය වේ ද? පැරණි නාවිකයන් තාරකා නිරීක්‍ෂණය කෙළේ පොළොවේ සිට මිස ඉරේ සිටවත් හඳේ සිටවත් නොවන බව පඬියෝ ද දනිති. ඔවුන් යාත්‍රා කෙළේ පොළොවේ ඇති මුහුදුවල මිස ඉරෙ හෝ හඳේ හෝ ඇති මුහුදක නො වෙයි.

ජ්‍යොතිෂයේ ග්‍රහයන් යනු ග්‍රහ වස්තු නොවේ. බටහිර තාරකා විද්‍යාවට අනුව ඉර ග්‍රහ වස්තුවක් නො වෙයි. එය තාරකාවක්. එහෙත් ජ්‍යොතිෂයෙහි ඉර ද ග්‍රහයෙක්. ග්‍රහයන් යනු ග්‍රහ වස්තු නොවන බව පඬියන් කෙදිනක නමුත් දැනගත යුතු යැයි සිතමි. ජ්‍යොතිෂයෙහි රාහු කේතු ද ග්‍රහයන් බව කිව යුතුයි. රාහු කේතු යනු පොළොවට සාපේක්‍ෂව ඉරේ හා හඳේ ගමන් මාර්ගවල ඡෙදක ලක්‍ෂය වෙයි. මේ ඡෙදක ලක්‍ෂ්‍ය පැරැන්නන් දැක්කේ ආධ්‍යාත්මික ව බව අවධාරණය කළ යුතුයි. බටහිර තාරකා විද්‍යාවට අනුව අද ප්ලූටෝ ග්‍රහ වස්තුවක් නො වෙයි. ඒ ග්‍රහ වස්තු පිළිබඳ ඔවුන්ගේ වත්මන් නිර්වචනය අනුවයි. ප්ලූටෝ එදත් අදත් ග්‍රහයකු බව අවධාරණය කළ යුතුයි. ජ්‍යෙතිෂයෙහි හඳ ද ග්‍රහයෙක් වෙයි. ඒ ඒ ක්‍ෂෙත්‍රවල දැනුම ඒ ඒ ක්‍ෂෙත්‍රධාරීන්ට සාපේක්‍ෂ වෙයි. නිරපේක්‍ෂ වාස්තවික දැනුමක් ඇත්තේ පඬියන්ගේ වෙනත් අයුරින් නම් හිස් හිස්වල පමණයි.

නැකැත් මූල සිංහලයන්ගේ නිර්මාණයක්. නාග ජනතාවත් මූල සිංහලයන් බව අමතක නොකළ යුතුයි. නාගයන් ඇසෑමයේ සිට මාගම දක්වා එකල දැකගත හැකි වූ බව පැහැදිලියි. මේ ඇතැම් නාගයන් පසුව දෙමළ සංස්කෘතියට අවශෝෂණය වූ පමණින් සියළු නාගයන් දෙමළ යැයි කිව හැක්කේ දෙමළ ජාතිවාදීන්ට පමණයි. ඇතැම් සිංහලයෝ ද දෙමළ ජාතිවාදීහු වෙති. මෙරට නාග ද්වීපයේ ද මාගම ද සිටි නාගයෝ යක්‍ෂ ආදීන් සමග මූල සිංහලයෝ වූහ. නක යනු ද නාග යන්නට නමක් වෙයි. මූල සිංහල නාගයෝ නාවිකයෝ ද වූහ. කාවන්තිස්ස රජු ද නාගයකු බව පැවසෙයි. එතුමන්ගේ නාවික සමාගමක් ද වූ බව කියැවෙයි. ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් නකත් යනු නාවික නක ජනතාවගේ නිර්මාණයක්. ඇ කාරය සිංහලයට එකතුවීමෙන් පසුව නකත් නැකැත් වී තිබෙන බව පැහැදිලියි. මූල සිංහල නක ජනතාව අහසෙහි පොළොවට සාප්ක්‍ෂව ග්‍රහයන් චලනය වන තැටිය නකත් විසිහතකට බෙදා තිබුණි. නකත් හඳේ ගමන සමග සම්බන්ධයි. හඳට පොළොව වටා යාමට දින විසිහතක් පමණ ගත වෙයි. චන්ද්‍ර මාස නිර්මාණය වී ඇත්තේ හඳේ ඒ සාපේක්‍ෂ චලිතය සමගයි. මාසය යන්න හඳට කියන මා යන්න සමග සම්බන්ධයි. අමාවක යනු හඳ

පෙනෙන්නේ නැති දිනය බව පඬියෝ ද දනිති. අවුරුද්දකට චන්ද්‍ර මාස දොළහකට වඩා ඇති බැවින් ඇතැම් වසරවල අධික චන්ද්‍ර මාස නම් කිරීමට සිදු වී ඇත.

කැති බෙරණ ආදී නැකැත් හෙළ බසට ම ආවේණික වෙයි. ඒ වචන සංස්කෘත උච්චාරණයකට ලක් වී ඇතත් එහි නිරුක්ති සංස්කෘතෙන් කිව හැකි අයෙක් වෙත් ද? අස්විද නැකැත සංස්කෘතෙන් අශ්වින්. අශ්වින් යනු අශ්ව හිස් ඇති නිවුන් කියා සඳහන් වෙයි. එය පිළිගත හැකි ද? නකත් යන්න ද නක්‍ෂත්‍ර ලෙස සංස්කෘත උච්චාරණයකට ලක් වී ඇති බව පැහැදිලියි. එහෙත් නක්‍ෂත්‍ර යන්නට සංස්කෘත නිරුක්ත නැති බව පැවසෙයි. එක් පඬියකු නක්‍ෂත්‍ර යනු නක් ශාස්ත්‍ර ලෙස අර්ථ දැක්වීමට නිරර්ථක උත්සාහයක යෙදුණු බව අමතක නොකළ යුතුයි. අපට පුරුදු කර ඇත්තේ අප වෛදිකයන්ගෙන් මේ කරුණු ගත් බව පිළිගැනීමටයි. එහෙත් අපෙන් ගිය දේ අපට ආපසු එන්නේ අවුරුදු දහස් ගණනක සිටයි. නක්‍ෂත්‍ර යන්න හෙළ නකත්හි සංස්කෘත උච්චාරණය මිස අනෙක් පැත්ත නො වෙයි.

ඇතැම් විට නැකැත් විසිඅටක් ගැන ද කියැවෛයි. චීන ජ්‍යොතිෂයෙහි ද නැකැත් විසිඅටක් ගැන කියැවෙයි. වේදික නක්‍ෂත්‍රයෙහි නැකැත් (නක්‍ෂත්‍ර) ගැන කියැවෙන්නේ ක්‍රිස්තු පූර්ව 700 – 600 සමයෙහි ලියන ලද වේදාංග ජ්‍යෙතිෂයෙහි බව සඳහන් වෙයි. මේ බුදුන් වහන්සේ වැඩ විසූ කාලයට ටිකකට පෙර බව පැහැදිලියි.. අපේ මූල සිංහල නාගයන් නකත් ගැන දැන ඇත්තේ එයට පෙර විය යුතුයි. මේ යුගයේ සෙල්ලිපිවලින් අපට ඇතැම් කරුණු දැනටමත් දැනගත හැකියි. එහෙත් සවිස්තර ව මේ කතාව කීමට තරමක් කල් ගත වේවි යැයි සිතිය හැකියි. සූර්ය සිද්ධාන්තයේ නක්‍ෂත්‍ර ගැන ඇත්තේ වෙනත් ගණනය කිරීමකි.

අපේ නැකැත් කෙළි ගැන ඉතිහාසයෙහි සඳහන් වෙයි. අප තරම් උත්සව පවත්වන වෙනත් ජාතියක් ජනවර්ගයක් නැති විය හැකියි. පොළොවට සාපේක්‍ෂ ව ඉර ගමන් කරන පථයට ක්‍රාන්ති වලයය යැයි බටහිර තාරකා විද්‍යාවෙහි කියැවෙයි. නැකැත් ඇත්තේ ක්‍රාන්ති වලයයෙහි ය. වෙනත් වචනවලින් කියන්නේ නම් ඉර ක්‍රාන්ති වලයය දිගේ නැකතින් නැකතට ගමන් කරයි. වෛදිකයන් පසු කලෙක සුමේරියන් ශිෂ්ටාචාරයෙන් රාශි දොළහේ චක්‍රය ලැබුණු පසු නකත් හා රාශි එකතු කිරීමේ දී ප්‍රශ්නයකට මුහුණ දී තිබෙන බව පැහැදිලියි. අපේ නකැත් චක්‍රය පටන් ගෙන ඇත්තේ කැති නැකතෙන්. එහෙත් මේෂ රාශිය සමග වැටෙන්නේ අස්විද නැකතයි එබැවින් අස්විද නැකත නැකැත් චක්‍රයෙහි මුල ලෙස ගැනීමට වෛදිකයන් පුරුදු වී යැයි සිතිය හැකියි. එහෙත් අස්විද නැකතෙහි ආරම්භය මේෂ රාශියෙහි ආරම්භය සමග සමපාත නො වෙයි. අප සිංහල අවුරුද්ද යැයි ගන්නේ ඉර රේවති නැකතෙන් අස්විද නැකතට සංක්‍රමණය වීම වුවත් එය මීනයෙන් මේෂයට සංක්‍රමණය වීම ලෙස සැලකීමට පුරුදු වී ඇති බව පැහැදිලියි. බටහිර තාරකා විද්‍යාවට අනුව අද ඉර මීනයෙන් මේෂයට යන්නේ අප්‍රේල් දහනවවැනි දා බැවින් පඬියෝ සිංහල අවුරුද්ද උදවන්නේ වැරදි දිනයක යැයි කෑමොර ගසති. මෙය සිංහල අවුරුද්ද ඉර රේවති නැකතෙන් අස්විද නැකතට සංක්‍රමණය වීම මීනයෙන් මේෂයට සංක්‍රමණය වීම ලෙස සැලකීම නිසා ඇති වූ පරස්පරයක් විය හැකියි. මේෂ රාශියෙහි ආරම්භය අස්විද නැකතෙහි දෙවැනි පාදයෙහි ඇතැයි මූලික ගණනයකින් පැහැදිලි වෙයි.

පොළොවට සාපේක්‍ෂව හිස් අහසෙහි ඛගෝලය නමින් ගෝලයක් බටහිර විද්‍යාඥයන් විසින් නිර්මාණය කෙරී ඇත. මෙහි ඛ යන්නෙහි තේරුම හිස් බව යන්න ය. අනිත්‍ය, දුක්ඛ, අනාත්ම යන්නෙහි දුක්ඛ යනු අපට දැනෙන දුකක් නොව අයහපත් වූ හිස් බව යන්නය. එය අනිත්‍ය අනාත්ම හා ශූන්‍ය සමග ගැලපෙයි. මෙම ඛගෝලයෙහි සමකයේ ප්‍රක්‍ෂෙපණයට ඛගෝල සමකය යැයි කියැවෙයි. ඛගෝල සමකය හා ක්‍රාන්ති වලයය ලක්‍ෂ්‍ය දෙකක දී ඡෙදනය වෙයි. මෙයින් එක ලක්‍ෂ්‍යයකට මේෂ රාශියෙහි ප්‍රථම ලක්‍ෂ්‍යය යැයි කියනු ලැබෙයි. පෘථිවි අක්‍ෂය ක්‍රාන්ති වලයයට අංශක විසිතුනහමාරකින් ඇළ වී තිබෙනු පමණක් නොවේ. එම අක්‍ෂය බමරයක අක්‍ෂය මෙන් පූර්වායනය වෙයි. මේ හේතුවෙන් මේෂ

