by Roger Harris Courtesy counterpunch.org

For all the hullabaloo about free and fair elections” in Venezuela by the US government, its sycophantic corporate press deliberately ignores the elephant in the room – namely, the so-called sanctions designed to make life so miserable that the people will acquiesce to Washington’s plan for regime change.

As Foreign Policy puts it, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro values his political survival above his country’s economic well-being.” Translated from Washington-speak, the US government is blackmailing the Venezuelan electorate with, in the words of Foreign Policy, the looming threat,” of continuing unilateral coercive measures unless they vote against the incumbent in the presidential election on July 28.

The New York Times reports that a Maduro win will intensify poverty,” conveniently omitting the cause will be the tightening of US sanctions. Typical of such coverage, the article blames Maduro for the dire” economic situation, but not until the 25^th paragraph is there even a passing reference to US sanctions.

Such outside electoral meddling by the use of sanctions is orders of magnitude greater than the supposed Russiagate” interference in the 2016 US presidential contest. Washington brazenly leaves no ambiguity about its intent to punish the Venezuelan people for choosing a government not to its liking. With no sense of shame or irony, the State Department imperiously calls this bullying democracy promotion.”

US hybrid war on Venezuela

As documented by Venezuelanalysis, US sanctions against Venezuela are a war without bombs.” These actions, more correctly called coercive economic measures by the United Nations, are killing Venezuelans. Never mentioned in the corporate press is that these unilateral measures are a form of collective punishment, considered illegal under international law.

The over 930 US sanctions are designed to crash the Venezuelan economy and, above all, to prevent any recovery. Initially they succeeded in the former objective and, equally importantly, failed in the latter.

The bipartisan offensive was initiated in 2015 by President Obama, who incredulously declared a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security” posed by Venezuela. (Note, none of the corporate press subjected this extraordinary claim to any kind of scrutiny.) Coercive measures were intensified by President Trump, targeting the vital Venezuelan oil industry. Seamlessly, President Biden continued the maximum pressure” campaign with minor adjustments, mainly designed to benefit US and select foreign business interests.

As a result, Venezuela experienced the largest peacetime economic contraction in recent world history. The free-falling economy suffered triple-digit inflation, again, the highest in the world. Some seven million economic refugees fled the country.

The US continued other hybrid warfare” measures including recognizing Juan Guaidó as the self-proclaimed interim president” of Venezuela in 2019. The then 35-year-old far-right US security asset had never run for national office and was at the time unknown to over 80% of the population. Nevertheless, some fifty US allies initially recognized his government.

Further, US-backed coups have continued since the 2002 one that lasted only 47 hours. Recent capers included the bay of piglets” operation in 2020. Biden recently repatriated two of the US mercenaries, who had been captured in that failed coup, in a prisoner exchange that resulted in freeing Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab.

Coup attempts are ongoing according to the Venezuelan government. US official policy on such extra-legal measures is plausible deniability.”

Venezuela successfully resists

Contrary to all odds and most predictions, President Maduro has turned the Venezuelan ship of state around against such unfavorable winds. By the end of 2023, Venezuela had recorded 11 quarters of consecutive growth after years of economic contraction. GDP growth during the first four months of 2024 exceeded forecasts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and are projected to be 4% for the year, compared to IMF figures for the US at 2.7% and China at 4.6%.

Today, on the diplomatic front, only the US, Israel, and a handful of other Washington vassals still fail to recognize the democratically elected government of Venezuela. Even the US-backed opposition has itself renounced the Guaidó presidency.

Until recently, Colombia (then a hostile US client state) served as a launching pad for paramilitary incursions onto Venezuela’s western border. In 2022, President Gustavo Petro, the first leftist in the entire history of Colombia, replaced the rightwing Iván Duque. The next year, the friendly Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva replaced the hostile government of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil on Venezuela’s southern border.

Meanwhile, progressive regional governments such as Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Mexico have continued to support Venezuela. Most significantly and indicative of a shifting world order toward multipolarity, Venezuela has strengthened ties with China, Russia, and Iran. This, in turn, has only intensified hostility by the US.

Lessons from the 1990 electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua

Conditions in Venezuela today, in the run-up to the July presidential election, bear some parallels to a similar situation in Nicaragua in 1990. In 1979, the Sandinistas overthrew the US-backed Somoza dictatorship in Nicaragua. By the 1990 presidential election, polls looked favorable for the reelection of their FSLN party’s Daniel Ortega.

Everyone, including the US president, who was bent on overthrowing the Nicaraguan Revolution, anticipated a Sandinista victory, according to Dan Kovalik’s book on Nicaragua. But the vote was unfavorable, issuing in seventeen years of neoliberal regression.

Both the State Department and the US ambassador to Managua had made it abundantly clear that the Nicaraguans had best vote the right way” or the US-sponsored contra war would continue. The contras were mercenaries recruited largely from Somoza’s former army who were waging an armed terror campaign against the population.

In addition, the country was under US economic sanctions and suffering from hyperinflation. Brian Willson, who lost his legs in civil disobedience protesting the US Contra War in Nicaragua, reported that the US-funded opposition parties and NGOs in the 1990 election. The CIA alone poured in $28-30 million. Willson concluded that the US purchased the 1990 Nicaragua elections.”

Prospects for the Venezuelan Presidential Election

While Venezuela is not under siege by US-paid mercenaries as was Nicaragua, it is nonetheless subject to Washington’s hybrid war of coercive economic measures, funding of opposition forces, international diplomatic belligerence, and covert actions.

An assessment in February by the US intelligence community found Maduro is unlikely to lose the 2024 presidential election.” A May 3 Encuesta Nacional Ideadatos opinion poll reported a 52.7% preference for Maduro. Other polls give the lead to opposition candidate Edmundo González with the Unitary Platform who allegedly worked with the CIA.

Within the Chavista core – those who support the Bolivarian Revolution of Hugo Chávez and its current standard-bearer Nicolás Maduro – it is only to be expected that there is a certain level of weariness. Venezuelan political commentator Clodovaldo Hernández cites ongoing issues of inadequate healthcare delivery, salaries and pensions that have not kept pace with inflation, erratic electric power, incompletely addressed corruption, and dysfunctional police and judicial services, all of which disproportionately impact the Chavista base of poor and working people. How this will translate come July 28 is uncertain.

The propaganda campaign by the US state and its stenographers in the press to delegitimize the Venezuela election process is ramping up. For example, the US newspaper of record” reports that the last competitive election was held in 2013.” Not fit to print” is the news that the presidential term is six years, or that the US literally ordered the opposition not to run in 2018. The leading opposition candidate at the time, Henri Falcón, was threatened with sanctions when he chose to ignore Washington’s demand.

The very fact that any of the US-backed opposition is contesting in the upcoming election rather than boycotting indicates that they are no longer relying on an extra-parliamentary overthrow of the government. This itself represents a significant victory for the Chavistas.

Roger Harris is on the board of the Task Force on the Americas, a 32-year-old anti-imperialist human rights organization.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/05/22/the-biggest-obstacle-to-free-and-fair-elections-in-venezuela-is-the-us/

Palitha Ariyarathna

Buddhism, founded by Siddhartha Gautama (known as the Buddha”) over 2,500 years ago in India, offers profound insights and practical wisdom. While some scholars view it as a philosophy or moral code rather than an organized religion, its impact spans across cultures and continents. Here’s why the world should consider embracing Buddhist principles:

Understanding Suffering

Dukkha (Inherent Suffering):

• Buddhism acknowledges that life inherently involves suffering (dukkha). By recognizing suffering’s universality, we can cultivate empathy and compassion for others.
• The Four Noble Truths, central to Buddhism, guide us toward understanding suffering, its causes, and the path to liberation.

The Path to Enlightenment

• Buddhists seek enlightenment (nirvana) through inner transformation. This pursuit transcends mere belief in a deity.
• The Eightfold Path—comprising right understanding, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration—guides practitioners toward awakening.

Non-Theistic Approach

• Buddhism doesn’t rely on a supreme god or deity. Instead, it emphasizes personal responsibility and self-awareness.
• By focusing on meditation, morality, and wisdom, individuals can attain enlightenment.

Universal Values

• Buddhism encourages ethical conduct, kindness, and mindfulness. These principles resonate across cultures and promote harmony.
• The interconnectedness of all beings underscores the need for compassion and environmental stewardship.

Tolerance and Adaptability

• Buddhism’s diverse interpretations allow for flexibility and adaptation. It coexists with other faiths and philosophies.
• Rather than rigid dogma, Buddhism offers a way of life—a journey toward inner peace and awakening.

As we celebrate Vesak Day, let us reflect on the timeless wisdom of Buddhism. By embracing its teachings, we can foster compassion, alleviate suffering, and contribute to a more harmonious world.

Feel free to explore these ideas further, and may this Wesak Day bring peace and enlightenment to all!

@ Vesak Day-Palitha Ariyarathna

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

---

There are allegations that monies sent by JICA to implement a survey and conduct workshops to combat bribery and corruption in the country have been misappropriated

JICA acknowledges that it collaborated with the BASL to initiate a drive against bribery and corruption in Sri Lanka

BASL maintains that it is erroneous to say that JICA has given a grant or money to BASL to conduct a programme

---

What can the citizens of this country expect from the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL), which plays a crucial role in administering justice and upholding the rule of law when its principal office bearers are allegedly involved in massive corruption? This seems to be the question raised by law abiding citizens of this country regarding the BASL. 

Five members of the incumbent BASL are under the spotlight for allegedly syphoning money the Association received from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to implement a survey and conduct workshops to combat bribery and corruption in the country.
As per the information received, JICA had given Rs 21 million to the BASL for this purpose. It is alleged that these five members have pocketed out Rs.19 million out of the total monies the BASL had received.

As per the BASL Financial Report April 2024- a copy of which this newspaper is in possession of- BASL President Kaushalya Navaratne PC has received Rs.6 million while Deputy President Nalinda Indatissa PC has received Rs. 3 million. But when this issue was taken up on May 11, at the Organization of Professional Association (OPA), it was revealed that both Navaratne and Indatissa had ‘donated’ Rs.6 million and Rs 3 million respectively a few days before to the BASL for an undisclosed purpose.

As a member of the Bar Council, this is the first time I came to know that these two PCs, have made such a large donation towards the BASL. They should tell us as for what purpose this money was given? This act shows that they got money from this project. This is a bad precedent. People of this country keep faith on the BASL’s elected office bearers to stand by them, but if they are engaged in bribery or corruption who can take action against them,” a Bar Council member said on strict condition of anonymity. 

In order to obtain comments regarding the allegations levelled against these officials this newspaper send text messages to President Kaushalya Nawaratne PC, Deputy President Nalinda Indatissa PC and former Deputy President Shavindra Fernando PC. Other than the incumbent President, the other two officials had not responded to the message this newspaper sent, until the paper went for publication.

BASL President Navaratne PC said that it is erroneous to say that JICA has given a grant or money to BASL to conduct a programme, but it’s a payment channeled to the BASL to be paid to the team members for their professional services in addition to the payment made to the BASL by JICA.
Unfortunately people with ulterior motives have spread the false news. This has damaged the reputation of the BASL and the entire legal fraternity. Thus, depending on the Executive Committee decision, steps would be taken,” said Navaratne PC. 

Meanwhile, responding to an email this newspaper had sent to JICA Colombo Office to find out how much they released to the BASL and for what purpose, Senior Representative for JICA in Sri Lanka Office Ms. Ide Yuri sent their response by email dated May 14 which states as follows: ‘Dear Ms. Nirmala Kannangara, Thank you for your inquiry. Please kindly be advised that JICA recently conducted a survey and some workshops on anti-corruption issues which went on very successfully. We had a contract with BASL to implement that survey and workshops. The contract and all payments to BASL were completed based on JICA’s procurement rules. We are not in a position to explain what happened at BASL regarding the contract with us’.  

 ‘Please contact BASL if you need more information. We do appreciate your understanding. Kind regards, Ms Ide Yuri, Senior Representative, Sri Lanka Office JIC

Meanwhile, JICA has also sent a link to the newspaper, regarding this project which states that JICA and BASL collaborated in the drive against bribery and corruption in Sri Lanka. 

It further states, ‘As a key step of JICA’s initiative in supporting the Sri Lankan authorities to combat bribery and corruption, a series of introductory workshops were conducted between the 19th and 28th February, for the officers of the Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption (CIABOC) as well as other key actors of the justice system. 
‘The Workshops introduced the topics of Whistleblower Protection, Deferred Prosecution Agreements and Anti Money Laundering measures which come under the purview of the CIABOC through the new Anti-Corruption Act, No. 9 of 2023, which came into operation in September 2023.

‘The Act significantly widens the scope, authority and responsibility of CIABOC, and provides it with instruments some of which no other law enforcement agency possesses. The Workshops were intended to support CIABOC and other stakeholders in effective use and implementation of these provisions.
‘The Workshops were organized by JICA in collaboration with the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL). The Workshops brought together eminent Sri Lankan legal experts who were joined by international experts from Japan, The United States Department of Justice, FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Agency and the Asia Pacific Group for Anti Money Laundering, enabling the participants to gain from a wide array of insight and experience’ 

Meanwhile, as a member of the Fourth Estate, whose duty is to support good governance, transparency and rule of law, this newspaper sent a letter to the office of Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya PC, to know what meaningful action his office will take regarding such a heinous conduct by BASL officials; individuals who are supposed to belong to the esteemed legal profession. 

Unfortunately people with ulterior motives have spread the false news. This has damaged the reputation of the BASL and the entire legal fraternity. Thus, depending on the Executive Committee decision, steps would be taken – BASL President Navaratne PC –

Excerpts of the letter sent by this writer to the Chief Justice’s office state, ‘Your Lordship, I am Nirmala Kannangara, Editor Investigations, Daily Mirror Newspaper.
‘I am writing this letter to bring to Your Lordship’s kind notice of a matter in which the principal office bearers of the BASL, the apex body of the legal profession which is also vested with power of disciplinary control of Attorneys at Law, has misappropriated millions of rupees given by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
‘I have been writing many reports on BASL over the past several decades; many of which were complimentary. During the last few decades BASL has become a role model in pinpointing and acting against corruptions and irregularities of the consecutive regimes from time to time which is very encouraging.

‘But, today, I am dismayed and greatly purported of certain revelations that I have come across of recent happening at the BASL involving its very top office hierarchies..
‘It has become known that JICA has funded Rs.21 million to BASL for a certain anti-corruption project that is supposed to have been formulated by the latter

‘It is not known, whether this project had been approved by the Bar Council. It appears that both President and the Deputy President of the BASL have involved themselves as resource personnel of this project, including Rashmi Indatissa (niece of the Deputy President) and Nuwan D’ Alwis (son of the incumbent President’s senior). Shavindra Fernando (former Deputy President) has also been named in this panel comprising resource personnel.
‘It has become known that neither the Executive Committee nor the Bar Council has approved these payments of approximately Rs. 19 million paid to these five individuals.

‘According to JICA, they had a contract with BASL to implement a survey and conduct workshops on anti-corruption issues in the country and all payments to BASL have been completed based on JICA’s procurement rules. It has been reflected in the BASL accounts and I have attached copies of the accounts for your perusal to show how money has been paid to President Kaushalya Nawaratne PC and Deputy President Nalinda Indatissa PC; which amount to a staggering Rs.6 million and Rs.3 million respectively from the funds they received from JICA.
‘It has shocked my conscious to learn of such a fraud, as the Bar Association membership has kept total trust on the elected principal office bearers to perform an honourable service  with no remuneration. It has also become known that Rashmi Indatissa too has been a ‘beneficiary’ in this episode obtaining Rs.4 million payment while Shavindra Fernando and Nuwan de Alwis, received Rs.4 million and Rs.3 million respectively..

‘Upon realizing this, it become the focal point at the Executive Committee meeting of the BASL held on Saturday May 11, at the OPA. It was revealed at that stage that both the President and the Deputy President have made donations to the BASL to the tune of Rs.6 million and Rs.3 million respectively, few days after they received the money from the BASL

Shavindra Fernando

Nalinda Indatissa

‘Hence, they are liable for prosecution under the law of the country, I am bringing this to Your Lordship’s notice in order to examine the fraudulent conduct of these Attorneys –at-Law and to inquire and deal with them on professional turpitude and or misconduct accordingly..

‘I am making this complaint to Your Lordship, as the Editor Investigations of Daily Mirror Newspaper and as a member of the Fourth Estate whose duty is to support good governance, transparency and rule of law
‘It is my duty individually to bring such matters to the relevant authority seeking meaningful action to be taken on such heinous conduct of people who are supposed to have belonged to this esteemed profession’.
Be that as it may, it is alleged that this issue has been brought to the notice at the Ex.Co. Meeting held on May 11, 2024 at the OPA. 

 If this was not brought up to the notice of the ExCo members by the newly appointed Secretary, this fraud would have gone unnoticed and would have been easily swept under the carpet. Although initially it was not revealed how much money Shavindra Fernando PC and Nuwan de Alwis syphoned, we came to know that they have obtained Rs.4 million and Rs.3 million respectively all amounting to Rs.19 million in between five of them. Why these five members didn’t obtained prior approval from the ExCo and Bar Council before the money was taken has raised eyebrows among our membership. The Bar Association membership perform an honourable service with no remuneration.  If they are now claiming that this money was given to them, they would have clearly inform the ExCo and Bar Council members about the money they received from JICA. We are going to take up this issue at the next ExCo meeting on May 25th,” sources said on strict condition of anonymity.   

The sources further said that it is up to the law enforcement authorities to take action against these five BASL members for committing the offences of criminal breach of trust and misappropriation of funds, as they are liable for prosecution under the law of the country. 

BASL President et-al in hot waterAt the Bar Council meeting held on May 18 (Saturday), this matter had been discussed for more than three hours. At this meeting it was proposed and accepted to appoint a Five Member expertise panel comprising Dr. Kanag Isvaran PC, Dr. Faisz Musthapha PC, Rienzie Arsekuleratne PC, Ikram Mohomed PC and Geoff Alagaratnam PC to inquire into the professional propriety of getting paid out JICA grant and to report it to the Bar Council.Generally it is a three member panel that is appointed to inquire on such disciplinary matters of Attorneys at Law. However in this instance, it was unanimously decided upon to appoint a five member panel to look into the professional conduct of those who were resource personnel,” Bar Council member said. Meanwhile Senior Attorney, Upali Gooneratne was appointed as Acting President of the BASL while Kaushalya Navaratne PC was asked to desist from making personal / public statements until the the inquiry concludes.The Bar Council rejected the April accounts of the BASL unanimously. It called upon all those who received monies totaling Rs. 19 Million to return them voluntarily to the BASL and not as donations,” sources added.Meanwhile, it came to light at this meeting how an email has been sent on Proposal for Assignment to Navaratne’s personal address by Namal Ralapanawa of JICA on November 21, 2023, requesting to send the ‘BASL Team’ CVs on their experience in training.When there are very senior Attorneys in the Bar Council who had worked as Director Generals of the Bribery Commission, what was the methodology adopted by the President to select himself, the Deputy President, former Deputy President and two very junior attorneys for this training programme? Was it ethical for Navaratne to select himself and the others when there are more than two former Bribery Commission DGs in the Bar Council? When there is a complaint against any Attorney/s, it is the BASL that conducts the inquiry and sends the report to the Supreme Court for further action. But since the top notch of the BASL is involved in this fraud, who is going to hold an inquiry against them” sources said.According to the sources, the JICA / BASL agreements has been signed in between last October and November 2023 during which several ExCo and Bar Council meetings were held; although these were not brought to their notice.Upali Gunaratne, speaking from the chair as the pro tem President, commented that in other countries when such conduct has revealed members concerned have even been removed from the Apex body handing discipline of the Lawyers.When a member needs a very nominal amount of money from the benevolent fund, permission has to be taken either from the ExCo or the Bar Council. When funds were dispersed amounting to millions of rupees to these five members, why wasn’t the permission of the same ExCo or the Bar Council requested? This has to be investigated and they should be removed from serving as Attorneys in future,” sources claimed.

පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභානායක කාර්යාලය

මෙරට 13,000කට අධික ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිවරුන්ට අනන්‍ය වැටුප් තලයක් ලබාදී වැටුප් සහ දීමනා ඉහළ නැංවීම සඳහා කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය ලැබී ඇති බවත්, ඒ අනුව ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී සේවය ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සඳහා එම සේවා ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත රාජ්‍ය සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ අනුමැතිය සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති බවත්, එය විශාල ජයග්‍රහණයක් බවත්, රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යවරයා වෙනුවෙන් ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින්, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අශෝක ප්‍රියන්ත මහතා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට 2024.05.22 දින අනාවරණ කළේය.

ඒ අනුව GN නමින් නව වැටුප් කේතයක් ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිවරුන් සඳහා හිමිවන අතර,අලුතින් එම සේවයට එක්වන ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිවරයෙකුගේ මූලික වැටුප රු. 28,940 සිට රු. 30,140ක් දක්වා ඉහළ යනු ඇත. ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී සේවයේ 2 ශ්‍රේණියේ  ආරම්භක  වැටුප රු.33,690 දක්වාත්, 1 ශ්‍රේණියේ ආරම්භක වැටුප රු.38,590ක් දක්වාත් ඉහළ යාමට නියමිතය. අදාළ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභා සීමාව තුළ මාසික කාර්යාල දීමනාව රු. 1000 සිට 2000 දක්වාත්, නගර සභා සීමාව තුළ රු. 1500 සිට 3000 දක්වාත්, වාර්ෂික ලිපි ද්‍රව්‍ය දීමනාව රු. 1500 සිට රු. 3000 දක්වාත් ඉහළ නංවා 2024.04.01 සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමටද අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල අනුමැතිය හිමිව ඇත. මීට අමතරව අනෙකුත් නිල ඇඳුම්, ගමන්, සන්නිවේදන දීමනා වැඩි කිරීම සඳහා, 2025 අය-වැය පිළියෙළ කිරීමේදී, මහා භාණ්ඩාගාරය සමග සාකච්ඡා කර පියවර ගැනීමටද රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්වරයාට නියම කර තිබේ.

රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසුවේ, විෂය භාර කැබිනට් අමාත්‍ය අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා සහ තමන් ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී වෘත්තීය සමිති නියෝජිතයන් සමග අඛණ්ඩව සාකච්ඡා කරමින් මෙම ජයග්‍රහණය ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිවරුන් වෙත ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කළ බවය. රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍යංශයේ ලේකම්වරයාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් නිල මැදුරේදී 2024.05.20 දින පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේදී ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී වෘත්තීය සමිති සන්ධානයේ නියෝජිතයන්ට මෙම විසඳුම පිළිබඳ කරුණු පැහැදිලි කර ඇති බවද ඔහු කිය. ඒ අනුව වඩාත් කාර්යක්ෂම සහ ඵලදායි මහජන සේවාවක් පවත්වාගෙන යාම සඳහා, ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී දීමනා ඉහළ නැංවීම පිළිබඳ 2024.03.11 අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩල තීරණය මගින් අනුමැතිය හිමිව ඇති බවද, අනන්‍ය වැටුප් තලයකට කැබිනට් අනුමැතිය හිමිව ඇති බවද, ශ්‍රි ලංකා ග්‍රාම නිලධාරි සේවය ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සඳහා, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී සේවයේ සේවා ව්‍යවස්ථා සංග්‍රහය(කෙටුම්පත), රජය සේවා කොමිෂන් සභාවේ අනුමැතිය සඳහා මේවනවිට ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇති බවද රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසීය.

අනුර දිසානායක මන්ත්‍රීවරයා ස්ථාවර නියෝග 27-2 යටතේ රාජ්‍ය පරිපාලන, ස්වදේශ කටයුතු, පළාත් සභා හා පළාත් පාලන අමාත්‍ය, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගෙන් විමසූ ප්‍රශ්නයකට පිළිතුරු දෙමින් ස්වදේශ කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අශෝක ප්‍රියන්ත මහතා, වැඩිදුරටත් කියා සිටියේ නව ග්‍රාම නිලධාරී පත්වීම් 1942ක් ලබාදීමද ලොකු ජයග්‍රහණයක් බවය.

patriotic people’s front assam

Guwahati: Expressing shock and dismay over the Dudhnoi incident, where two teenage girls were gang-raped and a youth was killed by a group of hooligans, a nationalist forum in northeast India demands a stringent punishment to those criminals. Patriotic People’s Front Assam (PPFA) also urges Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holds the State home portfolio, to take personal interest in delivering justice to the victim families as early as possible. The forum also appreciates conscious organisations namely All Bodo Students’ Union, All Rabha Students’ Union, Sutradhar Students’ Union, Barman Kachari Students’ Union, Prabajan Virodhi Manch, etc for their serious concern over the brutal incident, seemingly engineered by a group of Bangladeshi origin Muslims.

