Colombo, Dec 24 (Daily Mirror) – A tourist family visiting Sri Lanka has spoken out about difficulties they faced while trying to extend their visa, calling the process the most painful experience ever.”
The family, known as ‘The Hutchinsons’ on TikTok, had arrived in Sri Lanka under the visa-free scheme and attempted to extend their stay at the Department of Immigration and Emigration in Battaramulla.
The family reported that their online visa extension submission did not generate the expected payment email, forcing them to visit the immigration office in person.
According to the tourist, the office was crowded with long queues and lacked clear guidance or help desks. There’s literally two large queues… everyone is avoiding eye contact, heads down, we can’t tell who works and who doesn’t,” one family member said. They described a confusing process where passports were taken by staff without clear communication, adding to their stress.
After spending three hours at the office, the Hutchinsons finally received their visa extension. That was the most painful experience ever,” they said.
“Wow, what a tough day at the immigration office in Colombo, Sri Lanka! This definitely wasn’t worth the hassle for an extra week here. anyway, all sorted and time to enjoy Christmas,” he shared on TikTok
A group of 120 internationally renowned economists and development experts has issued a joint letter calling for the immediate suspension of Sri Lanka’s debt repayments, citing the devastating impact of recent floods and Cyclone Ditwah.
The group argues that the scale of destruction constitutes a force majeure” event, making it impossible for Sri Lanka to meet IMF-mandated debt repayment obligations without worsening humanitarian suffering.
Speaking exclusively on the initiative, Professor Jayati Ghosh of the University of Massachusetts, one of the lead signatories, said international lenders must fundamentally rethink how sovereign debt contracts operate during large-scale disasters.
This should become standard practice for government borrowers as well. There is something called force majeure a legal term referring to a major event outside your control that prevents repayment,” Ghosh explained.
It can apply to earthquakes, tsunamis, and a whole range of situations where companies take on debt and simply cannot repay. There have been strong arguments that similar provisions should apply to sovereign governments when they face circumstances well beyond their control that severely affect their ability to repay.”
Ghosh said the most immediate solution is a temporary suspension of debt repayments, allowing the country space to respond to the crisis.
There should be a suspension of debt payments until this calamity is dealt with. That does not mean fully resolved, because reconstruction will take several years. But at least during an interim period when the economy is still reeling, people need rehabilitation, essential infrastructure must be rebuilt, and displaced communities must be rehoused debt payments should be suspended.”
Responding to the Sri Lankan government’s request for a US$200 million Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) from the IMF, Ghosh warned that additional borrowing would only deepen the crisis.
The solution to a debt problem is never more debt. Unfortunately, both countries and the IMF forget this. Their aim seems to be to make the country more ‘creditworthy’. But emergency financing or RFIs simply add to the debt burden,” she said.
This is clearly a force majeure event something far beyond the government’s control and it requires a rethinking of the original debt contracts, not more borrowing.”
Ghosh also criticised the IMF’s Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA), arguing that it failed to distinguish adequately between foreign-currency debt and domestic debt, creating unrealistic repayment expectations.
The IMF’s own numbers were already very optimistic about Sri Lanka’s ability to repay in foreign exchange because they did not properly separate foreign debt from domestic debt. They lumped everything together,” she said.
Economic growth may occur domestically in Sri Lankan rupees, but that does not automatically generate sufficient US dollars to repay foreign debt. The IMF’s assessment has already proven to be extremely demanding and onerous when it comes to foreign-currency repayments and the disaster has now completely invalidated those assumptions.”
The economists’ letter urges international creditors and the IMF to recognise the extraordinary circumstances facing Sri Lanka and to prioritise humanitarian recovery over rigid debt enforcement.
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Hiru TV has issued a scathing response to the Police Media Division—an entity funded by the public purse—asserting that the division’s recent letter regarding the assault on a police officer involved in a cannabis raid in Embilipitiya constitutes a severe blow to the public’s right to information and democratic principles.
The reply further highlights that the police failed to disclose a crucial piece of evidence, which they had recorded themselves, until Hiru TV broke the story to the nation.
Signed by Tharanga Jayakody, the Deputy Director of News at Hiru TV, the letter emphasises that it is incomprehensible why the police intentionally withheld such vital evidence from both the courts and the media.
Furthermore, the response maintains that, according to the formal complaints and statements made by Police Constable Susantha Hettiarachchi of the Sooriyakanda Police, there is a clear link between the assault he suffered and the cannabis raid he conducted.
Although the Police Media Division claimed in their correspondence that investigations found no such connection, Hiru TV’s letter firmly rejects this stance, stating they possess more than enough evidence and sources to confirm the link exists.
The reply concludes by reiterating that Hiru TV reported on the police’s own evidence in the interest of upholding the public’s fundamental right to information.
This submission seeks judicial guidance on distinguishing between legally binding treaty obligations and non-binding international policy frameworks operationalized in Sri Lanka’s gender-based violence programmes.
The purpose of this submission is not to oppose international engagement, but to seek constitutional and legal clarity on the limits of non-binding international instruments within Sri Lanka’s domestic legal framework.
This appeal is made in public interest, and with full deference to judicial independence, to respectfully request careful judicial distinction between binding legal obligations arising from Sri Lanka’s Constitution and ratified international treaties, and non-binding international policy frameworks, donor-driven guidelines, and UN agency interpretations, workshops and programs that are increasingly invoked in legal and administrative discourse.
Concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications are being introduced through development assistance frameworks, international programme documents, and soft-law instruments, often under the broader headings of gender equality or gender-based violence. While such frameworks may reflect evolving policy positions of certain international actors, they do not arise from any treaty ratified by Sri Lanka, nor have they been enacted by Sri Lanka’s Parliament.
Sri Lanka is party to several core international human rights treaties, including the ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, CRC and CAT. None of these treaties contain provisions recognising sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor do they redefine the term woman” from its sex-based meaning as understood at the time of ratification.
Under principles of international law, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, obligations cannot be expanded beyond the text and intent consented to by the State.
In short, under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, Sri Lanka cannot be legally bound by provisions or concepts that it has not expressly consented to through treaty ratification or parliamentary enactment.
As per the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, treaties are binding only to the extent of State consent, as reflected in the treaty text and the original intent of the parties (Articles 26 and 31).
Soft law instruments—such as UN resolutions, UN committee guidelines, and recommendations—do not meet these criteria and therefore are not legally binding obligations.
The incorporation of non-binding interpretative materials — such as UN Human Rights Council resolutions, Special Rapporteur reports, or donor policy documents — into constitutional or statutory interpretation risks bypassing democratic consent and parliamentary authority. Such materials, while informative, do not carry the force of law and cannot impose obligations that are without domestic legislative adoption.
I respectfully submit that the judiciary’s role as guardian and interpreter of the Constitution requires particular caution where external policy frameworks seek to influence the interpretation of fundamental rights, sex-based protections, or statutory schemes such as quotas, safeguards, or affirmative measures enacted specifically under sex-based classification enshrined in Sri Lanka’s constitution & recognized in domestic law.
Policies, guidelines and recommendations issued by international agencies or donors are not laws. They do not have the force of law unless they are adopted into domestic legislation by Parliament. Thus, Sexual Orientation Gender Identity (SOGI) concepts through non-legislative entities cannot legally alter or expand the rights protected under Sri Lankan law to satisfy international concepts.
The distinction between law and policy, treaty obligation and advocacy, and binding norms and soft law is essential to maintaining constitutional coherence and public confidence in the legal system.
International frameworks and policies cannot override constitutional provisions, statutory protections, or the socio-legal context embedded within Sri Lanka’s constitutional order, including sex-based protections enacted by Parliament. Fundamental rights cannot be re-interpreted through non-binding international policy frameworks.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court has affirmed that non-binding international instruments do not possess the force of law unless explicitly passed as domestic legislation.
The judiciary must exercise particular caution in interpreting fundamental rights or statutory schemes when non-binding frameworks—such as UN recommendations or donor guidelines—seek to introduce concepts not adopted into law.
S. S. Cooray v. The Attorney General (1987), the Court emphasized that international treaties or resolutions that have not been domesticated through legislation do not alter the constitutional rights of citizens.
Accordingly, I humbly appeal to the Honourable Courts to clearly distinguish, in relevant proceedings, between:
· Ratified treaty obligations and domestic law which Sri Lanka is bound by on the one hand; and
· Non-binding international guidelines, UN Committee Level recommendations, donor conditionalities, and evolving policy interpretations on the other.
This appeal is made in good faith, in support of judicial clarity, constitutional supremacy, and the principle that legal obligations arise only through consent, law, and due process.
I respectfully, urge the Judicial pillar to re-affirm that only international treaties ratified and incorporated into domestic law can create binding obligations & that soft-law instruments remain non-binding of States.
I thank Your Ladyships and Lordships for your time and for your continued service in upholding the Constitution and the rule of law.
I am also attaching evidence of the manner non-binding recommendations are being presented as binding law via internationally funded programs and promoted via internationally funded programs in partnership with State & Private Sector across Sri Lanka, undermining Sri Lanka’s constitution, ratified treaty law and People’s consent given to its Government.
With highest respect,
Shenali Waduge
Documentary Evidence of Non-Binding SOGI / LGBTQIA Programmes
The programmes and policy instruments listed below are presented solely as evidence of operational practice. Their inclusion does not imply legal validity or binding force. None of the instruments listed have been ratified by Sri Lanka, enacted by Parliament, or judicially recognised as sources of enforceable law.
This annex provides documentary evidence showing that UN agencies, donor governments, and INGOs have operational programmes embedding sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender-diverse classifications (SOGI/LGBTQI+) into gender equality and gender-based violence. These programmes are non-binding, exceed Sri Lanka’s ratified treaty obligations, and operate independently of domestic law, statutory enactment, or cultural and religious frameworks.
UN & International Agencies
1. UNDP WeBelongAfrica” Programme
UNDP Africa
Description / Evidence:
Programme objectives explicitly support inclusion of LGBTI+ persons in governance and decision-making, addressing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Excerpts:
The project supports inclusive governance by ensuring participation of LGBTI+ persons in decision-making spaces and reducing exclusion based on sexual orientation and gender identity.”