රාශියෙහි ප්‍රථම ලක්‍ෂ්‍යය අවුරුදු හැත්තෑඑකක දී අංශකයක් පමණ ආපස්සට යයි. ඒ හේතුවෙන් මේෂ රාශියෙහි ආරම්භය අවුරුදු හැත්තෑදෙකක දී බටහිර දින දර්ශනයට සාපේක්‍ෂව දවසකින් පමණ ඉදිරියට යයි. පෘතුගිසි ජතික රොබෙයිරෝ නම් කපිතාන්වරයකුට අනුව සිංහලයන්ගේ අවුරුද්ද මාර්තුවේ අලුත් දවාලෙන් ඇරඹෙයි. ඔහුට අනුව ඒ බුදුන් වහන්සේ මෙහි නැවතී සිටි දිනය ය. මහාවංසයට අනුව බුදුන් වහන්සේ වරක් ලක්දිවට වැඩම කර ඇත්තේ බක් මස අමාවක දිනයෙහි ය. අනෙක් දෙවතාවෙහි ම උන්වහන්සේ වැඩම කර ඇත්තේ පසළොස්වක පොහෝ දිනවල ය. සිංහල මාස පටන් ගන්නේ අමාවකින් බව ද මතක තබා ගත යුතු ය. සිංහල අවුරුද්දේ ආරම්භය එදින ද? ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් සිංහල අවුරුද්ද ආරම්භ වන දිනය සූර්යයා සමග ගැට ගැසීමෙන් පසු එය බක් අමාවකින් ඉවත් කරඉර රේවති නැකතින් අස්විද නැතකට සංක්‍රමණය වීම සමග ගලපන්නට ඇත. එහෙත් මේ ලක්‍ෂ්‍යය පසුව වෛදිකයන් අනුකරණයෙන් ඉර මීනයෙන් මේෂයට යෑම සමග ගලපන්නට ඇත. අස්විද නැකතෙහි ආරම්භය මේෂ රාශියෙන් ආරම්භය සමග සමපාත නොවීම හේතුකොටගෙන අද ඉර මේෂයට යෑම මෙකල අප්‍රේල් දහතුන දහහතර සමග ගැනීමට සිදු වී ඇත. මෙය වෛදිකයන් මේෂ රාශියෙහි ආරම්භය අස්විද නැකතෙහි ආරම්භය සමග ලකුණු කිරීමෙන් වූ පරස්පරයක් විය හැකි ය.

මේ දිනය කලින් දැක්වු ආකාරයට බටහිර දින දර්ශනයට සාපේක්‍ෂව අවුරුදු හැත්තැතුනකට එක් දවසක් පමණ ඉදිරියට යයි. රොබෙයිරෝ හා රොබට් නොක්ස් අවුරුදු උදාව ගැන දක්වන දින වෙනස් වෙයි. ඔවුන් යොදා ගෙන ඇත්තේ ජුලියන් දින දර්ශනය ය. එහෙත් අද බටහිරයන් යොදා ගන්නේ ග්‍රෙගේරියානු දින දර්ශනය ය. ඒ අතර දින කිහිපයක වෙනසක් වෙයි. රුසියන් ඔක්තෝබර් විප්ලවය ග්‍රෙගේරියානු දින දර්ශනය අනුව නොවැම්බරයට වැටෙන්නේ එබැවිනි. නොක්ස් සඳහන් කරන දින ග්‍රෙගේරියානු දින දර්ශනයට අනුව අප්‍රේල් හත අට නවය දිනවල වැටෙයි. එහෙත් අවුරුදු හැත්තෑතුනකට වරක් එක් දිනක් පමණ අවුරුදු උදාවන දිනය ඉදිරියට යෑම නිසා අද සිංහල අවුරුද්ද උදාවන්නේ අප්‍රේල් දහතුන දහහතර දිනවල ය. විසිවැනි සියවසේ මුල එය අප්‍රේල් දොළහ දහතුන විය. තව අවුරුදු විස්සකින් තිහකින් අවුරුද්ද දහහතර පහළොව දිනවල උදාවනු ඇත. නොනගතය යනු නැකැත් නැති කාලයක් නො වේ. නැකැත් නැති කාලයක ආහාර පිසින්නේ කෙසේ ද? කෙසේ වෙතත් නැකැතක් නැති වෙලාවක් නැත. නොනගතය යනු ඉර මේෂයට පැමිණියේ (අගත) ද නොපැමිණියේ ද නැති (අනගත) කාලයයි. සූර්ය සංක්‍රමණයට පැය දොළහයි විනාඩි හතළිස්අටක් ගත වෙයි. මේ පිළිබඳ විස්තර සිංහල අවුරුද්ද කෘතියෙහි දැක්වෙයි.

අවසාන වශයෙන් කිව යුත්තේ අවුරුද්ද සිංහලයන්ගේ බව ය. ඉන්දියාවේ අප්‍රේල් දහහතර හතරවැනි මාසයේ ආරම්භය වෙයි. හින්දු අවුරුද්ද තෛපොංගල් දිනයේ ආරම්භ වෙයි. ඒ ජනවාරි දහහතරවැනි දා ය. අප්‍රේල් දහහතර හතරවැනි මාසයේ ආරම්භයයි. එදිනත් ඇතැම් ප්‍රාන්තවල උත්සව පැවැත්වෙයි. එහෙත් එය හින්දු අවුරුද්දක් නො වෙයි. ඉංගිරිසිහු ලංකාවේ සිංහල අවුරුද්ද නිවාඩු දිනයක් කිරීමේ දී ඊනියා තුලිතභාවය සඳහා එයට හින්දු කමක් ද එකතු කළහ. ඔවුන් එයට දෙමළකම එකතු නොකෙළේ මෙරට දෙමළ අනන්‍යතාවක් එකල නොතිබූ බැවිනි. සිංහල අවුරුද්ද සිංහල දෙමළ අවුරුද්්ද වූයේ දශක දෙක තුනකට කලින් පඬියන්ගේ පඬි කතාවක් අනුව ය.

ලංකාවේ වෙනදේ

ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ සැසිවාරය සඳහා රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර මහතාගේ ආගමනය පසුගිය සතියේ දේශපාලන පිටියේ මහත් ආන්දොaලනයකට ලක්‌ව තිබුණි. ඒ පිළිබඳව විවිධ පාර්ශ්වයන් විසින් එල්ල කරන ලද චෝදනා පිළිබඳව ‘දිවයින ඉරිදා සංග්‍රහය’ සරත් වීරසේකර මහතා සමග කළ සාකච්ඡාවක්‌ මතුදැක්‌වෙයි.

* ඔබ ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේට ගොස්‌ නැවත පැමිණියා. බොහෝ අය ඔබ කළ කාර්යයට ප්‍රශංසා කළා. නමුත් සමහරෙක්‌ ඔබ විවේචනය කරනවා. පළමුවෙන් කියන්න ඇයි ඔබ ජිනීවා ගියේ?

මම ජිනීවා ගිය හේතුව මීට පෙර මාධ්‍ය සාකච්ඡාවලදී කියා තිබෙනවා. ඔබ දන්නවා මෙවර මානව හිමිකම් සැසිවාරයේදී අපට විරුද්ධව තිබෙන 30/1 යෝජනාව සහ එහි ප්‍රගතිය පිළිබඳව සාකච්ඡා කළ බව. එම යෝජනාව ගෙන ඒමට පාදක වූයේ මානව හිමිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ සෙයිද් අල් හුසේන්ගේ වාර්තාව. එම වාර්තාවේ තිබෙන්නේ අපේ හමුදාවන් භයානක යුද අපරාධ කළ බවට සාක්‌ෂි තිබෙන බව. ඒ වාර්තාව කිසිම සෙවිල්ලක්‌ බැලිල්ලක්‌ නැතිව අපේ රටේ විදේශ ඇමැති මංගල සමරවීර අගය කරමින් පිළිගෙන අපට විරුද්ධව ඇමරිකාව විසින් ගෙන ආ මෙම යෝජනාවට සම අනුග්‍රාහකත්වය දැක්‌වූවා. මොන රටේ විදේශ ඇමැතිවරයෙක්‌ද තමන්ගේ රටේ හමුදාවන් යුද අපරාධ කළා කියා පිළිගෙන තමන්ගේ රටට විරුද්ධව ගෙනෙන යෝජනාවකට සහයෝගය දෙන්නේ? අපේ විදේශ ඇමැතිවරයා එම දේශෙද්‍රdaහී ක්‍රියාව කළා.

ඉතින් එහෙම නම් මෙවර මානව හිමිකම් සැසිවාරයේදී මොන රටද මොන සංවිධානයද අපේ රටේ රණවිරුවා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින්නේ? ඒ නිසා දිවි කැප කරමින් යුද්ධ කොට රටට සාමය ගෙනා රණවිරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිsටීමට සහ අපේ රට පිළිබඳව ඉදිරිපත් කරන දුර්මත දුරු කිරීමට ප්‍රවිශ්ටයක්‌ ගැනීමටයි මා ජිනීවා ගියේ.

* ඔබට එය සාර්ථකව කර ගැනීමට හැකි වූවාද?

ඇත්තෙන්ම ඔව්. ඔබ පෙර කිව් පරිදි මාව විවේචනය කරන සමහරු කියන දෙයක්‌ තමයි මා රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ප්‍රතික්‍ෂේප කරමින් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලයේදී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ ලියාපදිංචි රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයක්‌ නියෝජනය කළ බව. ඒ විදියට චෝදනා කරන්නේ කුහකයින්. එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංගමයට ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට ගිහින් කතා කරන්න බැහැ. එතැන කතා කරන්න පුළුවන් රජයේ නියෝජිතයන්ට සහ එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංගමයේ ලියාපදිංචි රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයක්‌ නියෝජනය කරන පුද්ගලයන්ට පමණයි. ඒ නිසා මම එංගලන්තයේ බර්මිංහැම් නුවර කස්‌සප හිමිගේ බෞද්ධ පන්සල එ. ජා. සංගමයේ ඉන්ටනැෂනල් බුඩිස්‌ට්‌ රිලීµa ඕගනයිෂේසන් යන රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයක්‌ ලෙස ලියාපදිංචි වී ඇති නිසා ඒ හරහා තමයි මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේ කතා කළේ.

කොටි හිතවාදී, බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමළ පුද්ගලයන් විශාල වශයෙන් එසේ ලියාපදිංචි රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන හරහා ඇවිත් අපේ රට පිළිබඳව ඉතා වැරදි ප්‍රතිරූප ගොඩනඟනවා. අපේ රටේ පාක්‍යසෝති සරවනමුත්තු, සිවාජිලිංගම්, ආනන්දි සෂිධරන්, නිමල්කා ප්‍රනාන්දු, සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය වැනි අයත් ඒ දේශෙද්‍රdaහී ක්‍රියාවට එකතු වෙනවා.

එසේ නම් මම කර ඇත්තේ වරදක්‌ද? අපේ රට වෙනුවෙන් රටේ රණවිරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටින්න මා රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන නොවෙයි ඕනෑම කෙනෙක්‌, සංවිධානයක්‌ හරහා යන්න සූදානම්. රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයක්‌ නියෝජනය කරමින් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේ අපේ මවුබිමේ ගෞරවය ආරක්‌ෂා කරන්න තැත්කළ බව චෝදනා කරන මේ කුහකයින් රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන හරහා ගොස්‌ රටේ ප්‍රතිරූපය කෙළෙසන පාක්‍යසෝති, නිමල්කා, සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය යනාදීන්ට විරුද්ධව වචනයක්‌වත් කියන්නේ නැහැ. මේක අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඔවුන්ගේ ජන්මය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නයක්‌.

මා මාර්තු 20 වැනි දින සහ 23 වැනි දින මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලය අමතා විනාඩි 1 1/2 කතා දෙකක්‌ පැවැත්වූවා. මගේ ජිනීවා ගමනේ ප්‍රධාන අරමුණ වූයේ මා ලංකාවෙන් ගෙන ගිය වාර්තාව නිල වශයෙන් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම. මගේ කතාවේදී එය මට කිරීමට හැකිවූවා. මා පෙර කීවාක්‌ මෙන් මෙම 30/1 ජිනීවා යෝජනාවට පාදක වූයේ අප යුද අපරාධ කළාය කියන චෝදනා අඩංගු මහ කොමසාරිස්‌වරයාගේ වාර්තාව. එම වාර්තාවේ තිබෙන එම සියලුම චෝදනාවල කිසිම පදනමක්‌ නැති බවත් ඒවා ඉතා සාවද්‍ය කරුණු මත පදනම් වූ බවත් සනාථ කළ වාර්තාවයි මා ගෙන ගියේ. එම වාර්තාව සකස්‌ කළේ රටේ පිළිගත් විද්වතුන් කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌. එය අවසානවරට බලා අනුමත කළේ හිටපු අගවිනිසුරු සරත් එන්. සිල්වා මැතිතුමා. මා නිල වශයෙන් සෙයිද් හුසේන්ගේ ආසියාව පිළිබඳ ලේකම්වරයාගේ අතටම එය භාරදුන් නිසා ඊළඟ සැසිවාරයේදී ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමට ඔවුන් බැඳී සිටිනවා.