It may be mentioned that both the girls (belonging to Bodo community) were raped by three suspected Islamists on their return from a Bihu function on 3 May 2024. The girls were abandoned at the roadside by the perpetrators. The concerned families lodged a complaint at Dudhnoi police station under Goalpara district in western Assam. Meanwhile, on the night of 5 May, a team of Village Defence Party (VDP) members went to confront Dhan Ali Talukdar, an accused in the incident, where a group of goons attacked the team with sharp weapons. Hiranmay Khakhlari, a team member, sustained serious injuries and he was rushed to a nearby hospital. Later Hiranmay, also from Bodo community, was shifted to a private hospital in Guwahati, but succumbed to injuries on 17 May.

Meanwhile, the police had picked up Shekabar Ali and Parbina Begum in connection with the murder of Hiranmay. Moreover, Dhan Ali Talukdar along with Bahar Ali and Rahman Ali were arrested accusing their involvement in raping both the Bodo teenage girls. PPFA, in a media statement, also supported the demand for compensating the family of Hiranmay with Rs 20 lakh and Rs 5 lakh to the families of each teenage rape victim. Moreover, PPFA urges the government to take pragmatic initiatives to verify the draft National Register of Citizens for Assam with the base year of 1951 and punish those guilty in fraudulence and money laundering during the NRC updation including those from the electronic media outlets.

By Rohana R. Wasala

The following is a tribute to the late Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar, the then foreign affairs minister of Sri Lanka, who won UN recognition for an international Vesak Day holiday twenty-four years ago.

Buddhists annually celebrate the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day as the day that the Birth, the Enlightenment and the Parinibbana (passing away) of the Buddha (the Enlightened One) took place twenty-five centuries ago. The founder of Buddhism was born as prince Siddhartha Gautama at Lumbini in the southern part of present day Nepal north of India in 623 BCE as officially recognized by the World Heritage Convention of the UNESCO. The place is protected by the government of Nepal. 

This year (2024) Vesak Day is observed in Sri Lanka on May 23. Thailand is hosting the 19th United Nations Vesak Day at Ayutthaya, Bangkok on 19-20 jointly organized by the Thai government and the Supreme Sangha Council of that country.  Vesak Day was not celebrated as a UN recognised international holiday before the year 2000. On May 18 that year, Vesak day was marked as an international holiday by the UN for the first time. This was as a result of long overdue recognition being won at the world body by the then Sri Lankan foreign minister (indisputably the best we’ve ever had) Hon. Lakshman Kadirgamar (LK) as, in his own words, ‘….acknowledgement of the contribution that Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made for over two and a half millennia and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity …….’. This achievement was made possible, probably almost entirely, by the force of his personality and his standing among his colleagues from diverse nations (politicians and diplomats) in that august assembly. Even LK himself didn’t expect the enthusiastic support he got for his resolution from countries (that have little to do with Buddhism) such as Iceland, Ireland, Slovakia, Spain, USA, Turkey and the Russian Federation.

In my personal estimation, LK with his unmistakable overall cosmopolitan outlook was the only true nationalist politician the country has had for nearly half a century. Feelings such as patriotism, nationalism become pernicious religions when they are adopted to serve one’s own narrow selfish motives, consciously or unconsciously. LK did not ‘become’ a patriot or a nationalist to hoodwink the masses and grab power for ego aggrandizement and for family-bandyism, evils that we have so long indulgently tolerated in our elected rulers. (Aside: Even if not assassinated by the LTTE as he actually was on August 12, 2005, had he continued with his cosmopolitan nationalist politics, LK wouldn’t have survived long in one piece among his contemporary political friends and foes alike, who are still alive! His concern for the good of his own people, fellow Sri Lankans, was a manifestation of his non-sectarian concern for all humanity (inspired no doubt by his Christian upbringing reinforced by his later discovery of the commonality between Christ’s and Buddha’s teachings). That must have been a key factor behind his determination to have Vesak recognised by the UN. 

As the scion of a generational Anglican Christian family, Lakshman Kadirgamar was invited to deliver the Rev. Celestine Fernando Memorial Oration on October 9, 1992. The topic he was given was ‘The Social Relevance of the Bible for Our Times in a Non-Christian Society’. He asked for and was granted ‘the liberty to treat the topic assigned to me in any manner of my choice’.

Justice C.G. Weeramantry who was in the audience praised LK’s speech as ‘a memorable exposition of comparative religion in a historical setting. He described different creeds as the historical formulations of the formless truth”, and spoke of the different shapes of vessels which contained the treasure which was one and inviolate”….’. But, unsurprisingly, LK’s lecture did not go down well with some Christians because of his laudatory references to the Buddha. LK had said: ”Among the inspiring treasures of the human spirit is the memory of Gautama, the Buddha. His hold over the imagination of millions of our fellow human beings is immense; his inspiration to braver and nobler living for centuries is incalculable; his contribution to the refining of the spirit of man and the humanising of human relations is immeasurable. And yet, attempts were made by men fighting under other flags, earnest lovers of their kind no doubt, to destroy the memory of that great soul, to terminate his influence. We can only attribute those efforts , to prejudice, to ignorance”. In my opinion, these words of LK are still most relevant to the situation in Sri Lanka.

‘According to someone present at that lecture, Kadirgamar’s main thesis was that Christianity shared many values and teachings with Buddhism and that Jesus had been influenced by the teachings of the Buddha. These views correspond to the thesis in the famous book by the German theologian Holger Kersten titled Jesus Lived in India – His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion.”

Lakshman Kadirgamar was a rare human being and a great Sri Lankan. May his memory be a blessing to us all!

 I wish to thankfully mention here that I drew the above information about the late Lakshman Kadirgamar (which supplemented my own prior knowledge about him) and what I have put within quote marks from ‘THE CAKE THAT WAS BAKED AT HOME LAKSHMAN KADIRGAMAR: Snapshots of the Man’s Life’ by His Daughter AJITA KADIRGAMAR ’ pp.302-316 (Vijitha Yapa Publishers, Colombo, 2015)

Matanat Nasibova Caliber.Az

Macron’s France is once again reaping the fruits of its failed policy toward overseas territories, particularly in New Caledonia, where unrest has been raging since May 13 over a bill that envisions granting the right to participate in regional elections to people who have lived in the archipelago for more than 10 years.

Thus, the French Le Monde writes that the riots in New Caledonia are the strongest since the 1980s, and BBC News reports that the representation of the central French authorities announced that law enforcement forces have unblocked the road between the airport and the capital of this Pacific overseas territory of France. However, the local population is not about to surrender to the mercy of the French gendarmes.

Why did France have a death grip on New Caledonia? The answer is obvious: control over this territory is of great strategic importance to Paris. Firstly, it allows France to maintain its geopolitical and military influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Secondly, New Caledonia is the fourth largest producer of nickel in the world, the demand for which, according to experts’ forecasts, will only increase. So France, as they say, has something to fight for in this region. This explains why Emmanuel Macron is willing to undertake any ventures to maintain control over this strategically and economically important region. Back in July last year, speaking in the central square of New Caledonia’s capital, he urged the inhabitants of the overseas territory to forget about separation from the metropolis and promised them a constitutional reform.

I hope that the revision of the Constitution of the Fifth Republic can take place at the beginning of 2024, it will be a revision of the part of the Constitution dedicated to New Caledonia,” Macron promised then but did not keep his word. It is also known that all three referendums on New Caledonia’s withdrawal from the French Republic, as stipulated in the Nouméa Accord, were not successful for supporters of independence, and Paris, which supports separatist elements in other countries, did not allow New Caledonia to realize the right to self-determination.

In fact, the current unrest in Nouméa once again confirms that France’s policy towards its overseas territories”, or, in fact, colonies, remains discriminatory. Amazingly, while losing its influence in New Caledonia and Africa, Paris is at the same time trying to interfere in the internal affairs of other states, in particular Azerbaijan.

While supporting Armenian separatism, France accuses Azerbaijan of the events in New Caledonia. Let us recall that on May 16, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin in an interview with France 2 TV channel made a statement that Azerbaijan interferes in the situation in New Caledonia, supporting political movements advocating its independence from France.

 These are not fantasies. Unfortunately, some separatists have made a deal with Azerbaijan,” Darmanin said without specifying what kind of interference he was talking about.

By the way, this is not the first accusation against Azerbaijan by a French politician. As previously reported by La Tribune, he recently addressed the Legislative Commission of the National Assembly, where he condemned the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the Congress of New Caledonia by the Milli Majlis (parliament) of Azerbaijan, calling Baku’s actions extremely destructive interference”.

Baku, in turn, in response to the unjustified attack of Paris advised to pay attention to the failed policy of their country with regard to overseas territories, which was the reason for such protests”. It is clear that Paris does not have any evidence of Baku’s involvement in the riots in New Caledonia, and all that France can appeal with is just unsubstantiated accusations not supported by any facts. One doesn’t need to be a genius to understand that the main reason for the latest unrest in New Caledonia is Paris’s neocolonial policy, which the indigenous population of the archipelago refuses to accept.

On the other hand, Azerbaijan has never hidden that it is an opponent of colonialism, which is confirmed by the establishment of the Baku Initiative Group in Baku on July 6, 2023, by the participants of the conference Towards the total elimination of colonialism”, which included activists from various French territories seeking independence. It is clear that the appearance of the Azerbaijani flag at the demonstrations in New Caledonia came as an unpleasant surprise to the French authorities, although there is a logical explanation for this too.

First of all, taking into account that the initiative group expressed solidarity with the Kanak people and condemned the recent electoral reforms in New Caledonia, the appearance of the Azerbaijani flag at the protests of independence supporters in New Caledonia as a sign of gratitude to Azerbaijan was natural.

Secondly, France, which now accuses Baku of allegedly supporting separatism” in New Caledonia, has itself repeatedly made unreasonable demands to Azerbaijan to ensure the right of the Armenians of Karabakh to self-determination” and to this day continues to arm Yerevan, pushing it towards a new war in the region.

Against the background of the openly hostile policy of Paris, it is reasonable to ask: what reaction did France expect from Azerbaijan? It is obvious that after the serious failure of French neo-colonial policy in Africa, Paris is trying to push its interests in the South Caucasus region in order to somehow raise its shaken image in the international arena.

Azerbaijan, in turn, in contrast to France’s policy, by its balanced policy makes it clear to the Fifth Republic that it will not silently watch the growth of neo-colonialism not only in African countries but also the provocative steps of Paris in the region.

Finally, it should be noted that France’s neocolonial policy is doomed to failure after a series of recent events, starting with the withdrawal of French troops from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and ending with the current protests in New Caledonia, the consequences of which are sure to promise Paris another political upheaval, after which the Fifth Republic will not have time to interfere in the affairs of the countries of the South Caucasus.

Caliber.Az

https://caliber.az/en/post/242078/

By Raj Gonsalkorale

During the war, leaders of the Allied countries—the Soviet Union, United States, and Great Britain—received reports of mass shootings of Jewish civilians, including women and children. In 1942, they learned of the Nazi plan to annihilate Europe’s Jews. While leaders occasionally publicly denounced violence towards Jews, they prioritized winning the war over rescuing Jews – The holocaust encyclopaedia https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/question/how-did-leaders-diplomats-and-citizens-around-the-world-respond-to-the-events-of-the-holocaust

Impotency of the world caused 6 million Jews to die in the hands of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi supporters. History is repeating itself now with the then oppressed becoming the oppressor today massacring Palestinians and decimating their land and homes while the world looks on as they did when the Jews were annihilated. Barring the numbers killed, the plight of the Palestinians is no different to the plight of the Jews.

There can and will be debate about what is a holocaust. What is worse? 6 million Jews dead vs 37,000 Palestinians dead? Homes and families destroyed, and livelihoods gone in both cases. Why did Hitler embark on his killing spree? Why did the world look the other way when Hitler did what he did? Why did Netanyahu and his war cabinet begin the rampage of Palestine and Palestinians? What has the world effectively done to stop this massacre? As Lucy S. Dawidowicz entitled her book on the Holocaust The War Against the Jews, she showed how Germany fought two wars simultaneously: World War II and the racial war against the Jews. The Allies fought only the World War. In regard to Israel today, they have their battles primarily with Iran and Lebanon and their ongoing battle in Palestine. The world does not seem to have any serious interest in Palestine. One wonders what would have happened if Israel was doing what they are doing in Palestine, in Iran instead. Would the world have wakened up then?

The definition of a holocaust in the Brittanica presents some interesting aspects. The Brittanica says the Holocaust, was the systematic state-sponsored killing of six million Jewish men, women, and children  by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. The Germans called this the final solution to the Jewish question.”

The plight of the Jews has no comparison. Similarly, the plight of the Palestinians has no comparison. What is interesting is the purpose of the Jewish massacre and the purpose of the ongoing Palestinian massacre. Nazi Germany called their campaign the final solution to the Jewish question.” Today, Israel is saying their Palestinian campaign is the final solution to ending the Hamas inflicted violence against Israel. As did innocent Jewish men, women and children perish, innocent Palestinian men, women and children are paying the price for the ambitions of leaders, both in World War 2 Germany and in Israel today.

Even before the Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, they had made no secret of their anti-Semitism. As early as 1919 Adolf Hitler had written, Rational anti-Semitism, however, must lead to systematic legal opposition.…Its final objective must unswervingly be the removal of the Jews altogether.” In Mein Kampf (My Struggle”; 1925–27), Hitler further developed the idea of the Jews as an evil race struggling for world domination.

While not ascribing any evilness to Jews; in terms of domination, especially in the US, was Hitler right? Jewish influence in the US has basically given them the power to virtually dominate the world when it comes to the Palestinian issue. The fact that no country in the world, including China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, France, the UK and other mid-eastern oil rich countries have been able to prevent what is happening in Palestine demonstrates the fact that Israel dominates the world when it comes to the Palestinian issue. Palestinian lives, their homes, their livelihoods do not matter to Israel, nor the rest of the world.

Hitler’s worldview revolved around two concepts: territorial expansion (that is, greater Lebensraum—living space”—for the German people) and racial supremacy. After World War I, the Allies denied Germany colonies in Africa, so Hitler sought to expand German territory and secure food and resources—scarce during World War I—in Europe itself. Hitler opposed Jews for the values they brought into the world. Social justice and compassionate assistance to the weak stood in the way of what he perceived as the natural order, in which the powerful exercise unrestrained power.

In Hitler’s view, such restraint on the exercise of power would inevitably lead to the weakening, even the defeat, of the master race. One has to question the Jewish values that Hitler had a problem with. What has happened to them today? Is Israel now taking a cue from Hitler and decimating Palestine for fear that they, Palestine, will one day defeat the master race (in their minds), Israel?

Israeli encroachment into Palestinian territory does not seem different to Hitler’s territorial expansion or  greater Lebensraum—living space”—for the German people. Rather than negotiating living space” with the Palestinians, which Israel has never done in a serious manner, they have chosen to encroach and take over territory. The notional self-government granted to Palestinians in some areas of Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza is a farce. They are surrounded by the Israel military, by high walls and barbed wire barriers, high security, and no rights to move between such self-governed” areas.

The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect which attempts to save lives by mobilizing the international community to act in situations where populations are at risk of mass atrocity, says the following about the subjugation and occupation of Palestine by Israel. Palestine, encompassing the Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem – has been occupied by Israel since 1967. Various UN officials and investigative mechanisms have reaffirmed that Israel’s permanent occupation of Palestinian territory has no legal validity and has resulted in de facto annexation, which may amount to a war crime. The occupation has been characterized by the perpetual expansion of Israeli settlements into Palestinian territory with the aim of altering its ethnic demographics. The Israeli government has established a two-tiered legal and political system that provides comprehensive rights for Jewish Israeli settlers while imposing military rule and control on Palestinians without any basic protections or rights under international law. In March 2022 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the OPT reported that this system satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for the crime of apartheid, a crime against humanity https://www.globalr2p.org/countries/israel-and-the-occupied-palestinian-territory/

The Global Centre goes on to say that Palestinians are regularly subjected to violence by Israeli settlers, including physical attacks, shooting with live ammunition, torching of fields and livestock, theft and vandalization of property. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2023 was the deadliest year in the Occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, since the UN began documenting casualties in 2005, with over 200 Palestinians and nearly 30 Israelis killed between January and September. Since 7 October, there has been a sharp increase in unnecessary and disproportionate force by Israeli forces – including airstrikes, violent military tactics during search-and-arrest operations, and incursions by armoured personnel carriers and bulldozers sent to refugee camps – resulting in over 365 Palestinians killed and at least 4,288 injured in the Occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have also conducted daily mass arrests, with thousands of Palestinians arrested, as well as denied medical assistance to those injured in attacks. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reported numerous incidents of alleged torture and other ill-treatment against Palestinian detainees. Settler violence has also escalated, with Palestinians facing an average of four attacks per day. Israeli settlers have killed eight Palestinians and injured 114, while over 1,200 have been displaced. OHCHR has reported that settlers carrying out these attacks are at times acting with the acquiescence and collaboration of Israeli forces and authorities. Five Israelis have also been killed in attacks by armed Palestinians”

The ordinary people of Israel must wake up and see the atrocities their leaders and their military are committing in Palestine. They cannot keep electing hard liners like Netanyahu and members of his war cabinet to govern Israel. If they continue to do so, they will ensure the strengthening of hardline elements in Palestine. The world will not stop this inevitability and ongoing perpetuation of violence, against the Israeli’s as well as Palestinians. Only the people of Israel can if they live up to the values Hitler was so afraid of, social justice and compassionate assistance to the weak. If not for any other reason, in self-interest, Israelis should turn to moderates in their country to save it from a guaranteed cycle of violence.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Kurundi vihara is the first monastery to be conserved in Mullaitivu district, as far as I know. This alone makes Kurundi special. The other thing that makes Kurundi special is that it is right   in the middle of Eelam. So Kurundi is political as well.

Ruins like Kurundi are reminders of an earlier age when the north and east were securely Sinhala and Buddhist. Kurundi   vihara, originally Kurundavashoka vihara, was the leading monastery in Mullaitivu in the Anuradhapura period. Kurundi was a large monastic complex, spread across 400 acres.  

Kurundi vihara was a very significant vihara in Anuradhapura times.  Kurundi attakatha was written at Kurundi, which means that Kurundi had a direct link to Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. Kurundi held an inscription which was addressed to all monasteries in the area. This shows that Kurundi was the leading monastery in Mullaitivu area.

HCP Bell said that this was the largest monastery he had seen in that area. The     100 steps seen by Bell can still be identified. In 2013 Medhananda said that he saw the most ruins at Kurundi. Have not seen so many ruins in any other place I have gone to, he said.

Kurundi has distinctive features. Kurundi stupa was a very early stupa.  Those stupas did not have pinnacles. They were topped by chatra and yupagala. At Kurundi, we found the yupagala and installed it   , said Department of Archaeology.

Buddhist structures are usually of brick, but at Kurundi they have used Kabok instead. Stupa has   had a row of elephants made from kabok, as well. There was   a special binding between the kabok stones, the archaeologists said. Over 500 metal nails were found at the site. The small terra cotta figures found there were fine specimens of Anuradhapura craftsmanship.  The carving on the door frame of the pilimage was a rare item.

The Tamil Separatist Movement had known about Kurundi. They had entered Kurundi reservation, during the war and damaged the pilimage. Kurundi had a large inscription which was already   broken when found in 1949. In 2018 when Kurundi was excavated, it was in six pieces.  Department of Archaeology put it together. The Department said that it had been deliberately destroyed. It did not break due to natural causes. Buddha statue and bodhisatva statuesas well as a yupa gala and yantra gala    also appeared to have been deliberately damaged.

Tamil Separatist Movement is desperate to halt the forward march of Kurundi monastery. The conservation of Kurundi has led to much frantic Tamil agitation. I cannot recall anything like this taking place ever before.The Department of Archaeology has been conserving stupas for decades, without anybody caring or objecting. But Kurundi is different.

 The opposition at Kurundi is due to the geographical location of Kurundi. Kurundi is in Mullaitivu. Mullaitivu is important for Eelam. The northern and eastern provinces meet at Mullaitivu. If a Buddhist wedge is created at Mullaitivu, then it will affect Eelam. That is why the Tamil Separatist Movement is having kittens over Kurundi.

The work on Kurundi was regularly interrupted by the desperate Tamil Separatist Movement who   tried hard to stop the rise of Kurundi. Gajan Ponnambalam made a complaint on Oct 8 2022 regarding the Survey Department team going to Kurundi[1]

Kurundi conservation faced obstacles and delays due to the actions of the Tamil Separatist Movement.  Conservation work stopped several times due to demonstrations and court cases.  Work went on in a stop-start manner.   

Due to a law   suit we could not do anything for two years,     said Santhabodhi. Work on Kurundi was halted in 2018 due to a court case against Santhabodhi and the   Department of Archaeology.  While the   case going on, Tamils renovated the wewa, destroying much that was archaeologically valuable.  The case ended in 2020. Lawyers appeared free and they won the case. In January 18 2021 the Department of Archaeology started excavating.

Work stopped again after the commotion at the relic enshrining.  At the enshrining ceremony the police turned back the cars of the Buddhists but did not stop the Tamil Separatist Movement from coming in, said Santhabodhi.

Tamil Separatist Movement never expected a young bhikkhu, Santhabodhi to turn up at Kurundi in 2018 with a desire to revive Kurundi. The Tamil Separatist Movement heavily criticized Ven. Santhabodhi. Tamil Separatist Movement targets me in their media channels,   because of Kurundi, Sapumalgaskada and Nayaru Gurukanda, said Santhabodhi. I am presented as a monk who was getting ready to invade the Tamil homeland. Other improbable allegations are also made.

Santhabodhi said that he did Kurundi under great difficulty. He    had to raise the money, face court cases, had encounters with police. Santhabodhi faced threats and blows.  He faced intimidation from the start.

When the project started, the Archaeology Department gave a letter to Santhabodhi permitting him to do work at Kurundi. But when we went to Kurundi to make a mura kutiya on October 5th 2018, we found that there was a problem with permission, said Santhabodhi. The Forest Department has not been informed. So we had to go back. On the way back,   150 Tamils came and surrounded the car, threatened us and hit us. The threats are continuing said Santhabodhi, in a You Tube interview in August 2022 (Gaja TV).

Tamil Separatist Movement did however succeed in shaking the confidence of the Buddhists. The Kurundi team was told that Tamil Separatist Movement was going to take action against Kurundi. The team, not knowing much history, was alarmed. Fortunately they found an inscription which when cleaned up, showed that Kurundi was a Buddhist site. it was the inscription by Udaya VI which had seen by Sirimal Ranwella.  

Similarly, former Chief Justice Sarath Silva, referred to the Kurundi findings of HCP Bell, and remarked , inter alia,  that Bell was the first to record Kurundi. Bell was not a Buddhist, he added. It is the white man who showed Kurundi to us, we must be grateful to them, he said. This was said in passing, without emphasis. (Bell did not possess divine vision.  The natives would have given him the locations and he carried out the investigations).

Kurundi vihara is the first Buddhist monument that, as far as I can recall, has been officially called a contested site”. Buddhist archaeological remains become sites of conflict when Sinhalese people enter into areas inhabited by Tamils and Muslims, said Tamil Separatist Movement. As a contested site, Kurundi had to compete with a bogus kovil where they were worshipping a trident, a yupa gala and a korowak gala.

Kurundi has made a strong case for itself using social media.There were heaps of well crafted You tube presentations such as:

. https://youtu.be/k8V1TQSbTQg;

Here are three selections from these You Tube chats. 

• කුරුන්දි විහාරය ගැන ඔබ නොදත් කරුණු | Kurundi Viharaya | Rawana Production July 15,2023. It was said, Now Tamil Separatist Movement  is getting ready to create trouble

• කුරුන්දි විහාර අර්බුදය | Sri Lanka Tv/  July 2023. Kurundi ruins are not in a settled area, that means, an area in which people live. People do cultivate on archaeology reserve land, but that does not make it legal.

