Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University‚ 

The achievement of the CFTC- the Commonwealth  Fund, creating employment for over three million youths in Bangladesh may be of interest.

In  Bangladesh when the new Military Government of General Ershard took over the country in 1982, the Ministry of Youth Development was providing skills training to 40,000 youths annually but the vast majority of them failed to find employment and continued to be unemployed for life. I happened to be the Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry on Youth Development and the new Hon. Minister for Labour and Manpower, Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam at a Conference held to evaluate youth development programmes, ordered me,:

 What can you contribute for Bangladesh”?

“I would suggest that you approve a self employment programme to supplement the skills training programmes that are being implemented by the Ministry of Youth Development, where the lecturers who train the youths in skills will in addition, also guide the youths to establish enterprises to manufacture items for sale and become self employed entrepreneurs.”

The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest official in the country who was present replied:

“Self-Employment is not a task that can be done. The International Labor Organization (ILO) with all their unlimited resources have just miserably failed to establish a self-employment programme at Tangail in Bangladesh. They laboured for three years and brought experts from all over and failed. It was a great loss – a massive expenditure and this Government is not going to waste any more funds again. Self-Employment is not a task that can be done. That was the conclusion of the ILO and they are the experts of international standing”

I replied:

“Though the ILO failed, I can establish a Self Employment Programme. I hold the experience of establishing self-employment projects in Sri Lanka for eighteen years and also hold the Ph.D in Agricultural Economics and Non Formal Education from Michigan State University. I am confident of success.”

 The Secretary to the Treasury the highest official in Bangladesh laughed loud at my suggestion to make entrepreneurs out of school drop outs- the category from which the Department of Youth Development found youths for skills training. Secretaries of a few other Ministries joined him.

 I argued that though the ILO failed I would succeed. The Secretary to the Treasury was adamant that such a programme would never succeed, but I quoted instances where I had established successful employment projects providing incomes to youths while simultaneously producing what the country imported. The battle went on for an easy two full hours The Hon. Minister was listening in silence till his patience was exhausted.  The Minister finally ordered us to shut up. He asked for any Government training programmes that guided youths to become entrepreneurs. The Secretary to the Treasury replied “None”. Then the Minister asked for the number of youths that failed to get into higher education as well as finding a suitable job- the youths that will be scraping the barrel for life, unemployed. The Secretary answered that it was in the millions, every year The Hon Minister without any hesitation ordered that I should establish a self employment programme to create entrepreneurs.

The Secretary to the Treasury stumped, stating‚  that there will be no  funds to establish a self employment programme, to which I replied that we will find savings within the  approved budgets  for the skills training of the youths and re deploy staff as necessary. The  Hon Minister  approved my suggestion.. .

We started planning work that night itself. The next morning I was a addressing trainee at the training centers and also training our Lecturers and Youth Officers on how the programme should be done. The officers who had till then done traditional youth development work were trained in concepts of economics. All Training Institutes were immediately altered to Training Cum Extension Institutes where the youths in training were to be guided to become self-employed. Overnight we established a countrywide special extension service for the lecturers to go out on inspections and help the youths who faced problems.  The youths were guided to draft their own projects to become self employed, starting small farms even with a few cows or chicks. Dresses were sewn using the machines at the training centers that were kept open after work till ten at night.  The method was to intensively guide the trainees in the management of their enterprises. Every action from the planning of their projects, to the purchase of raw materials, the chicks, the feed, the process of manufacture, the process of the growth and sale of cattle, the making of garments and their sale was all monitored on a non formal education basis where the youths were trained to look at the advantages and disadvantages of each course of action and act on their own. They were monitored closely and helped when they failed. . The trainees were taught basic economics related to their ventures‚ The training included understanding the free market economy and the youths were guided to think, understand and increase their ability and capacity in the process. This was non-formal education in action. The achievement was within the village setting where the projects became family concerns with brothers and sisters becoming involved. On our Visits, Training sessions were provided impromptu where everyone could participate.

The effort was to make a youth movement to make youths establish ventures and guide them till they are income bearing equal to the earnings of a clerical officer in the Public Service.

This Programme began at the end of March 1982 with a few trainees and was expanded to 2000 by October 1983. By the time I left Bangladesh at the end of October 1983- in sixteen months my team was guiding 2000 youths.  The team comprised the Secretary, the Joint Secretary of the Ministry with a few hundred staff of Directors, Deputy Directors of Youth, Director for Livestock and Poultry, Directors of the 3 Residential Training Centers in Livestock & Poultry, Lecturers in Training Institutes- all of whom were taught the essentials of economics firstly to be able to analyse the economy of Bangladesh and to arrive at areas of economic activity where self employment production would be an asset to the country. They were also taught methods of imparting instructions in a manner that would evoke the active participation of the trainees and enable them to think and make their own decisions. This included national and regional planning culled down to the village level., where the self employment units were established.

We got down to work in earnest.. The officers were patriotic to the extreme. It was long hours every day for months Daily circuits in Toyota Hiace bone shakers- leaving early morning to return whenever. The officials responded ably.

 In an evaluation conducted in March 1983, eleven months from the commencement it was found that of the youths that commenced by May 1982, 283 youths had established  their own commercial ventures, with stocks of flocks and head of cattle  valued at Tk.911,630.00.  It was building up stocks, buying chicks and ducklings and seeing them grow. As much as 223 of them had reached a net income of TK 369.00 a month. Of them 83 earned over Tk. 500.00 a month. In the  Jamalpur District, in disciplines like dress making, fisheries, retail sales, electrical goods repairing workshops, welding, etc. 73 youths were involved, earning an average net income of Tk 445.00 a month with 20 of them earning net incomes of Tk. 500.00 or over:”

At that time Tk. 500.00 a month was the salary drawn by a Clerical Officer in the Government Service. Getting the youths to reach a net income of Tk. 500.00 was our aim.

In an Evaluation done in August 1983, 16 months from commencement  the Report documented:

“A Programme of Excellence in every respect unfolds in the results documented. .Of  500 unemployed youths who joined the programme in the early months,   479 are earning  an average net income  of Tk 596.00 in August 1983, 8 to 12 months after they commenced their commercial ventures, 55 of them earn over Tk. 1000.00 a month and 253 earn  over Tk 500.00.”

In August 1983, barely 16 months from the commencement, the achievement was hailed by the two Secretaries of the Ministry of Labour and Manpower; In their words:

“Dr. Karunaratne’s significant contribution has been in the field of self employment to the drop-out youths. This programme was not only designed but also guided by him. This activity, which was initially launched as a pilot experimental project, has been a great success and has now being adopted as a fill-fledged Programme. The Government of Bangladesh has been successful in providing meaningful employment to a large number of youths on this Programme” . (Asafuddowlah)

“Dr. Karunaratne’s role as the formulator of the program has been particularly commendable. It was mainly through his dedication and hard work that the pilot project has now been formally accepted as one of the most important development projects.” (Ayubur Rahaman)

The YSEP has stood the test of time for over three decades (1982-2019) The Five Year Plan of 1997-2002 devotes 8 pages to this program. This is easily the premier employment creation program that one can find in the world today. All other programs involve training and apprenticeship only and never include the tasks of motivating youths, involving them in non-formal education endeavor to develop their abilities and capacities, through technical guidance and management advice provided as they work on their projects aimed at their becoming commercially viable, which are the cornerstones on which this programme  has been based.

Instead of traditional youth work, the aims of the Ministry of Youth had been altered to facilitate the unemployed youth for gainful employment/self employment, providing vocational/skills development training and micro credit support.

To involve the youth in the mainstream of national development processes” (www.dyd.gov.bd/nyp_activities.php)

The above achievement of the Youth Self Employment Programme stands great in comparison to what was achieved by the ILO Project in Tangail in the earlier three years, where the number of entrepreneurs was only 626, where Tk. 1.38 million was disbursed of which only Tk. .61 million was recovered. The best cases document people owning one milk cow or fattening one head of cattle for sale. Many of the 626 people had dropped off.

 By August 1983, 16 months after commencement The Department of Youth Development  were training  2000 youths. The Programme was expanded apace to involve 7000 youths by 1987, to 16,000 by 1992 and to 160,000 a year from 1997. In 1982 we had only 3 Residential Training Centers. This was increased to 64 by 1997.  In  2011 February The Government of Bangladesh reported to the 34 th Session of the Governing Council of IFAD(FAO)  that this programme had guided as much as two million youths to be self employed‚  on  a commercially viable basis.(Statement by Bangladesh to the 34 th Session of the Governing Council of IFAD(FAO), dated19/02/2011)

My task was also to train the officers to carry on the programme after my‚  two year period of service ended.‚  True to a man Bangladeshi officers carried on the ardous task and‚   today 160,000 youths are being guided annually.. A full Department of Youth Development now devotes 95% of their time to training and guiding youths to become self employed..

Every country boasts of skills training programmes where youths are trained in the thousands but none provide training to guide the trained to become entrepreneurs- the task that was successfully done in this Youth Self Employment Programme.

It would behove every Government to decide that all skills training programmes should include guidance to enable the youths in training to establish enterprises of their own and become entrepreneurs. This can be achieved with little extra cost as the staff that train youths in skills will also be guiding them to become self employed.

Another important fact is that for the first few years, no new funds were provided. Savings were found within the skills training programme budgets for holding training workshops to create self employment..

Having a live successful employment creation programme to follow and for guidance is a great asset to any country that wishes to commence activity.

The intrinsic success of the Youth Self Employment programme of Bangladesh offers hope for any country that hopes to convert their unemployed youth to become entrepreneurs.

The entire world yearns for that development today.

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University‚ 

Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry of Labour and Manpower, the Government of Bangladesh(1981-1983) 

Politics

(A Collective Symposium with expert input from Global Financial Advisors)

Feb.19th.2024

Evaluating  Sri Lanka’s path to recovery and how the World Bank, as a development partner, is supporting the country’s journey towards green, resilient, and inclusive development, there is a positive indication that the country is on the  right track.

The Nation is all too familiar with the unprecedented multiple crises Sri Lanka currently faces and has faced in the past.It must be remembered that It was this time last year, a mere twelve months ago, that the peak of Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in decades transpired.The economy contracted by 7.8 percent in 2022 and 11.5 percent in the first quarter of 2023.

The crisis has had devastating impacts on people’s standards of living, exacting a heavy toll on the poor and vulnerable and jeopardizing Sri Lanka’s past development gains.

We estimate that poverty doubled from 13.1 to 25 percent between 2021 and 2022—an addition of 2.5 million poor people—and we expect this to increase by another 2.4 percent in 2023.

Many more people are just one shock away from poverty. We estimate that 5.7 percent of the population lives less than 10 percent above the poverty line, and a further 5.6 percent between 10 and 20 percent above the poverty line.

This dramatic increase in poverty and vulnerability has wiped-out decades-long human capital gains. For example, there is now a serious learning crisis in the country. Only 14% of Grade 3 students have acquired minimum competency in literacy and only 15% in numeracy.

These harrowing circumstances for the country and its people demand deep reforms to stabilize the economy and bold action to protect the poor and vulnerable.

The people of Sri Lanka have demonstrated incredible resilience in the face of these extraordinary challenges.

This was clearly demonstrated during acute shortages of basic necessities last year of food, medicines, and cooking gas. People supported each other and found innovative solutions to overcome difficulties.

In just one year, Sri Lanka has made good progress in addressing serious challenges facing the economy.

The country is now in an economic recovery phase. Some difficult reforms have been implemented and economic recovery has started.

We congratulate the government on securing the IMF Extended Fund Facility, the parliamentary approval of the Domestic Debt Restructuring, and securing international financial support from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The government has committed to an ambitious reform agenda and implemented some difficult and necessary reforms, including tax reforms, cost-reflective utility pricing, a stronger social safety net, and debt restructuring to stabilize the economy.

There have been some signs of stability in the past few months compared to 2022. Inflation is trending downwards from 69.8% in September 2022 to 12% in June 2023.

Market interest rates are also declining as the uncertainty over domestic debt restructuring wanes and the foreign exchange liquidity picture has also improved.

Yet, this is not the end of the road. The path to recovery is long and Sri Lanka must stay the course.The next two years will be critical for Sri Lanka’s recovery. There are further significant headwinds that need to be closely monitored.

The key downside risk is a prolonged debt restructuring process, which would lead to greater uncertainty. Slow or uneven implementation of the reform agenda could further delay the recovery process and the return of confidence in the Sri Lankan economy.

The volatile global economic environment is another source of risk.

Continued elevation or a further increase in commodity prices could make it more difficult to buy essential goods and a global economic contraction could delay the nascent recovery of tourism in Sri Lanka and reduce demand for exports.

The financial sector needs to be carefully monitored, given high exposures to the public sector, rising non-performing assets, and tight liquidity conditions.

There are strong concerns about the scarring effects of the crisis on growth, income, and jobs going forward. As the crisis continues, more people, especially the high-skilled, may leave the country. Families in difficulty are likely to take children out of school. Companies may sell assets that are essential for businesses to stay afloat. These negative coping mechanisms will eventually lower the capacity of the country to grow and generate more jobs and income.

The social protection reform must be carefully implemented to prevent the poor and the vulnerable from falling deeper into poverty.

Sri Lankans need to be committed to supporting the government on its reform path. These much-needed reforms are not going to be easy and will require strong political will, broad-based consensus and consultation, and support from development partners.

This is where our new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) comes in.

The World Bank Group’s new Country Partnership Framework and US$700 million financing support through the RESET DPO and the Social Protection project is our commitment to the Sri Lankan people at this difficult time.