* නමුත් ජිනීවා නුවර පන්සල ප්‍රථමයෙන් ඔබව ප්‍රතික්‌ෂේප කළා?

ඔව්. මා ප්‍රථමයෙන් උත්සාහ කළේ ජිනීවා නුවර තිබෙන එම පන්සල හරහා යන්න. ඒ පන්සල අවසාන මොහොතේදී මට විද්යුත් තැපෑලක්‌ මගින් දැන්වූවා ඔවුනට එයට ඉඩදිය නොහැකි බව. මා පසුව දැනගත්තා එය පන්සලේ දායක සභාවේ යම්කිසි කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ විරුද්ධ වූ නිසා එසේ සිදුවූ බව. ඒ අය කවුද කියාත් මා දැන් දන්නවා. ඒක ඉතාම අවාසනාවන්ත තත්ත්වයක්‌. රට වෙනුවෙන් රණවිරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටීමට මට අවස්‌ථාව අහිමි කිරීම. නමුත් ජිනීවා නුවර අනෙක්‌ පන්සලේ ධම්මික ස්‌වාමීන්වහන්සේ ඉදිරිපත්වී බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ බර්මිංහැම් නුවර කස්‌සප හාමුදුරුවන් සම්බන්ධ කරගෙන මට ඒ දේ කිරීමට හැකි වූවා. මා උන්වහන්සේලාට මගේ ප්‍රණාමය පුද කරනවා.

* එසේම ඔබට නඟන අනෙක්‌ චෝදනාව තමයි, ඔබ සැසිවාරය අමතා කතා කළේ නැත, සමාන්තර රැස්‌වීම්වලටත් සහභාගි වූයේ නැත සහ ඔබ විසින් සංවිධානය කළ සමාන්තර රැස්‌වීමටත් සහභාගි වූයේ නැත කියා. එය සත්‍යයක්‌ද?

මට පුදුමයි විදේශ නියෝජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය හර්ෂ ද සිල්වාත් එවැනි ප්‍රකාශයක්‌ කිරීම ගැන. එක්‌තරා රූපවාහිනී මාධ්‍යයකදී එතුමා කීවා මා සැසිවාරයේ කතා කළේ නැහැ, කතා කළේ පැති රැස්‌වීමක පමණයි කියා. එය අසත්‍යයි. මා මාර්තු මස 20 වන දින සහ මාර්තු 23 වන දින මානව හිමිකම් සැසිවාරයේ මහ සභාවේ කරන ලද විනාඩි 1 1/2 කතා දෙක ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට එ.ජා.ස. නිල වෙබ් අඩවියට අවතීර්ණ වී අදටත් බලන්න පුළුවන්. මේ වගේ අසත්‍ය චෝදනා නඟමින් ඔවුන් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ කුමක්‌ද?

මා ලංකාවෙන් පිටත්වීමට පෙර ජිනීවා නුවර ධම්මික හිමි මාර්ගයෙන් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේ ප්‍රතිරැස්‌වීමක්‌ (Sසැ eඩැබඑ) එකක්‌ සූදානම් කළා. එය මා විසින් ඉල්ලාගත් දෙයක්‌. නමුත් එහි දේශන පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව සිටි නීතිඥ දර්ශන වීරසේකර සහ නීතිඥ රාජා ගුණරත්න යන දෙදෙනාට යම් හේතුවක්‌ නිසා නියමිත දිනට ජිනීවා නුවරට ඒමට ලැබුණේ නැහැ. ප්‍රතිරැස්‌වීමකට අවම වශයෙන් දේශන 3 ක්‌ වත් පැවැත්වීමට අවශ්‍යයි. මා හැර දේශන පැවැත්වීමට කවුරුවත් සිටියේ නැති නිසා මා එය අවලංගු කළා.

මාර්තු 20 වන දින දෙමළ පර්ල් සංවිධානය සහ බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය දෙමළ සංසදය විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද ප්‍රතිරැස්‌වීම තිබ්බේ පෙ.ව. 11.30 සිට ප.ව. 1.00 දක්‌වා. එහි මාතෘකාව වූයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මිලිටරිකරණය සහ විදේශීය විනිසුරුකරුවන් ගෙන ඒම සාධාරණීය කිරීම. එයට මා සහභාගි වූවා. ඔවුන්ගේ දේශනවලින් පසුව මා ප්‍රකාශයක්‌ කරමින් පෙන්වා දුන්නා එහි අඩංගු කරුණුවල සාවද්‍යතාවය. ඉන්පසුව තමයි මානිවන්නන් නමැති කොටි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන්ට මුදලින් උපකාර කළ පුද්ගලයා මා යුද අපරාධකරුවෙක්‌ය, මාව වහාම අත්අඩංගුවට ගත යුතු යෑයි යනාදී වශයෙන් ප්‍රකාශ කළේ. ඒ ශාලාව පුරා සිටියේ කොටි හිතවාදීන් නිසා ඔවුන් අතර වීරයෙක්‌ වීමට එසේ ප්‍රකාශ කළ ඔහු සිතුවේ මා නිශ්ශබ්දව ශාලාවෙන් පිටවී යයි කියා. මා ඔහුට එහිදී ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්‌වූ ආකාරය ඔබ දැන් දන්නවා. මා ඊට වඩා යමක්‌ ඔහුට නොකීවේ සැසිවාරය අමතා මට කිරීමට තිබූ කතාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවදානමක්‌ ගැනීමට මා අකැමැති වූ නිසා. සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය කියන පුද්ගලයා එම සිදුවීම පළමුවෙන්ම වාර්තා කොට තිබුණේ මට යුධ අපරාධකාරයා යෑයි චෝදනා කරන විට මා හිමින් එතැනින් ලිස්‌සා ගියාය කියාය. මා ප්‍රතිචාර දක්‌වන වීඩියෝ පටය නිදහස්‌ වුණේ ඊට පසුවයි. එයින් ඔහු කිවූ දේ බොරු බව සනාථ වුණා. සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය කියන්නේ කොටි හිතවාදී සිංහල කුහකයෙක්‌ බව එයින්ම පෙනී යනවා.

පාක්‍යසෝති, නිමල්කා, සිවචන්ද්‍රන් සරෝජි, ජෙන්සිලා මජීඩ් යන අය විසින් සංවිධානය කළ ප්‍රති රැස්‌වීම ආරම්භ වුණේ ප.ව. 3.00 ට එයට මා සහභාගි නොවුණේ මහ සැසිවාරයේ අපගේ කතා අඩංගු විෂය ආරම්භ වූයේත් ඒ වෙලාවටම නිසා. ප්‍රමුඛත්වය දිය යුත්තේ සැසිවාරයට මිසක්‌ ප්‍රති රැස්‌වීමට නොවන බව ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට තේරෙන දෙයක්‌.

පාක්‍යසෝති, නිමල්කා එතැනදී කියා ඇත්තේ 30/1 යෝජනාව සම්පූර්ණයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බවත්, සංහිඳියා ක්‍රියාදාමය පිළිබඳ උපදේශක මණ්‌ඩලයේ මනෝරි මුත්තෙට්‌ටුවගම විසින් රණවිරුවා පාවාදෙමින් නිකුත් කළ වාර්තාවෙන් අඩංගු නිර්දේශ ක්‍රියාත්මක කළ යුතු බවත්ය. විදේශීය මාධ්‍යකරුවනුත් සහභාගි වූ එම දේශෙද්‍රdaහී රැස්‌වීමට මුලසිටම මට සහභාගි වීමට ලැබුණා නම් ඔවුන්වත් නිසිතැන තැබීමට මට තිබුණා.

ෆ ඔබට චෝදනා ගොඩයි. අනෙක්‌ චෝදනාව තමයි ඔබ මානව හිමිකම් සැසි වාරයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එල්ල වී ඇති චෝදනා සත්‍ය දැයි විමර්ශනය කිරීමට එ.ජා. සංගමයේ විශේෂ නියෝජිතයෙක්‌ පත්කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා ඇති බවයි. එවැන්නෙක්‌ නිකුත්කරන වාර්තාව ජාත්‍යන්තර ප්‍රජාව පිළිගන්නා බවත් එය අභියෝගයට ලක්‌කිරීමට රජයට නොහැකි බවත් ඒ නිසා එම ඉල්ලීම අතිභයානක බවත් චෝදනා කරනවා. ඔබ එහෙම දෙයක්‌ කළාද?

සරත් වීරසේකර ඇතුළු කණ්‌ඩායම රටේ ආත්ම ගෞරවයට හෝ අභිමානයට හානි වන ඕනෑම දෙයකට දැඩිව විරුද්ධ වන පිරිසක්‌. විදේශීය විනිසුරුකරුවන් ගෙන ඒම, විදේශ රටවල් අපේ රටේ අභ්‍යන්තර කටයුතුවලට ඇඟිලි ගැසීමට ඉඩදීම යනාදිය තරයේ හෙළාදකින වීරසේකර ඔය චෝදනා කරන ආකාරයේ නිවට යෝජනාවක්‌ කරයිද? ඉංගී්‍රසි නොතේරීම වරදක්‌ නොවේ. නමුත් ඉංගී්‍රසියෙන් ලියා ඇතිදේ කාගෙන්වත් අසා හෝ වටහා නොගෙන මේ වගේ චෝදනා කිරීම විශාල වරදක්‌ සේම මුග්ධ ක්‍රියාවක්‌.

අප විසින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද ලේඛනයේ අඩංගු වන්නේ මානව හිමිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස්‌ විසින් අපේ රණවිරුවන්ට එරෙහිව කරන ලද යුද අපරාධ සම්බන්ධ චෝදනා සියල්ල පදනම් විරහිත සාවද්‍ය ඒවා බව සනාථ කරන කරුණු. ඒ නිසා අප එ.ජා. මහ ලේකම්වරයාට මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සලේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිබඳව සිදුවන දේ ගැන දැනුවත් කරමින් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මානව හිමිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස්‌වරයාගේ එම සාවද්‍ය ලේඛනය පිළිබඳව විමර්ශනය කිරීමට විශේෂ නියෝජිතයකු පත්කරන ලෙසටත් එතෙක්‌ මෙම ජිනිවා යෝජනාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම අත්හිටුවන ලෙසත්ය. ලංකාවේ රජය ලක්‌ ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් කළයුතු දේ තමයි මා විසින් කළේ. එයට දේශප්‍රෙAමී ජනතාව ගෙන් අපට දැනටමත් ප්‍රශංසාව හිමි වී අවසන්.

මෙම චෝදනාවේ හාස්‍ය ජනක පැත්ත වන්නේ සෙයිද් හුසේගේ කොටි හිතවාදීන්ගේ සාක්‌ෂි පදනම් කරගෙන නිකුත් කරන ලද එම යුද අපරාධ වාර්තාව අගය කරමින් පිළිගත් රජය මා විසින් විශේෂ නියෝජිතයකු පත්කරන ලෙසට කරන ලද යෝජනාවට මහත් සේ බිය වන බව ජනතාවට පෙන්වීමට බාල ප්‍රයත්නයක්‌ දැරීමයි. නීෂා බිස්‌වාල්, සමන්තා පවර්, අතුල් කෙෂාප්, ජෝන්කෙරී, දෙමළ බෙදුම්වාදී ඩයස්‌පෝරාව යනාදීන් කියන කියන පදයට නැටූ මේ රජය එසේ විශේෂ නියෝජිතයෙක්‌ බැරි වෙලාවත් ආවොත් රතු පලස්‌දා පිළිගන්නා බව අප දන්නවා. ඒ නිසා මේ චෝදනාව ජනතාව රැවටීමට දැරූ කුහක වෑයමක්‌.

