වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

මීගමුව රෝහලේ සේවයේ යෙදි සිටි කාලයේදී ලේ වහනය වන තදබල කැපුම් තුවාලයක් සහිතව වයස අවුරුදු 32 පමණ වූ පුද්ගලයෙකු ඇතුලත් කරන ලදි. මම වහාම ලේ ගැල්ම නවතා රෝගියාට අවශ්‍ය නිසි ප්‍රතිකාරය ලබා දුන්නෙමි. ඉන් පසු සති දෙකක් පමණ නේවාසිකව සිටි රෝගියා සුවවී යන්නට ගියේය​.

මේ සිදුවීමෙන් මාස අටකට නවයකට පසු මම වෛද්‍ය මෙරිල් සමග දිවා ආහාරය ගැනීමට මීගමුව නගරයට යමින් සිටියෙමි. මෙරිල් ඔහුගේ අළුත්ම නිසාන් මෝටර් රථය පදවමින් මා සමග සංවාදයේ යෙදෙමින් සිටියේය​. මේ අතර එක වරම පාරේ එක් පැත්තක සිට මහ පාරට ගැටවරයෙක් බයිසිකලයක් දැමුවේය​. මෙරිල් බයිසිකල් කරුවා බේරීම සඳහා වමට කැපුවද බයිසිකල්කරුද වම් පාර්ශවයට කැපූ හෙයින් දඩස් ගා ඔහුව මෝටර් රථයේ හැපුණි. බොනට්ටුව දිගේ ඉහලට ඇදී ආ කොල්ලා මෙරිල්ගේ රථයේ වින්ඩ්ස්ක්‍රීනයේ වැදී බිමට ඇද වැටුනේය​. එම ඝට්ටනය නිසා වින්ඩ්ස්ක්‍රීනය කැඩුනි.

මෙය සිදු වූයේ පූජ්‍ය අබා කොස්තා පියතුමාගේ පල්ලිය ආසන්නයේ බව මට මතකය​. අණතුරත් සමගම පොලවෙන් එන මෙරු මෙන් මිනිසුන් පොදියක් වාහනය වට කර ගත්තෝය​. ඒ අතර වාහනයේ හැපුණු කොල්ලා අසීරුවෙන් නැගිටිනු මම දුටිමි. පිරිස අතර සිටි මොබ් මානසිකත්වය ඉහට ගැසූ සමහරක් වාහනය කුඩු කල යුතු බව සහ වාහනයේ ඉන්න එවුන්ට පහර දී පාඩමක් ඉගැන්විය යුතු බව කියමින් කෑගැසූහ​. මම සහ මෙරිල් අද දිනයේ හොඳ කෑමක් කන බව මට තේරුනි. කෙසේ නමුත් වාහනය ඇතුලේ සිට පණ පිටින් කරවී යනවාට වඩා එලියට විත් පිහි පාරක් හෝ කෑම වේදනාවෙන් අඩු විය හැකි මරණයක් බැවින්  මම වාහනයේ දොර ඇර එලියට ආවෙමි. මේ අතර තව තවත් පිරිස වාහනය වට කර ගත්හ.

එකෙහින්ම ” අඩෝ උඹලා පැත්තකට වෙයල්ලා ”  කියා යම් අයෙකු උස් හඞින් කීවෙන් මම ඒ පුද්ගලයා දෙස බැලුවෙමි. ” මොකද ඩොක්ටර් ප්‍රශ්නය ? කියා එම පුද්ගලයා මගෙන් විමසීය​. මම මොහොතක් කල්පනා කෙරුවෙමි. මේ හදිසි අවස්ථාවේ එතැනට ආවේ එදා මම ප්‍රතිකාර කල රෝගියාය​. මම සිදුවූ සිද්ධිය ඔහුට කීවෙමි. වරද ඇත්තේ බයිසිකල් කරුවාගේ බවත් ඔහු පාර දෙස නොබලා එකවරම බයිසිකලය පාරට දැමූ බව කීවෙමි.

බයිසිකල්කරුවා කෙඳිරිගාමින් මා දෙස බලා සිටියා මිසක් ඔහු අත වරද බව දැන සිටි නිසා කිසිවක් නොකීවේය​. ” අඩෝ මේ මීගමුව හොස්පිට්ල් එකේ ඩොක්ට කෙනෙක් උඹලා පල් පාට් දාන්ඩ එපා අරිද “ඔහු මෙසේ කියමින් වටවී සිටි පිරිස තල්ලුකර දැමුවේය​. පිරිස ඔහුට කීකරු වූ හෙයින් මේ පුද්ගලයා මේ පාරේ අයියා කෙනෙකු බව මම තේරුම් ගතිමි.

අපට අනපේක්ශිත ආරක්‍ෂාව ඔහුගෙන් ලැබුණු නිසා ගැලවී යාමට හැකි වූවද සයිකල්කරු මෙහි දමා යාම නුසුදුසු නිසා අප ඔහුව වාහනයේ නග්වා ගතිමු. ඉන්පසු අපගේ ගැලවුම්කරුවාට තුති පුදා රෝහලට ගියෙමු. බාහිර රෝගී අංශයේ සිටියේ මා හිතවත් වෛද්‍ය කුමාරදාසය​. ඔහු බයිසිකල්කරුවා ඇතුලත් කෙරුවේය​. ඉන් පසු වෛද්‍ය ලිලිත් ලියනගේ අමතා රෝගියාට අවශ්‍ය සියළු ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලීය​. ලිලිත් රෝගියා පරික්‍ෂා කල අතර ඔහුට බරපතල තත්වයක් තිබුනේ නැත​. කෙසේ නමුත් ඔහුව දින දෙකක් පමණ නවතා තබා ගන්නා ලදි.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම වැඩිපුරම හානිය සිදුවී තිබුනේ මෙරිල් ගේ මෝටර් රථයටය​. මෙරිල් ගේ මෝටර් රථයේ වින්ඩ්ස්ක්‍රීනය කුඩුවී තිබූ නිසා ඒ කාලයේ මුදල් අගයෙන් රුපියල් තිස්පන් දහසක් පමණ වැය කොට ඔහු අළුත් වින්ඩ්ස්ක්‍රීනයක් දැමුවේය​. (මෙරිල්ට තිබුනේ තුන්වන පාර්ශවයේ රක්‍ෂණයක් නිසා පාඩුව දරා ගැනීමට සිදු විය​) කොල්ලා දෙදවසකට පසු ගෙදර ගියේය​. මේ සිදුවීම ගැන මතක් වන විට මට සිතෙන්නේ මම රෝගියාගේ ජීවිතය බේරුවෙමි; රෝගියා මගේ ජීවිතය බේරුවේය යන සහ සබඳතාවයි.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග

Courtesy adaderana

President Maithripala Sirisena is scheduled to address the Anti- Corruption Summit – 2016 being held in London today at around 2.30pm (local time) and it will be telecast live on Ada Derana 24X7. The President and the delegation left the country from Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake yesterday to participate in the summit which will be commence today (May 12) in London, under the patronage of the British Prime Minister David Cameron, with participation of the leaders of several countries and other representatives.  He was received at the Heathrow Airport by Queen’s special representative Bruce Holder, who is the Deputy Lieutenant to Queen Elizabeth and Kathryn Colvin, Special Representative of the Ministry of State for Foreign, Sugeeshwara Gunaratna acting high commissioner of UK and Commonwealth Affairs and the officials of the Sri lanka High Commission. President Sirisena is participating in this summit, accepting the invitation extended by the British Premier when they met at the CHOGM held in Malta last January. – See more at: http://adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=35226#sthash.rf6wKpcN.dpuf

Editorial Courtesy Ceylon Today

It was reported that President Maithripala Sirisena will visit India today. Accordingly, the President is expected to attend a number of functions organized by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), during his tour. Thereafter, the President will be meeting Narendra Modi to hold discussions pertaining to the fisheries issues affecting both countries.

President Sirisena’s second visit to India takes place at a very crucial moment. At this juncture, Sri Lanka needs to be very cautious about diplomatic relations. Balancing the act does not seem to be that easy given the government has to deal with a few super powers and regional powers, simultaneously. The government needs to keep a close relationship with China, though they criticized the previous regime for making attempts turn the country into a cat’s paw State of China. The recent visit of the Prime Minister to China and his statements, proposing to turn Chinese debt into equity, imply stronger Chinese presence in the island nation.

Further, the Premier assured that the construction of Chinese funded Port City, which has huge geopolitical significance, will be resumed. The question is how the government hopes to deal with the regional power India, in its response to the Chinese presence in Sri Lanka.
Already, there are news reports indicating the enhancement of the Indian presence in Sri Lanka. The government has been firm on signing the Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) despite strong public pressure against it.

The Indian Highways Minister seems very confident about constructing the Hanuman Bridge, connecting Sri Lanka and India. The discussions are going on regarding the Sampur Power Plant in spite of the concerns raised. All these acts are directly related to the relations with India and crucial decisions on these matters are likely to be made during the President’s visit to India.
It is interesting to see how the Sri Lankan leader would deal with the big brother during his upcoming visit. A lot of bargaining will have to be done. India, being the regional power and the big brother of Sri Lanka, would definitely try to dominate the discussions. It is likely that India could come up with proposals that would help to override the Chinese presence. Therefore, this diplomatic visit would be a milestone of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It is in that context the President will have to find the optimal solution which would help to remain in the good books of the big brother while not compromising the national interest of the island nation to promote the national interest of India to enhance its regional power.
Dealing with a country like India is not easy. Sri Lanka being a small State makes it more difficult. However, that does not mean that dealing with India and ensuring the national interest of the country is impossible. Though ensuring the national interest did not succeed every time, leaders like Sirimavo Bandaranaike and R. Pemadasa did it. They stood by their stance. Circumstances at that time were tougher than at present, but both those leaders knew when to hit and when to remain silent.
British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill had once said, diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions. The President will have to be very diplomatic during his visit. He may have to tell India to go to hell when they come up with certain proposals. Yet, it has to be done in Churchill’s way. Whether the present government has that capability and will be able to ensure a win-win situation for the country, while protecting the national interest, will be seen subsequent to the Indian visit of the President.

Shenali D Waduge

Ever since May 2009 various events across the world have had candle light vigils and events claiming to be remembering those killed in Mullaivaikkal. The implication given is that the mourning is for civilians. However, the backdrop of all these events you will find an Eelam map, eelam flag, books on Prabakaran sold, the speeches will be about self-determination, Tamil homeland, Tamil nation, self-autonomy, confederation etc. What does all this have to do with remembering civilians who were killed? There are several ways civilians would have got killed. Collateral damage because LTTE were firing from among civilians even inside the safe zone meant for civilians. LTTE were firing at fleeing civilians. LTTE were using civilians as human shields. The UNSG, foreign envoys, foreign governments and even India are on record for appealing to the LTTE to allow the civilians to come to government controlled areas, LTTE were asked not to use children as combatants, LTTE was asked not to fire at civilians. UNSG, foreign envoys, foreign governments never accused the Sri Lankan Army of firing at fleeing civilians. When we are still to be given names and details of the supposed 40,000 dead if remembering dead Tamils is important why does TNA not hold candlelight vigils for the 4000 women raped by Indian Peace Keeping Force some of whom are living dead unable to still face society or the Jaffna hospital massacre another IPKF war crime?

The TNA and other LTTE supporters can fool the world with their tamashas but statistics never lie. More Tamils were killed by the LTTE than the fictitious figures being thrown without evidence. Anyone can mourn the dead but people need to have died. What all the mourners need to remember is that

• NO CIVILIAN WOULD HAVE DIED IF LTTE DID NOT FORCE THOUSANDS OF TAMILS TO JOIN THEM AS THEY RETREATED.
• NO CIVILIAN WOULD HAVE DIED IF LTTE DID NOT USE THEM TO HIDE THEIR WEAPONS AND FIRED FOM AMONG THE CIVILIANS TO THE ARMY.
• NO CIVILIAN WOULD HAVE DIED IF LTTE DID NOT USE THEM AS HUMAN SHIELDS.
• NO CIVILIAN WOULD HAVE DIED IF LTTE HAD NOT FIRED AT THEM WHEN THEY FLED.

Can LTTE admit how many LTTE cadres they killed because they were injured and were a burden to them. How many LTTE cadres were put into buses and had these buses bombed?

MP Vijayakala was bold enough to openly praise the LTTE what is strange is that the present government did nothing against that speech although Ruwan Wijewardena has just announced that anyone can mourn the dead but not LTTE dead. http://www.adaderana.lk/news/35231/commemorating-victims-of-war-allowed-ltte-not-allowed-govt

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2015/06/01/unp-mp-vijayakala-maheswaran-praises-ltte-how-many-more-think-like-her/

So we again ask who are the pro-LTTE and Eelam groups mourning – LTTE or civilians?

What is the difference in holding a Victory Day in memory of war heroes and a Remembrance Day for LTTE dead? The answer is simple. The Sri Lankan Army are the nation’s national army. They are the defenders of the nation. They are commanded by the leader of the nation. The LTTE was a movement created by India to destabilize Sri Lanka with time LTTE was handled by numerous sources who were funding and promoting LTTE to advance their agenda. So long as this agenda fitted into LTTE leaders desire to remain supreme among Tamils the marriage was smooth. When the marriage went on the rocks incidents like Rajiv Gandhi, Amirthalingam, Mahaththaya etc occurred and they were eliminated forever – signalling what would happen to all others if they went against LTTE or Prabakaran.

The Armed Forces lost 30,000 lives sacrificed to defend the nation. LTTE were funded to create a separate state using bogus history and distorted facts. Moreover its modus operandi was to kill anyone against them. Even the Tamils lived in fear. Not one Tamil had the freedom to openly criticize the LTTE.

• Who killed Lakshman Kadiragamar? The LTTE,
• Who killed TULF leader Amirthalingam? The LTTE.
• Who killed Mayor Alfred Duraiappah? The LTTE
• Who killed Mr & Mrs. Sam Tambimuttu? The LTTE
• Who killed Mahaththaya LTTE deputy leader? The LTTE
• The list of Tamils killed by LTTE is too long to feature.
• The list of LTTE cadres killed by LTTE for disobeying orders is unknown & never likely to be even investigated! It is a topic out of scope even with the UNHRC!

As you will notice all of the organizations that emerged as spokespersons for the Tamils were formed AFTER the LTTE was defeated and LTTE leader was dead this is because they were all well aware that LTTE killed off all other leaders of Tamil militant groups that India helped create and Prabakaran did not want any other Tamil to be more ‘popular’ than him.

The TNA was created in 2001 immediately after the War on Terror was announced and LTTE strategists were quick to create a political arm. Look at the photos of how timidly the TNA leaders including the present Opposition Leader is pictured in the presence of LTTE leaders – meek and subservient.

Presently they are acting like king makers because our leaders have stupidly given into their demands and fallen for the little now more later trap. The speeches of the TNA give themselves away. The statement issued by the NPC Chief Minister for Tamil Genocide Day was ‘today is the day of remembrance of those relatives of ours who died during the last stages of the war”. Why only the last stages of the war why didn’t he name all others killed all through the decades of terror – we know that during the last stages of the war it was the LTTE or the soldiers who died, the civilians were all rescued by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. NPC Chief Minister is CM not only of Tamils but Sinhalese and Muslims too irrespective of whether they voted for him or not. The CM is also cunning enough to evade using ‘civilians’, instead he uses ‘innocents’ – those innocents who passed away during the last stages of the war”.

