By Noor Nizam – Political and Peace Activist & Political Communication Researcher and former SLFP District Organizer – Trincomalee District, and Convener – The Muslim Voice, and Former Press and Information Officer to HE. Mahinda Rajapaksa, January 4^th., 2016.

Enrique’s Sex and Love tour: Two Cabinet Ministers pressured Colombo Mayor to give green light. The Muslim Voice was always right when it questioned the Muslim UNSCRUPULOUS” politicians. The Muslim voice consistently requested HE. President Maithripala Sirisena to probe the Mayor M.S.M. Muzammil regarding the Enrique’s Sex scandal which has already damaged the image of Sri Lanka and the President internationally, on which a price tag cannot be put, let it be alone the CMC had lost Rs. 30 million on taxes due. Comments made by the Convener – The Muslim Voice in many web newspapers stressed on this point for many days. Some web sites denied the publication of these comments. But Adaderana, Ceylon Daily News and certain foreign webpapers published the comments. Lankaweb.com is the ONLY web newspaper which allows and respects dedicated freelance journalists and Academia by allowing their article/comments and opinions published, irrespective of the sensitiveness of the content – an example of TRUE JOURNALISM PRACTICED and the promotion of Press/Media and Journalism Freedom within the Press and Media industry of Sri Lanka.
The President has got the CMC Mayor to spill some beans. It is reported in the press/media that two ministers have been named as those who pressurized the mayor to do the UNWANTED. Minister Faizer Musthapa being one, seems NOT extraordinary. Shame on him and the Sri Lankan Muslims. No doubt Sinha Le” will have enough reasons to wack us in the future – God AlMighty forbid it should NOT happen. But ALL the BEANS have NOT been spilled by the Mayor. HE. President Maithripala Sirisena should still continue the probing” to find out, how many Rs. 35,000/= tickets were given to politicians as complimentary ticket, especially to Minister Faizer Musthapa and how many ounces of kerala ganja and heroin and many bottles of hard liquor were traded at the grounds that evening and who were the culprits that were engaged in those nefarious activities. These may be political passing cloud incidents” to these culprits, but the President taking stern action against these incidents and exposing them to the public, will bring the people to gather around the President Maithripala Sirisena, be it the Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims, whether they are SLFP, UNP, MEP, JVP, LSSP, FSC, SLMC, ACMC, National Muslim Congress, CWC or the TNA or the ITAK. The FAILURE of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to do this during his tenure as President was his downfall. The same Muslim Politicians who sucked” him are also around the President Mathripala Sirisdena now. So President Maithripala Sirisena, should not give up the probe on this event.

In addition to this, the recent media/press publications Suspected Ministry Official carrying gold in anus” (http://www.adaderana.lk/news/33513/ministry-official-carrying-gold-in-anus-arrested) was also another scandal where the personal staff member of the Muslim Affairs Minister was arrested by the Sri Lanka customs and charged for carrying into the country 04 gold slabs weighing 400g concealed in his rectal cavity, worth Rs. 2 million. What a shame again on the Muslim Community. Why NOT we accept that we are those who habour the most number of smugglers and racketeers in our community (including businessmen, politicians and political stooges) and begin to correct ourselves and live the “Muslim way of Life” Insha Allah. IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT ALL SRI LANKAM MUSLIMS, INCLUDING BUSINESSMEN, POLITICIANS AND POLITICAL STOOGES ARE PRACTISING THIS CULTURE OF HIPOCARCY” IN THE SRI LANKAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY. The incident has now been politically swept under the carpet. But President Maithripala Sirisena should not fail to revisit this incident and to bring the culprits and the gang behind this episode before justice and punish them, if found guilty. Again this will bring the people to gather around the President Maithripala Sirisena.

Sri Lanka media forums and Sri Lanka Muslim journalists and Muslim civil society and religious leaders should blast these news and call for a commitment by all Sri Lankan Muslims, including Muslim politicians to stop this “added Muslim culture of deception and smuggling”. The “Derana 360” political program, The Derana “Black and White” Political program, The Derana “Wadapitiya” TV program, Sirasa Satana” Program, ITN, Rupavahini and Swarnavahini Tamil political programs  should take this dreadful spreading Anti-Social Muslim culture within the Sri Lankan Muslim community in there popular TV/news programs and trash it down in public debates/public TV talks and help the Sri Lankan Muslim community to get rid of this menace. Not only this, let us be bold and ashamed to accept that our Community government officials, especially in the Sri Lanka customs (not all) also connive in making this possible to the Muslim business gangs who under the disguise of “religious travel” are the biggest culprits in this smuggling operations. Muslim entrepreneurs in the Travel and Tours Trade (not all) also aid and have abetted this culture within the Sri Lankan Muslim community. Some of the Muslim politicians are also hand in glove in these operations, but deny and wash their hands and pretend to be Mr. Clean” when caught. The other segment of the Sri Lanka Muslim Community are some of the Muslim Lawyers who, notwithstanding the FACT that they are very good practicing Muslims, still provide legal support (but for high legal charge/fees) and appear on all apprehended smuggling cases and make sure that the culprits are free from all allegations and charges, or by paying a small fine, within the law. These community elements help the authorities fix a “scapegoat” and get out of the allegations. The Indian Muslim community also have a great influence in these activities, especially from South India and also from Singapore/Hong Kong. The “SMUGGLING CULTURE” practiced by these unscrupulous Muslim gangs has to be condoned in full and eradicated totally from the Sri Lankan Muslim community. President Maithripala Sirisena along with the media should help the Muslim Community in this fight against the “The Smuggling Culture and Deceptive Political Culture” in Sri Lanka. This comment may create a volcanic eruption in the Sri Lankan Muslim Community with a lot of violent opposition from these elements within the Sri Lankan Muslim Community with the support of the money and political/social power available to the smuggling and political deceptive Muslim gangs, but the Sri Lanka Muslim Community has to once and for all get rid of these menace and allow the Sri Lankan Muslims to live a respectful and dignified social and political life and practice the TRUE Islamic Way of Life” that the Holy Prophet Mohamed (Peace be upon him) has preached to us and that which has been revealed in the Holy Quran and guided by the Al Hadith”.

DHARSHAN WEERASEKERA

The persons who are pushing the new Constitution and the forces behind them (i.e. the US, UK and India) have anticipated almost all contingencies.  Unless something drastic happens to derail their plans, here’s what I predict will happen:  On the 9^th, the government will convert Parliament to a Constitutional Assembly, and over the next 6 months or so proceed to generate a new Constitution.

Meanwhile, an Opposition will grow to challenge the Constitution, and, just before the vote in Parliament, it will seem as if this Opposition will prevail.  At that point, the President will give one of his signature televised addresses to the nation, where he will solemnly promise that, whatever ramifications the new Constitution will have, he will never allow it to divide the nation.

The above will be enough as far as Parliament is concerned:  the Government will get its 2/3 majority and the draft will be approved.  It will then be submitted to the People at a referendum, and the following will happen:  the Tamils and Muslims will vote en masse in favour, the UNP vote-base, reportedly 30% of the national electorate, will follow suit; finally, a very small fraction of the Sinhala-Buddhists will also be cajoled, bribed or intimidated into voting ‘yes,’ to cross the 50% mark.

The new Constitution, dubbed a triumph of ‘consensus-politics’ by the ‘Free Press,’ will be enacted into law with congratulations pouring in from all over the world, including Barack Obama, Ban Ki Moon, Zeid Al Hussein the Human Rights High Commissioner, and others.  Champaign corks will pop in Toronto, London, New York and other Diaspora hubs, as throngs of sweaty Tamils dance in the streets.

The Sinhala-Buddhists, roughly 49% of whom will have had their franchise made a mockery of, will retire to their dens to lick their wounds, if not their pride.  But, it will be no consolation, because they will have lost their country.  A civilization that has lasted roughly 2500 years will come to an end.  Is there any way to prevent this debacle?

A MODEST PROPOSAL

In my view, the only way to prevent the said debacle is to form an Opposition based explicitly and brazenly on an assertion of Sinhala-Buddhist identity, and implemented through an Organization whose name contains the explicit words ‘Sinhala-Buddhist,’ for instance, ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Front,’ ‘Sinhala-Buddhist Alliance’ or some such thing.

Since the entire point is to unite the Sinhala-Buddhists in terms of their ethnic or civilizational identity, the Alliance will be ineffective if it doesn’t contain the words ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’ in its name.  Those two words are in effect its best recruiting-tool, or rather, they convey automatic membership on all Sinhala-Buddhists, and it is up to each individual member to only decide if they support the program of action of the Alliance and if so to what extent.

At present, though there is a growing Opposition, as far as I’m aware it is comprised of various groups with differing agendas and ideologies.  True, they share a commitment to the Sinhala-Buddhist civilization along with the territorial integrity of the country.  Nevertheless, in my view, the impetus that brings them together is logistical and political convenience than an animating principle deriving from the Sinhala-Buddhist identity.

Unfortunately, the enemies of the Sinhala State have figured out a way to undercut coalitions such as those mentioned above.  The tactic, to repeat, is to use the minority vote aggressively and systematically against the Sinhala-Buddhists, and to exploit political differences among the Sinhala-Buddhists to peel of a sufficient number of the latter to vote with the minorities:  in other words, to make communalism the be-all and end-all of Sri Lankan politics.

In a situation such as the above, coalitions of the Sinhala-Buddhists based on logistical or political convenience can’t compete against persons and/or forces that can command the minorities to vote en masse based on ethnic, linguistic or religious identity because the latter categories are more elemental, which makes the voting blocs more reliable.

The only way to counter the persons and/or forces manipulating the minority vote in this way is to beat them at their own game, which is to say, to form an alliance based on ethnic identity, and nothing else.  If the Sinhala-Buddhists coalesce according to their ethnic identity, they can’t be pulled apart as easily.  Given the fact that they are the numerical majority, in any contest with the minorities, even with a nominal Sinhalese element thrown in, the Sinhala-Buddhists will win hands down every time.

COMPOSITION AND PURPOSE

The Alliance or Front I’m proposing will be comprised of three primary components:  first, Sinhala-Buddhist public intellectuals, professionals, artists and other specialists who will provide the intellectual stimulus as well as advice and guidance; second, the Sangha, which will provide the Alliance with the backbone and the moral authority; and finally, the Sinhala-Buddhist populous organized into manageable groups based on the principle of absolute democracy.

1. B. Rambukwelle, one-time Principal of the Sri Lanka Law College, but also at different times in his life a practicing attorney, judge, among other things, and a life-long student of history, has observed that the three constants of Sinhala-Buddhist civilization until 1815 were the Monarchy, the Sangha and the village-collectivities (See, P. B. Rambukwelle, Commentary on Sinhala Kingship, 1993). Though I’m hardly an expert on Sri Lanka history, Rambukwelle’s observation seems to me reasonable.

The three components I have described as the main planks of the proposed Alliance are intended to reflect the historical categories identified by Rambukwelle.  The monarchy and the village collectivities no longer being viable, the public intellectuals, professionals etc, on the one hand, and the Sinhala-Buddhist populace on the other, will fill in for those missing elements, with the Sangha providing the unwavering constant.

The point is that the three components are intended to fit naturally into the civilizational structure of the Sinhala-Budhists, so that the Alliance is an organic outgrowth of such structure, rather than something artificial or contrived, imposed from outside.

Meanwhile, to the above three pillars will be added a fourth:  the vast population of expats around the world who, if I’m not mistaken, are seething with frustration and rage at what is happening to the Old Country.

This fourth pillar will provide logistical and financial support, advice and guidance, and also most crucially promote and defend the cause of their brethren in Sri Lanka before the governments and other influential circles in their home countries, much in the way the Tamil Diaspora is dong for their own ‘people.’

The Alliance will have two primary goals, that go far beyond resisting the Communalist Constitution.  Resistance to the Constitution is obviously the impetus for the creation of the Alliance, and will allow it to flex its muscles, but the two real goals are:  First, to establish Sinhala-Buddhist sovereignty over the entire Island, which in practical terms means re-populating the North and East, especially the North, with significant numbers of Sinhala-Buddhists, at least to the levels that existed circa 1980.

And second, to give a vital spark to the political, social and cultural life of the country, which in turn will lead to a renewal and resurgence, infused with creative energy, of all the components of civic life, including the law, letters, science, and the arts, and reflected objectively, as is always the case with civilizations in their youth and vibrancy, in an heightened and more refined aesthetic sensibility.

In short, the purpose of the Alliance is nothing less than bringing about a complete renewal and resurgence of the Sinhala-Buddhist civilization, in order to consolidate the victory of the armed forces in May 2009 in gaining physical control over the entire country, by incorporating the civilizational infrastructure that would ensure Sinhala-Buddhist predominance in the island for centuries to come.

OBJECTIONS

I anticipate that there will be three main objections to the proposal above:  one, it is racist and/or chauvinistic and will alienate the Christians, Muslims, and ‘Moderate Tamils’ who still remain friends with the Sinhalese; two, if successful the Movement will turn Sri Lanka into a Buddhist Theocracy; and finally, it is so contrary to the interests of the Indians and the Americans that they will do everything they can to destroy it, which entails plunging the country into another round of internecine war.

First, will setting up an Alliance that brazenly advertises itself as ‘Sinhala-Buddhist’ alienate Christians, Muslims and ‘Moderate Tamils’ still friendly to the Sinhalese thus depriving the latter of much-needed support at this crucial juncture?  In my view, the Sinhala-Buddhists are facing cultural and civilizational annihilation:  they have to think first and foremost about their own survival rather than the feelings of their friends.

In my view, the reality is that the bulk of the minorities are firmly in the enemy camp.  The Christians, Muslims and Tamils who remain the friends of the Sinhalese because they truly empathize with the plight of the Sinhalese, and also appreciate the danger to the minorities themselves in the long run if present trends continue, will remain friends through thick and thin.  Besides, once the Sinhala-Buddhists grab power, they can compensate their friends adequately, for hurt feelings, etc.

To repeat, the issue is not about alienating the minorities.  The minorities who have already been alienated are beyond redemption; those who remain with the Sinhala-Buddhists will go the distance.  In short, the Alliance will not suffer from brazenly and aggressively advertising itself as ‘Sinhala-Buddhist.’  In fact, it will be its greatest source of strength.  When the minorities, or anyone else, cries Racist!” Chauvinist!’ all that a member of the Alliance has to say is, ‘Proud of it.  See you at the Polls!’ End of story.

The second objection is that an Alliance of the type I’m proposing, with the Sangha at the very center of it, will inevitably end in turning Sri Lanka into a Buddhist Theocracy, a fate not much more palatable than a tyranny of the minorities, or of foreign interventionists.  I admit that there is a danger of this happening.

Personally, the end result that I hope for if the Alliance is a success is a stable democracy where individual rights are sacrosanct, where every citizen, irrespective of whether they are Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, or anything else, can live in peace and pursue whatever avenues of happiness and prosperity they wish to pursue.

What I oppose are attempts by the minorities to claim special treatment because of the fact that they are minorities, i.e. the claim that they have ‘grievances’ or some such things endemic to them by virtue of their ethnic, linguistic or religious status, and the related claim that they have special historical and moral rights to particular areas of this country, rights not shared by the Sinhalese.

But, I recognize that a Movement based on ethnic identity, with its elemental undercurrents, can morph into a repressive and intolerant orthodoxy.  I am hopeful that the more reasonable and sensible among the Sinhala-Buddhists, including the Sangha, will prevent such a thing happening.

Indeed, the history of the Sinhala-Buddhists offers an exemplary record of toleration and amity. I am reminded that the origins of the Muslims in the Eastern Province is that the Sinhala King invited them to settle in those areas when they were being persecuted by the Portuguese and driven out of their homes in the areas around Colombo.

Similarly, when the Dutch took over control of the coastal areas from the Portuguese, and began to persecute the Catholics in those areas, the Sinhala King invited them to settle in the Matale district, the very heart of his kingdom, and I am informed that the descendants of those Catholics live in those areas to this day.

It is difficult to suppose that a people with the above type of history, a people whose religion has as one of its central tenets the doctrine of Karma (i.e. ‘What goes around comes around’) along with a commitment to the Middle Path (i.e. a shunning of extremes) will as a rule allow themselves to degenerate into a repressive and intolerant society.

In any event, my point is that, the immediate need is for the Sinhala-Buddhists to survive as a civilization, and this must take precedence over any danger that may lurk in the future, as a result of forces unleashed to meet the present need.

The final objection is that the foreigners, i.e. the Indians and the Americans, will not like the Sinhala-Buddhists coming to power in the island, and will trigger a second internecine war in order to prevent such a thing happening.  I’ll deal with the Indians first.  I admit that the Indians will probably repeat the tactic they used in the 80’s if they feel that their interests are sufficiently threatened.

As I indicated earlier, however, the Sinhala-Buddhists are at present facing an existential crisis, which is to say, they are facing annihilation as a culture and a civilization.  What the objection says is that the Sinhalese are finished if, in trying to survive, they take steps that clash with Indian interests.  In other words, the Sinhalese are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.

Under the circumstances, it makes no sense to give in passively to the Indians out of fear for what they might do.  The imperative is to survive first.  If the Indians decide to set up terrorist camps or whatever else to disrupt the State, so be it:  the Sinhala-Buddhists will have to cross that bridge when they come to it.

On the other hand, the Indians themselves are not invulnerable:  Indian politics is in constant flux; it has been shown for instance that Modi is no longer invincible.  A solid Sinhala-Buddhist power-base in Sri Lanka will be able to influence these trends.

In short, it may not be so easy for India to meddle in the affairs of this country if the Sinhala-Buddhists consolidate power.

I’ll now turn to the Americans, who I think are the ones really driving events in Sri Lanka, even more than the Indians.  What would the Americans do in the face of a Sinhala-Buddhist Alliance of the type I’m suggesting?  In my view, this is where things get interesting.  I lived for quite some time in the United States, and flatter myself that I understand something of how Americans think.

The urgency with which the new Constitution is being pushed by the present regime, coupled with the fact that top-level American emissaries have been visiting the island almost every month, indicates to me that the Americans have realized the local puppets they’ve put in place are far more incompetent, venal and vacillating than they imagined, and the window of opportunity to hook Sri Lanka permanently into America’s ‘Informal Empire’ is fast shrinking.

One must combine the above with a well-known fact about the way the Americans run the said Informal Empire.’  Generally speaking, it is run by putting in place, in the countries that are brought within the ambit of the ‘Empire’ a local strongman or junta, backed by an Army specifically trained and equipped to be used continually and relentless against the local population, to keep the latter in check and allow US interests to have their way in the country.

To digress a moment, Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman in their classic study, The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism (South End Press, Boston, 1979) make a distinction between what they call ‘constructive terror’ and ‘benign terror.’  ‘Constructive terror’ is state-sponsored violence by regimes directly subsidized or supported by the US, for purposes of furthering the US’s interests.

‘Benign terror’ is violence by various fringe groups and/or regimes about which the US is indifferent, either because the victims are not of sufficient interest to Americans, or the regimes though not directly subsidized by the US nevertheless do business with the latter, and therefore policy considerations entail that no feathers be ruffled.

Chomsky’s and Herman’s conclusion is that the number of persons killed and brutalized by constructive terror’ is exponentially greater than the number killed and brutalized by ‘benign terror.’  My point is this:  what the US is in the process of doing in Sri Lanka is making this country a directly subsidized and supported client State, which means that the next step one can expect is the said ‘constructive terror.’

Unfortunately for the US, the Sri Lanka Army, a war-winning army, which in its very ethos exists as an institution of national defence, is in its present form incapable of being used on a mass scale against the local population, and it’ll take years of ‘reform’ to turn it into a tool that can be used for that purpose.  (It is reported that the said process of ‘reform’ has begun, with help from Britain, one of the US’s customary agents when it comes to these operations, but still it’ll take years to complete.)

To make a long story short, if the Sinhala-Buddhists were to grab power in Sri Lanka, the US in my view will be helpless to do anything about it.  They’ll have to go back to the drawing board and come up with a plan to topple the new government, which will not be easy, because the Sinhala-Buddhists will hopefully have learned from their first experience.

More important, the US itself is increasingly distracted by more pressing concerns, including on the one hand domestic calamities, and on the other, the imperative to contend with the rising power of China and Russia in regions where the US had for years enjoyed unquestioned hegemony.  In short, the present may be the best time, perhaps the only time, for the Sinhala-Buddhists to assert themselves and retake their country.

Dharshan Weerasekera is an Attorney-at-Law.  He is the author of two books:  The UN’s Relentless Pursuit of Sri Lanka (2013), and, The UN’s Subversion of International Law:  The Sri Lanka Story (2015)

Mahinda Gunasekera

By E-mail                                                                                January 4, 2016

His Excellency, Maithripala Sirisena
President of Sri Lanka

Copes to: Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe, PM and Senior Cabinet Minister/MPs

Your Excellency,

I have pleasure in re-submitting the memorandum sent by me on March 28, 2011 to the Secretary of the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation wherein I have outlined historical facts relating to the separatist conflict carried out by extremist elements of the Tamil community led by the internationally designated terrorist movement known as the LTTE, aka Tamil Tigers with intent to break up the unitary, sovereign state of Sri Lanka.  I have also proposed revisions to the Second Republican Constitution of 1978 currently in force, with a view to eliminate the district-wise electoral process and make provision for election of representatives for each electorate while permitting outstanding citizens with special qualifications being co-opted proportionate to the total votes polled by each political party.

It is my view that the peripheral provincial councils be replaced by District Councils with scaled back powers whilst providing for sharing of more powers at the Centre thereby creating a more cooperative parliament where the government and opposition parties, majority and minority community representatives, will be called upon to contribute for the betterment of the country in a non-confrontational role envisioned therein.

Sri Lanka, being a civilizational state with a recorded history dating back to over 2,500 years, it is incumbent on the present generation to give due recognition to the unique heritage and culture of the people.  It must be reminded that even the last colonial ruler, namely, the British, undertook to safeguard the ‘Religion of the Budhoo’ in the treaty signed in 1815 known as the Kandyan Convention entered into between Britain to whom power had been ceded by the Chieftains of Sinhale.

Whilst building friendly ties with all nations, we must strive to retain the limited protection enjoyed by us as an island nation, that has helped us to develop our own traditions and customs based on time tested values upheld by our people.  It would indeed be foolish to spend enormous sums of borrowed money on building bridges and/or tunnels to the Indian Sub-Continent
in a region from which numerous invasions have been launched into our territory, and in recent times engaged in destabilizing Sri Lanka by arming, training and funding terror groups including the LTTE which sought to break up the island nation by carving out territory to form a separate state. Even today, the Indian side continues to blatantly violate our territorial waters by sending hundreds of boats to illegally catch our fish stocks and also damage the breeding grounds by resorting to internationally banned bottom trawling methods.  We would also face a much higher problem of illicit immigration from Southern Indian states and furthermore bring back the dreaded Malaria scourge which Sri Lanka’s Health authorities have after a sustained campaign of over 50 or 60 years succeeded in eliminating this disease from our land.  There is certainly no need for a bridge or tunnel to link our country with India when the ocean water separating the two countries is less than 25 miles which is easily navigable throughout the year.  Although the Sri Lankan authorities had not made a formal announcement of the proposed linkages, the Hindu newspaper quoted India’s Minister of Transport as having said that the plans are being implemented and that Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister had given the nod when he last met with India’s Prime Minister Modi in India.  If Sri Lanka claims that the new administration is committed to ‘Yahapalanaya’, then the leaders must be forthright and not be devious, or rule by stealth or subterfuge.

Is the matter of Constitutional revision being handled by the Ministry of Justice, or by a foreign funded NGO with a somewhat negative record which sought proposals from me by email?  I have not responded to the CPA as I am not aware if they have been entrusted with this important task by the Sri Lankan authorities, which need not outsource this matter which concerns the vital interests of all the people of the country.

Yours sincerely,

Mahinda Gunasekera

Encl.
—– Original Message —–

From: M. Gunasekera

To: Secretary, Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation

Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 5:20 PM

Subject: Submission to the LLRC

By E-mail                                                                        84 Tambrook Drive

Agincourt, Ontario

Canada M1W 3L9

March 28, 2011

Mr. S.B.Atugoda

Secretary to the Commission of Inquiry on

Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation

Lakshman Kadirdamar Institute of International

Relations and Strategic Studies

24 Horton Place

Colombo 7, Sri Lanka

Dear Sir,

Submission to the Members of the Commission of Inquiry:

I have pleasure in sending the following submission for reference of the Commission of Inquiry and shall be glad if you would kindly bring same to the attention of the Chairman and other Commissioners for their study and consideration.  Although I have been a permanent resident of Canada since 1975, I have been closely following developments in the motherland and actively contributing to the ongoing discussion of national issues in the capacity of the Executive Vice President of the Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) from 1983 and latterly as its President since 1995.  I have also served as the first General Secretary of the World Federation of Overseas Sri Lankan Associations in 1985-1986 and of recent times been affiliated to the World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS) headquartered in Melbourne.

Ceasefire Agreement of February 21, 2002:

Whilst the Commission’s mandate is primarily concerned with the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) of February 21, 2002 and subsequent events, I feel it is important to review prior periods to determine the causes for the ethnic divide and flagrant violations that took place. The CFA itself was poorly drawn up in virtual secrecy without even proper consultations between the President, Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers, or discussed in parliament, but put in place with the hope and intention of striving towards a negotiated settlement between the opposing forces comprised of the legally and democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka and the armed militant group led by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had been designated as an international terrorist movement by the UN Security Council Resolution Number 1373 of September 2001, which had unlawfully and through violent means taken possession of parts of the sovereign territory belonging to the legitimate state of Sri Lanka in the northern Vanni region and areas of the eastern province.  This illegal occupation was described as defacto control of territory by the LTTE, and the MOU and CFA drawn up to govern the peace process tended to almost equate the legitimate government of the GOSL with an internationally recognized terrorist group.

The Ceasefire Agreement was a flawed document which allowed the LTTE cadres to enter into government controlled areas whilst barring unarmed representatives of the GOSL from entering the illegally controlled areas held by the LTTE.  Even the requirement to keep the A9 Highway open for through traffic from the south to the north and vice-versa was obstructed by the LTTE which installed barriers at the entry points to their areas, and even resorted to extorting funds from civilians passing through.  It was a lopsided agreement prepared by the Norwegian facilitator with input from the LTTE’s theoretician and adviser, the late Anton Balasingham who was a close associate of the  Norwegian representative and cabinet minister, namely Eric Solheim, who was the key architect of the failed peace process put in place in 2002.

Even though the Government of the day and the Norwegian facilitator had stated that the LTTE have signaled their willingness to give up their claim for ‘Eelam’, it is clear from the following quote of Prabhakaran’s speech published in the TamilNet on November 27, 2001, wherein he reiterates the same goal of a separate state using a different set of words which have equally serious implications:

“The Tamil people want to maintain their national identity and to live in their own lands, in their historically given homeland with peace and dignity.  They want to determine their own political and economic life; they want to be on their own.”

Despite the selection of Norway as the peace facilitator, establishment of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission made up of members of the four Nordic countries and the creation of a high powered overseeing body named the Co-Chairs of the Peace Process represented by the USA, EU, Norway and Japan, there was no effective machinery to penalize the violator of the accord except for keeping scores of the violations.  The SLMM reported that there were 7300 complaints against the LTTE between the period 2002 to 2006, and of the investigations carried out at the time, they ruled that the latter had violated the CFA on 3471 occasions including the killing of over 400 members of the security forces, political leaders such as the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, and other civilians, whilst there were 1313 complaints against the government’s armed forces mainly relating to obstructions at checkpoints of which 162 were deemed as violations of the CFA  In addition, the UNICEF reported the abduction and forced conscription of nearly 6000 Tamil youth, many under the age of 15 years which falls into the category of a war crime.  Conscription of underage Tamil youth by the LTTE continued in spite of repeated undertakings given to the Special Rapporteur, Olara Otunnu of UNICEF of discontinuing this practice and releasing the youth to the care of UNICEF for restitution of the child soldiers to their respective families.