In response to both COVID-19 and the economic crisis, the World Bank re-purposed significant un-disbursed funds from its existing portfolio to sustain institutions so they could continue to provide essential goods and services, protect the vulnerable, support livelihoods, and address food insecurity.

Building on that work, the CPF lays out a two-phased approach that starts with a focus on urgent macro-fiscal and structural reforms and support to protect human capital and the most vulnerable population.

After the first 18-24 months, and subject to successful implementation of the reform program and international debt relief and financial support, the CPF’s focus will gradually shift to investments in longer-term development needs that will help promote private sector job creation—particularly for women and youth—and boost resilience to climate and external shocks, while continuing to invest in social protection and human capital.

Outlined as follows are  five key items Sri Lanka must implement on its path to recovery which need to be adhered to unconditionally if success is to be  achieved and the country returns to a state of normalcy or even a part thereof.

1.     Shifting to a more productive and outward-looking economy

Our estimates show that Sri Lanka’s untapped export potential for merchandise is at US$10 billion annually. This could create an additional 142,500 jobs.

Tapping this missing potential requires liberalizing trade and attracting more and better investments. It is a positive move that the budget speech announced that para-tariffs will be gradually phased out. This will ultimately need to be followed by a broad reduction in tariffs to increase competitiveness and export orientation.

In parallel, a streamlined institutional and legal framework is required to improve the regulatory and policy environment to attract and retain investment. Presently Sri Lanka is moving in this direction with a plan to put in place a comprehensive stand-alone ‘Investment Law’ to facilitate all aspects of the investment life cycle.

2.     Transforming economic governance to prevent another crisis

Sri Lanka needs to strengthen fiscal oversight and debt management that led to the current crisis. Independent and non-partisan oversight by Parliament over fiscal and debt management would be important.

Parliament’s approval, on June 20, of the bill to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office is a promising step in this direction.

There is a strong commitment by the government towards improving governance, as announced by the budget for 2023. A new public financial management law and debt management law will improve the transparency and accountability of public resource management.

Establishing a comprehensive legal framework to address corruption issues is critical.

3.     Addressing competitiveness constraints and governance issues

posed by State Owned Enterprises(SOEs)

SOEs can play an important role in a country’s economy. However, misallocation of resources in favor of SOEs, along with weak governance of public assets, result in financial losses, undermine competitiveness and investment, as well as the quality of goods and services provided to the people.

This has unfortunately been the case across much of the SOE landscape, including poorly managed access to finance that has also undermined the financial standing of State-Owned Banks (SOBs).

The recent SOE Reform Policy approved by the cabinet, maps out a comprehensive approach to restructure and divest commercial SOEs and SOBs to improve competitiveness, investment, service delivery and governance, and address associated social and environmental considerations.

Successful implementation will require extensive engagement with stakeholders and mobilization of high-quality expertise to ensure restructuring and divestment transactions are completed through best practice and transparent due diligence.

The Government needs the fullest support towards implementing this major reform that can have a transformative impact on the fiscal balance and private sector-led growth.

4.     Continue to strengthen the country’s social protection system

to improve coverage and enhanced protection of the poor and vulnerable, including from future shocks.

We welcome the passing of the Welfare Benefit Payments Scheme (WBPS) and the implementation of the social registry.

Moving forward, Sri Lanka must ensure the social protection system is dynamic, effective, transparent and resilient, through: (i) open registration that benefits from robust communication; (ii) timely re-certification of current WBPS beneficiaries; (iii) the further development of robust grievance mechanisms that allow anyone to appeal eligibility decisions; (iv) the provision of integrated support to eligible beneficiaries by enabling other social programs to use the social registry to deliver services and (v) embedding in the system

adaptive features that   allow the WBPS to be scaled up and / or

services and benefits to be adjusted in the event of a shock.

5.     Prioritizing investments in Human capital

Addressing the dramatic increase in learning losses in the early years and in basic and secondary education, as well as promoting access to quality essential health care services will be critical to ensure those who are already most disadvantaged, are not left behind and are able to achieve their full potential.

Strengthening links between health and disaster risk management and surveillance systems for pandemic preparedness will be important to respond to the next impending shock.

Finally, strengthening access and quality of Tertiary and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for skills development and uplifting youth and adult skills, including the green transition, will be critical.

For Sri Lanka, what’s really needed is to follow through reforms with actual implementation.

The crisis provides a unique opportunity to implement deep and permanent structural reforms that may be difficult in normal circumstances.

But we are now in a race against time. Sri Lanka cannot face another crisis of this nature and must make the best of this opportunity to build a strong economy that can withstand future shocks!

The inspiration is needed for all journalists, media, and experts – but most importantly, as citizens, to support these critical reforms and to hold decision makers accountable to deliver on these reforms so that Sri Lanka comes out of this crisis faster and stronger.

In the past, Sri Lanka has experienced significant reform reversals and there is a distinct felt need including development partners, to work together to ensure that the government stays the course on difficult reforms.It is urgent, and it is possible.The Nation must come together at this vital moment to help  Sri Lanka return to what she was, as the foremost priority for all Sri Lankans.

Geopolitical Economy Report

NATO’s new cold war on Russia and China is destroying Germany’s industrial base, devastating Europe’s economy, and destabilizing its politics, fueling the rise of the far-right, as neoliberal austerity policies exacerbate the ongoing recession. Ben Norton analyzes the evidence.

Prime Minister’s Media Division

Director General of the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) Dr Qu Dongyu called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Temple Trees in Colombo today (February 19).

The Prime Minister, while thanking the Food and Agriculture Organization for the assistance provided to agriculture and the rural economic development over the years and urged the FAO to consider further assistance to plans for introducing new technology for agricultural and fisheries sectors.

He made a special mention about setting up water pumps with solar panels for energy generation for rural farming. FAO Director General said such projects have been introduced in Africa and FAO would consider such a project in Sri Lanka.

Dr Qu Dongyu praised Sri Lanka’s climate sustainability and said, This Island can be described as the crystal-clear water drop of the Indian Ocean.”  He praised the economic recovery process after the unprecedented crisis in recent past, expressed confidence that Sri Lanka would regain its position as a middle income country in a short time.

Secretary to the Prime Minister Anura Dissanayake and Media Advisor Sugeeswara Senadhira, senior FAO officials, including Director, Godfrey Magwenzi, Beth Crawford, Wimalendra Sharan, Maximo Torero and Anjelica Jacome were also present at the discussion. 

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

වැඩ කල්දැමීම වෙනුවට හැකි ඉක්මනින් ඊට සූදානම් වී රාජකාරියට පිවිසෙන්න.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා පරිපාලන සේවයේ තුන්වන ශ්‍රේණිය, ශ්‍රී ලංකා විද්‍යාත්මක සේවයේ තුන්වන ශ්‍රේණිය, කළමනාකරණ සේවයේ අධි ශ්‍රේණිය, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයේ පුස්තකාලයාධිපති සේවයේ තුන්වන ශ්‍රේණිය යන සේවාවන් හි  සීමිත තරග විභාග සමත් 250 දෙනෙකු සඳහා පත්වීම් ලිපි ප්‍රදානය කිරීම අද (2024.02.19) දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවැති අවස්ථාවේදී අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා මේ බව සඳහන් කළේය.

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය වරයා –

තමන්ගේ දක්ෂතාවය හා ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨත්වය උඩ සුදුසුකම් ලබා තිබෙන ඔබ සියලු දෙනාට ඔබගේ සතුට සමග අපගේ සතුට, ආශිර්වාදය එක් වෙනවා. රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ වගකීම සාමාන්‍ය පෞද්ගලික සමාගමකට වඩා බරපතලයි.

රාජ්‍ය සේවයට ඇතුළුවන මොහොතේ සිට රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ දෙපාර්තමේන්තු, ආයතන සහ මුළු මහත් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ කටයුතු සමගින්       ඔබ සියලු දෙනා රට වෙනුවෙන් සේවයට එක්වෙනවා. එම ගැඹුරු වගකීම ඉටු කිරීම සඳහා වූ ගමනේ  සියලු කර්තව්‍යන්ට පූර්ව සූදානම් වීමේ වැදගත් කොටසක් තිබෙන බව මතක් කරන්නට කැමතියි. අපි සාකච්ඡාවකට යනකොට හෝ උදව් කරනකොට ඒ පිළිබඳ මූලික සූදානමක් තිබිය යුතුමයි. ඒ සඳහා වූ තොරතුරු එක් රැස්කර ගත යුතුයි. වැඩ කල්දැමීම නොව හැකි ඉක්මනින් ඊට සූදානම් වීමේ කර්තව්‍යයට පිවිසිය යුතුයි.

ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මැතිතුමා 2024 වර්ෂය තුළ සංවර්ධනයේ තවත් අඩියක් ඉදිරියට තිබෙන වසරක් බවට පත් කරන්නට කැප වී අයවැය ‍ලේඛනයක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා. එය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අද දින මේ පැවරෙන වගකීමේ සාර්ථකත්වය  ඔබෙන් අපේක්ෂා කරනවා. සෘණ තත්ත්වයේ තිබුණ ආර්ථික සංවර්ධනය ධන තත්වයට පරිවර්තනය වෙලා තිබෙනවා. රටේ ජනතාවගේ, රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ,  රාජ්‍ය සේවයට අයත් නොවන ගොවි ජනතාවගේ සහයෝගය මතයි මේ කර්තව්‍යය ඉටුවී තිබෙන්නේ.

වැඩි වැඩියෙන් රටේ සංවර්ධනයේ ඉලක්කයන් සපුරාලීමට, නාස්තිකාර වියදම් අඩුකර ගැනීමට, තීරණ ගැනීමේදී සිදුවන යම් යම් අසාධාරණකම් දැක දැක එවැනි තීරණ ගැනීමෙන් වැළකීමට විශේෂයෙන්   කැපවෙන ලෙස රජය වෙනුවෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

මෑත කාලයේ මැලේසියාව ආර්ථික වශයෙන් කඩා වැටුණා. එරට ආයෝජනය කළ දැවැන්තයන්  මැලේසියානු ආයෝජනයෙන් ඉවත් වෙලා යන නිසා.  නමුත් මැලේසියාව ඒ අර්බුදයට සාර්ථකව මුහුණ දුන්නා. තමන්ගේ ශක්තින් එකතු කරලා මැලේසියානු ආර්ථිකය, මැලේසියානු රාජ්‍යය පරිපාලනය ඉතාම දියුණු තත්ත්වයකට ගෙනාවා.

ජනාධිපතිතුමා ප්‍රකාශයට පත්කළ නව වැඩපිළිවෙළ රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලනය හරහා ඉදිරියට ගමන් කරන්නට පළාත් පාලනය, රාජ්‍ය පුස්තකාලයාධිපති සේවය එකතු වෙනවා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පුස්තකාල සේවය හා රාජ්‍ය පුස්තකාල සේවයට අතිරේකව පරිපාලනයට සම්බන්ධව තිබෙන අපේ රටේ පළාත් පාලන පුස්තකාල මීට වඩා දියුණු විය යුතුයි.  එය දියුණු කර ගැනීමට පුළුවන් නිර්මාණශීලීභාවය ඇති කරන්න.   2024 ඔබ එකතු වන පළාත් පාලන හෝ රාජ්‍ය පුස්තකාලයන් 2023 මට්ටමින් බලන්න එපා. මෙම වසර අලුත් දෙයක් එකතු කිරීමේ වසර බවට පරිවර්තනය කිරීමේ අධිෂ්ඨානයෙන් වැඩ කටයුතු අරඹන්න.

රාජ්‍ය සේවයට ඇතුළු වෙනකොට පක්ෂ හිතවත්කම් තියෙන්න පුළුවන්. නමුත් රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ කර්තව්‍ය රටේ යහපත පිණිස අරගන්න. මේ දුෂ්කර කාල පරිච්ඡේදයෙන් අපි එළියට එන වෙලාවේ එය සාර්ථකව ඉදිරියට ගමන් කරවන්නට ඔබ සැමගේම සහය ලබා දෙන්න.

එහිදී අදහස් දැක්වූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතා –

පවතින පුරප්පාඩු හඳුනාගෙන ඉතාමත් සංකීර්ණ අවධියක රාජ්‍ය සේවයේ අලුත් පත්වීම් අද ලබා දෙනවා. ඒ සඳහා ඔබ කළ යුතු ප්‍රතිඋපකාරය තමයි වඩා කාර්යක්ෂම හොඳ සේවාවක් මහජනයාට ලබාදීම. අවුරුදු තුනකට පස්සේ නැවත වරක් ප්‍රාදේශීය ජන ජීවිතය නගා සිටුවීම, ග්‍රාමීය ආර්ථිකය යළි නගා සිටුවීම, සුළු හා මධ්‍ය පරිමාණ කර්මාන්ත නගා සිටුවීම. ගොඩනැගිලි ඉදිකිරීම් ක්ෂේත්‍රය නැවත පුනර්ජීවනයක් ලබමින් රජය විසින් විමධ්‍යගත සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් දිස්ත්‍රික් සංවර්ධන කමිටු, ප්‍රාදේශීය සංවර්ධන කමිටු හරහා දියත් කරන අවස්ථාවක් මේ.

අලුත් මානයකින් අලුත් කෝණයකින් ඒ පිළිබඳ අවධානය යොමු කරන්න. පළාත් පාලන පුස්තකාල     වල තනතුරු දරණ අය විශේෂ වැඩසටහන පිළිබඳ අලුතෙන් යමක් කරන්න. ජාත්‍යන්තර පුස්තකාලවල අපිට ලැබෙන්නේ ලින්ක් එකක්. අපට අවශ්‍ය පුස්තක විද්‍යුත් ක්‍රමයට එයින් ලබාගත හැකියි. අපි නිරන්තරයෙන් දකිනවා සමාජ මාධ්‍ය ඔස්සේත් නොමිලේ ප්‍රවිශ්ට වෙන්න පුළුවන් පුස්ථ     ක රාශියක දත්ත අපට ලැබෙනවා. නිර්මාණශීලී පුස්තකාලයාධිපතිවරු වශයෙන්   නව කවුළු විවෘත කර දෙන්න.

රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන ජානක වක්කුඹුර, අශෝක ප්‍රියන්ත, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන,   රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන  අමාත්‍යාංශයේ ලේකම් ප්‍රදීප් යසරත්න, ඒකාබද්ධ සේවා අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ආලෝක බණ්ඩාර, යන මහත්වරුන් සහ පත්වීම්ලාභින් මෙම අවස්ථාවට සහභාගී වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Neutrality Studies

The hypocrisy of the West and the utterly fake outrage over the death of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny is breathtaking. While torturing to death Julian Assange in a UK prison—an Australian citizen who had been working in the UK and whose only “crime” it is to have revealed truths about US war crimes—and all but ignoring the death of Gonzalo Lira in Ukraine, these people swing themselves on the highest horse they can find to blame Russia for being a murderous regime of injustice. The framing of Navalny’s death and the lack of options the US has to put any more pressure on Russia is again revealing not only in terms of propaganda but also how the Russians have really successfully decoupled their economy and fate in the world from the US and the EU—while the West of course still pretends that it has “dealt a blow” to Russia’s economy. Well, good for Moscow. Let’s hope it sinks into most countries outside of the Collective West that reliance on the US empire is a ticking time bomb.

Dr Sudath Gunasekara Ex Secretary to Prime Minister Mrs Bndaarnayaka

This blind Government, which blindly elected him should immediately tame the President or ask him to resign forthwith, before completely ruining this country following the footsteps of his uncle going by Western advice with no regard or concern about this country or the Sinhala nation.

This blind Government, which blindly elected him must immediately tame the President by taking him under its control and putting him in his place before he completely hands over this Island nation to India like VibhiShana did in the past, for the following reasons.

As Akurugoda has stated in Lankaweb 17th although Sarath has not stated the President’s agenda, it is not a difficult task to presume what his agenda would be for those who are aware of what the current President Wickremesinghe has done during his political career

The latest is the ECTA issue. Government member’, MP Sarath Weerasekera has correctly said that even the Government group that elected him was not consulted on ECTA and further he is urging President Ranil Wickremesinghe not to exploit the continuing political, economic, and social crisis to advance his agenda.

Ranil should understand that it was this government group that picked him up from the political abyss in which he was buried incognito and made him the Prime minister first and second the President under a constitutional flaw in Article 40, again drawn by lawyers who don’t know this country or its culture. As the SLPP sponsored Presidential candidate, it is his bounden duty to first consult his political mentors or rather the political parents who have brought him from the political underworld, where he was in deep slumber after being totally rejected, not only by his own party but also by all the people in this country almost for 25 years.

 In this backdrop, the SLPP is totally responsible to the nation for all blunders he makes. As such either the SLPP should bring him under its control and tame him or remove him by an impeachment before his period expires in September this year. If such immediate action is not taken to control his treacherous political behavior, the SLPP at any election to come will end up disastrously.  If you fail to take this step, I will assure you that you will end up with less than 25 seats in the next Parliament. Therefore at least for their own political survival, the SLPP should take a decision now immediately even if they ignore the future of this country and the future generation, as it is customary for all our self-centered politicians to do.

Therefore, whatever the political and economic pandits say handing over this country to Ranil is just like appointing a crazy fox to watch the chicken pen. Therefore, it is the bounden duty of the SLPP and more particularly Mahinda Rajapaksha to open his eyes and to either bring him under control or remove him ASAP, as 7 months are more than enough for him to erase the Sinhala Buddhist civilization from the surface of this planet. (Please read What would be the President’s agenda? By S.Akurugoda in Lankaweb 17t of Feb 2024. To understand what I say here. SLPP has to decide whether to sail or sink?

Dilrook Kannangara

Sri Lanka Air Force is taxpayer-funded. Therefore, it must equitably distribute any charitable donations to all. That means all provinces are equal. However, unfortunately, the recent charitable activities only benefit one ethnic group and one province in the North which is discriminatory and tribal-minded. This includes distributing school books and equipment to the north only for the benefit of 75,000 students in the northern province. SLAF spends 100 million rupees for the purpose when all school students around the island suffer the effects of acute poverty!

If Sri Lanka had a functioning justice system such discriminatory and tribal-minded activities at the expense of taxpayer funds would have been blocked and those behind it would be behind bars.

Sri Lanka Air Force, please return taxpayer funds to taxpayers rather than waste them on discriminatory charitable acts. They bring nothing good or meritorious as it is discrimination and a waste of taxpayer funds.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The main strategy used to suppress Buddhism in the north and east, was to place Hindu kovils within Buddhist ruins. Kovils were set up on Buddhist structures. Hindu kovils have been built over many of the Buddhist shrines, said Medhananda.There was a historical precedent for this. Ama Wanniarachchi reported in 2022 that recent archaeological excavation revealed that the Siva Devala No. 1 at Polonnaruwa, was built on a Buddhist image house that had been demolished.

The Report of the Sinhala Commission (2001) listed Buddhist ruins into which kovils had been inserted. Department of Archaeology did a survey in 2010 of Buddhist ruins in the north. Administration report 1950 said that Sivapuram Sri Malai kovil was a small kovil .today it is greatly enlarged,   they reported. Buddhist pillars were seen beside the Sivapuram Sri Malai Kovil also a stone edict dated to 8 to 10 AD which has been published.

 Ven. Ellawela Medhananda reported that many Buddhist ruins in the north and east has been converted to Hindu kovils. Hindu kovils have been built over many of the Buddhist shrines. Many ancient Buddhist ruins have been demolished and kovils belonging to Hindu gods have been built over them. Moonstones, guard stones, yupa gala have been found in these Kovils. The 2010 survey by Department of archaeology confirmed this. They also found that most Hindu kovils were erected on Buddhist ruins .

In some kovils the Buddhist origin  is visible.  At Tirumangala the kovil had a Buddha statue.   Kantakonishwaran kovil near Vellavali, built on a   huge, ancient Buddhist monastery, has used the ruins as altars. The huge stone ansana and asanaghara at Vihara gal kanda   had been taken to Santamalai where a Hindu kovil had been set up on the Buddhist site. At Kandakudichchi Aru where the stupa was replaced by a kovil, one mal asana gala was   placed before the Hindu statue  and the other was used as a step.  Villagers in Veheragoda, Ampara, said that the stone door frame belonging to the stupa had been taken away to a kovil at Mandur.

Puravasakulam badrakali kovil had used the korawakgala, siripatul used for worship. At Mallavi Sri Puram kovil they were crushing the old bricks to make the new sculptures.   The sculptor had said the old bricks were excellent for the purpose. Buddhist items were taken for use in Mullavaikkal kovil. Materials from Buddhist ruins were used for the Oddusuddan kovil. Buddhist pillars were seen beside the Sivapuram Sri Malai Kovil also a stone edict dated to 8 to 10 AD which has been published.

Buddhist sites in good condition in Trincomalee   in 1960 had vanished when Medhananda visited them in 1980. Hindu kovils had been built over many of them. When the archaeological Department went to Jaffna peninsula in the 1960s remains of the Buddhist sites cited in the 16^th Nam Pota were still there. These have been gradually built over with Hindu Kovils.

Ancient Buddhist ruins dating to Polonnaruwa period had been found at Kilinochchi. The locals    said that there had been a small kovil there in the 1940 which was enlarged to the present Shiva kovil in 1980.  In Kilinochchi LTTE had destroyed the large Buddha statue and thrown pieces into the tank. There had been a Samadhi statue and a Bo tree and moon stone, but LTTE had felled the Bo tree, planted a Palmyra tree, and renamed the place Nagalingam.

Archaeological officers in Vavuniya complained to the Omanthai police about a kovil being built in Maligai area, Omanthai in an  area which has ruins  dated to the Anuradhapura period. Buddhist ruins including ancient ‘stupa’ bases,  siripatul, bases of buildings, stone pillars, bricks and tiles had been bulldozed and replaced by  statues of Hindu gods. The area, seven acres in extent, has been enclosed as private land and arrangements have been made to build a Kovil there, the report concluded. 

Files  on Buddhist ruins held in the  Department of archaeology  vanished when new kovils are constructed, said Medhananda. There was a hill with a stupa, and eleven cave shrines to the east of the Pannala oya.  Now there is a kovil there, said Medhananda. There had been a file at the Ampara Kachcheri describing the Buddhist remains of the area, but with the construction of the kovil those documents   disappeared, he said.

Here is an incomplete list of Buddhist ruins which have now turned Kovil.

• Ettama in Pottuvil had a Buddhist vihara and stupa, siripatula, guard stones, dressed stone slabs, stone figures and sculptures. They are no more. They have been replaced by a Hindu Kovil. Bricks were taken to build houses.
• Kandakudichchi Aru. There is now a Hindu kovil at Kandakudichci Aru ruins. The stupa altars were used for this, one as a step and the other as an altar.
• Kilinochchi Buddhist ruins were destoyred and a kovil built.
• Kiliveddy Bo tree was destroyed and in 1977 a kovil was coming up on the site. This site was taken over by the Department of archaeology in 1979.
• Kokkadicholai .The Kankon Isvarna kovil, at Kokkadicholai, has been built over a Buddhist aramaya and   Buddhist items such as guard stones, parts of stupa are still visible said Ellawela Medhananda in 2005. Medhananda was told by those living there, that there was an inscription in 1968, but it had been destroyed.  The  Kovil had started  small and  was now enlarged. There is a second kovil  for Pullaiyar.  The area now  has only Tamil residents. 
• Kuchchaveli .A Hindu kovil was coming up in the vicinity of . Kuchchaveli Maha vihara
• Kurundi  The kovil at  Kurundi isdiscussed elsewhere.
• Lankapatuna .Medhananda observed in 2003 that the  stupa and pilimage at Samudragiri vihara, Lankapatuna has been destroyed and a kovil set up. Samudragiri will be completely destroyed very soon, he said.
• Nagacholai reserve in Mullativu.  there are three kovils in Nagacholai reserve.
• Nelugala,  in Batticaloa  was once Piyangalu vihara. Buddhist ruins at Nelugala have been destroyed. Buildings were set on fire by non-Sinhalese, and the Sinhala settlers driven away. A Hindu kovil was constructed there. 
• Nelukkulam, in Vavuniya. Stupa 30 feet in height was    leveled, cemented and a trident placed on top.
• Okanda devale at Panama has been renamed Murugan kovil. 
• Omanthai  a kovil was built in Maligai area, Omanthai  in an  area which has ruins  dated to the Anuradhapura period.
• Palamottai in Trincomalee. There is a kovil at Palamottai with a notice giving its ‘history’ in Tamil.  
• Rahatgala is today known as Shanthamalai, It had   30 acres of Buddhist ruins including an ancient two storied building. The huge stone ansana and asanaghara at Viharagalkanda has been deposited there.    The  Buddhist ruins were damaged and three Hindu kovils had been built on three ancient image  houses. There is another large Hindu kovil in front of these three .The forested area beyond  containing Buddhist ruins have been encroached on  by Tamil settlers.
• Ridikanda Buddhist ruins At Ridikanda had been destroyed.  Media reported in 1978  that the statues had been pushed off the hill , dragged down and   destroyed. A Shiva devale called  Sembir devale is set up here,.  Tamils said it was set up in 1938.
• Samalankulam in Vavuniya had two stupa mounds and a statue of Avalokiteshvara. A Hindu kovil was being constructed in 2001
• Samudragiri, in Lankapatuna had remains of a  stupa and image  house. Hindu kovil there now.
• Sangaman kanda in Pottuvil  was a Buddhist  site, with two  cave inscriptions  . Now it is a Siva kovil. 
• Santamalai a Hindu kovil had been set up on the Buddhist site.
• Sembumalai When I visited Sembumalai in 1978, the Buddha statue seen earlier was missing, said Medhananda. It was recovered later six miles away. Many ruins were purposely damaged and a Hindu kovil has been established. The Poosari’s statements that it was built in 1938 cannot be accepted as the materials used for the kovil were   new.
• Sunethra wewa,in  Kantalai. A  modern Hindu kovil has been  constructed over the Buddhist monuments. The materials from the Buddhist ruins were used in the construction of the kovil.
• Taravakulama  in Batticaloa had a  Buddhist  vihara which is now converted to Hindu kovil.
• Tirumangala had Buddhist  ruins for 5 acres or so with moonstone and image stand. There is now a kovil  there  with a Buddha statue within it.  Ancient bricks, columns,  stone tiles,  have been used for the kovil.
• Toppigala  now has a Hindu kovil.
• Vadunagala Buddhist ruins at Vadunagala have been  destroyed and a  kovil substituted.
• Vellaveli Kantakonishwaran kovil was built on a   huge, ancient Buddhist monastery, near Vellavali. ( continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

In 1983, Cyril Mathew prepared a 167 page document, titled An appeal to UNESCO to safeguard and preserve the cultural property in Sri Lanka endangered by racial prejudice, unlawful occupation or willful destruction.” The book also contains information on 24 selected sites, with supporting documents, showing the destruction of these Buddhist monuments.

