Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has claimed that the attitude and commitment of the people of Sri Lanka also plays a role in the economic development of the island nation.

Speaking at an event held in Jaffna yesterday (10 Jan.), which focused on the issues faced by those in the Northern Province, Wickremesinghe stated that the rate of Sri Lanka’s economic development depends depends on the attitude and commitment of the people.

He said this while acknowledging that the Northern Province had made extensive contributions to the national economy prior to the War, and assured that the development programs required to restore the strong economy of the North would be implemented.

The economy of Jaffna completely collapsed due to the war. It has not yet reached the anticipated level of economic development. Therefore, we hope to work under a 10-year plan to bring the country to that stage. Therefore we have to get not only foreign aid but also aid from the diaspora to realize this end”, the Head of State said.

Northern Province Governor Jeevan Thyagarajah, Presidential Secretary Saman Ekanayake, Northern Province Presidential Coordinating Secretary M Ilangovan, former Member of Parliament Vijayakala Maheswaran and other officials were present at this occasion.

Below is an extract of the speech made by President Wickremesinghe pertaining to the programmes expected to be implemented in the North;

In the Fertilizer Provision Program, our attention was drawn to provide fertilizer only for paddy cultivation. We would take steps to provide fertilizers for other crops as well in the future.

Most of the people who joined the discussion spoke on those problems that required to be solved. There are many issues that could be solved within a short period of time. Although it is difficult to provide solutions for them this year due to the existing critical situation in the country, we would focus on them in the future.
We have to work a plan to recover from today’s economic collapse. We have to pay back the debts that we have already taken. In addition we have got to get foreign loans this year for the country’s future. They should also be paid back. In addition it is required to maintain a foreign exchange surplus.

Therefore, our expectation is to develop an export-oriented economy as well as a competitive economy. To achieve this target, we have selected some major provinces out of which the Northern Province is one. If that program would be implemented properly, the economy of the Northern Province would change commendably turning to be a major economy.

Accordingly, our first effort is to see the agriculture in the North-Central and Eastern provinces being modernized. Our ambition is to get 06, 07 metric tons of harvest per acre from the paddy cultivation from Kilinochchi to Kumana area and in the area from there to Udawalawe. Thus, when paddy production increases in those areas, land in other areas will be available for other investments.
In addition, a program is required to make the fishing industry commercially viable. Not only the traditional fishing industry, but shrimp farming should also be prioritized.

We are negotiating with the Indian government to solve the bottom trawling problem at hand. Additionally special attention has been drawn to provide a solution to the water issue in the Northern Province.
It has been proposed to commence a water project combining Malwatu Oya and Yodha Ala, and also another to conserve water in other rivers and streams. 

Additionally, I would like to remind you that we have a program in the agenda to provide clean water to Elephant Pass Lagoon and to develop Poonareen Lake.

There is also a program to boost tourism industry in this province. Another to install solar panels in the tanks and we have explored the possibility of producing green hydrogen. We can generate a surplus of 30-40 megawatts from the beach extending from Puttalam to Mullaitivu and in the beaches in Hambantota. The investigations on them are in progress. The future lies with green ammonia and green hydrogen production. Most of it would come from the Northern Province and that can turn the economy of the North completely transforming to be a strong economy.

In addition, we want to promote tourism between Mannar and Trincomalee. Small shipping lines services will also commence to these islands. Tourists visit traditional Hindu temples.

It is also necessary to mention that measures are being taken to establish industrial zones in Mankulam and Paranthan. Moreover, we also have plans to establish Non-government University in this region.
By bringing technical institutions to this area, it is possible to turn this into a technical area where knowledge is available. And our plan is to make Punerin a new city. My expectation with all these activities is to speed up the development of the North.

Also, we should implement Trincomalee port development activities with the help of India, which will strongly affect the development of the Northern Province. Before the war, the Northern Province made a wide contribution to the country’s economy. As a government, we hope to restore that situation and raise it rapidly.

Reconciliation alone will not solve these problems. Poverty in the country should be eradicated and a better future should be built for the youth. Otherwise there will be no permanent solution to this problem.
Also, we must eliminate the drug issue from this province. I would like everyone to discuss the implementation of those programs at the grassroots level together.

A government alone cannot accomplish this. We will provide support and accordingly I request you all to work together with dedication. Those people should undertake the development of Ruhuna with the support of the government. Each province should take responsibility for the development of their own province. Let’s hold a competition between 09 provinces a game which would develop the country finally.

Courtesy Adaderana

An initial shipment of 600 metric tons of fortified rice funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) arrived in Sri Lanka last week to support the Government of Sri Lanka’s national school meal program.

Through ongoing initiatives as well as new funding and food shipments, the United States is working with the Government of Sri Lanka, the WFP, and other partners to address these needs, the US embassy in Colombo said in a press release.

According to a Crop and Food Security Assessment Mission report by the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization, nearly thirty percent of the Sri Lankan population is currently facing food insecurity.

The US embassy stated that this shipment of fortified rice is part of a larger food assistance initiative by USAID and WFP that includes 3,950 metric tons of fortified rice, 768 metric tons of red lentils, 1,188 metric tons of soya, and a planned 2,310 metric tons of maize.

This assistance will help provide school meals and nutritional supplements for 1.7 million children as well as 300,000 pregnant and lactating mothers.

US-SL relations celebrate 75 years this year, and ours has been a story of friendship and partnership,” said U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung. The American people swiftly responded when Sri Lanka’s economic crisis reduced access to nutritional food for many Sri Lankans, including children and mothers. This shipment reflects our continued commitment to the people of Sri Lanka.”

The US has announced more than $270 million in new support to Sri Lanka over the last year. As one of Sri Lanka’s longstanding development partners, we recognize how critical daily vital micronutrient intake is for young people. Therefore, child and maternal feeding programs were one of USAID’s very first assistance interventions in Sri Lanka, more than six decades ago,” said Gabriel Grau, USAID Mission Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives.

We are grateful for USAID’s assistance, which has enabled WFP to rapidly expand its emergency operation to reach the most food-insecure communities,” said Abdur Rahim Siddiqui, WFP Sri Lanka Representative and Country Director. The latest shipment of fortified rice funded by USAID will support the continuation of the school meal program while providing children with added nutrients through a mix of iron and folic acid, relieving parents who are struggling to provide healthy meals to their families.”

Pregnant and lactating mothers will receive Thriposha – a nutrition intervention in Sri Lanka that provides a combination of energy, protein, and micronutrients as a ‘ready-to-eat’ cereal, the US embassy added.

This initiative is one component of the longstanding partnership between the American and Sri Lankan people to promote economic prosperity and democratic good governance for all Sri Lankans.

Courtesy Hiru News

The Court of Appeal has refused a petition by the Public Utilities Commission requesting that the CEB be ordered to provide an uninterrupted supply of electricity during the Advanced Level examination.

The petition was refused by the court prior to any consideration.

That petition was reconsidered today before the bench of Judges Sobitha Rajakaruna and Dhammika Ganepola.

In the petition, the Public Utilities Commission had stated that the parents have complained that the students sitting for the exam are in distress due to power cuts.

Therefore, it was requested to issue an order to the Ceylon Electricity Board to take steps to provide uninterrupted electricity during the period of the A-level examination.

However, the lawyers who appeared for the respondents namely Ceylon Electricity Board and Petroleum Corporation stated that the other two members of the Public Utilities Commission have not given their consent to maintain this petition.

Meanwhile, Shehan Sumanasekara, Chairman of Lanka Coal Company, stated that unloading coal from the 12th vessel is currently underway.

Aloysius Hettiarachchi

Given below is a link to an experiment conducted recently on the above subject based on modern science and engineering which might be interesting.

This explains how energy used in preparing the western medicines out of elements and minerals gives away that energy in the form of electro-magnetic waves of high frequency to cure ailments by preventing the growth of harmful organisms.

But is this not what our ancestors (and those Rishies meditating under trees in Himalayan Forests) found out instinctively and concocted the solutions for same ailments?. It would be more interesting to know which of the trees combine energy from the sun, minerals and elements from the ground and help the mankind. This also explains, to my mind, why drugs have a period of effectiveness as they release the energy stored in hem via EM radiation with time. In the case of ‘deshiya vedakama ‘ we see they use freshly picked leaves, roots etc. in making the medicines.

Perhaps the strongest of them all is the ‘Bo’ tree that lives thousands of years and gives away energy in some form (not for making medicines) to those sitting nearby for their wellbeing. Perhaps the shape of the leaf is a pointer!.

https://youtu.be/JO_EHceV9sk.

Sarath Wijesinghe Presidents’ Counsel, former Ambassador to Israel and UAE, Solicitor England and Wales, president Ambassador’s Forum

Time is precious and cannot be regained

Time is precious that cannot be regained once spent except pleasant or unpleasant memories. Sweat does not mean that the sweat on hard labour. Sweat is time taken with body as well as mind which is valuable to you and the world over. Some work with blood sweat and tears for his livelihood and that of others with great sacrifice, which is valued on currency today in the fast developing modern society, when some just waste time for nothing or nothing impotent to him or the country he is sheltered in. No moment is more important than ‘’NOW’’ as it is so precious and once gone the time cannot be reacquired whatever efforts you make and apply. Now is the time and you will not get younger again at any cost, and you are the ‘’gatekeeper ‘’of your precious time that no one could steal from you unless you waste it unnecessarily by you willingly or unknowingly. Nothing is important than living well and happily and you must be happy to be alive today. Your time is limited, precious and should be used wisely all the time. Is more important money or time .Money can be regained but not time. Morning you enjoyed will never get it back therefore living is more important and more importantly productive living is still important for you, your loving ones and the community you live in. Therefore it is useful to think back your losses and achievement for the future plans of you and the community beneficial to all. These sayings are so important and precocious to us as time when time goes on which we cannot regain. With all this is it not a crime that so many young just waste time in Sri Lanka doing nothing, for them or the society or nation with no aim mission vision or strategic plan for you or the country you belong to. Do not blame others, blame yourselves by following the correct path for you using the internet you are so conversant with in Sri Lanka as if there is a will there is definitely a way out, which is correct by the success of success stories.  Use the internet for your success and not destruction please. This paragraph must be read again between Ines by the young generation in Sri Lanka used and almost addicted to internet reading browsing.

Learn from other success stories of small Nation’s such as Israel, Hong Kong a Singapore and UAE

Israel is a small but a world nuclear power that emerged as a world leader with only human resources and innovations based on artificial intelligence as a leader on agriculture in an environment akin to a desert among the enemy nations with eternal fights yet emerged as a leader on arms industry and agriculture in which 95% agriculture is science and technology. The surrounding enemy countries are oil rich and Israel is protected by an artificial iron ‘’Dome’’ protecting the country from enemy attacks yet developments continues as usual with measures to protect the nation from the powerful enemy around. They use every minute of their precious time for themselves and the nation they are given shelter. In Israel every citizens is an innovator with a substantial knowledge on modern technology to some extent they make use as inventers for sheer necessity due to the hard life with limited resources. Sri Lanka is in crisis with all natural resources including human resources not second to any other yet some say it is a failed state with no money at all with savings even as sovereign gold or bonds. The seeds of Israel grew   from the imagination of the exiled people with long exile of some 2000 years they fought hard to be what they are today. The soil of the new land explored was hostile on environment, obstinate soil and no water expect the only lake ‘’Galili’’ in the country. They started collecting water underground and spent heavily on desalination of sea water with the help of the Israel community world ever until they became a leader on water technology and famous drip irrigation spread world over today. Only capital at their disposal was human capital. They invented new ways of living ‘’kibbutizim/ moshavim,’’ (communities’ equipped with all facilities including schools and hospitals as incubators of development.) developed towns and companies never existed they drilled and laboured and demanded much from themselves. But they dreamed and innovated for the dream nation they dreamed for thousands of years.  ‘’Kibutz’’ became the  incubator and the farmer a scientist,  High Tec in Israel began with   agriculture even little land and less water Israeli became the agriculture leader Though many still consider agriculture the epitome of low tech they are mistaken. Technology was 95% of Israel’s prodigious agricultural productivity. Israel with a population of 9,038 309 in 2021 10, 00000 has a young population of 32.6% in a country with 1/3 of the size of Sri Lanka is a world power in all aspects and areas a leading payer in international politics not least bothered about the series of resolutions against her by the Human Rights Council on violation of human rights mainly on the Palestine in the occupied land and otherwise including 1.907 of Arab origin in Israel. This is the miraculous developments in Israel in all areas to be a small but a world leader on technology, Agriculture, and Innovations is an example to Sri Lanka a beautiful island with natural beauty, water in abundance surrounded by beautiful and shallow sea, is in a financial and political crisis indeed a pitiful situation to be carefully studied and taken control of by the young and educated finding ways to leave the beatifically Island looking for foreign employment.  UAE  has been a fish market full of ‘’Sea Pyrites’’ attacking the ships passed by until ‘’OIL’’ was explored  which they invested wisely to be what they are as a  haven for money for investors and they invested it wisely on tourism making use of the geographical situation to attract the tourists and investors from all parts of the world.  Singapore is a small island once a barren land the visionary leaders have converted to be a business HUB as Hong Kong are success stories unlike the gloomy story of Sri Lanka in crisis which is a sorry state to which the successive governments and leaders and also the people are responsible. But the fact remains that if we realise the mistake and the grave mistake of the waste of our precious time in vain we can still regain the lost and legitimate glory by working together with collective attempts and a vision led by a visionary or a visionary leader in the proper way with a strategy for all to be what we should be in the world family. They became world leaders with human will and the strength led by visionary leaders who realised the ‘’value of time and sweat of the citizen.’’