• YouTube channel ENTERTANING SPOT, featured Kurundi on June 14.2023. Santhabodhi, who appears prominently in all videos on Kurundi spoke. Here are some of the things he said: He said that Mahavihara was the first monastery, not the largest monastery. At Kurundi, the ancient Kurundi  pond was turned into a wewa, without permission. Tamil Separatist Movement charges that we have occupied lands which they had cultivated for ages in Kurundi.  That is not so. They have deforested  5 acres of forest reserve containing ruins, in 2019,  and say it was  ancient paddy lands. They have no documents to show  ownership. They are at fault. Don’t listen to the  Tamil Separatist Movement . .https://youtu.be/Q4vIO5jjvmY

Bauddhaloka Foundation  which funded the conservation of the Kurundi stupa also helped in the dissemination of information on Kurundi. It had a superb symposium in May 2023, in Sinhala, for the local audience, where the persons involved in Kurundi work spoke of what they had done. It was very informative.

Bauddhaloka Foundation   also had a webinar on the history and archaeology of Kurundi for western audience, in English on October 28. 2023

The Kurundi team  is  not giving in  nor is it keeping quiet. Kurundi is  fighting back.  It has presented its own case admirably. It has produced a large, heavy book about itself. KURUNDI VIHARA VAMSAYA”, subtitled ‘Mullaitivu Nagachola maha vana meda pihiti iparani bodu puda bimaka katawa”, published by Sarasavi, 2023, 431 pages. It gives a full account of the Kurundi matter. It is chock full of photos of everything and everybody connected to Kurundi, so it is pictorial too. It is an excellent record.

That is not all. Kurundi has its own website. https://www.kurundi.lk/ and its own logo.

Kurundi Rajamaha Viharaya,
Thannimurippu,
Mullaitivu,
Sri Lanka( continued)

---

[1] https://youtu.be/Mu077_2dR8Y.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

This essay is a continuation of the previous essay which ended with the statement that Kurundi vihara had its own web site.  This website contains a booklet on Kurundi.  This booklet can be downloaded from the website. https://www.kurundi.lk/kurundi-booklet/.

The text   is wide ranging, it explains what happened at Kurundi, and also comments on Tamil separatism and the Burra Charter. Here are some of the statements made in the booklet. [1]

• Kurundi Booklet said Sri Lanka has a high density of archaeological heritage. Sri Lanka’s vast number of ruined temples scattered all over the island and especially in the North and Eastern provinces, indicate the spread of the Sinhala-Buddhist civilization many of them are being destroyed and vandalized, the lands of some ancient sites are being encroached upon. Vandalizing archaeological ruins is illegal.
• During the Eelam war, the Buddhist ruins were destroyed. Many of the ruined granite pillars and carved stones were used in other buildings as stepping stones or walls. When one travels in these areas, the damage is clearly evident.
• As the dispute at the Kurundi temple came into the spotlight, discussions about hundreds of ancient sites in the North and East came into the limelight. The many issues faced by these sites were brought into the discussion.
• Sri Lanka’s cultural heritage is the biggest threat to proving the existence of a Tamil homeland in the North and East. This is why for decades, the many sites and monuments in the North and East are being destroyed and vandalized. During the war, for almost three decades, in the areas that were under the control of the LTTE, many sites and monuments were either destroyed or kovils were built on them.
• In keeping with this, during the people’s protests and pride walks held in Colombo recently some ventured their anger against the archaeology and Buddhist work happening in the North and East. They were holding slogans saying that the ‘Buddhisization of the North-East- Traditional Tamil Homeland’ must be stopped and.
• Based on archaeological and historical evidence, there is nothing new to ‘Buddhistize’ in the North and East of the country. The vast number of temples scattered in these areas bears the place’s historical identities. It is not that monks or the Sri Lankan Government, or the Sinhalese are going to the North and East to set up temples. They have always been in those areas and what is being done now is reviving them and reconstructing them.
• There never had been a historical Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka and in the North East. The Tamil villagers today are all established during British rule. During the time of the British rule of Sri Lanka, Tamil people were settled in the Mullaitivu district, and it was those who forcefully encroached on the lands of many historical Buddhist temples of the North and East. They have also succeeded in obtaining land deeds for these encroached lands of Buddhist temples and ancient Sinhala Buddhist villages.
• Similarly, they have attempted to build a kovil near the Kurundi monastery and venerate it. There is evidence that it was started to rebuild this kovil in 1981. We need to understand what is going on.
• The objective of this booklet is to present to you a brief history of this ancient Buddhist monastery, its archaeology, recent conservation work, how it is not going against any national or international archaeological conservation laws and policies, and how the extremists are attacking the place, attempting to damage the place’s identity. Revealing the damages or threats to a heritage site, is not to provoke racism, but to protect the country’s national heritage.
• The evidence points out the fact that the Kurundi ancient monastery was a flourishing Buddhist monastery since the early historical times and it was located in a Sinhala Buddhist settlement. Evidence also proves that hundreds of Buddhist monks lived in the monastery. Today it is identified that the entire monastery land is spread across more than 400 acres.
• We also must understand that the ancient Kurundi Buddhist Monastery is not only a heritage of the Sri Lankan Buddhists but also of all the Buddhists of the world. Therefore, the ancient Kurundi Buddhist Monastery should be listed and protected as a World Heritage Site.
• The archaeology work was started in 2021 and the plan was to complete the stupa conservation based on the proposed plan (by archaeologists). On the day of enshrining the sacred relics of the Buddha inside the stupa, Parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and their supporters disturbed this event and force-stopped it. They claimed that the place belongs to their ‘homeland’ and the temple, in fact, is an ancient kovil (which does not tally with archaeological and historical sources).
• The chain of events that followed was witnessed by the whole country and in the end, the DoA was allowed to continue with their archaeology work at the place without any disturbance. However, the disputes and distractions created by these groups did not end then and there. Instead, it continued. Therefore, we will brief the incidents starting from 2018.
• On 4 September 2018 when we first commenced work this group came and created obstacles for our work and filed a court case. Then they continuously did false accusations and delayed the court proceedings.
• In January 2021 once again they created disturbances for the work at the temple. Despite the obstacles, we managed to start the work at the temple. Without stopping there, they continued to disturb our work and even provoked the people in the nearby villagers. Members of Parliament representing the TNA arrived at the temple and created big issues here, demanding to halt the work at the temple.
• Once again in August 2021, a court was filed at the Supreme Court. The 2018 case at the Mullaitivu Magistrate court was filed again and again based on false accusations, and the development of the temple was stopped from time to time due to this.
• Then on 12 June 2022, the religious festival was organized to enshrine the sacred relics inside the stupa, these politicians arrived here with people who provoked and stopped the religious festival. Hundreds of Buddhist monks arrived for the festival, representing the three Buddhist sects of the country, including many most venerable chief monks. The violent group insulted and harassed these Buddhist monks and verbally abused them with filth. A similar incident once again occurred on 21 September 2022 threatening the well-being of the ancient temple.
• This ancient temple should be developed and maintained and by doing so no harm to caused to anyone. In fact, when the temple is developed, a large number of pilgrims and tourists will visit the place on a daily basis and it will be a good income source for the villagers.
• The legal authority over the Kurundi site is with the Department of Archaeology. Ensuring its protection and other archaeological and research work is the professional responsibility of the DoA. Any other institution or political party cannot distract that legal authority. Nothing prevents the Department of Archaeology from undertaking the reconstruction of a stupa in an archaeological site as has been done since the 60s.
• Current archaeological works at the site are not violating the rights of an individual or a group; instead, that is an official intervention in safeguarding a people’s heritage that has a Buddhist cultural identity. If one says the work (conservation, restoration, excavations, publication, etc), is illegal, what the DoA has done for the past 132 years is illegal, unscientific, and anti-social.
• Kurundi is a heritage site under the existing law of the country which is identified as an archaeological reserve. What you do with such a site is given in the Antiquities Ordinance under which, reconstruction of a stupa is not prohibited.
• the archaeological work that has been done at Kurundi temple by any means cannot be interpreted as illegal according to local and international laws or policies. Also, based on these laws and policies, and charters, none of this construction falls under new construction work; they all are archaeological conservation work.
• The care of this heritage is primarily the responsibility of the religious community for whom this heritage has importance, at local and/or global levels. The conservation of living religious heritage is ideally initiated by the religious community and carried out in collaboration with conservation professionals and all those concerned.
• Considering the religious significance of a stupa Buddhist community decided to reconstruct stupas that are in ruined conditions, which is a long-established tradition in this country. In Sri Lanka, we have reconstructed many stupas with the addition of large amounts of bricks to regain the form suitable for worship. Principles for such interventions are still being discussed with no coherent agreements at the international level.
• It must be taken into consideration how the relevant culture has traditionally preserved its heritage in the past when the archaeological heritage of a living culture is subjected to conservation. These traditional knowledge systems are also part of heritage. Local heritage should not be completely subjected to foreign conservation methods. Heritage should be conserved by preserving its liveliness. To continue in a ruined state for a longer time results in the death of the culture.
• When it comes to Stupa Conservation, the international charters have some interesting mentionings. According to the Venice Charter, the level of restoration should be decided on the nature of the factors. Authentic texts, laws, and policies should be used in this process and It also states that the changes made over time should be respected while preserving the building. When these are applied to the issue at Kurundi, the problem can be solved; the needed restoration work can be done based on the archaeological facts.
• The conservation of the stupa and image house at Kurundi oscillates between traditional conservation and modern materialistic conservation views. There is no universal law that defines what you do with (interventions) a heritage site or an archaeological site. .According to the Burra Charter, conservation should be minimal physical intervention and should be done with attention to the cultural significance of a building.   ( CONTINUED)

---

[1] https://www.kurundi.lk/kurundi-booklet/ 2023

යසස් ධර්මදාස, ලේකම්, ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංසදය.

යුද්ධය මානුශික මෙහෙයුමකින් අවසන්කර වසර 15 ක් සපිරෙන මේ මොහොතේ, එම බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ මනදොල සපුරාලන්නට පනතක් ගෙන ඒම පිළිබඳව බලවත් පිළිකුල ප්‍රකාශ කරන බවත්, සත්‍ය සෙවීමේ කොමිසමේ අරමුණ හුදු සත්‍ය සෙවීමක්ම නොවන බවත් ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංසදයේ ලේකම් යසස් ධර්මදාස මහතා පවසයි.

මේ පිළිබඳව වැඩිදුර තොරතුරු අනාවරණය කරන ඒ මහතා මෙසේද සඳහන් කරයි,

“රණවිරුවන් ව්සිනම දාහකට දිවි අහිමිකරමින් තවත් රණවිරුවන් දොලොස් දාහක් ආබාධිත කරමින් තිස් වසරක් පැවති බෙදුම්වාදය සාක්ෂාත් කරගැනීම සඳහා පැවති යුද්ධය මානුශික මෙහෙයුමකින් අවසන්කර වසර 15 ක් සපිරෙන මේ මොහොතේ, එම බෙදුම්වාදීන්ගේ මනදොල සපුරාලන්නට පනතක් ගෙන ඒම පිළිබඳව අපගේ බලවත් පිළිකුල ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම ප්‍රකාශ කරමු. මේ සත්‍ය සෙවීම නමින් කරන්නට අරාඳින්නාවූ මහා පාවාදීම කුමක්ද කියා විමසා බලමු.

අපේ රටේ සමහරක් ජනතාව, විශේෂයෙන්ම තරුණ ප්‍රජාව, හිතන්න පුළුවන් සත්‍ය සෙවීමක් පිළිබඳව ඇයි මෙතරම් අකමැති, සත්‍ය දැනගත්තම කාටත් හොඳයිනෙ, අනෙක ඕකෙන් හොරා කාපු රාජපක්ෂලටනෙ ඳඬුවම් විඳින්න වෙන්නෙ කියල. විශේෂයෙන්ම මිමී එකකට එහා දෙයක් නොකියවන රෝං ජෙනරේෂන් එකකට එහෙම තමයි හිතෙන්නෙ. නමුත් ඊට එහා දැනුමක් ඇති පිරිසක්, විශේෂයෙන්ම 69 ලක්ෂයකින් පත්කරන ලද නියෝජිතයින් පිරිසක්ද, මේ මිමී ගොනුවට අලුතින්ම එකතුවී සිටීම අභාග්‍ය සම්පන්න කරුණක් ලෙසයි අප දකින්නෙ.

ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම මේ සත්‍ය සෙවීමේ කොමිසමේ අරමුණ හුදු සත්‍ය සෙවීමක්ම නොවෙයි කියා අප වටහා ගත යුතුයි. එසේ සත්‍ය සෙවීමක් සිදුකිරීමට අවශ්‍යනම් එය මේ නවලිබරල් ක්‍රමයට සිදුකළ නොහැකියි. සත්‍ය සෙවීමටනම් ගතානුගත ස්වභාවික යුක්තිය ක්‍රමය අනුගමනය කළ යුතුයි.

මේ සත්‍ය සෙවීම සිදුවන්නේ 2015 මෛත්‍රී රනිල් සුසිල් පාඨලී අනුර ප්‍රමුඛ යහපාලන රජය විසින් සමානුග්‍රහයදී ආරෝපණය කරගන්නා ලද අපේ රණ විරුවන් යුද අපරාධකරුවන් වේය යන පූර්ව නිගමනය මත හා ඊට ලබාදෙන ලද ඳඬුවම් පිළිගනිමින්. ස්වභාවික යුක්තිය පසෙකලා, සාක්ෂිකරුවන් ආරක්ෂා කිරීමේ පනත හෙවත් චෝදනා කරන්නවුන් කවුද කියා හෙළි නොකර, ඉන් සාක්ෂිකරුවන්ගෙන් සාක්ෂි පිළිබඳව විශ්වාසනීයත්වය තහවුරු කර ගැනීමට ඉඩ නොතබා කටයුතු කිරීම තහවුරුකර ඒ ඔස්සේ සත්‍ය සෙවීමක් පිළිබඳව කතාකරන මේ පනතින් එහි යටි අරමුණු මොනවාද නොදන්නා අය හිතන ආකාරයේ සත්‍ය සෙවීමක් මෙම කොමිසමෙන් බලාපොරොත්තු විය නොහැකියි. මේ කොමිසමේ සත්‍ය අවශ්‍යතාවය වන්නේ ඒ 2015 පිළිගන්නා ලද 30/1 ජිනීවා ප්‍රඥප්තියේ ඉතිරි නියෝග පිළිපැදීම හා ක්‍රියාවේ යෙදවීමයි. 

තිස් වසරක යුද්ධය 2009 දී මානුශික මෙහෙයුමකින් නිමවා වසර 15 ක් සපිරෙන මැයි 19 දින මේ හුදු සත්‍ය සෙවීමේ කොමිසම් පනතට මූලිකව බලපාන්නාවූ කාරණය පිළිබඳව අවධානය යොමු කරමු. මේ සඳහා මූළිකව බලපා තිබෙන්නේ 2015 වසරේ සැප්තැම්බර් 16 දින ජිනීවාහි මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ තිස්වෙනි සැසිවාරයට ඉදිරිපත්වූ “ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පිළිබඳව මානව අයිතිවාසිකම් මහ කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලය මගින් කරන ලද විමර්ශනයේ වාර්තාවේ (OISL)” සඳහන් “ප්‍රධාන සොයා ගැනීම්” සහ “යුක්තිය හා වගවීම” යටතේවූ “නිගමන හා නිර්දේශ” ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ගන්නාවූ අවසාන අවශ්‍යතාවය සැපිරීම වේ.

FCID යනම්වූ, සාමාන්‍ය අධිකරණ ක්‍රියාදාමයෙන් බාහිරව ක්ෂණිකව දූෂණ පිළිබඳව කටයුතු කිරීමට බලය පවරා තිබූ,  ලිබරල් ආයතනයක් මගින් විවිධවූ හොරා චෝදනා යටතේ ගොනුකළ නඩුහබ වලට හිරේ විලංගුවේ වැටෙමින් කාළය ගෙවීමට සිදුවීම හේතුවෙන් ජිනීවා චෝදනාවලට විත්තිවාචිකයක් සෑදීමට මානුශික මෙහෙයුම සිදුකළාවූ රාජපක්ෂ වරුන්ට කාළයක් නොතිබූනේයැයි අප සිතූ හෙයින්ද, දෙමළ කොටි ඩයස්පෝරාව දිගින් දිගටම ජිනීවාහී මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසම නමැති නරාවලෙහි පාලුගෙයි වලං බිඳිමින් සිටි හෙයින්ද, ඒ වෙනතෙක් අපේ රණවිරුවන්ගේ නිර්දෝශී භාවය පිළිබඳව කිසිදු ලියවිල්ලක් මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට ඉදිරිපත්කර නොතිබූ හෙයින්ද; 2016 වසරේ අගභාගයේදී ජාතික සංවිධාන එකමුතුවේ පැවරුම අනුව, ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංසදයේ අනුග්‍රහය මත ඉහත සඳහන් “OISL වාර්තාවේ සඳහන්වූ විමර්ශණයේ ප්‍රධාන සොයා ගැනීම්” පිළිබඳව විමර්ශණයක් ස්වාධීන විද්වත් මංඩලයක් විසින් සිදු කරන ලදී. එම විමර්ශණ වාර්තාව සහ නිර්දේශ “විරුවන්ගේ විත්තිවාචිකය” ලෙස 2017 මාර්තු මස 12 හෝ ආසන්න දිනක තුම්මුල්ලේ ශ්‍රී සම්බුද්ධත්ව ජයන්ති මන්දිරයේදී ප්‍රධාන රණවිරුවන් විසින් අනාගත ගැලවුම්කරු වේයැයි සිතූ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාටද, එම අවස්ථාවට ආරාධිතව පැමිණසිටි දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ප්‍රමුඛ මහජන නියෝජිතයින් හටද මහා සංඝයා වහන්සේ ඉදිරියේ උත්සවාකාරයෙන් මහත් බලාපොරොත්තු ඇතිව ප්‍රධානය කරන ලදී. එහි එක් පරමාර්ථය වූයේ රට රැකගත්තාවූ රණවිරුවන්හට එල්ලවී ඇති චෝදනා නිශ්ප්‍රභා කිරීම සඳහා ගෝඨාභය හා දිනේශ් ඇතුලු කණ්ඩායමට අවශ්‍ය සාධක සපයාදීමයි. බලය ලැබුන පසුව ඔවුන් ප්‍රථමයෙන්ම අමතක කර දැමුවේද එම අවශ්‍යතාවයයි. ඒ වෙනුවට ඔවුන් තෝරාගත්තේ යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා පවතිද්දීම ඳඬුවම් වලින් බේරීම සඳහා “මධ්‍යස්ථ දෙමල ප්‍රජාව එන්ගේජ් කරගැනීම” නම්වූ සට්ටැඹි තියරියයි.

“විත්තිවාචිකයෙන්” ජාතික සංවිධාන සඳහා නිර්දේශිතවූ නිර්දේශිතයන් තුනෙන් එකක් සපුරනුවස් ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංසදය ප්‍රමුඛව විශ්‍රාමික දෙවන නාවික කොමදෝරු සරත් වීරසේකරයින් විසින් එම “විත්තිවාචිකය” 2017 මාර්තු මස 20 හෝ ආසන්න දිනක ජිනීවාහී මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට බාරදෙන ලදී. මෙම විත්තිවාචිකය මගින් මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ OISL වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් කරුණු පිළිබඳව අපක්ෂපාතී වාර්තාවක් කැඳවන ලෙසත්, OISL වාර්තාව පිළිබඳව රජයේ ස්ථාවරය ප්‍රකාෂ කරන ලෙසත්, මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමේ සිදුවූ දෑ පිළිබඳව එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය දැනුවත් කරන ලෙසත්, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ විශේෂ වාර්තාකරුවෙක් OISL වාර්තාව නැවත විමර්ෂණය සඳහා යොදවන ලෙසත්, එතෙක් OISL වාර්තාවේ නිර්දේශ ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම තහනම් කරමින් මානව හිමිකම් කොමිසමට තාවකාලික තහනමක් පවරන ලෙසත් වේ.

මාතෘකාවේ සඳහන් යෝජිත කොමිසම් පනතට අදාල “සත්‍ය” මේ වනවිටත් සිවිල් යුද්ධයක් පැවතියාවූ රටක සෙවිය හැකි ප්‍රමාණයටත් වැඩියෙන් “සොයා” ඉදිරිපත් කර ඇත. මේ සොයාගත් දෑ බීරි අලින්ට වීණා වයන්නාසේ වීමද, එම සොයාගත්දෑ අදාල රජයන් විසින් නිසි ආකාරයට පරිහරණය නොකිරීමද මේ අනවරතයෙන් සිදුවෙන අනවර්තයට හේතු පාදකව ඇත.

“විත්තිවාචකය” සම්පාදනය වූයේ එවකටත් සම්පාදනය කර, එහෙත් වැඩක් නොගෙන හමස් පෙට්ටියට යවා තිබූ, යුද අපරාධ පිළිබඳව ගවේෂණය කරන ලද යුද විශේෂඥයින්ගේ වාර්තා හතක් පදනම්ව බැවින්, මෛත්‍රී රනිල් සුසිල් පාඨලී අනුර ප්‍රමුඛ යහපාලන රජය “අපේ රණවිරුවන් යුද අපරාධකරුවන්වේය” යන්න සමානුග්‍රහයදී පිළිගන්නාවිටද ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රණවිරුවන්‍ යුද අපරාධකරුවන්වේය යන චෝදනාව නිශේධනය කිරීම සඳහා අවශ්‍ය සාක්ෂි සම්භාරයක්ම සම්පාදනය කර තිබුණි. සිදුවූයේ හුදු රාජපක්ෂ විරෝධය හේතුවෙන් දුෂ්ඨවූ යහපාලන රජය මහා පිංතූරය අමතක කරදමා රට බෙදුම්වාදයට නතු කරන අවස්ථාවාදී තොණ්ඩුව සියතින් ගෙලලා ගැනීමයි. 

එම කරුමයේ උරුමයට එදා කරගැසීමට සිදුවූ එවක ජිනීවාහි මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවේ නිත්‍ය නියෝජිත රවිනාථ ආරියසිංහ මහතා අප සමග පැවසුවේ “යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා තිබෙන තාක්කල් එම චෝදනා හිසට උඩින් සිහින් කෙස් ගසකින් එල්ලා ඇති තියුණු අසිපතක්සේ අපට එරෙහිව පවතින” බවයි. මෙම කරුණ ඕනෑම සාධාරණ සිහියක් ඇති තැනැත්තෙකු හට වැටහෙනු ඇත. එය අවබෝධ කරගැනීම සඳහා නීතිය පිළිබඳව කිසිදු ආචාර්‍ය මහාචාර්‍ය පට්ටමක් අවශ්‍ය නොවේ. පලාගිය ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාට පලායන්නට සිදුවූයේද රණවිරුවන් හට එම යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා පවතිද්දීම “මධ්‍යස්ථ දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව එන්ගේජ් කරගෙන ඳඬුවම්වලින් ගැලවීම සමථයකට පත්කරගත හැක” යන “සට්ටැඹි උපදේශය” පිළිගැනීම නිසාවේ. ගෝඨාභයගේ “ජනාධිපති ධූරයෙන් මා නෙරපීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණය” පොතේ ඒ පිළිබඳව සටහන්ව නොතිබීම තත්කාලීන කරුණු පිළිබඳව එතුමාගේ පවතින අවබෝධය පිළිබඳව තක්සේරුවක් සේ බැහැර කළ නොහැක. කරුණු වසංකරමින් නිසොල්ලාසයන් ලිවීමද කුමන්ත්‍රණය තවමත් ඉදිරියට ඇදෙන බවට සඥාවක් විය හැක.

විමර්ශනයේ ප්‍රධාන සොයා ගැනීම් ලෙස සඳහන්ව ඇත්තේ (1) නීති විරෝධී ඝාතන (2) නිදහස අහිමි කිරීමට අදාළ උල්ලංඝනයන් (3) බලහත්කාර අතුරුදහන් කිරීම් (4) වධ හිංසා හෝ අනෙකුත් ආකාරයේ කුරිරු, අමානුෂික හෝ අවමන් සහගත සැලකීම් (5) ලිංගික හා ස්ත්‍රීපුරුෂ සමාජ භාව පදනම් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය (6) පැහැර ගැනීම් හා බලහත්කාර බඳවා ගැනීම් (7) ළමුන් බඳවා ගැනීම හා එදිරිවාදිකම්වල යොදා ගැනීම (8) සිවිල් ජනතාවට සහ පොදු ස්ථානවලට සටන්වල බපෑම (9) යාම් ඊම් පාලනය (10) මානුශීය ආධාර අහිමි කිරීම, සහ (11) තීව්‍ර පිරික්සුම හා අභ්‍යන්තරව අවතැන් වූ පුද්ගලයින්ගේ නිදහස අහිමි කිරීම යන කාරණා වේ.