 සාකච්ඡා කළේ ලසිත දුමින්ද  උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා කොටු කිරීමේ ජිනීවා කුමන්ත්‍රණය ව්‍යාර්ථ වෙයි

“තක්‌කඩි දේශපාලනඥයන් විසින් ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන්ව සාදරයෙන් පිළිගෙන ඇත”
– ධවල මන්දිරයේ හිටපු කතා රචක ඩේවිඩ් ප්‍රොම් 

පසුගියදා ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ සිදුවූයේ තක්‌කඩි ක්‍රියාවකි. ඊළාම් ඩයස්‌පෝරාව සහ දෙස්‌ විදෙස්‌ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවට පැමිණෙනු ඇතැයි කිසිසේත් බලාපොරොත්තු වූයේ නැත. ඔවුන් කොළඹ ස්‌විස්‌ තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ සිටින චර පුරුෂයකුගෙන් විමසූ විට ඔහු එය සනාථ කරමින් රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා ස්‌විට්‌සර්ලන්තයට පැමිණීම සඳහා වීසා බලපතක්‌ ලබා ගැනීමට අයෑදුම් කර නැති බව තහවුරු කර ඇත. එහෙත් රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා ජිනීවා නුවරට පැමිණියේ ප්‍රංශයේ සිටය.

2009 සිට 2016 දක්‌වා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ සිය ආධිපත්‍ය පතුරුවාගෙන සිටි කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව සහ දෙස්‌ විදෙස්‌ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරීන් මෙන්ම යාපනයේ සිට ජිනීවා වෙත පැමිණ කොටි හිතවාදී තවලමට අයත් පිරිස රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා දැකීමෙන් මවිතයට පත්වුණි. මේ නිසා රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව ඇමතීම වැළැක්‌වීම සඳහා ඔවුහු කුමන්ත්‍රණකාරී මෙහෙයුම් දියත් කරනු ලැබීය.

ඉන් එක්‌ මෙහෙයුමක්‌ වූයේ රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ට හිරිහැර සිදුවී ඇති බවට මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ට පැමිණිලි කිරීමයි. මේ පැමිණිලි ගැන සොයා බලන ලෙස සෙයිද් රාද් හුසේන් තම නිලධාරියකු වූ ආන්ඩෲ ගිල්මෝ වෙත උපදෙස්‌ දෙනු ලැබීය. ඒ වන විට එම ව්‍යාජ පැමිණිලිකරුවන් ගැන මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ තොරතුරු සපයන්නකුගෙන් අප වෙත ලැබී තිබුණි. මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ට යොමුවූ එම බොරු පැමිණිල්ල කොළඹ රජයේ ඉංග්‍රීසි පුවත්පතක මාධ්‍යවේදිනියකටද ලැබී තිබුණි.

ඇය එම පැමිණිල්ල සත්‍ය දැයි රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර වෙත හදිසි විද්යුත් ලිපියක්‌ එවමින් විමසා සිටියාය. ඊට ප්‍රතිචාරය දක්‌වා ඇති රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා හිරිහැර කිරීම් කිසිදෙයක්‌ සිදුවූයේ නැති බව පවසා ඇත. මෙලෙස ජිනීවාහි සිටින රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ගෙන් ලත් තොරතුරු මත රියර් අද්මිරාල් වෙත විද්යුත් පණිවුඩයක්‌ එවූ මාධ්‍යවේදිනිය වසර කීපයකට පෙර සැනොස්‌ නැමැති රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානයෙන් අරමුදල් ලබාගත් තැනැත්තියක්‌ බව හෙළිවිය. එම සංවිධානයේ දේශීය නියෝජිතයා ලෙස එවකට ක්‍රියාකළේ අද ස්‌විස්‌ රජයෙන් පිංපඩි ලබන 1971 කැරලිකරු සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය නමැත්තායි.

මේ පසුබිම මැද කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව තම 2 වැනි මෙහෙයුම දියත් කරනු ලැබීය. එම මෙහෙයුම ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමට පෙර රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා මාර්තු 22 සහ 23 යන දිනවල මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව අමතා කොටි හිතවාදීන්ට දැඩි ප්‍රහාරයක්‌ එල්ල කළේය.

මේ එම කතාවයි.

“තෙරුවන් සරණයි! ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාව ලොව බිහිසුණු ත්‍රස්‌තවාදී සංවිධානය පරාජය කළේය. එහිදී සෙබළුන් 29000 ක්‌ මරුමුවට පත්වූ අතර 14000 ක්‌ තුවාල ලැබුවා. එසේ වුවත් මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය අපේ හමුදාව යුද අපරාධ සිදුකළ බවට චෝදනා කරනු ලැබුවා. එය හරියට ඇමරිකානු නාවික සීල් බළකාය ඔසාමා බින් ලාඩන් සහ අල්කයිඩා ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් ඝාතනය කිරීම ගැන චෝදනා එල්ල කිරීමට සමානයි.

කොටි හිතවාදී ඩයස්‌පෝරාව මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව නොමග යවමින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාව ලිංගික වහලියන් තබාගෙන ඇති බවත්, ද්‍රවිඩයන්ට හිරිහැර කරන බවටත් පවසනවා. මෙය ඇත්තක්‌දැයි නිරීක්‍ෂණය කිරීමට මගේ මෙම රටට පැමිණ බලන ලෙස මා ඉල්ලීමක්‌ කරනවා.

මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය දැන්වත් අවබෝධ කරගත යුතු කරුණ වන්නේ කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව තමන්ට බොරු කියමින් මෝඩයන් කළ බවයි. අද සියයට 50 ක්‌ ද්‍රවිඩයන් ජීවත් වන්නේ දකුණේය. කොටි සංවිධානය විසින් වාර්ගික සංහාරය දියත් කළ පසු උතුරේ මුස්‌ලිම් හා සිංහල ජනතාව වාසය කළේ නැත.

ද්‍රවිඩ ඩයස්‌පෝරාව දැන් එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය හරහා ඊළම ලබාගැනීමට උත්සාහ කරනවා. කොටි සංවිධානයට ත්‍රස්‌තවාදයෙන් ඊළම ලබා ගැනීමට බැරි වුණා.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අගමැතිණිය තම හමුදාවට එල්ල වී ඇති යුද අපරාධ චෝදනාවලින් ඔවුන්ව ගලවා ගන්නා බවට ප්‍රතිඥදී තිබෙනවා.

මේ ජිනීවා යෝජනාව අපේ ස්‌වෛරීත්වය අවතක්‌සේරුවට ලක්‌කරනවා. එය දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාදාමයක්‌ මිස මානව හිමිකම් නොවෙයි.”

රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා දෙවැනි වරටත් මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව අමතා කළ දැඩි ප්‍රකාශය කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවට ඔරොත්තු දුන්නේ නැත. ඇතැම් කොටි හිතවාදීන් රියර් අද්මිරාල් කෙරේ කෝපයෙන් බලා සිටිනු දක්‌නට ලැබුණි.

මෙහි සඳහන් වන්නේ එම ප්‍රකාශයයි.

“දශක තුනක්‌ තිස්‌සේ අපි ත්‍රස්‌තවාදයෙන් බැට කෑවෙමු. උතුරේ ද්‍රවිඩ ඊළම ස්‌ථාපිත කිරීමට කොටි සංවිධානය ම්ලේච්ඡ ත්‍රස්‌තවාදය දියත් කළා. බෞද්ධ භික්‍ෂූන් 37 ක්‌, මුස්‌ලිම් බැතිමතුන් 300 ක්‌ සහ අහිංසක බෞද්ධ බැතිමතුන් 250 ක්‌ ඝාතනය කළා. යටත් වූ පොලිස්‌ භටයන් 600 ක්‌ද මරාදැමුවා. එසේම රජිව් ගාන්ධි සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ජනාධිපති ප්‍රේමදාසවද ඝාතනය කළා. ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් යනු මානව හිමිකම් උල්ලංඝණය කරන්නන් බව කිවයුතුයි. ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් වෙනුවෙන් හඬ නගන්නන්ද ත්‍රස්‌තවාදීන් බව පැහැදිළියි.”

මුල්වරට ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව හමුවේ කොටි සංවිධානය ත්‍රස්‌තයන් බව රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා නිර්භයව පවසන අවස්‌ථාවේ රටින් පිටත ඊළාම් ආණ්‌ඩුව නමැති හොර සංවිධානය සිය කුමන්ත්‍රණය දියත් කරනු ලැබිණි.

ඒ විශ්ව සම්මුතිය යටතේ (universal jurisdiction) රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස ස්‌විස්‌ නඩු අධ්‍යක්‍ෂවරයාගෙන් ඉල්ලීමයි. ඇමරිකාවේ සිට ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයට පැමිණි නීතිවේදී කැරන් පාකර් සහ රටින් පිටත ඊළාම් ආණ්‌ඩුව සංවිධානයේ මනිවන්නන් ඊට මුල්විය. මෙම විශ්ව සම්මුතිය මත තමන් වධ හිංසාවලට ලක්‌වූ බවට සාක්‍ෂි සහිතව ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ද්‍රවිඩයකු ස්‌විස්‌ නඩු අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ වෙත පැමිණිලි කර තිබුණොත් ඒ ගැන ක්‍රියාකිරීමට ස්‌විස්‌ රජයට බලය ඇත.

රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා ජිනීවා නුවරට පැමිණීමට දින කීපයකට පෙර එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ හිටපු නිලධාරිනියක්‌ වූ යස්‌මින් සුකා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයට හමුදා ජෙනරාල්වරුන් පස්‌ දෙනකුගේ නම් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඔවුන් වව්නියාවේ ජෝසප් සිරකඳවුරේ වධහිංසා සිදුකිරීම්වලට වගකිවයුතු බව කියා සිටියාය.

මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජගත් ජයසූරිය, මේජර් ජෙනරාල් සුමේධ පෙරේරා ඇතුළු හමුදා නිලධාරීන් පස්‌ දෙනකුගේ නම් එම වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් විය.

ඊට පෙර මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ගේ වාර්තාවේ වන්නි මෙහෙයුමට සම්බන්ධව හමුදා ප්‍රධානීන් සියලු දෙනාගේ නම් සඳහන් කර තිබුණි.

කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස ඉල්ලීම් කිරීමට පෙර මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ සෙයිද් රාද් හුසේන් ප්‍රකාශයක්‌ කරමින් යුද අපරාධ කළවුන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ක්‍රියාකිරීම සඳහා විශ්ව සම්මුතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයට අයත් රටවලින් ඉල්ලා තිබුණි. එම ප්‍රකාශය සිය වාසියට ගත් රටින් පිටත ඊළාම් ආණ්‌ඩුව නමැති සංවිධානය රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා නාවික හමුදාවේ සේවය කරන සමයේ සිදුවූ ක්‍රියාදාමයන් යුද අපරාධ බව දක්‌වමින් ඔහුට එරෙහිව විශ්ව සම්මුතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. මෙලෙස ස්‌විස්‌ රජයේ රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයාට එරෙහිව විශ්ව සම්මුතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කළහොත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ඔහුට “මුක්‌තිය” ලබා නොදෙනු ඇති බවද කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව විශ්වාස කළේ රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා ඒකාබද්ධ විපක්‍ෂයට සම්බන්ධ නිසාය.

එසේම රියර් අද්මිරාල්ට එරෙහිව සාක්‍ෂියක්‌ ලෙස මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ගේ වාර්තාවේ සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂක බළකාය ගැන සඳහන් වන බවත් සිවිල් ආරක්‍ෂකයන් 11 ක්‌ ලිංගික හිංසනයට සම්බන්ධ බවත් දැක්‌වෙන බවද කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව සිය පැමිණිල්ලේ දක්‌වා තිබුණි.

