KAMALIKA PIERIS

The armed forces could have crushed the LTTE any time in the last 30 years if they had been allowed to do so. They knew they could easily defeat the LTTE in regular combat  and were eager to do so. They had chased the LTTE out of the east within two months, when President Wijetunge ordered them to do so. They fought with great enthusiasm at Vadamarachchi.  ‘I saw the disappointment on their faces, when the Vadamarachchi operation was halted,’ recalled General Ranatunge  ‘Our chaps were in a real mood for victory.’  When LTTE came to Colombo for talks, the army wanted to empty their guns into them, not look after them in hotels.

The forces carried out holding operations of their own, against orders. When they were ordered to leave Weli Oya (1989,) one Gajaba regiment battalion stayed back. In 1990, against Presidential orders, the army launched an offensive in Batticaloa and saved the Gemunu Watch and Light infantry battalions there.  Palaly airfield was quickly taken over when Indian forces left, to prevent LTTE from moving in. Navy destroyed ‘Koimer’ bringing weapons for the LTTE, without orders to do so.

Nothing deterred them. Weapons were taken in a bullock cart for a Special Forces operation in Kandikudichchiaru jungle. Policemen who had managed to escape from the assassination of 600 police, (1990) joined the army at KalawanchikudI and fought.  An army captain commanded his unit with his shoulder in plaster.  A brigadier refused to leave the battlefield to go to Haiti.   When LTTE attacked Weli Oya (1995) volunteer units returned fire, under the direction of Brigadier Janaka Perera    and the LTTE fled. They dropped their weapons and ran for their lives, leaving bodies scattered all over the battlefield.”  LTTE lost almost 300 cadres, army only lost two. Navy and air force had prevented LTTE bringing in reinforcements. At Kokilai, (1984) a small unit of 60, under 2nd lieutenant Shantha Wijesinghe had routed a much larger number of LTTE, who came with superior weapons.

Soldiers fought even when there was no hope of winning, showing great endurance. When LTTE asked Batticaloa units to surrender, (1990) they rejected the offer and fought for 8 days, without food, little water and one set of uniforms. They had no artillery or air support.  In Kiran, troops had lived on liquids, raw papaw and animals that strayed into camp. They survived for 7 nights in trenches, one died, many were injured. LTTE used chlorine gas against them to dislodge them.

Qualifications to join the army were lowered in 2009 and over 80,000, mainly rural youths were recruited.  This intake was ridiculed.   Hastily trained recruits could not match the fighting skills of the ‘well trained and highly motivated LTTE cadres,’ they said. They were wrong.  These recruits responded magnificently. One soldier who had been in the army only 10 months said that he was not afraid to step into enemy territory as they had been well trained and guided. They were highly motivated  and were prepared to sacrifice their lives. They fought on, despite rising casualties and heavy LTTE resistance. One unit had fought from 6 a.m to late evening to destroy bunkers at Akkarayan.   All had wanted to join the attack on Kilinochchi.’  They received a glowing tribute from the army chief when the war ended.

There were many cases of bravery and heroism. When the LTTE attacked the Elephant pass army camp (1999), Corporal Gamini Kularatne, (Hasalaka hero) went forward with a hand grenade and blasted the LTTE truck at the cost of his life. He was awarded the Parama Weera Vibhushana medal, the highest decoration a soldier can earn. There is a monument to him at Elephant Pass. In 2002, Corporal N Tennakoon died leading his men in an attempt to prevent the LTTE entering Jaffna.  He was posthumously honored with Rana Wikrama Padakkama.  Platoon Commander Second Lieutenant K. W. T. Nissanka ran to the enemy with a grenade, at Pooneryn (1993) so that troops could withdraw with their wounded.

There was also loyalty. Soldiers were ever ready to rescue their comrades. When the wounded were to be removed from Elephant Pass in Operation Balavegaya, all 15 men in the unit had insisted on taking part. Elsewhere, a corporal who had volunteered to rescue one of his wounded colleagues had dashed forward, without waiting for covering fire and brought him back, to the admiration of his superior officer.

Medical officers accompanied the army into battle.  Doctor Sanjeewa Munasinghe marched into the Adampan jungles carrying medicines in his backpack.  Later, amputations were done in the field and the wounded, with drips attached were carried by medical assistants who, though short staffed ‘never gave in to tiredness’.  Saline tubes were used as a temporary conduit when blood vessels were injured.   The medical corp came under enemy fire,  one officer and 58 others died.  The corp received 50   gallantry awards.

The air force simply did not have sufficient planes. Their Sia Marchetti planes, which were not suitable for the war,  flew for almost 75 hours nonstop. They   mounted guns on a Chinese transport aircraft and sent that as well. All the helicopters were sent in to save Silavaturai and Kokkupadayan army bases.  There was always a shortage of pilots and trainee pilots were used for one campaign.     At one stage, there were only 5 jet fighter pilots and they went up 15 to 16 sorties a day. Later, there were 16 pilots for 16 planes and just 20 for the attack helicopter squadron.

Ferdinando has drawn attention to the contribution of Helicopter no 4 unit. This unit had excelled in many tasks, including close air support, air reconnaissance, air assault and helidrops.  The unit had flown continuously from SLAF bases at the risk of their lives    and had carried out casualty evacuation in difficult conditions. In Jaffna fort, the army had rushed the seriously wounded men into the chopper within 45 seconds  but ‘one second on the ground felt like one day’. Flying officer Roshan Mendis was recommended for promotion for leading the air assault on Elephant Pass (1998). Mendis received three gallantry medals.

SLNS ‘Pabbatha’ took ammunition and provisions from Trinco to Kankesanturai in 1990. They         carried over 20 tons of ammunition, some on the open deck.  The KKS unit unloaded it in 45 minutes, in the midst of LTTE gunfire. SLNS ‘Sooraya’ came alongside, its sailors firing at the risk of their lives. ‘Pabbatha’    also fired, one sailor   firing nonstop without his regulation helmet.  Pabbatha crew was awarded the Rana Soora Padakkama.

DR Sarath Obeysekera

News item captioned above drew my attention and reminded me of Holland which lies below mean-sea level where Houses are built on floating barges to facilitate floating

In Thailand they build on stilts and have a boat to reach the house

I suggest that all the houses to be built on the land by the side of Kelani Velly which went under water this  year should be built on floating platforms .

These platforms are built in the box shapes made of concrete or Fibre Glass if they are small

The box of rectangular shape or caratmaran type box or ,cylinder structture  may be built where water tank and sewage tanks  can be accommodated. It Should have enough buoyancy to carry the weight of the house and the contents and mounted on few concrete stumps

River /Canal overflowing will be annual event  ,hence such structure built with lighter material can be the ideal solution for replacing the houses which can be pre-fabricated and assembled on site

During a flood it should float and the people and the content can be safe until water subsides

NBRO should get together with Association of Contractors with Shipyards can work out such a design at a minimum cost

DR Sarath Obeysekera

By Pepe Escobar Courtesy Information Clearing House

May 23, 2016 “Information Clearing House” – “RT” – So foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member-nations met in Brussels for a two-day summit, while mighty military power Montenegro was inducted as a new member.

Global Robocop NATO predictably discussed Afghanistan (a war NATO ignominiously lost); Iraq (a war the Pentagon ignominiously lost); Libya (a nation NATO turned into a failed state devastated by militia hell); Syria (a nation NATO, via Turkey, would love to invade, and is already a militia hell).

Afghans must now rest assured that NATO’s Resolute Support mission – plus financial support for Afghan forces” – will finally assure the success of Operation Enduring Freedom forever.

Libyans must be reassured, in the words of NATO figurehead secretary Jens Stoltenberg, that we should stand ready to support the new Government of National Accord in Libya.”

Stoltenberg duly confirmed, We have already decided to enhance our forward presence in the eastern part of our alliance. Our military planners have put forward proposals of several battalions in different countries in the region. No decision has been taken on the numbers and locations.”

These puny several battalions” won’t cause any Russian planner to lose sleep. The real measure” is the deployment of the Aegis Ashore system in Romania last week – plus a further one in Poland in 2018. This has been vehemently opposed by Moscow since the early 2000s. NATO’s argument that the Aegis represents protection against the threat” of ballistic missiles from Iran does not even qualify as kindergarten play.

Every Russian military planner knows the Aegis is not defensive. This is a serious game-changer – as in de-localizing US nuclear capability to Eastern Europe. No wonder Russian President Vladimir Putin had to make it clear Russia would respond adequately” to any threat to its security.

Predictably all Cold War 2.0 hell broke loose, all over again.

A former NATO deputy commander went ballistic, while saner heads wondered whether Moscow, sooner rather than later, would have had enough of these shenanigans and prepare for war.

That worthless Patriot

A case can be made that the Beltway – neocons and neoliberalcons alike – do not want a hot war with Russia. What they want, apart from racking in more cash for the Pentagon, is to raise the ante to such a high level that Moscow will back down – based on a rational cost analysis. Yet oil prices will inevitably rise later in 2016 – and under this scenario Washington is a loser. So we may see a raise of interest rates by the Fed (with all the money continuing to go to Wall Street) trying to reverse the scenario.

Comparisons of the current NATO build up to pre-WWII build ups, or to NATO when opposed to the Warsaw Pact, are amateurish. The THAAD and Patriot missiles are worthless – according to the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) themselves; that’s why they tried to improve them with Iron Dome.

Meanwhile, those new NATO army battalions” are inconsequential. The basic thrust behind the Pentagon’s moves under neocon Ash Carter continues to be to draw Russia ever further into Syria and Ukraine (as if Moscow actually was involved in, or wanted, a Ukrainian quagmire); trap Russia in proxy wars; and economically bleed Russia to death while crippling the bulk of oil and natural gas income to the Russian state.

Russia does not want – and does not need – war. Yet the Russian aggression” narrative never stops. Thus it’s always enlightening to come back to this
RAND corporation study, which examined what would happen if a war actually took place. RAND reached an unambiguous” conclusion after a series of war games in 2015-2015; Russia could overrun NATO in a mere 60 hours – if not less – if it ever amounted to a hot war on European soil.

The Rand Corporation is essentially a CIA outpost – thus a propaganda machine. Yet it’s not propaganda to state the Baltic States and Ukraine would completely fall in less than three days before the Russian Army. However, the suggestion that additional NATO air power and heavily armored combat divisions would make a material difference is bogus.

The Aegis changes the game in the sense that it qualifies as a launch area for US missile defense. Think US missiles with minimum flying time – around 30 minutes – from Moscow; that’s a certified threat to the Russian nation. The Russian military has also been unambiguous”; if it is ascertained that NATO – via the Pentagon – is about to try something funny, there are grounds for a preventive strike by Iskander-M systems out of Transnistria – as in the destruction of the US missiles by conveniently armed precision weapons.

Meanwhile, Moscow has pulled a stunning success – of course, it’s far from over – in Syria. So what’s left for the Pentagon – via NATO – is essentially to play the scare tactics card. They know Russia is prepared for war – certainly much better prepared than NATO. They know neither Putin nor the Russian military will back down because of kindergarten scaremongering. As for a too conciliatory tone by the Kremlin towards Washington, things may be about to change soon.

Say hello to my S-500

The Russian military are about to test the first prototypes of the S-500 Prometey air and missile defense system, also known as 55R6M Triumfator M – capable of destroying ICBMs, hypersonic cruise missiles and planes at over Mach 5 speeds; and capable of detecting and simultaneously attacking up to ten ballistic missile warheads at a range of 1300 km. This means the S-500 can smash ballistic missiles before their warheads re-enter the atmosphere.

So in the case of RAND-style NATO pussyfooting, the S-500 would totally eliminate all NATO air power over the Baltic States – while the advanced Kornet missile would destroy all NATO armored vehicles. And that’s not even considering conventional weapon hell.

If push comes to nuclear shove, the S-400 and especially the S-500 anti-missile missiles would block all incoming US ICBMs, cruise missiles and stealth aircraft. Offensive drones would be blocked by drone defenses. The S-500 practically consigns to the dustbin stealth warplanes such as the F-22, F-35 and the B-2.

The bottom line is that Russia – in terms of hypersonic missile development – is about four generations ahead of the US, if we measure it by the development of the S-300, S-400 and S-500 systems. As a working hypothesis, we could describe the next system – already in the drawing boards – as the S-600. It would take the US military at least ten years to develop and roll out a new weapons system, which in military terms represents a generation. Every Pentagon planner worth his pension plan should know that.

Russian – and Chinese – missiles are already able to knock out the satellite guidance systems for US nuclear tipped ICBMs and cruise missiles. They could also knock out the early alert warnings that the satellite constellations would give. A Russian hypersonic ICBM flight time, launched for instance from a Russian nuclear sub all the way to the US East Coast, counts for less than 20 minutes. So an early warning system is absolutely critical. Don’t count on the worthless THAAD and Patriot to do their job. Once again, Russian hypersonic technology has already rendered the entire missile defense system in both the US and Europe totally obsolete.

So why is Moscow so worried by the Pentagon placing the Aegis system so close to Russia’s borders? A credible answer is that Moscow is always concerned that the US industrial military-complex might develop some really effective anti-missile missiles even though they are now about four generations behind.

At the same time, Pentagon planners have reasons to be very worried by what they know, or hint. At the same time the Russian military – in a very Asian way – never reveal their full hand. The key fact of the matter needs to be stressed over and over again; the S-500 is impenetrable – and allows Russia for the first time in history to launch a first strike nuclear attack, if it ever chooses to do so, and be immune to retaliation.

The rest is idle babbling. Still, expect the official Pentagon/NATO narrative to remain the same. After all, the industrial-military complex is a cash-devouring hydra, and a powerful enemy is a must (the phony Daesh caliphate” does not count).

The Threat Narrative rules that Russia has to meekly accept being surrounded by NATO. Russia is not allowed any response; in any case, any response will be branded as Russian aggression”. If Russia defends itself, this will be exposed” as an unacceptable provocation. And may even furnish the pretext for a pre-emptive attack by NATO against Russia.

Now let those Pentagon/NATO planners duly go back to play in their lavish kindergarten.

Pepe Escobar is an independent geopolitical analyst. He writes for RT, Sputnik and TomDispatch, and is a frequent contributor to websites and radio and TV shows ranging from the US to East Asia. He is the former roving correspondent for Asia Times Online. Born in Brazil, he’s been a foreign correspondent since 1985, and has lived in London, Paris, Milan, Los Angeles, Washington, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Even before 9/11 he specialized in covering the arc from the Middle East to Central and East Asia, with an emphasis on Big Power geopolitics and energy wars. He is the author of “Globalistan” (2007), “Red Zone Blues” (2007), “Obama does Globalistan” (2009) and “Empire of Chaos” (2014), all published by Nimble Books. His latest book is “2030”, also by Nimble Books, out in December 2015.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka Geneva

Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr Rajitha Senaratne on Tuesday (24 May 2016) drew the attention of the 69^th World Health Assembly (WHA) meeting in Geneva to the recent floods and landslides in Sri Lanka that affected nearly half a million people and appreciated the expression of solidarity and support by countries, partners and the World Health Organization (WHO), to strengthen the timely health response to the affected people.

Addressing the Assembly under this years’ theme, Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development , Minister Senaratne stated that the Government of Sri Lanka is fully committed to the Sustainable Development Agenda and has already set up a multi sectoral Sustainable Development Secretariat to achieve this goal”. Drawing attention to the increasing influx of migration, Minister highlighted the need to pay attention to the health of migrants, irrespective of their status of migration. In this context, he recalled the offer made by the President of Sri Lanka to host the second Global Consultation on Health of Migrants in Sri Lanka October this year, and stated that Sri Lanka is envisaging a political declaration as the outcome of the Global Consultation to demonstrate the commitment to this important issue.

The invited speaker of this year, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Ms. Christiana Figueres, addressing the Assembly, highlighted the links between climate change and health, and warned that if the world does not fundamentally change its approach to energy within the next 5 years, there is a risk that damage to the atmosphere will be irrevocable and continue to impact health for decades”. The meeting was also addressed by the President of the Assembly – Hon. Dr. Ahmed Bin Mohammed al –Saidi, Minister of Health of Oman, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director General /WHO and a large number of Health Ministers from Member countries.

On the side – lines of the WHA, the Minister also met with his counterparts from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal and Spain, and with Dr Poonam Singh, the Regional Director of South East Asian Region (SEAR) of WHO. Minister Senaratne participating as a panellist at a side – event jointly organised by the WHO and several Member States, including Sri Lanka  on Prevention and Control of Noncommunciable diseases (NCDs), shared the best practices of Sri Lanka in achieving its multisectoral NCD targets.

Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha, Director General of Health Services Dr. P.G. Mahipala, and other senior officials of the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine were associated with the Minister during his meetings.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka
Geneva

Dr Hector Perera      London

To some people the word spice means something hot that means chillies but that is a completely wrong idea. A spice could be a seed, fruit, root, bark, berry, bud or vegetable substance primarily used for flavouring, colouring or preserving food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are parts of leafy green plants used for flavouring or as a garnish. Many spices have antimicrobial properties. This may explain why spices are more commonly used in warmer climates, which have more infectious disease, and why the use of spices is prominent in meat, which is particularly susceptible to spoiling. Spices are sometimes used in medicine, religious rituals, cosmetics or perfume production, or as a vegetable.

Before we start to cook, need to cut off the excess fat and skin on the chicken because they are not quite healthy to eat. Then we cut the chicken into reasonable sizes before they are washed carefully and placed in the cooking pan. When I said carefully it means one must not splash any water all over while washing because it may have some germs, bacteria and salmonella contaminated with chicken.

I have seen in some British TV cooking programmes, some chefs do not care about the health aspects in handling and cooking chicken. May be because they are not aware of the dangers of not handling chickens but don’t be a chicken to handle chicken.

Supermarket chickens are contaminated

It is reported that millions of families are at risk of food poisoning after an investigation revealed three quarters of supermarket chickens are contaminated with a potentially lethal bug. The scandal, uncovered by watchdog the Food Standards Agency (FSA), also found one in five fresh birds has the highest level of killer bacteria campylobacter.

It is mentioned that washing chicken could wreck your health for years: It’s not just tummy upsets – spreading bacteria in the kitchen can cause arthritis, eye pain and nerve damage. One person had contracted a campylobacter infection – and is thought to have caught it when he washed the chicken before cooking it. It was something he, like nearly half of the population, had always done, little realising how risky it could be for health. Recently the Food Standards Agency  (FSA) warned people to stop washing chicken before they cook it because of the risk of spreading the deadly bacteria.

Campylobacter bacteria are the most common cause of food poisoning in the UK, affecting an estimated 280,000 Britons a year – and are to blame for more cases than E.coli, salmonella and listeria put together.

‘Often people don’t report their symptoms, so the true number of cases is likely to be even higher,’ says Bob Martin, a microbiologist and head of food-borne diseases strategy at the FSA.

