Courtesy Adaderana

The Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) has recommended that a committee, headed by a retired court judge, be appointed to investigate the issues raised by the special audit report of the Central Cultural Fund for the period between 2015 and 2019.

It was also recommended that the report of the newly-proposed committee be presented before COPE within 03 months.

These recommendations were amongst five recommendations given during a COPE meeting held yesterday (07 March), under the patronage of Prof. Ranjith Bandara.

The meeting was held in order to investigate the matters raised by the special audit report on the functioning of the Central Cultural Fund and to examine the progress of the implementation of recommendations previously given by COPE on 24 November 2022.

The Internal Inquiry Committee, appointed by the Secretary to the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs, to investigate the matters raised in the said Special Audit Report for the purpose of reporting to COPE, was also discussed at length, with COPE recommending that the committee be dissolved.

Meanwhile, the validity of the 209th meeting of the governing council of the Central Cultural Fund was also discussed, after concerns in this regard were raised at the previous COPE meeting.

Accordingly, the Auditor General pointed out that only seven of the 11 members have agreed to the decisions of the 209th meeting and four, including the former Prime Minister, have not signed. 

Stating that there is a discrepancy between the signatures used by the seven signatories on the signature list of this meeting and the signatures used by them in the previous governing board meetings, the Auditor General pointed out that the decisions of the 209th governing board meeting have not been adopted in the 210th meeting.

The Auditor General also stated that the then Prime Minister’s Secretary and the current President’s Secretary, who were members of the relevant governing body, confirmed that he was not a party to such a meeting.

Thus, COPE recommended that the validity of the signature list of the 209th meeting be checked and that the relevant list be referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Government Inspector.

As per COPE’s recommendations, the Central Cultural Fund is due to be recalled before COPE to review the progress of the previous recommendations made by COPE.

State Ministers Janaka Wakkumbura, Lohan Ratwatte, Indika Anuruddha Herath, D. V. Chanaka, Shantha Bandara Members of Parliament, Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, Mahindananda Aluthgamage, Rohitha Abegunawardhana, Eran Wickramaratne, Nimal Lanza,  Nalin Bandara Jayamaha, (Mrs.) Rohini Kumari Wijerathna, Chaminda Wijesiri, SM Marikkar, Sanjeeva Edirimanna, Jagath Kumara Sumithraarachchi, (Major) Sudarshana Denipitiya, Premnath C. Dolawatte, Upul Mahendra Rajapaksha, M. Rameshwaran, Rajika Wickramasinghe, Madhura Withanage, (Prof) Charitha Herath were present at the Committee meeting.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s rupee, which became the world’s best performing currency this year amid hopes of an International Monetary Fund bailout, may resume declines and lose a fifth of its value against the dollar by end-2023, according to Fitch Solutions.

We are optimistic that Sri Lanka will be able to secure an IMF board approval by early 2Q 2023,” said Seah Wang Ting, country risk analyst at Fitch Solutions. Nevertheless, there’s potential for disruptions after the initial board approval as authorities may find it challenging to stay on track with the IMF program amid a weakening economy and a local election likely on the horizon, he said.

Fitch maintained its forecast for the rupee to weaken to a record low of 390 per dollar by year-end. The rupee advanced 3% to 317.7 per dollar on Wednesday, taking its annual gains to over 15%. That’s after the IMF said it plans to decide on a $2.9 billion bailout for Sri Lanka following China’s assurance that it will support the nation’s debt restructuring. 

Sri Lanka has increased taxes, cut energy subsidies and loosened its grip on the currency to secure the IMF loan. The central bank recently lifted borrowing costs further to ensure that inflation which has slowed from nearly 70% doesn’t flare up.

Sri Lanka still has significant external debt repayment needs and will need to build up its foreign reserve buffer over the coming months, which would put downside pressure on the exchange rate,” Fitch said in a report Wednesday.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Tuesday the country needs to repay about $6 billion-$7 billion foreign loans on average each year until 2029.

The Sri Lankan rupee may also be pressured by tightening global monetary conditions, according to Fitch. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday that the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated.

Source – Bloomberg

-Agencies

Courtesy Hiru News

Sri Lanka is negotiating with India to extend a 1 billon dollar credit line by a few months, according to sources, as the island nation tries to line up funds for the rest of the year while the IMF looks set to approve a 2.9 billion dollar loan for it soon.

The credit line is due to expire on March 17 with Sri Lanka having used only about two-thirds of it, mainly for medicines and food.

The extension talks come as the economy improves and forex reserves rise for Sri Lanka.

A source at the Sri Lankan Finance Ministry said the government wanted to extend the credit line by 6 to 12 months because there was about 300 million dollars of it left unused.

Courtesy Hiru News

IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said The International Monetary Fund welcomes the progress made by Sri Lanka in “decisive” policy actions and in obtaining financing assurances from all major creditors.

IMF Chief said the IMF looks forward to presenting what will be the island nation’s 17th IMF programme to the international lender’s executive board on March 20.

She said “The Extended Fund Facility will support the authorities’ program of ambitious reforms, which will help Sri Lanka emerge from its current crisis and set it on a trajectory of strong and inclusive growth,

Approval by the Board would also catalyze financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Shenali D Waduge

It is advised that people should not be too mesmerized by the word independent”. Who can be independent in this interlinked world. Even decisions in the halls of the UN end up determined by a simple threatening phone call. The arm-twisting methods used would shock most. When Funding/AID is tied to numerous conditions & subject to interference in internal affairs of states, where is the independence? This thought should be in the background of the present attempt to make Sri Lanka’s Central Bank independent”. Sri Lanka is likely to face a similar situation to that faced by Latvia.

Latvia is a former Soviet Republic securing independence in 1991. In 1992 Latvia’s Central Bank was declared independent” of the Latvian govt. Latvian Central Bank was not to be subject to the decisions and regulations adopted by the Government or its institutions. This is similar to what is being proposed for Sri Lanka – by whom no one knows!

Ilmars Rimsevics, was appointed governor to Latvia’s Central Bank in 2001 & led Latvia into the Euro in 2004. He also sat as a member of the European Central Bank governing council.

He was accused of taking bribes from a bank in 2018. He was the first European Central Bank governor (19 other EU governors of the eurozone) to be put on corruption trial.

June 2018 – Latvia’s Central Bank Governor Ilmars Rimsevic was charged by the Latvian public prosecutor for accepting bribes. Rimsevic refused to resign. The Latvian authorities prohibited him performing duties as Governor in February 2018 but Latvia had no authority to dismiss him because the Latvian CB was independent” while the Governor was a governing council member of the European Central Bank where he was dependent” & abiding ECB laws.

Inspite of Rimsevic being accused of bribery/money-laundering, EU declared that Latvia does not have sufficient evidence to dismiss the Latvian central bank governor. ECB even challenged the Latvian governments decision. Latvian govt could not even appeal against the decision. This was the first time EU judges were asked to preside over dismissal of a ECB governing council member claiming that EU law provided protection to the central bank from political interference. European Court of Justice claimed Latvia had failed to provide evidence to justify dismissing Rimsevics.

Rimsevics took courage from his status at ECB to challenge Latvian govt in EU Court of Justice

Rimsevics sued the Latvian government in Europe’s top court- European Court of Justice, for restricting his ability to work at the ECB.

EU Court of Justice gave its judgement on 26 February 2019

Fellow members of the ECB Governing Council also brought action before the EU Court of Justice activating Article 14.2 of the ECB statute that a decision to relieve a governor from office may be referred to the Court of Justice by the Governor concerned or by the Governing Council of the ECB on grounds of infringement of this Treaty or of any rule of law relating to its application”.

This meant that the powers Rimsevics had as a member of the governing council of the ECB protected him from any prosecution by a national government in which he was serving as the governor of its central bank. This was the level of independence” the Latvian Central Bank Governor was enjoying. The national government had no power over the governor of its Central Bank!

The Latvian government argued that the Central Bank of Latvia was bound by legal & institutional links & that article 14.2 was not applicable. However this was rejected by the EU CoJ.

National acts were set aside in favor of the independence” of the European Central Bank. Both Rimsevic & the Board of the ECB sought the CoJ to declare that the national measure is unlawful. The ESCB is a ‘novel legal construct in EU law” highlighting a new EU legal order against national legal orders.

Is there a clash between EU law & Member State law?

The current case proved so. What is likely to happen is to neutralize Member State law & bring it under a single EU order. The EU court declared a national act void – what if a national court declared an EU act void too?

Rimsevic obviously was hiding from one entity & shielding himself under another. This is the scenario likely to happen in Sri Lanka if the Central Bank Bill is passed. What if Sri Lanka’s Central Bank Governor is also given an international position providing him immunity over any litigation which Sri Lanka may bring against him as in the case of Latvia’s Central Bank Governor who was saved because he was on the Governing Council of the ECB! Is this the independence” we seek?

Shenali D Waduge

Sugath Kulatunga

The Constitution of the country provides for the appointment of a Secretary for each Ministry,who is empowered to exercise supervision over the departments of Government or other institutions in the charge of his Minister.vide the following Articles of the Constitution.

52. (1) There shall be for each Ministry a Secretary who shall be appointed by the President.

(2) The Secretary to the Ministry shall, subject to the direction and control of his Minister, exercise supervision over the departments of Government or other institutions in the charge of his Minister.

In most cases Ministry Secretaries are the most senior members of the SLAS. Normally they have had over 25 years of service in different fields and have undergone post graduate training abroad. They are the crème de la crème of the public service.

With persons of such caliber in charge of the administration of Ministries it is difficult to explain the numerous misdemeanors exposed in the postmortem exercises of the Parliamentary Committees of COPA and COPE. Each ministry would have an internal auditor directly responsible to the Secretary who would be reporting to the Secretary any planned and ongoing transgressions.

It is suggested that the Internal Auditor works closely with the external auditor and bring to the notice of the Secretary of the Ministry any wrongdoing. To make the two auditors work in harmony the internal auditor could be an officer seconded from the Audit Department. With such a system in place both the Secretary and the internal auditor should be made accountable for any wrongdoing in the Ministry.

These high-powered officials should not be allowed to be like the 3 wise monkeys. After all they are paid more than peanuts.

Sugath Kulatunga

e-Con e-News

The Sunday Times asked the question above of the much-promoted Shanta Devarajan, ‘Professor of the Practice of International Development at the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University, US, advisor to the Government of Sri Lanka on the International Monetary Fund (IMF).’

‘No comment,’ replies the much-promoted and seemingly mired professor.

• What is the relationship between China’s silken exposé of the role of the World Bank and other ‘multilateral banks’ in Sri Lanka’s economy, the sudden rise in the value of the SL Rupee against the US Dollar, and the frenetic visits and threats from a phalanx of US heavies, from the CIA Director to the World Bank?

And what ‘help’ is the USA providing?

     After funding and provoking a seemingly aimless ‘Aragalaya’ to oust a popular President (see ee Focus, Protest & the Left), their media machine and their ‘columnists’ have now taken to decrying the ‘anarchism’ of the protestors (ee Politics). The opposition SJB wants the US to intervene to ensure local government polls are held. Others have even called for the US to fund elections in Sri Lanka! They may next propose that ‘free and fair’ Sri Lankan elections be held in Washington!!

     One national commentator notes the failure of the US, Canada, England and EU to condemn the attacks on demonstrators, as they did when President Gotabhaya Rajapakse was in power. They only ask for elections. He points out: it may be due to the time differences: When we are awake, the US is asleep, and when we are asleep the US is awake. However, when the UNP is in power, the USA appears to sleep both night and day.

