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

According to the latest information received by U.K. based IHRC, at least six Ahmadi Muslims have been arrested and five First Information Reports (FIRs) have been registered in Punjab, Pakistan against Ahmadi Muslims for sacrificing animals on Eid-ul-Azha (Hajj Festival).

Eid Festivals are times of family get-togethers and rejoicing but Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan are being fiercely persecuted for offering animal sacrifices, and this year (2023) were even barred from offering Eid prayers which is a basic tenet of their religious faith. 

It is a never-ending cycle of extreme persecution affecting both young and old. Men, women, and children are not safe from such schemes and the latest restriction is an indication of the intention of the mullahs to deny Ahmadi Muslims their basic right of worship.

Most of the FIRs are regarding hearsay incidents of Ahmadi Muslims preparing to or planning to sacrifice animals. It is unfortunate to see how in some incidents even Punjab police officials are complicit, which sends the message that they are not there for everyone’s security, certainly not for persecuted minorities. 

It was also informed that the sacrificial animals were seized by the police in raids conducted on complaints of extremist individuals.

This terrible situation requires urgent international intervention. The world must take immediate and urgent action to ensure that Ahmadis in Pakistan enjoy their full right to their religion and are able to freely practice their faith as required.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed Public Security Minister Tiran Alles to take the final decision on the appointment of the new IGP, informed sources said.

Accordingly, the Minister has been instructed to decide whether to appoint an acting IGP or to grant another extension for former IGP C.D. Wickramaratne.

Sources further noted that a special meeting has been convened by President Wickremesinghe with the subject Minister tomorrow (09).

It is highly likely that a final decision on the matter will be taken during this meeting.

The post of IGP has been vacant for nearly two weeks now.

Courtesy Adaderana

Debt-ridden Sri Lanka may need to cut interest rates again to further boost growth in its economy, according to the head of its central bank.

Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe, governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, told CNBC Friday that there will be more rate cuts to come, even after the central bank lowered its policy rate for a second consecutive month from 12% to 11% on Thursday.

Asked if additional rate cuts will be needed, the governor answered: Of course.” He pointed to falling inflation rates in the Sri Lankan economy.

We should need further reduction in interest rates on the basis of forward-looking inflation, forward-looking output gap. This shows we made the right decision,” Weerasinghe told CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia.”

Sri Lanka negotiated a nearly $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund last year, after thousands of protesters drove out the president from power, raiding his official residence and office on outrage over the government’s economic mismanagement.

Stocks listed in its capital Colombo jumped earlier in the week after parliament approved a domestic debt restructuring plan last weekend.

Colombo’s CSE All Share Index jumped by about 8% this week after parliament passed the plan required for the IMF’s bailout package.

Sri Lanka’s total debt has exceeded $83 billion, the Associated Press reported, including foreign debt of $41.5 billion and $42.1 billion of domestic debt.

Prices in Sri Lanka rose 12% in June, the latest government data showed – a steep decline from the recent peak inflation rate of nearly 70% seen in September last year.

The central bank governor was optimistic about the economy’s path forward. He predicted inflation could fall to single-digit figures and the economy could turn from contraction to growth by next year.

If you look at the future, forward-looking inflation, we see very clearly, end-of-July inflation will be 7% by single digit and by end of the year, [inflation] will be low single-digit,” he said.

Weerasinghe said further policy support from the central bank could help economic revival in the nation.

We hope that [rate cuts] can be some sort of support for the recovery for the second half of the year. And obviously for the next full year, we expect the country to bounce back to positive territory,” he said.  

The Sri Lankan economy contracted by 11.5% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2023, gross domestic product figures released last month showed.

The economy’s GDP has stayed in negative territory since the first quarter of 2022.

Source: CNBC
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The de-dollarisation, the movement to reduce other countries’ reliance on the greenback, among the emerging economies of the BRICS economic group is yet to reach a ‘common currency’ breakthrough.

The de-dollarisation movement, however, is currently morphing into a growing number of countries ditching the dollar and choosing to trade in their own currencies instead.

But despite an official clarification, the Russian embassy in Kenya said in a tweet, The BRICS countries are planning to introduce a new trading currency, which will be backed by gold.” 

Earlier this week, however, the New Development Bank, a financial institution created by the BRICS bloc, said in an official statement that it doesn’t have any immediate plans for a common currency.

Instead, the members of BRICS – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are pushing to conduct more bilateral trade in local currencies. They aren’t ready to challenge the global dominance of the dollar.

The development of anything alternative is more a medium to long-term ambition,” Leslie Maasdorp, Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of the New Development Bank, told Bloomberg. There is no suggestion right now to create a BRICS currency.”

Prior to the BRICS virtual summit, India’s foreign minister Dr S Jaishankar said that there is no idea of a BRICS currency.”

Currencies will remain a national issue for a long time to come,” Jaishankar added.

The bloc, which was formed in 2009, has been striving to gain more clout globally as a way of counterbalancing the dominance the US and its traditional allies have in multilateral financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. 

Still, even the Chinese Renminbi is a very long way from becoming a reserve currency,” Maasdorp said.

BRICS Bank’s focus on expanding its financial clout

According to reports, a key part of the Shanghai-based New Development Bank is to expand its financial clout with a focus on $50 billion in subscribed capital. 

The intention has always been to create a global bank anchored in emerging markets,” Maasdorp said.

He further said that the bank aims to direct 40 per cent of lending to climate-related projects.

New BRICS members

A total of 19 countries, with 13 formal requests and approximately 5 or 6 informal queries, have approached BRICS leaders for becoming full members of the BRICS forum. 

In an interview with WION, South Africa’s foreign minister Naledi Pandor, disclosed that a number of countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Argentina, Mexico, and Nigeria, have expressed keen interest in joining BRICS. 

The recent BRICS Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Cape Town saw several African countries, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE attend the Friends of BRICS” gathering.

The upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa is expected to see multiple inclusions, possibly of Saudi Arabia and Iran, into a crucial multilateral grouping, significantly elevating its economic heft and simultaneous geopolitical clout.

Brazil’s Lula chief supporter of common BRICS currency

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vocally challenged the supremacy of the US dollar in recent months. 

Recently, in a show of support from a fellow BRICS partner, Brazil’s President Lula, while standing alongside his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, challenged the US dollar’s role as the world’s primary reserve currency for global trade.

Ramaphosa, while seconding Lula’s comment, said that the issue of currency” would be discussed at the upcoming meeting of BRICS countries later this year, which South Africa is scheduled to host in August.

Russia’s interest in a common BRICS currency

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Moscow has ramped up its efforts to promote de-dollarisation. Immediately after President Vladimir Putin announced ‘special military operations’ against Ukraine, Washington froze half of Russia’s foreign currency reserves and banned its biggest banks from the SWIFT international payments system.

Since February 2022, Russia has been pushing for de-dollarisation in consonance with China and nations deemed neutral in the wake of the ongoing Ukraine war.

Alexander Babakov, the deputy chairman of Russian parliament, the State Duma, while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum event in New Delhi, India, in April 203 had said that the plan is to initially transition to using domestic currencies in transactions. 

Following this, the introduction and circulation of a digital or an alternative form of currency could be explored. 

Brazil, Russia, India and China established BRIC in 2009 and the bloc became BRICS a year later when South Africa was admitted. 

If it expands to include other emerging nations with persistent surpluses,” a globally fairer, multi-currency global system could emerge, O’Neill said. 

The bloc represents about 26.7 per cent of the world’s land surface and 41.5 per cent of the global population.

The BRICS countries hold a substantial 16 per cent share in world trade and over the years, they have played a vital role as engines of global economic growth.

Source: WION
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Their Majesties the King and Queen of Thailand have bestowed an honour upon Don Upul Jayarathna Denelpitiyage, a Sri Lankan mahout, in recognition of his unyielding care for the recuperating Thai elephant, Sak Surin (also known as ‘Muthu Raja’), foreign media reported.

The elephant is currently in 30-day quarantine in Lampang province of Thailand, following his flight from Sri Lanka on 02 July.

Thai Air Marshal Pakdee Saengchuto, serving as the King’s deputy private secretary, represented the royals on Thursday as he presented a gift to Denelpitiyage, who originally hails from Dehiwala Zoo in Sri Lanka. The Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment announced this via its Facebook page yesterday.

The ceremonial presentation was carried out at the premises of the ministry, with its Permanent Secretary Jatuporn Buruspat and Denelpitiyage in attendance.

Denelpitiyage was part of the official Thai delegation that journeyed from Sri Lanka to Thailand, where the task of caring for Sak Surin was taken up by the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre. Denelpitiyage made his return to Sri Lanka yesterday.

The Thai Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had invested approximately 19 million baht in taking care of the 30-year-old Sak Surin and in ensuring his medical repatriation to Thailand.

Sak Surin is one of the three elephants that Thailand dispatched to Sri Lanka in a bid to bolster diplomatic ties, following an official request from Sri Lanka for the Thai government to send elephants to participate in special religious ceremonies featuring the Lord Buddha’s relics.

A noted update on Friday from the Thai ambassador to Sri Lanka clarified the circumstances of Pratu Pha, another elephant, presently residing on the island nation. The 49-year-old male elephant is said to be living under normal conditions with no plans in place for his repatriation back to Thailand.

Poj Harnpol, the ambassador, endorsed this news with his recent visit to Pratu Pha at the Temple of the Tooth Relic in Kandy City, where the elephant is being nurtured under the watchful care of Pradeep Nilanga Dela Nilame, the temple custodian.

Pratu Pha dwells in an open courtyard with a surface of concrete and soil. His range of movement is limited by ropes that demarcate boundaries. His front legs are tethered to large trees while one of his hind legs is lightly chained, allowing him to move and stand naturally. The animal enjoys a diet of the leaves from kithul trees, grass and sugar cane.

Upon observation for 30 minutes, the ambassador took note of Pratu Pha’s calm demeanour and the mahout’s ability to feed him from a distance.

Harnpol expressed the necessity of an environment upgrade for the elephant, more access to water sources coupled with the addition of more water tanks.

Albeit the elephant’s living conditions were satisfactory, Harnpol noted room for improvement.

We understand the strides undertaken by the temple and are cognisant of the fact that change cannot occur overnight. We plan to work in the direction of better care.”

In an interview with Sri Lankan media, Harnpol confirmed that there were no forthcoming plans to repatriate Pratu Pha, widely known as Thai Raja, to Thailand. Thai Raja was gifted to Sri Lanka 37 years prior while Sak Surin and Sri Narong, another male elephant, were presented as goodwill gifts 22 years ago, reported Bangkok Post.

-Agencies

Shenali Waduge

If anyone is a Tamil Buddhist they should be PROTECTING THE BUDDHIST HERITAGE SITES NOT VANDALIZING THEM?
Everyone must understand that this new strategy & tactic is because all their previous lies have fallen flat

• 40,000 genocide lie cannot be proved
• homeland history cannot be proved
• separate independent kingdom existing cannot be proved

all the above were created to advance their quest for a separate state – now they have plucked out a new lie – claiming to be TAMIL BUDDHISTS to demand ownership of the Buddhist heritage sites in the North & East & secure their homeland quest

IF YOU TELL 1 LIE YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE LYING TO KEEP THE LIES GOING …
ඔහොම යං

By Rohana R. Wasala 

At the conclusion of a thoughtful feature article under the title ‘A new identity for Sri Lanka’ in the Sunday Island of June 25, 2023, Uditha Devapriya, a young journalist that I admire for the quality of his writing, refers to what he calls a minority view that he shares about Sri Lanka’s contemporary culture. It is that contemporary Sri Lankan culture is ‘derivative and predicable’. To be frank, his concept of culture is not clear to me, nor what he exactly means by the phrase ‘derivative and predicable’. But in the same breath he explains that this quality of present-day Sri Lankan culture is ‘less of a weakness, less of a limitation, than it may appear’ because ‘cultures and histories progress through evolution, and evolution, it must be conceded, involves appropriation, sometimes imitation.’ Devapriya adds:

‘Thus, instead of looking condescendingly down on our modern” culture or being laid back and complacent about our glorious past”, we should avoid both extremes and strive to use our identity the way our ancestors did. The four ambassadors sent to the court of Emperor Claudius centuries ago were all representative of this identity: it has been surmised that they were non-Sinhalese, that they were all Tamils. The Romans did not bother about this. As H. A. J. Hulugalle has noted, all they were concerned with was that these ambassadors came from Ceylon, and that they were Sri Lankans first and Sri Lankans last. Perhaps that should be our strategy, our way forward, our redemption.’

I generally agree with the idea that we should ‘use our identity the way our ancestors did’. In fact, this is broadly similar to what I wrote at the end of a long article (not published in The Island) about racism and nationalism in August 2021. So, let me quote the concluding paragraph of my article in full:

‘It is internal divisions that encourage external attacks on our independence. The greatest potential for national unity, in my view, comes from the easy religio-cultural symbiosis  between the Tamil Hindus and the Sinhala Buddhists. Since the last mentioned  circumstance above – geographic location – cannot be changed by any means, it must be accepted as an unalterable physical reality in a nationally proactive spirit, not as a curse, but as a blessing. It is up to the youth of the country of diverse ethnic backgrounds untainted by historical baggage  to take up this challenge and forge ahead as one sovereign nation without allowing foreign powers to walk over us, as they have done over the last seventy-three years. I wrote this long essay, not to stoke fires of racial hatred, but to douse them by ascertaining the truth about our past as far as possible, which will enable us to see our way forward more clearly.’ (Please read seventy-five years for seventy-three years, as this was written two years ago.)

Now to deal with the crass lie that Devapriya reproduces from some distortionist source about the historic delegation of four Sinhalese ambassadors sent to the court of the Roman emperor Claudius by king Bhatikabhaya Tissa of Sihela/Sinhale (the European name ‘Ceylon’ is a corruption of the original name Sihela) in the first century BCE. The ambassadors from Sihela were all Sinhalese (not Tamils), led by a member of the reigning Sinhalese royal family, whose father himself had been a diplomat sent to China on a similar mission.This information is well documented history backed by foreign records. King Bhatikabhaya’s reign was a time of peace and plenty according to the ancient chronicles. But the Mahavamsa (Chapter XXXVI) says little about this king. The name given there is Bhatika Tissa. His reign was twenty-four years. The services he did to the Buddha Sasana and his developmental projects described in other chronicles are just glanced at by the Mahavamsa author. (Current entries about Ceylon history in Wikipedia are mostly anti-Sinhalese and anti-Buddhist distortions. It is up to our patriotic young scholars and historians to set these records right.)

I wrote about the Sinhalese ambassadors in the Roman court and why they went there in the same article written two years ago. I am quoting below the relevant section of my previous article (which was not published in The Island, probably because of non-publishing days due to communication disruptions caused by the Covid pandemic).

Sinhalese ambassadors in the court of emperor Claudius

The Roman historian Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE) in his Natural History gives a vivid account of a royal embassy consisting of four members with a person called Raki as its leader from the court of king Bhatika Abhaya Tissa (38-66 CE) visiting the imperial Roman court during the reign of the emperor Claudius (41-54 CE) to negotiate the purchase of red coral from there.  The coral was for making an ornamental net to cover the Maha Tupa (Ruvanveli Maha Saeya) at Anuradhapura as an offering to the sacred monument.  The fact that Ptolemy (c. 100 – c. 170) made his map of Taprobana (Taprobane as foreign visitors at that time called Sinhale) significantly larger than it actually was relative to his map of what is today called India to the north, signifies the importance he attached to the island as a country. 

The account of Annius Plocamus, a Roman tax collector from the Mediterranean region, (who mediated the royal ambassadorial visit during king Bhatika Abhaya Tissa’s reign (20 BCE – 9 CE)), currently available in the Wikipedia, provides a fine example of the deliberate distortion of Sinhalese history that has been carried on for nearly a century by certain Tamil racist historians. The Wikipedia entry refers to a certain Tamil writer by the name of T. Isaac Tambyah, author of ‘Psalms of Saiva Saints’ (1925). Isaac Tambyah assumes that the name given by Pliny of the leader of the embassy Rachias is a version of Rasaiah! He must have pronounced the name as Rashias instead of Rakias. Rasaiah is familiar to us as a common Tamil name. (Actually, to be fair by Isaac Tambyah, he only repeats an obviously uninformed guess that had been made by British governor Emerson Tennent (1804-1869) that the mispronounced Rachias suggested that the embassy was sent to Rome by an alleged Rajah of Jaffna’ It is absolutely certain that there were no permanent Tamil residents in Sihela until the 10th century CE. (The governor had been misled by a Tamil zealot’s figment of imagination for there were no Tamil rulers in Jaffna. Nor Jaffna either! The area was known as Dambakolapatuna in Sinhala {Jambukolapattana in Pali} in those pre-Christian times. Dambakolapatuna (orJambokola pattana in Mudliyar L.C. Wijesinghe’s 1889 translation of The Mahavansa Chapter XVIII) was where Sangamitta Theri disembarked with the Sri Maha Bodhi sapling in the third century BCE. There is no doubt that a Tamil distortionist had fed Tennent with wrong information! The same Wikipedia account suggests that the embassy was prompted by a trivial discovery of the sincerity of Romans by the king (What a trivial excuse to imagine for this most important Sihela embassy to Rome, whose express purpose was to make a costly purchase of a massive load of red corals to offer to the Ruvanveli Maha Seya. The Sihela kingdom’s foreign trade was flourishing under king Bhatikabhaya Tissa as was the country’s internal economy, free from south Indian invasions.) 

