චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’  න්‍යාය බොහෝ ලෙස ප්‍රචලිත වුයේ 2009 යුධ ජයග්‍රණයෙන් පසුවය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු මුළු ආසියාවේම ආශ්චර්ය (Wonder of Asia) බවට වූ සංචාරක ප්‍රවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් එවකට තිබු රජය විසින් ආරම්භ කෙරිණ. මේ ගැන සෙසු ආසියානු රටවල වැඩි කැමැත්තක් නොතිබීණ. කෙසේ වෙතුදු, එකී රජයට තමනට එරෙහිව නැඟුණු අභූත යුධ අපරාධ චෝදනා වැරදි බව ලොවට පෙන්වා දීමේ හැකියාවක්/ශක්තියක් වත් නොවීය.

2022 කොරෝනා සමයේ මුළු ලොවෙන්ම ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කොරෝනා සුව කළේ’ යයි පාරම් බෑවෙමු. ඇත්තවශයෙන්ම එවිට ලොව වැඩිම කොරෝනා මරණ ප්‍රතිශතයන් වාර්ථා වු රටක් වුයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවය.

අපට තරම් හොඳින් ග්‍රන්ථාරූඪ කරන ලද ඉතිහාසයක් ලොව වෙනත් කිසිම රටකට නැතයි කීවේ පොන්නම්බලම් රාමනාදන් මහතා 20 ශත වර්ෂයේ මුල් භාගයේදීය. ඒ, මහාවංශයට ඉමහත් ගෞරවයක් ලබා දීම සඳහාය. මිහිඳු හිමියන් විසින් බුද්ධ ධර්මය ගෙන ඒමෙන් පසු අති විශිෂ්ට ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක් මේ රටේ බිහි විය. ඒ වැව, දාගැබ සහ බෞද්ධ ගම පදනම් කරගෙනය. දේවානම්පියතිස්ස රජතුමා මේ රටේ සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක් බිහිකිරීමේ පුරෝගාමී රජතුමාය.

නමුත්, ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’  න්‍යාය යටතේ දැන් අපට මුළු ලොවම පිළිගත් සහ විශ්මිත වූ  ඒ ශ්‍රේෂ්ට ඉතිහාසය මදිවී ඇත. ඒ නිසා අප මොහෙන්දජාරෝ හරප්පා, ඉන්දු වැළි වැනි ලොව පිළිගත් ඉපැරණිම ශිෂ්ටාචාරවලටත් වඩා පැරණි, අති විශිෂ්ට වූ ශිෂ්ටාචාරයකට උරුමකම් කියන්නෝ යයි පාරම් බාමූ.  

මේවා නිසා අපි අපේ තිබෙන ඉතිහාසයත් නැති කර ගන්නෙමු.

අපේ නියම, සත්‍ය ඉතිහාසය පසෙකළා අප දැන් ප්‍රබන්ධමත් ඉතිහාසයක් ගැන කථා කරමු. මේ බොරුව හඳුන්වා දුන් රටම පිළීගත් එක් ප්‍රසිද්ධ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයෙක් සිටී. මොහු ගම්පහ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ රජයේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක පුරා විද්‍යා අංශයේ ප්‍රධානියාද වේ. ඉතා ප්‍රසිද්ධ  මොහුට ජනතාව වන්දනා මාන කරන තත්ත්වයක් අද ඇත. මන්ද, මොහු ජනතාව නොමඟ යවන බොරු උසස් ඉතිහාසයක් ඔහුගේ ‘නොනවතින ඉතිහාසය’ වැනි නමකින් හඳුන්වන යු ටියුබ් වැඩ සටහන සහ වෙනත් මාර්ග වලින් ප්‍රචලිත කරන බැවිනි.  

එම වැඩසටහන් වනාහි ඉතිහාස ෆැක්ටරියකි. මොහු අද කියන ඉතිහාසය නොවේ හෙට, අනිද්දා සහ ඊළඟ සතිවල/මාසවල කියනුයේ. 

මේ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයයාට/මහාචාර්යවරයාට අනුව ප්‍රාග් ඓතිහාසික යුගයේ (මීට වසර 3,500  – 50,000) ලොව සෙසු ජාතින් ගල් ගුහා වල වෙසෙද්දී අප මෙහි වෙන ලොව කොහි වත් නොතිබූ ශ්‍රේෂ්ට ශිෂ්ටාචාරයක් පවත්වාගෙන ගියෙමු. මොහුට අනුව ලොවට සහල් (අවුරුදු 49,000 පෙර), යකඩ,  බාර්ලි/ඕට්ස් (අවුරුදු 49,000/10,000/8,000 පෙර – විවිධ වැඩසටහන් වල විවිධ කාලයන් දී ඇත) හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ අපයි.

නැත, මේවා හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ පිළිවෙලින් චීනය, චීනය සහ ඉශ්රායාලයයි (පලස්තීනය) – වසර 7,000 – 8,000ට පෙරය.

මෙතුමා පවසන අයුරින් ඒ කාලයේ අපේ රජවරු විදේශවලට තානාපති වරු යැවූහ, අපේ කාන්තාවෝ ඇහි බැම පාට කිරීම වැනි උසස් රූපලාවන්‍යය කටයුතු වල නියැලුණාහ. මොහු මේ කියන්නේ ගල් යුගය ගැන බව අප සිහිතබා ගත යුතුයි.

විජය රජු වැනි සල්ලාල, සෙල්ලක්කාරයෙක්ගෙන් සිංහලයා පැවතෙන්නේය යන්න පිළිගැනීම මෙම පුරාවිද්‍යාඥ/මහාචාර්යවරයාට, සමහර සංඝයාවහන්සේලාට ඉතා මදි කමක් වී ඇත. වසර  2,000ට වැඩි කාලයක් පුරා ලොවම පිළිගත් එම ඉතිහාසය දැන් ඉතා සීග්‍රයෙන් ක්ෂය වෙමින් යයි. ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’  න්‍යාය නොව තමනට අවශ්‍ය  වෙනත් විෂම චේතනා වෙනුවෙන් (බෙදුම්වාදී වැනි) අපේ ඉතිහාසය වෙනස් කරගැනීමයි මෙහිදී සිදු වන්නේ. ඒ කර්තව්‍ය ඉතා මැනවින් සිදු වෙමින් පවතී.

දරුවන්ගේ පාසැල් පෙළ පොත් වලින් විජය, දේවානම්පියතිස්ස, මහින්ද හිමි, සංඝමිත්තා තෙරුණිය, දුටු ගැමුණු, විහාර මහා දේවී  යන නාමයන් ගිලිහී ගොසිණි, නැත්නම් ඔවුන් ගැන වන සඳහන් ඉතාම අල්පය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතියේ මී මුත්තා උගන්ඩාවේ (හෝ එවැනි නැගෙනහිර අප්‍රිකානු රටක) බිහිවූ හෝමෝ සපියෙන් ලෙසට පාසැල් පෙළ පොත් වල ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසය වෙනස් කිරීමට හැකිවීම තමන්ගේ පුද්ගලික ජයග්‍රහණයක් යයි මේ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයා/මහාචාර්යවරයා පවසයි. සිංහලයා විජයගෙන් නොව මේ හෝමෝ සපියෙන්වරුන් අතරින් පසුව පැණ නැගුන ජාතියක්  බව නොකියා ඔහු කියයි. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දෙමළ අයද මේ හෝමෝ සපියෙන්ගෙන් මෙරට තුලම බිහිවූ ජාතියක් බවයි ඔහු පවසන්නේ.

මෙතුවක් කල් තිබු පිළිගැනීම වන අපේ දමිළ සහෝදරවරු සිංහලයාට බොහෝ පසුව තමිල්නාඩුවෙන් මෙරටට ආ අය බවට වන පිළිගැනීම මොහු බැහැර කරයි.

අපේ දමිළ සහෝදරවරුන්ගේ නිජභිම තමිල්නාඩුව නම් (එහි දෙමළ ජනගහනය කෝටි 8ට එහාය), ඔවුනගේ නිජභිම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේද විය නොහැක. කිසිම ජාතියකට සම්භවයන් (origin) දෙකක් තිබිය නොහැක.

විජයාගමනය, මහින්දාගමනය, මහාවංශය  බොරු යන අවබෝධයක් මේ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයා/මහාචාර්යවාරයා ලබා දෙයි. ප්‍රභාකරන්/ඇන්ටන් බාලසිංහම් කීවේද මේ දේමයි. මිහිඳු හිමි පැමිණීමට ප්‍රථම මේ රටේ බුද්ධාගම පැවතීය යන බොරුව මොහු ප්‍රචාරණය කරන්නේ අපේ ශ්‍රේෂ්ට සිංහල බෞද්ධ ශිෂ්ටාචාරය අවතක්සේරු කිරීමටයි (බුදුන් වහන්සේ තෙවරක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට වැඩම කලේ බෞද්ධ ධර්මය ප්‍රචාරය කිරීමට නොවේ. ඒ කර්තව්‍යයේ වගකීම  උන්වහන්ස්සේ සිය පිරිනිවන් මංචකයේදී සක්‍රයාට පැවරුහ. සක්‍රයා එය සමන් දෙවිදුන්ටත්, සමන් දෙවියන් එය තමන්ට අමතරව දැඩිමුන්ඩ දෙවියන්ටත් පැවරුහ).

බුදු දහම අදත් මේ රටේ හොඳින් වැජභෙන්නේ දෙවානම්පිතිස්ස/ මිහිඳු හිමි කදිම සුසංයෝගය නිසාය. ඔවුහු මේ රටේ බුද්ධාගම ස්ථාපනය කලේ ඉතා හොඳ, ශක්තිමත් අත්තිවාරමක් මතය. මේ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයා/මහාචාර්යවාරයා කියන අයුරෙන් සැළසුමක් නොමැති, ‘කඩ චොහොරුවක්’ මෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බුද්ධ ධර්මය ස්ථාපිත නොවුණි.

මේ පුරාවිද්‍යාඥයා/මහාචාර්යවාරයාට  අනුව සිංහලයාට ඇත්තේ දෙමළ සම්භවයක් විය යුතු අතර ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සිටී රජවරුන් බොහොමයක් දෙමළ හෝ දෙමළ සම්භවය වුවෝයි.

බලවත් කණගාටුවට සහ භයානක කරුණ නම් මොහුගේ බොරු බොහොමයක් පාසැල් පෙළ පොත් වලට (ඔහුම සම- සම්පාදකත්වය දරන) දැන් අඩංගු කර තිබීමයි.

අප දන්නා තරමින් ලොව කිසිම පිළිගත් ඉතිහාසඥයෙක්/ පුරාවිද්‍යඥයෙක් අපේ මේ පුරාවිද්‍යඥ/මහාචාර්යවරයාගේ ඊනියා නව සොයාගැනීම් සත්‍ය බවට සනාථ කර නොමැත.

හුදු මිත්‍යාවක් වන රාවණා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රජ කෙනෙක් ව සිටී බවට බෙදුම්වාදයට හොරෙන් උදව් දෙනවා යයි චෝදනා ලැබු දෙමළ ආධිපත්‍ය ඇති රුපවාහිනි මාධ්‍යය (ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ප්‍රධානතම), සංකර FM නාළිකා ඉතා රසවත් වැඩසටහන් මඟින් 1990 මැද භාගයේ පටන් ජනතාව තුලට කාවැද්දුහ. එසේ කරන ලද්දේ ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’  න්‍යායට අනුගතවීමට නොව බෙදුම්වාදී අදහස් තීව්‍ර කර අප රටේ ඇති පැහැදිලි ඉතිහාසය අවුල් කිරීමටය. රාවණා ද්‍රවිඩ බව පෙන්වා  ද්‍රවිඩ බෙදුම්වාදීන්ට නව අත් වැළක් සැපයීමටය.

‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’ න්‍යාය අදහන උගත් බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූවහන්සේලාද මේ බොරු බේගල් වලට අසුවුහ. එය ඛේධ ජනකය.

රාමා – සීතා දෙදෙනා ඉන්දියාවේ සමහර හින්දුන් තදින් අදහන නිසා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපද රාවණා පිළිගත යුතුය යන අතර්කානුකූල මතය මෙහි සමහරු ඉදිරිපත් කරති.  හින්දු දේශයක් වූ ඉන්දියාව රාමා – සීතා කථාව සැමදා පිළිගතී. එහි වරදක් නැත. ඉන්දියාව දැන් බලගතු රටක් නිසා අපද ඔවුන් සමඟ යමින් රාවණයෙක් මෙහි සිටියේය කියා පිළිගත යුත්තේ මන්ද? අප ඉන්දියාවේ යටත් විජිතයක් නොවේ.

රාමා – සීතා – රාවාණා සිංහලයාට කිසිසේත්ම අදාළ නොවේ. සිංහලයා බිහිවුයේ විජයගෙණි.  ඒ නිසා, විජයට පෙර සිටී රාවණා සිංහලයෙක් විය නොහැක. රාවණා කුවේණි වැනි හෙළයෙක් යයි කියා අප කීවත් (අපේ පුරාවිද්‍යඥ/මහාචාර්යවරයා කියන්නේ කුවේණි දෙමළ කියාය) ජාත්‍යාන්තරය එය පිළිනොගනී. ඔවුන් සැම කියන්නේ රාවණා ද්‍රවිඩයෙක් කියායි.

රාවණා පිළිගැනීමෙන් අප කරන්නේ සිංහලයාට පෙර ද්‍රවිඩයන් මෙහි විසුහ යන බෙදුම්වාදි ඊලාම් මතයට උඩ ගෙඩි දීමය.

මේ කරුණ පෙන්වා ජාත්‍යාන්තර නිතීය යටතේ ඊලාම දිනාගැනීමට විග්නේස්වරන්, සිද්ධාර්ථන් (අරූන් නොවේ), සුමන්තිරන් වැන්නන් අනාගතයේදී උත්සහ දරනු ඇත.

අපේ කිසිදු ඉතිහාස පුරා ග්‍රන්ථයක රාවණයෙක් මෙහි සිටියාය කියා ලියැවී නැත. එවැන්නෙක් මේ රටේ සිටියේය යන්න සනාථ කෙරෙන කිසිම පුරා විද්‍යා සාක්ෂියක් මේ දක්වා හමුවී නොමැත. ඒ නිසාය රාවණාවාදීන් කාශ්‍යප රජ විසින් තනන ලද සීගිරිය රාවණාගේ නිර්මාණයක්ය යන බොරුව ප්‍රචාරය කරනුයේ.

රාවණා ඇල්ල, රාවණා කන්ද, රාවණා දේවාල වැනි නම් වලින් ස්ථාන අප රටේ තිබෙන බව ඇත්තය. මේවායේ රාවණා යනුවෙන් අදහස් කරන්නේ රාවණා යන රජෙක් ගැන නොව ‘ශබ්ධ’ යන අර්ථයයි. රාවණා ඇල්ල ඉතා ශබ්ධය (‘ශබ්ධ ඇල්ල’).

සිතා එළියට ඒ නම ලැබුනේ රාමායනයේ එන සිතා නිසා නොව නුවරඑළිය දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ ඉතාම සීත ගමක් වීම නිසායි. ශ්‍රී පාදයේ ඇති සීත ගඟුලට ඒ නම ලැබුනේ එහි ඇති අධි ශීත වතුර  මිස රාමායණයේ එන සිතා නිසා නොවේ.

 ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’ යන න්‍යාය යටතේ බුදුරාජාණන් වහන්සේ උපන්නේ දඹදිව නොව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේය යන අමූලික, අසත්‍ය මතයක් ගොඩ නඟමින් සිටින පිරිසක් ඇත. මේ මිත්‍යාව ප්‍රචලිත කිරීම දැන් ඉතා තීව්‍ර වී ඇත. බොහෝ අය දැන් මේ කථාව විශ්වාස කිරීමට පටන් ගෙන ඇත. මෙය මෙරටින් පමණක් නොව මුළු ලොවින්ම බුදු දහම විනාශ කිරීමේ කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් විය හැක.

පුරාණ රජ දරුවන් අටමස්ථාන බිහි කලේ මනා සැළසුම් සහගතව, ක්‍රමවත් ලෙසටය. ශ්‍රී මහා බෝධිය සහ රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑය අටමස්ථානාවලින් ප්‍රමුඛස්ථානය ගනී. ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’ යන න්‍යාය තදින්ම පිළිපැදී  අපේ ‘නුතන රජවරුනට’ රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑයට සරිලන, සමාන චෛය්තයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමට බෙහෙවින් අවශ්‍ය විය. මෙයින් අටමස්ථාන සංකල්පය පරළ වී නවමස්ථාන යන නව සංකල්පයක් බිහි වන බවත්, ඉදි කරන ලද නව චෛත්‍යය රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑයට ‘තරඟයක්’ දෙන තත්වයක් උදා විය හැකි බවත් මොවුනට ඒතරම් කාරණයක් නොවීය. අදත් රාත්‍රී කාලයේදී රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑයට නොලැබෙන විදුලි අලංකරණයක් රජයෙන් මේ නව චෛත්‍ය රාජයාණන්ට ලබාදේ.