Sri Lanka and ‘’Aimless Youth’’ with lack of vision and a visionary leader yet to emerge

 ‘’Sri  Lankan’’ youth is 23/% out of the population of 22.40 million generally educated and computer literate of 40% and the mobile penetration of 136% with internet facility 20% to 30% is a very successful and encouraging situation. The situation varies and it is difficult to find exact statistics (subject to correction) for obvious reasons. Youth is the future of the country generally educated yet not geared to or employment oriented with proper training due to the deficits in the system of education with no proper plan or strategy whilst the rich and able parents give children in selected private schools with English education which is necessary for employment and higher education using their savings and selling properties and finding funds from any source to educate children as an investment for them and children a very serious and disturbing situation. Universities are of substandard and not maintaining internal standards as subject to strikes and disturbances by political parties with full time ‘’political animals’’  (politically motivated student leaders) who are obstructive and anti-establishment as a result billions are spent for studies overseas especially on medical science, and such productive courses of studies. This is the unfortunate situation of the young pruned to higher studies who are able and willing for higher studies. Then what happens to the left over after O/L and A/L not properly trained in schools on languages, for technical and innovative fiends with no aim and proper guidance. Failed politicians and some Unions discouraged private medical schools and as a result millions are siphoned away for studies – a sorry state it is.

 Drop Outs from Schools

Drop outs try to find employment through political influence unsuccessfully as no vacancies in either private or public sector due to want of funds or no vacancies. They are not trained for a profession or a trade and depending on employment through political influence and today are aimless and helpless lot who will find some money to purchase a three wheel and start driving privately or as an agent of ‘’Uber’’ or Pick me operated from home or a three wheel stand also currently almost full. It is informed that there are over ten million three wheel taxies on the road ever increasing daily filled by the school drop outs and the other youth who has nothing else to do , which is a criminal waste of the productive youth otherwise would have been productive in proper facilities training and guidance is given.

Avenues for trained employees worldwide and way out with joint efforts on State Private Training Centres countrywide

The potential for foreign employment are immense of the applicants and properly trained on language and ILTS skills generally given by private and state centres free or for a reasonable fee countrywide the youth is unfortunately not making use of. We are informed that the Employment Bureau is not functioning to the maximum capacity exploring new employment opportunities and providing the demands of countries in need of labour with qualified employees the Sri Lankans are famous for as good and hardworking workers. It is time for the private sector and the state together or individually to take this responsibility to their shoulders and train these able young to be productive to themselves and the nation to be out of the unfortunate crisis the country do not deserve due to ample opportunities waiting for them world over in need of trained labour and educated youth. Philippine is one of the leading employee providing counties where 30% of the population is in overseas employment at an given time When Sri Lanka is in the range of 10% of the population with a potential of increase to lot more which is not being explored, when the prime youth is wasting the precious time on three wheel stations and on the road for jobs which are not productive to the nation in development or agriculture related matters when the country is in a grave financial and economic crisis. Employment opportunities are immense in the Middle East and many other countries in need of labour for their industrial, hospitality, development and many other areas. Opportunities are ample, Avenues are numerous, resources are enormous, education and skills are available with computer and modern skill to many including in villages, and what is lacking is the vision, visionaries, dedication, and the will of the citizen always blaming the other person without blaming themselves and to look at each other and themselves for a happy today-  NOW sarathdw28@gmail.com and sarath7@hotmail.co.uk 0094777880166 active worldwide with ‘’Wifi ‘’available

චානක බණ්ඩාරගේ

1987 ඉන්දු – ලංකා ගිවුසුම මඟින් JR ජයවර්ධන 13 හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ඉන්දියාවේ දැඩි බලපෑම නිසා යයි කීම හුදු නිදහසට කරුණක් පමණි.  දක්ෂ, එඩිතර ශ්‍රී ලාංකික නායකයෙකුට ඉන්දියාවට බැහැ කීමට අයිතිය තිබේ, සහ පිට කොන්දක් තිබේ.  1956 බැන්ඩුන් සමුළුවේදී සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවල වේගවත් කථාවක් කර හිඳ ගත් විට නේරු තුමා ඔහුගෙන් විමසුවේ තමාට ඒ කථාව කලින් නොකීවේ ඇයිදැයි කියාය. ‘මට කලින් කථා කල ඔබතුමාගේ කථාව ගැන ඔබතුමා මට නොකීවේ ඇයි’ දැයි සර් ජෝන් කොතලාවල මහතා පෙරලා නේරු තුමාගෙන් සිනහවෙන් ඇසීය. නේරු තුමා නිරුත්තර විය (“I have never met a more arrogant man than Mr. Nehru” යයි එම සමුළුවේදීම ප්‍රකාශකලේ චීනයේ චෞ එන් ලාය්ය). 1989දී රණසිංහ ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා ඉන්දීය හමුදාවට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවෙන් පිටව යාමට අණ කලේ සති 2ක කාලයක් කල් දෙමිණි. ඉන්දියාව එසේ ඉල්ලු පරිදීම පිටවී ගියා පමණක් නොව ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා 1993දී මිය ගිය පසු ඔහුගේ වියෝව පිළිබඳව විශේෂ සභා රැස්වීමක් ඉන්දීය ලොක් සභාවේ පැවැත්වීය. එහිදී නරසිම්හ රාඕ අගමැති තුමා ප්‍රේමදාස මහතා පිළිබඳව දීර්ඝ ගුණකථනයක යෙදිණි.

අදද 13 පුර්ණ ලෙස බලාත්මක කිරීම අවශ්‍ය වනුයේ ඉන්දියාවේ දැඩි බලපෑම නිසා යයි සමහරු පවසන්නේ හුදු නිදහසට කරුණක් ලෙසිණි. 13 පුර්ණ ලෙස බලාත්මක කිරීමේ උවමනාව තිබෙන්නේ ඉන්දියාවට, මේ රටේ දෙමළ, සිංහල හෝ මුස්ලිම් සාමාන්‍ය ජනයාට නොවේ. ඊලාම් පිපාසයෙන් අන්ධ වී සිටින TNA සහ වෙනත් අදාළ බෙදුම්වාදී දෙමළ දේශපාලනඥයන්ට සහ අනාගත ජනාධිපතිවරනයකදී දෙමළ චන්ද තමනට ලබා ගැනීම ගැන සිහින මවන සිංහල දේශපාලන නායකයන්ටය.

මීළඟ ජනාධිපතිවරණය පැවැත්වෙන්නේ 2024දී හෝ ඊට කළින්ය.  එහිදී අඩු තරමින් දෙමළ චන්ද ලක්ෂ 40ක් වත්  භාවිත වනු ඇත. එයින් චන්ද ලක්ෂ 20ක් වත් ලබාගතහොත් තම ජය නියතයයි සිංහල දේශපාලන නායකයෝ සිතති.

අද පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේ සියළු සිංහල ප්‍රධාන පක්ෂ නායකයෝ (ජවිපෙ ඇතුළු) 13ට අත ඔසවනුයේ මේ ආත්මාර්ථකාමී චේතනාවෙනි.

ඔවුහු රට ගැන නොසිතති. 13 පුර්ණ ලෙස බල ගැන්වුවහොත් රට නිසැකවම දෙකඩ වන බව ඔවුන් නොදන්නවා නොවේ.

JR ජයවර්ධන ඉඩම් සහ පොලිස් බලතල පළාත් සභා වලට නොදී ඒවා යටපත් කලේ ඒ නිසාය (රට කැඩෙන නිසාය).

කලින් කී පරිදී, අද සියළු රටවැසියාට ඇත්තේ 13 ගැන ප්‍රශ්ණයක් නොවේ. දෛය්නික ජීවත්වීමේ ප්‍රශ්ණයකි. ඉදින්, එවන් අවස්ථාවක මෙම 13 පුර්ණ ලෙස බලගැන්විය යුතුය යන නව කාරණය ඉස්මතු කරන්නේ මැතිවරණවලදී දෙමළ චන්ද ලබා ගැනීමේ කෑදර කම නිසාය – විශේෂයන්ම ජනාධිපතිවරනයකදී.

උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා සැමදා චන්දය දෙන්නේ බෙහෙවින්ම, තමන්ගේම වාර්ගීකයෙකුට බව අපේ සිංහල නායකයෝ තවමත් අවබෝධ කරගෙන නැත.

අනවශ්‍ය කරුණක් මේ අවස්ථාවේ මතු කිරීම නිසා ජනතාව නිරපරාදේ බෙදීමකට ලක් කර ඇත. සිංහල, දෙමළ, සහ මුස්ලිම් ජනයා ඉතා සමගියෙන් අද මේ රටේ ජීවත් වෙත්. ඉතා සංවේදී කරුණක් අනවශ්‍ය ලෙස කරලියට ගෙන ඒමෙන් ජනතාව අතර බෙදීම ඇති වන්නේ සිංහල – දෙමළ – මුස්ලිමානුවන් අතර පමණක් නොවේ. සිංහල, දෙමළ, මුස්ලිම් ජාතීන් තුලත්, ඔවුනතර – පවුල් තුල පවා, බෙදීම් ඇතිවේ.

රටට ආදරේ කරන කීර්තිමත් නායකයෝ සිය ජනතාව බේධ බින්න කරන ක්‍රියාවල නිරත නොවෙත්; හොඳ, දුරදර්ශී නායකයෝ කරන්නේ ජනතාව අතර සමගිය වර්ධනය කරන ක්‍රියාය. ඔවුහු රටවැසියන්ට අවංකවම ආදරය කරති. රටේ වර්තමානය මෙන්ම අනාගතය ගැනද නිරන්තරයෙන් සිතති. රටේ දරුවන්ගේ සහ නුපන් දරුවන්ගේ බර තමන්ගේ කර මතය යන්න ඔවුන් සැම විටම ධාරණය කර සිටිත්.  

දියුණු රටවල නායකයෝ හැසිරෙන්නේ එසේය.

ප්‍රභාකරන් සමඟ පවා ගිවුසුම් ගැසූ අපේ නායකයෝ වුහ. 

අප රටේ ස්වෛරීභාවය සහ භෞමික අඛණ්ඩතාව පිළිබඳව අරගලයකදී සැම දාම ඉදිරියට පැමිණියේ අපගේ ගෞරවනීය මහා සංඝරත්නයය. මෙය රජ කාලේ පටන් සිදුවූ දෙයකි. මෙවර සිදු වුයේද එයයි. රට බේරා ගැනීමට මෙවර ඉදිරියට පැමිණි ගෞරවනීය මහා සංඝරත්නයට රටේ සියළු ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රණාමය හිමිවේවා!