True enough even a mother of a terrorist has a right to mourn her child. That terrorists was at one time the baby she carried for 9 months. But she does not need open tamashas, the media or even the CM to elevate her grievance. LTTE cadres mothers can privately mourn their own but it cannot be made into a public event. LTTE is proscribed and the LTTE dead are no war heroes. Their wives are no war widows that exclusive status and name goes to the wives of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces only. LTTE does not even have prisoner of war status and there are no international legal conventions that give LTTE legal footage.

If 40,000 have died the families should have lodged their names claiming them to be dead. So far there are just 19,006 names from 1983 to 2009. We are now into the 7^th year and even the UNHRC is slowly trying to brush itself away from the figure because they have been exposed for playing a role in the lies.

Listen to TNA’s Sivajilingam a relation of Prabakaran to get the gist of what these memorials are really all about.

May 12-18 remembrance for war dead was held in 2015 by the TNA. Sivajilingam speaks in Sinhalese. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1kjA0p90Nw

TNA Northern Provincial Council member MK Sivajilingam commemorates Great Heroes’ Day also known as Mahaveer Naal in Jaffna in November 2015 despite Justice Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakse claiming that LTTE was banned and such commemoration was against the Constitution.

Sivajilingam however went ahead with the commemoration citing that over 50,000 sacrificed their lives for the Tamil cause and that they sacrificed their lives for the Tamil Homeland. (please listen to the video Sivajilingam speaks in Sinhalese and makes his point very clear)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkcqmobce74

https://www.lankaleadnews.com/2016/05/12/%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%90%e0%b6%bb%e0%b7%94%e0%b6%ab-%e0%b6%85%e0%b6%b4%e0%b7%9a-%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%92%e0%b6%b1%e0%b7%92%e0%b7%83%e0%b7%8a%e0%b7%83%e0%b7%94-%e0%b7%83%e0%b6%b8%e0%b6%bb%e0%b6%b1%e0%b7%8a/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy2QgPVVbQM taken from a UNSC Resolution 1373 proscribed organization but deproscribed in 2015.

Where do we draw the line? TNA keeps asking for the same things that LTTE demanded, LTTE fronts are promoting the same, civilian events are using the same terminologies, Tamil politicians echoes the same terms and demands…. What do we make out of all these and where does reconciliation and living together happily ever after fit in with all of this?

Shenali D Waduge

By Charles.S.Perera

All civilised countries with Presidents provide the highest security and protection to their ex-Presidents. Sri Lanka which was until 8^th January,2015 a civilised country, which we hope continues to be despite a Yahapalanaya Government should give its ex-President the highest security and protection.

Ranil Wickramasinghe the  Prime Minister of Sri Lanka who has  behind him a scandalous history of brutality  of  Batalanda torture camp, had said in Parliament, that Mahinda Rajapakse will be give special police protection and that military contingent now protecting him will be withdrawn.

Ranil Wickramasinghe thinks that he knows every thing and with the UNP followers of his saying that he is clean, have never been accused for corruption and bribery, does not for an instant think that he is not that clean. There is enough reason to think otherwise. The Governor of the Central Bank Arjun Mahendran involved in the bond scam, still retains his post and  Ravi Kaunanayake who had a case against him for money laundering in High Court was given the Ministry of Finance.  Has any one of those who praise Ranil Wickramasinghe for his cleanliness questioned why Arjun Mahendran and Ravi Karunanayake were protected ?

As a reason for withdrawal of the army personnel detailed to protect the ex President Mahinda Rajapakse , Ranil Wixkramasqinghe says …Everywhere in the world it is the police that undertake VIP security”.  Ranil  W,  in making that statement either shows his complete ignorance of matters pertaining to protection of honoured ex Presidents in civilised countries or tries to fool the people.

In America it is the special Secret Service that protects the ex Presidents.  These personnel are highly trained and are not at all police officers. the Secret Service integrates a variety of innovative technologies and maintains a highly skilled and motivated workforce. Using advanced counter measures, the Secret Service executes security operations that deter, minimize and decisively respond to identified threats and vulnerabilities.

The protective environment is enhanced by specialized resources within the Secret Service, including: the Airspace Security Branch; the Counter Sniper Team; the Emergency Response Team; the Counter Surveillance Unit; the Counter Assault Team; the Hazardous Agent Mitigation and Medical Emergency Response Team; and the Magnetometer Operations Unit. Other specialized resources also serve to provide protection from threats, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials and explosive devices.”

All former Presidents, and  First ladies are provided lifetime Secret Service protection. The Children of the ex Presidents are also entitled to same protection until they are 16 years of age. Even former President Bush’s daughters  kept Secret Service Protection.

It is said that, the American  Secret Service does not divulge the costs of its protective details, but it’s believed to be in the range of tens of millions of dollars a year for each former president

IN France there are three living ex-Presidents. One of them President Valery Giscard D’Estaing, was a Member of Parliament for a period of time after he retired as the President of France.  His Security was continued even when he was an MP.   The close physical protection of the President of France is entrusted to the GSPR (Groupe de sécurité de la présidence de la République). The Guards however provides counter-sniper teams (Observateurs-contre-tireurs) and SWAT teams (called pelotons d’intervention or intervention platoons ) The three ex Presidents cost the taxpayer in France a sum of Euros 10 million a year.

Even the second homes of the ex Presidents of France are protected by the French Government…  Second homes belonging to Mr Chirac, in Limousin, and Mr Giscard d’Estaing, in Loir et Cher, are also given ‘special protection’. Mr Sarkozy has no second home but, according to Mr Dosière, his personal protection detail costs nearly €1.8million annually. ”

Prime Minister Wickramasinghe is a liar, he lies to convince the people that he is correct and he knows all world affairs. He said, Even former US President George Bush was given only Police security. He has ISIS threats….”  He lies to put our dear  ex- President’s life in peril.

Ranil Wickramasinghe says that even the President Sirisena and himself are given police and STF Security. They in fact need no security measures as they are friends of the ex terrorists and the Tamil diaspora financing and aiding the former terrorists and may finance a future terrorist resurgence.

Since Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn in as Prime Minister, he has shown himself highly inept and an  indifferent public figure in the Parliament the august Assembly of the country.  He sits and acts in it as a comedian in an opera rather than as the Prime Minister of a Sovereign State.

He shouts at MPs calls them ugly names and laughs at them, without seriously answering questions he is asked.  It was Ranil’s idea to give a Ministry to Sarath Fonseka for nothing else but sling as much  mud as possible at Rajapakse family.  Sarath Fonseka is no politician and he is good at nothing other than to emit poisonous gas …..He is a Minister with a rotten mouth specially detailed to scandalise and make scathing speeches in parliament against the ex President Mahinda Rajapakse and his family..

It is becoming quite evident now that both Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe are not fit to hold the offices-  the first that of the President and the second that of the Prime Minister. Just being elected as a President does not give one the mind of a leader destined to be a Head of State.

One should have the mental capacity to  make use of the available riches –such as the people with imagination , experience and  wise men like  the ex President Mahinda Rajapakse, and other leading entrepreneurs, and administrators connected with the former government of the ex President,  to continue to give the people and the country their services.

These two- Maithripala Sirisena and Ranil Wickramasinghe did not stop doing the wrong things ever since they took over  business of governing  Sri Lanka on 8^th January, 2015.  When they stepped into replace the former President Mahinda Rajapakse, Sri Lanka was on firm ground. The economy was sound, numerous development projects were under way financed by China, Japan, India, and many other countries.

Only snag was with America and the West which had decided to accuse Sri Lanka for war crimes in the elimination of terrorism, which is only for USA and the West to take revenge from President Mahinda Rajapakse, who took his own decisions without giving into pressure from USA and the West.  USA and the West wanted to do the same to Sri Lanka under Mahinda Rajapakse, that they did to Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Syria.

If Maithripala was intelligent, a  wise man,  a good leader who had followed well his former leader , he should have left the work  commenced by President Mahinda Rajapakse  to continue  at least for a period of time.  He could have done that because the West wanted only a regime change but not to stop all work that was being carried out in Sri Lanka.

But the problem Maithripala Sirisena  was faced with,  was Ranil Wickramasinghe.  It was Ranil who made it possible for him to become the President of Sri Lanka and there was therefore an obligation to listen to Ranil Wickramasinghe.

Ranil Wickramasinghe on the other hand was getting political power into his hand after having been rejected by the people for nearly 29 years.  He was not satisfied  being a subordinate to Maithripala Sirisena who had not even been to a recognised school like the Royal College, therefore Ranil Wickramasinghe was keen in leading a UNP Government as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

A UNP Government policy is radically different from  President Mahinda Rajapakse’s socialist policies and  the USA, West and India were insistent that Ranil Wickramasinghe  break away from China if he wanted the help of USA,  the West and India. Hence Ranil Wickramasinghe  would not agree with  Maithripala Sirisena to continue the government without radical changes  to what Sri Lanka was on the 9^th January,2015. Ranil wanted his UNP Capitalism crowned for once after nearly 29 years in the political wilderness.

It is evident Maithripala Sirisena is only a nominal President of Sri Lanka and all important decisions with regard to governance is taken by the Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe. Maithripala Sirisena is  continued to be flattered (being laughed at) by the West. It is evident because Maithripala Sirisena is not such a great political genius, to be invited by USA and the West  for the Anti Corruption Summit and the G7 summit.

What can Maithripala Sirisena give to the world , when he has  given nothing even to Sri Lanka ?

If he is wise Sirisena will at least understand that to have an Anti Corruption Summit in London, there aught to be corruption in the world , not only in Sri Lanka. If he learns some thing from it,  he will surely cancel all anti corruption measures against the former Rajapaksa Government , as it is  a sheer wastage of money , time, and personnel.

But both Sirisena and Ranil are  lamentably unintelligent. Even the provision of  security and  protection to the most important person in Sri Lanka the ex President Mahinda Rajapakse has given these two unreasonable men,  the opportunity to take revenge from Mahinda Rajapakse and his family.  Even if Mahinda Rajapakse is not important to Sirisena, Ranil, Chandrika and their followers,  he remains the  most popular man  in the country, and a hero of the people whom they cherish and to whom they want the government to give the  highest protection.

Ranil Wickramasinghe has neither sympathy nor respect to  any one least of all to ex President Mahinda Rajapakse. Sirisena and Ranil should know,  or  atleast be informed, that the Police cannot always be trusted.  It is known that an  ASP had been bought by the LTTE to do their dirty work,  This is what the wife of late Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle assassinated by the terrorists  had said recently:

Dr Mrs Fernandopulle said that until the shocking revelations, made by ASP Cooray, following his arrest, nearly one and half years after Fernandopulle’s assassination, it never crossed her mind the police officer’s involvement with the LTTE. Obviously, Cooray had been an LTTE agent, masquerading as a policeman, hell bent on causing death and destruction, the State Minister asserted.”

Raniil Wickramasinghe’s hatred of Mahinda Rajapakse has no limit. He first called Rajapakse and his family thieves. He  sets up his own FCID to intimidate Rajapakses and all those connected to him.

Ranil then gives a Ministry to Sarath Fonseka for him to be at  his command when he wants  to castigate and  make revulsive accusations against Rajapakses in Parliament. Undoubtedly now it is his cruel criminal Batalanda mentality which  has prompted him to   withdraw  Army Security to ex President Mahinda Rajapakse.

In the Parliament on the 3^rd May, Ranil Wickramasinghe did not invited Sarath Fonseka spontaneously to speak, but it had all been planned.  Sarath Fonseka was there with a prepared speech to promptly get up when Ranil Wickramasinghe while speak on the subject of security to ex President  turned round  saying that he does not know much about providing army security  and said  that he would ask Minister Sarath Fonseka to explain , and asked Sarath Foseka  how many soldiers were detailed  to him for his security.

Sarath Fonseka then rose holding the already prepared speech in his hand, and opened his poisonous mouth and and went on yakking  a long time  without minding the  half hearted demands of the speaker Karu Jayasuriya to sit down.

Sarath Fonseka who even asked that the terrorist Morris who planned to assassinate him be pardoned has now nothing to fear from the ex terrorists, or even resurging terrorists,  he fought against as the Army Commander of the Sri Lanka Army.  But our ex President Mahinda Rajapakse is different from Sarath Fonseka, Chandrika Kumaratunga, and Sirisena and Ranil, therefore he has to be protected from the terrorist sympathisers here and abroad.

The Government  should not hesitate to detail an Army Contingent trained for personal protection of VVIP for the protection of ex President Mahinda Rajapakse..  In doing that the government will be serving the  people who had voted for Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential election, and others who are grateful to him for the elimination of terrorism.

ධර්මසිරි සෙනෙවිරත්න

සමහරඅ  යට අවශ්‍යකොටි පරදා තමන්ට සාමය දුන් මහින්ද ට කෙලෙහිගුණ සැලකීමට නැවත බලයට පත් කිරීමය ඒ අරමුණ ද  සුදනන්ගේම විශිෂ්ට අරමුණකි  . සමහර යට  විශේෂයෙන්ම දිව වාසු විතාරණ වැනි ය බලන්නේ මහින්ද ඉස්සර කරගෙන  තමන්ට තැනක් ගැනීමය ඒ  ඔවුන්ට චන්ද බලයක් නැති නිසාය  ගිය වතාවේ මහින්දට චන්දය දුන්  58 ලක්ෂයෙන් කීයෙන් කී දෙනෙකුට මහින්ද ලවා ක්‍රියාත්මක කරවීම සඳහා    ඉදිරි දැක්මක් තිබේද .
  මහින්දගේ ජාතිකවාදී  දර්ශනයක්   , චින්තනයක්  හෝ   අපේ උරුමයක් ගැන  හන්ගීමක් තිබේද .බටහිරට හෝ ඉන්දියාවට බියනොවී කොටි පැරදවීම නිසාම මහින්දට එවැන්නක් තිබුනේයය් කිවහොත් මුලාවකි  දී එස් නියම බටහිරයෙක් ලෙසින් හැසිරෙමින් ම ජනපද ව්‍යාපාරයද දියත් කලේ ජාතික වාදී නිසා සිංහලයන්ට තැන දීමට  නොවේ   සුද්දොත් ඉන්දියානුවොත්   සිංහලයන්ගේ පහර ගත  උඩරට ඉඩම් ඔහු  සිංහලයන්ට දුන්නේ නැතතවත් කලුසුද්දෙකුවූ කොතලාවල තමන්ගේ කලුහමට ගරහන විට පමණක් සුද්දන්ට   අතින් පයින් පවා පහර දුන්නේය නේරු කොතලාවල ගිවිසුම ද හොඳ වැඩකි  එහෙත් සුද්දන්ගේ දෙපලත් සංස්කෘතියත්  අධ්‍යාපනයත් ඔවුන් විසින් රැකගෙන ගියේ අපේ කම යටපත් කරමිනි . මහින්ද  කොටි සමුල ඝාතනය කර බෙදුම් වාදයට තිත  තැබූ බු බව ප්‍රකාශ නොකර තවතවත් සාකච්චා කලයුතු දේ ඇති බව පිළිගැනීම නිසා බෙදුම්වාදය අවසන් නොවීය . ඇපමත බලෙන් පැටවූ පළාත් සභා සහ 13a  අහෝසි කිරීමටත් එමගින් බෙදුම්වාදීන් අක්‍රිය කිරීමටත් රට දියුණු කිරීමටත්  තිබු හොඳම අවස්තාව ප්‍රබා මරා  මිනිස්සු කිරිබත් කාපු අවස්ථාවය . ඒ අවස්ථාවේ පරගැති සින්හලවිරෝධී එජාපය  ද මාක්ස් වාදියෝද අන්ද මන් ඳව සිටි අවස්ථාවය  කොටියෝ හතර ගාතෙන් වැටී ලේ පෙරන අවස්ථාවය .  ඒ හේත් මහින්ද එය කලේ නැත ..
                                                                   මේවා කලයුතුම බව නලින්ද සිල්වා  ප්‍රමුඛ ජාතික වාදීන් කොතෙක් කිව්වත් මහින්ද කන්දුන්නේ  මාක්ස් වාදෙන්ටත් ඩලාස්  ජී එල්  දයාන් වැනි  ෆෙඩරල් වාදීන්ටය .  රනිල්  සිරිසේන චන්ද්‍රිකා වැනි යට වඩා  මහින්ද හොඳ වුනත්  ඔහු එක පැත්තකින් පවුලේම  ඇති ”’ශෝභන වාදයට ”” යටත්ය  අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් බහුතර සිංහලයන්ගේ  චන්ද බලයට  යටත්ය . මෙය  කැඳ  හැ  ලියකි   විමල් වීරවංශ    අමරසේකර ගේ චින්තනයේ වත් සිටින නිසා
 තරමක් හෝ ජාතික වාදෙඑඑ බවක් අතය් සිතිය හැක  ඔහු  වඩාත් දිනේෂ් ට ලං විය යුතුය  ගම්මාන පිලද එසේ කල යුතුය 