අද හතු පින්පෙන්න්නක් මෙන් රහතුන් වහන්සේලා, අවලෝකතේශ්වර වැනි බෝධි සත්වයන් වහන්සේලා පහළ වෙත්. මේවා ගැන අප පුදුම විය යුතු නොවේ. ඉදිරියේදී විවිධ ව්‍යාජ බුදු වරුන්ද පහළ වනු ඇත. මේ සියල්ල ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’ න්‍යායට අනුකූලය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තරම් ආචාර්ය, මහාචාර්ය වරු සිටින රටක් වෙන කොහෙවත් නැති විය හැක. හාස්‍යයට කරුණ නම මේ බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට පළමු උපාධිය වත් නැත. වර්ෂාවකට වත් විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයකට ගොස් නැති අයයි මේ බොහෝ දෙනෙක් . අපි ‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’ රටක් නිසා මේ ගැන පුදුම විය යුතු නැත.

‘මහාචාර්ය’ යන පදවිය භාවිතා කල හැක්කේ විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයක එම මහාචාර්ය පදවිය දරන තුරු පමණි. ඉන් ඉවත්වූ පසු ඔවුනට ආචාර්ය ලෙස හඳුන්වා ගත හැක. නමුත්, අද ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවම ඊනියා මහාචාර්යවරු  කොපමණ වේද? මාධ්‍ය ආයතනවල, රාජ්‍ය /පෞද්ගලික ආයතනවල පඳුරකට ගැසූ පසු මහාචාර්යවරු 10 -12ක් පමණ විසි වෙත්.

‘අපි තමයි හොඳටම කළේ’  න්‍යාය පිළිපදින්නන් අධි මානසික ව්‍යාධියෙන් පෙලෙන්නෝයි (superiority complex). මෙහි විභවය නම් අඩු මානසික ව්‍යාධියයි (inferiority complex). මේ දොගොල්ලම යම් තරමින්   මානසික රෝගීන් විය හැක. අවශ්‍ය අයට වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රතිකාර ලබා දුන මැනවි. වඩාත්ම අවශ්‍යවනුයේ මේ අයට හොඳ/නරක කියා දී, මොවුන් මඟින් රටට/සමාජයට වන විශාල හානිය පැහැදිලි කර දීමය.

මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනය ආචාර්ය දසරත් ජයසූරිය සභාපති ස්පර් සංවිධානය ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව 

18/01/2024

ශ්‍රි ලoකාවේ සාමය, ඒකීය භාවය සහ මානව අයිතීන් රැකීම උදෙසා, දැනට දශක ‌‌දෙකකට අධික කාලයක් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ සිට අඛණ්ඩව කටයුතු කරනු ලබන, දේශහිතෛශි ශ්‍රි ලාංකිකයින්ගෙන් සැදුම්ලත් ‘ස්පර්’ නමින් හදුන්වන අප සංවිධානය, ගෝලීය දෙමළ සංසදය සහ භික්ෂූන් හත්නමක් මගින් එලිදක්වා ඇති හිමාලයා ප්‍රකාශනයේ සඳහන් කරුණු සහ ජනාධිපතිවරයා විසින් යාපනයේදී 13 වෙනි සංශෝධ්‍නය සහ අදාල බලතල උපරීමයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම මැයෙන් කර ඇති රටට අහිතකර ප්‍රකාශවල යටි අරමුණු සහ ක්‍රියාන්විතයන් පිළිබඳව සිය බලවත් කනස්සල්ල ප්‍රකාශ කරයි.

• ජනාධිපත්තිවරයාට සහ මල්වතු හා අස්ගිරි මහා නායක ස්වාමීන් වහන්සේලාට මෑතකදී භාර දුන් හිමාලයා ප්‍රකාශනය මගින් දේශීයව සහ ජාත්‍යන්තරව යළිත් වරක් දෙමළ ජනතාවට අසාධාරණයක් සිදුවන බවට නිර්මාණය කරන මතයට සුජාතභාවය ලබා දී 13 වෙනි සංශෝධනය බලාත්මක කිරීමේ අඬහැරිය ශක්තිමත් කෙරේ. සත්‍ය තත්වය ඊට සපුරා පටහැනිය. උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වලන් පුරාවිද්‍යාත්මක වටිනාකමක් ඇති බෞද්ධ පුදබිම් පවා අන්තවාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායම් විසින් සංවිධානාත්මකව විනාශ කරමින් ඇත. අපවෙත ලැබුණු අලුත්ම තොරතුරු අනුව, උතුරේ අන්තවාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලන කණ්ඩායමක් කුරුන්දි පුදබිමේ කෝවිලක් සෑදීමට මුල්ගල් තැබීමට සූදානමින් සිටින බව උතුරු පළාතේ ප්‍රධාන සංඝනායක ගල්ගමුවේ ශාන්තබෝධි හිමි පැවසූ බැව් වාර්තාවේ. 1988 දී කරන ලද 16 වැනි සංශෝධනයට අනුව සිංහල භාෂාව තවදුරටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුරා රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව හෝ පරිපාලන භාෂාව නොවන අතර, දෙමළ භාෂාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව පුරා රාජ්‍ය භාෂා තත්ත්වයට අමතරව පරිපාලන භාෂාව විය හැකිය. එමගින් උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත්වල වෙසෙන සිංහල ජනතාවට සිදුවන අසාධාරණය ගැන වගකිවයුත්තන් නිහඬය.

•  හිමාලයා ප්‍රකාශනය මගින් බලය බෙදීම සහ බලය බෙදා ගැනීම යන ක්‍රියාවලියන් අවධාරණය කරමින් ඊට අදාළව නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක අත්‍යවශ්‍යතාවය ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමට සහ එමගින් ඊටත් එහා යන (13+) බලය බෙදා ගැනීමකට මඟ සකස් කරේ. ආරක්ෂක හමුදාවලට එරෙහිව යුධ අපරාධ චෝදනා එල්ල කිරීමේ ‍ ක්‍රිරියාවලිය නැවත කරලියට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා සත්‍ය සෙවීමේ කොමිසම නමින් පිහිටවීමට සූදානම් වන යාන්ත්‍රණයට මෙම ප්‍රකාශනය සුජාතභාවය ලබාදේ.

• Ø  හිමාලය ප්‍රකාශනයට අත්සන් තබා ඇති භික්‍ෂූන් ගැන රටේ බහුතර ජනතාව නොදන්නා අතර එම අවස්ථාවට එක් වී සිටි සියඹලාගස්වැව විමලසාර හිමියන් 2022 වසරේදී එල්.ටී.ටී.ඊ. හිතවාදීන් පිරිසක් සමඟ ඔවුන්ගේ උත්සවයකට සහභාගි වී සිටි අයුරු මාධ්‍යය තුළ සංසරණය වේ. මෙම ප්‍රකාශනයට අත්සන් තැබූ භික්‍ෂූන් වහන්සේලා  කවුරුන්ද, ඔවුන් විසින් සිදු කරන ඓතිහාසික පාවාදීමේ තරම, උක්ත ප්‍රකාශනය හා අදාළ කරුණු විමර්ශනය කිරීමෙන් මහනායක හිමිවරුන්ට මෙන්ම මහජනතාවටද වටහාගත හැකිය.

• Ø  උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර පළාත් 13 වෙනි සංශෝධනය මගින් ලබා දී ඇති බලතල උපරිමයෙන් යොදා ගනිමින් කටයුතු කළ යුතු බවත්, ඊට මාධ්‍ය රජය බාධා නොකරන බවත් එම බලතල ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීම සඳහා තමාගෙන් හෝ මධ්‍යම රජයෙන් අවසර ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය නැති බවත්, ජනාධිපතිවරයා යාපනයේදී පවසා ඇත.  ජනාධිපතිවරයා 13 වෙනි සංශෝධනය සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම බලාත්මක කරන බවට මීට පෙර කීප වතාවක්ම දැඩි ප්‍රකාශ නිකුත් කරනු ලැබුවද, පසුගිය වසරේ දී මහනායක හිමිවරුන්ගේ විරෝධය හමුවේ ඔහුට තම උපාය මාර්ගය වෙනස් කර ඇති බැව් ජනාධිපතිගේ එම ප්‍රකාශය, උක්ත හිමාලයා ප්‍රකාශනයේම දිගුවක් ලෙස පෙනී යයි.

පසුගිය ජනාධිපතිවරණයේදී, 69 ලක්ෂයක ජනවරමක් ලබාදී  තෝරාගත් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ප්‍රතිපත්ති ප්‍රකාශය තුළ හෝ ඔහු විසින් නව ව්‍යවස්ථාවක් සකස්කිරීම සඳහා පත් කළ කමිටුවේ නිර්දේශ තුළ 13 වෙනි සංශෝධනය බලා‍ත්මක කිරීමක් ගැන සඳහන් නොවේ. එම ජනවරම උඩු යටිකුරු කිරීමට කිසිදු ජනවාරමකින් පත් නොවූ වත්මන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාට සදාචාරාත්මක අයිතියක් තිබිය නොහැක. එබැවින්, මෙම අත්තනෝමතික උපාය මාර්ග සිතියම හකුලා ගැනීමට ජනාධිපතිවරයාට බල කිරීම සඳහා එක්වන ලෙස, රටේ ඒකීය රාජ්‍ය ව්‍යුහය අගයන දේශහිතෛශි සියලුම පාර්ශවයන්ගෙන් කාරුණිකව ඉල්ලා සිටිමු.  එසේ නොකරන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රීවරුන් සහ දේශපාලන පක්ෂ නායකයින් විසින් කරනු ලබන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ දූෂිතම පාවාදීම බැව් ඉතා කෙටි කලකින් ඔප්පු වනු ඇත.

ආචාර්ය දසරත් ජයසූරිය

 සභාපති ස්පර් සංවිධානය

ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව

2024 ජනවාරි 18 

By Sarath Wijesinghe President’s Counsel (LL.M (UCL)), former Ambassador to UAE and Israel, President of the Lanka Ambassador’s Forum – United Kingdom, Solicitor in England and Wales, and Suchithra Withanage (LL.M (UK) (LL.M (UK) MBA (UK | Reading) LL.B (Hons) (UK)) Diploma in Law (UK) MCIArb (UK) MBCS (UK) MCMI (UK) ACIPR (UK) ASIArb (Singapore)

In recent times, Sri Lanka has found itself ensnared within the tendrils of a disturbing and rapidly escalating wave of criminal activities, spanning from larcenies and physical assaults to even more egregious acts such as homicides. This surge has cast a palpable specter of trepidation upon the populace, compelling the government to respond with the inception of Operation ‘Yukthiya’, a multifaceted initiative designed to stem the rising tide of criminal elements. However, this undertaking has not gone unnoticed on the global stage, as the international community, as well as UN experts, cognizant of potential human rights transgressions, raises their collective voices, advocating for a temporary suspension of the operation.
To fathom the origins of this contemporary crisis, one must probe into Sri Lanka’s historical posture towards criminals and substance users. The government’s historical leniency and/or negligence, inadvertently allowing the growth of organized criminal networks, has allowed these illicit entities to thrive with unwarranted impunity. Operation ‘Yukthiya’ thus emerged as a corrective endeavor, seeking to dismantle the deeply entrenched criminal networks that have insidiously taken root over the course of time.
The international consternation and calls for the suspension of the ‘Yukthiya’ are born out of legitimate apprehensions regarding potential human rights transgressions. Reports detailing extrajudicial actions and the utilization of excessive force have ignited consternation among human rights organizations and foreign governments alike. While these concerns bear validity, it is incumbent upon us to acknowledge the delicate tightrope the authorities are navigating, a precarious balance between ensuring public safety and upholding individual rights. A judicious examination of the dynamics at play is requisite for a holistic comprehension of the situation.
Undeniably, the paramount significance of safeguarding human rights cannot be overstated. Sri Lanka, akin to any other sovereign entity, is duty-bound to uphold the tenets of justice, equity, and individual liberties. Nevertheless, the imperative of addressing the surge in criminal activities looms large on the national agenda as well. The crux of the matter lies in the delicate equilibrium that must be struck between the preservation of individual rights and the maintenance of public safety. It therefore becomes imperative for the government to conduct an exhaustive review of Operation ‘Yukthiya,’ ensuring that the actions undertaken by law enforcement agencies remain firmly within the bounds of legality and respect for human rights. The subtleties of Sri Lanka’s challenges may elude the complete comprehension of the international community. These complexities, forged by deeply ingrained organized crime, historical leniency, a measure of negligence by stakeholders, and the imperative for immediate actions to ensure public safety, contribute to the convoluted environment within which ‘Yukthiya’ unfolds. There exists a compelling need to bridge the chasm in understanding between Sri Lanka and the international community, facilitating a discourse that acknowledges the unique circumstances prevailing on the ground.
The genesis of the leniency towards crime in Sri Lanka is a convolution of socio-economic factors, political considerations, and inherent challenges in law enforcement. Over the decades, the government’s reluctance to address these issues with appropriate resolve has sown the seeds of a negligent culture, providing a permissive milieu for the flourishing of criminal elements in all corners of the island, engendering and inconveniencing regular citizens. Unintentionally, this has given rise to the organized proliferation of criminal networks. The audacity of criminals, emboldened by the absence of severe consequences for their transgressions, has enabled them to establish and fortify their operations with alarming efficiency. The paucity of a robust deterrent has contributed to the emergence of sophisticated criminal enterprises, adept at orchestrating an array of illegal activities with a disconcerting degree of impunity. The consequence is an upswing in crimes spanning from the mundane to the heinous, including petty thefts to more egregious acts like assaults and even homicides involving gun violence, which have seen an alarming increase in recent months and have garnered publicity on a myriad of news networks. Law enforcement agencies are thrust into a confrontation not merely with individual malefactors but with well-connected, organized networks wielding profound influences. The surge in crime has metamorphosed into a systemic malady necessitating a comprehensive and multifaceted response.
In answer to the mounting wave of criminality, the Sri Lankan government therefore embarked upon ‘Yukthiya’, which endeavors to address the foundational causes of the surge in criminal activities, strategically dismantling the organized networks that have thrived under the umbrella of oversight. While subjected to international scrutiny, it is imperative to perceive this operation not merely as a subject of critique but as a necessary and audacious stride towards rectifying the systemic maladies that have beleaguered the nation.
In confronting the exigencies presented by the tide of criminality, Sri Lanka stands at the crossroads of an imperative, striking the appropriate balance between safeguarding individual rights and ensuring the sanctity of public safety. Operation ‘Yukthiya,’ therefore assumes a role of significance, demanding meticulous conduct cognizant of the potential for human rights transgressions, with a steadfast commitment to legal norms and international standards. The preservation of this balance necessitates a thorough and introspective review of the operation’s modalities, as the metastasis of criminal activities has reached a juncture where its unbridled proliferation poses a formidable threat to the societal fabric. The insidious rise of robberies, assaults, and sundry illicit endeavors has cast a pall of fear and insecurity, underscoring the inescapable urgency of decisive action. With each passing day devoid of resolute intervention, the influence of criminal networks grows deeper, rendering their eradication an increasingly Herculean task.
The permissiveness toward the crisis carries dire repercussions for the nation. Beyond the immediate jeopardy to public safety, escalating crime levels harbor the potential to nurture a culture of violence, corroding social cohesion and undermining the bedrock of a tranquil and harmonious society. The ramifications extend far beyond the direct victims of criminality, permeating the collective well-being of communities and the nation at large. In the face of this pressing challenge, governmental intervention is not merely a matter of desirability but an imperative. ‘Yukthiya,’ conceived as a riposte to the mounting crime levels, stands as an embodiment of law enforcement’s acknowledgment of the gravity of the situation. This endeavor aspires to dismantle the organized crime networks, with the overarching goal of reinstating a semblance of security and well-being for the citizenry.
Furthermore, it can be observed that concurrently with governmental endeavors, the nexus of community engagement and heightened awareness assumes an indispensable role in navigating the complex terrain of escalating crime levels. The empowerment of communities to stand vigilant, the cultivation of a pervasive sense of collective responsibility, and the promotion of seamless collaboration between citizens and law enforcement constitute integral facets of a cogent strategy. The bedrock of a successful approach lies in the establishment of trust between the public and authorities, nurturing an environment wherein each individual actively contributes to the safety and security of their neighborhoods.
However, it must be stated that the necessity of ensuring that law enforcement actions adhere scrupulously to legal norms and international fundamental rights standards becomes pronounced in order to obviate the specter of potential human rights abuses. Moreover,
mitigating the urgency attendant to the escalating crime levels transcends the purview of immediate law enforcement actions. It mandates the formulation and implementation of comprehensive policies addressing the root causes of criminality. Socio-economic considerations, educational disparities, and equitable access to opportunities must be woven into a holistic framework that not only sanctions the errant but endeavors, fundamentally, to forestall the conditions precipitating criminal behavior. Nevertheless, the international stage has not remained indifferent to the progress of Operation ‘Yukthiya,’ with resonant calls for its suspension reverberating in diplomatic corridors. The specter of potential human rights transgressions and extrajudicial actions has prompted international authorities to scrutinize the operation, questioning its validity and ethical underpinnings. While these concerns bear validity, an outright suspension threatens to undercut the strides made in quelling criminal activities, leaving the nation perilously exposed to the persistent machinations of organized crime. In fact, the prospect of suspending ‘Yukthiya’ may unfurl far-reaching consequences for the headway achieved in attenuating criminal activities. Despite its imperfections, the operation has manifested signs of efficacy in dismantling criminal networks and disrupting their nefarious operations. The abrupt cessation of such an initiative may furnish a fertile ground for these criminal elements to regroup, thereby rendering the initial efforts futile and exacerbating the jeopardy to the safety and security of citizens.
In acknowledgment of the reservations articulated by the international community, a judicious middle ground must be sought. ‘Yukthiya’ ought endure, albeit under heightened scrutiny and subject to an exhaustive review. This approach ensures the operation’s continued efficacy in combating organized crime while simultaneously addressing the genuine concerns associated with potential human rights violations. The twin pillars of transparency, accountability, and firm adherence to legal norms should form the linchpin of this meticulous review process. In combating organized crime, the sanctity of human rights can be considered the compass rose in the operations. ‘Yukthiya,’ in its pursuits, must progress only with a discerning cognizance of the latent potential for abuse and violations. Law enforcement actions, constituting the sinews of this operation, should conscientiously adhere to international standards, ensuring the protection of suspects’ rights and the meting out of justice. A comprehensive review, suffused with mechanisms to redress any reported human rights infractions, stands not only as an example of accountability but as a reinforcement of the commitment to the rule of law.
The crux of the challenge lies in the delicate equipoise between the safeguarding of human rights and the imperative efficacy of the ‘Yukthiya.’ The government is tasked with a demonstration of commitment to upholding individual liberties even as it confronts the entrenched criminal networks that cast a looming shadow over the nation’s stability. Enhancing international collaboration and dialogue becomes a sine qua non, wherein a profound understanding of the challenges faced by Sri Lanka can be duly forged through apt communication and understanding, birthing a solution that reveres human rights without concomitantly compromising public safety. After all, the equilibrium between safeguarding
individual rights and ensuring public safety is linchpin of any society aspiring to justice and ethical rectitude.
To assuage international concerns and usher in a more transparent and accountable paradigm, a more rigorous review process for Operation ‘Yukthiya’ becomes a need of the hour. This process, endowed with the imprimatur of independence, should wield the authority to scrutinize and assess the operation’s actions, ensuring a fidelity to international legal standards and the respect of human rights. The review process, far from being reactive, should be imbued with a proactive ethos, monitoring the operation’s ongoing activities to preclude potential abuses and crystallize an environment of unassailable integrity. Central to the exacting scrutiny inherent in the review process is the unequivocal protection of the rights vested in the suspects entangled within the ambit of ‘Yukthiya.’ Regardless of their alleged complicity in criminal activities, these individuals are entitled, as a matter of fundamental justice, to equitable treatment, due process, insulation from the capricious or disproportionate use of force, and access to legal aid as well as rehabilitation.
The law enforcement must not attempt to usurp the duties and responsibilities of the judiciary, which is to decide by themselves the guilt of a suspect accused of a crime when they are subjected to arrest. Embedded within the review process must also exist mechanisms designed to probe any reported abuses, with discernible consequences awaiting those adjudged responsible. This commitment to safeguarding the rights of suspects not only elevates the credibility of the operation but also ensures its alignment with the precincts of justice.
By meticulously aligning law enforcement actions with the compass of legal norms and international standards, the operation cultivates a reservoir of support and trust among the populace. This trust, an indispensable currency, is vital for cultivating the cooperation of communities, catalyzing the sharing of intelligence, and crystallizing an environment wherein citizens proactively contribute to the safety and security of their neighborhoods.
The daily tribulations endured by ordinary citizens of Sri Lanka, besieged by the scourge of rampant crime, often elude a comprehensive understanding when scrutinized through the lens of international authorities. The complexities of the Sri Lankan socio-economic fabric, the details etched in cultural narratives, and the historical contexts that interlace to shape the crime landscape may not find adequate resonance with external observers, unless they conduct a personal examination of the situation on the ground. The peril of a limited understanding from afar lies in the potential for misinterpretations, overlooking crucial facets indispensable to the formulation of effective solutions. To grapple with the challenges besieging the nation an obligation thus unfolds: an unswerving recognition of the realities etched upon the terrain. The fusion of cultural idiosyncrasies, legacies, and socio-economic tangles composes a complex symphony. While international authorities may proffer invaluable insights, an exclusive reliance on external perspectives risks the perilous oversimplification and misunderstanding of the subtleties at play. True comprehension demands an active engagement with the local
context, affording a more accurate assessment of the root causes of crime and the dynamics that sustain its persistence.
Navigating the manifold crime challenges in Sri Lanka requires not only the acknowledgment of the limitations inherent in external perspectives but, more crucially, the proactive engagement with local communities, authorities, and experts. Through immersive engagement, international entities can glean insights into the multifaceted nature of the challenges faced by ordinary citizens, contributing substantively to the formulation of solutions that transcend the ephemeral and embrace the enduring. The acknowledgment of the agency vested in the local populace and the inclusion of their voices in the decision-making echelons are salient, indispensable for the progressive success of any external intervention.
The attainment of a better understanding on the path to genuine comprehension of the economic and social fabric of a developing nation in the throes of multifarious predicaments, necessitates the orchestration of profound dialogue and collaboration, an interplay between Sri Lanka and the international community that transcends perfunctory exchanges. Open lines of communication become not merely a conduit for the exchange of perspectives, information, and expertise but a much-needed gateway to resolve challenges and arrive at their potential solutions expeditiously, with insights and assistance of all relevant parties with a legitimate claim and interest in establishing harmony and prosperity in Sri Lanka. With a long heritage, diverse ethnicities, and a complex historical narrative, the nation’s challenges necessitate an approach that ventures beyond superficial analyses. The scars of past conflicts bear witness to the unintended consequences when external endeavors lack the requisite granularity to understand the unique context of Sri Lanka. The lessons garnered from these historical chapters thereby underscore the exigencies for an exhaustive understanding of the local dynamics, and the call for a more diligent approach is not merely an academic proposition but is deeply rooted in the daily experiences of Sri Lankan citizens. In doing so, we pave the way for collaborative solutions that resonate authentically with the needs and aspirations of the populace, cultivating sustainable progress and well-being of the nation