 Among the monuments destroyed he lists Kurundanmalai where in 1981 there was an attempt to turn the image house into a Hindu kovil. A siripatula found there was used as a base to light camphor. Further, the stupa at Nellikulam in Vavuniya had been leveled and cemented and a trident placed there.  A Hindu kovil has been constructed in the vihara premises at Mohantankulam in Vavuniya. The entire area, including ruins has been fenced in and turned into a large cattle shed, said Cyril Mathew.  A Hindu kovil was to be set up at Samalankulam in Vavuniya.Cyril Mathew’s book ends with a set of photographs showing the damage caused to several Buddhist monuments in the north and east

Ven. Ellawala Medhananda(2003) has drawn attention to the damage done by ‘non-Buddhists’ , to the  ancient Buddhist monasteries, hermitages and  ruins in the north and east. Medhananda says that more than five hundred sites with ancient Buddhist ruins are either destroyed or are being destroyed in the north and east.

The ruins in Jaffna  and elsewhere are  in danger, said Medhananda speaking  in 2009 during Eelam war IV.  In 2009 Medhananda   wanted the  Department of Archaeology to take control of the Buddhist  ruins in the cleared areas of the Vanni. He said that there were over 1500 such sites in the districts of Vanni, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar. Lavatories have been built amidst Buddhist ruins in north, he said.

In 2010 that Medhananda had   told Daily Mirror that  more than 50 sites of archeological importance in the Mullaitivu district have been desecrated by the LTTE and used as bunkers and fortifications. Medhananda found a destroyed Buddha statue and moonstone at Oddusuddan.  others found that ruins at Etambagaskanda and  Kandikulam, in Vavuniya  had been destoyred.

A total of 1633 sites have been desecrated in the Anuradhapura, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu districts and that they should be preserved from further damage. Ellawala Medhananda requested the President to take steps to hand over the control of these archeological sites to the Department of Archaeology for preservation.  Monuments like moon stones and ancient fortresses belonging to 11th century have been severely affected.

Destroying Buddhist ruins in the East started long ago, said Medhananda. Initially, it was done secretly and cleverly.  The activity  has got speeded up and is now done openly on a large scale. Only Buddhist places face this destruction, not the other religions, observed Medhananda.

Medhananda found that ruins he had examined earlier in the Eastern Province had vanished when he went a second time. What we saw in 1964 at Veddikinarimalai had disappeared by 1973.  I found that ruins I had seen in 1966 had disappeared by 1976. What I saw in 1976 had disappeared by 1986” said Medhananda.

Buddhist sites in good condition in Trincomalee   in 1960 had vanished when Medhananda visited them in 1980. Hindu kovils had been built over many of them. Nilaveli has Mahayana Buddhist ruins. the vihara was known as Kanikaravelli vihara. The stupas were there in 1966, they had disappeared by 1978. 

The stupa and    arama of Okanda vihara were in good condition in 1978.They have now disappeared. At Rugam too, the ruins have been deliberately destroyed. Jayarampala, a few miles north of Karanda oya consists of many Buddhist ruins. These have been vandalized.

Sembumalai had a standing Buddha statue in limestone and a lotus pedestal. When I visited in 1978, the statue was not there. The remaining ruins   were also   damaged. At Digamadulla we found many inscription and ruins never seen before. Those ruins  have now vanished, said Medhananda in 2013.    

There were   Mahayana ruins at  Kuchchaveli Maha vihara in 1966, in pleasing form but when Medhananda visited in 1978 the upper parts of the most of them were destroyed. The stupa near Kinniya wells vanished after the Ceasefire AgreementOF 2002.

Medhananda went on to list other  Buddhist ruins that had been  destroyed. Stone pillars at Pulukunava were broken into pieces. This vandalism is not natural it has been done by persons, said Medhananda. Four siripatul from Pulukunawa Maha vihara have been taken away as miris gal.   The Viharakadu region close to Dighavapi has been leveled recently using machinery. At Dighavapi itself, a bulldozer had gone ‘by mistake’ through the temple. Buddhist ruins at Niyankullukama were shot and destroyed, while Medhananda was there, exploring in 1972.

Veheragama ruins are being deliberately destroyed. Sunetra wewa  had Buddhist ruins for 5 acres or so. They have been deliberately destroyed. Veheragala vihara near Araganvila is a monastery on a huge rock. All buildings, including stupa have been destroyed. Inscription shows that kings worshipped here. Veheratenna which had ruins dated to 5^th century AD was heavily destroyed. Taravakulam ruins have been   damaged.

Galkulama had ruins stretching all the way to Kiliveddi. An Inscription there showed that its name was Girimahalaka Maha vehera and it had been built by Dutugemunu. This place has been completely destroyed, . Its stupa has been destroyed and bricks scattered for miles concluded Medhananda.

Vaddamana Pabbata ancient site was vandalised. The ancient stupa was removed and replaced by a Siva Linga. Today, it is in a completely devastated state, and no legal action is being taken to protect the site observed Ama Vanniarachchi.

In addition to  ruins, Buddhist place of worship were  also attacked and vandalized,  Shrine room at Mankulam had been vandalized on or around August 31 2016. It was erected by the army in its camp at Mankulam.  This was not an isolated incident, said the media. The Bo tree and shrine room at Sambaltivu in Trincomalee was cut down and destroyed.

 In November 2010, Sri Lanka Archeological Society presented a talk by Muditha Karunamuni on exploration and conservation of archaeology sites in north and eastern provinces. North and east is packed with Sinhala Buddhist monuments, he said and showed maps to indicate this.  some Buddhist remains were deliberately destroyed. These included Etambagaskanda, and Kandikulam in Vavuniya.

Buddhist places of worship have been attacked and vandalized in the years that   followed. A Buddhist   shrine room erected by the army in its camp at Kanagaarayakulam, Mankulam, was vandalized in 2016 and Buddha statue broken into pieces. There is no camp there at present, said the media. This was not an isolated incident, said the media. 

In 2017 the chaitya at Suda Kuda In Sampur area had been bulldozed.Critics faulted the state fornot providing security to the site immediately after recognizing the site as one belonging to the Anuradhapura era.

The destruction of Buddhist ruins  was accelerated in 2018 and 2019     said the Department of archaeology  Malinda Seneviratne, the respected journalist,   went to Budubava in 2020 and observed that the Buddhist ruins in Eastern Province were getting destroyed. The jungles around Panama are full of Buddhist shrines. There are remains of stupas and monastic complexes. There are hundreds of caves. [They are now being demolished]These were not destroyed by the elements, said Malinda. How else could a place like Budubava have stupas razed to the ground?

 The Wildlife Department, the Forest Department, the Special Task Force, the Irrigation Department and the Archaeology Department have jurisdiction over these jungles. Could all these institutions be in the dark about the vandalism that is taking place? All of them, all the time and together? asked Malinda. ( continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

When destroying Buddhist ruins,rock inscriptions were specifically targeted. They were sought out and deliberately destroyed. They were usulaly  broken into peices,  failing which,  words were tarred or obliterated.Mundikulammale in  Ampara had rows of caves with inscriptions. these had been shot and destroyed. The damage done is extensive. Buddhist ruins at Niyankullukama were shot and destroyed, while Medhananda was there, exploring in 1972.

At Kuchchaveli Maha vihara a Sanskrit inscription was defaced in 1981 Mahagirilla Savarankeligala had a unique inscription relating to a ‘pase budun’. This was recorded by the Department of Archaeology. Medhananda found the stone containing the inscription smashed to pieces and the inscription destroyed.

Kadolupotana kanda, Eravur had three inscriptions which showed that this area was under Kavantissa. These inscriptions have been destroyed.   Mundikulam malai site in Ampara, had an inscription, discovered by Medhananda, which stated that Vihara Maha Devi lived there after she became a nun. The rock and the inscription had been broken into pieces..

An Inscription at Dimbulagala cave dated to 2 century BC was found mutilated in 1980. Only two words remained. Parker found an Inscription at  Eeratiperiyakulam  vihara ruins.  This inscription has disappeared.

Kurundammalai known earlier as Kurathgama had an inscription dated to Mahinda III (801-804) which said that the king had come to settle a problem about water. C.W. Nicholas had seen this inscription. When we went it was not to be seen”, announced Medhananda.  Inscription at Dimbulagala cave letters were mutilated in 1980, only two words remain. Nilaveli had       a Sanskrit inscription,  a sloka, dated to 6 AD. by 1981 the inscription had been tarred over.

Two inscriptions at Lahugala, the Akuru ketu gala inscription   on Karapavata vihara, and Galhitiode inscription on Ayapavata vihara were destroyed. Thannimuruppu wewa inscription at Kurundammalai is now destroyed. A Sanskrit Mahayana inscription at Kucceveli Maha vihara was defaced in 1981, said Medhananda. Kumachola inscription at Eravur   said that the eastern coast was administered in king Vasabha’s time (67-111 AD) by minister Asigira. Some letters in this inscription were erased.

Stupas have been destroyed systematically. The stupa at Nilaveli was there in 1966, it had disappeared by 1978.Medhananda saw a huge stupa, 300 by 33 feet, on the Trincomalee- Kantalai road, near 246 km post. This has been cut in two and bricks scattered all over the teak plantation nearby. Teak has been planted on top of the stupa, as well, reported Medhananda.

The stupa near Kinniya wells vanished after the Ceasefire agreement of 2002. The media reported in 2002 that senior monks of Seruwila and Tamankaduwa had said that the bricks unearthed while levelling a mound near the hot wells at Kinniya belonged to Anuradhapura era and the mound was a stupa. This has been levelled to put up a Hindu temple. The monks had complained to the authorities.

Buddha statues were also damaged. Statues at Mudu Maha vihara, Panama seen in 1990 have disappeared, said Medhananda.  Kucceveli Maha vihara had Mahayana statues ‘in pleasing form’ when Medhananda visited in 1966. When   Medhananda visited in 1978 the upper parts of most of the statues were destroyed.

The Buddha statues at Daluggala Raja Maha Vihara was damaged and the pilima head taken as a lip galak. At Ridikanda the statues had been dragged down from the hill and destroyed.  Due to this, the Buddha statue found Paravankandam was removed to the Police station for safety, and is now in Ampara museum, said Medhananda. 

Bodhi trees were also considered religious objects which should be demolished. The Bo tree and shrine room at Sambaltivu in Trincomalee was cut down and destroyed. 

Sri Vardhana Bodhi of Kiliveddi  In Muttur is about 150 yards from Kiliveddi ferry. When Medhananda visited in 1952 he   found a large Bodhi tree, with stone pillars, moon stone, step slabs, etc. they were there then I went there again in 1965. when he visited in 1977 the tree and the ruins were gone. The moonstone that I saw in 1965 was destroyed by 1977  Now there are no Buddhist ruins there.

Tamils living near Tirumangala wewa  had moved to Kiliveddy, destroyed its Buddhist ruins and built a kovil near the Bodhi. They  extended this close to the Bodhi, and then cut the branches of the Bodhi, supposedly for telephone wires. They cut the branches so that the trunk was affected. The Bo tree died.  (  continued)

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක් බවට සංචාරක ඇමැති හරින් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා කර ඇති ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් නඩු පැවරීම සඳහා නීති උපදෙස් ලබා ගනිමින් සිටින බව දේශහිතෛශී ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරයේ මහ ලේකම් වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි.

ඇමැතිවරයා පවසා ඇති එම ප්‍රකාශය නිසා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව උල්ලංඝනය වන බවත් මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු වශයෙන් ලබා දී ඇති දිවුරුම කඩවන බවත්, මෙරට ස්වෛරීභාවය උල්ලංඝනය වන බවත් වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි.

එම හේතු සාධකයන් නිසා හරින් ප්‍රනාන්දු ඇමැතිවරයාට එරෙහිව නුදුරු දිනයකදී සුදුසු පියවරයන් ගැනීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් ඒ මහතා පවසයි.

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු සංචාරක අමාත්‍යවරයා ඉන්දියාවේ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික කටයුත්තකදී සිදුකරන ලද “ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්!” යන බරපතළ ප්‍රකාශය හමුවේ ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ, “රටේ ස්වෛරීත්වය රැක්කේ අපි” කියා පවසන රාජපක්ෂවරුන්, විපක්‍ෂ නායකවරයා ඇතුළු බලයට ඉව අල්ලන විපක්ෂයේ අනෙකුත් කල්ලි කණ්ඩායම් කසාය බිව් ගොළුවන් සේ දත කට පූට්ටු කරගෙන ඉන්නා බවත් ඉන් පෙනී යන්නේ, “ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ඉන්දියානු වහල්භාවය කොතරම් බරපතළ ලෙස එළාගෙන යනවාද? එයට මේ ආණ්ඩුව සහ බලයට ඉව අල්ලන විපක්ෂ කල්ලි කණ්ඩායම් කොතරම් දුරට අවනත වී තිබෙනවාද?” යන්න බවත් ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

අද(17) සවස පිටකෝට්ටේ පිහිටි ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ ප්‍රධාන කාර්යාලයේ පැවැති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී ඒ මහතා මෙසේ පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

එහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ ජානිපෙ නායකවරයා මෙසේද සඳහන් කළේය.

‘ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්?’ 