 අවම වශයෙන්  දිනේෂ් විමල් හා ගම්මාන පිල  ගේ පක්ෂ  මහින්ද සමග  රහස් ගිවිවිසුම් මගින් හෝ   සිංහලත්වය මේ රටේ ඔසවා තබන ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගන්න බවත් පළාත් සභා සහ 13අ අහෝසි කරන බවටත් ගිවිස ගත යුතුය සිරිසේන රනිල් චම්පිකලා ත් ඔහොම ගිවිසුම් ගැසුවේය 
 මහින්ද  සිංහල බෞද්ධ චන්ද ගැන පුර්ණ විශ්වාසය තැබිය යුතුය ඔවුන් අවදි කරන ධර්මපාල කෙනෙක් වී  පවුල   ‘පුනරුත්තාපන හෝ ප්‍රතිසංවර්ධන ””කලයුතුය
                                          රට පුරුෂ ලිංගය නම්   ජාතිය හා සාමය  වෘෂණ කෝෂ වේ ලින්ගුව ප්‍රාණවත් කරන්නේ ඒ  කෝෂයන් ය . එහෙත් මාක්ස් වාදීන් හා ජී එල් දයාන් ආදීන් අනුව  වෘෂණ කෝෂ වන්නේ  දෙමල හා මුස්ලිම් වර්ගයන්ය  ඔවුන් නැතිව  සිංහලයාට බලයට ඒ මට නොහැකි බව  මේ කේවට්ටයෝ කියති   ..
 මහින්ද නැවත බලයට පත් කිරීමට වලිකන ය  එසේ කරන්නේ අය්දය්  පැහැදිලි ලෙස කියා යුතුය  . ගොටාභය කෙලින් මිනිහෙකි එහෙත්” මිනිසුන් ”’ හඳුනා ගැනීමේ අපහසු තාවක් ඔහුට ඇත්ත  ඔහු දේශපාලන ඉතිහාසය  දන්නේ ටිකක් නිසා විය හැක  සරත් ෆොන්සේකා ගෙනාවේ ඔහුයඒ   මහින්ද අකමැතිව ස්ටිදීය එහෙත් ඔහු නියම කළමනා කරුවෙකි  බැසිල්   ජාතික තීරණ වලට  නොගත යුතුය ඔහු රටේම මුදල් උතුරට වය කර දෙමල චන්ද දිනා ගත හැකියය්  සිතු මෝඩ අදහස් ඇත්තෙකි   .   70% වන සිංහල බෞද්ධයන්ට  පැහැදිලි ලෙස  තමන් යන ගමන තේරුම් කරදීමට එකාබධ්ධ විපක්ෂය කටයුතු කලයුතුය තවත් රැවටෙන්නට අපට අවශ්‍ය නැත …
මේ ගැන දැඩි  විවේචන ඉදිරි පත් කිරීමට ලංකා වෙබ්  පාඨකයෝ ඉදිරිපත් වෙත්වා .අපට කල හැක්කේ එසේ කර  ටික දේනේ කුගේ හරි ඇස් ඇරවීම පමණි  

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

Dr. Deepika Udagama
Chairman,
National Human Rights Commission
Head Office,
No. 165 Kynsey Road,
Borella, Colombo 08
Sri Lanka

Dear Dr. Deepika Udagama,

Request for special action regarding Ms M K Malani, presently being held at the Dumbara-Bogambara Prison – tortured, sexually abused and incarcerated under fabricated charges by Nawalapitiya Police

The Asian Human Rights Commission is bringing this case to your notice as a case that requires, special attention given the grave violations of human rights involved and continuing imprisonment of the victim on fabricated charges.

This case may have come to your notice already. In any case we set out the basic facts of the case below;

THE CASE NARRATIVE:

According to the detailed information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), Ms. M K Malani, 38 years old, was a resident of a line-house (estate housing) at Dholosbage Estate in Nawalapitiya, Kandy District. She was married to Mr. R.P. Rengan Selvam and they have six children, the youngest being a son aged five years. The family is poor and destitute. The husband was a laborer, while Malani supported the family by plucking tea in the tea-estates. Mr. Selvam was addicted to liquor and as a result she suffered regular domestic violence. When she was expecting their sixth child she was severely assaulted by her husband and was treated in hospital for several months.

Due to the abuse, Malini had started a relationship with Nadaraj Thambiraj Shivakumar, and left her husband to live with him, taking her youngest son with her. She has been living with Nadaraj for the past five years. In early January 2016, Rengan extended an invitation to Malini and her new husband to visit him and expressed eagerness to see his youngest son.

On January 5, Malani, Nadaraj and her youngest son visited Rengan, and during the visit Rengan in his usual behavior started to hurl abuse at Malini. Later at around 10 p.m., he assaulted Malini and pushed her to the ground, at which both she and Nadaraj with their son left for Malini’s parents’ house.

On January 7, Malini learned that Rengan had been killed. She immediately visited the Gampola Police Station to make a complaint, but the police refused to accept her complaint since Rengan’s residence is not situated within the Gampola Police Division. Instead, the police officers informed her that some police officers from the Nawalapitiya Police Station would be arriving and she could go with them to the Nawalapitiya police station to lodge a complaint.

Several hours later several police officers attached to the Nawalapitiya Police Station arrived, and asked Malini to go along with them to the Nawalapitiya Police Station in the police jeep, to which she agreed.

At the Nawalapitiya Police Station, Malini asked some officers to record her complaint. Having waited for some time, she realized that the officers instead began to continuously question her about the incident. The officers then accused her of killing Rengan and implicated Nadaraj in the killing as well. She vehemently refused the allegations. Malini also observed that the police officers did not start any investigation regarding her complaint, nor did they ask about any details of the crime or the crime scene. The officers only continuously harassed Malini to admit to the commission of the crime.

After several hours of questioning, Malini was taken to an upper floor of the police station by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers, and her son was separated from her at that time. While she was being interrogated about the murder, to which she confessed not knowing anything, several police officers started kicking and assaulting her with their fists. She was then asked to keep her hands on the floor and police officers trampled on them with their shoes. She was assaulted with a plank and her clothes were torn and chili paste was rubbed on her face. Later she was hung from the ceiling with both hands tied and she was verbally abused and severely beaten. When she asked for water, she was told to urinate and drink. Her clothes were then removed and the CID officers started to sexually abuse her. Once again she was hung from the ceiling and severely beaten. In the night when she cried out in pain, she was given some balm while her son was watching her.

Several days later, on January 10, she was finally produced before the Magistrate of Nawalapitiya and remanded at the Dumbara- Bogambara remand prison in Kandy. She was once again produced before the Magistrate on April 1, and continues to be in detention.

Matters arising from the above narrated facts

1. Torture of Ms M K Malani, a woman of 38 years old, aggravated also by the fact that the torture took place in front of her 6 year old child.
2. Sexual abuse by policemen
3. Incarceration under fabricated charges

A short comment on each of these violations;

1. As pointed out by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, Mr Juan E Mendez, torture and ill-treatment remains common practice in Sri Lanka and there are cases involving brutal forms of torture taking place. If the facts narrated by the victim in this case is correct, then this is one such case.

The Special Rapporteur has also pointed out how torture remains the means by which information is collected in criminal investigations. This again is a case in point. According to the narrative by the victim no questions were asked nor were there any credible investigation conducted before arresting her for the murder of her husband whom she had left five years ago. She went to the police station on hearing of the death of her husband to make a complaint and instead, she was arrested and questioned on allegation that she has murdered her husband. What was the basis of this allegation?

It is not difficult to figure out whether there was any credible basis to baseany allegations against her by examining the relevant books which should be in the possession of Nawalapitiya Police. It is possible for the Human Rights Commission, either directly or through Superior Officers to examine these documents. In any event, the victim alleges that she was tortured. It is possible to verify her allegations on this matter through forensic examination. Though sometime has lapsed it is possible by forensic means to verify whether she has been subjected to torture.

In a situation such as this, we very respectfully submit that the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, has the power and the duty to have the victim examined forensically, and thereby be in a position of verifying her allegations. We are sure that the Commission will share the concern that if the allegations are prima facie credible, allowing her to suffer further incarceration itself would constitute violations of her basic human rights. A torture victim in her position deserves to be examined as fast as possible and if any relief is to be genuine it should begin with intervention to end her incarceration.

Therefore, we would first of all, respectfully request the Commission to cause her to be examined by a forensic pathologist and thereby commence investigation into the allegation of torture at the earliest.

In this case the allegation of torture and incarceration are linked. If the police had independent evidence of her being involved in the murder then why was there a need to torture her in the first place? The torture suggests that the police were attempting to extract information forcibly. Why was there such a need? Thus, if the allegations of torture is prima facie correct, then it also points to the fact of an illegal incarceration, and a falsified case. If the case is falsified, then the issue is, as to why the police needed to falsify a case. This again takes us to a serious matter relating to human rights in the present context of Sri Lanka. It is a well-established fact that a large section of police officers in Sri Lanka are incompetent and are not qualified to carry out criminal investigations , particularly into serious cases such as murder. It is a publicised fact that about 29,000 police officers were recruited as reserve officers in 2006 and this was done without any reference to any criteria or verification of any qualifications. This means almost one third of the police force in Sri Lanka can be said to be disqualified for any serious investigations into crimes by the very nature of their appointments. These reserve officers have now graduated into various higher ranks in the service, despite of their lack of qualifications. It is a matter of concern for all those who are concerned with human rights to take up this matter seriously and in particular when the cases like the present case arise, where there is a clear indication that the process of arrest, detention and incarceration have all been done, without following any legal or procedural rules.

2. The victim alleges sexual abuse. The Human Rights Commission is aware that sexual abuse while in custody, ranks among the gravest crimes and also amounts to torture. An allegation of sexual abuse while in custody requires, immediate reaction on the part of everyone who owes legal obligation for investigation. We therefore, urge that the Human Rights Commission would cause an inquiry into the matter immediately. If the allegations are found to be prima facie correct, then would take the necessary actions on the one hand to assist the victim of such sexual abuse and on the other to take action against the perpetrators. Again, the issue of incarceration on fabricated charges and the sexual abuse if correct, is deeply linked. Can the accusers against individuals be also the perpetrators of her sexual abuse? There is an enormous incongruity between those who are prosecuting a person when they also are alleged to have been involved in sexual abuse of the suspect. We believe that the Human Rights Commission will appreciate the grave miscarriage of justice involved in such a situation.

Therefore, instead of letting the victim suffer incarceration further, it would be the duty of all those who are involved in the protection of her rights to raise this matter of a grave injustice involved in those accused of sexual abuse be also the persons involved in pursuing criminal charges against the victim.

Both the accusations of torture by assault and also sexual abuse in custody which also amounts to torture would place the victim in a position to deserve psychological assistance at this stage. As the UN Rapporteur against torture and ill treatment has raised this issue of psychological assistance, and treatment we would respectfully request the Human Rights Commission to take this case up as one of the first instances in which the Commission takes an active stance to provide such assistance to this victim and thereby recognise her right to receive such assistance.

3. Continued incarceration

If the victim’s version is true, then she has suffered torture, sexual abuse and is being incarcerated on the basis of request by the same persons who cause the above mentioned violations of human rights. We strongly recommend the Human Rights Commission to begin to establish the principle that arrest is prima facie illegal as is the most fundamental position in the common law stated very clearly already in 1861 by A V Dicey. (The full quote for your easy reference is as follows)

The right to personal liberty as understood in England means in substance a person’s right not to be subjected to imprisonment, arrest, or other physical coercion in any manner that does not admit of legal justification. That anybody should suffer physical restrain is in England prima facie illegal and can be justified (speaking in very general terms) on two grounds only, that is to say, either because the prisoner or person suffering restraint is accused of some offence and must be brought before the Courts to stand his trial or because he has been duly convinced of some office and must suffer punishment for it. Now personal freedom in this sense of the term is secured in England by the strict maintenance of the principle that no man can be arrested or imprisoned except in due course of law i.e. (speaking again in very general terms indeed) under some legal warrant or authority and, what is of far more consequence, it is secured by the provisions of adequate legal means for the enforcement of this principle. These methods are twofold; namely, redress for unlawful arrest or imprisonment by means of a prosecution or an action, and deliverance from unlawful imprisonment by means of the writ of habeas corpus”.

It should be the duty of all who are concerned with law and human rights to resist the easy manner in which, people are being sent to remand prisons in Sri Lanka merely on the allegations by the police. Particularly in instances like the present one where the conduct of the police is highly questionable there is ample justification to question the police version of the events in this case. It is not difficult to find out at all whether there was independent evidence which would justify a reasonable suspicion that this victim is in fact involved in this crime. If it is not so, it is the duty of all concerned to see that she be released. It is within the power of the Human Rights Commission to point out to an illegal detention when there are strong grounds to do so.

In raising the following issues what we are attempting to do is to take up the issues raised and recommendations made by the UN Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan E Mendez, preliminary observations following his visit to Sri Lanka in May 2016. We believe that the Human Rights Commission as consisting of today is competent and quite capable of providing a credible leadership in dealing with serious abuses of human rights as those alleged by the victim in this case.

We would also like to assist the Human Rights Commission by making the following suggestions in order that it may discharge its duties diligently and also without delay.

We would like to suggest that the Human Rights Commission request the professional assistance of forensic doctors, and psychologists, on a voluntary basis to assist them in their inquiries. We are aware that there are many conscientious pathologists and forensic experts as well as persons qualified in the field of psychology are available in Sri Lanka and are willing to assist in inquiries of this nature if they are requested to do so. Perhaps the Human Rights Commission should form groups of such persons whose assistance could be called upon whenever the Commission requires such assistance. Given the peculiar circumstances of Sri Lanka and the constraints on budgets and others such matter which are unfortunately impediments standing on the path or protection of human rights the Commission can develop suitable methodologies to enhance its work which are contextually justifiable.