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

Lankaweb අඩවියේ කළින් පළවූ ‘Bandaranaike Assassination – due to Banda – Chelva pact?’ යන ඉංග්‍රීසි ලිපියේ සිංහල අනුවාදය, එම මුල් ලිපිකරු විසින්ම.

1956 මැතිවරණ ව්‍යාපාරයේදී බණ්ඩාරණායක මහතා සිංහල එකම රාජ්‍ය භාෂාව බවට පත් කරන බවට පොරොන්දු විය. නමුත් බලයට පත් වූ පසු එම පොරොන්දුව ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට යම් ප්‍රමාදයන් ඇති විය.

ඒ.පී ජයසූරිය මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ මාරාන්තික උපවාසයක් ඇතුළුව ජාතිකවාදීන් විසින් දැඩි විරෝධතා ආරම්භ කරන ලද අතර, එයට හිටපු සෞඛ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය සහ එවකට පළාත්පාලන සහ නිවාස අමාත්‍යවරයා  වූ විමලා විජයවර්ධන මන්ත්‍රීවරියගේ සහ කේ.එම්.පී.රාජරත්න මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ විශාල සහයෝගයන් ලැබුණි. බණ්ඩාරනායකට තම ‘සිංහල පමණයි’ ප්‍රතිපත්තිය නීතිගත කිරීම සඳහා නීති සම්පාදනය කිරීම හැර වෙනත් විකල්පයක් තිබුණේ නැත. පනත 1956 දී පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ වැඩි ඡන්දයෙන් සම්මත විය.

නමුත් බණ්ඩාරනායකට තම භාෂා ප්‍රතිපත්තිය සමඟ වැඩි කාලයක් ජීවත් වීමට නොහැකි විය. එස්.ජේ.වී. චෙල්වනායගම් (ෆෙඩරල් පක්ෂ නායක) විසින් ඔහුට එල්ල කළ පීඩනය විශාල වූ අතර බණ්ඩාරණායකට එය තවදුරටත් දරාගත නොහැකි විය. ඔහු 1957 දී බණ්ඩාරණායක – චෙල්වනායගම් ගිවිසුම (බණ්ඩා – චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම) අත්සන් කළේය. මේ මගින් සිංහල සහ දෙමළ භාෂා දෙකටම සමාන ස්ථානයන් ලබා දුන් අතර පුළුල් බලතල පරාසයක් ආවරණය විය. නායකයන් දෙදෙනා එකඟ වූයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ඵලදායී ෆෙඩරල් පරිපාලන ක්‍රමයක් ඇති කිරීමටය.

මෙම බණ්ඩා – චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම සිංහල බෞද්ධයන් දැඩි කෝපයට පත් කළේය. එම ගිවිසුමට එරෙහිව රට තුළ මහජන විරෝධතා ඇති වූ අතර එහි ප්‍රමුඛත්වය ගත්තේ බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාය.

බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූන් සිය ගණනක් (200 ක් පමණ) බණ්ඩාරනායකගේ රොස්මිඩ් පෙදෙසේ නිවසින් පිටත කඳවුරු බැඳ සිටියහ. බණ්ඩාරනායකට තම නවාතැනට ඇතුළු වීම පිණිස සංඝයාවහන්සේලාට එරෙහිව  කටු කම්බි වැටක් දැමීමට සිදු විය.

කැලණිය විහාරස්ථානයේ විහාරාධිපති මාපිටිගම බුද්ධරක්ඛිත හිමියෝ කඳවුරු ගත කළ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට විධි විධාන දුන් ප්‍රධානතම චරිතය විය. බණ්ඩාරණායක තම නිවසින් පිටතට පැමිණ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා හමු විය; බණ්ඩා-චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම අහෝසි කිරීමට ඔහු පොරොන්දු විය. ඔහු එය ලිඛිතව ද තහවුරු කර විමලා විජයවර්ධන හරහා භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට අතින් ලියූ සටහනක් යැවීය. හාමුදුරුවරු විසිර ගියහ. මේ 1957 දීය.

බණ්ඩා – චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම මගින් බණ්ඩාරණායක සහ බෞද්ධ භික්ෂුන් (‘1956 පංච මහා බලවේගයේ’ අංගයන්) අතර පැවති විශිෂ්ට සබඳතාව බරපතල ලෙස පළුදු විය. මාපිටිගම බුද්ධරක්ඛිත බණ්ඩාරණායක බලයට ගෙන ඒම සඳහා රුපියල් දස දහස් ගණනින් සිය ධනය වියදම් කළේය. නමුත්, 1957 වන විට දෙදෙනාම සතුරන් බවට පත්ව සිටීහ.

බොහෝ අය යනුයේ බුද්ධරක්ඛිත තුල බණ්ඩාරණායක පිළිබඳව වූ වෛරය ජාතිකවාදී හේතූන් මත නොව පුද්ගලික හේතුන් නිසා ඇතිවූ බවයි – බණ්ඩාරණායක බුද්ධරක්ඛිතගේ සහෝදරයාගේ සමාගමට කොළඹ වරායේ ලාභදායී නැව් කොන්ත්‍රාත්තුවක් ලබා දීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කළ බැවින්. විමලා විජේවර්ධනගේ පුත්‍රයාද එම ව්‍යාපාරයේ නිරත විය. බණ්ඩාරණායක මරා දැමීමට බුද්ධරක්ඛිතගේ චේතනාව මෙය ලෙසට එවකට  වූ රජය විසින් දැඩි මාධ්‍ය  ප්‍රසිද්ධියක් ලබා දුනි; ගරු අධිකරණයට නීතිපති පෙන්වූයේද මෙම හේතුවයි.

මාපිටිගම බුද්ධරක්ඛිත යනු එකල අතිශය බලගතු හිමිනමකි. එය පහත සිදුවීම් දෙකෙන් පැහැදිලි වේ:

• අගමැති ධුරයේ දිවුරුම් දීමෙන් පසු බණ්ඩාරණායක ගියේ මහනුවර ධන්ත ධාතු මන්දීරයේ දළදා වහන්සේ වැඳපුදා ගැනීමට නොව බුද්ධරක්ඛිත හිමියන් වැඩ සිටි කැලණිය විහාරස්ථානය වැඳපුදා ගැනීමටය.
• බණ්ඩාරණායක අභාවප්‍රාප්‍ත වූ විගස එවකට අගමැති වූ දහනායක මහතා ජාතික ගුවන් විදුලියෙන් බණ්ඩාරණායක මහතා වර්ණනා කරමින් දේශනයක් පවත්වන ලෙස බුද්ධරක්ඛිතගෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. එය බුද්ධරක්ඛිත විසින් සිදු කරන ලදී (බුද්ධරක්ඛිතව අත්අඩංගුවට ගනු ලැබුවේ ඉන් දින කිහිපයකට පසුවය).

බුද්ධරක්ඛිත සහ විමලා විජයවර්ධන අතිශය සමීප මිතුරන් වූ අතර දෙදෙනාම උග්‍ර  ජාතිකවාදීන් බවට ප්‍රසිද්ධව සිටියහ. මෙය සනාථ කිරීමට සිදුවීම් තිබේ; සමහරෙක් මෙම ලිපියේ සඳහන් වේ.

බණ්ඩා – චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම ගැන බෞද්ධ පැවිදී උතුමන් බණ්‌ඩාරණයක සමග උරණ වූහ.

1959 වන විට මෙම  ගිවිසුම බොහෝ සෙයින් නැවත උඩට මතු විය. භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලාට දුන් පොරොන්දුව නොතකා බණ්ඩාරණායක ගිවිසුම ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට ඉතා කැපවී සිටියේය. එය නීතිගත කිරීමට නීති සම්පාදනය කිරීමට ඔහුට අවශ්‍ය විය. මෙම ගිවිසුම මගින් සිංහල – දෙමළ ප්‍රශ්නවලට – 1958 දී ප්‍රථම වරට සිංහල – දෙමළ වාර්ගික ගැටුම් ඇති වූයේ  බණ්ඩාරණායක යාපනයේ ඇති කළ ශ්‍රී වාහන අංක තහඩු ප්‍රශ්ණය සම්බන්ධයෙන්, තිරසාර විසඳුමක් ගෙන එනු ඇතැයි බණ්ඩාරණායක අවංකවම සිතීය.

1958 දෙමළ කෝළාහල වලින් රටේ දෙමළ/සිංහල මරණ ඇති විය. දකුණේ දෙමළ සහෝදරවරුනට දැඩි හිංසා පිඩා ඇති විය. ඒ වගේම, යාපනයේ, ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ සහ මඩකලපුවේ ස්ථිරව වාසය කල  සිංහලයන් සිය දහස් ගණනක් එම ප්‍රදේශවලින් ගසා එලවා දමන ලදී. 

බණ්ඩාරණායක ඝාතන නඩු විභාගයේදී බුද්ධරක්ඛිතට සහ විමලා විජයවර්ධනට චෝදනා එල්ල විය. නඩු විභාගය අතරතුර දෙවැන්නා නිදොස් කොට නිදහස් කරන ලද නමුත්, බුද්ධරක්ඛිත වරදකරු වී මරණ දණ්ඩනයට නියම විය. 1965 ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක රජය විසින් මෙම  මරණීය දණ්ඩනය ජීවිතාන්තය දක්වා සිරදඬුවමක් දක්වා වෙනස් කරන ලදී. බුද්ධරක්ඛිත බන්ධනාගාරයේදී මිය ගියේ වයස අවුරුදු 46 දී ය.

මිනීමැරුම් නඩුවේ මූලික සැකකරු වූයේ තල්දූවේ සෝමාරාම හිමිය (නඩු විභාගයේ 4 ^{වැනි විත්තිකරු).}. බුද්ධරක්ඛිත සෝමාරාම යොදාගෙන ඝාතනය සිදුකළ බවට චෝදනා එල්ල විය.

සෝමාරාම ප්‍රසිද්ධ ජාතිකවාදියෙක් විය. ඔහු ජීවත් වුණේ බොරැල්ලේ පන්සලකය. ඔහු ආයුර්වේද වෛද්‍යවරයකු වූ අතර බොරැල්ල ආයුර්වේද විද්‍යාලයේ කථිකාචාර්යවරයෙක්ද විය.  ඔහු මාතර ගොවි පවුලකින් පැවත ආ අයෙකි. පංච මහා බලවේගයේ බලවේග 4ක් ඔහුට හිමි විය.

සෝමාරාම වයස අවුරුදු 14 දී පැවිදි විය. ඔහු වයස අවුරුදු 21 දී මහනුවරදී උපසම්පදාව ලැබීය.  