UN-supported SGBV and gender frameworks in Sri Lanka operate through inter-ministerial coordination, gender focal points, and cabinet-approved action plans, extending policy language on gender minorities” across multiple ministries without legislative enactment.
Evidence of UN participation in domestic policy planning, introducing non-binding gender identity categories.
Corporate DEI policies promoted through UN and donor frameworks frequently embed sexual orientation and gender identity within workplace harassment, violence prevention, and safe workplace” obligations, despite the absence of such legal categories in Sri Lankan labour law.
7. Plan International SOGIESC Inclusion Programmes
Plan International
Description / Evidence:
Programmes addressing school bullying and community education explicitly include SOGIESC (Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, Sex Characteristics) language.
Excerpts:
Activities include training and educational programmes promoting inclusion of SOGIESC individuals in schools and communities.”
Internationally promoted Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) frameworks explicitly integrate gender-based violence (GBV) prevention with instruction on gender norms, sexual diversity, non-discrimination, and concepts relating to sexual orientation, gender identity and expression (SOGIESC).
These frameworks are promoted as technical guidanceand best practice, not as treaty obligations, and have not been enacted into Sri Lankan law or curriculum through Parliament.
The International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) positions GBV prevention, gender equality, and respect for sexual diversity as interconnected learning objectives within a single comprehensive framework.
Key Elements Relevant to SOGIESC and GBV:
· Prevention of gender-based violence and harmful practices
· Inclusion of sexual orientation and gender diversity under gender” and human rights” education
· In six districts, 554 teachers were trained on comprehensive sexuality education and life skills under UNFPA programmes, as documented in the UNFPA Sri Lanka Annual Report 2022, demonstrating operational implementation of internationally guided CSE content prior to any parliamentary enactment of a local curriculum
Sri Lanka’s current national curriculum does not implement the UN-defined CSE framework in full, nor does any ratified international treaty obligate the State to introduce instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity.
The promotion of CSE incorporating SOGIESC concepts therefore representspolicy advocacy and programme guidance, not binding international law.
This demonstrates how non-binding UN guidance frameworks operate as de facto normative instruments, embedding SOGIESC concepts—particularly under gender-based violence—without parliamentary enactment or constitutional mandate.
9. Operationalisation of SOGIESC through Multi-Ministry Gender and SGBV Frameworks
UN-supported gender equality and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) frameworks in Sri Lanka operate on a multi-sectoral and inter-ministerial basis, involving more than a dozen line ministries.
These frameworks frequently incorporate references to gender minorities,” gender-diverse persons,” or inclusive gender identities” within policy planning, service delivery, and capacity-building initiatives.
Inclusion occurs through:
· National action plans
· Inter-ministerial coordination mechanisms
· Ministry-level gender focal points
· Technical assistance and donor-funded programming
While framed as policy coordination and development assistance, these mechanisms introduce non-legislated gender identity categories across multiple State institutions, without parliamentary enactment or judicial determination.
This demonstrates how non-binding international guidance becomes operationally embedded across the State apparatus, extending beyond ratified treaty obligations and domestic statutory law.
Non-binding soft law cannot be misinterpreted as legally binding as it would undermine the rule of law & lead to confusion & arbitrary administrative actions sans constitutional basis.
The legal protections given to women & other vulnerable groups becomes at risk.
Legal scholars like Professor James Crawford have emphasized that international soft law cannot modify domestic legal rights unless explicitly incorporated into national law, thereby reaffirming the importance of legislative sovereignty.
Corporate / Private Sector DEI Implementation
10. Corporate DEI Frameworks Linking SOGIESC to Gender-Based Violence and Harassment Prevention
Issuers: UNDP, ILO, UN Global Compact, donor governments
Implementers: Private sector entities and multinational corporations
Description / Evidence:
Corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks promoted by UN agencies and donor partners commonly insert sexual orientation and gender identity within policies addressing workplace harassment, gender-based violence, and safe working environments.
Under these frameworks:
· Gender” is expanded beyond sex-based categories to include identity”
· Harassment or exclusion related to gender identity is treated as a form of gender-based violence that had been explicitly for biological females/males.
· Corporate compliance is linked to ESG standards, SDG alignment, and donor expectations
· These policies operate outside Sri Lanka’s labour law framework, which does not recognise sexual orientation or gender identity as protected legal categories, nor redefine sex-based protections enacted for biological women.
· This illustrates the indirect influence of non-binding international policy frameworks on domestic workplaces.
Your Lordships and Ladyships are respectfully requested to consider the following:
· Courts to reaffirm that only ratified treaties domesticated by Parliament are legally binding.
· Non-binding guidelines, donor policies, UN recommendations, resolutions cannot alter constitutional rights or statutory protections, including sex-based protections for women.
· Courts to issue clarity on interpreting SOGI-related policiesin light of domestic law under ‘gender-based violence”.
All UN/diplomatic programmes and frameworks listed above are non-binding, operate beyond ratified treaty obligations, and have not been incorporated into domestic law.
In the absence of clear judicial guidance, non-binding international programmes are being operationalised within State institutions in a manner that risks inconsistency with existing constitutional and statutory frameworks.
Their operationalisation in Sri Lanka under gender-based violence (GBV) and gender frameworks cannot create new legal obligations, and any interpretation to the contrary risks undermining the Constitution, parliamentary authority and the will of the People.
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COLOMBO, December 22, 2025—Cyclone Ditwah, which struck Sri Lanka in late November, has caused an estimated US$4.1 billion in direct physical damage to buildings and contents, agriculture and critical infrastructure, according to a World Bank Group Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) report released today. This damage is equivalent to about 4 percent of Sri Lanka’s GDP.
The cyclone, among the most intense and destructive in Sri Lanka’s recent history, severely affected close to 2 million people and 500,000 families across all 25 districts, disrupting livelihoods, essential services, and the broader economy.
The Sri Lanka GRADEreport provides timely and critical insights to guide the emergency response, recovery planning, and longer-term disaster risk reduction efforts. The assessment uses the World Bank’s rapid, remote, model-based GRADE methodology, which estimates direct economic damage to physical assets. The report does not include losses related to income or production, nor the full costs of recovery and reconstruction.
The estimated US$4.1 billion in direct damage represents a significant shock to affected regions. The Central province was the hardest hit, with damages in Kandy district estimated at $689 million, primarily caused by flooding and to a lesser extent by landslides.
Infrastructure, including roads, bridges, railways and water supply networks, accounts for the largest share of damage, at an estimated $1.735 billion (42 percent of total damages), disrupting connectivity and access to markets and services.
Residential buildings and contents have been heavily affected, with damages totaling an estimated $985 million. The widespread impacts on homes highlight the need to consider building locations, flood control structures and designs that are resilient to high winds and flooding.
Agriculture suffered an estimated $814 million in damage, including to paddy and vegetable crops, subsistence farming, maize, livestock and agriculture infrastructure, as well as damage to inland fishing, posing serious risks to food security and rural livelihoods in already vulnerable communities.
Non-residential buildings (including contents), such as schools, health facilities, businesses, and large industrial facilities and factories located along major rivers and creeks, were also heavily impacted, accounting for $562 million in estimated damages, interrupting education, healthcare delivery, and local economic activity in cyclone-affected areas.
The assessment underscores how pre-existing socio-economic vulnerabilities—including poverty, limited access to services, and exposure to climate risks—are likely to amplify the cyclone’s impacts and slow recovery, particularly for women, children, older persons and female-headed households. Targeted recovery efforts will be essential to ensure support reaches the most at-risk communities.
As we look closely at the hardest-hit districts, we see that deep-rooted vulnerabilities have left communities especially vulnerable,” said Gevorg Sargsyan, World Bank Group Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives. In Badulla, Kegalle and Puttalam many households were already poor and now face some of the highest losses to homes. In Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, about two in four households are headed by women or older persons. Thousands of women and girls have been displaced or remain in unsafe homes. These realities underscore the need for tailored community-centered recovery efforts that protect those most at risk.”
In the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, the World Bank Group has mobilized up to $120 million from ongoing projects to support recovery and help restore essential services and infrastructure—including healthcare, water, education, agriculture, and connectivity—in the areas hit hardest.
While the GRADE report provides a rapid estimate of direct physical damage, recovery and reconstruction needs are expected to significantly exceed these figures. The report highlights the importance of comprehensive recovery strategies that address humanitarian needs, restore livelihoods, strengthen resilient housing and infrastructure, and integrate climate and disaster risk considerations into future development.
The World Bank acknowledges the Government of Sri Lanka’s leadership in completing this assessment. The assessment benefited from close collaboration with the External Resources Department, the Treasury, the National Planning Department, and the Disaster Management Centre.
The World Bank and GRADE
Disasters disproportionately affect the poor and most vulnerable. For over a decade, the World Bank’s Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) approach has supported more than 54 countries by providing timely, evidence-based assessments to inform decision-making after disasters. Over ten years, GRADE has completed 71 post-disaster assessments worldwide, with subsequent validations confirming approximately 90 percent accuracy when compared to detailed, ground-based assessments.
The GRADE report for Sri Lanka was conducted and financially supported by the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and the Ministry of Finance of Japan, through the World Bank program for Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Management in Developing Countries in collaboration with the World Bank.
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External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.
xternal Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday announced India’s decision to offer a reconstruction package of USD 450 million to Sri Lanka post ‘Cyclone Ditwah’.
At a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart Vijitha Herath in Colombo, Jaishankar, who is visiting the island nation as Special Envoy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said he had this morning met Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Disanayaka to personally deliver a letter from the Indian leader.
‘’We had a detailed discussion on the damage caused by Cyclone Ditwah. The letter from Prime Minister Modi that I handed over builds on our First Responder role and commits a reconstruction package of $450 million to Sri Lanka. Our talks centred on how expeditiously this commitment can be delivered,’’ he added.
Jaishankar said the assistance package that India has proposed will include USD 350 million in concessional Lines of Credit and USD 100 million in grants.
This package is being finalised in close consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka. ‘’Our assistance will cover sectors worst affected by the cyclone, including: rehabilitation and restoration of road, railway and bridge connectivity; support for construction of houses fully destroyed and partially damaged; support for health and education systems, in particular, those that have been damaged by the cyclone; agriculture, including to address possible shortages in the short and medium term and working towards better disaster response and preparedness,’’ he added.