Furthermore, the LTTE which agreed to international mediation during the ceasefire period never negotiated in good faith, but continued to build its fighting forces and amass an enormous stockpile of weapons including a squadron of night bombers, showing their intent of establishing their mono-ethnic, separate Tamil racist state by grabbing terrain extending to over 1/3^rd of the island’s land area bounded by 2/3rd of the coastline by force of arms.  The international community which supported the peace process publicly intimated their firm and unwavering backing for Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity whilst their policies tended to slant towards a two state solution or in the alternative a federal arrangement which would serve as a stepping stone to separation or division into two states.  The powerful foreign powers engaged in the peace process funded both local NGOO as well as the INGO serving in Sri Lanka to carry out their end strategy by promoting federalism that would provide a platform for separation by adopting the Quebec Option by merely holding a referendum in the region opting for self-determination and independence.  They later discovered that federalism was not acceptable to the people of Sri Lanka and deemed the ‘F’ word as intimated by the Hon. Bob Rae a senior Liberal Party politician of Canada who sought to push federalist ideas and a federal structure through the Canadian Forum of Federations of which he was the President, in partnership with the Sri Lankan Centre for Policy Alternatives heavily funded by Canada and other western countries.

Sri Lanka’s newly elected President, H.E. Mahinda Rajapakse called on the Norwegian facilitator to arrange for a renewed round of peace talks in November of 2005, to which the LTTE consented, but did not come to the table and instead used their visits to Geneva and Oslo to meet with their international representatives to seek enhanced funds to pursue their military option.  In fact, the Human Rights Watch report dated March 15, 2006, titled ‘Tamil Tigers Extort Diaspora For Final War Funds’ confirms the fact that the LTTE was merely going through the motions and buying time to rebuild their forces and weapons stockpile for resumption of hostilities.  The following quote taken from the News Release issued by HRW confirms the LTTE’s decision to adopt the military route to achieve their goal of a separate state:   “ In late 2005, the Tamil Tigers launched an aggressive and systematic fundraising drive in Canada and parts of Europe to pressure individuals and business owners in the Tamil diaspora to give money for what they called the “final war” between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. The fundraising campaign coincided with an escalation of LTTE attacks against Sri Lankan forces that threatened Sri Lanka’s four-year-old ceasefire.”

Continuation of the CFA any longer would have seriously jeopardized Sri Lanka’s territorial integrity, her ability to function as a viable independent sovereign state, facing division and hostile borders resulting in unending military incursions and war readiness to defend the remaining land and territorial waters.  The Sri Lankan regime called the LTTE’s bluff in time and successfully carried out a military action to defeat the terrorists and regain the country after a three decade long period of death and destruction, whilst at the same time rescuing the 300,000 plus Tamil civilians who were held hostage by the LTTE and upholding the right to life of all her citizens who had earlier been subjected to claymore mine attacks, train, bus and shopping centre bombings, suicide bomb attacks, ethnic cleansing massacres and every form of violence on a daily basis by these very terrorists. 

Separatist aspirations and political maneuvering by the Tamil community:

The propaganda carried out by the Tamils tend to claim that their desire to establish a separate Tamil state began after the adoption of Sinhala as the official language in 1956, which they say resulted in discrimination of Tamils in education and employment.  On the contrary, the separatist cries of Tamils in South India represented by the ‘We Tamil Movement’ and the Tamil Justice Party’ around 1918 seeking a separate country for the Tamils to be called ‘Dravidastan’ had its echoes in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) as well.  The Sinhala Language Act introduced in 1956 was to take effect in 1961without depriving Tamils of education in the mother tongue up to the university level.   In the interim, ‘The Reasonable Use of Tamil Language Act’ was passed in 1958.  As the Tamils pointed out the shortcomings of this legislation, moves were made in 1965 to provide further concessions in the operation of the language regulations.  Even though the Official Language Act recognized the language spoken by 76 percent of the population, the Tamil minority felt shortchanged, resulting in the further enhancement of Tamil by the Second Republican Constitution of 1978 making Tamil a National Language and language of administration in areas with a Tamil speaking majority, thereby providing far more linguistic rights than that enjoyed by French in bi-lingual Canada where the French Canadians are recognized as one of two founding nations.  Tamil has since been elevated as an official language on par with Sinhala, and it is hoped that the Tamil community will cooperate with the authorities in its implementation which they abandoned during the 33 year long violent separatist campaign which ended in 2009.

After the British took possession of the Dutch territories of Ceylon in 1796, they openly implemented a discriminatory policy by providing better educational facilities to the Tamils in their main areas of residence in the north and east, with few and far between in the Sinhala areas under their divide and rule policy.  The Tamil community benefited greatly from the favored treatment extended to them by the British colonial administration, which also gave preference to Tamils in employment in the public service of Ceylon but also in the British colony of Malaya.  As a result, the Tamils came to dominate the public service, the commercial and private sector as well as the professions holding a far greater ratio of jobs than any other community in Sri Lanka.  They used their new found dominant position to favour members of their community in the filling of vacancies ensuring their continued dominance which was tantamount to discrimination of other communities in the island.

When the British government was taking steps during the second world war to grant independence to many of her colonies in South Asia, the Tamil leaders of Sri Lanka sought 50 percent of the seats of the new parliament of independent Sri Lanka to be reserved for the minorities describing it as balanced representation allowing for communal parity, whilst the Sinhalese comprising 76 percent of the population was required to contest and win the balance 50 percent of the seats of the legislature.  This was apparently a move to retain the dominant place gained on account of the largesse extended by the colonial ruler to the Tamils numbering 12 percent, even in post-independent Ceylon.  Lord Soulbury who headed the Commission to hear the views of the British subjects in the island rejected this request which met with severe disapprobation by the commissioners. They stated that “any attempt by artificial means to convert a majority into a minority is not only inequitable, but doomed to failure”

Tamil cooperation with the majority community following the grant of independence from Britain was short lived, as a section of the Tamils led by Mr. S.J.V. Chelvanayakam broke away from the Tamil Congress as early as 1949 to form what they called the ‘Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi’ (Lanka Tamil State Party) where they conjured up a Tamil Nation, but disguised it in English as the ‘Federal Party’ which would stay within the Sri Lanka state, masking their hidden agenda of establishing a separate state for the Tamils.  They also claimed that there was no state without Tamils, but that the 70-80 million Tamils lacked a state of their own.  The reasons for adopting the separatist path were other than Sinhala being made the official language or their perceived discrimination which were negotiable, but the hidden motives of using the combined resources available to the Tamils worldwide including the power base of Tamilnadu where 55 million Tamils lived just across the narrow Palk strait to break up the tiny island state of Sri Lanka to create their dreamland of “Tamil Eelam”.  Towards this end, they carried out a systematic campaign to distort the history of the island’s people by claiming to be the original inhabitants and misleading the Tamil youth and the rest of the community into acts of civil disobedience, smuggling of weapons which led to 30 plus years of violence including suicide terrorism for a cause based on deceit and dishonesty.

Post–Military defeat of the LTTE:

Following the military defeat of the LTTE in May 2009, the Sri Lankan authorities were faced with the enormous task of registration, providing housing, food and water, medical, educational and other facilities to the nearly 294,000 Tamil civilians rescued from the illegal control of the Tamil Tiger terrorist cadres who had forced them to abandon their villages and move with the retreating LTTE fighting units to be exploited for their labour, conscripted to replace fallen cadres and to be herded behind the high earthen dams and deep ditches put up to bolster their defenses, and to also serve these terrorists as a human shield.  There were also the 11,000 odd former Tiger cadres that had surrendered to the security forces to be held separately and processed for re-habilitation and prosecution of charges if any, and in addition the task of screening the IDPs to detect any cadres who were hiding amongst the displaced civilians.

Although the GOSL estimated their ability to de-mine the villages, repair and rebuild homes, restore the infrastructure and administrative set-up and re-settle the IDPs within the space of six months, it proved to be a much more difficult task as the LTTE had laid almost 1.5 million landmines including explosives laden booby traps, and had also removed the roofing sheets of the buildings which suffered heavy damage through exposure to the elements.  Nevertheless, they succeeded in re-settling about 95 percent of the IDPs within a space of 18 months to re-engage in farming and fishing activities. The GOSL was creating the ground for both private and public sector livelihood ventures that will help sustain the newly re-settled Tamil civilians that had been forced to wander across the Vanni from west to east for a period in excess of two years under orders of the LTTE.  The UN and leading members of the international community were complaining about the delay in re-settling the displaced Tamil civilians probably at the behest of the Tamil Diaspora who were being wooed for their votes in their respective electorates, despite the fact that the USA, the world’s richest nation is still grappling with the re-settlement of the victims of Hurricane Katrina even after a lapse of five years.

Reconciliation Process to bring about Peace and Harmony in the wider Community:  

Whilst reconciliation is foremost in everyone’s mind, it is not something that could be achieved though legislation or by government action alone, as it is a multi-way process where the parties concerned both as individuals and communities should reach out and touch the other in meaningful ways that will lead to healing and reconciliation.  It is not a quick process but that which is achievable on an incremental scale both in the short and long term.   No community can be considered blameless.  All have suffered in different ways with some perhaps more so than others because of the situation faced by the country during the 33 year insurgency of the militant Tamils led by the LTTE.

The members of Sri Lanka’s Security Forces that made it possible for the suffering mass of displaced Tamil civilians to escape from the control of the Tamil Tiger Terrorists who forcibly confined them within the high earthen dams put up in the narrow 14 sq. km strip of land in the Puttumatalan area to be used as a human shield for their final stand, not only breached these well defended dams under unrelenting fire risking their life and limb, but also helped the elderly and weak among them by carrying them to safety and even handing over their meal rations to the freed IDPs.  We also saw these brave men and women of the Sri Lankan Army hurriedly providing medical attention to those civilians who had suffered bullet wounds as the LTTE trained their guns on these Tamil people who abandoned their tormentors to reach the safety of government controlled territory. They further displayed their compassionate and kind ways by preparing warm meals to feed the mass of people that sought refuge amongst them in the midst of doing battle with the vicious enemy.  The Tamil IDPs who were so cared for should realize that their welfare was foremost in the minds of all Sri Lankans who rushed to their aid with stocks of food, clothing, bottled water, medicine, toys, and other essentials to comfort them in their time of need.

It must also be stated here that the people of the south almost entirely from the Sinhalese community rallied to fill over 14 railway goods carriages hitched on to the train from Matara in November 2008 specially named the ‘Brotherhood Train’ organized by the Thawalama Development Foundation, with food, water and other essentials valued at over Rs.35 million for delivery to the 40,000 Tamil IDPs provided refuge at Vavunia at the time.  Among the donors were very poor persons who delivered a pound of rice, a packet of sugar or a coconut, which was a substantial part of their day’s income in order to help their fellow countryman from the Tamil community who were in dire straits awaiting re-settlement.  We too contributed money for this most noble act of goodwill from the Sinhalese of the south to the displaced Tamils of the north.  

We for our part, as a patriotic overseas association, namely, Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) also shipped two lots of medicine valued at $70,000.00 obtained from Relief Aid International and Health Partners International of Canada, which we shipped by air in February and March 2009 to be dispensed to the IDPs via the Government Medical Officers Association of Sri Lanka.   We also provided school supplies to Tamil children attending a newly built junior school at Shanthimale in the eastern province, and 500 mosquito nets to the Tamil villagers of Omanthai. Whereas, the almost million members of the comparatively affluent Tamil Diaspora living in the west only contributed monies to the LTTE to purchase explosives and weapons to kill and maim the people of Sri Lanka including the abduction and forced conscription of underage Tamil children into the Tiger fighting units, but little or nothing for their own people who had been dispossessed by their heroic Tamil Tigers.

A ‘Truth Commission’ like in South Africa is meaningless with the elimination of the LTTE leadership and them not being present to admit to their wrongdoing.  Regurgitating the unsavory aspects may open up new wounds instead of healing the heavy hearts which is required at the moment.  It is not a good guys versus bad guys issue, but acceptance of the fact that decisions made from time to time are not necessarily perfect and meeting the aspirations of all competing sectors.  The nation has to adopt a forgiving and tolerant attitude to seek well balanced policies in attempting to rectify any shortcomings while ensuring that all citizens are secure from harm and treated justly.  Action that may be taken by the authorities on an urgent basis in assuring the people, especially the minorities who loudly proclaim injustices and discrimination, would be as follows:

1. a) State authorities should without delay take steps to have a full complement

of competent staff to implement the language laws in the Statute Book;

1. b) Take immediate action to appoint independent Commissions made up of

competent and distinguished persons to administer the Police Service,

Public Service, Judicial Service, and Elections Department in a manner

that would win the confidence of the public at large.

1. c) The leaders should lead by example, by adopting simple lifestyles and

taking all necessary steps to reduce graft, corruption and waste.

1. d) Take steps to curb political interference in public life and ensure that due

process will be speedily applied in accordance with the laws of the land.

1. e) Scale down the level of politicization and resultant political rivalry which

unduly pits one against the other within society, by at least allowing for the

election of members of local government bodies based on individual

preferences instead of on party lines for each ward or electorate without the

need to confront each other on party lines on a district basis, as prevailing in

most countries.

In addition to the above, it is necessary to have the reputed historians, archaeologists and other qualified persons of related disciplines from all communities who are knowledgeable on the history of the island of Sri Lanka and her people to come together and determine the real and unadulterated history. This is necessary, as distorted versions invented recently by separatist Tamils have not only misled the members of the Tamil community to seek to violently break-up Sri Lanka to establish what they believed was their homeland of “Eelam” which had been usurped by the majority Sinhalese community who arrived at a later date and grabbed their land, depriving them of their ancient homeland.  In fact, the very word “Eelam” according to the Tamil Lexicon published by the Madras University states that same had been derived from the Pali word SIHALA meaning Sinhala, which was Tamilised as SIHALAM ( or SINKANAM) and later shortened to “ILAM”, also spelt as “EELAM”. The authority on Tamil language and history, Prof. S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar of the Madras University stated on the 29^th of August 1926, writing the foreword to Mudliyar C. Rasanayagam’s book titled ‘Ancient Jaffna’ that “Eelam” did not mean the homeland of the Tamils, but meant the Land of the Sinhalese.  Not only should the correct history be presented to the people but it should be taught to all as it will give an insight to one’s roots and bring about an understanding of our past and place in the evolving world.

Certain Tamil leaders and some foreign powers including India have said that a meaningful power sharing arrangement which gives the Tamils a due place must be put on the table in order to create the stage for reconciliation to take place between the majority Sinhalese community and the minority Tamils.  Some want the 13^th Amendment introduced as a result of threatened military intervention by India bringing about the infamous Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 (where India failed to fulfill her obligations) fully implemented, whilst several Tamil leaders seek 13 A Plus, and yet others advocate a federalist model.  The Tamils who today number around 8 percent of the total population following the large scale migration of over a million Tamils to the west and other developed countries, have moved out of the north and east with almost 54 percent now living in the rest of the country with a high percentage in and around the capital city of Colombo, in mixed ethnic surroundings.  The Tamils also form the largest single ethnic group in the capital city.  Whilst the voluntary relocation of the Tamils is welcome, it is best to similarly arrange for other communities to be settled amongst the Tamils of the north and east in order to form similar multi-ethnic societies that will live side by side as in the more densely populated areas of the south to build better human relations leading to peaceful co-existence of the various ethnicities.

13^th Amendment lacks consent of the people

The 13^th Amendment which lacks the consent of the people has given rise to Provincial Councils which virtually overlap the areas covered by the Centre where political patronage has resulted in a burgeoning bureaucracy that is both wasteful and a drain on the economy.  Devolving power to provinces created by the British colonial administration, and permitting two or more provinces to merge to form a larger unit as allowed by the 13^th Amendment, leaves room for those who took up arms including suicide terrorism in pursuit of a separate state to similarly use the powers set out in the list to achieve the same objective in the not too distant future bringing forth worse chaos and violence in its wake.

Adverse impact of the 13^th Amendment:

The adverse impact of the laws promulgated under the 13^th Amendment which were adopted without the due consent of the people following the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987 need to be fully reviewed. These laws aim to create a constitutional structure similar to that prevailing in India which is a vast land with numerous disparities unlike that of Sri Lanka.  These laws were hastily drawn up at the insistence of our giant neighbour under the threat of military intervention and division of our country on ethnic lines based on pressure from Tamilnadu, as it was their perspective that the Tamil minority was being discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese community that held electoral power.

Needless to say,  the 13^th Amendment had not previously been envisaged by any of the political parties and therefore was not part of the party manifestos presented to the people at the general elections held earlier.  These laws were adopted by the people’s elected representatives in a most unethical manner, where the then head of the government, President J.R. Jayawardene, resorted to coercion by threatening to use the undated letters of resignation that he had earlier obtained from each and every member of the ruling party’s caucus to remove them from elected office as a member of parliament in order to have them vote in favour of these controversial laws.  In matters affecting constitutional changes which tend to establish multi-faceted structural changes, it is the norm to firstly seek the consent of the people and thereafter to even allow a free vote to all parliamentarians   Our association (SLUNA) along with others challenged its adoption in the Supreme Court where a split decision resulted, leaving the Chair of the Panel of Judges whom I believe was Justice Parinda Ranasinghe to take the unusual step of casting his chairman’s vote in favour of the Bill relating to the 13^th Amendment, allowing its passage into the Statute Book.

I firmly believe that devolution of powers as contained in the 13^th Amendment to provinces whose residents are predominantly of a single ethnic community is bound to give rise to separatist tendencies especially in the northern and eastern regions where the Tamil extremists engaged in an armed confrontation including suicide terrorism to seek a separate state during the past three decades.  National cohesiveness too will seriously suffer with provincial boundaries forming artificial barriers with time, thereby impeding

national identity and national development.  The poorly and hastily crafted legislation will also give rise to inter-provincial as well as province versus centre litigation costing the nation unnecessary expense and waste of valuable time.  These provincial legislatures which are superfluous to our needs will only add another level of government plus an enormous bureaucracy which will be a major drain on the public purse as well.  Furthermore, with the majority of Tamils residing outside the northern and eastern provinces, devolution to provinces will not resolve their perceived grievances or aspirations as a constituent ethnic group within Sri Lanka’s multi-ethnic fabric.

The division of powers between the province and central authority also leaves room for much contention, especially powers in the provincial list covering the areas of ‘police and public order’, ‘matters re land’, ‘irrigation’, ‘ancient/historical monuments’,  ‘mines and mineral development’, and in the shared or concurrent list, those powers concerning ‘acquisition/ requisition of property’.  This multi-level power sharing structure leads to a waste of resources and personnel, and at the same time, generates a multitude of procedural rules and regulations or a maze of red tape that needs to be understood and followed by the general public.  Re-establishing the unity and sovereignty over the national territory and extending the writ of the state to all parts of the country after the great sacrifices of blood, sweat and tears by our sons and daughters could come to naught if we embark on the treacherous route of devolution and regionalization.

An Alternate Constitutional Arrangement:

The present presidential system where a large proportion of power has been vested in a single Executive President who is also the Commander of the Armed Forces could be of use during a period of internal strife, where these powers could be effectively used to combat the insurgent forces and bring about peace, order and stability in the country.  As the aim is to see beyond the era of armed conflict that has been ended, it is best to opt for a Westminster style parliament where a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers would govern in consultation with the elected representatives and voting public.

Broadly speaking, most are fully in favour of retaining a Unitary Structure of governance as opposed to a Federal, Quasi-Federal based on the Indian model, or other multi-level structure where powers need to be devolved to the semi-autonomous units that are to be set-up for various regions within the tiny island of Sri Lanka, which is the common homeland of all her people.  Federal or quasi-federal systems have been successful to some extent where countries such as Canada, the United States of America, and India with an extensive landmass, involving the coming together of independent colonies in the first two countries, and the weaving together of disparate ethnic and linguistic groups as found in India, to form a single federal state or country.  Federal systems where limited powers have been devolved to linguistic regions in Switzerland and Belgium too would not fit into Sri Lanka’s demography which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious in character, except for the northern province which has been ethnically cleansed of the Sinhala and Muslim communities who were driven out of the region after 1981.  Furthermore, Sri Lanka is a tiny island which cannot afford to create artificial regional barriers based on language or ethnicity that tend to divide the nation state, as her pluralistic society and territorial integrity could best be safeguarded via a locally crafted unitary system of governance that improves on the existing arrangement which is well understood by the people at all levels.

Enhanced Sharing of Power at the Centre:  It is my firm belief that a revised arrangement to implement an enhanced level of sharing of power at the Centre between the various ethnic communities that make up the demographic mosaic of the population of Sri Lanka could take the nation from its present tug-of-war for extensive or limited devolution to an area of amity, harmony and stability.  The critical ingredient that the legal draftsmen should take into account is to ensure that the minorities also play a role in the decision making process by contributing to the initiation and development of policy, but also, allow them to play a role in the implementation and monitoring of such policies.  This would not only eliminate the alleged charge of majoritarian rule by the minorities that claim they are kept away by the system of governance which is dominated by the majority Sinhala community but also allow them to play a constructive role in the day to day governance.  Such a scheme of power sharing would help to compensate for the corresponding adjustment of powers not duly conferred by the people to the provinces as envisaged in the process adhered to at the time of adopting the 13th amendment.

In order to arrive at the goal of enhanced sharing of political power at the centre, I would recommend a blend of the Westminster model with the old Committee System that prevailed during the State Council days prior to independence, to be able to accommodate the minorities in all aspects of governance entrusted to the elected legislature.  I think that the electoral process should be revamped incorporating the following steps to achieve the desired objective:

1. a) All political parties should nominate their candidate for each electorate as in the past instead of nominating a whole slate for each district. This would eliminate the need for each candidate to seek ‘preferential votes’ from the entire district at a great deal of time, effort and expense, thereby drastically reducing the total election budget needed by each candidate to a manageable level.

This would in addition help to reduce the tendency for elected representatives to acquire funds or other assets through corrupt and illegal means to recover the large sums that they would otherwise spend to seek preferential votes district-wise at the election.

1. b) The bonus places or additional seats given to nominees in the National List to which the political parties become eligible could still be determined based on the overall voting strength of each party.  These additional seats could preferably be    reserved for enlisting competent persons who are recognized for their outstanding knowledge, technical skills or volunteer services to the larger community.

1. c) The senior positions in government that may be reserved for members of the

minority communities are given below:

• Minister of Tamil Language and Culture
• Deputy Minister of Disaster Relief and Re-Settlement
• Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication
• Deputy Minister of Education
• Deputy Minister of Health Care and Nutrition
• Deputy Minister of Local Government and District Councils
• Deputy Minister of Justice and Law Reform
• Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries

1. d) It is also recommended that Parliamentary Adjunct (or Consultative) Committees comprising a minimum of 3 or a maximum of 5 elected representatives be

co-opted from all parties including those in the opposition by a formal ballot in parliament, to assist the Minister and Deputy Minister of each and every ministry.  They may initiate policies for review by the Minister and the Deputy Minister, and also assist the Ministry in monitoring the implementation and assessing the progress of adopted plans.  This Adjunct Committee may elect a Chairperson and coordinator on a rotational basis, and also have the assistance of a ministry official to provide secretarial services.  Each elected member will now be able to make a positive contribution whilst retaining the right to participate in the debates as in the past, with no special remuneration other than a nominal budgetary allocation for such committee work.

They will form a parliamentary support group to the ministry, but will not have any authority to give directives to the ministry officials other than the special officer assigned to assist them.  This will enable members of the minority communities to work with others and play a role in the development of policies and implementation thereof, allowing them the opportunity to participate in the day to day governance in matters of state.  Such an arrangement will foster better relations between those in the ruling party and the opposition groups, helping to move from the present confrontational relationship to one that will generate cooperation in the national interest.

Replacing Provincial Councils with new Regional District Councils:    The proposal to share enhanced power at the Centre also envisages a scaling back of devolved powers to the regions as existing at present under the Provincial Councils Act, as the latter structure has proved to be more of a burden than a boon to the ordinary citizens.

This calls for the replacement of the Provincial Councils Act by a Regional District Councils Bill that would provide for an adequate extent of devolution of powers to the Regional District Councils.  The members of the District Councils may be elected by a separate election for a term of up to 3 years, or picked from among local city, town and village council members who will declare their intention to serve both locally as well as at the district level when they present themselves as candidates for the local council.  Each district council will be headed by a District Chairman who may be picked by the voting public or by the elected councillors.  The District Secretariats established by the Central Government could be suitably modified to serve the needs of the District Councils, thereby economizing on staff usage, facilities and administrative expenses.

Some of the powers to be devolved to the District Councils amongst others to be determined by a competent authority, are listed below for your perusal:

• Licensing of Automobile Vehicles in the district
• General Health and Sanitation
• Local power generation
• Minor roads and bridges
• Administration of District Courts, Family Courts and Local Dispute Arbitration
• Junior Technical Colleges
• Primary School Education
• Special Police to handle Court duties, Traffic control and non-criminal offences
• Welfare services
• Sports and Cultural activities
• Small scale industries
• Agrarian services to localized farming communities

The District Councils may hold an Annual Conference to discuss issues of common interest, with a view to bringing same to the attention of the Central Government.  Such conferences could also determine the composition of Special Deputations to represent the districts in talks with the Centre aimed at resolving issues in dispute.

Decentralization of State Services:   De-centralization of state services from the capital city to other towns in all parts of the island will not only help to bring qualified personnel to outlying areas, it would also act as an incentive to the development process creating a demand for housing and other services.  The state services that are so de-centralized should be done selectively to areas that would benefit most, based on the available resources and special needs of the area.

Human Rights Administration:  The Human Rights Commission should be empowered to speedily investigate all complaints and take appropriate action on an expeditious basis.  It is also best to ensure that at-least one member of the Investigating Panel is from the same ethnic, linguistic or religious background as the complainant and the alleged offending party, in order to build confidence in the system.

In addition to the existing bodies set up by parliament such as the Human Rights Commission, it is felt that a useful role could be played by an Independent Ombudsmen who may be authorized to look into complaints of abuse by the state sector or other establishment or person, as a large segment of the people are too poor to litigate or seek  redress for wrongs done or perceived to have been done against them.  At the same time,  steps should be taken to ensure equality of all citizens before the law and grant equal protection to every citizen by re-visiting the Fundamental Rights Chapter.

Conclusion:  I strongly believe that this submission contains valuable ideas that could be incorporated in drawing up a new constitutional framework creating a workable arrangement which will help the minorities to play an important role in the day to day governance, encourage the establishment of an atmosphere of co-operation amongst competing political forces, whilst making it a home made solution that will remove the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity faced by the nation from armed separatist groups including what is left of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.  I believe that the proposed model will help the various communities to share the tasks of government and benefit equally from the fruits of the unitary state of Sri Lanka, without seeking a separate future that calls for establishing artificial provincial barriers leading to the tearing apart of the island homeland.  I have also emphasized the need for improved human rights monitoring and at the same time having an Ombudsman to befriend the needy who are too poor to seek redress through the normal channels.  Also, to build a society that is free from corruption, the lead needs to be taken at the top, and it must necessarily flow from the highest echelons by each and every person committing themselves to lead lives that are free from exploitation and misappropriation.

I trust that the proposals contained above would be studied carefully and due consideration given to all aspects including the crafting of a new constitution for the people of our motherland.