We take this opportunity to also state that the Asian Human Rights Commission will be willing to assist in any manner possible, if the Commission requires any such assistance. What we are concerned about is of raising the levels of protection of persons with the efforts of the Human Rights Commission as well as community resources, so that debacles caused by particular political circumstances in the country could in some way be overcome in the area of the protection of the rights of persons.

Thank you,
Yours Sincerely,

Bijo Francis                                                                            Basil Fernando
Executive Director                                                        Director of Policy and Programmes

P.S. For the purpose of public education we will publish this letter

Dharma Voices for Animals Colombo, Sri Lanka Chapter

With Vesak around the corner it is an appropriate time to place stress on the Buddha’s teachings particularly on the protection of animals, natural environment and the value of forests. Because once they disappear from our midst as a result of unsustainable development there is no known human method of getting them back again. 

Buddhism is an animal rights religion par excellence. It has long subscribed to the belief that all life forms including that of non – human animals are sacred and deserving of respect, and extolls Metta (Loving – Kindness) and Karuna ( Compassion) as utmost virtues worthy of cultivation.

Buddhism unreservedly embraces all living beings in its moral universe without discrimination on ground of species, race or creed. Buddhist tenets—including the first precept, Do not kill”—extend to both human and non – human sentient beings. The Buddha was so adamant and protective of the weaker members of our moral community namely the animals that he declared:  

He who has laid aside the cudgel that injures any creature whether moving or still, who neither slays nor causes to be slain — him I call an Arya (Noble person) ” (Dhammapada)

So influenced were the people of Sri Lanka by Buddhist teachings both in understanding and in their practice that in the pre – Portuguese era (before 1505 A.D.) people of neighbouring countries used to call the Sinhalese the ‘Aryavansa ’ (Noble Race).

The Buddhist teachings are rich with moral sayings and ethics that the more outspoken statements of the Buddha in relation to Rights and Welfare of Animals, Trees, Forests and the larger natural environment deserve to be published in Vesak Cards this season to inspire people particularly the younger generation to be pro – active and take moral responsibility for the protection of these precious resources in the present and the future. Animal rights should be in the forefront of thought of Buddhists interaction with non – human sentient beings.

Here are some inspiring Buddhist quotations:                

• “Let creatures all, all things that live, all beings of whatever kind, see nothing that will bode them ill. May naught of evil come to them”.

                                                                                             The Buddha

• The Mahavanija Jataka teaches us to cultivate compassion and gratitude towards nature especially the tree thus: The tree that gives you pleasant shade, to sit or lie at need, you should not tear its branches down. One who harms his friend (the Banyan tree) is cruel indeed.”
• A Righteous King should extend his protection not merely to different classes of people equally, but also to beasts and birds ”

                                                              Cakkavattisīhanāda-sutta

• Emperor Ashoka taught his people to have compassion for animals and to refrain from harming or killing them.  In one of his famous pillar edits he declares “I have enforced the law against killing certain animals. The greatest progress of Righteousness among men comes from the exhortation in favour of non-injury to life and abstention from killing living beings.”
• As a mother even with own life protects her only child, so should one cultivate immeasurable loving-kindness towards all living beings”.

                                                                                    Karaniya Metta Sutta

• He who both day and night takes delight in harmlessness sharing love with all that live, finds enmity with none”.

                                                                                     Samyutta Nikaya

• Life is as dear to a mute creature as it is to a man. Compassion and living kindness are the hallmarks of achievement and happiness.

People think of animals as if they were vegetables, and that is not right. We have to change the way people think about animals. I encourage the Tibetan people and all people to move toward a vegetarian diet that doesn’t cause suffering.

I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat ”.

                                                       Dalai Lama

• In the Samyutta Nikaya (S. I. 33), the planting of trees is encouraged as it is considered to be a good deed which brings about birth in heavenly worlds. It is well recorded that the Buddha spent a good part of his life in a site called the Jetavanārāma (the temple of Jeta’s forest grove). In the Petavatthu (Pv.259), it is said that to destroy a tree that has contributed much to the cleansing of the air that we breathe and has provided delightful shade during the hotter part of the day is looked upon as tantamount to the betrayal of a friend (mittadubbha).

• “The perpetuators of the Buddha dharma have a moral responsibility to the rest of humanity to be at the forefront of the change away from blood-letting and killing, and not surreptitiously fostering it because of their lack of will to change their habits or mode of thinking concerning the animal kingdom.”

                          Bodo Balsys                                                                                                                 Ahimsa Buddhism and the Vegetarian Ideal

• “The member of Buddha’s order “should not intentionally destroy the life of any being, down even to a worm or an ant.”

                      ~ Mahagga (khandhaka 1, ch. 79)

• “I love living things that have no feet, “four-footed creatures, and things with many feet” May all creatures, all things that live, all beings of whatever kind, may they all behold good fortune.”

                                                   ~ Cullavagga (khandhaka 5, ch. 6)    

• “Put your picket signs up if you are true compassionate Buddhists trying to walk the Bodhisattva path; and help end the war against animals. A little one sided war of course, but many forget that it is actually a war and that the animals are the innocent casualties of war. But there is no Geneva convention as to how to best look after these prisoners of human predatoriness, so people continue to entertain and feed themselves on the slaughtered bodies of those whim they have captured and then bred for their gluttony.”

                                          Bodo Balsys

                  Ahimsa Buddhism and the Vegetarian Ideal

• “When we hunt or fish, we deliberately kill a defenseless being who wishes us no harm. This is a direct violation of the First Precept. It is absolutely forbidden to Buddhists. As to eating meat, we know that the only way we can obtain it is for an animal to be killed. Therefore, when we eat meat, it is our intent that an innocent animal should die to satisfy our addiction to flesh. And that underlying intention, no matter how well hidden behind a smokescreen of rationalizations will block the growth of compassion and create negative karma.”

                                     Norm Phelps

             The Great Compassion: Buddhism & Animal Rights

• “Kill and eat is not a Buddhist principle.”

                                    Senaka Weeraratna

From “Export of meat products from Sri Lanka harms  country’s Buddhist image,” Buddhist News Network

http://www.purifymind.com/SB32.htm

15)       “The birds and beasts and creeping things?

  “tis writ”

  Had sense of Buddha’s vast embracing love,

  And took the promise of his piteous speech.”

      ~ Sir Edwin Arnold

        Light of Asia, bk. 8

Dharma Voices for Animals

Colombo, Sri Lanka Chapter

Shenali D Waduge

Ban Ki Moon the UN Secretary General appointed an Advisory Panel to ADVISE HIM on the final phase of the war in Sri Lanka. That advisory panel was not an officially UN General Assembly or UN Security Council endorsed panel and that may explain why its report ended up being ‘leaked’ and thereafter becoming quoted and referred to as an officially sanctioned international UN document – which it is not. However, it has suddenly been projected as an officially sanctioned UN document and has been used for successive UNHRC Resolutions and quoted extensively by the OHCHR Head. Illegalities of such has never been investigated despite requests to do so. Joining in this questionable actions are media and HR groups whose media releases will reveal the extent of lies and misinterpretation and disinformation they indulge in and how artfully they fool the public. They have got to the extent of substituting ‘credible allegations’ to promoting notion of ‘credible evidence’. Why do these entities wish to lie and distort like this?

The below examples showcases how the PoE’s conclusion that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths.” ended up with media and advocacy groups claiming that the GOSL and its troops KILLED, BUTCHERED 40,000 and more CIVILIANS while these same parties SUBSTITUTED the word ‘EVIDENCE’ when the PoE referred to ALLEGATIONS”. With the current UN Human Rights sessions in progress under a New Human Rights head it is prudent that Governments, their envoys and other diplomats place the importance of how NGOs/HR organizations and Media have impeded reconciliation as well as being responsible for lies and distortions and some action needs to be taken against them.

INDIVIDUALS

Since 2009 media and advocacy groups have repeatedly committed factual errors and have thus deceived the general public. The UNSG’s Panel of Expert report is not a UN document. Media and rights groups have continuously referred to the PoE as a UN document. The PoE’s ‘credible allegation’ has been substituted with ‘credible evidence’ while the PoE’s there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths.” Has been replaced with 40,000 killed by the Sri Lankan Army. These lies have been relayed across the world like Goebbels. Is this ethical media/human rights conduct?

Shenali D Waduge

Ratanapala

12 May 2016

Please watch the movie – Weight of Chains – The story of what happened to former Yugoslavia.

This has many parallels to what is currently happening in Sri Lanka. These include the US / Britain involvement; the role of NGOs, INGOs and the Church; Use of local oligarchs and rich; Use of ethnic divisions; etc etc. This drama is awaiting Sri Lanka to repeat in the same way it happened in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, Chile, so many Latin American Countries and now in Syria.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words. We have to show before / after pictures of countries that were devastated by the intervention of the Western Christian forces and recently by the Jihadist Muslim nations.

This has now got multiplied many times over by the involvement of Middle East money now increasingly coming into Sri Lanka to buy off land from the Sinhalese. In Colombo alone several acres of land are disappearing into Muslim hands legally every day.

What will be the fate of the  Sinhala Buddhists? In the North and East the Tamils. In the rest of the country Muslims, Tamils and now Maldivians. Sinhalese  are no better than lambs to slaughter at Eid Ul Adha!

Sudath Gunasekara

Sunday Leader 8.5.2016

Modi To Wipe The Tears Of Sri Lankan Tamils”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured that his government will wipe the tears of Sri Lankan Tamils”.

Modi said this while addressing election rallies in Chennai and Hosur town in Tamil Nadu ahead of the Assembly polls.

Modi said he was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Jaffna and added that his government would wipe the tears of Sri Lankan Tamils, The Tribune newspaper reported.

He also said that 30,000 of the 50,000 houses to be built with Indian assistance in Sri Lanka had been handed over to the Tamils.

Now look at this news. Politicians are the same all over. They will do anything and go down to any level to get the votes of people. This is how Modi woos the Tamil nadu Tamils at the ongoing elections.

I would advice Modi to first wipe the tears of Tamils in Tamilnadu before tries to do so in the eyes of Tamils of a foreign country by liberating them from that mad woman Jaya Lalitha and senile KarunanidiIsnt because there are more tears in the eyes of Tamils in India than those of Sri Lanka.

Isnt it a joke that a man who has miserably failed to wipe the tears of people in his own country trying  to Wipe The Tears Of Sri Lankan Tamils”  Rjiev also tried to do the same by training LTTE and by providing all what they wanted to establish EELAM here.

We warned him to stop that cracy blunder lest he is killed first. He did everything to destabilize Sri Lanka. He dropped Parippu . He gave even his bullet proof jacket to Prabhakaran.

He imposed the Rajiev/JR pact by force and the 13^th amendment on us. What happened within two months of our warning he had to pay for his heinous crimes against this country with his life.

Of cause Prabhkaran is not there to kill Modi. But it is better for him also to keep in mind that none who wronged this country thrice blessed by Buddha has survived

He also should understand Sri Lanka is not yet apart of India. It is an independent sovereign country lying far beyond his command though it lies just 22 nautical mile form India.

Sudath Gunasekara

11.5.2016

Here is a golden chance for all those politicians who say they have gone to Parliament to serve the people to demonstrate their credentials. In my opinion if they have a wee bit of shame they all should reject this criminal bribe offered by the Government to keep those in the government tied to the post to muster the vote and to allure those on the other side of the fence to cross over.

Each politician calls the other a rogue and those in the opposition rogues who wantonly rob the public. This is a golden opportunity to show the country that they are angels with no blood in their hands who work for the suffering masses day and night. Let us see whether there is a single politician down the line from the President to the ‘poor’ Mp. who haven’t yet being appointed a Minister even without a Ministry and a subject?

I take a bet there will be none.

I am lost to understand as to why the people of this country tolerate this bunch of merciless and blood sucking ‘Alibaba and the 225 thieves’.

The following news item under the caption MPs’ Vehicle Bonanza:”

is only a drop of 40 m one gets once in 3 years in the mighty ocean of bonanzas each one of them, in addition to the thousand and one other privileges and benefits get for keeping the party leaders in the paradise of power while the masses strangulated and blood sucked with VAT and BAT are suffering in the hell of abject poverty and misery.

When I watch the present situation in Sri Lanka it reminds me of the pre-French Revolution France But I don’t think even the pre-Revolution France was as bad as ours as it is going at present. If I am permitted to repeat rather in a slight different form, as Charles Dickens said ‘It is the best of times for them, it is the worst of time for the masses; they have everything before them, we have nothing before us; it is the season of light for them, and it is the season of darkness for us;  it is the spring of hope for them and it is the winter of despair for us, they are all living in salubrious heavens and we are all suffering in boiling hell.

You should not get surprised if tomorrow we have Balu Badda and anga Badda too introduced to give more and more to the poor, malnourished politicians. Whatever they do the green will vote the green, blue will vote the blue and the red will vote the red. The dogs will continue to bark but the caravan will move on.

MR loyalist first to benefit from mega tax waiver

More than Rs. 40 mn tax exemptions for each parliamentarian’s vehicle

May 11, 2016, 7:15 am

By Madura Ranwala

A UPFA Parliamentarian has taken delivery of his tax free vehicle, a brand new Range Rover Sport Diesel S/Wagon released by paying Customs only Rs. 1,750 as Customs Declaration fee. He had paid about Rs. 8.9 mn as Cost Insurance and freight (CIF) for the vehicle a member of the Sri Lanka Customs Unions told The Island last night.

The UPFA MP in the Joint Opposition was among 225 parliamentarians entitled to import luxury vehicles after paying a pittance by way of taxes or charges while the public continued to be burdened with increased new taxes such as VAT and NBT, the unionist said.

The unionist confirmed that the vehicle bearing the chassis no. SALWA2KE7GA561921 and engine number 0988086306DTA had been imported from a British company called Providence Trading Ltd. and cleared recently by a clearing agency in Sri Lanka named Frontline Enterprises in Mattakkuliya.

The vessel Conti Everest, which transported the vehicle, reached Sri Lanka on April 16.

“If the vehicle had been imported to the country with all the taxes, it should be valued at Rs. 45 million in the local market to earn a profit as it would have cost more than Rs. 42 million.

“This concession has been granted under Customs Procedure Code, 4000 / VEE,” he said.

The taxes exempted are Rs. 2,675,047 on Customs Import Duty (CID), Rs. 668,762 on Port Aviation Levy (PAL), Rs. 29,737,603 on Excise Import Duty (XID), Rs. 1,051,740 on Nation Building Tax (NBT) and Rs. 7,888,045 on Value Added Tax (VAT).

Media Release  Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka (SPUR) NSW Inc. Sydney Australia

11 May 2016

A day after the country witnessed an unprecedented turnout and spontaneous worker support at the May Day rally where ex-President Mahinda Rajapakse was in attendance, his personal guard of army commandos have been withdrawn by the government and replaced with a police protection guard.

Our Society condemns the weakening of the security of the ex-President Rajapakse as a callous and a calculated political manoeuvre. The weakening of the personal security of the ex- President Rajapakse is seen by many voters as an attempt to curtail the ex-President’s ability to move round the country to strengthen the ground swell of support. Mahinda Rajapakse is the prime target of the Tamil Tiger terrorists and the loosening of the security cordon is an open invitation to the suicide cadres of the resurgent Tamil Tigers terrorists in Sri Lanka and overseas.

