Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Police together with the Police Special Task Force (STF) has arrested over 13,000 suspects over drugs related crimes since the launch of ‘Operation Yukthiya’ on 17 December up to now, the police said.

Police Media Spokesman SSP Nihal Thalduwa stated that accordingly, a total of 13,666 individuals were arrested for drugs related crimes while 1,097 of them have been sent for rehabilitation.

මෑත කාලයේ හමු වූ විශාලතම ගංජා වගාව ”තාත්තයි පුතයි, කිසිම රැකියාවක් කරන්නෙ නෑ සර්…’

Courtesy Hiru News

The Minister of Labour and Foreign Employment Manusha Nanayakkara, highlighted the significant improvement in the country’s foreign reserves under the leadership of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. According to Minister Nanayakkara, the foreign reserve was depleted when the current government assumed office, but it has successfully rebounded, reaching a noteworthy USD 3.6 billion.

>Minister Nanayakkara underscored the challenges faced by the government in making decisions that resonate with the public, emphasizing that the pursuit of popular choices often led to setbacks for the nation. He pointed out that despite the inherent difficulties, the government has managed to overcome obstacles and steer the country towards economic stability.

The minister’s remarks were made during the “Collective Path to a Stable Country “media briefing held at the Presidential Media Centre today (22).

Minister Manusha Nanayakkara further commented Politicians are often expected to make decisions that resonate with the public, as popular choices tend to garner widespread support. However, there had a pattern of groups including us, protesting against these kinds of popular decisions. But unfortunately, such kind of approaches has led the country into economic turmoil.<br /><br />Even the opposition cannot escape criticism, as they have protested against decisions aimed at national development, dismissing them as mere populism. It is essential to acknowledge that such actions contribute to the country&rsquo;s economic downfall.<br /><br />In our case, when we assumed office, the country faced a severe economic crisis with no foreign reserves. Expatriate workers possessed more assets than the Central Bank&rsquo;s dollar reserves. Despite the challenges, the government successfully increased foreign reserves to USD 3.6 billion, preventing a collapse due to a lack of dollars for imports.<br /><br />Upon taking office, rampant money printing had led to inflation. We addressed this issue and stabilized the exchange rate, reducing the value of the dollar from Rs. 365 to 320. This prevented people from resorting to the black market for foreign currency transactions, ensuring accessibility for education and international transactions.<br /><br />The government also tackled high-interest rates, lowering them from over 25% to a single-digit figure within a year and a half. This allowed the country to secure loans from banks and foster economic growth.<br /><br />In the past, the country experienced negative economic growth, but now we have achieved positive growth. The agriculture, industry and tourism sectors have all seen significant improvements compared to the previous year.<br /><br />Efforts have been made to address public demands for systemic change. Tax collection has been streamlined, ensuring that everyone pays their fair share. Emigrants are also contributing significantly through substantial taxes paid in their host countries. Building a country cannot solely rely on tax concessions, as witnessed in the &lsquo;Samrudhi&rsquo; initiative.<br /><br />The government has initiated operations against the underworld and drug trafficking, although these efforts are criticized as mere media shows. Numerous policy decisions have been implemented to bring about the desired systemic changes. A program emphasizing respect for labour has been launched and the country is undergoing a digital transformation

e-Con e-News

blog: eesrilanka.wordpress.com

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

e-Con e-News 17-23 December 2023

A ‘US Special Representative for Racial Equity & Justice’ was actually allowed to enter Sri Lanka this week to meet with Indian Tamils in the Sinhala highlands stolen for Unilever’s slavish plantations. But not to worry, in the midst of the US mega massmurder in occupied Palestine and in Yemen, the whites are still paying some of us coolies to kneel before sermons on ‘human rights’, corruption (how corrupt is stealing Palestinian land?), carbon footprints & green transitions (how green is a precision bunker-buster?).

     Indeed, this ee Focus also examines the role Special Economic Zones & Free Trade Zones have played in making Sri Lankans accede to ‘excluding or modifying the application of parts of national law in defined geographic areas…’ Welcome to Eelam Plantation-Styleee…

• Vat! What? Whack! – The bribed buffer classes (some call them the ‘middle class’) are sharing memes & videos warning of escalated muggings of decent citizens (returning bags-full from supermarkets), as well as home invasions, car hijackings, etc. Welcome to Pope Gregory’s 2024. Bring on the Year of the Dragon! And on to Buddhist year 2567 in April, and what shall it portend?

     Those aragalists who demanded ‘Go to the IMF, Stupid!’ are seeking asylum perhaps in a US embassy or English High Commission safe house. Electricity hikes, the World Bank’s Government Advisor Shantha Devarajan promises, are to get the air-conditioned ‘rich’ to pay their fair share. Yet, ‘over 500,000 red notices’ have been ‘issued to households’ over late electricity bills (see ee Workers). And then this week, the Central Bank Governor’s speech writers at the IMF office in the Central Bank, made him invoke another dead US President to declare ‘inflation’ as ‘public enemy number one’. He also announced:

*

‘Any future government too has to align itself with the IMF agreement,

if not, it would amount to a breach of agreements

with external & internal creditors, inclusive of the IMF’

Central Bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe

(see ee Economists, Future Governments)

*

The Governor is responding to his critics that a future Sri Lankan government would have to ‘significantly amend’ the new Central Bank Act! This new Act (demanded by the US Congress) aims at preventing any attempt at investment in local industry (see ee Focus). The genie of JR Jayewardene who wished ‘to roll up the electoral map’ must turn on the current Central Bank Governor and his titanic crew.

The dangling of several million dollars by the US-controlled World Bank and ADB, followed Parliament’s decision to increase taxes (aka VAT). The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) this week also eased the selling of national enterprises (SoEs) on a new Catalyst Board (see ee Finance). The supine media plays their part, reporting worker opposition to the sale of national assets, only headlining a demand for bonuses etc. These incentives for US bribes by selling off the country will ensure the ‘manufacture of consent’, and will provoke considerable class warfare as well…

*

• Then-president JR Jayewardene (aka Yankee Dicky) in September 1982 declared in Anuradhapura his intention, ‘To roll up the electoral map of Sri Lanka for 10 years’. Jayewardene was then elected to a fresh 6-year term as President in October 1982. A nonexistent ‘Naxalite’ threat was soon evoked ‘to orchestrate the biggest election fraud – the infamous referendum of 22 December 1982, which introduced unparalleled ‘state sponsored thuggery, hooliganism and mafia-style violence & lawlessness’ (recalled Anura Bandaranaike).

     The UNP-dominated Parliament’s term was due to expire in July 1983. The rest as they say is history. But not quite. It still mocks us in the face. The first time, it launched the horrors of the 30-years’ war, midst the farce of teledramas. This time they are dishing out more of the same.

     The merchant & moneylender ruling class, and its media, are therefore in the process of setting up various oppositions, acceptable and not, to push through their attempt to extend the colonial import-export plantation farce. Who will play the new Naxalites?

     Despite the IMF’s rosy panaceas and bitter elixirs, the whites are escalating genocidal war – this week at the closer mouth of the Red Sea, ignoring Yemen’s right to its waterways – to block our access to fuel (see ee Random Notes). Whatever happened to a ‘free & open Indo-Pacific’? Aney, palayan doh!

     And it is not just hot war but cold war now called hybrid warfare which is being waged on us all.

*

• Can Sun Tzu Rescue Us? asked Nathasha Gunasekera at the recent 13^th World Socialism Forum in Beijing (see ee Focus). Gunasekera suggests, socialism’s biggest challenge now is to formulate ‘a grand strategy’ to restore ‘the sovereignty of nations’. A deepening ‘imperialist assemblage’ [of god? – ee], which hinges on the financialization juggernaut, is deploying hybrid ‘indirect’ warfare – as first detailed by ancient Chinese strategist Sun Tzu. The future of conflict will be marked by ‘protesters’ & insurgents, as in Syria & the Ukraine, and in the orchestrated nature of the ‘Aragalaya’. In Sri Lanka, imperialist forces have infiltrated ‘intelligence, bureaucracy, academia, military, judiciary, & media’. Civil society organizations and thinktanks, journalists, military service personnel, academics & legal professionals are greased with ‘scholarships, study tours, foreign trips, local trips in exotic destinations, promotions, and even political asylum in worst case scenario’. Such bribes are of course not considered ‘corruption’. Let’s call it ‘Exxon lube’…

*

• Indeed, increased coordination between the US state machinery & their local agents is now more blatant. The US Congress last week approved the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (FEPA) as part of the annual war budget! Almost simultaneously, the so-called Civil Society Initiative (funded & backed by the most genocidal forces the world has ever seen) ululated calls for ‘the inclusion of IMF identified actions’ on corruption. The IMF should know, they are – with their overpaid economists – one of the most corrupt operations in the world. The CSI Core Group indeed ‘includes’ the usual US-funded NGO suspects (see ee Random Notes).

     Those trying to understand this ‘constitutional reform’ and corruption harangue to explain the economy’s destabilization, can examine it as a continuation of the colonial import-export plantation economy by any means. Look at what the US & EU are doing in the Ukraine, which it has destroyed. The comparison of ‘roadmaps’ is most enlightening (see ee Random Notes).

*

• Who lurks behind the steady stream of exposes of pharmaceutical felonies of substandard medicines? It turns out the target is what remains of the public health system, which like the education system has been a target of a jealous rage by the World Bank & its IFC, and therefore subject to its financial shenanigans.

     This ee therefore continues examination of corporations & their NGOs, charting the corporate coup d’etat to overthrow ‘independent’ governments. Much of this information has been reproducied from Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy, by Claire Provost & Matt Kennard. However, being naif amateurs, rather than stock analysts, we have our own apprehensions about these sources. They refer to free trade zones as having to offer to investors ‘a steady supply of cheap & compliant labour’ for factories. However, for Sri Lanka, this labour is not cheap or readily compliant. They have to be cheapened and repressed to accept. The strategies used to recruit labour have involved extra-legal compunctions such as violence & bribes. The reality is in Sri Lanka, this attack is led by Unilever, one of the largest corporations in the world, which not only has captured our home market, but also controls our media… which aims to keep us stupid…

*

Sri Lanka has 2,600 sq.kms of inland freshwater bodies,

a 1,585km coastal shoreline & 517,000 sq.km

of a maritime exclusive economic zone (EEZ),

host to an abundance of seafood, valuable gas, fuel, & minerals

So while the ruling merchant oligarchy accedes to the control of our seas & waterways by the latest avatars of the old colonial powers, ee Focus continues sharing the Communist Party of Sri Lanka’s Alternate Program: this week examining The Blue Economy, pointing out the state should explore industrial opportunities beyond fisheries….

*

Contents:

Vichara.

During the Budget debate, in his address to the Parliament the President said that the Govt.’s way is the only way. President’s way is the IMF way. But there is another way for the country. It demands a change of direction, a focus on the critical issues, resolution and courage.

The crucial cause of the economic crisis was the perpetual problem of balance of trade and the wanton borrowings to close the balance of payments gap. The ISB loans at exorbitant rates of interest during the Yahapalana government exacerbated the crisis. It was the inadequacy of foreign exchange to meet import costs and loan repayments which in the end bankrupted the country and made the populace suffer untold misery. Sri Lanka conducts its international trade in US dollars and therefore the crisis could be called a dollar crisis.

While the country is undergoing this grave economic crisis it is reported that there is an enormous amount of dollars of export proceeds not repatriated to the country. In an interview with the Aruna News Paper in December 2022, Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, Minister of Justice has said inter alia that අපනයන ව්‍යාපාරිකයෝ බොහෝ ගණනක් මේ රටේ සල්ලි ඉතාමත් භයානක ලෙස පිටරට රඳවාගෙන එහෙ ව්‍යාපාර කරනවා කියලා. අපේ මිනිස්සු දුක්විඳලා ලේ දහඩිය හෙළලා හම්බකරගත්ත දේපළ පිටරට යවලා පවුල් කීපයක් දෙතුන්දෙනෙක්ගේ සුඛ විහරණය වෙනුවෙන් ඒ සල්ලි එහෙ පාර්ක් කරගෙන ඉන්නවා.සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛන ඇතුව ඉදිරිපත් කළේ ඩොලර් මිලියන පනස්තුනකට වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් වංචනිකව රඳවා තබා ගැනීම නිසා තමයි අපේ රටේ විදේශ විනිමය අර්බුදය ආවේ. මුළු විදේශ ණය ගත්තත් ඩොලර් බිලියන පනස්දෙකයිනෙ තියෙන්නෙ. ඊට වැඩි මුදලක් මේ අවුරුදු දොළහෙ රඳවා ගෙන තියෙනවා ඒ අය. මේ අපිට සොයාගත හැකි මුදල පමණයි. නමුත් මගේ තක්සේරුව ඊට වැඩිය දෙගුණයක්. අපේ රටේ අපනයන නීති ඉතාමත් ලිහිල් කර තිබුණා. ඒ වගේම කියන්න ඕන මහ බැංකුව කියන එක අර පිටකොටුවෙ දුම්කොළ කඩයක් තරමටවත් පාලනයක් තිබුණ තැනක් නෙමෙයි.

This scam was the focus of the debate in Parliament on 23.8.23 where Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe repeated that according to a Global Integrity Report during the last 22 years export proceeds that should have been repatriated back to the country but not sent back was USD 53.5 billion.

External debt (public and private) in 2021 was U.S. dollars 54.3 billion.

(IMF Country Report No. 22/91Table 1. Sri Lanka: Selected Economic Indicators, 2019–26

A think tank of the Peradeniya University pointed out that with an expected annualised export income of USD 16.3 billion in 2022 (USD 13.3 billion in merchandise exports and USD 3 billion in services exports) the country was deprived of a staggering USD 6.8 billion in 2022 alone.

Some time back the Governor of the Central Bank appealed to exporters to repatriate export proceeds in full within the stipulated period. He did not want to bring in regulations to force them to do this on the argument that it will deter foreign investment. The Government and the Central Bank have been evasive on why no action is being taken to ensure that this money is not repatriated. They threaten to bring new legislation with heavy penalties to make exporters adhere to the regulations on repatriation of export proceeds.

The real reason why there is no action taken by the government is because of the covenant the government has signed with the IMF. The relevant conditions are in the Attachment I. to the Letter of Intent dated March 6,2023 signed by both President Wickremesinghe and the Governor of the Central Bank Nandalal Weerasinghe. in the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies, produced at Page 98 of the IMF Staff Report 23/116, it is stipulated at Article 21: 21.

” We will phase out the administrative measures imposed to support the balance of payments, including those introduced on an emergency basis, once conditions allow. These measures include import restrictions, exchange restrictions, multiple currency practices (MCPs), and capital flow management (CFM) measures. While the mentioned import restrictions, exchange restrictions, MCPs and CFMs could help mitigate FX shortages in the near term, we believe they should not be a substitute for the comprehensive policy package and ongoing macroeconomic adjustment. We are committed to phasing these measures out as the balance of payments stabilizes.