ජූරි සභාව විසින් ඔහු මිනීමැරුමට වැරදිකරු වූ පසු, 1962 දී ඔහුව එල්ලා මරා දමන ලදී. එවිට ඔහුගේ වයස 47කි.

කළින් (පොලිසීයට) තමන් වෙඩි තැබූ බවට පිළි ගත්තත් පසුව නිවැරදිකරු බව ඔහු  කීය.

බණ්ඩාරනායකට වෙඩි තැබූ වහාම සෝමාරාම ‘රට, ජාතිය, ආගම’ (‘රට , ජාතිය , ආගම ’) යන වචන නැවත නැවතත් කීවේය. මේවා අන්ත ජාතිකවාදියෙකුගේ වදන් මිස ඝාතනය කිරීමට වෙනත් චේතනාවක් (intention) තිබු අයෙකුගේ වචන නොවේ.

බුධ්රක්ඛිතගේ සොහොයුරාට බණ්ඩාරණායක වරායේ ටෙන්ඩර් ප්‍රධානය නොකිරීම සොමාරාමට බණ්ඩාරනායකව මරා දැමීමට තරම් හේතු සාධකයක් වන්නේ කෙසේද? සෝමාරාම යනු රටේ පිළිගත්, උගත් කෙනෙක් විය.

බණ්ඩාරණායක ඝාතනය සඳහා වෙඩි තැබීමට සෝමාරාම බොහෝ පුරුදු පුහුණු වී ඇත.

බණ්ඩාරණායකට වෙඩි තබද්දී සෝමාරාම මේ වදන් පළ කල බව එකළ මාධ්‍ය වසන් කළහ. මේ සත්‍යය එලියට පැමිණියේ මෑතකදීය.

ඔහුගේ හර්ද සාක්ෂ්‍ය හමුවේ ඝාතනය නියත වශයෙන්ම දේශපාලනික නොවුයේ නම් ප්‍රබල ජාතිකවාදියෙකු වූ සෝමාරාම කිසි දිනෙක ඝාතනයට සම්බන්ධ නොවනු ඇත. මෙය මේ ලිපිකරුගේ මතයයි.

සෝමාරාමගේ ඉහත වදන්වලින් (‘ රට , ජාතිය , ආගම ’) අපට උපකල්පනය කළ හැක්කේ බණ්‌ඩා – චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම නිසා ඔහු බණ්ඩාරණායකව ඝාතනය කළ බවයි. බුද්ධරක්ඛිත ඔහුව පෙළඹවුවා  විය යුතුයි.

තුවාල වී ලෙඩ ඇඳේ සිටී බණ්ඩාරණායක සෝමාරාමට හිංසා නොකරන ලෙසත් ඔහුට අනුකම්පා කරන ලෙසත් පුන පුනා ඉල්ලා සිටියේ මේ නිසාද?

ඝාතනය සම්බන්ධයෙන් තවත් විවිධ කුමන්ත්‍රණ න්‍යායන් මතුව ඇත, එනම්,  එය CIA කුමන්ත්‍රණයක් බව, මෙම මිනී මැරුමට ඔසී කොරයා සම්බන්ධ බව යනාදී වශයෙන්. නමුත් මේවා නිෂ්පල කථා බව බැලු බැල්මට පෙනේ.

සෝමාරාම හිමි නම තමනට වෙඩි තැබූ බව මරණයට පෙර බණ්ඩාරණායක පුද්ගලිකව හඳුනා ගත්තේය,  ඔහු ඒ ගැන කථා කළේය. ඉදින්, බණ්ඩාරණායකට වෙනත් කෙනෙකු වෙඩි තැබුවා යයි නඟන කථාවේ පලයක් නැත.

සෝමාරාම ඇමරිකන් CIA ඉත්තෙක් කියා සැක කිරීමට කිසිදු සාක්ෂියක් නොමැත. ඔහු බුද්ධරක්ඛිතගේ මිත්‍රයෙක් බව නම් සැබවි.

නැවතත්, බණ්ඩාරණායක ඝාතනය කිරීමේ සොමාරාමගේ සැබෑ චේතනාව බණ්ඩා-චෙල්වා ගිවිසුම බවයි බොහෝ සෙයින්  පෙනෙන්නට ඇත්තේ. ඝාතකයා ලෙස වෙඩි තබමින් ඔහුගේ මුවින් පිටවූ වදන් ඒ බවට සාක්ෂි දරයි.

මේ සම්බන්ධව කෙරෙන ප්‍රථම ප්‍රසිද්ධ විචාරය මෙය විය හැකියි. එවැනි විචාරයන් එවකට සිදු නොවුනේ සෝමාරාම වීරයෙක් ලෙස සමහර සිංහලයන් සිතාවි යන බිය නිසාද?

සෝමාරාම පිළිබඳව එවකට රටේ ජනයා තුල තිබුනේ කිව නොහැකි තරම් වූ තරහකි.

මිනීමරුවන් දෙදෙනාම තමන් ඝාතනය සිදු කළ බවට පාපෝච්චාරණය නොකළහ.  තමනට එල්ල වූ මිනීමැරුම් වරදට ඔවුන් නිවැරැදිකරුවන් යයි කිවුහ.  

ඔවුන් පාපෝච්චරණයන් සිදු කලේ නම් මිනී මැරීම සඳහා ඔවුනගේ නියත අදහස (motive) කුමක්දැයි අපට නිසැකවම දැන ගැනීමට හැකියාව තිබුණි. එසේ නම් යම් ජන ප්‍රසාදයක් දිනා ගැනීමට ඔවුනට හැකි වුවා විය හැක.

බණ්ඩාරණායක ඝාතනය කිරීමේ චේතනාව ජාතිකවාදී ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ බණ්ඩාරණායක විසින් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට අසමත් වීම” බව බුද්ධරක්ඛිත පුද්ගලිකව පසුව ආරෝපණය කළ බව සඳහන් වේ.

වෙඩි තැබීමේ සිද්ධියෙන් පසුව සෝමාරාම සහ බුද්ධරක්ඛිත සිදු කළ ජාතිකවාදී ප්‍රකාශ වලට එවකට වූ පුවත්පත් කිසිම ප්‍රචාරයක් දුන්නේ නැත. මිනී මැරුමක් කිරීම පිණිස වූ ඔවුනගේ චේතනාවන් පිළිබඳව උපකල්පයන් කිරීමයි අපට කළ හැක්කේ.

බුද්ධ්රක්ඛිතගේ චේතනාව පුද්ගලික සහ ජාතිකවාදී යන දෙකම විය හැකියි. එය හරියටම දැන සිටියේ දැන් ජීවතුන් අතර නොමැති ඔහු පමණි.

එල්ලා මැරීමට පෙර සෝමාරාම ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආගම වැළඳ ගත්තේය යන දැඩි ප්‍රචාරයක් සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරණායක රජය විසින් ගෙන යන ලදී. මෙය ඇත්තක්ද?

විය නොහැකියි. දැඩි ජාතිකවදියෙක් වූ සෝමාරාම තමන් මිනී මැරුවේ රට ජාතිය ආගම බේරා ගැනීමට යයි මිනී මරමින් කීවේය. එසේ නම් තම අභිමතාර්ථය ඉෂ්ට වුයේ යයි ඔහු සතුටු වුවා විය හැකියි.

එල්ලා මරා දැමීමට පෙර සිපිරි ගෙදර සිටියදී ඔහු ඔහු ලිපි ගණනාවක් තල්දුවේ සිය පන්සලේ සහෝදර හිමිවරුන් වෙත යැවීය. ඒ සෑම ලිපියකම ඔහුගේ බුද්ධාලම්භන භක්තිය විද්‍යාමාන කර තිබුණි.

මේ ලිපි කිසිවක් පැවතී සිරිමා බණ්ඩාරණායක රජය විසින් ජනතාවගේ දැන ගැනීම පිණිස ප්‍රසිද්ධ නොකරන ලදී. එම පන්සලේ ස්වාමීන්වහන්සේළාද බියට එම ලිපි ප්‍රසිද්ධ නොකළහ.

ඒ කෙසේ වෙතත්, සෝමාරාම එල්ලා මරණ දින හෝ ඊට පෙර දින වැලිකඩ සිරගෙයට ක්‍රිස්තියානි පුජකතුමන්ලා වැඩම කරන ජයාරූප රටේ මාධ්‍ය විසින් පළ කර තිබුණි.

සොමරාමගේ දේහය බොරැල්ල කනත්තේදී පුද්ගලිකව ආදාහනය කර අළු මහ මුහුදට විසි කරන ලදී.

බණ්ඩාරණායක මහතාව මෙතරම් බිහිසුණු ලෙස ඝාතනය කිරීම ඉතා නින්දිත, පහත්, විෂම ක්‍රියාවක් බව මෙම ලේඛකයා අවධාරණය කර කියා සිටී. මිනීමරුවන්ට ඔවුනට හිමි නිසි දඬුවම් ලැබුණි. ඔවුන් කෘර මිනීමරුවන් මිස කිසිසේත් දේශප්‍රේමීන්/ජාති හිතෛය්ශීන් නොවේ.

Geopolitical Economy Report

Courtesy abc news

The Maldives government has confirmed giving clearance to a Chinese ship to dock in its port, a move which could further irk India with whom the tiny archipelago nation is involved in a diplomatic spat

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Maldives government said Tuesday that it had given clearance to a Chinese ship to dock in its port, a move that could further irk India with whom the tiny archipelago nation is involved in a diplomatic spat.

The Maldives foreign ministry confirmed local media reports that research vessel Xiang Yang Hong 3 was headed to the Maldives. It didn’t give a date of arrival.

A ministry statement said that “a diplomatic request was made by the government of China to the government of Maldives, for the necessary clearances to make a port call, for rotation of personnel and replenishment.” It said the ship won’t be conducting any research while docked in Male port.

The Maldives has always been a welcoming destination for vessels of friendly countries, and continues to host both civilian and military vessels making port calls for peaceful purposes,” it said.

The ship arrives amid a diplomatic dispute between the Maldives and its giant neighbor India. There was no immediate comment from the Indian government.

The spat started when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted pictures on social media of himself walking and snorkeling in Lakshadweep, an Indian archipelago that looks nearly identical to islands in the Maldives. The Indian government believes that the white sand beaches of Lakshadweep have untapped potential for tourism.

However, some in the Maldives saw it as a move by Modi to lure tourists away from its famous beaches and island resorts. Three deputy ministers posted derogatory remarks on social media against Modi, which sparked calls in India for a boycott of the Maldives.

The dispute deepened when Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu visited China, India’s regional rival, and on his return, spelled out plans to rid his small nation from dependence on India for health facilities, medicines and import of staples.

The largest number of tourists who came to the Maldives last year were from India, and Muizzu said that Chinese visitors had been leading the way before the COVID-19 pandemic and that steps would be taken to double their numbers.

He also said in an indirect reference to India that his country’s smaller size didn’t give any other country the license to bully it, and added that China respects Maldives’ territorial integrity firmly.

India and China have been vying for influence on the Maldives as part of their competition to control the Indian Ocean. India, the closest neighbor to the Maldives, has considered the country to be in its sphere of influence. China, meanwhile, has enlisted Maldives as its partner in its Belt and Road initiative meant to build ports and highways to expand trade — and China’s influence — across Asia, Africa and Europe.

Pro-China Muizzu was elected to office in November on a platform to evict Indian military personnel stationed in the Maldives. On his return from China, he proposed a meeting with Indian officials that the troops be withdrawn by mid-March.

At least 75 Indian military personnel are said to be stationed in the Maldives, and Muizzu had accused his predecessor of compromising national sovereignty by allowing Indian personnel on Maldivian islands.

The known activities of the Indian military include operating aircraft and assisting in the rescue of people stranded or faced with calamities at sea.

Sri Lanka, another island nation close to India, recently declared a year-long moratorium on research ships docking in its ports. While the official stance of the government has been that it’s for the purpose of capacity building of local experts participating in joint research missions, the move is seen as a result of concerns raised by India over a planned visit of a Chinese ship.

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 23 (Daily Mirror) – Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is to spend more than Rs 20 million to be paid for the people who are to be brought to Colombo for its protest on January 30 2023, UNP General Secretary Palitha Range Bandara alleged today.

Mr. Range Bandara told journalists that some of the funds have been allocated to provide liquor for those who are participating in the protest.

A close associate of the SJB Leader has assured that he will pay for the protest. This person is alleged to have paid former MP Chaminda Wijesiri to resign from his parliamentary seat recently,” he added.

SJB General Secretary Ranjith Madduma Bandara who commented on the matter denied allegations. We have not thought of providing liquor and rewarding those who participate in our protest. It is the UNP which uses such tactics to bring people for their events,” he said.

Courtesy Hiru News

A team of scientists from Japan has made an incredible discovery, capturing real-time footage of plants “talking” to each other. According to Science Alert, plants are surrounded by fine mist of airborne compounds that they use to communicate.

These compounds are like smells and warn plants of danger nearby. The video recorded by the Japanese scientists has revealed how plants receive and respond to these aerial alarms. This significant achievement, led by molecular biologist Masatsugu Toyota from Saitama University, was published in the journal Nature Communications.

Other members of the team included Yuri Aratani, a PhD student, and Takuya Uemura, a postdoctoral researcher.

The team observed how an undamaged plant responded to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by plants damaged by insects or otherwise.

“Plants perceive VOCs released by mechanically or herbivore-damaged neighbouring plants and induce various defence responses. Such interplant communication protects plants from environmental threats,” the authors said in the study.

To capture the communication, these scientists used an air pump connected to a container of leaves and caterpillars, and another box with Arabidopsis thaliana, a common weed from the mustard family.

Science Alert said that caterpillars were allowed to feed on leaves cut from tomato plants and Arabidopsis thaliana, and the researchers captured the responses of a second, intact, insect-free Arabidopsis plant to those danger cues.

The researchers had added a biosensor that glowed green and calcium ions were detected. Calcium signalling is something human cells also use to communicate.

As seen in the video, the undamaged plants received the messages of their injured neighbours, and responded with bursts of calcium signalling that rippled across their outstretched leaves.

“We have finally unveiled the intricate story of when, where, and how plants respond to airborne ‘warning messages’ from their threatened neighbours,” Mr Toyota said.

Analysing the airborne compounds, researchers found that two compounds called Z-3-HAL and E-2-HAL induced calcium signals in Arabidopsis.

“This ethereal communication network, hidden from our view, plays a pivotal role in safeguarding neighbouring plants from imminent threats in a timely manner,” the researcher added.

The team used a similar technique to measure calcium signals released by Mimosa pudica (touch-me-not) plants, which quickly move their leaves in response to touch, to avoid predators.

Courtesy Adaderana

Six Indian nationals, together with two fishing trawlers, have been taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Navy for poaching in local water north of Delft Islands, Jaffna.

The apprehension took place during a special operation conducted on Monday night (22 Jan.), in a bid to chase away foreign fishing vessels poaching in Sri Lankan waters.

Accordingly, the arrested Indian nationals, and their trawlers, were brought to the Kankasanthurai Harbour, and are due to be handed over to Mailadi Fisheries Inspector for onward legal action, the Navy reported.

Courtesy Adaderana

A group of Sri Lankan Tamil legislators has sought India’s intervention to ensure that Colombo fully implements the New Delhi-mooted 13th Amendment, which provides for the devolution of power to the minority community, PTI reported quoting sources.

The group led by the veteran politician and TNA Leader R Sampanthan met India’s new High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Santosh Jha, on Monday, said the source from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which represents Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority.

The two-hour-long talks were centred on the 13 Amendment, which created the provincial councils system for the island nation’s nine provinces.

The Tamil parties pointed out the need for India’s intervention in the current Sri Lankan political context for the meaningful devolution of power, the source said.

They also highlighted the issue of the Tamil political prisoners and the Tamil land grabbing by the state.

India has been pressing Sri Lanka to implement the 13th Amendment brought in after the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement of 1987. The 13A provides for the devolution of power to the Tamil community.

The 13A became a part of Sri Lanka’s constitution in 1987 through the direct intervention of the then-Indian government led by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi as part of the Indo-Lanka Accord.

The current Tamil political parties are sceptical of the political will of the majority Sinhala to fully implement the 13A, the PTI report said.

Meanwhile, the Indian High Commission in Colombo reports that the new Indian High Commissioner had met with Tamil leaders of Northern and Eastern Provinces, and discussed the issues concerning political, economic and social development of the region.

Reiterating India’s longstanding position on reconciliation and full implementation of the Thirteenth Amendment, High Commissioner reaffirmed India’s continuous commitment to work for the well-being of the people of this region”, the High Commission said in a tweet.

–With inputs from agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Police have recovered the vehicle which is suspected to have been used by the suspects involved in the shooting of a Buddhist monk in Malwathuhiripitiya area of Gampaha earlier today (23 Jan.).

The vehicle was found abandoned in a shrubby area at Godella in Kaduwela, Police said, adding that it had been torched beyond recognition.