The late Dr D.P.M. Weerakkody, Western Classics scholar, wrote a paper  about historical Sri Lanka-Rome relationships in 2013, which I read later. It was obvious to me that Dr Weerakkody, whom I had personally known before as a person who loved Mother Lanka, never took the Tamil historian’s claim that Pliny’s Rachias was ‘Rasaiah’ seriously. He went by the strict rules of  academic research. I remember him criticising the imperfections of the late celebrated archaeologist, historian and epigraphist, Professor Senerath Paranavitana’s (1896-1972) later writings about epigraphy in a lecture at the University of Peradeniya  that he delivered some time after his return having earned his PhD in Western Classics from the University of Hull in England. In addition to that, he had obtained a qualification in music from the same university. This was around 1977-78 if my memory is correct. The shortcomings in Professor Paranavitana’s theses, it was implied, were due to his old age infirmity, and not to deliberate academic dishonesty.

Historical truth of the Sinhalese embassy to Rome

To resume my subject, the historical truth about the first century Sinhalese embassy to Rome is well established. Authoritative historians have found that the name Rachias is a  corruption of the Sinhala name Raki or Rakiya, one of the typically short Sinhala names that recurs in a number of inscriptions as distinguished professor in Archaeology Raj Somadeva of the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka,who is an alumnus of Uppsala University, Sweden, has clearly pointed out.  He has provided much documentary and epigraphical evidence to prove this. Pliny himself has given a detailed account of Rachias or Raki, which shows that Raki was an important personage, indeed, a scion of the Sinhalese royal family. Raki’s father was an ambassador too. He was employed by the king of Sinhale of the time to lead an embassy to China. For Raki to represent the Sinhalese king in the Roman court, he had to be of the Sinhala royal family. He won’t have insulted the emperor by sending ambassadors under the leadership of a non-Sinhala, non-native commoner called Rasaiah! Can you imagine that a king who was rich enough to buy red corals to make a huge net or jacket to adorn the stupendous Ruvanveli Maha Saeya would do such a thing? (rrwasala@gmail.com)

උපුටා ගැන්ම දිවයින

රාත්‍රීයේ ආරක්ෂාවට සිටි පොලිස් සැරයන්වරයා පරුෂ වචනයෙන් බැන වදිමින් තමන්ට වෙඩි තියන්නට සුදානම්වු බවත් පන්සලේ සිටි බල්ලා නිසා දිවි ගලවා ගත් බවත් මඩකලපුව මංගලාරාමාධිපති අම්පිටියේ සුමනරතන හිමියෝ පැවසුහ.

ඒ සම්බන්ධව වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින් උන්වහස්සේ මෙසේද පැවසූහ.
මම මේ දිනවල ඉන්නේ කෙවිලියාමඩුව පන්සල්ගල අභිනවාරාම පුදබිමේ. මිට මාස ගණනකට පෙර මට කිසියම් පුදගලයෙක් වෙඩි තැබිම නිසා මේ වන රාත්‍රී කාලයේ පොලිසියෙන් ආරක්ෂාවට දෙදෙනෙක් එවනු ලබනවා.

ඉකුත් හතර වැනිදා මම රාත්‍රී 12ට පමණ බෝධිය අසළ විදුලි පහන් නිවන්න ආවා. ඒ වෙලේ බෝ මඵව පිටු පසින් ගොරවන ශබ්දයක් ඇසුනා . මම ඒ දෙසට යද්දී සිවිල් ආරක්ෂක බළකායේ අය සහ පොලිස් සැරයන් වරයාත් නිදි. මම ඒද්දි බය වෙලා ඇහරුනු පොලිස් සැරයන්වරයා පිස්තෝලය අතට ගෙන මට වෙඩි තියන්න එල්ල කළා. මම හාමුදුරුවෝ කීවාම එයා මාව අදුර ගත්තා. මෙහම කුකුළා ගගා කොහොම ද ආරක්ෂා කරන්නේ කියා මා දොස් කියද්දි ඔහු මට දිගින් දිගටම පරුෂ වචනයෙන් බැන වදිමින් මට පිස්තෝලය එල්ල කරමින් වෙඩි තියන්නට උත්සාහ කළා. ඒ අවස්ථාවේ පන්සලේ ඇති කරන බල්ලා පැමිණ ඔහුගේ ඇගට පැන්නා. ඔහු බල්ලා සමග පොර බදින අවස්ථාවේ මම ඉක්මනින් ගොස් ඝණ්ඨාරය නාද කළා . ඒ මොහාතේ ගම්වාසින් පන්සලට දුවන් ආවා. මම 119 දුරතකන අංකයට මේ ගැන දැනුම් දුන්නා. ඒත් වැඩක් වුනේ නැහැ. මම පස්සේ අම්පාර නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයාට සහ අම්පාර ජේෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයාට මේ ගැන දුරකතනයෙන් දැනුම් දුන්නා .

ඒ අනුව ඊට පසු සහකාර පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයෙකු පාන්දරම අප පන්සලට පැමිණියා. මට වෙඩි තියන්නට සැරසුන පොලිස් සැරයන්වරයා මිට පෙර කෙවිලියාමඩුව වැව ඉස්මත්තේ ඉඩම් බලෙන් අල්ලන්නට වැටක් ගසා තිබියදි ගම්වාසින් ගොස් වැට ගලවා දැමීම නිසා මා සමග උරණව සිටි අයෙකි. මාව අත් අඩංගුවට ගන්න යැයි කියමින් ඔහුගේ බිරිද සතියක පමණ කාලයක් රෝහල්ගත වෙලා සිටියා. ඔහු රජයේ ඉඩම් භූක්ත විදින නිසා ඒ ආදායමෙන් කොටසක් අහිංසක මිනිසුන්ට දෙන්න කියු නිසා ඔහු මා සමග උරනව සිටි අයෙකි්. මා සමග එලෙස වෛරයෙන් සිටින අයෙකු හට මංගලගම පොලිසියේ ස්ථානාධිපතිවරයා පිස්තෝලයක් අතට දී එවා තිබියදී බල්ලා නොපැමිණෙන්නට මාගේ ජිවිතය අවසන් වෙන්නට ඉඩ තිබුනා. මාගේ ආරක්ෂාවට මා සමග වෛරයෙන් පසුවන අයෙකු එවීම කුමන්තණයැක්දැයි මට සිතෙනවා. මංගලගම පොලිසියෙන් මට කෙතරම් අසාධරණකම් සිදු වුවද අම්පාර නියෝජ්‍ය පොලිස්පතිවරයා, අම්පාර ජෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයා සහ මහඔය සහකාර පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයා මා සමග සුහදව කටයුතු කරන නිසා මංගලගම පොලිීසියේ අසධාරණකම් ඉවසා සිටියා. නමුත් මංගලගම පොලිසියේ නිළධාරින් කෙවිලියාමඩුවේ අනවසරයෙන් ඉඩම් අල්ලා ගැනිම නිසා ගැටඵ රැසක් පැන නැගී තිබෙනවා. ඉදිරියේදි මාගේ ජිවිතයට හානියක් සිදුවුවහොත් ඒ පිලිබදව මංගලගම පොලිසිය වගකිව යුතුයැයිද සුමනරතන හිමියෝ දිවයිනට වැඩිදුරටත්අදහස දක්වමින් සඳහන් කළහ.

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

සුද්දන් ලංකාවට කල විනාශය, රට සූරාකෑම ගැන මැල්කම් රංජිත් කාදිනල්තුමා විසින් වතුකම්කරුවන් ලංකාවට ගෙනත් අවුරුදු 200 පිරීමේ සැමරීමකදී කල කතාව දැක මෙම සටහන ලිවීමට සිතුණි (Sri Lanka SEDEC, Lifetraveler.lk). ක්‍රිස්තියානි, මාක්ස්වාදී රාවයේ වික්ටර් අයිවන්ට, පන්සලේ විප්ලවය යන නමින් පොතක් ලියා (2006) සංඝ සමාජයට උපදෙස් දෙන්නට පුළුවන් නම්, හුදෙක් සිංහල පාඨකයින්ගේ දැනගැනීම සඳහාම, කාදිනල්තුමාගේ කතාවට ඔහු සඳහන් නොකල ඉතිහාසය එකතු කිරීම යෝග්‍යයයි මට සිතේ.

 සුද්දන් ලංකාවට මුලින්ම ආවේ පරංගින් ලෙස 1505 දීය. 1551 දී පෘතුගීසීන් කෝට්ටේ රාජධානීයේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි රජු ලෙස දොන් ජුවන් ධර්මපාලව පත්කර ගත්තේය. ඉන්පසු මුලින්ම කලේ කෝට්ටේ රජමහාවිහාර ඉඩමේ පල්ලියක් ඉදිකිරීමය. අදටත් මේ පල්ලිය වැජඹේ. දළදා මාලිගා බිමේ, අනුරාධපුරේ යනාදි වශයෙන් සෑම බෞද්ධ බිමකම වාගේ මෙසේ පල්ලි ඉදිකර ඇත. සමහර වෙරළබඩ පල්ලි හැදුවේ පන්සල් සමතලා කර ලබාගත් ගඩොල්/ගල් යොදා ගෙනය.

පෘතුගීසින් පෘතුගාලයෙන් පිටත්වූයේ එක අතකින් කඩුව හා අනික් අතින් බයිබලයද  රැගෙන යයි කියවේ. මෙහිදී පෘතුගීසීන් හා ස්පාඤ්ඤය අතර ගැටුම් ඇතිවීම වැලැක්වීමට රෝමයේ පෝප්තුමා විසින්, නූතන බ්‍රැසීල් රට ලඟින් ගැසු ඉරකින් ලෝකය මේ දෙපාර්ශයට බෙදා දෙන ලදී. (Tordesillas- A town of Spain, province of Valladolid. Here was signed, in 1494, a treaty modifying the boundary-line which Pope Alexander VI. had assigned, in 1493, in his division of the New World between Spain and Portugal). කොලම්බස් ඇමෙරිකාවටත්, වස්කෝ ද ගාමා ඉන්දියාවටත් ආවේ මේ හේතුවෙනි

යුරෝපයේ පාලක, ධනවත් වංශවත් ජනයාට ඉන්දියාවෙන් ගොඩබිම ඔස්සේ ගෙනා කුළුබඩු හා අනිකුත් සැප භාන්ඩ, මුස්ලිම් ආධිපත්‍යය (ඔටෝමන් අධිරාජ්‍යය) ඉදිරියේ අවහිරවීම නිසා  ඒ වෙනුවට වෙනත් මුහුදු මාර්ගයක් සෙවීම අත්‍යාවශ්‍යවිය. පොදු ජනයා මේ දුෂ්කර අවදානම් සාගර ගමන් සඳහා පාවිච්චි කලේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි ධර්මය මඟින් මිථ්‍යා දෘෂ්ටිකයින් (ම්ලේච්චයින්) මුදවා ගැනීමේ දේවකාරිය අල්ලසක් වශයෙන් භාවිතා කරමින්ය. ඉතියෝපියා ප්‍රදේශයේ සිටියා යයි සැලකූ ප්‍රෙස්ටර් ජෝන් නම් නෙස්ටෝරියන්  ක්‍රිස්තියානි රජු සමඟ එක්වී මුස්ලිම් බලය මැඬලීමද තවත් බලවත් ආගමික තල්ලුවක් විය. මෙම මිථ්‍යා කතාව (විශ්වාසය) 12-17 සියවස් වල යුරෝපයේ ජනප්‍රියව තිබුණේය

මේ ආකාරයට කොළඹට සේන්දුවූ පෘතුගීසීන්ගේ ක්‍රියාකලාපය කෙසේ වූවාදයත් එක් පෘතුගීසී පූජකවරයෙකු වාර්තා කලේ, පෘතුගීසීන්ගේ කෲර ක්‍රියාකලාපය නිසා දෙවියන් වහන්සේ ඔවුන්ට ලංකාව අහිමි කලා යනුවෙනි. කිඹුලන්ට දැමීමේ සිට මවව පුතා ලවා දූෂණය කිරීම දක්වා මෙම තිරිසන් පාලනය පැතිරී ගියේය. කාරණා මෙසේ වුවත් ලන්දේසි රෙපරමාදු ක්‍රිස්තියානින් විසින් කතෝලිකයින් සමූල ඝාතනය කරද්දී උඩරට සිංහල රජු ඔවුන්ට සිය රාජධානියේ ආරක්ෂාව සැපයුවේය. ඊට කලින් පෘතුගීසින් මුස්ලිමුන් මරද්දී උඩරට රජු ඔවුන් සරණාගතයින් ලෙස නැඟෙනහිර පලාතේ පදිංචි කරවූයේය. (මෙම ලෝකයේ ප්‍රථම සරණාගත කඳවුරු (ගම්) දැන් කාත්තන්කුඩි අරාබි භාෂා පාරවල්, ඔළුවිල් ප්‍රකාශණය දක්වා වර්ධනය වී ඇත). එපමණක් නොව ජුසේවාස් පියතුමාට ඉන්දියාවේ සිට පැමිණ ලන්දේසීන්ගෙන් බේරී, සැඟවී කතෝලික ලබ්ධිය ප්‍රචාරය කිරීමට උදව් කලේ හාමුදුරුවරුන්ය.  පසු කලෙක බද්දේගම වැනි ගම්වල ආගම් ප්‍රචාරය සඳහා බැටළු පැටවුන් හාවස්ටින් සඳහා  කතෝලික පියවරු  යනවිට ඔවුන්ට රෑ කෑම උයාදී නවාතැන් සැපයූවේද ගම්වල හාමුදුරුවරුන්ය. ජිනීවා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂමට මෙවැනි කතාවක් ලෝක ඉතිහාසයෙන් සොයාගත හැකිද?

ආසියාව ක්‍රිස්තියානි කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය

21 වෙනි සියවසේදී ආසියාව ක්‍රිස්තියානි කිරීම සඳහා පෝප්තුමාගේ යෝජනාවට ලංකාවෙන් භාණ්ඩාගාරික කෙනෙක් ලෙස සිටියේ රත්නපුරේ තිබුණු වතිකන් ශාඛා කාර්යාලයය කියා මා අසා ඇත. බෞද්ධයින් හා හින්දූන් අයුතුලෙස ක්‍රිස්තියානි කිරීමේ බෝන් අගේන් ව්‍යාපාරයට විරුද්ධව ජාතික හෙළ උරුමයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීන් ගත් උත්සාහය බකල් කලේ දැන් කාදිනල්තුමා එකල රත්නපුරේ මීසම් භාරව සිටියදී පෙලපාලි යමින්ය. ප්‍රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිගේ කුළුපග මිත්‍රයෙක් (ඥාතියෙක්?) වූ පසුව බෝන් අගේන්කාරයෙක්වූ නෙවිල් ජයවීර සිවිල් සේවයෙන් අස්ව ආසියාවේ ප්‍රචාරක අධ්‍යක්ෂක වරයෙක් ලෙස ගියේද මේ කාලවලය.

පෘතුගීසි කාලයේ සිට බිහිවූ සිංහල ක්‍රිස්තියානීන් බුද්ධාගමට හතුරන්සේ හැසුරුණේය. අදටත් දුප්පත් කතෝලිකයින් හැර සෙසු අය හැසිරෙන්නේ මාක්ස්වාදීන් 1930 ස් ගණන් වල හැසුරුණු, දුටුගැමුණු රජු ගඩොල් මෝඩයෙක් (රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑය සැදූ!), ඩී. බී ජයතිලක ඇබිත්තයෙක් (කුඩා අවධියේ පන්සලේ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබූ නිසා), යන ආකල්පයේය. 1815 දී උඩරට රජු අල්ලා ගන්නාවිටත්, ඉන්පසු ඇතිවු හැම සුද්දන්ට විරුද්ධ සිංහල බෞද්ධ සටනකදීත් කතෝලිකයින්/ක්‍රිස්තියානීන් ගත්තේ සුද්දාගේ පැත්තය. 1883 කොටහේනේ බෞද්ධ විරෝධී කෝලාහලයේදී (Riots) සුද්දා ගත්තේ කතෝලික පැත්තය.

මුරදේවතා සංකල්පය

1802 න් පසු ලංකාවේ ඉතිහාසය එක අතකින් සුද්දන්/කළුසුද්දනුත් හා අනිත් පැත්තෙන් පන්සලත් අතර ඇතිවූ නිරන්තර අරගලයක කතාව යයි සළකණ විට, එහිලා ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි සංස්ථාව ඉටුකල කාර්යය ඉස්මතුවී පෙනේ. මෙම ඉතිහාස කතාවේ එකිනෙක හා බැඳුණු අවධි රැසක් හඳුනා ගත හැකිය. මුල්ම අවධිය වූයේ <බුද්ධාගම කියන්නේ බොරුවක්> යන කාලසීමාවය. මෙය 1802 සිට 1873 පානදුරා වාදය දක්වාම පැවතියේය. නෝත් ආණ්ඩුකාරයාගේ සිටම පැවති, නිල නොලත් යටත් විජිත පාලන ප්‍රතිපත්තිය වූයේ ගම හා පන්සල අතර ඇති ගහට-පොත්ත වැණි බැඳීම කඩා දමන්නේ කෙසේද යන්නය. මෙය ලෝකයේ වෙන කිසිම රටක දක්නට නොලැබුණ භික්ෂූන් රටේ මුරදේවතාවුන්ය යන සංකල්පයට විරුද්ධ සටනකි.

