SepalAmarasinghe

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The environment is not collateral damage. It is a new frontline of hybrid warfare, and defending it is quite literally defending life itself,” — Ruslan Spirin, a Ukrainian diplomat based in Kyiv.[i]

One military official was quoted in Seymour Hersh’s article as saying What’s worse, dropping bombs or rain?” Operation Popeye in Vietnam. [ii]

In 2004 the Christmas/Boxing Day Indian Ocean tsunami that killed over 230,000 people hit the same countries that were recently affected by un-natural disasters. At the end of November, 2025 destructive twister storms, floods, and landslides reminiscent of ‘Operation Popeye’, Cloud Seeding weather warfare during the Vietnam War, were manifest in South and Southeast Asia.

The coastal areas of Aceh Province, Sumatra in Indonesia were the worst affected during the 2004 earthquake and Indian Ocean Tsunami, and the November 2025 floods and landslides. Sri Lanka was the second worst affected in both disasters, with Thailand, Malaysia and South India also affected during both the 2004 Asian Tsunami and the 2025 Monsoon extending Storms.

Co-incidentally, two days before Cyclone Ditwah arrived in Sri Lanka, a mysterious Ash cloud blew over New Delhi from a Volcanic Explosion in Ethiopia Nov 25, 2025 choking the air seemingly in anticipation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s State visit to India. The Hayli Gubbi volcano apparently blew in the Afar region of Ethiopia after 12,000 years apparently sending an Ash Cloud targeting New Delhi, India or so the story went!

All’s fair in love and climate change?

The Ash Cloud did not discourage the cementing of the Reciprocal Logistics Support Agreement (RELOS) to enhance military cooperation between the two BRICS nations and other trade agreements. RELOS streamlined military logistics support between India and Russia, making joint operations and long-distance missions more efficient and cost-effective for both.

RELOS marked India’s quiet pivot back to its old Cold War friend and ally, away from Washington. The agreement would facilitate the replenishment of essential supplies (fuel, rations, spare parts), enabling continuous, uninterrupted Russian military presence in crucial regions of the Indian Ocean routes that the US had sought to dominate with its European allies, UK, US, Holland former Imperial powers. RELOS would provide berthing facilities for troops, warships, and aircraft during both wartime and peacetime missions

Meanwhile, the Cyclonic storm Diwah that hit Sri Lanka on November 28 aborted the 75^th anniversary celebrations of the SL Navy in which Russian, Iranian, Indian, Malaysian, Maldivian, Pakistan, and Bangladeshi naval ships were participating, scheduled for November 30.[iii] Instead search and rescue humanitarian operation got under. Sri Lanka had also recently concluded exerceise with Russian military earlier in the month – Wolverine Path at Maduruoya camp which was subsequently flooded.

The dramatic spate of climate disasters” across the Indian Ocean world from –Ethiopia on the western shores to Indonesia in the East targeting Sri Lanka at the center of the IO, unfolded amid escalating geopolitical tension and quiet tectonic shifts — as India prepared to host Russian President Putin in a state visit on December 4. This was despite US attempts to isolate him and threaten India for buying Russian Oil and Gas.

Were the Operation Popeye –like Cyclonic Twisters that hit South and Southeast Asia on November 28, 2025 (Thanks Giving Day in the United States when folks were on holiday as with the Christmas day tsunami), ‘plausibly deniable’ hybrid economic weather warfare a covert warning to stymie Russia’s entry into the Indian Ocean and upend the rise of Asia and RICs (Russia, India, China)? Another tactic to stave off the crash of an empire with 800 military bases around the world as global power and wealth shift from West to East, North to South in what has been termed the Asian 21^st century with the rise of the BRICS?

Co-incidentally, US Special Forces also had intercepted a Chinese ship carrying dual use supplies to Iran off the coast of Sri Lanka in November, much like the apprehending of Oil tankers near Venezuela. It is not clear if Sri Lanka was used for that operation.[iv]

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) South and South East Asia are growth hubs of the world and the twister Ditwah that hit Sri Lanka certainly seemed designed to Make the Economy Scream”.

Like the 2004 Tsunami that crossed the Indian Ocean from East to west with massive destruction, just when the CIA was talking up the threat of China’s String of Pearl habours in the Indian Ocean, the recent pre-monsoon Storm in South and Southeast Asia appeared to present a seamless blend of geoengineering and Geopolitics in an era when the US led NATO war machine aims to ‘Own the Weather’ through Hybrid War masked by empty rhetoric about Human Rights and the ‘rules based order’?

In the wake of the unprecedentedly devastating twister cyclone ‘Ditwah’ that seemed designed to wreck National food security, essential energy and transport infrastructure, and deepen the International Monetary Fund, Eurobond US Dollar debt trap sprung around Sri Lanka that has lost Economic Sovereignty to the Washington Consensus, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Allison Hooker arrived in Sri Lanka December 11, 2025.

During Hooker’s visit US C-301 Hercules Planes that may be used in cloud seeding operations were already in the Sri Lanka’s Air force bases along with 60 US military personnel, purportedly to provide ‘humanitarian aid’.

The presence of US armed forces boots on the ground in Sri Lanka along with experts from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command (NMOC), 5 days before the floods and landslides with US war toys and other equipment were unprecedented and concerning developments to discerning citizens in the historically Non-Aligned nation.

After all, the country had been through a globally networked local ‘ethnic conflict’ that unfold as part of a regional Cold War Proxy that ran for 30 years (1983-2009) between India then allied with Soviet Russia and the Allied powers seeking then as now to control the sea lanes of the Indian Ocean World and military bases in Sri Lanka.

India Pivots to Russia? Weather Warfare as Indian Ocean Countries Unite

Cyclone Ditwah that hit Sri Lanka on November 28 causing massive damage in the country aborted the International Fleet Review (IFR) ceremony to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy. The IFR was scheduled for November 30 at South Asia’s busiest port of Colombo.

Naval ships from Iran, India, Russia, Malaysia, Maldives, Bangladesh and Pakistan were participating in a show of strength of Indian Ocean countries in the Seas of Sri Lanka–reclaiming the Indian Ocean sea lanes from Euro-American Imperial and neocolonial dominance. India had sent two aircraft carriers including its newest on its maiden voyage to Colombo.

The United States which seeks to dominate the Indian Ocean world though the so-called ‘Indo-Pacific’ was not however on the guest list for Colombo’s international fleet review which may explain the devastating tornado-like twister storms that unfolded to Make the Economy Scream”. Russian Troops had recently concluded the Wolverine Path joint training with the Sri Lanka military in Maduru Oya.

Plausible Deniability and Hybrid warfare: Unnatural Natural Disasters:

The same countries that were affected by Operation Popeye-like storms last month, were hit in December 2004 by the Christmas/ boxing day earthquake and tsunami disaster. The tsunami struck Indonesia and Malaysia, key countries that control the Malacca Straits Choke points of the Indian Ocean trade route and Sri Lanka and India at the center of the Ocean. That was when the Central Intelligence Agency was talking up the ‘threat’ posed by the China’s String of Pearls” harbors and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the Indian Ocean region.

Weather modification or geoengineering technologies to stage Natural Disasters include the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program on the Ionosphere (HAARP), Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), High Energy Lasers (HEL) Rainmaker drones for cloud seeding operations etc. and are part of the global military business industrial research complex.

As Peter Kaplan[v] noted in at the American Geophysics Union in 1973, there is a new class of environmental weapons having great power, but at the same time, sublety; these are to be the tools of what McDonald refers to as geophysical warfare”. These weapons, which include earthquakes, climate change, altered ocean currents, and tidal waves (or Tsunamis), can be triggered at a great distance from the victim and may be indistin­guishable from natural disasters. one line of research that is being intensely pursued is climate modification. The most important work here is done under project Nile Blue” (now called Climate Dynamics” ) which, the Pentagon asserts is necessary because other major world powers have the ability to create modification of climate that might be seriously detrimental to the security of this country” ³.

As Kaplan notes ‘geophysical warfare may be indistinguishable from Natural Disasters’. This is because they are part of Hybrid War, which is plausibly deniable, often invisible, hard to detect because of the use of heat, lasers, sonar  etc. and appear to be non-kinetic.

However, the strange path and pattern of destruction by Cyclone Diwah in Sri Lanka point to geoengineering reminiscent of Operation Popeye, weather warfare waged by the United States on Vietnam, and dovetail with geopolitical motives.

Weather Warfare the ENMOD Treaty

The Environmental Modification treaty (ENMOD), formally the Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques is an international treaty prohibiting use of technologies to induce environmental damage or destruction.

The ENMOD treaty emerged from concerns in the International Community over weather warfare during the Vietnam war. Specifically, it referenced ‘Operation Popeye’ and the use of Cloud Seeding technology to extend the monsoons and generate storms to flood the Ho Chi Minh trail. Award winning journalist Seymour Hersh broke the story ”Rainmaking is used as a Weapon by the US” in the New York Times In 1972 .[vi]

The ENMOD treaty opened for signature on 18 May 1977 in Geneva and entered into force in October 1978. Subsequently, the Convention on Biological Diversity of 2010 would also limit Geoengineering and dual use technologies given significant gaps in understanding of impacts on biodiversity. In simple language the ENMOD treaty prohibits weaponizing the weather, also known as geoengineering, or intentionally manipulating or altering the climateto stage (un)natural disasters.

During the Vietnam war the United States used cloud seeding technics to extend monsoons, flood and ‘drown in mud’ the Viet Cong fighting the American military in South Vietnam to impede their supply chains. This was at the height of the West’s Cold War on Communists and Socialist national independence and de-colonization movements sweeping Indo-China and the Global South.

As the Cold War ran hot in Vietnam and the Indo-China theater, Southeast Asia’s thick tropical forests and inhabitants in were also subject to Chemical and Biological warfare. Agent Orange was used for defoliation and air visibility for US bombing sorties of the Ho Chi Minh trail and have scared generations of Vietnamese. There are high rates of disability cancer and illness in communities along the Ho Chi Minh trail that were subject to Chemical and Bioweapons. Other Cold War operations occurred in Burma.

Before Agent Orange, Napalm or sticky fire”, deoxygenating compound that adheres to and burns on surfaces, creating a conflagration was used during an attack on Berlin in March 1944. It was also widely deployed by the French in the First Indochina War (1946-54), and American forces in the Korean War (1950-53).

Weather as a Force Multiplier: Compounding and Cascading Disasters

Despite the ENMOD treaty banning weather modification for hostile use, research and development in weather modification technologies for Cloud seeding have continued and become increasingly sophisticated. Thus, recently, Rainmaker Technology’s bid to deploy cloud-seeding flares on small drones was met by resistance from the airline pilots union, which has urged the Federal Aviation Administration to consider denying the startup’s request unless it meets stricter safety guidelines. [vii]

Sophisticated Rain Maker drones are also developed and available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Middle East. Meanwhile, Gaza has been flooded after the Fake Peace accords as the de-population agenda continues.

An important Report Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025” produced in the US Department of Defense that was recently renamed the Department of War, provides extensive and detailed analysis of  new weather modification and warfare technologies–with 2025 scenario planning[viii] The report was designed to comply with a directive from the chief of staff of the Air Force to examine the concepts, capabilities, and technologies the United States will require to remain the dominant air and space force in the future” produced in the Department of Defense”. It provides extensive and detailed analysis of weather modification technologies for Over the Horizon (OTH) Full Spectrum Dominance” developed back in 1996 with 2025 scenario planning.

Key Concepts from the Paper include Strategic Advantage: “Owning the weather” means controlling localized weather to create advantages, like fog for cover, rain for disrupting electronics, or clear skies for air ops. Enabling Technologies: The paper highlighted Advanced nonlinear modeling, Computational power, Global sensor networks which no doubt include Elon Musk’s Starlink that recently became operational in Sri Lanka.

It included Weather intervention methods (e.g., carbon dust for precipitation and Stealth Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAVs, Drones) for dispersal and envisioned manipulating weather for a full spectrum of military needs, from tactical support to strategic communication control while acknowledging the Controversial Nature of weather modification as a high-risk/high-reward endeavor, comparing its potential impact to nuclear power. 

The report also refers to the High Altitude Auroral Research Program (HAARP), in Alaska Directed Energy Weapons (DEW), High Altitude Lazar Weapons (HEL), drone use. An operational capabilities matrix lists Precipitation Enhancement, Storm Enhancement, flooding lines of operation, as well as, Precipitation denial, fog and cloud removal to deny concealment, deny fresh water, induce drought etc. By 2025, aerospace forces could use emerging technologies (like advanced modeling, sensors, and weather modification techniques) to shape battlefields by disrupting enemies, offering strategic military dominance through localized weather control. The report outlines a strategy for integrating weather control into military objectives, anticipating potential societal concerns but stressing the strategic necessity of pursuing such capabilities for future warfare, even touching on futuristic ideas like “artificial weather” via nanotechnology. In other words, the use of weather warfare for Global Over the Horizon,-Full Spectrum Dominance.

Geopolitics and Geoengineering: Un-Natural Disasters across the Indian Ocean

While technologies such as cloud seeding date to the 1960s, generating earthquakes and tsunamis  with nuclear and hydrogen bomb explosions and experiments were conducted by the US Department of Defense in the Bikini Atoll of the Marshall Islands in the late 1940s to the mid-1950s. Bikini Atoll remains contaminated and uninhabitable to date.[ix]

It is possible to discern a pattern of Unnatural climate disasters that dovetail with the use of new technologies for weather warfare at this time across the Indian Ocean sea lanes of communication. An unnatural pattern of Rainmaking disasters across strategic choke points of Indian Ocean trade, energy and submarine data cable routes was apparent when Rainmaking Technologies reminiscent of Operation Popeye seemed to be coordinated.