•

‘CIA-instigated jockstrap-insurrection

delivered Sri Lanka to the jaws of the IMF’

(see ee Sovereignty)

• CIA Enters Minus Guard of Honor – As a panicking government in India reneges on its popular ‘time-tested’ friendship with Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited New Delhi, from March 1-3. A public visit by Blinken to Sri Lanka was not deemed necessary. Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) William Burns had already covertly crept into Sri Lanka on February 14, their Valentine’s Day, as part of a ‘top secret visit’ to lay down their ultimata:

     ‘For over 3 weeks we have been questioning as to who visited the country, but the government and the US have maintained their silence’ charged MP Udaya Gammanpila:

     The US plans to set up ‘an Intelligence Analysis Centre for intelligence sharing with them. This proposal first came in 2002 when the current President was Prime Minister. The-then government attempted to implement this project amidst strongest objections from the local intelligence community.

     ‘The 2^nd proposal is the gifting of a biometric immigration control system to Sri Lanka, to which US will retain access.’ The move aims ‘to discourage Chinese & Indian investors’ from investing in Sri Lanka.

     ‘The 3^rd proposal includes access to submarine telecommunications cables & data’, with US guarding it to prevent terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka. ‘This is the biggest joke of the year.’

     ‘The final proposal was the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the 2 countries’. It appears the first 3 proposals are meant to create diversion, while acceding to Number 4: ‘If our national security is compromised in this manner, Sri Lanka will soon follow the fate of Panama.’

     Meanwhile Nepal’s government, which has agreed to sign on to the US MCC, prevented a visit by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William J Burns because ‘the timing of the trip was not seen as so conducive’, due to their upcoming presidential election on March 9’ (see ee Random Notes).

     MP Wimal Weerawansa declares the SL government is planning to place the State Intelligence Service’s responsibility for ‘information handling & decision-making’, under the US CIA: ‘A similar shifting of responsibility had happened in 2001, but was suspended in 2004.’ The subsequent confusions over the Easter terrorism are meant to reinforce this demand.

            Two weeks ago, the 20-member Pentagon delegation, headed by US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs (PDASD), Jedidiah P Royal (stuffed in bullet-proof vests), visited Sri Lanka’s State Intelligence Service (SIS) office in Colombo, and also met the President, Defence Secretary and heads of intelligence services, carrying concealed weapons that they did not disclose.

     Weerawansa also asked Foreign Minister Ali Sabry to explain to the House the purpose of the US delegation’s visit and meetings with local authorities. Sabry said the Foreign Ministry was unaware of the visit and that it had been handled by the Defence Ministry (ee Sovereignty, Plans underway to bring SIS under CIA).

•Full Story

Courtesy RTHK

Sri Lanka’s president said on Tuesday that China had agreed to restructure its loans to the bankrupt island nation, clearing the final obstacle to a long-awaited International Monetary Fund bailout.

An unprecedented economic crisis has seen Sri Lanka’s 22 million people suffer acute food, fuel and medicine shortages, along with extended blackouts and runaway inflation.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government has been working to repair Sri Lanka’s ruined finances and secure the sorely needed IMF rescue package.

But it was held up by debt negotiations with China, its largest bilateral creditor.

Wickremesinghe told parliament Beijing had now agreed to a restructuring and that he expected the first tranche from the Washington-based lender’s promised US$2.9 billion in funds to be released within the month.

“We have done our part, I hope the IMF will do theirs,” he said in a special address to lawmakers.

Wickremesinghe said the state-owned Exim Bank of China had sent a letter to the IMF on Monday night signalling its willingness to go ahead with a restructuring.

“Sri Lanka has now received financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors,” said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department.

This paves the way for the fund’s board to approve a loan earlier agreed upon by its staff.

“Approval by the board would also catalyze financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,” he said.

The arrangement will help authorities’ programme of ambitious reforms to aid Sri Lanka in emerging from its current crisis, he added.

Sri Lanka defaulted on its US$46 billion foreign debt last April. (AFP)

By Shivanthi ranasinghe Courtesy Ceylon Today

Earlier this year, President Ranil Wickremesinghe pledged to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (13A) in full. Currently, it is in effect except for Police and land powers (granted partially), which are still exercised by the Central Government. This was a surprise announcement made on 15.01.2023 during the National Thai Pongal Festival held in Jaffna. 

The President noted a number of valiant points including, 

– fundamental issues as poverty, hunger and deprivation is suffered by all indiscriminately in Sri Lanka;

– All must return to the Sri Lankan identity, established by the late D.S. Senanayake 75 years ago, if all are to enjoy coexistence and economic prosperity.

To address these problems, the President pledged to:

– establish a Social Justice Commission to resolve relevant community issues to ensure harmonious cohabitation by addressing,

– issues of all communities, not just that of the North and East Tamils;

– further protecting Tamils in the Hill country for earning forex for the country even though they are fully integrated into our society and enjoy the same rights and privileges as other communities,

– the many problems faced by Muslims, Sinhalese and Christians, 

– the marginalising faced by those in poverty. 

– fully implement 13A because it is being demanded by Chief Ministers in both the North and South. 

It was also promised to discuss, with all political party leaders, the steps needed for reconciliation. According to this promise, this meeting was to take place in the following week, which would have been the third week of January. The decisions taken was to be made public in February 2023. However, such a discussion did not materialise. 

In this gift bag, was also the promise to:

– accelerate the Truth and Reconciliation Commission work to provide relief to the families of the disappeared and to answer allegations against the military,

– Replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) with a ‘new law’ to ‘create stability’ in the country,

• Handover the bulk of the remaining 3,000 acres of land that are still under Military control from the original 30,000 acres during the war. 

 Out of these commitments, only one has thus far been fulfilled. On 11.02.2023, President Ranil Wickremesinghe ceremoniously awarded land deeds and Rs 38,000 as financial compensation to 197 families at the Jaffna District Secretariat. According to the President’s Media, these were the original settlers, who got displaced 33 years ago during the war against terrorism. It is however unclear if the Sinhalese forced out by the LTTE were also part of this group. These lands were being used by the Security Forces. 

Though the President made many promises, only one caught the attention of the nationalists – the pledge to implement the 13A in full. This means to handover pending Police and land powers to the Provincial Councils (PC), which none of the previous Presidents had dared to do. 

Agitation of the Nationalists

The agitation of the nationalists over the President’s 13A promise is understandable. For nearly 40 years, it is these nationalists who stood guard over the country’s unitary status. While various governments experimented with all sorts of solutions to contain terrorism, it is the nationalists who stayed resolute that terrorism cannot be a tool of negotiations. It is they who challenged the hypocrisy and falsehoods that went hand-in-hand with terrorism in Sri Lanka. 

While many nurture the dream of nullifying the 13A altogether, it is unfortunately a poisoned seed that has now taken root. The extra political layer created with the PCs will be very hard to uproot without antagonising that mid-level politicians. Though castigated as an unnecessary expense that had failed to deliver tangible benefits, it is not possible to eliminate this layer without hurting the political hierarchy of all political hues. Once a power is given, it is very difficult to take it back. 

The 13A is a constant reminder that the efforts to divide our country and exacerbate ethnic tensions still persist – despite ending terrorism 14 years ago.  However, without the land and Police powers, this is a toothless threat (keeping in mind that a bite from a toothless gum is not painless).  

Why is 13A Such a Thorn? 

Though many are under the impression that the land powers are fully with the Central Government, this is not the case. The management of State land is already vested with the PCs. Even the Executive President can use a State land for whatever purpose only on the PC’s advice. 

The power not yet with the PC is the recognition that all lands, not identified as archaeological sites, belongs to the PC. However, explains MP Udaya Gammanpila, up to date, none of these heritage sites have been recognised in Parliament as important nationally. Therefore, warns the Parliamentarian, all the sites in North and East that are of historic significance to the Sinhala Buddhists as Nagadeepa, Thanthirimale Temple, Girihandu Seya, Deegavapiya and Seruwila will come under the respective PCs, run by racist politicians. 

It is their earnest plans to erase all evidence of Sinhala Buddhist heritage – an act already in operation. This allows them to establish the North and East as an exclusive Tamil Homeland. 

The other contentious clause is the power to merge two or three provinces to be under one PC. Indeed, when the 13A was forced into our Constitution, the North and East were merged under emergency laws. Once the emergency law was lifted, the Supreme Court determined that the merger was also invalid. Yet, the possibility of such a merger still exists. 

The effort of the separatists is to merge the North and the East. The North on its own, with its limited natural resources, will find it difficult to exist on its own. The East is home to all three ethnic groups with the domineering Muslim community. As such, if the East was allowed its own PC, the Eastern Tamils will be dominated by the Muslims. This would defeat the very purpose of this whole exercise of dividing the country into nine provinces. 

Granting Police powers so the respective Police force of that PC comes under its Chief Minister is the most dangerous clause of all. It leaves the path for another LTTE to emerge. The difference would be simple and stark. 

LTTE was a terrorist organisation and as such illegal. This prevented most foreign governments from openly lending its support. However, a PC Police force that may decide on its own weaponry and training and ruled by a politician is the legitimising of a force as the LTTE. As a legitimate force, any foreign government can openly support its cause. 

13A Supersedes All Other Concerns 

Given these dangers, it is a little wonder that President’s verbal commitment to implement the 13A in full created the stir it did. Even the venerable Sangha wrote to President advising him against such foolishness. For a moment, people put aside the matter of the ongoing economic crisis or the efforts to delay the Local Government elections to oppose this act. 

It is not only the 13A that came to be challenged. MP Wimal Weerawansa reminded the President that he does not have a mandate of his own yet. The Government, until the next major election, must therefore adhere to the mandate given to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

The 13A is without argument a matter of extreme concern. However, this is not the only problem present” in the President’s Thai Pongal gift bag. Some gifts need clarification. For instance, what did the President mean by further protecting Tamils in the Hill country for earning forex”? 

The other main forex earners for our country are often as vulnerable, if not more, than those working in tea estates. The girls who leave their villages to work in the apparel sector face many social issues. The women who leave for overseas to work as domestic aides are often not entitled to any rights in their host countries. Some of their experiences are simply horrifying, whilst others are degraded in numerous ways. Some return home in a coffin. 

Truth and Reconciliation Commission must expand their investigations to answer the allegations of not only that against the Military but also against the LTTE and the IPKF. Otherwise, it would amount to cherry-picking the crimes. Simultaneously, in determining the fate of the disappeared, the Commission must amend the clause that if such a person is located, the records must reflect as such. Currently, the status ‘disappeared’ cannot be updated without the consent of the ‘disappeared’ person. 

The current PTA should not be arbitrarily replaced with a ‘new law’. There needs to be proper public discourse with the local stakeholders than foreign experts who are clueless on the real issues we face or those with a geopolitical agenda. 

For the moment, there is a silence on the status on the fulfillment of these pledges. We do not know if the President decided to listen to the concerns via-a-vis the 13A and decided to shelve it or simply kept it aside until the hue and cry dies. 

Whether President Wickremesinghe will carry out with these plans is beside the point. While these contentious issues are allowed to exist – even in limbo – it poses a threat to our national security. Therefore, instead of agitating every time a politician makes a pronouncement, there needs to be a steady plan to address these concerns methodically and eliminate the threat forever. Otherwise, both the promises and the protests amount to nothing more than political fodder. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of
Ceylon Today)

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

CIA Chief’s cloak-and-dagger visit:

Pivuthuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader, Udaya Gammanpila, MP, yesterday (06) said that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government and the US embassy in Colombo should come clean on CIA Director William Joseph Burns’ Colombo visit.