To this end, by June 2023, we will prepare a plan for the phased removal of these measures during the program period as we make progress with achieving macroeconomic stability, particularly with respect to the exchange rate, debt sustainability, and financial stability, improved market access.”

Reference foot note 36 of the main CFM measures introduced or tightened in 2020-2022 and currently in force include: (i) a repatriation requirement for exports of goods and services; (ii) a surrender requirement for exporters on proceeds from exports of goods; (iii) a surrender requirement for banks on purchases of export proceeds; (iv) a surrender requirement for banks on purchases of inward worker remittances; (v) suspension of outward remittances on capital transactions; (vi) restrictions on purchases of Sri Lankan ISBs by local banks”.

is incomprehensible why the IMF forced these conditions on the Sri Lanka Government and why the government agreed to them. One can understand the embarrassment in accepting these iniquitous and pro racketeer conditions and the reluctance to reveal them. Was it because if even a part of these funds were repatriated there was no role for the IMF in Sri Lanka? And was the government wanted the IMF in the country to drive it back to neo liberal policies?

Foreign Exchange is a national asset and does not belong as a matter of right to exporters. If one takes the major export of textiles and garments, which earned an export revenue of USD 5.435 billion, in 2021 it consumed roughly USD 3 billion worth on import of raw material. If one adds the consumption by the sector of the value of investment goods to this figure the total consumption of foreign exchange by the Textile and Garments sector would be around 4 billion USD which is 74 % of its export value. The major component of the balance is the contribution by the local workers.

In this context, foreign exchange should be considered public property released on trust to exporters and offenses of foreign exchange of misuse, abuse, fraud and mischief of foreign exchange should be dealt under the Law on Public Property. 

An honest government free of class deals and has the national interest at heart should be prepared to adopt strong measures to confront this problem. These delinquents have had enough time to conform to the regulations which they have flouted with impunity. It is therefore justifiable that they be taken into custody immediately and commence proceedings to confiscate their property and impose the maximum penalties prescribed in the Public Property Act including confiscation of their industries.

The same procedure should be followed with regard to illicit deposits in safe havens abroad. Unlike export proceeds stashed away in foreign countries details of the depositors and amounts are not clearly identified. Therefore, as an incentive an amnesty could be given to them to bring back the funds within a given time and place them in a special deposit in the Central Bank.

Once at least the 50 billion plus US dollars are recovered it could be used to pay off present and future commitments of foreign debts with high rates of interest. The annual saving of around 6 billion USD would provide a much-needed balance in the international trading account.

The 51.3 billion USD loot is only on export proceeds not repatriated. The Global Financial Integrity’s 2021 report had found that Sri Lanka’s importers and exporters are using bogus customs declarations to illegally move billions of US dollars out of the country. The report mentioned that the extent of this swindle amounted to USUSD 36.833 from 2009 to 2017. The plunder had increased from USD 2.650 in 2009 to 5.026 in 2017. If an average of USD 5 billion was spirited away during the next 4 years amounting to another USD20 billion, the total loss from 2009 to 2021 would be USD 50.833 billion. This is the fraud which takes place day by day at the Customs by misinvoicing with the collusion of the banks and Customs officials. MP Champika Ranawaka who had done a study on the issue revealed in the Parliament on 23.8.2023 that the loss on misinvoicing is around 20 percent. On this basis, on the total value of trade from 2018 to 2022 (5Years) of 156 billion USD -the estimated loss for the 5 years at 20% is 31 billion USD or an average loss of 6 billion dollars each year.  

Here again the application of the Public Property Act is appropriate and would bring in quick results. It is also necessary to break up the trade cartels operated by the commodity import mafia in Pettah. The CWE and STC should be reinforced and made to play a more active role in the commodity import trade.

On Trade Misinvoicing it will take some time to trace the culprits and recover the difference. It might new legislation to enable the recovery. However, if the annual leakage of around 5 billion USD is prevented the saving would improve the gap in the trade balance and more dollars could be invested on development.

That is the possible solution to the all-important dollar earnings. There is still the problem of domestic revenue. The troubles with tax collection are well known. The need for digitalization and expansion of the tax base have been repeated interminably. So much of money has been invested in the RAMIS project without much result. Tax revenue should also be considered as Public Property and tax fraud, and tax evasion should be treated under the provisions of the Public Property Act.

It would also be essential to establish special Revenue Courts to expedite decisions on prosecutions.

It is hardly necessary to mention that the menace of drugs, organized crimes and bribery and corruption be wiped out.

Now the unequivocal question is whether there is a pollical leadership in the country sincere and bold enough to follow this alternate path. It will be anathema to the government which is committed to the IMF path. SJB is both for and against the IMF solution.

But this could be the single issue to be adopted by any other political party at the next election.  

Vichara

By Garvin Karunaratne

It all happened in the Bangladesh Secretariat, three days after General Ershard took over the country in a bloodless coup on the 24 th of March 1982. The Minister for Youth Development was clamped in prison and the work of the Ministry was in jeopardy. The third in command, Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam, the Minister for Labour and Manpower evaluated the work done by the Ministry. Suddenly at the close, he realized that I was an outsider and inquired who I was and I was then introduced as the Commonwealth Fund Advisor to the Ministry of Youth Development.

What can you contribute for Bangladesh”. It was more a military command. I could have spoken in support of the youth training programmes done by the Ministry but decided otherwise. I replied.

I would like you to consider approving a new programme aimed at making the 40,000 youths who are being trained every year to be guided to become self employed.”

The Secretary to the Treasury, the highest officer in the land, objected.

The Creation of self employment can never be done. The ILO of the United Nations has just folded up a self employment programme which they have been trying to establish in Tangail, Bangladesh over the past three years with a massive loss. They brought experts from all parts of the world to guide the programme but it was a total failure. The Bangladesh Treasury has no more funds to waste. The ILO are the experts. They hold the last word on employment creation.

I replied that though the ILO failed I had the experience as well as the academic qualifications, which was contested by the Secretary to the Treasury. He was adamant that I would fail. I argued with the Secretary to the Treasury explaining how I had successfully established employment projects in Sri Lanka and how I held the academic qualifications at doctoral level. The heated battle went on for over two hours. The Minister allowed the two of us to argue; he was making notes and finally commanded us to stop.

Are there any development programmes in Bangladesh that train people to become self employed?”

The Secretary to the Treasury replied: None”

How many youths are trained in vocations every year.” The Minister inquired.

The Secretary to the Treasury rattled out the number that were being trained by all Government Departments and it totalled to some two hundred thousand. This included the 40,000 the Ministry of Youth trained a year.

Tell me the number of youths that pass out every year and fail to find either employment or a place for further study and continue being unemployed and destitute, living scraping the barrel for life.”

The Secretary to the Treasury replied. Sir, It is in the millions.”

The Minister without batting an eyelid ordered, staring at me, in my face.

I approve you establishing a self employment programme. Go ahead and show what you can do, which the ILO. failed to do.”

Before I could thank him the Secretary to the Treasury replied;

I will not provide any funds from the Bangladesh Treasury. The failure of the ILO attempt was a massive waste of funds and the Treasury has no more funds to waste.”

I replied even without consulting the two Secretaries of the Ministry with whom I worked, who were present.

I need no new funds. I will find savings within approved youth training programme budgets to hold training sessions. I need approval to divert savings from approved training budgets to create this new programme and approval to alter the remits of officers to include training for self employment.”

The Minister approved my request.

I got cracking with training youth directors and lecturers of training institutes in economics. It included detailed studies on the economy of Bangladesh to identify areas where there was a propensity to create employment in a manner that also helped the economy in terms of production.

We had no funds to offer subsidies of any sort.

Youth Directors were all veteran workers who knew the art of relating to the youth. They moved with the youth and introduced ideas of how the youth could find incomes by rearing chicks and live with the chicks and see them grow. Some youths persuaded their brothers and sisters- even those who had migrated to the UK to help them. Till then they had not known what to with what they had studied in their three months training.

Yousoof Ali, a youth who had been trained did not know what to do with what he had learned and he became a nuisance to his brothers and sisters at home. His elder brother who could not tolerate him even went to the office of the Deputy Director of Youth at Jamalpur and accused the Department of indoctrinating his brother with ideas they could not follow. He even threatened to burn the office down. Instead of reporting to the Police who would have arrested him for public disorder the Deputy Director for Youth Development got in touch with us. I instructed the Deputy Director to somehow placate him and request him to attend our training sessions on self employment with his belligerent brother This was in a weeks’ time. When I marched into the training sessions I was shown his brother who was really breathing fire at us and the Department. Our sessions ran into hours of activity where we inspired the youths to save and commence any enterprises on their own. Some were motivated to even save the small daily stipend we paid for attendance to buy chicks which they could rear and see how the value increased. Our sessions were more inspiring the youth to save and take action to grow something, buy a chick and see it grow. The belligerent brother too joined us in our sessions because we related to them as brothers and sisters, as equals and the brother was so convinced that he immediately coughed up funds for his belligerent brother to buy a cow, ducklings and chicks and rear them. His brother got down to work under our supervision. Ten months later, on a surprise inspection, I met the belligerent lad- he had , 190 layer ducks, one milk cow, 2 goats, earning a net income of Taka 1496 in December1982, all achieved in eight months. Our aim was to make them earn Taka 500 the then salary of a Clerical Officer in the Government Service.

We built up the momentum not by offering money and subsidies, but by relating to them day in and day out. One word of a problem- it could be small farm of a dozen chicks two hundred miles away in an inaccessible village but we were there within hours to share the burden with the youth. We were inspiring the youth to become entrepreneurs and it was never instructing, but in youth work language participating with the youth, make the youth think and act -to educate them informally.

We were building up the abilities and capacities of the youth to become entrepreneurs,perhaps the only such programme the World has known.

It was non formal education in action where officials were never instructors but providers of ideas for the youth to think and become motivated. The staff was totally trained in non formal education methods of inspiring the youths to think and act on their own and become productive.

By the time my service period of two years was over, I had trained officials to continue the employment programme as a youth movement. It really paid high dividends. I last met the Minister Air Vice Marshall Aminul Islam just before I left Bangladesh. My request to him was to make an order that youths on our Youth Development Programme who had within months created incomes and earned more than the tax level should be given a reprieve to be exempt from taxes for a few years. The Minister said he will get that done.

These were the beginings of a youth self employment programme that commencing in 1982 has created over three million youth entrepreneurs within four decades. 1982 to 2022, the only such programme of development the world has known. In a letter to me on June 20, 2005, a full twenty two years after I had established the Self Employment Programme, MrAsafuddowlah, the Secretary to the Ministry of Youth Development wrote:

You will be happy to learn that the Self Employment Programme of the Youth Department has expanded across the country and attained great success. I have not forgotten your valuable contribution to the success of this great programme.”(Muhammed Asafuddowlah: June 20, 2005)

The Fifth Five Year Plan of the Planning Commission of Bangladesh, makes glorious references to this Programme and devotes eight pages to detail its success. It is a Programme that has achieved accolades in all the subsequent Five Year Plans of the Planning Commission of Bangladesh.

It is important to note that for the first four years we had no funds from the Bangladesh Treasury. We found funds through savings in approved training budgets . But once we proved ourselves though hard work in training youths and inspiring them to become productive the Government funded it aided by the IFAD(FAO)

The youth self employment programme became a national programme and many helped. Way back after my work in Bangladesh I was working in Edinburgh. Whenever I went to London I took bulky and heavy dress pattern books which I handed over to Bangladesh Biman to be taken to the poor youth entrepreneurs in dress making at Jamalpur. That was the contribution made by Bangladesh Biman. Once six cows, all what a youth had died. I with Golam Atahar the Director for Livestock marched to the Insurance Corporation of Bangladesh. The two of us held the floor for an hour, In three days the Insurance Corp approved an insurance programme for cattle on our employment programme. I am dead certain that I could not do such things in my own country, Sri Lanka. In Bangladesh, administrators were dedicated and worked unruffled despite odds.

By now(2023)over three million youths have become entrepreneurs on this programme. Many thanks are due to the officers of the Bangladesh Civil Service and officers of the Ministry , trained by me, who carried on the programme initiated by me to achieve to reach the World Stature of today. The Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh is a world class programme that has found a definite place within the sands of time.

It is high time that the Government of Sri Lanka seeks to establish a similar programme to create employment for our youth and also create the production that will allay the economic meltdown of today. Take employment creation out of the vagary of party politics- these are national programmes that have to be invariably supported, despite changes in Governments.

In 2011,when His Excellency Milinda Moragoda, till recently our Ambassador at Delhi made a bid for the Mayorship of Colombo in his Manifesto stated that if elected,  he would seek to implement the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh which incidentally was am amazingly successful scheme introduced to that country by a distinguished son of Sri Lanka, Dr Garvin Karunaratne, who served in Bangladesh as an international consultant.”(The Nation: 11/9/2011)

It will be a pleasure to serve my Motherland again and I look forward to establish an employment creation programme if called upon. . It will be done in nineteen months- the exact time I took to establish that Programme in Bangladesh.

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph D Michigan State University, formerly SLAS, GA Matara 1971-1973.

24/12/23, Rajagiriya, Colombo, garvin_karunaratne@hotmail.com

චන්ද්‍රසිරි විජයවික්‍රම, LL.B., Ph.D

හුනුවටයේ කතාවේදී මෙන් හෝ උණු තෙල් කටාරමේ අත දැමීමෙන් හෝ වෙනුවට යමෙකුගේ අව්‍යාජ, නියම අභ්‍යන්තරය එලියට ඇදගත හැකි උපාය මාර්ගයක් නැද්ද?

හැඳින්වීම

නාගානන්ද කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතා විසින් අනුර කුමාරට (හා අනිත් දේශපාලකයින්ට) නැතැයි පුන පුනා කියන හෘදය ශාක්ෂිය නමැති මිනිස් ගුණය විමසා බැලීමට මට සිතුනේ අනුර විසින් jvp එක ජාතික ජන බලවේගයට (NPP) <අධ්‍යාත්මය> සපයනවා යන ප්‍රකාශණය නිසාය. අධ්‍යාත්මය සපයනවා කියන්නේ යම් දෙයකට ඔක්ෂිජන් සපයනවා වැනි දෙයක් නොවේ. මාක්ස්වාදීන් ලඟ සමහරවිට මානව දයාව කියා ව්‍යවහාරයක් තිබිය හැකිය.

JVP හා බුද්ධාගම යනුවෙන් මා විසින් ලියු ලිපි තුනෙන් පෙන්වා දීමට සිතුවේ සමහර jvp නායකයින් විසින් මෑතක සිට බුද්ධාගම, බෞද්ධ රාජ්‍ය පාලන ප්‍රතිපත්ති යනාදිය ගැන ද සඳහන් කරන්නේ උවිඳු විජේවීර තරුණයා මෙන් බෞද්ධ ආභාෂය නිසාය කියා මට සිතුන නිසාය. එම පක්ෂයට සිංහල බෞද්ධ චන්ද ලබාගැනීමට නම් ඔවුන් විසින් මාක්ස්වාදය අතහැර, ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපතිව අමතක කර, වෙනස් වියයුතු අන්දම පෙන්වා දීමටය.