දැන් 2023 වනවිට මේ මුරදේවතා සංකල්පය පණ අදිමින් සිටිනවා නොවේද? රැවුල්-කොණ්ඩා වවාගෙන පොලිසියට ගල් ගසමින් පෙලපාලි යන සිවුරු කරටගත් තරුණ පංචස්කන්ධ වල සිට රෑට අරක්කු බොන වයසක භික්ෂූන් දක්වා මෙම පරිහාණිය උඩුදුවා ගොස් ඇත. හැම පැත්තෙන්ම සිදුවන්නේ සංඝ සංස්ථාවට වටකරගෙන පහර දීමය. එහෙත් ධර්මධර-විනයධර සංඝ සමාජයක් නිසා නොවේ නම් ඉන්දියාව, ඇෆ්ගනිස්ථානය, කොරියාව යන රටවල සිදුවූවා මෙන් සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරය ලංකාවෙන් අතුගෑවී යන්නට හොඳටම ඉඩ තිබුණි. 1840 ස් ගණන්වලදී ජේම්ස් ද අල්විස් කියා සිටියේ තව දශක දෙකක් යන්නට කලින් බුද්ධාගම රටෙන් අතුරුදහන් වෙනු ඇත යනුවෙනි.

හිට්ලර්ගේ ගිවිසුම්

සුද්දන් විසින් 1815 ගිවිසුමේ වගන්ති කඩකිරීමේ ප්‍රතිඵල 1818 හා 1848 කැරළි වශයෙන් මතුවිය.  එම කැරළි යම් ජන වර්ගයක් සමූලඝාතන කිරීම් පිළිඹද පරණම උදාහරණ වියහැකිය. 1947 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 29 වෙනි වගන්තිය 1815 ගිවිසුමේ සිංහල බෞද්ධයාට කල හානිය කළු සුද්දන් යටතේ තව දුරටත් ගෙනයාමක් විය. මෙම හිරිහැර වෙනස්කම් එහෙන් මෙහෙන්වත් අඩුකර දැමීමට ආණ්ඩු ගත් උත්සාහ කතෝලික හා ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි සංස්ථා විසින් කඩා කප්පල්කර දැම්මේ සිංහල බෞද්ධයයි කියාගත්  දේශපාලකයින්ගේ දැනුවත්කමද ඇතුවය. ඩී. එස්. සේනානායකගේ සිට හැම අගමැති-ජනාධිපතිලාම (දෙතුන් දෙනෙකු හැර) ක්‍රිස්තියානි විවාහ අවාහ මඟින් සම්බන්ධවූ අයය. එක ටෙලිෆෝන් කෝල් එකකින් කොළඹ ක්‍රිස්තියානි අගරද ගුරුන්ට තිබු බලපරාක්‍රමය මහනුවර මහානායක හිමිවරුන්ට තිබුණේ නැත. 1947 ව්‍යවස්ථා කෙටුම්පත කල්තියාම අගරදගුරුන්ගේ අනුමැතිය සඳහා පෙන්වූවායයි කතාවක් තිබේ.

ඉංගිරිස් භාෂාව දිගටම පවත්වාගෙන යාම හා දෙමළ පෙඩරල් ව්‍යාපාරයට සහායදීම අතින් ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලි හා මාක්ස්වාදීන් එකිනෙකා පරදවමින් ක්‍රියාකලේය. ලේක් හවුස් පත්තර ඊට උපකාර කලේය. ලක්ෂ්මන් විහ්‍රමසිංහ පියතුමාට අනුව ක්‍රිස්තියානි චෙල්වනායගම් දෙමළ මෝසස් විය. කෙනත් ප්‍රනාන්දු පියතුමාට අනුව ප්‍රභාකරන් මානව හිතවාදියෙක් විය (humane person). උතුරු නැඟෙනහිර බෞද්ධ විරෝධී හා පුරා වස්තු විරෝධී උසිගැන්වීම්වලදී මූලිකත්වයක් ගන්නේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි දෙමළ දේශපාලකයින් හා කතෝලික/ක්‍රිස්තියානි පාදිලිවරුන්ය.

වියළි කලාපයේ ගොවි ජනපද  ඇතිකිරීම දෙමළ නිජබිමක් සිංහලීකරණය කිරීමක් යයි චෙල්වනායගම්ලාගේ ප්‍රචාරයේදී ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිය සිය නිහඬතාවය මඟින් එය අනුමතකලේය. සුද්දා විසින් මුඩුබිම් පණත් මඟින් උඩරට ගැමියාගේ ඉඩම් අත්පත්කරගෙන ඒවා කෝපි, තේ, රබර් වගාවන් සඳහා අඩුමිලට  විකුණුවේය. මේ ඉඩම් වෙන්දේසි ගැන ලන්ඩන් පත්තරවල පලවූයේ සුද්දන්ට ලංකාවට පැමිණ අයෝජනය කරන්නට ඉඩ සලසා දීමටය. මේ වතුවල වැඩට අයිරිස් ජාතිකයින් ගෙන ඒමේ සැලැස්මක් පවා යෝජනාවූ අතර ඔවුන් ප්‍රවාහණය කිරීම සඳහා දැරීමට සිදුවන අධික වියදම නිසා ඒ වෙනුවට ටැමිල්නාඩ් දමිළයින් ගෙන ඒමට තීරණය විය. මේ ක්‍රමය ලතින් ඇමෙරිකානු රටවලද ක්‍රියාත්මක විය. ජනපදවල පදිංචියට ගියේ උඩරට අසරණවු ගැමි ජනයාය. එසේ වුවත් ඉන් ඒ ප්‍රදේශවල දමිළ ජනාවාස වලට හානියක් නොවූ බව භූගෝල විද්‍යා මහාචාර්ය ජෙරල්ඩ් පීරිස් විසින් පෙන්වා දී ඇත. උඩරට ගැමි පුනරුත්ථාපන කොමිෂක් පවා පිහිටුවත් උඩරට ගැමියාගේ දුගී බව අදටත් එසේමය.  කාදිනල්තුමා වතුකරයේ ඉන්දියන් දෙමළ ජනයා ගැන කතාකරන්නේ මෙම අනිත් පැත්තේ කතාව අමතක කර දමාය. 2023 ජූනි මාසය වනතුරුම කතෝලික පල්ලියට මෙවැනි කැක්කුමක් ඇති නොවූ නිසා කාදිනල්තුමාගේ කතා විප්ලවකාරීය. මෙය සමානකල හැක්කේ  1970 ගණන්වල වතු ජනසතු කල පසු ප්‍රථම වතාවට ලන්ඩන් පත්තරවල ලංකාවේ  වතු කම්කරුවන්ගේ දුක ගැන ලිපි පලවීමටය. එතෙක් ඔවුන් ඒ ගැන නිහඬව සිටියේ වතු අයිතිකාර සුද්දන් රැක ගැනීමට නොවේද?

ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිද වංක දේශපාලකයින් මෙන් අවුරුදු 75ක් ම රට විනාශකිරීමේ අපරාධයේ හවුල් කරුවන් නොවේද? පහත් කුලයේ යයි සළකණ උතුරේ දෙමළ ජනයාට මැත් ප්‍රොපෙසර් සුන්දරලිංගම් වැන්නන් හින්දු කෝවිල්වලට ඒම වැලැක්වීමට ක්‍රියාකලා මෙන්ම නොවූවත් පල්ලිවල මෙම <කුලහීන> ජනයාට ඉඳගන්නට සිදුවූයේ බිම හෝ බංකුවල මිස පුටු මේස වල නොවේ. ලතින් ඇමෙරිකාවේ රටවල ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලිය ගොස්පල් ඉකොලෝජි (gospel ecology) යන තේමාව යටතේ ඒ රටවල පරිසරය හා දුගී ජනයාගේ යහපත සඳහා දුෂ්ට පාලකයින්ට විරුද්ධව පෙරමුණ ගත්තේය. කාදිනල්තුමාද එසේ ඉදිරිපත් වන්නට තීරණය කලානම් එය විප්ලවීය වෙනසකි. පුදුමයට කරුණ නම් ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති නෝනාද මීට සමගාමිව හිල් කන්ට්‍රි ටැමිල්ලා ගැන කතාකරන්නට ඉදිරිපත්වීමය. ගෝල්පේස් අරගලය නමැති කුමණ්ත්‍රන කතාවේදීද  කාදිනල් හා ජුලි චුන් සිටියේ එකම බෝට්ටුවේ නොවේද?

දකුණු ඉන්දියානු බලපෑම් නිසා සිංහල භාෂාව බලවත් අනතුරකට පත්ව තිබූ අන්දම සිංහල භාෂාව (1932) යන පොතේ තියඩෝර් ජී. පෙරේරා පඬිතුමා විසින් දීර්ඝ ලෙස විස්තරකර ඇත. එසේ වුවත් 1940 දශක වල සිට නැවතත් ලියලමින් තිබුණේ ක්‍රිස්තියානි-බෞද්ධ ආගමික අසහනයය. කැතලික් ඇක්ෂන් ව්‍යාපාරය පේරදෙණිය විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ ඩීන්ලා අතර පවා පැතිරී ගොස් තිබුණේය (moral re-armament). මීට ප්‍රතික්‍රියාවක් වශයෙන් එල්. එච්. මෙත්තානන්ද, සිවිල් සේවක එන්.කිව්. ඩයස් ප්‍රමුඛ පිරිසක් බෞද්ධ බලවේගයක් දියත් කලේය. ලේක් හවුස් පත්තර කන්තෝරුවේද බලපෑම් මත මෙම බෞද්ධ-ක්‍රිස්තියානි ගැටුම සිංහල-දෙමළ භාෂා ගැටුමක් බවට හැරවී යාමක් සිදුවිය. 1962 පොලිස්-නේවි හමුදා කුමණ්ත්‍රනය ක්‍රිස්තියානි කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් විය. එය සර් ජෝන්, ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක හා ජේ. ආර් මෙන්, කතෝලික පල්ලියද දැනගෙන සිටියේ නැද්ද?

අයුතු අන්‍යාගමීකරණය මෙන්ම ශාරියා ආක්‍රමණයද ලෝක බලවේගය. අයථා අගාමීකරණය වැලැක්වීමේ පණතට විරුද්ධව මැල්කම් රංජිත් රත්නපුරේ පියතුමා පෙලපාලි ගියා පමණක් නොව ලංකාවේ සිදුවන ශාරියා/වහබි වාදයට විරුද්ධව ඥානසාර හිමි ඇතුළු භික්ෂූන් කාදිනල්වරයාට කරුණු ඉදිරිපත්කල විට එතුමා එම කාරණා නොසලකා හැරියේය. එසේ නොකලා නම් පසු කලෙක පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරයක් සිදු නොවන්නටද ඉඩ තිබුණි.

එහෙන් මෙහෙන් හැමපැත්තෙන්ම දැන් සිදුවන්නේ, ආත්මාර්ථකාමී දේශපාලකයින් ලංකා මාතාව දූෂණය කරමින් සිටීමය. ජනාධිපති රනිල් ඇතුළු මේ හැම නාටකවලින් සිදුවීමට යන්නේ  UNO හමුදා රටට ගොඩ බස්සවා ගැනීමේ ව්‍යාපාරයට තල්ලුවක් දීමය. කාදිනල්තුමාගේ මසුරන් වචන හා කතා වලින් එතුමා නොදැනම අන්තිමේදී ලැබෙන ප්‍රතිලාභයද රට කැබලිකිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාරයට පාර කැපීයාමය. සත්‍යවශයෙන්ම රට ගොඩ ගැනීමට ආශාවක් තිබේ නම් කාදිනල්තුමා විසින් කල යුතු ජන සභා සංකල්පය යටතේ ගම් මට්ටමින් මහජනයාට රාජ්‍ය පාලන බලතල හැකි උපරිම ප්‍රමාණයට පවරා දීමේ සටනට එකතුවීමය අහිංසක මෙන්ම හොරුන්වුන අරගලකාරයින්ද, සෑම දේශපාලන පක්ෂකාරයින්ද ඉල්ලන්නේත් මහජන සභාය (peoples’ councils).

වතිකානුව ලෝකයේ ඇති ධනවත්ම රාජ්‍යයය. විශාලම භාණ්ඩාගාරයය. අඩුතරමින් ලැංකාවේ බයිබල් බෙල්ට් එකේ මිනිසුන්ගේ යහපත සඳහාවත් වතිකානුවෙන් ණයක් ලබාගෙන දේශපාලකයාගෙන් තොර සංවර්ධන සැලැස්මක් (දේශපාලකයින් විසින් කඩා කප්පල්කල ගැමි දිරිය වැනි) ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්නට කාදිනල්තුමාට නොහැකිද?

1505 න් පසු බුද්ධාගම ලංකාවේ සංස්කෘතික පදනම යයි ප්‍රසිද්ධියේ ලොවට පැවසුවේ මැල්කම් රංජිත් කාදිනල් තුමාය. බෞද්ධ සෙවනේ සෙසු ආගම් පෝෂණය වූ බව එතුමා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. කොරෝනා කාලයේදී රතන සූත්‍රය රටපුරා දේශනා කරණ ලෙස එතුමා කියා සිටියේය. මෙය ලංකාවේ පමණක් නොව මුළු ක්‍රිස්තියානි ලෝකයේම සිදුවූ විප්ලවීය හා නිර්භීත ප්‍රකාශණයකි. අතීතයේදී සිදුවූ වැරදි ආවර්ජනය කර බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය ප්‍රතිපත්ති අනුව දේශ-පාලනයට දායකවීමට මහඟු අවස්ථාවක් කාදිනල් තුමාට උදාවී තිබේ.

Mohammad Abdullah

‘COMPLAINING to Iqbal: Dialogue with the Dead’ (also titled ‘SMS to Sir Muhammad Iqbal’) is a poem written by the late Malaysian poet and public intellectual Mohd Kamal Hassan (1942–2023). Inspired by his trip to Spain, the poem provides a concise account of the pitfalls of the international order that he calls ‘the New World Disorder.’ It talks about the predicaments of various global communities — including the Palestinians — over the years leading to the poem’s publication in 2002.

In respect of the question of Palestine, Kamal Hassan uses the literary device of apostrophe and addresses the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) in the following way

‘O Iqbal!

I wish you have heard the guns

of Israel,

the cries from Deir Yassin, Shabra, Shatilla

and Jenin,

the savage rumblings of Sharon’s tanks,

the merciless bulldozers tearing

into Palestinian homes.’

The list of Palestinian places that have witnessed the cruelty and savagery of the Israeli state is ever increasing; very few places have been left untouched. The enormity of Israeli oppression and callous disregard for human life is no longer a rarity. It is vying for record-breaking heights of persecution, while the tale of suffering and loss of the Palestinians is getting longer and bloodier.

Kamal Hassan alludes to the April 1–11, 2002 Israeli massacre of the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. The Israeli forces killed about 52 Palestinians including the elderly, women and children. Ariel Sharon (1928–2014) was Israel’s prime minister at that time, and that is one reason why Kamal Hassan uses the phrase ‘Sharon’s tanks.’ Sharon’s senseless use of bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes earned him the notorious nickname of ‘Ariel the bulldozer” Sharon.’

After many episodes of massacres in other Palestinian neighbourhoods, the crammed and crowded Jenin refugee camp was visited again by the marauding Israeli tanks on July 3, 2023. The murderous tanks were abetted by air bombings. After conducting a 48-hour cowardly campaign against the relatively defenceless Palestinians, the Israeli forces killed 12 refugees of the Jenin camp.

The Israeli forces have now withdrawn from Jenin. However, the Palestinians continue to live in fear because, for decades, Israel has been exercising unbridled liberty to wage war and satiate its thirst for their blood at will. Jenin or any other part of Palestine can be a target for Israeli violence any time.

It should not be forgotten that the Jenin camp houses about 18,000 displaced and dispossessed Palestinian refugees. It is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. Therefore, bombings on Jenin are unlikely to avoid human casualties.

The inhabitants of the Jenin refugee camp had been uprooted from their homes by the foreign, Israeli settlers. Thanks to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 on the lands of the Arabs. Palestinians have been made refugees in their own land only to be killed intermittently and made homeless through periodical land-and-air raids and massacres. Now they have been forced to flee the Jenin refugee camp in their thousands and in search of shelters God knows where.

The cries for justice are falling on deaf ears. Those who have power to stop these gross human rights violations and injustices are in denial or in complicity with the oppressive Israeli government. In April 2002, when the whole world was shocked by the Israeli atrocities, the then US Secretary of State Colin Powell (1937–2021) made a mockery of justice and said to a US Senate committee: ‘Right now I’ve seen no evidence of mass graves and I’ve seen no evidence that would suggest a massacre took place.’ This time, the US Biden administration backed the massacre of Jenin. We leave the case of the oppressed Palestinians and other vulnerable groups with God.

But I want to discuss the blatant hypocrisy of those in power and of the media. The Israeli regime used the euphemism ‘Operation Home and Garden’ to give a good name to the dirty things that its forces perpetrated in Jenin. Mainstream media outlets were either silent or playing down this brutality. Needless to say, a comparable Russian atrocity in Ukraine would perhaps induce a different media reaction, especially in the west.

Some media organisations use sophisticated phrases like ‘major military operation’ to condone Israeli atrocity or to give it some sort of legitimacy. Conversely, the same media resort to terms like ‘terrorist acts’ to describe whatever defensive measures the defenceless Palestinians desperately take.