The former Power and Energy Minister said so in response to The Island query whether the government had challenged his claim on the CIA chief’s visit.

I’m 100 percent sure Burns was here on February 14,” MP Gammanpila said, challenging the government and the US Embassy here to contradict him, if they could.

Pointing out that Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, PC, in response to Jathika Nidahas Peramuna (JNP) leader Wimal Weerawansa’s disclosures in Parliament about the alleged CIA intervention in the State Intelligence Service (SIS) had denied any knowledge of the secret visit of the top CIA spook.

Responding to another query, the former minister said that there was absolutely no doubt that Burns accompanied US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs (PDASD), Jedidiah P Royal. He emphasised that there were altogether 29 persons including the crew of two C-17 Globe Masters and the delegation.

The Defence Ministry released pictures of Jedidiah meeting with State Defence Minister Pramitha Bandara Tennakoon and Defence Secretary Gen. (ret) Kamal Guneratne, separately, the

MP pointed out, asking who Burns had met in Colombo during the whistle stop visit.

Referring to media reports that Nepal had not permitted the CIA Director’s visit, MP Gammanpila said that Burns was to fly from Colombo to Kathmandu, in the third week of February, but had been compelled to fly home.

Gammanpila said that the government should set the record straight if it truly felt JNP leader Wimal Weerawansa, General Secretary of the Communist Party Dr. G. Weerasinghe and he had misconstrued facts regarding the recent controversial US visit.

Declaring that the US was seeking enhanced access to Sri Lanka, MP Gammanpila claimed that among the issues raised by the US was the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), also known as the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA).

Pointing out that Sri Lanka had entered into another military agreement, Acquisition and Cross Servicing Agreement (ACSA) in August 2017, MP Gammanpila said that in spite of extremely close Indo-US relations in line with American Indo-Pacific strategy, New Delhi would still be uncomfortable against the backdrop of much-expanded US role here.

Regardless of their differences India and China skipped the vote at the UN General Assembly to pressure Russia to withdraw forces from Ukraine. Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Vietnam were among those countries that abstained.

MP Gammanpila urged the government to come clean on the CIA Director’s visit as Sri Lanka couldn’t afford to become a member of any alliance. The PHU leader pointed out how Quad countries, namely the US, Japan, Australia and India, pursued an agenda that may not help peaceful resolution of disputes.

Gammanpila said the economic-political-social crisis had weakened the country and opened the way for external powers to enhance their influence through various means. The MP cited as example the recent joint statement issued by the US Embassy and Sir John Kotelawela Defence University at the launch of what they called a shared vision for the Indo-Pacific.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has welcomed the progress made by the Sri Lankan authorities in taking decisive policy actions and obtaining financial assurances from all major creditors including China, India and the Paris Club.

In a statement, Kristalina Georgieva said she looks forward to presenting the IMG-supported program to the organization’s Executive Board on March 20.

The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) will support the authorities’ program of ambitious reforms, which will help Sri Lanka emerge from its current crisis and set it on a trajectory of strong and inclusive growth.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday said Sri Lanka has secured financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors, paving the way for the IMF board to consider approval of a long-awaited $2.9 billion four-year bailout agreed last year.

The IMF said its board will meet on March 20 to review a preliminary staff-level agreement first signed in September, offering a lifeline to the South Asian country which faces its worst financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.

Approval is expected since the board generally will not add items to its agenda unless its members are ready to act.

Sri Lanka has now received financing assurances from all major bilateral creditors,” Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department (APD) said in a statement.

This paves the way for consideration by the IMF’s Board on March 20 the approval of the Staff Level Agreement reached on September 1, 2022 for financing under an Extended Fund Facility,” Srinivasan added.

A source familiar with the matter said China had agreed on Monday to back Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring with stronger financial assurances, allowing the IMF to move forward.

The announcement comes days after the IMF praised Sri Lanka’s surprise decision on March 3 to raise interest rates and move toward a market-determined exchange rate as evidence of a commitment to reducing inflation and enacting reforms.

Sri Lanka, which has been facing shortages of food, fuel and medicines, has been waiting for more than 180 days for approval of the IMF loan, mostly due to IMF concerns over the quality of the initial financing assurances offered by China and other bilateral creditors, and its insistence on painful reforms.

Central bank Governor P. Nandalal Weerasinghe said last week that Sri Lanka had fulfilled its conditions with the rate hike and he was hopeful the IMF bailout would be approved this month.

The IMF said the board’s approval of a new loan for Sri Lanka would help catalyze financing from other creditors, including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

The arrangement will support the authorities’ program of ambitious reforms, that they have already embarked upon, which will help Sri Lanka emerge from its current crisis and set it on a trajectory of strong and inclusive growth,” he said.

Source: Reuters
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The All Share Price Index (ASPI) of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has increased by nearly 200 points during today’s (07 March) trading. 

Accordingly, the ASPI increased by 198.02 points (2.10%) to close at 9,642.94 after today’s trading. 

This is also the highest close of the index for the year so far, after starting 2023 on 8,489.66 points.

Meanwhile, the S&P SL20 showed an increase of 1.09%, after it gained 30.96 points to increase to 2,869.14 points at the close of trading. 

Today’s total turnover was recorded s Rs. 3.43 billion.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Election Commission has deemed April 25 as the ‘most suitable’ date to hold the 2023 Local Government polls.

The election body informed the Returning Officers that the local government election cannot be conducted on March 09 as scheduled due to unexpected and unavoidable reasons” pertaining to the printing of ballot papers.

In a special gazette notification, dated January 30, 2023, issued by the respective District Returning Officers for the LG bodies of each district, under Sub-section 38(1)(c) of the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance, it was announced that the LG election would be held on March 09.

However, the LG election was later deferred as the government insisted that polls cannot be funded amidst the prevailing economic crisis.

Later, the election commission convened several meetings to decide on the LG polls and a conclusive decision on the election date was scheduled to be taken on March 03. Nevertheless, announcing the new election dates was put off following a meeting held by the members of the Commission that day.

The postponement of the decision came in the background of an order issued by the Supreme Court in this regard, instructing that a date for the 2023 polls be announced before 09 March.

Meanwhile, a group of parliamentarians of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB), National People’s Power (NPP), Freedom People’s Alliance, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and other parties representing the opposition convened a meeting at the Election Commission this morning to discuss the matter.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) has appreciated further against the US dollar (USD) today (07 March) as the buying rate reached Rs. 318.30 and the selling rate recorded Rs. 335.75. 

At the same time, the Middle Rate of the USD/ LKR SPOT Exchange Rate was recorded at Rs. 337.66.

The Sri Lankan Rupee has also appreciated against the Euro, the Pound Sterling, the Australian Dollar, the Indian Rupee, the Canadian Dollar and the Japanese Yen, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported.

Sufian Siddique Independent researcher and freelance columnist, Dhaka

Pakistan’s economy is on the brink of bankruptcy like Sri Lanka’s. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves have fallen below $3 billion. They have asked the IMF for a ‘bailout loan’ a long time ago, but the IMF is trying to impose strict conditions that Pakistan’s current ruling coalition has no capacity to meet. Even China and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s long-standing loyal friends, are now reluctant to shoulder Pakistan’s burden. China has stopped power supply from the power plants built by Pakistan on China’s loan after Pakistan failed to pay the long-delayed installments. Due to this terrible load shedding is going on all over Pakistan. Frequent grid failure. The value of the dollar in Pakistani rupees has increased dramatically, currently Pakistan has to pay 277 rupees to get 1 dollar.

Inflation in Pakistan’s economy has reached such an alarming level that the price of a kg of flour now exceeds Rs 160 and a kg of sugar is over Rs 300. The main reason for this crisis is the burden of a huge armed force of seven lakhs including five and a half lakh army. It is not economically feasible for Pakistan to raise such a large army just for war with India. Hostilities between the two countries began with the Kashmir War of 1947-49, which ended with a UN-imposed ceasefire. Although the 1965 war was not decided by either side, the diplomatic victory in the war that was settled by the Tashkent accord went to India. In the 1971 war, the Pakistani armed forces surrendered in Dhaka after being defeated by the Bangladesh-India joint forces, through which Bangladesh declared independence on 26 March 1971 and marched in victory on 16 December. In the last Kargil war of 1999, Pakistan was forced to accept a ceasefire that failed to achieve its objective. But as an inevitable consequence of this war game, the actual governance of the Pakistani state came from behind the scenes in 1948-58 and directly in the hands of the military establishment in 1958-71. After losing Bangladesh, it is not possible to keep the military away from the role of the ruler of Pakistan for a long time even in the period of 1971-2023, military dictators are occupying the power of Pakistan for a few days. And when the military is forced to give up power to the civilian rulers for some time, they still keep the real reins of governance under their control. In the current phase, Imran Khan came to power through the election as a favorite of the military, but within a few years, due to power struggle with the army chief Qamar Bajwa, no one had any difficulty in understanding that the military establishment was also behind the installation of Shahbaz Sharif after ousting him a few days ago. ISI, the intelligence agency of the armed forces of Pakistan, is playing a role as a powerful tool of the military establishment in this power grab game.

In 2007 Dr. The book Military Incorporation: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy by Ayesha Siddiqui caused a stir around the world after its publication. Dr. in this book. After presenting the history of how Pakistan’s military took control of Pakistan after 1947, Ayesha Siddiqa describes and analyzes in detail how army officers, led by generals, came to dominate Pakistan’s economy.

In 2005, the military economy became a major force in Pakistan’s economy, with four armed forces-created organizations, the Fauji Foundation, the Army Welfare Trust, the Shaheen Foundation and the Baharia Foundation, becoming the country’s four largest business and industrial enterprises. Fauji Foundation has 25 projects, Army Welfare Trust has 41 projects, Shaheen Foundation has 14 projects and Baharia Foundation has 19 projects—99 projects are mentioned in the book as of 2005. Military officers trump all others in Pakistan as the neo-landlord class all over Pakistan now due to the absolute preference of armed forces personnel to lease government-owned or encroached rural or urban land. Around 1.1 million acres of land across Pakistan has gone to the ownership of serving or retired officers and employees of the military. Several Defense Officers Housing Societies have now become the largest residential area in any large or medium city in Pakistan. The state of Pakistan will not be freed from the occupation of military forces in the near future. Conclusion of Siddika’s Pain.

Since 1948, the defense sector has been the main sector of the budget of the government of Pakistan, from which the sector could not be removed even in the last 75 years. Defense sector in such a state

There is no doubt that any government in Pakistan has the audacity to put its hands on the budget.

But the fact that this unbearable burden is driving Pakistan’s economy into the ‘valley of meltdown’ is going to be exposed nakedly in front of the world. The world’s sixth largest populous country, Pakistan’s population has grown rapidly to over 250 million, whose food, clothing, shelter, education and medical care are beyond the reach of any ruling party or coalition in Pakistan after bridging the gap of such a large armed force. The country’s annual export earnings still remain below $25 billion, while import spending is reaching $80-90 billion per year. Every year, after meeting the huge expenditure allocation for the defense sector, it is beyond the government’s ability to carry out the minimum necessary expenditure on public education and health. Pakistan’s position in the world ranking of the United Nations Human Development Index is going down every year. In 2022, where Bangladesh has risen to the 129th position in this regard, Pakistan’s position has dropped to 147th. During the 1947-71 period, East Bengal/East Pakistan as an internal colony was made a helpless victim of exploitation, deprivation, unlimited discrimination and plunder by the rulers of Pakistan, as a result of which the per capita GDP of the people of Bangladesh in 1971 was 60 percent less than that of West Pakistan. But in 2015, Bangladesh surpassed Pakistan in terms of per capita GDP. In 2023 Bangladesh and Pakistan may see a comparable picture.