තුවාලවූ ගරුතර සංඝයාවහන්සේලා ඉක්මනින් සුවපත් වේවා!!

13 මෙවර යට ගියත්, මේ දේශපාලනඥයෝ යලි එය එලි දක්වනු ඇත. හිඟන්නාගේ තුවාලය මෙන් 13 ඔවුන් යලි යලිත් භාවිතා කරනු ඇත. මේ රටේ ජනයා භේධ බින්න කර තමන්ගේ කාර්යය ඉෂ්ට කර ගත හැකි වේ යයි  දේශපාලන නායකයෝ (සිංහල, දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම්) සිතති.  නමුත් අද ජනයා එදාට වඩා බුද්ධිමත්ය.

1987දී 13 නැවත්වීමට අපගේ වැඩිහිටියන්ට නොහැකි විය. ඒ ගැන ඔවුහු ඉමහත් ලෙස කම්පා වුහ. නමුත්, ඉඩම් සහ පොලිස් බලතල පළාත් සභාවලට ලබාදීම අප පරම්පරාව කෙසේ හෝ නවත්වනු ඇත.

ඒ වෙනුවෙන් සෑම අවස්ථාවකම, එයට විරුද්ධව දැඩිව සටන් කරනු විනා අපහට වෙන අන් කිසි ක්‍රියාමාර්ගයක් නොමැත.

නව පරපුරනටද අප සත්‍යය අවබෝධ කර දිය යුතුය.

කිසිම තේරුමක් නැතිව, 13 මෙවර උලුප්පා දැක්වීමට මුල් වුයේ සෝල්හයිම් විය නොහැකිද? මෙය ලියුම්කරුගේ අදහසක් පමණි.

සෝල්හයිම් වනාහි කිසිම සිංහලයෙක් විසින් ඔරු හබලකටත් වඩා දිග ලීයකින් වත් නෑල්ලීය යුතු මිනිසෙකි.

තම පියාගේ (කාවන්තිස්ස රජුගේ) ඉතා දුර්වල පාලනය ඉවසා ගත නොහැකිව ගැමුණු කුමරා තම පියාට ස්ත්‍රී ඇඳුම් යැවීය (මෙයට විහාර මහා දේවියද ඔහුට ආධාර කළාය).

අද රටේ උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර සිදු වන දේ අනුව මෙරට සිංහල ජනයා රටේ පාලකයනට ස්ත්‍රී ඇඳුම් තැපැල් කර යැවිය යුතුද?

1. සිංහලයාට උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර පදිංචිය තහනම්ය. නමුත්, ද්‍රවිඩයනට සහ මුස්ලිමානුවනට රටේ ඔනෑම ප්‍රදේශයක ජීවත් විය හැක. උතුරු, නැගෙනහිර මේ රටේ මුළු භුමි භාගයෙන් 1/3කි. මුහුදු තීරයෙන් ¾කි. අද රටේ ප්‍රධානතම මානව හිමිකම් ප්‍රශ්ණය මෙයයි.
2. සිංහලයන් අඩු වූ උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර ප්‍රදේශවල බොහෝ රජයේ ආයතන වල සිංහලෙන් කිසිම වැඩක් සිදු නොකරේ. ග්‍රාම සේවකවරුන්ගේ සිට දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් වරුන් දක්වා කිසිවෙක් සිංහල කථා නොකරයි. සමහරෙක් සිංහල දැන සිටියත් නොදන්නා බවක් හඟවයි. මේ පිළිබඳව උතුරේ සිංහල වැසියන් යහපාලන රජයේ සංහිඳියා ඇමතිට (දෙමළ ජාතික) පැවසූ විට ඔහු ඔවුන්ව මඟ හැර ඇත. තංගල්ලේදී දෙමළ ජාතිකයෙකුට හෝ ගම්පහ දී මුස්ලිම් ජාතිකයෙකුට රජයේ කාර්යාලයක, පොලීසියක, අධිකරණ හෝ වෙනත් එවැනි ස්ථානයක දෙමළෙන් සිය කාර්යය කර ගත නොහැකි වුවහොත් එය දැඩි මානව හිමිකම් කඩ වීමක් ලෙස දෙමළ සහ මුස්ලිම් දේශපාලනඥයන් පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවේදී සහ ඉන්  පිටත පෙන්වා දෙති. හැකි නම් ජෙනිවා ගොස් කියති.
3. යාපනයේ නාවට්කුලි සිංහල ගම්මානයේ වාසය කිරීම සඳහා  අනුරාධපුරයෙන් එහි ගිය සිංහල කාන්තාවකට ප්‍රදේශයේ ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිගේ පටන් සිදුවූ අසාධාරණ නිසා, සිය අභිමතාර්ථය සුන් කර ආපසු අනුරාධපුරය බලා යාමට සිදු විය.
4. 1987 සිට 2018 වනතෙක් (වසර 31ක් එක දිගට) උතුරු පළාතේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයා වුයේ සිංහලයෙකි. මේ තත්ත්වය වෙනස් කලේ මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේනය. චන්ද්‍රසිරි, රෙජිනෝල්ඩ් කුරේ ආණ්ඩුකාරවරුගෙන් උතුරේ සිංහලයනට යම් සහනයන් ලබා ගැනීමට හැකි විය. උතුරේ ආණ්ඩුකාරයා ද්‍රවිඩ අයෙක් විය යුතු බවට නව සම්ප්‍රදායක් බිහිවීද?
5. අද උතුරේ දෙමළ ප්‍රදේශවල ජීවත්වන සිංහලයනට තම දුක් ගැනවිලි කීමට කිසිම දේශපාලනඥක් හෝ රජයේ නිලධාරියෙක් නැත.
6. සිරිසේන ජනාධිපතිවරයා උතුරේ පුද්ගලික සහ උතුරු පළාත් සභාව සතු ඉඩම් කියා යුධ හමුදාව යටතේ තිබු ඉඩම් අක්කර දහස් ගණනක් යුධ හමුදාවට අහිමි කර දෙන ලදී. දැන් මේ රජයද ඒ දේම කරයි. ඉඩම් නොමැතිව ගොඩනැගිලි වලින් පමණක් හමුදා කඳවුරු පවත්වා ගෙන යා නොහැක. ඉංග්‍රීසි යුගයේ පවා උතුරේ හමුදා කඳවුරු පවත්වා ගෙන ගියේ එම ප්‍රදේශ රටේ ස්වෛරීත්වයට සහ භෞමික අඛණ්ඩතාවය සුරැකීමට ඉතා වැදගත් වන නිසාය.
7. 2019 ජනාධිපතිවරණයට දින කිහිපයක් තිබියදී උතුරේ පලාලි හමුදා ගුවන් තොටුපොළ ජාත්‍යාන්තර ගුවන් තොටුපොළක් බවට පත් කරන ලදී. මේ නිසා යහපාලන ජනාධිපති අපේක්ෂකයාට උතුරෙන් නව ද්‍රවිඩ චන්ද ප්‍රමාණයක් වැටෙන්නට ඇත.
8. විග්නේස්වරන් මහතා නව බෞද්ධ පිළිමයක්වත් උතුරේ  ප්‍රසිද්ධ ස්ථානයක ස්ථාපනය කිරීමට ඉඩ නොදිණි. නමුත්, කොළඹ ඇතුළු දකුණේ ඔනෑම ප්‍රදේශයක ඔනෑම වෙලාවක නව හින්දු කෝවිලක්, මුස්ලිම් හෝ ක්‍රිස්තියානි පල්ලියක් ස්ථාපනය කිරීමේ නිදහස ඇත.
9. 2015දී යහපාලන රජය යාපනයේ සිංහල මහා විද්‍යාලය නැවත ස්ථාපනය කරන බව පැවසීය. අදටත් යාපන නගර මධ්‍යයේ එම භුමිය හිස්ව පවතී. ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් විනාශ කර දමන ලද යාපනයේ සිංහල මහා විද්‍යාලය යාපනයේ හොඳම විද්‍යා රසායනාගාරය තිබු පාසැල යයි ප්‍රසිද්ධ වී තිබුණි.  මයිත්‍රීපාල සේනානායක, KB රත්නායක යාපනයේ සිංහල මහා විද්‍යාලයෙන් බිහුවූ දීප්තිමත් ආදී ශිෂ්‍යයෝය.
10. 2018දී වසර ගණනාවක් තිස්සේ පැවතී මන්නාරමේ මඩු පාර සිංහල විද්‍යාලය විග්නේස්වරන් විසින් වසා දමන ලදී.  මේ නිසා, මඩු පාර, නරි කාඩු, මුරුන්කන්, මන්නාරම වාසී සිංහල දරුවනට සිංහලෙන් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා ගැනීමේ පහසුකම අවහිර වුණි. මේ නිසා ඇතැම් දෙමව්පියනට එම ප්‍රදේශ අත් හැර දකුණ බලා යාමට සිදු විය.
11. උතුරේ බොහෝ පාරවල නාමපුවරු වල සිංහල නැත. A9 පාරේ දැවැන්ත බිල් බෝඩ් වල සිංහල සඳහන් නොකළ යුතුය යනුවෙන් උපදෙස් ලබා දී ඇත්තේ විග්නේස්වරන්ගේ පළාත් සභා රජයයි. යාපනය දුම්රිය ස්ථානයට කොළඹින් දුම්රිය පැමිණියේය කියා සිංහලයෙන් සඳහන් නොවී තිබුණි (නමුත් වේයන්ගොඩ, බෙලිඅත්ත දුම්රිය ස්ථානවල? –  නිවේදන ත්‍රී භාෂාවෙන්ම සිදුවේ). උතුරේ කිසිදා සිටියේ යයි අසා නැති විවිධ දෙමළ රජවරුන්ගේ පිළිම යාපනය නගරයේ විග්නේස්වරන් විසින් ඉදි කර තිබේ. මෙයින් නොමග යන්නේ විශේෂයන්ම විදෙස් සංචාරකයෝය.
12. පසුගිය පොසොන් පොහොයදා (2022) මුලතිව්හි කුරුදුමලේ ඓතිහාසික කුරුන්දි විහාරයේ සර්වඥ ධාතු තැන්පත් කිරීමද TNA මැදිහත් වීමක් නිසා කඩාකප්පල්කාරී විය. උත්සවයට දිවයිනේ නන් දෙසින් පැමිණි සිය ගණනක් වූ බෞද්ධ භික්ෂූන් වහන්සේලා අන්තිම මොහොතේ ‘හිස් අතින්’ ආපසු වැඩම කළහ. මේ සිද්ධිය කිසිම විද්‍යුත් මාධ්‍යක් මඟින් ප්‍රචාරය නොකිරීමට ඔවුන් ප්‍රවේශම් වී තිබුණි. සමාජ මාධ්‍යද සිද්ධිය ආවරණය කර නොතිබුණි. දකුණේ හින්දු ආගමික උත්සවයක් මෙලෙසින් කඩාකප්පල් කරනු ලැබුවේ නම්?
13. ප්‍රභාකරන් විසින් පන්නා දමන ලද උතුරේ සිංහල පවුල් 50ක් පමණ, යුධ ජයග්‍රහණයෙන් පසු තම යාපනයේ ඉඩම් ආපසු ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඉල්ලා යාපනය (පැරණි) දුම්රිය ස්ථානයේ දින ගණනාවක් රැඳී සිටියදී (2010), ඔවුන්ව ශ්‍රී ලංගම බස් වලට පටවා බලෙන්ම මිහින්තලේට යවනු ලැබුවේ එවකට තිබු රජය මඟිනි. ඔවුන් නොගියේ නම් අත්අඩංගුවට ගන්නා බවට එක් සිංහල පොලිස් ASP වරයෙක් ඔවුන් ඉදිරියට පැමිණ තර්ජනය කර කියා සිටියේය. නමුත්, ඒ අතර සිටී විරෝධාර සිංහලයන් කිහිප දෙනක් තමන් කිසිම ලෙසකින් ආපසු දකුණට නොයන බවට ශපත කරමින් උතුරේම රැඳී සිටියහ. රජයේ කිසිම ආධාරයක් නොමැතිව නාවට්කුලි සිංහල ගම්මානය (යාපනයට කිමි 8යි) බිහි කර ගත්තේ ඒ උදාර සිංහලයන් විසිනි. මේ අයව එම ගමින් එළවීමට TNA/දෙමළ පක්ෂ සහ දෙමළ පළාත් සභාව නොකළ දෙයක් නැත. නාවට්කුලි සිංහල ගම්මානයේ සමහර ගැමියන්ගේ නිවෙස් තවමත් ටකරං මඩුය හෝ බාගෙට නිම කරන ලද නිවාසය. ඒ අවට සිටින ද්‍රවිඩ ජනයාට මධ්‍යම රජය සහ ඉන්දීය රජය උදව් වී හොඳ නිවාස පිළියෙළ කර දී ඇත.
14. නාවට්කුලි සිංහල ගම්මානයේ සිංහලයනට ස්වයං රැකියා පවත්වා ගෙන යාමේදී උතුරු පළාත් සභාවෙන් නොයෙක් අවහිර බාධා ඇති විය. ඒ අයට සහණ සැලසීමට යහපාලන රජයේ ගරු කථානායක සහ ඇමතිවරුන් කිහිප දෙනක් අවංකව වැඩ කලත්, විග්නේස්වරන්ගේ පළාත් සභාව සහ අදාළ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාව ඒ සියල්ල අවහිර වන සේ වැඩ කළහ.  එවැනිම රැකියා කරන දෙමළ වැසියන්ට උතුරේ පළාත් සභා රජය තහංචි පැනවුයේ නැත.
15. නාවට්කුලි සිංහල ගම්මානයේ බෞද්ධ චෛත්‍ය රාජයා ඉදිකිරීම පිළිබඳව උතුරු පළාත් සභාවෙන් සහ අදාළ ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවෙන් පනවනු ලැබූ තහංචි ඉවත් කර ගැනීමට ඒ වැසියනට සහ එහි නායක ස්වාමින්වහන්සේට නඩු මඟට පිවිසීමට පවා සිදු විය.
16. කෝකිලායිහි කාලාන්තරයක් තිස්සේ වාසය කරන සිංහලයනට උතුරු පළාත් සභාවෙන් එල්ලවී ඇති හිරිහැර, දුෂ්කරතාවල නිමක් නැත.
17. උතුරේ මන්නාරමේ සහ මුළු නැගෙනහිර පළාත පුරාම අදත් බෞද්ධ නටඹුන්, ශිලා ලිපි, ගල් කණු  හමුවේ. මේවා විධිමත් ලෙස ලේඛන ගත කර, ඒවා පුරාවිද්‍යා ස්ථාන ලෙස ගැසට් කිරීමට පුරා විද්‍යා දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව කටයුතු කර නැත; මධ්‍යම රජය ඒ සඳහා උපදෙස් එම දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට ලබා දීම සිදු නොකළ බවයි අපගේ අවබෝධය.
18. නිවාස සංගණනයක්ය කියා මන්නාරමේ නරි කාඩු අයත් වෙන නානාත්තාන් දිස්ත්‍රික් සහකාර ලේකම් ආයතනයේ නිලධාරින් මෑතකදී එම ගමට ගොස් එහි වැසියන්ගෙන් වසා තබා ඇති නිවාස පිළිබඳව නොයෙක් ප්‍රශ්ණ ඇසු බව එහි ගම්වැසියෝ මේ ලියුම්කරු සමඟ කීහ.  මේ ගෙවල් අපරාධේ, අනිත් අයට (දෙමළ) ගෙවල් නෑ, මේක මහ අපරාධයක්” වැනි දේ ඔවුන් කියා ඇත. වසා තිබෙන නිවෙස් හැර, ඒවායේ දෙමල ජනයා පදිංචි කරාවිද යන බිය නරි කාඩු ගමේ සිංහල වැසියන් තුල ඇත (මඩු පාර සිංහල විද්‍යාලය වැසුවේත් උතුරු පළාත් සභාවයි – නිවාස හිස්ව යාමට මෙයද මුලික හේතුවකි).
19. දෙවන පෑ තිස් රජ සමයේවූ ඉතා පැරණි ගල් කුළුණු වල ඉතා මෑතකදී දෙමළ ත්‍රී ශූල ඇඳ, ඒවා භාවිතා කර, නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ නව හින්දු කෝවිලක් ඉදි කර ඇති බව පුරා විද්‍යා කටයුතුවල නියැලෙන බෞද්ධ භික්ෂුවක් මේ ලියුම්කරු සමඟ පැවසීය. මේනිසා මේ කෝවිල් වසර දහස් ගණනක් පැරණිය යන මතයක් ඔවුන් විසින් ගොඩ නඟා ඇත. මන්නාරමේ දෙමළ කෙසෙල් කොටුවක සිරස කඩා දමන ලද ඉපැරණි (රජ කාලයේ) බුදු පිළිම මෑතකදී සමුවූ බව ඒ හිමියන් මේ ලියුම්කරු සමඟ පැවසීය. මේ ලියුම්කරු එම ජායාරූප දැක ඇත.
20. 2016 පමණ, ත්‍රිකුණාමලයේ දෙහිඅත්තේ සිංහල ගැමියන් විසින් වගා කරන ලද කුඹුරු අක්කර 1000ක් පමණ ඒ ප්‍රදේශයයේ සිංහල වැසියන්ගෙන් ගෙන, එම ප්‍රදේශයේ අලුතින් පදිංචියට පැමිණි දෙමළ ජනයා වෙත ලබා දෙන ලදී. මෙය එසේ කරන ලද්දේ TNA පක්ෂයේ ඉතා වයෝවෘධ දේශපාලනඥයෙක් ත්‍රීකුනාමලයේ දිසා ලේකම්තුමාට ලබා දුන් ‘ඕඩරයෙන්’ බව දෙහිඅත්ත පංසලේ විහාරාධිපති ස්වාමින්වහන්සේ මේ ලියුම්කරු සමඟ පැවසීය.