India, he said, is conscious that work towards mitigating the impact of ”Cyclone Ditwah” on the people of Sri Lanka must be done in the quickest time possible. ‘’We are discussing an effective coordination mechanism for the earliest possible delivery,’’ he added.
Noting that Sri Lanka is a significant tourism economy, the Indian minister assured the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister that India will continue to encourage tourism traffic from the country in that regard. Similarly, an increase in Foreign Direct Investment from India can also boost Sri Lanka’s economy at a critical time.
Jaishankar recalled that India’s relief and assistance mission – Operation Sagar Bandhu – commenced on the very day that Cyclone Ditwah made landfall.
As Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour and in line with India’s ‘’Neighbourhood First’’ and ‘’MAHASAGAR’ policies, it was only natural that India step forward at a time when Sri Lanka faced a crisis, he added.
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he Police Constable who was arrested and subsequently released on bail in connection with the assault incident involving Ratnapura District National People’s Power (NPP) Member of Parliament Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha, has been suspended from service pending further investigations, police stated.
He was arrested yesterday (22) by officers attached to the Embilipitiya Divisional Investigation Bureau on several charges, including criminal intimidation.
The Police Constable was subsequently granted bail after being produced before court.
Police earlier stated that a blood sample obtained from the police officer allegedly assaulted by a group including MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha will be sent to the Government Analyst’s Department.
According to the statement issued by the Police Media Division, at around 8:40 p.m. on December 20, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station, who was returning home after completing his shift, lodged a complaint through the 119 emergency hotline to the Kolonna Police Station.
According to the complaint, the police officer was assaulted by the NPP Member of Parliament and a group accompanying him near the Kalugala Temple and then had forcibly taken away his motorcycle.
The statement further noted that at around 10:10 p.m. the same day, NPP Ratnapura District MP Shantha Pathma Kumara Subasingha also filed a complaint with the Kolonna Police Station. The MP had alleged that while traveling in a cab from Kalugala toward Halwinna, a police constable attached to the Sooriyakanda Police Station blocked the road by placing his motorcycle across the path, stopped the cab and attempted to assault him.
Additionally, the police stated that the motorcycle of the constable was found on the road near the Kalugala Temple and was taken into custody by the Kolonna Police. The police officer was first admitted to the Kolonna Hospital and later transferred to the Embilipitiya Hospital.
The statement from police mentioned that hospital clinical records note the presence of an alcohol breath odor, according to the medical report of the officer. Meanwhile, since no narcotic substances were detected in the officer’s urine samples, arrangements are currently being made to obtain blood samples and forward them to the Government Analyst’s Department to determine whether alcohol had been consumed.
Furthermore, police stated that investigations into the alleged incident are being conducted by the Embilipitiya Divisional Crimes Investigation Bureau under the direct supervision of the Senior Superintendent of Police in charge of the Embilipitiya Division.
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22 December 2025: The Protection of the State from Terrorism Act, No. of 2026(PSTA) presents itself as a human rights improvement on the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This framing obscures the reality that its core architecture, including administrative detention, military powers, proscription regimes, and broad speech offences, replicates the essential features that made the PTA objectionable for over four decades.
The Bill replicates the fundamental architecture that made the PTA objectionable. Rather than using the ordinary criminal law regime for terrorism offences alongside emergency powers when genuinely required, the PSTA creates parallel criminal jurisdictions with reduced safeguards and expanded executive authority. Its scheme maintains extraordinary arrest and detention powers, grants the Attorney General potentially coercive mechanisms to compel admissions without trial, and empowers the President, senior police officers, and the Defence Secretary to issue proscription orders, restriction orders, curfews, and prohibited place declarations with limited judicial oversight. As the title suggests, the Bill’s fundamental purpose is to protect the state rather than to protect civilians from violence, a framing that offers little resistance to treating public dissent, political disruption, and threats to political power as terrorism in themselves. Though the Bill includes carve-outs for protest and industrial action, these sit in tension with other provisions and may prove ineffective in practice.
Section 78 defines confidential information” so broadly that it could capture online content, and social media posts documenting military checkpoints, photographs of army deployments during civilian protests, or tweets noting the presence of intelligence personnel at public events. Tamil civil society organisations, and activists documenting enduring militarisation in their communities face particular exposure. Section 15 criminalises failure to report information about terrorism offences with penalties of up to seven years imprisonment, placing journalists, lawyers, doctors, and religious figures in impossible positions where professional ethics conflict with criminal liability. This provision effectively conscripts recipients of information as state informants, creating a chilling effect on communication without requiring any technical interception.
Journalists, civil society activists, and ordinary social media users face particular exposure under this Bill. The predictable consequence is self-censorship driven by fear rather than any genuine security benefit. The Bill’s extended detention provisions, which permit up to two years of combined remand and detention without charge, provide a repressive mechanism for silencing dissent. Meanwhile, the surveillance and decryption powers granted under sections 53 and 55 threaten to eliminate private digital communication entirely, depriving citizens of secure channels for democratic dialogue and exposing them to monitoring that bears no reasonable relationship to legitimate counter-terrorism objectives.
We want to particularly stress the Bill’s impact on privileged, and encrypted communications, that go far beyond the PTA. Section 55 grants magistrates authority to order the unlocking of encrypted communications, yet assumes technical capability that simply does not exist with genuine end-to-end encryption (E2EE) systems. The extension of police powers to military personnel under section 19 creates a 24-hour window before handover to civilian authorities during which device contents could be accessed without procedural safeguards. Given documented patterns of abuse during military detention, including custodial torture, particularly affecting Tamil communities, the risk of coerced access to encrypted communications is not theoretical.
National security cannot serve as a blank cheque to erode democratic values. We urge the government to withdraw this Bill, engage in meaningful consultation with civil society, and affected communities, and develop fit-for-purpose legislation that meets international human rights standards while addressing legitimate national, and human security concerns.
Yours sincerely,
Sampath Samarakoon (on behalf of, Collective for Social Media Declaration – CSMD) + 94 777 248304
ABOUT CSMD:The Social Media Declaration collective is a coalition established by civil society organizations, citizen activists, websites, and subject-matter experts, with the aim of promoting a ‘Human rights–Based, Socially Responsible use of Social Media’. This collective is dedicated to advancing human Rights, including digital rights, and to systematically analyzing online content through research, advocacy, training, awareness-raising, and critical inquiry. It continuously strives to foster and sustainably promote democratic discourse in online spaces grounded in internet freedom, transparency–openness, and democratic values. In this way, the collective remains committed to ensuring societal well-being through the influence of technology and to encouraging the development of responsible, ethical use of social media in the digital age.
The following organizations belong to this collective. Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association | Jaffna Press Club | Eastern Provinces Journalists forum | Centre for Policy Alternatives | Sri lanka Muslim Media Forum | Human Elevation Organization | Low & Society Trust | SARVODAYA Shramadana Movement | Movement for Land and Agricultural Reform | ActNow Youth Campaign | Wedabima Media collective | National Collaboration Development | Foundation Best Vision foundation | Internet Media Action | maatram.org | vikalpa.org|groundviews.org | minormatters.org
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Our monetary economists of today have decided that printing money is to be stopped till the end of the year. The new Central Bank Act of 2023 is said to forbid money printing. Some foremost economists and the Central Bank of Sri Lanka are of the opinion that printing money causes inflation and should not be done.
I lived in Sri Lanka till 1973 and worked in senior Administrative Service positions from 1955 to 1973- some 17 years handling arduous development tasks all done with locally printed Rupees. In 1970, as a Deputy Director of the Small Industries Department, I actually handled foreign currency disbursement to all small industrialists in the country. Thus I speak with firm authority, through sheer experience -not research knowledge picked up from the internet or research, following ideas of elite professors or guided by utterances from foreign monetary institutions
Beyond oil interests, Vijay Prashad argues that the US escalation against Venezuela is about reestablishing its hegemony in the hemisphere.
US Marines carrying out exercises on USS Iwo Jima as part of SOUTHCOM’s Operation Southern Spear in the Caribbean Sea. (SOUTHCOM)
Ever since Hugo Chávez came to power in 1998, the United States has attempted to overthrow the Bolivarian Revolution. They have tried everything short of a full-scale military invasion: a military coup, selecting a substitute president, cutting off access to the global financial system, imposing layers of sanctions, sabotaging the electricity grid, sending in mercenaries, and attempting to assassinate its leaders. If you can think of a method to overthrow a government, the United States has likely tried it against Venezuela.
However, in 2025, the escalation became unmistakable. The US sent its warships to patrol Venezuela’s coast, began sinking small boats and killing those on board as they left the South American mainland, and seized an oil tanker bound for Cuba. The quantity of attacks on Venezuela has increased, suggesting the quality of the threats has now reached a different magnitude. It feels as if the United States is preparing for a full-blown invasion of the country.
Donald Trump came to office saying that he was opposed to military interventions that did not further US interests, which is why he called the illegal US war on Iraq a waste of blood and treasure”. This does not mean Trump is against the use of the US military – he deployed it in Afghanistan (remember the Mother of all Bombs”) and Yemen, and has fully backed the US/Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. His formula is not for or against war categorically, but about what the US would gain from it. With Iraq, he stated that the problem was not the war itself, but the failure to seize Iraqi oil. Had the US taken Iraq’s oil, Trump would likely have been in Baghdad, ready to build – with Iraqi treasure – a Trump hotel on one of the former presidential properties.
Naturally, the US military buildup in the Caribbean is about Venezuelan oil – the largest known reserves in the world. The US-backed politician, Maria Corina Machado, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize just this week after supporting the Israeli genocide and calling for a US invasion of her own country, is on record promising to open up her country’s resources to foreign capital. She would welcome the extraction of Venezuela’s wealth rather than allow its social wealth to better the lives of its own people, as is the goal of the Bolivarian Revolution started by Hugo Chávez. A hypothetical President Machado” would immediately surrender any claim to the Essequibo region and grant ExxonMobil full command of Venezuela’s oil reserves. This is certainly the prize.