පසුගියදා සේන තෝරදෙණිය  විසින් ලියන ලද ලිපියේ jvp ගැන සඳහන් කර ඇති තොරතුරු මෙන්ම

LankaWeb – JANUS-FACED JVP: FALSE CONCEPTIONS AND HARINI AMARASURIYA FACTOR   (14/12/23)

අනුර කුමාර විසින් ඔහු සෝමවංශට පසුව jvp නායකයාවී මිහින්තලේ පන්සලට ගියවිට  හාමුදුරුවන් අතට බැන්ඳ පිරිත් නූල පන්සලෙන් එලියට ආ සැණින්ම ගලවා විසිකලා යන ප්‍රවෘතියද, නොබෝදා ලාල් කාන්ත සේපාල් සමඟ එකතුව ඥානසාර හිමියන් ඔහුගේ අතේ බැන්ඳ පිරිත් නූල ගැන අවඥාවෙන් කල සාකච්චාවද, අනිත් බොරු බෞද්ධයින් මෙන් අනුරලාද වංක ගේම්කාරයින් නොවේද යන සැකය වර්ධනය කරලන්නේය. ලාල් කාන්ත නම් අඩුතරමින් එය එක රැයක්වත් අතේ  බැඳගෙන සිටියේය!

නොසල්ඩාල කටවල්

අවුකන බුදුපිළිමයට එසේ කියන්නේ අව්ව කන නිසායයි මිනිසුන් කියනවා යයි ටියුලින් සිල්වා කිව්වේය. බුදුහාමුදුරුවෝ බෝගස වෙනුවට කොස් හෝ දෙල් ගසක් තෝරා ගත්තා නම්  මිනිසුන්ට බඩගින්නේ ඉන්න වෙනවා වැනි අවලං කතාවක් තවත් jvp  කාරයෙක් කිව්වා යයි හිරුණිකා පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. තමන් සන්නද්ධ අරගලයකට ගම්මට්ටමින් සංවිධානය වෙමින් සිටිනවා යයි jvp වේදිකාවලින් අසන්නට ලැබේ.

2024 ලංකාව, අනුරලා සජිත්ලා ඩලස්ලා, බැසිල්ලා, චම්පිකලා, දයාසිරිලා, GL පීරිස්ලා, දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධනලා වැනි පරණ දේශපාලකයින් අළුත් මුහුණු දමාගෙනත්, තවත් අළුතෙන්ම එන පංචස්කන්ධත් ජවුසම් නටන නාඩගම් පිටියක්වී තිබේ. පරණ පිරිස් කැලි කෑලි වලට කැඩී නන්නත්තාරවී සිටී. මෙම කළුසුද්දන් රංචු කුමණ අංශයකින් බැලුවත් රටට කර ඇත්තේ බලවත් විනාශයකි. දේශපාලනය ජීවිකාව කරගෙන රට සූරාකණ  පවුල් 5,000 ක් පමණ මීට හවුල්ය. මින් පසු එන ඕනෑම චන්දයකදී මේ හැම අපේක්ෂකයෙකුටම සම්පූර්ණ කිරීම සඳහා ප්‍රශ්ණ මාලවක් සකස්කර එය රට පුරා බෙදා හැරිමේ ව්‍යාපාරයක් ආරම්භ කළයුතුය. චන්ද හිඟමණේ එනවිට මෙම ප්‍රශ්ණ ඔවුන්ගෙන් ඇසිය යුතුය.

ඉවැන්ජලිකල් ක්‍රිස්තියානි මූලධර්මවාදය

1873 පානදුරා වාදයෙන් බුද්ධාගම කියන්නේ බොරුවක් යන මතවාදය යටපත් වුවත් සුද්දන්ට ගැතිවූ ක්‍රිස්තියානි සිංහල-දෙමළ බලවේගය රට තුල යටත් විජිත යුගයේ පමණක් නොව දැන් 2023 අගදීත් මොරල් රිආමමන්ට්, බෝන් අගේන්, පෙන්තකොස්ත, ජෙහොවාස් විට්නස් යනාදී වශයෙන් ගජරාමෙට විදේශ ඩොලර් සමඟ දිය යටින් හා උඩින් සංවිධානාත්මකව ක්‍රියාත්මකවේ.

වඳුරන්ට දැළිපිහි දීම

ඩොනමෝර් කොමිෂම විසින් ලංකාවේ ජනයාට සර්වජන චන්දබලය දීමට යෝජනා කලවිට කම්කරු පක්ෂයේ නායක A. E. ගුණසිංහ හැරුණුවිට අනිත් සියළුම කළුසුද්දන් එයට විරුද්ධවූයේ එය වඳුරන්ට දැළිපිහි දීමක් වැනියයි පවසමින්ය. දෙමළ වෙල්ලාල මන්ත්‍රීන් උතුරේ පහත් කුල යයි සැළකෙණ අයටත්, මුස්ලිම්වරු ස්ත්‍රීන්ටත් එය දීමට විරුද්ධ විය. එහෙත්, 1931 දී වැඩි චන්දයෙන් හා 1936 දී නිතරඟයෙන්, විශ්‍රාමික දිසාපති H. R. ෆ්‍රීමන් මහතාව  අනුරාධපුරයේ මන්ත්‍රී වශයෙන් පත්කලේ විශේෂයෙන් එහි සිංහල බෞද්ධ ගැමියා ජනයා ඔහුගේ හෘදශාක්ෂිය හඳුනාගෙන තිබූ නිසාය. දකුණේ සිංහල මන්ත්‍රීන් වූයේ ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින් යයි පසුව හංවඩු ගැසුණු, කැඩිච්ච සිංහල කතාකල, සුද්දන්ට පින්සිදුවන්නට බලය හා ධනය එකතුකරගත් කළු සුද්දන් පිරිසක්ය. CWW කන්නන්ගර, W දහනායක මින් වෙනස්වූ මන්ත්‍රීන් දෙන්නෙක් විය.

1931 න් ආරම්භවූ රාජ්‍ය මන්ත්‍රණ සභා කාලයෙන් පසු දැන් 2023 දෙසැම්බර් වල තිබෙන පාර්ලිමේන්තුව (දියවන්නා හෝටලය) දෙස බලනවිට සිතෙන්නේ එහි ඉන්නේ පිහි නොව කඩු ගත් වඳුරන් රැළක් නොවේද කියාය. මෙම වඳුරන් ආරම්භයේ සිටම රාජ්‍ය මන්ත්‍රණ සභාව දූෂණය කලේය. ඩොනමෝර් ක්‍රමය පක්ෂ දේශපාලන ක්‍රමයක් නොවූ අතර, 1915 සිංහල-මුස්ලිම් ගැටුවේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙන්, අමධ්‍යප ව්‍යාපාරය නමැති දේශපාලනය කල අය ඒ වෙනුවට ජනවර්ග වශයෙන් සිතීමට පෙළඹී සිටියේය. 1832 සිටම සුද්දන් විසින් 1931 දක්වාම (communal) ජාතිවාදී නියෝජන ක්‍රමයක් අනුගමනය කරමින් බෙදා පාලනය කිරීමේ උපක්‍රමය උපරිම ලෙස තම වාසිය සඳහා භාවිතා කලා පමණක් නොව, 1924 වනවිට මැනිං ආණ්ඩුකාරයා එලිපිටම සුළු ජනවර්ග කුලප්පු කලේය. G.G. පොන්නම්බලම් 50-50 ඉල්ලුවේ මෙම හයිය/තල්ලුවද නිසාය. ලෝකයේ විසිරී සිටින දෙමළ ප්‍රජාවට UNO දෙමළ කොඩියක් සහිත රටක් ලබා ගැනීම දක්වා ව්‍යාප්තව ඇති දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය ආරම්භවුයේ මැඩ්‍රාස් ප්‍රාන්තයේදී 1917 දීත්, එහි ආභාෂය මත ලංකා කොලනියේදී 1923/4 දීත්ය (පොන්නම්බලම් අරුණාචලම් විසින්).

සිංහල ජාතිකවාදය

මෙහිදී අපට වැදගත්වන කරුණ නම් සිංහල කළු සුද්දන් දෙමළ ජාතිවාදය බෞද්ධ මධ්‍යම ප්‍රතිපදාව මඟින් මතවාදීව පැරදවීමට නොදැන සිටීමය. ඔවුන් කලේ, සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජාතිකවාදය වෙනුවට, මැත්ප්‍රොපෙසර් සුන්දරලිංගම් ලවා තනිකර සිංහල අමාත්‍ය මණ්ඩලයක් සඳහා සූත්‍රයක් සදවා ගැනීමය. 1910 පමණ සිටම රටේ කෙරුම්කාරයින්ව (කයිවාරුකාරයින්) සිටියේ ඉන්ගිරිස් කතාකරණ ක්‍රිස්තියානි සිංහල පිරිස හා උගත් දෙමළ අය කීපදෙනාදය. ඔවුන්ගේ <නිදහස් සටන> වූයේ සුද්දන්ට හා බර්ගර්ලාට සීමාවූ ආණ්ඩුවේ රක්ෂා ඔවුන්ටද ලබාදෙන ලෙස කල ඉල්ලීමය. ඉන්දියාවේ නිදහස් අරගලයට මුවාවී හිට්ලර්ට, ජපානයට, සුබාස් චන්ද්‍ර බෝෂ්ට පින්සිදුවන්නට ලංකාවේ කළුසුද්දෝ පෙත්සම් මඟින් කොළඹ වසන ඔවුන්ට නිදහස කියන දෙයක් ලබාගත්තේය.

1956 වනවිට සුද්දා හිටියනම් මීට වඩා හොඳයි කියන තරමට මේ කළුසුද්දන් පිරිස රට කා දැම්මේය. සුද්දා කලාටත් වඩා ශූක්ෂම ලෙස මොවුන් රටවැසියා බෙදා පාලනය කලේය. කොල, රතු, නිල් පක්ෂ වශයෙන් ගෙවල්, පවුල්, පන්සල්, ගම් දනව් බෙදීමට පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයා සමත්විය.

නැවෙන් කටට ආර්ථික ක්‍රමය

යටත් විජිත ආර්ථික රටාවෙන් රට ගලවා ගැනීම සඳහා අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා හෝ ඔහු අනුව ගිය කළුකොඳයාවේ ප්‍රඥාශෙඛර නාහිමියන්ගේ අපරාද මර්දන හා ග්‍රාම ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ව්‍යාපාරයට D.B ජයතිලක, DS සේනානායක, SWRD බණ්ඩාරනායක යන ඇමතිවරු සහයෝගයක් නොදුන්නේ ඔවුන් ඕල්කොට් බෞද්ධයින්-ඩොනමෝර් බෞද්ධයින් එසේ නැත්නම් ඇල්ලේ ගුණවංශ හාමුදුරුවන් කියන බුදු අම්මෝ නොව ඕ මයි ගෝඩ් බෞද්ධයින් වූ නිසාය (යම් හදිසි ඇබ්බැද්දියකදී කළු සුද්දන්ගේ කටින් ඉබේටම පණින්නේ බුදු අම්මෝ කියා නොවේ). මැලේරියා ප්‍රදේශවලට ලොරිවලින් බඩු ගෙනගිය, දුටුගැමුණු රජතුමාට ගඩොල් මෝඩයෙක් යයි (රුවන්වැලි මහාසෑය සැදූ නිසා) කී සූරියමල් මාක්ස්වාදීන් ගැන කුමණ කතාද?

සම්මුතිවාදය-සභ්‍යත්ව රාජ්‍යය

එංගලන්තයේ පක්ෂ දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය හා නියෝජිත මන්ත්‍රී ක්‍රමය පරිනාමය වූයේ රජු හා රදලයින් හා පසුව රජු-රදලයින් හා මහජනයා (වානිජ/නාගරික මහජනයා අතර සිදුවූ දීර්ග අරගලයක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් වශයෙනි (ඒ රටේ මෙන්ම ඇමෙරිකාවේත් මෙම ක්‍රමය මේ වනවිට බලවත් අර්බුදයකට මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටී). සිංහලේ නම් රටේ පැවතියේ සම්මුතිවාදී පාලන ක්‍රමයකි. එය ගම-වැව-දාගැබ යන සමාජ-දේශපාලන-ආර්ථික ත්‍රිත්වයක් විය. 1505/1551 සිටම මෙම සංකල්පය විදේශ බලවේග තුනකින් එල්ලවු ප්‍රහාරයන්ට ලක්විය. අනිකුත් යටත් විජිත මෙන් නොව මෙම දිවයින එහි ශිෂ්ටාචාරය රැක ගත්තේ  පන්සල හා ගම අතර තිබූ ගහට පොත්ත වැනි බැඳීමත් මුරදේවතා සංකල්පයත් නිසාය. ගම් සභාව තීරණ ගත්තේ හැමදෙනාගේම එකඟතාවය උඩ මිස දෙකට තුනට  බෙදී නොවේ.

කුල භේදය හා මැර බලය

කාරිගේ චැනල් 1 යන යූටියුබ් නාලිකාවේ පෙන්වූ 1936 දැදිගම හා 1985 මුල්ගිරිගල යන චන්ද කොට්ඨාශ දෙකේ  සිදුවූ බිහිසුණු ක්‍රියා 1931 සිට ලංකාවේ දේශපාලනය භාරගත් පිරිස, එංගලන්තයේ පක්ෂ දේශපාලන ක්‍රමය වඳුරන්ට දැළිපිහිදීමක් බවට හරවාගත් බවට උදාහරණ දෙකක් පමණය. දැදිගම ඩඩ්ලි හා මුල්කිරිගල ආනන්ද කුලරත්න දිනුවේ මැර බලයෙන් පමණක් නොවේ. දෙකේම කුලභේදය මතුවුනත්, මුල්කිරිගලදී ජනාධිපති JR විසින් වහුම්පුර කුලයේ එකාට චන්දය දෙන ලෙස චන්ද රැස්වීමේදී ඉල්ලා සිටියේය. 1982 ජනාධිපති චන්දයේදී කොබ්බෑකඩුව අපේක්ෂකයා චන්දය දාන්නට ගියවිට වෙන හොරෙක් එම චන්දය දමා තිබුණි! 1982/12/22 ජනමත විචාරණය ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයේ ගෙල, ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය මඟින්ම සිඳ දැමීමකි! චන්ද්‍රිකාගේ සමයේ වයඹ පලාත් සභා වන්දයේදී කාන්තාවක් නිරුවතින් පාරේ ඇදගෙන ගියේය.