“පසුගියදා ඉන්දියාවේදී සංචාරක අමාත්‍ය හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ප්‍රකාශ කළා, ‘ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්!’ කියා. ඉන්දියාව තුළ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික කටයුත්තකදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අමාත්‍යවරයෙකු ‘ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්!’ යැයි පැවසීම බරපතළ ප්‍රකාශයක්. නිවට, නියාලු විදියට මෝඩ හිනාවකුත් දාගෙන, මේ ප්‍රකාශය පමණක් නොවෙයි, ‘අපේ ගුවන්තොටුපළවල්, වරායවල් ආදී සියල්ලම අපි ඉන්දියාවට දෙනවා’ කියන එකයි එහිදී හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසුවේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවට ඈඳලා දෙන්න  “හොඳම වෙලාව” ඇවිල්ලා 

අමාත්‍යවරයෙකු යම් රටකට ගිහින් තමන්ගේ රට ඒ රටේ කොටසක් කියා කරන ප්‍රකාශය බරපතළ නැද්ද? එහෙම ප්‍රකාශයක් කරන්න සදාචාරාත්මක හා නෛතික බලයක් ඔහුට තිබෙනවාද? පාර්ලිමේන්තුව තුළ අපි මන්ත්‍රීවරයකු ලෙස දිවුරුම් දෙන විට රටේ ඒකීයභාවය සහ ස්වෛරීභාවය සුරකින බවට දිවුරුම් දෙනවා. එය උල්ලංඝනය කරන්න කිසිදු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකුට බැහැ. දැන් මේ හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු කියන විදියට ‘ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්!’ නම් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තවදුරටත් ස්වෛරී රාජ්‍යයක් නොවෙයි. අද මේ ආර්ථික අර්බුදය ඇතුළේ  ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ස්වෛරීත්වය ඉන්දියාව හමුවේ පාවාදෙන එකයි මේ පාලක පැළැන්තිය කරන්නේ. ඒ වගේම මෙවැනි බරපතළ ප්‍රකාශයක් ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයේ ඇමතිවරයෙකු කළාම ඒක ඇහුණේ නැහැ වගේ ඉඳීමයි බලයට ඉව අල්ලන විපක්ෂ කල්ලි කණ්ඩායම් කරන්නේ. හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දුලා හිතනවා නම් ‘ආර්ථික අර්බුදයේ කරවටක් ගිලුණු සමාජය නිර්වින්දනය වෙලා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවට ඈඳලා දෙන්න මේ වෙලාව තමයි හොඳම වෙලාව’ කියලා ඒක එසේ වීමට අපි කිසිසේත්ම ඉඩ තියන්නේ නැහැ.

හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දුලා කරමින් ඉන්නා දේ...

හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දුගේ කටින් මේක එළියට පැන්නේ නිකම් නොවෙයි. එයා දන්නවා ඊළඟට සිදුවීමට නියමිත දේවල් ටික. මාර්තු මාසයේ එට්කා ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කිරීමට නියමිතයි. එට්කා ගිවිසුම අත්සන් කළාට පසුව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සේවා ආර්ථිකයට, රැකියා වෙළඳපොළට, වෙළඳාමට ඉන්දියානුවන්ට කිසිදු බාධාවකින් තොරව ඇතුළු වෙන්න පුළුවන්. එහෙම කාලයක් ගියාම මේ රට ඉන්දියානුවන් බහුතරයක් ඉන්න රටක් බවට පත් කරගන්න පුළුවන්. ඒ වගේම අපේ ගුවන්තොටුපළවල්, වරායවල්, ටෙලිකොම්, විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය ඇතුළු ආර්ථික මර්මස්ථාන සියල්ල ඉදිරියේදී ඉන්දියානු සමාගම් අතට යාමට නියමිතයි. ඒ වගේම ඉන්දියාව සමඟ බලශක්ති ඒකාබද්ධකරණයටත් පාර කැපෙමින් තිබෙනවා. හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දුලා කරමින් ඉන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක් බවට පත්කිරීම තමයි. නිවට, නියාලු විදිහට මෝඩ හිනාවකුත් දාගෙන තමන් ඇතුළු පාලක නඩය කරමින් සිටින දේ තමයි ඔහු ඉන්දියාවේදී පැවසුවේ.

“කසාය බීපු ගොළුවන්”

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා කිව යුතුයි, ‘මේ ප්‍රකාශය පිළිගන්නවාද? නැද්ද?’ කියා. වෙන රටක ජනාධිපතිවරයෙකු නම් තම රටේ අමාත්‍යවරයෙකු මෙවැනි ප්‍රකාශයක් කළාම පළමුවෙන්ම කරන්නේ ඒ ඇමතිවරයා අමාත්‍ය ධුරයෙන් නෙරපීම. නමුත් මේ ජනාධිපතිවරයා එහෙම කරයි කියලා අපි නම් බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ නැහැ. විපක්‍ෂ නායකයාට, බලයට ඉව අල්ලන විපක්ෂයේ ගුස්පිකාරයන්ට මේක ඇහුණේ නැද්ද? මේකට වහාම ප්‍රතික්‍රියා දැක්විය යුතු නැද්ද? ආණ්ඩුවේ ඇමතිවරුන් මේ වගේ බරපතළ ප්‍රකාශ කරන විට බලයට ඉව අල්ලන විපක්ෂයේ කල්ලි කණ්ඩායම් නිහඬව ඉන්නවා කියන්නේ ඔවුන් ද ආණ්ඩුවේ මතය දරනවා කියන එක නොවෙයිද? මේ ගැන ආණ්ඩුවට කත් හදින පොහොට්ටුකාරයෝ ටිකවත් ‘හූම්’ ශබ්දයක් නඟන්නේ නැහැ. ‘රටේ ස්වෛරීත්වය අපි තමයි රැක්කේ’ කියන රාජපක්ෂලාත් ශබ්දයක් නැහැ. හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු, ‘ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ කොටසක්!’ කියනකොට මේ සියලුදෙනාම කසාය බීපු ගොළුවන් වගේ දත කට පූට්ටු කරගෙන ඉන්නවා. මේකෙන් පෙනෙන්නේ, ‘ඉන්දියානු වහල්භාවය කොතරම් බරපතළ විදියට එළාගෙන යනවාද? ඒකට මේ පරාධීන ආණ්ඩුව කොතරම් දුරකට අවනත වෙලාද?’ කියන එකයි.

අපි මේ රටේ ජනතාවගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා,’මේ ප්‍රකාශය සුළු කොට තකන්න එපා! එය නිසි බරින් තේරුම් ගන්න. ඒ ප්‍රකාශයට පමණක් ලඝු නොවී, සැබෑ ලෙසම ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ පාට් එකක් බවට පත්කරන මෙහෙයුමට එරෙහි වන්න’ කියා.”

මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුවට ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ මතුගම ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ හිටපු මන්ත්‍රී සංජය කරවිට, කැස්බෑව නගර සභාවේ හිටපු මන්ත්‍රී රංජිත් පත්මසිරි යන මහත්වරු ද එක්ව සිටියහ.

(අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ)
මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්,
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ

උපුටා ගැන්ම  ලංකා ලීඩර්

රාජ්‍ය සම්පත් පෞද්ගලීකරණ කිරීම හේතුවෙන් සමාජ අනාරක්ෂිතතාවක් නිර්මාණය වීමේ අවදානමක් මතුව ඇති බව පෙන්වා දෙමින් ත්‍රෛනිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරුන් විසින්  ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා වෙත අවවාදාත්මක ලිපියක් යොමුකර තිබේ.

එමගින් උන්වහන්සේලා පෙන්වා දී ඇත්තේ  ඇත්තේ මහජන සුබ සිද්ධිය, ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව, මෙන්ම රටේ ආර්ථික ස්ථායීත්වය පදනම් කොටගෙන ආරම්භ කරන ලද රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාර මහජනයා සතු සම්පතක් බවත්, රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යාපාර ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමට වත්මන් රජය ගෙන යන වැඩපිළිවෙලට සමාජය තුළින් දැඩි විරෝධයක් මතුවී ඇති බවත්ය.

ත්‍රෛනිකායික මහානායක හිමිවරුන් විසින් නිකුත්කළ නිවේදනය පහතින්,

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

Remembering the 117^th death anniversary of Buddhist revivalist, Colonel Henry Steel Olcott, Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne paid floral tributes to the statue of the late Colonel Olcott opposite the Fort Railway Station, Colombo today (Feb 17).

A pioneer of the Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist movement, Colonel Olcott spearheaded the inauguration of Buddhist high schools in the main cities of the country, such as Ananda College in Colombo, Dharmaraja College in Kandy, Mahinda College in Galle, Rahula College in Mathara and Maliyadewa College in Kurunegala.

He also established the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), lobbied for recognition of the Vesak full moon poya day as a national holiday and acted as an adviser to a committee appointed to design the Buddhist flag.

Principals of Ananda and Nalanda Colleges joined the Defence Secretary to pay floral tributes to the statue. The former president of Ananda College Old Boys’ Association and Old Anandians’ Sports Club, Sithendra Senarathna and the members of Parama Vingnanartha Buddhist Society in Colombo also attended the occasion.

Dialogue works

Larry C. Johnson is a veteran of the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism. He is the founder and managing partner of BERG Associates, which was established in 1998. Larry provided training to the US Military’s Special Operations community for 24 years. He has been vilified by the right and the left, which means he must be doing something right. You can also follow him on telegram (t.me/sonar_21 (https://t.me/sonar_21) and https://sonar21.com.

Courtesy The Island

Elections will be held in time, opposition circulating rumours”

President Ranil Wickremesinghe on Thursday said that people of this country well know that there are no shortcuts to abolish the executive presidency.Responding to a query by a group of MPs at a meeting at the President’s Office in Colombo, the President said that the presidential election would be held on time and there would be no abolition of the executive presidency at this time, sources from the president’s office said.

I have clearly stated several times that I have no intention to put off the presidential elections. Funds for that purpose are there. The talks about attempts to abolish the executive presidency were circulated by the main opposition.

There is a competition between two divided groups in the opposition. When one group is seen ahead of the other in terms of popularity, the traditional opposition panics. They got their media friends to propagate this topic. They keep floating the same stories using my name.

People of this country know better than the opposition that the abolition of the executive presidency cannot be done in a hurry. There is a procedure to do that. We should not fall into their trap.

Do not waste your time on this. You speak of the economic revival programme that we are carrying out,” the President told the MPs.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Feb. 18 (Daily Mirror)- The Supreme Court delivered a judgment in favour of the plaintiff party over a land dispute relating to a 90-perch plot of land in Kurunegala, which had traversed the halls of the courts for 52 years.

This case was first instituted in 1972 by the original plaintiff in the District Court of Kurunegala against the original defendant for a declaration of title to the land called Damunugahamulawatta”, ejectment of the original defendant from the said land, restoration of possession and damages.

On March 29, 1976, the Kurunegala District Court delivered a judgment in favour of the plaintiff. Subsequently, the defendant filed an appeal before the Court of Appeal against the District Court judgment. On October 25, 1984 the Court of Appeal set aside the judgment of the District Court and sent the case back for a fresh trial (de-novo) on the basis that the District Court Judge had not taken into consideration several documents produced as evidence. 

Following the second trial, the District Court, by judgment dated 28 April 1997, held in favour of the plaintiff. The substituted defendant then preferred an appeal to the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal, by judgment dated 02 December 2011, set aside the District Court judgment on the grounds that the plaintiff had failed to properly discharge the burden of proof to establish title and identity of the land in dispute. 

Being aggrieved by the Court of Appeal judgment, the substituted plaintiff (replacing the original plaintiff following his death) appealed to the Supreme Court. Leave to appeal was granted by the Supreme Court in this matter on May 6, 2013.

This  land dispute case was relating to Roman Law action called “rei vindicatio action”. It is settled law that in order to succeed in a rei vindication action, the plaintiff must, firstly prove ownership of the property and secondly, that the defendant is in possession of the property. The burden of proof is placed on the plaintiff to prove ownership on a balance of probabilities.

The appeal was allowed by the Supreme Court three-judge-bench comprising Justices S. Thurairaja, A.H.M.D. Nawaz and Achala Wengappuli and delivered a judgment in favour of the substituted plaintiff. 

“As the original defendant did not claim for a declaration of title to the corpus and instead claimed for his rights as a lessee under the agreement executed between himself and the original owner, the substituted defendant cannot take up a position different to the original defendant,” the Supreme Court held.

Courtesy Sputnik

© Sputnik / Stringer

On January 24, the Ukrainian Armed Forces shot down a Russian Air Force Il-76 military transport plane over the Belgorod region that was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners set for exchange.

Kiev’s British advisers are responsible for the deaths of the POWs and the crew of the Il-76 transport plane, which was shot down by a Ukrainian missile, an informed source familiar with the situation has told Sputnik.

“The attack on the Il-76 was carried out under pressure from British advisers without coordination with the air defense headquarters in Kiev and without additional double-checking of information on aircraft movements over the Belgorod region,” the source said.

Six Russian crew members, three Russian servicemen, and 65 Ukrainian POWs on board the airplane were killed after a missile hit the Il-76 over the Belgorod Region on January 24. The aircraft was en route for a planned prisoner exchange that was subsequently canceled.

The Russian Investigative Committee said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces used a MIM-104A guided missile fired from a Patriot system to shoot down the plane.

World

US State Dept. Dodges Questions on Ukraine’s Involvement in Terrorist Attack on IL-76

5 February, 21:04 GMT

Vladimir Putin called the attack a crime by the Kiev regime against its own citizens. According to him, the Ukrainian side knew there were POWs from the Ukrainian Armed Forces on board, but still attacked it. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that the plane crash raises a big question about the possibility of any agreements with Kiev.

Courtesy Adaderana

Another 418 suspects have been arrested by Sri Lanka’s police and security forces personnel within 24 hours which ended at 12.30 a.m. today (18 Feb.), as part of the ongoing countrywide anti-drug operation ‘Yukthiya’.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, detention orders have been secured against 8 of the suspects, while 2 arrestees were sent to rehabilitation centres.

Among the 418 arrestees are 8 suspects who had open warrants against them over narcotics-related charges and 113 others who had open warrants against them over non-drug related charges.