According to police, however, another vehicle, bearing the same licence plate as that of the vehicle the suspects had arrived in, was found in a garage in Eluwila, Panadura.

Earlier today, four unidentified individuals had arrived in a car at the temple, and carried out the shooting and fled the scene afterwards, police reported, adding that the shooters had claimed to be officers from the Criminal Investigations Department (CID). 

The 45-year-old Buddhist monk, Ven. Kalapaluwawe Dhammarathana Thero, who sustained critical injuries in the incident, had been rushed to the Gampaha Hospital. 

However, the monk had later succumbed to injuries this afternoon while receiving treatment at the hospital, according to police.

Ven. Kalapaluwawe Dhammarathana Thero is also reported to have been engaged in various activities and practices related astrology and witchcraft.

Police stated that the shooting has been carried out using a T-56 assault rifle.

Jon Schwarz

The question of Israel is whether European colonialism can ever make peace with the rest of the world.

Partisans of Israel have often asked: On a planet overflowing with war, famine, and cruelty, why does the world pay so much attention to what’s happening in Gaza (and the West Bank) in comparison with other horrors? The implied or explicit answer is that this must be due to antisemitism.

This question held more power during Israel’s past attacks on Gaza — e.g., Operation Cast Lead from 2008-2009, Operation Pillar of Defense in 2012, and Operation Protective Edge in 2014, when Palestinian casualties measured in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands. The current war, Operation Swords of Iron, is in fact one of the grimmest things currently happening on Earth.

And that’s the key thing, of course — Israel is now before the International Court of Justice charged with genocide. Americans have an obvious reason to focus on its actions, given that they could not happen without our financial and diplomatic support. But what explains the intense interest of everyone else, not just at the present moment, but for the decades and military offensives before? The answer is both clear and important to understand: People across the globe are particularly appalled by Israel’s violence because it is a manifestation and symbol of European colonialism, plausibly the most terrifying and destructive ideology in human history.

This is a difficult concept for most Americans and Europeans, especially the white ones, to get their minds around. To start with, there’s been an effort in the higher-toned areas of the U.S. media to deny that Israel has much to do with European colonialism in the first place.

This is an extremely peculiar denial of reality and can be ignored. The founders of Zionism and Israel, from Theodor Herzl to Ze’ev Jabotinsky to David Ben-Gurion, stated clearly that they were engaged in settler colonialism. This is a specific form of colonialism in which settlers migrate to a territory and attempt to permanently take over the land from its present occupants. For instance: the United States of America. 

Everyone has to face this: The question of Israel is the question of whether European colonialism can make peace with the rest of the world without obliterating it.

To begin with, European colonialism is the most significant political fact of the past 500 years. Christopher Columbus arrived in the Western Hemisphere in 1492. By the start of World War I in 1914, Europe and the U.S. controlled 85 percent of the world’s land mass.

This required atrocities and barbarism across the planet on a mind-warping scale. Spain worked as many as 8 million Indigenous people and enslaved Africans to death mining silver from one mountain near the Bolivian city of Potosí.

Belgium, which seems today like a tiny, inoffensive land of talented cyclists conducted a campaign of murderous colonialism that killed perhaps 10 million people in Congo. During the 19^th century, the U.K. imposed conditions on India that murdered 30-60 million people via starvation.

And this barely scratches the surface of this history of violence and blood, a history that was always combined with hilariously self-congratulatory justifications. For instance, the first seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony depicted an American Indian pleading come over and help us.” 

The French writer Hilaire Belloc famously described the basic facts of Europe’s conquest of the world by putting them in the mouth of a character literally named Blood:

Blood understood the Native mind.
He said: We must be firm but kind.” …
He stood upon a little mound,
Cast his lethargic eyes around,
And said beneath his breath:
Whatever happens we have got
The Maxim Gun, and they have not.”

The Maxim Gun was the first fully automatic machine gun.

The rest of the world remembers this, even if the descendants of the perpetrators do not. As Samuel Huntington, the late conservative Harvard University political scientist, once put it, The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion (to which few members of other civilizations were converted) but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”

To understand what colonialism means to the rest of the world, white Americans and Europeans should consider that 20^th century fascism, including the Holocaust, was in a profound sense the child of colonialism. If you like your horrifying history in entertainment form, this is examined at length in the 2021 HBO documentary series Exterminate All the Brutes.”

This perspective is not the product of Harvard professors driven mad by wokeness; just ask Adolf Hitler. On the eve of Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he told a small group of companions, We’ll take away its character of an Asiatic steppe, we’ll Europeanize it. … Our colonists will settle. … There’s only one duty … to look upon the natives as Redskins.” Hitler welcomed white people in general, not just Germans, to take part: All those who have the feeling for Europe,” he said, can join in our work.”

At the same moment in the U.S., my grandfather Lewis Hanke — a historian of the Spanish colonization of the Americas — also saw Germany’s project as comparable to European colonialism, except he thought that was a bad idea. One of his students later wrote As Hitler voiced the extremities of racism, Hanke encountered it in the records of the conquest, and he sensed the connection.”

European colonial movements came in different flavors, and Zionism was unique in that its members — certainly after World War II — were fleeing not just persecution, but also extermination. Still, it was of psychological necessity shot through with colonization’s standard ideological racism.Rudolf Sonneborn, an American who would go on to make a fortune in the oil business, was secretary of the Zionist Commission in Palestine following World War I. He reported thatthe average [Arab] is inferior even to our average Negro … I believe there is very little to ever fear from them. Besides, they are a cowardly race.”

This was also true for Christian Zionists. George Biddle, a friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the ultra-WASPy descendant of the original settlers on the Mayflower, took this view in an article in The Atlantic after visiting Israel shortly after its 1948 founding. First, Biddle enthused about how Israel would serve Western interests. Then, he explained that Arabs were foul, diseased, smelling, rotting, and pullulating with vermin and corruption.” Fortunately, they were about as dangerous as so many North American Indians in modern mechanized war.”

The fact that European Jewry were the greatest victims of the racism that was central to this worldview, which Zionism adopted (in a less virulent form), is one of the most bizarre twists of human history.

In any case, Europe’s centurieslong reign of piracy and mass death should make it clear why people around the world — including such far-flung, surprising places as South Korea and Peru — look at Israel’s action in Gaza with particular concern. It is not a coincidence that the genocide case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague was brought by South Africa with the participation of Irish lawyers. 

But what happens now? No one knows. 

Israel was, in a sense, both too early and too late. If it had been founded earlier, it could have massacred the entire Arab population, just as the United States killed most Native Americans and Australia wiped out huge swaths of the country’s Aboriginals. Then there would be no Palestinians left for the world to be concerned about.

On the other hand, if it had come along later, Zionists might have believed that they should join forces with the decolonization movements across the Mideast and the world in the 1950s and 1960s. But in our timeline, an Arab nationalist approached Ben-Gurion about fighting the U.K.’s colonial forces together while Palestine was still under the British mandate — and Ben-Gurion reported him to the British.

Inany case, despite the dreams of the Israeli right, the expel and/or kill them all” solution is (probably) no longer available. But it’s also extremely difficult to imagine a South Africa outcome, in which Jewish Israelis accede to becoming a minority in a one-person, one-vote, one-state Palestine. 

Meanwhile, some parts of the Arab world fantasize about an Algeria analogy, in which (after massive bloodshed) the colonists go back to where they came from. Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah, recently claimed every Jewish Israeli has a second nationality and has his bag ready.” This is both factually false and extremely foolish. Israelis are not going anywhere any more than Americans or Australians are.

That leaves a two-state solution, one Israeli and one Palestinian. The problem here is that the Israeli government has, with rare exceptions, never been willing to accept this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just reiterated that stance this week.

But if the October 7 attacks showed anything, it’s that it will be difficult for Israel to simply continue on its current path. If the brutalization of Gaza does not end with a future with hope for Palestinians, there will sooner or later be more October 7s, conducted by Palestinians or others, on greater scales. The Israeli revenge will be greater still. The country is therefore on a path to its own destruction, along with the destruction of a big chunk of the rest of the world. Given the momentum of European colonialism, that is plausibly inevitable, and therefore many of us are doomed. 

However, history is not foreordained. It is still possible to imagine a future in which the Israeli version of European colonialism reconciles itself to living with the rest of humanity. That in turn could show the path toward other badly needed reconciliations across the world. Such a future wouldn’t make any side happy; on the contrary. But it’s far preferable to the alternative. As the Israeli writer Amos Oz once perceptively explained:

Tragedies can be resolved in one of two ways: there is the Shakespearean resolution and there is the Chekhovian one. At the end of a Shakespearean tragedy, the stage is strewn with dead bodies and maybe there’s some justice hovering high above. A Chekhov tragedy, on the other hand, ends with everybody disillusioned, embittered, heartbroken, disappointed, absolutely shattered, but still alive. And I want a Chekhovian resolution, not a Shakespearean one, for the Israeli-Palestinian tragedy.

Politics

මහා සංඝරත්නයට සහ රටේ සමාජ සංස්ථාවට දිගින් දිගටම සිදුවන පහර දීම දීර්ඝ කාලීන න්‍යායපත්‍රයකට අනුව සිදුවන බවත්, රටේ පවතින අර්බුදය මැද එය උච්චම තැනට ගෙනවිත් ඇති බවත් දේශහිතෛෂී ජාතික ව්‍යාපාරයේ මහ ලේකම් වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා පවසයි.

රූපවාහිනී සංවාදයකට එක්වෙමින් ඒ මහතා පවසන්නේ මහාවංශයට, ත්‍රිපිටකයට පහර දෙමින් බුදුන් වහන්සේ ලංකාවේ ඉපදුනු බව පවසමින් ඇතැම් පුද්ගලයන් මෙරට ජනයාගේ විශ්වාසයන්ට සහ ශ්‍රද්ධාවට දැඩි ලෙස පහර දෙමින් ඇති බවය.

මෙවැනි දේ සිදුකරන එක් පුද්ගලයකු වන්නේ කෘෂිකර්ම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ හිටපු අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයකු බවත් ඔහු අමෙරිකාවේ පවා නීත්‍යානුකූල නොවන PL 480 නමැති ගිණුමක් පවත්වාගෙන යන බවත් වෛද්‍ය වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා හෙළිකරයි.

මෙය සම්බන්ධීකරණය කළ අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයා  අමෙරිකාවට ගොස් පැමිණ මීවලපලානේ නමින් සිවුරක් දමාගෙන මහණ වූ බවද, ඉන්පසුව ලංකාවේ බුදුන් වහන්සේ ඉපදුනු බවට මතයක් සමාජය තුළ නිර්මාණය කරන්නට පටන්ගත් බවද ඒ මහතා පවසයි.

බුදුන් වහන්සේට හා බුදු දහමට පහර දීමට සිවුරක් දමාගත් පුද්ගලයකු යොදා ගැනීම මෙම සැලසුමේ කොටසක් බවත්, මතවාදී වශයෙන් මෙරට ජනයා බිඳ දැමීමේ CIA මෙහෙයුම් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ මේ ආකාරයට බවත් වසන්ත බණ්ඩාර මහතා පෙන්වා දෙයි.

by A. Abdul Aziz

Muslims should rejoice that the era of the second rejuvenation of Islam has arrived” – Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad

(Given below are the few extracts from the address of Ahmadiyya Khalifa, related to the fulfilment of Latter Days Prophecies, delivered at Concluding Session of the last month Qadian Convention.)

His Holiness mentioned numerous prophecies relating to the latter days and the advent of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him). One of the prophecies quoted by His Holiness was in relation to chapter 73, verse 16 of the Holy Qur’an, which states:

Verily, We have sent to you a Messenger, who is a witness over you, even as We sent a Messenger to Pharaoh.”

His Holiness mentioned that the verse contained two prophecies whereby the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was to be a prophet with certain likeness to the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him). Just as Moses (peace be upon him) overcame his enemies during his lifetime, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings) was also granted victories in his lifetime.

The second prophecy contained in the verse related to the latter days. Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad quoted the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (peace be upon him) who stated:

The similarity relating to the Latter Days is that God Almighty sent a Prophet in the last days of the Mosaic dispensation, who was against violence, had nothing to do with religious warfare, and preached forgiveness and mercy, and Jesus (peace be upon him) had appeared at a time when the moral condition of the Israelites had badly deteriorated and their character and conduct were thoroughly corrupted. They had also lost their kingdom and lived under the dominion of the Roman Empire. Jesus (peace be upon him) had appeared at the turn of the fourteenth century after Moses (peace be upon him), and since the chain of the Israelite Prophets came to an end with him, he was as such, the last link in the Israelite Prophethood.”

Thereafter, Ahmadiyya Khalifa referenced a chain of verses from chapter 81 of the Holy Qurán:

Speaking of chapter 81, verse 11 which states, And when books are spread abroad,” His Holiness said this tells us of the time when means would become established to publish books in large numbers, which referred to the printing presses and postal services and how they would become abundant so that books are published, and knowledge is spread more widely than ever before in history.

His Holiness also referred to chapter 81, verse 8 which states, And when people are brought together.”

In relation to this prophecy, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad quoted the Promised Messiah Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (peace be upon him) who said:

This prophecy refers to the increased interconnection that was to develop between nations of the world. It means that in the latter days, because of the transportation infrastructure improving and because of the postal and electrical means of communication, humanity would have far greater means of contact. Countries will be able to connect with one another and people would make relations with one another despite living at large distances and there would be trade pacts and contact with people from around the world that will expand.”

Referring to the developments seen in the past few decades, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

TV and internet, air travel and other facilities are continuous proof of the fulfilment of this prophecy. The fact that people have come together today in Qadian (birth-place of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad) is proof of this. The fact is that the message of Islam as a result of preaching the message of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him) is also proof of this prophecy coming true.”

Speaking of the truth of the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him), Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said:

The people that have gathered here today in Qadian and the fact that around the world people are viewing and listening to this Convention (Jalsa Salana), are they not a proof of the support that Allah the Almighty is granting to the Promised Messiah (peace be upon him)?

Does a person who makes a false claim to Prophethood ever receive this fame, whereby slogans of his name are raised around the world?

134 years have passed and every day that rises, it carries with it the news of the progress of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Those who oppose the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, take heed!” 

His Holiness mentioned that countless signs are still being fulfilled and that many people are being guided to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, adding that Ahmadi Muslims are being spiritually uplifted by the fulfilment of these signs.

His Holiness emphasized the need for Muslims to rejoice as this is the era for the second rejuvenation of Islam.

Source: www.alislam.org

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Design of proposed mosque in Ayodhya

Colombo, January 23: India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday consecrated, amidst unprecedented fanfare, an idol of Lord Rama in a grand new temple coming up at Rama’s birthplace in Ayodhya in the North Indian State of Uttar Pradesh.

But even as the consecration was going on, his party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with the cooperation of the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, was planning to build a grand mosque 25 km away on 5 acres of land given by the local government.

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The mosque will be named after Prophet Muhammad.

Some recent utterances of Modi and the actions of his government show that he is watering down his Hindutwa” or Hindu nationalistic politics to reach out to the Muslims and Christians also ahead of the May 2024 parliamentary elections.

Muslims are India’s largest minority accounting for over 200 million in a total of 1.4 billion Indians.

Looking for third consecutive term in the May 2024 parliamentary elections, Modi is eager not to continue his policy of marginalizing the Muslims electorally and relying only on the Hindu vote.

Recently, he sent his Minister of Minorities, Smriti Irani, a Hindu lady,  to Medina in Saudi Arabia to get from the Saudi government an enhanced annual quota for Muslim pilgrims going for Haj. He also made a traditional offering (a Chadar) to the shrine of a Sufi saint in Ajmer in Rajasthan State.

However, the mosque that his Muslim followers will be building near Ayodhya will be the most eye catching and politically significant for  Modi’s bid to win over the Muslims and end the Congress party’s traditional hold over them.  

Portraying Rama as an All-Indian icon        

At the consecration of the Rama idol in Ayodhya, Modi portrayed  Rama as an all-India figure, not exclusive to the Hindus, his core political constituency.

Modi spoke of Lord Rama not as an embodiment of Hindu consciousness alone, but as an embodiment of a national consciousness”.

Ram is not just ours (by which he meant the Hindu majority). He belongs to everyone,” Modi declared. (In North India, Rama is pronounced as Ram).

This is a temple of national consciousness in the form of Ram. Ram is the faith of India. Ram is the foundation of India. Ram is the idea of India. Ram is the law of India. Ram is the prestige of India. Ram is the glory of India. Ram is the leader and Ram is the policy. Ram is eternal,” Modi said with a flourish.

In India Ram Rajya” or the Ram’s Rule” is considered the most just one. Mahatma Gandhi envisioned an independent India that would usher in Ram Rajya”

Modi made it clear that the India that is being creating by building the temple for Ram is not a mere recreation of the past but a combination of the traditional and the modern.

Ram temple’s construction is a reflection of Indian society’s maturity. India is now full of positive energy. It will attain prosperity by being guided by tradition and modernity,” he said.

The opening of the temple heralded a new era” for India, breaking the shackles of slavery,” he said and added that the country should rise, taking lessons from the past.”  