The November 2025 monsoon Rainmaker storms echoed the December 2004 Christmas/ Boxing day earthquake off the coast of Aceh in North Sumatra, Indonesia that trigged a giant Indian Ocean Tsunami. The same geostrategic countries at choke points of the Indian Ocean maritime trade, energy and submarine data cable routes were hit with unprecedented unnatural disasters:  Parts of Sri Lanka, Aceh Province in Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, Malaysia and Thailand were devastated by Twister storms reminiscent of Operation Popeye. There was unprecedented damage to food security, energy and transport infrastructure.

Remarkably, less than a week before the Cyclone Ditwah disaster experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) had arrived in the geostrategic island. And, less than two weeks before Ditwah, on November 14, the US embassy in Colombo had announced that, the United States and Sri Lanka had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) formalizing and deepening a defense partnership between the Montana National Guard and the Sri Lanka Armed Forces under the Department of War’s State Partnership Program (SPP).

U.S. Ambassador Julie Chung highlighted the significance of the new chapter in U.S.–Sri Lanka defense cooperation with great prescience: From wildfire response and flood relief in Montana to peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts overseas, the Montana National Guard has a proud record of service and professionalism. This partnership with Sri Lanka, reaffirmed through today’s MOU, strengthens our shared resolve for a secure Indo-Pacific—building trust, readiness, and lasting peace through partnership.” 

A week after the cyclone Ditwah, C-103 Hercules planes tested in Cloud Seeding landed with US boots on the ground in the Sri Lanka Air force base in a show of force to purportedly provide humanitarian relief”.

Global-Scale Gaslighting: Climate Crisis Narrative Masks Hybrid warfare and Climate Crimes

Increasingly, we live in a world of Unnatural Natural Disasters, staged Climate crises and Climate Disaster Capitalism, which enable profiting from stricken populations and countries. It is increasingly clear that despite the ENMOD treaty, geoengineering and weather modification also as a Force Multiplier” continues to this date, cascading and compounding economic crises.

Despite mounting evidence of geoengineering and the use of weather warfare technologies the unprecedented damage caused by cyclonic storms named ‘Ditwah’ on November 28 in Sri Lanka was blamed on climate change”, rather than military business industrial complex which is the most environment polluting industry on the planet.

Increasingly, the United Nation’s CoP climate summits have become a front for many distortions and plausibly deniable climate crimes. Indeed, the Anthropocene climate crisis narrative although rejected by the Experts’ Panel of Geologists, seems to provide a perfect alibi for geo-engineered climate crimes, which are part of a new generation of hybrid cyber and weather warfare systems that violate the ENMOD Treaty.

It is puzzling that the various climate activists and NGOs who incessantly target fossil fuel lobbies never call for closure of environment polluting US military bases of which there are 800 around the world and draw down of the single most polluting industry – the military business industrial and research complex.

Like the Caribbean Seas, were the US Monroe Doctrine is at play, the vast Indian Ocean which is the main artery of global energy, trade and submarine data cable flows appears increasingly to be an epicenter of maritime hybrid warfare and geoengineering.

The Caribbean Seas and the islands of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Puerto Rico have been incessantly subject to deadly storms, earthquakes, and weather warfare in recent decades, and are currently an epicenter of US maritime piracy, including the illegal sinking of so-called drug boats’ as war drums beat for regime change against Venezuela’s President Maduro.

Ever since the Indian Ocean was renamed the American Indo-Pacific” amid Obama’s pivot to Asia to target China, there have been unnatural natural disasters, dramatic geo-engineered environmental crises in geostrategic countries along the Indian Ocean trade, energy and submarine date cable routes.

With the wisdom of hindsight, a pattern of unnatural disasters with geopolitical overtones across the Indian Ocean world are apparent: There is also considerable anecdotal evidence of a high number of apparently geo-engineered disasters occurring in countries and regions with US/NATO military bases/ installations or troops on the ground (e.g. Philippines, Japan). Remarkably and tragically, Palestine’s Gaza strip which is subject to forced migration and ethnic cleansing at this time was also flooded with storms reminiscent of Operation Popeye.

It is to be hoped that peoples of the Indian Ocean trade routes who have been subject to climate crimes may find redress and reparations under the ENMOD treaty for the loss and damage they have suffered.

TO BE CONTINUED: There is no Anthropocene; we are still in the Holocene.

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[i] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2025/nov/28/weaponized-weather-emerges-new-hybrid-warfare-tool/

[ii] https://owlcation.com/humanities/hidden-history-of-the-united-states-of-america-when-weather-was-a-weapon

[iii] https://island.lk/foreign-warships-arrive-in-sri-lanka-to-take-part-in-international-fleet-review-2025/

[iv] https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-forces-raid-ship-seize-cargo-headed-to-iran-from-china-35a1e2ac

[v] https://magazine.scienceforthepeople.org/online/weather-modification-and-war/

[vi] https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/03/archives/rainmaking-is-used-as-weapon-by-us-cloudseeding-in-indochina-is.html

[vii] https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/13/pilot-union-urges-faa-to-reject-rainmakers-drone-cloud-seeding-plan/

[viii] https://ia801605.us.archive.org/35/items/WeatherAsAForceMultiplier/WeatherAsAForceMultiplier.pdf

[ix] https://www.history.com/articles/nuclear-bomb-tests-bikini-atoll-facts

Concept:  Senaka Weeraratna

Source:  AI Overview

https://share.google/aimode/EMEyW76dbzfhDPEoj

Compassionate Dining & “Life Release”

Just as Vesak is slaughter-free, you can make your holiday feast truly noble by choosing a meat-free menu.

• Abhaya-dana (Saving Lives): Instead of buying meat, use those funds to save animals from slaughter, such as purchasing a cow or goat and donating it to a sanctuary.
• Plant-Based Feasting: Replace traditional roasts with vegan alternatives like stuffed tofu rolls or potato roulades.
• Cruelty-Free Baking: Prepare treats like Vegan Christmas Tree Cookies using egg replacers like aquafaba.

Direct Acts of Merit for Animals

Emulate the spirit of Buddhist “Dansal” (giving) by providing for street animals and birds.

• Balu-Kaputu Dana: Revive the traditional practice of feeding stray dogs and crows in your neighborhood.
• Safe Havens for Birds: Place bird baths and feeders in your garden to provide a sanctuary for local birds during the winter.
• Shelter Support: Instead of exchanging physical gifts, make donations to animal rescues like Animal SOS Sri Lanka in your loved ones’ names.

Ethical & Safe Celebrations

• Gifts with Purpose: Choose sustainable, vegan products or sponsor an animal through organizations like the Kilung Foundation.
• Bird-Safe Decor: Avoid using tinsel or plastic decorations that can be fatal if ingested by birds or pets. Use upcycled paper or wooden ornaments instead.
• Conscious Lighting: Be mindful of bright, flashing lights that can disorient nocturnal birds and animals.

By focusing on kindness and protection for all sentient beings, you align the message of the “Prince of Peace” with the Buddhist value of universal compassion.

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To celebrate a compassionate Christmas like

Vesak, focus on plant-based feasts, acts of ahimsa (non-harming) like animal release/support, charitable giving, and mindfulness, replacing animal products and loud noise with vegan meals, donating to shelters, creating animal-friendly decor, and embracing quiet reflection to honor universal love, mirroring the compassion central to Buddha’s teachings.

Vegan & Plant-Based Feasting

• Veganize Traditions: Create plant-based versions of holiday classics, using tofu/lentils for roasts and dairy-free milk for desserts to avoid animal suffering, notes LankaWeb.
• Cruelty-Free Treats: Make cookies and sweets using egg/dairy substitutes, honoring compassion over consumption. 

Acts of Compassion (Ahimsa)

• Support Animal Shelters: Donate time or resources to local animal rescue organizations instead of buying animals as gifts
• Release Animals: Participate in or support initiatives for releasing captive birds or fish, a common practice during festivals like Vesak in places like Vietnam, says en.thaythichtructhaiminh.com.
• Advocate for Welfare: Support stronger animal welfare laws, echoing the call for compassionate governance seen during Vesak. The Animal Welfare Bill (Law Commission) needs public support for enactment.

Mindful & Eco-Friendly Celebrations

• Nature-Inspired Decor: Decorate with natural elements like branches, leaves, and homemade lanterns (like Vesak lanterns) instead of plastic or animal-derived items, says Mahamegha Magazine.
• Quiet Reflection: Emulate the peaceful observance of Vesak by focusing on meditation, chanting, and reflecting on the teachings of kindness and peace rather than noisy festivities. 
• Share Warmth, Not Meat: Extend the Christmas spirit of love and sharing to all beings, recognizing animals’ desires to live and be with their families, not just to be food, says WeAllSaveTheAnimals (Facebook),. 

Connect to Buddhist Principles

   Embrace Universal Love: See Christmas as a time to celebrate shared wishes for peace and safety for all creatures, applying the universal compassion found in Buddhist teachings to your festivities.

            Make Christmas Merry for all (living beings)

Senaka Weeraratna

Justice for Animals & Nature

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

This is about Lihiniya Boat Builders, a boatyard in Paraliya near Ambalangoda, engaged in building multi-day fiberglass fishing boats.

The owner, Mr. Chanaka, is a young entrepreneur trained at Ocean University. He first worked in the steel sector at my shipyard and later ventured into the FRP (fiberglass) boat-building industry on his own initiative.

I personally visited his yard and clearly observed that:

• The yard has technical capability
• There is strong potential for growth
• What is lacking is state support, not commitment or skill

Key Issues:

• The yard urgently needs state assistance, especially financial support without collateral, through the Ministry of Fisheries and the Ministry of Industries
• He was officially promised replacement IMUL numbers for dilapidated boats removed from Galle Fishery Harbour
• Acting on this assurance, he transported the old boats to his yard
• However, approval to build the replacement boats is being delayed by the Department of Fisheries
• The Director of Fisheries – Galle is reportedly diverting these orders to large, established builders, citing various excuses
• Alarmingly, two IMUL numbers originally allocated to this yard were quietly reassigned to another big timer”
• This points to apparent corrupt practices within the system

Mr. Chanaka states that he can provide evidence of collusion and unfair treatment.

Appeal:

Under the new government, such small and capable entrepreneurs must be protected and encouraged, not sidelined.

If the fisheries sector is to be truly reformed, the Department must be shaken free of favoritism and corruption.

Dear Hon. Minister,

We, as supporters of fair development and local industry, should stand by and help this young boat builder.

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera

Courtesy Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec 24 (Daily Mirror) – A tourist family visiting Sri Lanka has spoken out about difficulties they faced while trying to extend their visa, calling the process the most painful experience ever.”

The family, known as ‘The Hutchinsons’ on TikTok, had arrived in Sri Lanka under the visa-free scheme and attempted to extend their stay at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla. 

The family reported that their online visa extension submission did not generate the expected payment email, forcing them to visit the immigration office in person.

According to the tourist, the office was crowded with long queues and lacked clear guidance or help desks. There’s literally two large queues… everyone is avoiding eye contact, heads down, we can’t tell who works and who doesn’t,” one family member said. They described a confusing process where passports were taken by staff without clear communication, adding to their stress.

After spending three hours at the office, the Hutchinsons finally received their visa extension. That was the most painful experience ever,” they said.

“Wow, what a tough day at the immigration office in Colombo, Sri Lanka! This definitely wasn’t worth the hassle for an extra week here. anyway, all sorted and time to enjoy Christmas,” he shared on TikTok

Click here for Video

Courtesy Hiru News

A group of 120 internationally renowned economists and development experts has issued a joint letter calling for the immediate suspension of Sri Lanka’s debt repayments, citing the devastating impact of recent floods and Cyclone Ditwah.

The group argues that the scale of destruction constitutes a force majeure” event, making it impossible for Sri Lanka to meet IMF-mandated debt repayment obligations without worsening humanitarian suffering.

Speaking exclusively on the initiative, Professor Jayati Ghosh of the University of Massachusetts, one of the lead signatories, said international lenders must fundamentally rethink how sovereign debt contracts operate during large-scale disasters.

This should become standard practice for government borrowers as well. There is something called force majeure a legal term referring to a major event outside your control that prevents repayment,” Ghosh explained.

It can apply to earthquakes, tsunamis, and a whole range of situations where companies take on debt and simply cannot repay. There have been strong arguments that similar provisions should apply to sovereign governments when they face circumstances well beyond their control that severely affect their ability to repay.”

Ghosh said the most immediate solution is a temporary suspension of debt repayments, allowing the country space to respond to the crisis.

There should be a suspension of debt payments until this calamity is dealt with. That does not mean fully resolved, because reconstruction will take several years. But at least during an interim period when the economy is still reeling, people need rehabilitation, essential infrastructure must be rebuilt, and displaced communities must be rehoused debt payments should be suspended.”

Responding to the Sri Lankan government’s request for a US$200 million Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) from the IMF, Ghosh warned that additional borrowing would only deepen the crisis.

The solution to a debt problem is never more debt. Unfortunately, both countries and the IMF forget this. Their aim seems to be to make the country more ‘creditworthy’. But emergency financing or RFIs simply add to the debt burden,” she said.

This is clearly a force majeure event something far beyond the government’s control and it requires a rethinking of the original debt contracts, not more borrowing.”

Ghosh also criticised the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), arguing that it failed to distinguish adequately between foreign-currency debt and domestic debt, creating unrealistic repayment expectations.

The IMF’s own numbers were already very optimistic about Sri Lanka’s ability to repay in foreign exchange because they did not properly separate foreign debt from domestic debt. They lumped everything together,” she said.

Economic growth may occur domestically in Sri Lankan rupees, but that does not automatically generate sufficient US dollars to repay foreign debt. The IMF’s assessment has already proven to be extremely demanding and onerous when it comes to foreign-currency repayments and the disaster has now completely invalidated those assumptions.”

The economists’ letter urges international creditors and the IMF to recognise the extraordinary circumstances facing Sri Lanka and to prioritise humanitarian recovery over rigid debt enforcement.