1) In terms of per capita GDP, Bangladesh has surpassed Pakistan by 80 percent. Bangladesh’s per capita GDP in 2021-22 is $2793 and Pakistan’s is $1547. 2) Bangladesh’s export earnings are more than double that of Pakistan’s, exceeding $52 billion in FY 2021-22. 3) Bangladesh’s foreign exchange reserves reached $48 billion in August 2021, declining over the past 17 months to $24 billion in January 2023 as per IMF calculations, more than eight times Pakistan’s. (According to the Bangladesh government’s account, the reserve of Bangladesh is 32 billion dollars). 4) The average life expectancy of the people of Bangladesh is 73 years, 66 years in Pakistan. 5) The literacy rate of the people of Bangladesh is 76 percent, while that of Pakistan is 59 percent. 6) The total GDP of Bangladesh is 465 billion dollars, and that of Pakistan is 346 billion dollars. 7) Population growth rate of Bangladesh is 1.2 percent and Pakistan is 2.1 percent. As a result, the population of Pakistan has increased to 22.5 million, and the population of Bangladesh is 16.98 million. 8) 1 dollar is available for maximum 107 taka in Bangladesh, 277 rupees to buy 1 dollar in Pakistan. But till 2007 the foreign exchange value of rupee was 8 percent higher than taka. 9) Bangladesh’s total foreign debt is 20.48 percent of GDP, while in Pakistan it is

46 percent of GDP. 10) 36 percent of women in Bangladesh work outside the home yard, compared to only 14 percent in Pakistan. 11) In Bangladesh the infant mortality rate is 21 per thousand, and in Pakistan it is 59. 12) 100% population of Bangladesh is covered by electricity facility, while 73% population of Pakistan is getting electricity.

The above data shows that Pakistan will never catch up with Bangladesh in the race of economic development. The GDP growth rate of Bangladesh increased gradually to 8.13 percent in the fiscal year 2018-19. In 2020-22, the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war slowed down the growth rate of Bangladesh, but it was much higher than that of Pakistan and the growth rate is estimated to exceed 6.5 percent again in the fiscal year 2022-23. Development thinkers are optimistic that the economy of Bangladesh, a low-middle-income country, will rise to the upper-middle-income category very quickly if harmful activities like corruption, looting and money laundering are strictly controlled. But for this, the root problems like corruption, looting and money laundering need to be tackled properly.

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

1. Political System

The political system in Sri Lanka (SL) is in chaos. The prime factors, for this, are the fundamental, innate mindset of Buddhism, racism, jealousy, avidity, the shortfall in perception, non-flexibility, incapability to accomplish what they entail, and zero knowledge of political science.

The general theory is the fact that both the Sinhala and Tamil races are immature and have limited scientific knowledge of political, social, and economic topics. The rowdy-characterised politicians were able to fool and terrorise the citizens with religion, race, culture, and language to achieve their objectives. The process gave birth due to some politicians’ greed and voracity, target for power and wealth. Maybe that’s third-world human culture.

• Terrorist Act 1

In 1972 Sri Lanka announced a republic and was free from the British throne. In 1971 a group headed by Rohana Wijeweera initiated an act of terrorism on insurrection on the 5^th of June 1971. Rohana Wijeweera was a student at Lumumba University. The police and the army were called in and Srimavo declared a state of emergency and suppressed the resurrected terrorism. They were addressed as the JVP, also known as Che Guevara”, a communist revolt organisation. Somehow later during the JR Jayawardene’s period the JVP was pardoned and gave birth as a political party. However, the JVP was never ever able to get more than adequate seats to represent in parliament. This unit of JVP was from the South. Maybe the Yakka people and the assimilated crowd were members of this unit.

Terrorism: Quote Ref: FBI: Violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental nature.

Who were the international drivers of this JVP? It could be assumed that they were either Russia or North Korea. With SL having not enough foreign resources and people becoming lazy as is the culture of the Sri Lankan people, the JVP wanted power so that they can accumulate wealth. JVP’s policy is to capture positions in government organisations and thereby claim superiority and claim power in the government. However, they failed in all elections.

The main issue and differences here are the regional differences between the Low Country Sinhalese” and the Upcountry Sinhalese”.

Terrorism has a negative impact on the economy of a country, thus debarring development and making people poorer. The focus of the JVP terrorists in SL is to capture power and convert into a communist republic and be an ally of a communist nation. The JVP fools did not do any research and analysis on the economy and growth.

• Terrorist Act 2

In 1971 along with the JVP insurrection, another group gave birth among the Tamils. Later in 1972, they merged as the LTTE from the Tamil sector. The destruction caused by the LTTE was immense and they killed politicians, ministers, civilians etc. India gave motherhood as a mother giving compassionate, endearing, kind protective, extraordinary intuitive caring and mindful to the LTTE and other terrorist organisations that gave birth among the Tamils in SL. There are reasons for Late Indra Gandhi and MGR giving support and caring to the terrorist groups. This is the main cause for the LTTE to become quite strong and destroy assets in the North and SL in general.

Tamils in SL are quite a small minority, and they can’t prolong the terrorist act for a long time as other international liberation groups. This condensed the enthusiasm of the other groups, and they became political groups supporting the government in the political path. LTTE, however, somehow was able to collect funds and become a strong terrorist group claiming that they were a liberation group.

• Economic Downfall

1. Overall, the economy of SL declined and perished, and people started to move out of SL, both legally and illegally by boat.
2. Since 2005 the politicians who governed SL were corrupt and commenced to practice bribery and corruption, especially during the Mahinda Rajapaksa period.
3. The country faced a new dictatorial autocrat, Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the President and he had no clue of who he is and what his obligation to the society was. The economy drastically moved down to zero FOREX resources.

The political differences between the politicians, JVP and Sajith Premadasa gave birth to the people coming to the road and chasing the Rajapaksas out of the government. The main people here are the JVP and the Sajith party.

With zero-dollar FOREX Ranil Wickremasinghe took the office of the President and appointed the cabinet. The shortfall here in SL is that the people behaved like animals, and everyone wants a portfolio. While preaching austerity measures the people have no knowledge and how to handle the austerity measures.

JVP uses this opportunity to campaign against the government and the JVP wants the government to collapse. It is the writer’s view that the members of the JVP are not patriots and are intelligent to practice austerity and support the government to recuperate the economy. The result is people suffer and JVP wants the country to face a calamity and breakdown.

Quote: Ref: English meaning of modus operandi?  A distinct pattern or method of operation especially one that indicates or suggests the work of a single criminal in more than one crime.

JVP’s tactics were:

1. JVP took up arms at one time and failed to fight against the government forces.
2. They planned next to cripple the economy of the country so that the people will rise against the government and make a suitable time for the JVP to capture power. They used the people and some politicians with their cunning acts and drove the country to poverty.

JVP also infiltrated into government organisations, and it is believed that the Institution of Engineers-Sri Lanka also has members of JVP infiltrated into the org. It is an insult to the engineering arena to have such an Institution with members of the JVP and involve in politics.

Today the JVP and Sajith’s members are on the road protesting against the government for the increase in taxes, non-availability of fuel, power etc. Whose fault is that? It is the fault of the people and the JVP for not making the country self-sufficient in food etc. Well, they know that SL has no petroleum, Coal, and technological products. People did not pay taxes for donkey’s years and did not pay the dues for what they received in terms of electricity and water. The government provides free health, education, subsidised travel etc. Do not people have the perception to understand the facts and truths?

Well, communism is a blunder from the ideological perspective and will lead a country to failure.

• Vasantha Mudalige:

Who is this guy? What does he want? Does he want to be the President/PM or a Minister? Did not he know that the President took up the office as president with zero dollars FOREX? What is his level of education? Can he explain the obligation of a politician to society?

What is the reason for bringing Prabakaran to be alive now and that he is coming back? It is a tactic to bring Mahinda Rajapaksa back into power because people think that MR defeated the LTTE. It’s a wrong concept initiated by crooks to bring MR back to power so that they can enjoy the fruits of power. India may be playing into this wrong concept. India wants SL to be bankrupt so SL will always look to India for funds, help and loans.

Vasantha Mudalige: If you have something called Brain and perception”, please use the brain and think of the people if you are patriotic. This concept is also applicable to the leader of the JVP and Co.  Get out of the road and go home and think of how you can help the government to achieve its objectives to recoup the economy and help the people.

All those who want portfolios: The secretaries and the administrative staff are the permanent staff who can add value to the country. Ministers come and go. They do not do work but add expenditure and be a burden and a liability. All the vultures who want portfolios: do they have brains and perception and understand the areas in which they want the power? Mervin Silva, a cleaner/labourer was also a minister under the Mahinda Rajapaksa government.

Just contribute your thoughts in parliament, but not as a minister.

Senaka Weeraratna

Had the Roman Empire under Constantine embraced Buddhism rather than Christianity we would have had a more peaceful Europe and a more peaceful world.

Historically speaking despite all the rhetoric on Peace and Human Rights, Europe remains the same. The biggest battlefield in history compared to other continents. The track record of Europe is constant War, Religious Crusades, Holocaust, Colonialism, and the like.

Both the First World War (1914 – 1918) and the Second World War ( 1939 – 1945) originated in Europe.

We are now on the threshold of another World War originating in Eastern Europe.

Denials will not alter the fact.

Europe was in need of the likes of Emperor Asoka of India who renounced violence and spread Buddhism and peace throughout the then-known world rather than Constantine who remained a warrior until his death and never renounced war and violence as means of settling disputes.

The entire world has been paying a heavy price because of adopting belief systems that advocate violence and conquests to spread religion.

Buddhism is the answer. The antidote for warlike countries and civilizations. 

Dr. Paul Dahlke, a German Buddhist pioneer, was one of the first Europeans like the celebrated German Philosopher, Artur Schopenhauer, who saw the value of spreading Buddhism in European countries, to overcome the spread of religious wars in Europe. 

see also

Asoka Weeraratna – Germany’s ‘Mahinda Thera’

https://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=9,11192,0,0,1,0

  ” there would never be anything more important for Western civilization than the need to become more familiar with Buddhism”.  

                                                                       Dr. Paul Dahlke

                                                                        German Buddhist Pioneer

Source

CREATING A FOCAL POINT FOR BUDDHISM IN THE WEST 

The German Buddhist pioneer Paul Dahlke 

Martin Baumann  

BUDDHIST STUDIES FROM INDIA TO AMERICA   

Essays in Honour of Charles S. Prebish

Edited by Damien Keown

Routledge: London

2006

 Lanka Lead News

13 වන ව්‍යවස්ථා සංශෝධනය ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ගන්නා උත්සාහය සම්බන්ධයෙන් උතුරේ පීඩිත ජනයා දක්වන අදහස් සම්බන්ධයෙන් ලංකා ලීඩ් වෙබ් අඩවිය යාපනය සිවිල් ජනතා සංවිධානයේ කැඳවුම් කරු අරුන් සිද්ධාර්තන් මහතා ගෙන් කළ විමසීමකදී ඔහු මෙමගින් උතුරේ සිදුවන සැබෑ අර්බුදය පැහැදිලි කළේය.