මෙම ලැය්ස්තුව ඉතා දිගය. මෙහි සඳහන් කර ඇත්තේ සිංහලයා උතුරේ සහ නැගෙනහිර මුහුණ දෙන අසාධාරණකම් වලින් කිහිපයක් පමණි.

ඉඩම් සහ පොලිස් බලතලත් මේ පළාත් සභා 2ට දුන් පසු ඉදින් තවත් කුමන කථාද?

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි 

දේශපාලනය ඉතා ගැඹුරු විෂයකි. මෙහිදී දැනුම, වචන හා අවිආයුධ බාවිතය අනිවාර්ය අංගයකි. දැනුම හා වචන බාවිතා කරමින් ජාතික දේශපාලනය කරමින් සිටි මිනිසුන්ව නිරුත්තර බාවයට පත් කරන ලද්දේ හිටපු ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිවරයාය.

ඔහුගේ කාලය තුලදී ඔහු ගෝඨාභයගේ චරිතයට පණ  පොවනවා වෙනුවට සිරිසඟබෝ චරිතයට පණ පෙවිමට යාම නිසා ඔහුට චන්දය දුන් සියල්ලන්ම අතරමං කළහ. ඒ සිදුකල වරදට ඇත්ත වශයෙන්ම මෙරට ජනතාව තුල ඇත්තේ දැඩි කලකිරීමකි. රට හදන්නට අවැසි නීති නැත්නම් නීති හදපන් කියලා 2/3 ක පාර්ලිමෙන්තුවක්ද ජනතාව ඔහුට ලබාදුන්නේ විශාල බලාපොරොත්තු කන්දරාවක්ද සමගින්ය.

ගෝඨාභය මිලින්ද මොරගොඩව ඉන්දීය මහා කොමසාරිස් බවට පත්කිරීමත් සමග, ඔහුත් දිරච්ච ලනුකාලා නොව ගිලලා දේශපාලනය කරන බව දැනගත් අප තවදුරටත් පොහොට්ටුව මෙරට ජාතික බලවේගය නියෝජන කරන දේශපාලන පක්ෂයක් නොවන බව තේරුම් ගෙන නව දේශපාලන සන්ධානයක් නිර්මාණය කලයුතුයි යෝජනාවක්ද ඉදිරිපත් කළෙමු. ඒ 2021 ජුලි මස 11 වෙනිදාය ඒ මෙසේය.https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items/2021/07/11/%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%9c%e0%b6%9a%e0%b6%9a%e0%b7%8a%e0%b6%af-%e0%b6%b8%e0%b7%9a-%e0%b6%bb%e0%b7%8f%e0%b6%a2%e0%b7%8a%e2%80%8d%e0%b6%ba%e0%b6%a7-%e0%b7%83%e0%b7%92%e0%b6%af%e0%b7%94%e0%b7%80%e0%b7%99/

අපට අපේ දේශපාලනය තුලින් අනාගතය මේ ආකාරයට පැවසිය හැකිනම්, මේ දේශපාලන ගඟුලේ පිහිනමින් සිටින අයට මේවා පැහැදිලිව දැනිය යුතුය. නමුත් ඔවුන් නිද්රාශිලිව සිටීමේ පලයක් වශයෙන් අප බලයට පත්කළ නායකයා අපට අහිමි විය. මේවනවිට අපට ගයමින් සිටීමට සිදුව ඇත්තේ,

අනේ කුහුබුන්නේ තොපටත් රජෙක් ඉන්නේ …………..යන සුප්‍රකට පදවැලයි .

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

විපතට පත් තුර්කි ජනතාව වෙනුවෙන් මානුෂීය ආධාර ලබාදීම පිළිබඳව විශේෂ සාකච්ඡාවක්  ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ උපදෙස් මත අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් 2023.02.09 දින අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේදී පැවැත්විණි.

රාජ්‍ය ආයතන, රාජ්‍ය නොවන ආයතන හා පෞද්ගලික අංශය එක්ව මේ මොහොතේ තුර්කි ජනතාවට ලබාදිය හැකි අත්‍යවශ්‍ය මූලික පහසුකම් හා ශ්‍රම දායකත්වය පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී සාකච්ඡා විය.

එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මානුෂීය මෙහෙයුම් පිළිබඳ පුහුණුව ලත් වෛද්‍ය, ඉංජිනේරු ඇතුළු හමුදා බලඇණියක් තුර්කි ජනතාවගේ සහායට කඩිනමින් යැවීමටත්, රජයේ හා පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ නිෂ්පාදන තුර්කියට යැවීමටත් එහිදී සැලසුම් කරනු ලැබීය. අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් යුත් කමිටුවක් හරහා මෙම  වැඩපිළිවෙළ ක්‍රියාත්මක කෙරේ.

සිරියාව සඳහා වූ මානුෂීය ආධාර ද ලෙබනනය හරහා ලබාදීමේ හැකියාව පිළිබඳව මෙහිදී කතිකා කෙරිණි.

විදේශ කටයුතු අමාත්‍ය අලිසබ්රි, පරිසර අමාත්‍ය නසීර් අහමඩ්, පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණි ගුණවර්ධන, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, අමාත්‍යංශ ලේකම්වරු, සභාපති වරු, පෞද්ගලික ආයතන ප්‍රධානීන් රැසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්විය.

 අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

උතුරු සහ නැගෙනහිර සිංහල බෞද්ධ උරුමය උපුටා ගැනීම– Rathanasara Podi Hamuduruwo

වර්තමානයේ නැගෙනහිර පළාතේ තත්වය මෙසේ නම්, 13 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය බලාත්මක වූ පසු තත්ත්වය කොතරම් භයානක වේදැයි ඔබම සිතන්න.

උපුටා ගැනීම- Rathanasara Podi Hamuduruwo

https://www.facebook.com/groups/339320087007156/permalink/1217195242552965/?mibextid=S66gvF

e-Con e-News

‘Senator Cruz, like you I am and I think the administration is

very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2 is now as you like to say,

a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea.’

– Victoria Nuland, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 26, 2023

–

‘Now as we see a genuine shift of power from West to East

and to Asia and then Africa, that shift of power must continue.

As we see that East Asia along with China is emerging,

South Asia together with India and Africa will also follow

towards the latter part of this century. So we must keep this relationship

strengthened to ensure we have a bigger voice.