I believe (western) media people have first-hand information about Israel’s colonial and apartheid treatment of the Palestinians. But they are forced to hide the truth and compromise with their conscience in order to comply with the editorial policy of their employers. In some way, they and their conscience are also victims of the juggernaut of the Israeli state. I pity them equally.

On a final note, the United States’ one-sided and unconditional support for Israel creates domino effects. It provides unjustified legitimacy to other global actors to commit aggression in their countries and beyond. Similarly, mainstream media complicity in Israel’s human rights abuses in Palestine is too much to bear.

Great powers that can deter the Israeli occupation and help achieve justice for the Palestinians seem to pursue their strategic interests. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the Palestine question and other sore issues in the world will reach amicable solutions only if the world leaders agree to put truth and justice above politics.

Manusha Media

දවස් 180ක් වැඩ කළත් පාරිතෝශික දීමනාවට හිමිකම්

සේවා ස්ථානයේ ලිංගික හිංසනය වැලැක්වීමට ප්‍රතිපාදන

සේවකයින්ගේ කැමැත්ත මත නම්‍යශීලී වැඩ කරන වේලාවන්

අර්ධකාලීන රැකියා සදහා අවස්ථා

පීතෘ නිවාඩු සදහා අවස්ථාව

ජාතික වේතන කවුන්සිලයක්

ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුතීන් අපරානුමත කිරීමට ප්‍රතිපාදන

අවුරුදු සියයකට ආසන්න පැරණි කම්කරු නීති සංශෝධනය කරමින් නූතන වැඩ ලෝකයට ගැලපෙන ආකාරයට සේවා නියුක්ති පනත ගෙන එන බවත්, එමගින් පීතෘ නිවාඩු ලබාදීම, දිද 180ක් සේවය කළත් පාරිතෝශික දීමනාවන්ට හිමිකම්කීම වැනි අවස්ථාවන් විවෘත කරන බවත් කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවසුවේය.

සේවා නියුක්ති පනත් කෙටුම්පත සකස් කිරීමට ආදාල දළ කෙටුම්පත කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට ඊයේ (06) දින ඉදිරිපත් කළ අතර ඉන් පසුව මාධ්‍ය වෙත අදහස් දක්වමින් මේ බව පැවසුවේය.

වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේද පැවසුවේය.

1935 වගේ බොහෝ ඈත කාලවලදී ගෙනාපු යල් පැන ගිය කම්කරු අන පනත් වෙනස් කරලා ගෙනාපු අලුත් කම්කරු පනත සදහා වන කෙටුම්පත අපි ජාතික කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත් කළා. ඒ අයගේ අදහස් හා යෝජනා වලටත් අපි අවස්ථා උදා කරලා තියෙනවා

අනාගත වැඩ ලෝකයට ගැලපෙන්නේ නැති, නූතන සමාජ ප්‍රවාහයන්ට ගැලපෙන්නේ නැති කම්කරුවාට කසිම ආරක්ෂාවක් දෙන්නේ නැති යල්පැන ගිය, පෞරානික කම්කරු නීති පද්ධතියක් තමයි අපිට තියෙන්නේ. සේවකයාගේ සුරක්ෂිතතාවය ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට කල් ගතවන ක්‍රමවේදයන් තිබුණේ. රටට ආයෝජකයින් ගේන්න අවශ්‍ය මානව සම්පතේ ශක්තිය ලබාගැනීමට අපහසු නීති රීති සමුදායක් තමයි තිබුණේ. ඒක සංශෝධනය කරන්න අපි බලාපොරොත්තු වුනා. ඒ සදහාවන කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවේ අනුමැතිය අරගෙන, සියලුම වෘත්තීය සමිතිවලට ලිඛිත ආරාධනා කරලා, පුවත්පත් දැන්වීම් පළ කරලා, අදහස් ලබාගැනීමේ සැසිවාර පැවැත්වුනා. අදහස් හා යෝජනා විවිධ මාර්ග ඔස්සේ ලැබුණා. සංවාදයක් ගොඩ නැගීම සදහා බොහෝ දෙනා අපිට උදව් කළා. ඒ අනුව අපි දළ කෙටුම්පත හදලා කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත් කළා. මේ ගැන තමනගේ අදහස් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට සති දෙකක කාලයක් ලබාදී තිබෙනවා. ලබන 21 වැනිදා දක්වා සංශෝධන ලබාගෙන ඒ සංශෝධනත් සමග කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයට ගිහිල්ලා, කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයේ අනුමැතියෙන්, නීති කෙටුම්පත් දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරලා මෙතෙක් අනුගමනය කළ පාරදෘශ්‍ය ක්‍රමවේදය අනුව කටයුතු කරමින් පනත් කෙටුම්පත සම්මත කරගැනීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. අපි වෘත්තීය සමිති, හාම්පුතු්ගේ , වෘත්තීයවේදීන්ගේ මහජනතාවගේ අදහස් ලබාගෙන තමයි අපි මේ දළ කෙටුම්පත සකස් කර තිබෙන්නේ. මේ කෙටුම්පතේ ඇති සංක්ෂිප්තයක් ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබෙනවා.

සේවයට බදවා ගැනීමේදී, සේවා ස්ථානයේදි වෙනස් කොට සැලකීම වැලැක්වීම සදහා වන නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපදන අපි මේ හරහා ගෙන එනවා. රැකියා ස්ථානයේදී සියලුම ආකාරයේ හිංසන හා ලිංගික හිරිහැර වැලැක්වීම සදහා අවශ්‍ය නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන අරගෙන එනවා. ලිංගික හිංසනය පිළිබද අංක 190 දරණ සම්මුතිය අපරානුමත කිරීමට මේ මගින් අපට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා.  සී 190 අපරානුමත කර්න කියලා ඉදරිපත් වෙලා තියෙන ඉල්ලීම් මේ හරහා ඉටු කරලා දෙන්න පුලුවන්.

ඒ වගේම වෘත්තීය ආරක්ෂාව සෞඛ්‍ය හා සුබසාධනය පිළිබද නව නීති හදුන්වා දෙනවා. වෘත්තීය ආරක්ෂාව හා සුබසාධනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අංක 155 දරණ සම්මුතිය අපරානුමත කිරීමටත් මේ ප්‍රතිපාදන මගින් හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා. ඒ වගේම පාරිතෝශික ගෙවීම සදහා මේ වන විට තිබෙන සේවකයින් 15ක් ිසිටිය යුතු බවට හා වසර පහක් සේවය කළ යුතු බවට වන සිමාවන් ඉවත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. ඒක ඉවත් කරලා දින 180ක් සෙවය කරන සේවකයාටත් මාස භාගයක පාරිතෝශික ගෙවිය යුතු බවට වන නියමයක් ඉදිරිපත් කරනවා. එතකොට අවුරුද්දක් සේවය කළත් පාරිතෝශික ගන්න පුලුවන්. අවුරුදු පහක් බලාගෙන ඉන්න ඕන නෑ.

කර්මාන්ත ශාලාවක හෝ කාර්මික ව්‍යාපාරකය රාත්‍රී සේවයේ නිරත වන කාන්තාවක් පමණක් නොව ඔනෑම සේවකයෙක් රාත්‍රී සේවයේ යොදවන විට පැයක කරනු ලබන ගෙවීම මෙන් පැය එකහමාරක ගෙවීමක් කළ යුතු බවට වන නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන අරගෙන එනවා. කලින් මේ අවස්ථාව ලැබුණේ කාන්තාවන්ට පමණයි.

පඩි පාලක ආඥා පනතේ, සාප්පු හා කාර්යාල පනතේ තිබෙන සේවා තත්වයන් හා කොන්දේසි පිළිබදව වන සදහන් විධිවිධාන ඉවත් කරලා සමාන තත්වය ලබාදීමට විධිවිධාන ලබාදෙනවා. අනියම් ස්වභාවයේ සේවයේ නිරත සේවා නියුක්තියකන් හැර සේවයට බදවා ගන්නා සියලු දෙනාටම සේවා කොන්දේසි ඇතුලත් පත්වීම් ලිපියක් ලබාදිය යුතු වෙනවා. ඒක අනිවාර්යයි.

සේවා නියුක්තිකයින්ගේ කැමැත්ත මත දින පහක වැඩ කරන සතියක් හා නම්‍යශීලී වැඩ කරන වේලාවන් හදුන්වා දෙනවා. යම් කොන්දේසිවලට යටත්ව කාන්තාවන්ට රාත්‍රියේ සේවා කිරීම සදහා දැනට නීතියේ පවතින කොන්දේසි ලිහිල් කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. කාන්තාවන් වැඩි පිරිසකගේ ඉල්ලීම් තමයි මේ. කාන්තා සංවිධාන බොහෝමයකින් මේ ඉල්ලිම ආවා.

අතිකාල සේවා ගණනය කිරීම සදහා ඒකමිතික ක්‍රමයක් හදුන්වා දෙනවා. අර්ධකාලීන රැකියාවල නිරතවීම සදහා අවස්ථාව ලබාදෙනවා. පුහුණුවන්නන්, ආධුනිකයින් සේවයට බදවා ගැනීම සදහා නීතිය හදුන්වා දෙනවා. ඒවා නිවරදිව නියාමනය කරනවා

ඒ වගේම මේ වන විට නොතිබුණ පීතෘ නිවාඩු ක්‍රමයක් හදුන්වා දෙනවා. දරුවෙක් ලැබෙන විට තාත්තා කෙනෙක්ටත් දරුවා හමුවෙන අවස්ථාවේදී අම්මා, දරුවා සමග සිටීමට දින 3ක නිවාඩුවක් හදුන්වා දී තිබෙනවා. නිවසේ සිට සේවය කිරීමේදී අයිතිවාසිකම් ආරක්ෂා කරදීමට නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හදුන්වා දෙනවා. විදේශීය සේවා නියුක්තියෙකක් ලංකාවේ සේවය කිරීමේදී අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ක්‍රියා පටිපාටයක් හදුන්වා දෙනවා. දැන් ලංකාවේ ඇවිත් සේවය කරන අය ඉන්නවා. කවුද වැඩ කරන්නේ, කොහොමද වැඩ කරන්නේ කියන එක ගැන දැන් කවුරුවත් දන්නේ නෑ

ගෘහ සේවය කම්කරු නීතිය ඇතුළට ඇතුලත් කරනවා. මෙතෙක් කල් ගෙවල්වල වැඩ කරන, ගෘහ සේවකයින් නීතිමය ආවරණයට ලක් කළේ නෑ. දනන් මේ අයත් කම්කරු නීති පද්ධතියට ඇතුළත් වෙනවා. ඒ මගින් සී 189 කියන ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුතියත් අපරානුමත කිරීමට හැකියාව ලැබෙනවා. ගොඩක් අය පිටරට වැඩ කරන ගෘහ සේවිකාවන් ගැන කතා කළාට රට ඇතුලේ ගෘහ සේවිකාවන්ට සිදුවන හිරිහැර ගැන කතා කරන්නේ නෑ. අපි ඔවුන්ට රැකවරණය ලබාදෙන නීති ගෙන එනවා.

පඩි පාලක සභා තීරණ මගින් හා ව්‍යවස්ථාපිත නීතිය මගින් අවම වැටුප් තීරණය කිරීමේ ක්‍රමවේදය වෙනුවට ජාතික වේතන කවුන්සිලක් හදුන්වාදී පිළිගත් හා කාලීන නිර්ණායක මත අවම වැටුප් තීරණය කිරීමේ ක්‍රමවේදයක් හදුන්වා දෙනවා.

සේවා නියුක්තිකයන් විසින් සිදුකරන ලබන විශමාචාර ක්‍රියාවන්ට අදාල අවසාන විනය තීරණ නිශ්චිත කාල සීමාවක් තුළ ලබාදීමට සේවා යෝජකයින්ට නියම කරන නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන ගෙන ඒමට කටයුතු කරනවා. සේවා යෝජකයින් සිදුකරන අසාධාරණ ක්‍රියාපිළිවෙත් දැනට නීතියේ පවතින ක්‍රමවේදයට අනුවම වෘත්තීය සමිති සිදුකරන අසාධාරණ ක්‍රියාපිළිවෙත් වැලැක්වීමට නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපදන ගෙන එනවා. අසාධාරණ කම්කරු පිළිවෙත් අනුගමනය කළහොත් දෙපාර්ශවයටම නඩු පැවරීමට හැකි ක්‍රමවේදයක් හදුන්වා දෙනවා.

වැටුපෙන් සාමාජික මුදල් අඩු කරලා වෘත්තීය සමිති වෙත යොමු කිරීම සේවා යෝජකයාට අනිවාර්ය කරනවා. සේවකයෙක් ඉල්ලීමක් කළොත් වෘත්තීය සමිතියට වැටුප කපලා යැවීම අනිවාර්ය කරනවා. වෘත්තීය සමිතියක් පිහිටුවීම සදහා දැනට අවශ්‍ය අවම සාමාජික සංඛ්‍යාව 7යි.  ඒ නීතිය ගේන අවස්ථාවේදී රටේ ජනගහනය මිලියන 5.8යි. අපි ඒක 7 සිට 100 දක්වා ඉහළ නංවනවා. වෘත්තීය සමිතියක විධායක සභාවට සියයට 25ක කාන්තා නියෝජනයක් අනිවාර්ය කරනවා. වැඩ වර්ජනයක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට පෙර සේවා යෝජකයා දැනුවත් කිරීම හා වැඩ වර්ජනයක් කිරීමට සාමාජිකයින් බහුතරයකගේ කැමැත්ත ලබාගත යුතු බවට ප්‍රතිපාදන අරගෙන එනවා.

යම් මාර්ගෝපදේශකයන්ට යටත්ව සේවා යෝජකයකාට සේවා ස්ථානයේ රීති හදුන්වා දීමටත්, ඒ සදහා නීතිමය බලයක් ලබාදීමටත් කටයුතු කරනවා. දුර්වල කාර්ය සාධනය, තාක්ෂණික දියුණුව, ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම හෝ ව්‍යාපාර ප්‍රතිසංවිධානය නිසා රැකියා අතිරික්ත වන විට වන්දි ගෙවා සේවය අවසන් කිරීමේ ක්‍රියාවලිය වඩාත් වේගවත් හා සරල කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. අමුද්‍රව්‍ය නොමැතිකම, ඇණවුම් නොමැතිකම, යන්ත්‍ර සූත්‍ර බිදවැටීම හෝ සේවා යෝජකයාගේ පාලනයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගිය හේතු මත කෙටි කාලීනව සේවය නතර කිරීම කම්කරු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල්වරයාගේ අවසරය මත කටයුතු කිරීමට පියවරගත හැකියි.

සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙක් සේවයෙන් ඉවත් වන විට මාසයකට පෙර සේවා යෝජකයා දැනුවත් කර ඉවත්ව යා යුතු බවට වන ප්‍රතිපාදන ඇති කරනවා. කවුරුන් හෝ සේවයෙන් ඉවත් වෙනවා නම් මාසයකට පෙර ඒ බව දැනුම් දිය යුතු වෙනවා. විශ්‍රාම යාමේ වයස නැවත සමාලෝචනයට ලක් කරනවා. සෑම වෘත්තියකට ගරුත්වයක් ඇති කිරීමට ඒ ඒ වෘත්තීන් අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ප්‍රමිතීන් හා නිර්නායකයන් හදුන්වා දෙනවා. අපේ රටේ එක එක වෘත්තීන්ට ගරුත්වයක් නෑ කියන චෝදනාවන්ට පිළිතුරක් මේ මගින් ලබාදෙනවා.

සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ අරමුදලක් මගින් මාතෘ ප්‍රතිලාභ, සේවක සෞඛ්‍ය, විරැකියාවකදී වන්දි ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. මෙතෙක් කල් හාම්පුතාට පමණක් තිබුණ ඒ බර වෙනම අරමුදලක් හරහා ගෙවීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. ඒ හරහා කාත්නාවන්ට වැඩි අවස්ථා වැඩි කිරීම, රැකියා අවස්ථා සුලබ කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා.

සේවකයාගේ කාර්යසාධනය මැන බැලීම සදහා සේවා යෝජකයාට නෛතික බලයක් ලබාදෙනවා. මිනිස් බල සැපයුම් හා රැකියා නියෝජිත ආයතන නියමානුකූල කිරීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. ඉලෙට්‍රොනික් මාධ්‍යයේ වේතන ක්‍රමයක් හදුන්වාදීමට කටයුතු කරනවා. ඒ වගේම ජාතික ශ්‍රම බලකාය පිළිබද දත්ත පද්ධතියක් මේ පනත හරහා නිර්මාණය කිරිමට කටයුතු කරනවා. 

Video – https://we.tl/t-ovlEFfXo5p 

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Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare

6th July 2023 —
An Open Letter Hon. Mr. Udaya Gammanpila,
MP Dear Sir

Draft Animal Welfare Act of 2022 – We seek an Urgent Meeting with You

1. We write this letter of protest objecting to the arbitrary manner in which you have proceeded to select and interact with a set of Animal Welfarists/Rights Groups and People, (except for one who was nominated by HE the President), which are not at all representative of the wider Animal Rights/Animal Welfare movement of Sri Lanka, in the course of activation of the recently formed Parliamentary Caucus on Animal Welfare.

2. We understand that you have had meetings on the 7th of June and the 4th of July with the above group based on a WhatsApp Chat despite the absence of a formal/legal basis for the formation of such a group.