But it is not the immediate spur. A close reading of the 2025 National Security Strategy of the United States shows that there is a renewed emphasis on the Western Hemisphere. The Trump Corollary to the 1823 Monroe Doctrine is clear: the Western Hemisphere must be under US control, and the United States will do what it takes to ensure that only pro-US politicians hold power. It is worth reading that section of the National Security Strategy:
After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.”
When Argentina faced local elections, Trump warned that the US would cut off external financing if candidates opposing pro-US President Javier Milei lost. In Honduras, Trump intervened directly to oppose the Libre Party, even offering to release a convicted drug trafficker (and former President). The United States is moving aggressively because it has accurately assessed the weakness of the Pink Tide and the strength of a new, far-right Angry Tide”. The emergence of right-wing governments across South America, Central America, and the Caribbean has emboldened the US to squeeze Venezuela and thereby weaken Cuba – the two major poles of the Latin American left. Overturning these revolutionary processes would allow a full-scale Monroe Doctrine domination of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Since the 1990s, the United States began to speak of Latin America as a partner for shared prosperity, emphasizing globalization over direct control. Now, the language has changed. As the Trump Corollary asserts: We want a Hemisphere that remains free of hostile foreign incursion or ownership of key assets and that supports critical supply chains…We want to ensure our continued access to key strategic locations.” Latin America is seen as a battlefield for geopolitical competition against China and a source of threats like immigration and drug trafficking. The attack on Venezuela and Cuba is not merely an assault on these two countries; it is the opening salvo of direct US intervention on behalf of the Angry Tide. This will not deliver better lives for the population, but greater wealth for US corporations and the oligarchies of Latin America.
Trump is ready to revive the belief that any problem can be solved by military force, even when other tools exist. The Trump Corollary promises to use its military system superior to any country in the world” to steal the hemisphere’s resources.
The aggression against Venezuela is not a war against Venezuela alone. It is a war against all of Latin America.
Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold
International human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations
An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation
At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law
Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law
The acceptance by the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of a complaint against the UNHRC’s external mechanism on Sri Lanka should be welcomed by anyone who values the rule of law in international affairs. The OIOS is the UN’s internal watchdog, mandated to investigate financial and administrative misconduct within the organisation and its subsidiary organs. The complaint — filed in mid-September 2025 by an international NGO and three Sri Lankan citizens (including the present author) — alleges that the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which oversees the Sri Lanka Accountability Project” (SLAP), is guilty of such misconduct. In late October, the OIOS informed one of the complainants that it had reviewed the matter and taken appropriate action.” (The complaint, along with all relevant documents, is available as an e-book on www.ceehale.org.)
This response offers a ray of hope, particularly to people in the Global South, that there remains at least one avenue within the UN system through which the concerns of private citizens can be heard. At the same time, it underscores the urgent need for reform within the UNHRC itself, so that private citizens may challenge the Council’s actions when they consider them harmful to their countries.
The complainants turned to the OIOS because no such mechanism exists within the UNHRC. While one of the Council’s founding instruments — UNHRC Resolution 5/1 (Institution-building within the Human Rights Council) — provides for a Complaint Procedure,” this mechanism is limited to examining allegations of gross human rights violations by states, not complaints against the Council or its officials. This gap urgently calls for scholarly attention and institutional reform.
The problem that gave rise to the complaint goes far beyond Sri Lanka. It reveals a deeper lacuna in both international law and human rights scholarship. Human rights law is among the most rapidly developing areas of contemporary law. Much of this development focuses on expanding its scope to include groups and issues previously neglected — women, children, indigenous peoples, minorities, and enforced disappearances during conflicts. Yet little attention is paid to what happens when powerful states use the UN and its subsidiary organs as instruments to interfere in the internal affairs of weaker states under the banner of human rights. They often do so by securing UN resolutions that provide the moral and legal justification for such interventions. The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan illustrate this practice.
At the heart of this problem lies a fundamental tension between the principles of international law and those of human rights law. International law is ultimately based on the consent of sovereign states, making respect for sovereignty a cornerstone of the system. Article 2(7) of the UN Charter, which prohibits undue interference in the internal affairs of states, reflects this principle.
Human rights law, by contrast, is founded on the concept of universal rights which the international community is duty-bound to uphold. This implies that where gross violations occur, the international community has a moral obligation to intervene. In such a framework, international human rights institutions become vulnerable to manipulation by powerful states seeking to bypass traditional sovereignty safeguards in order to impose their political will on weaker nations.
It is unlikely that the power dynamics underpinning international relations will fundamentally change. As Thucydides observed, The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must.” Since the root cause cannot be eliminated, the rational response is to mitigate its effects. One way of doing this is to establish procedures for holding UN officials accountable when they assist in formulating policies, preparing reports, or conducting fact-finding missions that facilitate politically motivated country-specific measures. An organisation is only as credible as the officials who operate it. If officials know they may be held accountable for violating the organisation’s principles, they are more likely to resist politicisation.
The difficulty, of course, lies in the doctrine of immunity, which is essential for the functioning of international organisations. If every decision of the UNHRC could be challenged by affected individuals, the Council’s ability to act would be paralysed. It would become impossible for it to fulfil its mandate.
There is, however, a conceptual solution. Since enforcement of human rights often constitutes an exception to sovereignty, it should be possible to limit immunity where such enforcement is demonstrably unfair, discriminatory, or unjust. The key issue, therefore, is not whether immunity should be limited, but under what conditions. Guidance can be found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself — a source rarely invoked for this purpose. Article 30 of the UDHR states:
Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.”
This provision clearly implies that no individual or institution may use human rights as a pretext to destroy other fundamental rights. This is sufficient to form the basis of a legal doctrine for limiting immunity where human rights mechanisms are abused.
Politicisation of the UNHRC manifests itself most clearly in the unequal application of its resources. The SLAP, for instance, has operated since 2021 despite being rejected by successive Sri Lankan Governments, including the present one. Each time its mandate comes up for renewal, a group of states led by the UK and Canada — the so-called Core Group” on Sri Lanka — applies sustained pressure to push the relevant resolution through. The most recent such resolution was adopted at the UNHRC’s 60th session. It was reported at the outset that forty-three states opposed a new resolution on Sri Lanka, with some explicitly objecting to the extension of the SLAP’s mandate. Yet both the resolution and the extension were approved.
Supporters of the SLAP argue that it is necessary to hold accountable those responsible for war crimes and other violations allegedly committed during the conflict with the LTTE. The material in its repository, however, remains secret. Neither the Sri Lankan government nor the public can scrutinise it or challenge its contents before it is transmitted to third parties for action against the country.
The defeat of the LTTE in May 2009 brought peace and security to Sri Lanka. Without peace and security, the meaningful enjoyment of human rights is impossible. The High Commissioner has stated that the SLAP contains evidence of crimes against humanity. If such evidence is used to justify international endorsement of a right to self-determination for Tamils in Sri Lanka — led, for example, by the UK or Canada — any attempt to pursue secession would almost inevitably result in renewed violence.
In that scenario, the persistent promotion of the SLAP by these states would effectively amount to an attempt to deprive the majority of Sri Lankans of their right to live in peace and security. Such conduct would, on its face, fall within the type of behaviour that Article 30 of the UDHR seeks to prohibit. The SLAP thus provides an ideal platform for scholarly examination of the relevance of Article 30 to the functioning of the UNHRC.
The acceptance by the OIOS of the complaint against the SLAP demonstrates that there are legitimate grounds for concern regarding this mechanism. Yet if this process triggers a serious discussion on accountability and reform within the UNHRC, it may ultimately serve a constructive purpose. In that sense, one might even say that some good has come from it.
Sri Lankan renewable energy company Vidullanka PLC has announced that it has emerged as the lowest-cost bidder for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to expand and upgrade a 100-kilowatt mini hydropower facility at Buca Village in Fiji.
In a disclosure to the Colombo Stock Exchange, the company said the determination was made on 19 December 2025, marking a significant step toward securing the overseas renewable energy contract, although the formal award is still pending.
Vidullanka said the development is price-sensitive, given its potential impact on future business activity and the company’s longer-term market positioning.
The determination represents a material development for the company, subject to the formal award of the contract,” Vidullanka said in its disclosure.
The company noted that further announcements will be made once the contract is formally awarded, material agreements are executed, or there are additional developments related to the tender process.
Vidullanka also cautioned that the potential award remains subject to technical evaluations, decisions by the evaluation committee, regulatory approvals, and the successful negotiation of final terms.
If confirmed, the project would add to Fiji’s renewable energy infrastructure while expanding Vidullanka’s footprint in the Pacific region, aligning with broader regional efforts to strengthen clean and sustainable energy generation.
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Sustained adherence to the reform agenda has underpinned a robust economic recovery, price stability, substantial revenue-based fiscal consolidation, and progress in rebuilding foreign exchange reserves, but the economy remains vulnerable, and GDP has not recovered to its pre-crisis level, according to an IMF official.
Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, said it in a statement issued last Friday.
Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic cyclone, claiming more than 600 lives and affecting millions more. Flooding and landslides have displaced more than 100,000 people, destroyed critical infrastructure, and devastated livelihoods across the country, he said.
The disaster has created urgent humanitarian and reconstruction needs, generating significant fiscal pressures and balance-of-payments needs. The emergency financial support provided by the IMF under the RFI will help address these pressures.
The government responded swiftly with a package of relief measures, supported by strong fiscal overperformance in 2025. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka stands ready to provide liquidity support to the financial system if needed.
While recovery and reconstruction needs will be substantial, the authorities remain committed to maintaining fiscal prudence to safeguard fiscal and debt sustainability. All emergency spending will be executed in full compliance with the Public Financial Management Act and supported by enhanced monitoring and regular public reporting in line with transparency and accountability standards. The Central Bank will continue to refrain from monetary financing of the budget.
The cyclone struck as Sri Lanka is emerging from a deep economic crisis and the IMF-supported reform programme under the EFF is bearing fruit.
The authorities and IMF team maintain close engagement and will resume discussions at the earliest possible juncture. The IMF stands with the people of Sri Lanka during this difficult time and will continue to support Sri Lanka’s recovery and reconstruction efforts,” he said.
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The inaugural 2026 budget proposal of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), which is under the control of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP), has been defeated by a majority of three votes.