එහිදී ඔහු අදහස් දක්වමින්,

මට තිබෙන ප්‍රශ්නය රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ වැනි බටහිර න්‍යාය පත්‍රයට අනුව ක්‍රියා කරන නායකයෙක්ගේ හැසිරීම නෙවෙයි. මේ රටේ වාමාංශික පක්ෂවල නායකයින් යාපනයේ සාමාන්‍ය ජනයා පීඩාවට ලක් කරන ඉතා සුළු පිරිසක් වන වෙල්ලාල කුලයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු බලය හොබවන කොළඹ ජීවත්වන දෙමළ වචනයක් හරියට කතා කරගන්න බැරි වෙල්ලාල කුලයේ , දෙමළ ජනයාට කුළ පීඩනය උපරිම මුදා හරින දෙමළ ජාතික සංධානයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්ගේ ඉල්ලීමට අත් දෙකම ඔසවා එකඟ වන බව පැවසීමයි. ජාතික ගැටලුවට අපේ විසඳුම ” පොතේ රෝහන විජේවීර සහෝදරයා බොහොම පැහැදිලිව අපේ ගැටලුවට උත්තර සපයා දී තිබියදී ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ දෙමළ ජනයා දැඩි පීඩාවට ලක් කරන මම ඉහතින් සඳහන් කළ දෙමළ ජන පීඩකයන්ට දෙමළ පීඩිත ජනයා තව තවත් මර්දනය කිරීමට ව්‍යවස්ථා ප්‍රතිපාදන සලසා දීමට මරා ගෙන මැරෙන උත්සාහයක් ගන්නේ ඇයිද යන්නයි. ජනතා විමුක්ති පෙරමුණ, පෙරටුගාමී සමාජවාදී පක්ෂය වගේම අත් දෙකම ඔසවලා 13 + දෙන්න පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කටයුතු කරනවාය කියන සමහර වාමාංශික පක්ෂ වල නායකයින්ට රෝහන විජේවීර සහෝදරයා යාපනයේ දෙමළ ජනයා වෙනුවෙන්ම ලියපු ජාතික ගැටලුවට අපේ විසඳුම” පිළි ගන්න බැරි නම්, එක්සත් ජාතින්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ පනස් එක් වන සැසියේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයේ අයිතම අංක තුන සම්බන්ධයෙන් අවධානය යොමු කරන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.”

එහිදී ඔහු වැඩිදුරටත් අදහස් දක්වමින්,

2022 සැප්තැම්බර් 12 වනද සිට ඔක්තෝබර් 7 දක්වා පැවැත්වුනු එක්සත් ජාතින්ගේ මානව හිමිකම් කවුන්සිලයේ පනස් එක් වන සැසියේ න්‍යාය පත්‍රයේ අයිතම අංක 3 න් දක්වා තිබුණේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සියලුම මානව හිමිකම් ප්‍රවර්ධනය සහ ආරක්ෂා කිරීම, සිවිල්,දේශපාලන, ආර්ථික, සමාජීය සහ සංස්කෘතික අයිතිවාසිකම් සංවර්ධනයට ඇති අයිතිය” යනුවෙනුයි.

මෙම වාර්තාව සකස් කිරීමට 2021 නොවැම්බර් 26 සිට දෙසැම්බර් 3 දක්වා කාලය තුල වහල්භාවයේ සමකාලීන ආකාර පිළිබඳ විශේෂ වාර්තාකරු” ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සංචාරය කළා. ඔහු රටේ විවිධ ප්‍රදේශ වල සංචාරය කර විවිධ පුද්ගලයන් සහ විවිධ ආයතන වලට ගොස්  වාර්තාවක් සකස්  කළා. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වහල් භාවය සම්බන්ධයෙන් ඉදිරිපත් කළ එම වාර්තාවේ වැදගත් මාතෘකාවක් වූයේ කුලය මත පදනම් වූ වෙනස්කම් කිරීම” යන්නයි.
එම මාතෘකාව යටතේ අංක 61, 62 සහ 63න් ඒ සම්බන්ධව වාර්තාකරුගේ නිරීක්ෂණ ඉදිරිපත් කර තිබුණා.
ඒවා මෙසේයි ,

අංක 61.

තවද, විශේෂ වාර්තාකරු කුලය මත පදනම් වූ වෙනස්කම් කිරීම දිගටම පවතින බව සොයා ගන්නා ලදී.
ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සමහර ප්‍රදේශවල, විශේෂයෙන්ම උදාහරණයක් ලෙස උතුරු පළාතේ ග්‍රාමීය ප්‍රදේශවල , පීඩිත කුලවල බොහෝ සාමාජිකයින්ට කෘෂිකාර්මික ව්‍යාපාර සහ ජීවනෝපාය සුරක්ෂිත කිරීම ආරම්භ කිරීමට සුදුසු ඉඩමක් හිමිකර ගැනීමට නොහැකි බව වාර්තා වේ. එලෙසම ජලය සහ වාරිමාර්ග සඳහා ප්‍රවේශය සීමිතය.

මෙම තත්වය විසින් බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට ප්‍රමුඛවම කුල හාම්පුතුන් සඳහා, කර්මාන්තශාලා වැඩ හෝ කෘෂිකර්මාන්තයේ දිවා කම්කරුවන් ලෙස හෝ ගෘහාශ්‍රිත රැකියා වල වැඩ කිරීමට බල කර ඇත. සමහර අවස්ථාවලදී බලහත්කාර ශ්‍රමය, වහල් සේවය හෝ වෙනත් වහල් ක්‍රියාවන් දක්වා පැතුරුණු සේවා කොන්දේසි ප්‍රමාණයන් පැනවීම පවා දැකිය හැක. විශේෂ වාර්තාකරුට එම ප්‍රදේශ වල මින්සුන්ට ක්ෂුද්‍ර මූල්‍යකරණයෙන් ගොඩගැසූ ණය බරපතළ බවට තොරතුරු ද ලැබිණි. පීඩිත කුලයන් කෙරෙහි අධිපති කුලවලට අයත් පුද්ගලයන් විසින් අසභ්‍ය භාෂාව භාවිතයට ගැනීමද සිදු වන බව අනාවරණය විය. පීඩිත කුලවල සාමාජිකයන්ට රැකියා ස්ථානයේ උසස්වීම් අපේක්ෂාව බෙහෙවින් අඩු යැයි වාර්තා වුණි. උසස්වීම් වෙනුවට හිරිහැර කිරීම මෙන්ම ප්‍රහාරාත්මක භාවිතාවන් දක්නට ලැබේ.

අංක 62.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථාවෙන් නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනයට ඇති අයිතිය පිළිගෙන තිබියදීත්, උතුරු පළාතේ යථාර්තයේ පවතින ව්‍යුහාත්මක ගැටළු කුල හීන ජනයාට අධ්‍යාපනයට යොමු වීමට ඇති ඉඩ ප්‍රස්ථා කුලවත් ජනයා සමඟ සැලකීමේදී අසමානතාවයකට ලක්ව ඇති බව දක්නට ලැබුණි. ඒ අනුව ,උතුරු පළාතේ පීඩිත කුලවලට අයත් දරුවන් බොහෝ විට අධ්‍යාපන කටයුතු කරගෙන යාමට නිවසේ ප්‍රමාණවත් පහසුකම් නොමැති වීම සහ නිල ඇඳුම් මිලදී ගැනීමට තරම් ප්‍රමානවත් ආර්ථික ශක්තියක් නොමැති තත්වයකට මුහුණ දෙන බව පෙනී යයි. එලෙසම ආධිපත්‍ය දරණ කුලවලට අයත් ගුරුවරුන් පීඩිත කුලවල දරුවන්ට වෙනස් කොට සලකනු ලැබීම බොහෝ විට දක්නට ලැබේ. සමහර රාජයේ පාසල්වල බලධාරීන් පීඩිත කුලවල දරුවන් පාසල් වලට බඳවා ගැනීම ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කිරීම් වාර්තා වීම සුලබ කරුණකි. තවද,පිඩිත කුලවල දරුවන් ඉගෙන ගන්නා පාසල්වල අධ්‍යාපන පහසුකම් අධිපති කුලවල දරුවන් ඉගෙන ගන්නා පාසල්වලට වඩා ගුණාත්මක බවින් අඩු බවටද වාර්තා විය.

අංක 63

පීඩිත කුලවල සාමාජිකයන්ට එරෙහිව ආධිපත්‍ය දරණ කුලවල සාමාජිකයන් නිරන්තරවම ප්‍රචණ්ඩත්වය මුදා හරිනු ලැබීම් පිළිබඳව විශේෂ වාර්තාකරුට වාර්තා විය. නමුත් මෙවැනි ක්‍රියා සිදු කරණු ලබන ඉහළ කුල වල වගකිව යුතු පුද්ගලයන් නිවැරැදිව හඳුනාගෙන නීතිය හමුවට පමුණුවා අධිකරණ ක්‍රියා මාර්ග ගැනීම සහ දඬුවම් කිරීම සිදු නොකරනු ලබන බවද වාර්තා විය. තවද, කුලය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රශ්නය සම්බන්ධයෙන් බලධාරීන් නිශ්ශබ්දව සිටින අතර සාමාන්‍ය ප්‍රජාවගේ පාර්ශවයෙන් මෙම ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් ප්‍රමානවත් සාකච්ඡාක් කර විසඳුම ලබාගැනීමට අකමැත්තක් දක්වනුද දැකිය හැක.

කරුණාකර මේ වාර්තාව හෝ කියවා බලා දෙමළ පීඩිත ජනයා තවත් පිඩාවට ලක් කරන ඉඩම් සහ පොලිස් බලතල කුල පීඩකයන් වන වෙල්ලාල කුලයේ කොළඹ ජීවත් වන බටහිර ගැති පුද්ගලයන්ට ලබා දීමට කටයුතු නොකරන ලෙස ඉතාමත් ගෞරවයෙන් වාමාංශික පක්ෂවලින් ඉල්ලා සිටිනවා.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

While stressing that the date for the Local Government (LG) polls remain in the hands of the Treasury, the Election Commission (EC) ruled out yesterday the possibility of holding the election before the Sinhala and Hindu New Year which falls in mid-April.

EC Chairman, Nimal G Punchihewa told Daily Mirror that even if the treasury releases funds for the election immediately based on Friday’s Supreme Court ruling the election has to be held between 5 – 7 weeks from the day of declaration of the polls. Hence, the LG polls have to be held in the second half of April, 2023.

Punchihewa told Daily Mirror last morning that the EC was ready to announce a short date for the LG polls if the Treasury Secretary Mahinda Siriwardene promises to release adequate funds to the EC to conduct polls at the meeting scheduled to be held tomorrow morning at the EC also attended by the IGP, Chandana Wickramaratne and Government Printer Gangani Liyanage.

I can’t give you an assurance whether the EC could hold the LG polls or if that is the case when. All depends on the availability of enough funds to the EC. If the Treasury takes the responsibility to release sufficient funds at tomorrow’s discussion, we are ready to hold the LG polls on a nearest possible day. The ball is in Treasury’s hands” Punchihewa emphasized.