එහෙත් ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ ඇති ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදා නිලධාරීන්ගේ නාම ලේඛනයේ රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකරගේ නම සඳහන්ව නොතිබීමෙන් කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවේ කුමන්ත්‍රණය ව්‍යාර්ථ විය.

කෙසේ වෙතත් මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව අමතා විනාඩි 3 ක්‌ (දෙවැනි වතාවට) කතා කිරීමේ අවස්‌ථාව රියර් අද්මිරාල් වීරසේකරට හිමිවිය. එහෙත් මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව ඇමතීම සඳහා මෙරටින් ගිය එන්.ජී.ඕ. ෙද්‍රdaහීන්ට සහ කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවට විනාඩි 22 ක්‌ ලැබුණි.

එසේම ගෝතමාලාව සහ ලතින් ඇමරිකාවේ රටවල් ගැන පමණක්‌ කතා කළ යුතු අවස්‌ථාවල කොටි හිතවාදීන් ශ්‍රී ලංකවට එරෙහිව හඬ නැගුවත් මානව හිමිකම් බලධාරීන් එම නීති විරෝධී ක්‍රියාව නතර කළේ නැත.

රියද් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර විශ්ව සම්මුතිය මත අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට දියත් කළ මෙහෙයුමට පෙර 2011 මැයි මස ජර්මනියේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපතිව සිටි මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජගත් ඩයස්‌ ද මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපති සමයේ ජිනීවා ගිය ඊ.පී.ඩී.පී. නායක ඩග්ලස්‌ දේවානන්දන් විශ්ව සම්මුතිය මත ස්‌විස්‌ නඩු අධ්‍යක්‍ෂ ලවා අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමේ උත්සාහයක්‌ දියත් වී තිබුණි.

මේ අතර රියර් අද්මිරාල්වරයා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට පෙර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ යුද අපරාධ පිළිබඳ සෙවීමට විශේෂ නියෝජිතයකු එවන ලෙස මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටි බවට සාවද්‍ය පුවතක්‌ ප්‍රචාරය විය.

එහෙත් ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවෙන් ඔහු ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ සෙයිද් රාද් හුසේන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව වාර්තාව කෙටුම්පත් කළ අයුරු විමර්ශනය කිරීමට විශේෂ නියෝජිතයකු පත්කරන ලෙසය.

එහෙත් එම ඉල්ලීම මෙරට අවස්‌ථාවාදීන් ප්‍රචාරය කළේ විකෘති සහගතවය. එසේම ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව තුළ සැඟවෙමින් කටයුතු කළ 1971 කැරැල්ලේ ප්‍රචණ්‌ඩකාරියකු වූ සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය හෙවත් රංජිත් ද ඊට මුල්විය. මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ ජනාධිපති සමයේ ව්‍යාජ මරණ තර්ජන පෙන්වා ස්‌විට්‌සර්ලන්තයට පැනගිය මොහුව එරට කිසිදු ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයකු තම නිවසට වද්දාගත්තේ නැත. ස්‌විට්‌සර්ලන්ත ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ජනතාව ඔහුව හඳුන්වන්නේ තම මව්බිම විදේශිකයන්ට පාවාදුන් ෙද්‍රdaහියකු ලෙසිනි.

2015 වසරේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ හිටපු එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ නිලධාරිනී යස්‌මින් සුකා ශ්‍රී ලංකා හමුදාවට එරෙහිව පැවැත්වූ සමාන්තර රැස්‌වීමේ පසුබිමේ සිටියේද මොහුය.

මෙවන් පසුබිමක්‌ මැද ජිනීවාහි එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ කාර්යාලය ඉදිරියේ කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයාට සහ හිටපු හමුදා නායකයන්ට එරෙහිව සාවද්‍ය යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා එල්ල කරමින් ඡායාරූප ප්‍රදර්ශනයක්‌ පවත්වනු ලැබීය.

මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව පැවැත්වෙන කාලය මුළුල්ලේම මෙම ප්‍රදර්ශනය පැවැති අතර එහිදී ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, හිටපු හමුදාපති සරත් ෆොන්සේකා, හිටපු ජනාධිපතිනි චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග, හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ සහ හිටපු ආරක්‍ෂක ලේකම් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ යන මහත්වරුන්ගේ විශාල ඡායාරූප ප්‍රදර්ශනය කිරීමට කොටි හිතවාදීහු ක්‍රියාකළහ.

එහෙත් ස්‌විට්‌සර්ලන්තයේ ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් “ඇහැළපොළ” යෑයි හඳුන්වන සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය නමැත්තා කොටින්ගේ එම ක්‍රියාදාමය වසන් කිරීමට ක්‍රියා කළේය.

ජිනීවාහි එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ කාර්යාලය ඉදිරියේ ගැවසෙන දහස්‌ ගණනක්‌ විදේශ සංචාරකයන් අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ව අවමානයට ලක්‌කිරීමේ අරමුණින් පිළිබිඹු කළ එම ඡායාරූපවලින් සාවද්‍ය චෝදනා එල්ල කර තිබුණි.

කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාව එල්ල කර තිබූ එම චෝදනා මෙසේය.

ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රිපාල සිරිසේන – 2009 මුල්ලිවයික්‌කාල් සංහාරය සිදුවන අවස්‌ථාවේ වැඩබලන ආරක්‍ෂක ඇමැති විය. ද්‍රවිඩ නිජබිම හමුදාකරණයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීම ප්‍රතික්‌ෂේප කළේය. යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා විභාගයට ජාත්‍යන්තර විනිසුරුවන් මැදිහත් කිරීම ප්‍රතික්‌ෂේප කළේය. 

අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ – 2009 සිදුවූ ද්‍රවිඩ සංහාරය සඳහා ඔහු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂට සහය දැක්‌වීය.

සරත් ෆොන්සේකා – ද්‍රවිඩයන්ට එරෙහිව සංහාරය දියත් කළේය. මොහුයි රෝහල්වල සිටි ද්‍රවිඩ සිවිල් වැසියන්ට බෝම්බ දැමීමට ක්‍රියාකළේ.

සෙන්චෝලේ ළමා කඳවුරට බෝම්බ දැමීම නිසා ළමුන් 53 ක්‌ මරුමුවට පත්විය.

චන්ද්‍රිකා කුමාරතුංග – ද්‍රවිඩයන්ට එරෙහිව යුද වැදුණි., 1995/98 සමයේ ද්‍රවිඩ තරුණයන් 600 ක්‌ අතුරුදන් විය. ස්‌ත්‍රී දූෂණ, වධහිංසා සිදුවිය.

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ – මුල්ලිවයික්‌කාල් සංහාරයෙන් පසු 150000 ක්‌ අතුරුදන් විය. සිංහල ජාතිය ද්‍රවිඩයන්ට එරෙහිව යුදවැදීම මෙහෙයවීය.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්‍ෂ – ද්‍රවිඩයන්ට එරෙහිව යුද්ධය මෙහෙයවනු ලැබීය. ද්‍රවිඩ නිජබිම හමුදාකරණය කිරීම, එසේම අපේ නිජබිම බෞද්ධකරණය කරනු ලැබීය.

මෙලෙස මසකට අධික කාලයක්‌ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ට සහ හිටපු රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ට අවමන් කිරීම සඳහා ස්‌විස්‌ පොලිසිය කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවට අවසර දුන්නේය. එහෙත් ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලයෙන් ඊට විරෝධයක්‌ එල්ල වූයේ නැත.

මෙලෙස මෙරට රාජ්‍ය නායකයන්ට අවමන් කිරීමේ සිද්ධිය ජිනීවාහිදී රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන ක්‍රියාකාරීන්ට එක්‌වූ ද්‍රවිඩ වාර්තාකාරියද වසන් කළාය.

මේ අතර ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවට යටවී ඇති අයුරු සනාථවන තොරතුරු අපට හෙළිවිය.

මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ සෙයිද් රාද් හුසේන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට අදාළ තම වාර්ෂික වාර්තාව ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට පැය 24 කට පෙර කැනඩා ද්‍රවිඩ කොංග්‍රසයේ සභාපති රා- නවරත්නසිංහම්, ගෝලීය ද්‍රවිඩ සංසදය, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ද්‍රවිඩ සංසදය සහ ඇමරිකානු ද්‍රවිඩ සංවිවිධානය සහ ඊළාම් සංවිධාන නියෝජිතයෝ මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌ සෙයිද් රාද් හුසේන් හමුවී සාකච්ඡා පවත්වා ඇත. 

එම සාකච්ඡාවට ආසියානු කටයුතු භාර නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධානී තෝමස්‌ හුනෙකි, මෝනාරිග්මාවිස්‌ සහ ඇන්ටන් නික්‌පොරොව්ද සහභාගි වී ඇත. එම සාකච්ඡාවේදී මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එරෙහිව ගෙනා වාර්තා 7 ක්‌ ගැන සිය ප්‍රශංසාව පුදකළ කොටි හිතවාදීන් ජිනීවා යෝජනාව ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන බවට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසය තැබිය නොහැකි බව පවසා තිබේ.

එසේම මෙම කොටි හිතවාදීන් පිරිස ජිනීවාහිදී ස්‌විස්‌, බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය, ඇමරිකානු සහ ජර්මන් තානාපති නිලධාරීන් සමගද සාකච්ඡා පවත්වා ඇත.

මින් තහවුරු වූයේ කොටි ඝාතක සංවිධානයේ ආධාරකරුවන්ට මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්‌වරයා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ දොර විවෘත කර ඇති බවයි. මේ අන්දමට ඔහු ඊශ්‍රාලයට එරෙහිව හාමාස්‌ කණ්‌ඩායමක්‌ ගෙන්වා මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලය තුළ සාකච්ඡා කරන්නේ නැත. 

මේ තත්ත්වය මැද එදා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නීතිය පිළි නොගත් කොටි දේශපාලන නායක එලිලන්ගේ බිරිය ආනන්දි ශෂීදරන් මුලතිව් අධිකරණය මගින් 58 වැනි සේනාංකය භාරව සිටි මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ශවේන්ද්‍ර සිල්වා අධිකරණයට කැඳවීමට ගත් උත්සාහය ව්‍යාර්ථ විය. ඒ වන විට ඔහු යුද හමුදාවේ ඇජුටන්ට්‌ ජෙනරාල් ලෙස පත්වී තිබුණි.

ඉන් වඩාත්ම කෝපයට පත්වූ කොටි ඩයස්‌පෝරාවේ කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවක්‌ ඉටුකරන එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ හිටපු නිලධාරිනී යස්‌මින් සුකා සහ මැතිව් රසල්ලී එම පත්වීමට එරෙහිව එක්‌සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයට පැමිණිලි කර ඇත. මේ අතර ජිනීවා ගුවන්තොටුපළෙහි සිටින අපේ විශ්වාසකටයුතු ආරංචිමාර්ග පැවසුවේ 1971 කැරලිකරු සුනන්ද දේශප්‍රිය නමැත්තා තවත් අයකු සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට ගුවන්තොටුපළට පැමිණි බවයි. ජිනීවා හි සිදුවීම් නිමාවී නැත. ස්‌විට්‌සර්ලන්තයේ සිටින කොටි විරෝධී ජෙගන් මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුව අමතන අවස්‌ථාවේ ලංකාසිරි කොටි වෙබ් අඩවියේ ඡායාරූප ශිල්පියා ඔහුගේ ඡායාරූපයක්‌ ගැනීමේ සිද්ධියත් එන්.ජී.ඕ. ක්‍රියාකාරිනී නිමල්කා ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ සහයිකා (බඩී) යෑයි කියන කාන්තාවක්‌ රියර් අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකර සහ බංග්ලාදේශ ජාතික සංජය බරුවාගේ ඡායාරූප ගනිද්දී අසුවිය. එහෙත් එම තොරතුරු වසන් කෙරුණි.

Sri Lanka News

Opening a new restaurant is a challenging and risky venture in Sri Lanka

But for EU MP Niranjan Deva Aditiya , spent one year researching the menu and his chefs have obtained traditional recipes from every part of the island and from all communities.