Modi took a dig at those who had warned that if the Ram temple was built, then there would be a fire”. PM Modi said the deity is not fire” but energy”. He invited all to visit the temple and imbibe its energy.  

On his outlook for the future of India he said: We have to now lay the foundation of India for the next 1,000 years. We take a pledge to build a capable, grand, divine India from this moment.”

Those in India who opposed Modi’s Hindu nationalism boycotted the consecration saying that the head of a secular” government, Modi should not officiate in a religious ceremony and that he would be breaking this norm with the petty aim garnering Hindu votes in the May 2024 parliamentary elections.

A Grand Mosque

There was a protracted legal dispute over the site on which the Ram temple was to be built. On the site stood a disused 16^th. Century mosque built by Mughal Emperor Babar after destroying a Rama temple there. In December 1992, in a fit of revenge and frenzy, a Hindu mob led by BJP stalwarts like L.K.Advani, destroyed the mosque.  

But the plan to build a Ram temple on its site was stalled because the matter had been taken to court. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the destruction of the mosque was illegal, but allowed a Hindu organization to build a Ram temple on the site. The court compensated the Muslims by ordering the allocation of 5 acres at a suitable place for a new mosque.

A plot located 25 km away from the heart of Ayodhya, in Dhannipur, was allotted by the government of Uttar Pradesh in February 2020.

In November 2023, the Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation (IICF), the trust overseeing the construction of the mosque in Ayodhya, appointed Haji Arfat Shaikh, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Maharashtra State, to do the job.  Shaikh is a former Chairperson of the Maharashtra State Commission for Minorities.

The IICF was set up by the Uttar Pradesh government’s Sunni Central Waqf Board.

The mosque will be called Muhammad Bin Abdullah Masjid, after Prophet Muhammad, Sheikh told The Hindu.

The aim is to build one of the biggest mosques of India, better than the Taj Mahal”, along with the world’s biggest Quran that will measure about 21 feet”, Shaikh added.   

It will also be the first mosque in India to have five minars or towers. A water-and-light show is also being planned.

We will have water playing in sync with the azan (prayers) inside the mosque. The lights of the mosque will come on at sunset and go off at sunrise automatically. We will also have a giant fish aquarium, bigger than that of Dubai,” Shaikh said.

The new design by a Pune-based architect, Imran Shaikh, will be ready by the end of February. A brick with verses of the Quran inscribed over it will travel to Madina in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and to prominent dargahs across India, and will be laid at the mosque site finally,” Sheikh added.

He expects to begin construction in the second half of 2024, after Ramazan.

Special songs are being recorded ahead of the mosque construction,  Shaikh said. Vijay Vikram Singh, the voice-over artist made popular by the TV series Bigg Boss, will be engaged to make small videos related to the mosque.

Sheikh said that the IIFC will not go door-to-door for donations, but will launch a website in late February or early March, with QR codes for easy donation.

Ayodhya is the biggest subject in India and the construction of both the temple and the mosque will end tensions among communities. We will ensure that Ayodhya becomes the finest example of Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb (the term used for a refined mixture of Hindu and Muslim cultures).”

Sheikh expects that those who visit the Ram temple will also visit the mosque.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 21 (Daily Mirror) –  A total of 987 suspects have been arrested during the islandwide operation ‘Yukthiya’ within the last 24 hours, the Public Security Ministry said.

They said 663 suspects have been arrested over drug offenses and 324 suspects who were on the list referred to Crime OICs of police station were also arrested accordingly.

Among the 638 suspects arrested over drug offences, 12 are being further investigated into under detention orders while 14 drug addicts have been referred for rehabilitation.

Meanwhile, 14 suspects who were on the wanted list of the Police Narcotics Bureau and Police Special Bureau were also arrested.

Also, among the 324 arrested suspects in the list sent to the criminal division, there are 90 who had pending open warrants over drug offenses and 222 open warrants over non-drug offenses.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 22 (Daily Mirror) – Public Administration, Home Affairs, Provincial Councils and the Local Government Minister requested that high priority be given to renewable energy in order to reduce the recurrent costs of the local government bodies in 2024.

He made these comments while participating in the progress review meeting of the Domestic Credit Fund Board for the year 2024.

“High priority should be given to the government’s programme of optimal utilization of solar energy, and to increase the IT literacy of the rural youth community, efforts should be made to provide loans by finding possibilities for creating libraries and IT centers,” the Minister said.

“It was also revealed that Rs. 1,115 million have been allocated for this purpose in 2024, and plans have been prepared to implement the related grant proposals of 50 local government bodies. It is clear that the local government is highly interested in obtaining loans through this institution because the loan is given by this fund at a lower rate than the interest rate of commercial banks,” he said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan 22 (Daily Mirror) – The government which was formed with a 6.9 million mandate and a two-thirds majority was shattered by its own leaders, Parliamentarian S.B. Dissanayake said today.

“I am dissapointed that the government formed with a 6.9 million mandate and a two-thirds majority was shattered by our own leaders,” he said.

The MP said even though the President had powers to dissolve Parliament at any time now, no one can change the Presidential election which is due in October.

He told reporters that the President can dissolve parliament at any time after four years, according to the Constitution.

“The President or Parliament have powers to decide upon the dates of some elections. However, no one can decide the date of the Presidential election due in October,” he said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A protest was held in front of the head office of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in Pelawatta against the statement by National People’s Power (NPP) executive member Samanmalee Gunasinghe over legalising prostitution under their government. Protest was staged by New Peoples Front Pix courtesy social media

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Jan. 22 (Daily Mirror)- With vital elections looming on the horizon , rhetorical remarks from across the political divide have become the norm for each passing day.

It is common for political leaders of all hues to fine-tune their speeches with rhetorical language as a vote catching ,crowd pulling exercise. In the process, what is done is ostensible concealment of truth from the general public in the couch of rhetorical language . Voters who get carried away by political rhetoric are at the receiving end finally.

In recent times , the National People’s Power , the political amalgamation led by the Marxist party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) , has launched into swift action ahead of the presidential election to be announced likely in September, this year .

Its leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake regularly hits the headlines because of catchy remarks made in addressing public meetings. In one instance , he spoke about imprisonment of those accused of corruption and frauds. He spoke in definite terms in this regard. Rooting out corruption is the dire need of the hour . Nobody can be opposed to any measure being initiated to address the issue in whatsoever manner . However, imprisonment of anyone over corruption and fraud is only the result of a judicial process after investigation . One wonders how Mr. Dissanayake, along with his NPP colleagues, speaks with precision about imprisonment even before any judicial process commences. After judicial process , it can even be a different form of punishment other than a jail term . As such , Mr. Dissanayake’s remarks amount to mere rhetoric aimed at mesmerizing prospective voters who yearn for an era sans corruption .

In another instance , he is reported to have said that he will dissolve the security details assigned to him if he is elected to the top office at the elections. Normally , the security assigned to the Head of State depends on threat assessment by the security authorities at the time concerned . One wonders again how such pronouncements are made in advance even before the presidential election is conducted .

The NPP was in the centre of controversy in recent times over remarks by one of its female leaders Samanmali Gunasinghe who stressed the need for legal protection of sex workers under a government led by her party. In an interview with online media , she said the number of women resorting to sex trade is on the rise under the current economic circumstances. Therefore, she emphasized the need to legalize it for better protection of women who indulge in sex trade. Once the news story appeared , all hell broke loose because legalization of prostitution is something against the social,cultural ethos of the country.

Another female leader from the N.P.P Dr. Harini Amarasuriya was at pain to contain the damage saying that prostitution would not be legalized , but the current laws related to sex trade would be amended only to give legal protection to women involved . It is just playing a game of words to cover up possible electoral damage arising from Ms. Gunasinghe’s remarks .

The JVP- led NPP is now confronted with ideological contrasts among its own ranks .Previously,the party remained a cohesive force with a clearly defined lines on its policy approaches . All its members used to stick to one line in making public utterances.In the expansion of the party for the formation of NPP accommodating outsiders , the JVP appeared to have lost its cohesiveness as its members utter contrasting viewpoints.People are at a loss to find what its actual position is .

Its politburo member K. D. Lalkantha freely draws examples from its 1988/1989 violent period . Once his remarks triggered public concerns whether the party would resort to violent tactics to capture power . After that , the party asked its members not make any remark that leaves scope for different interpretations .

The party is also in a struggle to reconcile its past and present ideologies . No doubt it has transformed a lot . The party which was critical of any deal with the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) now seeks engagement with it . The party which was opposed to private universities tooth and nail now accepts the importance of it. The JVP once shredded the 13th Amendment to the Constitution . It has a different approach to it now , though . Some of its members find it difficult to detach from from the traditional leftist thinking whereas others clamor for neoliberal approaches .

All in all , it is in a political dilemma trying to garb its present ideology with the sheen of the former one .

Courtesy Adaderana

The Secretary General of the Parliament Mrs. Kushani Rohanadeera has said that the reports that there is constant sexual harassment towards female staff members and female Members of Parliament in Parliament and that proper investigations and measures are not being taken are completely false. 

Issuing a statement, the Secretary General emphasized that when such incidents related to disciplinary violations in the Parliament are reported, investigations related to them are carried out very impartially under the guidance of the Speaker and the Speaker did not interfere or influence in any way other than giving his assistance at best towards holding speedy investigations. 

The Secretary General stated that although an incident was reported in which sexual harassment of several female employees was reported, the internal committee appointed in this regard conducted a very impartial investigation and the investigation report has now been handed over to her. Furthermore, she pointed out that the chief officer who is suspected to be involved has been suspended from work and thus the related steps will be taken immediately.

The Secretary General also said that further investigations have been conducted in this regard and has been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for law enforcement.

The Secretary General further stated that the reports stating that the Leader of the Opposition was notified via a letter regarding such harassment but no proper action was taken are also completely false and the Office of the Leader of the Opposition has confirmed that such a letter has not been received by the Leader of the Opposition thus far.

The Secretary General also points out that she is the head of the Parliament Secretariat and that she is a woman, and that the opportunity for women to head many departments in the Parliament has been created because there is an environment and culture in the Parliament where women can perform their duties without any undue influence or violence.

In such a situation, the Secretary General further states that she is extremely disappointed regarding the publication of completely false, fabricated and baseless information to damage the reputation of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and the Speaker and condemns such publications with contempt, the statement said.

Courtesy Hiru News

Starting from today (22), the Colombo Police have activated a new CCTV surveillance system aimed at tracking drivers who violate traffic rules within the city.

A total of 108 CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor vehicles entering Colombo. If a driver is found violating traffic rules, a fine slip will be issued through the police in the area of the driver’s residence.

Notice boards have been set up at nine entry points to inform drivers in advance about the implementation of this surveillance system. The new CCTV monitoring system is expected to enable the police to identify and take action against over hundreds of traffic rule violators daily.

Courtesy Hiru News

Transport Minister Bandula Gunawardena has revealed plans to establish shops exclusively selling VAT-exempt goods nationwide.

Speaking at a program in the Kaduwela area, the minister stated that this initiative aims to provide consumers with a fair opportunity to purchase items not subject to VAT.

Goods such as vegetables, baby milk powder, fruits, and rice fall under the non-VAT category.

Minister Gunawardena instructed officials to take the necessary measures to create a network of stores dedicated to selling these non-VAT items throughout the island.

Courtesy Hiru News

Sri Lanka’s consumer price inflation rate jumped to 4.2% year-on-year in December driven by rising food prices, official data showed on Monday, although it remains well below record high levels seen at the height of the country’s financial crisis.

Food prices rose 1.6% in December after falling 2.2% in November on the year, the Department of Census and Statistics said in a statement.

Prices for non-food items, however, fell 6.3% in December from 7.1% year-on-year in November.

The National Consumer Price Index (NCPI) captures broader retail price inflation and is released with a lag of 21 days every month. It rose from 2.8% in November.

Sri Lanka racked up record high inflation that peaked at 70% in September 2022 after its economy was pummelled by the worst financial crisis in decades, triggered by a plunge in foreign exchange reserves.

Targets to improve public finances, which included raising power prices by 18% in October, have also hit inflation, analysts said.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) is expected to leave its key policy rates unchanged on Tuesday to control inflation after cutting interest rates by 650 basis points since it started an easing cycle in June 2023 to help fuel an economic recovery from recession last year.

Inflation is expected to stabilise around the targeted level of 5% over the medium term, supported by appropriate policy measures and well-anchored inflation expectations. Nevertheless, a temporary uptick in inflation is likely in the near term mainly due to the proposed value added tax (VAT) increase and its possible second-round impact according the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.

Shenali D Waduge

There are a few things Sri Lanka & Haiti have in common – that is production of rice.

Within 20 years Haiti turned from a self-sufficient rice producing country to one having to import rice after IMF & WB pressurized Haiti to cut import tariffs on rice from 50% to 3% & cheap subsidized rice from US flooded into Haiti which urban consumers benefitted at the cost of the poor farmer. Haiti now imports 80% of the rice it consumers & in the event of a disaster like covid – when imports cease, Haitians like Sri Lankans will have no food or the food they have been growing have been systematically stopped. It is a pity that even the professionals and academics together with the politicians & their advisors are oblivious to these ground realities & have no clue as to how nations have been brought to their knees by international monetary lenders & their international cartel.

Sri Lanka in particular must look at the Haitian example – Haiti’s population began to get malnourished, rising prices of imported goods provoked riots, these were all planned conditions to allow foreign troops to land & take over Haiti on the pretext of stabalizing” the nation. Job losses arose from trade liberalization in Haiti and we see a steady closure of SMEs in Sri Lanka while the State is hounding them to pay increased taxes, when they have no revenue to do so.

Both Sri Lanka’s & Haiti’s economic liberalization began in early 1980s. This meant both nations were encouraged to grow & export for the developed world while simultaneously USAID was deployed to destroy Haiti-s rural economy. Is it not surprising that USAID is taking a particular interest in Sri Lanka’s agriculture of late too?

In Haiti, USAID partnered with industrialists and landowners to create agro-processing facilities at the same time promoting subsidized US agri products. This was a subtle restructuring taking place so that US could create manufacturing sites for US companies. To take the land, they needed to destroy the agriculture – is this not what is happening in Sri Lanka! Note the local companies that USAID is suddenly partnering with! After taking over agri-lands, the farmers were encouraged to leave their rural abode & go to towns – the present calls to give land ownership deeds to farmers, is part of this plan for Sri Lanka. The Haiti farmers who had given up their land, their livelihood soon found out too late that they had nothing & were basically on the streets. This is what Sri Lanka’s farmers need to realize before accepting a sham land deed which is nothing but to purchase their land & kick them out of it. Haiti had a mass migration problem – Sri Lanka is likely to face this same issue. Ultimately, the proud farmer would end up having to do menial labor work for survival. This message needs to be taken to Sri Lanka’s farmers before they too face the fate of Haiti’s farmers.

What Haitians did not expect was that after removing Haiti farmers from their agri-lands, foreign agro-industry took over & what they produced was too expensive for the Haitians to afford. Haitians had no relief. Rice import became another foreign intervention as we see happening in Sri Lanka with eggs, onions, manioc being imported while Sri Lanka’s farmers end up destroying what they produce because the import prices are less as a result of the middle man mafia that controls all supply channels.

Both Sri Lanka & Haiti were self-sufficient in rice until 1980s. Noteworthy is how floods ended up destroying crops in both countries & US importing rice to Haiti while Sri Lanka is importing from India (both QUAD partners)

Haiti has witnessed several coups while Sri Lanka saw its first in 2022. In both nations, immediately after regime change, both nations had their economies liberalized, import tariffs slashed, closure of state-owned industries, reducing welfare budgets and giving second place to revive local economy.

Everything cheap” via imports was the camouflage to fool the masses but within no time the real gameplan became clear but too late. Unfortunately, most Sri Lankans are not well read on global geopolitics and the manner that countries have been destroyed by trade agreements and political interventions. What is disappointing is that the so-called intellectuals in Sri Lanka know far less than the ordinary Sri Lankan.

Haiti did what Sri Lankan politicians shy to do – in 1991, the Aristide Government held meetings with farmer associations & a proposal to have the government buy all Haitian grown rice & limit imports during harvest periods was made. IMF was not too pleased claiming it was non-free-market’ policy. To pinch the government the imported rice was made cheaper to make consumers buy cheaper foreign rice than what their farmers were growing. President Aristide didn’t get the political support he needed to fend off IMF/USAID pressure and like the opportunists politicians in Sri Lanka, it resulted in Haitians suffering further. It is a calamity that Sri Lanka’s opportunistic & power-hungry politicians are now canvassing to happen in Sri Lanka as well. Eventually Aristide was replaced with a US-backed military junta and US companies began setting shop in Haiti partnering with pro-US local companies. We see this taking place in Sri Lanka too. These deals are nothing to revive Sri Lanka’s economy but to drain out what it can. In Haiti the State apparatus stood spineless & the same is happening in Sri Lanka. Industries began closing. Unequal competition destroyed locals in Haiti & same will happen in Sri Lanka. Tariffs did not protect local products but provided incentives to the foreign ones. In both nations, Governments did not support farming and should have taken Vietnam as an example on how land was to be utilized by its citizens. If US agro-industry is penetrating Haiti, the Indians are doing the same in Sri Lanka. These foreign products are subsidized in numerous trade-manipulated mechanisms enabling them to be sold cheap with long term repercussions locally. Politicians have no pluck or the vision to identify future threats or are not bothered preferring to pass the pillow of trouble to the next government. Corruption is strife in both nations and impedes any prospects to better the situation in either countries. Corruptions also enable multinationals to wriggle through & evade taxes and make off with profits. IMF/WB in fact treated Haiti’s dictator Baby Doc Duvalier as legitimate leader, a factor we can see taking place in Sri Lanka too.