However, the Treasury can also tell us that it is more than happy to release funds to the EC but they don’t have enough cash to do so at the moment. They can release funds only in a few months only. But I don’t think this kind of scenario would arise tomorrow at the discussion,” he added.

If the EC failed to obtain a firm pledge from the Treasury immediately for sufficient funding to conduct much delayed LG polls, there will be another legal issue. The highest court in the country has given ruling to the Secretary to the Treasury not to retain funds allocated to the EC from the budget 2023. Therefore, the Treasury is officially and legally bound to release funds to the EC. If not, it will amount to contempt of court. The EC does not want to involve in another legal battle. The petitioners either who obtained this court ruling will need this, Punchihewa stressed.

If the Treasury promises to release funds immediately, the EC will try its best to release the gazette notification indicating the day of the polls through 25 District Returning Officers (DROs) on Wednesday (8) and unless on Thursday.

Commenting on the remarks coming from certain quarters that he did not call the all-important meeting at the week-end, Punchihewa said it was a long week-end and many public servants go out of the city and also they are officially not bound to attend officials meetings. (Sandun A Jayasekera)

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s northern fishermen on Sunday said they fiercely oppose” the government’s plan to issue licenses to Indian fishermen to enter Sri Lankan waters, terming the move a serious setback” to their nearly 15-year-long struggle.

On February 22, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told Parliament that authorities were looking into possibly issuing licences to Indian fishermen, as part of Sri Lanka’s efforts to find a solution to the long-persisting fisheries conflict, through cordial” bilateral talks. This was discussed this with Indian Foreign Minister Jaishankar…Sri Lanka’s priority is to safeguard fishermen’s livelihoods, the country’s marine resources, and find a long-term solution…India has proposed this licensing system as a solution, and we are holding discussions on it,” he said, adding that such a system would help Indian authorities better regulate their fishermen, and will also bring in money that could be used for Sri Lankan fishermen’s betterment. About 2,000 to 3,000 [Indian trawlers] come to our seas every day and our Navy is unable to control that,” Mr. Sabry further noted. 

The Minister’s remarks have sparked serious concern among northern fishermen, said Annalingam Annarasa, who leads a Jaffna-based fishermen’s association. We are very worried, this will be a serious setback to our struggle for the last 15 years to stop Indian trawlers from entering our seas,” he told  The Hindu. Moreover, some political actors are trying to turn fishermen of our two countries against each other, using this problem. We need an urgent solution to this.”

Fisher leaders including him on Sunday put forward this view to Tamil MPs representing northern districts and sought their support to resist the Sri Lankan government’s proposal, and to urge Colombo to fully implement Sri Lankan laws that ban bottom trawling and illegal fishing.

Following the meeting, Jaffna MP M.A. Sumanthiran — whose Bill against bottom trawling was passed by the Sri Lankan parliament in 2017 — said the legislators across parties agreed that no permits should be issued to Indian trawlers. Even without permits, Indian trawlers are already entering Sri Lankan waters and destroying marine resources. Issuing licenses will only aggravate the problem,” he said, adding that the MPs and fisher leaders would make a joint call to the government. 

The fisheries conflict affecting fishermen of Sri Lanka and India has remained a thorny issue in Indo-Lanka bilateral ties. From the time Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in 2009, Tamil fishermen living in Sri Lanka’s northern districts have consistently protested Indian trawlers — originating from Tamil Nadu — fishing along their coastline, citing the destruction they cause to marine biodiversity and their livelihoods that are closely tied to it. Sri Lankan fishermen also frequently report serious damage to their fishing nets and gear, and huge losses, owing to the bottom trawlers.

Despite several rounds of bilateral talks and discussions among fishermen’s representatives from either side of the Palk Strait, the problem is yet to be resolved, leaving the northern Sri Lankan fisher folk, who are struggling to resurrect their war-battered livelihoods, in a precarious situation. In 2016, the two governments agreed to expedite the transition towards ending the practice of bottom trawling at the earliest”, acknowledging the Sri Lankan fishermen’s demand as genuine”.

However, with no solution in sight, northern fishermen have continued to agitate. Last year, they wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, seeking his intervention to decisively address the issue. They submitted multiple petitions to the Indian missions in Sri Lanka as well.

The proposed licensing system will undermine fishing as a way of life” for the next generations of Sri Lankan fishermen, according to Ahilan Kadirgamar, a senior lecturer at the University of Jaffna, who researches northern livelihoods. The fishermen’s struggle since the end of the war has been to find a diplomatically negotiated solution to this serious problem caused by Indian trawlers. They feel both the Sri Lankan and Indian governments have betrayed them,” he said.

Source – The Hindu
-Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport (MRIA) has facilitated 11,926 international tourists in February 2023, says the Airport and Aviation Services Pvt. Ltd. of Sri Lanka (AASL).

While Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has recorded 107,639 international tourist arrivals in the month of February 2023 with a growth of 11.5% compared to the month of February 2022, the MRIA has facilitated 11,926 international tourists in February. 

This includes 6259 arrivals and 5667 departures with over 72 international aircraft movements.

Further, after 2021, the MRIA has facilitated the first flight of SCAT Airlines of Kazakhstan today (March 06) with 188 international tourists arriving in the country. 

Altogether, 602 international tourists arrived in Sri Lanka through the exotic gateway on Monday, including Red Wings Airlines, a Russian regional leisure airline based in Moscow, which carried 414 international tourists onboard to the country, while 407 tourists departed on the same flight.

Meanwhile, the AASL had made all necessary arrangements to welcome the guests and facilitate smooth operations to process 1009 tourists. 

If the trend continues, the year 2023 would be one of the best recovery years for Sri Lanka and tourism will support rebuilding the economy, the AASL added.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The opposition party is not showing any sign of commitment to resolving the current economic crisis, opposition MP Patali Champika Ranawaka said. 

“One political leader who represents a certain political party said he will be able to convince the international community through his English language skills. Another says that they will convince the international community by doing away with perks given to ministers and MPs. These are just low remarks made in response to complicated issues” the MP said during a public function. 

“One is mistaken if he thinks it will be possible to run the nation if they grab power from the incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe, ” he added. (Yohan Perera)

Lanka Lead News

වර්තමානයේ විපක්ෂයේ ඇත්තේ ජනකාන්තවාදයක් බවත්, එක් නායකයෙක් ඉතා සංකීර්ණ ප්‍රශ්නවලට සරල විසඳුම් ඉදිරිපත් කරන අතර, තවත් නායකයෙක් විදේශ රටවල් සමග ගනුදෙනු කිරීමේ පිළිවෙල පිළිබදව හාස්‍යජනක කතන්දර පවසන බවත් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා පවසයි.

ඉංග්‍රීසියෙන් පිටරටවල් සමග කතාකර තමන් මෙරට ආර්ථිකය ගොඩනගන බව එක් නායකයෙක් පවසද්දී, තවත් නායකයකු පවසන්නේ මැති ඇමැතිවරුන්ගේ වැටුප්, වාහන දීමනා, නිවාස ඉවත්කර ආර්ථිකය ගොඩනගනවා වැනි ටිංටිං උත්තර බව ඔහු සදහන් කරයි.

මෙම දෙපිරිසේම නායකයන් අමාත්‍යංශවල ඇමැතිකම් දැරූ කාලයක් තිබූ බවද, එහෙත් ඒ කාලයේ එම ආමාත්‍යංශ තිබූ තැනින් ඉහළට එසවීමට ඔවුන්ට හැකිවූවාදැයි ජනතාව සිතා බැලිය යුතු බවද පාඨලී චම්පික රණවක මහතා පවසයි.

Sugath Kulatunga

In June, 2016 (IMF) approved a 36-month extended arrangement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with Sri Lanka for an amount equivalent to US$1.5 billion,

The program aimed to provide a policy anchor for macroeconomic stability and structural reforms, while strengthening external resiliency in a challenging global environment” To achieve these objectives, the program envisaged the implementation of a set of reforms under six pillars:

(i) Fiscal consolidation;

(ii) Revenue mobilization;

(iii) Public financial management reform;

(iv) State enterprise reform;

(v) Transition to flexible inflation targeting under a flexible exchange rate regime; and

(vi) Reforms in the trade and investment regime.

In an article titled ‘The IMF In Sri Lanka: Bull in a China Shop’ in the Island News Paper of October 6, 2016, C. R. de Silva an ex-World Bank staffer wrote a scathing account pointing out the irrelevancy of IMF reforms in the context of the critical problems faced by the country. He mentioned the difference of opinion between Sri Lanka and IMF of an enhanced VAT level to 15% and to revise the income tax structure to bring direct and indirect taxes in a 20%/80% ratio, respectively.

CR was appalled that IMF ignored the foreign debt issue which stood at near $ 50 Billion and annual debt service payments at about $ 5 Billion. Several prominent economists had commented that this high level of foreign debt is not sustainable, and concluded that the country is already in a debt trap. According to the U.K.-based Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC), a global movement demanding relief from the slavery of unjust debts”, countries like Sri Lanka with a foreign debt over 30% of GDP and debt service payments exceeding 15% of external revenue, have unsustainable foreign debt. JDC classifies Sri Lanka in a group of 22 countries already in a debt crisis, which include the Eurozone countries of GREECE, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Cyprus, which have all at some point received the tender, loving care of IMF economic and financial panacea. Vide ‘ Sri Lanka – Avoiding the ‘Road to Greece’ in The Island of 13 June 2016.’ Sri Lanka should raise at the highest level of the IMF/World Bank Annual Meetings the question of restructuring its massive foreign debt, and stretching out periodic repayments to make them affordable, without waiting for last minute IMF intervention.

CR commented that the IMF’s very controversial judgement that the 3-year reform program under the EFF which it outlined for the Government, narrowly focused mainly on fiscal issues, will help the Government to achieve ‘lift off’ of the economy…”. For a middle income developing country at the lower ranges to achieve that kind of giant economic leap forward or ‘lift off’ to the next level of development, will require very much more planning, innovation, investment and structural change, than satisfaction of a few identified, mostly unpopular, policy reform measures, supported by a very modest $ 1.5 Billion EFF, doled out in $ 168 million tranche payments over a three-year period. He pointed out that revolutionary structural changes are called for in education curricula, vocational training and technical education to prepare the work force to be able to cope with coming information and communication technology (ICT) developments.”

IMF was looking at trees and missing the forest. The question is are they doing the same thing today in Sri Lanka?

A caustic comment made by insider Stiglitz, on the World Bank’s ‘investigations was that it  involves little more than close inspection of five-star hotels. It concludes with a meeting with a begging finance minister, who is handed a ‘restructuring agreement’ pre-drafted for ‘voluntary’ signature”. This may be relevant to IMF as well which is there to look after the interest of the creditors.

Government should follow the dictum Caveat emptor.

චන්ද්‍රසේන පණ්ඩිතගේ විසිනි 

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව යනු ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදී, සමාජවාදී රාජ්‍යකි, ඒ ව්‍යාවස්තාවට අනුකුලවය. ඒත් මේ රාජ්‍ය තුල ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදයවත්, සමාජවාදයවත්, රාජ්‍යත්වයක්වත් නැති බවත්, ඒ සියල්ලක්ම විනාශ කරන අද්බුත යමක් රටතුල දෝලනය වෙමින් පවතින බව මෙරට ජනතාවට ඉතා පැහැදිලිවම දැනිය යුතුය..