The budget received 57 votes in favour, while 60 councilors voted against it, Ada Derana reporter said.
The votes of two members of ‘Sarvajana Balaya’ had proved decisive in the outcome of the vote, resulting in the National People’s Power (NPP) budget proposal being defeated by a majority of three votes.
At the last Local Government Elections, the NPP secured power in the CMC and its mayoral candidate Vraie Cally Balthazar was elected as the Mayor of Colombo by securing 61 votes.
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Cyclone Ditwah caused extensive physical destruction across all 25 districts of Sri Lanka after striking the island in late November 2025. This assessment, conducted by the World Bank using the Global Rapid Post-Disaster Damage Estimation (GRADE) methodology, estimates the direct physical damage at approximately 4% of the country’s GDP. The disaster affected nearly 2 million people and 500,000 families, marking it as one of the most destructive events in the nation’s recent history.
Key Damage Statistics
Total Direct Damage: US$ 4.1 billion.
Hardest Hit Districts: Kandy leads with US$ 689 million in losses, followed by Puttalam (US$ 486 million) and Badulla (US$ 379 million).
Affected Population: Approximately 2 million individuals and 500,000 families.
Sector-Specific Impacts
Infrastructure (US$ 1.735 billion): Representing 42% of total damage, the cyclone severely impacted roads, bridges, railways, power networks, and telecommunications.
Housing (US$ 985 million): Accounting for 24% of losses, the highest housing destruction occurred in Badulla, Nuwara Eliya, Kandy, Kegalle, and Puttalam.
Agriculture and Fisheries (US$ 814 million): Significant destruction to rice paddies, vegetable crops, and livestock threatens to increase rural poverty and food insecurity.
Non-residential Buildings (US$ 562 million): Schools, hospitals, and industrial factories faced heavy damage, particularly those near major rivers.
Recovery and Methodology
The World Bank mobilised up to US$ 120 million from existing projects to prioritise the restoration of essential services like healthcare, water, and connectivity. The GRADE methodology used for this report provides rapid, remote damage estimates within two weeks of a disaster to guide emergency financing. While the current estimate focuses on physical assets, the total economic impact is expected to rise significantly once indirect losses and “build back better” reconstruction costs are factored in.
If the Tamils’ cry for separatism is given up, the two communities could solve their problems and continue to live in amity and dignity.”
M.C. Sansoni, CJ-(Sessional Paper No. 7 of 1980).
It is interesting to observe the behavior of the young Tamil M.P. Archuna among the other disoriented Sinhala-speaking M.P.s who are wasting taxpayers’ money at the Diyawanna hotel. Of them, 159 are either doormats or Rajan Kadiragamars. The Tamil and Muslim MPs are enjoying the fun of how an inexperienced, incompetent and confused set of JVP-NPP leaders destroying the island’s Sinhala Buddhist civilization, openly and discreetly, treating the Sinhala Buddhist voters as fools who believed the likes of Uganda Kumari, and specially the undeliverable promises given by the candidate and later the president AKD.
It is true that AKD became president due to the defective undemocratic, anti-geographic, electoral system, and the split of votes between the two selfish souls, Sajith and Ranil. He did not have a majority approval and he is doing things not in his mandate. A drastic erosion of his voter base is already clearly visible. The defeated and elected Sinhala MPs and leaders think that the sins and crimes of AKD government give them unexpected hope to come to power again sooner than later. But the opposition parties separately or collectively have failed so far to demonstrate that they are not the same wine in the old bottle and they have a better plan than the failing AKD govt.
One thing is clear. A Marxist group with a history of blood and death since 1971, is unlikely to give up power by way of a bloodless election. It never happened in the history of Totalitarianism in the world. The signs are all over as the Kaduwela mayor Jayalal said, we are prepared to kill even 100,000 people to stay in power.” None of these matter to Tamil and Muslim MPs as long as they can survive with an Eelam and Oluvil-Sharia enclaves that both groups just missed during the Neelan-GL-Jayampathy Package Deal of Mrs. Chandrika in 2000, which Ranil-Sumanthiran-Jayampathy-Lal Wijenaika cabal resurrected again in 2017. That blue print was dead (forgotten?) in the minds of Sinhalayas, but only buried, as far as the Tamils and Muslim leaders are concerned, who are waiting to resurrect it from the grave, when the time is ripe. India and USA-UK do not mind any of these scenarios, as long as they have a firm grip over an adulterated Marxist Regime.
I think Archuna’s recent visit to see the Asgiriya Mahanayaka Thero was a genuine gesture, unlike what Vigneswaran tried to do some years ago. Free of any hidden political agenda, he placed his ideological challenge before the Mahanayaka priest, and it is the duty of the monks who have been the Guardian Angels of this island, and the so called Sinhala Buddhist leaders to educate Archuna why he cannot achieve his goal for a peaceful Sri Lanka as long as he is a direct agent of the global Tamil tigers. Because, Global Tamils want an Eelam country with a UN seat and a flag.
The ACBC pioneered by Prof. G. P. Malalasekara and few others, has failed miserably to defeat the ideological war then after 2009 May, and now in 2025. It was the highly educated, Christian-Marxist Dayan Jayathilaka plus Lalith Weeratunga and P. B. Jayasundara who took MahindaR and later Gotabaya on a jungle path in this regard. The cruelest dead-rope Dayan gave to MR was to let the moderate Tamil Vigneswaran to become the Chief Minister-NP. Colombo YMBA is an NGO (caste conscious?) more anti-Buddhist than Buddhist. Buddhism minister, ministry, department and the Sasana Rakshaka Bala Mandala, are all politicians’ jokes deceiving the innocent Sinhala Buddhists.
The grave mistake made by MR after May 2009 to follow a program to erase the Eelam ideology from the minds of innocent Tamils allowed the separatist Tamil politicians to slowly build a demand for an Eelam via the 13th Amendment. The locals like Sumanthiran with Sinhala daughter-in-law work behind the scene with the Indian RAW in Jaffna. Gajendra Ponnambalam on the other hand desperate to capitalize the Indian-controlled AKD government. He met the Tamilnad CM Stalin to put pressure on Modi to get the police and land powers for the Provincial Councils under the 13A.
Shanakyan Rasamanikkam went further. He was bold or foolish enough to put his neck out compared to Ponnamabalam or Sumanthiran. He has become an ostrich hiding his head in the sand. An M.P. who took an oath to protect the unitary Sri Lanka has given a heroic talk to the Canadian tiger forum that his plan is to achieve an Eelam before his death which is father and grandfather failed to achieve working with SJV Chelvanayagam who handed over the fight to Prbakaran-boys before his death in 1977. But Rasamanikkam knew for sure that he would not face legal action against his statements in Canada under an AKD regimen buried under the Tamil diaspora dollars. His assessment of Sri Lanka’s plight was so pathetic compared to the olive branch some opposition Sinhala politicians offer him.
Archuna is different and unique in his mission to handle the Tamil plight”. He has exposed the older Tamil separatists’ game behind the Indian politicians. And, he has the potential to become a young Kadiragamar in building bridges between the Tamil and Sinhala masses ( at his funeral in 2005, Buddhist monks came from all over the country to conduct Buddhist religious rites treating him a genuine Buddhist who sacrificed his life for national unity).
However, for this service Archuna needs a better understanding of the geography and history (history is past geography) of Sri Lanka. Because, the Global Tamil movement supporting him has the goal of winning a Tamil country with a UN flag, carved out of Sri Lankan land. Archuna does not realize his desire to be the next Chief Minister of the Northern Province is only one step away from a Tamil Eelam in Sri Lankan soil.
AKD planned a brand new concept of a Sri Lankan Day to promote peace and harmony among different ethnic groups while Rasamanikkam was challenging it with support from Canada which allowed tigers to block a public highway! The so called Sri Lanka Day was a waste money given to Samanalie Fonseka to organize it. It was against the Sinhala Buddhist society and some gods took care of it. If at all AKD tries it again it ought to be named the Eelam Day, and following the example given by Anagarika Dharmapala, and on that shameful day people should display white flags as a silent protest. In the 1930s-1940s Anagarika Dharmapala asked people to make a puppet apply white paint on it and keep it in front of his house and hit it in the morning and evening calling it a dirty white man (පර සුද්දා). It was a psychological boost for a nation humiliated and discriminated against by a white rule with the help of local Christian black whites.
Wigneswaran’s two sons married two Sinhala women and so was Sumanthiran’s son. If Hitler had two sons who were married to two Jews men could one say Hitler practiced Genocide? This was exactly what Wigneswaran said about the Sinhala government from which he reaped the best possible benefits before he became a Tamil politician giving up his past alliance with the Marxists LSSPers. Archuna has a Sinhala woman as his wife and hopefully he will not talk about a Tamil genocide in the South.
To this Vellala crowd Arun Siddharth is like acid on a piece of an old iron. A follower of Ambedkar he is working for the upliftment of so called low caste Tamils in Jaffna facing threats of harassments from the Indian Raw, Indian embassy branch in Jaffna and the Vellala vested interests in all over Jaffna. The low castes” perform all the manual and sanitary work and they are the majority in the North. Arun was against Prabakaran, 13th Amendment and Christian provocations against Buddhist temples and archeological sites using innocent Hindu Tamils.
He points out how Vellala politicians organized private tuition for their children to learn Sinhala while opposing poor Tamil children learning Sinhala free in government schools. It was C.W.W. Kannanagara’s free education law in 1945 which helped low caste Hindu Tamils to get even a basic education. More than the 1956 Sinhala only law what offended the Vellala politicians most was the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act, No. 21 of 1957, a law designed to abolish caste-based discrimination.
Chelvanayagam left the increasingly hostile anti-Tamil environment in Malaya, and immigrated to Ceylon via South Indian Christian church in Madras to begin his Kosovo plan by forming the Tamil State Party (Federal Party) in 1949. That was 7 years before the Sinhala only act, which had provisions for the Reasonable Use of Tamil in Ceylon, sabotaged by Sinhala extremists and the UNP leaders JRJ and Dudley. For his project, Chelvanayagam had all the blessings he needed from the LSSP Marxists who supported the Fifty-Fifty demand of G. G. Ponnabalam, which was rejected by the Donoughmore Commission in 1928.