As in the case of both Haiti & Sri Lanka – all the loan givers end up dictating what the loans is to be spent on & how while the loan has to be paid back with interest. These loans that have to be given back end up dictating cuts in welfare measures that particularly target the poor & middle class not the rich or the tax evaders. Taking the closure of state enterprises, maintaining low wages, cutting welfare & subsidies together – the outcome is nothing beneficial though it is the poor & middle class who have end up footing the interest against the loans taken. The loans & interest means Haiti ended up serviicing debt repayments rather than looking after its own people. Sri Lanka is sitting on a volcano after declaring bankruptcy and not repaying any loans but taking more loans from parties that are exerting political pressures and social reforms that are not the least beneficial to the people. Imaging having to agree to roll out promoting people to become transgenders simply to secure a loan and then having to allow all sorts of perversions being promoted as it is part of a psy-ops to destroy the indigenous culture and heritage of the nation while envoys are seen unabashedly promoting these flags and holding processions to celebrate such.

The similarities between Haiti & Sri Lanka are phenomenal. Haiti too was rolled out programs of good governance governmental transparency, anti-corruption campaigns, education reforms, regulating agencies, monitoring mechanisms – but these were primarily to hound out their enemies.

Haiti’s self-sufficiency via rice was systematically destroyed by US, USAID and US companies – a similar scenario is unfolding in Sri Lanka. Let Sri Lanka take Haiti as example to realize where Sri Lanka is heading & to put the necessary stops to ensure that we do not destroy our self-sufficiency or watch it being destroyed. Sri Lanka was afterall known as the Granary of the East – we should not become the Graveyard of the East.

Shenali D Waduge

වෛද්‍ය රුවන් එම් ජයතුංග M.D. PhD (in Progress)

තමා බෝධිසත්වයෙක් බව කියමින් මිනිසුන් ගෙන් වැඳුම් ගන්නා ඊජිප්තුවේ බල්ලන් බලා ගත් බව කියන පුද්ගලයෙකු සහ ඔහු ගේ කල්ට් එකක් පිලිබඳ රාවයක් මේ දින වල යයි. මෙය යම් පුද්ගලයෙකු හෝ පුද්ගලයන් පිරිසක් විසින් නළුවන් යොදා කරන කැළනියේ නයා වැනි දේශපාලන උපක්‍රමයක් හෝ යම් මානසික අක්‍රමතාවකට ලක්වූ පුද්ගලයෙකු විසින් තමා බෝධිසත්වයෙකු බව කීම නිසා විචාර බුද්ධියෙන් අඩු පිරිස් ඔහුව වන්දනා කරනවා විය හැක.

විශේෂඥ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය නීල් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතා යටතේ අංගොඩ රෝහලේ පුහුණුව ලබන විට තමන් බුදුවූ බව කියූ , තමන් නිවන් දැක තිබෙනු කියූ පුද්ගලයෝ රැසක් දැක ගන්නට ලැබුණි. මින් එක් පුද්ගලයෙකු තමා මෛත්‍රි බුදුන් බවට තර්ක කරමින් බුද්ධ ශාසන අමාත්‍යාංශයටද ගොස් තිබුනේය. 

ආගමික මෝහයෙන් පෙලෙන පුද්ගලයෝ විවිධ කාල වල උඩට එති. යම් සමාජයක් සමාජ ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්න වලින් පෙලෙන විට මිනිසුන්ට තම එදිනෙදා ජීවිතය සහ අනාගතය පිලිබඳ අවිනිශ්චිතතාවයන් මතු වන විට ඔවුන් භින්නෝන්මාදය / ද්වී ධ්‍රැව විශාදය / නාර්සිසිස්ටික අක්‍රමතාව වැනි තත්වයන් ගෙන් පෙලෙන තමන් ගැලවුම්කරුවෙකු බව සිතන පුද්ගලයන් වටා එක්වී කල්ට් නිර්මාණය කරති. වර්තමානයේ සමාජ ආර්ථික බංකොලොත්භාවයට පත්වී තිබෙන ශ්‍රී ලාංකික සමාජය තුල අති විශාල ආධ්‍යාත්මික රික්තකයක් පවතියි. මේ කල්ට් වනාහී මෙම ආධ්‍යාත්මික රික්තකයේ නිර්මාණයන් වෙති. 

සෑම කාලයකදීම ලංකාවේ කල්ට් පැවතුනි. සමහර කල්ට් ප්‍රසිද්ධ ඒවා වූ අතර සමහර  කල්ට් අප්‍රසිද්ධ ඒවා විය. මේවා අතරින් අලව්වේ ජයසූරිය බුදුන් කල්ට් එක ( මේ කල්ට් එකට අයත් වූ විමළගුණ නම් දන්ත වෛද්‍යවරයෙකු මා හට කීවේ යම් ලෙසකින් මම අලව්වේ ජයසූරිය බුදුන් හමුවට ගියහොත් ඔහු මාව සෝවන් තත්වයට පත් කරන බවයි. මේ අනුව පෙනී යන්නේ සමාජයේ වෘත්තිකයන් පවා කල්ට් වලට තම විචාර බුද්ධිය පාවා දෙති.) එසේම ගාල්ල ප්‍රදේශයේ වත්තක ලිපිකරුවෙකු තමන් මතු උපදින මෙතේ බුදුන් බව කියමින් නවසීලන්තයේ ජීවත් වන ලාංකිකයන් පවා ග්‍රහණය කර ගනිමින් කල්ට් එකක් ගොඩ නැංවීය.

කල්ට් එකක් යනු සමාජ අසමානතාවයේ රෝග ලක්‍ෂණයක් ලෙස දැකිය හැක. කල්ට් එකක් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන්නේ කන්ඩායම් ගතිකයන් (group dynamics) අනුවය. කල්ට් නායකයා අනුගාමිකයින්ට අර්ථය සහ අරමුණ පිළිබඳ හැඟීමක් ලබා දෙයි. කැලිෆෝනියා විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මනෝ වෛද්‍ය විද්‍යාව පිළිබඳ සායනික මහාචාර්‍ය ආතර් ඩීක්මන් ඔහුගේ The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society කෘතිය මගින් කල්ට් වල මනෝ ගතිකයන් පැහැදිලි කලේය. කණ්ඩායමකට අයත් වීමට ගැඹුරු මානව අවශ්‍යතාවකි. එසේම වැඩිහිටියෙකු වූ පසුද යලිත් මව් කෙනෙකු හෝ පිය කෙනෙකුගේ ආඥාවට යටත් වීමට  ඇතැම් පුද්ගලයන් තුල අවිඥාණික ආශාවන් පවතියි. මෙවැනි පුද්ගලයෝ කල්ට් සරණ යති.  

මිනිසුන් පිරිසක් මිත්‍යාවක් බෙදාගත් විට මනෝ විද්‍යාඥයන් එය හඳුන්වන්නේ ලබ්ධියක් ලෙසටය. ලබ්ධියක් නිර්වචනය කරන්නේ සාමාන්‍යයෙන් ආන්තික දෘෂ්ටිවාදයක් සහිත කණ්ඩායමක් හෝ ව්‍යාපාරයක් ලෙසටය.  කල්ට්  එකක් සාමාන්‍යයෙන් ප්‍රචලිත නායකයෙකු තුළ මූර්තිමත් වූවකි.   කල්ට් නායකයන් බලය සඳහා ආශාවක් ඇති මනෝ ව්‍යාධිකයින් වන අතර බොහෝ විට ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණ ඉටු කර ගැනීම සඳහා ආගම භාවිතා කරති.  කල්ට් හෙවත් ලබ්ධීන් අත්‍යවශ්‍යයෙන්ම ගොඩනැගී ඇත්තේ ආන්තික, අසාමාන්‍ය හෝ ආන්තික ආගමික විශ්වාසයන් වටාය. බොහෝ විට කල්ට් එක තුල චින්තන-ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ වැඩසටහන් භාවිතා කෙරේ. කල්ට් නායකයා සාමාජිකයන්ට ඉතා ආකර්ශයණීය පොරොන්දු ලබා දෙයි. ඔබ මීලඟ ජනාධිපතිය, ඔබ මීලඟ අගමැති හෝ ප්‍රබල ඇමතිවරයෙකි, නැතහොත් හමුදාපතිය, ඉහලම ව්‍යාපාරිකයාය යනාදී වශයෙන් පුද්ගලයා තුල විශ්වාසයක් ගොඩ නැංවීමෙන් ඔහු හෝ ඇය ලබ්ධිය තුලට බද්ධ වෙයි.  කණ්ඩායමට ආකර්ෂණීය (හෝ සමහර විට දිව්‍යමය) බලය ආරෝපණය කරයි. කල්ට් සාමාජිකයෝ  කල්ට් නායකයාට අවිවාදිත පක්‍ෂපාතීත්වය පෙන්නුම් කරති. ඔබ යම්කිසි කල්ට් එකකට අභියෝග කලහොත් සාමාජිකයෝ කුපිත වෙති. සමහරක් කල්ට් නායකයා වෙනුවෙන් මිනී මැරීම හෝ කල්ට් නායකයා වෙනුවෙන් දිවි නසා ගැනීමට වූවද සූදානම් ය.

කල්ට් සාමාජිකයින් සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අසමතුලිතව තබා ගැනීමෙන්,   ඔවුන්ව නායකයා මත යැපීම වැඩි කරයි. ඔබට බලවත් අපලයක් තිබේ, අනාගතයේ මාරකයක් තිබේ යනාදී මගින් කල්ට් සාමාජිකයින් තුල භීතිය , අවිනිශ්චිතතාව වර්ධනය කරමින් තමන් ඒකායන ගැලවුම්කරු ලෙස කල්ට් නායකයා පෙනී සිටියි.  

බොහෝ කල්ට් නායකයෝ   Delusional disorder තත්වයක් නිසාද නැතහොත් Narcissistic personality disorder තත්වය  නිසාද තමන් ගේම කල්ට් එකට මුලාවී සිටිති. ඉතා සුළු ප්‍රමාණයක් බොරුවට තමන් ගේ කල්ට් භූමිකාවේ රඟපාති. බොරුවට රඟපාන්නෝ අති දක්‍ෂ නළුවන් වන අතර බොහෝ උගත් වෘත්තිකයෝද මොවුන්ට රැවටෙති. ලබ්ධියකින් ඉවත් වීමද අසීරුය. කැනඩාවේ දී   මා විසින් පශ්චාත් ව්‍යසන අක්‍රමතාවයෙන් (PTSD) පෙළුනු සුදු ජාතිකයෙකුට ප්‍රතිකාර කල කල අතර පසුව ඔහු මට පැවසුවේ තමන් ගේ දෙමාපියන් සහ මුළු පවුලම  The World Tomorrow නම් නිකායේ Herbert W. Armstrong නම් ඉවැන්ජලික නායකයාට යටත්ව ජීවත් වූ බවයි. ඔහු එම ලබ්ධියෙන් ඉවත් වීමත් සමගම අන්‍ය සාමාජිකයන් විසින් ඔහුව බලවත් ගැරහීමකට, අපකීර්තියට පත් කොට තිබේ. ටොම් කෘස් පවා සාමාජිකයෙකු වන සයන්ටෝලොජි ලබ්ධියේද ඉවත් වන සාමාජිකයන්ට බොහෝ කරදර වලට මුහුණ පාන්නට සිදුවේ.

පසුගිය කාලයේ ලංකාවේ රතු නූල් කල්ට් එකක් මතුවූ බව බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට මතක ඇති බව නිසැකය. මේ කල්ට් එකේ නිර්මාතෘ ඥාණක්කා යනු අනුරාධපුර රෝහලේ සේවය කල ඇටෙන්ඩන්වරියකි. ඇයගේ සැමියා ගිලන් රථ රියැදුරෙකි. ඇගේ සැමියා භීෂණ සමයේ ඝාතනය වීමත් සමගම ඇය ආරූඩ වීමට පටන් ගත්තාය. මනෝ විද්‍යාත්මකව  පෙන්වා දීමේදී ඉතා තීවුර ක්‍ෂිතිමය අත්දැකීමක් නිසා ඇය ලක්වූ විඝටන ආබාධය ( Dissociative Disorder  ) දේව වරමක් ලෙස පසුගාමී නූගත් සමාජයක් විසින් අර්ථකථනය කරන ලදි. නමුත් ඇය තමන් තුල පවත්නා මැනිපුලේටිව් සහ කමියුනිකේෂන් ස්කිල්ස් මගින් විචාර බුද්ධියෙන් අඩු, හීනවූ ආත්ම ශක්තීන් ඇති , තමන් කෙරෙහි විශ්වාසය අඩු, නිරන්තරයෙන්ම භීතියෙන් , චකිතයෙන් පෙලන , තීරණ ගැනීමේදී කුකුසෙන් පෙලෙන දේශපාලකයන් , කූට ව්‍යාපාරිකයන් , හමුදා නිලධාරීන් තමන් වෙත ආකර්ශණය කර ගැනීමට සමත් වූවාය.

About this book

Volume 30 in the series De Gruyter Contemporary Social Sciences

Now in Paperback

This book provides a broad picture of Sri Lanka’s on-going political and economic crisis as the culmination of several centuries of colonial and neo-colonial developments. The book presents the Sri Lankan crisis as an exemplification of a broader global existential crisis facing more and more debt trapped countries, especially in the post-colonial Global South. The book’s in-depth case study raises important questions pertaining to sovereignty and political and economic democracy in Sri Lanka and the world at large.

The book also explores the emergence of the crisis in the context of the accelerating geopolitical conflict between China and the USA in the Indian Ocean. It ponders if the debt crisis, economic collapse and political destabilization in Sri Lanka were intentionally precipitated to the advantage of the Quadrilateral Alliance (USA, India, Australia and Japan).

Moving beyond geopolitical rivalry, the book juxtaposes Sri Lanka’s political-economic crisis with the broader ecological crisis of climate change and sea-level rise.

The book concludes with a consideration of the ethical dilemmas behind the debt and survival crisis in Sri Lanka and across the world. It points out a range of social movements and initiatives in Sri Lanka and the Global South which subscribe to collective and ecological alternatives and a Middle Path of sustainability and social justice.

• Timely and well-researched
• A global perspective on the Sri Lankan crisis
• Offers ecological and collective alternatives as crisis resolution

Author / Editor information

Asoka Bandarage, California Institute for Integral Studies, San Francisco, CA, USA.

Reviews

“In this well-written, well-researched scholarly text, Asoka Bandarage brilliantly combines a detailed historical analysis of the political and economic crisis in Sri Lanka and a global ethical perspective pertaining to similar crises elsewhere in the world.”
T. Lalithasiri Gunaruwan, Professor, Department of Economics, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka

“A very useful analysis providing depth and background to understanding the current Sri Lankan economic crisis. Bandarage goes well beyond the standard tropes of ‘policy errors’ or culture/identity-based explanations, to locate the Sri Lankan experience in the wider context of profit-, technology- and finance-driven globalization.”
Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA

“Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World is a most timely book – and urgently needed for the world that is at a critical crossroads of extreme and accelerating possibilities. For alternatives that are just and sustainable, the crisis needs to be understood both historically as well as in the contemporary context. I cannot think of very many who can do that – both with scholarship and passion – with a fusion of global as well as local and holistic perspectives as Asoka Bandarage has been able to do here.”
Sajed Kamal has taught at Boston University, Northeastern University, Antioch New England Graduate School, and Brandeis University

“A powerful, riveting and in-depth analysis of the structural and destructive legacy of colonialism on post-colonial and debt-trapped countries like Sri Lanka … Dr. Bandarage’s superb book is well-researched, expertly synthesized and presented with rigor in an engaging and accessible writing style. It is a tremendous achievement and a must-read for every scholar and student of history, colonialism, underdevelopment, hegemonic domination and ecological disasters. Its cutting-edge scholarship is of critical importance in the fields of economics, political science, environmental studies and policy coordination at the national and international level.”
Filomina C. Steady, Professor Emerita, Anthropology and Africana Studies, Wellesley College, USA

“Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World is a valuable addition to any library or private collection concerned with the historical roots and future of the crisis in Sri Lanka and its global implications. In these pages Professor Bandarage writes with urgency and clarity of her nation, its situation in relationship to a history of colonialism, neoliberalism, complex global issues, and climate change. She brings to the table a deep understanding of contemporary international complexities, and the reality of climate change for the world today. Her appeal to a more compassionate understanding of human nature and consciousness itself could not be more timely.”
Allan Leslie Combs, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Consciousness Studies and Director of the Center for Consciousness Studies, California Institute of Integral Studies

“Bandarage’s book … is a must-read for those seeking alternative methodological stances and more comprehensive perspectives on the analysis of socio-economic crises in emerging economies … . Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World stands out as a refreshing and much-needed addition to the body of literature addressing the Sri Lankan crisis of the 2020s. It provides a holistic viewpoint, highlighting the multifaceted nature of the crisis and tracing its origins back to Sri Lanka’s historical evolution from colonial times. Crisis in Sri Lanka and the World is perhaps the only comprehensive publication written from such a holistic approach so far … .”
W. D. Lakshman, Professor Emeritus, University of Colombo

Jubeda Chowdhury

Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud lead the Bangladesh delegation at the 19th NAM Summit in Uganda from January 20-21, focusing on “Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence.” The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), established in 1961, is a group of mostly developing countries working together to advance shared interests. The NAM summit, inaugurated by Ugandan President Iweri Museveni, adopted a declaration on Palestine and the ‘Kampala Declaration’ at the end of two days of talks. The two-day ministerial meeting on NAM ended on Thursday after finalizing the Kampala Declaration and declaration on Palestine. Bangladesh plays its role in crises solution at any international events.