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ඇත්නම්, පළමුව චන්ද බලයෙන් අගමැතිවූ ,ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක මහතාට, දෙවැනිව චන්ද බලයෙන් අගමැතිවූ ඩඩ්ලි සේනානායක මහතාටද, තෙවනුව චන්ද බලයෙන් අගමැතිවූ එස්. ඩබ්ලිව්. ආර්. ඩී. බණ්ඩාරනායකද සියධුරයන් අහිමිවුයේ, ගුප්ත අන්දමින් වීම දෙස මෙරට ජනතාව සිය මනස යොමුකර බැලුවේ නම්, කුමක්ද මේ ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය යනු මනාව අවබෝධ කරගැනීමට ඉඩ තිබුණි.

මෙරට ජනතාවට  ලබාදුන්නයයි කියනු ලබන ඒ වටිනවා යයි කියනු ලබන ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය ක්‍රියාවිරහිත කරනු ලබන්නේ කවුදැයි කිසිවෙක් හෙළි නොකරන තත්වයක් තුල ඒ  සම්බන්ධව අවබෝධ කර ගැනීමට වෙර දැරීමට මෙරට ජනතාවට ශුද්ධවූ අයිතියක් ඇත.

අවාසනාව වන්නේ, එවැනි, සමීක්ෂණයක් සිදු නොකර දිනපතාම ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදය පසු පසම හඹා යාමයි.

සුද්දා මෙරට තේ වතුවල පැලපදියම් කල ඉන්දීය වතුකම්කරුවන්ව ආරක්ෂා කිරීමට නිර්මාණය කල වතු කම්කරු වෘත්තීය සංගම් නිර්මාණය කරන ලද්දේද සුද්දාවූ අතර, ඒ වෘත්තීය සංගම් අපි මේ කතාකරන අදිසි හස්තයේ,ඉතිහාසගත කාර්යයන්  ඉටුකිරීම සඳහා කර ඇති කාර්යභාරය අති විශාලය.

මෙරට ජනතාවට අයත් ඉඩම් කොල්ලකා ඒවායේ තේ වගා කොට ඒවායේ පදිංචිකරන ලද මේ ඉන්දීය කුලීකරුවන් සුද්දාගේ කුලී හේවායින් සේ සලකා, ඔවුනටද චන්ද බලය ලබාදී මෙරට පළමු පාර්ලිමේන්තු චන්දයේදී චන්ද බලය ලබාදීම තුලින්  අපට පෙන්නුම් කරන්නේ,කුමක්දැයි අප සිතා බැලිය යුතුය.

බලය ලබාගත්, අගමැති, ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක මහතා සිදුකල ප්‍රමුඛ කටයුත්තවුයේ, මෙරටට ගෙනා නොරටුන් සතුවූ ඒ චන්ද බලය, පුරවැසි පනත තුලින් අහෝසි කිරීමයි. එහි ප්‍රතිපලය ඉතා ප්‍රබල වූ අතර, වතු කම්කරු වෘත්තීය සංගම් වලට එරෙහිව  කටයුතු කල ආණ්ඩුකාර එඩ්වඩ් ස්ටබ්ස්ට ආණ්ඩුකාර ධුරය අහිමි කල ආකාරයටම අගමැති ඩී. එස්. සේනානායක මහතාට අගමැති ධුරය හා ජීවිතය අහිමි කිරීමට එම සිද්ධිය ප්‍රමාණවත් විය..

Shenali D Waduge

Arun Siddharth has an opinion & he has a right to his opinion. How many have listened to him or believe him? Why is his narrative different from the rest? What makes his narrative different from the rest? The UN/UNHRC/Western diplomats have for years felt comfortable in believing the lies of a bunch of ailing oldies. Would they ever take Arun & other Tamils who were victims of LTTE & give them a voice in Geneva?

The People’s Convention for Good Governance was held at the BMICH on 25 February 2023 with Dr & Mrs. Walter Jayasinghe invited as Guest of Honor. Richard de Zoysa was the convener. The Speakers included Maithri Gunaratne, Omar Khan, Prof Arjuna Parakrama moderated a panel on education that included Dr. Tara de Mel, Prof Harendra de Silva & Nile Anandappa. Shehara Parakrama, Sharhan Muhseen & Murtaza Jafferjee of Advocata spoke on economic reforms. Dr. Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu moderated panel on ethnicity which included Selvi Sachithanandan, Ishan Jalil, Jeremy Liyanage & Arun Siddharth. A poverty alleviation program across districts in Sri Lanka as envisioned by Dr. Sarath Seneviratne some 15 years ago is to commence by raising funds from local & international donors.

Arun Siddharth introduced himself as hailing from Jaffna, born in Jaffna, educated in Jaffna & still living in Jaffna. He apologizes for any grammatically incorrect English and attributes it to not studying in English.

Arun raised some significant points that thus far so-called Tamil politicians & Tamil NGOs as well as Tamil society leaders have failed to admit or conveniently brushed under the carpet for their own benefit, as funding would not have come their way, if they presented a notion that there was no ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.

Thus, when Arun confidently declared there was no ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, there was naturally pin-drop silence. He echoed what majority of people have been trying to tell the world ‘there is no ethnic conflict between Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers or Malays, though there may be issues” & Arun attributes this to politicians which is absolutely correct. All politicians are guilty of fanning ethnic politics for their own political & personal gains. In addition to politicians another bunch of people wish to present notion of conflict as it is only when such happens a bunch of people calling themselves ‘conflict-resolutionists’ can enter & meddle in internal affairs of countries & advance their agendas.

Arun refers to Maithri Gunaratne’s claim that the 1956 Official Language Act is the root cause of the conflict. This is the conveniently flagged hyped reason promoted by the educated & their followers, primarily because its real objective is an anti-Sinhala Buddhist campaign.

Arun presents why he disagrees & it aligns with many others who question how 1956 Official Language Act can be the root cause of the conflict. Arun cites the formation of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress based on ethnicity in 1944 by G G Ponnambalam, an elite politician from Colombo. This was 12 years before the Official Language Act of 1956 & 4 years before independence. ACTC was formed during colonial British rule.

Arun then shows how S J V Chelvanayakam separated from the ACTC to form the ITAK – Illankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi in 1949, just a few months after independence in 1948. Both ACTC & ITAK were based on ethnicity & not based on unity, Arun quite rightly points out.

Arun goes on to say that there are some elite politicians living in Colombo, who cannot speak even in Tamil nor do they live in Jaffna. Interestingly it was alleged even Chelvanayagam could not read or write in Tamil! Even C V Wigneswaran (born 1938) was living all his life in Colombo & wen to live in Jaffna only after become the first Northern Chief Minister in 2013. For 74 years he was living in Colombo.

This is the point that many should take serious note of. Arun says that it was these elite non-Tamil speaking, Colombo living Tamil politicians who spoke on behalf of all Tamils & claimed the Sinhalese were discriminating Tamils, marginalizing Tamils, not giving Tamils rights & because of these elite non-Tamil speaking Colombo living Tamil politicians, majority of Tamils are today suffering. This is a key factor that the international community & the researchers in the UN should take note of, in case they too have ignored this ground reality & facts.

Arun humbly declares that his grandparents are toddy tappers & that he has gone through terrible caste-based discriminations by fellow high-caste Tamils. He says that while some may say the conflict in Sri Lanka is 30 or 40 years old, the caste-based conflict between Tamils is over 700 years old.

Arun shows a copy of the 1957 Prevention of Social Disabilities Act – he says that for 66 years the Act was not applied in the North & East & the some animals who are more equal than others” are together discrimination their own for over 700 years. Arun says that to avoid another armed conflict emerging the caste discrimination must be resolved first. It brought to light how Tamil militants were all low caste who took up arms as that was the only means to show their might over the high caste Tamils.

Arun says that they do not want power sharing based on ethnicity.  Power sharing should be as Sri Lankans not for individual wishes of people.

Arun refers to the June 1987 Eagle Mission 4 by India, dropping parippu over Jaffna violating Sri Lanka’s airspace to show off their might. Arun says that the IPKF committed many war crimes including killing his uncle in the Jaffna university. He asks why nobody is asking justice for the killings by Indian soldiers. Arun asks the UN Representatives at the conference why they are not questioning the Indian crimes in Sri Lanka? If they do not wish to talk about all the crimes – then all crimes should be forgotten. In short Arun says, no one should hand pick crimes.

Arun takes up 13^th amendment & Tamil political demands for land & police powers. Arun says that these elite Tamil politicians denied land rights to low-caste Tamils through a foreign land law known as Thesavalamai that was applicable to Malabars (who came from India) which was codified during Dutch rule in 16^th century. Arun says that he cannot buy land in Jaffna because of this law. Arun rightly says that what people seek is an independent police not a politicized police. Police powers under 13^th amendment will only lead to a politicized police per every province, as police has to report to a political party leader who is the chief minister of a province.

Arun says that there are over 30 women members who have arrived from Jaffna who are from the Jaffna Womens Front. He says amongst the audience, there are also many who have had their parents abducted by the LTTE and other Tamil militant groups. Arun says that his wife lost her father when she was 5 years old. Her father had been abducted & remains
disappeared” as they have not found the body only rumor that his dead body was burnt on tyres. Arun says there are many who have had their sons, daughters, brothers, fathers abducted by LTTE & other Tamil militant groups, but no one is talking about these abductions. Perhaps the UN, international bodies & even the HR & civil society organizations may like to respond.

Arun says he is denied entry to the Jaffna Press Club as it is an elitist club of only high castes/class Tamils. Arun is banned because his truth is inconvenient for them. Arun says that because people hide the truth, the truth does not come out & those that speak the truth are sidelined (like him). Arun quite rightly says that if people start to speak the truth, problems can be solved.

Arun says he attended workshops related reconciliation & peacebuilding and adds that the Tamil NGOs do not invite him but some South NGOs had invited him. Peacebuilding was to be discussions & dialogue. He says that the participants from Jaffna at the conference could not speak Sinhala. Arun says the problem was communication not ethnic. He says the communication connection is what is dividing the people not the ethnicity. Arun quotes Mandela if you speak to a man in a language he understands, it goes to his head, if you talk to a man in his mother tongue, it goes to his heart”. Arun says that until a solution to the communication gap is found, there is no reconciliation.

Arun was asked to wind up his speech by Pakiasothy Saravanamuthu who should himself provide answers to most of Arun’s questions. Pakiasothy asked Arun to elaborate on the communication aspect. Arun asks why Tamils do not want to study Sinhala though they willingly study languages of other countries to migrate. Arun says his 3 sons do not have any opportunity to study in Sinhala because the administrators have not provided Sinhala teachers. He gives example of Malaysia & says Sri Lanka should follow a similar solution.

Arun says he & likeminded people would like to contribute to the country’s economy and get close to the South & rebuild the country.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=WA-UNK-UNK-UNK-AN_GK0T-GK1C&mibextid=2Rb1fB&v=1332702990624784

Shenali D Waduge

BY EDWARD THEOPHILUS

During the presidential election of 2019, many candidates and people publicly talked about education reforms.  Except for Mr Gotabaya Rajapaksa, other candidates and the public have not expressed clear views on this subject and are reluctant to talk about what kind of reforms are needed for Sri Lanka. Education is a broader subject area that involves an ocean of topics, views, and ideas. Although education is working as a right of the people political platforms in the presidential election presented the idea that education should be inserted into the constitution as a human right. There is no doubt that education has been working as a right and an essential role in human life since the beginning of the first human to this world. It is quite difficult to identify what are essential reforms to the country as the dynamism and changes in society force it to focus on the requirements of education and training in distinct areas. I have broadly written about this subject area based on my experience in developed and developing countries.  Education is a policy matter as well as practical application and, the ability to successfully implement reforms countrywide would be buttressed the success.