ප්‍රජාතන්තර වාදය-ඥාති සංග්‍රහය

1948 වන විට පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය පවුල් බුදල් ක්‍රමයක් බවට පත්වීම ආරම්භවිය. මෙම පක්ෂ දේශපාලනය අන්තිමේදී ගමක, ටවුමක පවුලක්, ගෙයක් තුල පවා බෙදීම් අති කිරීමට හැකිවන සේ බෝකිරීමට කොල, නිල්, රතු පක්ෂ කළුසුද්දන් සමත්විය. ඉතාමත් ස්වල්ප පිරිසක් හැරුනුවිට මේ දේශපාලකයින් තමන්ගේ පුද්ගලික වාසිය මිස රට ගැන සිතුවේ නැත. D.S සේනානායකගේ සිට හැම දෙනාම බැලුවේ තමන්ගේ පුතාට, ඥාතියාට තැනක් හදාදීම ගැනය.

DSS සිට හැම දේශ-පාලකයාමවාගේ අයථා (විෂමාචාර) ක්‍රියාවලට චෝදනා ලැබූ අයය.  තමන්ගේ ගොවිපලේ වැඩට ආණ්ඩුවේ කම්කරුවන් යොදවා ගැනීම ගැන කෘෂිකර්ම ඇමති DSS ට විරුද්ධව, බණ්ඩාරනායක පවුලේ ඥාතියෙක්වූ කෘෂි නිලධාරියා බලධාරීන්ට වාර්තාකර ලොකු කලබගෑනියක් සිදුවූ බව නොදන්නා අය යැස්මින් ගුණරත්න-බණ්ඩාරනායක ගේ රිලටිව් මෙරිට්ස් (1986) යන පොත කියවිය යුතුය.

1947 ව්‍යවස්ථාව

පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයින් විසින් රටට කල අපරාධය ගැන මෙසේ සඳහන් කරන්නේ දැන් 2024 වනවිට ඔවුන්ව විශ්වාස කරන්නේ කෙසේද යන කරුණ ඉස්මතුකර දැක්වීම පිණිසය. ශාස්ත්‍රීය වශයෙන් ගත්තොත් ඔවුන් සුද්දා විසින් ඇතිකරදී ගිය නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය නමැති පාලන ව්‍යුහය එකින් එක කෙලෙසා දැමුවේය. 1947 ව්‍යවස්ථාවේ 29 වගන්තිය හා ඊට බාහිරව තිබූ එංගලන්තයේ ප්‍රිවිකවුන්සිලයට ඇපැල් ගැනීමේ රීතිය හැර, එය අදට වුවත් ගැලපේ. ස්වාධීන අධිකරණය, ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍ය සේවය, සෙනේට් සභාව, පත්කල මන්ත්‍රීන් යන බලතුලන ලක්ෂණ එකින් එක පක්ෂ දේශපාලකයා විසින් තම වරිගයාගේ වාසිය තකා විනාශ කලේය (structural democracy).

මෙම ගමනේදී මගේ මතකයට එන එක උදාහරණයක් නම් ජයා පතිරණ නම් SLFP පක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රී (1961-64) හා නීතීඥයාව ෆිලික්ස් ඩයස් විසින් සුප්‍රිම් උසාවියට පත් කිරීමය (1972). අනික නම් 1964 SLFP-LSSP-CP සභාග ආණ්ඩුකාලයේදී ආණ්ඩුවේ රක්ෂාවලට ඉල්ලුම් කිරීමේදී මන්ත්‍රීගෙන්/ පැරදුණ අපේක්ෂකයාගෙන් සහතිකයක් ගෙන ඒමට නියම කිරීමය 1978 දී JR විසින් කලේ බහුභූත, පිස්සු පාලන ව්‍යුහයක් හා සමාජ-ආර්ථික-සදාචාර ඝාතනයක් රටට පැටවීමය. 1978 බහුභූත ව්‍යවස්ථාව JR විසින්ම තම වාසිය සඳහා සංශෝධනය කලේය. ඉන් පසුව ගෙනා 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 යන සංශෝධන වලින් ගම්‍යවන්නේ මෙම කළුසුද්දන්ගේ පාලන ක්‍රමයෙන් රටේ ජනයා ගලවා ගැනීමේ දැඩි අවශ්‍යතාවය.

මේ වනවිට රටේ පැවති භූමිය නියෝජිත ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය (territorial democracy) හෙවත් වැසියාට තමන් කැමති නියෝජිතයෙක් පත්කර ගැනීමට තිබූ අයිතියද විනාශ කර  දමා ඇත.

අවිනිශ්චිත අනාගතය

බොහෝ අය ජනාධිපති සූට් මසමින් සිටියත්, 2024 දී මැතිවරණ පැවත්වේවිද එසේ නැත්නම් UNO සාමහමුදා ගොඩබස්සවා ගනීවිද යනුවෙන් ප්‍රශ්ණ දෙකක් මතුකල හැකිය. ඉදිරි චන්දයකින් කිසිම පක්ෂයකට, සංධානයකට 51% ලබාගන්නට ඉඩක් නැත. 1956 දී මතුවී නැතිවී ගිය සිංහල බෞද්ධ බලවේගය සතුරු ආක්‍රමණවලට ගොඳුරුවී අසරණව සිටී. සෝම හාමුදුරුවන්, මාදුළුවාවේ සෝභිත හිමියන් සැකකටයුතු ලෙස  පරාජයට පත්විය. බොදු බල සේනාවේ ඥානසාර හිමියන්, මූලධර්මවාදී ක්‍රිස්තියානි ආක්‍රමණය, ශාරියා වහාබී ව්‍යාප්තවාදය, ඊළම් පිල්ලිය රාජ්‍ය මර්දන යන්ත්‍රය හා සිංහල බෞද්ධයයි කියාගන්නා සෑම දේශපාලකයෙකුගේම වෛරයට පාත්‍රවී සිටී.   

මුර දේවතා කොටස් අතරමංවීම

ලංකාව ක්‍රිස්තියානි රටක්වී යාමෙන් බේරාගත් පන්සල්/සංඝ සංස්ථාව බලවත් පිරිහීමට ලක්වී ඇත. බුද්ධාගමට වටකරගෙන පහරදීම ඉතාමත් ශූක්ෂම ලෙස සිදුවෙමින් පවතී. අවුරුදු 70 ක්ම බලා සිට බර්ලින් තාප්පය කඩා දැම්මා මෙන් ඩොලර් බලය ගම හා පන්සල අතර තිබූ ගහට පොත්ත වැනි බැඳීම පළුදු කරමින් සිටී. ලංකාවේ මීට සමාන කල හැකි උදාහරණයක් නම් අවුරුදු පනහකටත් වැඩිකාලයක් බලා සිට jvp එක දමණය කර ගැනීමට ඇමෙරිකන් තානාපති කාර්යාලය සමත් වීමය!

කොසොල් රජතුමාගේ සීන සැබෑවීම

විවිධ කුඨ බලවේග විසින් රංජන් රාමනායකව බළල් අතක්සේ යොදා ගනිමින් ආරම්භකල සිවුර බාල්දු කිරීමේ ව්‍යාපාරය මේ වනවිට උඩුදුවා ගොස් ඇත. තිත්තගල්ලේ හිමි නාමල් රාජපක්ෂ හා D.V. චානකට දෙසූ බණ, බල්ලෙකුට සිවුරක් ඇන්ඳවු සිවුරු හොරා  වෙනුවෙන් වෛද්‍ය ප්‍රතිකාර යෝජනා කරණ සේපාල් අමරසිංහ, නටාෂා නාඩගම, ජෙරොම්ගේ දෙවියා ඔහුව හිරගෙට දැමීම, සෝවාන් සහතික (12-15 ශතවර්ෂවල යුරෝපයේ කතෝලිකයින් ස්වර්ගයට යාමට සල්ලිගෙවා පූජකයාගෙන් ලබාගත් සහතික මෙන් indulgence), රහත්වූ හාමුදුරුවරු යන විපරිනාම ඉදිරියේ ඓතිහාසිකව රට බේරාගත් මුරදේවතාවරුත් අන්ද මන්දව හැසිරෙමින් සිටී. එක් හාමුදුරුවරු පිරිසක් සිය නිකාය ආරක්ෂා කිරීම මිලින්ද මොරගොඩට පවරුවේය. තව හාමුදුරුවරු කීපදෙනක් රනිල් විසින් ත්‍රස්තවාදී ලැයිස්තුවෙන් ඉවත්කල GLF සමඟ ඊළම සඳහා ඉණිමඟක් බඳින හිමාලයා ගිවිසුමක් ගැසුවේය. රනිල් හා ජුලි චුං ප්‍රීතියෙන් පිනා ගියේය.

මේ සියල්ලටමත් වඩා සිදුවූ ප්‍රාතිහාර්යය නම් ආසියාවට ශාරියා පූජකයින් බිහිකිරීමට අරාබි රජෙකුගේ නමින් ආරම්භකල යෝධ ආයතනය ටෙක්නොලොජි  ආයතනයක්වී හාමුදුරුවරුන් දෙන්නෙක් ලවා පිරිත් කියවා ගෙන විවෘත කිරීමය. හිස්බුල්ලා විසින් වෙන කිසිම ආගමික වතාවතක් සිදු  නොකලේ ඔහු ඉන්ටර්ෆේත් ජරමරය (සර්වාගමික) ජරමරය විශ්වාස නොකරණ නිසාය යයි ප්‍රකාශ කලේය!  හිස්බුල්ලා විසින් මඩකලපුවේ මංගලාරාමයේ අම්පිටියේ සුමනරතන හාමුදුරුවන්ට ආරාධනාකලා නම් උන්වහන්සේ අවුරුදු 30 කටත් වැඩි කාලයක් සිංහල ජනයා මුස්ලිම් හා දෙමළ දේශපාලකයින්ගෙන් හා නිලධාරීන්ගෙන් කල ජීවන සටන ජයගත්තා සේ වන්නේය. හිස්බුල්ලා නියම නායකයෙක් වන්නේය. හිස්බුල්ලා තෝරාගත් සිංහල බෞද්ධ උපකුලපතිට එය සිතුනේ නැත,

සිංහල බෞද්ධයින්ට ඉන්නට රටක් නැතිවන තරමට සිංහල බෞද්ධ ජනයා අතරමංවී සිටී. මෙහි ඉහතින් සටහන් කලේ මෙම අවාසනාවන්ත කතාවේ උදාහරණ කීපයක් පමණය. දැන් අවදානම් ඉරණම ඉදිරියේ මේ සිංහල (බෞද්ධ) යයි කියාගන්නා  කළු සුද්දන් දමණය කිරීමට උපකාරවන ප්‍රශ්ණ පත්තරයක් මීළඟ ලිපියෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කරමි.

පර සුද්දා-පර කළු සුද්දා

වංක දේශපාලන කළු බළලුන්ගේ බෙල්ලේ ගෙජ්ජි බැඳීමක් වන මෙම උපක්‍රමය ගැන මට සිතුනේ කාදිනල්තුමා මුස්ලිම්වරු විසින් බයිබල් බෙල්ට් එකේ ඉඩම් අල්ලාගැනීම වලක්වන්නට ගත් සාර්ථක හා අහිංසක උපාය ගැන අසාය. හැම කතෝලික ගෙදරකම ඌරු පැටියෙක් ඇතිකරණ ලෙස කාදිනල්තුමා කල යෝජනාව, පඹයෙක් සදා, එයට සුදුහුනුගා, ගේ ඉදිරිපස තබා, උදේ හවස පර සුද්දා-පරසුද්දා යයි කියමින් පහර ගසන්නට යයි අනාගාරික ධර්මපාලතුමා 1930ස් 1940ස් ගණන්වල සිංහල මිනිසුන්ගේ නැතිවීගිය ආත්මාභිමාණය ගොඩනඟන්නට කල ව්‍යාපාරයට සමානය.

රටේ ගම්වල  ඉන්නා බෞද්ධ පවුල් එළදෙනෙක් හදන ගමන් ක්‍රිස්තියානි පවුල් ඌරු පැටියෙක් හැදුවොත් ඉන් ආදායමක්ද ලබාගත හැකිය.

Kaarige Channel Eka | Dharmasri Kariyawasam

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පොලිසිය විසින් කුඩු අල්ලනවා යැයි සිදු කරමින් අල්ලන්නේ හාල්මැස්සන් යයි පැතිරෙන කතාවේ සත්‍යයක් ඇති බව වැඩ බලන පොලිස්පති දේශබන්දු තෙන්නකෝන් මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

මත්ද්‍රව්‍ය ඉතාමත් සුළු ප්‍රමාණයක් අතේ තබාගෙන සිටියත් පොලිසියට ඔවුන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගැනීමට සිදුවන බව ද ඔහු පැවසීය.

අත්අඩංගුවේ සිටින සියලුම දෙනා හාල්මැස්සන් නොවන බවත් තෝරු මෝරුන්ද නොවුනද අතරමැද මාළුවෙකුගේ නමක් සිතාගත හැකි බවද ඔහු සඳහන් කළේය.

මැද ඉන්න මාළුන් අල්ලා ගත්තාට පසු මේ රටට කුඩු ගෙන එන තෝරු මෝරුන් හඳුනාගත හැකි බවද පොලිස්පතිවරයා පැවසීය.

ඒ තෝරු මෝරුන්ට ද අත තියෙන දවස වැඩි ඈතක නැතැයිද හෙතෙම තවදුරටත් කියා සිටියේය.

මිරිහාන ප්‍රදේශයේදී පොලිස් නිලධාරීන් පිරිසක් අමතමින් හෙතෙම මෙම අදහස් පළ කරන ලදී.

Courtesy The Island

Dr. Weerasinghe

The government should do more to protect low-income earners, the Governor of the Central Bank, Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said on Thursday (21) during a televised interview.

He said that during the economic crisis and due to high inflation, a lot of people in the SME sector lost their jobs.

Who were the worst affected people in the country? The poor. In this kind of situation, the government has to look after them. The ability of the government to help through programmes like Aswesuma comes from its tax revenue. This is why tax policy is important,” he said.

He also said the tax net should be expanded to include everyone who can pay taxes.This money can be used on people that need help. He said there should not be any tax exemption to any industrial sector.

Tax policy has to be fair and broad-based. Everyone should pay the 18 percent VAT, except the exporters. When it comes to personal tax, high income earners must pay more. We have an 8.5 million labour force in this country. All taxpayers are less than half a million people,” he said.

There should also be strong institutional reforms to strengthen tax collection, he added.

Dr. Weerasinghe said the current tax rates are high, but the tax collection is still not sufficient. If the tax burden is shared by everyone, the taxes can be brought down, he said.

Tax evasion is a serious issue in this country. Some people pay high taxes, while others evade taxes. We need strong institutional reforms. Inland Revenue, Customs need to be strengthened. Digitalisation and information availability are essential for this,” he said.

People should do fewer transactions using cash and businesses should not be keeping two books, he said.