Archuna has wrong facts about the number of Tamil deaths during the 30-year war or the origin of the Tissa Raja Maha Vihara in Jaffna. Apparently, his knowledge and understanding of the so called Tamil struggle revolves around his father’s life and death. In Buddhism, there is no place for a wicked god or an almighty God, which is but an accepted norm (concept) in Hinduism. Thus, the Sinhala Buddhists need not dismiss the role Archuna could play in Sri Lankan politics simply because he identifies Prabakaran as his god (දෙයියෝ). That kind of reaction would push Archuna more into the global Tamil Eelam prison (project).
My experience with Tamils (I lived with Tamil roommates) is that they are innocent people. Just like the Marxists ruined the minds of some Sinhala people with hatred and destruction, Tamil politicians who realized that they are going to loose the benefits of the colonial strategy of divide and rule, especially after the universal franchise in 1931, thought of carving out a separate country for them, away from Colombo, so that they become masters of their own enclave.
I think the desire of Archuna and Arun Siddharth is the empowerment of Tamil people, not the crooked politicians. These two must work together with this common goal. They could easily work with a person like Wijeweera’s son Uvindu who is different from older Sinhala politicians including his father who died in vain.
I hope Archuna respond to this invitation via email.
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An enigma indeed. National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa’s adroit revelations this week about who secretly visited the then-Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena at midnight on 13 July 2022, detains us once again, as he wipes away the fogs emanating out of the merchant media’s mist machine (see ee Sovereignty, Wimal Weerawansa Divulges Hooker Nona’s Testimony).
Speculations keep overflowing with muddling reportage, as to who was trying to foment a coup to hurry the extra-parliamentary ousting of a popularly elected President Gotabhaya Rajapakse, so as to ease the entry of all-time favored blue-eyed tannic toyboy, Ranil Wickremesinghe. Was it delayed, as such a blatant coup could have sparked a horrific bloodbath on that fateful day? Yet it was Ranil’s unelected accession that was enabled through the fig-leaf of bipartisan parliamentary assent. Still, who was able to deploy the ‘elite’ paramilitary Special Task Force (STF) to surround the Speakers’ Residence? Who promised to call the agitations all off ‘in 45 minutes’ even as the Aragalists were purportedly baying to burn down parliament that night? Was it Julie Chung the always-leaving never-going US envoy (Feb 2022 – ?)? Was it the then-Indian High Commissioner in Colombo, now posted-down-under – Gopal ‘The Cowherd’ Bagalay (May 2022 – Dec 2023)?
Controversy clambered higher than the clouding heavens roiling above, as the former speaker is said to have revealed all to Sunanda Maddumabandara, the Senior Advisor (media) to President Ranil Wickremesinghe (July 2022 – Sept 2024). Maddumabandara’s most recent work, Aragalaye Balaya (The Power of the Aragalaya) fingers Bagalay as having directly interfered in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs. This revelation was reported as contradicting assertions by NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa in his book 9: the Hidden Story and by polemicist Sena Thoradeniya’s tract, Galle Face Protest: System Change or Anarchy? – both of whom had presumably and unfairly dared nail the always-skirting US envoy as the official stirrer of the aragalaya pot. The envoy had merely activated the US embassy’s innumerable little governmental-non-governmental (GNGO) fingers wrapped in dainty dollar bills.
Weerawansa this week presciently pointed out that Maddumbandara’s book does not contradict his assertion that it was indeed the US government quarterbacking the kerfuffle; that the Envoy had merely preceded the Bharati boy. Nor does Weerawansa‘s book deny that this official Indian Bagalay was sent trotting behind to reinforce the US Envoy’s demand, which the speaker is said to have heroically or stoically turned down. Critics point out that Wickremesinghe loyalist Maddumabandara’s media assertions have been frequently found to be numerically challenged and terminologically inexact.
It is no surprise that the UNP leader and his coterie would eagerly seek to whitewash the role the US government has played in undermining elected governments midst their cacophonous bluster about ‘democracy’ and ‘rule of law’. Always-breakdown RW eagerly and patiently awaits his turn, once again, despite his protestations that he has not installed himself as UNP leader-for-life. Given RW’s frequent recent jaunts to India, it appears that the permission to implicate Bagalay has been given the imprimatur by the spooks shadowing Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, former president of Tata Sons’ Global Corporate Affairs Division, and present India Minister of External Affairs. It is also more than clear that India is unable to assert its independence from US foreign policy dibs over the nation of Bharat and the ocean known as Indian, wherein Sri Lanka has always played a crucial role.
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Japan’s leaders continue to issue dire threats against China, as demanded by their colonial master, the USA. Yet, as Warwick Powell nevertheless cries out, Asia needs to consolidate its economic relationships ‘as the foundations for regional stability & peace’. ee Focus continues Powell’s conversation with Norway’s Glenn Diesen on how ‘Japan Risks Economic Decline & War’. He points out, DPR Korea & China ‘have had a mutual defense arrangement since the 1950s’. He warns: half a million Ukrainians or more have died ‘in the name of the USA’s war’, noting that the USA is not in the Ukraine ‘for the Ukrainians or anyone else. They’re there for the USA.’ Diesen declares that Europe is in deep delusion, apparently ignoring that it is the USA who blew up the NordStream pipeline to ensure Europe’s industrial and economic dependence. Warwick notes, Asia is ‘ultimately… going to need to find a way to a post-US future,’ or like Europe: sink with the Titanic.
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The USA’s atomic bombing of Japan was the ‘First Act of the Cold War’, recalls Roy Singham, giving thorough evidence of why there was absolutely no need for such a horrific deed. Instead he shows, using the USA’s own evidence, that the nukes were aimed at deterring the USSR to whom Japan was about to surrender. ee Focus continues Singham’s amazing yet unsettling accounts of the ‘80th Anniversary of the Victory in the World Anti-Fascist War (WAFW)’ – subtitled, ‘Understanding Who Saved Humanity: a Restorationist History’. Singham proves how ‘the moment fascism fell, the mask dropped’ and the US decided to commit genocide in Korea, massacring over 20% of their population: ‘No nation in modern history has suffered such concentrated destruction’.
The imperialists then began to attack the socialist countries that had actually made the greatest sacrifices to defeat fascism. The moment Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam’s independence; the English released & rearmed French troops in Saigon… Capitalism’s so-called victory, has turned out to be Pyrrhic and ruinous to the world….and the innumerable obituaries about communism – somewhat premature….and yes, the US and Europe are rearming fascism again.
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‘When the chips fall, we will not have the excuse
of saying we were not warned or had been fooled.
In its ambition for world domination, the Trump
administration is neither coy nor understated.’
– Sunity Maharaj (Trinidad)
This week sees the tourism traders in Sri Lanka promoting smuggled Indian ganja on Bentota Beach. They claim to be honoring the Jamaican reggae balladeer Bob Marley. They seek to drown out Marley’s more poignant pointing to the English slavers (‘old pirates’) who sold Africans to the ‘merchant ships.’ Traders have made Marley’s name more an eponym for the banned herb in Lanka, than a lyricist of liberation. Then again, a televised Rastafarianism (a caricature of the Maroonism of escaped and resistant slaves), was promoted to counter the Marxism-Leninism that triumphed in Cuba & Grenada, etc. , and has been either invaded or besieged.
Yet Sri Lanka has received an even more urgent message from the Caribbean (which the BBC keeps calling by its cricketing plantation slave name – the West Indies). We have already noted the installation of doppler radar on Trinidad’s twin island Tobago, that turns out to be not for weather warnings but for military purposes (see ee 06 December 2025). We won’t even ask whatever happened to those innumerable joint military exercises and equipments that promised to protect us against such uncalled-for happenings as took place on that rather evocative date of 27 November.
This week, the Trinidadian scribe Sunity Maharaj details the USA’s latest moves to ‘reassert & enforce’ their 202-year-old Monroe Doctrine on the test of the Americas (note the plural) as it assembles (see ee Focus) a huge military force outside Venezuela, to grab its vast oil reserves, under the pretext of interdicting narcotics. Open warfare there will send the prices of imported fuel sky high, and send Sri Lanka’s import-dependent economy tumbling further even as the US dispatches envoys to prescribe salves. The Monroe Doctrine proclaims that the USA can intervene anywhere & in any country in the Western hemisphere. And not only…
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‘Take up the White Man’s burden –
Send forth the best ye breed –
Go bind your sons to exile
To serve your captives’ need;
To wait in heavy harness
On fluttered folk & wild –
Your new-caught sullen peoples,
Half devil & half child…’
Last week, ee pointed to the USA’s policy of Manifest Destiny, which invoked divine anointment to extend its dominions to the Pacific (Hawaii, Polynesia, Melanesia), and Asia (Philippines). Monroe Doctrine or Manifest Destiny, all of it is an extension of England’s White Man’s Burden – the title of a poem written by Anglo-Indian Rudyard Kipling to extol the USA’s invasion of the Philippines…
It is important to recall here that Don Trump’s assertions are a continuation of his Democratic Party predecessors like B. Obama & J. Biden, despite all claims to the contrary. Trump has just been more open. In his first term, Trump invoked his genocidal antecedent US President Andrew Jackson (1829-37) who massacred and drove out the original peoples of North America’s southern territories – Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole – to make way for the enslaving cotton plantations. In his second term, Trump has rather curiously invoked ‘Tariff King’ US President William McKinley (1897-1901), who invaded the former Spanish colonies, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Philippines, wars led by their veterans of the ‘Indian Wars’ in the US South. A most-mortal McKinley was later assassinated by a purported Polish anarchist, and replaced by the thuggish Theodore Roosevelt, who proclaimed US diplomatic policy, as ‘Speaking Softly, & Carrying a Big Stick’. Trump shrugs off such prevarications, and insists on ranting wildly & brandishing blunt weapons. Cosplaying master, he signals irrationality & contradiction as his right. US rulers’ links to known Nazis are also not surprising, given that prominent European & other Americas’ leaders today such as Canada’s Chrystia Freelander, Germany’s Ursula von der Leyen, Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, and recently elected Chilean President José Antonio Kast – are all the grand/children of devout Nazis. Then again, the USA needs no lessons in fascism. The Nazis always acknowledged the white settlers of the Americas & elsewhere, as their elder siblings, from whom they have learned much…And now after the so-called and much heralded ‘pink wave’ of social democrats who clearly have no way to overcome capitalism, we have to get ready to overcome another assault by their rested and fully financialized born-again avatara….