විත්තිවාච්කය විසින් විමර්ශණය කරන පරිදි OISL චෝදනා එකොලහෙන් තුනක් LTTE සංවිධානයට එරෙහිවද, තුනක් පොදුවේ LTTE හා ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය වෙතද, පහක් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට එරෙහිවද එල්ලකර තිබුනි. ඉන් එක චෝදනාවක්, එනම් ඉහත 11 වන චෝදනාව, විත්තිවාචිකය සම්පාදනය කල කාලය වනවිට අවසන්ව හෝ අවසාන අවස්ථාවේ පැවතුනි. LTTE සංවිධානය වෙත එල්ලවී තිබුනේ ඉහත 6, 7 සහ 9 චෝදනාවන් වේ. පොදුවේ එල්ලවූ චෝදනාවන් වූයේ 1,8 හා 10 යන චෝදනා වේ. විත්තිවාචිකය විසින් සළකා බලනු ලැබුවේ ඉතිරි චෝදනා හතර සහ පොදු චෝදනාවේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට එරෙහිවූ චෝදනා පමණක් වේ. මෙහිදී ජේෂ්ඨ නීතිවේදී දර්ශන් වීරසේකර මහතා විසින් පරණගම කොමිසමේ සඳහන්ව තිබූ යුද අපරාධ විශේෂඥයින්වූ රාජ නීතිඥ සර් ඩෙස්මන්ඩ් ඩි සිල්ව, මහාචාර්‍ය ඩී.එම්. ක්‍රේන්, රාජ නීතිඥ සර් ජෙෆ්‍රි නයිස්, රාජ නීතිඥ රොඩ්නි ඩික්සන්, මහාචාර්ය මයිකල් නිව්ටන් සහ මේජර් ජෙනරාල් ජෝන් හෝම්ස් යන මහත්වරුන් විසින් සම්පාදනය කරන ලද වාර්තා සහ ලිපි විත්තිවාචිකය සම්පාදනය සඳහා භාවිතා කරන ලදී. එසේම යුද සමයේ යුද්ධ භූමියේ සිටි විදේශික වාර්තාකරුවන්වූ ෆ්‍රන්ට්ලයින් සඟරාවේ මුරලිදර් රෙඩ්ඩි, රොයිටර් ඡායාරූප ශිල්පී ඩේවිඩ් ග්‍රේ ආදීන්ගේ වාර්තාද, යුද්ධයේ අවසාන කොටසේ යුද්ධ භූමියේ සිටි වෛද්‍යවරුන්ගේ වාර්තා, LTTE යේ දේශපාලන අංශයේ ප්‍රධානී තමිලිනී ජයකුමාරන් මහත්මියගේ ප්‍රකාෂයන්, එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානයේ කොළඹ ප්‍රකාෂක ගෝඩන් වේස් මහතාගේ ප්‍රකාෂණද, ICRC වාර්තා, UN වාර්තා, LLRC වාර්තා, CCHA වාර්තා, විකිලීක්ස් හා දේශපාලන රැකවරණය ලැබීමේ අයදුම්පත්‍ර ආදිය ද විමර්ශණය සඳහා භාවිතා කරන ලදී. දර්ශනයන්ගේ විමර්ශණය අනුව අපගේ රණවිරුවන් යුද අපරාධ සිදු නොකරන ලද බවට නැවත තහවුරුවිය. 

දර්ශන් වීරසේකරයන්ගේ මෙම විමර්ශණයේදී සාක්ෂි අපරාධ නඩු වලට අදාල සාක්ෂි පසිඳලීමේදී භාවිතාවෙන සාක්ෂි විධි ක්‍රම පහෙන් හතරක්ම භාවිතා කර ඇති අතර OISL වාර්තාවේ සාක්ෂි ප්‍රමිතිය “විශ්වාස කිරීමට සාධාරණ හේතු” නියමය වන අතර එය නීතියේ යම් නිශ්චිත චෝදනාවක් ස්ථාපිත කිරීම සඳහා ඉදිරිපත් කළ යුතු සාක්ෂියේ පහළම ස්ථරය ලෙස නීතියේ පිළිගැනේ. ජාත්‍යන්තර අධිකරණයට අනුව චෝදනා එල්ලකිරීම සඳහා අවම වශයෙන් චෝදනාවල සංවේදී හෝ සාධාරණ සාධාරණීයකරණයක් පැවතිය යුතුය. නමුත් එවන් සංවේදී සාධාරණීය හෝ සාධාරණ සාධරණීය වාතාවරණයක් OISL වාර්තාවේ නොමැති අතර චෝදනා සහ ඳඬුවම් සියල්ල ඒක පාර්ශිකව තීරණය කර ඇත. ඒ සඳහා අවාසනාවට කුහක අමනෝඥ යහපාලන රජයද සමානුග්‍රහයදී සම්මාදම්ව ඇත.

2017 වසරේදී එංගලන්ත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ සභික නෙස්බි සාමිවරයා විසින්ද ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යුද අපරාධ නොකරන ලද බවත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පණවා ඇති යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා ඉවත්කළ යුතු බවත් ප්‍රකාෂ කරන ලදී. නෙස්බි සාමිවරයාගේ එම හෙළිදරව්ව බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය රජයේ රහස්‍ය ආරක්ෂක වාර්තා තොරතුරු දැනගැනීමේ පණත යටතේ ඉතා අසීරුවෙන් ලබාගන්නා ලද බවද එතුමා ප්‍රකාෂ කර තිබුනි. එම අතරින්පතර තොරතුරු සඟවාතිබූ වාර්තාව නෙස්බි සාමිවරයා විසින්ම මෙම ලියුම්කරු සහභාගීවූ එංගලන්ත පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ රැස්වීම් ශාලාවක පැවැත්වූ රැස්වීමකදී අපවෙත පරීක්ෂාව සඳහා ලබාදුනි.

මීට අමතරව, නෙස්බි සාමිවරයාගේ ඉල්ලීම මත, යුද්ධයේ අවසාන සමයේ සිදුවුනා යැයි ප්‍රකාෂිත සිවිල් මරණ සංඛ්‍යාව පිළිබඳව වැප්ස් සංවිධානය මගින් ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලද යුද්ධයේ අවසාන සමයේ සිදුවූ සිවිල් මරණ පිළිබඳව වාර්තාවක් පාදකව තවත් වාර්තාවක් නෙස්බි සාමිවරයාවෙත යොමුකරන ලදී.  එම වාර්තාව පසුව මානව හිමිකම් සමුළුවටද යොමුකරන ලදී. මෙම වාර්තාව සම්පාදනය කරන ලද්දේ LTTE යේ නිල මාද්‍යවූ TamilNet වෙබ් අඩවියේ යුද සමයේ තත්ත්කාලීනව පලවූ මරණ වාර්තා පාදක කරගෙන වේ. එම තත්කාලීන වාර්තා අනුව යුද්ධයේ එම වකවානුවේදී POE වාර්තාව හෙවත් කුප්‍රකට දරුස්මාන් වාර්තාව ඇතුලුව රායප්පු ජෝෂප් කතෝලික පියතුමා ඇතුලු විවිධ සංවිධාන සහ ඩයස්පෝරාවන් කලින් කලට පවසන පරිදි 40,000 සිට 120,000 ක්වූ සිවිල් වැසියන් සංඛ්‍යාවක් නොව, යුද්ධයෙන් මියගොස් ඇත්තේ 7,735 ක් බවට සනාතවිය. නෙස්බි සාමිවරයාගේ හෙළිදරව්ව ආකාරයට මෙයින් සියයට විසිපහක් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම LTTE සාමාජිකයින්වේ. ඒ බව යුද සමයේ මිනිස් පළිහේ රැඳී හිටි හිටපු පාර්ලිමේන්තු මංත්‍රී මෙන්ම සටන් පැවති ප්‍රදේශ වල සේවයේ නියුතුව හිටපු වෛද්‍ය වරුන්ගේ සාක්ෂි වලින්ද සනාත කර ඇත.

එබැවින්, “සත්‍ය සෙවීමට” තවත් අණපනත් ගෙන ඒමට අවශ්‍ය නැත. මේ වනවිට “සත්‍ය සොයාගෙන” බොහෝ කලක් ගතව ඇත. “සත්‍ය සෙවීම” නමින් මේ සිදුකිරීමට කැසකවනු ලබන්නේ අබලන්ව වැටී ඇති රට වෙනත් දුෂ්ඨ අරමුණක් වෙනුවෙන් ඇදගෙන යෑමයි. 

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂයේ නායකත්වය, රට යුද අපරාධ ගැටයේ පැටලුවාවූ යහපාලන රජයේ ජනාධිපති විසින්ම, රණවිරු දඩයමට අදාල අණපනත් හතකට දායකවූ පුද්ගලයෙකුට කඩිමුඩියේ පැවරීම සිදුකිරීමද මේ කුමන්ත්‍රණ වල තවත් පියවරක් විය හැක.

අප මෙහි සඳහන් කරනු ලැබුවේ අභූත යුද අපරාධ චෝදනා නිශේදනය හෙවත් “සත්‍ය සෙවීම” පිළිබඳව අදාල කරුණු පමණයි. මුහුණ දියයුතු සහ පරාජය කලයුතු දුෂ්ඨ අරමුණු වන්නේ පනතේ ඉතිරි කොටස වන “වගවීම සහ වැලැක්වීම” යටතේ යෝජිත කරුණු සම්භාරයටවේ. එම දුෂ්ඨ අරමුණු වලින් ගැලවීම මධස්ථ මතධාරී දෙමල ඩයස්පෝරාවක් “එන්ගේජ්” කරගැනීමෙන් ඉටුකළ ගත නොහැකි බව සට්ටැඹිධාරී නීතිවේදීන්ට හා ගෝඨාභයට දැන්වත් වැටහෙනු ඇතිද කියා සිතිය නොහැක. “එන්ගේජ්” උනේ කවුද කරේ කවුද කියා විමල්, තෝරදෙණිය ආදීන්ගේ ග්‍රන්ථ වල සේම කතානායකට එරෙහිව ගෙන ආ විශ්වාසභංගයෙන් පසු කතානායක කළ හෙළිදරව්වෙන්ද පැහැදිලි වේ. එසේම, OISL වාර්තාව මගින් වාර්තා කර ඇති ප්‍රධාන සොයා ගැනීම් සියල්ල අසත්‍ය බව ඉහත සනාථ කර ඇති බැවින්, තව දුරටත් OISL මගින් සිදුකර ඇති නිර්දේශයන් හා නියෝගයන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම අවශ්‍ය නොවන බව රජයට වැටහිය යුතුයි. ඒ සඳහා කටයුතු කිරීමට පක්ෂයක් හෝ මංත්‍රීවරයෙක් ඉදිරිපත් නොවීමද කනගාටුවට කරුණක්.

එබැවින් දැන්වත් මේ රාජ්‍යය දුර්වල කරන රට බෙදන දුෂ්ඨ ක්‍රියාවලියෙන් ඉවත්වෙන ලෙස හා එම දුෂ්ඨ ක්‍රියාවලිය පරාජය කරන ලෙස, අඩුම තරමේ 69 ලක්ෂයේ ඡන්දයෙන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු ගිය, සැමගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටිනව.

එසේම අරුන් සිද්ධර්ථ මහතා වෙතද ඉල්ලීමක් කිරීමට කැමතියි. ඔබව යූඑන්පියේ සංවිධායක ලෙස පත්කිරීම බාධාවක් ලෙස නොසළකමින්, ඉහත OISL විමර්ශණ මගින් LTTE ය වෙත කරන ලද චෝදනා 1,6,7,8,9 හා 10 පිළිබඳව විමර්ශණයක් කිරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනව. ඔබ විසින් LTTE යෙන් තාඩනයට හා පීඩනයට ලක්වූ ජනතාව පිළිබඳව සෙවීමට නියමිතවූ ව්‍යාපෘතිය හා මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය සමපාත වෙනු ඇති කියා හිතනව. එබැවින්, ඒ පිළිබඳව ඔබගේ කඩිනම් අවධානය යොමුකරණු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කරමි.”

– යසස් ධර්මදාස, ලේකම්, ගෝලීය ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සංසදය.

Milinda Moragoda, Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation

Milinda Moragoda, Founder of the Pathfinder Foundation, released a statement saying Sri Lanka’s present oppressive tax regime is undermining the country’s economic growth agenda. Moragoda says, furthermore, many local entrepreneurs and businesses that can afford it are relocating abroad, and new investments have decreased significantly.

Full text of the statement:

While the demand compression it has created has, to an extent, stabilised the economy, it has made the poor more destitute and is driving the middle class towards poverty. Adversely affected professionals, skilled workers, and others are reluctantly leaving the country in large numbers, exacerbating the brain drain and reducing our workforce. Furthermore, many local entrepreneurs and businesses that can afford it are relocating abroad, and new investments have decreased significantly. For these reasons, this tax regime is counterproductive to economic growth and unsustainable. All forecasts indicate that Sri Lanka will not be able to grow at more than 3% for the next eight years or so.

If this situation is to be corrected, the rate of taxation will have to be brought down. However unpalatable it may be, this can only be achieved through a combination of deep reforms that will lead to small government (by reducing public expenditure), accelerated privatisation, large-scale foreign investment, increased connectivity at both a regional and global level and, in general, creating a more business and investment-friendly climate. In Sri Lanka, the vested interests are such that many of these proposed reforms will require strong political resolve to be implemented. Furthermore, Sri Lanka must diversify its income streams beyond worker remittances, garments, tourism, and commodities to include new sectors. It is time for Sri Lanka to modernise its economy.

We have to realise that in the high-income countries of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average corporate income tax rate fell from 47% in 1980 to 23% in 2021. Many countries have cut tax rates on dividends, capital gains, and estates, and most countries that once had annual wealth taxes have abolished them. Unfortunately, Sri Lanka is going in the opposite direction, with wealth and estate taxes now being contemplated.

With national elections on the horizon,  it is incumbent upon all political parties to step up and present proposals that outline a clear trajectory that will steer us towards economic recovery. It is high time that all political parties take this responsibility seriously and present a comprehensive set of proposals on tax policies. These proposals should aim to bring down individual, corporate, and value-added taxes, and other levies to levels that will make Sri Lanka competitive, spur growth, and create rapid development.

Especially for countries like Sri Lanka, which have a bloated government sector, the path of least resistance is to increase revenues through taxation and tariffs to meet their day-to-day requirements to avoid long-needed reforms that go to the root of the problem. However, Sri Lanka cannot afford to continue on this path for the above reasons. A low-tax, growth-oriented, investor-friendly regime that is both fair and equitable to all Sri Lankan citizens and has a well-designed and targeted social safety net to protect the poor and vulnerable must be put into place.

Dinesh Gunawardena Prime Minister Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

His Excellency Mohammed Mokhber

Vice President of Islamic Republic of Iran

Excellency,

I am deeply saddened to learn about the demise of His Excellency President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian in a tragic helicopter crash.

The late President’s services for the people of Iran as well as to strengthen bilateral relations with Sri Lanka are legendary. In fact His Excellency Ebrahim Raisi’s last foreign visit was to Sri Lanka to inaugurate the Iran-assisted Uma Oya hydroelectricity-cum-irrigation project, which is immensely beneficial to the people of Sri Lanka.

During his visit I closely interacted with him and I was highly impressed by his sincere vision for the prosperity of Iran and its people as well as for promoting global peace and security.

On behalf of the government and the people of Sri Lanka as well as on my personal behalf, I offer my sincere condolences to the government and people of Iran and to the bereaved families of the late President and the Foreign Minister.

Excellency, please accept the assurance of my highest consideration.

Dinesh Gunawardena                                  

Prime Minister

Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

It has been observed in many instances that the family members of heroic soldiers who fought and made supreme sacrifice for securing the territorial integrity of our motherland, as well as retired military personnel and their family members, are facing various difficulties in obtaining health facilities from government hospitals.

This matter was given priority among the problems presented by the war veterans during the special programs organized by the Sri Lanka Army under the auspices of the State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon, to address their welfare and administrative affairs.

During the war and for several years since the end of the war, society widely accepted military members and their families. However, this acceptance is now gradually waning, with some even forgetting that a war once ravaged this country.

In the field of health, some war veterans have to endure long queues to receive required treatment, often while sitting in wheelchairs or standing on crutches. This is despite the difficult conditions they face when seeking facilities from government hospitals.

In some cases, they have to travel from distant areas to Colombo or other major cities for treatment, where disabled war veterans are further inconvenienced by waiting in long queues.

After assessing the current circumstances, State Minister of Defence Hon. Premitha Bandara Tennakoon met with Health Minister Hon. Dr. Ramesh Pathirana today (May 20) at the Ministry of Health to discuss the issues.

The discussion included plans to reactivate the ‘Suvaviru Cards’, which prioritize retired war veterans and family members of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. They also discussed strategies to address the problems encountered by these individuals when seeking health facilities from government hospitals.

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

•           Disaster Risk Reduction is very important for building robust communities – Defence Secretary

The National Disaster Management Coordinating Committee (NDMCC) serves as a crucial platform for policy formulation, strategic planning and effective coordination among stakeholders for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) activities. We facilitate communication between sub-national and national levels, ensuring an incorporated approach towards disaster management through the National Council for Disaster Management (NCDM).

Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne made these remarks while delivering the welcome speech at the 67^th NDMCC conference held today (May 16) at the Taj Samudra Hotel, Colombo.

In recent years, we have witnessed an increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters, both natural and human-induced. These challenges demand a unified response that goes beyond individual ministries or departments, General Gunaratne further stated.

At the end of his address, the Defence Secretary officially launched the NDMCC logo.

The conference was themed “Renewed commitments, strengthening partnerships towards a resilient community,” which consolidates the collective commitment to enhancing disaster resilience with the valuable support of the World Food Program (WFP).

Therefore, this forum provides a platform for robust national dialogue, fostering collaboration among all stakeholders involved in DRR activities.

Mr. Abdurrahim Siddiqui, the Country Director of the World Food Program (WFP) and the Director (Planning) of the Disaster Management Division, Ministry of Defence Mr. Nalaka Priyntha, made their remarks prior to the commencement of this year’s forum.

Director General of Disaster Management Centre Major General Udaya Herath (Retd), Director General of National Building Research Organization Dr. Asiri Karunawardana, Deputy Director of Department of Meteorology Ms. Prithika Jayakody, Senior Assistant Secretary (Development) at National Disaster Relief Services Centre Mr. Namal Liyanage, Director Hydrology and Disaster Management at the Department of Irrigation Eng. S.P.C. Sugeeshwara and the Deputy Country Manager, Sri Lanka Regional Researcher – Water Resources Engineer Dr. Nishadi Eriyagama presented their papers to the audience and the forum concluded with the panel discussion.

Dignitaries including country representatives and heads of UN agencies, senior officials from the Ministry of Defence and senior military officers also joined the forum.

Dimuthu Attanayake  Courtesy The South China Morning Post

• Indian companies have made a flurry of business deals with Sri Lanka since the struggling island nation declared bankruptcy in 2022
• A new lease on a Chinese-financed airport shows New Delhi is gaining the upper hand over Beijing in their rivalry to woo Colombo, analysts say
• India is set to wield greater influence in Sri Lanka as its companies flock to sign deals with the heavily indebted island nation in sectors ranging from energy to maritime logistics, even as some analysts question their commercial viability.
• Among the recent high-profile deals involving Indian companies was a 20-year power purchase agreement with Adani Green Energy, a subsidiary of India’s Adani Group, announced by Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe earlier this month.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested four ISIS terrorists, all of whom are Sri Lankan nationals, at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Indian media reported today.

The Gujarat ATS has taken the suspects to an undisclosed location for intensive questioning, reported TV9 Gujarati. The precise motive behind their presence at the Ahmedabad airport is not clear.

Security has been heightened across the airport, the report said.

The individuals, all Sri Lankan nationals, first arrived in Chennai before travelling to Ahmedabad, as per the media reports. They were waiting for instructions from their Pakistani handlers when they were apprehended.

The arrest occurred before the suspects could receive any weapons, Indian media reports said. A press conference is scheduled for 4 PM where Gujarat DGP will provide further details regarding the arrests, it said. 

The arrests were made ahead of the arrival of three IPL teams at the Ahmedabad airport for the qualifier and eliminator games.

In March, two top-rung leaders of ISIS in India were arrested near the international border after they crossed over from Bangladesh. 

The arrested ISIS cadres were identified as Harish Ajmal Farooqi alias Harish Ajmal Farukhi, a resident of Dehradun in Uttarakhand, and Anurag Singh alias Rehan, a resident of Panipat in Haryana.

Both individuals were described as highly indoctrinated and motivated leaders of ISIS in India, involved in various activities including recruitment, terror funding, and planning terror acts using improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

They had furthered the cause of ISIS in India through conspiracies to carry out recruitment, terror funding and terror acts by means of IEDs at several places across India,” the police official said.

According to the STF, several cases were registered against these two by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), New Delhi and ATS, Lucknow.

Source: The Hindustan Times/ANI

Shenali D Waduge

In 2011 AMNESTY accepted $50,000 from a Canadian based LTTE front, so naturally it is not a surprise when AMNESTY International’s Alan Keenan quoted 40,000 to 147,000 dead. Can Amnesty produce names of even 10,000 dead, we think not. Interesting that the photo of the commemoration with Agnes Callamard bowing & offering flowers was in an area adorned with LTTE terrorist emblems & flags. Fancy taking a flight to lay flowers for terrorists. She describes this as very moving” and that she met with 20 mothers” (where were the 40,000 mothers) and listened to their anguish”.

Lets first get somethings sorted out & ask Agnes Callamard some questions.

If, as per Amnesty’s quote about 40,000 – 147,000 killed …. Why were there only 20 mothers? Where were the mothers of the rest?

https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/exclusive-amnesty-international-chief-calls-sri-lanka-referral-un-security-council

Who are these mothers?

• Are they mothers of only LTTE dead?
• Are they mothers of other Tamil militants?
• Are they mothers of those killed by LTTE?
• Are they mothers of those killed during hostilities?
• Who are these dead – LTTE or any others?

She speaks about everyone’s failures” – she is right about that. The UN & international agencies failed to stop LTTE killings across 30 years. How is that the UN & these international agencies are shedding crocodile tears only after LTTE is deiminated?

Have they come to commemorate the dead killed inside the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi temple in 1985? The Muslims killed inside the mosque while praying in 1991? The innocent people killed when LTTE bombed the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in 1996? The 66 passengers killed by LTTE in Kebethigollewa in 2006? The 65 train passengers killed by LTTE in Dehiwela in 1996, the 35 Buddhist theros killed in 1987 in Aranthalawa? The 14 unarmed people killed in Akuressa in 2009 months prior to the end of the conflict? 

We can present over 300 such attacks by LTTE over 30 years – why has Agnes not landed to lay flowers on behalf of them? Why does she fly only to Mullaivaikkal where the LTTE was vanquished & where LTTE flowers and emblems prevail?

Yes, everyone is craving for justice” but it is not justice for LTTE.

Agnes & Amnesty must realize as difficult as it may be that LTTE is a banned terrorist movement. In fact, India has just proscribed LTTE for a further 5 years even 15 years after LTTE defeat claiming they continue to pose a threat. Is this threat because large numbers are getting training in the Swiss national army?

Agnes hit the nail on the head when she says disappearance is the worst crime” but unbelievably she & Amnesty are stoic silent on the 5000 missing soldiers from the national army. These families even sent dossiers with details of the missing soldiers including their names & IDs to the UNHRC’s OISL … where is the justice for these soldiers. Has Agnes gone to lay one flower for these soldiers or spoken a single word to these women (mothers, wives, daughters & sons) living in anguish. Is there no emptiness” for these families who don’t know where the bodies of these soldiers are? These soldiers fought to defend the nation. They didn’t fight to separate the country. So, isn’t it fair that Agnes should visit at least one of them or lay a flower for these soldiers?