“At Ceylon Café, conveniently located on Horton Place within the premises of Grande Gourmet, we aim to provide you with traditional Sri Lankan food and specialty crab says Ceylon Café Chairman Niranjan Deva Aditiya !.

“Our crab dishes include the world famous traditional Jaffna Crabs Curry, Chilaw Curry Crab, Singapore Chilli Crab, Butter Crab and Garlic Roast Crab and Pepper Crab.

The good news is that you don’t need to spend lavishly to enjoy our crabs. They are the cheapest in town or we give your money back”, he added

MP Deva Aditiya who describes himself as a ‘passionate foodie’ says his wish is to make good food affordable to all.

Sri Lankan food is probably the tastiest in the whole world. Recently there has been an explosion in interest regarding Sri Lanka’s ancient, multi-facetted cuisine which has three types of curry: White, Red and Black. White mild curries are coconut milk based, Red curries have chilli powder or ground red chillies, while the Black curries are made by roasting the spices and are the traditional curries.

Arabs introduced saffron,rose water, pilaf and biriani.

Portuguese introduced chillies and ‘tempering’ or ‘temperado’, the Dutch introduced recipes rich in eggs and butter and the Malays wattalapam!

“From thousands of recipes, we have selected for you this exclusive menu, which we will continue to update from time to time.

We have also innovated our hoppers to bring out new flavours to this delectable dish together with the normal traditional recipes.

Our food is Halal and we do not serve beef”.

The restaurant which is beautifully designed in the Louis Napoleon style of France with some historical references to the great banquet given by Sir Charles de Soysa to Prince Alfred, Queen Victoria’s son in 1871 at Alfred House, is redolent with the ambience of old Ceylon, hence ‘Cafe Ceylon’ is indeed an apt title.

Grande Gourmet has had the privilege of playing host to guests such as Prime Ministers Tony Blair and John Key of New Zealand, and various other luminaries as well, with TripAdvisor being lavish in its praise of Grande Gourmet’s food and the beauty of the restaurant.

If you wish for private dining this too could be arranged as not only does Grande Gourmet have a private dining room, even the ground floor of the restaurant could be made available.

Ceylon Cafe is a must for the Sri Lankan foodie who wants authentic local fare at affordable prices

Please book your table by ringing Tel : 0112692922

Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera Courtesy The Daily Mirror

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Aluthgamage-rejects-Ranjan-s-allegations-127019.html#sthash.cUFDr1wn.dpuf

by C.A.Chandraprema Courtesy The Island   

April 8, 2017, 8:28 pm
An interview with Prof. G.L.Peiris regarding the situation arising from the decisions made by the Judicial Services Association at their Special General meeting held on 1 April 2017 in relation to the appointment of Mr Ramanathan Kannan as a High Court judge.

Q. You were one of the first to hold a press conference on the appointment of Mr Ramanathan Kannan to the High Court and you are familiar with the letter of 23 February 2017 written by the Judicial Services Commission to the President. If a High Court Judge has been appointed without a valid recommendation from the JSC in terms of article 111(2)(a), what is the legality of that appointment?

A. Appointments to the High Court are governed by Artcle 111(2) of the Constitution which declares that judges of the High Court shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission after consultation with the Attorney General. The recommendation from the JSC is a mandatory condition. In this case the letter that you mentioned makes it clear that the JSC had acted on a mistaken assumption. In any case the sequence in which this recommendation had been made is wrong. The constitution contemplates that the JSC will make a recommendation to the President, not that the President will contact the JSC and ask them to make a recommendation. That is an inversion of the entire sequence. In this case what had happened was that a political party had first approached the Minister of Justice but he had refused to accommodate them very rightly on the grounds that political parties have no role in the appointment of judges. Then this political party approached the Bar Association. Some members of the Bar Association had then written to the President and followed it up with a personal meeting as well. That shows how interested these persons were in having this appointment made. The President then writes to the JSC saying that the Bar Association would like this person appointed to the High Court. The first thing to note is that the BASL has no role in this matter whatsoever. The BASL consists of practing lawyers. If it is left to practicing lawyers to appoint judges, that will lead to enless abuse. For that reson the BASL is left out of the process of appointing or promoting judges. Even if the BASL had recommended this appointment, it is still wrong. If the President acted on the recommendation of the BASL, that amounts to the President acting on a recommendation coming from an unwarranted source. The situation is now even worse because it has become clear that the BASL has nothing to do with this at all. Amal Randeniya the Secretary of the BASL has made it clear that this recommendation was not made by the BASL. A few people from the BASL acting on their own had gone to the President and asked that this appointment be made.  We now have a preposterous situation where a High Court appointment has been made without the proper procedure being followed. However the Judge has been appointed, he has taken oaths and is now functioning as a High Court Judge. In the meantime the Judicial Services Association passed a unanimous resolution at a general meeting objecting to this appointment and declaring it to be an interference with the independence of the judiciary. They have asked that the judge be removed and that he be barred from functioning as a judge until he is removed. So there is an unprecedented crisis in the High Court.

Q. The JSC is made up of the Chief Justice and two senior judges of the Supreme Court. When a body like that says that the recommendation they made earlier has ‘no force or avail in law’, is a further recommendation in terms of Article 111(2)(b) necessary to have a High Court judge removed?

A. I do not think so. Because the Judicial Services Commission says they have not recommended this appointment which means that the requirements of the constitution have not been fulfilled. Without a valid recommendation by the JSC, the President cannot make an appointment to the High Court. To say that something ‘has no force or avail in law’ is a very strong statement.

Q. If a high authority makes a recommendation based on misrepresentations by which he was misled, and he later discovers what had happened, doesn’t that authority have the right to withdraw the recommendation he made earlier?

A. Were it otherwise, consider the consequences. The authority in question can be tricked into giving his recommendation on false information. If there is no remedy, the person who is responsible for that deception has his way. This is not a private matter but the appointment of an officer exercising the judicial power of the republic. In a situation like that you cannot countenance in any manner whatsoever, anything falling short of total integrity.

Q. Though the JSC’s letter of 23 February does not say so expressly, it implies that the Judicial Services Commission was misled by the elected head of the unofficial bar. The gravity of that statement is mind numbing when you think about it.

A. With regard to appointments to the High Court, the JSC has a fundamental responsibility because the President will be making the appointment on their recommendation. If such recommendation is obtained by means of a subterfuge, deception or suppression of the truth, then the JSC is bound to bring it to the notice of the appointing authority the President.

Q. The outgoing President of the BASL said in so many words at former CJ Sripavan’s farewell that despite any letters he may have written or any canvassing he may have done, it was still incumbent upon the JSC  to exercise due diligence before making that recommendation. How does such an argument sound to you?

A. What that proposition implies is that when the President of the BASL says something to the Chief Justice, the latter will have to seek independent verification.  He will have to start from the premise that the President of the BASL may not be telling him the truth.  So he has to go to third parties to ascertain the veracity of what was said to him. That cannot be the basis of a sound working relationship between the BASL President and the Chief Justice.  It is very wrong to put the onus on the JSC to ascertain the truth of what is told to them by the President of the BASL. Surely the JSC is entitled to assume that what they are being told is the truth and that the persons concerned are acting honourably.

Q. If an appointment has been made on the basis of outright misrepresentations, can it be argued that the appointment is still valid despite the manner in which it was ‘engineered’?

A. The President does not have untrammeled power to appoint anyone he likes as a High Court Judge. His power is curtailed by the mandatory condition that the JSC has to recommend that appointment. Now to say that his appointment still remains valid is to put a premium on the suppression of the truth. If you resort to some sort of deception or subterfuge, you can get away with it because what you do is irreversible. That cannot be sound policy.

BY MALINDA SENEVIRATNE

Well, ‘enslavement’ might be too harsh a word actually.  But let’s say privileged access to resources, terms of exchange skewed in favor of the mighty, drafting or vetting policy regimes or rather using the word recommendation for what is really directive, and a general do-as-I-please on all matters”.  Students of politics would call it colonialism or, in the poli-speak of diplomacy post-colonialism, the ‘post’ affix being sweetener.  

This, however, is not a comment on the nature of subjugation or the exercising of hegemony.  It’s about India.  India, we know.  Only too well.  We need not enumerate the many instances when India demonstrated friendship.  Just mentioning the acronym IPKF would do to nudge memory of all the politics that came before and after that noun entered the political discourse of this country.

 

And yet, as they say, beggars cannot be choosers.  Pride needs to be swallowed.  Most importantly, self-aggrandizement aside most political leaders in this country have had little qualms over pride-guzzling, especially since they stood to lose very little.  And so, as per the ideological predilections and political maturity/naivete of the particular set of people running the country, both in the name of expedience as well as for the most frivolous of reasons, we’ve seen ‘the robber barons’ being invited (that’s J.R. Jayewardene’s pithy capture of his government’s thinking by the way).  Again, as per preference, the enemies of the particular friends of the moment, were cold-shouldered or vilified.  When reality knocked on the door of course, there was a lot of stammering and stuttering, the giving of assurances and an embarrassing re-submission.  That’s China, by the way.  

But this is about India.  The Government has clearly indicated that despite running to China (‘looking East,’ it said when Brexit burst the bubble of delusion about the West’s ability and willingness to help) India’s interests will not be ignored.  

Interests.  Interesting word.  In bilateral relations that are marked by a power imbalance it refers to two things: business and strategic imperatives.  The encomiums notwithstanding it’s not about those lovely little things such as love, friendship, shared histories, good neighborliness etc.  Business and strategic imperatives, let us repeat.  

Just consider the draft MoU between the governments of India and Sri Lanka.  The objectives are spelled out in the language of give-and-take and signatured with notions of equality: …To achieve greater economic, investment and development cooperation in a progressinve manner, through joint ventures and other cooperative activities that will ensure the well being of the people of the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.’

There’s nothing about any projects on India in which Sri Lanka is to get involved.  So what’s the benefit to ‘the people of India’?  Profits and strategic advantages, what else!  The entire document is about Indian involvement in key sectors such as energy and entrenchment in key strategy locations such as Trincomalee.  

Smuggled into a bunch of line items related to power plants, storage facilities and refineries is India’s long-standing interest in securing a lot more than a foothold in Trincomalee by way of taking over the oil tank farms.  Here’s the wording: ‘to form a Joint Venture to develop the Upper Tank Farms in Trincomalee, while signing a land lease agreement for 50 years in favor of Lanka IOC Ltd. for the Tank Farm’.  Need we say more?  

Throw in Indian ‘largesse’ in ‘fostering better understanding between the two militaries’ (note the ‘neutrality’ and the ‘equality’ implied!), the ‘generosity’ in undertaking a hydrographic survey for Sri Lanka, the supply (they don’t use the word ‘sale’) of Indian helicopters and other lovely things, and we are essentially talking about a patron-client relationship in the making.  

The key advisor to this government on economic affairs, R Paskaralingam has revealed that India wishes the said MoU to be inked during the forthcoming visit to that country by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister.  

 

To his credit, Paskaralingam has stated that ‘after discussion it was decided to consider the proposals of India initially.’  That’s diplo-speak of a kind.  The easy-read version is this: ‘I don’t think it is a good idea!’

India’s High Commissioner, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, in a speech made recently, has said that Sri Lanka can sign agreements at its own chosen speed.  He’s a diplomat, let’s not forget.  Paskaralingam has put things as bluntly as his bureaucratic training permits.  Reading between the lines, as we must, we have to conclude, ‘bad news’.  

The Sinhala people always knew what’s what of ‘bilateral relations’.  They laughed it off with adage but the wry humor said it as it is.  For example, the well-known saying ‘inguru deela miris gaththa vagei’ (it’s like exchanging ginger for chillie), meaning ‘an injudicious exchange’.  

That’s about ditching one invader for another.  There is that play in the game involving the West (led by the USA), China and India, and it would be useful to assess the most favorable terms of enslavement (beggars can’t be choosers, we already said that).  We’ve had a bellyful of Indian chillies.  That much can be said.

By The Nation –

The strike launched by the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) on Friday (7) against the South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM) came under severe criticism where academics said that the action was against the fundamentals of the people.

Academics strongly criticized the move of the GMOA and student unions who had left the patients stranded.

The doctors are taking the patients to ransom,” Senior Counsel Udaya Rohan De Silva pointed out.