Around 80 per cent of these cases have been traced to contaminated poultry – it’s thought that two‑thirds of chicken carries the bacteria, says  Mr Martin. Laboratory tests on samples from infected people have found they contain the same campylobacter DNA found specifically in chicken. Other sources of the bacteria include raw meat, unpasteurised milk and untreated water.

In another report it says, a woman was left paralysed below her neck after eating chicken contaminated with bacteria found in 98% of poultry. Sandra Loftus, from Co Dublin, contracted Guillain-Barre syndrome – a severely debilitating condition of the nervous system – after she ate chicken infected with campylobacter. The bacteria commonly causes food poisoning and shockingly 98.3% of chickens bought by the public are infected with it. And like Sandra, one in 100 of us who contract food poisoning from campylobacter will get Guillain-Barre syndrome.

Make sure chicken is steaming hot all the way through before serving. Cut in to the thickest part of the meat and check that it is steaming hot with no pink meat and that the juices run clear.

What is cross contamination?
Cross contamination occurs when harmful bacteria such as campylobacter are spread between food, packaging, hands, surfaces and equipment. Avoid cross contamination by keeping raw and cooked foods separate and washing utensils after you have used them for raw meat or unwashed vegetables. This prevents bacteria spreading to other foods that are ready-to-eat. Campylobacter causes more cases of food poisoning than E.coli, listeria and salmonella put together.

Asians always spice up the chicken curries, why?

I am sure most Asians and some others add plenty of different ingredients in cooking chicken, fish or any meat for example some green chillies, onions, garlic, ginger, curry leaves, lemon grass, curry leaves, tomatoes, tamarind, vinegar then comes the spices. Back home I can remember our Kussi Ammas take some red chilies, coriander, cumin seeds, ajwain seeds, caraway seeds, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seeds, nutmeg, paprika, saffron, turmeric powder and a few more then grind them in between stones until it forms a paste. Not that all these are present in a curry paste but some are certainly present. These people know exactly how much of each ingredients must be added for a particular type of food such as chicken, fish, pork, beef or even dry fish curry. Sometimes they are gently roasted before grinding. Now just put them into an electric grinder then press the button, job done in seconds.

Most people are unaware why do they use spices in meat dishes vary cross-culturally? Some hypotheses are spices inhibit or kill bacteria and fungi that either spoil food or harm humans. Spices provide macro or micronutrients. Spices enhance evaporative cooling and spices disguise the taste and smell of spoiled food then spices taste good.

Why do we add spices?

Although spices have been important for centuries in food preparation throughout the world, patterns of spice use differ considerably among cultures and countries. What factors underlie these differences? Why are spices used at all? To investigate these questions, we quantified the frequency of use of 43 spices in the meat-based cuisines of the 36 countries for which we could locate traditional cookbooks. A total of 4578 recipes from 93 cookbooks was analysed. They also complied information on the temperature and precipitation in each country, the ranges of spice plants, and the antibacterial properties of each spice. These data were used to investigate the hypothesis that spices inhibit or kill food-spoilage microorganisms. In support of this is the fact that spice plant secondary compounds are powerful antimicrobial (i.e., antibacterial and antifungal) agents. As mean annual temperatures (an indicator of relative spoilage rates of unrefrigerated foods) increased, the proportion of recipes containing spices, number of spices per recipe, total number of spices used, and use of the most potent antibacterial spices all increased, both within and among countries. Likewise, the estimated fraction of bacterial species inhibited per recipe in each country was positively correlated with annual temperature. Several alternative hypotheses were considered that spices provide macronutrients, disguise the taste and smell of spoiled foods, or increase perspiration and thus evaporative cooling; it also is conceivable that spice use provides no benefits. However, none of these four alternatives was well supported by our data. The proximate reason spices are used obviously is to enhance food palatability. But the ultimate reason is most likely that spices help cleanse foods of pathogens and thereby contribute to the health, longevity and reproductive success of people who find their flavours enjoyable. Next time I hope you would prefer spiced chicken than any other. Your comments are welcomed perera6@hotmail.co.uk

Priya Batugahage

It is so sad to see the plight of innocent people who are suffering from the natural disaster which hit Sri Lanka, which is supposed to be the result of dashing of coconuts at the places of worship by the members of the Joint Opposition, according to the statemet made by the Prime Minister in the Parliament the other day. Whether right or wrong, with this statement the PM has admitted that the people too have the means to get the Gods reacted against those who do not heed the will of the people.

It can be argued that Tsunami was a much bigger disaster,  because of its death toll was much higher. Tsunami effected only the coastal areas, while this effected the entire country. Even though the North, East & Uva where Tamils & Muslims are the majority, did not feel the effect that much, the rest of the country suffered an immeasurable damage.

The Government, while saying that they were smart enough to get a Natural Disaster Insurance Cover for Rs. one Billion, with which they can rebuild entire damaged infrastructure, the Finance Minister is seeking Foreign Disaster Loans up to $2-3 Billion.

Whatever it is, I too believe that this is a natural disaster due to the CURSE of the GODS above, due to different reasons.  Since 2005 Rajapakse regime did all that is possible to end the 30 year old war with the LTTE Terrorists, that was making the entire nation suffer with death and distruction, and brought peace to the country within three years. As soon as they finished the war,  they saw the need to set up modern infrastructure to uplift the living standarads of the people and launched a development campaign, that included Shopping Malls, Jogging Tracks, Water Parks, properly paved rural roads etc. in additin to other mega projects all over the county, for the benefit of the general public, so that they could lead a contented peaceful life, which no other leader in Sri Lanka did, in the recent history.

Did our Sinhalese pay any gratitude for the services renderd to them, by these great leaders?
NO. Did they at least appreciate what was given to them by that Government for their own benifit? NO. Then what did they do?  Instead, they just swallowed the diabolical lies spread by Ranil, Mangala & Chandrica, the unholy trio, together with some Western NGOs, using the Geobbles Theory, who were on a mission to Change the Regime to fulfil the aims of their Western Masters, and getting paid hundreds of millions of Dollars from them. They made false allegations against Rajapakses, without even an iota of credible evidence, and insulted, rediculed and chased them away.

Probably the Gods above may have got angry for the indecent behavior of these ungrateful, gullible and naive Sinhalese. Those who helped to bring this unholy Yahapaalana Government, never appreciated what they received for their own benifit. They didn’t even look after and maintain what they got, but instead went on destroying some of it.  Because of this reason, it is no wonder if the Gods created this natutral disaster, to distroy everything that was given by the Rajapakse regime, because these Sinhales do not deserve those.

I do not think this Government will be in a position to put these projects back to the original position in the foreseeable future, due to two reasons. First, is that they do not want the Rajapakses to get the Credit for it, even if it is a loss to the masses.They do not care.  Secondly, they do not have the resources to do it. So even the innocent people who never had any hand in it will have to remain in this mud hole for a considerable period of time, as long as this Yahapaalana Government is in power.

These Sinhalese must suffer the Wrath of Gods !

Media freedom in jeopardy – says Mahinda Rajapaksa.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය රැකගැනීමට මාධ්‍ය නිදහස තිබිය යුතු බවත්,එවැනි යුගයක් තම පාලන කාලයේ තිබුණු බවත් හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා පවසයි.

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ

නාමුක හමුදා නාලධාරියෙකුට නැගෙනහිර මහ ඇමති ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියේ බැණ වැදීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අදහස් පල කරයි.

ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඔහු විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනය මෙසේය.

සාම්පූර් ප‍්‍රදේශයේ පැවැත්වූ ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ රැස්වීමකදී නැගෙනහිර පළාත් මහ ඇමතිවරයා විසින් නාවික හමුදාවේ උසස් නිළධාරියෙකුට ඉතා පහත් ආකාරයට බැණවදින වීඩියෝ පටයක් අද මුළු රටේම අවධානයට ලක්වී ඇත. මේ වීඩියෝ පටය ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ ජනමාධ්‍යවල මෙන්ම සමාජ ජාල ඔස්සේ ද ප‍්‍රචාරය වී ඇත. මේ අසෝබන සිද්ධිය ඇමරිකානු තානාපතිවරයා ඉදිරියේ සිදුවීමෙන් මෙහි බරපතල බව තවත් තීව‍්‍ර වේ. වේදිකාව මත තමන්ට හිමි තැන ගැන ආරවුලක් ඇති කරගන්නා මහ ඇමතිවරයා, එවැනි කාරණා ගැන වගකිව යුතු නැති නාවුක හමුදා නිළධාරියාට ඉතා පහත් ලෙස යනව යන්න මෙතනින්”,”මුග්ධයා””කට වහගන්නවා”යනාදි වශයෙන් ඉංග‍්‍රීසි බසින් නැවත නැවත නැවතත් බැණ වදින ආකාරය වීඩියෝ පටයේ සටහන් වී ඇත.

මීට කලින් අවස්ථාවකදී දෙමළ ජාතික සන්ධානයේ දේශපාලනඥයන් පිරිසක් හමුදා කඳවුරකට බලහත්කාරයෙන් ඇතුළුවීමේ සිද්ධියක් ගැන ආන්දෝලනයක් ඇති වූ විට, ආණ්ඩුව එය සුළු සිද්ධියක් ලෙස හුවා දක්වා ඒ ගැන කිසිදු පියවරක් නොගෙන සිටියේය. දැන් මේ ඊට සමාන දෙවැනි සිද්ධියයි. උතුරේ සිදු වීමත්, සාම්පූර්වල සිදුවීමත් යන දෙකම ලංකාවේ මොන පළාතකවත් සිදු නොවිය යුතු සිදුවීම් ය. මොන පළාතකවත් දේශපාලනඥයන් පූර්ව අවසරයක් හෝ දැනුම්දීමක් නොමැතිව හමුදා කඳවුරකට ඇතුළු නොවිය යුතුය. මොන පළාතකවත් දේශපාලනඥයන් ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදා නිළධාරියෙකුට නැගෙනහිර පළාත් මහ ඇමතිවරයා ප‍්‍රසිද්ධ වේදිකාවේ දී කථා කළ ආකාරයට කථා නොකළ යුතුය.

මේ රට ත‍්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් බේරාගත් ආරක්‍ෂක හමුදා සාමාජිකයන්ට මේ ආකාරයට දේශපාලන බළධාරීන් විසින් සිතා මතා අවමන් කිරීම නතර විය යුතුය. මේ නවතම සිද්ධිය පසුගිය වසරේ ජනවාරියේ සිට ආරම්භ වූ රණවිරුවන්ගේ ජීවගුණය බිඳ දැමීමේ වැඩපිළිවෙළේ තවත් අදියරක් දැයි සාධාරණ සැකයක් අපි තුළ ඇති වී තිබේ. කලින් උතුරේ ඇති වූ සිද්ධියත් සුළු කොට පෙන්වා යට ගැසූ ආකාරයට සාම්පූර් සිද්ධියත් යට නොගසන මෙන් මම ආණ්ඩුවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිමි.

නැගෙනහිර පළාත් මහ ඇමතිවරයාගේ ක‍්‍රියා කලාපය ගැන විධිමත් ලෙස සොයා බලා මෙවැනි සිද්ධීන් නැවත ලංකාවේ මොන පළාතකවත් ඇති නොවන තැනට වග බලා ගැනීම ආණ්ඩුවේ යුතුකම වේ.

මහින්ද රාජපක්‍ෂ පා.ම
හිටපු ජනාධිපති

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Responding to the behaviour of Eastern Province Chief Minister Nazeer Ahamed who slandered a Navy officer at an event, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged a full investigation into the matter, and said insults directed at the security forces by political authorities should stop.

Issuing a statement, he said , A video clip of the Eastern Province Chief Minister verbally abusing a naval officer at a public meeting in Sampur has appeared in the media and been posted widely on social networks. The fact that this ugly incident took place in the presence of the American ambassador has added to its seriousness.

The Eastern Province Chief Minister who raised an issue of protocol over his place on the stage can be heard shouting at the naval officer repeatedly using phrases like ‘get out from here’ ‘idiot’ and ‘shut up’. On a previous occasion when TNA politicians forcibly entered an army camp in the north, the government went out of its way to portray this as a minor incident and to sweep it under the carpet.

This is now the second such incident. The incidents that took place in the north and in Sampur should not have taken place anywhere in the country. Politicians in any part of the country should not seek to enter army camps without obtaining prior permission or giving due notice. Likewise no politician in any part of the country should ever speak to a uniformed member of the armed forces at a public meeting the way the EP Chief Minister spoke to that naval officer.

Deliberate insults directed in this manner by the political authorities at the armed forces that rid the country of the scourge of terrorism, should stop. We suspect that this latest incident is a part of the project that began in January last year to demoralise our war heroes.

I call upon the government not to sweep this latest incident under the carpet the way they dodged taking action over the incident in the north. It is the duty of the government to formally investigate the conduct of the EP Chief Minister and to take steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur anywhere in the country in future.,”

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/110052/CM-s-tirade-MR-urges-probe#sthash.oDv1Cau9.dpuf

Sudath Gunasekara 25.3.2016

The Sirisena-Ranil Government should take full responsibility for the arrogant   behavior of the Chief Minister EP and Wigneswaran in the North as this type of things never happened prior to 2015 after the war. We must remember this is only the tip of the ice berg. Aren’t they isolated harbingers of things to come. From where have they got this extraordinary strength to rebuke and humiliate public officers in public if not from the support they get from the present Government and its leaders. Of course even Mahinda Rajapaksa  is partly responsible for this situation as he is the one who held elections for the NP and EP and created  these  demonic institutions.  How much we have agitated to scrap the 13 A and the JR-Rajeev Pact over the past 19 years. MR could have done it very easily immediately after the 2009 war and re-established the ancient Tun Rata political divisions and brought about permanent political stability to this country.  Any way let bygones be bygones. There is no point in pointing your finger at any. It is all spilt milk now. Let us at least act now act fast before everything go out of control.

We demand the Government to take immediate and stern action against these political bulls in china shops.

If the government fails to take immediate action to dissolve all provincial Councils and scrap this cancerous system and sack the two Chief Ministers and concurrently take legal action against them, the whole nation should start a nationwide mass protest against this  unwarranted behavior of these two footed political rabid animals and start a countrywide agitation for the scrapping of this system immediately before these communal Tamil and Muslim politicians convert this country into an scrambled egg.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Sri Lanka army had a Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol Unit (LRRP)    known also as the Deep Penetration Unit. It functioned under the Directorate of Military intelligence (DMI). The LLRP was engaged in high risk,  undercover operations, carried out behind enemy lines. It was a very important activity. Operations were carried out by Commandos and Special Forces regiments. Many were volunteers  who were aware of the risks they were taking.  The centre of operations was at Batticaloa and the commanding officer was Captain S. H. Nilam supported by Major T. N. Muthalif.  LLRP also got support from ex LTTE cadres,   anti-LTTE Tamil groups and members of the public. They were brought into the operation when necessary. V. Vidyarthan (‘Mike’) coordinated a network of operatives and informants, in Batticaloa and Ampara districts, which included former LTTE cadres. He worked directly with Captain Nilam.

The LRRP hit squads    carried out   target killings. The plan was to have a sustained assassination campaign, ‘something we had never tried out before’. This would have had a serious impact on the LTTE if it had continued. The squads were trained at the Panaluwa Test firing range  Operations were carried out by small groups who went in and out of enemy territory, using jungle routes, seeking their targets. The groups stayed in safe houses or camped in the jungles until they were ready to take their target. . When entering LTTE held territory they wore LTTE uniforms. ‘We had about 100 LTTE uniforms’.  The names of operatives was kept secret. This was essential. Operatives mostly worked on their own They had their own arsenals, with a range of weapons, including claymore mines. These groups carried out several successful under cover operations. They assassinated several high profile LTTE commanders   inside LTTE territory. They killed  senior sea tiger commander Amaran, Batticaloa District intelligence head Nizam, artillery specialist Sathiyaseelan,   ‘Mano Master’  ‘Kelly’  ‘Jeevan,’ Karikalan, Swarnaseelan and Devadas.

The Directorate maintained a safe house for the LLRP in the Millennium City housing scheme, at Athurugiriya, Colombo. The LLRP had initially been housed at the Kohuwala Army Camp, but was relocated to Athurugiriya in December 2001. Immediately after winning the December 2001 elections, the UNP government announced that the army was planning to assassinate UNP leaders, including Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe  and the centre of operations was the Millennium City house. They wanted the house investigated. On 2 January 2002, a special team of Sri Lanka Police led by SP Kulasiri Udugampola raided the place  and arrested Capt Nilam, corporal Hilmy, several Sinhala officers and a suspected LTTE operative. These peratives   had returned to Colombo on orders. They were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act since the police did not have a court order or warrant.

The director of the DMI and the Army Commander contacted the IGP and asked him to call off the raid. Despite the requests made by his superiors and the protests of the army, SP Udugampola, took the soldiers into custody, seized the stock of weapons and drove to the Military Police Headquarters in Narahenpita.  He immediately contacted the media  and a ‘vehicle load of journalists’    were shown the weapons. The soldiers were taken away  and interrogated  at Katugastota Police Station. They were humiliated and ‘treated like criminals’. They were held for nearly two weeks. They were released on the orders of Defence Minister Tilak Marapana, who expressed outrage over the police raid.

A Commission of Inquiry was   appointed to look into the raid. The Commission said that the raid had seriously compromised national security. It was “total betrayal and absolute treachery.”  Udugampola’s actions were “illegal and immoral”. The report also included a list of officers of the police and army responsible for the incident. The IGP set up a special investigation into the actions of Udugampola and the other police officers. Udugampola was demoted to the rank of ASP. In March 2005, Udugampola was interdicted and arrested.  A Supreme Court judgment delivered in January 2004 stated that the fundamental rights of the soldiers had been violated and ordered ASP Udugampola to pay a sum of Rs. 50,000 LKR each to five of the LRRP operatives. The State was ordered to pay Rs. 750,000 each to them as well.  The raid clearly would not have been possible without support from an influential section of the army.   A previous commander of the Military Intelligence Corps (MIC) Colombo who had made attempts to obtain the address of the safe house was asked to resign. Action was also taken against several other army officers. The most senior officers were ordered to retire.

The Army Commander, under the direction of the Defence Minister, had also appointed a Court of Inquiry to investigate the activities of the LRRP. The court held that the LLRP activities were legitimate and their weapons had been obtained through legitimate means. It was alleged that thermo baric weapons had been brought from the Army’s operational areas in the North to the Panaluwa Army testing range, in-order to use them at a UNP election meeting. This allegation was proved to be false.

Thanks to the raid the safe house cover was blown.  A top secret covert operation now became public knowledge. A vital operation which   had exerted much pressure on the LTTE and capable of crushing the LTTE was aborted. The names of those working in the unit became known, leading to the killing of many informants and civilians who had assisted the LLRP. The raid seemed to have been done at the insistence of the LTTE who saw that the LLRP was becoming a threat. The raid showed political support. It was based on a bogus accusation. It took place before the CFA was signed in 2002    Shamindra Ferdinando notes that full extent of the damage cause by the Millennium City raid has not been fully assessed even after a decade.