A lot of businesses keep two books. One for taxes and the other for their operational use. Tax authorities should be able to catch these people.”The Governor said the country is on the right track and the economic recovery process has begun.

Courtesy The Island

Fake Immunoglobulin:

… suspect in touch with Health Ministry since 2013

Keheliya Rambukwella

Environment Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday (22) said that in spite of the then Chief Executive Officer and Director General of National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) declaring that the proprietor of Isolez Biotech Pharma AG Sugath Janaka Fernando alias Aruna Deepthi had failed to meet stringent requirements needed to supply Immunoglobulin vials, the procurement process proceeded, leading to the Health Ministry accepting fake products.

Rambukwella, who is under a cloud over the procurement of fake Immunoglobulin vials, told a hastily arranged briefing at the Government Information Department that Dr. Vijith Gunasekera had made the declaration, in his capacity as CEO and DG, at a regular meeting chaired by him (Rambukwella) to discuss issues relating to the suitability of the tenderer and other procurement issues.

Minister Rambukwella said that he had brought the issue to the notice of the Attorney General after lodging a complaint with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on 02 Oct, exactly three weeks before President Ranil Wickremesinghe replaced him with Dr. Ramesh Pathirana as the Health Minister.

Rambukwella received the environment portfolio, previously held by Ahamed Nazeer of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), whose expulsion over switching allegiance to the SLPP at the final vote on the 2022 Budget was upheld by the Supreme Court.

Responding to queries, Minister Rambukwella insisted that he had made no intervention after NMRA challenged the supplier’s suitability. The Island sought an explanation from him as to how he denied any knowledge of the manipulation of the entire process to procure fake Immunoglobulin vials against the backdrop of the then Ministry Secretary Janaka Sri Chandragupta being arrested and remanded in this connection.

Minister Rambukwella pointed out that Dr. Gunasekera was on record as having said that the local supplier used a fake waiver of registration (WoR) containing the forged signature and stamp of NMRA’s CEO. The removed CEO said so in the wake of the Health Sector Emergency Procurement Committee (HSEPC) declaring that it acted on the basis of the registration provided by the supplier.

The arrested Health Secretary Chandragupta, who is also the Chief Accounting Officer of the Health Ministry, functioned as the head of HSEPC. Chandragupta has been remanded till Dec 27 pending investigations. At the time of his arrest, Chandragupta, a Special Grade Officer in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service, was on retirement. Chandragupta received the appointment as Health Secretary on May 24, 2022, close on the heels of Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa’s resignation.

The CID arrested the 57-year-old proprietor of Isolez Biotech Pharma on Oct 31 for supplying fake Immunoglobulin vials. Minister Rambukwella disclosed that the conman had been in touch with the Health Ministry since 2013 and after he took over he was also approached. The Minister said that he didn’t interfere with NMRA’s process though he forwarded the supplier’s ‘offer’ to the regulatory body.

India has denied supplying the fake Immunoglobulin vials as well as ‘Rituximab’ used to treat certain autoimmune diseases and some types of cancer to Isolez Biotech Pharma AG, thereby contradicting efforts to deceive the public the two medicines were procured under USD 235 mn Indian credit line. The Gujarat-based Indian company that has been named as the manufacturer denounced the Sri Lankan company accusing it of forgery.

The CID arrested Director, Medical Supplies Division, Dr. Kapila Wickremenayake, Assistant Director Devashantha Soloman, Accountant (Supplies) Neran Dhananjaya and the Stock Controller of the Medical Supplies Division, Sujith Kumara, in connection with the high profile scam, on Nov 20, the day Chandragupta retired, having reached the mandatory retirement age of 60 years.

Deputy Solicitor General Lakmini Girihagama appearing with Senior State Counsel Heshani Wijesinghe making submissions earlier on the progress of the CID investigations has told the Maligakanda Magistrate Court that prior to the Cabinet decision, taken in October 2022, tenders had been called in September 2022 and the 1st suspect Aruna Deepthi had been selected as the successful tenderer for Human Immunoglobulin and Rituximab.

She said according to Ministry Chief Accountant Savidra Cooray the 1st suspect’s company Isolez Biotech Pharma had requested for payments for Rituximab supplied and the Secretary Health Chandragupta had approved the payment of Rs 107,799,481/= in three payments to the 1st suspect, directing it to be paid on a priority basis.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec 22 (Daily Mirror) –  The ‘Yukthiya’ operation, aimed at dismantling the narcotics distribution network, has resulted in the seizure of additional assets worth millions of rupees. 

The Illegal Assets and Properties Investigation Division of the Sri Lanka Police impounded ill-gotten gains valued at Rs. 134 million, belonging to drug traffickers situated in Galle, Habaraduwa, and Hikkaduwa.

The Acting Inspector-General of Police (IGP) revealed that the confiscated assets encompass a 45-foot multi-day trawler, a van, an SUV, a four-storied villa, and a three-storied building. 

The operation is part of ongoing efforts by law enforcement to curb the influence and financial strength of drug traffickers, ultimately disrupting their operations.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Operation ‘Yukthiya’, an island-wide crackdown on organized crime and major drug trafficking rings, is ongoing in various parts of the country. Authorities have been successful in apprehending suspects, and there have been significant seizures of properties associated with these illicit activities.

Courtesy Adaderana

In continuation of the special island-wide operation ‘Yukthiya’ (Justice) to crack down on narcotics, Sri Lankan security forces have arrested scores of more suspects in a 24-hour mission ending at 12:30 a.m. on Saturday (Dec.23).

The Ministry of Public Security said a total of 1,676 suspects were arrested during this period.

Financial asset investigations have been initiated on 45 suspects and 112 individuals have been sent for rehabilitation. Additionally, detention orders were secured against 119 suspects.

The drugs impounded during the special island-wide operations include:

• 692g of heroin
• 393g of methamphetamine (‘Ice’)
• 42.1kg of Cannabis
• 20,615 narcotic pills 
• 235,680 Cannabis plants
• 534g of Hash
• 11kg of ‘Mawa’

Since the special raids were kicked off under the operation ‘Yukthiya’ on December 17, the security forces personnel have made more than 11,500 arrests and seized large consignments of narcotics.

Meanwhile, the Illegal Assets and Properties Investigation Division of the police have confiscated assets worth millions of rupees belonging to notorious criminal figures and drug traffickers.

Chanaka Bandarage

Impressions

It is good that the government has decided to conduct a study on Edward Henry Pedris, moreover about his tragic death in 1915.  The significance is that this will be done more than 108 years after his death.

Even belatedly, the gruesome and heinous atrocity committed by the British must be exposed.

If the study reveals Pedris’ heroism and the true circumstances of his death, his relatives would receive solace and comfort.

Paradoxically, Edward Henry Pedris is one of Sri Lanka’s least recognized National Heroes. 

True a statue of him was unveiled by the then Prime Minister Premadasa in 1987, and a playground and a stadium were named after him on that same day; very little national level commemoration of this Great hero takes place in the country. There is scant discourse about his heroism among the populous and his brave life story has been taken away from school history books.

Is this because he was never a politician and did his struggles against the British on his own, solitarily? Also, that the Pedris family has not sought publicity about their dead member?

Pedris was only 27 when he died. He was killed (murdered?) by the British Colonial Administration at Welikada Prison, on the charges of High Treason, Attempted Murder, Wounding with intent to Murder and Shop Breaking.

Here is his story:

Edward Henry Pedris was a young man born into an elite Sinhala Buddhist family.  His father, Duenuge Disan Pedris, a native of Galle was a very wealthy businessman, who among other business ventures had shops in Pettah. Pedris was educated at Royal and St Thomas’ colleges. He represented both Royal and St Thomas’ at cricket.  He must be the only person to have represented both schools in Royal- Thomian cricket matches.

Young Pedris was an excellent marksman and he was enlisted as a commissioned officer of the Colombo Town Guard. At the time of his death he held the rank of Captain. Prior to his death he was de-commissioned by the British rule in Sri Lanka.

Pedris excelled in horse riding too. He had a wide knowledge about horses. A Russian Prince from the Tsar dynasty  had presented him a horse named Rally”.  Pedris rode this horse with the composure of a Prince, and the British and their Sinhalese cohorts hated this.

An incident happened on 1 June 1915, near Pedris’ shop in Main Street, Pettah, where a Muslim gang had advanced towards him to attack him or set fire to his shop.  During this time the Sinhala – Muslim riots had erupted in many parts of the country. Pedris had come out of the shop with a gun and had fired six shots into the crowd. No Muslims were killed or injured except the Police Constable Senevirathne who was injured in the head.

There had been absolutely no other involvement of Pedris in the riots though allegations were made in the trial that he had instigated a mob to travel from Peliyagoda to Colombo to attack Muslims.  Pedris in his defence stated that he as a Commissioned Officer settled certain disputes between the Sinhalese and the Muslims.

The riots had been very brutal with over 100 Muslim deaths mainly in Gampola, Kandy and Mathale. The Police and the military had shot dead over 100 Sinhalese who were accused of killing Muslims and looting Muslim shops.

To Pedris’ utter misfortunate during this time he and his family had come to the adverse attention of the British authorities. Pedris had left an arrogant lifestyle and the British and their Sinhalese cohorts fiercely despised him.

Prior to the 1915 incident, there had been several clashes of young Pedris with the British hierarchy. In one incident, at a Cinema Hall a white man had demanded that Pedris gave him his seat.  Pedris had refused and belittled the British saying that he had paid for his seat.

It is fair to infer that news about young Pedris’ arrogance towards the British had reached the top echelons of the British administration, including Governor Sir Robert Chalmers. 

Chalmers, a racist, was an introvert and a recluse.  He was ruthless in eliminating his enemies.  Under his command, Brigadier Malcolm went on a killing spree of Sinhalese in areas where the riots took place – notably in Colombo and the upcountry. 

Chalmers is notorious for taking vengeance from his enemies.

He had a grudge with Anagarika Dharmapala:

Chalmers once invited Dharmapala to attend his office; when Dharmapala visited, Chalmers purposely kept him waiting for more than 2 hours. 

Dharmapala – a firebrand in his own right, was furious. During the meeting Dharmapala complained to Chalmers that he too was a busy man and Chalmers should have stuck with the set time. 

Dharmapala remonstrated that Chalmers deliberately wasted his valuable time and that he had no confidence in Chalmers.  Despite Chalmers’ request to stay, Dharmapala left the office without completing the meeting. 

This was like a slap on Chalmers’ face,  his staff witnessed what happened.  Chalmers never expected  that type of bravery from a Sinhalese; at  that time the whites sometimes considered the locals as a species of sub-human.  

When Dharmapala was imprisoned in 1915 over the Sinhala- Muslim riots, it was done under the direct order by Chalmers.

It was Governor Stubbs who released Dharmapala in early 1920s.

When the riots happened, Dharmapala was not even in Sri Lanka, he was in India.  Until the release, Dharmapala was held under house arrest in Calcutta.  He was the longest held political prisoner over the riots.

The objective was to teach him a lesson – that he should not quarrel with the British hierarchy (Chalmers on this occasion), and that he will curtail his anti-imperialistic struggle/rhetoric against the British (Anagarika Dharmapala is considered Sri Lana’s Mahatma Gandhi).  

In 1915, Chalmers was basically scared that the Sinhalese would use the riots to overthrow the colonial administration. During this time the World War 1 was in full swing. The British suspected that there were prominent Sinhalese businessmen in Colombo who had close trade links with Germans. It was believed that Pedris family was one. 

Over the riots, two of Edward Henry Pedris’ cousins – Albert and Edwin Wijesekera, who were leading businessmen, were taken into custody and imprisoned in Jaffna. 

When the riots occurred, the German cruise ship  ‘Emden’ had berthed in Colombo and Colombo businessmen had conducted trading  with it.

It is believed that Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike, the Maha Mudaliyar, father of SWRD Bandaranaike, was not in good terms with the Pedris family and he may have had a part in creating the ill feeling between the British administration and Pedris family.  Except hearsay, there is no concrete evidence to prove this. Bandaranaike was the Chief Advisor and Chief  Native Interpreter to the Governor.  Basically, he held the highest native position under the British administration. Prior to him his uncle had also held the same or similar position for the British administration.

Governor Chalmers and the Inspector General of Police, Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, were adamant that Henry Pedris must die.  They wanted to use Pedris to teach other national leaders a lesson. Pedris was seen as an easy, soft target.

A military court, comprised of three military judges was convened and Pedris was tried on 1 July 1915; a death sentence was passed on him on the same day.  He did not have appeal rights.  A request for clemency was made to King George V by the family and several others but that was rejected.

On 7 July 1915 Pedris was killed by a firing squad. 

Even immediately prior to his death, Pedris showed bravery.   

After he was sentenced to death, he demanded that he should be shot by a Punjabi firing squad, and not by a white British firing squad.  He stated that Punjabi soldiers were Non-Christian and Asian. His request was granted.  A Punjabi firing squad was rushed to Sri Lanka from India.

When blindfold was afforded to him, Pedris rejected it.  He faced death without any fear.  Until he was twice shot to death, he held his head high.

A remarkable incident took place at the time of the execution. The Additional District Judge of  Colombo, Arthur Charles Allnut, a graduate of the Oxford University and a member of the Ceylon Civil Service, had ordered that the 86 Sinhala Buddhist nationalists who were detained in Welikada Prison at that time (over the Sinhala/Muslim riots) should witness the shooting of Pedris.  Thus they were lined up in the verandah outside of the  L-Hall of Welikada Prison, and were compelled to watch Henry Pedris being shot to death.  Among the inmates were DS Senanayake, DR Wijewardane, FR Senanayake, Edwin Wijeyeratne, DB Jayathilaka, Dr Cassius Pereira, Dr WA De Silva, ET De Silva, FR Dias Bandaranaike, Dr CA Hewavitharana (Anagarika Dharmapala’s brother), H Amarasuriya, AH Molamure and AE Goonesinghe.

The cream of the country’s nationalist leaders was arrested. This is evidence that the British were using the Sinhala – Muslim riot as a pretext to punish them.  Furthermore, the immense fear that the British had that attempts may be made during that time to overthrow the regime.

Even a person with no legal knowledge would realise that Pedris had done nothing to commit High Treason.  Basically, he had done no offence to deserve such a harsh punishment – the death sentence.

Pedris was buried in Borella Kanaththa. The father, who owned several burial plots in Borella Cemetery managed to bury him in one of those plots.  The British was unaware of this. Later, the family built a large commemoration plaque in his memory. It is stated that it exists to this day.