The narcotics taken into custody during this period include 133g of heroin, 103g of crystal methamphetamine (Ice), nearly 8kg of cannabis and 447 narcotic pills.

Courtesy Adaderana

A total of 793 traffic offenders have been identified within the first 15 days of February through the 24-hour surveillance system implemented to monitor traffic violations.

According to Police Spokesman DIG Nihal Thalduwa, 300 police stations across the country have been notified to take necessary action against the said offenders.

He further noted that nearly 26,000 cases of persons driving under the influence of alcohol were reported in 2023.

On 22 January 2024, Sri Lanka Police launched a special project through which traffic offenders in Colombo will be traced using a CCTV surveillance camera system.

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන  B.Sc ( Col), PGDC(Col)

2002 දී චන්ද්‍රිකා බණ්ඩාරනායක ජනාධිපතිවරිය සමයේදී 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් ආ බවත් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු 7ක් මගින් එයට දුන් ඒකමතික තීරණය උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපති සමයේ 2015 දී 19 සංශෝධනයක් නැවත ගෙනා බවත් ඇතැම් නීති විශාරදයෝ සහ ඇතැම් දේශපාල විචාරකයෝ අමතක කරති. එය එසේ අමතක කළ නොහැකිය. එය ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණයකි. ජනාධිපතිවරණය පැවැත්විය යුත්තේ වසර 5කින් නොව වසර 6කින් වන්නේ එකී ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණය නිවැරදි කිරීමෙනි. 2015 ගෙනා 19ය මගින් 2002 ගෙනා 19යේ පූර්ණ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තිරණය උල්ලංඝනය කළ ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණය පහත විස්තර කර ඇත.

2002දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ගෙන එන ලද 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 5 වන වගන්තිය අනුව ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවට ඉක්බිතිව 70 (අ) ලෙස ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් ගෙන එමින් වසරකට පසු ජනාධිපතිවරයාට පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කිරීමට යෝජනා කර තිබුණි.

එකී 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 19 වන දින ව්‍යාපාර සංවර්ධන, කර්මාන්ත ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති හා ආයෝජන ප‍්‍රවර්ධන සහ ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා කටයුතු අමාත්‍යවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබූ අතර 2002 සැප්තැම්බර් මස 11 වන දින ගැසට් පත‍්‍රයේ පළ කර ඇත.

එම 2002 දී ගෙනා 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවට පටහැනිය යන පදනමින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ අභියෝගයට ලක්කරන ලද අතර සරත් නන්ද සිල්වා (අ.වි), වඩුගොඩුපිටිය (වි), බණ්ඩාරනායක (වි) ඉස්මයිල් (වි) එදිරිසූරිය (වි) සහ යාපා (වි) ද සිල්වා (වි) විසින් 2002 ඔක්තෝබර් 1 සහ 3 යන දිනවල ඒ සම්බන්ධව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විභාගයට ගන්නා ලදී.

එහි තීරණයට අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට වන විධිවිධානය නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය වන නීතිමය තත්ත්වය එම විනිසුරුවරු 7 දෙනා විසින් දීර්ඝව විස්තර කර ඇත. වර්ෂ 2002 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 5 වන වගන්තිය අනුව ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාවට ඉක්බිතිව 70 (අ) ලෙස ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව සංශෝධනය කරමින් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම ජනාධිපතිට සීමා කිරීම ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 3 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව එනම් ජනතාවගේ පරමාධිපත්‍යය උල්ලංඝනය කරන බවත් එය නීතියක් බවට පත් වන්නේ ජනමත විචාරණයක් මගින් ජනතාව විසින්ද අනුමැතිය දීමෙන් පසුව බව අගවිනිසුරු ප‍්‍රමුඛ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුවරු 7 දෙනකු විසින් ඒකමතිකව තීරණය කර ඇත.

ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට එකඟව කටයුතු කරන්නේ නම් වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සීමා කිරීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනයක් සිදුකරන්නේ නම් ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 80.2 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නීතියක් බවට පත්කරන ආකාරයේ සහ 79 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව යටතේ පනත් කෙටුම්පත හෝ ඒ විධිවිධානය ජනතාව විසින් ජනමත විචාරණයක දී අනුමත කරනු ලබන තෙක් නීතිය බවට පත් නොවිය යුතු බවට වන කථානායකවරයාගේ සහතිකයක් සඳහන් සටහනක් තබා ජනමත විචාරණයකදී තමන්ගේ ඡන්ද බලය ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේ අවස්ථාව එළඹෙන තෙක් ජනතාව බලා සිටින අතර මේ වන තෙක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ඒ අවස්ථාව ජනතාවට ලබා දී නැත.
එසේ වුවද 2015 දී ගෙනා 19 මගින් මෙය ජනමතවිචාරණයක් නොතබා සිදුකර ගැනීමේ ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් සිදුකළ අතර,
මෙය ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් සිදුකරන ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ 2002 දී ගෙනා 19ට දුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයට තීරණයට පටහැනි තත්ත්වයකි.

2015 ගෙන එන ලද 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණය කියා ඇති පරිදි ජනතාවගේ කැමැත්ත විමසීමට ජනමත විචාරණය නොපැවැත්වීම සහ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කිරීම සහ ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක යෙදීම.

අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා සහ ප‍්‍රතිපත්ති සම්පාදන, ආර්ථික කටයුතු, ළමා, තරුණ හා සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු අමාත්‍යතුමාගේ නියමය පරිදි 2015 මාර්තු මස 13 වන දින ගැසට් පත‍්‍රයේ 11 වන කොටස අතිරේකය (2015.03.16 දින නිකුත් කරන ලද) 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පතේ 19 වගන්තිය මගින්ද වසරකට පසු  පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීමට හැකි බවට අදාළ විධිවිධානය වෙනස් කර එය වසර 4 1/2 ක් දක්වා දීර්ඝ කරන විධිවිධානයක් පහත පරිදි දැක්වේ.

ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 70 වන ව්‍යවස්ථාව එකී ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ (1) වන අනුව්‍යවස්ථාව ඉවත් කොට ඒ වෙනුවට පහත දැක්වෙන අනු ව්‍යවස්ථාව ආදේශ කිරීම මගින් මෙයින් සංශෝධනය කරනු ලැබේ :-

(1) ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් ප‍්‍රකාශයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව කැඳවීම, පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වාරාවසාන කිරීම සහ පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම කළ හැක්කේ ය:

එසේ වුවද, පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය ඇතිව යෝජනා සම්මතයක් මගින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ අනුමැතිය ලබා ගත යුතු බවට එසේ නොවන්නේ නම් පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ ප‍්‍රථම රැස්වීම සඳහා නියම කරගනු ලැබූ දිනයෙන් අවුරුදු හතරක් සහ මාස හයක කාලයක් අවසන් වන තෙක් ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරීම නොකළ යුතු බව දක්වා ඇත.

ඒ අනුව 2015 දී ගෙන එනු ලැබූ 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මගින්ද 2002 දී ගෙන එනු ලැබූ 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත මෙන්ම ජනාධිපතිවරයාට වසරකට පසු පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීම සීමා කරන එනම් නොහැකි බවත් පත්කරන විධිවිධාන ඇතුළත් කර ඇත.

2015 දී ගෙනා 19වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීමට පෙර එනම් 2002 දී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ විනිසුරුවරුන් 7 දෙනකු විසින් තීරණය කළ පරිදි පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසිරවීමෙන් ජනාධිපති වළක්වන විධිවිධානය නීතියක් බවට පත් කිරීමට පෙර ජනතාවගේ මතය විමසන ජනමත විචාරණයක් පැවැත්වීමට ජනාධිපතිවරවයා මේ දක්වා කටයුතු කර නැති අතර පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ නොපැමිණි මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන්ද ඇතුළුව පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ සම්මතය පමණක් 2015 දී මේ වන විට හිමි වී ඇත. නමුත් එය නීතියක් වීමට ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය අනුව පැවැත්විය යුතු ජනමත විචාරණය පැවැත්විය යුතු අතර ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ජනතාව විසින් බලයට පත් කරන ලද්දේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කිරීමට නොව ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණවලට අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීමටය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ මුළු මන්ත‍්‍රීවරයන් සංඛ්‍යාවෙන් තුනෙන් දෙකක සංඛ්‍යාවකට නොඅඩු සංඛ්‍යාවකගේ ඡන්දයෙන් සම්ම්ත වී ඇති 2015 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සඳහා ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය අනුව නීතියක් බවට පත්කිරීමේ ඉදිරි පියවර ගැනීම වර්තමාන ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් කළ යුතු වේ.

මෙහිදී යම් අයෙකු හෝ කණ්ඩායමක් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ අයුතු ලෙස හා අන්තනෝමතික ලෙස යොදා ගනිමින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ අනුව කටයුතු නොකරමින් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරන ආකාරයට 2015 දී ඉදිරිපත් කළ 19 වන ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධන පනත් කෙටුම්පත සඳහා නීති විරෝධීව නීතිමය තත්ත්වයක් ආරෝපණය කරමින් සිටින හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධව දැඩිව ක‍්‍රියා කිරීමද ජනාධිපතිවරයාට අයත් කාර්යයක් වේ.

ජනතාව විසින් ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයා බලයට පත්කරනු ලැබූයේ නීතියට අනුව රට පාලනය කිරීමට වුවද එය සිදු නොවූ අතර, මේ වැරදි තත්ත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමේ පූර්ණ වගකීම ඔහුගේ අනුප්‍රාප්තික ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් දැරිය යුතු අතර මෙහිදී කිහිප දෙනකු විසින් ආණ්ඩුක‍්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා කුමන්ත‍්‍රණයක් සිදු කර ඇති බවත් පැහැදිලි වන හෙයින් ඒ සම්බන්ධව පූර්ණ විමර්ශනයක් සිදුකර වැරදිකරුවන්ට දඬුවම් ලබා දීමද සිදු කළ යුතු වේ.

ඒ අනුව අනුප්‍රාප්තික ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ධූරය දරන්නේ 2019 දී පත්වූ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ඉදිරි කාලයට වන අතර 2015 ගෙනා 19 ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් මේ දක්වා ජනතාව විසින් අනුමත කර නැති හෙයින් එහි සියලු විධිවිධාන එනම් ජනාධිපති ධූර කාලය වසර 5 කළ විධිවිධානය ඇතුලුව මේ දක්වා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව නීතියක් වී නැත.

මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා වසර 4 1/2 කට පෙර පාර්ලිමේන්තුව විසුරුවා හැරි අවථාවේදී එයට එරෙහිව ඉදිරිපත් කළ මූලික අයිතිවාසිකම් පෙත්සම් වලදී ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ විනිසුරු 7 ක් මගින් එය වැරදි බවට 2015 ගෙනා 19 අනුව තීන්දු කරමින් නඩු තීන්දුවක් (Judgement) දෙනු ලැබුවද පනත් කෙටුම්පතක ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයක් (Determination) උල්ලංඝනය කර තිබේද යන්න (2002 දී 19ට දුන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණය) විභාග කිරීමට අධිකරණය බලය නොතිබූ අතර එකී අධිකරණය බලය ඇත්තේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණයක් ලබා දීමේදී හෝ උපදේශන අධිකරණ බලය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමේදීය.

ඉහත නීතිමය කාරණා අනුව 2015 දී ගෙනා 19 මේ දක්වා ජනමතවිචාරණයක් මගින් අනුමැතිය ලබා නැති හෙයින් 2019 පත් වූ ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ධූරකාලය අවසන් වන්නේ 2024 නොවැම්බර් නොව 2025 නොවැම්බර් වලදී එනම් වසර 6ක් දක්වා ජනාධිපති ධූරය පැවැත් වෙයි.

මේ තත්ත්වය එනම් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණ තීරණ උල්ලංඝනය කරමින් ජනාධිපති ධූරකාලය වසර 5ක් බවට වන වැරදි තත්ත්වය නිවැරදි කිරීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට ගත හැකි පියවර 2ක් වෙයි. ඒ 2015 ගෙනා 19ට පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ 2/3 ලැබී ඇති හෙයින් එය ජනමතවිචාරණයකට යොමු කිරීම හෝ ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 129 ව්‍යවස්ථාව අනුව මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් ශ්‍රේෂ්ඨාධිකරණයේ මතය විමසීමේ උපදේශන අධිකරණ බලය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමය.

http://neethiyalk.blogspot.com/2024/02/2025.html?m=1

නීතීඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන
B.Sc ( Col), PGDC(Col)
දුරකථන 0712063394
2024.02.16

By William J. Astore TomDispatch.com

Like many American boys of the baby-boomer generation, I played war” with those old, olive-drab, plastic toy soldiers meant to evoke our great victory over the Nazis and the Japs” during World War II. At age 10, I also kept a scrapbook of the 1973 Yom Kippur War between Israel and its various Arab enemies in the Middle East. It was, I suppose, an early sign that I would make both the military and the study of history into careers.

I recall rooting for the Israelis, advertised then as crucial American allies, against Egypt, Syria, and other regional enemies at least ostensibly allied with the Soviet Union in that Cold War era. I bought the prevailing narrative of a David-versus-Goliath struggle. I even got a book on the Yom Kippur War that captivated me by displaying all the weaponry the U.S. military had rushed to Israel to turn the tide there, including F-4 Phantom jets and M-60 main battle tanks. (David’s high-tech slingshots, if you will.) Little did I know that, in the next 50 years of my life, I would witness increasingly destructive U.S. military attacks in the Middle East, especially after the oil cartel OPEC (largely Middle Eastern then) hit back hard with an embargo in 1973 that sent our petroleum-based economy into a tailspin.