If there is anyone in Sri Lanka who took upon his own shoulders to carry the will of people to eradicate the menace of Tamil Tiger terrorism, it was none other than Mahinda Rajapakse as President.  He did his duty by the people courageously at a time Sri Lanka was in dire straits, and when all other leaders were bending backwards and grovelling to the terrorists at the behest of foreign interference. Mahinda Rajapakse with all his more recent blunders and weaknesses, had his heart in the welfare of the people, and always places the national identity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Nation first.

His own political blunders were to the point of self destruction. In surrounding himself with a coterie of incompetent and self-serving politicians and ‘advisors’, who had little sympathy for the person or the Nation, became his downfall. Mahinda himself admits to the public that those were serious errors of judgement on his part during his later period in power.

Amongst the more far reaching errors was his failure to effect constitutional and structural reforms at the end of the conflict in 2009, to seal the Tamil racist demand for separation based on ethnic enclaves. Essentially, Mahinda failed to crown the military victory by not obliterating and purging the seven decade old racist separation agenda the Tamil Tiger lobby. If Sri Lanka is to live as an independent Nation with its head high, strong and courageous, political and constitutional reforms are needed to nullify the political agenda of the Tamil racists and their backers overseas.

The Nation needs the withdrawal from the now defunct, undemocratic and infamous Indo-Sri Lanka Pact that was shoved down the throats of Sri Lankans with the gun boat diplomacy of India in 1987.  Mahinda achieved a remarkable economic boom in Sri Lanka, post-conflict, which raced ahead in per capita income, and Sri Lanka progressed beyond being a developing nation to be the envy of the world in four years, but he neglected the constitutional reforms to consolidate the unitary state and making the Nation strong.

Mahinda Rajapakse is a ‘living national icon’ and his personal security is the duty of each and every citizen of the land. It is not one that is to be compared to any other person in the land. The threat to his life is real and the government should restore his protection as before. Any minor incident that occurs by the failure to do so would cause uncontrollable unrest and bloodshed, as millions adore Mahinda for the courageous stand he took against terrorism. The present government is cosying and grovelling to the rump of the Tamil Tiger terrorists, the Global Tamil Forum and other fronts. These treacherous connections provide the convenient safeguards to their own lives from assassinations.

Sri Lanka’s present government is a ship without a rudder. It is even without a GPS or a simple magnetic compass. It is drifting from blunder to blunder on a daily basis. In 80 years of self- government in Ceylon, now called Sri Lanka, has never seen the magnitude of political bungling, contradictions, hypocrisy, and institutionalised conflict of interest at the highest level of the land as seen today.

The elected President Maithripala Sirisena has his feet on both sides of the Parliamentary divide. Some of the Ministers work on a part time basis in both camps. Maithripala Sirisena is paradoxically the leader of his political party SLFP, which part is part in opposition, and with the other part of the government. This hodge podge gobbledygook was the work of Maithripala Sirisena in post-election horse trading, providing inducements for cross overs. The voters in the country have become totally disillusioned for the hijacking of the mandate given for a government that came to power on a catchy slogan of ‘Good Governance’.

To add insult to the injury, the present government has embarked on a project to destroy the will of the Nation, by masterminding the following:

• Appointing R.Sambandan, Leader of the Tamil national Alliance as Opposition leader from a group that has no more than a 19 member support in Parliament.  This appeasement to the ethnic Tamils and terrorist supporters has exacerbated the ethnic divide in Sri Lanka.  The true opposition was the UPFA elected by the people with a group of 95 members in a 225 member parliament. Due to their non-recognition within the Parliament 53 of these members successfully lobbied the Inter Parliamentary Union in Geneva for complementary and a token recognition as the legitimate opposition.
• Allowing the appointment twelve defeated candidates at the August 2015 Parliamentary elections as National List MPs, each of them commissioned to support the government’s proposed constitutional reforms.
• Delaying the conduct the country wide local government elections for six months, and postponing them indefinitely in the fear of a massive electoral slaughter.
• Seeking appeasement of the separatist lobby by allowing the singing of the National Anthem in Tamil when 90% of the citizens have a working knowledge of the native Sinhala language engaging in business, trade or employment around the island.
• Forcing a federalist constitutional reform not mandated by the people but an attempt to please the west and India
• Rushing in to sign an ‘Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement’ (ETCA) that will give wide advantage to Indians to take up jobs and business opportunities in Sri Lanka. Recent Indian interventions, and the earlier colonial power sponsored immigration from the time of the Dutch and the British has caused unimaginable and catastrophic social, political, economic consequences in Sri Lanka.
• Progressing a view that foreign judges are needed for the tribunals in Sri Lanka for alleged war crimes

Weakening the personal security of Mahinda Rajapakse – ‘a living national icon’ is heavily criticised by all  fair thinking people in Sri Lanka and is considered as a dastardly act by our Society. Further, our Society is of view that barring debate in Parliament on critical national issues is a clear hijacking of the people’s mandate and will lead to public unrest and violence. We urge the government not to make comparisons with any others but to give all protection needed to a unique ex-President Mahinda Rajapakse, the prime target of the Tamil Tigers.

Nimal Liyanage                                                                                 Dudley Upasiri

Spokesperson/Secretary                                                              President

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

උතුරේ යුද කඳවුරු වල සේවය කරන සොල්දාදුවන් ගේ මානසික සෞඛ්‍යය වර්ධනය කරනු පිණිස වැඩසටහනක් සම්පාදනය කරන ලෙස බ්‍රිගේඩියර් වෛද්‍ය සංජීව මුණසිංහ මහතා වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු ගෙන් සහ මගෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කලේය​. ඒ අනුව උතුරේ යුද කඳවුරු වෙත ගොස් තත්වය සමාලෝචනය කිරීමට අප ඉටා ගතිමු. මේ සමයේ දීර්ඝ කාලයක් උතුරේ සේවය කල සොල්දාදුවන් අතර යුද ආතතිය රාජකාරී වෙහෙස හටගෙන තිබුණි.  මේ නිසා සොල්දාදුවන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු බංකර වලදී දිවි නසාගෙන තිබුණි.

අප දෙදෙනා රත්මලාන ගුවන් තොටුපළින් පරණ ඇන්ටනෝව් යානාවක නැගී පලාලි වෙත පියාසර කලෙමු. අප සමග නිවාඩු  ඉවරවී යළි කඳවුරු කරා යන සොල්දාදුවන් සහ නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක් ද වූහ​. මේ මගේ ප්‍රථම උතුරු චාරිකාව නොවේ. මීට ඉහතදී කිහිප වතාවක් මම ගුවනින් උතුරට ගියෙමි. එසේම වරක් කපිතාන් වෛද්‍ය උපාලි විජේරත්න සමග වාසවිලාන්හි  හමුදාව විසින් අත්පත් කරගත් නිවසක නැවතී ඉඳිමින් පලාලි රෝහලේ සෙබළුන් ගේ  මානසික ප්‍රතිකාර වලට  සහාය වීමටත් සෙබළුන්ට යුද ආතතිය පිළිබඳ දැණුවත් කිරීමේ දේශන පැවැත්වීමත් කලෙමි.

In Palali Hospital with Dr  Major S.L.S Kumarage

උතුරට ගුවනින් යන සෑම අවස්ථාවකම ගුවන් මගීන් තුල යම් බියක් චකිතයක් තිබේ. ඒ වන විට එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ සංවිධානය ගුවන් නාශක මිසයිල ගසා ගුවන් යානා කීපයක් විනාශ කොට තිබුණි. 1995 දී පමණ මෙලෙස විනාශ කල ගුවන් යානයක ගමන් ගත් යුද හමුදා නිලධාරියෙකුගේ අවමංගල උත්සවයකට මම සහභාගී වූයෙමි. ඒ වන විට ඔහු ගමන් ගත් ගුවන් යානාවා කොටින් විසින් විනාශ කොට තිබෙන බව තහවුරු කොට තිබුණු නමුදු ඔහුගේ මිනිය ඥාතීන්ට භාර දී තිබුනේ නැත​. එය මෘතදේහයක් , මිනී පෙට්ටියක් නොතිබූ මළගමකි. මියගිය නිලධාරියාගේ මව සහ පියා ශෝකය , විමතිය , ආකූලතාව හිස දරාගෙන මරණ ගෙදර පැමිණි අමුත්තෝ පිළිගත්හ. ඉන් සුමානයකට පමණ පසු ඔවුන්ට මිය ගිය පුතාගේ අළු යැයි මුට්ටියක් ලැබුන අතර එය කාගේ අළුදැයි නොදත් නමුත් අවශ්‍ය ආගමික වතාවත් කොට  මළගම නිම කලහ​.

මේ ලංකාවේ එක්තරා භීම යුගයක කතාවකි. මේ නිසා ගුවනින් ගිය සොල්දාදුවන් නිලධාරීන් අවිනිශ්චිතතාව හිස දරාගෙන රත්මලානේ සිට පලාලි වෙත ගියහ​. කිසිවෙකු මේ ගුවන් ගමන් වලදී කතා කලේ නොමැති තරම් ය​. එසේම ඔවුනොවුන් එකිනෙකාගේ දෙනෙත් මග හැරිය අයුරු මම නිරීක්ශනය කලෙමි. සමහර නිලධාරීන් ගමන ආරම්භයේදීම පිරිටන් පෙති දෙක තුනක් බී නිදාගෙන ගමන් කලහ​. එහෙත් කිසිවෙකු ශාන්තව නිදාගත්තේ නැත​. වන්නි ප්‍රදේශය ඉහලින් පියාසර කරන විට ගුවන් නියමුවා ගිනියම් වූ යකඩ වලලු තුවක්කුවකින් මෙන් ගුවන් යානාවේ තිබෙන බටයකින් පහතට විදී. එය හීට් සීකිං ගුවන් යානා නාශක මිසයිල වල්මත් කිරීම සඳහාය​.

මෙම ගුවන් යානා බොහොමයක්ම පරණ අබලන් වූ ඒවාය​. සිමෙන්ති කොට්ටයෙන් ද කොමිස් ගැසූවන් ගුවන් යානා මිලදී ගැනීමේදී හතරවරම් ගැසූහ​. මේ නිසා කාර්මික දෝෂ මේ ගුවන් යානා වල නිතරම හට ගත්තේය​. කාර්මික දෝෂ නිසාද සෙබළුන් සහිත ගුවන් යානා ඇද වැටුනහ​. කොමිස් ගසා යූක්‍රයීනයේ කියෙව් නගරයේ සිට ගෙන එන පරණ ඇන්ටනෝව් යානා වල මලකඩ හූරා අලුතින් තීන්ත ආලේප කොට නව ඒවා මෙන්  පෙන්වූවද මේවා රීකන්ඩිෂන් බව සොල්දාදුවෝ දැන සිටියේ නැත​. වරක් රත්මලාන ගුවන් තොටුපලෙන් උතුර බලා යන ගුවන් යානාවකට නැගීමේදී මම එම ගුවන් යානය  දොරටුව අසල සිටි රුසියානු උප නියමුවාගෙන් මේ ගුවන්‍ යානය නද්යෝෂ්නය (බලාපොරොත්තු තැබිය හැකි) ගුවන් යානාවක් ද කියා රුසියන් බසින් ඇසුවෙමි. එම ප්‍රශ්නයට ඔහුට කේන්ති ගොස් ඔව් මේ ගුවන් යානය බලාපොරොත්තු තැබිය හැකි එකක් කියා තදින් කීවේය​.

කෙසේ නමුත් රුසියානු නියමුවන් කෑලි හැලෙන ගුවන් යානා  වූවද පියාසර කිරීමට දක්‍ෂයන් වෙති. රුසියානු නියමුවන්  ගැන බොහෝ කතා මා මිතුරු ගුවන් නියමු මෙල්වින් කුරුකුලසූරිය මා සමග කියා තිබේ. යුද්දයේ දී ඔවුන් ද දිවි පරදුවට තබා පියාසර කලහ​.

අපගේ ගුවන් යානය පලාලි ගුවන් තොටුපළ වෙත ආවේය​. අප අනෙකුත් සොල්දාදුවන් සමග මගී පර්‍යන්තය වෙත ගියෙමු. ඒ අතරවාරයේදී ගුවන් යානය මගින් ගෙන එන ලද එලවලු සහ අනෙකුත් ද්‍රව්‍ය ප්‍රවාහනය සඳහා කොලඹින් ගොස් සිටි නාට්ටාමිලා ගුවන් යානය වෙත දිව ආහ​.

විශේෂඥ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය  නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු සහ මා  පිලිගැනීමට කපිතන් වෛද්‍ය මනෝජ් වීරසේකර පැමිණ සිටියේය​. ඔහු ජෙනරාල් ආනන්ද වීරසේකරගේ පුත්‍රයාය​. වෛද්‍ය මනෝජ් අප දෙදෙනාව ඔහුගේ නිල නිවාසයට ගෙන ගොස් දහවල් ආහාරයෙන් සංග්‍රහ කලේය​.

කෙටි විවේකයකින් පසු අප වැඩ ඇරඹුවෙමු. ගජබා ඒකකයේ කර්නල් උදය පෙරේරා ගේ (වර්තමානයේ ජෙනරාල්වරයෙකි) සංවිධානයෙන් අප සොල්දාදුවන්ට දේශන මාලවක් පැවැත්වූයෙමු. යුද ආතතිය හඳුනා ගැනීමටත් ඒ සඳහා ගතයුතු ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගැනත් අප ඒකක වල නිලධාරීන් දැණුවත් කලෙමු. එසේම විශේෂ කාර්‍ය බලකායේ සෙබළුන් සඳහාද වැඩ සටහනක් කලෙමු.

මෙසේ දින කීපයක් පුරා අප දෙදෙනා පලාලි, වාසවිලාන් , නාගර්කෝවිල් , එළුතුමඩුවාල් යන ප්‍රදේශ වල  කඳවුරු වෙත ගියෙමු. මෙම දැණුවත් කිරීම් වලින් පසු තම තම ඛණ්ඩ වල යුද ආතතියේ ලක්‍ෂණ පෙන්වන සොල්දාදුවන් හඳුනා ගැනීමටත් ඔවුන්ව උපදේශන ප්‍රතිකාර සඳහා යොමු කිරීමටත් නිලධාරීන්ට හැකි විය​. මේ නිසා බොහෝ විනාශ වැලැක්වීම සඳහා දායක්ත්වයක් දීමට මටත් විශේෂඥ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය  නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු  මහතාටත් හැකි විය​.