The ‘Ceasefire Agreement’ put a stop to undercover work. LTTE had pushed for a clause prohibiting the entry of deep penetration units into LTTE areas. It was only when the CFA became public that the army got to know this.. Operations behind the LTTE lines were thereafter suspended and LRRP activities came to a stop. As the army ceased its operation the LTTE launched theirs. Army officers who had infiltrated the LTTE controlled areas and executed vitally important operations  were hunted down by the LTTE and killed. Captain Nilam and his family disappeared from Indonesia where they had been sent for safety. Lt Col Muthalif was killed

LTTE unleashed a series of killings in the eastern province and Colombo. About 50 military personnel and information were eliminated. Suresh, who had played a pivotal role, was killed   at Kalubowila. The army looked after his children till they were handed over to the mother. In Batticaloa, over 80 Tamil informants and intelligence officers were   killed, including Mike. LTTE Intelligence chief, Pottu Amman personally traveled to Batticaloa to oversea this.. The military could do nothing because of the CFA. The government did not try to stop the LTTE either, saying it would affect the CFA.

In 2006, Eelam War IV started, CFA was cancelled and LRRP resumed its activities.  It re- developed its capability for conducting operations behind enemy lines. These operations restricted the movements of the senior LTTE cadres. When the army set up multiple fronts in Vanni, the LRRP had more room in which to operate. They launched attacks against LTTE leaders. They killed Charles, head of the LTTE military intelligence and Cheliyan , deputy leader of the Sea Tigers. The killing of Shankar, who was in charge of the east, at an early stage of the War, stunned the LTTE.

Dilrook Kannangara

In a disgusting display of disrespect, Eastern Province Chief Minister shouted at a navy officer on stage demanding him to get out. He must be remembered that he is standing there without getting blown to pieces thanks to the navy officer and his military colleagues. There was a time when Tamil terrorists attacked mosques and killed scores of Muslims in the East which can only be compared to killing train loads of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. Those responsible for the two incidents ended up in two different places. Who the hell are you Ahmed to shout at a decoarated war hero?

Heroic soldiers must be wondering why they sacrificed so much to bring peace to two provinces that show total disrespect to security forces personnel. War will return to the east soon if this type of disrespect continues and there will be no one to save the easterners.

Indian imposed 13A created provincial councils that in turn produced this type of people particularly in the north and the east. Isn’t it another reason why these white elephants and pigsties called provincial councils are scrapped?

සැමට කලින් දෙරණේ චතුර… රණවිරුවා බාල්දු කල නැගෙනහිර මහ ඇමතිට රත් වෙන්න කියයි..

නැගෙනහිර මහ ඇමති නෂීර් අහමඞ් නාවික හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකුට ප‍්‍රසිද්ධියේ බැණ වැදීම සම්බන්දයෙන් ‘දෙරණ අරුණ’ වැඩසටහනේදී චතුර අල්විස් අදහස් පල කලේ මෙසේය.

https://youtu.be/6n6sR2CDWwI

https://youtu.be/Ad1vV_HksTA

https://youtu.be/ZVcao9aLyNs

https://youtu.be/gmv8XclhNCs?t=2

By Noor Nizam. Peace and Political Activist, Political Communication Researcher, Former SLFP District Organizer, Trincomalee District and Convener – The Muslim Voice. 

The behaviour of the Eastern Province Chief Minister at the Sampoor School function was arrogant and NOT called for. Moreover, as an important political representative of the district, the Chief Minister’s actions have to be condoned severely.

The worst part is, the manner in which the Chief Minister addressed the Navy Officer who was supposed to have been the compere, calls for severe disciplinary action at the highest level.

If President Maithripala Sirisena will fall back on this, just for the purpose to make sure that the Chief Minister has a large Muslim vote bank (which he does NOT have in Trincomalee district) in the East/Trincomalee district, then we Muslims will NOT vote for the President any more, because, the behaviour of the Chief Minister towards the Navy Captain is a DISGRACE to the Sri Lanka Muslim Community in at large and especially that of the Eastern Province.

The Navy should also set-in-motion “civil action/legal proceedings” against the Chief Minister for disgracing and abusing a government official and that too an armed forces officer in public and claim at least Rs. 10 million in damages for his pain of mind.

To us, the Naval Officer (Captain) is a “HERO”. Taking this opportunity, on behalf of the Sri Lankan Muslim Community, THE MUSLIM VOICE wishes to tender our sincere APOLOGIES to the Navy Officer (Captain) and the Sri Lanka Navy and are very proud of the officer’s discipline in maintaining PATIENCE and CALM throughout the episode, in front of foreign dignitaries and a large local gathering whom the Navy Officer has been making his “YEOMAN” service in Sampoor.

Did NOT this IDIOT of a Chief Minister know, that if NOT for the great sacrifices made by the Navy and the triforces, where the hell would he have been today, just an ordinary businessman living in Borella, Colombo.

Dr Sarath Obeysekera  

I wonder whether you have read the book called Tinker ,Sailor ,Soldier ,Spy by John le Carre.  A interesting film was made based on this book which depicts the double acting of British Intelligence .

Yesterday’,s episode where the Chief Minister of Eastern Provincial  had an outbreak of anger during a school prize giving had drawn my attention .

Chief Minister who is trying to do a Tinkering work to mend the relationship between the Sinhalese and Muslims against all odds , was blasting the Navy Soldier in the presence of the Governor who is the Tailor” trying to stitch the patches of relationship between Central Government and the Provincial Council

CM was blaming the Governor for not maintaining the proper Protocol during the ceremony and the poor soldier got the verbal barrage

The Ambassador who is the Spy was listening patiently with diplomatic silence would have thought Oh this is fun !!

All Chief Ministers and Governors  should  be sent to special course to learn the art of maintaining Protocol  and Diplomacy  in order to prevent such things happening in the future !

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi has sought advice from President Maithripala Sirisena in respect of Eastern Province Chief Minister Z. A. Nazeer, who had been accused of humiliating Captain I.R. Premaratne, the senior officer-in-charge of Sampoor base ‘Vidura’ in public on May 20 at the opening of a science lab and computer unit at Sampoor Maha Vidyalaya.

Nazeer represents the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a constituent of the UNP-led ruling coalition.

Defence Secretary Hettiarachchi yesterday told The Island that, having studied a report that dealt with the incident from Navy Headquarters, he had submitted it to President  Maithripala Sirisena. Asked whether he had received a complaint from Navy Headquarters, Defence Secretary Hettiarachchi said that he had accepted a report, which was immediately forwarded to President Maithripala Sirisena.

Governor of the Eastern Province Austin Fernando, who was the Chief Guest at the Sampoor event, declined to comment on the incident. Chief Minister Nazeer also rebuked Fernando for not being aware of protocol regarding guests to be invited to the stage.

Captain Premaratne is the senior officer in charge of Trincomalee South.

A high ranking Navy official told The Island that Navy Commander Vice Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne had submitted the report yesterday. Earlier, Navy headquarters interviewed Captain Premaratne.

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem told The Island that he had received a call from Defence Secretary Hettiarachchi on the issue. Minister Hakeem said: “I also inquired from CM Nazeer and he is sincerely sorry about the incident.”

Minister Hakeem said that CM Nazeer regretted the use of harsh words on a navy officer. Responding to a query, the SLMC leader alleged that some interested parties had been trying to exploit the incident to cause a rift between the SLMC and the security forces. Minister Hakeem said that the issue could be sorted out soon.

CM Nazeer lashed out at Captain Premaratne, alleging that he was denied due recognition at the event. CM Nazeer also pounced on Governor Fernando, when the latter tried to calm him, An irate CM declared that he respected the US Ambassador Atul Keshap, who had been on stage next to the Governor much more than those present there.

Trincomalee-based sources told The Island that CM Nazeer had been furious as he hadn’t been invited onto the stage along with Governor Fernando and US Ambassador Keshap. In fact, Governor Fernando had invited CM Nazeer after seeing that he was inadvertently left out by the compere, sources said.

Sources said that Ambassador Keshap had been embarrassed as CM Nazeer rebuked Captain Premaratne and Governor. Ambassador Keshap had been there on the invitation of Governor Fernando.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංග

විශාලත්වය අතින්  බල්ගේරියාව යුරෝපා මහද්වීපයේ 16 වන ස්ථානය දරයි. බල්ගේරියාවේ එක පාර්ශවයකින් කළු මුහුදය​. අනෙක් පාර්ශවයෙන් රුමේනියාව , සර්බියාව ග්‍රීසිය සහ තුර්කිය යන රටවලින් වටවී තිබේ.

මා බල්ගේරියාවට ගියේ අසූව දශකයේ අග භාගයේදීය. ඒ කාලයේ පෙරෙස්ත්‍රොයිකා ක්‍රියාදාමය නිසා වෙලඳ ආර්ථික ක්‍රමය බල්ගේරියාව වැනි වර්සෝ පාර්ශවයේ රටවලද වියාප්තව තිබුනේය​. මේ හැර සෝවියට් න්‍යෂ්ටික වැඩසටහන් නවතා දමා තිබූ නිසාද න්‍යෂ්ටික බලාගාර වල ආරක්‍ෂාව නොතකා හැරීම නිසාද න්‍යෂ්ටික ද්‍රව්‍ය හොර පාරේ සිට බල්ගේරියාව හරහා මැද පෙරදිගට ගියේය​. සදාම් හුසේන් විසින් බොහෝ මිල ගෙවා මේ න්‍යෂ්ටික ද්‍රව්‍ය මිලට ගත් බව පසුව හෙලි විය​.

මා බල්ගේරියාවට යන විට එක් ගුරුසියානු ජාතිකයෙක් ක්‍රාස්නය රුතූත් හෙවත් රතු රසදිය අඩංගු භාජනයක් තම බඩු බාහිරාදිය සමග ගෙන ගියේය​. මේ රතු රසදිය න්‍යෂ්ටික බලාගාර වල යොදා ගන්නා රසායණිකයකි. එහෙත් බල්ගේරියානු බලධාරීන් මේ ද්‍රව්‍ය වලට වඩා විමසිලිමත් වූයේ ඩෙනිම් කලිසම් , ජර්මනියේ නිෂ්පාදිත සපත්තු , තුර්කි ලෙදර් ජැකට්, ජපන් ඔරලෝසු පිළිබඳවය​.

මේ කාලයේ ලංකාවේ ජාවරම්කරුවන් මිනිසුන් හොරෙන් රට පැටවීම හෙවත්  හියුමන් ට්‍රැෆිකින් අරඹා තිබුන අතර සෝවියට් දේශයේ ඉගෙනුබ ලැබූ සමහර් සිසුන් ද මේ නීති විරෝධී ජාවාරමේ කොටස්කරුවෝ වූහ​. බොහෝ ද්‍රවිඩ තරුණයෝ මේ ආකාරයෙන් යුරෝපයට ආ අතර මොවුන් ගෙම්බන් ලෙස හඳුන්වන ලදි. හියුමන් ට්‍රැෆිකින් කල පුද්ගලයන් ගෙම්බෝ පන්නන්නන්  ලෙස නම් වූයේය​. මෙලෙස ගෙම්බෝ පන්නා විශාල ධනයක් උපයන ලද පුද්ගලයන් වර්තමානයේ තම හියුමන් ට්‍රැෆිකින් ක්‍රිමිනල් අතීතය වළදා ඒ ධනය නීත්‍යනුකූල වියාපාර වල ආයෝජනය කොට වැදගතුන් සේ වර්තමාන ලාංකික සමාජය ඉදිරියේ  පෙනී සිටිති.

ගෙම්බෝ පන්නන වියාපාරයේ බොහෝ අපරාධ තිබුනේය​.කොටි සංවිධානය යුරෝපය පුරා වියාප්ත වී ඊලාම් යුද්දයට මුදල් පොම්ප කිරීම ඇරඹුනේ මේ ගෙඹි වියාපාර මගිනි.  එසේම ඉතාලි යවන බව කියා මුදල් ගෙන  සමහර විට මිනිසුන් බල්ගේරියාවේ රුමේනියාවේ  අතරමං කරන ලද අවස්ථා විය​. සමහර තරුණයන් ශීතට අසුවී මිය ගියහ​. සමහරු තවමත් සිර ගෙවල් වලය​. තවද  කියෙව් නගරයේ එක් සිසු ගෙම්බෝ පන්නනෙක් සහ ඔහුගේ මිතුරෙක් ඉතාලි යාමට ආ දෙයුවලකගෙන් මුලින්  කොල්ලන් දෙදෙනා බල්ගේරියාවට යවා කෙල්ලන් දෙදෙනා කියෙව් නගරයේ මහල් නිවාසක රඳවාගෙන පුරා මාස ගනනක් ඔවුන්ව දූෂණය​ කලෝය​. මින් එක් දූෂකයෙක් ලංකාවේ වෛද්‍ය වෘත්තියේද නිරත වේ.

ගෙම්බන් නිසා ලාංකිකයන් දෙස බල්ගේරියාවේ කස්ටම් නිලධාරීන් බැලුවේ සැකයෙනි. මා සතුව  වෛද්‍ය පීඨය විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද සිසු හැඳුනුම් පත්‍රය තිබූ නිසා මට ගැටළුවක් නොවීය​. දේශසීමාව තරණය කිරීමෙන් පසුව මම බල්ගේරියාවට ඇතුළු වූයෙමි.

බල්ගේරියාවේ සොෆියා නගරය පැරණි යුරෝපීය තේජස දක්නට ඇති නගරයකි. එහි වූ විශාල ගොඩනැගිලි අතිශයින්ම මනහරය​. ගෘහ නිර්මාණ ශිල්පය ඉගෙන ගන්නා සෑම දෙනෙකුටම මම දෙන ඔවදනක් නම් බල්ගේරියාවේ සොෆියා නගරයට ගොස් එහි ගොඩනැගිලි ස්වරූපය අධ්‍යනය කරන ලෙසටය​.

බල්ගේරියාවේ මාවත් පුරා පොඩි පොඩි කඩ හතු පිපෙන්නා සේ බිහි වී තිබේ. මේ කඩ වල විවිධ දේ මිලදී ගැනීමට පුලුවන . එසේම භාණ්ඩ හුවමාරුවද සිදුවේ. ආහාර ගැනීමට අවන්හලක් වෙත මම ගියෙමි. ගම්මිරිස් සහ අනෙකුත් කුළුබඩු යොදා තම්බා පසුව බදින ලද විශාල කුකුලෙක් මේසයට ගෙන එන ලදි. කුකුලා වටා තක්කාලි පෙති සහ අර්තාපල් පෙති තිබුනේය. එසේම කළු ඇඹුල් පාන් පෙති ගසා මේසය මත තිබුනි. මේ ආහාරයට ඔවුන් ගත්තේ ඉතා සාධාරණ මුදලකි.

සොෆියා නගරයේ ඇවිදින විට මට ඉතාලි ජාතික යුවලක් මුණ ගැසුනි. ඔවුන් මා සමග සුහදව කථා කලෝය​. ඒ කාලයේ බටහිර ලෝකයේ ජනයා බල්ගේරියාවට ආවේ සුළු වශයෙනි. මම රුසියානු , යූක්‍රයීන සහ ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා දැන සිටි නිසා මොවුන් දෙදෙනාට මාව සම්පතක් විය​. මම බල්ගේරියානු ඉන්ටුවරිස්ට් කාර්‍යාලයට ඔවුන් සමග ගොස් ඔවුන් ගේ විසා සහ ප්‍රවේශ පත්‍ර ගැන තිබූ ගැටළුවක් නිරාකරණය කිරීම සඳහා භාෂා පරිවර්තකයා ලෙස සහය වූයෙමි. ඔවුන් ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් කියූ දෙය මම රුසියන් බසින් බල්ගේරියානු නිලධාරීන්ට පැහැදිලි කලෙමි. මෙම ගැටළුව විසඳා දීමෙන් පසු අප තිදෙනා දුම්රිය පළට ගියෙමු.

මා මෙතෙක් වෙලා සිතාගෙන සිටියේ මොවුන් ඉතලියානු යුවළක් බවය​. එහෙත් පසුව මට  තේරුම් ගියේ දෙදෙනාම පිරිමින් බවය​. එක් අයෙකුගේ සුරතේ දැවටී සිටියේ කාන්තාවක් බඳු පිරිමියෙකි. සමකාමී (Gay) කපල් එකක් සමග ගනුදෙනු කල මුල්ම අවස්ථාව එය විය​. නමුත් මම පසුකාලයක එල් ජී බී ටී (LGBT)  පුද්ගලයන් දෙස විනිශ්චයකින් තොරව  බැලීමට පුරුදු වූයෙමි. වර්තමානයේ මා සමග පර්‍යේෂණ ව්‍යාපෘති වල එල් ජී බී ටී පුද්ගලයන් කිහිපදෙනෙකු සිටින අතර මා ඔවුන්ට වෙනසකින් තොරව සලකමි.

ලිංගික පාපය ප්‍රතික්ශේප කල බුදුදහම වැනි දහමක් කරේ තබාගෙන අදහන මේ බුදුන් ගේ දේශයයි කියන ලංකාවේ සමකාමී පුද්ගලයන් සමාජයෙන් පොන්නයන් ලෙස කොන් කිරීම සමහර විට මට විමතිය ගෙන දේ. ඒ අතින් බටහිර යුරෝපය සහ උතුරු ඇමරිකාව වඩාත් ඉදිරිගාමීය​.  බුද්ධ චරිතයේ දැක්වෙන බුදුන් ගේ රුවට ඇළුම් කල වක්කලී භික්‍ෂුව සමකාමී පුද්ගලයෙකු බව මට සිතේ. බුදුන් වක්කලී භික්‍ෂුවට මා දෙස නොව මගේ දහම දෙස බලන්න කියා ඔවදන් දුන්නේය​.වක්කලී  පාපී පුද්ගලයෙකු කියා ගල් ගසා මරන්නට බුදුන් කීවේ නැත.

සමකාමී අයිතිවාසිකම් ගැන සිතීමට ලංකාව වැනි සමාජයක්  තවමත් ආකල්පමය සහ සංස්කෘතිමය වශයෙන් දියුණු නොමැත. එසේම සමකාමී විරෝධය දක්වන්නන් බොහෝ දෙදෙනෙකු අවිඥානිකව සමලිංගිකත්වය කෙරෙහි ඇළුණු පුද්ගලයෝය​. අවිඥානිකව මතුවන සමලිංගිකත්ව රුචිය ඔවුන් යටපත් කරන්නේ සමලිංගිකත්වය කෙරෙහි අඝාත විරෝධයෙනි. මේ සඳහා ඉතිහාසයේ දැක්විය හැකි නිදසුන වන්නේ හිට්ලර් ගේ සමලිංගිකත්ව විරෝධයයි.