Since the beginning of the education policy of Mr.C.W.W. Kannangara during the era of the State Council, education reforms have been a subject of talking and some attractive policy actions have been successfully implemented in the country while talking was going on among limited interested people, the main reason for current urgency may have been contributed by politics and economic predicaments faced by the majority of the country.  Without understanding the purposes or the way reforms should be implemented in the country, education reforms might not be successfully achieved. On the other hand, educational reforms would not be successful if policymakers don’t clearly understand the quantum and the approach they needed to make as well as the limits in the country to launch reforms successfully. Many people in the country talk about education reforms with individual interest or with self-centred attitudes such as a finding job or gaining the opportunity to go overseas or providing opportunities for their group community.  These are the completely self-centred focus.

Education reforms should be beyond self-centred attitudes and they must be firm actions with a national focus providing broader benefits to different people in the social structure the reforms shall involve capacious objectives consistent with international experience, which align on different focus based on technological innovations and timely human needs.  The other important point is that education reforms are continuing process beyond the election promises.  Election promises are concerned with short-term interest and education reforms go beyond the short-term requirements.

Before initiating education reforms, policymakers, as well as the public who are supposed to gain benefits from reforms need to understand fundamental economic issues and limits of the country. The status of the economy at present indicates that upliftment and the forward movement of the economy would be depended on timely educational reforms. Economic issues in Sri Lanka are associated with macroeconomic factors and the management of public and private enterprises and service firms concern with microeconomic considerations.  Education reforms in Sri Lanka should go along with economic reforms, which essentially need to reform the existing education system.  In addition to economic issues and status, education reforms need to consider other important areas such as value education, which included anti-discrimination and equality of citizens, and elimination of mythical attitudes of people, which are hindrances to development and growth. They are factors involved in the development of the human quality of the country.  Although religions are operating in the country for centuries human quality has not been improved in the process and the result of this situation is less quality and demand for the human capital of the country.  The other vital area is key knowledge and skills development about environment, health and communication in students in all contexts of education.  This is a significant issue that should be specially considered by the reforming policy process.

Essential economic reforms might be a considerable temperament to the public in the short-run and it appeared in Western countries after the cold war, and Western countries and Communist countries understood the essence of reforms and they successfully dealt with human temperaments and implemented reforms tackling many problems such as unemployment, workplace reforms and multi-skills requirement against reforms to maintain the economies pushing to an upward trend. Now the most important economic reforms are policy corrections and deviation policy focus while inventing new policies for the future. 

The people of Sri Lanka have many expectations, which may not be achieved quickly within the expected time framework as Sri Lanka has many limits or impediments to growth. No country can achieve social and economic expectations overnight through a reform process. Positive results from education reforms could be achieved only in the medium term. 

The limits of education reforms are associated with many factors, which are beyond economic considerations and they are involved in social, cultural, legal, religious and international relation-related factors.

Traditional societies in history had no regulations, and impediments were limited, but modern society has many regulations and impediments which are difficult to defeat by an independent country like Sri Lanka. Sometimes Sri Lanka needs to work with other countries.  Economically, countries in the modern world are in a competitive circle and Sri Lanka cannot work alone ignoring the factors limit to growth.

Generally, education reforms are concerned with contextual education, curriculum development and management, education administration, teachers’ and trainers’ development (teacher education and training), policy initiating and review of the current policy framework and remedial management of policy consistent with the dynamism of the world.  These are quite difficult activities that are involved massive costs and quality human services.  Therefore, the capacity of the economy to spend money on these activities is the key point for the success of education reforms. In the meantime, these reforms would generate massive employment and sometimes job losses and diverting jobs from one area to others should be a part of reforms.  Finally, education reforms would be highly advantageous to the country despite the cost involved and the productivity generated from reforms will outweigh any cost.

International structure or acceptance for a million of the population (as a Model), must include one university for higher education and research in a variety of fields, at least two technical colleges for each five hundred thousand population for technical vocational education and training for current staff in workplaces and newcomers, five high schools for secondary context, ten or more schools for primary education context and twenty or more for early childhood contexts, and in addition, there may be several colleges to absorb dropouts in all contexts focusing on a different level of contextual education.  The general structure of education must be organized according to this basic principle and requirements and there may be more educational institutions with private investments with greater supervision and review of the government.  This basic structure is highly expensive and lots of economic, social, cultural and religious issues are involved in the situation and the nature of organizations. When education reforms consider this basic requirement, it is needed to eliminate divisions such as religion, language and any other differences, which might hinder providing equal education opportunities for people.  As Sri Lanka consists of 24 million population the country needs to consider implementing the structure without any difference based on population. It is a horizontal expansion of education, which eliminate current vertical expansion to give priority to urban areas. Horizontal provision of education brings justice and opportunities for the rural community and the current competition for popular schools, colleges and schools will be exterminated by a horizontal model. 

When the population changes the structure would be changed in the future and the general assumption is to implement the structure as government investment, but investments for education and training could be contributed by non-Government and private investors, especially religious organizations could participate with qualitative and strict government supervision. The provision of education should be free, but according to the affordability of parents and it needs to insist on fee-based education provision on individual cases and parents under the new model would be saved a large sum of spending in the current system as private tuition spending and many others will be eliminated by new structural reforms. The structure will give dignity to all students with any differences. In terms of structure, Sri Lanka needs many universities and technical colleges to provide good and quality education and training concerning different fields. The current available infrastructure and facilities would help to successfully build the proposed structure.

The economy of the country should be expanded to absorb more than 85% of graduates and there is no harm in 10% to 15% going overseas in terms of democratic freedom.  Sri Lanka should not be a free education and training place for attracting labour from developed countries.  If the economy of Sri Lanka is prosperous educated citizens and professionals will not migrate overseas to offer hard labour to developed countries. It entirely depends on the preference of the individual and the government has no responsibility for them unless they are subject to discrimination overseas.  This situation can be seen in all developed countries and the government may impose various regulations considering the requirements.  The government is not directly responsible for individual cases; however, the operation of international relations would force the government to intervene case by case.

Within this basic structure, the other essential reform is to change the current attitudes of people toward good schools or bad school feeling and the elimination of such feelings would be depended on the improvement of the quality of education for kids providing equal knowledge and skills from whichever school studied without a difference in rural or urban. This should be a key aspect of education reforms.  The government can promote private investment through incentives for investors and eliminate various expensive competitive exams such as scholarship exams and private tuitions, which will not necessary under the reforms. The new structure allows for each student to attend university or technical education, in other words, every student can gain tertiary education.

Structural reform’s curriculum reforms, which is a broader aspect that eliminates unnecessarily aligning too many students to a certain area of education such as science, commerce, and arts.  Many Western countries allow students to learn arts, science, and commerce together and sometimes to select other pathways in health, engineering, agriculture, services, sports, and many other areas. Curriculum reforms would direct to solve current major problems and needs including value education.  Sri Lanka has many religions but followers are not consistent with the policies of religions. It seems that religion has become a symbol and religion is not working in homes or workplaces or society.  In this situation, curriculum reforms need focusing to offer value education in all educational contexts.  In Western countries, value education is key in practical knowledge and application.  For example, care and compassion are vital values that mean care for self and others.  In any education context, safety is a value, which broadly applies to any subject area and when value education is included, the behavioural pattern of students dramatically changed and the quality of knowledge and skills improve with a higher demand for knowledge and skills. Part two of this article focuses on reforms related to curriculum and teaching.   

උපුටා ගැන්ම  හිරු පුවත්

ඉදිරි වසර දෙකක කාලය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මූල්‍යමය වශයෙන් සහාය දීමට ලෝක බැංකුව එකඟ වී තිබෙනවා.

>ඒ අනුව ඊට අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 1.5ක මුදලක් ලබාදීමට ලෝක බැංකුවේ කළමනාකාරීත්වය එකඟ වී ඇති බවයි වාර්තා වන්නේ.

එම මුල්‍ය ප්‍රදානය ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සමග ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඇති කරගෙන ඇති ගනුදෙනුව අවසන් වූ වහාම සිදු කෙරෙනු ඇති.

ලෝක බැංකුව විසින් එම මූල්‍ය ප්‍රදානය පියවර කිහිපයක් යටතේ සිදු කිරීමට අපේක්ෂා කෙරෙන අතර, පළමු මුදල් ලබාදීම අයි.එම්.එෆ්. ගනුදෙනුව අවසානයේ දී සිදු වනු ඇති බව ද තොරතුරු වාර්තා වනවා.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ මේ වනවිට දැඩි ආර්ථික අවපාතයක් නිර්මාණය වී ඇති පසුබිමකදියි ශ්‍රී ලංකාව වෙනුවෙන් මෙලෙස ලෝක බැංකුවෙන් ප්‍රදානයක් සිදුවන්නේ.

මේ වනවිටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යූහගතකරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් වන සාකච්ඡා අවසන් අදිරයක පවතින අතර, ඊයේ දිනයේ දී මෙරට රජය විසින් බැංකු පොලී අනුපාතය පවා යළි ඉහළ දැමීමට තීන්දු කිරීම පවා ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ පැසසීමට ලක්වුණා.

එය ආර්ථිකය සවිමත් කිරීම උදෙසා රජයක් විසින් ගතයුතුම තීරණයක් බවයි ඔවුන් සඳහන් කළේ.

මෙරට උද්ධමනය පාලනය සඳහා ගෙන යන වැඩසටහනට එය මහත් රුකුළක් වනු ඇති බවත්, ඊයේ දිනය වන විට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රුපියල ද අමෙරිකානු ඩොලරයට සාපේක්ෂව සියයට 4.9කින් අතිප්‍රමාණය වීමක් ද දීර්ඝ කාලයකට පසුව සිදුව තිබෙන අයුරු දක්නට ලැබුණා.<br /><br />ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවතින ආර්ථික පසුගාමීත්වයක් යම් තරමකින් වර්ධනයක් පෙන්නුම් කරන මොහොතකදියි ලෝක බැංකුවෙන් මෙවැනි මූල්‍ය සහායක් හිමිව ඇත්තේ.<br /><br />එය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථිකයට නැවුම් බලාපොරොත්තුවක් පවා ඇති කරවිය හැකි බවත් වාර්තා වනවා.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පසුගිය සමයේ චීනයෙන් කාබනික පොහොර නැවක් මෙරටට ගෙන්වීමට සම්බන්ධ ආයතනයේ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරියා ජාතික ජන බලවේගය යටතේ මෙවර පළාත් පාලන මැතිවරණ ඉදිරිපත් වී ඇති බවත් වාරිමාර්ග රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය ශෂීන්ද්‍ර රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

ඔහු ජාතික ජන බලවේගයෙන් වත්තල ප‍්‍රාදේශීය සභාවට තරග වැදීම සඳහා නාම යෝජනා භාරදී ඇති බව ද හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

කාබනික පොහොර නැව සමග තමන්ගේ කිසිම සබඳතාවක් නැති බවද පැවසූ ඒ මහතා එම නැව ගෙන්වීමට අදාළ සියලු කටයුතු තමන් අමාත්‍ය ධූරය භාර ගැනීමට පෙර සිදුව තිබූ බවද කියා සිටියේය.

මාධ්‍ය හමුවක් අමතමින් ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පල කරන ලදී.