He emphasized that students who had passed exams at the SAITM were waiting to become  doctors, adding that therefore the main issue was whether they were suitable to become doctors or not.

The GMOA said that the degrees awarded by SAITM could not be accepted as the institute was not equipped with the necessary standards required to award medical qualifications.

The GMOA has railed against the lack of minimum entry qualifications of certain students and graduates of SAITM, yet they have not produced names,” he elaborated, adding also that the SAITM authorities had denied the said allegation.

However, de Silva said that since the SAITM had been commenced, the stakeholders should look at filling the loopholes instead of shutting down the institute.

It must also be noted that not all the students at SAITM are medical students studying to become doctors,” De Silva further pointed out.

He noted that there was no way one could know for certain, the quality of the education provided overseas, adding that Sri Lankan parents paid large sums of money abroad for their children’s education which resulted in the outflow of monies. Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal in January ruled that the degree awarded by SAITM was lawful and ordered the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) to register the graduates in accordance with the Medical Ordinance.

However, the GMOA has been critical of the Court of Appeal ruling. If one is not satisfied with the Court of Appeal ruling, if one is a law-abiding citizen one will go to the Supreme Court instead of organizing strikes and asking a lot of others to join,” he said, adding that most who join had no clue as to what was taking place.

The GMOA previously stated that they had been denied an opportunity to be allowed to go before the Court of Appeal. De Silva in turn added that this was then a matter which should have been raised before the trial or if it pertains to a point of law before the Supreme Court. De Silva further added that protesting undergraduates had not read the Court of Appeal decision.He noted that if the Supreme Court is of the view that the Court of Appeal judgment was correctly analyzed and given, then there was nothing anyone could do.

They must discuss and come to a final solution. There must be a middle path. The President gave a chance to discuss. They went for the discussions and gave proposals. Yet, the President hasn’t taken a decision yet. They want the SAITM closed. This is totally not correct,” he said.

The Government will give a solution. For this, there must be negotiations and they must come to a settlement. This is not what they want. They should organize discussions with the relevant authorities by bringing them to one platform instead of having discussions with trade unions. They should have a dialogue instead of shouting. They must discuss with material. What is happening however constitutes violations of most rights,” he reiterated.

De Silva is also the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka. However, the views expressed here are not the official views of the private and unofficial bar.

Dr. Neville Fernando Courtesy The Island

April 7, 2017, 9:28 pm

It is commendable that the general public is showing a keen interest on the current SAITM issue which has been blown out of proportion by various fractions. It is our duty therefore to place on record the true facts regarding this issue to clarify the misconceptions among the public which has been disseminated by GMOA, IUSF and. various other parties with vested interest.

It is the policy of the prevailing and previous regimes to establish private education, specifically private medical education in the country which has been a long standing deficiency in Srilanka’s higher education system. Therefore we appreciate the current government for steps taken to establish institutions such as SAITM to stem the flow of currency out of the country and also to attract students from neighboring countries. It is commendable that the general public understand that nationalizing institutes such as SAITM would be detrimental to the national education policy and will also have a debilitating effect economically by deterring investors who wish to invest in Srilanka

Furthermore it is pertinent to clarify the erroneous facts in the above mentioned article. SAITM is indeed a fee levying institute, however SAITM has awarded scholarships worth 550 million rupees up to date and still continues to award scholarships to deserving students, thus it is inaccurate to label SAITM as “money motivated enterprise”. Our mission is to compliment the higher education sector of Sri lanka by providing opportunities to the youth to follow courses of study in medicine, engineering, Management and media and to produce quality professionals to serve Sri lanka.

SAITM medical graduates are trained by a highly qualified panel of academics of great repute which consist of 19 professors and over 70 senior lecturers who have served in the state medical faculties and state hospitals. The number of academic staff is in stark contrast to some of the state universities where there’s a clear lack of staff for teaching purposes.

Moreover it is pertinent to mention that Dr. Neville Fernando Teaching hospital is well equipped with state of the art technology and consist of all the relevant units required to cater to undergraduate medical teaching. Furthermore it is our duty to bring to light that it is the GMOA that prevented SAITM students from engaging in clinical training at Homagama Base hospital as agreed upon by the western province ministry of health and SAITM.

As correctly stated in the aforementioned article it is not an insurmountable task to streamline the process of establishing private medical education in Sri Lanka provided that the relevant stake holders participate with genuine interest in solving the present fabricated issue rather than with ulterior motives which is clearly apparent currently.

It is our belief that similar to the justice that was served to the SAITM graduates by the appeals court verdict, the “good governance” government of Sri Lanka will uphold the sovereignty of the judiciary and that an expeditious solution will be given in the near future.

Dr. Neville Fernando

ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න 

සිංහලේ රාජකාරි ක්‍රමය යොදා ගත්තේ උත්තරීතර සමුපකාරික ක්‍රමයක් පවත්වා ගැනීම සඳහාය ..එම සමුපකාරික සමාජ ක්‍රමයේ පොදුවැඩ වලින් ඈත්විය හැකිවන්නේ ආත්මාර්ථය පමණක් තකන කෙනෙකුට පමණි .තමන්ගේ කාම බීම සොයා ගැනීමට වැදගත් වන වැව නඩත්තු කිරීම ඔහුගේම යහපත පිණිස බව ගොවියාට ඇන ඇන කියාදීම අවශ්‍ය නොවීය ..

සිංහල සමාජයේ අර්ථ සංවිධානයට කේන්ද්‍ර වුයේ ඉඩම් හා ඒවා භුක්ති විදීමේ ක්‍රමයය් .පෞද්ගලික ඉඩම් ලෙස නින්දගම් හා පරවේණි ඉඩම් හැර අනෙක් ඉඩම් රජුගේ භාරකාරත්වය යටතේ පැවතුනි .කිසිම ඉඩමක් නොවිකුණන ලදී .මද ඉඩම් භුක්ති විදින්නෝ රාජකාරිය කලයුතුවිය .ඉඩම් හා ඒවාට අයත් රාජකාරියද පියාගෙන් පුතාට අයිතිවිය රජුගෙන් ගම්වර ලද්දෙකුට ඉඩමක ගොවීන් වෙනස් කිරීමට හෝ තමන්ට ගොවිතැන් කිරීමට හෝ කිසියම් විදිහක ගොවිතැන ගැන තනිව තීරණ ගන්නට හෝ තහනම් විය .ඔවුන්ට හිමිවූ අයිතිය නම් ගොවියන් විසින් ගෙනවිත්දෙන පංගුව භාරගැනීම පමණි .සියලු ව්‍යවස්ථාවන් පැනවුයේ හා සියලු සම්ප්‍රදායන් බිහිවුයේ වල්බුරු නිදහසක් තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා නොව සමුපකාරික ජීවන ක්‍රමය තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහාය .පොදුවේ බෙදු වැවේ ජලය යුතු ලෙස ලබා ගැනීම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා නීති පැනවිණි .ජලය අපතේ යාම වැළැක්වීම සඳහා සියල්ලෝම නියම කරන ලද කාලයට නියමිත පරිදි කුම්බුරුවද නියම පිළිවෙලට කලයුතුවිය .නීතිරීති කඩකළ යට දඩ ගස නලදී .නියමිතකාලයට වගා නොකිරීම වරදක් විය . .අවශදේ අවශ්‍ය තරමට ලබා ගැනීමත් අනවශ්යදේ ගොඩ ගැසීම ත් වලක්වා ආහාර සැපයීම සම තුලිත තත්වයේ තබා ගැනීම සඳහා සමහර අවස්ථාවල කලයුතුවගාවන් පවා නියම කරන ලදී . තිසා වැවෙන් ජලය සැපයුණ ඉසුරුමුණි වෙහෙරට අයත් කුඹුරුවල හීනටි පමණක් වැපිරිය යුතු බව 4 වන මහින්ද රජුගේ සෙල්ලිපියක දැක්වේ . .ගොවීන්ගෙන් බදු එකතු කරන ”’පාට් ට ලද්දා ” සහ ගොවීන් අතර සබඳකම රජතුමා විසින් විශේෂ ආඥාවකින් නියම කර තිබුනේය —-9 හා 10 සියවස් ——ගොවීන් නෙරපීමට ඔහුට අවසරයක් නොවීය ..යම් මත ගැටුමක් ඇතිවුවහොත් අනෙකුත් ගොවීන්ගේ සාමුහිහක තීරණයක් මගින් එය සමතයකට පත් කරගත යුතුවිය . .මෙසේ ගොවීන්ගේ අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කරනලදී 

නිලධාරීන්ගේ නොසලකිලිමත්කමනිසා හෝ යුතුකම් පහර හැරීම නිසා හෝ ඔවුන්ගෙන් සිදුවන අත්වැරැද්දක් නිසා හෝ ජනතාවට යම් පාඩුවක් අලාභයක් සිදුවුවිට එසේ සිදුවුයේ රාජ නියෝග ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමෙදීනම් රජතුමා විසින් ඒ සඳහා අලාභ ගවන ලදී 

ලෝකයේ වෙනත් රටක රාජ්ජයක නොතිබූ මෙම අපුරු සමාජ සංවිධානය සිංහලයෝ හරි හැටි හඳුනා ගත යුතුය 

මෙම සංවිධානය හරිහැටි හඳුනා නොගත් විදේශීය උගතුන් හා ඉංග්‍රීසි පරිපාලකයෝ තමන්ගේ දැනුම් සම්භාරය අනුවහා තමන්ගේ ආත්ම ලාභය සඳහා හිතාමතාමද මෙය වැඩවසම් ක්‍රමයකිය් හැඳින්වුහ.වසර දහස් ගණනක් තුල සිටි රජවරුන්ගේ විවිධ පෞරුෂත්වයන් අනුව යම් යම් විෂමතා ඇතිවන්නට ඇත . උදාහරණයක් වශයෙන් වඩුග රජවරුන්ගේ කාලයේ සිංහල ක්‍රමය අභිභවා වඩුග සම්ප්‍රදායන් ඉස්මතුවිය . සමස්තය මැනීමට මේ මිනුම් දඬු යොදා ගැනීම නොහොබිනා කමකි ..එසේ කිරීම හරියට ජේ ආර් හා ප්‍රේමදාස කාලවල සිදුවූ සිද්ධීන් අනුව ලංකාවේ කිසිදා ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍ර වාදයක් නොතිබුනේයය් කීම වැනි විහිළුවකි 

ඉංග්‍රීසි සමයේ වාරිමාර්ග පිළිබඳව උපදෙස් දීම සඳහා මෙහි පැමිණි ශ්‍රීමත් ජෝන් කීත් ,සිංහල සමාජ රටාව ගැන මනා අධ්‍යනයකින් පසුව මෙසේ කියය් ”””’භුමියේ මුලික අයිතිය පොදු ජනතාව සතු පාලක පාලිත් දෙපක්ෂයම එකම අරමුණක් සහිතව එකට වැඩ කරන එකම රට සිලෝන්ය ..පළපුරුද්දෙන් පරිනත භාවයට පත් මේ ක්‍රමය සාංඝික ක්‍රමයකි ……..(මගේ ”ජාතිය පාවාදීම ”’පොතේ කොටසක් }

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

TV crews and journalists are always seen near Kandy Mahnayake Thero’s residence/ temple

We see many politicians ( some overgrown) sitting in front of the prelate and trying to get blessings from  Mahnayake Thero .One good thing is that Mahanayke is always polite ,accommodating and kind in giving advises to all the politicians .Lately this action has become a fashion .

I heard one powerful minister was asked to consider opinions from the Public  regarding handing over of a port to Chinese and the Minister replied that they will seek approval from Parliament before implementing. Of course parliament with   a majority for the ruling party can do anything as they wish.

In one occasion Mahanayake Thero told Finance Minister that his work was appreciated by foreign organizations and an award was also given, but Sri Lankans have failed to appreciate his work ! ( I am not sure about the  response from the minister –but rejection of certain budget proposals is clear indication of the popularity of the finance minister!).

Another minister went to see the prelate to get advice about SAITM and Thero said that government should listen to doctors also !

Newspapers fill these shows with nice photos and TV crew also create news .