3. In our view, this formation is based and made by random choice or personal whim rather than any reason or system.

4. We perceive this misuse of power as tantamount to unrestrained and autocratic use of parliamentary authority.

5. You have effectively excluded all major contributory Groups and People of Animal Welfarists (AW)/Animal Rights (AR) background, including Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, Attorney-at-Law, who drafted the Animal Welfare Bill (AWB) on the invitation of Justice A.R.B. Amerasinghe, then Chairman of the Law Commission of Sri Lanka.

6. The process of drafting the AWB commenced in February 2000. NOTE 1: Please refer to Annex 1 – History and Current Status of the AW Act.

7. Excluding Mr. Senaka Weeraratna from contributing any further to reforming the 2022 draft AW Act in the best interest of animals even at this penultimate stage is, metaphorically speaking, like separating a mother after having carried the fetus in her womb for nine months and given birth to it, being excluded from critical decisions affecting the child.

8. If anyone wants this Act passed it must be none other than Mr. Senaka Weeraratna, the pioneer of the Animal Welfare Bill and the one who drafted it for the consideration of the Law Commissioners. If the Animal Welfare Bill did not come into existence, largely because of his acceptance of an honorary post offered by the Law Commission to be a Consultant to the Law Commission on Animal Welfare legislation and subsequent work by him and his team, there would not be any AWB to talk of.

9 We are of the opinion that the Draft Animal Act of 2022 needs further consultation and review by us and a wider set of stakeholders as our recent investigations have shown that this Bill if passed in the current state of serious weakening of indispensable provisions, will make it fall short of even the minimum standards set for this enlightened and compassionate piece of legislation.

10. Our calls to have a wider group in discussions and committees have unfortunately fallen on deaf ears and we are therefore constrained to form the view that you, Hon. Mr. Udaya Gammanpila, MP, have been misled on wrong advice to deny the active participation of other stakeholders in the closing phases of the enactment of the Animal Welfare Bill.

11. It must be remembered that we too have a public duty and social consciousness as active AWs and, some as key contributors to the making of this Act, to ensure that the Act keeps true to its Objects and Mission.

NOTE 2. We are releasing this letter to the public exercising our Social Consciousness as Public Defenders of Animals and as responsible AWs/ARs declaring publicly that we wish to disassociate ourselves from the current manipulative processes of an aggressive and dominant group of AWs/ARs and to publicly state that it is our bounden duty to ensure that this Act’s passage indeed prevents Cruelties against Animals in Sri Lanka and not enable a new legal framework to be created for fresh cruelties to be committed on our innocent animals.

NOTE 3. The purpose of the Joint Face Book alert made on 27/6/2023 @ https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0qfpgXVrQ7N7wCprHGdXZ49ZukDShc8Royf65nFajKMuDAUDbxhmHYi3AVPLkMEeYl&id=1745757207&mibextid=Nif5oz

and now this open letter is to raise public awareness on the draft Animal Welfare Act of 2022 as we noted that it is a seriously weakened Act vis-a-vis its original Bill prepared by the Law Commission in 2006, bringing in the room for possible committing of fresh Animal Cruelties. At the Meetings of the Parliamentary Caucus for Animal Welfare now in place, further amendments are being envisaged for the further weakening of this Bill.

12. Hence, as per our observations referred to in Note 3, as responsible Animal Welfare and Rights espousers with a social conscience, excluded till now from all activities concerning this Bill after 2006, we decided to study the two versions of the Bill and present it to the public on a comparative basis, highlighting the strengths and the weaknesses of the 2022 version, and calling for a wider involvement of Stakeholders to look at these concerns closely before its enactment.

13. In conclusion, we like to add that the moral challenge for the people of this country is to give effect to the voice of the voiceless animals long suppressed via an effective piece of Animal Welfare legislation or accommodate the demands of those who see animals as fit only for abuse and exploitation for profit and thereby trying hard to negate and seriously weaken the noble purpose of the Animal Welfare Bill.

14. It is our belief that wider participation of diverse groups will eventually help all reach unity and consensus. Dear Sir, we the undersigned request an URGENT MEETING with you to elaborate on our findings on the draft 2022 Act and, we believe that as a person who values democratic processes and natural justice, you would consider this request favourably, taking into fair consideration all that we have presented here. Thank you.
15. Yours faithfully
16. We the undersigned: Kandy Association for Community Protection through Animal Welfare (KACPAW) Jeran Jegatheesan – Animal Rights Activist Sri Lanka Avihinsavadee Maha Sangamaya Dominic Jaliya Perera – Animal Rights Activist Thanuja Navaratne – Animal Rights Activist/ Attorney-at-Law Sathwa Mithra Justice for Animals and Nature (JAN) Centre for Eco-cultural Studies (CES) Animal SoS Sri Lanka Anagarika Dharmapala Humanitarian Foundation Animal Rights Protection Force (ARPF) Dharmavijaya Foundation Sri Bodhiraja Foundation Sri Lanka Vegetarian Society Samahitha Nature Foundation Manusath Abhayadana Sanvidhanaya Thamara Herath – Animal Rights Activist/ Attorney-at-Law

Mohammad Abdullah

The Holy Quran was burned last Wednesday in front of the largest mosque in Stockholm, Sweden. The day was Eid-ul-Azha. Such atrocities have been committed in the name of freedom of expression. The act of burning the Quran was carried out under the security of the Swedish police. The OIC has called an emergency executive committee meeting in Jeddah next week to discuss the consequences of burning the Quran. A spokesperson said, the meeting will discuss what can be done against this heinous act. The burning of the Quran in Sweden has caused widespread outrage in the Muslim world. Some countries have withdrawn their ambassadors from Sweden. The foreign ministry of many countries including Bangladesh called the Swedish ambassador and strongly protested the incident.

In some other countries, including Sweden, we have noticed the burning of the Holy Quran. The question is, what do they want to prove through such an event? If you burn the Quran, will the Quran disappear from the world? How many millions of copies of Quran will they burn? Millions of Qurans are being printed in the world every day. Can they finish burning the Quran? Another thing, millions of Hafez have memorized the Holy Quran. Can the Quran be erased from their hearts? And the number of Hafez is increasing every day in this world. Understandably, it is not possible to destroy the Quran from this world by burning it.

So why arson in the Holy Quran? A person with a deranged brain can do such a thing. And can a person crazy with violence. Such people are dangerous for the society and the state. Such people should be brought under the law. But can all states afford to do this? As Sweden does not.

However, they are quite capable of showing leniency in the heinous act of hurting people’s religious sentiments. It is good to say here that the Holy Qur’an not only mentions Muhammad (pbuh), but twenty-five prophets including Moses (pbuh), Jesus (pbuh). If the Quran is burned, they will also be burned. But the prophets and messengers can be burned like this? Can Islam be burned?

Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation or OIC have called an emergency meeting. The governments of various Muslim countries around the world, including Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Iraq, have strongly condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran with the help of the Swedish government. These countries have summoned the Swedish ambassador or recalled their own ambassador from Sweden as a protest. There are demands to boycott Swedish products. Meanwhile, the burning of the holy book of Muslims in Sweden, the Quran, led to protests in front of the Swedish Embassy in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. In addition, several Muslim countries have condemned this incident. A man set fire to a copy of the Koran outside Stockholm’s central mosque on Wednesday. His name is Salwan Momika. Several Muslim-majority countries including Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the incident. A group of people gathered in front of the Swedish embassy in the capital Baghdad on Thursday (June 29) after a powerful Iraqi religious leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, called for a protest. In a video posted on social media, several people are seen walking on the premises of the embassy building. An AFP photojournalist at the scene said some people entered the embassy building and stayed there for about 15 minutes. They left after the arrival of local security forces. Swedish authorities, meanwhile, say Momika was allowed to protest outside the mosque under the country’s freedom of expression law. However, after the Quran burning incident, the police say they are now investigating the incident for inciting hatred. Turkey strongly condemned the incident, saying that such anti-Islamic activities in the name of freedom of expression are unacceptable. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, “We will teach arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of expression.” Morocco and Jordan have asked their ambassadors to return home from Stockholm in protest. The Swedish ambassador in Rabat, Morocco was also summoned. Egypt says the shameful incident is particularly provocative when Muslims are celebrating Eid al-Adha. Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson said the incident was “legally valid but inappropriate”. There have been riots in Sweden over plans to burn the Quran. However, nobody has right to hearten others religious mindset.  NATO member Turkey has previously rejected Sweden’s offer to join the alliance, citing the incident as one of the reasons. Russia’s parliament, the Duma, condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran with the help of the Swedish government. President Putin said, in Russia, desecration of the Holy Quran is considered a very heinous crime. Ahmad Attayyeb, the current head of Egypt’s Al Azhar University, has called on Muslims to take steps to boycott Swedish products.

Now the question is – can the Quran be burned or not? Let’s discuss this. 106 verses of the Qur’an talk about the Qur’an. It is said in a verse that the Qur’an was revealed by Majid Allah. And Allah will preserve this Qur’an. For this reason, it is not possible to destroy the Qur’an. The big proof of this is that there are more than six and a half million Hafez of Quran in the world today. Some believe that burning or tearing the printed book of the Qur’an will destroy it. They live in a complete fool’s paradise. Another group thinks that the Quran written on paper does not burn in fire. They also lack a general understanding of the Qur’an. That is why it is often seen after a fire somewhere – it is being preached that the Quran has not been burnt and people are eating it So how did the book of the Quran burn in Sweden?

Finally, anything written on paper will burn. If there is something written in the Quran, it will also be burnt. But the words of the Qur’an written on paper are a visible part. Another invisible factor is money. What God said. Whenever recited – these two things together become the Qur’an. It cannot be burned. If someone burns the Qur’an book, it will surely be an insult to the Qur’an. But he burned the Qur’an – that is not possible at all. It can also be contained in the invisible word. A Hafez might be killed It is not possible to destroy the Quran from Hafez’s chest of six and a half million Qurans. It is surprising to think how the Quran is preserved Lawhe Mahfuze on paper in stone The biggest thing is – inside the heart of the followers. Qur’an is light. It is not possible to extinguish this light.

By Senay Boztas Courtesy CNN

The Dutch government is returning 478 objects looted during colonial times to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

Following multiple claims from Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Nigeria, the Dutch Secretary of State for Culture and Media Gunay Uslu announced the decision Thursday to repatriate objects including the Lombok treasure,” consisting of 335 objects from Lombok, Indonesia, the Pita Maha collection, a key collection of modern art from Bali and the 18th-century Cannon of Kandy, a ceremonial weapon from Sri Lanka made of bronze, silver and gold and inlaid with rubies.

This is a historic moment,” Uslu said in a press statement. It’s the first time we’re following recommendations… to give back objects that should never have been brought to the Netherlands. But more than anything, it’s a moment to look to the future. We’re not only returning objects; we’re also embarking on a period of closer cooperation with Indonesia and Sri Lanka in areas like collection research, presentation and exchanges between museums.”

It’s time for museums to return their stolen treasures

In 2020, a Dutch Council for Culture report produced by a committee chaired by human rights lawyer Lilian Gonçalves-Ho Kang You recommended that the country should unconditionally” return objects it was reasonably sure were lost involuntarily by countries under its colonial authority.

Many of the objects to be returned are in the National Museum of World Cultures. Six other colonial artifacts claimed by Sri Lanka are currently in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands’ national museum of arts and history; this is the first repatriation of such artifacts from the museum following provenance research that began in 2017. The Cannon of Kandy, for instance, was looted by troops from the Dutch East India Company during the 1765 siege and plunder of Kandy, and it was later gifted to William V, Prince of Orange.

A collection of jewels, precious stones and silver, the “Lombok treasure” was taken from the Indonesian island of Lombok in 1894.World History Archive/Alamy Stock Photo

Valika Smeulders, head of the Rijksmuseum’s department of history, told The Art Newspaper there has been a clear shift in perspective.

I think the way that the museum world used to look at this debate in the 20th century was very much about the concern to preserve objects for generations to come, and obviously museums in Europe have the facilities to do that,” she said. But what changed is our viewpoint: these objects are to tell the stories of our countries, of our shared history of peoples. So what we see now as our mission is to have the objects in the places where they are best able to tell the stories that are important.”

She dismissed concerns that the new policy would mean European museums losing collection highlights — which until recently played a role in considering restitution claims on Nazi-looted art in the Netherlands.

I don’t really think that is going to happen, because I expect countries of provenance and museums here in Europe will have a discussion about which objects will go back, and not all of them will be,” Smeulders said. But what we will gain, all of us, is more knowledge about these objects, how they came into our possession, their background, what stories are we able to tell. So in the end we’ll have an enrichment of what we do instead of empty galleries.”

New York returns ‘extraordinarily rare’ gold coin to Greece — after it set auction record for $3.5 million

The collection of objects repatriated to Indonesia will not include human remains of the Java man,” which are displayed at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden as some of the earliest specimens of the extinct early human, Homo erectus.

A spokesperson for the Dutch government told The Guardian Thursday that no decision regarding the Java man” remains had been reached.

Nothing has been declined, but some things take longer than others,” the spokesperson said.

Gert-Jan van den Bergh, a specialist in art law at the law firm Bergh Stoop & Sanders, told The Art Newspaper that the repatriation effort was an important first step, but just a first step.”

Don’t forget, we have 300,000 colonial objects that are the property of the central state in the Netherlands alone,” Van den Bergh said, adding that there should be more scrutiny of privately-owned colonial objects as well, including at major auction houses.

A ceremonial handover of objects to the National Museum of Indonesia in Jakarta will take place at the Museum Volkenkunde Leiden on July 10.

Courtesy NDTV

Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.

Colombo: 

Describing New Delhi as a “close associate” and a “trustworthy friend” of Colombo, Sri Lanka’s Parliament Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena on Friday thanked India for the financial assistance it extended to the island nation when it reeled under an unprecedented economic crisis last year.

Sri Lanka was hit by a catastrophic financial crisis in 2022, the worst since its independence from Britain in 1948, due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves.  As the country struggled, locked in the throes of the crisis, India extended multi-pronged assistance of about USD 4 billion to it last year, through multiple credit lines and currency support, in line with India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.

In his address at the gala dinner reception hosted for delegates of the Indian Travel Congress here, Abeywardena said that India “saved us” during the financial crisis otherwise, there would have been “another bloodbath for all of us”.

At the evening reception, the Speaker thanked India for the help extended to the cash-strapped nation and recalled the civilisational ties and similarities between the two countries and their cultures.

“Sri Lanka and India are very, very closely interconnected countries, culturally, nationally, and policy-wise, and above all, India has been a very close associate and trustworthy friend of Sri Lanka,” Abeywardena said, adding that when “we were in trouble”, India always helped out. “And, even this time, today, I heard that India is willing to extend our restructuring of loans for 12 years. Never expected, and never in the history, not a single country has extended that kind of assistance,” he said.

He recalled the helping hand lent by India during the period of trouble last year that devastated the Sri Lankan economy, pushing it into a debt crisis.

“I must tell you, during the trouble that we had last year, you (India) saved us, India saved us otherwise, there would have been another bloodbath for all of us. So, that is how India came to help us,” Abeywardena said.

He made the remarks in the presence of the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, Sri Lanka’s Tourism and Lands Minister, Harin Fernando, and other senior officials of the Sri Lankan government.

“Your ambassador here, (a) very close friend of ours. We love and respect him,” the Speaker said, referring to Baglay.

Noting the similarity between the Indian surname Singh and the Sri Lankan surname Singhe, Abeywardena claimed that “it shows we are genetically connected to India”.

“That way, India is not a new country to us. It’s part of the ethos of our country, part of our life, part of our heart,” he said, adding, “We are here to receive you, respect you, join with you.”  “Together, we (Sri Lanka) can join with you (India), without any difficulty or hesitation, with great trust,” the Speaker said.

n his address, Fernando pitched Sri Lanka — Pearl of the Indian Ocean — as a unique destination for India and the rest of the world, saying, “One island nation offers so many different tourist experiences, without travelling far from one location to another.”

Courtesy Pakistan Observer

Sri Lankan inflation will drop to 7 percent in July, an official of the country’s central bank told journalists in Colombo on Thursday.

The central bank’s Director of Economic Research P. K. G. Harischandra, while addressing a press conference, said the headline inflation will stabilize around mid-single-digit level in the medium term.

Harischandra said that the core inflation for June was reported at 9.8 percent and this is the first time inflation has gone below 10 percent in a few years.

In September 2022, Sri Lanka’s headline, core, food and non-food inflation were 69.8 percent, 50.2 percent, 94.9 percent and 57.6 percent, respectively.—Xinhua

Courtesy Oman Observer

The man charged with clawing Sri Lanka out of bankruptcy says he had warned about economic calamity years before it hit — and was pressed into retirement for his troubles.

Central bank chief Nandalal Weerasinghe was asked to return to the island nation last year to help steer it through a financial collapse that triggered months of food shortages, petrol queues, and nightly blackouts.

The 63-year-old says his mandate coincides with Sri Lanka’s one final opportunity to rescue itself from a cycle of economic shocks that stretches back decades.

There’s no excuse this time, no second chance, we have to get it right this time, he said at his Colombo office this week. This is where I think the crisis is an opportunity.

Weerasinghe was the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s number two when Gotabaya Rajapaksa was elected president in 2019 on populist promises of generous tax cuts.

Government debt soared as Rajapaksa pursued an unorthodox policy of printing exorbitant amounts of money while holding down exchange and interest rates to spur growth.

As the senior deputy governor, I always raised concerns, Weerasinghe said. But with Rajapaksa&#039;s administration steamrolling objections from him and other senior central bankers, Weerasinghe said he felt he had no option but to take early retirement.