Courtesy Hiru News

Hiru TV has issued a scathing response to the Police Media Division—an entity funded by the public purse—asserting that the division’s recent letter regarding the assault on a police officer involved in a cannabis raid in Embilipitiya constitutes a severe blow to the public’s right to information and democratic principles.

The reply further highlights that the police failed to disclose a crucial piece of evidence, which they had recorded themselves, until Hiru TV broke the story to the nation.

Signed by Tharanga Jayakody, the Deputy Director of News at Hiru TV, the letter emphasises that it is incomprehensible why the police intentionally withheld such vital evidence from both the courts and the media.

Furthermore, the response maintains that, according to the formal complaints and statements made by Police Constable Susantha Hettiarachchi of the Sooriyakanda Police, there is a clear link between the assault he suffered and the cannabis raid he conducted.

Although the Police Media Division claimed in their correspondence that investigations found no such connection, Hiru TV’s letter firmly rejects this stance, stating they possess more than enough evidence and sources to confirm the link exists.

The reply concludes by reiterating that Hiru TV reported on the police’s own evidence in the interest of upholding the public’s fundamental right to information.

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Divaina Online

Dasatha News

Shenali Waduge

Your Ladyships / Lordships,

This submission seeks judicial guidance on distinguishing between legally binding treaty obligations and non-binding international policy frameworks operationalized in Sri Lanka’s gender-based violence programmes.

The purpose of this submission is not to oppose international engagement, but to seek constitutional and legal clarity on the limits of non-binding international instruments within Sri Lanka’s domestic legal framework.

This appeal is made in public interest, and with full deference to judicial independence, to respectfully request careful judicial distinction between binding legal obligations arising from Sri Lanka’s Constitution and ratified international treaties, and non-binding international policy frameworks, donor-driven guidelines, and UN agency interpretations, workshops and programs that are increasingly invoked in legal and administrative discourse.

Concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications are being introduced through development assistance frameworks, international programme documents, and soft-law instruments, often under the broader headings of gender equality or gender-based violence. While such frameworks may reflect evolving policy positions of certain international actors, they do not arise from any treaty ratified by Sri Lanka, nor have they been enacted by Sri Lanka’s Parliament.

Sri Lanka is party to several core international human rights treaties, including the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CRC and CAT. None of these treaties contain provisions recognising sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor do they redefine the term woman” from its sex-based meaning as understood at the time of ratification. 

Under principles of international law, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, obligations cannot be expanded beyond the text and intent consented to by the State.

In short, under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Sri Lanka cannot be legally bound by provisions or concepts that it has not expressly consented to through treaty ratification or parliamentary enactment.

As per the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, treaties are binding only to the extent of State consent, as reflected in the treaty text and the original intent of the parties (Articles 26 and 31).

Soft law instruments—such as UN resolutions, UN committee guidelines, and recommendations—do not meet these criteria and therefore are not legally binding obligations.

The incorporation of non-binding interpretative materials — such as UN Human Rights Council resolutions, Special Rapporteur reports, or donor policy documents — into constitutional or statutory interpretation risks bypassing democratic consent and parliamentary authority. Such materials, while informative, do not carry the force of law and cannot impose obligations that are without domestic legislative adoption.

I respectfully submit that the judiciary’s role as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution requires particular caution where external policy frameworks seek to influence the interpretation of fundamental rights, sex-based protections, or statutory schemes such as quotas, safeguards, or affirmative measures enacted specifically under sex-based classification enshrined in Sri Lanka’s constitution & recognized in domestic law.

Policies, guidelines and recommendations issued by international agencies or donors are not laws. They do not have the force of law unless they are adopted into domestic legislation by Parliament. Thus, Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) concepts through non-legislative entities cannot legally alter or expand the rights protected under Sri Lankan law to satisfy international concepts.

The distinction between law and policy, treaty obligation and advocacy, and binding norms and soft law is essential to maintaining constitutional coherence and public confidence in the legal system.

International frameworks and policies cannot override constitutional provisions, statutory protections, or the socio-legal context embedded within Sri Lanka’s constitutional order, including sex-based protections enacted by Parliament. Fundamental rights cannot be re-interpreted through non-binding international policy frameworks.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has affirmed that non-binding international instruments do not possess the force of law unless explicitly passed as domestic legislation. 

The judiciary must exercise particular caution in interpreting fundamental rights or statutory schemes when non-binding frameworks—such as UN recommendations or donor guidelines—seek to introduce concepts not adopted into law.

S. S. Cooray v. The Attorney General (1987), the Court emphasized that international treaties or resolutions that have not been domesticated through legislation do not alter the constitutional rights of citizens.

Accordingly, I humbly appeal to the Honourable Courts to clearly distinguish, in relevant proceedings, between:

·      Ratified treaty obligations and domestic law which Sri Lanka is bound by on the one hand; and

·      Non-binding international guidelines, UN Committee Level recommendations, donor conditionalities, and evolving policy interpretations on the other.

This appeal is made in good faith, in support of judicial clarity, constitutional supremacy, and the principle that legal obligations arise only through consent, law, and due process.

I respectfully, urge the Judicial pillar to re-affirm that only international treaties ratified and incorporated into domestic law can create binding obligations & that soft-law instruments remain non-binding of States.

I thank Your Ladyships and Lordships for your time and for your continued service in upholding the Constitution and the rule of law.

I am also attaching evidence of the manner non-binding recommendations are being presented as binding law via internationally funded programs and promoted via internationally funded programs in partnership with State & Private Sector across Sri Lanka, undermining Sri Lanka’s constitution, ratified treaty law and People’s consent given to its Government.

With highest respect,

Shenali Waduge

Documentary Evidence of Non-Binding SOGI / LGBTQIA Programmes

The programmes and policy instruments listed below are presented solely as evidence of operational practice. Their inclusion does not imply legal validity or binding force. None of the instruments listed have been ratified by Sri Lanka, enacted by Parliament, or judicially recognised as sources of enforceable law.

This annex provides documentary evidence showing that UN agencies, donor governments, and INGOs have operational programmes embedding sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications (SOGI/LGBTQI+) into gender equality and gender-based violence. These programmes are non-binding, exceed Sri Lanka’s ratified treaty obligations, and operate independently of domestic law, statutory enactment, or cultural and religious frameworks.

UN & International Agencies

1. UNDP WeBelongAfrica” Programme

UNDP Africa

Description / Evidence: 

Programme objectives explicitly support inclusion of LGBTI+ persons in governance and decision-making, addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Excerpts:

The project supports inclusive governance by ensuring participation of LGBTI+ persons in decision-making spaces and reducing exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

https://www.undp.org/africa/projects/webelongafrica

2. UNDP Gender Equality Strategy 2023 Report

UNDP Global

Description / Evidence: 

The report references intersectional discrimination and explicitly mentions LGBTIQ+ inclusion as part of gender equality initiatives.

Excerpts:

Addressing inequality requires inclusion of LGBTIQ+ communities alongside women and girls in programme planning and delivery.”

https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2024-07/undp-gender-equality-strategy-2023-annual-report.pdf

UNDP operationally includes SOGI minorities in policy programmes, not mandated by treaty law.

3. UN System Pride in Action” Campaigns

UN System Development Group

Description / Evidence: 

Public campaigns, advocacy, and empowerment initiatives supporting LGBTQI+ rights and participation, e.g., in Brazil.

Excerpts:

UN teams champion LGBTQI+ rights and inclusion through empowerment and public advocacy campaigns.”

https://unsdg.un.org/latest/stories/pride-action-un-teams-champion-lgbtqi-rights

Demonstrates practical operationalisation of SOGI inclusion by UN teams globally.

4. UNDP & Canadian Embassy Inclusion Toolkit”

UNDP Thailand & Embassy of Canada

Description / Evidence: 

Toolkit for promoting LGBTQI+ inclusive workplaces and practices; explicitly addresses sexual orientation and gender identity inclusion.

Excerpts:

Organizations should adopt policies that foster inclusion of LGBTQI+ employees, ensuring equal opportunity and protection against discrimination.”

https://www.undp.org/DEI-inclusion-toolkit

Shows donor-driven policy intervention embedding SOGI inclusion, beyond treaty obligations.

5. Sri Lanka Multi-Sectoral National Action Plan on SGBV 2024–2028

Issuer: Government of Sri Lanka, UNDP & UNFPA

Description / Evidence: 

Plan mentions gender minorities alongside women and girls in strategies addressing sexual and gender-based violence.

Excerpts:

Programs should ensure access to services for women, children, and gender minorities affected by SGBV.”

·      https://www.undp.org/srilanka/publications/multi-sectoral-national-action-plan-address-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-sgbv-sri-lanka-ii  

·      https://www.undp.org/gender/gender-mainstreaming

·      https://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/gender-mainstreaming

UN-supported SGBV and gender frameworks in Sri Lanka operate through inter-ministerial coordination, gender focal points, and cabinet-approved action plans, extending policy language on gender minorities” across multiple ministries without legislative enactment.

Evidence of UN participation in domestic policy planning, introducing non-binding gender identity categories.

Education / CSE & SOGIESC Programmes 

6. UNFPA Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Policy

UNFPA Global

Description / Evidence: 

Official DEI statement explicitly welcomes sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression inclusion.

Excerpts:

UNFPA promotes an inclusive work environment regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression.”

·      https://www.unfpa.org/diversity-equity-inclusion

Internal UNFPA policies embed SOGI inclusion operationally.

Corporate DEI policies promoted through UN and donor frameworks frequently embed sexual orientation and gender identity within workplace harassment, violence prevention, and safe workplace” obligations, despite the absence of such legal categories in Sri Lankan labour law.

References:

·      ILO – Violence & Harassment Convention (policy guidance context):

https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/violence-harassment

·      UN Global Compact – DEI guidance:

https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/our-work/social/diversity-inclusion

7. Plan International SOGIESC Inclusion Programmes

Plan International

Description / Evidence: 

Programmes addressing school bullying and community education explicitly include SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, Sex Characteristics) language.

Excerpts:

Activities include training and educational programmes promoting inclusion of SOGIESC individuals in schools and communities.”

https://plan-international.org/srhr/lgbtiq-inclusion

Example of INGO implementation of SOGIESC frameworks in practice.

8. UN-Promoted Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) Frameworks Integrating SOGIESC with Gender-Based Violence Prevention

UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO (UN Inter-Agency)

Internationally promoted Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) frameworks explicitly integrate gender-based violence (GBV) prevention with instruction on gender norms, sexual diversity, non-discrimination, and concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIESC). 

These frameworks are promoted as technical guidance and best practice, not as treaty obligations, and have not been enacted into Sri Lankan law or curriculum through Parliament.

The International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) positions GBV prevention, gender equality, and respect for sexual diversity as interconnected learning objectives within a single comprehensive framework.

Key Elements Relevant to SOGIESC and GBV:

·      Prevention of gender-based violence and harmful practices

·      Inclusion of sexual orientation and gender diversity under gender” and human rights” education

·      In six districts, 554 teachers were trained on comprehensive sexuality education and life skills under UNFPA programmes, as documented in the UNFPA Sri Lanka Annual Report 2022, demonstrating operational implementation of internationally guided CSE content prior to any parliamentary enactment of a local curriculum

·      https://srilanka.unfpa.org/en/unfpa-sri-lanka-annual-report-2022

Excerpts:

·      CSE addresses gender equality, gender-based violence, and discrimination, including based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”

·      Learners should understand diversity in sexuality and gender, and how stigma and discrimination contribute to violence.”

Documentary Sources:

·      UNESCO, International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education
https://www.unesco.org/en/education/sexuality-education

·      UNFPA, Comprehensive Sexuality Education
https://www.unfpa.org/comprehensive-sexuality-education

Relevance to Sri Lanka:

Sri Lanka’s current national curriculum does not implement the UN-defined CSE framework in full, nor does any ratified international treaty obligate the State to introduce instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity. 

The promotion of CSE incorporating SOGIESC concepts therefore represents policy advocacy and programme guidance, not binding international law.

This demonstrates how non-binding UN guidance frameworks operate as de facto normative instruments, embedding SOGIESC concepts—particularly under gender-based violence—without parliamentary enactment or constitutional mandate.

9. Operationalisation of SOGIESC through Multi-Ministry Gender and SGBV Frameworks

UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, ILO

Implementing Structure: 

Whole-of-Government / Inter-Ministerial Gender Mainstreaming

UN-supported gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) frameworks in Sri Lanka operate on a multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial basis, involving more than a dozen line ministries. 

These frameworks frequently incorporate references to gender minorities,” gender-diverse persons,” or inclusive gender identities” within policy planning, service delivery, and capacity-building initiatives.

Inclusion occurs through:

·      National action plans

·      Inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms

·      Ministry-level gender focal points

·      Technical assistance and donor-funded programming

While framed as policy coordination and development assistance, these mechanisms introduce non-legislated gender identity categories across multiple State institutions, without parliamentary enactment or judicial determination.

This demonstrates how non-binding international guidance becomes operationally embedded across the State apparatus, extending beyond ratified treaty obligations and domestic statutory law.

Non-binding soft law cannot be misinterpreted as legally binding as it would undermine the rule of law & lead to confusion & arbitrary administrative actions sans constitutional basis.

The legal protections given to women & other vulnerable groups becomes at risk.

Legal scholars like Professor James Crawford have emphasized that international soft law cannot modify domestic legal rights unless explicitly incorporated into national law, thereby reaffirming the importance of legislative sovereignty.

Corporate / Private Sector DEI Implementation

10. Corporate DEI Frameworks Linking SOGIESC to Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Prevention

Issuers: UNDP, ILO, UN Global Compact, donor governments

Implementers: Private sector entities and multinational corporations

Description / Evidence:

Corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks promoted by UN agencies and donor partners commonly insert sexual orientation and gender identity within policies addressing workplace harassment, gender-based violence, and safe working environments.