Agnes says people come together to remember” will Europe allow Osama bin Laden to be remembered? Will she go all the way to Pakistan and lay a flower at the site where US Navy Seals landed secretly & assassinated Osama bin Laden & his family?

Justice has certainly not been delivered – but not the justice Agnes wants for only LTTE. What about every single person killed by LTTE which included

• A foreign Prime Minister
• Foreigners (killed when LTTE bombed an Airlanka plane)
• A sitting President & attempted to kill a sitting President
• School principals & students
• Passengers on buses & trains
• Employees in public & private sector
• Religious representatives
• Politicians
• Farmers & villagers in a bid to chase them out of areas LTTE wanted to control
• Unarmed soldiers and policemen
• Unarmed soldiers returning home

The list goes on …. But we have not seen a single statement from Amnesty for these deaths or calling for justice for these deaths. This highlights their hypocrisy.

With these facts clear, people should not be surprised when she is seen calling the international community to take action by referring Sri Lanka to the UNSC. Well, she may have forgotten that the UNHRC heads at that time did not even table the Ban Ki Moon 3 panel report to the UNGA or the UNSC, wonder why they chose to leak it instead?

It appears Agnes and the whole coterie of NGOs/INGOs are bathing in their own lies & need to be reminded that to claim genocide or even simple deaths – there must be dead bodies, at least skeletons of the supposed to be 40,000 dead. No one can name them even after 15 years. The UNSG went by helicopter over the conflict terrain 3 days after the conflict ended – surely everyone would have even got a rotten stench of 40,000 dead bodies or seen newly dug graves to dump 40,000 dead. Just imagine for yourself how ridiculous this allegation has become. Before calling for universal jurisdiction at least name the 40,000 supposed to be killed people. No one can be accused of killing anyone without a dead body. To claim anyone is missing, they must give the names of the missing. Have the families filed complaint with the police? Have they filed a habeas corpus. Have they filed with the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons or with the Office of Missing Persons. Even in 2018, the figures of missing was only 23,586.

Interestingly, why is Amnesty going after a conflict that has ended 15 years ago? What about the ongoing conflicts? Why don’t they try to stop those? Then again, why only Sri Lanka, what about going after conflicts that have ended in other countries & calling for justice there too? Or are these calls only subject to funding?

Just to refresh Agnes’s memory

The Lessons Learn & Reconciliation Commission of Nov 2011 listed:

• 22,247 LTTE dead
• 11,812 LTTE dead identified with names
• 10,435 LTTE dead not identified

Why did these 10,435 families not come to meet Agnes?

Why didn’t the families of these 10,435 LTTE dead not log their names with the President Commission on Missing Persons in 2017 or the OMP?

We would like to remind Agnes of the incident of Thyaparaja who UNHRC, UTHR claimed was missing” since September 2009 & was accused of being killed by the Sri Lankan Army… but the guy & his family were arrested by Indian police in 2014. How many more such cases like Thyaparaja is there of the disappeared/killed” reappearing?

Incidentally, the Office of Missing Persons lists 23,586 of which 5000 is listed as Missing Soldiers of the Armed Forces. So, there is little or no basis from all the official units appointed to even claim genocide” except for cheap well funded publicity.

No soldier or officer can be called a war criminal without dead bodies, names of the dead, skeletons of the dead or even families logging the details of the missing or the dead.

If anyone should be investigated it is entities like Amnesty whose work” depends on sponsorships as done by Australia recently when it passed the Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform Bill and the National Security Legislation Amendment & foreign interference laws.

Shenali D Waduge

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

‘Before you study the economics, study the economists!’

e-Con e-News 12-18 May 2024

The US is escalating their war on Myanmar – via Thailand and India. This ee Focus glances at the US psyops (psychological operations) there, where they actively fund a terror campaign. All of this unfolds midst their attempts to implant parallel government structures via unrepresentative NGOs, including corporate & religious networks. Myanmar – or for that matter, Asia, let alone Sri Lanka – cannot be free apparently until US-sponsored subversion and their terrorism (with NGOs and other good-intenders vending masquerades) is ended or overcome.

     The USA offered more white comedy when it ‘sought to intervene in the drafting of Sri Lanka’s new piece of legislation that, if enacted, will provide for the registration of both local & international NGOs in the country’. US Assistant Secretary of State for South & Central Asian Affairs Donald Banana2 Lu, during his visit last week to Sri Lanka, demanded ‘a general overview of the possible implications of the proposed law’.

     Responding to a Daily Mirror query, the US Embassy in Colombo said it advocates ‘publicly & privately… for an open, consultative process in which the government drafts legislation that reflects full stakeholder input and international best practices… that does not stifle freedom of association or expression’. Wonder where these ‘international best practices’ strut about in Palestine?

     This US campaign of hypocritical interference is clearly linked to what their media has been playing up in Georgia (see last ee), falsely calling such laws ‘Russian-style’, when the US itself enacts stronger laws to target selected political actors they view as ‘foreign agents’. Last week, ee examined how the US is funding violent ‘street’ opposition to a law to curtail foreign slush-funding in Georgia, a law similar to the USA’s own Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

     In the end, all capitalist parties demand high reliance on ‘exports’ and ‘imports’, which makes us subject to the vagaries and foibles of imperialist mindgames and multinationals, who love to flaunt as free marketers of virtue. It is a display of their power to openly wiggle their hypocrisy.

*

     ee also looks at the continuing detention in the USA of the still-unnamed crew including one Sri Lankan and 20 Indians held on board the Singapore ship carrying toxic waste to Colombo that destroyed Baltimore’s biggest bridge in March. The US government now claims the Maersk-chartered ship, owned and managed from Singapore, originated in Sri Lanka! It was in bad shape, and operated by an untrained crew. What then was such a rickety tub as tall as the Eiffel Tower doing in New York’s biggest port and the US Navy’s largest port, before it sailed to its Baltimore rendezvous and denouement. Here is a crew that had already sailed the ship over 14,000 kilometres from Sri Lanka. What did it unload and what did it pick up? The exact contents of the ship remain a mystery, due to the continuing segregation and threatening of the crew, and the surreptitious removal of its cargo midst the cordon sanitaire around the wreckage. A slavish corporate media will only end up parroting what the powerful shipping insurance cartels wish us to repeat (see ee Focus).

*

     ee is published weekly in tribute to the work of SBD de Silva. This ee reproduces de Silva’s prophetic and poetic Preface to his monumental oeuvre The Political Economy of Underdevelopment. This book was written in opposition to his own London School of Economics PhD thesis in 1962 on Investment & Economic Growth in Ceylon.  He said his argument involved claiming the plantations were modern and capitalist, and had positive impulses to impart to the rest of the society. This was not true. He had realized he was wrong. A Deputy Director of Economic Research in the Central Bank of Ceylon, his book explaining why his thesis was wrong, was finally published in 1982 while he was Deputy Director of the Agrarian Research & Training Institute, Colombo, where he surely must have learned what interests were also behind the prevention of rural industrialization.

     His Preface memorably opens with the declaration: ‘Research in the social sciences in underdeveloped countries has, of late, metamorphosed into a variety of big business. Institutes & research agencies flourish in rich profusion, with virtually a business interest in staging seminars, symposia & workshops and in sponsoring publications. In contrast, concerned activity committed to exposing the real roots of social disarray is, remarkably, absent.’ This was written in 1982, but his words ring out even truer as a warning needed more than ever. This hijacking by corporations occurs not just in academia, but in the media & other arts as well, where such sponsorships reign supreme. It operates in the customs yards, where professors and importers & shippers mud-wrestle in naked display.

     SBD therefore always examined the ‘reasons why social scientists would want to publish their works’. Outside of seeing one’s name in print, and/or to lubricate careerism, one reason scientists should publish is that ‘knowledge has to be tested and developed through a process of confrontation’, which therefore requires engagement in the transformation of society.

     ‘Why publish for the sake of publishing?  We are not talking about a novel where you can go where ever your mind or fancy takes you. We are talking about making a logical argument that others can understand. We have great talents, who write like Shakespeare…”, but what are they arguing for and about? The complexity of an idea has to be presented in a sentence. And where to put a word or idea, in the middle, end or at the start of a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter or a book, determines emphasis. Every word has a certain strategy…in whatever language we write. It is not a problem of a lack of knowledge…or vocabulary.. it is a matter of substance, verifiable logic, that enables writer or reader to say, I can see what you see”.’ He too spoke to the wasteland of academic publishing – kalenderr gahanava, churning out calendars, a sure-fire means to an easy year-end profit.

     The last few weeks, ee has attempted to historicize the legacy of the contribution made by Nalin de Silva. Nalin de Silva doubted the neutrality and objectivity of the so-called scholarly learned paper and ‘peer’ review, nay, the entire canon of their academic onslaught. He saw a civilizational and epistemological barrel lurking behind the paper snowfall of science, and not just science alone but the purported utopian panaceas aimed at thwarting our striving for ‘nidhahasa’ – a concept beyond just liberty and freedom. An engagement by people to expose servility and transform society. Two de Silvas. One sought the answer in a vital class, the other in a vital people.

     SBD de Silva speaks to all such strivers, when he poetically concludes his Preface:

They are not content to be a cork in the gushing waters of their time

but would ride the crest of the wave and attempt to direct its course,

giving it greater thrust by whipping up the social forces

which constitute the underlying current.

*

Contents:

US Escalating Psychological Warfare on Myanmar: Lessons for Lanka

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

•        Nation pays gratitude to its war heroes remembering their sacrifices

Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, the Prime Minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka paid a glowing tribute to war heroes of Tri-services, Police and Civil Security Department (CSD) on behalf of the Nation during the 15^th National War Heroes Commemoration Ceremony held at the National War Hero Cenotaph at Sri Jayawardenepura in Kotte, today (May 19).

This national event is held every year, recalling the supreme sacrifices made by the brave war heroes to safeguard the freedom and territorial integrity of the motherland and usher in an era of peace and unity.

The unflagging courage and dignity of war heroes, who selflessly contributed to the success story and liberated the country from the clutches of terrorism that plagued our country for more than thirty years was venerated as all the attendees rose to feet when all disable and wheelchair borne War Heroes went past.

A total of 28,619 heroes from the Army, Air Force, Navy, Police and CSD sacrificed their lives for the freedom of the motherland, while over twenty seven thousand War Heroes were rendered disabled.

A moment of silence to remember the war heroes was observed at the beginning of the day’s proceedings and the Prime Minister laid floral tributes at the war memorial and paid respects to the war heroes during the ceremony held in keeping with military tradition. This was followed by other dignitaries making floral tributes.

The services of the war heroes who fought to defeat terrorism were lauded, while those present, including the families of the fallen war heroes remembered them with pride and gratitude.

The Ranaviru Seva Authority (RSA), the state agency entrusted with looking after the welfare of war heroes and war hero families had made elaborate arrangements to organize the ceremony.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Speaker of the Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karannagoda, Marshal of the Air Force Roshan Goonetileke, Cabinet Ministers including Minister of Public Security Tiran Alas, State Ministers including State Minister of Defence Premita Bandara Tennakoon, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of Presidential Staff Sagala Ratnayake, Chief of Defence Staff, Tri – Forces Commanders, Inspector General of Police, CSD Director General and former Tri – Forces Commanders, Chairman of Ranaviru Seva Authority, war heroes and members of war hero families paid their respect to the fallen soldiers by laying flowers at the Memorial.

The nation enters into yet another year of peace, unity and renewed hope since the terrorist war ended on a day like today in May 2009. Let us all work together in unison and determination to make our motherland great.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

           ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන නායකයන්ගේ අත කරකවා අත්සන් කළ ඉන්දු ලංකා ගිවිසුමේ එක් කොන්දේසියක් මත ඉන්දියන් සාම සාධක හමුදාවක් ලංකාවට පැමිණියහ.මේ හමුදාව ඉන්දියානු සෙබළුන් ගෙන් සහ දෙමළ සෙබළුන්ගෙන් සමන්විත විය. ලංකාවේ සිට ඉන්දියාවට පැන ගොස් එහි යුධ පුහුණුව ලැබූ වතුකරයේ දෙමල පිරිස් සහ වන්නියේ දෙමළ පිරිස් මෙයට අයත් විය. ඉන්දියන් සාම සාධක හමුදාව නිසා උතුර සහ නැගෙනහිර පදිංචිව සිටි සිංහල ජනතාවට විශාල පීඩනයක් එල්ල විය.1987 ඔක්තෝබර් මස 03 දිනට උදා විය. එදින ත්‍රිකුණාමල පහේ කණුව සහ හතරෙ කණුව(ධාන්‍යගම ) අතර සිංහලයන් උපවාසයක් ආරඹන ලද්දේ තමන්ට එල්ල වූ පීඩා ඉවසා දරා ගත නොහැකි බව ප්‍රකාශ කරන්නටයි.

          මේ අනාථ තත්ත්වය එකළ දිවයින ප්‍රවෘත්ති පත්‍රය වාර්තා කරන්නේ මෙසේය.’අපට කරදර ඇති වෙන්නට පටන් ගත්තේ 1984 වර්ෂයේ සිටයි.අපිට ජනපදයේ ඉන්ඩ බැරිව ගිය අවස්ථා තිබෙනවා.එහෙම අවස්ථාවක  කඳවුරක සිටි අපට තුවක්කු 45 ක් දුන්නා. රුපියල් 500 කුයි පොල් අතුයි දීලා රිසිවේෂන් ඉඩම් වල පදංචි වෙන්න කීවා. අපි පොල් අතු වලින් ගෙවල් තනා ගෙන ජීවත් වුණා. මෙහෙම ගෙවල් හදා ගෙන ගොවිතැන් කරගෙන ඉන්න විට අපේ තුවක්කු ආපහු රජයට ගත්තා. ඒ ටික දවසකින් ත්‍රස්තවාදීන් ආවා. ඒ ආවේ ඉන්දියන් හමුදාවත් එක්කයි. ඒ ඇවිත් කීවා එහෙන් පිට වෙන්න. නැතිනම් මරා දමනවා කියලා.අපිට යන්න තැනක් නැති නිසා ජයපුර ග්‍රාම ආරක්ෂක මහත්වරුන් සමග හමුදා කඳවුරකට ගියා.චීන වරායෙන් හතරේ කණුවෙන් අපිව පැන්නුවේ එහෙන් නොගියොත් මරල හම ගලෝල යුනිෆෝම් මහනවා  කියලයි.’මේ කාලයේ චීන වරාය විහාරස්ථානයේ විහාරාධිපතිව වැඩ වාසය කරන ලද්දේ පූජ්‍ය රඹුකන සද්ධාලංකාර ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේය.

          හතරේ කණුවේ ඇරඹි උපවාසය රජයට පීඩනයක් එල්ල කිරීමට සමත් විය. චීනවරාය පොලිසියේ ස්ථානාධිපතිව සිටි ජයන්ත ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා මේ තත්ත්වය  ගැන චීන වරයා නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේට පැහැදිලි කර දෙන ලදී. පොලිසියේ හඬට කන්දුන් රඹුකන සද්ධාලංකාර නායකහිමියන් පොලිස් ස්ථානාධිපති සමග වහා හතරේ කණුවට වැඩම කරන ලදී.උපවාසය නැවැත්වීමට උපදෙස් දුන් නායක හිමියන් ආපසු වැඩම කිරීමට පය ඉක්මන් කළ විගසම මෙම ස්ථානයට පැමිණි ඉන්දීය හමුදාව දිගින් දිගටම වෙඩි තබන්නට වූ අතර ස්වාමීන් වහ්නසේටද වෙඩි වැදුණි.මේ තත්ත්වය ඇසින් දුටු ත්‍රිකුණාමලේ හතරෙ කණුවේ සිටි එම්. මැගිනෝනා දිවයින පත්‍රයට එය වාර්තා කර ඇත්තේ මෙසේය.

         ‘ත්‍රස්තවාදීන්ගේ අකටයුතුකම්වලට විරුද්ධව හතරේ කණුවේ සහ පහේ කණුවේ උපාසකම්මලා එකතුවෙලා උපවාසයක් ආරම්භ කලා 4 කණුවේ හන්දියේ. අපිට හොඳින් ආරක්ෂාව ලබා ගන්නයි ග්‍රාමාරක්ෂකයන්ට තුවක්තු ලබා ගන්නයි අපි එහෙම උපවාස කලේ. පස්සේ ගුවන් හමුදාවේ විස්සක් පමණ දෙනා ආරක්ෂාව ලබා දුන්නා ඒ අතරතුරේදී ඉන්දියන් හමුදාව ඇවිත් ඒ අය දණ ගස්වලා  ගුවන් හමුදාවේ අයට වද දුන්නා. වද දීලා ඒ අය ඉන්දියානු හමුදා විසින් අරගෙන ගියා. ඊට පස්සේ ඒ අය ඉල්ලලා අපි උපවාසයක් කලා. හැන්දෑවේ හයට විතර චීන වරායේ හාමුදුරුවන් ආවා. ඇවිත් බණ කතාවක් එහෙම කරලා උපවාසය නවත්වා විසිර යන ලෙසට උන් වහන්සේ අපෙන් ඉල්ලීමක් කලා. එහෙම කියලා හාමුදුරුවන්ට බඹ දෙකක් යන්ඩ ලැබුණේ නැහැ. ඉන්දියන් හමුදා ට්‍රක් හතරක් ආවා. අපි වාඩි වෙලා සිටියා. යකඩ තොප්පි දාපු කීප දෙනෙක් දණ ගසා ගෙන අපිට තුවක්කු එල්ල කර ගෙන සිටියා. තවත් කීප දෙනෙක් සිංහලෙන් කතා කලා. පිටිපස්සේ සිටි පිරිමි ළමයින්ට ඉදිරියට එන්න කීවා. අපි පුදුම වුණා මේ මොකද සිංහලෙන් කතා කලේ කියලා. අප මොනවවත් පැමිණිල්ලක් කරන්න ගියාම දෙමළත් සිංහලත් බැරි ඉන්දියන් හමුදාවේ අය මේ වෙලාවේ සිංහලෙන් කතා කරන්නේ කොහොමද කියලා අපි පුදුම වුණා. කොහොම වුණත් ඒ අයගේ නියෝගයට කීකුරු වූ අපේ පිරිමි ළමයි ඉදිරියට ආවා. ඒ ආවායින් පස්සේ තොප්පි දමාගෙන සිටි එක් අයෙක් මැෂින් තුවක්කුවක් පට පට ගාලා වටේට එල්ල කලා. අපි බිම දිගා වුණා. හාමුදුරුවන්ට වෙඩි වැදුණා.හාමුදුරුවන් ළඟට ආ තරුණයෙකුටත් වෙඩි වැදුණා. හාමුදුරුවෝ එතැනම වැටුණා.ඒ වෙලාවේ එතැනට ඇවිත් හිටිය චීනවරායේ පොලීසියේ ලොකු මහත්තයා ඉන්දියන් හමුදාව අල්ල ගත්තා. එහෙම අරගෙන පොලිසියේ ලොකු මහත්තයාගේ පටි බොත්තම් කඩලා දැම්මා.පස්සේ අත් දෙක පිටි  පස්සට කරලා කෝට් එක පැන්නුවා. එහෙම කෝට් එක පන්නලා දන ගැස්සුවා. එහෙම කරලා අත්දෙක පස්සට කරලා දම්වැලක් දැම්මා. එහෙම දාලා පොලිසියේ ලොකු මහත්තයවයි හාමුදුරුවොයි ඇද ගෙන ගියා. පිරිමි ළමයි අසූවක් විතර ට්‍රක් වලට නග්ගා ගත්තා. ඒ ළමයින්ට අද වෙනකන් මොකද වුණේ කියලා දැන ගන්නට ලැබුණේ නැහැ.’

     චීන වරාය නායක හිමියන් අපවත් වී මේ වර්ෂය වන විට වසර  තිස් හතක් සපිරෙයි. වර්තමානයේ ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ තත්වය සාමකාමීය. කොටි ත්‍රස්තවාදය පරාජය කිරීමෙන් පසුව ඒ ප්‍රදේශ වල සැලකිය යුතු දියුණුවක් ඇති වී තිබේ. එහෙත් එදා ඉන්දීය සාම සාධක හමුදාව විසින් ඇති කල පීඩනය වෙනත් අයුරකින් ඒ ප්‍රදේශ වල ජීවත් වන ජනතාව වෙත එල්ල වන්නට පටන් ගෙන තිබේ.එක් පැත්තකින් එය සංස්කෘතික ආක්‍රමණයක වේශයෙන් පැමිණ තිබේ. පැරණි බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථාන කඩා ශිව ලිංග තැන්පත් කිරීම එහිදී සිදු වෙයි.අනෙක් පැත්තකින් වානිජ ආධිපත්‍ය මගින් ඒ ප්‍රදේශ පාලනය කිරීමේ මුහුණුවරින් පැමිණ තිබේ.වතුකරයේ සම්භවයක් ලත් පුද්ගලයෙකු ආණ්ඩුකාර පදවියට පත් කරලීම මෙහි මුල් පියවර වශයෙන් හඳුනා ගත හැකිය.ත්‍රිකුණාමලය වරාය අවට ඉඩම් වරාය අධිකාරිය සතුය.මේ පරිසරය තුළ අක්කර පන්සීයක පමණ විශාල ආයෝජන කලාපයක් නම් කිරීමට මේ වන විට සැලසුම් කර තිබේ. ඒ අනුව විහාරස්ථාන අටක් ගම්මාන කීපයක් ඉවත් කිරීමට යෝජනා කර ඇති බව දැන ගන්නට ඇත.චීන වරාය විහාරස්ථානයද මීට අයත්ය.එදා ඉන්දියන් සාම සාධක හමුදාව විසින් එල්ල කළ වෙඩි උන්ඩයකින් සිය ජීවිතය අවසන් කරන්නට උන්වහන්සේට සිදු විය. ඒ රටේ භෞමික අඛණ්ඩතාවය වෙනුවෙනි.මේ ඝාතනයට මැදිහත් වූයේ ඉන්දියන් හමුදාවේ සිටි දෙමළ සෙබළුන් අතිනි. එලෙස ඝාතනයට පත් නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේගේ අදාහන  කෘත්‍ය පවා ඉටු කරන්නට එදා ඉඩ නුදුන්හ. එයට හේතුව එවකට දිසාපති බලතලද සාම සාධක හමුදාව සතුව තිබූ බැවිනි  .  කන්තලේ බෝධිරාජාරාම විහාරාධිපති හිමිව වැඩ සිටි පූජ්‍ය ගන්නෑවේ ගුණරතන නා හිමියන් එදා කැලෑ පාරකින් චීන වරයා පන්සලට පැමිණ නායක හිමියන් ගේ ශිෂාය පූජ්‍ය දෙහිඕවිට පියතිස්ස හිමියන් සමග එක්ව ඉතා දුෂ්කරව දර සොයාගෙන රෙදි සිවුරු පොරවා දර සෑයක් ගසා  පාංශු කූලය ලබා දී අදාහන කෘත්‍ය නිම කර තිබේ.සාමයේ වේශයෙන් පැමිණි හමුදාව අතින්ද වානිජ වේශයෙන් එන වානිජ බලවේග අතින්ද ඒ ප්‍රදේශ වල ජනතාව ගේ උරුමය අහිමි කරන්නට තැත්කරන්නවුන් ගැන රටම නිහඬය. වර්තමාන ඛේදවාචකය එයයි.එහෙත් දිවයින පත්‍රය එදත් අදත් ඒ වගකීම ඉටු කරමින් සිටී.

මතුගම සෙනෙවිරුවන්

Sasanka De Silva, Pannipitiya.

The Editor,

Lanka Web,

Sri Lanka.

Dear Sir,

We have a 3 kW rooftop solar installation that supplies electricity directly to the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) grid.

Recently, we’ve noticed some troubling issues.

First, not all the energy generated by our unit is being absorbed by the grid.

When we approached the vendor who installed the system, they attributed the problem to settings imposed by the CEB, over which they claim to have no control.

However, the CEB denies this, instead placing the blame on the vendor.

As a homeowner without technical expertise in this area, it’s challenging to determine who is at fault.

Additionally, our electricity bills indicate that we consume more power from the grid during the day than at night.

This is perplexing since our home is a residence, not a manufacturing plant.

If the solar energy we generate is not being fully utilized and instead goes to waste, it represents a significant loss.

Here’s where a policy shift could be transformative.

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) could mandate the CEB to allow residences with rooftop solar to utilize backup battery systems.

This would allow homes to prioritize self-generated solar power, with the grid acting as a supplement during peak demand or in case of system limitations.