Yours very truly,

Mahinda Gunasekera

Hiru

අමාත්‍ය අමීර් අලීගේ උපදෙස් මත ඔහුගේ සහකරුවන් පිරිසක් මඩකලපුව දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ පූනානි සහා නාවල්අඩි ප්‍රදේශවල වන සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට අයත් කිලෝමීටර් 28ක් දක්වා දිවෙන කොටසක් බලහත්කාරයෙන් අත්පත් කරගෙන සිටි අතර පසුගිය දෙසැම්බර් 29 වනදා වනසංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ මැදිහත් වීමෙන් එම පිරිස පොලීසිය විසින් අදාල ඉඩම්වලින් පලවාහරිනු ලැබුවා.

එසේ නමුත් රජයේ වනාන්තර අනවසරයෙන් හෙලි පෙහෙළි කිරීම නඩු පවරා දඩුවම් දිය යුතු බරපතල වරදක් වුවත් එම පිරිසට නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකර පලවාහැරීමට පමණක් කටයුතු කරමින් පොලීසිය නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම පැහැර ඇති බව බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය චෝදනා කරනවා.

එමෙන්ම රටේ වෙනත් ප්‍රදේශයකදී මෙවැනි බරතල වරදකට අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන නඩු පවරන නමුත් මුස්ලිම් බහුතරයක් සහිත ප්‍රදේශවලදී පොලීසිය නීතිය නිසි ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක නොකරමින් එකම රටේ පුරවැසියන් දෙපිරිසකට දෙයාකාරයෙන් සලන බවත් ඒ තුළින් එක පිරිසකගේ පුරවැසි අයිතිවාසිකම් උල්ලංඝණය කර ඇති බටවත් එම සංවිධානය අවධාරණය කරනවා.

මේ පිළිබදව සදහන් කරමින් අදාළ අපරාධකරුවන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා ලෙස බලකරමින් බොදු බල සේනා සංවිධානය පොලිස්පතිවරයාට ලිපියක් යොමු කර ඇති අතර ඒ පිළිබදව බොදු බල සේනා ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී කථිකාචාර්ය දිලන්ත විතානගේ මහතා දැක්වූ අදහස් වැඩිදුරටත් පහතින් [හඩ පටය]

By PK Balachandran Courtesy The New Indian Express

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan Tamils as well as Tamils of Indian Origin are satisfied with the progress towards constitutional reform and ethnic reconciliation, as the island nation enters a New Year with many promises to fulfill and international obligations to meet.

Very meaningful first steps have been taken by the government with intent. On January 26, The Lankan parliament will have its first sitting as a Constitutional Assembly to draft a new constitution,” said M.A.Sumanthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP and party spokesman.

Tamils are well represented in the various committees formed to bring about constitutional change, pointed out Mano Ganeshan, Indian Origin Tamil leader and Minister of National Coexistence, Dialogue and National Languages.

In the second week of January, the 24-member Public Representation Committee will begin to travel to various parts of the country to ascertain views of the people on constitutional change, devolution of power and ethnic reconciliation. The panel is headed Lal Wijenayake, lawyer and leader of the Leftist Lanka Sama Samaj Party.

Asked about the progress towards setting up a international cum domestic Judicial Mechanism to fix war crimes accountability as per the joint US-Lanka UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution of October 2015, M.A.Sumanthiran said that government is drafting new laws to accommodate such a hybrid mechanism.

The enabling legislation is expected to be presented to parliament in late February or early March and the mechanism itself is expected to be established by June, when Lanka has to give an oral update to the UNHRC, Sumanthiran added.

Mano Ganeshan noted that the cabinet has decided to set up a ‘Secretariat for Reconciliation’ which will coordinate the work of commissions charged with finding the truth about the war; arranging reparations for the victims; overseeing the judicial process to bring about accountability; and ensuring non-recurrence of ethnic strife. The Secretariat will have representatives from the Ministries of External Affairs, Resettlement, National Coexistence, Justice, Official languages and Defense.

There will be a Cabinet Sub-Committee on the development of a national Lankan identity embodying unity in diversity and another on constitutional reform. The national identity committee, headed by the Prime Minister will have Rajitha Senaratne, Sarath Amunugama, D.M.Swaminathan, Mano Ganeshan and Imtiaz Bakeer Marikkar. The Sub-Committee on Constitutional Reform, also headed by the PM, will comprise Mano Ganeshan, D.M.Swaminathan, Rauff Hakeem, Rishad Bathiyutheen, Susil Premajayantha and Champika Ranawaka. The nine-member Technical Committee to advice on constitutional reform will be headed by constitutional lawyer, Jayampathy Wickramaratne, and will have representatives of all political parties in parliament.

Courtesy Ceylon Today

නලින් ද සිල්වා

ලසන්ත වික්‍රමසිංහ යුතුකම සංවාද කවය

සිරිසේන ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂය පාවා දී දැන් වසරකට වැඩිය. එම පක්ෂයෙන් එළියට බැස ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම ඔහු චන්ද්‍රිකා යටතේ සිටිමින් මෙන් ආන්දෝලනාත්මක මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් පැවැත්වීය. ඔහු එහිදී වැඩියෙන්ම පැවසූයේ තමාට ඖෂධ පනත සම්මත කරන්නට නොලැබුනු බවයි. මහින්ද විසින් එය හොරකම් කර ඇති බවයි. පනතක් හොරකම් කිරීම යනු විකාර කතාවක් යයි ලක් වැසියන්ට එදා තේරුනේ නැත. එය මහ ගොන් කතාවකි. පාසලේදී දෙන ගෙදර වැඩ කරගෙන යන්න බැරි වූ විට කුඩා කාලේ ගුරුවරුනට කියන එක බොරුවකි පොත නැති උනා යන්න. නුවණ මුහුකුරා ගිය ගුරුවරු ඒ බොළඳ බොරු වලට නොරැවටෙති. සිරිසේන පුංචි කාලයේ වුව රචනා පොත මහින්ද හොරකම් කළ නිසා රචනාව ලියන්න බැරි උනා කියා ඒ බව ගුරුවරයා විසින් පිළිගත්තද සමාව ලැබෙන්නේ එක් දිනකට පමණි. ඊළඟ දවසේ පොතක් නැතිනම් කොළයක හෝ රචනාව ලියාගෙන පැමිණිය හැකිය.

 

පනතක් නැතිවීම යනු පොඩි එකෙකුගේ රචනා පොත නැති වීම වැනි දෙයක් නොවේ. පනතක් කෙටුම්පත් කෙරෙන්නේ කිහිප දෙනෙකුගේ මැදිහත් වීමෙනි. එහි පිටපත් අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම් ඇතුළු එම කාර්යයට දායක වන කිහිපදෙනෙකු ළඟ තිබිය යුතුය. එසේම අද කාලයේ මේවා පරිගනක තුළද තිබිය යුතුය. ඔය කොහේවත්ම නැතත් ඒ පනතේ ප්‍රධාන කරුණු කාරණා විෂයභාර අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සහ අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්ගේ ඔළුවේ තිබිය යුතුය. ඒ සියල්ල එසේ තිබියදී “පනතක් හොරකම් කළා” යන්න කිසිදු ආකාරයකින් හිතේ මවා ගත නොහැකි අමුතු සංසිද්ධියකි. එහෙත් සිරිසේන දැඩි වෛරයෙන් කීවේ තමාගේ ඖෂධ පනත මහින්ද හොරකම් කළා කියාය. නමුත් මෙරට විශේෂයෙන්ම උගත් බුද්ධිමත් මධ්‍යම පාන්තික ජනතාවට මේ වගේ ගොන් බොරු ප්‍රමාණවත් බවට නිවැරදි තක්සේරුවක් සිරිසේනට විය. මේ සියල්ල ප්‍රමාණවත් වූයේ සිරිසේන ගැන කිසිවක් ඒ වන විට මිනිසුන් නොදැන සිටි නිසා විය හැකිය.

 

මේ බොරුව කොතරම්ම ගොන්ද කියනවා නම් සිරිසේන නැති කරගත් ඖෂධ පනත නව සෞඛ්‍ය ඇමති රාජිත සම්මත කළේය. දැන් නැති වූ පනත සොයා ගත්තේ කවුද? අර පෙර බොරුවලට රැවටුන එකෙකුට සුළු හෝ තාර්කික බුද්ධියක් වේ නම්, සිරිසේනගේ නැති වූ පනත සොරකම් කර තබා ගෙන සිට ඇත්තේ රාජිත සේනාරත්න බව පෙනී යා යුතුය. නැතිනම් අර මනුස්සයා නැති උනා, සොරකම් කරලා කිය කියා වසර ගණනාවක් පුරා හඬ හඬ පැවසූ ඖෂධ පනත රාජිත දින කිහිපයක් ඇතුළත සම්මත කරන්නේ කෙසේද යන පැනය ඔවුන්ගේ ඔළුවට නොඑන්නේ ඇයිදැයි නොදනිමි. සිරිසේනගේ බොරු මේ තරම්ම නින්දිතය. නමුත් සරලය. ලක් ඉතිහාසයේම මෙවැනි බොරු කාරයෙක් මෙහි නායකයා වී නැත. ඔහු පැවසු “ඇමරිකාවේ බකිංහැම් මාළිඟයෙන්” ගෙනා රත්තරං අශ්වයන් ගැන මෙන්ම මහින්ද සිය උපන්දිනයට තෑගි වශයෙන් ළමයින්ට දුන් හෙලිකොප්ටර් ගැනද විශ්වාස කළ මෝඩ නමුත් උගත් බොහෝ පිරිසක් මෙහි විය. සිරිසේනට හැමදාම බොරු කිය කියා පාලනය ගෙන යන්නට ලැබෙන්නේ නැත. අර කලින් බොරු වලට රැවටුනු පුද්ගලයාද කල් යත්ම මේ සිරිසේන යනු අංක එකේ බොරු කාරයෙකු බව දැනගෙන අවසන්ය.

 

ඇවන්ට්ගාඩ් බොරුවෙන් නඩයම රෙදි ගලවා ගත්තේ අවසානයේ එය ඔවුන්ගේම අභ්‍යන්තර අර්බුදයක් දක්වා දුර දිග යාමෙනි. තාජුඩීන්ගේ මිනිය වැඩිම වුනොත් තව දෙවරක් පමණ ගොඩ ගෙන යළි වළලා දැමිය හැකිය. චූදිතයෙකු නැතිව, ඊට වඩා වාර ගණනක් ගොඩගන්නට යාමෙන් තාජුඩින්ගේ මිනියද මිනිස්සුන්ට එපා වනු ඇත. ඒ නිසා සිරිසේනට මේ දිනවල කරන්නට කියන්නට දෙයක් නැත. නැවත වරක් සෙරප්පු සාප්පුවකට ගොස් සෙරෙප්පු මිල දී ගෙන එය ප්‍රචාරය කළ නොහැකිය. එවිට සරල අයෙකුට කළින් ගත්තු කුට්ටම කැඩෙන්නට පෙර යළි අළුත් කුට්ටමක් කුමටද යන ප්‍රශ්නය මතුවේ.

 

තව නොබෝ දිනකින් තමා ජනපති වී වසරක් ගත වේ. කරපු දෙයක් කර ඇත්තේ කොටින්ටය. ඇප ලබා දුන්නේ උන්ටය. කොටි වෙනුවෙන් ඇප ලබා දීම දේශපාලකයින් විසින් තීරණය කරන අතරේම අධිකරණය ස්වාධීන යයි පැවසුවද අපේ රටේ සිටින උගත් ජනතාවට එහි පරස්පරයක් පෙනෙන්නේ නැත. ඉන්දියානු ඇමරිකානු සහ බටහිර වහලෙකු බවට පත්ව ඇති සිරිසේන රෙජීමය රණ විරුවන් විසින් යුධ අපරාධ කළ බව පිලිගෙන එය අනෙක් රටවලට යෝජනා කිරීමටද පසුගිය වසර තුළ සමත් විය. සුද්දන් ලව්වා ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ නාවුක හමුදා කදවුර පරීක්ෂා කරවා එතනින් කිහිප දෙනෙක් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනිමටද මෙම වහල් රෙජීමය සමත් විය. සුද්දාට කෙරෙන වහල් කම අනුව යමින් සුද්දන්ගේ මුදලින් මෙරට තුළ නඩත්තු වන තීන්දුව දැන්ම දන්නා විශේෂ විදෙස් අධිකරණ පිහිටුවෙන්නේ ලබන වසර තුළය. මානව හිමිකම් කොමසාරිස්ගේ ක්ෂේත්‍ර කාර්යාලය මෙරටට එන්නේ ද ලබන වසරේය. මෙරට ඒකියභාවය නැති කරන, ඉඩම් පොලිස් බලතල සමඟින් 13න් එහාට යන බලයක් උතුරු නැගෙනහිරට ලැබෙන ඊළාම් ගමනට නව පණක් දෙන අළුත් ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ වැඩ පටන් ගන්නටත් තව සති දෙකක් පමණ ඇත. ජනවරමට එරෙහිව කෙරෙන ඒ ඇමරිකන් වහල්කම මෙරටට ඉතා තීරණාත්මක වනු ඇත.

 

රණ විරුවරුන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුම ත්‍රස්ත මර්දන පනත යටතේ අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීම සහ ජිනීවාවලදී රටට තොණ්ඩුව දමා ඔබාමාට කඹයේ කෙළවර දී පැමිණීම හැරුණු විට මේ වසරටම සිය පාලනයෙන් කළ ඇඟට දැනෙන මංගල්‍යයක් නැත. චම්පික සමඟ එක් දිනක් ව්‍යායම පවත්වා එය මාධ්‍යයේ දමා ගැනීමද තවත් සාර්ථකව අවසන් කළ කර්තව්‍යයකි. පසු ගිය වසරේ සුවිශේෂම සිදු වීම වූයේ රැජින විසින් මේස් ගලවා සිරිසේනට අතට අත දීම බව නොකිවමනාය.

 

මේ අල්ලපනලේ කාන්තාවක් සිය තනපට ගලවා එන්රිකේ වෙතට විසි කළාය. එන්රිකේ විසින් පසෙකින් තැබු තනපට අපේ ජනපතිදු දෝතින්ම ගත්තේය. එන්රිකේට පමණක් නොව, එතුමාටද වේදිකාව මත භූමිකාවක් අවශ්‍යය වීම සාධාරණය. හැමදේම මං දැනන් හිටියේ නෑ හිටං කියා රටක් පාලනය කළ නොහැකිය. දැනට රණ විරුවන්ට තැලීමට සිරිසේනගේ අතට සුද්දන් විසින් ලබා දී තිබෙන මඩුවලිගය බොරුවට හෝ තමන් වෙතටද යොමු විය හැකි බව මේ තනපට ගලවා අහසට විසින කරන අලුත් පරපරේ තරුණියන් වටහා ගත යුතුය. සුද්දන්ගේ රටවල මාධ්‍ය තුළ සිරිසේනගේ තනපටේ ප්‍රකාශයට ඉඩක් ලැබෙන්නේ උන් රට බෙදන්න දුන් මඩුවලිගයෙන් මේකා අර කෙල්ලන්ටත් තලාවිද යන සැකයක් උන්ටත් ඇති වූ නිසා බව මේ කෙල්ලන් දත යුතුය. තනපට ගලවන උන්ට තැලීම මඟින් රණවිරුවන්ට තැලීම සඟවා තැබිය හැකි බව සිරිසේන දනී. පනතක් නැති උනා කියා රටක් රවටපු මිනිහෙකුට කවුරුන් හෝ විසින් ගලවා වෙනකෙකු වෙත විසිකරන බ්‍රෙෂියරයක් දෝතින් ගෙන යළිත් රටම ඇන්දවීම කජ්ජක් නොවේ. අනෙක එතුමා ෆේස්බුක් එකේ වෙන්නේ මොනවාදැයි හොදින් දනියි. එතුමා නිතරම ෆේස්බුක් ඉන්නා බවත් අර තනපට ගලවන තරුණියන් ප්‍රවේශමෙන් මතක තබා ගත යුතුය.

 

-ලසන්ත වික්‍රමසිංහ

යුතුකම සංවාද කවය
www.yuthukama.com

Gagani Weerakoon Courtesy Ceylon Today

With events that followed the ‘Sex and Love Tour’ concert by Latin pop singer Enrique Iglesias grabbing the momentum than the event itself, spotlight was taken away from the brewing conflict in the Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
At a time where two incidents, a girl who happened to be the daughter of incumbent Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force getting cosy with the irresistible pop singer and a brassiere being tossed at him, going viral on social media with bit of a comical twist to it, President Maithripala Sirisena’s remarks on the concert made after a week of the event received the attention of local and international media.
This uncalled-for wide publicity was given to remarks President Sirisena made addressing a public event in Ampara slamming the organizers of the ‘Love and Sex Tour’ concert.
Despite the fact that female fans storming the stage when Enrique is performing and undergarments being tossed at him, is common elsewhere in the world, Sri Lanka’s Head of State described the show as most ‘indecent’ and ‘uncivilized’.
Seemingly disappointed President Sirisena said it is not the women who behaved in such manner that should be punished but the organizers of the event. He said the organizers of the show should be whipped with ‘toxic stingray tails’ over the behaviour of female fans.
His remarks were widely reported in countries such as the US, the UK, France, India and even Korea within a short span of time. BBC, AFP, Daily Mail, Sky News, Fox News , NDTV were leading wire services and media organizations that reported the Sri Lankan President’s remarks with an explanation to their audiences about the punishment President Sirisena referred to.
“Whipping with the tails of stingrays was reserved for hardened criminals in medieval Sri Lanka and is used as a popular idiom for extreme punishment of wrongdoing. In conservative Sri Lankan society, public displays of affection, even among married couples, is frowned upon. Police are known to have arrested courting couples for kissing in public parks or sea-front promenades.”
However, Sirisena must have been fully aware about the consequences as he also added: “Some people may criticize me talking about these issues. But I am a Sinhala Buddhist. It’s my duty to talk about these matters.”
Colombo Mayor explains
President Sirisena telephoned Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil, who returned to the country after holidaying abroad, and demanded to know on what grounds the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) granted permission to the concert which was held at the CR & FC Grounds that comes under CMC.
The Colombo Mayor had explained to President Sirisena that the Council did not want to give permission to the event as the organizers of the event had not even fulfilled basic requirements.
After listening to him carefully, the President had advised him to hold a press briefing and explain everything to the public.
Addressing the media on Wednesday (30) Mayor Muzammil revealed that the CMC blacklisted the company Live Events which organized Enrique’s ‘Sex and Love tour’ concert at the CR & FC Grounds on 20 December for not settling the entertainment tax of Rs 29 million.
He said that the CMC would take legal action against the company of which, the former cricketing captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena are the main stakeholders, if they failed to pay Rs 29 million in taxes owed to the Municipality.
It is reported that the due entertainment tax amounts to a staggering Rs 29,125,845.
The Colombo Mayor alleged that the company has not disclosed all the proceeds from ticket sales to the Council and paid only Rs 6.4 million to the CMC as tax on the income from a portion of the ticket sales.
The Mayor said the CMC will not allow the company to hold any other event within the Colombo Municipal limits even if it settles the payment owed to the CMC.
Political influence
Even though Mayor Muzammil revealed to the country of the tax evasion and other irregularities as he described them to the President, he did not reveal to the country everything else he revealed to the President.
Sources close to both the Mayor and the President revealed that Muzammil revealed to President Sirisena about the immense pressure he was under to give permission for the event from certain Cabinet Ministers.
Upon being pressed to the wall by the President to reveal the names of those ministers, Muzammil had said it was Ministers John Amaratunge and Faizer Mustapha who influenced him to give the green light.
The Mayor had also said that even though he could understand the interest of Amaratunge on the event as the Minister of Tourism Development, Provincial Councils Minister Mustapha’s keenness on the matter is only known to the latter.
It is said that President Sirisena will however, question Mustapha over the matter in the coming week.
However, Mayor Muzammil was once again pressured by some Cabinet Ministers even after the event forcing him not to publicize the blacklisting of the Live Events.
Nevertheless, the Colombo Mayor went public about the event management company being blacklisted over tax evasion.
Prior to that, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardena, the Directors of Live Events in a joint statement issued on their Facebook accounts on 28 December said, with regard to the taxes the company remains transparent in its operations.
“With regard to recent reports concerning Live Events and Municipal entertainment taxes, we categorically state the company remains transparent and ethical in all its operations.”
“Live Events will continue to ensure full compliance with all relevant tax commitments and is providing all necessary information to the Colombo Municipal Council, in order to clarify facts and the way forward. Accountability and integrity is paramount to us and we believe it to be the same for the organizers,” the duo said.
TNA facing the storm
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which remained the largest alliance of prominent Tamil political parties was having its own share of internal battles in the recent past but things went out of control about two weeks ago when Northern Province Chief Minister Canagasabapathy Visvalingam Wigneswaran announced the formation of a new political front, Tamil People’s Council (TPC), with the aim of being an alternative to the TNA.
With three-hour one-on one discussions between TNA Leader R. Sampanthan and C.V. Wigneswaran on Christmas Day failing, political circles are expecting a split in the TNA.
The crisis started brewing hot with extremists groups in the TNA accusing current leadership of being cosy with the government. In short, politics in the North today is a reflection of what is taking place in the South.
Like those in the South are accusing the government of jeopardising national security and spreading the fear of returning terrorism, those extreme groups in the TNA are accusing those who appear to be moderate as betrayers of the Tamil people.
Leaders like R. Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah and M. Sumanthiran are facing the repercussions of loosening the tight grip Extreme Tamil groups and pro-LTTE Diaspora had in the TNA.
As long as they played gallery politics their popularity swelled but as soon as they showed the signs of being moderate and adapting to geopolitical realities the popularity declined and those who were not appeased being moderate started to rebel.
With the ‘change’ that dawned on 9 January 2015, the TNA started showing signs of distancing from the long prevailed policy of asking for the entire pound of flesh on many occasions.
Just like the government made an attempt to change the atmosphere of War Heroes Day which falls on 18 May every year since 2009 by calling it a day of remembrance of all those who got killed in war, the TNA also changed its attitude and for the first time made an appearance at the State celebrations of the Independence Day.
Though, still debatable of the appointment, the theoretical appointment of R. Sampanthan as the Leader of the Opposition in the Sri Lankan Parliament may also seemed to have had an effect on the stance they held so far.
Instead of acting on their comfortable geographical zone in the country’s politics, TNA seemed to be thinking and analysing politics as a country when taking decisions in the recent past.
Hence the change in the stance they held thus far on the release of Tamil prisoners. Instead of their usual ‘government must release those prisoners unconditionally’ stance, the TNA seemed to have bent into the reasoning by the government that only those who were kept in prison without having any legal action against them would be released.
On the other hand, the government has also displayed a softened policy in catering to the rational and practical demands of the TNA. Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, so far has been successful in maintaining a healthy relationship with the Tamil Diaspora which is the decisive factor when it comes to Tamil politics in the country. It had gone as far as inviting President of the Global Tamil Forum father S. J. Emmanuel to the country and lifting the ban on several Tamil organizations which were earlier considered as pro-LTTE.
It is in this midst the crisis in the TNA has reached volcanic proportions with both camps refusing to budge. Political analysts also claim that Chief Minister Wigneswaran and TPC Leaders including Suresh Premachandran and Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam are capitalizing on each avenue available for them including that of the health condition of TNA Leader Sampanthan.
However, the litmus test on the TPC or any other political party that seems to have a strong voice will be at an election. It is rarely an individual party performs well in an election in this country unless it is part of a bigger alliance, with United National Party (UNP) and Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) being exceptions.
This was evident in all major elections held in the past few decades. While certain political figures, be it Anura Kumara Dissanayake, Wimal Weerawansa, Vasudeva Nanayakkara, Tissa Witharana, Dinesh Gunawardena or D.E.W. Gunasekara may appear strong in day today politics, when it comes to a point where people actually utilize their franchise all their political parties failed to perform well unless they became a part of a bigger coalition.
Sarath Fonseka or his Democratic Party failed miserably in the General Election despite him being the only Field Marshal this country saw.
Even Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’s best performance in an election, so far, remains the 2004 election in which all its candidates became first in each district they contested under the United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) banner by putting SLFP giants like Anura Bandaranaike in Gampaha into second place.
However, even they failed to maintain the momentum when they contested alone.
Likewise, it is expected no matter how strong the PLOTE, EPRLF, EROS or TNPF is in the regional politics or in media they will have a tough time in performing alone. For instance, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam was able to secure a Parliamentary seat both in 2001 and 2004 elections by polling 29,641 and 60,770 respectively from Jaffna District by contesting under TNA (ITAK).
However, after he broke away from the TNA and contested under newly formed Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) both his attempts to get elected to Parliament in 2010 and 2015 failed despite his being the grandson of G.G. Ponnambalam.
Future of Yahapalanaya
Alongside President Maithripala Sirisena completing one year in office, the yahapalana government too will mark the completion of one year. However, the popularity and faith it had in January 2015 had arguably declined over the past few months.
It was the key topic when President Sirisena met key figures in the UNP and the SLFP earlier last week.
Several ministers have pointed out that the lack of commitment displayed by both leaders in taking action against those who were branded as corrupt and criminal has had a greater contribution in declined popularity of the government.
They have pointed out the need of bringing back those forces that were with them in electing Maithri with a hope of establishing good governance in the country in order to face the imminent threat of toppling the government.
President Sirisena on an earlier occasion revealed he had received some alarming intelligence reports that there will be an attempt to topple the government with the dawn of New Year.
The reports indicated that while there is a political leadership in this attempt it will come as a trade union move.
The President also said as he was aware about the political involvement he will take necessary steps at the right time to bring those under control.
“But everything else lies in your hand. Work closely with officials in your respective ministries and departments. Do not ignore issues that could lead to trade union action. If you work closely and listen to your subordinates we can face this successfully,” he advised Ministers.
By last week the details of the report indicated a prominent politician in the Rajapaksa Government who is lying low at present claiming to be not involved in active politics is behind this planned trade union action.
A prominent Cabinet Minister revealed that action will be taken to expedite all pending cases and initiating legal action against those who have allegations of corruption and other crimes. Accordingly, it is expected several former and current VIPs will go behind bars within the first few months of the year, including those involved in the murder of rugger player Wasim Thajudeen.
Joint Opposition up in arms
With the government planning to get its reins tightened, the Joint Opposition is also mapping to launch their protests in the New Year. At a meeting held at the residence of former Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris, the Joint Opposition has decided to oppose the proposed drafting of a new Constitution.
The government said it will convert Parliament into a Constituent Assembly, once the House meets on 8 January, to draft the new Constitution which would see the abolition of the Executive Presidency.
However, the Joint Opposition is planning to oppose this move, as they view the abolition of executive powers would jeopardize national security and destabilize the country.
It had also had discussions on forming a new political alliance in the near future and if discussions go as planned and it was able to get the assistance of those who have claimed to be disappointed with current stance of the UNP, SLFP and JVP are planning to contest the forthcoming Local Government election under the new political alliance.

The newly elected Sri Lanka Cricket President Thilanga Sumathipala said today he would take legal action against former SLC President Arjuna Ranatunga over certain statements Ranatunga had allegedly made.

Sumathipala was elected as SLC President with 88 votes defeating SLC Secretary Nishantha Ranatunga by 56 votes on Sunday. – See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/101785/s-legal-action-against-arjuna#sthash.BYkCzwII.dpuf

By Charles .S.Perera

Paris never sleeps.  At any time in the day or night you could find a good restaurant perhaps already full and noisy where you could get a fine meal.  The French like to enjoy their meals , with a  good bottle of vintage red wine. After a glass or two of it the tongues begin to wag, they laugh over pleasantries , jokes, and banal friendly chatter .

They take their meals slowly savouring each mouthful of delicious French dishes  stopping now and then in between  talk and laughter, to wash down the food with a mouthful of wine rolled in the mouth to warm it before  it is sent slowly down the gorge. The French enjoy eating their meals slow and long as they say they make love.