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Sri Lanka’s resistance to the more barbarous impulses emanating from the North Atlantic are not new. Our land was invaded by Portugal, 13 years after Spain pounced on Haiti (from the Taino ‘Ayti’) in 1492; and our economy has been captured for almost 200 years by the English system of import-export ‘human resources’ derived from the chattel slavery first practiced in the Americas. Trinidad (T&T), whose plantations added the sugar to an Anglo-fied tea, is considered the most literate land in the western hemisphere (even if we now only hear of the less machete-edged calypsos that cry out, ‘Olay Olay Olay Olay…feelin Hot Hot Hot’). Yet heated is how the entire archipelago feels, as Maharaj describes the moment of truth about the Caribbean’s claims to independence, as the US government sets out to fulfil its latest National Security Strategy 2025, & not just for their part of world. The USA is seeking to impose bilateral pacts to enable US military forces on their soils.
‘You taught me language,
& all I know is how to curse.’
– Caliban’s retort to Prospero
in Shakespeare’s Tempest
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What was the real reason for the gaping difference between the economy of Sri Lanka, a non-settler colony, and settler colonies such as New Zealand, etc? Was it just because the genocidal settlers brought modern (machine-making) industrial skills from Europe? No way, says SBD de Silva, as we begin Chapter 5 of his classic opus The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. SBD as usual provides innumerable examples from around the world. What matters more turns out to be their severance from the absentee capitalists & expat businessmen of the metropolitan economies (Sri Lanka is still full of them), and their freedom to invest in local manufacturing and food production. The presence of a white working class also pressured the settler governments, who had to provide them subsidized skilled employment in state industrial monopolies. In fact, those settler colonies, like Rhodesia & Kenya, that were unable to fully sever their ties with Europe, were prevented from truly advancing their economies.
SBD also examines the growth of a white caste system of skilled industrial labor, and the deliberate prevention of such skills among the natives; the ‘sharpest’ measures took place in Africa, where Africans, contrary to the broadcast idiocies, showed they were most capable of acquiring acute technical proficiency. SBD provides a very interesting exchange between the English bankers (who refused to hire Ceylonese in executive positions due to orders from London) and the Ceylon Banking Commissioners. He also provides evidence of how the planters had no skills in agriculture save their ‘accident of European birth’. Instead, the English pursued a deliberate education policy of keeping the natives, ‘stupid under the Union Jack’, producing clerks proud of elocuting their non-industrial English skills, while exaggerating the abilities of the whites.
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Sri Lanka’s economy has been taken hostage by New York’s Wall Street (metonym for financial manipulations), with the present governor of the Central Bank in Sri Lanka eager to display his ‘independence’ from the country’s best interests, by preventing investment in our modern advance. He hopes to acquire some later pensionable posting in Manhattan or London. ee is now almost at the end of the excerpts of Gustavus Myers’ 1917 History of Tammany Hall, which shows how, despite the constant show trials against corruption, New York offered the most magnificent examples of financial malfeasance & skulduggery, displaying the foremost examples in the world of capitalism’s private capture of legislatures through their control of the latest transport & communication technologies. Here we learn of the ‘pretended political warfare’ between the capitalist political parties and their ‘secret understandings’. He shows how the Republicans came to be ‘the preferred instrument through which the powerful financial, industrial, utility, commercial & other corporations operated to get the legislation that they wanted’. More significantly, we learn of the capture of trade unions by gangsters and the protection of such gangs by the capitalist state through their ‘full control of the criminal machinery of the law’.
Geneva, 22 December: Expressing serious concern over the current volatile situation in Bangladesh erupted after the murder of a young leader, the global media safety and rights body Press Emblem Campaign (PEC) urges the caretaker government in Dhaka to ensure safety & security to the media fraternity across the south Asian country. Condemning the incidents, where a digital media editor Imdadul Haque Milon (45) was killed and an unruly mob attacked two newspaper-offices (Prothom Alo and The Daily Star) in the capital city on Thursday night, the PEC also slams the physical abusers of New Age editor Nurul Kabir, who along with some media professionals tried to prevent the vandals.
Milon, who used to work for online news portal Bartaman Somoy was targeted by four motorcycle-born armed men at Shalua market on 18 December evening. Seriously injured Milon was rushed to Khulna medical college hospital, where the Shalua Press Club office bearer was declared brought dead by the attending doctors. He is the 163rd journo-victims globally and fifth casualty in Bangladesh after Assaduzzaman Tuhin, Bibhuranjan Sarkar, Wahed-uz-Zaman Bulu and Khandahar Shah Alam till date this year.
“We condemn the shooting down of journalist Imdadul Haque Milon. Moreover, the midnight vandalism and arson attacks on Dhaka-based prominent Bengali daily Prothom Alo and acclaimed English newspaper The Daily Star, when many employees including journalists were still working, is horrible and it deserves to be denounced with strongest words. Both the dailies even couldn’t publish the Friday edition,” said Blaise Lempen, president of PEC (pressemblem.ch), adding that it should be termed as an assault on freedom of the press, which needs to be protected by the government as the Muslim majority nation prepares for the general election on 12 February 2026.
PEC’s south and southeast Asian representative Nava Thakuria informed that an unprecedented violence broke out in the country soon after the interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus confirmed the demise of Inquilab Mancha spokesperson Sharif Osman Hadi in Singapore, where he was airlifted for advanced treatment following a bullet injury in Dhaka. Hadi came to public notice during the student-led mass uprising last year which ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina compelling the Awami League leader to flee to neighboring India for shelter. Meanwhile, Prof Yunus talked to both the editors and assured support & security assistance.
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by Garvin Karunaratne . Ph.D (Michigan State University)
The recovery for the Ditwah Disaster will require billions. It is a bigger task than fixing all our irrigation tanks and financing the resettlement of people in the Dry Zone, a task well done in recent times.
How is this task to be financed. Already foreign money is pouring in as donations. The IMF itself has approved SDR 150.5 million equal to $ 206 million under the Rapid Financing Instrument (Daily Mirror 19/12/25). Donations are also forthcoming in $ from various sources.
The Disaster caused will require an immense sum of money. The recovery of the Peradeniya Gardens, one of the petty tasks to be done will itself cost Rs 120 millions.
How is the recovery to be financed.
In this connection it is important to note that till 1978 all local expenditure in entire Sri Lanka was done with local Printed Rupees.
It is my opinion that in handling the recovery for this Disaster we have to make an estimate of the cost to be incurred locally as opposed to the funds required in foreign funds The funds required for all local expenses should be made in printed rupees while the expenses required for financing the import of machinery etc. should be done in foreign funds.
Till 1978, when our finances came under the control of the IMF, all expenses were divided into two categories- local expenses and foreign expenses. The local expenses were met with locally printed Rupees while imports were met with our foreign funds.
It is my humble request to the present Government to kindly consider this fact, when handling this recovery.
I also enclose my earlier writing to further support.
Garvin Karunaratne,
former G.A. Matara
Our increasing Foreign Debt
Sri Lanka did not have any foreign debt when Premier Sirimavo handed over the country to President Jayawardena in 1977. Since 1977 our foreign debt has increased. In my own words:
Running the country on loans and not repaying them was the method that President Jayawardena accepted and ,,, the Foreign Debt of the country kept mounting through out the rule of President Jayawardena and reached SDR 5.5 billion by the end of 1993 and $ 6 billion by the end of 1994 when the rule of the UNP ended.”(From :How the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme Destroyed Sri Lanka(2021)
What really happened was that during the period of 17years, from 1977 to 1993, the economy of Sri Lanka was also totally changed from a produce , consume and sell economy, where we lived within our means to a neoliberal import and live economy where loans were obtained and repaying the loans were never envisaged and the release of foreign funds(obtained on loan) for foreign travel foreign education- an economy that inevitably led to debt. The IMF approved the scheme, gave loans initially,effectively made the country indebted and backed out later, leaving the country to face the music of having to face a foreign debt, which tied it down for ever to the IMF
Sri Lanka managed its foreign expenses till 1977. This was done with great care. Foreign Exchange was strictly controlled and utilized for essentials. No foreign exchange was allowed for foreign travel unless that travel was necessary for Sri Lanka. No foreign exchange was allowed for foreign study. An exception was an allocation of foreign exchange for Chandrika and Sunethra Bandaranaike for study abroad and I had the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister Mr Dudley Senanayake as to why he allowed it. I got the reply that it was the only request made by a former Prime Minister of the country and he felt like obliging her. Local industrialists were allocated foreign exchange to import what was required for their manufactures. In 1970 I was in charge of making allocations of foreign exchange to small industrialists. This was done with great care after an inspection of the machinery and also ensuring that what was imported was required to make something that the country required.
The management of foreign exchange was done with great care. In the early Seventies the oil sheiks increased the price of oil three fold and yet Sri Lanka managed its foreign expenses within its means.
In 1977 the control of foreign exchange was relaxed by President Jayawardena. Import restrictions were done away with foreign exchange was made readily available to all persons for anything including foreign travel and when the foreign exchange available was inadequate, foreign exchange was obtained on loan. Initially the IMF gave loans but gradually backed out and the indebted country had to obtain loans in the open market. It was this liberalized process of handling foreign exchange introduced to the countries that led the countries to have an economy that was indebted.
Garvin Karunaratne
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It is crucial that we understand how a private sexual behavior that has lasted centuries suddenly became converted into a global political tool to reshape society, education, policy, medicine and population outcome.
STEP 1 — Reclassification (to create Legitimacy)
· International medical bodies removed homosexuality from psychiatric classifications in which it had previously appeared, without new biological, genetic, or clinical evidence demonstrating a change in etiology.
· A condition previously classified as a mental disorder (within psychiatric diagnostic frameworks) was reframed from a diagnosable condition into a fixed personal identity”, showcasing a fundamental conceptual shift rather than a scientific discovery.
· After reclassifying homosexual mental disorder as an identity, questioning, or criticizing became a discrimination”, discouraging open scientific and public debate.