සොෆියා දුම්රිය පලේදී මම ඉතලියානුවන් ගෙන් සමුගත්තෙමි.  ඔවුන් ඇතන්ස් බලා ගියෝය​. මම  මට නියමිත  දුම්රිය එනතෙක් දුම්රිය පලේ  කාන්සියෙන් සිටියෙමි. මේ කාන්සිය භීතියක් බවට පත් වූයේ රංචු පිටින් දුම්රිය පළට  කඩා වැදුනු ජිප්සීන් නිසාය​. බාල මහළු ජිප්සීන් රොත්තක් කඩා වැද මහ හඞින් ශබ්ද නගන්නටත් මුදල් ඉල්ලා මගීන්ට කරදර කරන්නටත් වූහ​. සමහර තක්කඩි ජිප්සි කොල්ලෝ මගීන් ගේ මළු උදුරාගෙන දිවූහ​. මා මගේ හවසැක් එක තදින් අල්ලාගෙන සූදානම් පිට සිටියෙමි. එහෙත් ජිප්සීන් මට කරදරයක් නොකලේ මා ඉන්දියානුවෙකු බව සිතා විය හැක​.

ජිප්සීන් තමන්ට ඉන්දියානු සම්භවයක් තිබෙන බව උජාරුවෙන් කියති. රුසියාවේ වූවද අප දකින් ජිප්සීන් සමහර විට නාශ පකලේනිය (අපේ පරම්පරාව​) කියා කියති. මේ නිසා තම වරිගයේ එකෙකුට අතවරයක් කිරීමට ඔවුනට සිත් නොදුන්නා විය හැක​. එහෙත් සුදු ජාතික බල්ගේරියානුවන් , රුසියානුවන් ජිප්සීන් ගේ අතවර වලට ලක් වූහ​. ආරක්‍ෂක නිලධාරීන් හෝ පොලිස්කරුවන් පළාතක නොවීය​.

මේ අතර මගේ දුම්රිය ආවෙන් මම ජිප්සීන් ගෙන් නිදහස් වූයෙමි. දුම්රියේ සිටි බල්ගේරියානු ජාතික පොලිස් නිලධාරියා මා සමග කථාවට වැටුනේය​. ජිප්සීන් සමහරක් විට බලහත්කාරයෙන් කෝච්චි වලටද ගොඩ වන බව ඔහු කීය​. එම නිසා මේ දුම්රියේ ආරක්‍ෂාවට ඔහු අවියක් සහිතව ගමන් කරයි. මේ පොලිස්කරුවා මා සමග හිතවත් වීම නිසාදෝ ඔහුගේ සෝවියට් දේශයේ නිෂ්පාදිත​ පිස්තෝලයේ උණ්ඩ ඉවත් කොට එය මා අතට දුන්නේ  පිරික්සා බැලීම සඳහාය​. බටහිර නිෂ්පාදිත කෝල්ට් ,ස්මිත් ඇන්ඩ් වෙස්න් , පීපීකේ යන පිස්තෝල- රිවෝල්වර ගැනද ඔහු දැන සිටියේය​.

බල්ගේරියා ජාතික මෙතෝදි මට හමුවන්නේ මේ ගමනේදීය​. අප බොහෝ දේවල් ගැන කථා කලෙමු. ඔහු බටහිර සංගීත රසිකයෙකි. අපගේ වෛද්‍ය පීඨයේ බල්ගේරියානු ජාතික සිසුවියක් සිටින බවද මම ඔහුට කීවෙමි. ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම අපගේ වෛද්‍ය පීඨයේ බල්ගේරියානු ජාතික සිසුවියක් සිටි අතර ඇය මිතුරුව සිටියේ ඉන්දියානු ජාතික සිසුවෙකු සමගය​.  බල්ගේරියානු තරුණිය උස මහතින් යුතු වූ අතර ඉන්දියානු ජාතිකයා කුඩා ශරීරයකින් යුක්ත විය​. මේ නිසා අනෙකුත් සිසුන් ඔහුව හැඳින්වූයේ ඇත්ගොව්වා කියාය​.

Dr. Chula NA Rajapakse MNZM, spokesperson, USLA Wellington

Rt Hon John Key ,
Prime Minister of NZ.

Dear Mr Key,

You may remember that I wrote to you  about two weeks ago alerting you to the presence of a car in Wellington bearing the personalised plate bearing letters LTTE”

You acknowledged the concern we  conveyed that, this plate was a brazen declaration of support  to a terrorist organisation LTTE, described even by FBI USA, as one of the most brutal,who had invented the suicide vest worn by suicide bombers of today, that had terrorised Sri Lanka for three decades before they were laid to rest in Sri Lanka in May 2009, though it’s international support remained very much intact. We called for the withdrawal of the plate and for the owner of the plate to be placed under surveillance. You referred the matter to MFAT to progress it further.

In the mean while we also made a Police complaint along the same grounds but adding also that this plate was offensive to many like us who had been victims of Tiger terror from whom we had fled to New Zealand. We also made the point that with this offensive taunt, they were being provocative and so threatening the peace of New Zealand and ethnic harmony in New Zealand.

I am pleased to report Detectives Ben Evans & Luke Jimmieson of the Wellington Crime Squad , who recorded and acted promptly on our complaint have now secured the surrender of this offensive plate from the owner and send it to the manufacturer for destruction, whilst delisting LTTE” from the available plates.

While we are very grateful to these officers for the successful outcome of this complaint, we wish to thank you very much for your earlier  acknowledging of our concern. We believe that this initial action on your part was also an added and significant help to this successful outcome.

We believe that New Zealand is fortunate to have Prime Minister who is able to appreciate what is important for it’s people ,as demonstrated in this case.

Long may it last.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr. Chula NA Rajapakse MNZM

Dspokesperson,

USLA Wellington

ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න

71 අප්‍රේල් කැරැල්ලේ අරගල සම්ප්‍රදාය යළි ජීවමාන කිරීමේ වගකීම සිය උරමත තබාගෙන එහි නියමුවෙකු වශයෙන් කටයුතුකල ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණේ(ජවිපෙ) සාමාජික අනුමැතියෙන් පත්වූ ප්‍රථම ප්‍රධාන ලේකම් වශයෙන් 1978දී කටයතු කල දයා වන්නිආරච්චිගේ(68) අවසන් කටයුතු 2016 මැයි 25වැනිදා වීරකැටිය හීන්බුන්න පවුලේ සුසාන භූමියේදී සිදුකෙරේ.

දයා වන්නිආරච්චි අවසාන කාලයේ ගත් ඡායාරූපයක්

වීරකැටියේදී 1948දී 10දෙනෙකුගෙන් යුත් පවුලේ වැඩිමලා ලෙස උපන් දයා වන්නිආරච්චි මියයන විට තිදරු පියෙකි. ඔහුගේ දියණියන් දෙදෙනෙකු පේරාදෙණි සරසවියේ කෘෂි පීඨයේ සහ කොළඹ සරසවියේ වානිජ පීඨයේ උපාධිධාරින්ය. තෙවැන්නාවූ කණිටු දියණියද වර්තමානයේ මොරටු සරසවියේ උපාධි අපේක්ෂිකාවකි. ජවිපෙ ක්‍රියාකාරිනියක්ව සිටි දයාගේ බිරිඳ ඉන්ද්‍රා කඹුරුපිටියේ හක්මන පදිංචිය.

දයා වන්නිආරච්චිගේ නිසල දේහය වීරකැටිය නිවසේ තැන්පත් කර ඇති අයුරු

ජවිපෙට 1968දී එක්වූ දයා 71 කැරැල්ලට හසුව සිරදඬුවම් විඳ ජවිපෙ නායකයින් සහ ක්‍රියාකාරින් සමඟ 1977 නොවැම්බර් මස නිදහස් විය. ඔහුගේ පවුලේ සොහොයුරන් දෙදෙනෙක්ද ජවිපෙ වෙනුවෙන් අරගලයන්හිදි දිවි දුන් අතර පවුලේ තවත් තිදෙනෙකු ජවිපෙ 2වැනි කැරැළි සමයේදි වසර 2කට ආසන්න කාලයක් අත්අඩංගුවේ පසුවිය.

රෝහණ විජේවිර සමග මැයි දින පෙලපාලියකට එක්ව සිටි ජවිපෙ එකල  ලේකම් දයා වන්නි ආරච්චි

දයා වන්නිආරච්චිගේ අවමඟුල් නිවසට ලියුම්කරු මැයි 24වැනිදා පස්වරුවේ ගිය අවස්ථාවේදී ජවිපෙ සහ පෙරටුගාමි සමාජවාදි පක්ෂයේ හම්බන්තොට දිස්ත්‍රික් ක්‍රියාකාරිකයින් පසමිතුරු ආකල්පයකින් තොරව එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීම දකින්නට ලැබිණි.

ජවිපෙ නිර්මාතෘ රෝහණ විජේවීර

ජවිපෙ පක්ෂ තහනම 1983 ජුලි මස සිදුවෙමින් අනතුරුව පූර්ණකාලීනව දේශපාලනයෙන් අක්‍රීයවූවද දයා වන්නිආරච්චි ජවිපෙ ඇතැම් නායකයින් සමඟ සෘජු සබදකම් පැවැත්වීය. පසුව 1989 මුල්භාගයේදි දීර්ඝ කාලයක් රහස් පොලිස් අත්අඩංගුවට පත්ව සිටියේය.

රෝහණ විජේවිර සමග මැයි දින පෙලපාලියකට එක්ව සිටි ජවිපෙ එකල  ලේකම් දයා වන්නි ආරච්චි

ජවිපෙ 1983 තහනමට පෙර සහ පසු, ජවිපෙන් ඉවත්වූ සහ ඉවත්කල දේශපාලන මණ්ඩල සභිකයින් පක්ෂයේ ද්‍රෝහීන් බවට පත්වී එජාප ආණ්ඩුවේ සහ විදේශ ආධාර මත යැපෙන රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධානවල එහෙයියන් බවට පත්වූවද දයා වන්නිආරච්චි මියයන තෙක්ම ජවිපෙට එරෙහි නොවී සිය විප්ලවීය දර්ශනය මත පෞද්ගලික ජීවිතය පවත්වාගෙන ගිය අයෙකි. මියයන විට ඔහු පෞද්ගලික ඉංග්‍රීසි භාෂා ප්‍රවීණ ගුරුවරයෙකු වශයෙන් කටයුතු කරමින් සිටියේය. (The writer Dharman Wickremaretne is a senior journalist who could be reached at ejournalists@gmail.com OR 011-5234384)

 By Our Correspondent

Guwahati: Assam Press Correspondents’ Union (APCU) has organized a media talk and also a health camp for its members on 30 May. The general health check-up for the participants will be sponsored by Assam’s well known Dispur Hospitals, where the second dose of Hepatitis-B vaccine will also be administered at APCU’s head office in the city.

APCU president Manoj Singh, executive president Mousamjyoti Baishya and secretary general Hemanta Saikia have invited their members hailing from different parts of the State for the meeting, where writer Dr Akashitora, journalist Nava Thakuria with few others will attend as resource persons.

The forum also extended greetings to the new Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, who had taken oath on 24 May and expressed hope that the young politician would take necessary initiatives for safeguarding the interest of working journalists of the State in general and rural reporters in particular.

 Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka’s constitution is not unitary or was not after the implementation of the 13^th amendment wherein the constitution became a quasi-federal one on the same lines of India. Therefore, it is strange that the Tamil National Alliance continue to be demanding federalism when it already prevails unless of course their objective is something different. This is where we need to stay alert to the recent statements bringing out the word confederal option into the limelight. A confederal option is truly what the TNA is seeking highlighted in the manner that TNA’s main constituent party ITAK changed its constitution in August 2008 and replaced a word with another (Shamasthi with Innaipatchchi). This name change holds the key to what ITAK deviously seeks through the new constitution and warrants people to be alert to these developments and ITAK must make public what these two words stand for.  As for devolution – already 36 of the 37 subjects have been devolved to all the provinces excepting land and police powers.

Allegation that ITAK constitution aims and objectives are confederal and not federal.

• Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi was formed in December 1949 by S J V Chelvanayagam. The Tamil translation of the party name was separate Tamil State while the English name given was Federal Party.
• Why did the ITAK in August 2008 amend its constitution and replace ‘Shamashthi’ with ‘Innaipatchchi’ if their aims and objectives were originally federal? If Shamasthi originally meant ‘federal’ what does ‘innaipatchchi’ mean?

Features of a Unitary Form of Government

• All powers centralized in Central Government.
• Local government system prevails where powers are delegated with strict central control/supervision
• Unitary systems does not have list of distribution of powers in the constitution
• Unitary systems are more responsible than federations as Centre is the sole responsible entity for the entire nation
• France, Japan, China, Italy and Britain are unitary states.

Features of a Federal Form of Government

• Dual system – Central Government at one level and State/Province at another.
• Power is distributed between the centre & provinces except for subjects that have common interest which is in the charge of the central government (foreign affairs, defence, currency & coinage, etc)
• One constitution prevails for both Central and Provincial Governments. All laws created by the provinces are subordinate laws and valid within the authority conferred by the constitution. If they go beyond limits the centre can deem it a violation
• Central government can reach direct to the citizens in a State or Province
• Central government has more authority than a confederal system
• Fundamental rights of the citizens of a country is granted by the Central Government not State governments.
• Only the federal government can negotiate treaties with other countries. State & local authorities cannot.
• Under a federal set up unilateral secession is impossible while under confederalism unilateral secession is possible.

Features of a Confederal form of Government

• Union of independent and sovereign States
• formed with an intention to create independent and sovereign States
• In a confederacy the Central Government can only reach upto the Governments of the confederation. The central government cannot directly reach the citizens.
• The states of a confederation retain all the powers of an independent nation ex: right to maintain a military force, print money, and make treaties with other national powers.
• can have their own currency
• can have own military
• can enter trade agreements with external sources
• government of a confederation can withdraw from the Union
• US, Germany were confederal before they adopted federal systems

India’s Constitution is Quasi-Federal (it has features of both unitary and federal form of government)

Unitary Features in India’s Constitution

• Single citizenship
• Single judicial system. Highest court is the Supreme Court.
• Powers under Union Government
• Limitations on autonomy to State Governments
• The Union Parliament can reorganize States / alter boundaries by a simple majority vote even without consent of legislature of that state.
• During a national emergency, union government can take over decisions of subjects under state list and control them the state’s executive powers)
• Union law will prevail over State law in any conflict.
• The President appoints state governors.
• State governments do not have separate constitutions of their own – their powers are derived from the Constitution of India.
• No state has independence source of income and are dependent on Centre for administration, finance and policy.
• Single administrative system – entire administrative system is one India police and administrative is controlled by the Centre.
• Single election commission for supervising and conducting general elections.
• Article 3 & 4 empowers the Union Government to form new states and alter boundaries and names of existing states.

India’s Constitution is Quasi-Federal (it has features of both unitary and federal form of government)

Federal Features in India’s Constitution

• Dual system of government with a union government (federal) and state governments. Distribution of powers.
• Constitution is Supreme – Central Government & State Governments derive powers from one constitution. There is one Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. Supreme Court can decide where an act by the Central Government or State Governments violates the constitution or not and declare that act a violation.

All of the features in India’s constitution is seen in Sri Lanka’s present constitution following the 13^th amendment passed after the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987. In other words Sri Lanka’s constitution is quasi-federal and not unitary.

Federal systems can’t ask for referendums – Confederacies can

However there are calls for referendums from TNA and Tamil Nadu politicians

• In 2014 State manifesto of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu assured an ‘Eelam Referendum’ in Sri Lanka.
• In 2014 & 2014 DMK Leader Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu called for a UN backed referendum for Tamils in Sri Lanka.
• In 2008 Sivajilingam (Prabakran’s brother in law) sought a referendum to decide Tamil Eelam at a Pongu Thamizh event in Australia
• Numerous other Tamil politicians including the TNA leader have called for referendums.

Examples of TNA making confederal demands

• TNA/ITAK use ‘co-existence’ ‘collaboration’ were the same words used when US experimented with confederacy. The moment states don’t get along with each other the next option is to separate (withdraw from the union) – the route ITAK wants to take but does not say so openly as it would be a violation of the 6^th amendment and ITAK would be subject to legal action.
• Constant reference to ‘United Sri Lanka’ is in line with ITAK’s confederacy objective where confederate states are joined only by a common united ‘collaboration’ agreement. When agreement fails separation follows which is the hidden intent of ITAK.
• Notice those who are peddling the confederacy option for the new constitution are always referring to ‘United Sri Lanka’ ‘Co-existing’ ‘Collaboration’. These are the people to watch for their aim is not federal but confederal.
• ITAK demand for regional states/union of independent and sovereign states are with hidden intention of creating an independent sovereign state
• Northern Provincial Council demand for direct foreign aid and demand for direct diplomatic relations is aligned with confederal system
• ITAK’s constant reference to Tamil province & Sinhala province when no such provinces exist is aligned to that confederal secession objective.
• ITAK’s guarantee of language and religious rights is also confederal for in a federal government the Central Government is responsible for all fundamental rights.
• ITAK’s amended Constitution of 2008 says that once it has created a ‘homeland for Tamils’ would co-exist and collaborate with the Sinhala provinces (there are no Sinhala, Tamil or Muslim provinces in Sri Lanka) If Sinhalese are not living in the North it is because LTTE chased them out of the North.
• ITAK is well aware that a federal system has all the provision to annul a province that attempts to declare unilateral declaration of independence. In 1990 Indian stooge Varatharaja Perumal Chief Minister of merged N-E provincial council declared UDI and the Premadasa government immediately dissolved the council.

ITAK must legally establish that its aims and objectives is federal and not confederal as per its amended 2008 constitution.

Before ITAK can talk about any homelands it must prove that a separate independent Tamil Homeland existed and explain that if such a homeland existed why only Sinhalese archaeological and historical sites remain while ancient writings also speak of Sinhalese living in the North. Invariable ITAK and TNA must also answer and give reasons for the ethnic cleansing of Sinhalese & Muslims from the North in a calculated effort to give credibility to the bogus argument of a ‘Tamil homeland’. All of the Sinhala & Muslim people who were chased out of the North have every right to return and international bodies tasked to help resettle people to their original habitats must take up this task without bias and prejudice.

Sri Lanka is an island nation. Every citizen has a right to live, purchase land and carry out business anywhere in that island nation and no political party can deny this right. A government does not colonize its own territory. ‘Colonization’ accusations by the ITAK/TNA are uncalled for and have no legal basis.

With the trilingual policy of the GOSL it is the right of the Public to demand that ITAK’s constitution be made available in all 3 languages so that we can clearly establish whether ITAK’s amended 2008 constitution is federal or confederal. By establishing this the quests for referendums, direct foreign aid, direct diplomatic ties, granting citizens religious and language rights, ‘collaboration’ with Sinhala and Muslim provinces, UNITED SRI LANKA rhetoric will die a natural death. All these features are found in confederal set ups and not federal set ups.

Sri Lanka by virtue of the 13^th amendment is currently following a federal form of government.

So the question is – if Sri Lanka, is already following a federal form of system why is the TNA/ITAK going on and on about wanting a federal solution in the new constitution?