There are two issues, one is the Ukraine situation

which we are refusing to get involved in

and the other one is the situation that is building up in Taiwan…’

– Sri Lanka’s President meets African Envoys, 03 February 2023

–

As if uncoiling a bharatanatyam choreographed in Bollywood, protests were performed in the North & East on cue, just as US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland high-heeled down to Sri Lanka from India. Nuland ignored official English and other advisories to exercise ‘extreme caution’ in Sri Lanka. Nuland may have also decided to forego Sri Lanka’s famed guard of honor. Why should a terrorist fear terror when they believe they’re the richest terrorists in town?

  Indeed! Travel advisories could name and note, Nuland greased and signaled the foofaraw that flared from March 2022 in Sri Lanka, leading to the July resignation of an elected President. Why indeed is Nuland being dispatched to Sri Lanka for the second time within a year? ‘Nuland, her boss Anthony Blinken, and his boss Joe Biden’, seek to use Sri Lanka to escalate another bloody war for their corporations, while attempting to extricate themselves from their horror in the Baltic (see ee Sovereignty). The US believes it can reduce Sri Lanka to penury further, in order to firm it up as a stepping stone to wage war on China.

  Therefore, on cue, a just-off-the-plane Nuland barked out, that China’s financial assurances to Sri Lanka ‘were insufficient for an IMF bailout’. The world may need no proof now that it’s the US government’s state department on Washington’s C Street that does the final bean-counting. We can now stop wasting our time with the International Monetary Fund’s million-dollar economists on 19^th St in Washington’s Foggy Bottom, singing, ‘Soon! Soon! Soon!’ (to the tune of ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’)

  Meanwhile former UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon will land here on February 6 from US-occupied Korea for the 75^th Soulbury in/dependence day commemoration. He will wax & wink on reconciliation, while being unable to unite his own long US-divided country.

  However, Ki-moon’s US National Security Agency aide Anthony Banbury & his Virginia-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) have already been busy operating out of Colombo, shaping up ‘election fraud scenarios’ to divide & detain and divert us as well.

Full Story

e-Con e-News

From the Andaman to the Red Seas, from Myanmar to Djibouti, preaching ‘peace’ and buzzing about reconciliation, the US & EU are igniting wars all around us. White America’s continuing Indian Wars. Wars not to be won or lost but to be daily waged. This truth will not flicker on tv or twitter on the net…

     The IMF keeps stalling to grab assets in a fire sale while dividing the country. Weakening fiscal and fuel and food and health security to undermine our territorial and political sovereignty, did not begin recently. Welcome to the 75^th reading of the gospel according to Soulbury. Denying us a productive modern industrial economy, this outcome is not unexpected. With the latest moves to bust the banks, our thoughts turn to… banks:

     ee Readers are intrigued (see Comments below) about the 19^th-century Oriental Banking Corporation. This OBC was behind ‘the largest transfer of property ever effected in Ceylon at one time’. This week, ee links the OBC to the Rothschild Coffee Estate & its 2,000 acres of coffee, their ‘introduction’ of the first ‘China Tea Plant into Ceylon’, and the first Chinese Teamaker. These Rothschild properties eventually formed ‘the nucleus for the Ceylon Tea Industry’.

     Well, ee wouldn’t call it an ‘industry’, but whisper ‘Ceylon Tea’ and we may hear echoes: ‘Lipton’s Tea Garden’. And Lipton leads to Unilever. And Unilever leads to: well, how about the Council for Business with Britain-SL!?

     The CBBSL includes famous opium-pusher HSBC; (palm-oil devil) Unilever; Keells; Chamber of Commerce, Aitken Spence, Commercial Bank of Ceylon, Etihad Airways, MAS Holdings; Hayleys, Norfolk Foods, Finlays, Hirdaramani…

     So why can’t these mighty English merchants & usurers demand the country’s due, let alone shield the country from the incessant media slings and parliamentary arrows of the English. For it is because of these ole fattened ‘agency houses’, we have to deal with the English at all.

  This week, England’s Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) Anne-Marie Trevelyan told the English parliament on Tuesday, ‘England is ready to consider financing assurances for Sri Lanka…’ Ready? Consider? Assure? That’s it!

  With the IMF threatening to downgrade and bust the present Bank of Ceylon, what a coincidence how ee recalled last week that the ‘first’ Bank of Ceylon (BoC) royal charter was granted in 1841 by another Trevelyan, English Assistant Treasury Secretary Charles Trevelyan (1840-59). That BoC charter was eventually grabbed – when that first BoC was crashed in 1847 – by the Oriental Banking Corporation.

Full Story

e-Con e-News

What is the relationship between the 19^th-century origins of the Bank of Ceylon (BoC) and the Oriental Bank Corporation (OBC). The BoC & OBC were first set up by the English to exploit Sri Lanka’s recently stolen lands and impose the coffee plantations,. Their HR (Human Resources, ahem) expertise was  based on American (yes, this term includes the Caribbean) chattel slavery. The OBC in 1863 effected ‘the largest transfer of property ever in Ceylon’.

The OBC later lent 500,000 silver dollars in 1868 to the Japanese government
‘to finance its path of modernization’, to industrialization,
as ee reported last week.

That loan to Japan did not prevent the Oriental Bank Corporation from soon declaring bankruptcy. So where did the interest from that huge loan of silver dollars go? And what did all this have to do with setting up an English spy network alongside its mercantile ‘agency houses’? (see ee Focus)

• India’s Foreign Minister Subramaniam Jaishankar buzzed in to Colombo imposing the usual conditions for India’s support for the US IMF’s debt restructuring. The IMF wishes to delay any assistance as long as possible to buy off some of Sri Lanka’s top national assets for a song (a rock’n’roll dirge perhaps?).

Full Report

Courtesy Adaderana

The International Monetary Fund said its approval for a $2.9 billion loan to bail out crisis-riddled Sri Lanka will depend on the island nation securing assurances on debt relief from its bilateral creditors.

Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms,” an IMF spokesperson said in a statement on the progress of its Extended Fund Facility to the South Asian nation. 

As soon as adequate assurances are obtained and remaining requirements are met, including by the Sri Lankan authorities, the EFF arrangement for Sri Lanka can be presented to the IMF’s Executive Board for approval.”

The Paris Club – an informal group of rich western creditors — and India have provided formal support to the multilateral lender for the loan recast, leaving China — Sri Lanka’s biggest lender — as a holdout. China, which accounts for about 52% of the bankrupt nation’s bilateral debt, has instead offered term extensions, while urging others to adopt a similar approach.

Access to funds will boost foreign-currency reserves that are barely above $2 billion and help the nation curb sky-high inflation, steer its $81 billion economy toward recovery after facing the worst recession since independence.

Sri Lanka has about $50 billion in foreign currency debt, of which about $10 billion is mainly split between China, Japan and India, according to government data as of December.
Source: Bloomberg
— Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Speaker of Parliament Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, today (Feb. 10) announced the list of MPs who were nominated to serve in the Committee on Public Finance in the fourth session of the Ninth Parliament.

The nominations were made by the Committee of Selection.

The MPs have been selected to serve in the Committee on Public Finance, in terms of the provisions of the Standing Order 121 of Parliament and the motion agreed to by Parliament today.

The COPF nominations are as follows:

• Vidura Wickramanayaka
• Nalin Fernando
• Shehan Semasinghe
• Premitha Bandara Tennakoon
• Dr. Seetha Arambepola
• Dr. Suren Raghavan
• Anupa Pasqual
• Johnston Fernando
• Wajira Abeywardana
• Mahindananda Aluthgamage
• Duminda Dissanayake
• Nimal Lanza
• U.K. Sumith Udukumbura
• Isuru Dodangoda
• Premnath C. Dolawatte
• Attorney-at-Law M.W.D. Sahan Pradeep Withana
• Madhura Withanage
• Prof. Ranjith Bandara

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says he will ensure that maximum state support is provided to safeguard Theravada Buddhism to pass it on to future generations and spread it globally.

He also emphasized the importance of translating the series of books that were translated into Sinhala, into English, German, French and Spanish and pointed out that by doing so, Theravada Buddhism could be spread to Western countries as well

President Wickremesinghe also mentioned that the necessary provisions can be allocated through the Ministry of Buddhasasana.

Further, the Head of State pointed out that by releasing all these translations to social media, the usage can be increased and he also explained the possibility of jointly starting a separate centre with the Ministry of Buddhashana in order to carry out these activities formally.

He went on to mention that discussions are currently being held with the Maha Sangha of the three chapters about the establishment of a separate Abhidharma Centre for securing the Abhidharma Pitakaya and a committee will be appointed for its future work.

The President also said that steps will be taken to start the Mahavihara University similar to the Nalanda University after the excavation of the Maha Vihara, which preserved Theravada Buddhism, is completed.

These remarks were made during a ceremony where the President presided over the launch of a new book, Sinhala Dhammasadganipkarana,” which was compiled by the Concise Tripitaka Compilation Board. The book is part of the Abhidharma Pitaka, which consists of seven books, and is the first book of the series to be published. The Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Vidura Wickramanayake, presented the first copy of the book to the President.

During the event, President Wickremesinghe also received copies of five other books that have already been published as part of the series, including the Majjhima Nikaya, Sanyukta Nikaya, Anguttara Nikaya, Khuddaka Nikaya, and Jataka Pali. The President presented these books to the Maha Sangha, as a symbol of their popularization.

Following the launch of the book, a meeting was held with the Maha Sangha where the President Ranil Wickramasinghe had mentioned that there are many other important steps to be taken for the spread of Theravada Buddhism internationally.

Representatives from the Compilation Board of the Synopsis Tripitaka, including Royal Scholar Most Venerable Dr. Balangoda Sobitha Thera, Venerable Medauyangoda Vijayakitti Thera, and Venerable Aggamaha Panditha Most Venerable Ananda Maha Thera of Trincomalee, were also in attendance at the event, along with the Secretary of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, Somaratne Vidanapathirana, and the Buddhist Affairs Commissioner General, Sunanda Karyapperuma.

Courtesy Adaderana

A large delegation from China, including officials from the Chinese government, provincial governments and other companies, is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka next month.

Accordingly, the delegation will be visiting the island nation in search of new investment opportunities, Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Qi Zhenhong confirmed.

Courtesy Hiru News

The CID has started an investigation after disclosing an incident of taking secret video footage threatening the life of the Governor of the North Western Province, Admiral of the Fleet Wasantha Karnnagoda.

That was according to a complaint made by the Governor to the Inspector General of Police.

The Governor’s official residence is located in Kurunegala, the road leading from the Governor’s office in Kurunagala to the official residence as well as the backup vehicle were filmed by a certain group, and the video footage was given to the Governor by another person.

The videos were taken from the official residence of the SSP in charge of the Kurunegala Division located adjacent to the governor’s house.

SSP Upul Chandana Abeysinghe has admitted to the Governor that these videos were taken by someone when he was not at his official residence.

However, despite informing the SSP to conduct an urgent investigation in this regard, due to the slow progress, the Governor of the North West Province has informed the Inspector General of Police.

Accordingly, the relevant investigation has been initiated by the Criminal Investigation Department.

Shenali D Waduge

Some people’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”. What good is a justice system when the law & lawyers also twist the facts & try to manipulate clauses to the advantage of agendas. Fiorito has mixed heritage. His father is an Italian Canadian whose family migrated to Canada in late 1880s while his mother is an Indian-Estate Tamil, belonging to indentured labourers imported from South India by Colonials to work on plantations in Sri Lanka, she migrated to Canada in late 1970s. Fiorito himself was born in Canada in 1982. So Fiorito, has no heritage in Sri Lanka as he was probably born in Canada.

Fiorito claims his mother never had a right to vote in Sri Lanka. This can happen for several reasons. Her parents may not have registered her to vote. She may have not been in a voting age or there may have not been an election before she left Sri Lanka. In case Fiorito is unaware it was only in April 1928 the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously declared ‘the word person did not include female persons’ & the UK Privy Council was petitioned & this ruling was changed in 1929. It wasn’t until 1960 that ALL Canadian women finally had the right to vote – that same year Sri Lanka produced the worlds first female prime minister! 