Ataprirkara traders  in Kandy are also making big money !

I do not think that these shows does not make any impressions among the public when they watch this in TV or read the newspapers.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dr Sarath Obeysekera 

GMOA members have finally decided to create awareness among the public about SAITM? ( is it before the pending strike? )

Do you think the office workers among  public of middle class background have any idea about the SAITM except what they hear in the TV news and what they read in the papers.

They have no clue what qualification these students had and what clinical experience they have received during the studies.

They only know that whoever passes out from Sri Lanka Medical School and also foreign schools have to undergo Internship to get more exposure in various area of clinical work until they pass exams to become consultants. They also know that after becoming consultants they can do advance treatment to patients  ( an become commercialized and inhuman !) .Until such time they work as OPD doctors or shadow consultants to learn .

Now GMOA wants to hold awareness programs ahead of protests?

Isn’t it better to hold awareness program among the public about following?

• Eradication of Dengue and H1NI
• Reduction of consumption of sugar and salt by the public to improve health conditions
• Eradication of alcohol consumption
• Teach parent about birth control to suit affordability to raise children
• Teach children about physical exercise to become healthy
• Hold discussions with various member groups of the society about mental health
• Create awareness among youngsters about social responsibilities

If they hold such awareness programs to develop health and mental  status of the public they may even be ready to listen to GMOA about SAITM

For the public ,whether it is a SAITM ,Colombo /Pera Doctor or even Doctor from Russia ,Nepal ,India or Bangladesh ,it does not matter as long as they are treated with common medicines for common illnesses and direct them to clinics conducted by Consultants

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Dr Hector Perera         London

Mainly in Western countries, in baking fish, roasting vegetables or preparing a piece of meat for dinner or even for baking cakes, they use aluminium foil. What you may not realise is that some of the foil will leach into your meal – and this could be bad for your health.

Gamae Kadae”

Back home in Sri Lanka as well they use aluminium but not as much as in other countries. In Sri Lanka they make delicacies like haelapa, wandu appa, pol roti” with vegetable leaves such as plantain leaves and with kenda kola”. Those who know the taste of those delicacies know exactly what I mean. In some restaurants as well they serve some food on banana leaves for example Thosae and wadae” are served on them with coconut sambol and gravy. No one complained about the health effects on eating and cooking on such leaves. One might not come across such village type of food in the city but if you drive off the main road to some village area to see those things in gamae kadae”.

Cooking ingredients

Some people are unaware of the health risk of using Aluminium pots and pans for cooking. Most hotels and restaurants use Aluminium pots and pans because they are light weight to handle. When food such as rice get burned they normally removed by scraping the burnt food away then fresh Aluminium appears in them. That might get dissolved again to some extent into the food that means health risks. In cooking curries such as chicken, beef or even fish they add plenty of spicy ingredients and acidic ingredients such as lime, goraka”, biling” and tamarind. Aluminium is soluble in acidic and alkali substances that means in those curries there are traces of Aluminium due to acid and alkali attack. It is an amphoteric metal that means it dissolves in acids as well as in alkali. In some restaurants they leave those curries in those vessels that means there is a possibility of further dissolution of Aluminium into the food.

What Is an Alkaline Diet?

An alkaline diet is one that helps balance the pH level of the fluids in your body, including your blood and urine. Your pH is partially determined by the mineral density of the foods you eat. All living organisms and life forms on earth depend on maintaining appropriate pH levels, and it’s often said that disease and disorder cannot take root in a body that has a balanced pH. The normal pH of water is 7 and if the pH is higher, then they are alkaline. Acids such as sulphuric acid are very strong and the pH is one. There are other acids as well such as hydrochloric and nitric acid. Most soft drinks contain one or more of three common acids: citric acid, carbonic acid and phosphoric acid. Soft drinks with specific flavour ingredients may also contain other less common acids. The level of acidity in sodas can be quite high, and many dentists deplore its long-term effect on your teeth.

Tomatoes are acidic in the mouth and stomach, yet their alkaline residue alkalizes the body. The gastric acid in the stomach has a pH of 1.5 to 3.5, while the acidity of tomato juice falls between 4.1 and 4.6. The tamarind is best described as sweet and sour in taste, and is high in tartaric acid, sugar, B vitamins, and, unusually for a fruit, calcium. As a tropical species, it is frost sensitive. Health Benefits of Tamarind. As most ancient foods do, tamarind has a long history of medicinal uses. Many involve easing stomach discomfort, aiding digestion, and use as a laxative. Tamarind preparations are used for fevers, sore throat, rheumatism, inflammation, and sunstroke.

Aluminium is the most widely distributed metal on the planet and it’s used in the production of many every-day products. Cookware is made from aluminium, soda cans are aluminium, and aluminium foil is found in most kitchens. Aluminium is also found in antacids, aspirin, vaccines, and even flour. This overwhelming infestation of aluminium means that your risk of exposure is through the roof, which is also made of aluminium. Unlike vitamins, minerals, and trace elements, the body does not need aluminium. And aluminium is no innocent or benign participant. Aluminium accumulates in the kidneys, brain, lungs, liver and thyroid where it competes with calcium for absorption and can affect skeletal mineralization. In infants, this can slow growth. Animal models have linked aluminium exposure to mental impairments.

Why is Aluminium Exposure Harmful?

Just as cigarette smoke damages lung function and overexposure to UV rays will degrade your skin, aluminium is an attacker and its target is your central nervous system.  Studies show that toxic metals contribute to brain diseases by producing oxidative stress and aluminium is one of the worst offenders.^] The prevailing belief around the world is that aluminium is linked to degenerative brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Aluminium: Bad for Your Brain

According to Washington DC’s Department of the Planet Earth, United States and Canadian regulatory agencies are interested in aluminium as a potential risk factor in elderly cognitive impairment. It makes sense, research shows aluminium can produce toxic, oxidative stress in the brain and a brain autopsy study of elderly persons found them to have aluminium levels 20+ times higher than a middle-aged group.  The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, recognizes aluminium as one of several metals known to affect the neurological system.  As far as aluminium is concerned, the supreme brain-health concern is Alzheimer’s disease.

Aluminium and Alzheimer’s

Many of the formal inquiries into aluminium toxicity are specifically concerned with its association to Alzheimer’s. Consistently, experts agree that aluminium exposure is something to worry about.

The position of the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry at Saint Louis University is that aluminium may cause liver toxicity and lead to degenerative symptoms, including Alzheimer’s.  Researchers at The School of Studies in Zoology at Jiwaji University in India describe aluminium as a potent neurotoxin associated with Alzheimer’s.

The University of California, Irvine’s Department of Medicine has reported that aluminium causes inflammation in the brain. No surprise, Alzheimer’s disease is often associated with elevated inflammation. The University School of Medicine in Belgrade published information showing that drinking water with a high aluminium and low fluoride concentration is associated with Alzheimer’s risk. Unfortunately, this is evident in New Guinea and Papua Islands where drinking water contains aluminium ions and ALS or Parkinson’s disease is collectively found.  The concern about aluminium pollution in drinking water has even reached as far away as Egypt.

Aluminium as an Occupational Hazard

Exposure to aluminium, unfortunately, is common with some occupations like mining, factory work, and welding. Welding can be especially worrisome because it produces vapours that, when inhaled, send aluminium directly into the lungs in a super absorption” status where it is released to the blood and distributed to the bones and brain. Researchers have repeatedly examined the consequence of inhaling aluminium vapours and the results are grim. Effects on memory and concentration have been cited. An Italian study that compared 64 aluminium dust exposed workers with 32 unexposed controls found significantly higher levels of aluminium in the exposed employees and findings suggested aluminium to be to blame for early neurotoxic effects.

 Reduce Your Aluminium Exposure

Aluminium is one of the most abundant metals on earth and it has permeated mainstream products to the degree that it’s virtually impossible to completely avoid exposure. However, you can take certain measures to reduce your exposure. Use glass cookware instead of aluminium. Avoid hygiene products (antacids, deodorant) with aluminium hydroxide, natural substitutes are available. Avoid processed and frozen foods, their containers can contain aluminium. Instead opt for fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, and foods with responsible packaging.

Research that I conducted with a group of colleagues has explored the use of aluminium for cooking and preparing food. Aluminium doesn’t just appear in foil: it is the most popular cookware material used by people in developing countries. Pots and pans are lined with it and it is found in some kitchen utensils like large serving spoons. Copper used to fulfil this role, but over time it’s been replaced by aluminium because it is cheaper to mass produce and easier to clean.

But while cooking your food in aluminium pots or pans isn’t a bad thing, placing it in foil and putting it in the oven is problematic. This is especially true with acidic or spicy food that’s prepared at high temperatures.

Aluminium and health

Human bodies can excrete small amounts of aluminium very efficiently. This means that minimal exposure to aluminium is not a problem: the World Health Organisation has established a safe daily intake of 40mg per kilogram of body weight per day. So for a person who weighs 60kg the allowable intake would be 2400 mg.

But most people are exposed to and ingest far more than this suggested safe daily intake. Aluminium is present in corn, yellow cheese, salt, herbs, spices and tea. It’s used in cooking utensils, as described above, as well as in pharmacological agents like antacids and antiperspirants. Aluminium sulphate, which is derived from aluminium, is used as a coagulant during the purification process of drinking water.

Scientists are exploring whether over-exposure to aluminium may be posing threats to human health. For instance, high concentrations of aluminium have been detected in the brain tissue of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Scientists have examined the community of old people with Alzheimer’s and concluded that it is a modern disease that’s developed from altered living conditions associated with society’s industrialisation. These conditions may include high levels of aluminium in daily life. Aluminium poses other health risks, too. Studies have suggested that high aluminium intake may be harmful to some patients with bone diseases or renal impairment. It also reduces the growth rate of human brain cells.

Avoid foil when cooking

Given all of these proven risks, it’s important to determine the aluminium concentration when cooking. Pots and other cookware tend to be oxidised, providing an inert layer that prevents the aluminium from leaching into food. The problem is that when you scrub your pots after cooking, that layer is worn away and the aluminium can seep into your food. This is easily avoided: when you get new aluminium pots, boil water in them several times until the base becomes matt. This creates a natural oxidation that prevents leaching. They may look nicer when they’re scrubbed and shiny, but a matt base is better for your food and your health.

Aluminium is significantly more likely to leach into food, and at higher levels, in acidic and liquid food solutions like lemon and tomato juice than in those containing alcohol or salt. Leaching levels climb even more when spice is added to food that’s cooked in aluminium foil. Anything acidic sparks a particularly aggressive process that dissolves layers of aluminium into food. This research suggests that aluminium foil should not be used for cooking. Instead, we’d recommend using glassware or porcelain when preparing baked dishes. It’s safe to wrap cold food in foil, though not for long stretches of time because food has a shelf life and because aluminium in the foil will begin to leach into the food depending on ingredients like spices. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk

Top Spin by Suni

It certainly appears as though the Sri Lanka Cricket Board needs a complete cleanup and res-shuffle..

There definitely is  a felt need for good honest and dedicated people to run it not self centered egotistic deadbeats out to reap the benefits available, line their pockets surreptitiously and go on ego and other trips while settling personal, vendettas and carrying grudges shamelessly and playing shuffleboard with the selection process while the good name of the country and past reputation suffers. This is being done while deserving players and bright stars for the future are sidelined at times.

There seems to be light at the end of the tunnel though with the new introductions of administrative and managerial staff and the removal of a few who should have been given their marching orders long ago. Wonder when the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga will throw in their services towards uplifting Sri Lanka Cricket and when the pull of greed related choices towards playing in foreign premiere leagues will cease if ever? Should it not be country first?

Hopefully a new era for Sri Lankan Cricket is on the horizon.

The  Bangladesh series is certainly an eye opener where many shortcomings and loopholes were exposed. With all due credit to the Bengalese this was a series which should have been  relatively easy pickings for the Lankans but what did they do but almost muff it up?

Thanks to a few stalwarts and few brilliant young blood who came of age Sri Lanka’s face was saved.

Hopefully the vast number of players out due to injury will return also to boost the team and the challenges which lie ahead in the not too distant future !!

These are lessons for Sri Lanka to learn.

Top Spin by Suni