මෙම වැඩසටහන සියයට සියයක් ක්‍රියාකාරී නොවූ බව සැබෑය​. සමහර ඒකක වල නිලධාරීන් සොල්දාදුවන් ගේ ප්‍රශ්න උපදේශනයෙන් නොව පරණ ක්‍රමයට කැත්තෙන් පොල්ලෙන් විසඳීමට ගොස් කඳවුරු වල වෙඩි තබා ගැනීම් , දිවි නසා ගැනීම් , හමුදාවෙන් ආයුද සහිතව පලා යාම් සිදු වූහ​. නමුත් බහුතරයක් නිලධාරීන් තුල ආකල්පමය වෙනසක් ඇති කිරීමට අපගේ වැඩසටහන් උපකාරී විය​. මෑතකදී මා සමග මුහුණු පොතෙන් කතා කල පාබල හමුදාවේ විශ්‍රාමික කර්නල් එස්. ටී.ඩී.පී රණසිංහ යුද සමය තුල සොල්දාදුවන් ගේ මානසිකත්වය ප්‍රශස්ථ මට්ටමකට තබා ගැනීමට ඔහුට අපගේ දේශන සහ පොත් උපකාරී වූ බව කීවේය​. ඒ පිළිබඳව මම අද සතුටු වෙමි.

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

By C. A. Chandraprema Courtesy The Island

* SC considers coal tender a matter of public interest

* PAB confirms bidder had improper communication with Tender Board

* Petitioner alleges cabinet was misled by Power and Energy Minister

May 10, 2016, 12:00 pm

In the old days when people spoke of corruption by those wielding political power, it was almost always a case of accepting commissions from the beneficiaries of contracts and deals with the government. However after the present ‘yahapalana’ government came into power, shady deals have acquired a mind numbing complexity such as the treasury bond scam. Another scam no less complex is the controversial coal tender issue which is now before the Supreme Court being heard by a three member bench comprising Chief Justice K Sripavan, and Justices Priyasath Dep and Upali Abeyratne. The case will be heard again on 25 May 2016. The SC has called on the Minister of Power and Energy and the other respondents in the case all of whom belong to the government, (and the Petitioner as well) to make submissions relating to two questions based on the facts of this case.

1. If there is a public wrong caused by a public authority or the State which is contrary to the constitution or the law, can the court ignore such contravention and dismiss the application purely on the basis of an objection taken by the respondents based on the requirements of locus standi?

2. If there is a misuse of public funds, does the rule of law require the court to protect the public interest and to direct the executive organ of the government to act within its limits and make the rule of law meaningful and effective ignoring the requirements of locus standi?

The submissions are to be made before 20 May 2016 in time for the next hearing on 25 May. We can see from the very questions posed by the SC that this is one fundamental rights case that is going to make judicial history. The term locus standi means the right to bring an action, to be heard in court, or to address the Court on a matter before it. Why the concept of locus standi has become an issue in this fundamental rights application is because the petitioner Messers Noble Resources Ltd is a company registered in Singapore and not in Sri Lanka. So the government which is a respondent in this case had argued in court that this foreign company does not have the locus standi to be able to petition the Supreme Court alleging a violation of fundamental rights. The questions posed to the respondents by the SC clearly indicates that there are other issues that may override locus standi objections. The facts of this case are as follows.

The Norochcholai power plant requires 2.25 million tonnes of coal per annum and when a tender is awarded for a full three years’ supply as has been the practice, the amount involved at the current exchange rate would be in excess of Rs. 60 billion. A cabinet paper dated 16 September 2015 submitted by the Minister of Power and Renewable Energy recommended the awarding of the contract for the supply of coal to Swiss Singapore Ltd against the recommendation made by the Procurement Appeals Board to cancel the tender and to call for fresh bids. The Minister of Power and Renewable Energy had stated in the relevant cabinet paper that from July 2009 onwards, Messers Noble Resources Ltd had been challenging the award of the coal supply contract either in the Procurement Appeals Board or in courts and somehow continuing to be the coal supplier.

The present controversy arose with regard a tender floated on 2014.06.18 to procure 6.75 million tonnes of coal required for a three year period. The Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) and the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurements Committee (SCAPC) had recommended the lowest evaluated bidder Swiss Singapore Ltd. However Noble Resources Ltd had appealed against this decision to the Procurement Appeal Board (PAB) which had recommended the cancellation of the tender and calling for new bids. The cabinet paper recommended the overriding of this decision handed down by the PAB stating that four previous tenders were challenged in that manner and the government was not able to make a decision during the past five years. The cabinet paper recommended that a long term contract for the supply of 4.5 million metric tonnes be awarded to Swiss Singapore Ltd at USD 68.72 per metric tonne and for the procurement of 2.25 million metric tonnes of coal on the spot tender procedure through the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee.

Noble Resources Ltd of Singapore has filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court against this cabinet decision stating that the Technical Evaluation Committee had evaluated the bids relating to this tender and recommended the grant of the contract to Noble Resources Ltd. But another bidder Swiss Singapore Ltd had made representations to the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee about two of the criteria specified in the bid document. The SCAPC directed the TEC to remove these two criteria for evaluation from the bid documents and to evaluate the contract without them. Based on the change in the evaluation criteria the TEC had determined that Swiss Singapore Ltd is the lowest bidder.

The criteria in the bidding document that were changed relates to the granular size of the coal to be supplied. The authorities generally avoided purchasing the more powdery coal as that resulted in some of it being blown away in the wind during loading and unloading and during transport, resulting not only in a wastage of coal but also in considerable environmental damage given the quantities of coal involved. Hence the acceptable granular size had been fixed at anything between 10 mm and 50 mm. The lower granular size limit was among the two criteria removed from the bidding documents so that more powdery coal would be accepted. Noble Resources has stated in their petition to the Supreme Court that considerable environmental damage will in fact result if this tender is awarded to Swiss Singapore Ltd.

Noble Resources pleaded that the Standing Cabinet Appointed Procurement Committee cannot make changes in the evaluation criteria after the bids are opened and a bidder has no right to communicate with the SCAPC or the TEC about the tender. The Procurement Appeals Board comprised retired Justice Hector Yapa, Mr P.A.Prematilleke and Mr C.Maliyadde had agreed with the position taken by Noble Resources Ltd. The PAB confirmed that at the first evaluation made by TEC, Messers Noble Resources Ltd. had become the lowest bidder and TEC recommended the awarding of this tender to Nobel Resources Ltd and the SCAPC had agreed with that recommendation. The Procurements Appeal Board observed that thereafter, the SCAPC contrary to their earlier decision had requested the TEC to re-evaluate the bid excluding the specific criterion in relation to granular size. As a result of this re-evaluation Swiss Singapore Ltd. became the lowest bidder making Noble Resources Ltd., the second lowest bidder. Therefore, the PAB stated that the recommendation of the SCAPC to award the tender to Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. was incorrect.

The PAB also observed that the recommended bidder, Swiss Singapore Ltd., had communicated by their letter dated 29.06.2015 with the Chairman of the SCAPC and that the contents of this letter shows that an attempt has been made to influence the evaluation procedure in relation to the price adjustment to be made on account of the variation of the size of coal. The PAB therefore recommended to the Cabinet of Ministers to cancel the tender and call for fresh bids after making changes to the tender conditions, if necessary.

The petitioner raised before the Supreme Court the question of the minister in charge of the subject having deliberately misled the cabinet by not revealing in full all the material facts relating to this tender. The answers that the respondents and petitioners in this case will file before the SC in the next few days and the conclusion that the SC arrives at may make judicial history in this country in relation to the awarding of government tenders.

This is what Greece experienced earlier, says prof Tissa Vitharana

Dr. Chula Rajapakse  MNZM

Thank you very much for affording Mr Rudra de Zoysa & myself  the time on the morning of 9^th May to listen to and accept documentations of our concerns regarding the above personalised plate , as you did at the Lower Hutt police station.

Thank you also for keeping us informed of your attempts to make contact with the owner of the above plate Ushanthan Balakrishnan of 30/134 Dixon street Wellington,

Thank you even more for informing by phone a short while ago today (11/5/16) of your  having been able to persuade  Ms Balakrishnan to withdraw the plate  in a few days, giving him time to obtain an alternate number plate. Thank you also for conveying your intention to follow up on this undertaking in a few days to ensure that this undertaking has been kept.

We wish to convey our heartfelt thanks and gratitude & that of the Sri Lankan community in Wellington and New Zealand to you for your time  and effort to achieve this successful conclusion. The high regard  the Sri Lankan community has for the NZ Police has been reinforced by your actions.

To make absolutely sure that this plate does not reemerge elsewhere we request  you to also  ensure that:

1. The LTTE” is handed over to the NZ police or NZTA so that it is not passed onto or sold off to some one else to re-emerge.
2. That the NZTA & Personalised Plates Ltd includes  LTTE”  in any form , in the unavailable category of personalised plates for any future applicant .

Thank you again for what your efforts, what you have achieved so far and for ensuring the completetion of your endevours  to it’s  full and ultimate conclusion as above.

Yours Sincerely,

Dr,Chula Rajapakse  MNZM

Shenali D Waduge

 In May 2009 Sri Lanka achieved what many had been saying was an ‘unwinnable war’. The ground force of the LTTE including its megalomanic leader Prabakaran were annihilated in a fair fight. Several times the GOSL requested the LTTE leadership to lay down their arms and surrender which they refused claiming they would fight till the last man. Eventually, sacrificing the lives of close to 30,000 heroic men and causing fatal wounds and injuries to a similar number, victory was achieved. The military victory was accompanied by a successful humanitarian operation that saved the lives of close to 300,000 Tamils amongst whom were LTTE cadres dressed in civil. Over 10,000 LTTE cadres surrendered to the army in civilian clothing while 594 child soldiers were given a Presidential Pardon not given by any world leader ever. If any military should be teaching and giving lessons it is the Sri Lankan Armed Forces. When comparing the last battle against the US/NATO military interventions taking place where all drone bombs, missile attacks resulting in civilian deaths are brushed aside as collateral damage, Sri Lanka has much to be proud of. Elsewhere countries round the world celebrate their victories in massive military parades and country-wide celebrations. They have not stopped these celebrations claiming that the defeated will get hurt but in Sri Lanka we have to come up with absurd reasons just because some in power cannot stand to give credit where credit is due.

What must be clearly noted is that these victory days celebrated all over the world are related to international wars (countries declaring war against the other). In Sri Lanka’s case we were engaged in an non-international armed conflict with armed non-state actors carrying out terror tactics. Terrorists do not have prisoner of war status and are not entitled to laws that govern POWs but terrorists must abide by international laws in place and States can use domestic laws to charge terrorists.

On 26 July 1945 Allied leaders called on Japan to surrender (Potsdam Declaration) in exchange for the assurance of a peaceful government for the Japanese people. Japan refused to surrender resulting in America dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 destroying 5square miles of the city. Three days later on 9 August even after realizing the damage done, America drops another atomic bomb on Nagasaki killing another 40,000. Japan surrendered to the Allies unconditionally on 14 August 1945 thus ending World War 2. Emperor Hirohito declared to his people should we continue to fight…it would not only result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation but would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization”. President Harry Truman (US President) declared This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would”.

Celebrations did not stop even after Japanese soldiers devastated by the surrender began committing suicide. Over 100 US POWs are said to have been murdered as were Australian and British POWs.

August 14^th and 15^th have been known since as ‘Victory over Japan Day’ or V-J Day. September 2 is the designated V-J Day in the entire United States.

Australia too celebrates V-J Day across the country. Amateur Radio operators hold “Remembrance Day Contest”. The Netherlands too has its own celebrations on 15^th August every year. 15^th August is a public holiday in South Korea to commemorate victory over Japan. Starting from 1946, September 3 was celebrated as “Victory of War of Resistance against Japan Day” in China.

Victory in Europe Day is a public holiday on 8 May. Across Europe countries continue to celebrate victory over Germany & Japan. Italy holds its Liberation holiday on 25^th April, Denmark on 5^th May, 8^th May is celebrated in France, Czech Republic (Day of Victory),  Poland (National Victory Day), Norway (Liberation Day), Ukraine (Victory over Nazism Day),

Ironically Japan has since become one of America’s closest allies. While Japanese continue to suffer from the effects of the atomic bomb even over 70 years after, the Japanese government remains a stoic defender of American policy. When President Bill Clinton decided not to refer to V-J Day but to the ‘End of the Pacific War’ in the 1995 celebrations, controversy sparked across America accusing the US President of displaying insensitivity to US veterans who as POWs suffered at the hands of Japanese forces. It is this same sentiment of insensitivity towards the Sri Lankan military who sacrificed much to bring peace that many throughout Sri Lanka feel when suddenly a day that Sri Lanka should celebrate is denied using the excuse that it may hurt the feelings of the tigers! Many however wonder whether that is the real excuse or the fact that many in governance did not wholeheartedly favour a military victory and wished instead to keep the conflict from being solved – thus the ‘unwinnable war’ theory.

May 9^th is Victory Day in Russia. It’s a national holiday to mark Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany in World War 2. Every year since 1946 Russia has celebrated Germany’s defeat in a military display where hundreds of thousands of Russians take part in a march to remember their relatives who served in the war carrying placards with their portraits. It is said that 27million Soviets died in the war.

Even the US military took part in the parade – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBlXGb0bjdM

The 70^th anniversary of D-Day was held on Sword Beach of Normandy in 2014. 70 years of triumphalism and not a word against it by the UNSG for obvious reasons. If Gen. Eisenhower can declare that every soldier who set foot on Omaha Beach in Normandy was a hero, why can’t Sri Lanka celebrate the courage, heroism of its armed forces? If Allies continue to celebrate the end of fascism why can’t Sri Lanka celebrate the end of a world proscribed terrorist leader and his ground force (though we admit that those who supported and continue to support LTTE are very much alive and active). When 19 heads of states including the US President, Russian President and even the Queen join together for triumphalism which reduced Germany to virtual rubble why are we shy to celebrate a military victory that no other military has succeeded and the world is still after Al Qaeda and ISIS.

There were no tears for the Germans. No one raised a finger to say ‘what about the 1million Germans killed after the war ended’, there were no human rights pundits to say ‘lets us not celebrate because it would be insensitive to the Germans and Japanese’. There were no petitions by the celebrated human rights activists to stop triumphalism even after 70 years of the war ending!

What was startling is that Germany is now a partner of the very nations who stood together to taunt the victory over the Germans. Not a hum came from Angela Merkel. She did not complain or issue a statement drawing attention to the millions of Germans killed by Allied policy. She did not remind the world about the flattening of Dresden by British airforce. She did not question the thousands of German civilians who died when precision bombing specifically targeted civilian cities. She didn’t showcase to the world the appalling conditions that the Germans were subject to. Angela Merkel sat silence as did Germany while every year the Allies continue to celebrate victory over the Germans.

UN Secretary General keeps silent every year but when little Sri Lanka achieves a fete that even the UN feels ashamed to acknowledge, the entire international system comes down against Sri Lanka’s ‘triumphalism’ in a very clear show of hypocrisy and double standards.

• five million Germans were starved to death in occupied Germany – Sri Lanka though a third world nation ensured all IDPs in refugee camps including LTTE cadres were fed, clothed and even banks were opened for Tamils to deposit their gold and money.
• 2 million German Soldiers died in allied captivity while performing slave labor – not a single Tamil faced slave labor.
• US President General Eisenhower prohibited the German Public from sharing their own meager rations with detained German soldiers. Any attempt by German civilians to feed the prisoners was punishable by death. All the communities in Sri Lanka joined the GOSL in relief efforts
• Of the 90,000 Germans who surrendered at Stalingrad, only 5,000 ever returned NOTHING HAPPENED TO THE 12,000 LTTE CADRES WHO SURRENDED

Sri Lanka has every right to celebrate – the question is why are we not? Is the sacrifices of the forces not greater than the sentiments of Tigers who still will not disclose what happened to 5000 missing soldiers? While the wives and families of these soldiers have lodged the missing names with the Presidential Commission on Missing the UN/UNHRC/foreign envoys and rights activists as well as media are stoic silent on finding out what has happened to these missing soldiers. Instead they spend on well-funded campaigns highlighting a missing Tamil and most of these ‘missing’ have ended up not ‘white-vanned’ or ‘disappeared’ but conveniently gone missing to appeal for refugee status and in most cases these ‘disappeared’ have had links to LTTE.