Fiorito admits he was taught to be a Canadian & not a Tamil so obviously he does not speak a word of Tamil too so it must be pretty difficult for him to know first hand what Tamils in Sri Lanka go through!

Fiorito admits his mother nor her family spoke a word about life in Sri Lanka & his present liaisons with pro-Eelamists groups naturally makes him see only one side of the story. We empathize with Fiorito on this account. This is understably why he has got his facts all twisted.

Fiorito may also be unaware of the real discrimination that prevail amongst Tamils – coming from an estate Tamil family, this group of Tamils are regarded the lowest caste by Jaffna Tamils. Ironically, the eelam that is being espoused does not even include estate Tamils, in case Fiorito is unaware. Maybe he should clarify this aspect from his mother. Fiorito’s grandiose speech about a Tamil Nation” and Eelam” omits estate Tamils! Fioritos heritage comes from estate Tamils that were originally brought from South India to Sri Lanka. It would be best that Fiorito first dig up this history, the caste system & discriminations associated with this & use his legal process to undo caste discrimination legalities & illegalities before venturing to promote a terrorist movement & hold commemorations for terrorists or even demanding Canada to remove ban on LTTE.

https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2006/04/canada-new-government-lists-ltte-terrorist-organization.html

Fiorito needs to be corrected – there is NO TAMIL NATION, not in Sri Lanka nor even in India’s Tamil Nadu where 72milion of the worlds 76m Tamils live in a state that is called Tamil State. There is no country called Tamil Eelam to be put back on the map!

As for Fiorito’s lavish use of the term ‘genocide’ – we hope he has looked at the population figures & can explain how genocide can exist when Tamil population is increasing! It is baffling for all of us.

Fiorito may also like to produce the names of these people supposed to have been genocided” or at least tell us where their skeletons are. We are all so curious to know the names of these 40,000 supposed to be killed people. Did they even exist? Were they even born? Lets see Fiorito come out with names & details.

41 year old Fiorito born & living in Canada probably never even travelled to Sri Lanka. If he has, he never mentioned it. If he did, perhaps he may like to produce some pics with Prabakaran. Then again, even the loud-mouthed Wigneswaran shied from going to greet Prabakaran & lived all his life in Colombo & decided to live in Jaffna after being parachuted to contest as Chief Minister.

Let us jog Fiorito’s memory for he seems to be clueless about the acts of terror committed by Prabakaran.

Prabakaran & LTTE started off their murderous ways by assassinating a Tamil mayor as he stepped out of a place of religious worship in 1975.

Prabakaran & his murderers went on to murder Tamil policemen on duty in North Sri Lanka. Two acts of crimes against Tamils.

Prabakaran & murderers went on to break banks that held deposits of Tamils. Another crime against Tamils.

Prabakaran & his murderers went on to kidnap children from Tamil parents & turned these into child soldiers. Another crime against Tamils.

Prabakaran & LTTE denied Tamil children their right to education, their right to peace, their right to be with their parents, their right to childhood & their right to become somebody’s in life. These kidnapped Tamil children held a gun instead of a pen, lived in jungles instead of home & wore terrorist uniforms. Fiorito was happily getting education in Canada, living in a safe home & lucky enough not to get kidnapped. He could become a lawyer. How many of these LTTE kidnapped children were prevented from becoming lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers? Can Fiorito, respond!

Fiorito is quoting numerous laws that States have a duty to comply with. LTTE is not a State. It is an organized armed non-state actor. Sri Lanka’s conflict is categorized officially as a non-international armed conflict.

LTTE committed a string of violations of international humanitarian laws, none of which can be justified by bogus notions being presented with new legal narratives. When the UNSG & diplomats appealed to LTTE to release hostages & not use Tamil civilians as human shields, none of Fiorito’s legal jargon can erase this fact. Not stopping there, LTTE even shot dead Tamils that tried to flee LTTE. Would Fiorito like to tell us exactly how many Tamil civilians LTTE killed? LTTE even sent suicide missions to refugee camps where more Tamil women & children & Sri Lankan soldiers were murdered.

Fiorito may also not want to know how many Tamils were denied food, water & medicines by LTTE. Whatever humanitarian assistance sent, was collected to be used only by LTTE & LTTE families. The Tamils that were eventually saved by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were unfed, feeble, weak & in hunger. Plenty of humanitarian aid was sent, the problem was that these were confiscated & kept only for LTTE to use. HRW report Trapped & Mistreated” proves this.

No amount of sensationalism by pro-LTTE elements overseas can remove the crimes LTTE committed since 1980s in Sri Lanka. Fiorito can stand on podiums in Canada, but having not been in Sri Lanka when LTTE was committing its heinous crimes, he has no credibility to be preaching for LTTE from abroad.

LTTE did not represent Tamils – Fiorito may like to offer an explanation for all the Tamils that LTTE killed.

Fiorito claims that a Tamil Nation only requires a permanent population, defined territory, a government, capacity to enter into relationships with other states & all these are prevalent in Tamil Nadu not Sri Lanka. There was no Tamil Eelam govt at any point in history. Exactly who is heading this Tamil Eelam nation” in Sri Lanka or does Fiorito think it has to be remote controlled from Canada? Now that plenty of Tamils are hold legislative positions in Canada, & Tamils are living in a defined territory in Canada, why doesn’t Fiorito help create a Tamil Eelam Nation in Canada?

The notion Fiorito is implying is giving momentum for all terrorist groups to create defacto areas & plug legal jargon to declare autonomous states by power of gun & terror! This cannot be allowed & it is only gravitating to placing people to live in fear.

Interestingly Fiorito quotes the 1977 election & TULF presenting Tamil Eelam quest in its election manifesto. Fiorito claims that the victory ascertained the will of the Tamil people, but Fiorito forgets to mention that the TULF leader was assassinated by LTTE inside his own home.

Fiorito refers to racism” & discrimination” – he needs to look at the Tamil caste system & see how discrimination exists among Tamils before pointing fingers. In fact it is the estate Tamils that are worse off – ask his mom.

Fiorito may like to also look at the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957 where the Sinhalese Prime Minister passed a Bill to allow Tamil low castes to obtain education & go to school when they were denied by Tamils. Tamil leaders sailed to UK to beg the Privy Council to annul the Act. This is what is called discrimination. Fiorito should do some research & see how low caste Tamils especially the Up Country estate Tamils are discriminated by Tamils before pointing fingers.

The reference to standardization is totally unacceptable, because only the elite of all communities had upto 1970s been enjoying entry to universities. Standardization was opposed by the elite of Sinhalese & Tamils because it meant their quoto would get reduced & children from rural parts would also gain entry to universities.

When terror comes unannounced & when terror lasted for decades, it is for the safety of the people that PTA exist, Terrorists should not be safeguarded, people should. When people promoting banned terrorist groups are demanding removal of the prevention of terrorism act, alongside lifting proscriptions, we have to wonder why!

Fiorito has totally been fooled by the land rights too. 80% of Sri Lanka’s land belongs to the State. Only 14% of land are private land. Anyone contesting illegal usage of private lands, must show legal ownership to that land first. No one can claim State land as private land.

Fiorito has thrown several international conventions to present his case to justify LTTE crimes & seek de-proscription of LTTE by Canada. However, renowned international terrorism experts have studied every allegation made by people like Fiorito & their expert opinion negates all that Fiorito attempts to promote.

Opinion of Sir Desmond de Silva & Prof. David Crane

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121568

Opinion of Prof. Michael Newton

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=120653

Opinion of Sir Desmond de Silva

http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=122971

Opinion of Sir Geoffrey Nice and Rodney Dixon

its ironical for Fiorito to say our country of Tamil eelam” while living in Canada, then again all those beating their breasts demanding Tamil Eelam are foreign passport holding foreign citizens. Whats even funnier is Fiorito & Co are talking about a long walk for freedom” to a country they have not been born in, lived in & unlikely to ever come to!

By the way the ordinary Tamils back in Sri Lanka are not even asking for a Tamil Eelam Nation” – isn’t that odd too!

Shenali D Waduge

By Garvin Karunaratne 

My craze for motoring in the forsaken neglected Sinhala areas where poor unequipped buddhist monks struggle to guide  the people  following the dictat of Lord Buddha: Charita Bhikkae Charikan Mahajana Hitaya, Sukhaya” took me this time to Sandamal Eliya, five miles before one reaches Tanmtirimale.  

Tantirimale is a rock temple where there is a reclining Buddha statue carved on living rock like at Polonnaruwa. Tantririmale was within the domination of the LTTE for years.   Sandamal Eliya is run by Venerable   Viharegama Sangarakkhita            , a pupil of the chief monk  at Tantirimale who was killed by the LTTE cadres.  

As happens very often I think I know the roads where I had often travelled long ago when I worked in the Sixties in the Anuradhapura District when I established  some two hundred and ninety eight cultivation committees and often met the farmers coaxing them to use hybrid varieties- then it was H4 and H8. I keep forgetting that new roads and new junctions have emerged and often get lost.  

This time I was lost in the Illuk jungles of Mahawilachchiya. I motored through the illuk forest that seemed to have no end. I saw patches of iluk everywhere I looked. People had even resorted to burn the illuk when it invaded their homes. I was lost for long among illuk jungles that seemed to have no end in sight.  When  I reached  the Sandamal Eliya temple I spoke with Ven Sangarakkhita and he confirmed the fact that the area is full of illuk grass, a grass that cannot be eradicated. 

Then it did flash in my mind that the machinery imported toValachenai to make paper was intended to use illuk grass.  What did happen was that illuk grass was consumed fast and the machinery lay idle. Then it was our engineers and scientists who for the first time found out that straw could be used for making paper. Then the farmers at Hingurakgoda and Polonnaruwa made good money by selling lorry loads of straw to the paper mill. I entered the scene at that time. In Agrarian Services to keep the truants and fraudsters in check I happened to be a lone islandwide flying squad and the circuit bungalow of the Valachenai provided me a night’s rest on many a day. My interests in industrial development made me see the details of the paper factory at work. 

It has so happened that despite the fact that Mother Nature provided fertile land, plenty of rain water and our ancient rulers also provided a sophisticated and advanced irrigation system with canals taking water at a gradient of six inches in a mile, a feat that baffles the irrigation experts of today, there is plenty of starvation among the people. The otherday I came across a family of three living on two and a half perch house at Bandaranayakepura Rajagiriya, shared with six other close relatives all living within the pangs of hunger, where they forego lunch with a cup of tea. That is in our capital. Go to the colonies at Padaviya and Mahavillachchiya, the situ is far worse. The rains will provide two crops of paddy but the cost of getting machinery to plough and harvest is forbiddingy high. Once a portion of that is sold for living expenses there are days when there is no money and a vast number of people have  to forgo a meal. Their life remains a true misery.  

The Illuk grass at Mahavillachchiya can come to the rescue if only some engineer and scientist can resurrect the paper making with illuk grass. It only needs the import of a small scale paper making machine from India or China. One inquiry by me on the internet found a vast range of suppliers of paper making small factories. It is a simple operation- cutting the illuk into small pieces, then churning it with the addition of a few chemicals  to  pulp and then we can make cardboard or paper. All this is done in a small scale machine and the people will find employment and incomes while the country will be able to save the foreign exchange now being spent to import paper.  

I am dead certain that this is some task that can be done. Mind you that the team of President Gotabhaya has done wonders in the past few months by getting the Valachenai Paper Factory functional. That was a factory that was closed and neglected for over half a century from  the Eighties till the North and the East were liberated from the clutches of the LTTE- a task accomplished by no other than President Rajapaksa and his brother Mahinda. For that Gotabhaya and Mahinda combination, establishing a illuk paper factory at Mahavillachchiya  will be a simple task. We only require President Gotabhaya to order it done. 