Friday evening is the beginning of a long week end, and they make much of it after a week of metro and boulot” meaning  transport and  work  which is tiring and stressful. They like to  dine out and go looking for  a dance hall to dance late into the  night .  One can select an appropriate dance hall to dance a romantic slow, swirl to a French waltz, or swing to a tango.  Leaving that to the older the young go for disco, rock and roll  and watch and dance to the noisy tunes of  band music.

It was an American Band Eagles of Death Metal” that had been invited to play at the Bataclan Theatre on the night of the 13 November, 2015.  1500 fun seeking young French couples and singles happy and noisy  determined to enjoy the night,  packed into  the Theatre that festive  Friday night.

The Eagles of Death Metal” had tuned their guitars and the drums were beating, the crowd of dancers cheered  the  vocalist Jesse Hughes as he sang unrecognisable words  into  the din of the   noisy musical instruments.  But that is how the French fans liked it.  There was no reason to suspect any thing and the 1500 revellers  had abandoned themselves into a  frenetic dancing mood.

At 21 hours 55 into the night when music was loud and enjoyment of  the revellers, were at its peak, a van stopped just outside the Bataclan Theatre in Boulevard Voltaire in the 11 arrondisement of Paris, from the van descended three men strangely clad in black. They were armed with assault rifles.   They entered the hall of the Theatre unnoticed, climbed the stairs and took position on the mezzanine.

They  called out loud and clear over the din of  the musical show Allahu Akbar”- the name of their God-in whose beloved name they commit all atrocious crimes and opened fire at the packed crowd of dancers in the dancing hall below, reloading and emptying the guns three or four times, while throwing hand grenades in between. The dancers first taken by surprise and then by fear stampeded out into the streets through emergency exits, or took cover in  toilets and office rooms, crying and screaming falling over one another they scrambled seeking escape roots in  utter confusion, while others lay still on the floor pretending to be dead.

The shooting lasted 20 minutes. There were  coordinated attacks taking place in six different locations within the city- in a football stadium ,cafes and restaurants.  In all the attack which was described as the deadliest in France after world war II,  took a toll of 120 killed and 200 people injured. Islamic State of Iraq and Levant claimed responsibility. Saying it was in retaliation to  French Air strikes on ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq.

The whole of  France taken by fear and shock rose to mourn the death of  those innocent French youth massacred inside Bataclan and elsewhere. They came in hundreds with flowers and   candles to the Statue of the Republic which became a temple to commemorate the untimely massacre of their beloved children.  The Nations from USA, Canada, Australia rose in shocked surprise to mourn with  France,  singing  the French National Anthem to show their solidarity with France. In grief.

The Telegraph reported , The French capital has been subjected to a terrorist attack leaving 129 dead and 352 injured after Kalashnikov shootings, grenade and suicide strikes. In the wake of the attack, there has been an outpouring of reaction across social media as people offer their support and show solidarity with France.” People on Facebook have been putting a tricolour filter on their profile pictures to support Paris.The social media platform is awash with blue, white and red as people all over the world support Paris. ”

In June 2006, 68  innocent villagers  from Kebithigollewa a village in the North Central Province of Sri Lanka,   amoung  them 15 school children,  several pregnant women going to the hospital, and others going to work were massacred by  two claymore bombs set in the bus by LTTE terrorists in Sri Lanka.

America issued a statement carefully worded without accusing and condemning the terrorists.

The United States condemns today’s terrorist attack on a bus in Sri Lanka that killed 60 civilians, including at least 15 children. This vicious attack bears all the hallmarks of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. It is a clear violation of the Ceasefire Agreement that the Tamil Tigers claim to uphold. The United States calls for an end to the violence that is causing so much suffering for the people of Sri Lanka and resumption of negotiations to bring peace to the country. The Tamil Tigers must renounce terror and enter into direct negotiations with the Sri Lankan government.”

However for the Kebithigollewa massacre there was no solidarity shown by the American , Canadian, or European nations.  They did not gather to sing our National Anthem ( which unfortunately Sri Lanka has  mutilated in the name of a reconciliation since Sirisena became the President), nor did they hoist our National flag in their cities as a mark of solidarity with Sri Lanka shocked and in grief that day with 68 of their beloved  innocent people massacred by ruthless terrorists.

The French media has gone agog with the 13 November, 2015 massacre at Bataclan Theatre, discussing what would happen next and how to put a stop to ISIS activities in France and Europe.  They never questioned how it is that ISIS has become a formidable terrorist forces, and who was responsible to have allowed it to happen

It all began  when without a consensus in the UN Security Council,  and when   France then under President Jacque Chirac, vehemently protested against military intervention in Iraq, George Bush decided unilaterally to step over UN Security Council to declare war against Iraq brandishing a false document prepared by Tony Blaire the Prime Minister of UK that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. USA  State Department never learnt lessons.

USA with its Monroe Doctrine and the theory of manifest destiny wants to control and spread its influence through out the world. USA is a self centred  sytem alien to the world outside. USA has never, with its economic power and  world leadership role, helped any country to develop and assert their  economic and political independence.

USA even after  its mistaken  role of the  saviour of the world from Iraq,  did not stop from interfering  into other  countries to stop them decide their own political destinies, and intervened instead to destroy and change regimes  to have  American friendly governments. ISIS is therefore the making of the USA in its short sighted political actions, commenced by its unilateral declaration of war against Iraq.

Idea of ISIS grew in the mind of a Jordanian street thug Abu Musab al-Zarqawi when he was in Afghanistan. From there he fled to Iraq . There his presence was not of any significant value. He was abiding time. The USA  created the necessary chaos in Iraq for al-Zarkawi, after USA armed forces left Iraq in 2003 to form his own Party Jama’at al-Tawhid w’al Jihad( Party of monotheism and Jihad,) the fore runner to ISIS.

Syria was also being mutilated as a country by USA through its interference, as it was with Libya where  USA assisted  rebellious protesters  fight against Libyan Army;.  In the same way USA was assisting the armed protesters in Syria  helping them open war fronts against President  Bashar al-Assad.

Abu Bakral-Baghdadi hardened fighter who set  up his Jihadist party became a force to be taken note of in Syria. The young Muslim youth  where ever they are in the world has taken note of Baghdadi’s call for them to pledge   allegiance to the Caliphate and support its agenda.  Its key tenant is  the offensive Jihad –the forcible expansion  into countries  that are ruled by non-Muslims.  The waging of war to expand the Caliphate is an essential duty of the young Muslims.

In 2006, however, the USA killed Abu Musab by bombarding his location. Next, in 2011, the US killed Osama bin Laden. These were critical victories for the US and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, these victories were short lived. The radical ideas of Osama and Musab did not die. Abu Musab, like Osama, inspired a whole bunch of kids to fight against the West. These kids grew up to lead the ISIS and are currently fighting to achieve the grand vision of Musab. The recent Paris attacks were part of those efforts.

 (https://www.quora.com/How-did-ISIS-form-When-and-where-did-ISIS-begin)

Every terrorist death in France and Europe is a result of the unwise expansionist American role, now taken hold of by President Obama and his State Secretary John Kerry.  They are  setting the world on fire.

It is time that USA learn from these disasters to which it is directly or indirectly connected and adopt a positive role in the world.  That role should not be in terms of the Monroe Doctrine nor the concept of manifest destiny.  USA should learn from China and Russia to help other nations to develop and assert themselves as independent Sovereign States.  The problems within countries should be left for the countries to settle finding their own solutions without foreign interference.

The greatest mistake USA did and continue to do is not recognising terrorists as terrorists. Obama, John, Kerry and Hilary Clinton categorised terrorists.   They recognised those who attack USA or its Western allies as terrorists and other terrorists in developing countries as rebels or freedom fighters.

In America there were two terrorist attacks, in Paris too ,there were two.  But when the ISIS terrorists carried out an attack on the 13 November, 2015 the USA and the Western Nations rose to show their solidarity.  But in Sri Lanka there were hundreds  of terrorist attacks in which men ,women and children were savagely brutalised and massacred , but none of  the countries of the West including USA rose against those attacks and stood in solidarity with Sri Lanka.

But strangely USA and the West that rose like one in solidarity against one attack in France, got together to pass resolutions  against Sri Lanka at the UNHRCouncil in Geneva for elimination of the Terrorists in Sri Lanka and for ending thirty years of suffering and regular massacres of innocent people.

If the USA and the West continue their practice of ignoring terrorism in other countries concentrating only on changing regimes responsible for elimination of terrorism from their country, USA and West will only be inviting more terrorism in their own countries.

Terrorism has become today the number one danger to human existence and the countries like USA and the West who have the means to fight terrorism should not become friends of terrorists elsewhere and treat them differently from terrorists attacking their own countries.

USA and the West should give a hand to every country rich or poor  in the world to denounce and eliminate terrorism raising its head..  Any group that takes up arms against an elected government in any country are terrorists and should be treated as such, and help any  government to eliminate terrorism in their soil.

If USA and the West goes against any government of any country, and use any means to change the government elected by the people, USA and the West become no better than the terrorists who come to their countries and  kill the innocent people- as it happened in Bataclan Theatre in Paris on the 13th November, 2015.

Terrorists who massacred 68  men , women and children in Kebethigollewa in Sri Lanka  in June , 2006 and the Terrorits who killed 120 or more people in Bataclan Theatre in Paris are just terrorists.

If any one tries to support  those terrorists in Kebethigllewa in Sri Lanka and condemned those terrorists in Bataclan Theatre in Paris, France , one is forgetting that basic human factor, that  those people in Kebithigollewa in Sri Lanka and those people in  France belong to the same human family. The human condition such as colour, rich or poor, should not stand in the way of  spreading once love from one human being to another, or show solidarity in grief without discrimination against one set of human beings, and another set of human beings.

I give below a list of deaths by terrorists attack in Sri Lanka, and remind the readers that USA and the West did not show solidarity with Sri Lanka at any time, when Sri Lanka suffered  from this savage, ruthless massacres.

But USA and the West have risen together as one to condemn Sri Lanka Armed Forces  that valiantly stood against terrorism in Sri Lanka and eliminated them in May,2009, and proposed a hybrid court of Justice to condemn our soldiers as war criminals.

Notable and deadliest attacks[edit]

Attacks by decade[edit]

Below are the deadiest attacks for each decade.

1970s[edit]

Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE, 1970s

1979

1980s[edit]

Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE, 1980s

1985

1990s[edit]

Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE, 1990s

1990

2000s[edit]

Main article: List of attacks attributed to the LTTE, 2000s

2006

Taken from A

By Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D

The other day when I was in  Anuradhapura, my mind lingered to the 25,000 farmers of the North Central Province who have succumbed to the CDKu- the Kidney Disease.  Some of them may have been the young farmers with whom I worked in the 300 cultivation committees I set up in 1962. Then there was a hive of activity- the thrust of it was to use high yielding varieties and supplement with fertilizer. This was accomplished.

Sad to say,  some two decades later certain  administrative changes that were made did decimate the very effective   agricultural extension system that we had.  The agricultural overseers at the village level who formed the king pin that guided fertilizer and weedicde use at the village level were promoted as Grama Niladharis and till today no extension overseer with any training has taken their place. In addition with the abolition of the Paddy Lands Act in the Eighties, the agrarian services with its overseers at the village level ceased to exist.

To my mind this lacuna in the agricultural extension system is the main cause for the misuse of fertilizer and weedicides that has caused the kidney disease. We have taken many steps, like providing clean water in barrels, establishing water treatment plants, having kidney dialysis machines at hospitals but these do not touch the core cause.

Guiding famers to use the essential fertilizer, weedicides and pesticides is the key, In paddy cultivation we have high yielding varieties that require a fertilizer input.  This matter cannot be settled until we have a trained overseer at the village level and also buiuld up a vibrant agricultural extension system. Left to themselves without any technical input the farmers misuse fertilizer, using the wrong fertilier and unnecessarily large doses of it.  The massive subsidy given for fertilizer helped the misuse of fertilizer.

To those who require more details I reproduced an article I wrote in 2013 which provides full details:

It is my opinion that in addition to all other factors that have been identified the excessive use of fertilizer is a major cause.
The problem with the use of fertilizer is that there are three varieties, phosphate, potash and sulphate. Each fertilizer has to be used at different stages of the paddy plant and can have negative results if misused.  Further the effect of some varieties like ammonium sulphate and urea is easily visible which make farmers use this variety only and ignore the rest. Thus for best results a vibrant extension service is essential.
Let me draw on my experience as an administrative officer. I handled fertilizer distribution to the entire island in 1962 in the Agrarian Services Department and was instrumental in sending out the first island wide circular which detailed the amount of fertilizer to be used, which fertilizer and at what stage. At that time farmers used very little fertilizer and the green revolution was pursued apace with the introduction of new varieties of paddy that had a high response to inorganic fertilizer.
Later in 1962 to 1964, I was implementing the Paddy Lands Act in the Anuradhapura District, establishing cultivation committees and planning the use of fertilizer and high yielding varieties. The farmers were very enthusiastic and there was great progress.
The use of fertilizer proceeded apace and Sri Lanka almost reached self sufficiency whilst implementing the rice ration scheme, issuing rice at reduced rates by 1970.
During these years of expansion- I was working in Sri Lanka till 1973 and even for another decade later there was no major problem about the negative use of fertilizer.
At that time there were two major Departments that attended to agricultural extension. The long standing department was the Department of Agriculture, which was well staffed with qualified officers. At the District level there were District Agricultural Extension Officers(DAEO) who were authorities in the use of fertilizer. Under them in each District there were Agricultural Instructors at the Divisional level. They had studied agriculture for two years. I have met them again and again on my visits and I was always impressed with their knowledge. Each Agricultural Instructor had a number of Krushikarma Vyapti Sevakas(KVSs)- Field Assistants who were posted at the village level. These officers had an years training in paddy cultivation.
With the establishment of the Agrarian Services Department in 1958, to implement the Paddy Lands Act a boost was given to paddy cultivation by the establishment of cultivation committees. Each District was headed by an Assistant Commissioner and under him there were District Officers  who had around half a dozen Field Assistants.  The Field Assistants were trained in agriculture. This staff guided the work of the cultivation committees and we got down to planning the use of fertilizer at the village level. The KVSs of the Agricultural Departments  also worked with the cultivation committees. Peoples participation was foremost in the working of the cultivation committees and this combined strength of the Department of Agriculture and Agrarian Services did create wonders in increasing paddy production.
However this efficient extension service went through four major changes from the Seventies.
Firstly the Agrarian Services Department which was following the socialist concept of people’s participation was given less and less prominence and ultimately the cultivation committees were disbanded with the abolition of the paddy lands act. Though the Agrarian Services yet has petty offices at the divisional level, these offices have hardly any tasks and their work today is a fraction of the work we did in the Sixties and early Seventies.
The Department of Agriculture which was the technical department with specialist officers had a major shake up when President Premadasa decided to absorb all KVSs as Grama Sevakas. Out went the qualified officers who were working at the village level guiding the farmers. For a few years there was no agriculture staff at the village level under the Agricultural Instructors, till President Kumaranatunge created the Samurdhi Niyamakas.O Level qualified youths were appointed and they knew no agriculture. Till today these Niyamakas continue. Some of them have of their own accord mastered something in agriculture due to their enthusiasm but unfortunately to date they have never been trained.
Another change was devolving Agriculture and Agrarian Services to the Provincial Councils by the 13 th Amendment to our Constitution. Thenceforth the efficiency depended on the whims and fancies of the Provincial Minister of Agriculture.
A fourth force was the IMF and the World Bank which came up with their Training & Visit System of Agricultural Extension which did away with the use of peoples institutions- cooperatives and in Sri Lanka, cultivation committees and instead drafted a direct role for the Departments of Agriculture. This did away with popular participation. There is room to think that this move of the World Bank was aimed at crippling the development in agriculture that was taking place apace in the Developing Countries. One will be convinced of this sabotage only when one learns about the ill effects of the Structural Adjustment Programme which  the IMF introduced to our countries in the next few years, which I have detailed in my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka: (Godages)
In 1995 I came back to Sri Lanka and working on my small family farm, I had the occasion to go again and again to the extension offices at Udupila and Kadawata. I have narrated my experience in my book: How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka”.
The officers there did not know the exact amount  of fertilizer I should use and relate it to the high yielding varieties of paddy. At my insistence they raked their files and provided me with details. The circular advised the use of ammonium sulphate and urea at the basal stage and no mention was made of its use as the top dressing.. I brought this to the notice of the Secretary to the Ministry and .months later I got a reply to the effect that the advice given to me was out of date by half a dozen years. About a year later I dropped into one of these Centers  and to my amazement I found that even then the top dressing had not been incorporated into the advice. There is not a single farmer who does not know that ammonium sulphate/urea has to be used as the top dressing.
What this illustrates is a total break down in agricultural extension. This corroborated by Agricultural Officer Cecil Dharmasena in his very insightful article in The Island of  22/4/13, he states,
The lack of an organized and coordinated extension and advisor system today as we had in the past(prior to the Provincial Council Administration System), where the Department of Agriculture through its comprehensive  island wide extension division provided an efficient service appears to be the biggest drawback in agriculture at present.
He refers to both the decision of President Premadasa to make all KVSs Grama Niladharis leaving a gap at the village level as well as the decision based on the 13 th Amendment to our Constitution to devolve the subject of agriculture to the Provincial Council as the cause. He even states that today all types of agencies of the Provincial Council and private sector offer confusing services.
These details about the lacuna in the extension services is further  corroborated by another Agricultural Officer, Ranjith Mulleriyawa in The Island of 4/6/13, where he states that after the promotion of the KVSs- the Field Assistants at the village level to become Grama Niladhari, the Agricultural Instructors had to supervise and offer extension services to as much as 13,000 farmers at Yodakandiya and 3,500 farmers at Ranoruwa. Covering even 500 farmers is a major task for a single officer and covering thousands mean that the service will be severely crippled. Even today the Agricultural Instructors cannot offer a proper service as their assistants are the Niyamakas who in their ignorance of agriculture are actually the laughing stock of the farmers. Having met a few farmers here and there on my annual visits I can definitely corroborate with both Ranjith Mulleriyawa as well as Cecil Dharmasena for the total breakdown of agricultural extension. The heading of Ranjith Mulleriyawa’s article  itselfTruth is Stranger than Fiction: Messing up Agriculture” speaks volumes.
In fact I was convinced for long about the fact that the extension system had broken down with fertilizer being misused but I wanted definite corroboration and this paper emerged after reading their insightful comments. I am most thankful to them.
The fact that the extension service is broken up is also clearly evident because the planting of paddy is now not adhering to the rainfall pattern, though the bulk of paddy cultivation is rainfed. In the earlier system under the Vel Vidanes of the days when the Government Agents handled minor irrigation and later when the cultivation committees handled paddy cultivation there was a definite system where the farmers met at Kanna meetings at the beginning of each season and decided when to cultivate, what seed to use and when to harvest etc. Even fines were decided which was strictly enforced by courts of law.  After the cultivation committees were disbanded these Kanna meetings are not held systematically, with the result that late cultivation is common and the harvest gets damaged by the oncoming rains.
It would augur well for our Ministry of Agriculture to please consider establishing a people’s institution like the cultivation committee to handle paddy cultivation and the use of fertilizer could be attend to by this organization. This is a prime requirement today.
With the breakdown of the extension service the farmers are left to their own devices. I have spoken to a few farmers on my visit last year and they were using ammonium sulphate and urea at the basal stage, Every one research paper I have read of fertilizer use tells me that ammonium sulphate or urea if used at the basal stage just leaches into the soil in the absence of a standing crop to absorb it. To my thinking this misuse of fertilizer is one of the main causes for the CDUK disease. I have no doubts about it.
Further the Niyamakas have to be trained and may I suggest that this be taken up immediately- at least a months’ crash course in paddy plantation.
I fear that the neglect in agricultural extension which is key to neglect in the use of fertilizer if not corrected will lead to the  kidney disease spreading in Sri Lanka which may kill perhaps millions. Let that predicament not happen to my motherland. We do have the ability to avoid it.

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D
Author of How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka & Alternate Programs of Success, Godages.
Former SLAS-Senior Assistant Commissioner of Agrarian Services. & Govt Agent, Matara District
28/12/2015

Shenali D Waduge

 UN Secretary General’s 3 member panel appointed to personally appraise him of the last 3 months (final stages) of the conflict declared LTTE as the most disciplined and most nationalist of the Tamil militant groups”. That ‘most disciplined’ nationalist group reigned terror for 3 decades killing every day, every month and every year with over 300 suicide attacks and it was only after successive failures of 5 peace talks (1985/1987/1989/1994/2002/2006) failure of countless ceasefires and negotiations held locally and even abroad that the decision to militarily defeat the LTTE was taken. It took just 1 incident and 3000 deaths in 2001 (9/11) for the US to declare War on Terror and the UN to create committees and Resolutions but no one bothered when LTTE killed unarmed civilians inside their own villages/people going to school or travelling to work who were targets of LTTE terror. Therefore, we make no excuses for jubilation and triumphalism because when the world ignored LTTE terror and in most instances sided with LTTE terrorists & their fronts abroad, the ‘most disciplined’ LTTE was eventually defeated without world support except for countries that have traditionally stood by Sri Lanka. Therefore, those who played no part since 1980s, who kept mum except issue good-for-nothing statements simply to place on record their condolence have no moral right to be telling Sri Lanka to probe ONLY the last phase of a conflict that would not have ended if they had their way.

If the Ban Ki Moon panel found “credible allegations” that the Tamil Tigers used civilians as a human buffer; killed civilians attempting to escape Tamil Tiger control; used military equipment in the proximity of civilians; forcibly recruited children; used forced labour; and killed civilians using suicide attacks – where is the probe launched against LTTE given that the reports always cite ‘both sides’?

Every year since 2009 it has only been a case of going after the Sri Lankan Armed Forces with each year adding non-conflict related elements into the Resolutions and OHCHR/UNHRC High Commissioners reports. So anyone has to wonder what the gameplan is all about.

The panel says there is “credible allegations” which, if proven, indicated that war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed by the Sri Lankan military and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers). How about 30 years of murders committed by LTTE shown below which took place in front of everyone and there is little doubt who the perpetrators are. Why have these murders received not even step motherly treatment.

While there was no joint statement as is implied by the UN between the SL President and the UNSG to start a domestic inquiry, the appointment of Ban Ki Moon personal panel within weeks of Sri Lanka appointing LLRC is rather odd moreover one wonders why a panel report that was meant to only appraise the UNSG became the basis and foundation of the UNHRC resolutions against Sri Lanka. These are all precedents and these are serious breach of ethics and irregularities that border illegalities within the mandates of these UN officials.

Moreover, if the Panel could criticize the UN for not protecting civilians what about these and thousands of other civilians who were nowhere near any conflict zone but were blown to bits because LTTE wanted to eliminate them and make a point to the world?

Therefore those going at a tangent about the supposed crimes of the last phase must remember that

• It was LTTE who hounded people and herded them with the LTTE as they retreated
• Both the LTTE and civilians could not be made out – LTTE even had trained a civilian force, LTTE dressed as civilians and fired in civilian attire, civilians too were given arms and told to fire – therefore the distinction is bleak and in an armed conflict there are laws that apply and deny immunity for civilians holding arms during hostilities. Moreover all the LTTE cadres that surrendered (12,0000) were in civilian clothing and not in LTTE uniform – which means they were firing as civilians!
• There is also the question of resettlement & housing – we have yet to be told how many of the IDPs actually had real deeds or even owned lands to be given lands & houses!
• The most important question for those parroting genocide is to explain why the Armed Forces would kill a ghost number of dead while physically saving close to 300,000. So far all those throwing ‘credible allegations’ of 40,000 to 200,000 ‘dead’ have not produced even the names of 100 dead with details to warrant an investigation. Just because a group of goody-two-shoes think that they can quote numbers and claim the GOSL killed them should a sovereign government agree to launch probes?
• Why were there no Resolutions / probes for unarmed civilians that LTTE killed outside a conflict zone who were the real civilians targeted and killed?
• If LTTE herded their own people to be used as human shileds/hostages and even shot at many trying to flee it is not the fault of the armed forces but the LTTE. If Prabakraan is no more to take the dock the LTTE fronts and their leaders now banned should be made answerable for they were carrying out campaigns and raising funds abroad for the LTTE to kill and murder back home!

   Below are just a small segment of examples to highlight the hypocrisies that prevail

   Village massacres from 1984 onwards with intent to ethnically cleanse Sinhalese & Muslims from the North: These attacks were not in any conflict area. These murders were pre-meditated & planned.

• Starting with Kent & Dollar farms, LTTE entered sleeping villages and brutally cut up men, women and even babies. These initial murders went into hundreds of innocent, unarmed civilians who had done nothing to the LTTE to deserve death. Their farms were burnt/ their homes burnt to the ground / livelihood destroyed leaving those that survived nothing and fearful to return lest they would be victims next.
• Andankulam Village massacre: over 20 civilians, including Ven. Bakamune Subaddalanakara Thero, were attacked, tortured and killed by LTTE cadres in the village of Andankulam (Trincomalee)
• The Palliyagodella massacre – over 170 Muslims massacred by LTTE
• The villagers in the North /North Central, East had to live in fear of their lives often hiding in the jungles, keeping watch on trees, hiding their children in underground trenches to escape being caught, tortured and killed by the LTTE – does the UNSG and the 50,000 in the UN Secretariat realize the mental agony and pain of mind these people suffered every second of their lives for 30 years knowing they would be the next on LTTE’s hit list?

  Note: Giving just 24 hours and allowed to take only the clothes they were wearing thousands of Sinhalese and Muslims were evicted from the North by the LTTE in 1990. Their homes /lands / property were confiscated and most of them would have not even had time to take their deeds and other documents giving rightful claim to return. However, while presently the entire world is going on a tangent about resettling IDPs and allowing Tamils to return to their original homes did ONE of these voices open their mouths to make similar claims for the rights of Sinhalese & Muslims to return to their original habitats in the North? While many of the Sinhalese & Muslims have made submissions to the UN investigators not one UN entity/HR Organization or foreign envoy have come to stand up for the rights of the Sinhalese & Muslims. Isn’t that double standards and hypocrisy of the highest?

  What did UN and foreign envoys do other than issuing a diplomatic statement of condolence –

  NOTHING.

  Attacks on places of worship & clergy :

• Sri Maha Bodhiya attack in 1985 June – 146 worshippers mercilessly shot dead inside temple premises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImJJ-Gp9NJA
• Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) – 1988  The attack took place just days before foreign dignitaries were expected to attend celebrations of the fiftieth anniversary of Sri Lankan independence at the temple https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27xMR13byNE
• Kattankudy mosque attack 1990 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESCQFTfPAz8
• Arantalawa 32 Buddhist monks slain while travelling in a bus 1987 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLqzbbgWk7I
• 1985 – three Sinhalese Buddhist monks and three civilians shod dead while they were worshipping at the Ruhunu Somavathiya Temple.
• August 8, 1995 the Ven Matara Kithalagama Sri Seelalankara Nayake Thera popularly known as Dimbulagala Hamuduruwo killed by the LTTE terrorists when he was on his way to visit a farm belonging to the temple.

  What did UN and foreign envoys do other than issuing a diplomatic statement of condolence –

  NOTHING. 

  Murder of unarmed servicemen:

• 1990 over 600 unarmed policemen killed one after another – http://itvideo.me/watch/?v=fIzrk42ktzs
• 5000 members of the armed services remain missing still

  What did UN and foreign envoys do other than issuing a diplomatic statement of condolence – NOTHING.

   Destruction of civilian property

• Bombing Central Telegraph Office 1986 – 14 unarmed civilians killed
• Attack on the Central Bank of Sri Lanka 1996 – 91 innocent unarmed civilians killed and over 1400 injured and continuing to suffer injuries some unable to even be employed because of their wounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IMTfImFCnI
• 1997 – Colombo World Trade Centre Bombing killed 15 people and 105 were wounded including several British tourists.