If the public were to first establish ITAK’s aims and objectives as per their party constitution and establish what the meaning of Shamasthi and Innaipatchchi are and match them with the demands they are making publicly and through their paid agents in both the political, academic and NGO/INGO and international circuits the quest for confederacy as being the main aim would be clearly established.

Is the Sri Lankan Government aware of this? Are the policy makers aware of these? Have they even thought about the ITAK constitution’s aims and objectives as per 2008 amendment? If not they better start relooking at these angles before they go and making a major faux pas in handing to those who have been peddling confederacy on behalf of the ITAK/TNA to draft the new constitution.

Shenali D Waduge

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Several valuable economic resources of Sri Lanka are found only in the    Northern, Northwestern and Eastern Provinces. These will not be available to the rest of the country once Eelam is established. However,  Article 25 of   the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Right  says  ‘nothing in the present Covenant shall be interpreted as impairing the inherent right of all peoples to enjoy and utilize fully and freely their natural wealth and resources.

The oil and gas reserves of Sri Lanka are available mainly in the north-west and east of Sri Lanka.

There is potential for both onshore and offshore oil from Chilaw to Jaffna and Jaffna to Trincomalee, said Dharmasiri Weerasinghe, a   specialist in oil exploration, interviewed in 2005. (Sunday Observer. 6.11.2005 p 33). Weerasinghe said that the US Geological survey had found that Sri Lanka had some of the best oil reserves in South Asia. Sri Lanka’s reservoirs of liquid petroleum gas exceed the country’s present needs, he said. When the UN Law of the Sea comes into effect, Sri Lanka will own an even greater extent of the seabed and perhaps more gas and oil.

Ceylon Petroleum Corporation decided in the 1960s,   that the Jaffna Peninsula and the northwest coast probably contained oil and gas, because it has Miocene rocks.  In 1968, the corporation hired a French firm to carry out aeromagnetic and seismic surveys in this coastal strip of 10,500 sq km. These showed encouraging results, especially near Punkudutivu and Mannar islands.

The Geological Survey of New Zealand in collaboration with the Geological Survey Department, Sri Lanka   carried out a gravity survey in 1970. This also indicated that the area around the Jaffna Peninsula, especially Pooneryn, Karaitivu and the   north of the peninsula may have oil and gas. Soviet Russia drilled at Pesalai from 1972-1974. It is alleged that the project was sabotaged.   Foreign oil firms thereafter explored the Cauvery basin, drilling in Palk Bay and Delft. They also explored in the Gulf of Mannar, below the Cauvery basin.

The Gulf of Mannar explorations indicated   significant oil and gas accumulations. TGS-NOPEC (Norway) prepared high quality seismic data for this area in 2000.  The government of Sri Lanka bought this data in 2007 and ocean blocks were offered for further exploration. Since Cauvery basin blocks had been offered in 2003, the total area to be explored became 55, 775 sq kms. In   2011, Cairn India found gas and oil in two wells in Mannar basin, ‘Dorado and ‘Barracuda’ with a potential capacity of more than 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The ‘Dorado’ reservoir would go into production first, hopefully providing 300 billion cubic feet of gas and 2 million barrels of oil. The oil reserves in the Sri Lanka section of the Cauvery were greater than those in the Indian section, observed Weerasinghe.

Geologist Dulip Jayawardene said there may be oil and gas on the eastern shore of Sri Lanka as well. There are secondary deposits parallel to the eastern coast agreed Weerasinghe.  The government has offered six blocks in the Eastern Province to international oil companies to carry out geophysical studies and collect seismic data. Total France has signed an agreement with Sri Lanka to start oil exploration in eastern coast.

The East coast of Sri Lanka is known to be rich in mineral sands. Pulmoddai   has one of the best beach mineral sand deposits in the world. Pulmoddai is located about 60 kms north of Trincomalee, midway between Mullaitivu and Trincomalee.  It is about 10 kms in length with an average width of 100 meters.   It has a very high concentration of heavy minerals.  It is estimated to contain over 6 million tons of ‘heavy sands’ composed of 70-72 % ilmenite, 8-10% zircon, 8% rutile, 0.3% monazite and 1% sillimanite. It has a proven reserve of around 8000,000 to 10,000,000 tonnes of ilmenite, 9,000,000 tons of rutile and 7,000,000 tons of zircon.

The Pulmoddai mineral sands are greatly sought after   because of their very high purity. There is 53% of titanium dioxide in the Ilmenite sands and 95% titanium dioxide in the rutile sands. Monazite has a ‘thoria’ content of 9-10%. This content of thorium is higher than any monazite found in India.  These mineral sands have wide industrial applications. Titanium is regarded as the metal of the future.

In 1980 three other very promising deposits were found along the coastal stretch from Mullaitivu to Nilaveli at Nayaru, Poduwakattumalai and Thevikallu.  These showed a reserve of 2-4 million tons of Ilmenite, 475.000- 700,000 tons of rutile, 350,000-500,000 tons of zircon. An off shore survey along Pulmoddai, from the mean high water mark, covering the entire length of the deposit ,was completed in 1980.  This showed a reserve of 903,000 metric tons of ilmenite, 9500 metric tons of rutile and 39,000 metric tons of zircon.  Around 12.5 million tons of unexplored mineral sands are still available in this area, conclude the  experts.

A copper-magnetite deposit was discovered in Seruwila   in 1973.  This deposit extends to depths of 200 feet at some points  and is estimated to be around four million tons. This is possibly the only major source of copper ore south of Madya Pradesh in India.  Jaffna  peninsula  has is a  very large reserve  of glass sand, covering several hundreds of acres  from near Vallipuram in the north to Ampan in the south. Silica sand  is used in industrial processing,  for  glass, molds, casts and  water filtration stations.  Jaffna may  also possess uranium. Satellite imagery seems to indicate this, said  Jayawardene.

Geologists  observe that there is a potential geothermal belt running from  the north of Trincomalee to Hambantota. This belt extends for over 300km and there are about ten identified thermal springs situated along the line, indicating that a sufficient reservoir of geothermal energy exists in Sri Lanka. Mannar and Jaffna areas are very good for solar and wind on-shore energy  as well. ‘You could get 500 megawatts from Jaffna alone,’ said an official from the Sustainable  Energy Authority.

Portland cement was manufactured in Sri Lanka using the miocene limestone near Jaffna and Puttalam  and the cement clays near Mannar. Miocene limestone occurs in a belt that runs along the Northwestern coast from Puttalam to Iranamadu. These deposits extend to a great depth. Very large reserves of cement clays are available in  Murunkan and other areas.  The  cement factories in Puttalam and Kankesanturai were producing about 500,000 tons of cement per year before the Eelam wars.

Trincomalee and Arugam Bay are popular tourist destinations of the Eastern Province. Arugam bay is considered one of the best surfing destinations in the world. In 2011 it hosted a world class surfing competition.  Trincomalee   has some of the most picturesque and scenic beaches found in Sri Lanka. They include Kuccheveli, Nilaveli, Vakarai, Passekudah and Kalkudah. The beaches are so shallow that one could walk out over a hundred meters into the sea without the water reaching the chest. Trincomalee also offers scuba diving and whale and dolphin watching. More than twelve different species of whales, including blue whales, sperm whales can be seen there.

There is far too much emphasis in the mass media on the entertainment and tourist aspects of the Eastern Province..  Trincomalee for instance is featured in the popular media primarily as a leisure destination.  Trincomalee is much more than that and the public should  be made aware of this.

Trincomalee is one of Sri Lanka most valuable assets. Trincomalee is one of the largest deep water natural harbors in the world. It consists of approximately 2000 hectares of sea and 6000 hectares of land.  The entrance is four miles wide and five across.  The inner harbor which lies in the north covers about 12 sq miles and is securely enclosed by rocks and small islets.   A remarkable feature of this harbor is its great depth.  It has a submarine canyon with walls as high as 1350 cms and a depth of over 3350 meters.  This canyon is one of the 20 largest submarine canyons in the world.

Trincomalee harbor is very strategically located   in the Bay of Bengal. Due its size and depth, Trincomalee can accommodate  ships which need a draught of 25 meters. It can hold over a hundred of them. Trincomalee is a sheltered port unaffected by seasonal weather changes and tidal waves. Therefore it could ensure the safety of a whole fleet during the monsoon. Trincomalee is also ideal for nuclear submarines.  They can dive low in the inner harbor and effectively avoid radar and sonar detection.  The unique geographic position of Sri Lanka makes it a natural aircraft carrier as well.

This has political implications. A fleet so protected is in a position to dominate the Bay of Bengal and the eastern Indian Ocean and   the foreign power owning such a fleet was at an advantage.  Britain’s first possession in Sri Lanka was Trincomalee (1796) and it was the last to go (1957). Currently, it has been observed that Trincomalee can comfortably accommodate the seventh fleet of the US Navy.

Trincomalee port could bring in a huge income from cargo handling, ship repairs and port-related industries. It was unable to do so until now, due to security issues, but even during the Eelam wars, piers were operated by the private sector to deliver cement, also wheat to the Prima flour milling factory. Trincomalee   should be the next port for loading/discharging container ships, after Singapore.  The ports of Bangladesh and Eastern India and Myanmar’s Kyaukpu port could converge on Trincomalee, providing cargo for the super container ships calling there.  India has no ports to match Trincomalee. None of the Indian ports can accommodate large ships. The deepest Indian port is Gangavaram in Andhra Pradesh with 21 meters depth. At present India uses Colombo port. A rail connection thru Dhanushkodi will also help India   send its cargo to Trincomalee.

Prof G.L.Pieris

– See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/109980/Truth-behind-the-Debt-trap-in-Sri-Lanka-as-claimed-by-the-Sirisena-Wickremesinghe-Government?#sthash.C3c7w0xw.dpuf

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent, Gloucester, Ontario, K1J 6G1

19 May 2016

Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau
Prime Minister of Canada
House of Commons, Ottawa.

Hon. Rona Ambrose. Interim Leader of the Conservative Party
Hon. Tom Mulcair. Leader of the NDP
Hon. Stephane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hon. Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety

Dear Prime Minister Justin Trudeau:

Re:  Your Statement of Canada willing to assist Sri Lanka to address serious violations of international law during the war.

1. ColomboPage, Sri Lanka’s Internet Newspaper of today (19 May) gave me the news of your statement – Canada willing to assist Sri Lanka to set up a robust mechanism to investigate and address serious violations of international law during the war.”

2. There is something skewed and dishonest about this statement of your ‘honourable’ intentions. So I have come out temporarily from my retirement on Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger Terrorist War file to brief you, and perhaps educate you on this painful unnecessary 100,000 innocents killing episode by the Tamil Tigers that haemorrhaged that pretty island nation, my Motherland, for 30 bloodying years, which I see you have difficulty to understand and acknowledge.

3. Prime Minister Trudeau, here’s my problem. I have been on top of this issue since the ethnic riots broke up on July 24, 1983, when you were a very intelligent and an impressionable boy attending middle-school at age 12.   And I have been living in Ottawa all this while following the hoaxy shenanigans of the Canadian Government using the big stick on Sri Lanka when Canada was one of the international culprits that encouraged the Tamil separatists and prolonged this ethnic war.  I will explain that later.  And I am also aware of the dishonest shenanigans of your Liberals during the Jean Chretien’s and Paul Martin’s Prime Ministering days.  I will explain that too later.

4. As Dr. Martin Luther King did say, We shall have to repent in this generation not so much for the evil deeds of the wicked people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”  So I have put on the hat of the good people” to lay out to you  without factual distortions what is right and honest on this Sri Lankan episode which you have been fooled and lead to believe otherwise by the Tamil Diaspora, which you all depend on for information and not from the Sinhalese-Canadian community. Never want to hear from us, do you? And that is a black mark on Canada’s Foreign Policy psyche on Sri Lanka.  That ethnic war was between two peoples, the separatist Tamils and the mainly majority Sinhalese whom the Tamils accuse were persecuting and discriminating them.  So there are two stories that relate to this war and you Liberals focus on the Tamils only.  I smell a nasty rat here, and that is the rub, Prime Minister.

5. The Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger ethnic war was engineered in particular by three foreign countries. No.1 was Indira Gandhi’s India that took over the barefooted Tamil guerrilla fighters to be trained in 32 of India’s military camps from 1983-85, mainly in Tamil Nadu and taught them how to walk in jack boots discarding their thong sandals and shoot straight  wearing military fatigues at targets with Kalashnikovs. And practise the leopard crawl, monkey crawl, ghost walk, shoot with G3 pistols, SLRs, SMGs, No.36 Browning revolvers, launching rocket launchers, 2” Mortar, explosives, pull the pins in  hand grenades and throw them at targets like throwing a cricket ball onto a three stump wicket,  et cetera.   And sent back the now trained and graduated Tamil Tiger terrorists in jackboots, fatigues with festoons of live bullets  around their necks, and cradling Kalashnikovs like babies, and pockets filled with money to  Northern Sri Lanka to destabilize this island nation by killings, bombings and ethnic cleansing, and dissect Sri Lanka in to two.

6. International culprit No.2 was Norway that provided funds to the Tamil Tigers to purchase lethal war weapons; brought in as diplomatic cargo six tonnes of high powered dual use satellite communications equipment for their propaganda work to relay messages globally, and to track Tamil dissidents opposed to their separatist cause and getting them eventually. And their Scandinavian Ceasefire Monitors letting the Tamil Tigers bring in 11 shiploads of armoury through the east coast at night, and tipped off the 12^th floating armoury warehouse that the Sri Lankan Navy was coming after them and they hooked onto the International waters and disappeared out of sight.

7. The Norwegians also provided an ex-Norwegian Special Force to the Tamil Tigers who taught their  underwater demolition techniques to help carry out attacks on port facilities and the Sri Lankan Navy, at a location off the coast of Thailand.  And these are the ‘goody-two-shoes’ salmon eating Vikings who wanted to negotiate peace between the Tamil Tigers, their prodigies, and the Sri Lankan Government. Shish, what hypocrisy!

8.  International culprit No.3 was Canada who let the Tamil Tiger sympathisers collect two million dollars a month for 13 Liberal Party governing years and stuff them into Tamil Tiger war chests to purchase sophisticated war killing weapons, and let them cut a cheque from a bank in Vancouver to purchase explosives from the Ukraine.  First a Sri Lankan-Tamil in Britain set up the Euro-Ukraine Consultancy Agency with offices in Kiev and London, His Company then negotiated with a state-owned Ukraine Company, Rubezone Chemical Factory for this purchase.  A cheque for millions of dollars was cut from a Canadian Bank in Vancouver in 1994 from an account of a Tamil to buy 10 tons of hexagon, a plastic explosives like Semtex, 50 tons of Trinitrotoluene (TNT) and a large quantity of electric timing caps and detonator cord.  The deal included 345 tons of cement and a single seat sports plane which was dismantled before shipping.

These explosives bought with Canadian dollars were used in a Tamil Tiger truck bomb on 31 January 1996 to bring down the Central Bank Building in Colombo’s Financial District killing 114 and maiming for life another 1338 people.  All sentenced to death and injury by a callous ‘couldn’t-care-less’ foreign country, Canada, that had the habit of poking its fingers into the internal affairs in their sister Commonwealth nation,  Sri Lanka, to appease the separatist Tamils in the Greater Toronto Area, to garner their votes in the thousands, to win nine ridings at the next federal elections, and nothing else.

Cruel and a crude way to get voted into parliament.

9. Aiding and abetting this war in favour of the Tamil Tigers by Canada, several Liberal party parliamentarians lead by Cabinet Minister’s Paul Martin (Finance) and Maria Minna (CIDA) patronized a  $60 a plate dinner organized by FACT to raise funds  for  the  most ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists on 6 May 2000, in Toronto, was proof positive that your Liberal party’s support for the Tamil Tigers to  have their own mono-ethnic, racist Tamil state, Eelam by breaking that island democracy in to two.

10. So Prime Minister Trudeau, with such an insidious back ground, you showed Canada’s immoral gall and temerity when being responsible for the death and destruction for decades in Sri Lanka, now wanting to wear the cloak of respectability of goody-two-shoes” wanting to assist Sri Lanka to address serious violations of international law during the war. Ha! This is bullish, this lacks honesty and not Canadian, and this is an abominable crap and this is not kosher.  And if you think that the world is guided by Canada’s shooting-star axis of We are holier than thou”, you got that one wrong, big time, Sir.

We witnessed some months ago how Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper went to  a hissy-fit to boycott the Commonwealth conference held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, wanting to play the Commonwealth Pied Piper hoping that all the other countries would fall behind him to change the venue,  He was into a big surprise.

England, Australia, New Zealand told him to go and fly a kite at Lebreton Flats that they won’t follow him, and so did scores of other Commonwealth nations.  To win the Tamil votes at home was not their worry.  It was clearly Stephen Harper’s problem and a few months later he lost the federal election to you Liberals.  And he lost almost all the Sinhalese-Canadian votes, including mine,  for pandering to the Tamils and ignoring the voice of the Sinhalese-Canadians.  A lesson that you too should make a note of.

11. If Canada has any inclination to clean up her act of collecting buckets of smelly codswallop to throw at Sri Lanka  to undermine her with the intention to seek thousands of Tamil votes in the Greater Toronto Area, then Prime Minister it is time that you set up an  honest Lester Pearsonian accountability mechanism to investigate Canada’s role in Tamil Tiger terrorism in Sri Lanka, and Canada’s encouraging Tamils to fight the Sri Lankan government to carve out one-third of its territory bordered by 66 percent of the coast line for 3.9%  (World Watch) of their population.  Thousands and thousands of the 1983’s 12.6% Tamil  population flew out of the koha’s nest when the flood gates around the western world opened for them after the riots, and many thousands thumbed their noses at their Mother India, while flying over her and landed on their knees on Canadian soil saying that they were running away from discrimination and persecution by the  majority Sinhalese.

12. Do you know what Prime Minister Trudeau that riot of July 1983 was a God’s send for the Tamils as 85% of the Tamils who landed their two feet on Canadian soil wouldn’t have had a snow ball chance in hell to immigrate to Canada if they had to go through the immigration point system.   And do you know what Prime Minister, all of these Convention refugees buy the first plane ticket out of the country no sooner they get their Canadian passport to visit Sri Lanka and their families in the country that they ran away from.  And that’s a Tamil Fact.  ..You didn’t know that, did you?  These Tamil-Canadian domestic refugees are not going to tell you that, will they now?

13. What these Tamils who say that they have been discriminated in Sri Lanka seeking your sympathy, lacked the capacity to be honest and failed to tell you and your Liberal caucus that the Tamils were the ‘privileged minority’ and the Sinhalese were the ‘wronged majority’ during 131 years of colonial rule and mny years beyond after Independence on February 4, 1948. And when Colombo was burning on July 24, 1983, the three of the most important State officials were Tamils. The Head of the Judiciary, Chief Justice S. Sharvananda was a Tamil; the Government’ highest legal officer the Attorney General Shiva Pasupathi was a Tamil, and the island’s Chief of Police was Rudra Rajasingham, also was a Tamil.  In addition three top diplomats were Tamils at important postings like London, UK.   All these appointments were proof positive that there were no discrimination and the Tamils were opportunistic liars feeding their lies to the Canadian gullible bleeding hearts.  Discriminated and persecuted, my foot, I say.