Under these frameworks:

·      Gender” is expanded beyond sex-based categories to include identity”

·      Harassment or exclusion related to gender identity is treated as a form of gender-based violence that had been explicitly for biological females/males.

·      Corporate compliance is linked to ESG standards, SDG alignment, and donor expectations

·      These policies operate outside Sri Lanka’s labour law framework, which does not recognise sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor redefine sex-based protections enacted for biological women.

·      This illustrates the indirect influence of non-binding international policy frameworks on domestic workplaces.

Your Lordships and Ladyships are respectfully requested to consider the following:

·      Courts to reaffirm that only ratified treaties domesticated by Parliament are legally binding.

·      Non-binding guidelines, donor policies, UN recommendations, resolutions cannot alter constitutional rights or statutory protections, including sex-based protections for women.

·      Courts to issue clarity on interpreting SOGI-related policies in light of domestic law under ‘gender-based violence”.

All UN/diplomatic programmes and frameworks listed above are non-binding, operate beyond ratified treaty obligations, and have not been incorporated into domestic law. 

In the absence of clear judicial guidance, non-binding international programmes are being operationalised within State institutions in a manner that risks inconsistency with existing constitutional and statutory frameworks.

Their operationalisation in Sri Lanka under gender-based violence (GBV) and gender frameworks cannot create new legal obligations, and any interpretation to the contrary risks undermining the Constitution, parliamentary authority and the will of the People.

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

තමන්ට අන්තිමේදී ගොළු මුහුදවත් ඉතුරු නොවන බව නොදැන අන්ද මන්දව සිටිනා සිංහල බෞද්ධ රැළ්

එතෙක් පැවති SLFP-LSSP-CP ආණ්ඩුවල විකාර හැසිරීම් දඩමීමා කරගෙන, JRJ විසින් රටට කරන්නට යන නැස්පත්තිය ගැන ඇතිවූ කළකිරීමද නිසා, 1978 මාර්තු මාසයේදී ලංකාවෙන් පිටවූ දා සිටම රටට සිදුවන දේ දෙස කණගාටුවෙන් බලා සිටි පංචස්කන්ධයක් වශයෙන් මේ වන විට රට දෙස බලන විට, දැන් 2025 දෙසැම්බර් අගවන විට රටට සිදුවී ඇති විනාශය, 2024 න් පසු JVP/NPP ආණ්ඩුවේ ක්‍රියාකලාපය නිසාවෙන් සිදුවූ දේව සාපයක් හා 1940 ගණන් වල සිට කළු සුද්දන්/දේශපාලකයින් විසින් රටේ භූගෝල විද්‍යාවට ද්‍රෝහි වීමේ විපාකයක් නොවේදැයි මට සිතේ.

පසු ගිය 76 වසරක කාලය, මූසල මුස්පේන්තු අඳුරු යුගයක්” යයි හරි හමන් අධ්‍යාපන දැණුමක් නැති කොට්ටහච්චි නම් තරුණ කටකාර මන්ත්‍රිණී  පරාණය විසින් දියවන්නා හෝටලයේදී  ප්‍රකාශ කිරීමම ඇය ඇයටම කරගත් ශාපයකි. ඇයත් ඇතුළු පාපිසි හෝ කදිරගමාර්ලා 159+AKD ලාට නොමිලේ අධ්‍යාපනයක් ලැබුණේ එම 76 අවුරුදු අඳුරු යුගය නිසා නොවේද? මේ සංකර නිරාගමිකයින් (ටිල්වින්, [Harini?], නලින්ද, කොට්ටහච්චි, විද්‍යාරත්න ලා), දැන්  දැන් පන්සල්/කෝවිල්/පිරිත් පැන් වලට කිට්ටුවීම සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයෙන් සමාව ඉල්ලනවා වැනිය!

පසු ගිය ආණ්ඩු විසින් විශේෂයෙන් 1978 සිට කල කී දේ නිසා හානියට හා කළ කිරීමට හා විශ්වාස බංගලගත්වයට පත්වී නැණ විකලව සිටි සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයා, JVP ගල් පැලෙන බොරු වලටද රැවටී දුන් අන්ධ චන්දවල ප්‍රතිඵල දැන් භුක්ති විඳිමින් සිටින්නේ ගලේ මොකක්ද කල පූස් පැටව් මෙන් ලැජ්ජාවෙන්ය. තමන්ගේ මතයට විරුද්ධ අදහසක් දරණ අයට සමාවක් නොදෙන ඉතිහාසයක් ඇති පිරිසක් බලයට ඒම නිසා ළිංවල වැටී ඉන්නා පැරදුන විපක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් තමන් ළිංකටෙන්ම ගොඩ ආයුතු බව අමතක කර නැවතත් පරණ සෙල්ලමම මහජනයාට පෙන්වමින් සිටී. දියවන්නා හෝටලයට ගොඩ වැදුන මන්ත්‍රී පුළුටු අතරින් සමාව දිය හැකිව ඉතිරිව සිටින්නේ චාමර සම්පත්, අර්චුනා රාමනාදන්  (දිලිත් ජයවීර??) පමණක් නොවේද කියා මට සිතේ.

මේ අයට කොටපිටියේ රාහුල අනූනායක හාමුදුරුවන් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ පරණ තැටිය  (පරණ වයින් පරණ බොතල් වල) නම් දැන් ගයන්නට නොහැකි බවය. අකර්මණ්‍යවූ විපක්ෂ මන්ත්‍රීන්ගේ හා පැරදුන දේශපාලකයින්ගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපයට විරුද්ධව මහජනයා අවධි කිරීමේ උත්සාහයක් දරමින්, තමන්ට තිබෙන පක්ෂ දේශපාලන බැඳීම් වලින් ඉදිරියට යමින් සිටින තරුණ පිරිසක් සිය යූටියුබ් ජාලා මඟින් ක්‍රියාකරමින් සිටීම වැදගත් සංසිද්ධියකි. කැලුම් ජයසුමන, වරුණ රාජපක්ෂ, මාතලන්,  අභීත එදිරිසිංහ, චරිත් අබේසිංහ, චාමර විජේසූරිය, බොරැල්ල හන්දිය, Dark Room යන අයවළුන් මෙහිදී කැපී පෙනෙන උදාහරණය. සේපාල් අමරසිංහ හා ධර්මසිරි කාරියවසම්ද ඊට සමාන සේවයක් කරමින් සිටී.

 ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත් මේ වනවිට  AKD ට බලවත්ම අභියෝගය වී තිබෙන්නේ නන්දන ගුණතිලක වැනි  පරණ JVP කාරයින්ගෙන් නොව ලන්ඩන් වල ඉන්නා උවිඳු කුරුකුලසූරිය හා ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ වසන  කනිෂ්ක චමින්ද ජයලත් යන ඔහුගේ යහපත පතන මිත්‍රයින් ගෙන්ය. කනිෂ්ක අසන්නේ මේ මොහොතේ කඩිමුඩියේ  ‘ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පතක්’ (PSTA) පාස් කරගෙන, කතා කිරීමේ නිදහස සීමාකරන්නට හදන්නේ  AKD ට පිස්සු හැදිලාද කියාය. අලි මදිවාට හරක් මෙන් මේ අස්සේ නිර්මාල් රංජිත් දේවසිරි AKD වෙනුවෙන් තටමන කෙස් පැලෙන තර්ක (කඩේ යෑම) ඔහු නොදැනම AKD ට කරණ හානියකි.

LankaWeb – අනුර ගැන හෙලිදරව්වක් (Dark Room)

AKD ලා විසින් කරන්නට යන විධායක ජනාධිපති ධූරය අහෝසිකර විධායක අගමැති කෙනෙක් පත් කිරීම සහිත අළුත් ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන ඒම හා මිය ගොස් ඇති පලාත් සභා මර උඟුල ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම ඔවුන් විසින් රටට කරන්නට සිතන ලොකුම විනාශය ලංකාව නමැති ගහෙන් වැටුණ මිනිහාට (ගංවතුරට හා පස් කඳු වලට යටවූ රටකට) ගොනා ඇන්නා වගේය. වරද විධායක ජනාධිපති ධූරය නොව එයට පත්වන ලෝභ-ද්වේෂ-මෝහ යෙන් පිරි පංචකන්ධයේ කරුමයය. එම තනතුර දූෂණය කරන්නට නොහැකි ලෙස එහි තටු කැපීම මිස මන්ත්‍රී රොඩ්ඩන් මත රැඳෙන්නට සිදුවන විධායක අගමැති පඹයෙක් වී අවසාන වන්නේය. දැනට පවතින චන්ද ක්‍රමය දූෂිතයින් මන්ත්‍රීන් කරණ ඉණිමඟකි. විධායක ජනාධිපති ක්‍රමය නිසා නොවේ නම් මේ වන විට ප්‍රභාකරන් රට අල්ලාගෙන අවසානය. එක අයවැය පරදවා ම්  ගේ යුද මෙහෙයුම බකල් කරන්නට ගත් උත්සාහය වැලැක්වූයේ සෝමවංශ-වීරවංශ  දෙන්නා විසින්ය. 1978 ට කලින් පගා දී මන්ත්‍රීලා බිලිබාගත් ඉතිහාසයක් රටට තිබේ.

මෙම රටත් ජීවිතයත් මරණයත් වැනි තීරණාත්මක අවස්ථාවේදී රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයා විසින් එකාවන්ව නැගී සිටිය යුතු කරුණක් වන්නේ පලාත් සභා මර උඟුල අහෝසි කිරීම සඳහාය. ඉන්දියන් පාලම, ඉන්දියාවට ලංකාව ආර්ථික වශයෙන් පූට්ටු කිරිමේ රනිල්-හර්ෂණ ද සිල්වා ගේ කැමැත්ත යනාදී පාවාදීම් මෙම පලාත් සභා මර උඟුල සමඟ සැසඳිය නොහැකිය.

මෙහි පහතින් ඇති ලැයිස්තුව විපක්ෂයේ ඉන්නා සෑම සිංහල මන්ත්‍රී කෙනෙක් විසින්ම සම්පූර්ණ කලයුතු චන්ද පත්‍රිකාවක් වැනිය. එහි දැක්වෙන සෑම වගන්තියකටම එකඟවනවා/එකඟ නොවනවා (yes/no ඔව්/නෑ) යනුවෙන් සටහන් කරණ සේ සැම සිංහල දේශපාලකයාටම ගම් මට්ටමින් දැණුම් දිය යුතුය. සර්ව බලධාරී ස්වාධිපත්‍යය ඇත්තේ දේශපාලකයාට (මන්ත්‍රී පුළුටු වලට) නොවේ.

රනිල්, සජිත්, රවි කරුණානායක, රාජිත සේනාරත්න වැනි අය පලාත් සභාවලට පක්ෂ අය බව රහසක් නොවේ. එහෙත් නාමල් ගේ දිලිත් ජයවීර ගේ අදහස කුමක්ද? පලාත් සභාවලට  විරුද්ධ එකම දෙමළ නායකයකයා යාපනේ අරුන් සිද්ධාර්ථ් පමණය. ඔහු ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් කරණ පැහැදිලි කිරීම පලාත් සභා ක්‍රමය සුදු අලියෙක් කරගෙන ගසාගෙන කන දකුණේ සිංහල දේශපාලක හොරුන් හිරි-ඔත්තපයක් නැති පංචස්කන්ධ  බව තහවුරු කරන්නේය. පලාත් වෙනුවට ජලද්‍රෝණි අනුව සීමා මායිම් කල ජන සභා ක්‍රමයක් මඟින් දෙමළ ජනයාවත්  සෙසු ජනයාවත් තමන්ගේ සිවිල් පාලන ප්‍රදේශය තුල බලවත් කිරීමට (empowerment of people, not politicians)  හැකිවන්නේය. තවද විකාරයක් වී තිබෙන සීමා නිර්ණය  කිරීමේ ජරමරය අවශ්‍ය නොවන්නේය. ජන සභා ප්‍රදේශය තීරණය වන්නේ භාෂාව, ආගම, කුලය අනුව නොව සවාභාවික මායිම් වලිනි. මේ මඟින් දැනට පවතින ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා අහෝසි කල හැකිය. ජන සභා වල සමාජිකයින් පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් තොරව තෝරා පත් කර ගත යුතුය.

පලාත් සභා මර උඟුල අහෝසි කිරීමට අමතරව සිංහල හා දෙමළ භාෂා 8 ශ්‍රේණිය දක්වා අනිවාර්ය කිරීම වැනි වෙනත් වගන්තිද මෙම ලැයිස්තුවේ ඇත.  මේවා පිළිඹඳව ජනයා ගම් මට්ටමින් දැනුවත් කර චන්දය ඉල්ලන්නට එන සිංහල බෞද්ධ අපේක්ෂකයින්ගෙන් ඒ ගැන විමසා බලන්නට ජනයා දිරිමත් කිරීම ගම් වල පන්සල් මඟින් කල හැකි වන්නේ මෙය පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් තොර ජාතික මෙහෙයක් නිසාය.

මේ පිලිඹද සවිස්තර විග්‍රහයක්, සැලස්මක් (analysis and a plan) කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පාලන සමය: 1948-2025, තෙවන භාගය (පලාත් සභා මර උඟුල-ජන සභා විසඳුම)”  යන කෘතියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත.