  What did UN and foreign envoys do other than issuing a diplomatic statement of condolence – NOTHING.

  Targeting passenger buses – school children traveling to school / parents going to work / expectant mothers going to clinic / elderly going to take medicine

• Central Bus Station 1987 Colombo – killed 113 civilians, two policemen and a soldier; 298 others were injured
• Maradana bus bomb (Colombo) – 3 civilians were killed and 106 injured by LTTE cadres who exploded a bomb
• 1996 Dehiwela train –  64 civilian deaths and wounding 400 others
• 2008 Fort Railway station – killed 12 and injured close to 100. Deaths included school children (students of D S Senanayake school)
• 2008 Piliyandala bus bomb – killed 26 and injured at least 64 deceased included a Buddhist monk, a 10-year-old boy and eight women
• The lists are endless on the numbers of buses that LTTE attacked along the areas/routes LTTE wanted to chase Sinhalese & Muslims away so that they could reign supreme. Every day since 1984 a bus was blown, claymores were planted along bus routes, or villages were attacked and villagers mercilessly killed or chased away.
• Kebithigollewa massacre occurred on 15 June 2006 when 60 civilians were killed by a Tamil Terrorist claymore attack on a bus. The Nordic Monitors (SLMM) claimed that it was ‘highly probably that LTTE or supporters carried out the Kebithigollewa attack” 

  Note in 1986 even the Katunayake international airport was attacked and LTTE exploded the Air Lanka flight which resulted in 21 dead including 13 foreigners (entire British family, 2 Germans, 3 French, 2 Japanese, 1 Maldivian and 1 Pakistani)

  Therefore what needs to be clearly said is that when countries had every opportunity to end terror in Sri Lanka the so called international community or the UN did not come forward.

• It was India that created and funded Tamil militancy by secretly training 32 groups in 1970s. It was India that prevented the capture of Prabakaran in 1987. It was India that violated our sovereignty and virtually made a Sri Lanka sign an Accord and change the constitution under duress. These links are all confirmed in the Jain Commission report.
• The UN system totally ignored Navi Pillay’s Tamil descent and she herself did not see fit to recuse herself. Her statements against Sri Lanka over the years give evidence to her bias.
• Former LTTE No. 2 & former Minister alleged that Norway provided funds to LTTE, General Trygve Tellefsen is also alleged to have given military intelligence to the LTTE. Norwegian agency Norad is also accused of providing payments to LTTE. Afterposten revealed involvement of Norwegian embassy in SL to help 12 active LTTE cadres escape to Norway!

Shenali D Waduge

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි

පරිසර හිතකාමී ජනාධිපතිලා, පරිසර සම්බන්ධ ඇමතිලා, පරිසරවේදීන් ආදී මහා පරිසර මහත්වරුන් සිටින යුගයක් අප රට තුලම තිබී නැත. නමුත් මේ යුගයේ තරම් පරිසර විනාශයන් සිසුවෙන තවත් යුගයක් නැති තරම්ය.

1. විල්පත්තු වන විනාසයට පසුව
2. මුතුරාජවෙල පරිසර පද්ධතිය තුලද පරිසරයට තෙල් කාන්දුවීම නිසා මහා පරිසර විනාශයක් සිදුව ඇත.

දැන් සටන ඇරඹී ඇති අතර කිසිවෙක් සිදුව ඇති පරිසර විනාසය සම්බන්ධව කථා නොකරයි. කථා කරන්නේ තමන්ට සිදුව ඇති කරුණු කාරනා සම්බන්ධවය.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මේ පරිසර විනාශය මුලු ජීවී ප්රජාවටම තර්ජනයක්ව ඇති අවස්ථාවක ලාම්පු තෙත් වලට මොනවාද කරන්නේ? ඒවා බලධාරීන්ට මිලදී ගන්නවාද? යන ප්රශ්න කිසිදු වැදගම්මකට නැති, සෑබෑ ප්රශ්නය මතු නොකරන අමන සිදුවීම්ය. මේ අමන ජනතාව තමන්ට සිදුව ඇති සැබෑ හානිය අවබෝධ කර නොගෙන තමන් එකතු කරගත් ලාම්පු තෙල් මිලදී ගැනීමට තර්ජනය කිරීමවත්; ජනතාව විසින් එකතු කරගත් ලාම්පු තෙල්, ආයතනයට අයත් සම්පත් බැව‌ින් ඒවා යලි ආයතනයට ගෙනවිත් බාරදෙන ලෙස දන්වන නිලධාරීන් දැකීමත් මහා පිලිකුල් සහගත සිදුවීම්ය.මේ අමන රැගුම අත්හැර මේ සිදුව ඇති විනාශය වහාම නවතා ගන්නේ කෙසේදැයි කිසිවෙකුටත් අවබෝධයක් නැතිවා සේ කටයුතු සිදුවෙමින් පවතී. සිදුව ඇති පරිසර විනාශය ඇති මහත්ය. එය කිසිවෙකුටත් ගනනය කල නොහැක. නමුත් මේ විනාශය මේ බිමේ පවතින කාලය අඩු කර ගැනීමට අපට හැකිය. පලමුව අවබෝධ කරගත යුත්තේ පහත දැක්වෙන කරුණුය.

1. මිනිසුන්ට වන හානිය.
2. ගෘහස්ත ආර්ථික වශයෙන් වැදගත් සතුන්ට වෙන හානිය.
3. මත්සය ප්රජාවට සිදුව ඇති හානිය
4. උරග ප්රජාවන්ට සිදුව ඇති හානිය.

5පක්ෂී ප්රජාවට සිදුව ඇති හානිය

6. ශාක ප්රජාවට සිසුව ඇති හානිය වශයෙන් දල වර්ග කිරීමක් කොට තත්වය සලකා බැලිය යුතුය.

වර්තමාන තත්වය තුල උරග, මත්ෂය හා පක්ෂීනට ප්රජාවන් රාශියක් මියගොස් ඇති බවත් ජීවත්ව ඉන්න සවල්පයක් ජීවීන් ඉතාම අසාද්යව ඇති බවත් අපට වටහා ගැනීමට සිදුවේ. මේ මිය ගිය හා මියදිමින් සිටින සතුන් කුුණුවීමත් සමග හට ගන්නා පාරිසරික තත්වය පවතින ජලය හා වාතය දූෂණය කරමින් මිනිසුන්ගේ ජීවන තත්වය තවත් පහතට ඇද දමන බව අවබෝධ කරගත යුතුය. මේ තෙල්තට්ටුව සිදුකල විනාශය වසරකින් දෙකකින් හෝ වසර 30 කින් නිමවේ යයි සිතීම මහා මුලාවකි. නිහඩව බලා සිටියොත් මේ සිදුව ඇති විනාශයේ ප්රතිඵල  වසර සිය ගනනක් ඈතට දිව හනු ඇත. එබැවින් අප වහාම ක්රියාත්මකවී මේ තෙල් තට්ටුව පවතින අතරවාරයේ භූමිය කාණ්ඩ වශයෙන් ගිනි තැබීමකට භාජනය කල යුතුය. ඒ ගිනි තැබීම විද්යාත්මකව පාලනයකට නතුකර කල යුතු ගිනි තැබීමකි. එසේ කිරීම තුලින් පවතින ඒ තෙල් මුළුමනින්ම මාසයක පමං කාලයක් තුලදී විනාශ කල හැක. තවද මලගිය සතුන් මෙන්ම මලගිය ශාකද දැවී හලුවී යනු ඇත. වසර ගගනනාවක් ඒ පොලොවට මහා විනාශයක් කොට ඒ පලාතේ ජනතාවට මපරම්පරා ගනනක් වින කල හැකි මේ පරිසර හානියට මූලික වූ තෙල විනාශ කොට ඉතිරි කාර්යය කිරීම  ස්වභාවයට භාර දෙන්න. මේ කට යුත්ත කිරීමට බුද්ධිය හා ශක්තිය ඔවුනට ලබාදෙන ලෙස අප හැම එක්ව දෙවියන් යදිමු

[ජාතික සංවිධාන එකමුතුව විසින් පැපිළියානේ සුනේත්‍රාදේවී විහාරයේ පැවැත්වූ මාධ්‍ය හමුවේදී ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ සිදුකළ කථාව ]

මහා සංඝ රත්නයෙන් අවසරයි!

අපි ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් කතා කරන අවස්ථාවන්හිදී විරුද්ධවාදීන් අප නැති යුධ බියක් ඇතිකරන්න උත්සාහ දරන ජාතීවාදීන් වශයෙන් හඳුන්වමින් විවිධ චෝදනා එල්ල කරනවා . යුද්ධය අවසාන වුනාට පස්සෙ අපි අවුරුදු 5ක කාලයක් තුළ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව විශාල ස්ථාවරත්වයක් මේ රටට ගෙනාවා. ඒක මේ රටේ ජනතාව දන්නවා. විශේෂයෙන්ම උතුරු නැගෙනහිර එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයේ කිසිම පෝස්ටරයක්වත් ගහන්න අපි ඉඩ දුන්නෙ නෑ. ඒකට හේතුව මරාගෙන මැරෙන තරමට සිත් වෙනස් කරගත්ත ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් තවමත් සිටීම. ඔබතුමන්ල දන්නවා අවුරුදු 30ක් මේ රටේ තිබුනු ත්‍රස්තවාදය විසින්, ප්‍රභාකරන් සහ එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානය විසින් මරාගෙන මැරෙන්නන් වශයෙන් පවා ඔවුන්ව භාවිතා කිරීමට හැකිවන අයුරින් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ මනස් විශාල වශයෙන් වෙනස් කරල තිබුනා.

අපි දොළොස්දහස් අටසිය ගනනක් ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාවට භාර වුනු ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ව පුණරුත්ථාපනය කළා. ඒ එක්කම බූස්ස සහ වෙනත් කඳවුරු වල අවුරුදු ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ සැක සහිතව අත් අඩංගුවට අරගෙන තිබුණු පන්දහස් ගණනක් හිටියා. ඒ අයගෙන් හාරදහසකට ආසන්න සංඛ්‍යාවක් පුණරුත්ථාපනය කරල අපි සමාජ ගත කළා. මෙසේ පුනරුත්ථාපනය කළාට පස්සෙ ඇමරිකාවෙ ප්‍රමුඛ මෙළේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක කථිකාචාර්යවරුන් දෙදෙනෙක් හරහා පරීක්ෂණයක් කළා මේ පුනරුත්ථාපනය කළ අයගේ ප්‍රචන්ඩකාරී ත්‍රස්තවාදී මානසිකතවය කොපමන දුරට සිතෙන් අතහැරිලද යන්න පරීක්ෂා කරන්නට. එයට අදාළ වාර්ථාව කියවුවහොත් තේරේවි අවුරුදු 3ක් 4ක් තිස්සේ මේ පුනරුත්ථාපන ක්‍රියාවළිය සිදුවන විට ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් ඒ අයගේ සිත්වලින් මේ දරුණු අදහස් 90%ක් පමන ප්‍රමානයක් දක්වා ඉවත් වී ඇති බව. නමුත් 10% ක් පමන ප්‍රමානයකින් තවදුරටත් ඒ අදහස් ඔවුන්ගේ සිත් හි ඉතිරිව තිබෙනවා.

ඒ එක්කම අපි ඔය දෙසිය ගණනක් දැනට බූස්සෙ රඳවල සිටින අයගෙ මානසිකත්වය කුමනාකාරද කියල පරීක්ෂා කරන්නට තවත් පරීක්ෂණයක් පැවැත්වුවා. ඒ අයගෙන් වැඩි දෙනෙක්ම කිවුවෙ ඒ අය ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් බවට පත් වුනේ ඔවුන්ගෙ නායකය ඔවුන්ට ලබා දීල තියන ඉලක්ක සම්පූර්ණ කිරීමට බව. ඒ ඉලක්ක සපුරා ගන්නා තුරු ඔවුන් තම අදහස් ඉවත් නොකරන බවයි ඔවුන් ප්‍රකාශ කරල තිබෙන්නේ. ප්‍රභාකරන් නැති වුනත්, එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානය හමුදාමය වශයෙන් පරාජය වුවත් ඔවුන්ට භාර දීල තිබෙන ඉලක්කය ඔවුන් කවදාහෝ ඉටු කරනව කියල තමයි ඔවුන් ප්‍රකාශ කරල තිබෙන්නේ. මේ වාර්ථා සියල්ල යුධ හමුදාවෙ බුද්ධි අංශය සතුව තිබෙනවා.

විශේෂයෙන්ම මම දන්නව ඔය නිදහස් කරන්න හදන අය අතර ඉන්නව මොරිස්” සහ ගිරි” කියල පුද්ගලයන් දෙදෙනෙක්. ඒ අයගෙ නියම නම් මේව නොවෙයි. එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානය තුළ ඔවුන්ව හඳුන්වල තිබෙන්නෙ මේ නම් වළින්. ඔවුන් තමයි ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ සහ පොට්ටු අම්මාන්ගේ ඍජු උපදෙස් යටතේ මුළු කොළඹ ප්‍රදේශයම භාරව ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියා මෙහෙයවපු දෙදෙනා. මේ දෙදෙනව අත් අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට අපි විශාල පරිශ්‍රමයක් දැරුවා. යුද්ධය අවසන් වුනාටත් පසුව තමයි ඔවුන්ව සොයා ගැනීමට හැකියාව ලැබුනේ. මේ දෙදෙන තමයි කොළඹ සිදුවුනු සෑම ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියාවකටම වගකිව යුත්තේ. යුධ හමුදා මූලස්ථානය ඇතුළෙදි එවකට හිටපු යුධ හමුදාපතිවරයට බෝම්බ දමපු තැනැත්තියව ඒක ඇතුළට එක්කගෙන ගියේ මේ මොරිස් කියන පුද්ගලයා. මොවුන් තමයි මරාගෙන මැරෙන ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ව වන්නියෙ සිට රැගෙන ආවෙ, පුහුණුකළේ, ත්‍රස්තවාදී ක්‍රියා සිදු කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය විමර්ෂන සිදුකළේ, සැළැස්ම සකස් කළේ, සේෆ් හවුසස්” (ආරක්ෂා සහිත නිවාස) කියන නිවාස සොයාගෙන නඩත්තු කළේ. මේ සියලම කළේ මේ උදවිය. මෙන්න මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයන්ව නැවතත් කිසිම හැඟීමක් නැතිව සමාජයට එක් කළ හැකිද? අද රජයෙ ඉන්න කිසිම කෙනෙක් දන්නෙ නෑ මේ අයව අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න කොතරම් වෙහෙසක් දැරුවද කියලා. ඒ ගැන අවබෝධයක් නෑ. මේ අය හුදෙක්ම දේශපාලන වාසි ලබා ගැනීමට මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයන්ව නිදහස් කරනවා. එහෙම නැතිනම් ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ අවශ්‍යතාවය අනුව නිදහස් කරනවා. මේවා මිනිස්සුන්ව භය කරන්න කියන දේවල් නොවෙයි. අපි කිවුවත් නැතත් අපේ ජනතාව දන්නව අවුරුදු 30ක් තිස්සෙ මොකද වුනේ කියලා. මම හිතන් නෑ ජනතාව අමුතුවෙන් භය කරන්නට අවශ්‍යයි කියලා.

අපි තරම් මේ ජනතාවට නිදහස ලබා දුන්නු වෙනත් රජයක් නෑ. ඔය සුමන්දිරන්ලා සම්බන්ධන්ලා මොනව කිවුවත් උතුරු නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වලට ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය දෙන්න අපි තරම් වැඩ කළේ නෑ වෙන කිසිවෙක්. අවසානයේදී අපි උතුරු පළාත් සභා ඡන්දයත් පැවැත්වුවා. මුළින්ම බිම් බෝම්බ ඉවත් කළා. අවුරුදු 3ක් ඇතුළත අවතැන් වූ පුද්ගලයන්ව නැවත පදිංචි කෙරෙවුවා. ඊට පසුව සංවර්ධනය ඇති කළා. පාසල් ඇතිකළා. ළමයින්ට ඉගෙනගන්න අවස්ථාව ලබා දුන්නා. 2009 වන විට මුළු යාපන අර්ධද්වීපයම වගෙ හමුදාව යටතේ තිබුනේ. ගෙවල් විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවක අපි හිටියා. නමුත් ක්‍රම ක්‍රමයෙන් අත්‍යවශ්‍යම ප්‍රමානය පමනක් තබා ගනිමින්, ඉන් 90%ක් පමන ප්‍රමානයක් අපි ජනතාවට නිදහස් කළා.

මේව ගැන ජාත්‍යන්තරය කතා කරන්නෙත් නෑ, දෙමළ දේශපාලන නායකයො කතාකරන්නෙත් නෑ. නමුත් මෙය තමයි සැබෑ තත්ත්වය. මේ මොන කතන්දර කිවුවත් මේ දක්වා මේ ආණ්ඩුව මොනවද මේ පළාත්වලට ලබා දීල තිබෙන්නේ? ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ඇතිකරන්න හෝ සංවර්ධනය කරන්න මොවුන් මොනවද කරල තියෙන්නෙ. අපි ඇති කරපු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තමයි ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල තවමත් පවතින්නේ.

නමුත් එලෙසින් නිදහස, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ගෙනෙන අතර නැවතත් අර ත්‍රස්තවාදය ඇති නොවන්නට අපි හමුදා සහ බුද්ධි අංශ අතරින් වැඩසටහනක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කළා. එම හේතුව නිසා තමයි අවුරුදු 5ක් ගතවෙලත් ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල අඩුම තරමින් එල්ටීටීඊ එකට කිසිම පෝස්ටරයක්වත් අලවන්නට නොහැකි වුනේ. මොකද අපි දන්නව මේ නිදහස ලබා ගත්තේ, මේ භූමිය අත්පත් කරගත්තේ, ප්‍රභාකරන්ව පරාජය කළේ, එල්ටීටීඊ එක පරාජය කළේ දාඩිය , මහන්සිය, ලේ, ජීවිත පූජ කරලා. ඒ අමාරුකම දන්නවනම් එලෙසින් අමාරුවෙන් ලබාගත්ත ස්ථාවරත්වය, ආරක්ෂාව මෙළෙසින් වැනසෙන්නට කිසිවෙක් ඉඩ දෙන්නෙ නෑ . යම් අවබෝධයක් තියන, මේ රට ගැන දර්ශනයක් තිබෙන කිසිම පුද්ගලයෙක් කිසි සේත් මේ වගෙ ආරක්ෂාවට තර්ජනයක් වෙන දේවල් සිදු කරන්නෙ නෑ. නමුත් මේව ගැන අවබෝධයක් නැතිව හුදෙක්ම පටු දේශපාලන අරමුණු ඉටුකරගැනීමට පමනයි මොවුන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් සිටින්නේ.

ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම දෙමළ ජාතික සංධානය (ටී.එන්.ඒ. සංවිධානය) තමයි මෛත්‍රීපාල ජනාධිපතිතුමාව ඒ තනතුරට පත් කළේ. දෙමළ ජනතාව ඡන්දෙ දුන්නෙ නෑ. හොර ඡන්ද දැම්මා. ඒක අපි හොඳටම දන්නවා. අපි දැක්ක උතුරු පළාත් සභාවෙදි ඒ අය පෙරහුරුවක් කලා. ඒ පළාතෙ හැම ඡන්ද පොළකටම ගියේ ටී.එන්.ඒ. අය පමනයි. වෙන කවුරුවත් හිටියෙ නෑ. ඔබතුමන්ල දන්නවා, මැතිවරණය දවසෙ හැම වෙලාවෙම ඒ ප්‍රදේශවලින් ආපු ප්‍රවෘතිය තමයි, පෝළිමේ කවුරුත් නෑ කියන එක. නමුත් හවස ඡන්දෙ ගණනය කරල බලනවිට 80%ක්, 90%ක් ඡන්දය දාල තියනවා. අපි දන්නව අපේ පලාත්වල නිදහස ලැබුනු දවසෙ ඉඳලම ඡන්දය භාවිතා කළත්, ගෙයින් ගෙට ගිහින් ඡන්දය දමන්නට කියල ඉල්ලා සිටියත්, ඡන්දය දමන හැටි කියල දුන්නත් කිසිඳු අවස්ථාවක එළෙසින් ඉහළ ප්‍රතිශත වළින් ඡන්දය භාවිතා කරල නෑ. ටී එන් ඒ එක මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන මහත්මයට සහාය දක්වනව කියල කිවුවේ ඡන්දයට දින 4කට පෙර. ඔවුන්ට ජනතාව සූදානම් කරන්න තිබුනෙ දින හතරයි. දින හතරයි ටී එන් ඒ එක ඡන්දය කළේ. හංසය කියන්නෙ පුරුදු ලකුණකුත් නොවෙයිනේ. හැබැයි 90% හංසයට ඡන්දෙ දානවා. මෙය සිදුවිය හැකි දෙයක්ද? ඉතින් මෙන්න මේ මංකොල්ලයට උපහාරයක් වශයෙන් තමයි ඒ අයට අවශ්‍ය ආකාරයට මේ සියළුම දේවල් ලබා දීමට මේ රජය උත්සාහ කරන්නේ.

ත්‍රිවිධ හමුදාව සහ බුද්ධි අංශ මේ රට රැකගැනීමට ජීවිත පරිත්‍යාග කළේ මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගෙ සමයෙදි විතරක් නොවෙයි. යුද්ධය පටන් ගත්තු දවසෙ සිට 30,000ක පමන රණවිරුවො ප්‍රමානයක් ජීවිත පරිත්‍යාග කරල තියනවා. 50,000ක් පමන පිරිසක් අත් පා නැතිව ආබාධිත තත්ත්වයට පත් වෙලා තියනවා. චන්ද්‍රිකා මැතිණියගේ කාලේ, ප්‍රේමදාස මැතිතුමාගේ කාලේ, යුද්ධය ආරම්භ වුනු ජේ. ආර්. ජයවර්ධන මැතිතුමාගේ කාලේ මේ හමුදාව ජීවිත පරිත්‍යාගයෙන් ක්‍රියා කළා. මොන ආණ්ඩුවක් ආවත් ඒ අය ඒ අයගෙ රාජකාරිය ඉටු කළා. මගෙ හමුදා ජීවිතයෙන් වැඩි කාලයක් මම සටන් කරල තියෙන්නෙ එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය යටතේ. හමුදා සෙබළුන්ට පක්ෂ භේදයක් නෑ. ඒ අය අවුරුදු ගණනාවක් තිස්සෙ කරපු ජීවිත පරිත්‍යාගයන්හි ප්‍රතිඵලය නිවැරදි ආකාරයට අපි මෙහෙයවපු නිසා අවුරුදු තුන හමාරක් ඇතුළත මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කරන්නට හැකිවුනා.

නමුත් අපි මතක තියාගන්නට ඕනි මේ ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැවත ඇති වෙන්නට හැකියාව තිබෙනවා, ඊට අවශ්‍ය සියළු කාරණා තිබෙනවා කියලා. මේ රට තුළ ත්‍රස්තවාදය හමුදාමය වශයෙන් පරාජය කළත් ජාත්‍යන්තරයේ සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන, අරමුදල් එකතුකරපු පිරිස, ජාත්‍යන්තර රාජ්‍යයන් මෙහෙයවපු පිරිස තවමත් සිටිනවා. ඒ සංවිධාන තවමත් තිබෙනවා. ඒ සංවිධාන තමයි අපි තහනම් කළේ. අද ඒ තහනම ඉවත් කරල ඒ සංවිධානවලට නැවතත් ඒ ඒ රටවල් තුළ ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමට මුදල් එකතු කිරීමට අවස්ථාව ලබා දීල තියනවා. දැන් මේ තහනම ඉවත් කරපු දවසට පසුදාම එල්ටීටීඊ කොඩිය උස්සගෙන කැනඩාවෙ සහ එංගලන්තෙ ඒ අය එය සමරනවා. ඒ සංවිධාන තමන් මෙතුවක් දරපු අන්ත ත්‍රස්තවාදී අදහස් අතහැරල කියල ප්‍රසිද්ධියෙ කියනවනම්, ඒකීය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවක් තුළ එකට ජීවත් වීමට කැමතියි කියල කියනවනම් මේ තහනම එවත් කිරීම ප්‍රශ්නයක් නොවෙයි. නමුත් ඒ අය එහෙම කියන්නෙ නෑ. එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානයේ ප්‍රභාකරන් කියපු දේම තමයි ඒ අය තවමත් කියන්නෙ. මේ රට දෙකට බෙදල ඒ අයට ඊළාම් රාජ්‍යයක් අවශ්‍යයි කියලයි ඔවුන් අදත් කියන්නෙ. දැන් මේ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට පෙර එයට මුල් වුනු අය මේ පිරිස්වළින් ඇහුවද ඔවුන් බෙදුම්වාදයෙන් ඉවත්වී ඇතිද කියල? ඊළාම් අදහස් අතහැරලද තියෙන්නෙ කියල ඇහුවද? ප්‍රකාෂයක් ලබාගත්තද? නැහැ. එහෙම දෙයක් සිදුකරල නැහැ. මෙය තමයි භයානක තත්ත්වය. මෙළෙසින් ක්‍රියා කරන විට නැවතත් අසූව දශකයේ සිදු වූ ආකාරයටම බෙදුම්වාදය ශක්තිමත් වෙනවා.

අපට වඩා තාක්ෂණය අතින් දියුණු, ආරක්ෂාව සඳහා තාක්ෂනය යොදාගන්නා ප්‍රංශය වගෙ රටවල් වල ඕනෑම පුද්ගලයෙක් ඉන්න තැන පහසුවෙන්ම දකින්න පුළුවන්. තාක්ෂනය ඉතා ඉහළින් භාවිතා කරල තියනවා. එහෙම රටවලත් ත්‍රස්තවාදය නිසා ඇතිවන ප්‍රශ්න අපි දකිනවා. ප්‍රංශය, ඇමරිකාව වැනි තාක්ෂනය අතින් ඉතා ඉහළ රටවල පවා ත්‍රස්තවාදය ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙනවා. ඝාතන සිදුවෙනවා. ඉතින් ආරක්ෂාව බිංදුවට දාල තියන රටක, තිබුනු සියළු විමර්ශනයන් නතරකරල දමල තියන රටක ත්‍රස්තවාදය නැවත ගෙන ඒම ඉතාම පහසුයි. මෙය තමයි භයානක තත්ත්වය.

මේව කියන්නෙ අපි යුධවාදීන් නිසා නොවෙයි. ජාතිවාදය අවුස්සන්න නොවෙයි. මෙය තමයි තත්ත්වය අද රටේ තිබෙන ඇත්ත. ආරක්ෂාව රටේ පාලකයන්ගෙ වගකීමක්. හැබැයි ඒව කටින් කිවුවට වැඩක් නෑ. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙ කිවුවට වැඩක් නෑ. ඒවා ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමයි අවශ්‍ය. බුද්ධි අංශ දුර්වල කරලා, නිලධාරීන්ට තර්ජනය කරලා, චෝදනා කරල මේ කාර්යය කරන්නට බැහැ.