Pedris’ father died as an extremely dejected man. His main hope was that his son would take over his vast business empire one day.  That dream was shattered.  He lost his two sons-in laws as they were also incarcerated in Welikada and Jaffna jails. The parents out of their own money built Isipathanarama Viharaya in Colombo 5 (Isipathana Road) and offered it to Maha Sangha. They did many other meritorious  deeds – constructing a Pilgrims Rest in Polonnaruwa was one. The mother, Mallino,  died as a Dasa Sil Upasikawa. In 1920 she gifted valuable land to Mallikarama Temple in Dematagoda. This is a major Buddhist temple in Dematagoda today.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil Separatist Movement tried to use the laws of the country, to stop Kurundi from blossoming forth as a new venue for   Buddhist pilgrims.  Tamil Separatist Movement filed cases in the Magistrate court and Supreme Court against the archaeological work at Kurundi Vihara.  

 TNA MP M. A. Sumanthiran filed a petition in the Supreme Court in August 2021 against the commencement of excavations at the Kurundi Vihara in Mullaitivu, which he called the largest Buddhist shrine in the Northern Province. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, Minister of State Vidura Wickramanayake and Commissioner General of Archaeology Prof. Anura Manatunga were named as respondents.

Following this, the Buddhists also turned to the law. They ignored the Magistrate courts which have no authority to deal with the actions of the Department of Archaeology and focused on the Supreme Court instead. There are several cases pending in Supreme Court, submitted by them.

None of these cases have gone to trial yet. There is nothing in the public domain about them either.  There should be more publicity for these cases. The judgments should be given in the media.  The public should attend the hearings to show support for Kurundi. It will not be difficult to collect a group of Buddhists for this.

The law appears to    favor Kurundi, not the kovil.  The Constitution of Sri Lanka (1978) carries special mention of Buddhism. Clause 9 of the Constitution states:  The Republic of Sri Lanka shall give to Buddhism the foremost place and accordingly it shall be the duty of the State to protect and foster the Buddha Sasana, while assuring to all religions the rights granted by Articles 10 and 14(1)(e).

 In 1994, Supreme Court expanded on what is meant by Buddha Sasana”. The Supreme Court in SC Determination 1/94 (1994) held that  The expression ‘Buddha Sasana’ is wider than ‘Buddhism’ and includes the entireestablishment together with objects and places of religious practices and worship of Buddhists”. The term Buddha Sasana could be extended to include Maha Sangha, archaeological sites, villages, lands and the properties feeding Buddhist temples and vihara. Supreme Court also said that it is mandatory for the country to be under the authority of a central Government in order to give full effect to Article 9. [1] Kurundi vihara has been declared a registered temple by the Ministry of Buddha Sasana.

Buddhist ruins considered to be of archaeological value are governed by the Antiquities Ordinance No 9 of 1940, amended by Act no 24 of 1998 and Act no 12 of 2005. There are several clauses in the Antiquities Ordinance which can be used against the so-called Kovil at Kurundi. The Antiquities Ordinance says:

Clause 33.  The Director-General of Archaeology may- (a) with the approval of the Land Commissioner, or (b) if approval is refused by the Land Commissioner, with the approval of the Minister to whom the subject of State lands is for the time being assigned, declare, by notification published in the Gazette, any specified area of that land to be an archaeological reserve for the purposes of this Ordinance

Clause 31. Any person who- (a) willfully destroys, injures, defaces or tampers with any protected monument or any ancient monument on State land; or (b) does in, upon, to, near or in respect of any ancient monument which is held sacred or in veneration by any class of persons, any act which wounds or offends or is likely to wound or offend the religious susceptibilities of the class of persons by whom such ancient monument is held sacred or in veneration, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, notwithstanding anything to the contrary in any other written law, be liable on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate to a fine not less than fifty thousand rupees and not exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a term not less than two years and not exceeding five years or to both such fine and imprisonment

Clause 34. Every person (other than the Director-General of Archaeology, or a person acting under and in accordance with his directions) who- (a) clears or breaks up for cultivation or cultivates any part of an archaeological reserve, or (b) erects any building or structure upon any such reserve, or (c) fells or otherwise destroys any tree standing on any such reserve, or [ 5, 12 of 2005] (d) otherwise encroaches on any such reserve, shall be guilty of an offence and shall, on conviction after summary trial before a Magistrate, be liable to a fine not less than one thousand rupees and not exceeding five thousand rupees or to imprisonment of either description for a term not exceeding three months or to both such fine and imprisonment, and the Magistrate may, in addition to passing any such sentence, make order that such person shall be forthwith ejected from such reserve

Clause 15C. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 or any other written law, no person charged with, or accused of an offence under this Ordinance shall be released on bail. 

P.N. Mandawela, former Director of Archaeology, speaking at a discussion on Kurundi  said that when the Department of Archaeology   wishes to declare any area as an archaeology reserve, the Department must first obtain the consent of the Land Commission, and then it must issue a Gazette declaring that land to be an archaeology reserve. The reserve thereafter belongs permanently to the state. There is no provision in the law to give it back.

An archaeological reserve is a protected area.  A person can enter an archaeology reserve only with the permission of the Director of Archaeology .It is a   criminal offence to enter, to destroy the artifacts and structures or even cut down a tree on that site, said   Mandawela  

The administration of an archaeology reserve falls within the purview of the Central Government and not the Provincial government.  This is stated in the Ninth Schedule to the Constitution.

An archaeology reserve needs a buffer zone beyond the boundary. The Antiquities Ordinance does not have provision for a buffer zone but there is provision for a buffer zone in the law relating to Monuments. A group of buildings, like at Kurundi, can also be classed as a Monument. Director, Archaeology has the   authority to control activity in the buffer zone. It is now time to declare the buffer zone for Kurundi said Archaeology Department officials. Once that it done, the Department can issue regulations for the entire area.  (Continued)

[1] https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/The-Significance-of-Article-of-the-Constitution-Should-or-could-it-be-removed-/172-140765

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The West passed its first regulation on religious sites in 1935. World War I was over and World War II was looming. The Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments, known as the Roerich Pact, was signed by the states of the Pan-American Union in 1935.

Article 1 of the 1935 Roerich Pact says the historic monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational and cultural institutions shall be considered as neutral and as such respected and protected by belligerents. The same respect and protection shall be accorded to the historic monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational and cultural institutions in time of peace as well as in war.

The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is the main international instrument for the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts.  Cultural property includes museums, libraries, archives, archaeological sites and monuments, both religious and secular.

The Hague Convention is about   cultural property in time of war, but it can be extended to times of peace as well. It is absurd to suggest that religious sites must be protected in war so that they can be destroyed when peace comes.

The Hague regulations were revised in later years.  Article 53 of Geneva Protocol 1 (1977) prohibited any hostile act directly against historical monuments, works of art or places of worship.  Protocol 2   demanded that inventories of cultural sites be prepared during peace time. Also a competent authority responsible for the safeguarding of cultural property be set up.

The revised   Hague regulations also stipulated respect for cultural property. Countries should not permit any form of theft, pillage, misappropriation or any acts of vandalism directed against cultural property. They must refrain from reprisals as well.

The international community decided that an intentional attack on a place of worship or cultural property may be considered a war crime.  The agency assigned to judge war crimes is the International Criminal Court, Hague.

TheInternational Criminal Court, Hague has jurisdiction over war crimes committed against cultural property in international and non-international armed conflict. The first prosecution under this statute was for destroying   sacred mausoleums at Timbuktu,   Mali in 2012.

 The Statute of the International Criminal Court, adopted by the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Rome, 17 July 1998, said: Pursuant to Article 8(2) (b) (ix) and (e) (iv) of the 1998 ICC Statute, intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, or  historic monuments … constitutes a war crime in both international and non-international armed conflicts.

The UN is mainly interested in the religious rights of minorities and religious discrimination against a religious group but in the process religious sites also get a mention. Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) enshrines the right to manifest religion or belief in a community with others, including in worship.  And this included the building of places of worship.

Article 4 of ICCPR says all States should take measures to combat religious intolerance in legislation and all aspects of life including civil, economic, political, social and cultural life. Article 6 indicates that freedom of religion includes the freedom to establish and maintain places   of worship. States must ensure that religious places, sites, shrines, and other symbols are fully respected and protected, including when vulnerable to desecration or destruction.

UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief(1981) Article 4: All States should take measures to combat religious intolerance in legislation and all aspects of life including civil, economic, political, social and cultural life.Article 6: The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief includes specific freedoms, beginning with the freedom to worship or assemble.

UN Resolution 55/254 of 31 May 2001, entitled Protection of religious sites”, says that religious sites are representative of the history, social fabric and traditions of people and should be fully respected as such. The Resolution condemns all acts or threats of violence, destruction, damage or endangerment, directed   against religious sites. (Clause 1)

On 21 January 2021 the UN passed Resolution 75/258: Promoting a culture of peace and tolerance to safeguard religious sites A/RES/75/258.   This resolution condemnsall acts or threats of violence, destruction, damage or endangerment, directed against religious sites and denounces any moves to obliterate or forcibly convert any religious site. (Continued)

Colonel Douglas MacGregor and Stephen Gardner update on the Russia Ukraine war news as well as the Israel Gaza situation. They discussed various geopolitical issues in the current global landscape. Ukrainian President Zelensky’s claims that Putin and Russia could be behind attacks on Israel raise questions about the motivation behind these statements—whether to demonize Putin, shift attention to Ukraine, or hold any truth. Despite millions of Ukrainians fleeing, and 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed or injured, Zelensky remains confident in winning the war against Putin, prompting speculation about his true beliefs or potential use of acting skills. Concerns about NATO’s influence on Zelensky’s decisions arise, particularly in the context of ongoing war dynamics. General Michael Flynn’s prior investigation into military money laundering, coupled with the Pentagon’s admission of an inability to account for $3 trillion, raises questions about financial transparency in military operations. Zelensky’s claims of multiple assassination attempts and statements about Ukraine’s right to take out Putin are scrutinized for their accuracy and potential impact on the conflict. The escalation of drone attacks on Kiev by Russia prompts considerations about the frequency of capital attacks in ongoing conflicts and the potential motivations behind such actions. The aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel raises concerns about increased threats to US military bases worldwide as the Israel-Gaza situation persists. Saudi Arabia’s warning to wake up the Middle East against Israel if attacks continue is evaluated for its credibility and potential consequences. Retired Army Colonel Karl Nell’s call for transparency in government, CIA, and UFO programs adds an unconventional dimension to the conversation, questioning the existence of secret knowledge and off-world technology. The age of military leadership comes under scrutiny as the discussion shifts to the potential risks of an 81-year-old commander in chief leading the military. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s statement on hostage negotiations prompts inquiries into the participants and negotiation terms. Senator Lindsay Graham’s aggressive stance on attacking Iran and supporting Israel raises concerns about his influence on military decisions and the potential for a larger Middle East war due to Israel’s actions in Gaza. SEO keywords in this video: Colonel Douglas MacGregor, Zelensky, Putin, Ukraine, NATO, General Michael Flynn, money laundering, Pentagon, assassination attempts, Russia, drone attacks, Kiev, US military, Israel-Gaza, Saudi Arabia, Middle East, Retired Army Colonel Karl Nell, government transparency, CIA, UFO programs, off-world technology, age of military leadership, Benjamin Netanyahu, hostage negotiations, Senator Lindsay Graham, Iran, Middle East war, global geopolitics, military influence, financial transparency, war dynamics, global conflicts, October 7 attack, geopolitical issues, international relations, secret knowledge, military bases, crisis management, political statements, conflict resolution, international negotiations, Col. Douglas Macgregor, Stephen Gardner, Israel, Russia, Arabs, Allahu Akbar, Hamas, sleeper cells, Belarus, Ukraine, war, stalemate, Putin, health, propaganda, contacts, military intelligence, Janet Yellen, fund wars, fake money, IDF, ground attack, diplomacy, Turkey, Jordan, Zelenskyy, ally, danger, fighter jet, China, international waters, provoke, Persian Gulf, oil, protect, intimidate, Israel, Gaza City, hostages, land war, hot war, United States, Middle East, attack on Israel, Qatar, Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, intelligence background, globalism, 9/11, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, sleeper cells, illegal crossings, border security, religious fever, free borders, Henry Kissinger, Southern border, immigration, variants of COVID, screening for ideas, George W. Bush, cold-blooded killers, negotiation with terrorists, former President, National Security, News Nation, Criminal Justice, TikTok, Instagram, The Unexpected Spy, correspondent, adjunct professor, Texas Christian University, counterterrorism, US terrorists list, policy decisions, invasion, property rights, human safety, ownership, former FBI agent, former CIA operative, hot war in the Middle East, Palestinian rallies, globalism and world commerce, international relations, negotiation with terrorist organizations, national security threats

Mazen Canada

Ministry of Defence  – Media Centre

The relics unearthed from the Deegawapiya site during the excavations and the Crest-Gem, which are in exposition around the island to provide the devotees with an opportunity to pay their homage will be brought to ‘Sri Sumana Saman Dewalaya’, Rathnapura on Sunday (Dec 24).

The devotees have the opportunity to worship the Sacred Omniscient Relics and Crest-Gem at ‘Sri Sumana Saman Dewalaya’, Rathnapura on December 24, 25 and 26. Subsequently, the procession carrying the ‘Crest-Gem’ and ‘Sacred Omniscient Relics’ is scheduled to arrive at ‘Vidyawardhanaramaya’, Kuruwita on 27.

Eventually, arrangements have been made for the exposition of these revered articles at ‘Vidyawardhanaramaya’, Kuruwita on December 27 and 28 and at ‘Madarasingharamaya, Eheliyagoda on 29 and 30.

Further, the devotees have the opportunity to support this meritorious act by making financial contributions to the restoration project while worshipping the Sacred Omniscient Relics and Crest-Gem of the Deegawapiya Stupa.

Manusha Media

කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට වසර සියයක් සම්පූර්ණවීම නිමිත්තෙන් නිකුත් කරන ලද සියවස් සමරු මුද්දරය ඊයේ (21) එළි දක්වනු ලැබූ අතර එහි පළමු මුද්දරය හා මුල් දින කවරය කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා විසින් 1994 වසරේ සිය 2000 වසර දක්වා කම්කරු ඇමැතිවරයා වශයෙන් කටයුතු කළ හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා වෙත ප්‍රදානය කරනු ලැබුවේය.

කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට වසර සියයක් සම්පූර්ණවීම නිමිත්තෙන් පාසල් මට්ටමින් මුද්දර නිර්මාණ තරගයක්  පවත්වා තිබූ අතර එම තරගයෙන් ජයගත් හොරණ තක්ෂිලා මධ්‍ය විද්‍යාලයේ පී.ජී.ඩී. අදීෂා සෙව්නුලි දියණියගේ නිර්මාණය මුද්දරය සදහා යොදාගෙන තිබුණි. එහි දෙවැනි ස්ථානය දිනාගත් එම විද්‍යාලයේම සෙනුලි බිහන්ගා විජේසේකර දියණියගේ නිර්මාණය මුල් දින කවරය ලෙස යොදාගෙන තිබුණි.

මෙරට කම්කරු ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ප්‍රගමනය උදෙසා කටයුතු කළ සියලු දෙනා වෙනුවෙන් මෙම මුද්දරය සහ මුල් දින කවරය නිකුත් කරන බව කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා මෙහිදී සදහන් කළේය.