14. It is only natural for me to believe that what is good for the goose should be good for the gander. But it doesn’t seem to be with the three major political parties in Canada – the Liberals, the Conservatives and the NDP.

It was almost 46 years ago on 12 October 1970 that your dear Dad, the Rt. Honourable Pierre Elliot Trudeau evoked the War Measures Act suspending civil liberties and personal freedoms of all Canadians.  Why?  Because Quebec’s FLQ terrorists were blowing letter boxes, wanting the Province of Quebec to be their separate French state.  And they kidnapped British diplomat James Cross and Quebec’s Provincial Labour Minister Pierre Laporte and later murdered him.

Just watch me” is the phrase made famous by Prime Minster Pierre Trudeau on October 13, 1970, when he responded to Tim Ralfe the CBC journalist on evoking the War Measures Act.  Well there are a lot of bleeding hearts around who just don’t like the people with helmets and guns.  All I can say is go and bleed, but it is more important to keep law and order in this society than to be worried about weak-kneed people who don’t like the looks of a soldier’s helmet.”

The Canadian Government wasn’t happy when former President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, spoke similar words in defence of annihilating the Tamil Tigers on the 19^th May 2009 on the sandy beach of the Nandikadal lagoon on the east coast of Sri Lanka, and gave back his 21 million peoples their right-to-life which was hijacked by the Tamil Tigers for 30 long years.

The pathetic Press Release from Conservative Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon after the Tamil Tigers were annihilated by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces said a lot about Canada’s attitude towards Sri Lanka over this war.

I say tough-tiddy Canada, because Sri Lanka is not your colony, and stop acting like a bunch of arrogant la-di-da colonial masters.

And now Prime Minister Trudeau, you are being fallacious and disingenuous by saying that you are willing to assist Sri Lanka to address serious violations of international law during the war.  What about the three International culprits, India, Norway and Canada who aided and abetted that ugly war which killed over 100,000 innocent people. Are you going to deal with them too?   They deserve the wrath of the Sri Lankans in that island nation who have suffered the most.   Most certainly, not those Tamils living in luxury in Canada and molly-coddled by the three major political parties, the Liberals, the Conservatives and the NDP, as they all want their precious votes.

15. I now understand that the February 4, 2009, Canadian Parliament’s Tamil Tiger Blarney Gong Show is coming to town, to Ottawa’s parliament’s chambers soon, to discuss and debate the ‘Tamil Genocide’ which they, deluded with fairy tales, think happened during the latter part of the Tamil Tiger terrorist war.  For these Liberal parliamentarians, dream on, I say.

Wow! Prime Minister that needs a lot of shameless thick-layered guts to try their repeat performance to nail Sri Lanka onto the cross.  Will they succeed?  I have my doubts.  No, let me correct myself.  Never!

On February 4^th, 2009, the Liberal Party’s Terrible Five, Robert Oliphant, Derek Lee, Jim Karygiannis, Judy Sgro and Albina Guanieiri tried to stick the ‘Genocide’ label with crazy-glue on Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces.  The crazy-glue rebelled and didn’t perform and the charge of ‘Genocide’ just slithered away into oblivion.  Your Tamil vote hungry Liberal politicians have the obnoxious habit of spewing the words ‘Tamil-Genocide’ willy-nilly as a hot, spiced up Vindaloo based word hoping that it would burn in Sri Lanka’s bowels in hell.  Your Terrible Five failed miserably and they looked a picture of A Quintet of Stupidity.  And hell No, we are not trying this hoaxy shenanigan again, are we, Prime Minister?

16. My understanding of the act/word ‘Genocide’ comes from Raphal Lemkin, the Polish legal scholar who coined the word after World War II, as a crime for destroying or conspiring to destroy a group of people because of their ethnic, national, racial or religious identity. How so, your Liberal anti-Sri Lanka parliamentarians are trying  once again to apply that to Sri Lanka when the Sri Lankans have come through victorious of a Liberation War, having sacrificed 6,261 of their soldiers from July 2006 and May 2009 when they accepted the challenge of  the most ruthless terrorist group in the world, the Tamil Tigers,  who started the Eelam IV War, and had 29,551 wounded on the way to save 295,873 Tamil civilians who were held hostage by their own clan members, the Tamil Tigers, for 30 months and pushed them along from the west coast to the east coast like a herd of unwashed cattle under a scorching Jaffna sun.  In my logic, perhaps yours too Prime Minister, saving the lives of 295,873  Tamil civilians from death from the hands of the Tamil Tigers does not equate to ‘Genocide.’  Far from it.

17. Perhaps, as a preamble before the Canadian Parliament’s Tamil Blarney Gong Show II begins in the House Chambers, it would be prudent for you to ask one of your anti-Sri Lanka Liberal MPs, perhaps the rookie Tamil MP, Gary Anandasangaree, to explain why they would call preparing and feeding one million healthy breakfasts, lunches and dinners every day for these 295,873 Tamil refugees in refugee camps for months and months and months as ‘Genocide’.   They were kept alive without starving them to death ending their lives criminally.   And these foolish Liberal parliamentarians are  trying to debate  Tamil Genocide during their Gong Show,  Prime Minister, let’s not waste parliament’s valuable time on this God-awful, preposterous, foolishness.  Cut it an let’s not proceed with this crude joke.

Prime Minster Justin Trudeau, I hope you made a note that not a single Canadian parliamentarian from all three parties had the capacity of honesty and the gumption to acknowledge this amazing humanitarian and human rights gesture, to acknowledge and say Bravo! to the Sri Lankan Armed Force for liberating 295,873 Tamil civilians from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers who used them as a human shield, and also say Bravo to the Sri Lankan Government for sheltering these 295,873 Tamil refugees and feeding them a million meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, prepared by the majority Sinhalese who the Tamil refugees who landed on Canadian soil reported to you that they were discriminated and persecuted by the majority Sinhalese.  It was easy for these Sinhalese not to cook and feed them and let them starve to death.  But that didn’t happen and the Canadian parliamentarians may have been disappointed with that no show.

I say shame to all these parliamentarians for not acknowledging this amazing human rights/humanitarian act that renders Canadian politics a lousy, hypocritical, dishonest profession.

18. What is also against these Parliamentary anti-Sri Lanka characters is that 54 per cent of the Tamil population in Sri Lanka live in the South happily ever after. And 41% of the population in the capital Colombo are Tamils.  So what Tamil-Genocide may I ask?

So there you are Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.  Let’s dismiss the embarrassing Canada Parliaments’ Tamil Tiger Blamey Gong Show II.  Please don’t embarrass yourself and don’t embarrass us..   How stupid can we get for the want of a Tamil vote in the Greater Toronto Area.  This is ridiculous.  This is insane.

19. But let me conclude this brief by intimating that your unwarranted statement with a pro-Tamil Tiger stance only promotes and supports the separatist Tamil cause,  who are hell bent to divide Sri Lanka for the want of their mythical Eelam.  This in no way helps the reconciliation process that has been put in place in Sri Lanka.

20. And if ever you want to help Sri Lanka and its peace process, remember that the war that ended on May 19, 2009 were between two peoples, just not only the Tamils as your parliamentarians have recognized and acknowledged.

Favour Sri Lanka by sending every separatist-Tamil refugee to ESL classes and teach them the word S-O-R-R-Y to understand what it is meant to be, and enunciate it properly and to use it freely when meeting the members from the majority Sinhalese community, as they are much at fault as the accused majority Sinhalese or perhaps, more so, as they are a cunning bunch wanting their mono-ethnic, racist Tamil state, Eelam,  claiming the north and east as their ‘homeland, by ethnic cleansing the Sinhalese and Muslims who lived their for generations  The Tamils are no lily-white nor are they paragons of virtue.

21. And my concluding prayer is – Sweet Mother of Jesus, please help these Liberal Parliamentarians to understand the word Genocide” and have the capacity to be honest and kind to Sri Lanka as she does not need these unholy fairy tales from these Canadian parliamentarians who know absolutely nothing about Sri Lanka! Amen!  Hallelujah!

Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe

Ottawa-Vanier Ridi g

I still vividly recall the first time I met you. It was at the SLFP Party Headquarters on Darley Road in June 1988, which I attended in my capacity as the new SLFP organiser for Matara. I also remember being moved by the impassioned speech you made during the meeting about the widespread disappearances across the country and the responsibility of the SLFP playing an active role in finding these persons. I found your words exhilarating and it was the beginning of a long friendship. At the end of the meeting, Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike who chaired the meeting called you over and introduced me to you as Mahanama’s son.

Mangala says what he then saw as Mahinda’s single minded commitment to many of the values he too cherished since his student days struck a familiar chord bonding their friendship even further.

Having graduated from Central Saint Martins in London as a fashion and textile designer, I was more at home in the bohemian artistic world of London at that time having qualified as a fashion and textile designer. My belief that I should do something about the large scale disappearances and other human rights violations in the South especially in and around my birthplace, Matara, finally pushed me to leave the comfort-zone of fashion, art and design and become a full time politician. And then we became ‘brothers-in-arms’, championing a number of democratic, progressive and humane causes. This led to the formation of the Mother’s Front Movement on the verandah of my ancestral house in Walpola, Matara in 1990 where you graciously accepted my invitation to be a co-convenor, along with me, of this historic movement.

Buoyed by the attention the Mothers’ Front was receiving, you started portraying yourself as a savior of human rights. You also became a champion of the free media and workers’ rights. In fact, we attended the inaugural meeting of the Free Media Movement at the New Town Hall together. You also took a leading role in the Padha Yathra protest made against alleged human rights violations of the Premadasa administration. Your single minded commitment to many of the values I too cherished since my student days struck a familiar chord bonding our friendship even further.

However, the many statements you have been making lately, especially the recent statement made by you opposing the Human Rights Council resolution, brings me genuine sorrow because it reminds once again that your role as a great human rights defender and upholder of democracy was merely an act done for the sake of political expediency while you were in the Opposition.
In fact, I realised this bitter truth only after you climbed to the top of the greasy poll of power and became President ten years ago. If you remember, before parting company in 2007, I sent you a thirteen page handwritten letter emphasising my concerns that your policy of dismantling democracy, ignoring reconciliation and violating the basic tenants of good governance would lead to the country’s ruin and your own downfall as well. But instead of learning from those mistakes, I fear that stubbornness, hate and greed continue to cloud your judgement, leading you down the very same path of destruction.

However, I still like to believe that there is even a little bit of the old Mahinda left in you. Hence my decision to write yet again. Like the protagonist of Oscar Wilde’s Portrait of Dorian Gray who struck a deal with the Devil to remain eternally beautiful you may have sold your soul to the Devil to remain eternally in power. Even if that is true, I am sure there is a portrait of the Mahinda I knew gathering dust in the inner sanctums of Medamulana.

But alas, the dust seems to be thick and the sanctums deep. Your statement opposing the UN Human Rights Council Resolution exemplifies just how self-serving, unpatriotic and opportunistic a politician you have become. Perhaps you have forgotten the days when you boldly proclaimed the virtues of human rights, justice and international intervention at the UNHRC in Geneva, in Parliament and even in the Supreme Court.

The UNHRC in Geneva was a second home where you worked tirelessly to generate international pressure to secure accountability and justice for the thousands of disappeared in the South. You systematically lobbied at such international fora to exert pressure on the Government at the time to stop such violations of human rights and democracy. And such was your zeal that your entrance to many of the sessions was obtained by Tamara Kunanayakam, who was also there to campaign against the Government of the day, whom you later as President appointed as the Permanent Representative to Geneva.

In fact, speaking in Parliament on the 25th of October 1990, you boldly proclaimed and I quote Hansard, If the Government is going to deny human rights, we should go not only to Geneva, but to any place in the world, or to hell if necessary, and act against the Government. The lamentation of this country’s innocents should be raised anywhere.”

Not only did you highlight human rights violations, you went so far as to ask the international community to stop giving aid to Sri Lanka. I quote the same Hansard, We asked the donors countries as to why conditions cannot be imposed when giving aid. That was the request we made. It is what has been fulfilled today.” This has never been done by anyone before. Even in the face of continued human rights violations under your Government we never asked for aid to be stopped as it would have only made life harder for our long suffering people.

In case your memories are no longer as clear, I am also annexing a copy of the famous case Kudahetty v Mahinda Rajapaksa in which you defended, in the Supreme Court no less, the injustice of your arrest at the airport when you were taking 533 documents containing information on thousands of the disappeared to Geneva in order to lobby the international community and the UNHRC. Perhaps history will one day learn this incident was stage-managed by you in order to gain media publicity for yourself and to tarnish the international image of the Government of the day.

When you were in opposition, human rights, Geneva and the international community were your friends. But when power intoxicated you, they were forgotten and anyone who dared to talk of such universal values such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law were labelled as LTTE sympathisers and traitors. Now that you are out of power, looking at your coconut-breaker cronies’ business class travel to Geneva, it appears you have remembered them again. And just the other day you had the audacity to appeal to the UN for replacing your military security with STF VIP security.

It is in this context that I find your hypocrisy astounding when you and your acolytes continue to criticise our government for co-sponsoring the Geneva resolution last October. I am sure you know deep within your heart that this Resolution is a victory for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans. It was also a victory for Sri Lanka’s new foreign policy. In UNHRC sessions under your Government the world was divided over Sri Lanka. Our main export markets, the US and the EU, account for over fifty percent of our exports. They, and our closest neighbours, all expressed their concern at your government’s dismantling of democracy and abuse of human rights. In 2015, however, the whole world rallied around our country and supported our resolution including India, China and Russia who spoke-out in support of the resolution.

Not only did Sri Lanka gain the entire world’s unanimous support for the Resolution but, because of the credible domestic mechanisms we proposed, our successful foreign policy prevented economic sanctions and the indignity of a foreign inquiry.
Contrary to your claims, this resolution was not foisted on us. It was based on the Sri Lankan Government’s plans for establishing good governance, accountability under the rule of law, human rights and reconciliation which were outlined in my speech to the Human Rights Council in September last year. These plans had been carefully developed by the Government over many months by studying the experiences of Sri Lanka’s own past as well as those of many other countries.

As a result, the resolution gives us a way of dealing with our past so that the senseless violence and bloodshed of the war will never haunt our beautiful island ever again. The resolution, along with the new constitution, will help us win the peace and set our country free from the shackles of conflict that have held the country back since Independence.

The resolution will help us heal our wounds and genuinely unite the country. It envisions the establishment of a Missing Persons Office to help mothers, daughters, husbands and sons find out the fate of their loved ones. It also envisions a truth and reconciliation commission which will analyse the causes of conflict and tell us how we can prevent violence from ever occurring again. The resolution also contains provision for an Office of Reparations to provide assistance and compensation to those who have lost life, limb and property over the course of the many conflicts Sri Lanka has endured over the last few decades.

It also includes the creation of a credible Sri Lankan judicial mechanism that will prevent impunity and abuse of power from raising its ugly head. For this mechanism to be credible it is essential that the victims of human rights violations that took place over the years are also confident in its impartiality and credibility. Sri Lanka has always welcomed international participation in areas where we may lack the expertise and the proposed mechanism will also do so to ensure credibility.

This mechanism will fully clear the good name of the members of the Army and all those against whom there are unfair allegations. True war heroes, as Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka has said, have nothing to fear from this transitional justice process. It is only those who smeared the dignity of their uniform by restoring to criminal acts, bringing the entire security forces into disrepute and those that gave orders to carry out such heinous crimes that need worry. The vast majority of the Army will have their tarnished image restored as a disciplined and professional force. By punishing offenders it will also set an example to ensure that white vans, child recruitment and other crimes will not take place in the future.

We cannot and should not let go of this unprecedented window of opportunity, when the two main parties, for the first time since Independence, are working together and when the minorities are led by reasonable, moderate and far-sighted individuals.
I urge you to put your political interests and those of your family aside for a moment and join President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the unity government, the opposition political parties, civil society and the people in obtaining this key breakthrough in our post-Independence history. Or at least do not try to destroy this historic opportunity. If you do, you will betray the country. And the people will be certain that your continued role in politics is nothing but a misguided and selfish attempt to protect yourself and your family.

Although your statement is so full of known falsehoods, it does not merit a response. But in order to prevent your lies from misleading the country and to expose the depths of your hypocrisy, your utter disrespect for the truth and your insulting attitude towards our citizens’ intelligence, I have written a point-by-point analysis of your statement.

1. The President and Prime Minister have given the UN Human Rights Commissioner an assurance that last year’s UN Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka will be implemented.”

The bold decision to co-sponsor the UN Human Rights Council resolution last October was a massive foreign policy victory for Sri Lanka. The world which had been divided towards Sri Lanka during your Government, unanimously rallied around Sri Lanka. The resolution was not against Sri Lanka, it was for Sri Lanka and it was in the interests of its people. The resolution was drafted on the basis of the Government of Sri Lanka’s carefully deliberated plans that I outlined in September 2015. These plans, and as a result the resolution, will strengthen democracy, good governance, reconciliation and accountability under the rule of law. This will help us understand and heal the wounds of the past so that we can create a peaceful and prosperous future. It is also a fulfilment of the promise made by you in your Joint Communique with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in 2009 in which you, on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, promised accountability: The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. The Government will take measures to address those grievances.”

2. This UNHRC resolution was accepted and co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan Government and passed by the UNHRC without a vote. The UNP-led Government accepted the Geneva resolution with the same carelessness with which they entered into the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002.”

Indeed the resolution was adopted without a vote by consensus. This shows that many of the countries which had distanced themselves from Sri Lanka under your Government’s policy of self-imposed isolation are all backing Sri Lanka. From Washington to Beijing, Delhi to Brussels, London to the Kremlin and Tokyo to Riyadh the world’s doors are open to Sri Lanka. For the first time a Sri Lankan Head of State has been invited to the G7 summit, which will be held in Japan this year, where President Sirisena will stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the world most powerful leaders.

Since Independence we have been a respected and well-regarded member of the international community. It is only during your tenure as President that many countries that had been our traditional friends distanced themselves and we became a virtual pariah state. Your policy of shooting the messenger also distanced us from our main export markets. They, and our closest neighbours, all expressed their concern at the dismantling of democracy, abuse of power, oppression of minorities and failure to make use of the historic opportunity for healing after the end of the war.

In fact, Sri Lanka has co-sponsored similar resolutions in the past. In 1984 and 1987 Sri Lanka was party to consensus resolutions on its human rights and governance record.