I too can make a contribution- this time in writing a few words- mine is a NATO type- it is No Action Talk Only. But once upon a time  from 1955 to 1973 I was in a role full of action. As the Government Agent at Matara in 1971 when I was  charged with the task of creating employment I did direct my Planning Officer who was a chemistry graduate to conduct a myriad experiments to find the art of making a crayon. It took three months locked up in the science lab at Rahula College Matara, helpedby the science teachers. They won the day and found the art of making superb crayons equal to the quality of the then best Reeves. Thereafter the Morawak Korale Cooperative Union established a crayon factory within three weeks and for the next seven years 1971 to 1978 this Coop Crayon was sold islandwide. That was work done my the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya who was in charge of the Coop Crayon Factory- an idea for all our Members of parliament to follow if they do want to serve the Motherland. When the Minister for Industries got wind of Coop Crayon he cancelled the import of all crayons and instead gave us an allocation of foreign  exchange to import dyes, the only foreign component in the manufacture of crayons.   

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To provide credibility to these specific plans I could quote the success I had in Bangladesh, where I  won a battle I had with the Secretary to the Treasury, the highest officer in the land, when he said that I could not establish a employment programme for the youth. The ILO had failed to establish such a programme in the earlier three years.  The Minister for Labour and Manpower who arbitrated in our battle gave the word go and  I designed and established the Youth Self Employment Programme of Bangladesh and trained the staff to continue the programme after my two year  advisory ended.  This Programme has within the space of four  decades 1982 to 2020, guided over three million to be self employed. This is easily a world record and a record in employment creation  that has never been equalled.  

May I live in hope that our new President will immediately order that a paper making small scale factory be established in Mahavilllachchiya.  

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University 

Former Government Agent at Matara  

09022022.

Courtesy ShiaTV

IMF and World Bank policies are opening national markets to US-dominated \”multinational corporations\” effectively destroying the homegrown economy of poor countries all over the world from Latin America to Africa to Asia. The program was essentially about enriching a few ruling.

Money Trail | IMF & World Bank: Two major levers of US economic hegemony – English – ShiaTV.net

Malinda Seneviratne

There are some uncomfortable truths about the 13th Amendment, devolution of power and of course provincial councils. Let’s begin with the here-and-now.

Provincial Council elections haven’t been held in years. It is more than 10 years since the Eastern Provincial Council elections were held and more than nine since they were held for the Northern Provincial Council. Did the people in the Northern and Eastern provinces complain? Did their representatives complain? Did any who have screamed for devolution for the last forty years raise even a whimper? Did those who make a living out of talking democracy, reconciliation, good governance, devolution and conflict resolution complain? Have those who are now, in the name of democracy, agitating for local government elections, ever insisted that PC elections be held? Did anyone say ‘constitutional provisions should be implemented?’

No. Simply, no. Humbuggery, yes.

Let’s go back to 1987. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, soon to be assassinated by the very terrorist outfit he and his mother before him funded, trained and armed, in effect held a gun to the head of the then President of Sri Lanka, J R Jayewardene, forcing him to sign the Into-Lanka Accord and thereafter get the then parliament (made of parliamentarians who he forced to sign undated letters of resignation) to pass the 13th Amendment. The people were not consulted. There was no debate. Illegality was written all over the document, its enactment and implementation.  

It was an act of thuggery endorsed by a man who had excellent thug-credentials (having bashed heads of striking workers in July 1980, looked aside while thugs from his party’s trade union unleashed violence on Tamils in July 1983 and under whose watch two university students were killed in June 1984). And it was designed to further a cause of a bunch of terrorists. Simply, thuggery.

Most importantly, it wrecked rather than made easy administrative functions a case in point being agriculture, in particular agricultural extension. It has been estimated that on average no less than two-thirds of monies allocated to provincial councils have been used to pay salaries and maintain offices. Some PCs, like the Northern Provincial Council, couldn’t even spend all the money allocated to it in certain years. Simply, a white elephant. Nine of them in fact. Nine rogue white elephants.

Today there’s talk of the 13th Amendment being implemented to the letter, meaning police and land powers would be devolved. First of all, not only was the 13th Amendment imposed by a thug and illegally enacted by thug and his minions for the benefit of another bunch of thugs, it had nothing to do with ground realities. Devolution of power as a remedy to stated grievances is a monumental joke given geographic, economical, historical and demographic realities. We need not elaborate, but if you really believe in the Eelamist lie about ‘traditional homelands,’ you could read up on Raja Raja Chola I and how that particular marauder who had no stake in championing ‘Sinhala chauvinism’ described this island: ‘the land of the warlike Sinhalas,’ no less. 

That said it has acquired legitimacy, if not in the circumstances of enactment by affirmation through practice — all major political parties have contested provincial council elections at one time or another. Not because they agreed with the narratives of ‘grievance’ and ‘aspirations,’ but that they saw it as a means to advance political projects, as individual politicians and as collectives.

Two factors may have serves to dispel concerns regarding the 13th Amendment. First, the powers vested in the office of the president was the insurance policy against separatism. Secondly, land and police powers were never devolved. With regard to police powers, several amendments beginning with the 17th, in effect, made such devolution unnecessary. Land was not even talked about.  

Now, if we are to go with the intent expressed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, we could very well see Chief Ministers of Provincial Councils having the kind of sway that even the President does not enjoy with regard to policing in their respective domains. Now there’s also the threat of each Chief Minister having the power to override all central government safeguards with regard to the protection of forests and the preservation of archaeological sites at will.

We do know that certain Chief Ministers belonging to certain ethnic groups have been averse to archaeology perhaps out of fear that wild narratives about what happened and creative historiography will be proven beyond a shadow of doubt to be absolute bunkum. We also know that parties such as the JVP have at various points in their history talked of tearing down stupas so that building materials could be put to other use. We had Sunil Handunnetti recently ridicule Buddhists for their preferred forms of worship. What such people in the role of Chief Minister could do should be reason enough to be wary, extremely wary about devolving land powers.

Forests! There are protected areas in all provinces. Even without land powers being devolved forests are being cut down, partly in the name of development and probably more extensively on the sly. Just imagine nine politicians (and we know that it is a profession favoured by crooks, thugs and the uncivilised) with police and land powers running their own fiefdoms. Pretty? Pretty grim!

A word about the JVP is necessary. The JVP gained much ground riding the general antipathy to Indian intervention and opposition to the 13th amendment. Sixty thousand (60,000) people, INCLUDING JVP LEADERS AND ACTIVISTS died in a period of two years (1988-89). The JVP now wants the 13th Amendment to be fully implemented, i.e. with land and police powers devolved. Perhaps we’ve seen the last ‘Il Maha Samaruma’ of the JVP. Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Co., will have to answer to all the party members, supporters and others who perished during the bheeshanaya.  Will Dissanayake say ‘those sahodarayas were a bunch of idiots back then!’

What should be done with a piece of legislation describable as ‘by thugs, with thugs and for thugs’?

Repeal. Simply, repeal. 

Dilrook Kannangara

JVP was the last of the Sinhala political parties to accept 13A and provincial councils in 1999. By then UNP, SLMP, SLMC, EPRLF, SLFP and PA had succumbed to the 13A honeypot. It was a wise decision of the JVP to at last embrace the inevitable. 13A has no benefits for the nation; it adds more expenses, corruption and waste to national coffers and facilitates separatism. However, in the absence of a truly patriotic political party in the country, paying lip service to national unity while enjoying the benefits of provincial councils is the norm. JVP acceded to this norm in 1999 and was instantly rewarded as with the case of the SLFP which was also rewarded in 1993 (UNP, SLMP, SLMC in 1988 and TNA in 2012). Another Roman in Rome!

Today’s norm is the full implementation of 13A which is already enacted. All political parties represented in parliament support 13A implementation (or as falsely termed full” implementation). A law cannot be part” implemented unless its implementation is not practical due to a temporary situation. All laws are mandated to be implemented in full. Constitution is the supreme law of the land and non-compliance is a criminal offence. The oath to uphold the Constitution taken by all 226 includes upholding everything in the Constitution which includes 13A – the only amendment to the Constitution which remained untouched for the longest period of time. Shows that it is more permanent than other parts of the Constitution.

NPP/JVP was seen as less politically matured than other established parties that produced prime ministers and presidents. Recognizing its growing support, NPP/JVP is now par with the rest on 13A. By supporting 13A, JVP is pitching at the few liberal-minded people in the SLPP/SLFP camp and also at the 5% Tamil and Muslim voters of the SLPP. When they too leave the SLPP/SLFP it will be a party of the moribund.

13A is neither a vote winner nor a vote loser. It is a non-issue at elections. Voters have already made up their mind based on other issues and are not going to change just because of the reemerged 13A discussion. It’s irrelevant to the election. Accepting it also shows political maturity.

None of this should be construed as beneficial to the nation. On the contrary, 13A is destructive economically and politically. However, 13A is also an old gramophone disk played during election time which can be played both sides as all political parties do. Voters’ ears are immune to it as the executive president is immune to the crime of non-compliance with the Constitution.

Courtesy Teheran Times

At times of natural disasters, countries actually set aside differences with the foes and extend a helping humanitarian hand. 

But the United States and its Western allies have refused to assist the Syrian government even as it faces one of the worst natural disasters in more than a century.

Syria has already faced 12 years of war waged by foreign-backed militants and terrorists as well as sanctions that have ravaged the Arab country. 

Over the past years, Damascus has also seen large chunks of its oil, estimated at more than 10 billion dollars, looted by the United States military stationed in the east and northeast. 

This is the money that must have gone to reconstruction projects in Syria and invested in vital services.

Now, much-needed equipment is being prevented from reaching the nation as the number of deaths from the 7.8 magnitude earthquake, that shook several regions in southern Turkey and northern Syria, is constantly rising.

The country is struggling to pull people out of the rubble as many governments fear violating U.S. unilateral sanctions imposed on Damascus by sending machinery and other relevant equipment as well as humanitarian aid to help victims of the natural disaster. 

Other countries, including Iran, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, India, and Argentina, have shown no fear and have either delivered aid and equipment or have pledged to do so. 

Many Arab leaders have also spoken to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to express their sympathy and extend their condolences. 

Al-Assad chaired an emergency meeting of cabinet ministers and security officials. He says the government will provide everything it can to help all areas affected, including regions occupied by militants or terrorist groups such as the northern city of Idlib, whose residents are living under occupation by terrorists such as the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. 

Damascus has also announced it will not stand in the way of any country willing to send humanitarian aid or rescue teams to the civilians in these regions. 

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters that Washington will deliver aid to Syria through nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) without engaging with the Syrian government.

These are the same NGOs that Washington sponsors to back the militants and terrorists who are terrorizing the civilian population under their control. 

Experts say there is no question that any funds will go to the pockets of the terrorists and not for aid and rescue efforts. 

Images have gone viral on social media, from cellphone air traffic tracking applications, that shows how the movement of airplanes appears to be very dense in Turkish airspace, while Syrian airspace is almost devoid of any air movement.  

There does appear to be a rush to provide aid to Turkey, unlike Syria.

Syrians have spoken of waiting several hours for rescue teams to arrive, as civilians themselves, using their hands and traditional tools removed what they could from the rubble and tried to save their families and neighbors.

The destruction that the West and some of its allies have inflicted on Syria for more than a decade is indescribable.

The country had enormous capabilities before the 12-year war and used to send aid to countries around the world when they were exposed to such disasters, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Iran.

The Syrian region of Aleppo has been designated as the most affected part of the country so far, according to government data, when taking into account the number of buildings and houses that have totally collapsed or partially destroyed. 

The head of the Aleppo City Council has spoken about “the difficulties in removing rubble and in securing adequate mechanisms and rescue personnel, as a result of the large scale of damage.”

The deputy head of the Aleppo City Council, Ahmed Rahmani, has also said “the violent military battles that took place in the neighborhoods of Aleppo had a major role in the recent collapse of buildings, as a result of the cracking of the soil under the buildings, and the delay in the reconstruction process due to the sanctions imposed on Syria.” 

He explained that there is a great shortage of equipment for such operations, especially those used to remove rubble, while also stressing that there is a severe shortage of medicines and fuel needed to operate hospitals.

The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates has appealed to the UN member states, its relevant agencies and funds, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and other humanitarian agencies, including international governmental and non-governmental organizations, to help and support the rescue efforts as the country in wrestling with the devastating earthquake.

Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad held a meeting with representatives of UN organizations and offices operating in Syria and NGOs explaining the impact of unilateral sanctions, which have worsened the situation.