Obviously, I saw if those policies continued in that way… we’ll end up in a situation that I said at that time was exactly what happened, he added. Weerasinghe had decamped for a quiet life in Australia, spending time with his children and hitting the golf course five days a week, when Rajapaksa asked him to come back and helm the central bank.

He returned to a country in chaos, its currency in freefall and the government days from defaulting on its $46 billion foreign debt.

The Covid-19 pandemic had dealt a hammer blow to already precarious public finances, as the island&#039;s lucrative tourism industry shuttered and remittances from Sri Lankans working abroad dried up.

Foreign exchange reserves had almost been exhausted, leaving importers unable to buy goods necessary to keep the economy functioning.

Supermarket shelves were empty, long lines snaked from fuel stations, and thermal power stations were forced to ration electricity for 13 hours each day. By July, Rajapaksa had fled the country after months of protests demanding his resignation for mismanaging the crisis.Rajapaksa&#039;s successor, Ranil Wickremesinghe, has sought to repair the nation&#039;s finances through a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

The rescue package commits Sri Lanka to an austerity regime of steep tax hikes and an end to generous consumer utility subsidies, both of which have proven deeply unpopular. Its passage was reportedly held up for months when China, Sri Lanka&#039;s largest bilateral creditor, resisted agreeing to a haircut on its loans.

Chinese debt has been controversial politically, with Rajapaksa and his elder brother Mahinda — himself a former president — accused of taking Beijing&#039;s money to finance costly vanity projects.

Weerasinghe said the delays to the IMF package were understandable because Beijing was a relatively “new player” to bilateral lending. China is fully on board, and agreed to support Sri Lanka and help Sri Lanka to come out of this crisis, he said.

Last year brought Sri Lanka&#039;s worst economic downturn in its 75-year history as an independent nation, with GDP contracting 7.8 percent and inflation hitting 70 percent at its peak.

But the island&#039;s tea- and tourism-dependent economy is no stranger to shocks, with foreign exchange shortages triggering recessions and government rationing of consumer goods numerous times in prior decades.

Sri Lanka had already gone to the IMF cap in hand 16 times before last year, but failed to stick with agreed-upon reforms, giving it a serious credibility gap.

Weerasinghe said the country had two choices this time around: if it sticks to its current IMF programme, its economy would return to normal within two to four years If it did not, Sri Lanka would no longer be indulged if it fell off the wagon and returned to its spendthrift ways at the first sign of stability, he warned.&amp;quot;This time, the 17th time with the IMF, is different,&amp;quot; he said. If you are trying to go back to another programme, that will be the most difficult, and I think that will be the end of the story. – AFP

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his belief that Sri Lanka’ tourism industry would significantly contribute to the country’s foreign exchange earnings in the coming decade.

Speaking at the Transcending Borders – Transforming Lives” program organized by the Indian Tourism Federation at the Bandaranaike International Memorial Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo on Thursday (06 July), the President highlighted that comprehensive plans have already been formulated to enhance Sri Lanka’s appeal as a tourist destination and stressed that promoting tourism could lead to an increase in per capita income.

President Wickremesinghe also emphasized the importance of collaborative efforts among all the BIMSTEC countries to develop the BIMSTEC region into a thriving tourism hub, transcending national borders.

Addressing the event, Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay announced the expansion of flights between Chennai and Jaffna, which now operates only four times a week, to begin daily operations basis starting from 16 July. 

He further mentioned ongoing efforts to resume the long-discontinued ferry service between the two nations, which had remained inactive for several decades.

Following is the speech delivered by President Ranil Wickremesinghe;
We’ll assure you that Sri Lanka’s tourism, the new plans that our Minister Harin is going to implement, will certainly make it a good stay, a wonderful stay, an incredible stay. Now many of you, some of you, will, after this conference, be visiting different parts of Sri Lanka.

I would like to tell you there are things that you should not miss. Go to Trincomalee and see the Dakshinakailash. Come to Kataragama and see the shrine of Lord Vellamurugan. It’s over 2000 years old, one of the oldest standing Hindu shrines in the region. 

I was there for the festival a few days ago, and there were over 200,000 people there. Or visit Nallur in Jaffna to see the festival that’s starting there. This is a part of our culture, and it’s worth a trip to see some of these, just as much as you’ve gone and seen the hill country and others.

High Commissioner Gopal, yes, you’ve seen Ella, but I’ve got to show you something else. The impact of the Ukraine war in Sri Lanka, where a Russian Chef is running a Japanese restaurant in Weligama. 

There’s something more we are going to add, as I talk with the Minister, there will be a military tattoo in August together with the Nallur festival and the Kandy Perahera, not the normal arms but something like the Edinburgh tattoo which will be full of dance and music. And in January, we have the Galle Literary Festival. 

This time it’s going to be a gala one. Every town in Galle, in the southern province, will have its own festival. Hirikatiya will have a beach discotheque, and there will be modern jazz and modern art. In Matara, there will be a number of classical music events, and in addition to that, in January, you can also listen to Andrea Bocelli singing in Colombo. 

So that’s what we are adding on. We are trying to make tourism new and make more use of the potential.
When we faced bankruptcy in Sri Lanka, now that we are getting out of it and debt restructuring is taking place, we still have to remember that the balance of trade is not in our favour. So we have to ensure a positive balance of trade in time to come. 

And one of the means of raising funds which is not debt-creating, is tourism. 

So exploit it to the full. Use it, and we are looking at new tourism from the 2.5 million we have to go to 5 million to start with. Look at the upper end of the markets. Why not have $500 a night to $1,000 a night? 

We have got to learn from Maldives, the smallest of the South Asian countries. We are trying to put 7 more golf courses in, make Nuwara Eliya the centre of golf.

We want to have large resorts. We have identified one next to Dedduwa, over 1000 acres with water, good for very environmentally friendly tourism. Another one is next to Horton Plains, another 900 acres which will be another forest reserve where you can have 5-star luxury accommodation. 

There are many other places where yachts and yachting will start, with Mannar as one of the headquarters, throughout the Jaffna Lagoon, down into Trincomalee and further down. We will exploit the railway in different ways, just like you have gone up to Ella. Moreover, we want to hand over a large number of plantation bungalows for boutique hotels. So there are going to be more and more items that we will add on to it. 

Food items, dance items, to make Sri Lanka truly known as a worthwhile tourist destination. We expect to attract many visitors from Asia, including India, East Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, because it is easier for them to travel. We will open up the Eastern Province, and there will be apartments available for purchase where you can directly stay near the beaches of the Eastern Province. 

Why not? If you want to have a villa, we will make arrangements for that too, for buying and holding. Why not? Come here, this is the place.
The laws will be changed to accommodate our plans. So I thought this is the way we should proceed. And I was thinking to myself, why didn’t we do it earlier? And I looked at what we are doing in the region. 

Of the three regions in Asia, of our size, East Asia, Southeast Asia has far more tourists than us. South Asia together may not have as many tourists as one or two of the East Asian or Southeast Asian countries or Western Europe. Why is it? India is good with domestic tourism. Are you going to rely solely on domestic tourism? 

When you can earn so much money and foreign exchange, more than what you target for, if you attract international travellers. In the next 10 years, per capita income will increase, people will travel around, and look for eco-friendly tourism. Why don’t we have it?

So why don’t we make our whole BIMSTEC area one borderless tourist area? Is that what you want? Transcending borders? Not just Sri Lankans traveling to India or Indians traveling to Bangladesh. No. It’s one tourist area for anyone who wants to come from outside. We have so much to offer. I have seen some of your assets. 

I have driven from Srinagar to Ladakh, to Leh. Staying in Kargil was not the best of accommodations, but the potential you have for development. I have been to many other areas of India as well.

What is Biryani? You might think of it as just one dish, but I think of it in terms of 60-70 dishes. Each area has its own Biryani. And if you go to Batticaloa, you can have a 24-egg Biryani. Now, why don’t we market it? All of us here.

The Biryani is a dish. When you come here, there are so many dishes to try. Look at how Thais have marketed their food. A country of 70 million. Why can’t we do the same? All you have done is market Chicken Tikka Masala, which is not even from India. Let’s make Biryani the signature dish for our region. People who want to come and taste it will have enough Biryani restaurants around the world. Why don’t we have Michelin-star chefs specializing in Biryani? Look at the potential we have.

We are looking at a cruise, a ship that has come from India to Sri Lanka. Why don’t we open up to BIMSTEC? Why don’t we use the Bay of Bengal for cruises? We are bigger than the Caribbean. Look at the potential. If people from East Asia, India, Southeast Asia, West Asia, and Africa come together, why travel all that way? 

Look at how we can develop and showcase the places in Sri Lanka. Look at Mahabalipuram. See Odisha. These are the places Europeans and others must see. Look at Cox’s Bazar. Explore the Andaman Islands. They are already popular among Indians. When this happens, prices in the Andaman Islands will go up. Look at Myanmar. They can travel down to the Andaman seas, all the way down to Singapore. If we start now and plan ahead, in 10 years’ time, we will have a completely new industry.

Why don’t we have travel arrangements? We can arrange it. You can go to Lumbini, and the next flight can bring you to Buddhagaya. See those places, and the next flight can bring you to Colombo, so you can visit the Temple of the Tooth and the Bo-tree. We need to arrange our connectivity in such a way. 

Why not climb up to the base camp and then come down to an island in the Maldives? These are the unique holidays that no one else can offer. We can think of so many other holiday options. Look at all the different dance forms we have. 

The various dancers in different regions. This is the potential we have to attract millions of tourists every year to our region. Why not utilize it? And this is my idea, that BIMSTEC should be one big tourist area. We can also showcase Biryani and other cuisines.

Look at cricket. When we were small, everything was decided at the MCC. Today, cricket is identified with India. If we have achieved such a big success in cricket, why can’t we come together and make tourism equally successful? 

Let’s go upmarket and charge more. It means our rural people will have a better income. Let’s all work towards it. Let’s think about it. Maybe all of you here from the Sri Lankan industry and from India can learn something. There’s something we can learn from the Maldives, and we can talk to Nepal. Let’s look at it and develop a thriving tourist industry. A place where millions of people visit our region, making it prosperous for the people in our countries.”

Addressing the gathering Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay said;
I am inspired by the presence of the Honourable President, and if I may mention, it was on his visit last weekend that the diplomatic envoys embarked on an unforgettable train journey through some of the most beautiful parts of Sri Lanka, aboard a vintage train called the Viceroy Special.

I mentioned this not just to reminisce about the beautiful journey through the misty forests, plantation areas, and picturesque landscapes of Sri Lanka, but because it reminded me of two things. One is the resemblance of the area to Vasuri and Nilgiris, which some of you might be familiar with, especially those who have come from India. 

The altitude is roughly the same as Visuri, but due to the tea plantations on both sides of the railway tracks, it gives the impression of passing through Nilgiri. However, this is not the reason I am mentioning it. 

When we reached our destination, a place called Ella, which is famous for, among other things, the world-renowned nine arches bridge, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Just six months ago, when I visited, there were hundreds of tourists on either side of the railway track and all over the place.

There were tourists from India, Sri Lanka, and other countries. For some of us on the train, it was a stark reminder of how different that moment was from about a year ago.

Mr. President, your presence here is, to me, a vote of confidence in the present and the potential, as well as a reiteration of the partnership between the people of India and Sri Lanka for progress. It signifies a step towards even closer cooperation for the prosperity of both nations.

The theme Transcending Borders, Transforming Lives,” is precisely the spirit of the India-Sri Lanka relationship that has brought these two countries together as civilizational twins. We are all aware of the geographical proximity of India and Sri Lanka, but over the course of millennia, this proximity has been layered with history, culture, civilization, religions, languages, music, films, cricket, democracy, diversity, plurality, respect, peace, and harmony.

When you visit Sri Lanka, it also reflects the values that we cherish and share, as demonstrated by Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi.
I express my gratitude to the Minister of Tourism and the invaluable guidance and leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Over the past few months, we have not only resumed the Chennai-Jaffna flights, which used to operate four times a week, but these flights will now operate every day starting from July 16th. We are also working on resuming the ferry services, which have been inactive for decades, and the idea of an international cruise from India to Sri Lanka is no longer just a concept.

The use of Indian currency in Sri Lanka is a boost to tourism, as Indian tourists can now conveniently use their currency for payments. Additionally, efforts are underway to enable digital payments between the two countries. This will not only facilitate transcending borders and transforming lives but also build upon the legacies that form our common heritage.”

The Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau extended an invitation to host the Conference of Travel Agents of India 2023 in Colombo, from the 6th to the 9th of July. This prestigious event is particularly noteworthy as it marks the 67th time that the Indian Tourism Federation, in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Domestic Tour Operators Association, organizing the conference and exhibition.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has appointed its members as tourism ambassadors, and their involvement in previous summits has consistently led to a significant four-fold increase in tourist arrivals to the host destinations. In light of this success, the conference features a two-day business session and buyer-seller meetings, at the Cinnamon Grand and Shangri-La hotels.

With a strong turnout, 500 members of the Indian Tourism Federation participating in this highly anticipated event. The promotion of Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has been a focal point of discussions throughout the conference. Additionally, 50 Indian journalists have joined the gathering to cover the proceedings, highlighting the significance of this occasion.

In conjunction with the conference, the Sri Lanka Inland Tourism Operators Association (SLAITO) and its member associations have meticulously organized a post-summit tour encompassing popular tourist destinations such as Bentota, Galle, and Kandy. This initiative aims to showcase the beauty and diversity of Sri Lanka’s attractions to the attendees.

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) Colombo Summit has garnered support from four major airlines, namely SriLankan Airlines, Air India, IndiGo, and Vistara. These partnerships will facilitate seamless travel arrangements for the participants and further enhance the success of the summit.

Dignitaries and key figures attending the event included Nimal Siripala de Silva, Minister of Ports and Maritime Affairs, Harin Fernando, Minister of Tourism and Lands, and Ms Jyoti Mayal, President of the Indian Travel Agents Association, among others

Courtesy Adaderana

A special meeting was convened at the Presidential Secretariat this afternoon (07 July), under the patronage of Sagala Ratnayaka, Senior Advisor to the President on National Security and Chief of the Presidential Staff, with the aim of swiftly resolving issues plaguing the health sector.

Accordingly, concerns pertaining to the shortage of medicines and medical equipment, the quality of medicines, and challenges in the procurement process, were discussed at the meeting, for which Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella, President’s Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Secretary of the Ministry of Health, and a group of senior officials were present.

Emphasising the need to tend to the urgent matters of concern within the country’s health sector, Sagala Ratnayaka instructed all relevant officials to thoroughly investigate the accuracy of media reports concerning the health sector crises. 

In the event any such allegations are found to be true, he said immediate intervention and relief measures should be taken to assist the affected individuals.

He further stressed that any negligence on the part of the Ministry of Health resulting in harm to patients should not be excused. Instead, he urged that necessary measures be promptly implemented to ensure the comfort and well-being of the affected patients.

Meanwhile, acknowledging the economic challenges faced, and its impact on the payment of funds to suppliers of the Ministry of Health since the beginning of this year, it was decided during the meeting in question discussion to explore negotiations with international organizations to alleviate the financial difficulties faced by the Ministry.

Courtesy Adaderana

India plans to allow Sri Lanka up to 12 years to repay its debt to help ease the financial burden on the island nation, India’s Export Credit Guarantee Corporation (ECGC) Ltd’s chairman-cum-managing director M. Senthilnathan said.

Sri Lanka, facing its worst economic and political crisis in over seven decades, owes $7.1 billion to bilateral creditors— $3 billion owed to China, $2.4 billion to the Paris Club and $1.6 billion to India.

Sri Lanka’s negotiations with the IMF are going on. After that restructuring package will come, we will recover [our] money over a period of time. What we are supposed to get in 3-4 years, may get extended to 10-12 years,” Senthilnathan said.

But the interest rate will come down. This is a situation induced by inflation and because of the fallout of (Ukraine) war. You accommodate them for the next 5-6 years and later the markets will open up,” Senthilnathan added.

Earlier this year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $3 billion loan programme for Sri Lanka to help stabilize its economy and begin restructuring its debt. The island nation received an immediate disbursement of about $333 million under the 48-month programme approved by the IMF.

Senthilnathan added that the National Export Insurance Account, managed by the ECGC, has received close to ₹4,500 crore worth of claims from exporters facing default in countries such as Sri Lanka, Zambia, Suriname and Ghana which faced extreme economic hardships after covid-19 and the Ukraine war.

Notably, Sri Lanka’s financial situation is improving as it has lifted import restrictions on 286 items. Originally, its government had limited imports of more than 3,200 items, including seafood, electronics and even musical instruments.

Besides, its reserves have grown 26% to a 17-month high of $3.5 billion in May, helped by stronger remittances and tourism earnings.

India had earlier extended a $1 billion credit line for Sri Lanka by a year.

The credit line, part of a $4 billion emergency assistance extended by India during the peak of Sri Lanka’s financial crisis early last year, was scheduled to end in March.

Source: Live Mint

Shenali D Waduge

In France, a teenager is accused of being killed by French police. Yet, can  riots, burning vehicles, stealing goods, burning libraries, damaging public property bring justice?  In 2022, Sri Lanka experienced shortages in essential goods that other nations also went through but the reaction was to illegally occupy state land, cause mayhem, damage, steal & burn property while chasing out an elected leader & allowing an unelected leader to take the helm. How did this become the solution? When essential goods suddenly became available, it does raise questions of whether the scarcity” was part of the plot as many of those who controlled the supply chain were involved in the 2022 people’s protest. Eventually, the damage has to be borne by the People and this is a wastage of public money which could have been utilized for health, education & welfare.