The 2002 Ceasefire Agreement did not succeed because of the LTTE’s obstinacy. But it managed to divide and break-up the LTTE with the defection of Karuna Amman and exposed their true motives to the international community, which in turn helped me as Foreign Minister in your Government to have the LTTE listed as a terrorism organisation in the EU and Canada in 2006, which they themselves admitted was the biggest blow to their fundraising capacity.

3. Though our Ambassador in Geneva tried to negotiate different terms that were deliberately stopped by the Government which insisted on accepting the US sponsored resolution just as it was.”

As I have noted earlier, the resolution was based on our own plans which had been carefully developed over many months. As you know, all Sri Lankan ambassadors, including the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, act solely on the instructions of their democratically elected Government.

4. There is now an attempt to portray this UNHRC resolution as a great diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka. But in reality, it was a great betrayal comparable to the Kandyan Convention of 1815. The people should once again be reminded about what exactly has been undertaken by accepting this resolution. In operative paragraphs 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 12, the present Government has accepted the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights which said that war crimes including the killing of civilians, torture, and the deliberate starvation of people had been committed by our armed forces and they have agreed to set up a war crimes tribunal manned by foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators and funded directly from overseas to try our war heroes for these alleged crimes.”

This argument is sensationalist and irresponsible. When serious allegations of Human Rights violations and war crimes are levelled at a country or an individual, it is the duty of the Government to prove such allegations wrong through a credible process of investigation and inquiry. And if some of the allegations are true it is also the duty of the Government to expose the perpetrators to such heinous crimes as well as those in the chain of command so that the good name of the army and country can be restored.

Your Government, with its shoot the messenger policy, resorted to insult and defame those who levelled such accusations. When Hilary Clinton highlighted some of the human rights violations that took place under your Government’s watch, state vehicles were used to put up posters of Hilary Clinton calling her a terrorist sympathiser. When Navi Pillay came as the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she was treated atrociously and the state media defamed her in the most shocking manner. You got your ‘diplomatic henchmen’ to insult visiting heads of Government, like British Prime Minister David Cameron, during the CHOGM meeting and hired mobs who tried to stop Channel 4 journalists from travelling.

In fact, the Channel 4 allegations are a good example of your Government’s total mismanagement. In fact, when the footage was first shown I remember asking your Government to hand over the video footage to any world-renowned forensics expert to establish your argument that they were tampered and distorted with. Having secured such evidence you could have sued Channel 4 in the UK courts to prove your innocence. Instead, laughably, you gave it to forensic experts hired by the Defence Ministry in order to disprove the footage’s authenticity. In fact, according to the information we have the video footage is not only authentic but was given to Channel 4 by members of the armed forces who themselves were deeply shocked at some of the acts carried out as a result of orders from above.

Sri Lanka has had a long history of foreign judges, lawyers and investigators participating in our mechanisms. But on the basis of your argument, the investigation and trial of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike was a great betrayal: two of the three judges in the Commission of Inquiry appointed by the Sirimavo Bandaranaike government were foreigners, a foreign lawyer, Phineas Quass QC participated in the trial, and the UK’s Scotland Yard handled the investigations.

There have been many allegations. But to clear the good name of the innocent, to punish the perpetrators of heinous crimes, to find out what happened to the missing, to heal the wounds of the past and to move forward, is the duty of the government. In fact, in President Maithripala Sirisena’s 100 Day Work Programme, which among other pledges relating to good governance and reconciliation, promises that:

Since Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Rome Statute regarding international jurisdiction with regard to war crimes, ensuring justice with regard to such matters will be the business of national independent judicial mechanisms”

If one reads the Resolution carefully, that is exactly what one finds:
Reaffirming its commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka…[the Resolution] also affirms in this regard the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the special counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorised prosecutors and investigators.”

5. Furthermore they have not agreed to remove through administrative action members of the armed forces who are suspected of having committed war crimes but against whom there isn’t enough evidence to place before the war crimes tribunal.”
All public servants, including the security forces, have a higher level of code of conduct than average citizens and there are many administrative procedures in the Establishments Code and circulars for disciplining officers that fall well short of those standards of conduct.

The removal of any public official or member of the armed forces will be purely on the basis of due process that will of course be subject to the Constitution and the law of the land. In the new Sri Lanka, no one will be above the law; not the President, Ministers or other favourites. The law will apply equally to all; even the clergy, even the armed forces and the police must not be above the law.

6. They have also agreed to make amendments to the Public Security Ordinance and to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act.”
We are replacing Prevention of Terrorism Act, with National Security legislation that reflects contemporary best practices. The PTA was promulgated in 1979 and the nature of terrorism and the world have changed greatly since then. The war has also ended. As all the political parties have at various points noted, the Prevention of Terrorism Act is a draconian piece of legislation that has been frequently misused for political ends. In order to address these shortcomings and make the legislation more relevant for the 21st Century we asked the independent Law Commission headed by the eminent lawyer Romesh de Silva PC to submit a draft bill for the government’s consideration. A committee appointed by the Prime Minister is now finalising the legislation.

7. In operative paragraphs 16, 18 and 20, the Government has undertaken to devolve power in order to bring about a political settlement in Sri Lanka and to do everything undertaken in the resolution under the supervision of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).”

The first time the Government of Sri Lanka made a binding commitment to the entire international community to devolve power was in 2009. In that resolution, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative at the time, Dayan Jayatilleke, promised to implement the thirteenth amendment in full. The resolutions reads, Welcoming also the recent reassurance given by the President of Sri Lanka that he does not regard a military solution as a final solution, as well as his commitment to apolitical solution with implementation of the thirteenth amendment to bring about lasting peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka”. Three years ago, in August 2013, Dayan Jayatilleke also said that the OHCHR should establish an office in Sri Lanka.

Let us not forget that you too endorsed the SLFP’s position to devolve power even beyond the 13th Amendment at the Tangerine Beach Declaration of 1997 which was unanimously endorsed by the SLFP and all it members in an open show of hands. You also supported the ‘Union of Regions’ Constitutional Draft in Cabinet and within the party. Furthermore, in your meetings with the international community, particularly with Indian Prime Ministers, Foreign Ministers and National Security Advisors, you have consistently expressed your support and plans for devolving power well beyond the 13th Amendment.

8. It should be borne in mind that the OHCHR that has come in for heavy criticism by the UN Human Rights Council itself. The UNHRC passes every year (with more than a two thirds majority) a resolution calling upon the OHCHR to end the domination of that office by Westerners and to reduce its dependency on Western funds. The Government has thus agreed to place Sri Lanka under the supervision of an institution that is facing criticism by the UNHRC itself for its Western bias.”

Sri Lanka is not under supervision – no part of the resolution specifies that Sri Lanka will be under supervision. In fact, in most transitional justice processes it is the UN that decides the mechanisms and even the appointments to key positions. Under this Resolution Sri Lanka has the freedom and flexibility to decide on the contours, architecture and personnel of the mechanisms. Many multilateral institutions are funded by Western funds, including the UN. Were you not aware of this when you were lurking around the corridors in Geneva a couple of decades ago with a pass and comforts provided by Tamara Kunanayagam who you later made our ambassador in Geneva. The fact that you have again appealed to the same institution which you accuse of Western bias is a another indication of your duplicitous nature.

9. Having accepted the Geneva resolution, the Government is now adopting various strategies to convince the public that it will not be harmful to the country. We saw the President and Prime Minister in recent days expressing to the international media what seemed to be contradictory views on the participation of foreign judges in the proposed war crimes mechanism. But this was just a drama for public consumption. It became clear from the President’s Independence Day speech that there is no difference in the stands taken by him and the Prime Minister on the Geneva resolution. The President not only endorsed the decision of the government to implement the Geneva resolution but also accused those opposed to it of misleading the public. He further said in his Independence Day speech that the implementation of the Geneva resolution will only result in promoting democracy, reconciliation and respect for our armed forces. Subsequently, on 6 February the Daily Mirror reported that the SLFP had officially announced at a press conference that the UNP and the SLFP had jointly agreed on the implementation of the Geneva resolution.”

You, who was considered one of the most progressive leaders of the era, within the first year of taking office revealed yourself to be an utter political opportunist. President Sirisena, by contrast, has within this short period of time proved himself to be a statesman who is playing a Nelson Mandela-like role in healing a deeply divided and wounded country. Unlike you who spoke to the fears and prejudices of people, President Sirisena and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe have inspired our people with their vision for a new Sri Lanka that is united in diversity.

The Sri Lanka Freedom Party has had a long and illustrious history of promoting democracy, reconciliation and human rights: from the Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam Pact, to our work promoting human rights in the 1980s and 1990s to the efforts of the Chandrika Kumaratunga Government. I would like to remind you that President Maithripala Sirisena himself survived a suicide bomb attack and so has the former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, during whose tenure the Jaffna Peninsula was recaptured. Despite this great personal sacrifice, they never resorted to revenge but always stood by a political solution.
At this historic juncture, as the two main political parties work to secure the country’s future we are proud that we have not sought to score petty political points but have remained committed to the Sri Lankan people and have jointly welcomed the resolution.

10. The war was won by an SLFP Government led by me. It is a matter of profound regret to me that our party has been subordinated in this manner to the UNP which tried to sabotage the war effort at every turn. ”

The credit for winning the war must go the security forces and the police who had to take on one of the world’s most brutal and capable terrorist organisations. Also, since the war began in 1983, both parties that have been in power since that time, gave leadership and guidance to the security forces in achieving this victory. Up until 1993 most of the Eastern Province was under LTTE control. However, it was in 1993 under President D.B. Wijetunga and Prime Minister Wickremesinghe that the LTTE was decisively defeated in the East and Prabhakaran and the LTTE had to move to the North. In 1994, when President Kumaratunga came to power most of the Northern Province, especially the city of Jaffna was under the LTTE’s control. The LTTE’s and Prabhakran’s headquarters were at the Government Agent’s Office. In 1995, under President Kumaratunga’s direction, Operation Riviresa was launched and Jaffna was recaptured. At which point the LTTE was confined to Killinochchi and Mullaithivu.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was the mastermind responsible for the two main causes of the LTTE’s ultimate defeat. The LTTE suffered a fatal blow by the defection of Karuna Amman, one of the LTTE’s most efficient killing machines, and most of its Eastern cadres – which were known to form the core of the LTTE’s fighting capability. This defection gave the army tremendous intelligence and understanding of the LTTE’s fighting methods. Prime Minister Wickremesinghe also cut off the LTTE’s supply lines, preventing them from securing arms and ammunition. It was during his tenure that the Air Force obtained two surveillance aircrafts that enabled effective patrolling of the North Eastern seas. He also paved the way for signing the Access and Cross Services defence agreement with the United States that enabled Sri Lanka to access specialised equipment, training and information such as coastal radars. The LTTE’s stubborn refusal to cooperate with Prime Minister Wickremesinghe’s peace initiatives also exposed the LTTE’s true nature to the international community who rallied around Sri Lanka.

It was also thanks to my predecessor Lakshman Kadirgamar that the LTTE was proscribed in the United States in 1998 and the UK in 2001. And it was during my tenure that I, along with the help of our friends in Washington aimed the biggest blow to the LTTE by listing them in the 27 countries of the EU and Canada. By 2007 with the LTTE banned in the US, EU and Canada, its funding and procurement network was severely affected.

In fact, much of the spadework for winning the war was done by the time you became President through a narrow election victory that was secured thanks to the LTTE who got the people of the North to boycott the election.

Even though your regime started accusing the US of being LTTE sympathisers, I can say confidently if not for the support of the US State Department, in particular Condoleezza Rice and Nicholas Burns, achieving a unanimous consensus among the EU’s twenty seven countries would have been impossible and I am happy to say that today our relations with the United States have been restored and gone on to greater heights than ever before.

Let us not forget that the UNP has had many leaders who paid the ultimate price for their courage including former President Ranasinghe Premadasa, Lalith Athulathmudali, Gamini Dissanayake, Janaka Perera and the list goes on. Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, now a UNP Minister, led the troops to victory and made many important reforms to the fighting. As we all know, he almost died in a suicide bomb attack.

Looking back, it is remarkable now that while you were in the opposition or even after you became a minister you never ever criticised the LTTE or denounced their terror publicly. You were never on one of the LTTE’s death threat lists until you became President in 2005. However, even I as Convenor of the Sudu Nelum Movement denounced the LTTE and its extremist politics on every possible platform and as a result the 2000 General Election President Kumaratunga, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake, Anuruddha Ratwatte, Lakshman Kadirgamar and myself were given the right by Gazette for the first time ever to cast our ballot papers from our homes due to the high threat levels.

You only found courage to denounce the LTTE and its politics of violence after you surrounded yourself with nearly 4000 security guards as President.

However, your callous disregard for the truth and devious attempt to claim the war victory as your own led to the arrest of Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who led the Army to victory – and who had spent years fighting alongside the troops rather than leaving for the balmy California. Having got him to cut the cake celebrating the war victory he was later dragged and incarcerated for several years.

11. Many would recall the manner in which the UNP even tried to stop the war by defeating the Government at the budget vote in 2007. When that did not work, members of the UNP ridiculed the war effort by saying among other things that ‘any ox can fight a war’ and that ‘while claiming to be advancing on Alimankada the army was actually moving towards Pamankada’. It is not surprising to see such people now trying to exact revenge from those who won the war.

However, I am profoundly saddened to see that a section of the SLFP has also joined the UNP in this great betrayal. The UNP may be deriving a great deal of satisfaction by thus getting a section of the SLFP which won the war to underwrite every traitorous action they commit. I call upon the people of Sri Lanka to unite and resist this attempt by the government to betray the country and our war heroes.

The opposition trying to defeat the budget in 2007 was not to stop the war but to stop corruption which was beginning to spread like a cancer. The UNP, as shown above, always supported the security forces but were critical of the way in which their blood, sweat and tears were used to prop up your family rule.

By trying to deny the country and its people this historic opportunity to firmly entrench the peace and development that have eluded us since Independence and for which the war was fought, it is you who are betraying the country, the people, future generations and the war heroes. As my predecessor the late Lakshman Kadirgamar said, Let us never have to rue the day when we won the war, but lost the peace for which the war was fought.”

President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesignhe by agreeing to form a national unity government have demonstrated true statesmanship and foresight to turn a new leaf in the history of this country. For the first time the two principle parties which have governed Sri Lanka have come together for the betterment of the country giving Sri Lanka a new window of opportunity to achieve economic development that has been elusive for so long. In fact the great betrayal is that seasoned politicians along with a pack of so-called politicians are trying in every way to sabotage this grand coalition. A common denominator between you and your group seems to be greed and the desperate need to hide the misdeeds of your criminal past, details of which are now emerging.

My dear Mahinda, despite the acrimonious nature of our relationship over the past ten years, the Mahinda I knew had a special place in my heart and I do not want to see you going towards further doom and destruction.

If not for your lust for power you still would be President today. Instead, you used the goodwill generated by the war victory to establish a family dynasty and in order to do so you even changed the Constitution to allow you to contest without limit. Had you, like earlier Presidents, decided to serve your two terms and go home graciously you would still be President today with your second term ending next year. Instead, you fiddled with the constitution which was your ultimate downfall. You have been decisively defeated twice in one year but it is still not too late to accept defeat, retire graciously and enjoy a happy retirement. Perhaps then we could be
friends again.
Yours truly,
Mangala

Ex-Chairman SLLRDC

I have sent an opinion yesterday 23^rd May to The Island concerning the part 1 of the article published under the heading Megapolis Vs New City  written by the retired deputy director of Irrigation .

I  mentioned that the major part of the  information  and opinions given concerning the floods in Colombo and Kelani river  basin are somewhat incorrect and  baseless and  even advised that he should not  continue writing his opinions without  checking actual facts .

In part 2 published today regarding the Strategic  Plan to Develop Colombo East –Some special features envisaged in 1994 may be considered as a proposal suitable only for a utopian city .Surely it can never be a reality if you carefully look at the ground situation !

Under Figure IIIA, writer mentions with some venom and despise that it is difficult to dispel the feeling from our people that anything foreign is superior to what our own professional can do

And yet ……

In the article part 2 he mentions that It was at this stage that a Private Group of national minded professionals comprising of class mates of mine was formed under my chairmanship .A consultancy Firm from London was hired to study this subject at no cost to the government and end result was the report from London called Creation of a New City of Colombo”

I wonder how and why he used a London firm when he despised anything foreign as he mentioned earlier??

Then he says around this time  (assuming that it 1988) he talks about the involvement of  W S Atkins who prepared the feasibility study for Colombo Canal Development Project  and continues  to castigate the British Company and funded by Japanese Funding Agency ( OECF) .

He also mentions that on 6^th of August 1991, many experts objected to the program, and I would like to mention that I as then SLLRDC chairman was leading the public forum.

It was never severely criticized, but there were opinions expressed by some retired engineers who had different views

When project was executed I changed the project name  Colombo Canal Development  project to  Colombo Canal  and Environment  Improvement Project as per the valuable advice given by the NHDA chairman ,my trusted friend Susil Siriwardane  who requested us to call it  Human Development through Colombo Canal  and Environment  Improvement

Unfortunately these technocrats have failed to appreciate the fact that we have relocated of 65000 people from canal banks and provided shelter simultaneously during the canal improvement.

Living proof is what you see near canals at Havelock road crossing and Kirilapona Crossing of canals and many more

We have isolated 1000 acres of retention area in Colombo and acquired the same. It is sad the writer never mentioned that 1000 acre retention area was the only hope for eradicating or controlling the floods in Colombo.

But to our dismay during the last 21 year politicians and scrupulous businessmen filled over 500 acres without any authority.

This is main reason for flooding today

Another misconstrued judgement he makes is that bridge near McDonalds is the reason for the flooding of Lake Drive which passes thru Heen Ela Canal

Heen -ela marsh leading to Wellawatte Canal outlet passes via Lanka Wall tiles and Open University was one of the main retention area, where filling was carried out by many with no proper authority.

Block of Flats   (Royal Park) built on a forcibly filled marshy land and sold at exorbitant prices and bought by rich people who built Luxury houses as claimed by him!

First of all I would like emphasize the fact that filling of the basin has been causing floods up stream towards Parliament Lake to a great extent

Lake drive will be flooding all the time and I am sure the inhabitants may have consider living upstairs throughout their life time ,( as he mentions ) and nothing can be done !!

I also noted that the writer has been writing about Lake Drive flooding in several articles, and sad to say the he does not recognize the fact that retention area of 1000 acres is of paramount importance for flood control,

Finally I would like to reiterate what I mentioned in my previous opinion that Kelani Floods has nothing to do with Colombo Flooding and that the Irrigation Department is fully responsible for not protecting Kelani Valley Basin and also for not clearing the Sand Banks formed at the River outfall.

I call this this is a curse by Weather Devil” rather than by Weather Gods”

Ex-Chairman SLLRDC

Opinion on the part 1 of the same article ……

First of all I would like to highlight the fact that the heading of the article in the Island Paper today 23/5 16 has no relevance to the content of the opinion.

It is like reading part of a Life Story and a memoire of the person who claimed to have done much for the betterment of the Irrigation.