කම්කරු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට වසර 101ක් ගතවීමට පෙර නව රැකි රක්ෂා පනත ගෙන එමින් මෙරට කම්කරු ක්ෂේත්‍රය උඩු යටිකුරු කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත්, මෙතෙක් කම්කරු ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ පැවති අඩුපාඩු සියල්ලටම විසදුමක් සහ ශ්‍රමයට නිසි ගරුත්වයක් ලබාදීමට නව රැකි රක්ෂා පනත මගින් අවකාශය උදාවන බවද අමාත්‍යවරයා පැවසුවේය.

නූතන වැඩ ලෝකයට ගැලෙපන ශ්‍රමිකයින් නිර්මාණය වන, ව්‍යවසායකයින් හා ආයෝජනවලට හිතකරවීමත් සමග ශ්‍රමිකයින් ආරක්ෂා කරන හා ඔවුන්ගේ සමාජ සුබසාධනය පුළුල් කරන යුගයකට ගමන් කරමින් සිටින බවද, නව රැකි රක්ෂා පනත මගින් දියුණු රටක් බිහි කිීමේ මූලික පියවර තබන බවද අමාත්‍යවරයා කීවේය. ඒ සදහා සියලු දෙනාගේම සහායද අමාත්‍යවරයා ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටින හිටපු ජනාධිපති මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කම්කරු ප්‍රඥප්තිය ගෙන ඒම නිසාම ඇමැතිධූරයෙන් ඉවත් කිරීමට ලක්වූ දක්ෂ නායකයෙක් බවද ලාබාලම කම්කරු ඇමැතිවරයා ලෙස ඔහු තැබූ වාර්තාව තමන් විසින් බිද දමා ඇති බවද වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවසුවේය. 

Courtesy APO Group Africa News Room

The UN Under-Secretary-General recognized the commitment of Sri Lanka to contribute significantly to global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 22, 2023/APO Group/ — 

On 19 December 2023, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU), K.K. Theshantha Kumarasiri, presented his credentials to United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Claver Gatete accrediting the former as the Permanent Observer of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), which was held at the Headquarters of UNECA in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The Ambassador further emphasized Sri Lanka’s commitment under the new foreign policy initiative of ‘Look Africa’ to foster mutually beneficial bilateral trade

At the outset, Ambassador Kumarasiri conveyed cordial greetings from Sri Lanka and congratulated Claver Gatete for a successful tenure as the newly appointed Executive Secretary of UNECA. The Ambassador expressed Sri Lanka’s anticipation of further consolidating its cooperation with UNECA in areas of mutual interest, particularly trade and investment relationships as well as cooperation in the Indian Ocean as the current Chair of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). As Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the African Union and the newly appointed Permanent Observer to UNECA, Ambassador Kumarasiri briefed the Under-Secretary-General on Sri Lanka’s most recent economic policy reforms, particularly measures taken in maintaining the macroeconomic stability of the country.

While accepting the credentials of Sri Lanka’s Permanent Observer, the Under Secretary General projected expanding relations of UNECA with Sri Lanka among the several multitudes, concentrating primarily on the policies of Blue and Green Economy, which are mutually beneficial. Amongst the many focuses brought up for discussion, Executive Secretary Gatete concentrated on collaboration towards capacity development, infrastructure investment and joint research projects between Sri Lanka and UNECA. With respect of the Climate Justice Forum (CJF) hosted at COP 28, in Dubai and Sri Lanka’s proposal to establish the International Climate Change University (ICCU) in Colombo for capacity building and advancing research, the UN Under-Secretary-General recognized the commitment of Sri Lanka to contribute significantly to global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Accordingly, Executive Secretary emphasized the necessity of establishing a wider partnership and collaboration on the carbon credit initiative and the facades on climate action.

With respect to Sri Lanka’s investment in Africa, the Under Secretary General was briefed on the intended membership of Sri Lanka in the African Development Bank (ADB) as a non-regional Member State in view of taking part in activities of ADB Group in Africa particularly in the green energy. Similarly, the Executive Secretary outlined the on-going process of implementing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in view of eliminating barriers to trade in Africa and also boosting intra-Africa trade. The Executive Secretary stressed the potential of expanding bilateral and regional trade under AfCFTA.

The Ambassador further emphasized Sri Lanka’s commitment under the new foreign policy initiative of ‘Look Africa’ to foster mutually beneficial bilateral trade, investment and people-to-people ties with the African continent. In this respect, Executive Secretary Gatete who has visited Sri Lanka quite a number of times reiterated his commitment to work with Sri Lanka to further strengthen the long-standing people-to-people ties between Sri Lanka and Africa while enhancing e the knowledge of Sri Lanka among African nations.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Sri Lanka.

Anna Bjerde  World Bank Managing Director of Operations Courtesy World Bank Blogs

Last month, I visited Sri Lanka for the first time and saw a nation at a crossroads, emerging from a deep crisis and determined to make a real effort to implement changes.

What struck me the most was the resilience of the Sri Lankan people, from the strong and inspiring women leaders and entrepreneurs shattering stereotypes to the farmers who are investing their earnings from sustainable farming practices back into their communities while battling climate change or the doctors who are looking ahead by investing in preventing healthcare.

I also witnessed the strides Sri Lanka has made in stabilizing the economy. Yet, much remains to be done to chart a better future for all Sri Lankans. While Sri Lanka has a unique opportunity to implement deep and permanent structural reforms that may be difficult under normal circumstances, the window of opportunity is narrowing.  But Sri Lanka cannot afford another crisis of this magnitude and must transform its economy while making growth more inclusive.

I’ve been reflecting on the experience of countries that have successfully weathered an economic crisis and the lessons they hold for Sri Lanka. I see five main areas for concerted action.

First, maintain macroeconomic stability to support investment, trade, and growth. Sri Lanka is a highly indebted nation, with public debt far exceeding the size of the economy. It is critical to finalize external debt restructuring to restore debt sustainability and boost confidence. This needs to be complemented by fiscal consolidation, including mobilizing more taxes, making better spending decisions, and improving the governance of public finances. This, in turn, can create the fiscal space to invest in people and infrastructure. This is possible. In the past, Sri Lanka’s tax revenue collection was close to 20 percent of GDP, compared to just 7.3 percent in 2022.

Second, protect the poor and vulnerable as the country emerges from the crisis. A lot has been done over the past 18 months to consolidate social assistance programs, expand coverage, enhance targeting and delivery, and improve governance and transparency. This includes the rollout of a new social welfare payment program, Aswesuma. Although there have been challenges with the implementation of the new beneficiary registry, the government is working to ensure social protection helps the most vulnerable Sri Lankans during shocks. This includes women, whose unemployment rate is twice that of men, making them far more vulnerable to the impacts of crises. Beyond social assistance, women also need equal opportunities to join the workforce, which would boost economic growth and household incomes.

Third, generate jobs by creating conditions for investment and trade, incentivizing exports, and integrating into global value chains. To encourage investors, Sri Lanka can take a page out of East Asia’s playbook by liberalizing trade, eliminating import restrictions, and pursuing stronger regional and bilateral trade agreements.  Our analysis shows that the country’s untapped export potential for merchandise is about US$10 billion annually. Delivering on this could double exports, create more than 140,000 jobs, and help put the country back on a sustainable growth path. Sri Lanka can also increase private investment by restructuring state-owned enterprises and divesting from non-strategic ones. This will help foster competition, create more jobs, and drive improvements in service delivery.

Fourth, pursue energy and agricultural sector reforms to drive a resilient and inclusive recovery.  The power sector has been marred by financial losses, blackouts, and opaque procurement processes. The current energy sector reforms – including the unbundling of the Ceylon Electricity Board and cost-recovery energy pricing – aim to address these issues and ensure energy security and affordability. At the same time, the shift toward renewable energy, energy efficiency, and regional power integration can reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels and lower energy costs. With respect to agriculture, I saw first-hand in Thirappane and Rajangana the strong contribution it makes to both livelihoods and exports. Yet, the sector suffers from low productivity and is highly vulnerable to climate change and natural disasters. To modernize agriculture, Sri Lanka needs to adopt climate-smart technologies, as well as strengthen value chains, linkages between farmers and markets, and quality standards. For example, I visited a school in the North Central Province dedicated to climate-smart agriculture. The school, the first of its kind in South Asia, conducts training programs for farmers, 40 percent of whom are women. Such initiatives empowering farmers with knowledge and practical training should be scaled up. Taken together, these actions can boost agricultural output, rural incomes, and export competitiveness in a country where 80 percent of the population lives in rural areas.

Fifth, strengthen governance and address corruption to instill public confidence and improve service delivery. Sri Lanka has a complex and fragmented public sector, which faces challenges in accountability, coordination, performance, and transparency. To improve governance, Sri Lanka can modernize institutions, digitize procurement and service delivery, strengthen policy and planning processes, and enhance monitoring and evaluation systems. This will combat corruption and fraud, and foster a culture of integrity, openness, and participation.

While these five areas look promising on paper, coordination, capacity, and communication – the three Cs”– will be critical for effective reform implementation. Closer coordination across government– including the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank, Line Ministries, and Parliament – is paramount for the delivery of the reforms. Capacity strengthening is critical to drive the reform agenda and improve governance. Communication is the cornerstone of any successful reform process, as citizens need to understand what is being asked of them, key stakeholders need to be engaged, and a platform must be available to receive and address grievances. The World Bank and other development partners are working closely with the government to ensure that these three Cs have the commitment and resources needed to succeed.

By Toby Antony Courtesy The New Indian Express

In recent months, NIA has launched probes into multiple human trafficking incidents in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. 

Express News Service

KOCHI:  Suspecting links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has launched a probe into two cases relating to the attempted human trafficking of Sri Lankan nationals from Kollam.

Last month, the Ministry of home affairs had ordered NIA to take over the probe into the cases registered at the Kollam East and Pallithottam police stations. The case registered at Pallithottam has 13 accused persons while the one at Kollam East has 11. The cases pertain to the police intercepting two batches of Sri Lankan nationals from the Vadi Harbour and the Ambadi Lodge, Beach Road, in Kollam district on September 5 and 6 in 2022. 

The Sri Lankan nationals had planned to sail to Canada for which they had contacted several fishing vessel operators. The 24 persons arrested, including two children, had arrived in Kollam from refugee camps in Nagapattinam, Vellore, Chennai, Thiruvenlveli, Trichirapalli and Dindigul. Some of them had arrived from Sri Lanka and stayed in Tamil Nadu before moving to Kollam, after paying money to agents.

They were later granted bail by the Kerala High Court, and some continued to stay at rehabilitation centres in Kerala while some were sent back to the refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. However, NIA decided to take over the probe on the suspicion of LTTE involvement.

In recent months, NIA has launched probes into multiple human trafficking incidents in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. 

It is suspected that people associated with LTTE are coordinating the trafficking attempts. NIA had arrested some persons from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu who maintained close contacts with former LTTE members,” a police officer said.

By AAKAR PATEL Courtesy Rediff.com

We should reassess what India’s role in the world is and whether we are doing the right thing for ourselves, notes Aakar Patel.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi addresses the Meri Maati Mera Desh-Amrit Kalash Yatra in New Delhi, October 31, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo

India abstained from calling for an end to violence in Gaza to avoid upsetting America.

India was told by the new Maldives leader to remove our soldiers from that country.

Qatar sentenced eight Indian Navy veterans to death.

Sri Lanka allowed a Chinese spy ship to dock in Colombo despite India’s objections.

Bhutan said it was about to conclude boundary negotiations with China, including on Doklam.

Nepal cannot use its new Gautam Buddha airport because India doesn’t allow overflight of large planes.

Canada said it would not be able to normalise visas for Indians till 2024.

These things happened in the space of a few days.

All South Asian nations except India voted to end the violence in Gaza, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, which traditionally votes with India.

The 70 Indian military personnel in the Maldives who will now return maintain radar stations and surveillance aircraft, and Indian warships help patrol Maldives’ exclusive economic zone.

The reason we have been told to go is that the Maldives wants to favour China.

Whether we are running a successful foreign policy, as fans of the foreign minister believe, or we are ruining India’s global reputation, as some of us think we are doing, is not important to debate.

This is because views are set in stone since we are in the tenth year of the Modi years and there is sufficient evidence to convince someone one way or another.

What is more interesting is to examine what the Modi government’s foreign policy actually is and what it is intended to achieve.

In 2014, the BJP manifesto said it would ‘strengthen SAARC’ and India’s states ‘will be encouraged to play a greater role in diplomacy’.

For instance, Punjab, which overwhelmingly suffers when Canada visas are affected, would caution Delhi on foreign policy.

In 2019, both these references were eliminated. No fresh text replaced it, but those who study foreign policy praised a new approach that they saw coming together.

This approach comes from a series of speeches made by EAM S Jaishankar on things as diverse as China’s rise to power, India’s lost decades, the Mahabharata, maritime power and the Covid pandemic.

These assorted speeches were compiled into a book, called The India Way: Strategies for an Uncertain World. What are these strategies?

First, Jaishankar assumes that the US and Europe will continue to look inward (his book was published just before Trump lost), while China would continue to rise.

This would open the space for countries like India to be opportunistic in their engagements with the world and they did not need consistency.

What India wanted was a ‘multi-polar Asia’ — meaning one in which India could claim parity with China.

Many balls would need to be kept in the air (Jaishankar has a fondness for stock phrases) and India would handle them with dexterity.

This was opportunism but that was all right because opportunism was India’s culture.

The Mahabharata’s lessons, Jaishankar says, are that deceit and immorality are merely to ‘not play by the rules’.

Drona’s demanding of Eklavya’s thumb, Indra’s appropriation of Karna’s armour, Arjuna using Shikhandi as a human shield, these were but ‘practices and traditions’.

Inconsistency in policy was not only fine but required because ‘obsessing about consistency’ made little sense in changing circumstances.But what was such a doctrine to be called?

In a speech he made where he first laid out this doctrine of opportunism and inconsistency, Jaishankar said it is hard to give it a name.

He takes up and discards the phrases — ‘multi-alignment’ (‘sounds too opportunistic’) and ‘India first’ (‘sounds self centred’).

He settles at ‘advancing prosperity and influence’, which he says is accurate but admits is not catchy.

He believes some name for it will eventually come if it is pursued long enough, because part of the challenge is that we are still in the early phase of a major transition.

Perhaps that is so.

Another reason that he was unable to come up with a name for it as clean and understandable as, say, ‘non-alignment’, could be that this was no real foreign policy at all.

The problems that have been listed at the top of this article reflect this lack of coherence and effectiveness.

Buying cheap Russian oil when nobody is stopping you from doing so is not a foreign policy, but it was praised as being that.

A rotating presidency of the G20 was not an achievement, but that is how it was sold to Indians.