Such a policy would not only ensure more efficient use of renewable energy but also provide a buffer during the frequent power interruptions we experience due to sudden breakdowns or scheduled maintenance.

Such a system would not only optimize solar energy usage but also provide much-needed resilience during power cuts.

Residents wouldn’t be at the mercy of unexpected outages, improving overall energy security.

Implementing this solution would significantly enhance energy resilience and efficiency for residential consumers, fostering greater reliance on renewable energy and reducing wastage.

It is a necessary step towards a more sustainable and reliable energy future for Sri Lanka.

My experience is a microcosm of a larger issue.

By fostering a more efficient solar ecosystem that empowers homeowners, Sri Lanka can unlock the true potential of rooftop solar power, leading to a more sustainable and resilient future.

This write-up presents my concerns clearly and proposes a practical solution, advocating for regulatory intervention to optimize the use of rooftop solar installations.

Sasanka De Silva,

Pannipitiya.

By Engr. Kanthar Balanathan DipEE (UK), GradCert (RelEng-Monash), DipBus&Adm (Finance-Massey), C.Eng., MIEE, Former Director of Power Engineering Solutions Pty Ltd, Consulting Electrical Engineers Leading Engineer of the World 2006, UK Authority Award

Dear Mr. Velan Swamigal:

I am not sure as to what studies you did and completed at Katubedde. However, one thing I am sure of is that most violent youngsters originated from Katubedde, which in those days (60s), not now. JVP took up arms and they grew up in Katubedde. Please do not tarnish the image of Katubedde as I am also from Katubede lectured by superior lecturers like TOP Fernando, PAD Silve etc.

You have named yourself Swamigal and found the cheapest path to popularity through politics. Some politicians recommend that you are fit for the Chief Minister position for the NPC. Sorry to state this, but NPC is not a Siva or Murugan temple.

Quote The Sunday Times 18-04-2021: Other parties rejected the idea of a Hindu priest, and stressed that the individual should be fit to hold the office with the necessary administrative and political skills, unlike the previous Chief Minister. Hearing about the pick of the former CM, a local market trader was heard saying it was fortunate that another convicted, controversial self-styled godman” Premananda was no longer alive since he also might have been named as a candidate. After all, the trader noted it was the same retired Supreme Court Justice who wrote to Indian Premier Narendra Modi in 2015 seeking the release of four convicts of an infamous case of rape and murder, popularly called the Premananda case in Tamil Nadu.

My dear Velan; I do not know your true name, however, you are clueless and the person who recommends you also may be clueless. (நெற்றியில் பட்டை அடித்தால் மட்டும் போதாது, புத்தியும் வேண்டும்)

Are you a member of the RSS, which is a right-wing Hindu nationalist, paramilitary, volunteer, and allegedly militant organization in India?

My dear Velan: You are not fit for politics. However, just preach Hindu stuff to illiterate people.

According to your behaviour, I see no difference between you and Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thero of the Bodu Bala Sena. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galagoda_Aththe_Gnanasara

Why do Tamil extremists protest against Gnana Sara Thero and other Buddhist Monks when they come into the field?

I read Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam in the 50s. It’s a fictitious story to brainwash students. I believe in Physics, Electromagnetic fields and Photons. Why are Tamils interested in building temples and not factories? Because they have no perception. It’s the 21^st century and nanoelectronics is growing. You qualified as an engineer.

Do you know the following:

1. Why is the Earth rotating around the sun and also itself?
2. Is the sun a nuclear fission of nuclear fusion?
3. What is a photon?
4. What is Light”?
5. What is termed the Lorenzo factor?

You are not fit for anything as I believe you are a Hindu monk.

Some people attempt to gain popularity and they choose the shortest path which is protest marches, Puthur to Polikandi” etc. If you are a true monk, please get out of politics and go to Nallur temple and prepare some good reports like Buddhist theology.

All those people who have no perception may attempt to ride along your side, which is dangerous for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Please allow the Tamils to live in peace.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

අපේ සමාජයේ සාමූහික අනන්‍යතාව බිඳවැට්ටවීමට අවශ්‍ය අණපනත් ගෙනඒමේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රය සහ ඉතාම සංවිධානාත්මකව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වන ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත් කිරීමේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රය යන න්‍යාය පත්‍ර දෙක, රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ හෙවත් නූතන විභීෂණ” අතෙහි තිබෙන බවත් එමගින් ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යයේ පැවැත්ම ඓතිහාසිකව අතුරුදහන් කිරීමේ අනතුර, රාම රාවණ සහ විභීෂණ නූතන කතාව කෘතිය මගින් පෙන්වා දී තිබෙන බවත් එම කෘතියේ කතුවර, ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා පවසයි.

කොළඹ 07, ලයිට්හවුස් ශ්‍රවණාගාරයේදී(ලක්ෂ්මන් කදිරගාමර් ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්බන්ධතා හා ක්‍රමෝපායික අධ්‍යයන ආයතනය) පැවති රාම රාවණ සහ විභීෂණ නූතන කතාව” කෘතිය ජනගත කිරීමේ උළෙලෙහි කතුවර දෙසුම සිදු කරමින් ඒ මහතා මෙසේ පැවසීය.

මෙහිදී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා විසින් සාහිත්‍යසූරී, ආචාර්ය ගුණදාස අමරසේකර, ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මාධ්‍යවේදීනී සොනාලි වඩුගේ, ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නීතිඥ කල්‍යානන්ද තිරාණගම, ප‍්‍රවීණ සාහිත්‍යවේදී සේන තෝරදෙනිය, මහාචාර්ය ටියුඩර් වීරසිංහ, මහාචාර්ය ධර්මකීර්ති ශ‍්‍රී රංජන් යන විද්වතුන්ට කෘතිය පිළිගන්වනු ලැබිණි.

කැලණිය විශ්වවිද්‍යාලයේ සංස්කෘත අධ්‍යයන අංශයේ අංශාධිපති මහාචාර්ය පූජ්‍ය ඉඳුරාගාරේ ධම්මරතන නාහිමි සහ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මාධ්‍යවේදී මොහාන් සමරනායක මහතා මෙම කෘතිය ජනගත කිරීමේ උළෙලෙහි ආරාධිත දෙසුම් සිදු කළහ.

ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ ජාතික සංවිධායක, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත‍්‍රි, ජයන්ත සමරවීර මහතා විසින් පැමිණි පිරිස පිළිගනු ලැබූ අතර මෙම අවස්ථාවට පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක උදය ගම්මන්පිල, යුතුකම සංවිධානයේ නායක ගෙවිඳු කුමාරතුංග, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ නියෝජ්‍ය සභාපති වීරසුමන වීරසිංහ, මහාචාර්ය චන්න ජයසුමන, ගාමිණී වලේබොඩ, ජගත් ප්‍රියංකර යන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරු ඇතුළු මහජන නියෝජිතයෝ පිරිසක් ද එක්ව සිටියහ.

මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා මෙසේ ද සඳහන් කළේය.

‘යුක්‍රේනයේ ඉරණමට සමාන ඉරණමකට…’

මෙම ‘රාම රාවණ සහ විභීෂණ නූතන කතාව’ නම් වූ කෘතිය එළිදැක්වීමට මා අදහස් කළේ රාජ්‍යයක්, ජාතියක් ලෙස අප මුහුණ දී සිටින තත්කාලීන අභියෝගය පිළිබඳව සමාජය තුළ සැබෑ සංවාදයක් ඇති කිරීමේ පරමාර්ථයෙනුයි. ඔබ දන්නවා, මීට වසර කිහිපයකට පෙර යුක්‍රේනයේ පැවතුණා ‘මයිදාන් අරගලය ‘නම් වූ අරගලයක්. දැන් යුක්‍රේනය සිටින්නේ ‘පශ්චාත් මයිදාන් අරගල අවධිය’කයි. මයිදාන් අරගලයෙන් පාර කපනු ලැබුවේ රුසියාව සහ යුක්‍රේනය අතර නොනවතින යුද ගැටුමකට. පශ්චාත් මයිදාන් අරගල අවධිය, යුක්‍රේනයට යුද්ධයක් උරුම කර දුන්නා වගේ ගාලුමුවදොර අරගලයෙන් පසු අවධිය, ‘ජීව උණ්ඩ නොමැති යුද්ධයකට’ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යය ඇද දමා තිබෙනවා. කෙසේ වුවත් මයිදාන් අරගලයෙන් පසුව යුක්‍රේනයට අත් වූ ඉරණමට සමාන ඉරණමකට අපි අද ඇද වැටී තිබෙනවා.

‘ඇමරිකාවෙන් අවිආයුධ ලැබෙන තුරු…’

එදා රුසියාව, යුක්‍රේනය සමඟ යුද නොවැදීම සඳහා කොන්දේසි දෙකක් ඉදිරිපත් කළා. එකක් තමයි, යුක්‍රේනය නේටෝවේ සාමාජිකත්වය ලබා නොගත යුතුයි, යන්න. කාටත් ගැති නොවී ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස පැවතිය යුතුයි, යන්න දෙවැන්නයි. එදා යුක්‍රේනයට ගියපු බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය අගමැතිවරයා යුක්‍රේන ජනාධිපතිවරයාට කිව්වා, ‘නුඹලා කිසිදු සම්මුතියකට යන්න එපා! යුද්ධ කරන්න අපි උදව් කරන්නම්!’ කියලා. අද වන විට ඇමරිකාවෙන් අවිආයුධ ලැබෙන තුරු යුක්‍රේන හමුදා බලා ඉන්නවා. ඒ අතරතුර රුසියානු හමුදාවන් දවසින් දවස යුක්‍රේනය අත්පත් කර ගනිමින් ඉන්නවා.

රනිල් හෙවත් නූතන විභීෂණ

දැන් අපි බලමු පශ්චාත් ගාලුමුවදොර අරගල අවධිය අපට උරුම කර දුන් යුද්ධය කුමක්ද, කියා. පශ්චාත් ගාලුමුවදොර අරගල සමය තමයි ‘නූතන විභීෂණ’ අතට රටේ පාලනය අරගෙන දුන්නේ. රාමායනයට අනුව විභීෂණ කියන්නේ රාවණගේ සහෝදරයා; රාවණව පාවාදුන් සහෝදරයා. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ කියන්නේ ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂගේ සහෝදරයා නොවුණත් සංකේතාත්මකව එසේ හැඳින්විය හැකියි. මේ ‘නූතන විභීෂණ’ අතේ තිබෙන න්‍යාය පත්‍රයන් මොනවාද, කියා අපි විමසා බලමු.

කවුද මේ ‘එලිසබෙත්’?

දැන් බලන්න, ජුලී චංග් වෙනුවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට නියමිත ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපද නව තානාපතිනිය තමයි එලිසබෙත් කේ. හෝස්ට් (Elizabeth K Horst). ඇය ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපද සෙනෙට් සභාවේ යම් කමිටුවකට කැඳවූවාට පසුව ඇය පවසනවා, ‘ශ්‍රී ලංකාව අපේ ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් උපායමාර්ගයට අනුව ඉතා වැදගත් රාජ්‍යයක්. චීනයේ පර්යේෂණ නැව් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට එන එක නතර කරන්න අපට පුළුවන් වුණා. අපි ඒ වෙනුවෙන් කටයුතු කළා’ කියලා. ඒ අනුව මේ පශ්චාත් ගාලුමුවදොර අරගල අවධියේදී ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයට පුළුවන් වෙලා තිබෙනවා, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණිය යුතු සහ නොපැමිණිය යුතු නැව් මොනවාද, කියා තීරණය කිරීමට. අපි දන්නවා, චීනයේ පර්යේෂණ නෞකාවක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අනුමැතිය සහිතව පැමිණෙමින් තිබුණු බව; පසුව මගදී අනුමැතිය දීමට නොහැකි බව කිව්වාම එය ජාත්‍යන්තර මුහුදු සීමාවේ නතර කොට පසුව මාලදිවයිනේ මුහුදු සීමාවේ යම් කටයුතුවල නිරතව ආපසු ගොස් තිබුණු බව. ඒ අනුව අපට දැන් පැහැදිලියි, මෙතුමිය කියන විදිහට චීන පර්යේෂණ නෞකාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණීමට දුන් අනුමැතිය වෙනස් කර ඇත්තේ ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයේ බලපෑමට බව.

කාන්තාවන්, පිරිමින් කරන USAID

ගාලුමුවදොර අරගලය මෙන්ම වෙනත් සියලු සාධක හේතුවෙන් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහගේ අතට, මගේ හැඳින්වීම අනුව ‘නූතන විභීෂණ’ අතට බලය ගියා. ඊට පෙර ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැඩි ආතතියකින් කටයුතු කළ බටහිර ඇතුළු වෙනත් රටවල් ඉන් පසුව එසේ හැසිරෙන බවක් අපට පෙනෙන්නේ නැහැ. මේ දිනවල USAID එක මේ රටේ ඇතැම් යූටියුබර්ස්ලාට මුදල් ලබා දෙනවා, ‘කාන්තාවන් පිරිමින් බවට පත් කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය මතය’ හදන්න; ලිංගික අනන්‍යතාව වෙනස් කරගැනීම පිළිබඳ කතිකාවක් හදන්න’. ඉහත කී ලිංගික අනන්‍යතාව වෙනස් කිරීමේ සංවාදය හැදීමේ උවමනාව හා බැඳුණු දේශපාලනය අපට පැහැදිලි කරගන්න පුළුවන් මම මෙම කෘතියේ පෙරවදනෙහි ඇතුළත් කර ඇති ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් ඩුගින්ගේ උදෘතයක් ඇසුරින්.

‘ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් ඩුගින්’ කියවා ගනිමු!

ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් ඩුගින් කියන්නේ රුසියානු දාර්ශනිකයෙක්. ඔහුගේ කෘතීන් කිසිවක් ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය හා යුරෝපයේ බලවත් රටවල අලෙවි කිරීම තහනම් කර තිබෙනවා. ඔහුගේ එකම දියණිය ඇයගේ වාහනය තුළ ඇටවූ බෝම්බයක් පුපුරුවා හැරීමෙන් ජීවිතක්ෂයට පත් කොට තිබෙනවා. ඒ ඔහුගේ දාර්ශනික අදහස් නිසා මිස වෙන කිසිවක් නිසා නොවෙයි. සමහරු ඔහුව හඳුන්වන්නේ රුසියානු ජනාධිපති ව්ලැදිමීර් පුටින්ගේ උපදේශකයකු හැටියට. නමුත් ඔහු රුසියානු ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ නිල උපදේශකයකු නොවෙයි. මම හිතන්නේ ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් ඩුගින්ගේ අදහස්, දාර්ශනික කියැවීම් ජනාධිපති පුටින්ගේ දේශපාලනයට බොහෝ සෙයින් බලපානවා ඇති, කියලයි. ඇලෙක්සැන්ඩර් ඩුගින් පෙන්වා දෙනවා, ‘නව ලිබරල්වාදය දැන් අන්තිම දුම්රියපළ තෙක් ගමන් කරමින් සිටින’ බව.

නව ලිබරල්වාදයේ උපායමාර්ගික අවශ්‍යතාව

මා මේ සමග දැක්වෙන ඔහුගේ අදහස, පෙරවදනෙහි උපුටා දක්වා තිබෙනවා. ‘‘ලිබරල්වාදය, තවත් විදියකින් සරලව විස්තර කරන්නේනම් පුද්ගලයින් ඕනෑම ආකාරයක සාමූහික අනන්‍යතාවකින් මුදා ගැනීම ලිබරල්වාදයයි. ලිබරල්වාදයෙන් නිදහස් වීමට තිබුණේ සාමූහික අවශ්‍යතා දෙකක් පමණි. පළමුවැන්න ලිංග අවශ්‍යතාවයි. ලිංග අවශ්‍යතාව සාමූහික අනන්‍යතාවක්. ඔබ සාමූහිකව පිරිමි පක්ෂයට හෝ ගැහැණු පක්ෂයට අයිතිවූවකු ලෙස වර්ග කෙරෙනවා. ඒ අනුව සාමූහිකත්වයෙන් වෙන් වී ඔබට තනිව සිටීමට හැකියාවක් නෑ. එහෙත් දැන් ස්ත‍්‍රී – පුරුෂභාවයෙන් මිදීමත් පුද්ගල විමුක්තිය ලෙස සැලකීමට පටන්ගෙන තිබෙනවා. මෙම මතවාදය සංක‍්‍රාන්ති ලිංගිකයන්, LGBT සහ නව ආකාරයේ ලිංගික පුද්ගලවාදයකට හේතු වී තිබෙනවා. එබැවින් ලිංගිකත්වය යනු පුද්ගල අභිමතය පරිදි පවතින්නක්. …පුද්ගල ලිංගිකත්වය, ලිබරල්වාදය ක‍්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අවශ්‍ය අංගයක් මෙන්ම මෙම ලිබරල් මතවාදයේ ජයග‍්‍රාහකයා ද වූවා. තවද මෙම ගමන් මඟේ තවමත් සම්පූර්ණයෙන් සිදුකර නොමැති අවසාන පියවර වන්නේ මානව අනන්‍යතාවයෙන් මිදීමයි. මෙම මතවාදයට අනුව මනුෂ්‍යත්වයත් අභිමතානුරූපියි.” මේ මොහොතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වන ලිබරල්වාදයේ උපායමාර්ගික අවශ්‍යතාව වී ඇත්තේ පවුල, ස්ත්‍රී – පුරුෂභාවයන් වැනි සාමූහිකත්වය බලගැන්වෙන, මානව ශිෂ්ටාචාරය බලගැන්වෙන කවරකට හෝ පවතින්නට තිබෙන හැකියාව නැති කිරීම, බව ඔහු ඉහත කී උදෘතයෙන් අපට අවධාරණය කරනවා.

නව අණපනත් 67ක්!

එම නව ලිබරල්වාදී උපායමාර්ගික අවශ්‍යතාව ඉටුකර දීමේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රය නූතන විභීෂණ හෙවත් රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා එක් අතක තබා ගෙන ඉන්නවා. ඒ අනුව එම න්‍යාය පත්‍රය අපේ සමාජයේ සාමූහික අනන්‍යතාව බිඳවැට්ටවීමට අවශ්‍ය අණපනත් ගෙනඒමේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයක් බව පැහැදිලියි. මම මේ වනවිට වසර 24ක පමණ කාලයක් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු ලෙස කටයුතු කරනවා. නමුත් මේ තරම් වේගයෙන් අණපනත් සම්මත කරගන්නා කාලයක් මීට පෙර දැක නැහැ. රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා ධුරයට පත්වීමෙන් පසුව සම්මත කරගෙන ඇති පනත් ප්‍රමාණය 75ක්. ඉදිරියේදී තවත් අණපනත් 67ක් සම්මත කරගන්නයි සූදානම. සම්මත කරගැනීමට නියමිත පනත් අතර LGBT පනත්, දික්කසාද වීමට තිබෙන ඉඩකඩ වැඩි කරන පනත් ආදිය තිබෙනවා. ඒ අනුව එන පනතකින් යම් පවුලක ආරවුලක් පිටස්තර අයකු විසින් දැනුම් දීමෙන් පොලිසියට නීතිමය පියවර ගන්න පුළුවන් වගේම ඒක දික්කසාදයට හේතුවක් කරගන්නත් පුළුවන්. මේක අහපු මට සිහිපත් වූයේ පසුගියදා අපෙන් වියෝ වූ මහාචාර්ය නලින් ද සිල්වා මැතිතුමා විවාහය පිළිබඳව කළ විග්‍රහයක්. එතුමන් පෙන්වා දුන්නේ, ‘විවාහය යනු නොගැලපීම් අතර ගැලපීමයි’ කියලයි. නමුත් මෙයාලා දැන් හදන්නේ ‘නොගැලපීම් තිබෙනවා’ කියා දික්කසාද කරවන්නයි. මොහාන් සමරනායක මැතිතුමා මීට ඉහතදී පෙන්වා දුන්නා ‘දැන් USAID ඒක තමයි අපේ රටට අවශ්‍ය නීති මොනවාද, කියා තීරණය කරන්නේ’ කියලා.

‘මල් පහන් පූජා කිරීම අනවශ්‍යයි???’

ඉතිහාසයේ අන් කවරදාකටත් වඩා බුදුදහමට, භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට අභියෝග රැසකට මුහුණ දීමට සිදුව ඇති කාලයක් බවට මේ පශ්චාත් ගාලුමුවදොර අරගල අවධිය පත්ව තිබෙනවා. භික්ෂු සංස්ථාවට එරෙහිව පහරදීමට භික්‍ෂු ප්‍රතිරූපධාරීන් පවා යොදා ගනිමින් සිටිනවා. පසුගියදා අපේ විදෙස්ගත හිතවතකුගේ මියගිය නැන්දනියගේ හත් දවසේ බණට මම සහභාගි වුණා . බණට වැඩිය ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේ එහිදී පැවසුවා, ‘මල් පහන් පූජා කිරීම අනවශ්‍යයි’ කියා. දැන් සමහර භික්ෂු ප්‍රතිරූපධාරීන් ඉන්නවා, ‘බුදුන්ට පහන තියන්න එපා! මල් පූජා කරන්න එපා! ගමේ පන්සලට යන්න එපා! කියන. ඒවා දැන් ඉතාම නිදහසේ කෙරීගෙන යනවා. ඒ කියන්නේ අපේ සංස්කෘතික පදනමට පහර දෙනවා. මේ තත්ත්වය වළක්වනවා වෙනුවට ඒවා බලගන්වන විදියටයි අද රාජ්‍ය පාලනය සිදුකෙරෙන්නේ

‘මිහිඳුගේ පොසොන්???’

දැන් ‘බුදුන් වහන්සේ උපන්නේ ලංකාවේ’ කියලා ලොකු ගෝරියක් යනවා. ඒ මතයේ ඉන්නා එක් අයෙකු සමාජ මාධ්‍යයේ මතයක් පළ කරමින් පවසා තිබුණා, ‘මිහිඳුගේ පොසොන් සමරන හැටි අපි බලා ගනිමු!’ කියා. ඒ වගේම දැන් ත්‍රිපිටකය වැරදියි කියනවා; සිදුහත් කුමරුගේ මව මහාමායා දේවිය ලිංග විපර්යාසයකට ලක්වුණා යැයි කියනවා; මහාවංසය පිළිබඳව සැකසංකා ඇති කරවනවා. මේ සියල්ල ඉතා විධිමත්ව සිදුවෙමින් තිබෙනවා. නැවත වටහා ගන්න, මේ තත්ත්වයට අවශ්‍ය අණපනත් ටික රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ හෙවත් නූතන විභීෂණ පෝලිමට රැගෙන එමින් තිබෙන බව.

සය වැදෑරුම් Connectivity එකක්

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ හෙවත් නූතන විභීෂණගේ අතේ තිබෙන අනෙක් න්‍යාය පත්‍රය වන්නේ ඉතාම සංවිධානාත්මකව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත් කිරීමේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයයි. ඒක ක්‍රියාත්මක කරගැනීමට දැන් නූතන විභීෂණ අපට කියනවා, ‘ ඉන්දියාව ලෝකයේ පස්වැනි ආර්ථික බලවතා. ඔහු සමඟ අපි එක්ව නැගී සිටිය යුතුයි. එසේ වුවහොත් පමණයි අපට අපේ ආර්ථික සමෘද්ධිය අත්පත් කරගත හැක්කේ. ඒ නිසා අපි ඒ දෙසට පියාඹමු!’ කියලා. ඒ අනුව දැන් ඉන්දියාව සූදානම් වෙන්නේ සය වැදෑරුම් Connectivity එකක් ලංකාවට හදන්න. ‘අපි ඔයාලාට තෙල් නළයක් දවස් 56කින් හදලා දෙන්නම්. රටවල් දෙකේ විදුලි බල පද්ධති Connectivity කරන්නම්.’ කියමින් දැන් මේ සය වැදෑරූම් ඒකාබද්ධකරණ මෙහෙයුම ඉන්දියාව විසින් දියත් කර තිබෙනවා.