We have every right to celebrate. Sri Lanka achieved no easy victory. The victory needs to be remembered for the country fought not only LTTE terrorists. The LTTE was backed by many forces – India, Tamil Nadu, the Church, Missionary NGOs, Faith-based organizations. Certain officials of the UN, foreign MPs on LTTE payroll, LTTE diaspora camouflaged under charities, local tigers and a plethora of others who wanted to live off the conflict because it was more beneficial for a prolonged conflict rather than to end it. Therefore to end a military offensive wherein some elements inside the military too had dealings with the enemy was no easy victory especially when the entire media and communication channels were all weeping for the tigers and not the civilians the tigers were regularly killing.

Therefore, the public needs a better excuse than hurting the sentiments of the tigers to cancel 2016 Victory Day celebrations to thank the military for giving us peace, for sacrificing their lives so that we can walk out of our homes without fearing for LTTE bombs and suicide missions taking place. We owe our gratitude to the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, the Police and the Civil Defense Force for the freedom and peace that we today enjoy when elsewhere round the world bombs are going off in airports and public places. However the recent discovery of ammunition and suicide kits makes any to wonder who is upto mischief again. 

Shenali D Waduge

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2014/06/09/celebrating-victory-of-soldiers-who-defeated-fascist-terrorism/

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2016/05/03/when-world-is-still-hounding-nazis-over-70-years-after-ww2-why-are-ltte-terrorists-being-released-without-trial/

Chandre Dharmawardana, Ottawa, Canada.

Kumar David, well-known columnist and past Professor of Electrical Engineering in Hong Kong has come forward to defend (May 8, Island Newspaper, and in the Colombo telegraph) the controversial coal-power installation which has become a thorn of controversy. The ancient name of the city itself (saama-pura, the “city of Peace”), has been long forgotten; it has been a place where blue murder has been committed by both sides in the name of ethnic nationalism. It was here that a French NGO abandoned its local recruites to face the wrath of the tigers and the cross-fire from the government forces. So, let us forget the “saama” part and look at this sheer bone of contention, even when it comes to installing a power plant.

The country is badly in need of power, (just as it is short of a lot of other things, or even honest politicians!). So, are we to please various foreign vendors and their local agents by purchasing the Indian coal-power plant (50 MW), or the Japanese coal-power plant (1200 MW) plant, and accept the environmental degradation and increased mortality rates, as well as the need to ship coal from those vendors for many years to come? Or, do we try to push for a more sensible approach? Professor Kumar David argues that we have no other alternative, and that other proposals are all wooly eyed and impractical. He says that we don’t have enough sunlight hours, and enough empty land area to house solar plants. He seems to suggest that Dendro power (burning biomass), wind etc., are all still mere ‘pie in the sky’ ideas in the minds of “renewable energy evangelicals”. Clearly, Professor David considers this also to be “a revolution that will not happen” in our time, or that it is another “un-winnable war”?

Let us just go across the Palk Straits to Cochin, India, where the climate, sunlight effluence etc., are very similar to those of Sri Lanka. We have the following report”, “Eyeing to generate one lakh MW solar power in the country, Ministry of Civil Aviation (India) has decided to establish solar power plants at all airports. As a part of the programme, already 12-MW solar power plant was established at Cochin International Airport and the entire airport is operated on solar power at present …Speaking at a programme on Sunday, Civil Aviation minister P Ashok Gajapathi Raju  said that already a 5-MW solar power plant was set up at New Delhi airport (Indian Express, 8-May-2016)”.

India is slowly coming to its senses after having already done much damage to itself with its many coal-power plants. Many Tamil-Nadu coal-powered plants are in the vicinity of Sri Lanka. Nearly fifty coal-fired power stations along the coast of Tamil Nadu spew out metal toxins and particulate gases, brought southwards by the trade winds and monsoons. Some 1,15,000 premature deaths in India result from pollution due to coal-fired generators (Hindu, March 11, 2013). This number is much more than the deaths from kidney disease in the Rajarata. The environmental impact of Indian power plants on Sri lanka is unknown and it is urgent that those who talk of a toxin-free nation” should immediately study it. The fact that these coal-power plants are across the ocean is irrelevant as some of them are closer than Colombo is to Jaffna.

Coal-fired electricity may be “cheap” only if you ignore the cost of dealing with the health problems that are cause by its, for many decades to come. In contrast, solar energy is somewhat more expensive initially, but it is clean and done with!

Both organic and inorganic” agriculture, as well as attempts for healthy living will be smothered by over-arching pollution from the Indian coal-fired generators, as well as from the ubiquitous pollution from petroleum fumes and other petro-chemicals produced by the ever-increasing number of motor vehicules on the roads. All these are class-I carcinogens (i.e., you definitely get cancer on exposure to them, besides getting a whole host of other illnesses and allergies). Class-II carcinogens may give cancer at very high doses and long exposures. For instance, a dose of up to 8 tea spoons per day of glyphosate may be safely ingested by a 70 kg individual, according the the relevant European occupational health authority. However, yielding to fear-mongering, the Sri Lankan government has banned Glyphosate, one of the least dangerous substances in the group of class-II carcinogens, while leaving most class-I carcinogens and all other class-II carcinogens untouched. The plan to install more coal capacity while talking of a “toxin-free agriculture” is sheer hypocrisy.

Prof. David’s worry about there not being enough free surface area to position solar panels suggests that he needs to look up, and notice all the roof tops of building, hotels, hospitals, schools etc., that can be used. Architects should mandatorily include solar paneling in every new building or house just as they put in flooring and electric wiring in any building. The money allocated for coal-fired power plants should be used as a fund to subsidize such ventures through bank loans and subsidies.

Even northern countries like Germany, which has less sun than Sri Lanka have gone in a big way for Solar energy. France relies on nuclear generators for nearly 80% of its needs and has shaken off the need for polluting fuels.

Of course, at present most of the electricity demand in Sri Lanka is during the night. But with enough solar panels, people will use electricity for air-conditioning, and the peak period will shift to daytime.

Increasing industrialization as well as the use of electricity for rail transport will also shift the peak hours to daytime. In any case, excess day-time electricity production can be used to even pump back water into reservoirs as a means of storing energy for use at other times. However, the CEB is a slow and inefficient beast, possibly riddled with the usual ills of corruption and mismanagement. Perhaps Professor David knows more about such matters. However, the CBC has still not given (as far as I know) a tariff figure for the purchase of electricity from private individuals, although some credit is given in terms of banking any net electricity units generated by a private owner.

Even in the area of Dendro electricity production, it is the CBE that seems to be the slowest link. I have heard of at least two cases of 10 MW Dendro power plants (private sector) that were ready to be hooked up during the 2011-2012 period, but the CBE was not ready with their substations! Dendro power and other “bio-mass” power sources are “carbon neutral”, in the sense that they put back to the environment just the carbon that was absorbed when the plants (e.g. Gircidia) grew.

There are some who think that our troubles will be over when the gas deposits in the Sri Lankan seas begin to be tapped. I would argue that the nations troubles will escalate to the maximum if the gas is tapped. Furthermore, the environmental impact on the topical marine ecology cannot even be assessed at this stage.All the international vultures will be upon the gas, and Sri Lanka will be like Nigeria, rich in fuel and run by foreign multinationals, while the people remain poor. They will be deliberately kept poor by those who exploit the gas.

Prof. David has is no novice to politics. In fact, I first knew him as an ardent engineering-faculty LSSP activist. So, when he says ” It need not be at Sampur, it can be elsewhere”, he is forgetting that locating it right near Gokarna (Trincomalee) is essential to the Indians. Their bid to control the port of Trincomalee will be further strengthened by their control over the power supply to the region. Once the Indians get the politically naive Sri Lankans to build the bridge over Rama-Sethu (Adam’s bridge), a direct railway line will connect the strategic port to India. Both Colombo hegemonists and Jaffna hegemonists will in the end find that they have been taken over by the big brother from the North. Mr. Wickremasinghe may think that this will weaken the hand of the Northern Provincial Council to a mere milli-volt, but he too will be nothing but a powerless spark from a Wimshurst machine.  So, I am sure the Indians want the power-plant in this very strategic location for much more than selling coal.

So, Prof. David is quite mistaken when he believes that moving away from coal-fired power plants is NOT a practical possibility available right now. It is not , by any means some sort of “pie in the sky idea” of alternative-energy evangelists.

ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න විසිනි –

ලොව හොදම මිනිරන් ඉල්ලම් ඇති පතලක් වන කොටියාකුඹුර බෝගල පතලේ සේවකයින් 192න් කම්කරුවන් 133න් දෙනෙකු 2016 මැයි 10වැනිදා උදේ 9ට වැඩවර්ජනය කරමින් ඇරඹූ උපවාසය තවමත් ක්‍රියාත්මකය. මෙම උපවාසය පොළව මට්ටමේ සිට අඩි 1650ක් යට සිට කරන අතර එයට පතල් සේවකයෝ 47ක් එක්වී සිටිති.

උපවාසකරුවන්ගේ පවුල්වල සාමාජිකයින් 60දෙනෙකු පමණ සමාගමේ ගේට්ටුව ඉදිරිපිට රැස්වී සිටිනු ලක්නට ලැබේ. වැටුප් වැඩිකිරීම, සේවක අයිතීන් කප්පාදු නොකිරීම, පැය 9 වැඩ මුරය වහා අහෝසි කිරීම අසනීප නිවාඩු 21 වහා ලබාදෙන ලෙස වර්ජකයෝ ඉල්ලා සිටිති. අන්තර් සමාගම් සේවක සංගමය වෙනුවෙන් වසන්ත සමරසිංහ මැයි 11වැනිදා උදෑසන එම ස්ථානයට පැමිණ පතලට බැස වර්ජකයින් සමඟ සාකච්ඡා පැවැත්විය.

අනතුරුව සේවක සංගමය, කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සහ සමාගමේ නිලධාරින් සමඟ සාකච්ඡාවක්ද පවත්වනු දක්නට ලදී. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස වර්ජනයට විසදුමක් ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි අපේක්ෂා කෙරේ. බෝගල සමාගම ලියුම්කරුට එහිදී පැවසූ පරිදි සාමාන්‍යයෙන් දැනට සේවකයෙකු වෙනුවෙන් මාසිකව රුපියල් 60,000ක මුදලක් වෙන්වත අතර ඉන් රුපියල් 40,000කට ආසන්න ගණනක් මුදල් වශයෙන් අතට ලැබේ.

ජවිපෙට සම්බන්ධ අන්තර් සමාගම් සේවක සංගමය වර්ජනය මෙහෙයවූවද ඒ තුළ  පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂයේ 6දෙනෙකු වඩාත් ක්‍රියාකාරීන් වශයෙන් කටයුතු කරති. මෙයට පෙර සේවකයෝ කෑම පැය විරෝධයක්ද පවත්වනු ලැබීය. බෝගල මිනිරන් පතලේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරි අමිල ජයසිංහ කියා සිටියේ ඉකුත් වසරට වඩා මේ වසරේ මුල් කාර්තුවේදී වඩා හොද ප්‍රගතියක් ලබා ඇති බැවින් එය සාර්ථකව පවත්වාගෙන යාමට හැකිවුවහොත් සේවක ඉල්ලීම් ලබාදීමට හැකිවන බවය.

කොළඹ සිට කිලෝ මීටර් 130ක් දුරින් තිබෙන රුවන්වැල්ල ආසනටය අයත් බෝගල පතල ඕලන්ද පාලකයින් විසින් මතුකරගත් අතර එය 1847දී බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය යුගයේදී වැඩිදියුණු කරන ලදී. පසුකාලීනව  බෝගල පතලේ අයිතිය හිමිවූයේ දකුණු ඉන්දියාවේ චෙට්ටිනාත් සමාගමට වන අතර එය පසුව ජොයිස් ප්‍රනාන්දු පවුල විසින් මිලදී ගන්නා ලදී.

පතක් කර්මාන්තයේදී 1971දී ජනසතු කර ඇති අතර ඒ යටතේ 1972දී මිනිරන් පතල් සංස්ථාව පිහිටුවූ අතර බෝගල, කහටගහ සහ කොලොන්ගහ පතල් ක්‍රියාත්මක විය. එජාප රජය 1991දී බෝගල පතල යළි පෞද්ගලික අංශයට විකුණූ අතර වර්තමානයේ එහි හිමිකම ඇත්තේ වසර 150ක ඉතිහාසයක් ඇති ජර්මනියේ ජී.කේ සමාගමටය.(The writer Dharman Wickremaretne is a senior journalist who could be reached at ejournalists@gmail.com OR 011-5234384)

Lankesh Gooneratne Courtesy Ceylon Today

The Joint Opposition (JO) is a Sri Lankan organization led by Sri Lankans, financed by Sri Lankans and looks after the interest of Sri Lankans, Udaya Gammanpila of the Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) told Ceylon Today in an interview.
Excerpts:

?How was the response of the people at Kirulapone during the Joint Opposition May Day rally?
A: Our crowd at the meeting was unprecedented. In spite of the government trying their best to sabotage our meeting as they knew in advance that our meeting will be a great success. As you know they banned the use of the term Joint Opposition in the media and a letter was sent by the Media Ministry Secretary Nimal Bopage. Then President Maithripala Sirisena threatened former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s security will be reduced to 30 persons as recommended by the Supreme Court.
The government also banned the use of the Shalika Ground before the May Day rally which was reserved after making the due payment.
Despite all the obstacles thrown against the JO we had an unprecedented crowd at Kirulapone and it was a remarkable success.
Unfortunately, President Sirisena claimed in Galle, where the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) May Day rally was organized that their meeting had the biggest crowd.
But the United National Party (UNP) had the second biggest crowd and the crowd in Galle cannot be compared with the crowd at Campbell Park and it is not even close to the crowd that attended Kirulapone.
This is not my claim it is the reality.

?What is your point of view on banning the use of the name Joint Opposition?
A: Media Ministry Secretary Nimal Bopage showed his lack of understanding. When a question is raised whether the Joint Opposition is not accepted by the people, it’s a lie, they not only recognize us, our leader Dinesh Gunawardena enjoys all the privileges accepted by a party leader in Parliament.
Moreover, not only our Parliament, the International Parliamentary Union has recognized the Joint Opposition because we had a meeting with them and they constantly communicate with us.
Secondly even if it is not recognized it is not illegal, if you can remember there were different groups in Parliament which were not recognized by the Speaker.
From 1989 to 1994 there was a Parliamentary group called the Hela Urumaya then there was another unrecognized group in Parliament from 1994 to 2000.
Such groups can be in Parliament. It is not illegal and by telling the media not to publish the name Joint Opposition it shows a lack of understanding of the Law by the current government.