· As a result, existing laws, religious doctrines, cultural norms, and societal frameworks that historically regulated public behaviour were labelled outdated,” regressive,” or unscientific”, despite long-standing social and legal foundations.
· Scientific discourse was replaced with selected experts presented as representing new consensus, despite the absence of evidence-based validation.
· A privately conducted sexual behaviour, formerly a clinical classification, was converted into a protected identity category, forming the basis for later legal, political, and institutional claims including human rights”.
· The American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Second Edition (DSM-II) in 1973, replacing it with sexual orientation disturbance,” later termed ego-dystonic homosexuality.” This too was removed in DSM-III-R (1987).
· The World Health Organization (WHO) removed homosexuality from the Mental and Behavioural Disorders chapter of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) in 1990.
This decision was not based on new biological or genetic discoveries, but reflected prevailing social and political attitudes within Western psychiatric and academic institutions.
· WHO retained ego-dystonic sexual orientation” as a residual diagnostic category in ICD-10; however, this too was removed entirely in ICD-11 (adopted in 2019).
· Philanthropic foundations and donors with financial interests across pharmaceuticals, media, academia, and international institutions played a significant role in funding, advocacy, and institutional alignment that supported this reclassification.
STEP 2 — Rights Framing (to create Legal Pressure)
· A private sexual behaviour, once reframed as “identity”, became repositioned as a human rights issue, shifting it from the private sphere into the domain of international law and state obligation.
· Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (SOGI) terminology began to be introduced into UN reports, guidance documents, policy frameworks, and committee outputs, without formal amendment of ratified treaties and often disregarding existing treaty language and limitations.
· UN agencies and treaty-monitoring committees initiated expansive reinterpretations of existing conventions, advancing SOGI-based readings that were not included in treaty texts but influenced by ideological and donor influence.
· These committee recommendations and general comments, which carry no binding legal force, were nevertheless presented to governments as authoritative or obligatory.
· Governments were informed-formally and informally-that compliance was necessary to meet international expectations, maintain diplomatic standing, obtain loans, or avoid reputational and political consequences.
· As a result, national legislatures were bypassed, with pressure placed on:
o Public Servants
o Politicians & Ministries
o Regulatory bodies
· to introduce policy and legal changes without public consultation or electoral mandate.
· Courts and administrative bodies were encouraged or pressured to apply these reinterpretations, despite the absence of parliamentary approval or domestic legal incorporation using loopholes while also ignoring the existing legal provisions.
· Consequently, policy shifts were implemented quietly through administrative action, regulatory changes, or judicial interpretation, rather than through transparent democratic debate.
· Thus, a privately conducted sexual behaviour-reclassified as an “identity”-was transformed into a perceived state obligation under international pressure.
STEP 3 — Using Aid & Diplomacy as Leverage (Forcing Compliance)
The insidious nature of the project is clear when its international roll out is tied to
· Entities that claim to honor national sovereignty is arm-twisting & forcing nations to compromise their sovereignty
· National governments choose to adopt policies to avoid punishment & remain in power even though citizens disagree.
This is how diplomatic & economic pressure replaces democratic consent.
STEP 4 — Cultural Normalisation (Disarming Resistance)
· Having forced national governments to adopt by any means the next step is to spread it amongst the population. For this, numerous modes of media channels and their owners and activists are lined up.
· Media, films, teledramas, columnists/articles, talk shows, panel discussions, sponsoring ads, celebrities, and social platforms are used to promote LGBTQIA as:
o Progressive
o Fashionable
o Inevitable
o With openings for jobs, promotions, scholarships, and even refugee/asylum applications.
· Media is used as repetition conditions perception and repetitions through multiple platforms & methods creates the desired effect (public conditioning)
· Dissent is labelled hate” or ignorance”.
· Social pressure replaces rational discussion.
· Alternate views and warnings are not entertained or given any opportunity to reach out to the people.
· Parents, teachers, and religious leaders who foresee the dangers are forced to voluntarily create their own programs for awareness
· Public debate collapses as government & top private sector corporates & their heads have been co-opted into the project.
With little or no awareness of dangerous consequences, people end up accepting change before understanding its dangers.
STEP 5 — Venturing to Education (Capturing the Next Generation – the most dangerous step with adverse long-term consequences)
Concepts are being lined up to be introduced in schools under:
· Inclusion
· Safety
· Anti-bullying
Teacher training and curricula are externally influenced and taking place secretly via UN partnered programs. Same training is taking place to public sector & police as well.
· Children lack cognitive maturity to evaluate ideology. This reality is a reason for attempting to embed the ideology as part of school curriculum.
· Parents are sidelined – totally unaware of what their children are being taught and the ideology being indoctrinated to their young minds.
· Eventually, if allowed Identity” fixation replaces age-appropriate development.
· Confusion among children is normalised as discovery”
· Childhood becomes sexualized – sexual fantasies are encouraged to be practiced.
Sexualized beliefs take precedence over critical and analytical thinking necessary for their adult life.
STEP 6 — Medicalisation (Creating Lifetime Dependency on Medication)
· Distress and non-conformity are medicalized by hired experts”
· Gender-Affirmation pathways are prioritised.
· experts” recommend hormones and surgeries and ongoing treatment.
· Reversibility is limited or impossible.
· The cost of such to parents of below 21 children is unimaginable on top of the already rising cost of living.
· Children suffer permanent fertility loss which experts rarely inform prior to surgeries.
· Children must bear lifelong medical costs – for a male who thinks he is a she has to take medicines to look like a she though inside he remains a he. Similarly, a female who thinks she is a he has to take medicines to look like a he though inside she remains a she.
· One can imagine the mental and physical complications and trauma that goes on inside a child.
· Every child encouraged to opt for surgeries becomes a New long-term patient for pharma systems.
Identity has now become a commercial market for profits.
Children are a source of income for the pharma & medical industry.
STEP 7 — Adult Social Outcomes (Weakening a Nation’s Society)
· Progress to adulthood with educational guidance is hampered by the introduction of sexualized curriculum directing children’s attention away from studies & equipping themselves necessary qualifications to steer their lives once entering the world of work.
· The LGBTQIA ideology discourages biological marriages & promotes same-sex marriage
· Reduction in biological marriages results in less children born globally. How will this impact Sri Lanka – the Sinhala & Tamil populations especially who are already being subject to various contraception advice and discouraged from having children.
· It also increases mental health burden on not only individuals, but their families & to the nation as well.
· Family structures weaken – children & parents are distanced, expectations of parents are dashed, a child’s natural talents get compromised by venturing into sexualized lifestyles which includes excessive use of substance abuse (drugs, alcohol, smoking etc)
· Individual Productivity declines which extends to national productivity as well.
· Healthcare costs rise – unnecessary burden on the taxpayers to fund unnatural sexual lifestyles & the health consequences arising if legalized.
· Social fragmentation increases.
An identity framed as Individual freedom” produces collective instability to the Nation.
STEP 8 — Population & National Impact (Strategic Outcome of LGBTQIA ideology)
· Below-replacement fertility (western nations response is to encourage migrants – for developing nations such options will create major demographic/social problems)
· Aging population.
· Shrinking workforce – poor productivity
· Higher dependency ratios.
· Economic fragility.
· Greater foreign dependence.
· Weakened national resilience with the younger generation’s nationalistic temperament directed elsewhere.
· Loss of long-term sovereignty.
What looks like rights policy becomes demographic damage.
How the LGBTQIA ideology evolved
Reclassification from a mental disorder to a gender identity” ↓ Rights framing ↓ Legal & aid pressure ↓ Cultural normalization ↓ Education capture ↓ Medicalization ↓ Social breakdown ↓ Population decline & national weakening
If this were organic, such extensive institutional international pressure would not be necessary.
The scale, coordination, and persistence of enforcement reveal that this is not a spontaneous social evolution, but a managed policy project.
The reliance on treaties, funding, education systems, media, and medicine to enforce acceptance exposes it as a top-down ideological project with long-term societal consequences & goals.
When an idea requires sustained pressure on laws, education systems, families, and children, it ceases to be a matter of rights but should become a concern for a Nation. The pressure itself is the evidence.
This is what we must all realize.
Shenali D Waduge
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By Dr Sarath Obeysekera Chairman .Advisory Board fir EDB to develop Marine and Offshore Industry
1. Purpose
Sri Lanka is currently facing a severe shortage of foreign currencycreating hardships to the people in the country .Conventional foreign income generating avenues such as tourism,export of garments ,coconut products ,export of teas and spices are not performing .
Earlier, a few decades ago, casinos were not that common and casino cruises were negligible. In order to find a casino, a person would have to travel to that location where they were legal. But now the gambling scenario has changed altogether and several countries have taken the initiative to legalize gambling around the world.
It is timely identify unconventional methods of generating much needed foreign currency by way of inviting foreign investors to enter into agreements with the Tourism Ministry and affiliated government institutions to entice more foreign visitors to Sri Lanka on Casino Tours
2. Responsibility
Newly appointed minister of Investment Promotion shall be entrusted to initiate a program to fast track the tourist traffic from China and India by creating certain entertainment venue for the tourists to spend few days in cities of Galle and Colombo in addition to visiting historical locations within the country,with the support of Sri Lanka Tourism Board ,Sri Lanka Ports Authority and Sri Lanka Navy.
3. Methodoly
”Star Cruises is a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong which is a leading global leisure, entertainment, and hospitality company. It is a huge company in the Asia Pacific cruise industry and it has been operating its fleet since 1993. It is known to take the bold initiative of growing the region as an international cruise destination offering a large fleet of six vessels including SuperStar Virgo, SuperStar Aquarius, SuperStar Libra, SuperStar Gemini, Star Pisces and, The Taipan.
Star Cruises’ dedication to offering world-class services and facilities can be witnessed in a host of recognitions and accolades received over the past few years. These include its induction into the prestigious Travel Trade Gazette’s Travel Hall of Fame” for a ninth year in 2016 in recognition of bagging Best Cruise Operator in the Asia-Pacific” for 10 consecutive years. This cruise has recently been voted Asia’s Leading Cruise Line” at the World Travel Awards for the fifth year in a row in 2016.