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් නරේන්ද්‍ර මෝඩි ඉන්දීය අගමැතිවරයා ඉදිරියේ ඒකාබද්ධ ප්‍රකාශයක් මගින් 2023 ජූලි මස 21 වන දින එකඟ වූ, දැනටමත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වීම අරඹා ඇති ඒ සය වැදෑරුම් ඒකාබද්ධකරණ මෙහෙයුම අපි ඉතා හොඳින් හඳුනාගත යුතුයි. මේ ඒකාබද්ධතාව, Connectivity යන ඉංග්‍රීසි නාමකරණයෙන් හැඳින්වෙනවා. මුදල් ඒකක ඒකාබද්ධකරණය හෙවත් මුදල් ඒකක Connectivity මගින් ඉන්දියානු රුපියල් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වෙළඳපොළ තුළ සිල්ලර ගනුදෙනු සඳහා පවා භාවිතා කිරීමට අවස්ථාව සැලසෙනවා. ඒ සඳහා නව මහ බැංකු පනතින් ප්‍රතිපාදන සලසා ඇති අතර ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික මුදල් හුවමාරු ක්‍රමයක් ද හඳුන්වා දී තිබෙනවා. රේගු ඒකාබද්ධකරණය හෙවත් Custom Connectivity මගින් ඉන්දියාවේ එක් ප්‍රාන්තයක සිට තවත් ප්‍රාන්තයක් දක්වා භාණ්ඩ හුවමාරු කරන ආකාරයට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සමග වෙළඳ ගනුදෙනු කිරීමට ඉඩ විවර වෙනවා. මූල්‍ය සහ බදු ප්‍රතිපත්ති ඒකාබද්ධකරණය හෙවත් Connectivity මගින් ඉන්දියානුවන්ට ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන් සේ සැලකීමේ හැකියාව හිමි වෙනවා. ඊළඟ එක තමයි ගුවන්තොටුපළ සහ වරාය ඒකාබද්ධකරණය. හරීන් ප්‍රනාන්දු ඇමතිවරයා ඉන්දියාවේදී සිනා සිසී පැවසුවේ ද මෙයයි. ඔහු එහිදී පැවසුවේ මේ ගුවන්තොටුපළ හා වරාය Connectivity මගින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධාන ගුවන්තොටුපළවල් 3ක් ඉදිරියේදී ඉන්දියාව සතු වන බවයි.

විදුලිය – තෙල් Connectivity අරඹලා

පාර්ලිමේන්තුව හමුවට ගෙනඒමට නියමිත නව විදුලිබල පනත මගින් මෙරට විදුලි බල පද්ධතිය ඉන්දියාවේ විදුලි බල පද්ධතිය සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රතිපාදන පනවා තිබෙනවා. ඒ අතර ඉන්දියාවේ සිට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දක්වා තෙල් නළයක් එළීමේ ක්‍රියාදාමය දින 56කින් සම්පූර්ණ කිරීමට හැකි බව ද ඉන්දියානු බලධාරීන් ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කොට තිබෙනවා. ඒ විතරක් නොවෙයි අදානි සමාගමට ටෙන්ඩර් කැඳවීමකින් තොරව මන්නාරම සහ සාම්පූර් සුනිත්‍ය විදුලි බල ව්‍යාපෘති ලබාදීමට එකඟ වී තිබෙන අතර විදුලිය ඒකකයකට රුපියල් 50කට ආසන්න මුදලක් ගෙවීමට ද අපේ විදුලි බල මණ්ඩලය එකඟ වී තිබෙනවා.

Connectivityහි අවසන් කොටස

ඒකාබද්ධකරණය හෙවත් Connectivityහි අවසන් කොටස වන්නේ භෞතික ඒකාබද්ධකරණයයි. මේ සඳහා කිලෝමීටර් 23ක් පමණ දිග ‘ආදම්ගේ පාලම’ ඉදිකිරීමට අදාළව ශක්‍යතා අධ්‍යයනයක් ද සිදුකර ඇති අතර ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ සිට ධනුෂ්කොඩි දක්වා කිලෝමීටර 126ක ජාත්‍යන්තර දුම්රිය මාර්ගයක් ඉදි කිරීම සඳහා ද දැනටමත් ඉන්දීය රජය විසින් මූල්‍ය පහසුකම් වෙන්කර තිබෙනවා. පසුගිය දිනවල ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ විශේෂ නියෝජිතයකු ලෙස සාගල රත්නායක නවදිල්ලියට ගොස් තිබුණේ ද මේ භෞතික ඒකාබද්ධකරණය කඩිනම් කිරීම සඳහායි.

සිකීමයේ ඉරණම අපටත්?

සිකීමය නමැති ස්වෛරී රාජ්‍යයෙහි 1973 දී පැවති මහ මැතිවරණයෙන් ජයග්‍රහණය කළේ ඉන්දියාවට හිතවත් අගමැති අපේක්ෂකයා නොවෙයි. පසුව රෝ ඔත්තු සේවාව මැතිවරණය දූෂිත බවට මතයක් යවලා සිකීමයේ රජු බියගන්වලා යළි මැතිවරණයක් පවත්වන තැනට කටයුතු සැලැස්වූවා. එහිදී ඉන්දියාවට හිතවත් අපේක්ෂකයා වූ ලෙන්ඩප් ඩෝර්ජි ජයග්‍රහණය කරලා සිකීමයේ අගමැතිවරයා බවට පත්වෙනවා. ඉන්පසුව ඉන්දියාව සහ සිකීමය අතර ගිවිසුම් ගණනාවක් අත්සන් තැබෙනවා. එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස 1975 වන විට සිකීමය ඉන්දියාවේ 22 වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත්වෙනවා. ‘ඉන්දියාව සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ වීම අපට අවාසිදායකයි. අපි චීනය සමඟ ඒකාබද්ධ විය යුතුයි’ කියා පසුව සිකීමයේ පක්ෂ විපක්ෂ සියලුම මහජන නියෝජිතයන් එහි පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට යෝජනාවක් ගෙන ආවා. සිකීමයේ තෙල් සහ විදුලිය ඉන්දියාව සමග Connectivity වෙලයි තිබුණේ. ඒ නිසා ඉහත යෝජනාව එන බව දැනගත් වහාම ඉන්දියාව අදාළ තෙල් නලය වැහුවා. විදුලිය විසන්ධි කලා. සිකීමය කළුවර වුණා. තෙලුත් නැති වුණා. පාර්ලිමේන්තුවට දමපු යෝජනාවත් අතුරුදහන් වුණා. තවමත් සිකීමය ඉන්දියාවේ අර්ධ යටත්විජිත කොලනියක්ව පවතිනවා.
දැන් මේ ආර්ථික අර්බුදය පාවිච්චි කරලා සිකීමය හා සමාන ඉරණමකට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇදදමන්නයි ඉන්දියාව සූදානම් වෙන්නේ.

එට්කාත් මඟ එනවා

මොන අමාරුකම් මැද්දේ වුවත් වසර 2500ක් තිස්සේ රැකගත් අපේ ශිෂ්ටාචාරගත උරුමයන්, අනන්‍යතාව හා ස්වෛරීභාවය අහිමි කරලා මේ රට ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වැනි ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත් කරන්නයි මේ යන්නේ. ඒ සඳහා ඉහත කී සය වැදෑරුම් Connectivity මෙහෙයුමට අමතරව එට්කා ගිවිසුමත් එනවා. දැන් හොර රහසේ ඒ ගිවිසුමේ වගන්ති ටික හදාගෙන යනවා, ඉන්දියාවේ මහ මැතිවරණයට පෙර ඒක අස්සන් කරන්න. එට්කා ගිවිසුම ආවාම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රැකියාවලට, වෙළඳාමට ඉන්දියානුවකුට, ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයකුට තිබෙන අයිතිවාසිකමම ලැබෙනවා. පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ රැකියාවලට පමණක් නොවයි නොවෙයි රාජ්‍ය අංශයේ තෝරාගත් අංශ සඳහා ද ඉන්දියානුවන්ට අවස්ථාව ලැබෙනවා.

ඒ අතරේ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදනවල පිරිවැය වැඩිවන ලෙස වැට් බද්ද ගහනවා. ඒ පිරිවැය දරාගන්න බැරුව අපේ කර්මාන්ත වැහෙනවා. අපේ කෘෂිකාර්මික නිෂ්පාදකයා ගොවිබිම් අත හරිනවා. මේ ඛේදවාචකය කරා තමයි ඔබගේත් මගේත් මාතෘභූමිය ඇදගෙන යමින් තිබෙන්නේ.

රාමාගේ කෝවිල්

ඒ විතරක් ද දැන් ඉන්දියානු රුපියල් බිලියන 50ක් වියදම් කරලා ලංකාව තුළ ඉන්දියාවේ ‘රාම – රාවණා පුරාවෘත්තයට’ පණ දෙන්න යනවා. රාමාගේ කෝවිල් මෙහෙ හැදෙනවා. දැන් මේ විදියට ඉන්දියාව හදන පාර දිගේ, ඉන්දියානු බස් එකෙන්, සංචාරකයන් කතරගම ඇතුළු රාමායනයේ කියැවෙන ස්ථාන 21ට ඇවිත් ඉන්දියානු කඩෙන් වඩේ, තෝසේ කාලා, ඉන්දියානු රුපියල්වලින් ගෙවලා, ආපහු ඉන්දියාවටම යනවා. අපට සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය විදිහට සත පහක් ලැබෙන්නේ නැහැ.

QUAD හවුල වැඩට බැහැලා

ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් සාගර කලාපය තමයි ලොව යුදමය වශයෙන් වැදගත්ම සාගර කලාපය. මේ සාගර කලාපයේ බලය තිබෙන බලවතා අතේ තමයි අනාගත ලෝක බලයත් තිබෙන්නේ. QUAD හවුල නමින්, ඇමරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදය, ඉන්දියාව, ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාව හා ජපානය අද මේ ඉන්දු – පැසිෆික් සාගර කලාපය සඳහා මිලිටරිමය සංවිධානයක් ගොඩනඟා තිබෙනවා. එය තමයි ආසියාවේ නේටෝව ලෙස ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ. ඒ නිසා අපි හොඳින් තේරුම් ගන්න ඕනේ, ‘මෙවැනි උපායමාර්ගිකව වැදගත් තැනක පිහිටි ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නමැති රාජ්‍යයේ ස්වෛරීත්වය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම බිල්ලට ගෙන, ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වන ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත්කරලා, ඒ ප්‍රාන්තයේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයා ලව්වා, ඇමෙරිකා එක්සත් ජනපදයට අවශ්‍ය ඉතිරි දේවලුත් කරගන්න තමයි මේ හදන්නේ. ඒකට තමයි රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා හෙවත් නූතන විභීෂණ අද පාර කපන්නේ.’ කියා.

ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදයේ ජීවමාන සාක්ෂි

මීට දශක හතරකට පමණ පෙර රෝහණ විජේවීර සහෝදරයා ‘ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදය’ කියා මාතෘකාවක් ගෙනාවාම බොහෝදෙනෙක් ඒක විශ්වාස කළේ නැහැ. ඒ එහෙම දෙයක් පිළිබඳව ජීවමාන සාක්ෂි දැකගැනීමට එදා නොහැකි වූ නිසයි. අද එය Connectivity නමින් බලගැන්වෙමින් තිබෙනවා. ඉන්දියානු රුපියල භාවිතයට ආපුවාම, භෞතිකව දෙරට අතර පාර හැදුනාම, විදුලි බල පද්ධති සහ තෙල් නල ඒකාබද්ධ කළාම, මේ රටේ ස්වෛරී තීන්දු ගැනීමේ හැකියාව ඉතිරි වේවිද? මේ සියල්ලෙන් පසුව ඉන්දියාවට ඇත්තේ සිකීමයට වගේ ලංකාවටත් ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයෙකු පත් කර ගැනීම පමණයි.

වාම ලිබරල්වාදයේ භූමිකාව

අද කිසිදු දේශපාලන ව්‍යාපාරයක් මේ සිදුවෙමින් තිබෙන අනතුර පිළිබඳව කටක් ඇරලා කතා කරන්නේ නැහැ; ඇහැක් ඇරලා බලන්නේ නැහැ; ඒ අනතුරට නිදහසේ දිගේලි වෙන්න ඇරලා වෙනත් මාතෘකා පිළිබඳව ඔහේ කතා කරමින් සිටිනවා. මීට දශක හතරකට පමණ පෙර, කවුරුත් නොදන්නා කාලයේ ඉන්දියානු ව්‍යාප්තවාදය පිළිබඳව රටට කියා දුන් රෝහණ විජේවීර සහෝදරයාගේ පක්ෂය අද කියනවා, ‘අද අපිත් වෙනස් වෙලා. ඉන්දියාවත් වෙනස් වෙලා. ලෝකයත් වෙනස් වෙලා. දැන් තියෙන්නේ බහුධ්‍රැවීය ලෝකයක් නොවෙයි; ඒකධ්‍රැවීය ලෝකයක්. දැන් ඉන්දියාවත් හොඳයි; අපිත් හොඳයි.’ කියලා.ඒ තමයි වාම ලිබරල්වාදය. ඒ වාම ලිබරල්වාදය තමයි LGBT පනත්වලට අවශ්‍ය න්‍යායික තර්කනය හදන්නේ. සමාජයේ ‘නිරාගමික රැඩිකලුන්’ ලෙස ඉන්නේ මේ වාම ලිබරල්වාදීන්ම තමයි. ඔවුන් තමයි ආගමික පදනම්වලට පහර පිට පහර දෙන්නේ. මේ සියල්ල දෙස අවධානය යොමු කළාම ඉතා පැහැදිලිව පෙනෙනවා, ‘නූතන විභීෂණ විසින් එක පැත්තකින් සමාජය තුළ සාමූහික අනන්‍යතාව බිඳවැට්ටවීමේ අණපනත් රැගෙන එනවා; අනෙක් පැත්තෙන් ඉතාම සංවිධානාත්මකව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ 29 වන ප්‍රාන්තය බවට පත් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාන්විතය දියත් කරනවා,’ කියා. මේ මහා සැලැස්ම තුළ අවසානයේ ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍යයක් ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රාජ්‍යයේ පැවැත්ම ඓතිහාසිකව අතුරුදහන් කිරීමේ අනතුර තියෙනවා. ඒ මහා අනතුර තමයි අපි මේ ‘රාම රාවණ සහ විභීෂණ නූතන කතාව’ කෘතිය තුළින් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ. මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ බෙහෙත් වට්ටෝරුවත් පාර කපන්නේ ඒ අනතුර දෙසටයි.

හර්ෂගේ ‘සුදුහුණු ගෑම’

මේ අනතුර අපි නිවැරදිව කියවා ගනිමු. මතවාදීව පමණක් නොවෙයි සෑම අතකින්ම ඊට එරෙහිව සමාජය බලගැන්විය යුතු වකවානුවක් තමයි උදා වී ඇත්තේ. මේ මහා අනතුර වහලා, ඊට ‘සුදුහුණු ගාන’ විදග්ධයොත් ඉන්නවා. බලන්න, සමඟි ජන බලවේගයේ හර්ෂ ද සිල්වා මහත්තයා කියනවා, ‘ඉන්දියාව කියන කුරුල්ලා ඉතා විශාල කුරුල්ලෙක්. ඒ කුරුල්ලා අත්තටු ගහලා පියාඹනකොට අපිත් ඊට යටින් පියෑඹුවොත් අපට හුළං පාර අඩුවෙන් තමයි දැනෙන්නේ. ඒක අපට පියෑඹීම පහසු කරනවා. එහෙම කරලා රටවල් දියුණුවෙලා තිබෙනවා’ කියා. දැන් එයාලා සූදානම් වෙන්නේ එහෙම පියාඹන්න.

සජිත්ගේ ‘ඩිමෝ බස් නොමිලේ බෙදීම’

සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහත්තයා දැන් බෙදමින් යන්නේ ඩිමෝ බස්නේ. මම කර්මාන්ත ඇමති කාලයේ ඩිමෝ ආයතනයේ ප්‍රධානීන් ඇවිත් හමුවෙලා කීවා, ‘ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගම් හරහා පාසල් සඳහා හදපු බස් විකිණීමට උදව් කරන්න’ කියලා. ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගම්වලට ඒ විදියට බස් මිලදී ගැනීමට මුදල් නැති නිසා මම ඒ ගැන එතරම් උනන්දු වුණේ නැහැ. මට යෝජනා කළේ ආදි ශිෂ්‍ය සංගම්වලට බස් මුදලට දීමටයි. දැන් ඒ බස් ටික සජිත් ප්‍රේමදාස මහත්තයා නිකම් දීගෙන යනවා. ඒ කියන්නේ මේ බස් ටික ඩිමෝ සමාගමින් සජිත් මහත්තයාට නොමිලේ දෙනවා. ඩිමෝ එකෙන් බස් නිකම් දෙන්නේ නිකම් නොවෙයි.

‘මැණිකේ මගේ හිතේ…’

දැන් අපට 7 වන Connectivity එකකුත් පෙනෙනවා. යොහානි ද සිල්වා ගායිකාව ගායනා කළ ‘මැණිකේ මගේ හිතේ’ ගීතය ඉන්දියාව තුළ ජනප්‍රිය වීම, රවී රෝයිස්ටර් ගායනා කළ ගීතයක්, කර්ණාටක සහ උර්දු බසින් ගැයෙන චිත්‍රපට ගීතයක් බවට පත්වීම, කාංචනා අනුරාධී ගායිකාවගේ ගීතයක් ඉන්දියාවේ රියැලිටි ෂෝ එකක පළමු ස්ථානයකට පත් වූ ඉන්දියානු දියණියක විසින් ගායනා කිරීම ආදිය අපට දැකගත හැකියි. ඉන්දියාවේ සංස්කෘතික වෙළඳපොළ තුළ මීට පෙර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ නිර්මාණකරුවන්ට ඉඩක් ලැබී තිබුණේ නැහැනේ. කෙටි කලක් තුළ මේ වගේ දේවල් පෝලිමේ සිදුවෙමින් තිබෙනවා. කෙනෙකුට, එහෙම වෙන්නේ මේ පිරිසගේ දක්ෂතාව නිසා කියා හිතෙන්න පුළුවන්. නමුත් ඉතා කෙටි කලක් තුළ මෙවැනි අමුතු Connectivity එකක් සිදුවෙන්නේ කොහොමද, කියන එකත් සලකා බැලිය යුතුම එකක්.

මේ මහා අනතුර ගැන කිසිවක් කතා නොකර ලංකාවේ දේශපාලන බලය තමන් අතට දෙන්න කියා කවුරුන් හෝ කියනවා නම් ඔහු මේ අනතුරට අත්වැල් ගායනා සපයන්නෙකු, මේ අනතුර දිගේලි කිරීමට රහසින් එකඟ වී සිටින්නෙකු විනා අන් කිසිවෙකු නොවෙයි. අපි මේ කෘතිය එළිදක්වන්නේ එක් පසෙකින් නව ලිබරල්වාදී ව්‍යාපෘතිය බලගැන්වීම මගින් එන අවදානම හෙවත් අපේ සමාජය සීසීකඩ බෙදා වෙන් කිරීමේ අවදානම ගැන ජාතිය දැනුම්වත් කරන්නයි; අනෙක් පසින් Connectivity නමින් එන ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉන්දියාවේ යටත්විජිත කොලනියක් බවට පත් කිරීමේ අවදානම සහ එමගින් QUAD හෙවත් ආසියාවේ නේටෝව මගින් ඔවුන්ගේ ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් උපායමාර්ගයේ ගොදුරු බිමක් බවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පත්කර ගැනීමේ අවදානම පිළිබඳව ජාතිය දැනුම්වත් කරන්නයි.

අද මේ ආකාරයට ස්වෛරී පැවැත්ම බිලි ගනිමින් අවමංගල්‍ය පෙරහැරක රැගෙන යමින් තිබෙන රාජ්‍යය, එතැනින් මුදවාගෙන නැවත එයට පණ දී බලගැන්වීමේ යුතුකම හා වගකීම අප හමුවේ තිබෙනවා. එම වගකීම සහ යුතුකම ඉටු කරමු! ඊනියා අරගලය විසින් නිමැ වූ නූතන විභීෂණ සමය නිමා කරමු!”

(අනුරුද්ධ බණ්ඩාර රණවාරණ)
මාධ්‍ය ලේකම්,
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has met with billionaire and investor Elon Musk on the sidelines of the 10th World Water Forum High-Level Meeting being held in Indonesia.

During the meeting, Wickremesinghe and Musk have discussed the implementation of ‘Starlink’ in Sri Lanka.

It was emphasized that Sri Lanka is committed to expediting the application process to connect the country to the global Starlink” network, the President’s Media Division (PMD) said.

Meanwhile, Minister Jeevan Thondaman, who is accompanying the President on his two-day visit to Indonesia, tweeted saying: President and Elon discussed Sri Lanka’s recovery, economic potential, and new opportunities for investment.”

Great to have two visionary leaders come together for Sri Lanka.”

Elon Musk arrived in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Sunday to launch Starlink satellite internet service in the world’s largest archipelago nation.

The billionaire head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of social platform X arrived by private jet on the idyllic island of the gods,” which is renowned for its tropical beaches, terraced rice paddies, mystical temples and colorful spiritual offerings.

Musk is slated to launch the service alongside Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a ceremony later Sunday at a public health clinic in Denpasar, the provincial capital of Bali. Musk will also sign an agreement on enhancing connectivity in the country’s health and education sectors.

During his first in-person visit to Bali, Musk is also scheduled to participate in the 10th World Water Forum, which seeks to address global water and sanitation challenges.

–With agencies inputs

Hiru

By Sena Thoradeniya

(Continued from April 09, 2024)

1. Introduction- Economic, Political, Socio-cultural Factors Influencing Polls

In our earlier essay posted on April 09, 2024, we invited our readers to forget arithmetical calculations and predictions based on absurd statistical computations and to pay attention to economic, political, socio-cultural factors influencing polls, in relation to Sri Lanka. In the second part of this essay, we intend to discuss briefly such economic, political and socio-cultural factors which influenced the electoral victories in 1956, 1970, 1977, 1994, 2005, 2010, 2019 and 2020respectively. Without giving due consideration to historical and cultural memory it’s a futile exercise predicting election victories based on absurd mathematical computations.

Our conclusion is that factors that were favourable to winners in 1956, 1970, 1977, 1994, 2005, 2010,2019 and 2020 do not exist today in favour of an NPP victory. Above all else personal attributes and leadership qualities of the NPP leader are disadvantageous for an electoral victory.

2. SWRD in 1956

In 1956 people were disillusioned with the government run by the comprador- bourgeoisie and its ally feudal landed gentry. SWRD was hailed as the messiah Diyasena Kumaraya who would bring prosperity to a ruined nation economically and culturally. Sanga-Veda- Guru-Govi- Kamkaru Pancha Maha Balavegayaall-inclusive force was in the forefront of the struggle representing the oppressed and exploited classes and segments of the society.  E-con e-news in its 03-09 December, 2023 edition gave a new interpretation to Sanga-Veda-Guru-Govi- Kamkaru Pancha Maha Balavegaya. It referred not only to the segments as such but also to its symbolic components, Sangha symbolizing peoples’ spiritual and moral development, Veda, their health and wellbeing, Guru their education and propagation of knowledge, Govi their agriculture, food production and environment, Kamkaru their physical activity, energy and industries, which cannot be diluted merely as a slogan alone. But unfortunately, such an interpretation did not come from 1956 ideologues; this interpretation has been stored away and parroted as a slogan for a long time by SLFP supporters, later to be discarded by themselves.

People were looking for an opportunity for the realization of what they failed to achieve at 1947 Parliamentary Elections and 1953 hartal respectively. As Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera has stated in his many writings, 1956 was the culmination of the national reawakening and resurgence movement spearheaded by Anagarika Dharmapala. After several centuries of colonial domination people realized that 1947 so-called independence did not bring any desired changes economically, politically and culturally. 

It should be remembered that 1956 victory was not a personal victory of SWRD. The Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) which he led was a coalition of SWRD’s SLFP, Philip Gunawardena’s Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party, (VLSSP), a splinter group of LSSP, Dahanayake’s Bhasha Peramuna and Iriyagolla’s party and it had a no contest pact with the two left parties LSSP and CP in many electorates.

Anura Kumara and his NPP should take this into consideration that electoral victories excluding 1977 were won by coalitions.

How can NPP/JVP match its leader to SWRD, pipe-smoking, Oxford educated orator, dubbed as the silver tongue of Asia, son of Low Country Maha Mudaliyar, married to Mahavelatenna Kandyan aristocracy, Minister in the State Council, Minister of Health and Local Government and Leader of the House in the first Parliament, leader of the opposition in 1952,   believed as the Diyasena Kumaraya born to spearhead the 2500 Buddha Jayanti Celebrations. We have listed these attributes not because we are crusaders attempting to perpetuate those comprador- bourgeois, feudal attributes, but to show that these are indelible imprints manifest in peoples’ consciousness which give an impetus to electoral tides in Sri Lanka.