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1	ඉංග්‍රීසින් විසින් සිලෝන් කිව්වේ අතීතයේදී විදේශික වෙළෙන්ඳන් විසින් සෙයිලාන් ලෙස හැඳින්වූ  සිංහලේ යන දිවයිනේ මුල් නමය.
2	එම සිංහලේ නමැති රාජධානියේ සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් ජනයා සමඟියෙන් ජීවත්විය.
3	1505 කතෝලික පෘතුගීසින්ගේ ආගමණයත් සමඟ, විශේෂයෙන් 1798 න් පසු ඉංග්‍රීසීන් විසින් යටත් වැසියා බෙදා පාලනය කිරීමේ උපාය යටතේ, ජනවර්ග කෙටවීම ආරම්භවිය.
4	ලංකාව සිංහල සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට ලෝකයේ ඇති එකම බිම් කැබැල්ලය.
5	ඊලමකට පාර කපා රට තවත් පලස්තීනයක් කරණ 13 වන සංශෝධනය අහෝසි කල යුතුය.
6	1917/23 කාලයේදී සිට ආරම්භවුණ ලෝකයේ වෙනම දෙමළ රටක් යන ව්‍යාපාරයට ලංකාව ගොදුරුවී ඇත.
7	ලෝකයේ දෙමළ නිජබිම ටැමිල් නාඩු ප්‍රාන්තයය.
8	එක රටක්-එක නීතියක් කාර්ය සාධක බලකායේ නිර්දේශ ක්‍රියාත්මක කල යුතුය.
9	බුදු දහම සර්ව බලධාරී දෙවියෙක් අදහන අනිකුත් ලබ්ධීන්  සමඟ පාස්සන්නට නොහැකිය.
10	බුද්ධ සාසනය හතුරන්ගෙන් රැකදීම රජයේ වගකීමකි.
11	බහු ආගමික ඉන්ටර්ෆේත්/බහුජතික කතා බටහිර රටවල හා ජිනීවා ලණුය.
12	ලංකාවේ අගමැති/ජනාධිපතිලාගේ පවුල්වල බෞද්ධ නොවන ලඟම ඥාතීන් සිටී.
13	යසර් අර්ෆත් හා ගඩාෆි විසින් බිහිකල ගර්භාෂ යුද්ධය ලංකාවේද ක්‍රියාත්මකවේ.
14	වහාබි හා ශාරියා ඉස්ලාම් අන්තවාදය රටපුරාම ක්‍රියාත්මකවේ.
15	බෝන් අගේන් වැනි ක්‍රිස්තියානී මූලධර්මවාදීන්ගේ අයථා අන්‍යාගමීකරණය තහනම් කලයුතුය.
16	ජාතිවාදියා යනු සෙසු ජාතීන්ට (ජන වර්ගවලට?) වෙනස්කම් කරණ, ඔවුන් හෙලා දකිණ හිට්ලර්වාදීන්ය.
17	ජාතික වාදය යනු තම ජාතිය හතුරන්ගෙන් ආරක්ෂාකර ගැනීමට ජාතිකාණුරාගයෙන් (ධර්මපාලවාදය) ක්‍රියාකිරීමය.
18	ආගමික අන්තවාදය යනු තම ලබ්ධියට, බලයෙන් හෝ වෙනත් අල්ලස් උපාය මඟින් අන්‍යාගමිකයින් බඳවා තබා ගැනීමය.
19	ඉන්දියාවේ සිට මන්නාරමට පාලමක් දැමීමෙන් ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක් බවට පත්වන්නේය.
20	ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවට පූට්ටු කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය ආරම්භකලේ  අගමැති/ජනාධිපතිව සිටි  රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ විසින්ය
21	එක්ටා ගිවිසුම වනාහි සිංහල බෞද්ධයාගේ විනාශයේ ආරම්භයය.
22	ඇමෙරිකන් MCC ගිවිසුම සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට කරණු ලබන කොඩිවිනයකි.
23	දස අවුරුදු ප්ලෑනකට අනුව රටේ අගනුවර රජ රටට (අනුරාධපුරය දෙසට) ගෙනයා යුතුය.
24	කොළඹ මාර්ග තදබදයට විසඳුම අහසින් ජපන් කෝච්චි දැමීමේ ප්ලෑන විශාල ධන විනාශයකි.
25	1832 කෝල්බෲක් සූත්‍රය වෙනුවට මුළු රටම ජන සභා සංකල්පයට අනුව  බෙදා මායිම් කල යුතුය
26	දැනට තිබෙන GSN  (ග්‍රාම සේවා නිලධාරී) ඒකක 14,026 ස්වාභාවික මායිම් සහිත (ජල ද්‍රෝණි) ඒකක වශයෙන් අළුතෙන් සංවිධානය කලයුතුය.
27	මෙම ස්වාභාවික මායිම් සහිත GSN ඒකක කීපයක්  එකතුකර රටතුල  ජන සභා ඒකක ඇතිකල යුතුය.
28	පාර්ලිමේන්තු මැතිවරණ කොට්ඨාශ ජන සභා ඒකකවල එකතුවෙන් සැදිය යුතුය.
29	ජන සභාව පක්ෂ දේශපාලනයෙන් තොර නියෝජිත ආයතනයක් විය යුතුය.
30	ජන සභා වලට ගම්වල සිටිනා ආගමික/ පොලිස්/ යුදහමුදා නියෝජිතයින්ද  සහභාගී කරගත යුතුය.
31	ජාතික ජන සභා කවුන්සිලයක් (සෙනේට් සභාවක්) පිහිටුවිය යුතුය.
32	ජන සභාව තීරණ ගත යුතු වන්නේ සම්මුති ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී ක්‍රමයට අනුකූලවය.
33	අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දිය යුත්තේ ලමයාගේ මව් භාෂාවෙන්ය.
34	රජයේ හා පුද්ගලික සියළුම පාසැල් වල සිංහල හා දෙමළ අනිවාර්ය විෂයයන් කල යුතුය.
35	ඉංග්‍රිසි තුන්වන භාෂාවක් ලෙස පාසැල්වල ඉගැන්විය යුතුය.
36	රජයේ පාසැල් වල ඉංග්‍රීසි මාධ්‍යය ආරම්භ නොකල යුතුය.
37	ඉතිහාසය හා භූගෝල විද්‍යාව අනිවාර්ය විෂයයන් කලයුතුය.
38	යම් රටක/ ප්‍රදේශයක ඉතිහාසය යනු ඒ රටේ (භූමියේ) අතීත භූගෝල විද්‍යාවය.
39	සිංහල මව් භාෂාව  වන සිසුන්ට සිංහල සාහිත්‍ය විෂය හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය.
40	ලෝකයේ  ආගම් පිළිඹඳව තුලනාත්මක අධ්‍යයන විෂයක් හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය.
41	රජයේ සේවකයින් දේශපාලන කටයුතුවල යෙදීම තහනම් කලයුතුය.
42	රජයේ සේවකයින් සඳහා (විශ්ව විද්‍යාලද අතුළුව) performance evaluation ක්‍රමය හඳුන්වා දිය යුතුය.
43	විශ්ව විද්‍යාල අධ්‍යාපනය නොමිලේ ලබාදීම වෙනුවට රාජ්‍ය ණය ක්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වා දියයුතුය.
44	සිරකරුවන් හිරගෙදරින් පිටත වැඩට යොදාගන්නා ක්‍රමයක් (public work projects) සැදිය යුතුය.
45	දිස්ත්‍රික්/මනාප විහිළුව (බලු පොරය) අහෝසි කර  1978 ට පෙර පැවති මැතිවරණ කොට්ඨාශ චන්ද ක්‍රමයට නැවත යායුතුය.
46	තම මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ආපසු කැඳවීමේ අයිතිය චන්දදායකයාට තිබිය යුතුය
47	වතුකරයේ තනිකර දමිල  ජනාවාස සැදීමේ කුමණ්ත්‍රනය පරාද කල යුතුය
48	මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකුගේ ධූර කාලය වාර දෙකකට සීමා කල යුතුය
49	මන්ත්‍රී හෝ ඔහුගේ/ඇගේ ලඟ ඥාතීන් රජය සමඟ කොන්ත්‍රාත්/බිස්නස් ගණුදෙනු නොකල යුතුය.
50	සමරිසි-සමලිංගික ක්‍රියා ප්‍රවර්ධනය කිරීමේ සංස්කෘතියක් බිහිකිරීමේ අරමුණෙන් දේශීය හා විදේශීය ව්‍යාපාර ගෙන යන  කුමන්ත්‍රණයට රහසින්වත් ආණ්ඩුවේ මැති ඇමතිලා හෝ නිලධාරීන් සම්බන්ධ නොවිය යුතුය
51	1988-89 වර්ෂයේ සිට ලංකාවේ සිදුවූ කැරළි, මනුෂ්‍ය ඝාතන, (රාජ්‍ය, ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්, LTTE, ඉන්දියන් හමුදා) විමසා බැලීමට කොමිෂන් සභාවක් පත් කල යුතුය
52	ICCPR නීතිය,  එහි පස්සිකො (come and examine, not come and believe)  මූල ධර්මය මත පදනම්වූ බුදු දහමට විරුද්ධව යොදා ගත හැකි ආයුධයකි. එය සංශෝධනය කල යුතුය.
53	සුද්දන්ගේ කාලයේ පැනවු රටට හා විශේෂයෙන් සිංහල ජාතියට හා බුද්ධාගමට හානි ගෙන දෙන නීති සංශෝධනය කල යුතුය.
	Source:  ලංකාව: කළු සුද්දන්ගේ පාලන සමය, දෙවන භාගය, 1948-2024, (343-344 පිටු)

Courtesy Relifweb

COLOMBO, December 22, 2025—Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka in late November, has caused an estimated US$4.1 billion in direct physical damage to buildings and contents, agriculture and critical infrastructure, according to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report released today. This damage is equivalent to about 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP.

The cyclone, among the most intense and destructive in Sri Lanka’s recent history, severely affected close to 2 million people and 500,000 families across all 25 districts, disrupting livelihoods, essential services, and the broader economy.

The Sri Lanka GRADEreport provides timely and critical insights to guide the emergency response, recovery planning, and longer-term disaster risk reduction efforts. The assessment uses the World Bank’s rapid, remote, model-based GRADE methodology, which estimates direct economic damage to physical assets. The report does not include losses related to income or production, nor the full costs of recovery and reconstruction.

The estimated US$4.1 billion in direct damage represents a significant shock to affected regions. The Central province was the hardest hit, with damages in Kandy district estimated at $689 million, primarily caused by flooding and to a lesser extent by landslides.

Infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and water supply networks, accounts for the largest share of damage, at an estimated $1.735 billion (42 percent of total damages), disrupting connectivity and access to markets and services.

Residential buildings and contents have been heavily affected, with damages totaling an estimated $985 million. The widespread impacts on homes highlight the need to consider building locations, flood control structures and designs that are resilient to high winds and flooding.

Agriculture suffered an estimated $814 million in damage, including to paddy and vegetable crops, subsistence farming, maize, livestock and agriculture infrastructure, as well as damage to inland fishing, posing serious risks to food security and rural livelihoods in already vulnerable communities.

Non-residential buildings (including contents), such as schools, health facilities, businesses, and large industrial facilities and factories located along major rivers and creeks, were also heavily impacted, accounting for $562 million in estimated damages, interrupting education, healthcare delivery, and local economic activity in cyclone-affected areas.

The assessment underscores how pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities—including poverty, limited access to services, and exposure to climate risks—are likely to amplify the cyclone’s impacts and slow recovery, particularly for women, children, older persons and female-headed households. Targeted recovery efforts will be essential to ensure support reaches the most at-risk communities.

As we look closely at the hardest-hit districts, we see that deep-rooted vulnerabilities have left communities especially vulnerable,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, World Bank Group Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives. In Badulla, Kegalle and Puttalam many households were already poor and now face some of the highest losses to homes. In Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, about two in four households are headed by women or older persons. Thousands of women and girls have been displaced or remain in unsafe homes. These realities underscore the need for tailored community-centered recovery efforts that protect those most at risk.”

In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, the World Bank Group has mobilized up to $120 million from ongoing projects to support recovery and help restore essential services and infrastructure—including healthcare, water, education, agriculture, and connectivity—in the areas hit hardest.

While the GRADE report provides a rapid estimate of direct physical damage, recovery and reconstruction needs are expected to significantly exceed these figures. The report highlights the importance of comprehensive recovery strategies that address humanitarian needs, restore livelihoods, strengthen resilient housing and infrastructure, and integrate climate and disaster risk considerations into future development.

The World Bank acknowledges the Government of Sri Lanka’s leadership in completing this assessment. The assessment benefited from close collaboration with the External Resources Department, the Treasury, the National Planning Department, and the Disaster Management Centre.

The World Bank and GRADE

Disasters disproportionately affect the poor and most vulnerable. For over a decade, the World Bank’s Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) approach has supported more than 54 countries by providing timely, evidence-based assessments to inform decision-making after disasters. Over ten years, GRADE has completed 71 post-disaster assessments worldwide, with subsequent validations confirming approximately 90 percent accuracy when compared to detailed, ground-based assessments.

The GRADE report for Sri Lanka was conducted and financially supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Ministry of Finance of Japan, through the World Bank program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries in collaboration with the World Bank.

Courtesy The Statesman

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.

xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.

At a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Vijitha Herath in Colombo, Jaishankar, who is visiting the island nation as Special Envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he had this morning met Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka to personally deliver a letter from the Indian leader.

‘’We had a detailed discussion on the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah. The letter from Prime Minister Modi that I handed over builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of $450 million to Sri Lanka. Our talks centred on how expeditiously this commitment can be delivered,’’ he added.

Jaishankar said the assistance package that India has proposed will include USD 350 million in concessional Lines of Credit and USD 100 million in grants.

This package is being finalised in close consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka. ‘’Our assistance will cover sectors worst affected by the cyclone, including: rehabilitation and restoration of road, railway and bridge connectivity; support for construction of houses fully destroyed and partially damaged; support for health and education systems, in particular, those that have been damaged by the cyclone; agriculture, including to address possible shortages in the short and medium term and working towards better disaster response and preparedness,’’ he added.

India, he said, is conscious that work towards mitigating the impact of ”Cyclone Ditwah” on the people of Sri Lanka must be done in the quickest time possible. ‘’We are discussing an effective coordination mechanism for the earliest possible delivery,’’ he added.