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය තහවුරු කරන්නට තමයි මේ අය බලයට ආවේ. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ඒකාධිපතියෙක් කියමින් ඉන් රට මුදාගන්නට පැමිනි මේ පිරිස අද වන විට රට පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක් බවට පත් කරල තියනවා. අද වන විට ආචාර්ය නාළක ගොඩහේවා මහත්මය අත් අඩංගුවට අරගෙන තිබෙනවා. එතුමා මේ අයවැය සම්බන්ධව සාකච්ඡා මාළාවක් පැවැත්වුවා. අද වන විට ඔහුව අත් අඩංගුවට අරගෙන තිබෙනවා. ඒ දිනවල නොයෙක් නොයෙක් චෝදනා එල්ළ කළ අයව ඇමතිකම් දීලා, පගාව දීලා ආණ්ඩුවට එක් කරගෙන සිටිනවා. මේ වන විට අපේ රජය යටතේ සිටපු සියළුම ලේකම්වරු පොලීසියට ගෙන ගොස් තිබෙනවා. දැනගන්න ලැබිල තිබෙන විදිහට මට නැවතත් ජනාධිපති කොමිසමට පැමිනෙන ලෙස දන්වල තිබෙනවා. චෝදනාව තමයි කොළඹ කොටුවෙ තිබෙන ඉඩමක පිඩළි ඇල්ලීම. ඒක මහ රාජට අයිති ඉඩමක්ලු. එය ඔහුගෙ නෙමෙයි. එය රජයේ ඉඩමක්. මේ අය දැන් ඒක බලෙන් ඔහුට පවරල තියනවා. එතන විශාල කුණු ගොඩක් තිබුනෙ. ඒ කුණු ගොඩ ඉවත් කරල පිඩළි ඇල්ලීම කියන චෝදනාව යටතෙ දැන් මට විරුද්ධව පරීක්ෂන පවත්වනවා.

මුහුදෙ පාවෙන අවි ගබඩාවක් පවත්වාගැනීම කියන චෝදනාව යටතෙ මුළින්ම සී අයි ඩී එකට රැගෙන ගියා. ඊළඟට අල්ලස් කොමිසමට රැගෙන ගියා. ඊලඟට ජනාධිපති කොමිසමට රැගෙන ගියා. දැන් නැවතත් අල්ලස් කොමිසමට කැඳවල තියනවා. සී අයි ඩී එකෙන් කියනව වරදක් සිදුවෙලා නැහැ කියලා. එවිට වෙනත් ආයතන හරහා නැවතත් එකම දෙය පිළිබඳව පරීක්ෂා කරනවා. එළෙසින් එකම චෝදනාව යටතේ ආයතන කිහිපයකින් පරීක්ෂා කරන්න, දඬුවම් දෙන්න බැහැ. නීතියට අනුව එය හිංසනයක්. ඒ ළෙසින් අද මේ රට පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක් බවට පත් වෙලා තියනවා.

අද මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙක් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවෙදි රටේ ආරක්ෂාව පිළිබඳව කතා කළත් නායකයන් විසින්ම ඔවුන්ට විරුද්ධව ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙමින් සිටිනවා. මෙය අද වන විට පොලිස් රාජ්‍යයක්. නීතියට පිටින්, පවතින ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පිටින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන තැනට පාලකයො පත් වෙලා තියනවා. එය ඉතා අවදානම් තත්ත්වයක්. ඔවුන් එළෙසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන විට ජනතාවත් එළෙසින්ම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පිටින් ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමට පටන් ගත හැකියි. එය ඉතා අවදානම්. බලයේ සිටින්නන් එය මතක තබාගත යුතුයි.

කිසිවෙකුටත් පරාජය කළ නොහැකියි කියපු ප්‍රභාකරන් සහ එල්ටීටීඊ සංවිධානය අපි පරාජය කරල තියනවා. ඒ හැකියාව අපට තිබෙනවා. මේ මර්දනයට තර්ජනයට අපි බිය නෑ. අපි සූදානම් මේ ඕනෑම තර්ජනයකට මුහුණ දීමට.

තෙරුවන් සරණයි!

විමුක්ති වනිගසේකර
-යුතුකම සංවාද කවය

– See more at: http://lankacnews.com/sinhala/main-news/%E0%B7%80%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%94%E0%B7%80%E0%B6%B1%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%9A-%E0%B6%AD%E0%B7%8A%E2%80%8D%E0%B6%BB%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%AD%E0%B6%BA%E0%B6%B1/#sthash.I17ZBUxH.dpuf

by Selvam Canagaratna Courtesy Island

January 4, 2016, 12:47 am
“She had all the best things wrong with her – incest, insanity, drug addiction, bulimia, alopecia: you name it. All the perfect stuff for a memoir. She’s so lucky.”– Peter Cameron, author.

The Paris attacks, wrote Tom Dispatch founder, Tom Engelhardt, left him not knowing whether to rant or to weep. “They were clearly acts of calculated provocation meant to reshape our world in grim ways. Worse yet, their effectiveness was pre-guaranteed because, as has been true since 9/11, the leaders of such terror groups, starting with Osama bin Laden grasped the dynamics of our world, of what makes us tick and especially what provokes us into our own barbarous acts, so much better than our leaders, our militaries, or our national security states have understood them.”

“Here in a nutshell is what bin Laden grasped before 9/11,” wrote Engelhardt: with only modest millions of dollars and a relatively small number of followers, he and his movement couldn’t hope to create the world of their fervid dreams. If, however, he could lure the planet’s ‘sole superpower’ into stepping into his universe, military first, it would change everything and so do his work for him. And indeed an operation mounted for an estimated $400,000 to $500,000, using 19 dedicated (mostly Saudi) followers armed only with paper cutters, did just that!

In the past 14 years of failed wars and conflicts of every sort, American military power, aided and abetted by the Saudis, the British, the French, and other countries on a case-by-case basis, essentially fractured the Greater Middle East, noted Engelhardt. “It helped create five failed states – Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen – worlds in which terror groups could thrive and in the chaos of which they could attract ever more recruits.”

To continue to grow, ISIS and the various al-Qaeda groups needed the US and its allies to lend them, as Tom puts it with refreshing candour, “an eternally destructive hand to further smash the worlds around them”! So in response to the Paris attacks, President Francois Hollande’s bombastic promise that France “would lead a war which will be pitiless” was just what, in Tom’s considered view, the terror doctor himself had ordered, in keeping with the growing pressure in Washington for a ‘big military response’ to the Paris attacks.

The first French reprisal air strikes against ISIS’s Syrian ‘capital’, Raqqa, were indeed launched within two days.

Wrote Engelharadt: “All of this is like manna from heaven for the Islamic State, the more ‘pitiless’ the better. After all, that group’s goal, as they claim in their magazine and online, is “the extinction of the gray zone” in our world.

“In other words, they seek the sharpening of distinctions everywhere, meaning the opening of abysses where complexity and interaction once existed. Their dream is to live in a black-and-white world of utter religious and political clarity (and calamity), while engaging in what American pundits like to term a ‘clash of civilizations’. And – what a joy for the Islamic State! – Republican presidential candidates are already responding to the Paris attacks, as Marco Rubio put it, “This is not a grievance-based conflict. This is a clash of civilizations . . . And either they win, or we win.”

Jeb Bush tried valiantly to offer his meaningless two-cents’ worth: “This is an organized effort to destroy Western civilization and we need to lead in this regard. The answer, of course, is war.” [A fall-back to the same old tried-and-failed Bush-Cheney ‘doctrine’, as readers will surely recall!]

But various Republican candidates are also now calling for only accepting Syrian Christians as refugees in the US, prompting Engelhardt’s pertinent comment: “You can’t be more black-and-white than that.”

In the European context and with the destruction of those ‘gray zones’ in mind, the Paris attacks should also be considered the Islamic State’s first foray into the politics of the 2017 French presidential campaign, Engelhardt reminded readers. “Think of those mass killings as a wholehearted endorsement of the extremist candidate Marine le Pen, whose poll numbers were already on the rise even before the attacks, and her anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant National Front Party. She is now, in effect, ISIS’s chosen candidate, the one most likely to go after gray zones. In the process, of course, pressure on France’s large, and increasingly isolated Muslim population will only increase.”

Unsurprisingly, in the wake of the Paris attacks, Konrad Szymanski, the European Affairs Minister for Poland’s new far-right government, declared his country was unlikely to abide by recently negotiated European Union quotas on accepting refugees from the Greater Middle East. “We’re only going to see more of this in the post-Paris world,” commented Engelhardt. “With the assistance of ISIS and other jihadist groups, the elimination of such gray areas in Europe could, in the end, help crack the EU open, while pushing France’s Muslims into an even worse situation, which would mean more potential recruits for groups like the Islamic State.” In other words, the Paris attacks and other similar acts represent, in Engelhardt’s view, “a potential horn of plenty.”

At this point, Engelhardt made an exceptionally perceptive observation: “The relationship between that ever-more powerful ‘shadow government’ in Washington and the Islamic terrorists of our planet is both mutually reinforcing and unnervingly incestuous. Both, of course, emerge as winners when the ‘gray zones’ begin to disappear.

“When Paris is hit, after all, law enforcement agencies in the US instantly increase their ‘alert levels’; the FBI heightens surveillance of Americans under investigation for apparent ties to the Islamic State; and, while local law enforcement ‘vigilance’ rises even in places like Niagara Falls, New York.”

In Los Angeles, post-Paris, extra patrols were typically sent “to ‘critical sites’ and [the city’s police department was] monitoring the ongoing situation, even though it said there were no known threats.”

The lack of obvious threats is, of course, beside the point when American ‘safety’ is at stake! In the meantime, the road toward a more locked-down, secretive, governmentally intrusive, less democratic world is being well paved.

Engelhardt suggested that readers think of this as a kind of global danse macabre in which ISIS attacks – eight committed guys spread death, chaos, panic, and alarm in our world at next to no cost at all. In response, Washington and its allies engage in a big-budget version of the same, including intensified air campaigns which will, of course, end up taking out civilian targets and infrastructure. American bombs and ISIS weaponry and booby-trapped houses will insure that those towns would end up largely uninhabitable wrecks, littered with corpses and the mere skeletons of buildings.

Similarly, plans by the US to bomb the Syrian oilfields under the control of ISIS reflect a strategy that is guaranteed to further wreck the infrastructure of the region. This will help ensure that, no matter what happens to ISIS, ‘Syria’ or any state structure like it will be no more. In fact, says Engelhardt, such acts of destruction, largely from the air, have been taking place across the Greater Middle East since 2001. Though unsuccessful, it has only helped create a zone of failed and increasingly fragile states, uprooted populations leading skeletal lives in haunted lands that also become the hunting grounds for extremists of every sort.

“A dance of death indeed,”

concludes Tom.

by Rajan Philips Courtesy Island

With due apologies for dredging up Port City material on the last hangover day after the festival season, I think it is appropriate to raise the issue that to-date the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government has not made a formal statement telling the people the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the Port City project. I would suggest that such a statement must come from President Sirisena as a statement in parliament, and that it should be followed by a parliamentary debate, no matter what such a debate might be worth. The President owes it to the people to tell them through the parliament they elected the truth about the following: what are the specific mistakes, improprieties and shortcomings, if any, in the approvals granted and agreements signed by the Rajapaksa government; and how and to what extent are these mistakes, improprieties and shortcomings being addressed in the approvals that are about to be given and new agreements that will be signed by the present government.

Why the President? There are at least four reasons why it is the President who must provide these explanations to the people on his own behalf, and on behalf of the government. First, the Port City project process under the Rajapaksas was vigorously criticized by the common opposition forces during last January’s presidential election campaign, and as the man who defeated Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena has an obligation to tell the people how and why the project approvals that will be given by the R-W government are different from those given by his predecessor. Second, the legal process for land reclamation and development starts with the President as it is the President who will authorize the recognition of the reclaimed land under the Lands Ordinance. Third, the President is also the Minister of the Environment and it is he and no other Minister who should authorize project approvals upon confirmation that the project has met all the environmental assessment requirements. Fourth, although he has since fallen quite a distance from the impressive standards for personal and political conduct he set during his first six months in office, President Sirisena is still the only person in the government who is at least conscientious about the commitments the common opposition made to the people in January 2015. Although no longer untarnished, President Sirisena has the greatest credibility to speak the truth on the Port City matter.

I would hope that there will be other voices of pleas, persuasion and of course pressurizing to make the President come clean with the people. While the so called Supplementary EIA is in the public domain to meet the mandatory review requirements, there are still lacks of clarity and unanswered questions about practically every aspect of the project. In what follows, I have tried to categorize and summarize them under five broad headings to facilitate continuing public discussion and to elicit explanations from the country’s highest elected official.

1. The Agreement

It has frequently been said, mostly in newspaper editorial comments, that although they campaigned against and suspended (on March 6, 2015) the Port City project, the present government leaders cannot afford the consequences of dishonouring the agreement that the previous government signed with the China Harbour Engineering Company Limited. If that is the case, why hasn’t anyone in the government come out and say just that – that they are stuck with an agreement that the previous government signed even though they don’t like it at all? It would be equally important for the government to clarify what aspects of the original agreement are detrimental to national interests, what changes are being proposed by the present government, and how the proposed changes will address the earlier shortcomings. In a parliamentary statement, President Sirisena could address all issues pertaining to the agreement signed by the former government. Some of the other key disconcerting aspects of the project are noted below.

2. How much land?

The initial application by the developer was apparently for developing 120 ha (300 acres) of reclaimed land. The developer, reportedly, nearly doubled the land component to 233 ha (580 acres)? Was this expanded limit part of the old agreement? The latest reports indicate a developable area of 266 ha (665 acres). The overall footprint of the proposed reclamation would be much larger – 480 ha (1,200 acres). The additional land, 80% increase, is said to be reserved for beaches and watercourses?

It is fair to expect the President to tell the people how much land is proposed to be reclaimed. As well, how could an 80% increase in reclamation be justified to accommodate beaches and watercourses, especially considering the monetary and non-monetary costs of reclamation, as noted below (#3)? Also as noted below (#4), what are the development rights and risks associated with the Port City project?

3. Reclamation

Perhaps the gravest of all project issues involves the process of reclamation. There are engineering, environmental, economic, and social questions that have been raised, but have not been answered to-date. Among the main questions are:

a) Modelling studies have apparently indicated that there would be no significant coastal erosion or accretion effects owing to land reclamation. Have similar studies been undertaken in regard to using the western coastline between Hendala and Basiyawatta as the source of sand mining for Port City reclamation?

b) It would seem the use of the Hendala-Basiyawatta coastline for sand mining should be subjected to a separate Environmental Assessment – to identify alternative sources of sand and select the one that will have the least social, environmental and economic impacts.

c) Was deep sea dredging considered as an alternative source for sand? Deep sea dredging might be costlier to the developer, but it will spare the livelihoods of fishing communities and the health of the coastal environment from Hendela to Basiyawatta.

d) The Supplementary EIA is of little help in recommending that government agencies must obtain the “buy-in” of impacted fishing communities, and that the latter should be “educated” about the measures that will be taken to compensate them. There is mention of income and benefit programs targeting the impacted fishing communities. Who will be paying for these programs – the developer, or the government of Sri Lanka?

e) Already the government is said to be offering sand free of charge to the developer, potentially losing a market value of US$ 1.7 billion, higher than the developer’s $1.4 billion ‘investment’ in reclaiming land. Will the President ask his Ministers to explain to him the madness behind this generosity before he explains it to the people?

4. Development Rights and Risks

* Developer’s portion given on 99 year lease (with no freehold):108 ha (270 acres, 41%)

* Government’s portion for marketing & development: 62 ha (155 acres, 23%)

* Common Area portion (for roads, parks and amenities): 96 ha (240 acres, 36%)

The reclamation is only the foundation for the glittering towers of the Port City that are expected to come later. The reclaimed developable land is to be sub-divided as follows:

Much is being made of the developer’s munificence in keeping for himself only about 41% of the developable land while offering another 36% for common usage, not to mention the 23% of land left for the government to sell or develop. Even the SEIA harps on these so called positives instead of raising some hard questions as part of project review, such as:

a) The full development of the Port City is expected take place over 25 years. While the timeframe is understandable, the long interval also creates risks and uncertainties about expected development actually materializing. Have market studies been undertaken to ascertain regional and global market trends and to identify potential developers of different land uses envisaged for the Port City? Usually, it is the initial developer’s responsibility to undertake such studies to establish market potential before concept planning and environmental assessments are initiated.

b) While there is identification of permissible land uses, there appears to have been no reports regarding anticipated development yields – in terms of floor areas and residential unit numbers. As well, Port City development yields will have to be assessed together with development yields in the rest of Colombo and the Western Province as part of Megapolis initiative.

c) Even with market studies, there is no guarantee against local and global property market collapses. Property market volatility has become a fact of global economic life over the last few decades. In the 1990s, the celebrated Canary Wharf development in east London’s old dockyard lands ran into heavy market weather at the start, with the initial developer (Olympia and York of Canada) going bankrupt after completing the first of the Canary Wharf towers, which is the second tallest building in England. It took another five to ten years and the extension of London’s Jubilee Underground line at a cost of US$5.25 billion, to rescue and restart the development process.

d) Can Sri Lanka withstand property market busts, now globalized after triggering the financial meltdown in the last decade, and survive the costs of maintaining the reclaimed land if full development and returns are not achieved within the 25-year horizon?

e) Who would be responsible for building and maintaining the 96 ha common area – comprised of roads, parks and amenities? The developer or the government of Sri Lanka?

f) Will there be property tax revenue from Port City development to government finances? Or, the 62 ha of land is all that the government will get in the end to recuperate its considerable costs?

5. Infrastructure Impacts

It has been acknowledged that no infrastructure studies have so far been undertaken for the proposed Port City development. It is not at all prudent to embark on such a massive undertaking without basic technical studies assessing the impacts on and the expansion requirements for water supply and sanitary servicing infrastructure, transport infrastructure, electric power supply and solid waste management. It is hoped that the new infrastructure within the Port City limits will be paid entirely, as it should be by the developer. In addition, the developer should also contribute to the infrastructure capacity expansions in the existing water supply, sanitary, transport and power systems in Colombo and the Western Province, which will be required to accommodate the demands of the new Port City.

These obligations must be conditions of development approval and part of the agreements that the government is expected to shortly enter into with Chinese agencies. Without them, the Sri Lankan government (and the people) will be on the hook to pay for infrastructure to get development going. Already, the Sri Lankan government is entering into an agreement for a soft Japanese loan for providing underground power network to service Colombo and the Port City. Interestingly, the news about the government’s loan agreement with Japan was revealed to the media in a statement issued by the China Harbour Engineering Company Limited, the Port City developer. One might ask who is on the saddle, and running Colombo.

For the Canary Wharf development, the initial developer was under agreement to pay 20% ($600 million) of the original estimated cost ($3 billion) of extending the Jubilee Underground line. With cost overruns, the final project cost ballooned to $5.25 billion, while the developer contribution dropped to $260 million (a low 5%). London, being London, survived these costs and Canary Wharf is now a successful development. The success is mostly the result of London’s huge infrastructure complement, and London also has well-established regulatory mechanisms. The development is hugely served by the London bus system, its rapid (Underground), and the national rail transport, as well as the use of river navigation for freight transport. There is strong emphasis on cycling and walking and de-emphasis of private car usage – through restricted parking supply, high proportion of public housing and low levels of car ownership among the people who live and/or work in the Canary Wharf developments. Colombo is not London, and embarking on massive developments without proper planning and supporting infrastructure will have its consequences, short-term and long-term.

A more immediate consequence is in regard to drainage. There have been reports that the ongoing reclamation work might block the existing Beira Lake drainage outlet. One can only hope that such conflicts will be identified and avoided through proper agency co-ordination and scrutiny. Unlike in other areas, sloppiness on drainage infrastructure will have immediate consequences. Colombo would become a permanent “mega-flood-polis” even before Port City rises above sea level.

Who does what on Port City?

Lastly, the President must clarify the roles and functions of the different agencies involved in the project. A plethora of agencies are playing the roles of proponents, reviewers, and/or approvers. There is too much overlapping and conflict, and even confusion. A streamlined multi-agency organization is needed, along with the creation of a Port City Authority to oversee the implementation of the project over the long term. Before that the government must satisfy itself that all the questions about Port City have been asked and answered, intelligently and honestly. And the President must assure the people that he is satisfied as well.

Patriot

The Sri Lanka Economic Forum is to be held under auspices of the Sri Lankan Prime Minister on 7 January 2015. Chief Guests at this event are George Soros and Prof. Joseph Stiglitz. The theme of the event is steering Sri Lanka towards sustainable and inclusive development-PM Ranil Wickremasinghe’s agenda for development’. Do the people of Sri Lanka know who George Soros actually is?

George Soros & Open Society Foundation: Soros runs a global empire of NGOs promoting human rights” freedom” democracy” & transparency” to cover institutional crimes in collaboration with neo-conservatives of the US State Department-funded National Endowment for Democracy & subsidiaries.

• Yasmin Sooka’s report against Sri Lanka was funded by George Soros Open Society Foundation and at the end of her report she thanks the organization
• The Google balloon over Sri Lanka Google Loon Project” is also a George Soros project. Associated with the project and representing the US intelligence community is Dr. Bhavani Thuraisingham Executive Director of Cyber Security Research and Education Institute which is sponsored by George Soros’s Raytheon. Google’s balloon design partner and manufacturer is Raven Aerostar also owned by George Soros.
• Open Society Institute launched in 1993 funds left wing causes. Soros has given over $7billion to such causes that include ACORN, Apollo Alliance, National Council of La Raza, Tides Foundation, Huffington Post, Planned Parenthood, National Organization for Women.
• Yugoslavia – Soros Open Society gave $100m to fund anti-Milosevic opposition (funding political parties, publishing houses and ‘independent’ media)
• Hague Tribunal co-financed by Soros
• Human Rights Watch owned by Soros
• Global Centre for Responsibility to Protect (R2P) funded by Soros (Gareth Evan, Kofi Annan, Desmond Tutu all on its Board)
• Soros on Board of Trustees in International Crisis Group
• Soros, CIA and other entities have been responsible for regime change, colored revolutions in Ukraine, Tunisia, Georgia, Kyrgyszstan, Iran, Hungary, Venezuela, Syria, Egypt, Serbia, Mexico, Jordan, Cuba and now Sri Lanka,
• Accused of manipulating currencies – Malaysia’s Mahathir Mohamed accused Soros of bringing down Malaysias currency through Soros trading activities. Thailand refers to Soros as ‘eonomic war criminal’. Soros is also known as the ‘man who broke the Bank of England’ by dumping 10billion pounds to devalue the currency.
• The Media Research Center, in 2011, found that he spent $48 million in funds for: NBC, ABC, theNew York Times, the Washington Post, the Columbia Journalism Review, ProPublica, the Center for Public Integrity, the Center for Investigative Reporting, The Lens, the Columbia School of Journalism, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the Organization of News Ombudsmen, National Public Radio, the Pacifica Foundation, The American Prospect Inc. (the owner and publisher of The American Prospect magazine), the Nation Institute, the Media Fund, the Independent Media Center, the Independent Media Institute, Media Matters For America, and Free Press.
• George Soros NGOs commissioned Serbian regime change specialist group, Canvas, to recruit Macedonian students to push for protest ideas, with the best two winning $1,500 for betraying their nation http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/leaked-memo-shows-soros-ngos-payed-macedonian-students-1500-come-regime-change-ideas/ri7179
• How France and Soros are funding regime change in Africa http://www.thelondoneveningpost.com/features/how-france-and-soros-are-funding-regime-change-in-africa/
• George Soros spent $33MILLION bankrolling Ferguson demonstrators to create ‘echo chamber’ and drive national protests http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2913625/Billionaire-George-Soros-spent-33MILLION-bankrolling-Ferguson-demonstrators-create-echo-chamber-drive-national-protests.html

Is there anything more to say when Russia kicks out George Soros declaring his charity (Open Society Institute) a national security threat? https://www.rt.com/politics/323919-soros-foundation-recognized-as-undesirable/

Inspite of all the dirty tricks and games George Soros is part of should we be even surprised that Ranil & his Government are delighted to host him in Sri Lanka clueless about what Soros plan’s are for South Asia using Sri Lanka as the foothold?

H. L. D. Mahindapala

When on May 14, 1976  the Tamil leadership, headed by S. J. V. Chelvanayakam, the father of Tamil separatism, passed the Vadukoddai Resolution , declaring war on the nation, they never expected to end up in Nandikadal. They were expecting  one of two things : 1. to win a separate state as stated in the Vadukoddai Resolution or 2.  to put pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) through violence to get their demand of an autonomous / federal state – the nearest possible to Eelam. But as subsequent events proved it was a total miscalculation. Chelvanayakam-led leadership made two mistakes in  going for a military solution : a) the unintended consequence was to let the leadership slip from their grip in stages until it fell into the hands of the untried, unknown, unreliable gangs of Tamil youth who went berserk, drunk with the power of the guns in their possession and (b) it was the biggest political  gamble of Chelvanayakam, who was deceptively playing the dual role of Dr. Jekyll (the self-proclaimed Gandhian) and Mr. Hyde (the militant Vadukoddian), hoping that Mr. Hyde could triumph over Dr. Jekyll in the  end.

When he presided over the Vadukoddai Convention of the TULF in 1976 he had abandoned his pose of being a Gandhian and committed himself fully to the military solution defined in the Vadukoddai Resolution. The Tamil leadership was playing a duplicitous game and misleading the Tamil people when they were pretending  to be non-violent Gandhians whose pre-planned agenda was to go for the military solution laid down in  the Vadukoddai Resolution. Led by Chelvanayakam the  Tamil leadership wanted to have it  both ways : on the one hand they proclaimed that their movement will be all non-violent” (Chelvanayakam in Parliament 19 November, 1976) and, on the  other, Chelvanayakam and the entire Tamil leadership called on the Tamil nation  in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully in the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign socialist state of Tamil Eelam is reached.” (Vadukoddai Resolution, May 14, 1976).

The tacit arrangement was for the LTTE to operate underground parallel to the TULF’s main stream politics. Amirthalingam (the successor to Chelvanayakam and also the real patron of the Tamil militants) appears to have considered the TULF and Prabhakaran’s LTTE as two sides of the same coin, one political and ideological and the other armed and military. AS later years proved, Amirthalingam was too naive to think thus.” (p.45, Inside an Elusive Mind, Prabhakaran, M. R. Narayan Swamy, Vijitha Yapa Publications, Colombo 2003.)

Chelvanayakam, the Gandhian,  cannot be absolved from the responsibility of opting  for  this military solution  because the choice of words was approved by Chelvanayakam.” (p.128 , S. J. V. Chelvanayakam and the Crisis of Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism, 1947 – 1977, A Political Biography – A. J. Wilson, Lake House Bookshop. 1993). The Tamil leadership opted for the military solution in the Vadukoddai Resolution not knowing  which way the dice would fall.  There was no guarantee that those who go for military solutions could win wars. In the end, the Vadukoddai Resolution ran through a long and devious route to total defeat.

It was a collective decision taken only by the Ceylon Tamil component of the TULF, that is the Federal Party and the All Ceylon Tamil Congress.”( p.128 – Ibid).  S. Thondaman, leader of the Ceylon Workers Congress, refused to join this bandwagon of a separate state leaving only the Northern Tamils of Jaffna to throw  themselves fully in the sacred fight” without flinching, as defined in the Vadukoddai Resolution.

Once the Jaffna Tamil leadership decided to go down the violent path declared in the Vadukoddai Resolution they became prisoners of their own machinations. They were  hoisted by their own petard. They thought they were laying the trap for the Sinhala government” but the very first victims of the Resolution were those  who voted for  it. They were stunned, confused and eventually eliminated by the violence unleashed by them in their Vadukoddai Resolution. Some Tamil leaders were marginalised politically and some were eliminated physically. Either way the Old Guard lost.

This reveals the risk of abandoning the democratic stream, however tardy and conservative it may be for change. There is greater leverage for leaders to be in control of politics in the democratic stream than in the volatile and chaotic politics of violence. Seasoned politicians in command lose their grip on power when unmanageable youth, armed with guns, edge them out and take control of democratic politics in pursuance of radical goals. Thondaman retained  his grip on the Tamils of his electorate in the central hills because he did not opt  for  violence. But the Vadukoddians lost the plot and their lives too.