As one jokester quipped: Who put America’s oil under the sands of all those ungrateful Muslim countries in the Middle East? With declarations like the Carter Doctrine in 1980, the U.S. was obviously ready to show the world just how eagerly it would defend its vital interests” (meaning fossil fuels, of course) in that region. And even today, as we watch the latest round in this country’s painfully consistent record of attempting to pound various countries and entities there into submission, mainly via repetitive air strikes, we should never forget the importance of oil, and lots of it, to keep the engines of industry and war churning along in a devastating fashion.

Right now, of course, the world is witnessing yet another U.S. bombing campaign, the latest in a series that seems all too predictable (and futile), meant to teach the restless rebels of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, and possibly even Iran a lesson when it comes to messing with the United States of America. As the recently deceased country singer Toby Keith put it: Mess with this country and We’ll put a boot (think: bomb) in your ass.” You kill three soldiers of ours and we’ll kill scores, if not hundreds, if not thousands of yours (and it doesn’t really matter if they’re soldiers or not), because… well, because we damn well can!

America’s leaders, possessing a peerless Air Force, regularly exhibit a visceral willingness to use it to bomb and missile perceived enemies into submission or, if need be, nothingness. And don’t for a second think that they’re going to be stopped by international law, humanitarian concerns, well-meaning protesters, or indeed any force on this planet. America bombs because it can, because it believes in the efficacy of violence, and because it’s run by appeasers.

Yes, America’s presidents, its bombers-in-chief, are indeed appeasers. Of course, they think they’re being strong when they’re blowing distant people to bits, but their actions invariably showcase a distinctive kind of weakness. They eternally seek to appease the military-industrial-congressional complex, aka the national (in)security state, a complex state-within-a-state with an unappeasable hunger for power, profit, and ever more destruction. They fail and fail and fail again in the Middle East, yet they’re incapable of not ordering more bombing, more droning, more killing there. Think of them as being possessed by a monomania for war akin to my urge to play with toy soldiers. The key difference? When I played at war, I was a wet-behind-the-ears 10 year old.

The Rockets’ Red Glare, the Bombs Bursting in Air

No technology may be more all-American than bombs and bombers and no military doctrine more American than the urge to attain peace” through massive firepower. In World War II and subsequent wars, the essential U.S. approach could be summarized in five words: mass production enabling mass destruction.

No other country in the world has dedicated such vast resources as mine has to mass destruction through air power. Think of the full-scale bombing of cities in Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in World War II, ending in the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Think of the flattening of North Korea during the Korean War of the early 1950s or the staggering bombing campaigns in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the 1960s and early 1970s. Or consider the massive use of air power in Desert Shield against Iraq in the early 1990s followed by the air campaigns that accompanied the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 (and never quite seemed to stop thereafter). The butcher’s bill for such bombing has indeed been high, quite literally millions of non-combatants killed by America’s self-styled arsenal of democracy.”

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And indeed, as you read this, another country is now faithfully following America’s example. Israel is systematically destroying Gaza, rendering it essentially uninhabitable for those Palestinians who survive the ongoing rampage. In fact, early in its war of annihilation, Israeli leaders cited the Allied destruction of the German city of Dresden in 1945 in support of their own atrocious air and ground campaign against the Palestinians.

Looking at this dispassionately as a military historian, the Dresden reference makes a certain twisted sense. In World War II, the Americans and their British allies in their combined bomber offensive” destroyed German cities indiscriminately, seeing all Germans as essentially Nazis, complicit in the crimes of their government, and so legitimate targets. Something similar is true of the right-wing Israeli government today. It sees all Palestinians as essentially members of Hamas and thus complicit in last year’s brutal October 7th attacks on Israel, making them legitimate targets of war, Israeli- (and American-) style. Just like the United States, Israel claims to be defending democracy” whatever it does. Little wonder, then, that Washington has been so willing to send bombs and bullets to its protégé as it seeks peace” through massive firepower and genocidal destruction.

Indeed, of late, there has been considerable debate about whether Israel is engaged in acts of genocide, with the International Court of Justice ruling that the present government should strive to prevent just such acts in Gaza. Putting that issue aside, it’s undeniable that Israel has been using indiscriminate bombing attacks and a devastating invasion in a near-total war against Palestinians living on that 25-mile-long strip of land, an approach that calls to mind the harrowing catchphrase Exterminate all the brutes!” from Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness.

In a sense, there’s nothing new under the sun. Certainly, the Old Testament itself provides examples of exterminatory campaigns (cited by Bibi Netanyahu as Israel first moved against the Palestinians in Gaza). He might as well have cited a catchphrase heard during America’s war in Vietnam, but rooted in the medieval crusades: Kill them all and let God sort them out.”

America’s Unrelenting Crusade in the Middle East

In the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush got into trouble almost instantly when he referred to the war on terror” he had launched as a crusade.” Yet, as impolitic as that word might have seemed, how better to explain U.S. actions in the Middle East and Afghanistan? Just consider our faith in the goodness and efficacy of our” military and that all-American urge to bring democracy” to the world, despite the destruction visited upon Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Yemen over the last several decades. Or go back to 1953 and the role the CIA played in the overthrow of Iran’s legitimate democratic ruler and his replacement by the brutally repressive regime of the Shah.

Try to imagine such events from the perspective of a historian writing in the year 2200. Might that future scribe not refer to repeated U.S. invasions of, incursions into, and bombing campaigns across the Middle East as a bloody crusade, launched under the (false) banner of democracy with righteous vengeance, if not godly purpose, in mind? Might that historian not suggest that such a crusade” was ultimately more about power and profit, domination and control than (as advertised) freedom”? And might that historian not be impressed (if not depressed) by the remarkable way the U.S. brought seemingly unending chaos and death to the region over such a broad span of time?

Consider these facts. More than 22 years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. still has at least 30,000 troops scattered across the Middle East. At least one Navy carrier strike group, and often two, dominate the regional waters, while striking numbers of military bases (Little Americas”) are still sprinkled across countries ranging from Kuwait to Bahrain, from Qatar to the United Arab Emirates and beyond. So many years later, about 900 U.S. troops still illegally occupy part of Syria (not coincidentally, where that country produces most of its oil) and 2,500 more remain in Iraq, even though the government there would like them to depart.

Yankee Go Home? Apparently Not in My Lifetime

Meanwhile, American military aid, mostly in the form of deadly weaponry, flows not only to Israel but to other countries in the region like Egypt and Jordan. Direct U.S. military support facilitated Saudi Arabia’s long, destructive, and unsuccessful war against the Houthis in Yemen, a conflict Washington is now conducting on its own with repeated air strikes. And of course, the entire region has, for more than two decades now, been under constant U.S. military pressure in that war on terror, which all too quickly became a war of terror (and of torture).

Recall that the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 led to the death of roughly a million Iraqis and the displacement of millions more as refugees. How could that not be considered part of a crusade,” even if a fitful and failing one? Yet, here’s the rub: just as those Catholic crusades of the Middle Ages weren’t entirely or even primarily about religion, so today’s American version isn’t motivated primarily by an anti-Muslim animus. Of course, there is indeed an inescapably religious aspect to such never-ending American war-making, but what drives those wars is largely naked greed, vengeance, and an all-American urge both to appease and amplify the military-industrial-congressional complex.

Of course, as was true in the years after 9/11 and is still true today, Americans are generally encouraged to see their country’s imperial and crusading acts as purely defensive in nature, the righteous responses of freedom-bringers. Admittedly, it’s a strange kind of freedom this country brings at the tip of a sword — or on the nosecone of a Hellfire missile. Even so, in such an otherwise thoroughly contentious Congress, it should be striking how few members have challenged the latest bombing version of this country’s enduring war in the Middle East.

Forget the Constitution. No Congressional declaration of war is believed necessary for any of this, nor has it mattered much (so far) that the American public has grown increasingly skeptical of those wars and the acts of destruction that go with them. As it happens, however, the crusade, such as it is, has proven remarkably sustainable without much public crusading zeal. For most Americans, those acts remain distinctly off-stage and largely out of mind, except at moments like the present one where the deaths of three American soldiers give the administration all the excuse it needs for repetitive acts of retaliation.

No, we the people exercise remarkably little control over the war-making that the military-industrial-congressional complex has engaged in for decades or the costs that go with them. Indeed, the dollar costs are largely deferred to future generations as America’s national debt climbs even faster than the Pentagon war budget.

America, so we were told by President George W. Bush, is hated for its freedoms.  Yet the freedoms” we’re allegedly hated for aren’t those delineated in the Constitution and its Bill of Rights.  Rather, it’s America’s freedom” to build military bases across the globe and bomb everywhere, a freedom” to sell such bellicose activity as lawful and even admirable, a freedom” to engage in a hyperviolent style of play, treating our” troops and so many foreigners as toy soldiers and expendable props for Washington’s games.  

It’s something I captured unintentionally five decades ago with those toy soldiers of mine from an imagined glorious military past.  But after a time (too long, perhaps) I learned to recognize them as the childish things they were and put them away.  They’re now long gone, lost to time and maturity, as is the illusion that my country pursues freedom and democracy in the Middle East through ceaseless acts of extreme violence, which just seem todrone on and on and on.

Courtesy TomDispatch.com

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing.

So that classic late 1960s song claimed. Still, for Bill Astore and me (and, I have little doubt, Joe Biden, too), such a thought didn’t cross our minds as we played with toy soldiers on the floors of our rooms as kids. I can still remember spending endless hours refighting both the Civil War and World War II — the war my father was in and, strangely enough, at least to me then, wouldn’t talk about — with my books piled high to create canyons and islands. However, as TomDispatch regular Astore says today, growing older, we did leave those toy soldiers and the floor wars behind, though he ended up an officer in the U.S. Air Force and I must admit that, 60-odd years later, I still have a box of the Blue and the Gray somewhere deep in a closet and a tiny General Ulysses S. Grant on a horse perched on a shelf by the desk where I’m writing this.

Ah, we boys and our toy soldiers. Unfortunately, at some level, it seems as if our leaders didn’t leave them behind at all. Only recently, three all-too-real American soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a base at Jordan’s border with Syria. And grim as that was — as well as a grim reminder that, so many years after America’s major wars in the Middle East ended, tens of thousands of our troops are still stationed on bases scattered across the region — the response has been grimmer yet. The Biden administration began with air strikes (including by B-1B bombers flown all the way from Texas) on 85 targets at seven sites in Iraq and Syria. Those sites were theoretically connected to the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Quds Force and affiliated groups. But as Simona Foltyn recently reported for the PBS NewsHour, some of those planes actually devastated an Iraqi force that claims to have had nothing to do with any attacks on U.S. bases, while also killing civilians. A day later, yet more air strikes were launched against the Houthis in Yemen. Republican lawmakers promptly claimed that such strikes were distinctly too little, too late.” And of course, even more plane, missile, and drone strikes across the region followed. As yet, there’s no end in sight to the reprisals for the deaths of those three Americans, even as the utter humanitarian disaster in Gaza and the possibility of a larger conflict in the region only grow.

All of this should be a reminder that this country, whatever the pretensions of its leadership and its national security bureaucracy, is no longer the sole superpower on Planet Earth as it was in 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. It’s a declining imperial power, increasingly in chaos at home. But with that, let me point you toward the floor of retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel, historian, and TomDispatch regular Bill Astore’s childhood room and let him take it from there. Tom

by Shafique Khokhar Courtesy PIME Asian News

A mob attacked an Ahmadi place of worship in Kotli district, sending the caretaker to hospital with serious injuries. Previously, they had given the authorities an ultimatum to demolish the Ahmadi mosque. Despite CCTV footage, police have yet to make any arrests. We want justice,” Ahmadi leader told AsiaNews.

Azad Jammu Kashmir (AsiaNews) – Pakistan’s Ahmadi community has once again been targeted by extremist groups.

The latest attack took place on Monday in Bhabra, Kotli district (Azad Jammu and Kashmir), involving an Ahmadi place of worship.

During the attack, which included beatings and the use of firearms, several Ahmadis suffered injuries, with about eight men and five women seriously wounded. The attackers ransacked the Ahmadi mosque and tore down its minarets (pictured).

Despite being alerted by the victims, police were slow in reaching the scene of the incident, and by the time they arrived, the attackers, a group of 60 to 65 people, had fled the scene.  

During the attack, CCTV cameras were smashed and the mosque vandalised as the mob stormed the building, the preliminary investigation shows.

Upon entering the building, the attackers beat the caretaker, Wajid Hussain, with iron rods and hammers. He is currently in hospital in critical condition.

When other members of the community rushed to the victim’s aid, they too were violently beaten and abused by the attackers, who also stoned local houses injuring some residents, later taken to the district hospital in Kotli for medical treatment.

Since November last year, the place of worship has been targeted by extremists while complaints and reports to the police proved useless.

Some radical leaders had given Ahmadis until 16 December to clear the area and take down the minarets, or they would act themselves, which is what they did.

The raid comes at a troubled period for the country, after a general election that ended in an uncertain outcome with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz forming a coalition government with Bilawal Bhutto and his Pakistan Peoples Party.

The new cabinet has not yet been agreed to, but it is already in the crosshairs of adversaries and independents linked to the jailed retired cricket champion and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has a large following in the electorate.

Last year a total 42 incidents of persecution were reported against the Ahmadiyya community and dozens of minarets were demolished; this year two incidents have been reported so far,” said Ahmadi leader Aamir Mehmood speaking to AsiaNews.