1 April to 10 August 2022 Galle Face Green was illegally occupied. Damage to Galle Face Green is estimated to be Rs.5million – which again will have to be paid by the Tax Payers.

https://www.newsfirst.lk/2022/05/10/sri-lanka-police-release-details-of-fatalities-property-damage-from-mondays-9-clashes/ (10 May 2022)

https://www.newsfirst.lk/2022/05/11/sri-lanka-9-dead-41-vehicles-torched-in-mondays-9-violence-defence-secretary/ (11 May 2022)

The Presidents House, official residence of the President is over 200 years old.

The present President’s House was brought under British Colonial Administration in 1804 and became the official residence of the Governor of Ceylon.

In 1948 it became the official residence of the Governor General of Ceylon. 

Queen Elizabeth 2 stayed in it during her visit to Ceylon in 1954.

It became known as the Queens House & became the residence of Sir Oliver Goonetilleke who was appointed Governor General. William Gopallawa took residence when he became Governor General in 1962. After Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972, Queens House became Presidents House.

People’s Protestors” Damage People’s Property

In 2022 tens of thousands of protestors stormed & invaded several state buildings.

Their illegal occupation left a trail of unprecedented & irreversible damage that every aragala participant will have to should culpability for the damage, destruction & theft that ensued.

More than 1000 valuable artefacts including vintage & antiques missing from Presidents Palace & Prime Minister’s Official Residence – Temple Trees.

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Damage to the PM’s official residence in Temple Trees

• Vandalized
• Colonial carpet beyond repair
• Chairs belonging to the Dutch period & cutlery/crockery sets removed from racks & either broken or stolen
• Windows shattered.
• Graffiti drawn on walls
• Walls & floor damaged as a result of people looking for secret rooms

Damage to the Presidential Secretariat

• Colonial carpet beyond repair
• Windows shattered
• Graffiti drawn on walls
• Walls & floor damaged as a result of people looking for secret rooms
• State files missing & papers scrambled everywhere

The present President Ranil Wickremasinghe’s private residence at 5^th Lane also came under attack on 9 July when it was torched 

• A 125 year old piano was destroyed
• More than 4000 books (some centuries old) were destroyed
• Sedan damaged
• Paintings & artwork strewn across the house

Inspite of the alarming damage done some of which is irreversible and that which money cannot replace, the European Union & its 27 Member States were only bothered about allowing the peaceful protestors” to behave as they liked. Their statement condemned the recent vicious attack against peaceful protesters”.

Even French TV commentary clearly showed a biased stand & end objective to change government.

Now let us move to the riots in France.

Reason: killing of a 17 year old Lebanese boy driving a Mercedes by police in Nanterre on 27 June 2023. Police claim he attempted to drive away when asked to stop. Rioters were even using firearms. Ironically the 2005 French riots also was triggered after the death of 2 Muslim teenagers, electrocuted while hiding from police. The protests lasted 3 weeks and more than 4000 were arrested.

Protest outside police headquarters escalated into riots – setting cars ablaze, destroying buses, even a school was set on fire.

27 June – Town Hall set ablaze in Mantes-la-Jolie

Riots spread: Toulouse, Lille, Asnieres, Colombes, Suresnes Aubervilliers, Clichy-sous-Bois and Mantes-la-Jolie

20 policemen injured

31 arrested

28 June – riots around Greater Paris region. Over 100 protestors clashed with police

13 arrested

20 vehicles burned.

27 national police stations / 4 gendarmerie barracks / 14 municipal police stations attacked

8 town halls, 6 schools, 6 public buildings attacked

More than 90 public buildings were attacked.

170 policemen injured

609 vehicles damaged

109 buildings damaged

29 June – 6200 people participate in march in solidarity with family of deceased

150 arrested / 24 policemen injured / 40 cars torched / Interior Minister deployed 1200 riot police & gendarmes in & around Paris. This number increased to 40,000 nationwide.

30 June – Orders given to stop bus & tram services by 9p.m. / prohibit sale & transport of fireworks mortars, petrol cans & other dangerous substances

President Macron cancels visit to Germany but is criticized for attending concert.

Bibliotheque l’Alcazar in Marseille, city’s largest public library is set on fire.

Holocaust memorial defaced & Nanterre.

2 July – Mayor of L’Hay-les-Roses home attacked / Town Hall repeatedly attacked over several nights. Attackers rammed car into front gate of Mayors home where his wife & 2 children were asleep. Wife suffered a broken leg & one child was injured. Attempted murder investigation is commenced.

4 July – 4 policemen in Rhone were shot by rioters with a shotgun. A gun store was also looted.

Riots had spread to other parts of Europe too – Belgium (29 June) & Switzerland as well as Canada.

The world is bothered about misinformation in France but not about misinformation in Sri Lanka.

A British party shared a 2020 video claiming that to be armed rioters n France.

A 2022 video of a robbery in California was shown as a jewellery robbery in France.

Not too many are up in arms over President Macron blaming parents for the behavior of youth & his critic of social media & video games intoxicating teens. How would the world react if Sri Lankan President made a similar statement?

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/media-reports-on-aragalaya-peoples-protestors-storming-presidents-house-presidents-secretariat-temple-trees-state-media/ media coverage of Sri Lanka’s aragalaya” is compiled 

Surprisingly the UNHRC issued a statement on 30 June urging France to ‘seriously address” the deep-rooted issues of racism & racial discrimination” within its law enforcement agencies.

Surprisingly too, US, UK, Norway, Turkey, Canada & even some European countries cautioned their citizens from visiting France and issued warnings for tourists.

When Sri Lanka banned social media in view of certain media (local & international) fueling people’s minds with 24×7 commentary, Sri Lanka was accused of stifling media freedom” and freedom of speech”. That freedom of speech” Sweden is promoting is to allow to even burn the Holy Quran. What kind of freedom” is this? No one should be allowed to desecrate any religious book.

The same situation has boomeranged on France. The hypocrisy of their reaction is what needs to be highlighted. While it is not ok for Sri Lanka to censor media, France & West considers it is quite acceptable. What kind of international law & order is this?

After 1 week of riots in France

• 320 towns & cities have been affected by the riots & more than $3.2 billion worth of damage.
• More than 10,000 cars burned & more than 3000 businesses & buildings were damaged, some of which were reduced to rubble.
• more than 700 supermarkets, banks, and stores, some of which were reduced to rubble.
• 100s of upscale stores vandalized & robbed.

Coincidentally, police have made over 3300 arrests but no FRENCH BLACK COATS came to courts to clap or release the arrested FREE OF CHARGE or even clapped for them or help posters on behalf of the rioters & we did not see any French Bar Association come forward siding the protestors either!

Shenali D Waduge

Shripal Nishshanka Fernando

Dear Hon. President Ranil Wickramasinghe,

Highly appreciate you restoring Law and order in Sri Lanka and your wise appointment of a great PM Hon. Dinesh Gunawardane. You better have educated and patriotic advisors without having your party henchmen.

Think about Sri Lanka first.

You helped LTTE merely because you were afraid of your life and wanted to become the president with LTTE help.

By sacrificing his position and without massacring own Sri Lankans ex-President and who spearheaded the victory over heinous and most brutal terrorist organization with his brother’s leadership as the president Hon. Gotabaya Rajapaksa allowed you the President-ship. He may have committed some wrong doings earlier.

Whatever the deal you may have with anybody you better act patriotically and courageously or you would be in the jail for a long, long period for treasury bond scams and many others.

Do not merely implement the LRT project again without getting advice from educated and patriotic engineers, accountants and relevant professionals.

Never sell profitable state owned sectors.

Good luck!

Thank you,

Shripal Nishshanka Fernando

Tilottama Rani Charulata.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have built a new history of bilateral relations between India and Bangladesh. Both countries have undertaken a number of successful programs for the development of their countrymen. India granted a record number of visas last year in compliance with Bangladesh’s long-standing demand. Appropriate infrastructure for issuing more visas is being developed in Bangladesh. The top leadership of both countries understood that we complement each other. Development is not possible without neighbors. Therefore, Bangladesh Bridges Minister and Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader rightly said, “Bangladesh cannot move forward if we stop communication with India.” India is also determined to advance friendship with Bangladesh. Prannoy Verma, the Indian High Commissioner appointed in Dhaka, said that India is determined to build better relations with neighboring Bangladesh. He said that last year, India has set a new record by giving visas to one and a half crore Bangladeshis.

India and Bangladesh are always trying to develop relations between each other. Both countries are bound by kinship ties since the liberation war. The anti-independence forces wanted to destroy Bangladesh by killing Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of the nation of Bangladesh. Even later, that power led Bangladesh in the wrong direction. But Bangladesh today is on the highway of development under the leadership of Bangabandhu’s privileged daughter, leader Sheikh Hasina. Bangabandhu’s dream of building a golden Bengal is about to succeed. For some time, due to the influence of anti-independence groups in the internal politics of the country, the relationship with Delhi has deteriorated somewhat, but since the Awami League government led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came to power, India has stood by Bangladesh in its perils. Dhaka received a lot of help from Delhi even during the Corona epidemic. Apart from people-to-people contact, both countries are now giving importance to economic development. Bilateral trade is also increasing. The two countries are also making sincere efforts for the sake of more economic development.

More recently, India gifted 20 more rail engines to Bangladesh. Bangladesh Railway has adopted this diesel-powered broad gauge line engine to improve the country’s rail traffic. Despite India’s domestic demand, Delhi Railways did not hesitate to deliver the engine at Dhaka’s request. Last May, Bangladesh Railway Minister Nurul Islam Sujan and India’s Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnab mentioned the good relations between the two countries. The Indian Railway Minister assured that India will support the development of railway infrastructure in Bangladesh in the coming days as well. The Railway Minister of Bangladesh thanked the Government of India and the Indian people for this. In Bangladesh, the demand for trains is increasing in line with the number of passengers on the railways. So India has come forward to help Bangladesh. Earlier also in 2020, India gave 10 locomotive diesel engines as a gift. Railway official Asim Kumar Halder was present on behalf of Bangladesh during the handing over of the engine. He also highly praised Indian Railway Engines.

India and Bangladesh are really good friends. Therefore, both countries are interested in advancing the relationship for the sake of their own countrymen. There is no lack of sincerity on the part of Delhi and Dhaka to solve all the problems through discussion. So many bilateral problems have been solved by the hands of Narendra Modi and Sheikh Hasina. As terrorism has reduced on the border, the border guards of both the countries have a very good relationship today. BSF and BGB are solving all problems through regular meetings.

India is the closest neighbor of Bangladesh. Not only a neighbor, India has always stood by Bangladesh’s development since the liberation war of 1971. The relationship between the two countries has risen to the level of real friendship tested in the context of different situations at different times. Therefore, Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has rightly said that Bangladesh will not be able to advance even a step if communication with India is stopped. Recently, at the virtual inauguration of the Basarhat-Hiako-Ramgarh road development project, this Awami League leader also explained how important it is to strengthen this friendship for the development of the two countries. He also said how much India needs Bangladesh for the country’s economic development. He said, “If the neighboring country India invests more in Bangladesh, we will not have to go far to find investors.” He also reminded that it was possible to end the border problem of the two countries through the discussion along with the financial development. Obaidul Quader said, “Due to Bangladesh’s friendly relationship with India, the border problem between the two countries has been resolved through discussion.” He said that this relationship should be taken further.

According to Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka, Prannoy Verma, the golden era of bilateral relations is going on today due to the sincere efforts of the Prime Ministers of the two countries. Human to human contact has increased. In this context, he said, last year, a new record was created by granting Indian visas to one and a half crore Bangladeshis. No country in the world gives so many visas to citizens of other countries. According to him, the visa procedure has been made so easy because India considers Bangladesh as its friend. He said that work is going on to establish more visa centers. According to the Indian Ambassador, many problems have been resolved due to the sincere efforts of the Prime Ministers of the two countries. Dhaka and Delhi will be able to reach agreement on many issues through discussions in the coming days. Recently, the Indian ambassador also participated in the meeting of the Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Gulshan. He said that the relationship between the two countries is improving even in the economic field. Today, the economy of both countries is standing on a solid foundation. Bilateral trade volume has doubled in the last five years. The Indian ambassador also said that with the sincere efforts of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Prime Minister Modi, Indian investors are coming to Bangladesh.

The top leaders of both countries want economic development through bilateral relations for the sake of the common people of their own countries. Therefore, besides increasing the trade fleet, India is also taking initiative in setting up industries. Efforts are also underway to make various Indian companies more interested in investing in Bangladesh. Both the countries are also keen to use the good bilateral relations for economic growth.

There are many positive and negative discussions about the strong relationship between Bangladesh and India. As a result of all the research and analysis on the relationship between these two countries, three things have come forward. And that is – trust, faith and tradition.

The words trust and faith are complementary in any relationship. A positive relationship is impossible where there is no trust and confidence. This relationship of trust between India and Bangladesh has been going on for a long time. The anti-British movement started from this Bangladesh and the anti-British movement continued all over India from Calcutta in the then undivided Bengal. And for this reason, since then, the people of these two regions have shared many things, including British exploitation, oppression, and agitation.

In this bond of friendship of trust, faith and tradition, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina gave mangoes as a gift to Indian President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and to the Chief Ministers of the states of the northeastern region known as the Seven Sisters of India. This ‘Mango Diplomacy’ carries considerable importance from the diplomatic arena. ‘Mango’ is a specific seasonal fruit. This sending of mangoes bears the symbol that the two countries always want to share all the joys and sorrows between them. Diplomatic analysts hope that the two countries will hold each other’s hands to set a new record of development.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.

බෞද්ධ සිද්ධස්ථානයක් වන ලුම්බිණිය වෙත  පැමිණෙන බැතිමතුන්ට පහසුකම් සැලසීම සඳහා බෞද්ධ රටවල් විසින් ලුම්බිණි ජාත්‍යන්තර ගුවන්තොටුපළට ඍජු ගුවන් ගමන් හඳුන්වා දිය යුතු බව නේපාලයේ හිටපු අගමැති සහ  නේපාල කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂ සභාපති වන මාධව් කුමාර් නේපාල් මහතා පැවසුවේය.

කත්මණ්ඩු සිට කොළඹ දක්වා සෘජු ගුවන් ගමන් දැනටමත් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන අතර   ශ්‍රී ලංකා බලධාරීන්ට එය ලුම්බිණියේ සිට කොළඹ දක්වා දීර්ඝ කළ හැකි බවත්  එමගින් බුදුන් උපන් දේශය වන්දනා කරන  සංචාරකයින් විශාල සංඛ්‍යාවකට පහසුකම් සැලසීමට හැකි බවත් 2023.07.05 දින  අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා සමඟ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවේදී මාධව් කුමාර් (Madhav Kumar) මහතා  සදහන් කළේය.

 කෘෂි කාර්මික ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ද්විපාර්ශ්වික සහයෝගීතාව පුළුල් කිරීම හා කර්මාන්ත සහ ජල විදුලිය වැනි නව ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයන්හි  එකිනෙකාගේ විශේෂඥ දැනුම හුවමාරු කරගැනීම වැනි කරුණු  පිළිබඳව මෙම සාකච්ඡාවලදී වැඩි අවධානයක් යොමු කෙරිණි.   

 මාධව් කුමාර් නේපාල්  මහතා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට පැමිණ සිටින්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂය පිහිටුවා වසර 80ක් පිරීම නිමිත්තෙන් සංවිධානය කරන ලද සමුළුවට සහභාගී වීමටය.

පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන සහ නේපාල තානාපති බාෂු දේව් මිශ්‍රා (Bashu Dev Mishra ) යන අය මෙම හමුවට සහභාගි වූහ.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය.   

Manusha Media

• නූතන වැඩ ලෝකයට ගැලපෙන කම්කරු නීති පද්ධතියක් සකස් කිරීම සදහා වන දළ කෙටුම්පත කම්කරු උපදේශක සභාවට ඉදිරිපත් කිරිමෙන් පසුව කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා මාධ්‍යයට අදහස් දැක්වූ අතර ඔහු දැක්වූ අදහස් මෙසේය. 

• සේවයට බඳවා ගැනීමේ දී හෝ සේවා ස්ථානය තුළ හෝ සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකු වෙනස් කොට සැළකීම (Discrimination) වැළැක්වීමේ නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• රැකියා ස්ථානයේ සියළු ආකාරයේ හිරිහැර කිරීම් හා ලිංගික හිංසනය වැළැක්වීමට අදාළ නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම. 

(ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය හා හිංසනය පිළිබඳ අංක 190 දරන ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුතිය අපරානුමත කිරිමට මෙම ප්‍රතිපාදන ඇතුළත් කිරීම මඟින් හැකියාව ලැබීම)

• සේවා නියුක්තිකයිගේ වෘත්තීය ආරක්ෂාව, සෞඛ්‍ය, සුබසාධනය පිළිබඳ නව නෛතික ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම (OSH)

(වෘත්තීය ආරක්ෂාව, සෞඛ්‍ය, සුබසාධනය පිළිබඳ අංක 155 දරන ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුතිය අපරානුමත කිරිමට මෙම ප්‍රතිපාදන ඇතුළත් කිරීම මඟින් හැකියාව ලැබීම)

• පාරිතෝෂික ගෙවීමේ දී දැනට පවතින අවුරුදු 5ක සේවා කාලය සහ සේවකයින් 15ක් සිටීමේ සීමාව ඉවත් කර වර්ෂයකට දින 180ක් සේවය කරනු ලබන සෑම සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකුටම මාස ½ක පාරිතෝෂිකයක් ගෙවීමට නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• කර්මාන්තශාලාවක හෝ කාර්මික ව්‍යාපාරයක රාත්‍රී සේවයේ නියුක්ත වන කාන්තාවන්ට පමණක් නොව සෑම සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකුටම පැයට ගෙවන ගෙවීම මෙන් පැය එකහමාරක ගුණයක ගෙවීමක් කර සේවයේ යෙදවීම සඳහා නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• පඩිපාලක සභා ආඥා පනතේ හා සාප්පු හා කාර්යාල පනතේ සේවා තත්ත්වයන් හා කොන්දේසි පිළිබඳව සඳහන් විධිවිධාන අතර ඇති විෂමතාවයන් ඉවත් කර සෑම සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකුටම සමාන ආකාරයේ විධිවිධාන ඇති කිරීම.
• අනියම් ස්වභාවයේ රැකියාවක නියුක්ත සේවා නියුක්තිකයින් හැර අනෙකුත් සියළුම සේවා නියුක්තිකයින් සඳහා සේවයට බඳවා ගන්නා අවස්ථාවේ දී සේවා තත්ත්වයන් හා සේවා කොන්දේසි ඇතුළත් කර පත් වීමේ ලිපියක් ලිඛිතව ලබා දීමට සේවායෝජකයෙකුට අනිවාර්යය කිරීම. 
• සේවා නියුක්තිකයින්ගේ කැමැත්ත අනුව දින 05 සතියක් හා නම්‍යශීලී වැඩ කරන වේලාවන් හඳුන්වා දීම.
• යම් කොන්දේසි වලට යටත්ව කාන්තා සේවා නියුක්තිකයින් රාත්‍රී සේවයේ යෙදවීම සඳහා දැනට පවතින නීතියේ සඳහන් නෛතික ප්‍රතිපාදන ලිහිල් කිරීම.
• අතිකාල වැඩ කරන පැය ප්‍රමාණය හා ගෙවිය යුතු ගණනයන් සම්බන්ධ ඒකාකාර ක්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වා දීම.
• අර්ධ කාලීන (Part time) රැකියා වල නියුක්ත වීමට අදාල නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• පුහුණුවන්නන්, ආධුනිකයන් හා අධ්‍යාපනික ආයතන වල ඉගෙනුම ලබන ගමන් වැඩ කරන තැනැත්තන්ට අදාළ නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• පිතෘ නිවාඩු සම්බන්ධව නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන ඇති කිරීම.
• නිවසේ සිට වැඩ කරන සේවා නියුක්තිකයින්‌ගේ (Work from home) අයිතිවාසිකම් හා යුතුකම් පිළිබඳ නීතිමය ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• විදේශික සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සේවය කිරීමේ දී අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ක්‍රියාපටිපාටියක් හඳුන්වා දීම.
• ගෘහ සේවය කම්කරු නීතියේ ආවරණයට ඇතුළත් කිරීම.
• පඩිපාලක සභා තීරණ මඟින් හා ව්‍යවස්ථාපිත නීතිය මඟින් අවම වැටුප් තීරණය කරන ක්‍රමය වෙනුවට ජාතික වේතන කවුන්සිලයක් හඳුන්වා දී එම ආයතනයට කාලීනව හා පිළිගත් නිර්ණායකයන් මත අවම වැටුප් තීරණය කිරීමට බලය පැවරීම.
• සේවා නියුක්තිකයින් විසින් සිදු කරනු ලබන විෂමාචාර ක්‍රියාවන්ට අදාළ අවසාන විනය තීරණයන් නිශ්චිත කාලසීමාවක් තුළ ලබා දීමට සේවායෝජකයින්ට නීතිමය බැඳීමක් ඇති කිරීම.
• සේවායෝජකයන් සිදු කරන අසාධාරණ කම්කරු පිළිවෙත් දැනට නීතියෙන් තහනම් කර ඇති ආකාරයට වෘත්තිය සමිති මඟින් සිදු කරන අසාධාරණ කම්කරු පිළිවෙත් ද නීතියෙන් තහනම් කල යුතු බවට ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• අසාධාරණ කම්කරු පිළිවෙත් පිළිබඳ ප්‍රතිපාදන උල්ලංගණය කිරීමේ දී දෙපාර්ශ්වයටම නඩු පැවරීමට අවස්ථාව ලබා දීම.    
• වැටුපෙන් සාමාජික මුදල් අඩු කර වෘත්තීය සමිති වලට යැවීම සඳහා සේවායෝජකට අනිවාර්යය කිරීම. 
• වෘත්තීය සමිතියක් පිහිටුවීම සඳහා දැනට අවශ්‍ය අවම සාමාජික සංඛ්‍යාව 07 සිට 100 දක්වා  ඉහළ දැමීම.
• වෘත්තීය සමිතියක විධායක සභාව සඳහා යම් 25% ප්‍රතිශතයක් කාන්තාවන්ගේ නියෝජනය අනිවාර්යය කිරීම.
• වැඩ වර්ජනයක් ආරම්භ කිරීමට පෙර සේවායෝජකව දැනුවත් කිරීම හා වැඩ වර්ජනය කිරීම සඳහා සාමාජිකයිනගේ බහුතර කැමැත්ත ලබා ගැනීම පිළිබඳ ප්‍රතිපාදන.
• යම් මාර්ගෝපදේශයන්ට යටත්ව සේවායෝජකට සේවා ස්ථාන රීති හඳුන්වා දීමට සහ එම සේවා ස්ථාන රීති සඳහා නෛතික බලයක් ලබා දීම.
• දුර්වල කාර්යසාධනය, තාක්ෂණික දියුණුව ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම හෝ ව්‍යාපාර ප්‍රතිසංවිධානය හේතුවෙන් රැකියා අතිරික්ත වන විට වන්දි ගෙවා සේවය අවසන් කිරීමට පවතින ක්‍රියාවලිය වඩා වේගවත් හා සරල කිරීම.
• අමුද්‍රව්‍ය නොමැති කම, ඇණවුම් නොමැති කම, යන්ත්‍ර සූත්‍ර බිඳ වැටීම හෝ සේවායෝජකයාගේ පාලනයෙන් ඔබ්බට ගිය හේතු මත කෙටිකාලීනව සේවය නතර කිරීමට (Lay off) කම්කරු කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල්ගේ අවසරය ලබා ගැනීම. 
• සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකු ස්වේච්ඡාවෙන් සේවයෙන් ඉවත්ව යෑමේ දි මාසයකට කලින් සේවායෝජකව දැනුවත් කර සේවයෙන් ඉවත් වීමට අදාල ප්‍රතිපාදන ඇති කිරීම.
• විශ්‍රාම යාමේ වයස නැවත සමාලෝචනය කිරීම.
• සෑම වෘත්තියකට හෝ රැකියාවකට ගරුත්වයක් ඇති කිරීම සඳහා ඒ ඒ රැකියාවන් සඳහා අනුගමනය කළ යුතු ප්‍රමිතීන් හා සම්මතයන් හඳුන්වා දීම. 
• සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ රක්ෂණ අරමුදලක් මඟින් මාතෘ ප්‍රතිලාභ, සේවක සෞඛ්‍ය සහ විරැකියාවක දී වන්දි ලබා දෙන සමාජ ආරක්ෂණ පද්ධතියක් සැකසීම.
• සේවා නියුක්තිකයෙකුගේ කාර්යය සාධනය මැන බැලීම සඳහා සේවායෝජකට නෛතික බලයක් ලබා දීම.  
• මිනිස්බල සැපයුම් ආයතන හා රැකියා නියෝජිත ආයතන නියමානුකූල කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රතිපාදන හඳුන්වා දීම.
• ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික මාධ්‍යයෙන් වේතන (E- Wages System) ගෙවීමේ ක්‍රමයක් හඳුන්වා දීම.

Professor Sunil J. Wimalawansa

Eradication of CKDu (CKD-CTN) is straightforward and costs less than 10% of what the health department spends annually to manage CKDu!  Yet new patents and deaths are continuing.   

Authorities have hardly any interest in preventing CKDu, partly due to those affected having little voice and thus being ignored by politicians.  Besides, there is a significant conflict of interest at several levels, indulging health department officials. 

Eradicate CKDu is by “preventing” it, NOT by treating end-stage renal diseases, expanding renal clinics/dialysis, and transplants.

Wimalawansa & Dissanayake. Nanocrystal-induced chronic tubular-nephropathy [CKD-CTN]:
Euro J Med Res (July 2023).
DOI: 10.1186/s40001-023-01162-y

— Sunil Wimalawansa:—Scientist-America First Patriot (@SJWimalawansa) July 5, 2023

CKDu has no relation to agrochemicals or heavy metals. It is caused by natural Geo-Bio causes leading to the precipitation of calcium‒phosphate and other crystal growth in kidney tissues causing renal failure. Detailed descriptions are in the following Springer-Nature journal on July 5^th, 2023. 

Wimalawansa and Dissanayake European Journal of Medical Research (2023) 28:221 

Nanocrystal-induced chronic tubular-nephropathy in tropical countries: diagnosis, mitigation, and eradication. European Journal of Medical Research, 28, 221, 2023.    https://rdcu.be/dgagf 

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-023-01162-y

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40001-023-01162-y.pdf.

On eLanka: 

Courtesy GB News

US president Joe Biden has pushed to make Ursula von der Leyen Nato’s secretary general after Britain revealed plans to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s without his approval.

The role is up for grabs until Autumn 2024 when Jens Stoltenberg, who has been secretary general since October 2014, steps down as head the alliance.

Ben Wallace, the UK Defence Secretary, had been a front-runner but has failed to back support from the US.

It has emerged that the lack of US backing is due to tensions over Britain’s ambitious military support for Ukraine.

Lanka Lead News

නතාෂා එදිරිසූරියට කොළඹ කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයෙන් ඇප නියම වී තිබේ.

ඒ, දණ්ඩ නීති සංග්‍රහය සහ පරිගණක අපරාධ පනත යටතේ ගොනු කර තිබූ චෝදනාවලට අදාළව ය.

ආගමික සහජීවනයට බාධා කළ හා බෞද්ධ ආගමට අපහාස වන ලෙස ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කළ බව කියන නතාෂා එදිරිසූරිය තවදුරට ත් රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාරගත කරන ලෙස ඊයේ (ජූලි 5) කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය නියම කර තිබිණි.

මෝඩාභිමානය” නමින් වැඩසටහනක් සංවිධානය කර එම වැඩසටහන අතරතුරදී බෞද්ධ ආගමට අපහාසයක් සිදුවන අයුරින් ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදුකිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් නතාෂා එදිරිසූරිය යන අයට එරෙහිව අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මෙම නඩුව කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය හමුවේ ගොනු කර තිබිණි.

කෙසේ වෙතත්, ඇයට එරෙහිව සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් පිළිබදව ජාත්‍යන්තර සම්මුති පනත (ICCPR) යටතේ ගැනෙන චෝදනා සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන නඩුව ඊයේ (ජූලි 5) දහවල් කොළඹ අංක 4 මහාධිකරණයේදී විභාගයට ගැනුණු අවස්ථාවේදී ඇය ඇප මත මුදාහැරිණි.

ඇය වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ ඇප පෙත්සමක් සලකා බැලීමෙන් අනතුරුව කොළඹ මහාධිකරණය විනිසුරු ආදිත්‍ය පටබැඳිගේ මෙම නියෝගය නිකුත් කර තිබිණි.

සැකකාරිය විසින් කරන ලද ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඇය කනගාටුවට පත්වන බව ප්‍රකාශ කිරීම ද යම්කිසි අයෙකුට හෝ යම්කිසි කණ්ඩායමකට අපහසුතාවක් සිදු වූයේ නම් ඇය ඕනෑ ම අවස්ථාවකදී ඕනෑ ම තැනකට පැමිණ සමාව අයැදීමට සූදානම් වන බවට අධිකරණය ඉදිරියේ පොරොන්දු වීම ද නීතිපතිවරයා සැකකාරියගේ ඇප ඉල්ලීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් විරෝධතාවක් නොදැක්වීම යන කරුණු සලකා බැලීමෙන් අනතුරුව මෙලෙස ඇප නියම කරන බව විනිසුරුවරයා දැනුම් දී තිබිණි.

ඒ අනුව, අදාළ නියෝගය මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණය වෙත යොමු කරන ලෙස විනිසුරුවරයා අධිකරණ රෙජිස්ට්‍රාර්වරයා වෙත නියම කරන තිබිණි.

සමාජය කැළඹීමට තරම් චරිතයක් අදාළ වගඋත්තරකාරිය සතුව තිබුණේ ද යන්න ප්‍රශ්නය මතු කරමින් මෙම ප්‍රකාශය සමාජ මාධ්‍ය හරහා පළ වන තෙක් වගඋත්තරකාරිය පිළිබඳව සමාජය දැන නොසිටි බව ද ඇයගේ ම ප්‍රකාශය සම්බන්ධයෙන් කිසියම් ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයක් ඇතිවීම පිළිබඳවද කරුණු ඉදිරිපත්ව නොමැති බව ද විනිසුරුවරයා සිය ඇප නියෝගය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරමින් සඳහන් කර තිබිණි.

ඇගේ ප්‍රකාශයෙන් කිසිදු ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වයක් පිළිබඳව අධිකරණයට කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් වී නොමැති අවස්ථාවක මෙවැනි අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමක් පිළිබඳව දණ්ඩනීති සංග්‍රහ පනත යටතේ සලකා බැලිය යුතු බව ද පෙන්වා දී තිබුණු විනිසුරුවරයා අන්තර්ජාතික සිවිල් හා දේශපාලන අයිතිවාසිකම් සම්මුති පනත මානව හිමිකම් තහවුරු කිරීම සඳහා ස්ථාපනය කර ඇති බැවින් කිසියම් ප්‍රබල පුද්ගලයෙකු පැමිණිලි කළ පමණින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමක් කරන්නේ ද යන්න සිය නියෝගය ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කරමින් අධිකරණය හමුවේ ප්‍රශ්න කෙරිණි.

වගඋත්තරකාර නතාෂා එදිරිසූරිය වෙනුවෙන් ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ අනුජ ප්‍රේමරත්න අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටි අතර නීතිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන් රජයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් දිලීප පීරිස් අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිට තිබිණි.

මෙහිදී නීතිපතිවරයා වෙනුවෙන් පෙනීසිටි ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් දිලීප පීරිස් මහතා කරුණු දක්වමින් පවසා ඇත්තේ මෙම තැනැත්තිය මෝඩාභිමානය නමින් වැඩසටහන් 3ක් පවත්වා ඇති බවත්, තුන් වෙනි වැඩසටහන ඇය යොදාගෙන ඇත්තේ බුදු දහමට අපහාස කිරීම සඳහා බවත්ය.

ඇය ආගම ඉලක්ක කරගෙන මෙම ප්‍රහාරය එල්ලකර ඇති බවත්, කුරුණෑගල මලියදේව බාලිකා විද්‍යාලයේ ඉගෙනුම ලැබූ ඇය 2017 වසරේ සිට විෂාදය නමැති රෝගයට ප්‍රතිකාර ගෙන අති බව හා සියදිවි නසාගැනීමේ ප්‍රවණතාවකින් පෙලී ඇති බව පරීක්ෂණවලින් පෙනීගොස් ඇති බවද දිලීප පීරිස් මහතා මෙහිදී පවසා තිබේ.

මෙවැනි තැනැත්තියක් ප්‍රහසන වැඩසටහන් ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම තෙරම් භයානක දැයි ඒ මහතා අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙන්වා දී ඇත.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The controversial Malwana mansion is a property of the State now and it was set on fire during the Aragalaya time without knowing that it is a State property, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said today.

He told Parliament that Cabinet approval was granted to take over the Malwana property by the Justice Ministry and the process is now underway.

“When I learnt through the newspapers that no party has claimed ownership of the Malwana property, I submitted a Cabinet Paper the following day to take it over to the Justice Ministry. It was approved by the Cabinet. The process is moving foward slowly. It will be taken over by the Justice Ministry. Unfortunately, the Aragalaya activists set it on fire, may be while being unaware that it is a State property now,” he said.

The Minister said this while responding to a statement on the Malwana mansion by NPP leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The second reading of the proposed Anti Corruption Bill was approved unanimously in Parliament today while the Commitee Stage was postponed to July 19 when the ammendments will be approved.

The initial proposal made by Leader of the House Susil Premajayantha to postpone the vote on the Bill came under fire by the Opposition while Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapaksha also questioned the move. 

“I have worked hard to prepare the Bill with amendments and have not put in so much effort to get other legislations enacted. I cannot understand why the enacting of the Anti Corruption Bill should be postponed,” Minister Rajapaksha said.

Earlier, Leader of the Opposition Sajith Premadasa, Lakshman Kiriella, MPs Chandima Weerakkody, Rajitha Senaratne and Weerasumana Weerasinghe wanted the Bill passed in the House.

“There is a hidden agenda behind the decision to postpone the vote. One wonders whether this is a proposal by Kaputa,” Mr. Premadasa said.

MP Weerasinghe also made the same allegation. 

The arguments became tense after which the Leader of the House suggested that the second reading be passed now and the ammendments enacted on 19th. 

“We don’t intend to postpone the enacting of the Bill permernantly,” he said