Studies were done by him in the context of a much lower population in Colombo are with no value  in today’s context as these studies are outdated .

The claim that his tenure in the Reclamation Board was terminated prematurely for reasons he does not want to recall ,is quite amazing to read and that doors of the SLLRDC for entry of adventurer or opportunist I wonder who the writer means by this statement

First of all we all should blame Irrigation department and the Land ministry under Gamini Dissanayake for dredging the Kotte and Madiwela paddy fields and reclaiming the lands for new parliament ,which is the start of flooding and the misery undergone by the people ,

He also says the 1981 headline warned that parliament will get flooded and everybody laughed , and he says that 4^th and 5^th June 1992 parliament got flooded

I assume that parliament got flooded because the wise people in Irrigation and Low lying development board have miscalculated the safe level of floods at 7 feet where it should have been 9-10 feet

Actually building the parliament by filling paddy lands was the gravest mistake we ever made ,

In 1993, only committee room got flooded but after few years more area in the parliament got flooded , because politicians and scrupulous businessmen  filled 400 hundred acres  of retention area of 1000 acres reserved and acquired by SLLRDC  by 1995

This learned writer claims that floods in 1992 was caused by the  illegal gate constructed by SLLRDC .As the chairman of SLLRDC at that I would like to clear this misinformation .

When President Premadasa called a meeting to find a way to eradicate pollution due to toilet waste and other polluted water along St Sebastian Canal  ,SLLRDC and SLPA has jointly decided to pump water into the St Sebastian Canal  from Kelani River during drought period

There was no reason for whole of  Colombo to get  flooded due to this gate being closed  and now under world bank funding SLLRDC intends to install a bigger pump .

I am unable to comment on this as I have some reservations.

Again the flooding in 2010 has occurred due to illegal filling by people in lake drive area and in Narahenpita and Kotte Marshes reducing the retention area by 400 acres

When I protested against building a bridge across the Heen Ela to have access to the plot where a block of flats are built I was threatened by the owner .I complained to the police and then president requested me to withdraw the plaint as the culprit was a supporter

His claim about a purported gabion structure causing floods in Parliament area is absolutely baseless.

I noted that various gates and bunds installed upstream of Kotte basin does marvellous job despite a flood situation near Kimbulawala few days back

Filling of over 400 acre is the main cause of floods in Colombo today  and the writer forgets to mention the facts in his article

Kelani river flooding   is due to two reasons

Irrigation Department did not take any steps to control, and prevent the encroachments along the Kelani left bank which is within the river reservation and allowed politicians to fill hundreds of acres  from Nagalagam street to Hanwalla I can even name some politicians !

Many container yards ,factories were built reducing  the Kelani  Valley  basin

SLLRDC had no jurisdiction to prevent construction and filling along the valley

So the blame should go to Irrigation Department ??

Second reason for the flooding of Kelani River bank is caused by the sand bank built up at the river outfall.

I am confident that new breakwater built for south harbour is the cause of formation of high sand bank which prevents water out flow

Finally I would like highlight the fact that irrigation experts who have only drawn up nice charts ,maps and wrote reports to fill time ,have never contributed in any way to control the floods by PREVENTING ILLEGAL FILLING OF THE MARSHY LANDS

SLLCRDC may have had chairmen of various calibre and qualifications, but it was the task of politicians to guide them in the right track

During our time we were well guided and we had a tremendous task to carry out project implementation under able minsters and secretaries like Mt Aillaperuma

Irrigation engineers in Colombo were writing reports and drawing charts, but none of them contributed to eradicate the unauthorised filling of lands

( I was told by someone that a Director of Irrigation was recently asked by a journalist What are you doing these days as Colombo is under heavy flooding ,reply was amazing I am making some Wesak Lanterns with my children !!!!!!!!!!!! )

During our time we were standing near all canal outlets of Colombo clearing sand banks !

I suggest that the writer discontinues writing his article where at the end it says to be continued

Ex Chairman SLLRDC

BY Dr. Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy Ceylon Today

Previous Rajapaksa Government had a strategic beautification plan to develop the metropolis first, and then gradually extend to other major towns in the country. The ‘planner’ behind the programme was Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Secretary to the Ministry of Defence, who was also in charge of the Urban Development Authority (UDA). Consequently many parks, lakes and jogging tracks appeared, along with changing of the skyline in Colombo to the liking of many and towards a tourist boom.

However, with the change of government in January 2016 such developments came to a temporary standstill with the Yahapalana administration coming into effect. Major Colombo Harbour project initiated by the previous government was put on hold and maintenance of parks, lakes and jogging tracks appeared to be neglected. An attempt to raise car park charges at the Dehiwala jogging track had to be shelved due to public outcry; jogging track at Wattala built at a cost of a few millions of rupees was backhoed overnight. Confused public was aghast and began to wonder “What on earth was going to happen” with the yahapalanaya and whether public expectations were about to fly through the window.

New concepts
However, the new government soon unrolled their development plans allocating a special ministry under the name of Megapolis and Western Development to execute a large development plan covering the whole island including the Western Province. The aim of the project was to metamorphose the urban development into an official urban enhancement in order to beautify towns as much as to boost the living standards of the people. Much attention on traffic congestion, garbage disposal, housing facilities for shanty dwellers as well as drinking water and sanitary facilities were also among the mega project.

President Maithripala Sirisena is determined to place this country not only on the political global map but also as a developed country with mega cities by uplifting every town to an equivalent level with complete facilities within each conurbation. The idea behind is to offer the same services in district level thereby restricting people moving particularly to Colombo city limits seeking better facilities. The total estimated project cost over a period of ten years is believed to be approximately $30 billion.

French connection
In this respect, a French delegation which included a renowned French architect Bernard Lamy and French investor Maxime Laurent visited Sri Lanka recently on the invitation of Dhamith De Silva and Peter Seneviratne (Paris based) to meet the Minister of Megapolis and Western Development, Patali Champkia Ranawaka. Damith de Silva and Peter Seneviratne had done a lot of groundwork for weeks, in liaison with the French Embassy, to arrange the French experts’ visit to Sri Lanka.

Bernard Lamy is a renowned architect in France for Urban Town Planning and Development. He has been appointed as the architect covering all aspects of renovation and restoration of the Centre of New Industries and Technologies building in La Défense and coordinated in designing and town planning of La Défense itself, which is one of the uppermost business regions in France with representatives of Neuilly, Courbevoie, Puteaux and Nanterre and in collaboration with the General Council and Public Development and Construction Office.

Bernard Lamy was also part of the project team, as an architect, involved in the planning of Cap Cana, the Caribbean’s premium resort in the Dominican Republic, next to Punta Cana, largest marina in the region, with two dozen hotels and upper class residences at a cost of multi-billion dollars covering 30,000 acres and five miles of ocean front.

Ministers’ meeting
Maxime Laurent is a French investor connected with other major investors in France. Maxime Laurent and Bernard Lamy are a well-known business combination that always works in tandem along with several other sizeable financiers in France.

When the French duo met up with Sri Lankan Ministers Patali Champika, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Malik Samarawickrema as well as Ajith de Costa, Chairman attached to the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development team, during their short stay in Colombo, they were privileged to be observers at the Kalutara District Development Council meeting where they (KDC) were contemplating on how best todevelop the Kalutara District with foreign investment.

It has become apparent at the meeting that Lamy’s experience and Laurent’s investor capacity could contribute a great deal towards Sri Lankan projects. On further enquiry about their background, particularly about their experience with La Défense it was revealed that this particular developed area is the major business district within the Paris Metropolitan region. La Défense is very scenic with about four million square metres of office buildings and hotels, commercial buildings and shopping malls. Since it was built in 1956, the French duo have transformed many things in this district, and today La Défense has become one of the mort important expanses in Europe.

Conveyance
The beautiful aspect in La Défense, in terms of conveyance, is its congestion-free illustrious transportation system incorporating a metro (underground railway network), overhead railways, buses, a tramways and highways, all designed to allow a seamless system of moving goods and people from one place to another. Additionally, inhabitants of La Défense enjoy many facilities in the form of playgrounds and schools. Thus, the area has become one of the main tourist attractions to foreigners who visit Paris, to do their shopping, after visiting the Eiffel and other main attractions. This is mainly due to the availability of many facilities such shopping centres, restaurants and other entertainment and public conveniences available here.

A few decades ago when Paris became chock-a-block there was a frantic demand to look for a suitable location where offices could be operated from outside Paris. Having identified La Défense as the ideal locale for the purpose, this area was created 50 years ago. For the past 40 years or so, La Défense has been expanding and advancing with ecological development. Thus, French architects have gained enormous experience being ‘on the job.’

Today Paris and La Défense are linked with an efficient and fast moving transportation system, thus contributing towards the benefit of the country’s economy. It also acts as a window to the city due to areas outside having improved environmentally, with everything planned properly as a residential area with modern facilities such as cleaning of streets, dumping of garbage and disposal of same etc.

Impression on Sri Lanka
The two French experts were asked to give their impression on Sri Lanka towards the end of their short tour. According to Damith de Silva, French seem to think there is agreat potential to invest in Sri Lanka. Two weeks later Bernard Lamy returned to Sri Lanka with his family and spent two more weeks visiting many interesting places as a tourist. He appears to be very keen on on eco tourism and feels Sri Lanka is the ideal location to promote such tours.

Bernard Lamy seemed highly impressed with Sri Lanka’s development and the quality of urban planning in the major part of Colombo. Sri Lankan officials were assured, at the end of their meeting, the visiting team would certainly explain in detail about the possibilities, capabilities and the potential in Sri Lanka to the prospective investor(s).

The French have also indicated their interest in leisure development in Sri Lanka stating: “When you design a small town, you need to introduce a new vision about ecological life, leisure and when leisure parks are created permanent people are required to upkeep activities associated with those, as it is the same thing with a new town, that is our concept.

Vision
“You have a new vision about the organization of the city along with a new vision on lifestyle. It is important to start as an Internet city for which you have the prospect to start something new without making the same old mistakes. You are not a French Organization or another Singapore. But you are in Colombo, in Sri Lanka, and you should blend your ideas and activities to suit your needs and requirements.”

According to Damith de Silva who spoke to the writer on the phone from Paris on 8 May, things are progressing fast. He does not like to reveal much at this moment of time but could only say: “We are in the first stage of contacts. Our hard work managed to bring both of them to Sri Lanka.”
tilakfernando@gmail.com

Sarath Wijesinghe – former Sri Lankan Ambassador to U A E and Israel

A New Nation was born

State of Israel was born in 1948, amidst struggle and fighting with Neighbours and a large segment of opponents and Arab states worldwide   after losing 1/3^rd of Jews in the world as a result of large and small scale massacres on Holocaust. Historically Jews though blessed in the blessed holy land, were persecuted, prosecuted   and driven away from homelands, from time to time historically over thousands of years. Last were the Romans who chased them away. Since then they were on the lookout for a State of their own for a long period to attract and consolidate stateless Jews spread worldwide. World war which is one is the crucial and cruel turning points of the mankind  witnessed the biggest blood bathes on  the wars and during the   massacres of Jews by Nazis, deliberately and systemically to eradicate the race from the Globe as planned by Hitler and the clan. World was destabilized and lost control of the League of Nations- then world body with the limited power and the mandate proving the inactivity and weakness of the toothless world organization then. Israelis became the victims of mankind’s largest acts of murders and substantial portion of the world population became victims of the unwanted but unkind and ferocious deaths of war.  In the year 1922 League of Nations granted a mandate for British to   rule Palestine as a protectorate giving further concessions to the Jews who attracted the world sympathy. After the United Nations was formed Palestine was declare to be land of Jews by Belfair Declaration as a result of the worldwide support generated by the sympathy to the Jews due to Holocaust.

Father of Israel who founded the State

It is Ben Gurian”- the founder/father of Israel founded the new State on the declaration of the establishment of State of Israel, on 14^th May 1948, despite the protest by all the neighbours and the Arab World, who invaded the New Nation immediately to protest was repulsed by Israel with ferocity with the backing of the West and USA with large number of casualties of Israeli soldiers. All future wars on 1967 six day war and 1973 wars were won by Israelis.   USA recognized the new State within hours followed by number of western allies and with objections and resistance from the Arab world. According to International law principles the requirements for the recognition of a state are (a) Effective control (b) Capacity to enter into agreements with other countries and (c) defined boundaries. The boundaries were still not defined and the war was still on at the time when the state was recognized by USA and British. But Israel carried on establishing the new state successfully with effective control by establishing the Knessette”- the Israel Parliament, giving life to the dead historical language Hebrew- the language of the first Bible, and consolidating the existing administrative and economic structure with the assistance of the Diaspora Expatriates worldwide including rich educated and powerful Israelis awaiting for this moment for years.

Israel a Leader on Water and Agriculture

It is an uphill task to develop a land with 2/3 desert with no water resources except for the disputed Galelee” River at the corner of the boundary, with no rainfall and water reserves. Fortunately there was a vision and a visionary with educated and hardworking citizens, worked hard collectively and tirelessly until the tiny nation of 1/1000 th of the Globe reached the states of one of the world leaders with power to guide and direct the rest of the world on Agriculture and High Technology. Seeds of a new Israel grew from the imagination of an exiled people. The exile was extremely long. Some two thousand years. The exile left the Jews with a prayer and without a country. Yet this unbroken prayer matured their hope and their bond of their forefathers. David Ben – Gurion – the father of the Nation, once said We are experts of what was there is no expert on what will be, To become an expert on the future, vision must replace experience”. They developed artificial intelligence and empowered scientific discovery individually and collectively. Start Up Companies and SME’s have started developing personal development with the university technology and agricultural education with the power of academics. Water was given priority by pumping water in the Galilee River for agriculture carefully and scientifically using drip irrigation and modern technology to use water carefully and sparingly, until millions were spent for desalination of sea water to make water for agriculture industry and domestic usage. Today Israel a country with full of water and green, with no water 70 years ago, now self-sufficient and selling water to others. They are leaders in agriculture as a main income and an export crops using modern technology utilizing 95% of technology on agriculture, using minimum water capacity.

Country with Few Resources but Developed on Human Resources

Israel is a country with no natural resources other that human resource the country has fully exploited. Education was given priority aiming at the development of the country under extreme political, climatic, and war situations threatened by neighbours right round. Personal development was connected to collective and higher education with universities and educational institutions part of the development process based on the vision of the visionary, encouraged by over 15 Noble prize winners and the scientists who have left great legacies to the present generation; Education Institutions took charge of the responsibility of scientific research and human developments creating and generating innovators and creators who will convert themselves to SME’s and Innovators. New avenues were invented and created such as Arms, Aeronautical and commercial industries now thriving with lot of income and reputation worldwide. Military Equipment’s, Kefir Planes, Devors, Missile Testing Equipment’s, Shouldering Crafts are some used by Sri Lankan forces in the successful eradication of terrorism in Sri Lanka. Israel is a world renowned defence equipment seller to the world powers and advisor to world powers on agriculture and Hi Tec.It has nuclear power, Gas and self-sufficient on power.

Now a Powerful Nation

Israel is a powerful, but a tiny nation of the size of New Jersey which is only 1/1000^th of the Globe, with relatively diverse topography and population of 7858,000 where more Jews live worldwide than in the State of Israel, holding high positions as rich bankers and industrialists capable of controlling the economics of the host countries. Their life expectance is as high as 79.7 male and 83.4 for women being a relatively healthy nation with excellent eating habits and GDP of $19500. She has no formal Constitution with the Parliament consisting of 120 seats with absolute practicing democracy with an Executive Prime Minister and a President who is the head of the state. It is a strong economy having joined the rich OACD club of leading countries in the region.

Sri Lanka and Israel – Close Genuine Fiends in Need

Sri Lanka maintains close and friendly relations from the inception of the State, politically economically and helping each other. Israel has been a tower of strength for Sri Lanka during the war and internationally spoke on difficult situations of both countries. Trade Missions organized by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Israel to Sri Lanka with the help and blessings of Chambers of business in both countries have brought the countries and business together. Tourism from Israel and religious Tourism from Sri Lanka is in the upward trend, with businesses improving and thriving with investors with Israeli contacts frequently visiting Sri Lanka and taken steps on investments in small and large scale. Cultural and religious Centres in both countries are thriving with state patronage with religious cultural and business tolerance.  Bilateral relations are thriving and trade has improved by 178% with $175.63 million on diamond exports, and import of highly technical merchandise.

Way forward

Both Israel and Sri Lanka gained Independence on the same year but the developments of Israel to what it is today is miraculous and creditable compared to Sri Lanka. We need not feel shy, but to learn from them and work together for our development and success. Israel is one of the world leaders economically and politically as an economic giant and a fearless state,  a leader on Agriculture, High Tec, Self-sufficient on food, with lowest crime rate,  exporter of fruits, agriculture, flower and industrialised materials  worldwide, a centre of excellence on education, leader on Diary harvesting the highest milk from a cow and an exporter of animals, and a leader in the region maintain highest values of practicing democracy and human rights to the last word. World powers are seeking her assistance on agriculture, Hi Tec, Dairy and many other areas. Our relationships are friendly and most cordial. Both Israel’s and Sri Lankans are friendly and educated following two deep free and tolerant religions with followers in both countries. These two countries and peoples are ideal partners to work with, and it is time to resolve to work together on the Israel Independence Day with all the reason for them to be happy about for the great achievements of the forefathers and the current generation carrying the message for generations. As Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans, let us wish the Great State of Israel and the Great Israeli citizens a bright future for the next thousands years to come.

(Sarath dw28@gmail.com – to reach the writer)

සාහිත්‍යයට පිටුපෑම

ජීවන සටන නිසා
වල්මත් වී ගිය
පොතක් පතක් කියවන්නට
ගීතයක් අසන්නට
වෙලාවක් කලාවක් නැති
ගෙන්දගම් පොළොවට
ඇලූණු දෙපා නිදහස් කරගැනීමට
වෙර දරණ මැළවුණු මුහුණින් යුත්
දනන් හට සාහිත්‍ය්‍ය එපාවීද?

හරාකිරි කාව්‍ය සංග‍්‍රහය පිළිබඳව……

දෛනික ජීවිතයේදී මිනිසාගේ යහ පැවැත්මට එරෙහි බලවේග ංසිද්ධින් බොහොමයක් ඔහුගේ විෂය පථයට හසු වී ඇත.
මහාචාර්‍ය සෝමරත්න බාලසූරිය කැළණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලය

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම්. ජයතුංගගේ කවි බසෙහි ප‍්‍රකාශන ශෛලිය සෘජුය. නාටකීය ආකෘතියක් එ් කවි වල තිබේ.
තිඹිරියාගම බණ්ඩාර -මාධ්‍යවේදී

හරාකිරි කාව්‍ය සංග‍්‍රහය වර්තමාන මිනිස් සමාජයේ හරස්කඩ නිරූපනය කරයි.
ආචාර්‍ය එච්. එ්. පී. අභයවර්ධන -ශ‍්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර විශ්ව විද්‍යා