During the US-Soviet Cold War in the middle of the last century, countries outside the two spheres chose a neutral policy for security and economic reasons outside the sphere of influence of the two superpowers. Yugoslavia’s President Marshall Tito, Ghana’s President Kwame Nkrama, India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt’s President Jamal Abdel Nasser and Indonesia’s President Dr. Sukorn was the founder of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). In 1955, the Non-Aligned Movement began at the Bandung Conference in Indonesia. However, the summit held in Serbia’s capital Belgrade in 1961 is seen as the founding period of the Non-Aligned Movement. At that conference five codes of conduct were drawn up for the members of this third alliance. These included independent conduct of foreign policy, acceptance of coexistence of different political systems, non-alignment of two military camps and non-entanglement in the Cold War.

There were many questions about the functionality of NAM. Many member countries were accused of leaning towards special rings. Many interpret this movement as ineffective. Moreover, during the Cold War, this organization added a new dimension to the discussion. At first America did not take the matter well, but later they also took this movement positively. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, this alliance remained largely out of the discussion. But NAM has not disappeared. At present the number of members of this alliance is 120. It is the largest international organization outside the United Nations. A non-aligned conference was held after three years.

Bangladesh became a member of this organization in 1973 after independence. That year, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman attended the Non-Aligned Conference on behalf of Bangladesh in Algeria. Participation in this conference played a positive role in gaining UN membership the following year.

The relevance of non-alignment can be understood from the voting equation in the resolution in UNGA. This equation of votes means that many countries are trying to maintain neutrality in many international events.  Bangladesh always stands at international justice.

Bangladesh called for greater unity and solidarity among NAM member states to ensure shared global prosperity. Mahmud also discussed the speech given by Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the NAM summit in Algiers, Algeria in 1973. He emphasized the legacy of peace, development, and human rights of Rahman and urged the international community to stand by the Palestinians. Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen referred to the statement of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the NAM Summit in Algiers in 1973, emphasizing principles of self-reliance and effective economic cooperation among non-aligned countries.  The foreign secretary also highlighted the progress made under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s leadership and called for effective mechanisms within the NAM to help NAM countries from LDC graduation and deal with the aftermath. She also reiterated Bangladesh’s support for the Palestinian people’s legitimate right and just struggle for freedom from Israeli occupation and oppression.

Promoting India-Bangladesh ties: Bangladesh Foreign Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud held his first bilateral meeting with Indian counterpart Dr. S. Jaishankar on the sidelines of the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Kampala, Uganda. The leaders discussed mutual interests and ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Dr. Jaishankar congratulated Mahmud on his new role as Foreign Minister and discussed the upcoming visit of Bangladesh Foreign Minister to New Delhi. India-Bangladesh relations are growing stronger, and both countries look forward to Mahmud’s visit. The Bangladesh foreign minister is scheduled to visit New Delhi on February 7 as his first official bilateral tour, possibly staying for three days. The tour agendas or itinerary are yet to be prepared, but the meeting was discussed.

Rohingya issue and Myanmar-Bangladesh: Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud has called for the repatriation of the Rohingya people and peaceful resolution of global disputes at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Uganda’s capital, Kampala. Mahmud also urged redoubled efforts to ensure a sustainable solution to the Rohingya issue and emphasized the need for constructive and peaceful dialogue to build a peaceful, just, and inclusive society Mahmud also held a meeting with Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Than Sue, discussing Rohingya repatriation and other bilateral issues.

He also held a sideline meeting with the foreign ministers of several other countries. In addition, the foreign minister held a bilateral meeting with the foreign ministers of Nepal, Botswana and Belarus, the state minister of Qatar and the deputy minister of Indonesia. Hasan Mahmud. Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmood has called for peaceful resolution of global disputes and upholding the culture of peace. He referred to the 1973 speech of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and emphasized Bangladesh’s support for Palestinians and Rohingya repatriation. Mahmood urged the international community to stand by Palestinians and ensure a sustainable solution. Due to these meetings, as Bangladesh has been able to raise all the demands, it has also been possible to attract the attention of the countries. Besides, bilateral relations with different countries have been welded through side line meetings. Taking these aspects into consideration, it can be said that Bangladesh’s participation in NAM or Non-Aligned Movement Conference is definitely important.

The Bangladesh government has always attached importance to the Non-Aligned Movement’ or ‘NAM’, which is called the Non-Aligned Movement. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was also elected as the vice chairman in the 15th conference of the organization.

BD govt. has been giving more importance to NAM. But even though ‘NAM’ has small significance at present, the principles of this international organization and the principles of Bangladesh’s foreign policy are almost the same, so Bangladesh considers it a big forum. As a result, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself participated in the 18th ‘NAM’ conference organized in Azerbaijan on behalf of Bangladesh and this time in the ongoing 19th conference organized in Uganda, Foreign Minister Dr. Hasan Mahmud has been sent.

Those concerned said that NAM has been playing a role in maintaining freedom and sovereignty, eliminating racism, preventing small countries from being affected by the pressure of big powers, fighting against imperialism and avoiding any kind of blockade-threat in international relations and ensuring peaceful coexistence. Besides, according to some, attending the conference of the Non-Aligned Movement proves Bangladesh still believes in non-aligned policy, friendship to all and maline to non.

Bangladesh government has always played a positive role in taking active part in the activities. And it is considered necessary in the interest of Bangladesh. one thing needs to be remembered, Nam does ‘balance’ with everyone. On the other hand, the basic principle of Bangladesh’s foreign policy is friendship with everyone. Not a conflict. As a result, the principles of NAM and Bangladesh are almost the same, so it is important. Apart from this, there is another reason to give importance to NAM, there has been a new polarization in the world. This may last for many years. Bangladesh doesn’t want to fall into the polarization politics of international players.  For this reason, NAM is important to Bangladesh.

Anup Sinha – a security and strategic affairs researcher and freelance columnist

The 28th Dhaka International Trade Fair was officially inaugurated on January 21 by Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina as the chief guest at the Bangabandhu Bangladesh-China Friendship Exhibition Center located in Purbachal, near the capital. According to the layout plan of this year’s trade fair, the total number of pavilions, restaurants and stalls of different categories is 351 and the total number of pavilions, restaurants and stalls allotted to local and foreign organizations is 300. This year, the entrance of the fair has been made in the pattern of Karnaphuli tunnel to bring forward the development and progress of the fair premises. On one side is the Rooppur nuclear power plant and on the other side is the third terminal of the airport. These are made visible to continue the journey of development.

The main objective of the trade fair is to diversify the export of domestic products by reducing the dependence on the garment sector. If Bangladesh can diversify its products, then our export can be more than 100 billion. Bangladesh fair can sustain rapid growth with resilience, emerging as a highlight of high-standard opening-up endeavors.

EPB said, in addition to domestic products, various countries including India, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Nepal will participate in this year’s trade fair. Aims to find large market for export of domestic products besides product display. The fair was held in Sherebangla Nagar from 1995 to 2020 as a joint initiative of the Ministry of Commerce and EPB to promote, spread, market, and support domestic products. Due to the covid epidemic, it was not possible to organize the fair in 2021. The fair was then held for the first time in 2022 at the BBCFEC in Purbachle amid pandemic restrictions. This is the third time the trade fair is being held at the permanent venue Bangladesh-China Exhibition Center. A permanent trade fair center has been built in Purbachal with Chinese funding. From now on, the International Trade Fair will be held here every year. A fair like computer fair, science fair, agricultural fair and book fair is the most modern version of our culture Dhaka International Trade Fair. Since 1995, the fair has been organized regularly in Shere Banglanagar, Dhaka, under the initiative of Bangladesh Ministry of Commerce and Export Development Bureau, but now the venue of the fair has been changed and it is being held at the present place. The fair attracts a large number of people as the best products are available in terms of uniqueness, beauty and quality. The Dhaka International Trade Fair has started in the month of January as always, upholding the traditional folk culture of Bengal. Due to the internationalization of the fair, many foreign business organizations and manufacturing companies participate. Foreign buyers and visitors gather. Small and cottage industries of our country are very popular with foreigners. By selling these products to foreign visitors at fairs, the sales and reputation of our indigenous industry in the world increases. As a result, our small industries can benefit. And the way of earning profit of big domestic companies is also facilitated through this fair. Besides, the Government of Bangladesh gets huge revenue from the participating domestic and foreign companies and has the opportunity to earn a lot of foreign exchange. A lot of money is also earned from the sale of fair tickets. Through part-time employment in the fair, temporary unemployment of the unemployed is overcome. Many also get permanent jobs by showing good skills in part-time jobs at fairs. Trade fairs are related to the economic infrastructure of a country.

Efforts are being made to improve the functions of thetrade fair,making it the South Asia’s most influential fair for trade, injecting new impetus to the Bangladesh’s economy. The trade fair is a valuable opportunity for businesses to engage with government stakeholders, for Bangladesh to exhibit its own strengths and ambitions for the business sector, and for international companies to announce deals with local partners.

For domestic small and medium-sized enterprises, participating in the Fair can be an excellent opportunity to build brand awareness, expand their customer base, and generate new business leads. They can meet potential partners and customers, explore new markets, and learn about the latest industry trends and developments.

Moreover, the Fair provides small and medium-sized enterprises with a level playing field to compete with larger companies on a global stage. It is a great opportunity for them to showcase their quality products and services, which can help them gain recognition and establish their brand in the international market.

The Fair also plays a critical role in attracting foreign investment to Bangladesh. The fair provides foreign investors with an opportunity to learn about the country’s business environment, meet with potential partners and suppliers, and explore investment opportunities which has helped to attract foreign investment to Bangladesh, contributing to the country’s economic growth and development.

That is, trade fairs play a supporting role in the economic development and expansion of the country. Therefore, it is necessary to organize a trade fair to build a rich infrastructure of the main energy economy of the country. Moreover, since the merchants of different countries appear with their various products in the fair, domestic business establishments can get acquainted with the latest foreign products. Manufacturing companies get new product ideas. Buyers or consumers can compare the quality of our domestic products with foreign products. The relationship between our country’s businessmen and foreign businessmen and entrepreneurs has improved. As a result, foreign trade is promoted and expanded. Trade is the main carrier of national progress and development. And the development and expansion of this trade is the main goal of the trade fair. Dhaka International Trade Fair has and will continue to play an important role in the rapid development of the country’s economy. This fair is the biggest business event in Bangladesh. The necessity of this fair is essential to bring together the producers-exporters, importers, traders and buyers on one platform and for the promotion of products and market expansion as well as for the development of the national economy.

Mehjabin Bhanu is a Bangladeshi culuminst, security and strategic affairs analyst, and teacher.

After winning the national elections, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina, formed a new administration for the fourth consecutive time, demonstrating their ongoing success. Sheikh Hasina has attained a great degree of bravery in her leadership while facing complex local and international plots. Following the elections held in Bangladesh on January 7, the governing Awami League (AL) has gained respect on a global scale. Many have described the election as free, fair, unbiased, and participatory. acknowledging people’s enthusiasm for democracy. Numerous chiefs of foreign missions in Bangladesh expressed their happiness with the referendum and congratulated Sheikh Hasina on her achievement. Several heads of state, including those of China, India, Brazil, Russia, and Australia, have welcomed Sheikh Hasina’s new administration. The international community’s backing and recognition of the newly constituted administration has raised its morale, notwithstanding the fears of entrenched organizations. Countries like China, India, and Russia have praised Hasina for her reelection, which has increased their self-assurance abroad. In addition to congratulating Hasina on her reelection, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres highlighted Bangladesh’s contributions to peacekeeping efforts and the Sustainable Development Goals. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina received congratulations from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on her reelection and highlighted the two countries’ solid alliance. He complimented Bangladesh’s goodwill towards Rohingya refugees and hailed Bangladesh’s major contributions to UN peacekeeping missions. The foreign community’s support for Hasina’s administration is indicative of a favorable view of Bangladesh’s political environment and suggests that opinions may have changed after the country’s recent elections.

The Secretary-General acknowledged Bangladesh’s efforts towards a more sustainable and inclusive future and commended Hasina for her dedication to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He conveyed his belief in Bangladesh’s proactive involvement in the Global Crisis Response Group and emphasized the significance of teamwork in tackling worldwide issues.

Patricia Scotland, the secretary-general of the Commonwealth, also congratulated Hasina on her victory in the reelection of Bangladesh’s prime minister. After Hasina’s reelection, she wrote to her expressing her happiness and highlighting the common values—peace, democracy, and sustainable development—that are embodied in the Commonwealth Charter. Bangladesh’s leadership and active participation in the Commonwealth were recognized by Scotland, which also valued its efforts on problems including ocean stewardship, climate change, and digitalization.

Finally, the Secretary-Generals of the United Nations and the Commonwealth have said that they endorse Hasina’s reelection and the two countries’ ongoing cooperation.

Bangladesh has a significant position on the global map. Because of its position, powerful nations are gazing at Bangladesh. Based on Bangladesh’s actual political situation, Western nations have already acknowledged reality and begun cooperating with the Sheikh Hasina government. Engaging with the recently established Bangladeshi administration is in their best interests. India, who fought with us in the great liberation movement, has always upheld the idea of friendship. Specifically, even though during Sheikh Hasina’s leadership, India expanded its diplomatic ties with Bangladesh.

Prior to the 12th National Assembly elections, it seemed likely that neither the US nor the EU would be interested in reestablishing cooperative ties with the administration headed by Sheikh Hasina. The contrast between these fictitious facts and reality must have been obvious to astute onlookers. The message that emerged from the meeting with the foreign ministers of the US and EU ambassadors is, in a word, fantastic, after the announcement that Sheikh Hasina’s government has been formed with a majority of seats in the elections. Both the US and the EU have shown a desire to collaborate closely with Bangladesh’s freshly elected government and populace. Bangladesh and the EU will shortly sign a new Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA). The two sides’ relationship will improve as a result of this.

The foreign minister said, “We have relations with the United States on many issues,” using Bangladesh’s connection with the US as an example. For a considerable amount of time, we have collaborated to combat extremism and militancy. In the future, I’m excited to work on those topics more carefully. We have made it clear that we want to improve commerce, foster deeper ties between the two nations, and step-up collaboration in all other sectors.

Bangladesh has been receiving defense support from the United States. The fresh conversation on the subject has been made clear by the foreign minister. America is concurrently interested in exploring Bangladesh’s deep sea for oil and gas. An American business is searching for oil in the meantime. As a consequence, Bangladesh and the US may have further conversations over this matter. Bangladesh hasn’t profited from the potential Sunil economy yet. There won’t be an issue if Bangladesh gains greatly from the direct participation of one or more powerful nations, such as the US, in the extraction of marine resources. In addition, there is one more crucial item. The Rohingya problem is that. Over fifteen million Rohingya people are a burden on Bangladesh’s economy. Bangladesh has often asked for US assistance in getting the Rohingyas back. That the topic has now been revisited is definitely a step in the right direction.

The US is Bangladesh’s main export destination. Speculators predicted that US-Bangladesh ties would soar when Joe Biden was elected president. Not that it never happened. Government policy officials believe they want to explore the prospect of creating new avenues for collaboration on future shared concerns like as climate change, eradicating militancy, and repatriation of Rohingya. There is room for further collaboration with Bangladesh, as shown by the September 13, 2018, Washington, DC, meeting of the four-year Trade and Investment collaboration Forum Agreement (TICFA) between the governments of the United States and Bangladesh. The chance for Bangladesh to seize it fully is now once again there.

Keeping in mind Bangladesh’s foreign policy of “friendship with all, enmity with none,” the current US and EU approach is unquestionably advantageous for Bangladesh. The people of this nation anticipate that in the near future, new avenues for commerce and investment will develop.