?The current government will be in power for five consecutive years. Knowing that what are the intentions of the Joint Opposition by speaking against the government?
A: Frankly we do not think that the current government will last long although they are going to be in power for five years it won’t last long.
There will be internal power struggles to topple this government because they have failed to live up to the expectations of their own orders. The present government is dealing with an international financial crisis because there will be a gap of four billion dollars in the balance of payment in 2016.
There are only two nations in the world who can give loans of that magnitude to solve all these issues.
Firstly, it is Germany, although President Sirisena visited Germany last year and they claimed to divide the Sri Lankan economy for a limited grant of 80 million euros which is equivalent to 20 million US dollars.
To be honest, Germany is not in a position to help a remote island like Sri Lanka because they have a direct impact from other countries which are neighbours of Germany.
Therefore, Germany open minded said it would not help Sri Lanka to solve the financial crisis.
Then Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited China as China was the last hope of the government.
As you know when Prime Minister Wickremesinghe was in the Opposition he insulted China in his political campaigns but after coming to power Wickremesinghe stopped the Port City Project but he should know the foundation stone for the Port City was kept by President of China.
The current government made a huge blunder in halting the Port City Project and was an insult to the President of China. But the Chinese Government gave a grant of 80 million dollars.
If Sri Lanka does not get the support from China or Germany, there is no way Sri Lanka could come out of the financial crisis.
Therefore, this government will have no choice but to go home as they fail to provide essentials to the people.

? Is there an international force funding the Joint Opposition to topple the current government?

A: Well, what is this force? Those days the UNP was brought to power by three forces, mainly India, United States of American (USA) and the Tamil Separatist community. They were openly supporting the UNP and attacking President Rajapaksa’s Government.
If somebody claims that China is behind Rajapaksa’s comeback, actually China is the financial contributor to the government.
Despite this, Government’s leader continuously abusing China for decades.
In Parliament we do not accept the leadership of President Mathripala Sirisena and we do not attend any meetings conducted by President Sirisena, therefore, we do not accept his leadership.
But I was elected as a United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) member from the people.
?But without the UPFA, individuals in the JO will be nowhere. Is that right?
A: It is not true. Because people are not bothered about the party people are concerned about the policies.
And Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) has not contested under their ‘Hand’ symbol a single election since 1991, but they come in different names, still people embrace them as long as their qualities are favourable to them.
People are worried about the action plan, policies and the leaders more than the symbols, parties and the colours.

?Were you also involved in the clash that happened in Parliament when Sarath Fonseka was giving a statement with regard to the removal of former President Rajapaksa’s security?
A: I also got some minor injuries after the clash. We tried to sort the issue out. Actually we enter Parliament to verbally deal with issues and that is what we were doing, but the Speaker going against the order paper, decided to allow Minister Sarath Fonseka to sling mud at former President Rajapaksa.
He can’t do that according to the rules of Parliament but Dinesh Gunawardena raised an issue about slinging mud against former President Rajapaksa and they should have moved to the next step in the Agenda which was oral questions but the Speaker allowed Fonseka to make a statement but we protested and we urged the speaker to stop Fonseka.
Because of the partiality of the Speaker we shouted and protested disturbing Fonseka. Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Palitha Thewarapperuma attacked Prasanna Ranaweera who was shouting as well.
This turned into an ugly clash between the Government and the Joint Opposition.
We have to clearly say that we did not enter Parliament to fight but to argue, therefore, we denounced the action of Deputy Minister Thewarapperuma and are taking legal action against him for assaulting Ranaweera.

?Is the PHU registered as a political party?
A: There is no procedure to register political parties in Sri Lanka. What should apply is, if a party is in existence for more than a year it should be recognized by the Election Commission.
However, there are 63 political parties in Sri Lanka and only 16 are represented in Parliament. Therefore, I am not only an MP, I was also elected to Parliament with a very high number of votes, therefore, we have no difficulty in getting Election Commission’s recognition when the legal barrier is over.

?At the upcoming elections, will the PHU join an alliance or go as an individual party?
A: It will be decided at that time considering the political situation because if there are other political parties who think in the very same manner that we think it is always advisable to form an alliance.
If there is no political party in the same line of thinking, we have no choice but to contest alone.
As I explained before we found the SLFP has not contested alone after 1991 but colleagues of the alliance think alike so why should they contest alone and it is not illegal to contest together to build a bigger force.

By NJ Thakuria

Guwahati: Maintaining the demand for all due benefits to media employees including the journalists in accordance with the guidelines of Majithia Wage Board, an Assam based scribe body urged the managements of media houses in northeast India to implement the latest wage board recommendations to show respect to the Supreme Court (of India).

Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA), in a statement, cliamed that  barring the Assam Tribune group of publications, no media house in the region has so far implemented the Majithia board recommendations even though the apex court of the country had asked every newspaper and news agency management in India to offer statutory benefits to their employees following the new wage board directives.

Lately, two established media groups of Guwahati have shown interest to implement the recommendations of the Majithia Wage Board, which we would like to appreciate herewith,” said the  JFA statemnt endorsed by its president Rupam Barua and secretary Nava Thakuria, adding that other media houses of the region should also follow the direction at the earliest.

The alienated region, comprising eight States namely Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya and Sikkim, supports over hundred major newspapers in different languages. The media enterprise of the trouble-torn region offers direct employment opportunity for more than ten thousand employees.

The scribe body also appealed to those media groups not to play tricks with the interests of their employees by offering illogical and unethical proposals. The JFA pointed out that a number of media groups in different parts of the country had asked most of their senior employees either to resign for no reason or give written consent accepting whatever benefits the owners could provide, implying to ignore the new wage board benefits.

The media persons engaged in newspapers and news agencies across the country should get united over the issue and fight for their dues.

Moreover, they should also continue raising their voices for logical benefits to their counterparts in the electronic media as well,”

concluded the statement.

BY DALE CARRUTHERS, THE LONDON FREE PRESS  Courtesy Toronto Sun

LONDON, Ont. — A student in London, Ont. is crying foul after his high school barred him from carrying a controversial flag at a multicultural assembly.

Kumar Makandu, a Grade 12 student at Central secondary school, had carried a Tamil flag at the annual assembly for the past two years but was told by administration leading up to the event on Friday that he couldn’t showcase the flag.

For Tamils, an ethnic group living primarily in northeast Sri Lanka, the flag is a national symbol representing the movement to create an independent state. It depicts a tiger jumping through a circle of bullets — though Makandu says it’s the sun — with two crossed bayonets.

Central principal Jim Robertson decided only the flags from internationally recognized countries would be included in the assembly after a student last year mistakenly thought the Tamil flag was connected to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a militant group that fought the Sri Lankan military in a bloody civil war from 1983 to 2009. The group was added to Canada’s official list of terrorist organizations in 2006.

We’re not trying to get into the politics of aspirational governments,” Robertson said. I don’t want students to feel threatened.”

But Makandu said there’s no connection between the Tamil flag to the Liberation Tigers, an organization the Canadian government put on its terrorism list in 2006.

If I can’t even bring my flag up, how can I share my culture?” said Makandu, adding he spoke to many of his fellow students prior to the assembly and they told him they had no problem with him carrying the flag.

Makandu showed up for the assembly wearing a shirt depicting the Tamil flag, but a teacher promptly asked him to take it off.

He did so, not wanting to create trouble, and walked under the Sri Lankan flag at the assembly.

It’s pretty upsetting that I can’t represent my culture in a multicultural country like Canada where we embrace other cultures,” he said.

UNITED AUSTRALIANS OF SRI LANKAN ORGANISATIONS

PO BOX 4066, MULGRAVE, VICTORIA 3175, AUSTRALIA, Telephone 03-97957143

08 May 2016

A REQUEST TO RESTORE THE ARMY COMMNDO UNIT SPECIALISED IN VIP SECURITY TO SRI LANKA ‘S FORMER PRESIDENT MR MAHINDA RAJAPAKSE TO AVERT A THRAET TO HIS LIFE.

We, The United Australians of Sri Lankan Organisations are extremely perturbed by the Sri Lankan Government’s recent decision to replace the elite Army Commando Unit that has provided personal security Mr Mahinda Rajapakse’s with a Police Unit.

Recent news originating from Sri Lanka shows that some LTTE terrorists are still active transporting suicide bomb kits etc.   Hence it is very clear that Mr Rajapakse would have to be considered as a prime target of this terror group.

The existing cadres of the LTTE which suffered an ignominious military defeat under Mr Mahinda Rajapakse’s leadership and their local and external backers will not forgive or forget how Mr. Rajapakse comprehensively thwarted their attempt to establish a racist separate country and hence they will continue to target him.

Further, it has to be remembered that a number of popular Sri Lankan and international leaders who provided leadership in national liberation struggles against the dictates of the fascist forces were assassinated by those forces.

We believe that Mr Mahinda Rajapakse remains a popular leader and continues to play an integral role in the political stability of the country.  Furthermore we believe that a large number of Sri Lankans are extremely grateful to him for defeating the terrorism of the LTTE which has given them freedom, peace of mind and hope for the future. Hence, it is essential that he be provided with the most appropriate and fitting security arrangement for him to continue his political career and as a mark of gratitude for the peace and hope that his actions brought to all Sri Lankans.

We, therefore, humbly appeal to the Sri Lankan Government to re-assign the Army Commando VIP security Unit to provide security to Mr Mahinda Rajapakse.  We also appeal to other friendly nations to prevail on the Sri Lankan government to restore his security to it’s former level in order to avert the political instability that may arise as a result of any planned or opportunistic incident that endangers Mr Rajapakse’s life.

Ranjith Soysa

(Coordinator)

-Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (Victoria)

– Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights for Sri Lanka (Queensland)

-Western Australia Society for Peace, Unity and Rehabilitation in Sri Lanka (WA)

-Veera Parakramabahu Foundation Inc. (NSW)

Lt Col (Retd.) Anil Amarasekera. Joint Co-Chairperson NJC.

Please find the time to listen to the two video clips mentioned below to understand why we should oppose the Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the government of India.

https://youtu.be/CPgUfjdgNds

Prof Sarath weerasekara

https://youtu.be/P6RUD1hl27c

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග 

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතනයන් හී බොහෝවිට කනිෂ්ඨ සිසුන් වෙත වාචිකව, ලිඛිතව සිදුකරනු ලබන සරදමක්, ශාරීරිකව සිදු කරනු ලබන පරුෂ සැලකීමක් හෝ ඔවුන් තුල මානසික අස්ථාවරත්වය, බිය හා චකිතය ඇතිකරවන සුලු, සාමාන්‍ය අවස්ථාවේදී පුද්ගලයෙකු විසින් සිදුනොකරන්නාවූ ක්‍රියාවන් කිරීමටයැයි සිදු කරනු ලබන බලකිරීමක් නවක වදය අර්ථ දැක්වෙයි. අනෙකුත් රටවල් සමග සැළකීමේදී, ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලෝකයේ නවක වදය දරුණු ලෙස මුල් බැසගත් රටක් ලෙස සැළකෙයි  (රැගිං: හිස්ට්‍රි ඇන්ඩි ඉවොලූෂන්).

උසස්  අධ්‍යාපන  අමාත්යාංශය පෙන්වා දෙන පරිදි මේ වන විට නවක වධය නිසා නවකයන් 20 ක් මරු  දැක   27000 ක් සරසවි හැර ගොසිනි.

සිසුන් නවක වදයට යොමු වන්නේ මන්ද ? මේ සඳහා බහුවිධ කාරනා තිබේ. මූලික වශයෙන් නවක වද වධකයන් සතු පොදු ලක්‍ෂණ කීපයක් තිබේ

1) හීනමානය (හීනමානය මතුවන්නේ  කුල පීඩනය / දරිද්‍රතාව / සමාජ අවස්ථා අඩු බව / ශරීරගේ  අඩුපාඩු නිසා මතු වන ඩිස්මෝර්ෆික් තත්වය Body dysmorphic  conditions)

2) පවුරුෂ අක්‍රමතා (anti social personality / borderline personality)

3) ළමා කාලයේ කාංසාමය තත්වයන්ට යොමු වී තිබීම. ​ මාතෘ / පීතෘ දුර්ස්ථකරණයට ලක් වීම (maternal or paternal deprivation)  ,  අපයෝජනයන්ට ලක්වී තිබීම

4) බාහිර ක්‍රියාකාරකම් නිර්මානශීලීතාව වැනි දක්‍ෂතා අඩු බව, අව  ආත්ම සම්මානය ( poor self-esteem)

5) කන්ඩායම් තත්ව වලදී ඉස්මතුවීම සඳහා දරන ප්‍රයත්නය කැපී පෙනීම​ට අන් අයගේ අවධානයට ලක් වීම සඳහා ඕනෑම අවධානමක් කර ගැසීම.  කැපී පෙනීම සඳහා ඇති අත්‍යන්ත යොමුව

6) තමන් කෙරෙහි (self loathing) මෙන්ම සමාජය කෙරෙහි ඇති වෛරය

7) සාමාජීය හුදකලභාවය සහ එය වසන් කිරීමට දරන අධි ප්‍රයත්නය

8) අන්තවාදීබව සහ ධ්‍රැවගත චින්තනය ( සියල්ල කලු සුදු ලෙස දැකීම​) (polarized thinking)

9) අඩු සහනුභූතිය (lack of empathy)

10) පරපීඩා  කාමුකත්වය (sadism)

නවක වදය, ඊට ලක්වූ වින්දිතයන් අතර නිරන්තරයෙන් පුළුල් පරාසමය ශාරීරික, චර්යාත්මක, සංවේදනාත්මක සහ සාමාජයීය ගැටළු ඇතිකිරීමෙහිලා සමත් වී තිබෙයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල තුල ස්වාධීනව සියදිවි නසා ගැනීමේ අවදානම ඉහල නැංවීමටද එය හේතු වී ඇත. නවක වදය සිදුවන කාල පරාසය තුල එය දැරිය නොහැකිව සිය පාඨමාලා හැරයන සිසුන් පිළිබඳවද වාර්ථාවන් පවතියි. මීට අමතරව දැකිය හැකි නව ප්‍රවණතාවයක් වනුයේ උසස් පෙළ සමත් වන සිසුන් රාජ්‍ය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයන් තුලට පිවිසීම මගහැර, නවක වදය අවම පුද්ගලික උසස් අධ්‍යාපන ආයතන වලට ඇතුළු වීමයි (විශ්ව වර්ණපාල)

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Recent news item about ragging a fresher in a university drew my attention >>>>>

It is a pity that incumbent government ceased the military training ( hitherto called leadership training) of youngsters who are selected to the university .

This training would have made them more confident and foster courage to fight back if and when they are subjected to inhuman ragging .

I remember my younger brother who had martial art training ,has beaten  the hell out of some seniors who were trying rag them .They got so scared and never tried to rag him ever again

In place of military training state should train all youngsters in martial art  so that when they enter the university they can fight back the seniors .

In Chinese and Buddhist traditions even monks are given martial art training to develop concentration and endurance

I had education in a foreign country where ragging is never heard of ,and now I interview many young engineers  in my field who have studied in local institutions .I  note that they most of them     ( there are very good ones ) are not so forward thinking and energetic ,and with less fighting spirit ,most probably due to the trauma  they undergo during their infant –stage in the University ??

How nice it could be if the seniors get together and have party, welcome the fresher’s  and give them confidence that they are welcome ? ( or all freshers get together and fight back)

If  all the student unions  take a bald step and decide  not to perform ragging or not to  allow the somewhat stupid seniors  for just one year ,I am sure it will cease .

Dr Sarath Obeysekera