Noting that Sri Lanka is a significant tourism economy, the Indian minister assured the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister that India will continue to encourage tourism traffic from the country in that regard. Similarly, an increase in Foreign Direct Investment from India can also boost Sri Lanka’s economy at a critical time.

Jaishankar recalled that India’s relief and assistance mission – Operation Sagar Bandhu – commenced on the very day that Cyclone Ditwah made landfall.

As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour and in line with India’s ‘’Neighbourhood First’’ and ‘’MAHASAGAR’ policies, it was only natural that India step forward at a time when Sri Lanka faced a crisis, he added.

Courtesy Adaderana

he Police Constable who was arrested and subsequently released on bail in connection with the assault incident involving Ratnapura District National People’s Power (NPP) Member of Parliament Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha, has been suspended from service pending further investigations, police stated.

He was arrested yesterday (22) by officers attached to the Embilipitiya Divisional Investigation Bureau on several charges, including criminal intimidation.

The Police Constable was subsequently granted bail after being produced before court.

Police earlier stated that a blood sample obtained from the police officer allegedly assaulted by a group including MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha will be sent to the Government Analyst’s Department.

According to the statement issued by the Police Media Division, at around 8:40 p.m. on December 20, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station, who was returning home after completing his shift, lodged a complaint through the 119 emergency hotline to the Kolonna Police Station.

According to the complaint, the police officer was assaulted by the NPP Member of Parliament and a group accompanying him near the Kalugala Temple and then had forcibly taken away his motorcycle.

The statement further noted that at around 10:10 p.m. the same day, NPP Ratnapura District MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha also filed a complaint with the Kolonna Police Station. The MP had alleged that while traveling in a cab from Kalugala toward Halwinna, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station blocked the road by placing his motorcycle across the path, stopped the cab and attempted to assault him.

Additionally, the police stated that the motorcycle of the constable was found on the road near the Kalugala Temple and was taken into custody by the Kolonna Police. The police officer was first admitted to the Kolonna Hospital and later transferred to the Embilipitiya Hospital.

The statement from police mentioned that hospital clinical records note the presence of an alcohol breath odor, according to the medical report of the officer. Meanwhile, since no narcotic substances were detected in the officer’s urine samples, arrangements are currently being made to obtain blood samples and forward them to the Government Analyst’s Department to determine whether alcohol had been consumed.

Furthermore, police stated that investigations into the alleged incident are being conducted by the Embilipitiya Divisional Crimes Investigation Bureau under the direct supervision of the Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the Embilipitiya Division.

SEPAL – short clips

Sisi Tv

[ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ මූලධර්ම අභියෝගයට ලක් කරමින් මර්දනකාරී නීති ගෙන ඒම පිළිබඳ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශනය සදහා වූ සාමූහිකය (CSMD) දැඩි විරෝධය]

ජාතික ජන බලවේග ආණ්ඩුව (NPP) විසින් අලුතින් හඳුන්වා දීමට උත්සාහ කරන ‘ත්‍රස්තවාදයෙන් රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත’ (PSTA) සම්බන්ධයෙන් පැන නැගී ඇති මූලික ප්‍රතිචාර නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමේදී, එය පුරවැසියන්ගේ මූලික මිනිස් අයිතිවාසිකමක් වන ප්‍රකාශනයේ නිදහස ඇතුලු අයිතිවාසිකම් දැඩි ලෙස අඩපණ කරන මෙවලමක් බවට පත්වීමේ බරපතල අනතුරක් පවතින බව අපි පෙන්වා දෙමු.

– ‘ත්‍රස්තවාදය’යන්න අපැහැදිලි ලෙස අර්ථ දැක්වීම: PSTA පනත් කෙටුම්පත තුළ ත්‍රස්තවාදය යන්නට ලබා දී ඇති නිර්වචනය අතිශය පුළුල් සහ අපැහැදිලි ය. රජයේ ක්‍රියාකලාපයන් විවේචනය කිරීම, සාමකාමී විරෝධතාවල නිරත වීම හෝ පාලකයන්ට අප්‍රසන්න/ අකමැති අදහස් පළ කිරීම පවා “රජයට එරෙහිව ජනතාව පොළඹවන” හෝ “රාජ්‍ය ආරක්ෂාවට තර්ජනයක් වන” ක්‍රියාවන් ලෙස අර්ථකථනය කිරීමට මෙමගින් ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථාව සැලසේ.

– මාධ්‍යවේදීන් සහ සිවිල් ක්‍රියාකාරීන් ඉලක්ක කිරීම: තොරතුරු වාර්තා කිරීමේදී සහ මහජන මතය ගොඩනැගීමේදී මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ට සහ සමාජ මාධ්‍ය පරිශීලකයින්ට මෙම පනත යටතේ දැඩි පීඩනයක් එල්ල විය හැකිය. “ත්‍රස්තවාදයට අනුබල දීම” යන ලේබලය යටතේ ඕනෑම විවේචනාත්මක වාර්තාකරණයක් නීතියේ දැලට හසුකර ගැනීමට බලධාරීන්ට හැකි වීම නිසා මාධ්‍ය නිදහස අඩපණ කරන මෙන්ම ස්වයං-වාරණය/‘භීතියේ සෙවනැලි’(Chilling Effect) රජයන යුගයක් නිර්මාණය වනු ඇත.

– අත්තනෝමතික අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීම් සහ රඳවා තබා ගැනීම්: අදහසක් ප්‍රකාශ කළ පමණින් හෝ රජයට පටහැනි මතයක් දැරූ පමණින්, දීර්ඝ කාලයක් පුද්ගලයන් රඳවා තබා ගැනීමට ඇති හැකියාව පුරවැසියාගේ හඬ යටපත් කිරීමේ මර්දනකාරී අවියක් ලෙස භාවිත වනු ඇත. මෙය භීෂණය පදනම් කරගත් නිහඬ සමාජයක් බිහිකිරීමට දරන උත්සාහයක් ලෙස අපි විශ්වාස කරමු.

– ඩිජිටල් අවකාශය සහ පෞද්ගලිකත්වය උල්ලංඝනය වීම: අන්තර්ජාලය සහ ඩිජිටල් අවකාශය තුළ සන්නිවේදනය දැඩි ලෙස නිරීක්ෂණය කිරීමට සහ පාලනය කිරීමට පනතින් ලබා දෙන බලතල මගින්, පුද්ගලයන්ගේ සන්නිවේදන අයිතිය අහිමි වන අතර එය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී සංවාදයකට ඇති ඉඩකඩ මුළුමනින්ම අහුරා දමයි.

එබැවින්, ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව යනු ප්‍රකාශනයේ නිදහස ඇතුලු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී වටිනාකම් මරා දැමීම සඳහා භාවිතා කරන ‘හිස් චෙක් පතක්’ නොවිය යුතුය. එබැවින්, ජාත්‍යන්තර මානව හිමිකම් ප්‍රමිතීන්ට පටහැනි සහ පුරවැසියාගේ හඬ යටපත් කරන මෙම PSTA පනත් කෙටුම්පත වහාම හකුලා ගන්නා ලෙස අපි ජාතික ජන බලවේගයේ ආණ්ඩුවට බල කර සිටිමු.

නිදහස් මතයන් යටපත් කිරීමෙන් ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කළ නොහැකි බවත්, එයින් සිදුවන්නේ සමාජය අස්ථාවර වීම සහ ඒකාධිපතිවාදයට මඟ පෑදීම  බවත් අපි වැඩිදුරටත් අවධාරණය කරමු.

සම්පත් සමරකෝන්

(කැදවුම්කරු) සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශනය සදහා වූ සාමූහිකය (CSMD) +94 777 248304

ආර්ථික දර්ශක නිවේදනය  රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්  විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය  

ඩොලරයට සාපේක්ෂව රුපියලේ අගය පහත වැටීම නිසා, පසුගිය මාස 15 තුල ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ ණය ප්‍රමාණය රු. බිලියන 703 කින් ඉහළ ගොස් ඇතැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයේ දැක්වේ.

2024 ඔක්තෝබර් මස රු. 293 ක් වූ ඩොලරයේ අගය මේ වන විට රු. 312 දක්වා (රු. 19 කින්) ඉහළ ගොස් ඇත.  2025 මැද භාගය වන විට ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 37 ක් වූ විදේශ ණය ප්‍රමාණයේ වටිනාකම මත එමගින් ඇති කර ඇති අතිරේක බර රු. බිලියන 703  [ඩො.බිලියන 37 වරක් රු. 19] කි.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රයේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන් නිකුත් කර ඇති නිවේදනයේ දැක්වෙන්නේ, ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ  කඩිනම් මූල්‍යන උපකරණය (Rapid Financing Instrument) යටතේ ලබාදෙන ඩොලර් මිලියන 206ක පමණ මූල්‍යන පහසුකමට වඩා වැඩි පාඩුවක් රුපියල අවප්‍රමාණයවීම හේතුවෙන් පමණක් සිදුවන බවයි. (එනම් IMF ඇ.ඩො.මිලියන 206 වරක් රු. 312  [රුපියලේ අගය])

මෙම තත්වය සරළව පැහැදිලි කළ හැක්කේ, ඇමරිකානු ඩොලරයට සාපේක්ෂව රුපියල ඒකක 1 කින් අවප්‍රමාණය වන සෑම විටකම විදේශ ණය බර අතිරේක රු.බිලියන 37 කින් වැඩි වන බව ය.  

2022 දී රුපියල අවප්‍රමාණය වීම හා වෙනත් හේතු මත ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටීමෙන් පසුව මහ බැංකු විනිමය අනුපාත අනුව ඩොලරය රු. 361 දක්වා ඉහළ ගියේය (වානිජ්‍ය බැංකු ගණුදෙනු සඳහා එය සැබෑ විනිමය අනුපාතය රු. 400ක් පසුකර තිබුණි.).  පසුගිය රජයේ ආර්ථික කළමනාකාරණය හේතුවෙන්  ඩොලරය රු. 293 දක්වා ශක්තිමත් විය. පසුගිය මාස කිහිපය තුල රුපියල වේගයෙන් අවප්‍රමාණය වෙමින් ඇත.

වැරදි ආර්ථික කලමනාකරණය හා සෘජු විදේශ ආයෝජන ලබාගැනීමට අසමත්වීම, විදේශ ණය ප්‍රමාණය මෙළෙස අති විශාල ලෙස ඉහළ යාමට හේතුවකි. අවසාන විග්‍රහයේ දී, රු. බිලියන 700ක් පමණ වන මෙම මුදල සපයා ගැනීමට සිදුවන්නේ ජනතාව මත තවදුරටත් සෘජු හා වක්‍ර බදු මගිනි.

2025 මාර්තු මස ඩො.මි. 6,531 ක් වු විදේශ සංචිත 2025 නොවැම්බර් මස මිලියන 6,033 දක්වා මාස 8 තුල මිලියන 498 කින් පහත වැටී ඇතැයි ද ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය නිකුත් කළ නිවේදනයේ දැක්වේ.

රජිත් කීර්ති තෙන්නකෝන්

විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂ/ශ්‍රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කේන්ද්‍රය  

2025 දෙසැම්බර් 22

Collective for Social Media Declaration (CSMD)

22 December 2025: The Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, No. of 2026(PSTA) presents itself as a human rights improvement on the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This framing obscures the reality that its core architecture, including administrative detention, military powers, proscription regimes, and broad speech offences, replicates the essential features that made the PTA objectionable for over four decades.

The Bill replicates the fundamental architecture that made the PTA objectionable. Rather than using the ordinary criminal law regime for terrorism offences alongside emergency powers when genuinely required, the PSTA creates parallel criminal jurisdictions with reduced safeguards and expanded executive authority. Its scheme maintains extraordinary arrest and detention powers, grants the Attorney General potentially coercive mechanisms to compel admissions without trial, and empowers the President, senior police officers, and the Defence Secretary to issue proscription orders, restriction orders, curfews, and prohibited place declarations with limited judicial oversight. As the title suggests, the Bill’s fundamental purpose is to protect the state rather than to protect civilians from violence, a framing that offers little resistance to treating public dissent, political disruption, and threats to political power as terrorism in themselves. Though the Bill includes carve-outs for protest and industrial action, these sit in tension with other provisions and may prove ineffective in practice.

Section 78 defines confidential information” so broadly that it could capture online content, and social media posts documenting military checkpoints, photographs of army deployments during civilian protests, or tweets noting the presence of intelligence personnel at public events. Tamil civil society organisations, and activists documenting enduring militarisation in their communities face particular exposure. Section 15 criminalises failure to report information about terrorism offences with penalties of up to seven years imprisonment, placing journalists, lawyers, doctors, and religious figures in impossible positions where professional ethics conflict with criminal liability. This provision effectively conscripts recipients of information as state informants, creating a chilling effect on communication without requiring any technical interception.

Journalists, civil society activists, and ordinary social media users face particular exposure under this Bill. The predictable consequence is self-censorship driven by fear rather than any genuine security benefit. The Bill’s extended detention provisions, which permit up to two years of combined remand and detention without charge, provide a repressive mechanism for silencing dissent. Meanwhile, the surveillance and decryption powers granted under sections 53 and 55 threaten to eliminate private digital communication entirely, depriving citizens of secure channels for democratic dialogue and exposing them to monitoring that bears no reasonable relationship to legitimate counter-terrorism objectives.

We want to particularly stress the Bill’s impact on privileged, and encrypted communications, that go far beyond the PTA. Section 55 grants magistrates authority to order the unlocking of encrypted communications, yet assumes technical capability that simply does not exist with genuine end-to-end encryption (E2EE) systems. The extension of police powers to military personnel under section 19 creates a 24-hour window before handover to civilian authorities during which device contents could be accessed without procedural safeguards. Given documented patterns of abuse during military detention, including custodial torture, particularly affecting Tamil communities, the risk of coerced access to encrypted communications is not theoretical.