On the other hand, sources have confirmed to different Arab media outlets that a large number of air cargo companies have refrained from landing at Syrian airports, for fear of U.S. and European sanctions.

Several countries have asked Syrian airlines to transport tons of aid on board their civil aircraft, intended for the transportation of large volumes of aid to circumvent the sanctions.

Commander of the Latakia Fire Brigade Lieutenant Colonel Muhannad Jaafar says “the unjust sanctions against Syria contributed directly to the increase in the number of earthquake victims, due to the inability to secure modern machinery and equipment used in such cases.”

Latakia is a port city in Syria’s west strongly affected by the earthquake.

“We have done our duty to the fullest, according to the capabilities available to us. The regiment, with all its elements, is on alert. Rescue operations are continuing until this moment, but unfortunately, we are taking double the time because we do not have cameras to detect victims, heavy equipment, or a sufficient number of vehicles, while if these were available, we could have saved more lives,” Jaafar pointed out.

FM Miqdad says “the earthquake disaster is enormous.” He said “what has increased its depth is the difficult circumstances of Syria, as it is fighting terrorism and those who support it.”

He explained “the sanctions against Syria have increased the difficulty of the disaster,” stressing that “the state is following up, at an external and internal level, the mobilization of support to help the earthquake victims.”

Referring to Syria’s request, through ambassadors, for external support to deal with the disaster, he pointed out that President al-Assad “requested the use of all the state’s capabilities in rescue and relief operations,” and that “all hospitals in Syria have been set up to treat earthquake victims.”?

He extended gratitude to countries that have sent aid and to the leaders of countries who have expressed their desire to help.”

Calling on European governments to deliver aid to his country, he has stressed that “sending it now from Europe does not need a request and (administrative) bureaucracy. Humanitarian aid is not subject to sanctions, according to international laws. Therefore, there is no need for this as an excuse.”

He added Syria has “suffered double standards in international politics.”

He also said if Western countries are not able to fulfill their humanitarian duties, history will not forget this.”

Meanwhile, reports suggest there has been no communication between Syria and Turkey, even at a humanitarian level. 

The Israel regime claims it has received a request for relief assistance from Syria, but Foreign Minister al-Miqdad set the record straight, saying “Syria does not consider Israel a state, but rather calls it the Zionist entity, many assassinations, through the Nusra Front and other terror groups, are carried out with direct Israeli support.”

Damascus has stated that probably Israel has received request for aid from Daesh or the Nusra Front. 

The occupation entity is the cause of the scourge, wars, and tensions in the region, and is the last one who has the right to speak of aid and assistance,” the Syrian foreign minister confirmed. 

Manusha Media

ඕමානයේ සුරක්ෂා නිවාසයන්හි රැඳී සිටින කාන්තාවන් 59 දෙනා මෙරටට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ නෛතික ගැටලු කිහිපයක් ඇති බවත්, කාර්ය මණ්ඩල අඩුපාඩු ඇතත් එකී ගැටලු විසඳාගත් සැනෙන් ඔවුන්ව ලංකාවට එවීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත්, ඒ සඳහා ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ ද අනුමැතිය ලැබී ඇති බවත් කම්කරු හා විදේශ රැකියා අමාත්‍ය මනුෂ නානායක්කාර මහතා පැවැසීය.

දැනට ක්‍රියාත්මක මිනිස් ජාවාරම මැඩලීමට ගත හැකි උපරිම රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ක්‍රියාවට නැංවීම සහ මෙරට පුහුණු වෘත්තිකයන් සඳහා ඕමානයේ වැඩි රැකියා අවස්ථා ප්‍රමාණයක් විවෘත කර ගැනීමේ මූලික අරමුණු ඇති ව ඕමානයේ සිව් දින නිල සංචාරයක නිරතව සිටින අමාත්‍යවරයා ඕමානයේ සුරක්ෂා නිවාසයේ රැඳී සිටින කාන්තාවන් හමුවී, ඔවුන්ගේ ගැටලු සොයා බැලීමෙන් අනතුරුව මේ බව පවසා සිටියේ ය.

මෙම කාන්තාවන් සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාධ්‍ය මගින් විවිධ සාවද්‍ය තොරුතුරු ප්‍රචාරය වන බවත්, ඒ නිසා මෙම කාන්තාවන් ඉතා අපහසුතාවට ලක් ව ඇති බවත් පැවසූ අමාත්‍යවරයා තොරතුරු වාර්තා කිරීමේ දී වගකීමක් සහිත ව එකී කාර්යය ඉටුකරන මෙන් මාධ්‍යයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ ය. එහි දී වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දැක්වූ අමාත්‍යවරයා මෙසේ ද පවසා සිටියේ ය.

ඕමාන තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ සුරක්ෂිත නිවාසයේ කාන්තාවන් 59ක් දැනට ඉන්නවා. ඔවුන්ට තියෙන කරදර සම්බන්ධයෙන් විවිධ මාධ්‍යවල විවිධ ප්‍රචාර යනවා. මේ පිරිස සමග සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව ඔවුන්ගේ සැබෑ ම තොරතුරු ටික දැනගන්න හැකියාව ලැබුණා.

ඕමානයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තානාපති කාර්යාලය ඉතා ම අඩු පහසුකම් යටතේ ක්‍රියාත්මක වෙන්නේ. තානාපති කාර්යාලයේ කම්කරු අංශයේ සහ සුරක්ෂා නිවාසයේ නිලධාරීන්ගේ වගේ ම භාෂා පරිවර්ථකයන්ගේත් පුරප්පාඩු තියෙනවා. නිලධාරී හිගය නිසා මේ පිරිසගේ නීතිමය කටයුතු ඉටුකිරීමේ දී ප්‍රශ්න ගොඩක් තියෙනවා.

රටේ තියෙන ආර්ථික ප්‍රශ්නයත් එක්ක මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයෙන් කාර්ය මණ්ඩල සම්පූර්ණ කරන්න මෙතෙක් අනුමැතිය ලැබිලා නෑ. හැබැයි මේ කාන්තාවන් සෑහෙන දුකක් විදිනවා. ඒත් ඔවුන්ගේ නීතිමය ප්‍රශ්න විසදලා එවන්න තව කාලයක් ගත වෙනවා.  

මේ පිරිසගේ ප්‍රශ්න හොයලා බැලුවාම සමහරු දැනුවත් ව වැරදි විදියට ඇවිත් තියෙනවා. සමහරු නොදැනුවත් ව ඇවිත් තියෙනවා. සමහරු වැරදි කරලා ඇවිත් තියෙනවා. සමහර අයට ඒ ගෙවල්වලින් යම් යම් මුදල් ප්‍රමාණයන් ගෙවන්න තියෙනවා. සමහරු සංචාරක වීසා මත ඇවිත් තියෙනවා.

ඒ නිසා මේ අය විවිධ විවිධ කාණ්ඩවලට ගන්න පුළුවන්. මේ අය විවිධ විවිධ කණ්ඩායම් ගතකරලා, මේ රටේ සේවා දායකයන්ට ගෙවන්න යම් මුදලක් තියෙනවා නම් ඒ සියල්ලත් ගෙවලා මේ අයව වහා ම ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගන්න ජනාධිපතිතුමා අවසරය දුන්නා. දැන් අපි ඒ සඳහා කටයුතු කරමින් ඉන්නවා.

එයට අවශ්‍ය දත්ත සහ සාක්ෂි ලබා ගැනීමට ඕමානයේ කම්කරු අමාත්‍යංශය හා ආගමන විගමන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සමග කටයුතු කළ යුතුයි. කාර්ය මණ්ඩලවල අඩුපාඩුව සම්පූර්ණ වූ වහා ම මේ පිරිස හැකි ඉක්මනින් නැවත ලංකාවට ගෙන්වා ගැනීමට කටයුතු කරනවා.

එසේ ම මාධ්‍ය හරහා බොරු තොරතුරු වාර්තාකරණය ගැන මේ කාන්තාවන් ඉතා දැඩි කණස්සල්ලට පත්ව සිටිනවා. ඒ පිළිබදවත් අවධානය යොමුකළ යුතු ව තිබෙනවා.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa through a lawyer today claimed for sum of Rs. 17.85 million recovered from the President’s House on 9th July.

However, Colombo Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage rejected the application citing police are yet to conclude the investigations.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda) 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former Minister and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna National Organizer Basil Rajapaksa said that he is ready to give up his US citizenship if the dual citizenship was an obstacle to his future political activities.

He told a television political program that not only the dual citizenship, but he is also ready to remove any other legal obstacle to work for the people.

He said the people of the country should decide whether he succeeded or failed.

He said he has a great responsibility at this time, in the backdrop of a President who obtained 6.9 million votes being removed and a parliamentarian killed and violence unleashed against a large number of government politicians.

Basil said they were unable to step outside of their houses and several properties of politicians were attacked and burnt down by the public due to the Aragalaya. 

However, Ranil Wickremesinghe who they chose has changed that situation, he said.

Basil said Ranil Wickremesinghe was able to resolve the key issues of gas explosions, fuel queues, and over 10 hours of power cuts.

At present, we are not facing any of those social issues. We believed he is an individual who has the capacity to resolve such issues and he has proven so,” he said. (Darshana Sanjeewa Balasooriya)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Claiming that the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) has granted special electricity tariff reduction to Housing Apartment Complexes than normal domestic units, Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekara said today that electricity could be provided to normal domestic units at concessionary rates if the special relief granted to Housing Apartments was withdrawn.

The Minister told Parliament that the eletricity tariff charged from Housing Apartment complexes were 50% lesser than the tariffs charged from normal housing units and raised doubts as to why the PUCSL has allowed such special relief to the Housing Apartments.

The Minister said he expected the PUCSL would change that special relief granted to Housing Apartment Complexes and added that if that was done, domestic consumers could be provided with electricity at concessionary rates.

The Minister also said he was positive that the PUCSL would give the approval to the proposal of electricity tariff revision on February 15 as promised by the Commission.

“The PUCSL promised to the Cabinet and the National Council that it will amend the tariff proposals and give its approval on February 15. We hope they will keep their word,” he said.

He said the power crisis had aggravated due to the delay caused by PUCSL’s approval to tariff hike. (Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has taken a torch which is burning from both side by trying to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, Former President Maithripala Sirisena said today.

He said he wondered why Ranil Wickremesinghe was trying to implement this controversial 13A when the country was facing serious issues.

Mr. Sirisena said none of the former Presidents such as JR Jayawardane who introduced the 13A, Ranasinghe Premadasa, D.B. Wijetunge, Chandrika Bandaranaike, Mahinda Rajapaksa, or himself  ever attempted  to implement it.

He said it was not an easy task as majority of Sinhalese Buddhists are against it.

“13th Amendment has to be dealt with care,” he said. ( Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) has urged all persons to be vigilant of the security of the details of their bank cards, owing to the recent rise in financial scams.

Accordingly, CBSL warned all persons to refrain from sharing their usernames, passwords, PIN numbers, One Time Passwords (OTP), Card Verification Values (CVV) and other details related to their bank accounts, with any other third parties.

Courtesy Adaderana

Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Country Representative for Sri Lanka, Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque says that the Sri Lankan government needs to take steps to ensure efficiency when it plots the way forward for the country and cut down on the number of subsidies given to the public as well.

He made these remarks while speaking during a panel discussion ‘At HydePark on Ada Derena 24’.

Joining the panel discussion, Economist Dr. Tissa Jayaweera added that even though economic experts like to call for ‘debt forgiveness’ it is not something that will be done by countries giving out money generated by their people to countries that have misappropriated such funds.

In response to a question raised, during the discussion whether Sri Lanka is on track to get the IMF assistance, the former IMF resident coordinator to the island emphasized that the addiction of obtaining debts must stop and that Sri Lanka needs serious policy planning. 

IMF programme will not lift you from your issues”, he said.

Speaking further, Dr. Nadeem Ul Haque questioned as to why would the world forgive a country for wasting money, highlighting that this requires a large global consensus.

If debt forgiveness is given, question is how you will prevent it. We have a debt issue because we wasted the money,” he added.

World doesn’t give subsidies to the extent Sri Lanka does,” Dr. Ul Haque claimed.