In addition, MEP had a myriad of stalwarts in all the districts (the list is too long, although some were disgraced later). UNP giants” were fallen by some new entrants unknown and unheard of. Holding elections on a staggered basis on three separate days (first day polls in the most favourable constituencies for the ruling party) had a devastating effect on the outcome. UNP won 8 seats on the first day, but could not improve beyond that.

Anura Kumara or NPP do not have any of these favourable conditions.

3. Sirimavo in 1970

Dudley Senanayaka’s Hath Havula” (7-party coalition) was a political disaster. For many years the country was governed by emergency regulations. The press gag was something akin to digging its own grave. Importation of books from socialist countries was banned. Government’s much publicized waga sangramaya” (Grow More Food Campaign) was a farcical exercise as it had alienated millions of acres of virgin forests to multinational companies which brought minimum results except providing tax concessions, mini – mokes   and other benefits to investors”. Government sponsored Govi Hamudawa” (Land Army) raised more eyebrows rather than perceiving it as a band of unemployed youth as it was headed by a retired Army Captain and aroused suspicion as an auxiliary army or a fledgling para-military force.

Cold-blooded murder of a Buddhist monk at a demonstration at Kollupitiya alienated the Sinhala Buddhists from the government.

Three-party coalition of SLFP, LSSP and CP was gaining grounds as a formidable force winning bye-elections and local government elections held. Of 9 bye-elections held from 1966 September, the coalition were victorious in 8 constituencies.

Post-1965 period marked the emergence of several revolutionary political groups, all were anti-UNP, the political party of the comprador bourgeoisie, the common or the real enemy of all. The tri-party coalition was perceived as a friendly force.

Internationally, conditions in Vietnam and Cambodia were favorable for anti-American peoples’ forces and the final victory over US aggressors and their lackeys was imminent. Liberation movements in Africa were gathering momentum.  

Anura Kumara or NPP do not have any of these favourable conditions.

4. JR in 1977

Austerity measures adopted by the Coalition government of Sirimavo, was the main weapon used by the JR led UNP in 1977. UNP promised a package of Eta Ata (eight cereals) to the needy and a Dharmishta Samajaya” (Righteous Society). Suppression of 1971 JVP-led insurrection, land reforms, state-sponsored industries, trade and services were used by its political opponents to deceive the gullible voters as examples of Bonapartism, authoritarianism, nepotism, cronyism, corruption and mismanagement.

It was an anti-austerity drive and an anti-incumbent protest vote; UNPers succeeded promising to lift bans imposed on apples and grapes.

Kicking out LSSP from the government, intensification of inner-party struggle that led to the leaving of a group of influential MPs, CP leaving the government at a later stage made devastating blows to the government in power, crowning the UNP with a 5/6 majority and total annihilation of the Left.

It was a victory of local and international conspirators, those who were affected by land reforms, foreign exchange racketeers and 1962 coup suspects.    

Anura Kumara or NPP do not have any of these favourable conditions.

At the first Presidential Elections held in 1982 JR contesting as the incumbent President (the absurd slogan was Janadhipathi durayata Janadipathithuma” (elect President as the President!) won polling 3,450,811 votes (52.91%). His biggest advantage was the depriving of his major opponent Sirimavo’s civic rights, his Dharmishta Government disqualifying her to contest. Hector Kobbekaduwa polled 2,548,438 votes. Wijeweera obtained only 2,73,428 votes.

R. Premadasa won the 1988 Presidential Elections obtaining 2,569,199 votes (50.43%). He polled 881,612 votes (or 25.55%) less than the votes obtained by JR, 6 years ago in 1982. Total polled in 1988 as a percentage was 55.31% as against 81.06% in 1982. Violence unleashed by JVP/DJV heavily impacted on voter turnover which helped a Premadasa victory.   

5. CBK in 1994

CBK is the daughter of two illustrious Prime Ministers of Sri Lanka SWRD and Sirimavo respectively. Although widely disputed by her opponents she had her higher education in France, some say at Sorbonne and some at University of Paris Sciences Po, Institut d’Etudes Politique. She boasted that she was preparing for her doctorate in Political Science and actively participated in demonstrations of May ’68 Paris”.   Under her mother’s stewardship she was the Additional Director of Land Reforms Commission (LRC) and Chairman of Janawasa Commission. Social scientists, who later became either the core members of Sri Lankan NGO cabal or apologists of Ealaam praised the experiments of youth farms opened under the aegis of Janawasa Commission as collective farms and examples for socialist collectivization of agriculture. Although collectivization of agricultureunder a capitalist government was a daydream and Dharmishta Government disbanded the Janawasa Commission, its influence remained among the rural youth.

Assassination of her husband by the JVP/DJV brought island wide sympathy to her and her two children and they were treated as victims. Her return to the fold of SLFP after experimenting with Mahajana Party and Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna and their political swindlers, bolstered her position in the political arena.

People who were fed up with 17 years of UNP totalitarian rule marked with murder, human rights abuses, opening doors to robber barons, killing local industries and SOEs, selling of national assets, dictatorial political culture, underworld armies nurtured by politicos attacking political opponents,suppressing media, election rigging, stuffing of ballot boxes, proscribing student unions, abducting student leaders and teacher- trainees, torture and killing,politics entering every sphere of activity,  were waiting to get rid of it.  UNP killed thousands of youth, burnt them on tire pyres or buried them in mass graves; each ruling party member had their torture chambers, Batalanda becoming the most notorious of all.

Thousands of workers who participated in the 1980 General Strike who demanded a pay hike of 1 rupee a day were sacked under most inhuman conditions. One striking worker Somapala was killed by UNP goons. Several strikers who lost their jobs committed suicide. UNP bigwigs demanded the strikers to hide in burrows of paddy-field crabs whilst the leader declared that the elephant had only swung its tail.  

SLFP and its allies winning Southern Provincial Council Elections was the beginning of her meteoric rise. Exhumation of Suriyakanda mass graves propelled her as the modern Vihara Devi. Killing of Premadasa by the LTTE made the UNP rudderless. A benevolent President Wijetunga dissolved the Parliament which was absolute godsend.

Winning a seat from Gampaha electoral district, polling 464, 588 preferential votes, becoming the Chief Minister of the Western Province in 1993-1994and Prime Minister in Parliamentary Elections held in August 1994made her passage to presidency an easy task.

NGOs, so-called alternate media, agents of Ealaam separatists, those campaigned for a negotiated settlement with the Tamil Tigers giving whatever they wanted on a platter and those elements who wanted to become her negotiators, all supported her. It is said that the godfather of Sinhala alternate media selected her photo with that captivating smile for propaganda purposes. This same person writing a book titled Bandit Queen” later was a different story. 

Her catchphrase socialism with a human face”, once tested in former Czechoslovakia during Prague Spring” in 1968 (actually an attempt of restoration of capitalism in the guise of liberalization and socialism with a human face”), dispelled the misgivings of the capitalist class that she will usher a socialist state, whilst her supporters were confused about its true meaning. Furthermore, she had the support of old left, Muslim parties and parties representing plantation workers.

Assassination of her main rival Gamini Dissanayake of UNP when he was campaigning made her presidential race a tussle between two widows and a walk in the park. CBK polled 4,709,205 votes obtaining 62.28% with a majority of 1,928,442 over her closest rival. 

JVP proxy Nihal Galappaththi polled only 22,749 votes.

CBK won all the electoral districts in Sri Lanka and all polling divisions except Mahiyangana. Polling only 8 votes she won Point Pedro polling division! This shows how statistics become a mockery.

Anura Kumara or NPP do not have any of these favourable conditions.

Town Hall bomb incident in 1999 in which LTTEtargeted CBKat apresidential election rally, swung the pendulum in favour of CBK over RW. She obtained 4,312,157 votes (or 51.12%), a clear sign of her dwindling popularity.  

Nandana Gunatillake of JVP managed to get only 344,173 votes. 

7. MR in 2005

MR won the Presidential Elections in 2005 polling 4,887,152 (or 50.29%) votes. RW obtained 4,706,366 (48.43%) votes. The number of valid votes received by the winning candidate over the closest opponent was just 180,786 votes. The conspiracy theory propagated by the media was that the LTTE engineered a MR victory forcing Tamil voters to boycott Presidential Elections. Statistics reveal that this was successful only in Jaffna electoral district. Only 8524 (or 1.21% of the total registered voters) voted for any candidate in Jaffna electoral district. Figures for Vanni, Batticaloa, Digamadulla and Trincomalee electoral districts were 34.30%, 48.51%, 72.70% and 63.84% respectively.

It is foolhardy to expect such an election boycott from any quarter in favour of Anura Kumara or NPP.

8. MR in 2010

Result of 2010 Presidential Election was a foregone conclusion. War winning incumbent president MR polled 6,015,934 votes (57.88%). Sarath Fonseka with the support of UNP, JVP, TNA and other Tamil and Muslim parties polled only 4,173,185 votes (40.15%). MR polled 1,128,728 more votes than he polled in 2005.

Anura Kumara or NPP has not won anything rather than opening their windbags, exposing themselves day after day with their nonsensical utterances, which will be described in part III of this essay.  

7. GR in 2019

What were the economic, political, socio-cultural factors that influenced SLPP or Pohottuwato obtain 6,924,255 (or 52.25%) at the Presidential Elections in 2019 and 6,853,693 (or 59.09% or 145 seats; 39 more than what MR got in 2004.) at the Parliamentary Elections held in 2020 respectively?

Political chaos started with Sirisena appointing RW who had nearly 30 odd seats in the Parliament as the Prime Minister chasing away the incumbent Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne and his Cabinet of Ministers when he was declared as the President defeating MR in 2005. At the ensuing Parliamentary elections Sirisena deprived an SLFP victory with his manipulations and rhetoric. He reinstated impeached Chief justice and evaporated” the position of her successor. Later Sirisena engineered a short-lived political coup bringing MR as the Prime Minister.

Yahapalana regime annulled the 1958 foreign Exchange Control Act and relaxed policies in 2017 enabling racketeers to park foreign exchange in foreign countries which was a key factor causing economic downturn.

Yahapalana regime began its nefarious activities soon after coming into power with the first bond scam. It was the biggest scam made by any government in the economic front and from there the Yahapalana regime was thrown into its death bed. From then onwards yahapalana coffin was nailed. Yahapalanists defended the treasury bond racketeers; much hyped slogan of bringing rogues into book with the aid of Anura Kumara has become a distant dream. People were disheartened as the government put intelligence operatives in custody. War winning military leaders who led the forces to victory over ruthless separatists were hounded and the yahapalana government co-sponsored a resolution against the Sri Lankan State at Geneva, commonly known as Geneva betrayal. Unitary State of Sri Lanka was in jeopardy as NGOs, TNA and Ealamists were hatching for a United Sri Lanka in the name of constitutional amendments.

Yahapalana regime gave importance to reckless borrowing; it burrowed USD 12.5 billion at high interest rate from the international bond market; how that money was spent remained a mystery. It sold Hambantota port to China on a 99-year lease. JVP/NPP supported and tolerated all these activities or were silent as the wise monkeys.

Corruption and wrongdoings of yahapalana regime were legion.Incompetence was its whole mark. Tussle between the President and the Prime Minister made governance inoperative.

Busloads of Rajapaksa loyalists trekking the way to Medamulana, bastion of the defeated President, became a normal occurrence. From Nugegoda Rajapaksas rose again. People were eagerly awaiting an opportunity to get rid of this bunch who were engaged in fraudulent activities.

At the 2018 local government elections newly formed Pohottuwa polled 5,006,832 votes or40.47% of the total votes cast. It was the greatest setback of yapalanaya.

With the Easter Sunday massacre the people realized that the national security has been weakened and there is no security to the ordinary citizens. Easter Sunday massacre occurred due to security lapses and lenient policy adopted towards Muslim terrorists.

MS-RW rivalry and MS appointing MR as PM aggravated the crisis and showed to the public that this lot was not capable of governing and maintaining security of the country.

We have listed some favorable factors for the Pohottuwa to win the Presidential elections and subsequently the Parliamentary elections respectively, which are common knowledge to all, which does not need extensive research.

With all above mentioned favorable economic, political, socio-cultural factors Gotabhaya polled only 69 lakhs (6,924,255) votes, or a meager 52.25 as a percentage. This shows with all these favorable factors how difficult it is to pass the 50% barrier at a Presidential election.

Though he failed as a President due to various factors and had to abdicate his presidency, personal attributes of GR profoundly augmented his victory at the Presidential Elections. He was a son and a nephew of two well-known politicians in the South, younger brother of MR. On top of that he spearheaded the victory over Tamil terrorists in his capacity as the Secretary of Defense.  As the Secretary of Urban Development, he was responsible for beautification of the city.     

Now we pose the question whether there are any such favorable economic, political, socio-cultural factors, what were favorable to all preceding Prime Ministerial and Presidential candidates for Malimawa and its Presidential candidate Anura Kumara? Answer is none.

Future of Sri Lanka as an independent sovereign state under US and Indian hegemonic influence is at stake. Against this background Anura Kumara could become the President only in a cloud cuckoo land!

(NEXT: PART III: Personal attributes and leadership qualities of AKD; Great Man Theory; Disadvantages of NPP; The myth that JVP/NPP did not participate in governance; JVP/NPP behavior during the crisis in 2022; For what reasons people give NPP a chance; AKD’s Team; Internal contradictions within NPP; Utterances of JVP front liners; Ranil’s maneuverings; Political dynamics and unpredictable nature of voters; JVP/NPP volte-face; Future of Sri Lanka as an independent  sovereign state under US and Indian hegemonic influence.)  

Sugath Kulatunga

The present divestiture drive is ostensibly aimed at minimizing govt. expenditure on loss-making state owned enterprises and meeting certain IMF conditions. The ex-President should be applaude for taking firm stand on this burning issue. It would have been more welcomed if the policy of the SLPP was declared much earlier before the SOE restruction program commenced. MR has without naming an individual who is sponsoring the divestiture of publc assets has vey diplomatically said that ‘some political parties have an ideology driven, dogmatic approach to privatization and seeks to privatize anything and everything that can be privatized”. He proposes that  that all moves to sell off state owned assets or enterprises be postponed until a new government is formed after the next Presidential election.

The claim by SOE reform groups that privatization of Public Enterprise is to satisfy a condition of the IMF incorrect and misleading.

The public is made to believe that this policy is guided by the directions of the IMF. The Letter of Intent signed by the Presdent and the Governor of the Central Bank sums up what we have agreed with the IMF. There is no doubt it is impelled by the IMF Staff. The following is all that the IMF poposes and we have agreed on SOE reforms

Article13. Structural reforms are needed to strengthen the governance of SOEs and make them financially viable. To strengthen the governance of SOEs and enhance their financial transparency, we will:

• clarify the mandates of key SOEs through Statements of Corporate Intent and hold their management accountable for delivering satisfactory results informed by key performance indicators;
• (ii) review the framework for selecting SOE board members to ensure that they are qualified and independent; and (iii) ensure that all 52 major SOEs publish their audited financial statements, which could be accessed on a dedicated website. For 2021, 33 SOEs have so far published audited financial statements for 2021. We will ensure that the remaining 19 major SOEs will also publish audited financial statements for 2021 and that audited financial statements for 2022 will be published by end-June 2023.”

Why then is the President keen on privatizing even the profit making and strategical vital public enterprises. If the rationale is economic the IMF would have made it a condition. RW has been Mr. Clean other than the allegation of complicity in the Arjuna Mahendran Bond scam. A good guess is it is due to the Mont Pellerin Society dogma which is his guiding principle. RW was an active member of the Mont Pellerin Society (MPS) and even organized one of its meetings in Sri Lanka. The Neo Liberal ideology of MPS postulates that the elimination of state interventions in economic and social activities and the deregulation of labor and financial markets, as well as of commerce and investments is the panacea to resolve all economic and social problems of all nations.

If some of the many SOEs which do not make an elemental contribution to the economy or provide an essential service, a selective and judicious privatization is justified. But when one looks at the past privatization episodes in Sri Lanka one shudder to think of the consequences. Privatization became a fetish during the JR regime on political grounds and more as an opportunity for politicians to enrich themselves and their henchman. A reputed economist and the head of the prestigious Institute of Policy Studies, late Dr. Saman Kelegama 2001 cites a case where in Sri Lanka an SOE valued at US $100 million was sold at only US $7 million on the ground that the government only wanted to get the privatization policy itself moving.” In many episodes the buyer of SOEs did not continue operating the SOE but sold the machinery for scrap like in the case of Kantale Sugar. A similar scam took place with the Werehara workshop of the CTB which was considered one of the best equipped and efficient workshops in South Asia. One cannot recall a single privatized SOE during this period operating more efficiently and profitably. Most of them are cannibalised or nonexistent. 

The most effective way to prevent privatization of particularly profit making national assets and assets which are of national security value is for MR to make an unequivocal statement that with a change of government those asset will be taken back wihout compensation. Otherwise it will only be a face saving political statement of no consequence.

Dr. Chula Rajapakse MNZM Spokesperson USLA.

Thank you for affording me the privilege of being able to reinforce for the 15th  consecutive year, as I have done in all of these past commemorations,  our  deep debt of gratitude to the Ranaviru for their sacrifices to secure peace for Sri Lanka and remember every one else who was affected by the conflict in one way or another from every race and religion . Though I am unable to attend this years  event in person, the USLA President has suggested that I could do so through a message. Hence this.

As members of USLA, we have every reason to be happy and proud of the many acts of generosity that USLA has been engaged in over the years, I many ways,  contributing  to the welfare of those disabled by the conflict and the families left without their bread winner or with a disabled bread winner. These have over the  years amounted to many tens of thousands of dollars.

However time has  come now to reflect on what further are our obligations to honour these supreme sacrifices.

In commemorating these supreme sacrifices we owe it to them not only to maintain the peace they secured, at this tremendous cost, as we have  done hitherto, we also owe it to them that we do what it takes to secure prosperity for all in Sri Lanka. Prosperity is the other side of the coin of peace”.   Doing the former has been the challenge that we all have been not as successful.

Just two years ago, in April/May 2022 Sri Lanka reached a very low ebb in terms of   prosperity, with the country having to acknowledge to the international community that they were bankrupt and were unable to pay their dues. There were severe shortages  of foreign exchange , and with it shortages of fuel,  , electricity, cooking gasses, basic foods etc.

Thankfully none  of the above are a reality today though they come at a cost. Depressingly poor planning and management has seen nutritious food at low cost being discarded for  animal consumption , when claims of childhood malnutrition is rife, even at the Sri Lanka’s largest food fare in Dambulla. Mean while  temperature ,and humidity controlled food storage facility that would have prevented this waste, awaits completion despite being over five years since commencement,

It is plain to every one that Sri Lanka needs to have leadership that not only can analyse the basis of the ills of the past  and present but also have a vision for what is  needed for Sri Lanka’s future prosperity and have demonstrated the capacity to deliver them.

In this election year, one hopes that it  honours the hitherto mentioned sacrifices of Ranaviru and others by electing a  leadership having the above capabilities, to further progress it’s fledgling recovery of the past two years,

May the blessings of the Triple Gem protect the Ranaviru and Sri Lanka.

Dr.Chula Rajapakse MZM

Spokesperson

USLA

Palitha Ariyarathna

By Palitha Ariyarathna

As the sun dipped below the horizon on that historic day—May 18, 2009—the world witnessed a momentous event.  Sri Lanka’s war against terror had reached its conclusion. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a ruthless terrorist organization, had plagued our land for far too long. Sleepless nights, fear, and uncertainty had gripped our nation.

But then, our heroes emerged—the brave souls who stood tall against the tide of terror. Their strength was not just physical; it was a beacon of hope that inspired everyone, from the bustling streets of  Colombo to the quiet villages in the north. They fought not only for themselves but for all of us. Their courage transcended borders, uniting hearts across the globe.

The Sacrifices

These heroes—our brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters—made unimaginable sacrifices. They scarified their youth, their dreams, and, in some cases, their lives. Their families bore the weight of uncertainty, praying for their safe return. Yet, they pressed forward, fueled by an unwavering commitment to our beloved Mother Lanka.

The Triumph of Humanity

Humanity powered their wishes. The blessings of the triple gems—Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha—guided their path. They weren’t just soldiers; they were embodiments of compassion, resilience, and unwavering determination. Their actions spoke louder than any political rhetoric or international debate. They proved that terrorism could be defeated, that peace was attainable.

Our True Protectors

In the present and the future, we honor them. They are our guides, our guardians. Their legacy extends beyond the battlefield. They taught us what true peace meant—beyond the absence of gunfire, beyond territorial boundaries. It’s the peace that allows children to play freely, farmers to till their fields, and families to rebuild shattered lives.

A Precious Gift

We remember their faces—the sweat-soaked brows, the determined eyes. They are our angels, our true protectors. Their sacrifices echo through time, reminding us that freedom isn’t free. It’s a precious gift, earned through blood, sweat, and tears. Our good karma brought them to us—the heroes who changed the course of our history.

A Grateful Nation

To our valiant soldiers, sailors, airmen, and police officers, we say: Thank you. Thank you for standing firm when the world doubted. Thank you for showing us that courage knows no bounds. Thank you for defeating LTTE, not just with weapons but with unwavering resolve.

Universal Principles for Peace

As we reflect on their heroism, let us also consider universal principles that can guide us toward lasting peace:

Dignity and Respect: Root peacemaking efforts in a moral compass that promotes trust and respect among nations. Treat all actors in peace processes with fairness and equality.

Solidarity: Recognize that success in peacebuilding depends on the contributions of each actor. Share burdens, risks, and resources. Conflict affects the global community, transcending racial, religious, and ethnic barriers.

Humility: Strive to be empathetic and respectful. International actors should enable—not lead—peace processes. They are midwives, not architects.

Enhancing Legitimacy: Establish long-term legitimacy for processes, institutions, powerholders, and laws governing peace. Legitimacy is essential for sustainable peace.

Accountable Security: Ensure security institutions provide safety as a public good, respect human rights, and follow agreed principles governing the use of force. Peace cannot exist without security.

Respect Sovereignty: Every nation has the right to govern itself without external interference. Respecting sovereignty means acknowledging the independence and self-determination of each country.

Non-Aggression: Leaders should commit to peaceful coexistence and avoid aggressive actions that violate the territorial integrity of other nations. Conquering or forcibly subjugating free countries undermines global stability and trust.

May their names echo through generations. May their sacrifices inspire us to build a better  Sri Lanka—a land where cooperation triumphs over conflict, and the legacy of our heroes lives on.

Now, let’s interpolate the following heartfelt poem that I wrote for the war heroes in Sri Lanka. The war’s end unexpectedly happened on the same day as I wished—it was a natural occurrence after many years of anticipation. Let’s take a closer look at these poems. Keep good wishes always, and nature will support you.”

Our heroes and end of war

Your strength was seen by everyone in the world, It gave courage to all, including me. The nasty LTTE, a terrorist force that brought fear and fright, Many sleepless nights endured. But it has now gone away, on May 18, 2009 (2553/Vesak/18, BE), Just as I had wished before—my dream came true. You sacrificed your life for us to live happily, The reality is—you’re a survivor, a warrior, fighting for freedom and life. Your wishes powered by humanity, Blessed by the triple gems. You’re our heroes, and we say it with pride, You’re our guide. In the present and the future, To defeat terrorism worldwide. Grateful to walk by your side, learning the true meaning of peace. Thank you for showing us reality, morality, intelligence, To angels, demons, NGOs, governments, top politicians, And challenging those who said we couldn’t stop terrorism and grant freedom. I remember… As children, we fantasized about being Superman, Captain, Major, Diyasena, and Konappu Bandara, Even the Karate Kid. But what you’ve accomplished surpasses it all, We remember everything you’ve been through, Every sacrifice you’ve made, Every hero in the past, present, and future. They are our angels, our true protectors. You’re a precious gift, bestowed upon us by good karma. You, our hero… Always showing us the battle against LTTE, cancer, mongolism, Murder, and the war that was won, Because of combatants like you. I am free now… I am alive now… Thankful and honored for everything you did to protect our Mother Lanka—Helabima.”-(2009-05-18 Midnight)

In essence, world leaders must uphold these principles to foster a world where nations thrive without fear of invasion or domination.