National security cannot serve as a blank cheque to erode democratic values. We urge the government to withdraw this Bill, engage in meaningful consultation with civil society, and affected communities, and develop fit-for-purpose legislation that meets international human rights standards while addressing legitimate national, and human security concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Sampath Samarakoon (on behalf of, Collective for Social Media Declaration – CSMD)                         + 94 777 248304

ABOUT CSMD: The Social Media Declaration collective  is a coalition established by civil society organizations, citizen activists, websites, and subject-matter experts, with the aim of promoting a ‘Human rights–Based, Socially Responsible use of Social Media’. This collective is dedicated to advancing human Rights, including digital rights, and to systematically analyzing online content through research, advocacy, training, awareness-raising, and critical inquiry. It continuously strives to foster and sustainably promote democratic discourse in online spaces grounded in internet freedom, transparency–openness, and democratic values. In this way, the collective remains committed to ensuring societal well-being through the influence of technology and to encouraging the development of responsible, ethical use of social media in the digital age.

The following organizations belong to this collective. Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association |        Jaffna Press Club  | Eastern Provinces Journalists forum | Centre for Policy Alternatives | Sri lanka Muslim Media Forum | Human Elevation Organization  | Low & Society Trust | SARVODAYA Shramadana Movement   | Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform | ActNow Youth Campaign | Wedabima Media collective   | National Collaboration Development  | Foundation Best Vision foundation  | Internet Media Action | maatram.org | vikalpa.org|groundviews.org | minormatters.org

by Garvin Karunaratne

Posted on January 17th, 2024

Our monetary economists of today have decided that printing money is to be stopped till the end of the year. The new Central Bank Act of 2023 is said to forbid money printing. Some foremost economists and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka are of the opinion that printing money causes inflation and should not be done.

I lived in Sri Lanka till 1973 and worked in senior Administrative Service positions from 1955 to 1973- some 17 years handling arduous development tasks all done with locally printed Rupees. In 1970, as a Deputy Director of the Small Industries Department, I actually handled foreign currency disbursement to all small industrialists in the country. Thus I speak with firm authority, through sheer experience -not research knowledge picked up from the internet or research, following ideas of elite professors or guided by utterances from foreign monetary institutions

How We administrators developed Sri Lanka on Rupees till the end of 1977.

Vijay Prashad

Beyond oil interests, Vijay Prashad argues that the US escalation against Venezuela is about reestablishing its hegemony in the hemisphere.

US Marines carrying out exercises on USS Iwo Jima as part of SOUTHCOM’s Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean Sea. (SOUTHCOM)

Ever since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998, the United States has attempted to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. They have tried everything short of a full-scale military invasion: a military coup, selecting a substitute president, cutting off access to the global financial system, imposing layers of sanctions, sabotaging the electricity grid, sending in mercenaries, and attempting to assassinate its leaders. If you can think of a method to overthrow a government, the United States has likely tried it against Venezuela.

However, in 2025, the escalation became unmistakable. The US sent its warships to patrol Venezuela’s coast, began sinking small boats and killing those on board as they left the South American mainland, and seized an oil tanker bound for Cuba. The quantity of attacks on Venezuela has increased, suggesting the quality of the threats has now reached a different magnitude. It feels as if the United States is preparing for a full-blown invasion of the country.

Donald Trump came to office saying that he was opposed to military interventions that did not further US interests, which is why he called the illegal US war on Iraq a waste of blood and treasure”. This does not mean Trump is against the use of the US military – he deployed it in Afghanistan (remember the Mother of all Bombs”) and Yemen, and has fully backed the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. His formula is not for or against war categorically, but about what the US would gain from it. With Iraq, he stated that the problem was not the war itself, but the failure to seize Iraqi oil. Had the US taken Iraq’s oil, Trump would likely have been in Baghdad, ready to build – with Iraqi treasure – a Trump hotel on one of the former presidential properties.

Naturally, the US military buildup in the Caribbean is about Venezuelan oil – the largest known reserves in the world. The US-backed politician, Maria Corina Machado, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just this week after supporting the Israeli genocide and calling for a US invasion of her own country, is on record promising to open up her country’s resources to foreign capital. She would welcome the extraction of Venezuela’s wealth rather than allow its social wealth to better the lives of its own people, as is the goal of the Bolivarian Revolution started by Hugo Chávez. A hypothetical President Machado” would immediately surrender any claim to the Essequibo region and grant ExxonMobil full command of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This is certainly the prize.

But it is not the immediate spur. A close reading of the 2025 National Security Strategy of the United States shows that there is a renewed emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. The Trump Corollary to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine is clear: the Western Hemisphere must be under US control, and the United States will do what it takes to ensure that only pro-US politicians hold power. It is worth reading that section of the National Security Strategy:

After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”

When Argentina faced local elections, Trump warned that the US would cut off external financing if candidates opposing pro-US President Javier Milei lost. In Honduras, Trump intervened directly to oppose the Libre Party, even offering to release a convicted drug trafficker (and former President). The United States is moving aggressively because it has accurately assessed the weakness of the Pink Tide and the strength of a new, far-right Angry Tide”. The emergence of right-wing governments across South America, Central America, and the Caribbean has emboldened the US to squeeze Venezuela and thereby weaken Cuba – the two major poles of the Latin American left. Overturning these revolutionary processes would allow a full-scale Monroe Doctrine domination of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Since the 1990s, the United States began to speak of Latin America as a partner for shared prosperity, emphasizing globalization over direct control. Now, the language has changed. As the Trump Corollary asserts: We want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets and that supports critical supply chains…We want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations.” Latin America is seen as a battlefield for geopolitical competition against China and a source of threats like immigration and drug trafficking. The attack on Venezuela and Cuba is not merely an assault on these two countries; it is the opening salvo of direct US intervention on behalf of the Angry Tide. This will not deliver better lives for the population, but greater wealth for US corporations and the oligarchies of Latin America.

Trump is ready to revive the belief that any problem can be solved by military force, even when other tools exist. The Trump Corollary promises to use its military system superior to any country in the world” to steal the hemisphere’s resources.

The aggression against Venezuela is not a war against Venezuela alone. It is a war against all of Latin America.

Vijay Prashad is an Indian historian, editor, and journalist. He is a writing fellow and chief correspondent at Globetrotter. He is an editor of LeftWord Books and the director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. He has written more than 20 books, including The Darker Nations and The Poorer Nations. His latest books are On Cuba: Reflections on 70 Years of Revolution and Struggle (with Noam Chomsky), Struggle Makes Us Human: Learning from Movements for Socialism, and (also with Noam Chomsky) The Withdrawal: Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and the Fragility of US Power. Chelwa and Prashad will publish How the International Monetary Fund is Suffocating Africa later this year with Inkani Books.

Source: Globetrotter

By Dharshan Weerasekera   

Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold

International human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations

An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation

At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law

Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law 

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The acceptance by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of a complaint against the UNHRC’s external mechanism on Sri Lanka should be welcomed by anyone who values the rule of law in international affairs. The OIOS is the UN’s internal watchdog, mandated to investigate financial and administrative misconduct within the organisation and its subsidiary organs. The complaint — filed in mid-September 2025 by an international NGO and three Sri Lankan citizens (including the present author) — alleges that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which oversees the Sri Lanka Accountability Project” (SLAP), is guilty of such misconduct. In late October, the OIOS informed one of the complainants that it had reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action.” (The complaint, along with all relevant documents, is available as an e-book on www.ceehale.org.)

This response offers a ray of hope, particularly to people in the Global South, that there remains at least one avenue within the UN system through which the concerns of private citizens can be heard. At the same time, it underscores the urgent need for reform within the UNHRC itself, so that private citizens may challenge the Council’s actions when they consider them harmful to their countries.

The complainants turned to the OIOS because no such mechanism exists within the UNHRC. While one of the Council’s founding instruments — UNHRC Resolution 5/1 (Institution-building within the Human Rights Council) — provides for a Complaint Procedure,” this mechanism is limited to examining allegations of gross human rights violations by states, not complaints against the Council or its officials. This gap urgently calls for scholarly attention and institutional reform.

The problem that gave rise to the complaint goes far beyond Sri Lanka. It reveals a deeper lacuna in both international law and human rights scholarship. Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law. Much of this development focuses on expanding its scope to include groups and issues previously neglected — women, children, indigenous peoples, minorities, and enforced disappearances during conflicts. Yet little attention is paid to what happens when powerful states use the UN and its subsidiary organs as instruments to interfere in the internal affairs of weaker states under the banner of human rights. They often do so by securing UN resolutions that provide the moral and legal justification for such interventions. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan illustrate this practice.

At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law. International law is ultimately based on the consent of sovereign states, making respect for sovereignty a cornerstone of the system. Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, which prohibits undue interference in the internal affairs of states, reflects this principle.

Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold. This implies that where gross violations occur, the international community has a moral obligation to intervene. In such a framework, international human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations.

It is unlikely that the power dynamics underpinning international relations will fundamentally change. As Thucydides observed, The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must.” Since the root cause cannot be eliminated, the rational response is to mitigate its effects. One way of doing this is to establish procedures for holding UN officials accountable when they assist in formulating policies, preparing reports, or conducting fact-finding missions that facilitate politically motivated country-specific measures. An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation.

The difficulty, of course, lies in the doctrine of immunity, which is essential for the functioning of international organisations. If every decision of the UNHRC could be challenged by affected individuals, the Council’s ability to act would be paralysed. It would become impossible for it to fulfil its mandate.

There is, however, a conceptual solution. Since enforcement of human rights often constitutes an exception to sovereignty, it should be possible to limit immunity where such enforcement is demonstrably unfair, discriminatory, or unjust. The key issue, therefore, is not whether immunity should be limited, but under what conditions. Guidance can be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself — a source rarely invoked for this purpose. Article 30 of the UDHR states:

Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.”

This provision clearly implies that no individual or institution may use human rights as a pretext to destroy other fundamental rights. This is sufficient to form the basis of a legal doctrine for limiting immunity where human rights mechanisms are abused.

Politicisation of the UNHRC manifests itself most clearly in the unequal application of its resources. The SLAP, for instance, has operated since 2021 despite being rejected by successive Sri Lankan Governments, including the present one. Each time its mandate comes up for renewal, a group of states led by the UK and Canada — the so-called Core Group” on Sri Lanka — applies sustained pressure to push the relevant resolution through. The most recent such resolution was adopted at the UNHRC’s 60th session. It was reported at the outset that forty-three states opposed a new resolution on Sri Lanka, with some explicitly objecting to the extension of the SLAP’s mandate. Yet both the resolution and the extension were approved.

Supporters of the SLAP argue that it is necessary to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and other violations allegedly committed during the conflict with the LTTE. The material in its repository, however, remains secret. Neither the Sri Lankan government nor the public can scrutinise it or challenge its contents before it is transmitted to third parties for action against the country.

The defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 brought peace and security to Sri Lanka. Without peace and security, the meaningful enjoyment of human rights is impossible. The High Commissioner has stated that the SLAP contains evidence of crimes against humanity. If such evidence is used to justify international endorsement of a right to self-determination for Tamils in Sri Lanka — led, for example, by the UK or Canada — any attempt to pursue secession would almost inevitably result in renewed violence.

In that scenario, the persistent promotion of the SLAP by these states would effectively amount to an attempt to deprive the majority of Sri Lankans of their right to live in peace and security. Such conduct would, on its face, fall within the type of behaviour that Article 30 of the UDHR seeks to prohibit. The SLAP thus provides an ideal platform for scholarly examination of the relevance of Article 30 to the functioning of the UNHRC.

The acceptance by the OIOS of the complaint against the SLAP demonstrates that there are legitimate grounds for concern regarding this mechanism. Yet if this process triggers a serious discussion on accountability and reform within the UNHRC, it may ultimately serve a constructive purpose. In that sense, one might even say that some good has come from it.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

මහ නාහිමියන් විසින් ජනාධිපති අනුර දිසානායක මහතාගේ අතේ බැන්ද පිරිත් නූල ගලවා විසි කර ඇති බව මහින්තලා රාජමහා විහාරාධිපති පූජ්‍ය වළවහැංගුණුවැවේ ධම්මරතන හිමි පවසයි.

ආණ්ඩුවට පක්ෂ නොවන භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට චීවරධාරීන් යැයි බැණ වදිමින් නොසෑහෙන්න නින්දා අපහාස කරමින් ඇතැයි ද එහිමියන් පෙන්වා දෙයි.

වර්තමාන පාලකයන් බොරු වැපිරීම නිසා රටට වස් වැදී හෙණ වැදී රටම විසාලා මහනුවරක් වී ඇතැයිද රටේ ඇත්තේ භික්ෂු නිකායන් තුනක් පමණක් බවත් රාජපක්ෂ නිකාය යැයි භික්ෂූන්ට පරිභව කරමින් බුදු දහමට නින්දා කරමින් ඇතැයි ද ධම්මරතන හිමි ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

යුද්ධය අවසන් කොට රටේ අධිවේගී මාර්ග පද්ධතිය ගොඩනැඟූ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ 2014 පරාජය කොට වසර 10ක් ගතවුව ද තවමත් කඩවත සිට මීරිගමට අධිවේගී මාර්ගය තනා ගැනීමට නොහැකි වී ඇති බව ද එහිමියන් පෙන්වා දෙයි.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ ඇතුළු පිරිසක් මිහින්තලා රාජමහා විහාරයට පැමිණි අවස්ථාවේ ධම්මරතන හිමි මේ බව කීය.

Courtesy The Fiji Times

Sri Lankan renewable energy company Vidullanka PLC has announced that it has emerged as the lowest-cost bidder for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to expand and upgrade a 100-kilowatt mini hydropower facility at Buca Village in Fiji.

In a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the company said the determination was made on 19 December 2025, marking a significant step toward securing the overseas renewable energy contract, although the formal award is still pending.