While demanding justice and the culprits’ arrest, he does not mince his words about the authorities who are duty-bound to protect citizens” and yet have “failed miserably”. We have videos of this attack and police can easily identify the attackers,” he added.

In Pakistan, the Ahmadi Muslim community numbers between 600,000 and two million (estimates vary), with 10 to 20 million worldwide, living mostly outside their place of origin.

Founded in the late 19th century in British India, the Ahmadi religion is largely considered heretical by mainstream Sunnis and Shias, especially among their extremist fringes. It honours its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, and has beliefs related to those of other religions.

In Pakistan, Ahmadis are not allowed to use Islamic greetings and prayers, or to call their places of worship mosques.

Along with Christians, they are one of the communities most victimised by the country’s blasphemy laws, which are used to persecute minorities.

By Rathindra Kuruwita Courtesy The Island

A National People’s Power (NPP) administration will not do anything that will undermine Indian security, but it will maintain economic and political relations with China, the NPP delegation to India told Indian officials, JVP/NPP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake said in an interview with Sirasa TV, on Thursday (15).

In his first interview since his return to the country, Dissanayake said India had extended an invitation to the NPP in December.

However, we had other commitments in December. One of them was visiting China at the invitation of the Chinese Communist Party. We told India that we maintained full transparency in our external relations.”

The NPP leader said that the incumbent government’s privatisation drive had attracted both Indian and Chinese investors, and that had led to friction between the two major powers.

The government has decided to privatise Sri Lanka Telecom, and the two main contenders are Chinese and Indian interests. It’s the same with Lanka Hospitals. It is the government that wants Amul to buy NLDB.”

From the J.R. Jayewardene administration onwards, successive governments followed disastrous foreign policies that made Sri Lanka a battleground between major powers, Dissanayake said.

JRJ beckoned Americans to Sri Lanka, and at that time, India was with Soviet Union (Russia). This angered India. Then, other governments tried to balance China and India by selling each country valuable national assets and giving each country contracts that didn’t adhere to the tender process,” the NPP leader said.

The NPP adheres to a non-aligned foreign policy, Engaging all stakeholders transparently is the key to avoiding misconceptions and triggering hostilities, he said.

States operate in an information-sparse environment, which often leads them to operate on assumptions. The NPP believes in transparency and engagement in foreign and domestic affairs because of that very reason, he said.

We know that some individuals, who frequently attend Embassy functions, are spreading misinformation about us. On the other hand, we don’t really have the time to attend all these functions. However, in recent months, diplomatic missions have reached out to us because they think we will win elections, and we have used these opportunities to explain what our policies really are.”

The NPP leader said that their political opponents are very worried about their Indian visit because it dispels the narratives they have built about the party.

One of the claims made was that the NPP has no international connections or standing. Anyone who can think logically can understand that states engage with political actors that have power. India, China, the US, and many others are now engaging with us because they think we will win elections. Some people believed Ranil knew foreign leaders personally and that they would bail the country out. How has that worked out? States act out of strategic considerations. We have said this from the beginning. However, some of our political leaders thought it was a good idea to put a lot of their eggs in the ‘NPP has no international standing’ basket. Now this has been proven obviously wrong, and they are panicking,” he said.

Dissanayake added that they are well aware that the two main parties and their affiliates will do everything in their power to thwart an NPP win.

This is not like Ranil replacing Mahinda or Ranil replacing Gota. A lot of crooked elements are afraid of us coming into power. They will do anything to stop us, and already we are seeing strange political bedfellows emerging,” he said.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Chief Prelates of the three Buddhist Chapters have raised deep concerns about a potential risk of emerging social insecurity due to the privatisation of state assets.

They communicated this in a letter addressed to President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Dilrook Kannangara

Chinese and Indian development models are completely different. Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, etc. achieved success thanks to the Chinese development model. Indian development model does not have that feature. Therefore, Sri Lanka cannot become India’s Hong Kong. Teaming up with India only leads to worse poverty, debt, economic disaster and unemployment for Sri Lanka.

The Chinese model is based on ‘common prosperity’ even before the concept was spelled out. It benefits not just China but also China’s neighbors and partners. Singapore was an under-developed fishing village in 1965 but thanks to trade with and investments from China it became one of the most developed countries in the world. Same goes for Taiwan despite political tensions, Hong Kong (before unification in 1997), Macau, etc. China is the largest trading partner of them. In addition, China is the largest trading partner of South Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, Russia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Australia, etc. If not for Chinese trade, Australia would be a third world nation. Even distant nations in Africa (Rwanda is a case in point) have achieved remarkable development thanks to China. This is no accident. It is due to the economic policy China follows towards itself and towards its partners. As a result, a large number of countries have joined China’s BRI and RCEP groups.

Unfortunately, this is not the model followed by India. The model followed by India can be termed ‘beggar thy neighbor’. India uses exploitative and restrictive trade practices towards its neighbors. As a result of this disastrous model and India Only” approach, India’s neighbors didn’t benefit from India’s development. Nothing at all. Unlike China India failed to rally its neighbors due to this greedy and overbearing policy towards its neighbors. SAARC, BIMSTEC and other regional initiatives either failed or stagnated. It gets worse. India deliberately disrupts regional countries’ economies. Examples include Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives whereas China engaged in no such disruptions.

Another problem with India is its regular interference in politics and other domestic affairs of all its neighbors. India uses it to disrupt, destroy and scuttle development. China follows no such policy towards its neighbors. By interfering in internal matters, India profits in various ways. For instance, economic disruption and social chaos in Sri Lanka has been used to poach and/or smuggle fish, gold, gemstones, etc. from Sri Lanka. India-fueled chaos and security threats have pushed all neighboring countries backward in attractiveness in doing business and starting a business. In doing so India tries to emerge as the only destination in South Asia that is attracting investments, entrepreneurs from foreign nations and technology transfers.

The third major problem with India is its militant approach to regional security based on outdated ancient Indian military doctrines at a time when naval warfare was unheard of. The Indian Ocean” is not India’s Ocean. Other independent countries have the right to engage in commercial and military activities in the Ocean. Research vessels do not pose security threats. Docking a warship or a submarine does not pose any security threat. Let alone a Chinese vessel, India is often riled even when a regional warship (e.g. Pakistan) docks in Sri Lanka! These are quite normal occurrences in the modern world. Unfortunately, India gets agitated when it happens in Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan or Bangladesh. With such a revisionist approach, there is little India’s neighbors can expect from it.

The fourth and most crucial matter is India’s past performance in mutual agreements with Sri Lanka. Sadly, India never kept its part in any mutual agreement between the two nations. The same goes for Pakistan, Bangladesh, Maldives, China and Nepal, and they have put distance between themselves and India. At the very minimum India has no regard whatsoever for Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary. Indian poachers invade Sri Lanka’s territorial waters everyday ably sponsored by the Indian national and state governments and the military. The opposite is not tolerated. India disregards the Constitution of Sri Lanka and the legal framework. Indian impositions resulted in constitutional amendments and law changes in Sri Lanka with no benefit for the island nation. No other country has so brazenly interfered in internal matters.

Due to these factors, Sri Lanka stands to lose it all than gain anything from closer economic ties with India. Not just Sri Lanka, but all regional countries are facing drain of their economic resources and opportunities due to India.

S.Akurugoda

As per a news item that appeared in The Island of 12 .02.2024 titled ‘ SLPP MPs not consulted on ECTA, alleges government member’, MP Sarath Weerasekerais is urging President Ranil Wickremesinghe not to exploit the continuing political, economic and social crisis to advance his agenda.  https://island.lk/slpp-mps-not-consulted-on-etca-alleges-govt-member/. The SLPP MP said that the two countries suspended talks on ETCA in 2018 following a spate of protests here. Negotiations commenced in 2016 between Modi’s India and the Yahapalana government, a year after Mahinda Rajapaksa’s defeat at the 2015 presidential election.

Interestingly, MP Sarath Weerasekera is one of the SLPP members who voted to elect Ranil Wickremesinghe as the President of the country and is still a member of the government group. Although the MP has not stated what the President’s agenda, it is not a difficult task to presume what his agenda would be for those who are aware of what the current President Wickremesinghe has done during his political carrier.

UNP leaders are well known for signing notorious agreements, detrimental to the country in many ways, with foreign powers or with their involvements, without going through the parliament or briefing the contents of the agreements to the opposition political parties or the general public. 

We remember how the UNP leader J.R. Jayewardene (JRJ) signed the Indo-Lanka Pact, in 1987, amidst curfew, disregarding the opposition to the treacherous agreement, its repercussions and the composition of the country. Later, the Constitution was amended to accommodate what was agreed. Fortunately, no government has yet devolved the police and land powers, as per the said agreement, based on ethnic lines. If fully implemented, it will be irreversible and, if an attempt is made to reverse them, the consequences will be disastrous.

President Wickremesinghe, overturning the mandate given by the people during the last presidential election,  is making wild declarations openly accepting a fully implementation of 13A without even having the decency to consult or to get the consensus of the other political parties before making such a declaration. There is no mention of the fully implementation of the 13th amendment in the declaration of the President Gotabhaya who was elected with a mandate of 6.9 million in the last presidential election or in the recommendations of the committee appointed by him to prepare a new constitution.

Similarly, the CFA, arranged by the Norwegians, and signed by the UNP leader Ranil, and the terrorist leader, Prabhakaran, in 2002 without the knowledge or the approval of the country, was not transparent and didn’t serve any purpose to the country. Unless this foolish agreement was abrogated and the LTTE defeated, militarily, to remove the so-called “LTTE territories”, the situation of the country would be entirely different today. Its legality is questionable since the agreement was signed by the PM who was neither the Head of the Executive nor the Head of the Cabinet of Ministers. 

We remember how the UNP leadership believed that the government would have to give up the area it seized from the LTTE to facilitate the peace process and how he attempted to satisfy the requirements of the so-called international community and the Norwegians, who were openly interfering with the internal affairs of a sovereign nation (Sri Lanka) with sinister motives.

We also remember how PM Ranil Wickremesinghe attempted to sign the MCC agreement before the last presidential election without presenting it to the parliament. His Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera has said that the agreement will be presented to Parliament after signing it.  Ranil-Sirisena’s so-called ‘yahapalana’ government handed over the Sothern deep sea port of Hambantota to China for 99 years in 2017.  In addition to moving forward with ETCA, the latest is the reported planning to hand over the Milco, airport management of three ports, telecom, aviation etc Fuel storage etc to India.

Thus signing any form of treacherous agreement by a UNP leader like Ranil, behind closed doors disregarding its consequences, is not a surprise at all. Unfortunately, most of our politicians, and who elected them to power today have either forgotten or are not aware of even the most recent past including the mass murders during JVP insurrections (1971 and 1987-1989) and LTTE’s 30-year terrorism. As I remember, Uma Maheswaran, the founder and leader of the separatist People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), told once how the Sinhalese have a short memory. Unfortunately our political party leaders today are queuing up to see the Indian PM Modi, either expecting help to hang onto power or to grab power by hook or crook.

S.Akurugoda

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

‘Currently, we proudly stand with the strength of over 1800 military engineers, spanning diverse domains such as Civil, Mechanical, Electronic, Telecommunication, Marine, Aeronautical and many more. Our primary objective is to elevate the aspirations of our young military engineers. We aim to propel them to greater heights in the engineering realm by providing the necessary support and resources to attain chartered engineering qualifications.’

Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne made these remarks as the Chief Guest of the inaugural Military Engineering and Technology Conference organized by the College of Military Engineering and Technology Sri Lanka (CMETSL) at the Wave N’ Lake Navy Banquet Hall in Welisara today (Feb 16).

Further speaking, the Defence Secretary emphasized the critical role of technology in shaping the future of military operations. He highlighted the need for a dynamic and adaptive defence strategy while stressing the importance of staying ahead in the rapidly evolving landscape of military technology, which is paramount to national security.

During the proceedings of the day, several eminent retired senior tri-forces officers were presented with honorary CMETSL membership certificates by the Defence Secretary.

The conference was held under the theme Engineering for the Future: Managing Modern Challenges in Military Technology and Engineering,” with the aim of fostering collaboration between the military and technology sectors providing a platform for discussions on cutting-edge advancements, security challenges and the role of innovation in modern defence.

President CMETSL and the Director General Engineering of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Rear Admiral Ravi Ranasinghe, made the welcome address while the keynote speech was delivered by the founder and CEO of WSO2 Dr. Sanjiva Weerawarna.

This inaugural conference of the CMETSL saw the convergence of military and technology expertise in the country and the resource personnel from key stakeholders in the military and technology sectors such as Maj. Gen. Tuan Fadyl Meedin (Retd), RAdm AV Abeyasena (Retd), Air Cmde Jayasiri Amarasena (Retd), Director General Electrical and Electronic Engineering of SLN RAdm Wiraj Leelarathna, Head of Information Security Dialog Axiata Plc Farash Samat and Strategic Adviser and Vice President of Huawei Technologies Lanka Pvt Ltd Indika De Zoysa who also presented their own conceptual research papers to the audience. The conference also provided a unique opportunity for attendees to engage in dialogue and exchange ideas on key issues facing the intersection of military and technology.

Chief of Defence Staff General Shavendra Silva, Commander of the Navy Vice Admiral Priyantha Perera, Commander of the Air Force Air Marshal Udeni Rajapaksa, Major General Renuka Rowel (Retd), Acting Additional Secretary (Defence) Harsha Vithanaarachchi, Additional Secretary (Defence Services) Jayantha Edirisinghe and Vice Chancellor of KDU RAdm Dhammika Kumara, Major General Harindra Peiris, Sri Lanka Army Chief of Staff were notable distinguished invitees present at the conference.