But more than that, the Tamil leadership  lost their moral authority because they had to justify the violence they generated by legitimising the violence of Tamil youth. Initially they took the moral high ground by accusing the Sri Lankan government of violating human rights. But after their boys” took to  violence they found themselves in a moral dilemma not  knowing  how  to condemn the GOSL without condemning  the brutalities of the boys”. When Vadukoddai violence turned brutal with each passing day they were forced to go along with the violence they legitimised, engineered, financed and directed. Tamil violence took a turn for the worse when  it targeted indiscriminately not only the Sinhalese but also their own people.

The Tamil boys” were expected to train their guns on the external enemy. Instead they turned their guns inward targeting their own kith and kin. However, the initial successes of the LTTE made the boys” look like the answer to the cause of Tamil separatism. Their stature as liberators” rose with each death and destruction. With each killing Tamil propaganda cranked up the image of the boys” as liberators”. Killings also strengthened the political and financial bases of the LTTE. Killing those who opposed Vadukoddian politics was endorsed as the politically correct act necessary for success. Trigger-happy Prabhakaran was hailed as the liberator” because he topped the list of killers. He became the Clint Eastwood of Jaffna fixing the dissident the Tamils. After his first shot which killed Alfred Duraiyappah eliminating the  other Tamil rivals was a piece of cake. The arrogance that he acquired with his ability to kill at will went to his head. He had no space in his  head for any moral considerations.

The Tamil Diaspora  was over the moon. They interpreted and marketed each death as the increasing power of the Tamils to win  Eelam. It was seen an invincible  force. Escalating deaths and destruction motivated the Tamils  in the Diaspora to fill the war chest of Prabhakaran without raising  any questions. The ghoulish NGO ideologues went to town trading corpses to the highest bidders in the foreign-funded human rights market. A new breed of moral  hypocrites mushroomed in the NGO circuit like the Negombo women hired to cry at Tamil funerals. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu was crowing regularly about the soldiers  deserting  the Army implying that they were not committed like the LTTE cadres to win the war. NGO strategy was to demoralise the Security Forces and to boost the LTTE cadres as the force destined to win.

Jehan (Pacha) Perera was lecturing to the soldiers, with the blessings of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Commander-in-Chief, that they must negotiate because the invincible Tamil force cannot be defeated. He even went to the extent of conferring a doctorate on the LTTE ideologue, Anton Balasingham, knowing that the latter had  not earned it from any university. When I questioned him in Geneva he sheepishly admitted he was lying and promised to be truthful in future. But he came back to Colombo and continued to lie just to curry favour with Balasingham. Radhika Coomaraswamy’s ICES (Incestuous Cabal for Eelamist Sycophants) was churning out publications and holding seminars to denigrate the Sinhala-Buddhists with the sole aim of projecting  the Tamils as victims of the Sinhala governments”. She, of course, wrote a piece in  the Daily News moaning about the Tamil Boko Harams  forcibly dragging the Tamil children into a futile war. That only helped her to become a top bureaucrat at the UN in charge of children in  war and not the Tamil parents crying their eyes out waiting  for  their children who never returned home.

But privately some Tamils who were lying low were concerned about the loss of the collapse of morality in the Tamil society. There was no rationale for Tamils to kill Tamils. The raison d’etre for seeking a separate state was to guarantee the security of the Tamils. But the Tamil youth, armed by the elders who fathered the Vadukoddai Resolution, were cock-a-hoop, tasting power that came out  of the gun. They had no inhibitions about killing because their elders had  endorsed it as the ethical / justifiable course to achieve political goals. Even Tamil churchmen were threatening to construct new Tamil theologies, in the  name of Jesus Christ, the Prince  of  Peace, for  the Tamils to carry on killing, without flinching until they achieve Eelam. First they targeted the Tamil leadership, then the Tamil people, and finally the Tamil children. Tamils’  reliance on Vadukoddai  politics and violence blinded them to the alternative possibilities. It was their unrealistic commitment to Eelam-or-nothing politics that dragged them to Nandikadal.

The Vadukoddai Resolution and the violence that flowed from it painted the Tamil leadership into a corner from  which they could not get out. Tamils killing Tamils – and they killed more than all the Indian and the  Sri Lankan forces put together — exposed the lie of being victims of genocidal Sinhala governments”. Vadukoddian violence targeting Tamil civilians and  children knocked the bottom out of the argument that they were forced to take up the gun because of the failure of the Sinhala Government” to give them security. Ironically, in the end, it was the vilified Sinhala government” that gave security to the Tamil MPs and other Tamils hunted by the LTTE assassins.

The Vadukoddai military solution proved to be worse  than the disease they complained about. The Tamils were dragged into Vadukoddai violence promising  that their security will be guaranteed by the liberators”. But under the jackboots of Prabhakaran they lost whatever security they had under the GOSL. They had to wait till the Security Forces breached the human shield and set them free to re-enter civilized society and regain their humanity by starting a new life. Tamil arguments advanced to pursue a military solution collapsed because of two reasons: 1. Vadukoddai Resolution made them victims of  their own  violence and 2. Tamil violence took them nowhere. In passing the Vadukoddai Resolution the Tamil leadership uncorked the evil Tamil genie locked inside the peninsular bottle.

Inherent Tamil arrogance and hate of the other” blinded them to the realities unfolding before their own eyes. The first lesson was driven home starkly to the leadership when Velupillai Prabhakaran fired his first shot in his war by killing Alfred Duraiyappah. The Chelvanayakam-Amirthalingam leadership read  it as a triumphant sign of the Tamil youth throwing  themselves fully into the fight for Eelam without flinching. It was hailed as the first step in the shape of politics to come. But the more realistic political analysts saw it differently. I. R. Ariyaratnam, Secretary of the Communist  Party, Jaffna, in conversation with the leader of the TULF, Appapillai Amirthalingam, his back-door neighbour in Jaffna, expressed his strong  disapproval of the murder of Alfred Duraiyappah, Mayor of Jaffna, by the militant youth. Amirthalingam responded: What else can you do with him?” Taken aback the Communist responded: Today it is Duraiyappah. One day they will come for you.” (p. 44 – The Arrogance of Power, Myths, Decadence and Murder, University Teachers for Human  Rights (Jaffna), July 2001, Rajan Hoole, ) 

Ariyaratnam was not only realistic but also prophetic. And when the LTTE assassins came Amirthalingam was a sitting duck. He went round the world, campaigning in pockets of the Tamil Diaspora, hailing the gun-toting Tamil youths as our  boys”. He was banking on the boys” to deliver what they could not get through other means, including  the international community. He was fully aware of this reality facing him.  He  had traipsed down the corridors of power of the Western foreign  ministries to canvass for a separate state. On his return he told M. Sivasithamparam, his successor, that the world is not ready, willing or able to give them their Eelam. But he did not act on that reality.

Deluded by his own racist arrogance and fanaticism he misled the Tamil people into believing  that Eelam was attainable. Like the other Vadukoddians he was hoping to ride on the backs of the Tamil youth to power. But the Tamil youth had a political agenda of their own. With the gun in their hands they had become a power in their own right. They were no longer dependent on the old Tamil leadership for anything. In fact, the Old Guard was rejected by the youth as failures. The first born children of the Vadukoddai Resolution were determined to go their own way.  While the fortunes of the boys” rose to new heights the powers of old Tamil leadership declined commensurately. It was the TULF that was hoping  to ride on the backs of the boys”. But it was the boys” who took over the reins from the TULF and directed peninsular politics to an intransigent and implacable extremity. A new leadership took over from the ageing TULF.

The  importance of leadership in determining  the course  of history cannot be underestimated. The leadership roles of D. S. Senanayake and S. Thondaman laid the solid  foundations for the constructive and pragmatic paths taken by their two communities in facing the challenges that confronted them. Both opted to co-exist peacefully in the democratic main stream without veering into unmanageable violence, endangering life, liberty and  the pursuit of desirable and realisable goals.  If, for instance, Thondaman decided to gamble and went along with the violence prescribed in the Vadukoddai Resolution he would not only have lost his leadership and  probably his life too but also caused irreparable damage to  his community by placing them at the mercy of ruthless killers. He would have put the clock back by at least fifty years for his community. His main aim was to stabilise his community by winning citizenship rights and  uplifting their living conditions. He achieved both without the Vadukoddai violence. The tragedy of peninsular  politics is in their arrogance  which made them believe that they had the power to dictate their terms to the rest of the nation through the gun. It is the Tamil people who had to pay for the misguided arrogance of their leaders – from G. G. Ponnambalam-Chelvanayakam to Prabhakaran.

The dirt road that runs from Vadukoddai to Nandikadal is not  too long though the rag-tag army of the Tamils took 33 years to get there. And when the Tamils reached their end they discovered that they had been misled all the way by their leaders. And when the disillusioned  people voted with their feet showing their  disapproval their leader shot the fleeing Tamils. The Tamils were destined to fail not because of any fault of their own but because they were not blessed with leaders like D. S. Senanayake and Thondaman who could guide them to co-exist in peace with their fellow-man.

To be continued

by Way Ahead for Sri Lanka

So it turns out that people voted not for a new politics but for the same old politics — as long as it was carried out by new faces. Most of the faces now at the top of Sri Lanka’s political pyramid aren’t really new at all though. They are in fact the faces of characters we have known for ten, twenty, thirty, forty and even more years. They are the same faces, just older, more saggy, more sclerotic and balder than when they first appeared.

And when the country’s once booming economy and rapid development was handed over to these old, old, old, stuck-in-the-past characters with ulterior motives, anyone could predict accurately the state of affairs we would see at the end of this tumultuous year.

A politician daughter sends her family’s thugs to attack opponents in broad daylight. The population on the verge of a general strike. Haarthals almost every other week by extremist elements. The state planning to pry into every aspect of citizens’ lives through a Big Brother” database. The pilfering of pension schemes. Hyperinflation of food and other basic necessities. The induced crossing over of MPs through ministerial positions, cars, drivers and perks.

The good governance” brigade’s corruption is worse and more brazen than ever.

And to top it all off, there was the whole Enrique affair: the famous cricketers who were poster boys of good governance planned it, the good governance Twitter youth debased themselves during it, and to end it, the good governance president — in an attempt to distract from the orgy of crudeness that his regime enabled — muttered some nonsense that made Sri Lanka the laughing stock of the world.

Our nation’s journey to development came to a juddering halt between January and August, and from September to December the engine pulling us forward was dismantled and sold for scrap. The good governance goons took a country that was on the cusp of financial success — finally ready to join the rest of South East Asia after a 40 year delay — and reduced it to a banana republic.

Not bad for just 12 months in power. Almost as if that was the good governance plan all along…

Next year will be far worse. The goons running the show at the moment are planning on a new constitution. This is no small matter. Every fault line that runs beneath the surface of Sri Lanka’s hodgepodge society (if we can even call it a society) will be put under severe stress. The minority groups will see this as their moment to entrench and codify systemic advantages for themselves at the expense of the majority community. Various other special interests will also demand their pound of flesh.

By redrawing electoral boundaries and changing the structure of Sri Lanka’s political system, treacherous politicians will try to ensure that a patriotic force can never be elected to power. The new constitutional court will prevent future leaders from emerging, will obstruct patriotic parties by ruling that their election manifestos are “unconstitutional,” and will stymie any future efforts at restoring democratic representation by blocking patriotic bills and Acts.

However, we must remember that the country is severely split. The votes at the general election divided almost 50-50. But the key point is that the 50% who voted for Mahinda were almost entirely Sinhalese. So 2/3 of the majority voted for Mahinda, while 1/3 voted for servitude. Such a narrow base of majority support is not a strong enough mandate on which to write a constitution which will, by definition and intention, marginalize and delegitimize the indigenous majority group in their own homeland.

Sri Lanka is being colonized and Balkanized. But its citizens — especially the Sinhalese — will have only themselves to blame. They were warned. And they made their choice. I hope they are ready for the earthquake that is coming.

This article is from lankafuture.wordpress.com

A.A.M.Nizam, Matara.

The Wedaberi” and puppet Sirisena who for the last one year has done absolutely nothing to take the country forward, stalled all the development projects, made several thousand unemployed, and made the housewives to face an arduous task of feeding their children at least one meal a day has made an attempt to hide his failures Wedaberikama” by resorting to hollow speeches to project himself as a great patriot who loves the culture and traditions of this country.

Participating in a meeting held at Ampara and commenting on Enrique’s ‘Sex And Love’ show, organized by cricketers Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene which was held in Colombo on the 20th of December, puppet Sirisena has said that those who attend, promote and participate in this kind of indecent shows which threatens our cultural traditions should be whipped with toxic stingray tails.

It has now been established that puppet Sirisena’s Son in Law Thilina Suranjith, son Dhaham Sirisena and a group of his friends and relations amounting to 50 persons attended the show by purchasing Rs. 50,000 per person tickets.  People must be wondering how and from where they got this money?

The statement made by Wedaberi” Sirisena has drawn the attention of many Asia-Pacific and Western media and websites and most of them have condemned the statement.  People wonder whether the Wedaberi”, Puskathaa” and puppet Sirisena has the guts to carry out his pledge and whether he will mete out this punishment to his own kith and kin? If he is a person having an iota of credibility to what he says let him call his Son in Law Thilina Suranjith, son Dhaham Sirisena and the group of his friends and relations to a public stage in Polonnaruwa or anywhere in this country and whip them publicly.  Come on Wedaberi” Sirisena prove your integrity or otherwise apologize to the people.

Courtesy Lanka-e-News

(Lanka-e-News -01.Dec.2016, 10.00AM) A team operated by Navy Commander Ravindra C. Wijegunawardena has made threats to the life of Avant Garde chief Nissanka Senadhipathy . The latter has lodged a complaint to this effect with the Mirihana police last evening.

Two unidentified suspicious individuals had been loitering about the office of Senadhipathy on a motor bike and spying from last morning  .These two suspects who were wearing full face helmets had later on  been going around the house of Senadhipathy on the same motorbike .When inquiries were made, homes of several officers too of Maritime Co. had been spied upon similarly , and the motorboke No . is BAG  6093 according to the video recordings made by the employees.

When Senadhipathy made a complaint to the police last evening , following invetsigations by the police it has come to light that the motorbike No. BAG 6093 has been registered with the Registrar of Motor Vehicles Department (RMV) under the name of the Navy Commander. Further investigations have revealed that this motorbike belongs to the intelligence division under the Navy Commander .

The Avant Garde Maritime  Co. belonging to Nissanka Senadhipathy was handed over to the Navy after the present Navy Commander said the Navy  can look after its affairs , and on the recommendations made to the president. However the Navy could not live up to the expectations and was a failure . The Navy could not collect the amount of revenue when it conducted the operations which Avant Garde collected . Besides the Navy could not provide employment to the 6700 workers who were left high and dry.

Subsequently the Navy said , these operations are to be handed over to two companies , one in Malaysia and the other is Singapore. With this revelation the lid on the myth that the acquisition of Avant Garde by the Navy was a patriotic move was blown sky high, and the motives and machinations came to light .

It is well to recall at this juncture that during the Rajapakse reign , the Navy committed a number of abductions and murders , investigations have revealed by now. Moreover several Navy officers are in custody.

Meanwhile , six security personnel of Hirunika Premachandra , Colombo district M.P. have been remanded over an attempted abduction of a youth in a defender jeep  belonging to her.

ඉෂාර රත්නකාර උපුටාගැණීම අද මව්බිමෙන්…

දෙමටගොඩදී පැහැර ගත් තරුණයා එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි හිරුණිකා ප්‍රේමචන්ද්‍ර මහත්මියගේ පෞද්ගලික ආරක්ෂකයන් විසින් හිරුණිකාගේ පක්ෂ කාර්යාලයට රැගෙන විත් ඇය ඉදිරිපිටට පමුණුවා මුණගස්වා ඇති බවට පැහැදිලි සාක්ෂි ලැබී ඇතැයි කොළඹ අපරාධ කොට්ඨාසය කොළඹ ප්‍රධාන මහෙස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය වෙත ඊයේ (31දා) දන්වා සිටියේය.

By A. Abdul Aziz, Press Secretary, Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at – Sri Lanka.

According to our Press Department U.K., the World Head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, the Fifth Khalifa (Caliph), His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, concluded the three day 124th Annual Convention (Jalsa Salana) of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Qadian, India, on 28 December 2015 with a faith-inspiring address.

His Holiness addressed the final session via satellite link from the Baitul Futuh Mosque in London. Over 19,000 people, from 44 countries, attended the Convention in Qadian, while more than 5,000 gathered in London for the concluding session.

During his address, His Holiness spoke of how the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community had always been supported by God Almighty and so despite the sustained persecution it faced in certain parts of the world it had continued to grow and flourish.

The Khalifa began by stating that modern technology allowed him and those gathered in London to participate in Qadian’s convention and that this was a great blessing of God Almighty. Moreover, he said technology was proving to be a means of spreading the true message of Islam to all parts of the world.

Whilst the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was utilising modern technology to spread Islamic values of peace, tolerance and respect, His Holiness said there were others who were using modern technology to spread evil and disorder.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

Where there is goodness, there is also evil and immorality and cruelties of the highest order are being perpetrated in today’s world. Modern technology is being abused by many in order to spread satanic influences and injustice and as a result mankind is moving away from God and true faith. Today, it is only the satellite channel of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, MTA International that is broadcasting peace, righteousness and virtue 24 hours a day in accordance with the true teachings of God Almighty and the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).”

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad continued:

We Ahmadi Muslims must never allow new technology to deviate us from the path of righteousness, rather we must use it to enhance our spiritual and moral standards and to increase our love for God and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and to increase our relationship of love towards the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him).”

The Khalifa said that despite the limited resources of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, MTA had become a means to further develop the unique bond between the institution of Khilafat (Caliphate) and Ahmadi Muslims around the world.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

Other groups or individuals have so much wealth and unlimited resources and yet which country or which other religious leader has a direct link with his followers across the globe on such a large scale. This favour has only been granted to the Community established by the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him).”

Further elaborating on the unifying force of Khilafat (Caliphate) in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

With the Grace of Allah, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has spread throughout the world. It has spread in the West and in the East. It has spread in the North and in the South. It has spread to Africa, to Asia, to Europe, to the Americas, to Australia and across the globe to all Islands. All Ahmadi Muslims, wherever they be, are united together under one banner. Today, the voice of the Khalifa of the  Time echoes in all directions as a living sign of the Oneness of God and is spreading the message of true Islam to all parts of the world.”

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad continued:

Truly fortunate are those people who are sitting in Qadian, the home of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad – Founder of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), partaking in the unique spiritual atmosphere of the Annual Convention and listening to the words of this humble servant, the Khalifa of the Promised Messiah. Further, Ahmadi Muslims in all parts of the world are also watching these proceedings live. Regardless of whether it is day or night or morning or evening, Ahmadi Muslims in all parts of the world are united watching the scenes from Qadian and partaking in its spirituality.”

His Holiness said that despite extreme opposition, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was spreading rapidly. Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad noted how this progress was in accordance with the prophecies of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), who received revelations from God Almighty informing him that people from all parts of the world would join his community in very large numbers.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

There was a time when no one knew of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) nor of Qadian, but today, people from dozens of countries have come to attend the Convention (Jalsa) in Qadian. Certainly, every single person sitting in Qadian is a sign of the truth of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him).”

His Holiness said that whilst in early Islam it was the Arab people who had first spread the teachings of Islam with great wisdom, regrettably they had now forgotten the true teachings of the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him) when it came to Ahmadiyyat.

He said that rather than acting with wisdom, they were insistent that the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) was, God forbid, a false prophet. They supported their claims by stating that this was also the view of so-called clerics in Pakistan and India. His Holiness said that despite such opposition, each year hundreds of thousands of righteous people, including many Arabs, were being divinely guided towards the truth of Ahmadiyyat.

Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

It is now the task of the Arab people to re-establish within themselves that same knowledge and wisdom which their ancestors bore and to spread the truth of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) throughout the Arab world.”

The session concluded with silent prayers followed by various poems recited by attendees in Qadian over satellite link.

Qadian is the birth-place of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, Founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam.

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge 

What is Horror?

The word that often echoed by Colonel Walter E. Kurtz

The word that has thousand meanings

The word that stops beating your heart

Remember Cruella de Vil who wanted to kill innocent Dalmatians

Norman Bates who is expecting guests at the Bates Motel

Freddy Krueger the disfigured, dream stalker who returned in our dreams

Halloween killer Michael Myers who showed no mercy

Could you imagine the sharpness of Jason Voorhees Sword?

If not think of the sharp smile of Dr Hannibal Lector

What is real horror?

Have you questioned your self for a moment?

Is it the fearful eyes of Transylvanian Nosferatu ?

Or the Villainous smile of Bela Lugosi

May be you were terrified by seeing   Phantom of the Opera

Played by Lon Chaney the Man of a Thousand Faces,”

If not Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

Immortalized by Boris Karloff

Why fear for fictional and factitious horror?

When you are sounded by real horror

The horrors of day-to-day life

Horrors that dictates our lives

Did you hear the political persecutions?

The ugly cousin of political extremism

Going hand in hand with the religious fundamentalism

That kills the human growth and obstructs human freedom

For one moment, did you think about racism?

Which clouds human dignity and respect

Mad wars for racial supremacy

When all of us share the same DNA

When you are surrounded by the real horrors

You are empowered and left without answerers

You become a living Zombie

A man without moral consciousness

You can fight the horrors

By believe in your self

By believe in humanity and justice

You can defeat the horror

Until it is no more

Dr Ruwan M Jayatunge 

By Das Miriyagalla

Progress made during the last Fifty years

Colombo, Sri Lanka — The practice of meditation is considered by followers of several religions as a meritorious activity. Even among such religious activities it is generally considered that meditation is more virtuous than other practices such as donations, alms- givings, adherence to moral precepts and rituals.

However the practice of meditation in Sri Lanka until the mid-twentieth century was generally based on traditions followed mainly within the country and the practitioners did not consider it necessary to look for developments outside the country or internationally recognized practices.

It is noteworthy that religious practices in Sri Lanka had been affected by social upheavals during 16th-19th centuries particularly after changes in Kandy, Kotte and Seetawaka kingdoms. But a period of resurgence commenced in 1753 when Upasampada was established from Thailand or Siam Deshaya. Several periods of uncertain developments reached a point in mid 20th century when along with the dawn of Buddha Jayanthi, senior monks residing in forest hermitages considered it necessary to create an atmosphere for a revival of meditation.

In his book ‘Vidhashana Parapura’ the former Chief Kammatthanacharya of Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya, Most Ven Matara Sri Nyanarama Thero states that along with the dawn of Buddha Jayanthi selfless services and sacrifices made by a group of monks from forest hermitages helped in creating an atmosphere for a revival of meditation.

Change After Buddha Jayanthi

In the year 1956, there was a universally acclaimed event which was the 2500th anniversary of the passing away of Buddha. Many different forms of celebrations were held in Sri Lanka as well as other countries. The state sponsored activities included large scale Ata-sil and Dasa-sil programs, ordaining of monks, meditation programs, publication of books and Dharma Sangayanas, meetings, seminars and so on. It was noteworthy that in Sri Lanka significant publicity was received for the systems of meditation in countries such as Myanmar (Burma). In most temples, Dhamma schools, and religious organizations different forms of meditation were given publicity. Interactions with countries such as Myanmar was becoming a regular feature. Gradually increasing numbers of Sri Lankan monks visited Myanmar for training in the Vipassana or Insight form of meditation while Burmese Masters visited Sri Lanka.

The senior meditation masters in countries such as Myanmar and Thailand conducted training sessions in their temples and were considered highly competent in different types of practices. In Sri Lanka the value of Insight form of meditation became a subject of interest and even the Buddhist laymen visited Myanmar to get familiarized with the Insight form of meditation.

A resurgence of religious practices particularly in meditation was visible. One could see that up to the period of Buddha Jayanthi, groups of meditators including monks who lived in temples in non –urban areas, forest hermitages referred to as Aranyas as well as laymen who developed the techniques of meditation, limited the practices mainly to ‘Tranquility’ meditation also referred to as ‘Samatha’ or ‘one-pointed–ness’. Even though there were several hermitages located in the outer regions of the country, important practices of meditation, for a long period, generally did not progress beyond Tranquility meditation. However it is seen that the dawn of Buddha Jayanthi made the members of Sri Lankan society, both the clergy and laity, seriously open their eyes to see where progress was lacking and where developments could be achieved.

Influence of Myanmar and Siamese Traditions

The interactions with Myanmar and Siamese traditions, particularly from Ramanna Desa and Amarapura, became more pronounced and frequent. It was inevitable that meditation guide lines had to be linked to the practices of such regions particularly in Myanmar. After the interactions with Masters – Maha Theras or Sayadows of Myanmar a gradual spread of ‘Vipassana’ or ‘insight meditation’ became a reality. By this process a considerable number of monks and yogis received training in meditation of which the Vipassana form or Insight meditation was considered the more progressive by both the clergy and laity. Several important meditation centers in Sri Lanka such as Kanduboda Vipassana Meditation Center, International Vipassana Center at Wijerama Mawatha followed by Mithirigala Nissarana Vanaya and several others were gradually established.

Developments in the Rest of the World

During the last fifty years the subject of meditation has undergone significant developments in the rest of the world too. With global interactions, the interest shown by several other religious groups in the world including many lay practitioners has resulted in a positive influence on day to day activities.

In his book ‘Tranquility and Insight’, Armando Sole Leris says that during the 20th century the progress of meditation has taken place internationally in two aspects (1) Insight meditation has progressed on its own without combining with tranquility (2) there has been greater involvement of lay persons in Insight not only as yogis and students but also as meditation masters. There has been a need for adaptation to the conditions prevailing in the modern world. There has also been a growing demand for effective methods of mental culture. International acceptance of a mental culture in the form of Insight meditation has even crossed religious barriers in that many religious groups both in the East and West have seriously taken to Insight meditation as stated by Sole Leris.

The development of Insight meditation has special social significance and the subject has been discussed in several important international forums in the recent past. A number of international meditation masters such as Ven.Mahasi Sayadaw, Ven Sayadaw U Pandithabhiwansa, U Ba Khin, S N Goenka and Munindraji have made great contributions and the followers are benefiting from this positive phenomenon.

Spread of Vipassana among European Monks

The German monks Ven. Nyanathiloka and Ven Nyanaponika made significant contributions in Sri Lanka to the monastic practices by their devotion, very high degree of scholarship and attachment to the doctrine. They were followed by many other monks from the western countries who later took part in Insight meditation in Sri Lankan Forest Hermitages. The influx of monks and lay meditators to the Aranyas in Sri Lanka during the period after 1956 was due partly to the teaching of Vipassana system by meditation masters in both East and West. The neighboring countries like India , Myanmar, Thailand too had their meditation activities progress in the direction of Vipassana with several monasteries coming up with the name of the institution shown as a Vipassana center, indicating clearly the progress of Insight meditation. The improvement in communication systems during the last 50 years resulted in travel, particularly air travel as a main form movement making the foreign monks and lay yogis visiting Sri Lanka seeking guidance in meditation. It is not incorrect to state that Sri Lanka became an important center for meditators even though the subject of meditation was developed in Sri Lanka with assistance received from other Buddhist countries. The special position enjoyed by Sri Lanka among the Theravada countries may have helped in this regard.

New Meditation centers and Publications

The present data collected of all forest hermitages, Aranyas and meditation centers throughout Sri Lanka show that there has been a clear trend towards Vipassana and the number of meditation centers kept increasing throughout the country. Publication centres and distribution points for books on Meditation gradually increased in Colombo as well in towns like Kandy and Dehiwala. The authors and publishers too have made a major impact on publicity for important material on Vipassana as a new development.