Vidullanka said the development is price-sensitive, given its potential impact on future business activity and the company’s longer-term market positioning.

The determination represents a material development for the company, subject to the formal award of the contract,” Vidullanka said in its disclosure.

The company noted that further announcements will be made once the contract is formally awarded, material agreements are executed, or there are additional developments related to the tender process.

Vidullanka also cautioned that the potential award remains subject to technical evaluations, decisions by the evaluation committee, regulatory approvals, and the successful negotiation of final terms.

If confirmed, the project would add to Fiji’s renewable energy infrastructure while expanding Vidullanka’s footprint in the Pacific region, aligning with broader regional efforts to strengthen clean and sustainable energy generation.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sustained adherence to the reform agenda has underpinned a robust economic recovery, price stability, substantial revenue-based fiscal consolidation, and progress in rebuilding foreign exchange reserves, but the economy remains vulnerable, and GDP has not recovered to its pre-crisis level, according to an IMF official.

Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said it in a statement issued last Friday.

Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic cyclone, claiming more than 600 lives and affecting millions more. Flooding and landslides have displaced more than 100,000 people, destroyed critical infrastructure, and devastated livelihoods across the country, he said.

The disaster has created urgent humanitarian and reconstruction needs, generating significant fiscal pressures and balance-of-payments needs. The emergency financial support provided by the IMF under the RFI will help address these pressures.

The government responded swiftly with a package of relief measures, supported by strong fiscal overperformance in 2025. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka stands ready to provide liquidity support to the financial system if needed.

While recovery and reconstruction needs will be substantial, the authorities remain committed to maintaining fiscal prudence to safeguard fiscal and debt sustainability. All emergency spending will be executed in full compliance with the Public Financial Management Act and supported by enhanced monitoring and regular public reporting in line with transparency and accountability standards. The Central Bank will continue to refrain from monetary financing of the budget.

The cyclone struck as Sri Lanka is emerging from a deep economic crisis and the IMF-supported reform programme under the EFF is bearing fruit.

The authorities and IMF team maintain close engagement and will resume discussions at the earliest possible juncture. The IMF stands with the people of Sri Lanka during this difficult time and will continue to support Sri Lanka’s recovery and reconstruction efforts,” he said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The inaugural 2026 budget proposal of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), which is under the control of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP), has been defeated by a majority of three votes.

The budget received 57 votes in favour, while 60 councilors voted against it, Ada Derana reporter said.

The votes of two members of ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ had proved decisive in the outcome of the vote, resulting in the National People’s Power (NPP) budget proposal being defeated by a majority of three votes.

At the last Local Government Elections, the NPP secured power in the CMC and its mayoral candidate Vraie Cally Balthazar was elected as the Mayor of Colombo by securing 61 votes.

Hiru News

Cyclone Ditwah caused extensive physical destruction across all 25 districts of Sri Lanka after striking the island in late November 2025. This assessment, conducted by the World Bank using the Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) methodology, estimates the direct physical damage at approximately 4% of the country’s GDP. The disaster affected nearly 2 million people and 500,000 families, marking it as one of the most destructive events in the nation’s recent history.

Key Damage Statistics

• Total Direct Damage: US$ 4.1 billion.
• Hardest Hit Districts: Kandy leads with US$ 689 million in losses, followed by Puttalam (US$ 486 million) and Badulla (US$ 379 million).
• Affected Population: Approximately 2 million individuals and 500,000 families.

Sector-Specific Impacts

• Infrastructure (US$ 1.735 billion): Representing 42% of total damage, the cyclone severely impacted roads, bridges, railways, power networks, and telecommunications.
• Housing (US$ 985 million): Accounting for 24% of losses, the highest housing destruction occurred in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Kegalle, and Puttalam.
• Agriculture and Fisheries (US$ 814 million): Significant destruction to rice paddies, vegetable crops, and livestock threatens to increase rural poverty and food insecurity.
• Non-residential Buildings (US$ 562 million): Schools, hospitals, and industrial factories faced heavy damage, particularly those near major rivers.

Recovery and Methodology

The World Bank mobilised up to US$ 120 million from existing projects to prioritise the restoration of essential services like healthcare, water, and connectivity. The GRADE methodology used for this report provides rapid, remote damage estimates within two weeks of a disaster to guide emergency financing. While the current estimate focuses on physical assets, the total economic impact is expected to rise significantly once indirect losses and “build back better” reconstruction costs are factored in.

Buddhist book

C. Wijeyawickrema, LL.B., Ph.D.

If the Tamils’ cry for separatism is given up, the two communities could solve their problems and continue to live in amity and dignity.”

M.C. Sansoni, CJ-(Sessional Paper No. 7 of 1980). 

It is interesting to observe the behavior of the young Tamil M.P. Archuna among the other disoriented Sinhala-speaking M.P.s who are wasting taxpayers’ money at the Diyawanna hotel. Of them, 159 are either doormats or Rajan Kadiragamars. The Tamil and Muslim MPs are enjoying the fun of how an inexperienced, incompetent and confused set of JVP-NPP leaders destroying the island’s Sinhala Buddhist civilization, openly and discreetly, treating the Sinhala Buddhist voters as fools who believed the likes of Uganda Kumari, and  specially the undeliverable promises given by the candidate and later the president AKD.

It is true that AKD became president due to the defective undemocratic, anti-geographic, electoral system, and the split of votes between the two selfish souls, Sajith and Ranil. He did not have a majority approval and he is doing things not in his mandate.  A drastic erosion of his  voter base is already clearly visible. The defeated and elected Sinhala MPs and leaders think that the sins and crimes of AKD government give them unexpected hope to come to power again sooner than later. But the opposition parties separately or collectively have failed so far to demonstrate that they are not the same wine in the old bottle and they have a better plan than the failing AKD govt.

One thing is clear. A Marxist group with a history of blood and death since 1971, is unlikely to give up power by way of a bloodless election. It never happened in the history of Totalitarianism in the world. The signs are all over  as the Kaduwela mayor Jayalal said, we are prepared to kill even 100,000 people to stay in power.” None of these matter to Tamil and Muslim MPs as long as they can survive with an Eelam and Oluvil-Sharia enclaves that both groups just missed during the Neelan-GL-Jayampathy Package Deal of Mrs. Chandrika in 2000, which Ranil-Sumanthiran-Jayampathy-Lal Wijenaika cabal resurrected again in 2017. That blue print was dead (forgotten?) in the minds of Sinhalayas, but only buried, as far as the Tamils and Muslim leaders are concerned, who are  waiting to resurrect it from the grave, when the time is ripe.  India and USA-UK do not mind any of these scenarios, as long as they have a firm grip over an adulterated Marxist Regime.

ARCHUNA- (Rasamanikkam-Ponnambalam- Sumanthiran) -ARUN SIDDHARATH

I think Archuna’s recent visit to see the Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thero was a genuine gesture, unlike what Vigneswaran tried to do some years ago. Free of any hidden political agenda, he placed his ideological challenge before the Mahanayaka priest, and it is the duty of the monks who have been the Guardian Angels of this island, and the so called Sinhala Buddhist leaders to educate Archuna why he cannot achieve his goal for a peaceful Sri Lanka as long as he is a direct agent of the global Tamil tigers. Because, Global Tamils want an Eelam country with a UN seat and a flag.  

The ACBC pioneered by Prof. G. P. Malalasekara and few others,  has failed miserably to defeat the ideological war then after 2009 May, and now in 2025. It was the highly educated, Christian-Marxist Dayan Jayathilaka plus Lalith Weeratunga and P. B. Jayasundara who took MahindaR and later Gotabaya on a jungle path in this regard. The cruelest dead-rope Dayan gave to MR was to let the moderate Tamil Vigneswaran to become the Chief Minister-NP. Colombo YMBA is an NGO (caste conscious?) more anti-Buddhist than Buddhist. Buddhism minister, ministry, department and the Sasana Rakshaka Bala Mandala, are all politicians’ jokes deceiving the innocent Sinhala Buddhists.

The grave mistake made by MR after May 2009 to follow a program to erase the Eelam ideology from the minds of innocent Tamils allowed the separatist Tamil politicians to slowly build a demand for an Eelam via the 13^th Amendment.  The locals like Sumanthiran with Sinhala daughter-in-law work behind the scene with the Indian RAW in Jaffna. Gajendra Ponnambalam on the other hand desperate  to capitalize the Indian-controlled AKD government. He met the Tamilnad CM Stalin to  put pressure on Modi to get the police and land powers for the Provincial Councils under the 13A.

Shanakyan Rasamanikkam went further. He was bold or foolish enough to put his neck out compared to Ponnamabalam or Sumanthiran. He has become an ostrich hiding his head in the sand.  An M.P. who took an oath to protect the unitary Sri Lanka has  given a heroic talk to the Canadian tiger forum that his plan is to achieve an Eelam before his death which is father and grandfather failed to achieve working with SJV Chelvanayagam who handed over the fight to Prbakaran-boys before his death in 1977.  But Rasamanikkam knew for sure that he would not face legal action against his statements in Canada under an AKD regimen buried  under the Tamil diaspora dollars. His assessment of Sri Lanka’s plight was so pathetic compared to the olive branch some opposition Sinhala politicians offer him.

Archuna is different and unique in his mission to handle the Tamil plight”. He has exposed the older Tamil separatists’ game behind the Indian politicians. And, he has the potential to become a young Kadiragamar in building bridges between the Tamil and Sinhala masses ( at his funeral in 2005, Buddhist monks came from all over the country to conduct Buddhist religious rites treating him a genuine Buddhist who sacrificed his life for national unity).  

However,  for this service Archuna needs a better understanding of the  geography and history (history is past geography) of Sri Lanka. Because, the Global Tamil movement supporting him has the goal of winning a Tamil country with a UN flag, carved out of Sri Lankan land. Archuna does not realize his desire to be the next Chief Minister of the Northern Province is only  one step away from a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lankan soil.

AKD planned a brand new concept of a Sri Lankan Day to promote peace and harmony among different ethnic groups while Rasamanikkam was challenging it with support from Canada which allowed tigers to block a public highway! The so called Sri Lanka Day was a waste money given to Samanalie Fonseka to organize it. It was against the Sinhala Buddhist society and some gods took care of it. If at all AKD tries it again it ought to be named the Eelam Day, and following the example given by Anagarika Dharmapala, and on that shameful day people should display white flags as a silent protest. In the 1930s-1940s Anagarika Dharmapala asked people to make a puppet apply white paint on it and keep it in front of his house and hit it in the morning and evening calling it a dirty white man (පර සුද්දා). It was a psychological boost for a nation humiliated and discriminated against by a white rule with the help of local Christian black whites.

Wigneswaran’s two sons married two Sinhala women and so was Sumanthiran’s son. If Hitler had two sons who were married to two Jews men could one say Hitler practiced Genocide? This was exactly what Wigneswaran said about the Sinhala government from which he reaped the best possible benefits before he became a Tamil politician giving up his past alliance with the Marxists LSSPers. Archuna has a Sinhala woman as his wife and hopefully he will not talk about a Tamil genocide in the South.

To this Vellala crowd Arun Siddharth is like acid on a piece of an old iron. A follower of Ambedkar he is working for the upliftment of so called low caste Tamils in Jaffna facing threats of harassments from the Indian Raw, Indian embassy branch in Jaffna and the Vellala vested interests in all over Jaffna. The low castes” perform all the manual and sanitary work and they are the majority in the North. Arun was against Prabakaran, 13^th Amendment and Christian provocations against Buddhist temples and archeological sites using innocent Hindu Tamils.

He points out how Vellala politicians organized private tuition for their children to learn Sinhala while opposing poor Tamil children learning Sinhala free in government schools. It was C.W.W. Kannanagara’s free education law in 1945 which helped low caste Hindu Tamils to get even a basic education. More than the 1956 Sinhala only law what offended the Vellala politicians most was the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act, No. 21 of 1957, a law designed to abolish caste-based discrimination.  

Chelvanayagam left the increasingly hostile anti-Tamil environment in Malaya, and immigrated to Ceylon via South Indian Christian church in Madras to begin his Kosovo plan by forming the Tamil State Party (Federal Party) in 1949. That was 7 years before the Sinhala only act, which had provisions for the Reasonable Use of Tamil in Ceylon, sabotaged by Sinhala extremists and the UNP leaders JRJ and Dudley. For his project, Chelvanayagam had all the blessings he needed from the LSSP Marxists who supported the Fifty-Fifty demand of G. G. Ponnabalam, which was rejected by the Donoughmore Commission in 1928.

Archuna has wrong facts about the number of Tamil deaths during the 30-year war or  the origin of the Tissa Raja Maha Vihara in Jaffna. Apparently, his knowledge and understanding of the so called Tamil struggle revolves around his father’s life and death. In Buddhism, there is no place for a wicked god or an almighty God, which is but an accepted norm (concept) in Hinduism. Thus, the Sinhala Buddhists need not dismiss the role Archuna could play in Sri Lankan politics simply because he identifies  Prabakaran as his god (දෙයියෝ). That kind of reaction would push Archuna more into the global Tamil Eelam prison (project).

My experience with Tamils (I lived with Tamil roommates) is that they are innocent people. Just like the Marxists ruined the minds of some Sinhala people with hatred and destruction, Tamil politicians who realized that they are going to loose the benefits of the colonial strategy of divide and rule, especially after the universal franchise in 1931, thought of carving out a separate country for them, away from Colombo, so that they become masters of their own enclave.

I think the desire of Archuna and Arun Siddharth is the empowerment of Tamil people, not the crooked politicians. These two must work together with this common goal. They could easily work with a person like Wijeweera’s son Uvindu who is different from older Sinhala politicians including his father who died in vain.

I hope Archuna respond to this invitation via email.

wijeychandra@gmail.com

Sent to: ramanathana@parliament.lk

Phone (Sitting Days) 0775968025; Phone (Non-Sitting Days) 0778968025

Email: ramanathana@parliament.lk