What interested the prime minister, and what made for pageant and ceremony, was being passed off as something meaningful.

It is not easy to escape the conclusion that Jaishankar provided the sophistry to cover what was essentially random and directionless Modi behaviour passing off as foreign policy strategy.

Jaishankar says that this nameless policy of his is intended to achieve four outcomes.

Greater prosperity at home; Peace on the borders; Protection of Indians; Enhanced influence abroad.

Once again, there is no point is going through what is happening on the borders or on prosperity.

The issue is whether, having examined what we have tried to achieve and looking at what results around us, we should reassess what India’s role in the world is and whether we are doing the right thing for ourselves.

Aakar Patel is a columnist and writer and you can read Aakar’s earlier columns here.

BY Daya Gamage Foreign Service National Political Specialist (rtd) US Department of State Courtesy The Island

During the summer of 2020, protests against police violence and racial injustice erupted throughout the United States. May 25, 2020-death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody, renewed the people’s outrage regarding police treatment of Black Americans and caused protests and demonstrations to erupt across the nation. Over 10,000 demonstrations by millions of protesters occurred across nationwide in a mobilisation estimated the largest mass movements in American history.

More than ninety-five percent of the protests remained peaceful, then-President Donald Trump delivered a speech during the height of the protests in which he threatened to deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem”. The comment referred to the President of the United States’ unilateral power to invoke the Insurrection Act, send in active duty military to quell the mass agitation.

The Executive branch of the United States along with many Members of the Legislature considered these protests not as an expression of anger and opposition to human rights violation but as an insurrection.

What’s discussed in this write-up is the use of a draconian law that has given despotic powers to the Executive Branch headed by the president: The Insurrection Act, an Act authorising the deployment of the military in case of mass agitations often described by authorities as insurrections to suppress such events.

The Insurrection Act describes itself as Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases of insurrection, or obstruction to the laws, either of the United States, or of any individual state or territory, where it is lawful for the President of the United States to call forth the militia for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection, or of causing the laws to be duly executed, it shall be lawful for him to employ, for the same purposes, such part of the land or naval force of the United States, as shall be judged necessary, having first observed all the pre-requisites of the law in that respect.

The importance, at this time, of ‘disclosing’ or ‘revealing’ that the United States has such a ‘draconian’ law that facilitates the deployment of the armed military to suppress mass agitations mostly connected with civil rights abuses, racial discrimination and socio-political issues is when the American ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung, on many occasions, agitated Sri Lanka to either repeal or amend the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). In the United States, instead of finding solutions to the outcry of the masses, these outcries are labeled as insurrections to deploy the armed military, which the American authorities have done in the past.

This writer found appropriate and vital to ‘disclose’ or ‘reveal’ the existence of a draconian law in the United States as the Sri Lankan policymakers and lawmakers have not shown any signs or indication that they were aware of the existence of such a law in the American statute books.

This writer who had a very long service with the Government of the United States as a Foreign Service National Political Specialist thought this was an opportune time to bring this issue to the forefront so that when Sri Lankan policymakers and lawmakers next meet American diplomatic representatives in Colombo they could raise the existence of the Insurrection Act when the later raise issues connected to the PTA as well as human rights.

In a forthcoming analytical-investigative book, Defending Democracy: Lessons in Strategic Diplomacy from US-Sri Lanka Relations, this writer along with another retired Senior Foreign Service and Intelligence Officer of the U.S. Department of State Dr. Robert Boggs discloses how the US foreign policy approaches largely harmed Sri Lanka, and the inability of the policymakers and lawmakers of Sri to comprehend their own country’s socio-political-economic development and structure, along with covert and overt US foreign policy decisions. Such an understanding and gained knowledge would have helped to have a better rapport and fruitful dialogue with the United States while safeguarding the sovereignty and independence of Sri Lanka.

The Insurrection Act authorises the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence or to enforce the law in certain situations. The statute implements Congress’s authority under the Constitution to provide for calling forth the Naval and Armed Forces of the United States to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions.”

Crucial provisions of the Insurrection Act are in Sections 251 through 254 in the Title of the United States Code, some of them being as follows:

251. Federal aid for State governments Whenever there is an insurrection in any State against its government, it shall be lawful for the President to, upon the request of its legislature or the executive if the legislature cannot be convened, call forth such of the militia of the other States, in the number requested by that State, and use such of the land or naval forces of the United States, as he considers necessary to suppress the insurrection.252. Use of militia and armed forces to enforce Federal authority .

Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, it shall be lawful to call forth the militia of any or all the States, and use of the land and naval forces of the United States, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.

253. Interference with State and Federal law The President, by using the militia or the land and naval forces of the United States, or both, or by any other means, it shall be lawful for the President and it shall be his duty to take such measures as he considers necessary to suppress, in a State, any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy, if it—

(1) so hinders the execution of the laws of that State, and of the United States within the State, that any part or class of its people is deprived of a right, privilege, immunity, or protection named in the Constitution and secured by law, and the constituted authorities of that State are unable, fail, or refuse to protect that right, privilege, or immunity, or to give that protection; or

(2) opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.

254. Proclamation to disperse

Whenever the President considers it necessary to use the militia or the armed forces under this chapter, he shall, by proclamation, immediately order the insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their abodes within a limited time.

Section 251 allows the president to deploy troops if a state’s legislature (or governor if the legislature is unavailable) requests federal aid to suppress an insurrection in that state. This provision is the one that has most often been invoked.

While Section 251 requires state consent, Sections 252 and 253 allow the president to deploy troops without a request from the affected state, even against the state’s wishes. Section 252 permits deployment in order to enforce the laws” of the United States or to suppress rebellion” whenever unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion” make it impracticable” to enforce federal law in that state by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings.”

Section 253 has two parts. The first allows the president to use the military in a state to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” that so hinders the execution of the laws” that any portion of the state’s inhabitants is deprived of a constitutional right and state authorities are unable or unwilling to protect that right. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy relied on this provision to deploy troops to desegregate schools in the South of the United States after the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education. Most famously, Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson all invoked the Insurrection Act during the civil rights movement to enforce federal court orders desegregating schools and other institutions in the South.

The Insurrection Act was invoked in 1992, when the governor of California requested military aid from President George H.W. Bush in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles that followed the acquittal of four white police officers charged with beating Black motorist Rodney King.

The second part of Section 253 permits the president to deploy troops to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy” in a state that opposes or obstructs the execution of the laws of the United States or impedes the course of justice under those laws.” This provision is so confusing and difficult to understand that it cannot possibly mean what it says, or else it authorises the president to use the military against any two people conspiring to break federal law.

The US Congress and the Supreme Court have failed to provide adequate checks on the president’s domestic military power, to determine the source of this power, and to accurately describe the limits of the president’s power under the Act. By failing to adhere to the conception of military involvement in domestic law the United States is left vulnerable to serious abuses of power for the sake of expediency.

Professionals who are concerned about the draconian nature of the Insurrection Act propose that Sections 252 and 253 of the Insurrection Act should be amended to require additional checks and a method for obtaining independent approval for the mobilisation of armed forces within the United States. The power to use federal troops within a state against the state’s will should not be conditioned upon the discretion of a single individual the President; this is an opinion widely expressed by legal luminaries.

Texas A&M University School of Law student Jeremy C. Campbell in a very erudite presentation to his law school journal said: Sections 252 and 253 of the Insurrection Act should be amended to require additional checks and a method for obtaining independent approval for the mobilisation of armed forces within the United States. The power to use federal troops within a state, against the state’s will, should not be conditioned upon the discretion of a single individual. Any proposed amendments should leave the president’s power to request the use of federal troops and to retain or delegate command of those troops, once approval is received, intact.

The importance of the Congress to have the authority to curb presidential authority by requiring congressional approval before the president invokes the Act has been widely discussed, and the motive of this write-up is to show Sri Lankan policymakers and lawmakers the draconian power the President of the United States has under the Insurrection Act. What is been ‘disclosed’ and ‘revealed’ to Sri Lankan lawmakers and policymakers who maintain constant rapport with American diplomats is the existence of a law which lets the president to deploy the military domestically and use it for civilian law enforcement and the urgent need of reform.

Both the (U.S.) Insurrection Act and (Sri Lanka) Prevention of Terrorism Act can then be discussed on equal terms.

The Insurrection Act is a model of how not to draft major legislation. Key terms like insurrection” and rebellion” are left undefined. The language is so outdated that no modern American can be sure of its meaning. The few times the law was reformed, it was changed to give the president more power rather than less. And courts have interpreted it to grant the president exclusive and unreviewable authority to decide whether the conditions to deploy the military have been met.

At a time when there is a strong possibility that former president Donald Trump could win a second term at 2024 November elections and enter the White House February 2025, the Washington Post on 6 November 2023 ran a chilling piece about Trump’s plan for a second term. It starts: Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.”

(The writer is a retired Foreign Service National Political Specialist of the U.S. Department of State).

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec 22 (Daily Mirror) – A total of 10,456 suspects have been arrested as of today in the island-wide special operation ‘Yukthiya,’ launched last Sunday to curb drug-related and underworld activities.

The Public Security Ministry said that 517 of these suspects are under further investigation with detention orders in place.

Initiated on December 17, the week-long operation by the police, STF and other security forces has yielded significant results. 

As of 12:30 am today, police have seized 7.7 kgs of heroin, 3.9 kgs of Ice, 227 kgs of cannabis, 546,040 cannabis plants, 105 kgs of Mawa, 35 kgs of Ash, 551grams of hashish, 3 kgs of Thule, 520 grams of Kush and 44,267 narcotic pills.

Also, 106 suspects are under investigation for illegal assets, and 886 drug addicts have been directed to rehabilitation centers. 

The Police Narcotics Bureau and the Special Bureau have arrested 885 suspects out of 4,665 individuals listed as Island Re-convicted criminals.

In addition, a number of vehicles and properties acquired through illegal means by underworld criminals have been seized.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Colombo, Dec 22 (Daily Mirror) –  Chinese Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said that his country will continue to provide firm support to the China-Sri Lanka Joint Water Technology Research and Demonstration Center.

Making his remarks at the signing ceremony of the tri-partite agreement among the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ministry of Water Supply and Estate Infrastructure Development of Sri Lanka and the University of Peradeniya recently, the ambassador said a lot of people in Sri Lanka are suffering from the chronic kidney disease of unknown origin (CKDu), and the Chinese government and people feel for them.

The project proposals related to the prevention and treatment of chronic kidney disease put forward by Sri Lanka have received positive responses and strong support from the Chinese government.

So far, China has assisted in the construction of three projects to prevent, treat, and trace the cause of chronic kidney disease of unknown origin in Sri Lanka, including water supply pipeline network project, kidney disease hospital, and the China-Sri Lanka Joint Water Technology Research and Demonstration Center (JRDC). And the total investment of these projects is more than 2 billion RMB. The Kandy North –Pathadumbara Integrated Water Supply Project ensures drinking water safety for nearly 500,000 people. In Polonnaruwa, we have established the largest kidney disease hospital in South Asia, providing the most advanced kidney disease diagnosis and treatment facilities,” he said.

Prof. Wei Yuansong of Chinese Academy of Sciences said, In August 2013, it was the first time for us to know the burning issue of Sri Lanka–Chronic kidney disease with unknown etiology (CKDu), and since then we have begun the road to cooperation between China and Sri Lanka. Based on our cooperation with the Ministry of Water Supply and the University of Peradeniya, the China-Sri Lanka JRDC focuses on researches on causes studies of CKDu, improvement of drinking water and water environment, and joint research and talent cultivation. The cooperation of the JRDC have been included in the joint statement of the China and Sri Lanka governments twice in 2016 and 2023, respectively. The China-Sri Lanka JRDC is growing upunder China’s One Belt, One Road” initiative and has achieved a breakthrough from 0 to 1. Today the signing of the tripartite agreement is the best commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the One Belt, One Road” initiative, and marks the new stage of the JRDC. In the future, we will continue to actively promote China-Sri Lanka water science and technology cooperation with support from two countries to make the JRDC a leading center and benefit more people in two countries,” he said.

Karma

මොහු බේරාගැනීමට ආ මේ භික්ෂුව කව්ද? මානසික විකෘතිතාව කුමක් ද? මෙහු ගැන සියළු පැටිකිරිය ගැන උසාවියේදී හෙළි වූ කරුණු මෙවන් එකකට සමාජය කලබන්න තරම් බෞද්ධයා දුර්වල ද —– සිංහල දෙමළ මුස්ලිම් ඇතුළු සියලු ජාති වර්ග එකට ඒකීයත්වයෙන් කටයුතු කළ ද මේ වන විට සිංහල බෞද්ධයන්යාට විරුද්ධව බොහෝ බලවේ බලවේග කරලියට පැමිණ ඇත. එසේ කරලියට පැමිණ ඇති බලවේගයන් අතර ක්‍රිස්තියානි සංවිධාන හාරසිය කට වඩා සහ මුස්ලිම් සංවිධාන බොහොමයක් වැඩ කටයුතු ආරම්භ කොට ඇත. එසේ දියත් වූ එක්තරා වැඩපිළිවෙලක ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස #විශ්වබුද්ධි නමින් චීවරධාරී අයෙකු වේශයෙන් කටයුතු කළ පුද්ගලයෙක් කරළියට පැමිණ තිබිණි. ඒ අනුව පසුගිය දින කිහිපයෙහි මෙම පුද්ගලයා ගිහි ඇඳුම් අඳිමින් වීඩියෝ නිකුත් කොට ඇති අතර එයින් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ බෞද්ධ මිනිසුන්ගේ මෝඩ විශ්වාස නිසා ඔහු භික්ෂුවක ලෙස සිවුරු පාටින් රෙදි පෙර වීම නිසා සිතාගෙන ශෙයා කරමින් සහ ඊට විරුද්ධව බොහෝ අපහාස උපහාස කරමින් කටයුතු සිදුකර ඇති බවයි. මේ අනුව ක්‍රියාත්මක වන බොහෝ මාධ්‍ය පිටු ගණනාවක් ද දක්නට ඇත. ඉන් එකක් ලෙස පූස් බුද්ධා නමින් හඳුන්වන පේජයයි. ඒ අනුව මෙසේ කාමුක අදහස් සමාජගත කරමින් සහ බුදු දහමට එරෙහිව සාධනීය අදහස් ලෙස ගෙනහැර දක්වමින් ඇතැම් කාරණා සමාජ ගත කිරීමෙන් ඔවුන් බලාපොරොත්තු වන්නේ බුදුදහමට ලංකාව තුළ පවතින තත්ත්වය විනාශ කර දැමීමටය. මේ සම්බන්ධව බෞද්ධයින් අවදි විය යුතු අතර සිංහල බෞද්ධ යන නාමය පවා පිළිකුල් කරන බොහෝ පිරිසක් අද සිංහල බෞද්ධයා සමගම එකතු වී අපගේ ආගමට දහමට ජාතියට වින කටිමින් සිටි.