Tranquility ( Samatha) Meditation and Insight ( Vipassana) Meditation

According to broad divisions the two forms of meditation are ‘Insight’ and ‘Tranquility’. There are several possible ways of seeing the distinction between the two forms of meditation. English Dictionary gives the meaning of ‘insight’ as ‘power of seeing into and understanding things’ or ‘imaginative penetration’ whereas tranquility is ‘calmness or peace’. The term Vipassana in Pali or Vidarshana in Sanskrit has the same meaning as ‘Visesha Dharshana’ in Sinhala. The special nature of the form of meditation is seen from the meaning conveyed above.

Every event related to human activity can be seen as composed of three factors

(1)Action of a Sense Organ – one out of six organs

1. the eye ( Base element )

(2)An Object which is to interact with the organ

1. a picture (Striker element)

(3)The resulting interaction eg. seeing. (Ignition element)

Whatever work we do and whatever situation we are faced with can be interpreted to be composed of a series of events of which each event consists of above three factors. The fixing of mind on the three factors referred to above can be made a common situation in daily life where one sense organ gets linked with an object resulting in an activity. If one is to meditate and concentrate only on an external object, as in the above case then that form of meditation after a certain amount of concentration becomes ‘tranquility’, whereas if the contemplation is spread equally over all three factors, then the form of meditation becomes ‘insight’. As an example if a yogi practices meditation on breathing which is also called ‘Anapana Sati’ the yogi has the choice of either concentrating only on the breath (in and out air draft), which is tranquility meditation or on all three factors – the breath, the place near the tip of the nose which strikes the breath and the feeling that is observed.- which is insight meditation.

Hence it is seen that both forms are practiced in Sri Lanka whereas it is the Insight or Vipassana form that is considered more fruitful or beneficial for one’s progress in the path to mental development, both mundane and supra mundane. It has also got to be appreciated that Insight is not the result of a mere intellectual or theoretical understanding but is won through direct meditative observation in very close proximity to one’s own bodily and mental processes.

It is also possible to arrive at a similar distinction between Samatha and Vipassana from theoretical aspects in terms of eradication of Anusaya Keles or latent tendencies in Vipassana as against eradication of Parivutthana Keles or obsession type defilements in Samatha. The Vidarashana Parapura written by Most Ven. Matara Nyanarama Thero states on p.36 that the form of meditation which removes the five hindrances or ‘nivarana’ such as anger or desire which affect a yogi in his mental development is the Samatha meditation. It is also seen that both forms of meditation can be generally adopted in combination – to maintain tranquility and then to achieve development through insight i.e. control and development of the mind. It is also seen that Tranquility meditation could be used as a preparation for Insight meditation and vice versa.

Mindfulness as a Key to Insight

According to Buddhism, mindfulness which contributes to the effective and efficient performance of any activity is a prime ‘factor of enlightenment’ – ‘Bojjanga’ . It is also one of the eight factors in the ‘Noble Eightfold Path’. Therefore it is not surprising that the yogis who are following the path to enlightenment have given great emphasis to mindfulness. In the Sutta Pitaka which is one of the three main cannons of Buddha’s doctrine, the Maha Sati patthana Sutta enunciates the basis of right mindfulness. The Insight or Vipassana form of meditation is based on the four forms of mindfulness enunciated in this Sutta. It is through the development of mindfulness that a yogi is able to practise Insight meditation. The complete liberation of the yogi is to be achieved through development of mindfulness mentioned in Maha Sathipatthana Sutta by practicing Insight meditation.

The atmosphere needed for Tranquility meditation- a calm and collected setting- is generally not available to a yogi who is a layman living in an urban area. But such laymen who live an active life with regular distractions and facing complex situations live in an atmosphere which is better suited to Insight meditation. This is also one of the main reasons for a remarkable growth of pure Insight meditation internationally.

In his recent publication ‘In This Life Itself’ Ven. Uda Eriyagama Dhammajiva, the Kammatthanacharya of Mitirigala Nissarana Vanaya has clearly presented the methodology of performing Insight meditation under three possible situations, namely

(a) sitting meditation

(b) walking meditation

(c) establishing mindfulness in daily affairs.

It is stated that ‘Mindfulness cultivated during sitting meditation can diminish off after you get up. But mindfulness established in day to day activities is durable’ A meditator can hence develop a continuous application of Insight in day to day activities or walking meditation and achieve very significant results.

A Non- sectarian Image for Religious Practices

From the above it is seen that there has been a major progress in the wider interpretation and perception of ‘Insight mediation’ which can even be utilized for the well being of all members of a non-sectarian society. Promotion of physical and mental health has been one of the unique contributions in the field of medicine.

While it is noteworthy that Insight Meditation is essentially non-sectarian in character it has universal application. In fact it is stated that one need not get converted to Buddhism to start practising Insight meditation. It is also stated that Insight meditation can be referred to as a non-sectarian form of Buddhism. One may even venture into a spiritual path and find that a Buddhist can always remain a non-sectarian path finder who rises above sectarianism and be a member of a common brotherhood of mankind.

Has Buddha Jayanthi of 1956 contributed to the Well being of Society?

There were many fields in which progress for the well being of man was witnessed in 1956 in Sri Lanka. In addition to religion, several other fields such as agriculture, industry, drama, cinema, education and professionalism are some of the important sectors which showed major strides of development. But none of the strides can be compared with the most remarkable development in Insight Meditation which has brought a message of unity to a sectarian society with immense benefit to all its members.

————————-
Das Miriyagalla is a former Jt. Secy of the Royal Asiatic Society and Vice- President of the Mithirigala Nissarana Vanaya Sanrakshana Sabha. He has also served as the first President of the Buddhist Association of Zambia which pioneered the spread of Buddhism in Africa.

Courtesy: Buddhist Channel

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=43,6194,0,0,1,0

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political

Activist, Political Communication Researcher & Former SLFP District Organizer – Trincomalee District – 01.01.2016.

Both President Maithripala Sirisena and President Mahinda Rajapaksa are Sri Lankans. Both are Sinhala Buddhists. Both belong to the SLFP and are SLFP stalwarts. Both have served in the cabinets of the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike and President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge. Both have served the nation to the best of their ability and both are PATRIOTS without any doubt and WILL and SHOULD defend the sovereignty of our ATHRUBOOMIYA at all cost. It is the duty of both President Maithripala Sirisena and President Mahinda Rajapaksa to take care of the MINORITY communities of Sri Lanka respectfully, equally and fairly under the rule-of-law and the constitution without any violation of their Human Rights and Fundamental Rights. The meeting of these two national leaders at the 100th birth anniversary commemoration of the Mahanayake Thera of the Sri Lanka Amarapura Maha Sangha Sabha, Most Ven. Davuldena Sri Gnanissara Thera at the BMICH yesterday as shown in the picture above on the www.dailynews.lk/www.adaderana.lk on the 1st of January 2016 is a blessed and warm meeting to been seen. May this be the beginning of a long friendship to be to revived between both these national leaders and the leaders of the SLFP to enable the SLFP to return to power with a majority SLFP Party local government network and a central government in the near future with a strong UNP opposition.

Many leading small party leaders and pseudo-nationalist do not wish the UNITY of these two national leaders. Some in the SLFP itself, for selfish reasons have waged numerous conspiracies to have these two national leaders at loggerheads in order that they may be able to make their day dreams come true in politics. Some want to be PM’s, some want to be deputy presidents, some want to be deputy PM’s, some want to be political VVIP’s and even some others want to be those who could manipulate and navigate the Presidency and or government to satisfy the wishes and whims of the Western powers or our big brother neighbours. The introduction to make Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka in 2010 to stand against President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the denial of nominating Hon. Maithripala Sirisena as the PM during the last stages of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s tenure was a conspiracy to defeat the strength of the SLFP by these conspirators within the SLFP. The new conspiracies are, promoting enmity between President Maithripala Sirisena and President Mahinda Rajapaksa which has been successful to some extent and working to drive a wedge between Hon. Ranil Wickremasinghe and President Maithripala Sirisena in the run-up to the local government election to be held somewhere in April 2016, promoting a close clandestine political understanding between President Mahinda Rajapaksa and PM. Ranil Wickremasinghe and misguiding the UNP not to be taken for a ride as a result of the unity of the 3 SLFP musketeers (Mahinda, Sirisena and Chandrika). Added to this is promoting the refusal by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge refusing and not agreeing with President Maithripala Sirisena to work together with President Mahinda Rajapaksa to make the SLFP stronger and to enable win all the local bodies except the UNP traditional strongholds. Destiny decisions are final. But the UNITY of President Maithripala Sirisena and President Mahinda Rajapaksa is needed to the stability of the country and the nation and for the SLFP to win almost all the local bodies at the forth coming local government election this year. Their determined UNITY as SLFPers will bring together former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, (though a spent force in the politics of Sri Lanka) into the realm of SLFP politics once again. The majority of the Sri Lankan voters want and wish the SLFP to govern our country. I too as a SLFP stalwart since 1969 wish the same.

President Maithripala Siresena, President Mahinda Rajapaksa and President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge as SLFPers should join together and become UNITED in this blessed year of 2016, by God AllMighty

Bhante Y. Wimala

December 31, 2015

Dear friends and students,

The New Year 2016 is already here. Happy New Year is ringing everywhere.  How many times have you uttered Happy New Year so far?  To how many people have you wished Happy New Year?” While Happy New Year is still flying all around us, I think this could be a good moment for you to think more deeply what HAPPY” means to you. Do you think you are generally happy? Are you unhappy?  What could you do to make yourself happier in the New Year?

As we know, happiness is a state of mind. Since the mental states are constantly fluctuating, ordinary human beings cannot be happy all the time. But those who have a solid foundation of (1): a positive attitude, (2): a caring personality and (3): less selfish intentions are generally happier people.

If you want to reap some benefits from all the wishes for Happiness” and are genuinely interested in giving yourself the gift of happiness this year, I have a suggestion for you.  Make three simple choices to cultivate (1): a positive attitude, (2): a caring personality, and (3): less selfish intentions as I mentioned above. Try to remember every day of the year or every morning when you get up in the morning to repeat these three virtues as a mantra. Try your best to integrate them into your daily life. If you do, at the end of the year 2016 you will be happier and healthier than today. Remember we are talking about changing the mind. Nobody can change your mind for you. Only your choices can change your mind.

(1) Positive attitude. When things happen or do not happen, stop labeling them as BAD.” Consider them as just EVENTS in your life and attend them with the best of your attitude and deal with them patiently. What people do or say, or things that happen around you, do not cause your suffering and unhappiness. It is your emotions that hurt you or make you unhappy. A positive attitude can help prevent you from getting caught up in negative emotions. Always try your best to remain positive. You can do it if you remember.

(2) Caring. By bringing a bit more caring to difficult situations you can prevent yourself from becoming unhappy or getting hurt. You can also stop yourself from making others unhappy. People’s bad behavior or aggression could be a sign that they are in pain or in discomfort. If you do not care, you may never know the reason for their behavior. Do not undermine the power of caring to heal those who hurt and make them happy and bring peace at the time of turmoil.

(3) Selfishness. Selfishness is the worst enemy of happiness. Selfish people are generally unhappy people. Honestly investigate your selfish behavior or attitudes. Discover and challenge your selfishness. Try to purposely produce unselfish thoughts in your mind. Look for opportunities for selfless acts. When you are less selfish, ordinary moments can bring you a lot of happiness.

By reflecting on these suggestions and putting them into action, you may not necessarily be a perfectly happy person but you may have many more happy moments than the previous year. May your thoughts and actions bring more happy moments into your life.

Bhante Y. Wimala

WaterLanka  Jan-Mar,2016

This report is based on a recent visit made to the Northern Buffer Zone of the Sinharaja World Heritage Site and a comprehensive analysis of Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Report on Koskulana Mini Hydropower Project (KMHP) submitted to the Central
Environmental Authority (CEA) by Waste Management Water Power (Pvt) Ltd. Although the IEE report is subjected to a painstaking analysis, this article
highlights only the potential negative impacts of construction and operation of KMHP on ecological and social aspects and how people go against ethics and morals to make money.

SINHARAJA WORLD HERITAGE SITE

Project site in the Sinharaja buffer zone

The Koskulana mini hydropower project, which is under construction is supposed to generate 0.60 MW of electricity by diverting the Koskulana River flowing along the northern border of the Sinharaja World Heritage Site at Hupugoda Grama Niladhari Division (80⁰ 27’ 23”
62 E; 6⁰ 25’ 09” 70 N) in the Kalawana Divisional Secretariat. The project includes the construction of a concrete weir (2.5x 12 x 2.0 cubic meters), 86 m long
headrace channel, a forebay, and a powerhouse with 29 m long tailrace channel. Water will convey from the forebay to the powerhouse via 265 m long penstock while after generation of electricity water will be released back to the Koskulana River through 29 m long tailrace channel. The project has calculated 2.54 m3/sec as the design flow to generate electricity and 0.1 m3/sec as the environmental flow to maintain the aquatic fauna and flora downstream of the powerhouse.

Accordingly, the weir releases only 3.9 % of the design flow as the environment flow, which has occurred only once over the last thirty years. Further, the river stretch from the proposed weir site to the tailrace outfall is about 450 m and it lies on the strict buffer zone of the Sinharaja World Heritage Site. The left bank (LB) of this river stretch has thick riparian vegetation with valuable trees endemic to Sri Lanka while the right bank (RB) with steep slopes has been subjected to different land use including scattered human settlements. The river gradient varies from 400 m to 300 m above mean sea level between the proposed weir site and the tailrace outfall and this river stretch is characterized by typical pools and riffles and isolated boulders with a moderate cascade towards downstream. These charterers of the stream stretch with clear water are evident for rich aquatic biodiversity including the abundance of native and endemic fishes.

According to the IEE report, IEE team has examined hydrology, geomorphology, flora and fauna and socio-economic status of the project area, up to 500 m upstream of the proposed weir site, 500 m downstream of tail race outfall and 100 m wide stretch along the Koskulana River banks including the mainstream of the river for the same length.

Existing environment
The IEE report describes the general features of the project area to some extent but never state that the project area is exclusively within the buffer zone of the Sinharaja Rain Forest. The report also states that due to the high gradient of the river after the diversion point, construction of a 2.5 m high weir would not create any emergency situation like  flooding, which is incorrect. Most of the statements given under this section on biological environment are misleading and incorrect to a greater extent and deliberately hides some important information.

The IEE report includes only four fish species in the study area of which one species is endemic. The IEE team has found only four species, but there are five species in the detail faunal list namely Long Finned Eel. Giant Danio, Carveri Rasbora, Stone Sucker, and Mahseer. According to published literature, there are 26 freshwater fishes in the Kalu Ganga basin of which seventeen are endemic and the Kukule Ganga is a type habitat for several endemic species according to expert fish ecologists in the country.

The ecologist in the IEE team, a Botany special graduate is neither academically qualified nor competent to investigate aquatic fauna and flora in stream ecosystems, because a person with botany background cannot examine stream ecosystems for its fauna which is the most important ecological part as far as the mini hydropower projects are concerned

Mining the Koskulana River bed for weir construction

According to the IEE report, there are no river users along the river bank within the proposed project area, which is incorrect. There are many houses beyond the proposed weir on both sides of the river bank. People explore theses streams for gems and also to catch fish. Most of these houses are susceptible for flooding as the 2.5 m high weir is built. It should be considered the flood levels occurred beyond the proposed weir on the 7th December 2015 following heavy rains.

Soil erosion: The IEE report victimizes the upstream inhabitants for soil erosion rather than the devastating activities taking place during the construction phase as shown below. There will be an unprecedented soil erosion and subsequent sediment load into the stream due to the construction of the weir, excavation for headrace channel, forebay and powerhouse and other infrastructure development activities such as the construction of access roads. The soil erosion resulting from construction of power projects cannot be compared with minor agriculture activities. The main problem with soil erosion is not increased turbidity, but the elimination of microhabitats and spawning grounds of fish due to sediment deposition and also aquatic organisms will be affected by smothering.

Excavation near the border of Sinharaja Rain Forest

It is apparent that Koskulana mini hydropower project results in every negative environmental impact that
inherent to most of the mini hydropower projects and some are site-specific social impacts. But the case is site-specific and critical being located bordering the Sinharaja World Heritage Site within the strict buffer zone. All responsible government agencies have given approval for the project forwarding their own justifications. The District Forest Officer of Ratnapura has categorically denied their responsibility for the buffer zone of the Sinharaja World Heritage Site. Nevertheless, the available information reveals that the buffer zones of forest reserves must be protected by the Forest Department. Besides, the ecologist of the IEE team is neither qualified nor competent to conduct an IEE of this nature as mentioned before. Because IEE/EIA teams of hydropower projects must comprise a stream ecologist with a proven knowledge on freshwater fishes. Further, acceptance of the IEE report by the CEA is questionable as two of the four
team members including the team leader have not certified their commitment. The most critical environmental problem of the construction and operation of mini hydropower projects in mountain streams are endemic fishes evolved for millions of years. Sri Lanka is ranked as one of the biodiversity hotspots because of her endemic fish fauna and other species endemic to the country. None of the designated Project Approving Agencies (viz., NBRO, FD, ID, NWSDB, GSMB, CCD, CEA, and CEB) are not capable of evaluating this aspect by themselves due to non-availability subject specialists. Further, 0.60 MW electricity can be generated by a solar PV panel without causing any devastating environmental damage.

The total length of the affected stream stretches (ASS) in the Kukule Ganga including the Kukule major hydropower project is 12.39 km of which 8.18 km have resulted from Kukule Ganga major hydro dam, which generates 80 MW whereas about 4.5 km stream stretches have been destroyed from six mini hydropower plants, which generate only 10.50 MW. This indicates that mini hydropower projects destroy more stream habitats than major hydropower projects. This is true for all other major river basins such as Mahaweli, Kelani, Kalu, and Walawe with respect to the development of mini hydropower projects. Hill streams are the type habitats of endemic fishes and the tributaries of the Kukule Ganga sub-watershed area also rich in endemic fishes evolved for millions of years, There
is tangible evidence to show that the fish fauna in mountain streams in Sri Lanka is declining due to the construction and operation of hydropower plants.
It is obvious that about 12.0 km of river water of the Kukuke River sub-watershed flow through conduits without contributing to plant growth while decreasing soil properties. This value for the Mahaweli and Kelani Rivers are about 100 km and 89 km respectively. This will certainly affect the propagation of riparian vegetation cover and stability of the overburden of the landscape. These ecological impacts are not addressed in developing countries including Sri Lanka when mini hydropower plants are proposed and engineers do not understand the gravity of the problem whereas entrepreneurs do not care about the environment.
The negative effects of incorrect and unacceptable operations of mini hydropower plants in Sri Lanka on endemic fish fauna as a result of habitat alteration and
elimination are inevitable. The evidence is there for declining and vanishing of endemic fishes from hill streams over the last two decades with escalating small
hydropower development. Construction of mini hydropower in the areas of sensitive vegetations such as Sinharaja World Heritage Site will certainly affect the propagation riverine vegetation and their sustainability.

2015 Madura De Silva Nandika Hapuarachchi Thilak Jayaratne

Zoogeography of freshwater ichthyofauna of Sri Lanka is poorly understood although many new species are reported after the publication of Pethiyagoda’s text on Freshwater Fishes of Sri Lanka published in 1991. Several new genera of freshwater fishes were described (e.g. Dawkinsia Pethia) while introducing sixteen new cyprinids (viz., Dawkinsia singhala, Dawkinsia srilankensis Devario pathirana, Laubuca insularis, Laubuca ruhuna, Laubuca varuna, Pethia banduala, Pethia reval, Puntius kamalika, Puntius kelumi, Rasbora armitagei, Rasbora naggisi, Rasbora wilpita, Rasboroides rohani, Systomus asoka, Systomus martenstyni) and two gobids Schismatogobius deraniyagalai and Stiphodon martenstyni). This has lead to a great confusion among most of the local and international scientists those who study freshwater fishes and their biology. Most of the hill stream fishes endemic to Sri Lanka had been described by early workers (Axelrod, 1972; Bleeker, 1863; Bloch & Schneider, 1801; Day, 1888; Deraniyagala, 1929, 1930, 1937, 1952,1956; Günther, 1861,1964,1868; Hamilton, 1822; Jordan & Starks, 1917; Meinken, 1957, 1966; Steindachner, 1892).

De Silva, Hapuarachchi and Jayaratne (2015) compiled freshwater ichthyofauna of Sri Lanka in a similar manner to Pethiyagoda’s publication together with most of the newly described species after Pethiyagoda (1991). They included four cyprinids under sub-family Barbinae (e.g., Devario Sp Altus, Devario Sp Natalei, and Devario Sp Processus and Systomus Sp. Richmondi) without having species authorships. They also vaguely described the type habitats or localities, breeding potentials of newly described species and the sampling methods during their surveys were not correctly described. Further, these authors did not include Puntius chola (Hamilton, 1822) and Garra philipsi (Deraniyagala, 1933) in their compilation. Several cyprinids widely distributed in Sri Lanka such as, Puntius filamanetosus and P. sarana that have been re-described as new species by different authors without mentioning their former identities. It should be noted that Batuwita et al. (2013) described Rasboroides rohani from Walawe River basin which was not found by the extensive survey conducted over eight years (2007-2014) on Sri Lankan freshwater fishes by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Galle. Sri Lankan Freshwater Fishes” which also highlights many brackish water species and several marine fishes has deliberately ignored most of the worked published in peer-reviewed journals after Deraniyagala (1952) and Munro (1955) on fish taxonomy and biology. An unprecedented attempt has made to highlight only a few people as great ichthyologists in the world, of which some of them were specimen suppliers to foreign laboratories and museums. This compilation with full of excellent photographs is lacking literal integrity and academic clarity. Besides, this compilation has reviewed by two non-subject specialists. In addition, there is no evidence for proper proofreading, the most important part with respect to standard publication. Nevertheless, the collective effort of this group of armatures to be appreciated to a greater extent, because of their time and dedication. But, perhaps, non-professional guidance has led to several shortcomings. The sponsorship of the Nations Trust Bank should be respected and valued because their willingness and commitment to conserving nature. Further, the price of the book is extraordinarily high, perhaps due to its printing cost and capital investment but it has limited the circulation among the laymen who are really keen about freshwater fishes of Sri Lanka as nature lovers.

Mining 100 sq km Seabed has no Effect on Environment
Port City Project

Supplementary EIA report (SEIA), opened for the public comments in December 2015 by the Coast Conservation Department states that dredging 65 million cubic meter sand from the west coast of Sri Lanka to reclaim 269 ha land area of the suspended Port City Project (PCP) has no significant negative impact on ecological and social environment. Forty-five-member SEIA team representing National Aquatic Resources Research Development Agency (NARA), Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB), University of Moratuwa (UoM), Lanka Hydraulic Institute Ltd. (LHI), Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB), has submitted a 357 page SEIA report to the Coast Conservation and Coastal Zone Managements Department., the Project Approving Agency (PAA).
Proposed mining sites; yellow, Site I; Blue Site II

There are ample number of examples to show that heavy industries such as boat manufacturing, port development, off-shore oil extraction have resulted in the depletion of fish stocks. Coral communities are the most sensitive aquatic biota with respect to seabed mining and land reclamation for port development. Corals are sensitive tochanges in environmental parameters such as temperatures, salinity, depth, current velocity and direction, suspended solids, tidal fluctuations etc. The impact of turbidity on larval settlements of Indo-Pacific coral, Pocilopora damicornis in Polhengoda reef has been shown. Turbidity is an aggregate property of water, which results from mechanical disturbance of seabed and by dumping dredged materials back to the seabed. Experimental evidence suggests that suspended particles move over greater area due to oceanic currents when the seabed is disturbed. It has been demonstrated that increased turbidity and siltation in the coastal zone are among the most potential threats to coral reef communities and associated reef fishes. Proposed sand mining activities will certainly affect the reefs located in the vicinity of proposed sand mining area (viz., Kalapugala, Godagala, Hiriya, Thambalagala, Galmathgala, Galmaga and Watiyagala) in turn fish populations in the area because herbivorous fish are the vital links in the food chains in the reef ecosystems.

The western border of the Negombo lagoon along the west coast from Uswetakeiyawa to Pitipana is the narrowest coastal margin of the lagoon ecosystems, which is less than 1 km wide at certain stretches for example at Basiyawatte village. This stretch is very susceptible for severe erosion if the seabed is mined for the extraction of sand creating 2-3 m deep crater spread over 100 km2 in the near shore area. This situation may be more aggravated by predicted weather changes associated with global climate change. A recent study conducted on the impact of sea level rises on marine mouth of the Negombo lagoon concluded that a vast area of the lagoon periphery will be inundated within the next 50 years. Lack of sufficient knowledge and understanding and engineering biased development projects have lead the promotion of the development projects this nature. Further, politically motivated engineering biased SEIA team has made a enormous attempt to justify and convince the establishment of PCP by comparing with other development projects of similar nature, for example Palm Island in Dubai, Rotterdam Port and industrial area, Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok airport etc. Nevertheless, environmental settings and socio-economic conditions of those projects are quite different from CPC. On the basis of the understanding that there will be a significant negative impact of sand mining in the west coast on fishing community from Uswetakeiyawa to Pitipana whose livelihood depends on this coastal resource. The SEIA has proposed to give rupees 500 million to the fishing community as a compensation for lost resources, which is Rs 4.15 per day per person if assumed 10 years will take to recover the environmental damage. Nevertheless, recovery should be very slow since there is no sufficient amount of land based sediment transport into the sea from this stretch. The Negombo lagoon is a large silt trap of the Attanagalu Oya basin and northward littoral transport from the Kelani River estuary is not very strong due to weak coastal current. Similar situation occurs with respect to sediment transport via Ma Oya basin. This has lead to poor beach nourishment and progressive coastal erosion in west coast. The report does not discuss the impacts on Negombo lagoon fishery as a result of proposed sand mining in near shore area assuming that there is no recruitment of fish and shrimp between the lagoon and coastal areas. It is a pity that NARA scientists have shown the importance of larval recruitment and juvenile migration of shrimp on lagoon shrimp fishery, the most economic return of the Negombo Lagoon, the most productive brackish water body of the country. The SEIA also states that there are no fishing grounds in the vicinity of PCP area but fisher communities operate only from Mutual/Mattakkuliya and Dehiwala. As fishing is not allowed in the vicinity of Colombo Harbour due to security reasons one cannot say that fisheries resources are not available that particular area. Of course, fisheries potential of this area may be relatively low due to poor natural naturalness of the area. Many groups of environmentalists and individual scientists complaint against many discrepancies, procedural irregularities, and misleading statements in this SEIA. The SEIA report includes many diagrams produced using data generated by tank experiments and subsequently coupled with complicated mathematical models although no attempts have been made to collect very basic information but extremely important with respect to marine ecosystems.

Aqua- 2015, Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum
Blue Revolution: Challenging New Frontiers though value addition Uwa Wellassa University (11, December 2015) The organizing committee of the above forum invited several key subject specialists to deliver lectures on marine resources, shellfish and fin-fish processing, management of aquatic resources, eco-toxicity, novel approaches in fresh and brackish water aquaculture, feeds and nutrients in the aquaculture industry and ornamental fish industry. Subsequently, presentations were opened for panel discussions.

Speakers of the Session I were; Dr. D.C.T. Dissanayake (USJP) Mr. S. Thayaparan (King Aqua Services) Mr. Samantha Gunasekara (Former SLC) Prof. E.I.L. Silva (WRST) Mr. B.K.K.K. Jinadara (NARA) and lectures were delivered by; Ms. J.M. Asoka (NAQDA) Prof. M.P.K.S.K. De Silva (Uni.Ruhuna) Dr. K.R. Gamage (Uni. Ruhuna) Dr. D.H.N. Munasinghe (Uni. Ruhuna) and Mr. Kapila Tissera (Aquatic Bio-Resources) during the Session II. . Session I and II were chaired by Dr. S.C. Jayamanne and Dr.D.K.D.D. Jayasena respectively. Both sessions were followed by very fruitful panel discussions with active participation of undergraduate students. The overall programme of Aqua-