Courtesy Rediff News

Image: The disputed structure in Srinagar
Photographs: Umar Ganai

Look at the picture carefully. This nondescript Muslim shrine in Kashmir has shot into the international limelight after many believers claimed it was where Jesus Christ was laid to rest. Inquisitive visitors– mostly Westerners–have started flocking to the shrine, forcing the caretakers to close down the religious structure. Rediff.com‘s Mukhtar Ahmad travels to Khanyar in Srinagar, in search of some spiritual answers.   

Where did Jesus spend his last days? Had he been to India? Had he been buried in Kashmir?

There are several versions on Jesus’ India sojourn. Some books argue Jesus did spend as many as 16 years in India, becoming a disciple of Buddhism. But many dispute the entire version, saying there has never been conclusive evidence on Jesus’ visit to India. 

The old debate or controversy resurfaced after Rozabal shrine of Sufi saint Yuz Asaf at Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir banned visitors and believers alike from entering the sanctum sanctorum. It was at the Rozabal shrine, many believe, Jesus was laid to rest. However, there has not been any conclusive proof to substantiate the claim.  

The shrine’s move comes after some believers wanted to exhume the remains to obtain carbon dating and get a DNA done.

“Some Christians claim it is the grave of Jesus and they had approached us with a request to exhume the remains for DNA testing. But, we refused,” Mohammad Amin Ringshawl, the shrine’s caretaker, told rediff.com.

Sponsored

No entry now to the shrine

Image: What is embossed on the wall
Photographs: Umar Ganai

As always in such cases, the ban has had a domino effect. The shrine had a mention in The Lonely Planet, a worldwide guide for travellers. As the word spread, inquisitive visitors started flocking the shrine.

Angered by the sudden “interest” being shown by foreigners in the shrine, the authorities banned people from entering the shrine.
 
Incidentally, the man — Aziz Kashmiri, senior journalist– who first wrote that Jesus was buried in Kashmir– passed away recently, rekindling memories of the controversy and interest associated with the grave in the Khanyar locality.

Aziz Kashmiri, the editor of a local Urdu daily Roshini, was the first to advance the theory in his book Christ In Kashmir published in 1973. 

The shrine shot into limelight following the publication of the book underpinning the theory “that Jesus survived crucifixion and migrated to Kashmir’.

‘It hurt Muslims’ sentiments’

Image: The book’s cover. Inset: Aziz Kashmiri, the author
Photographs: Umar Ganai

The claim is strongly contested by local Muslims who say the Rozabal shrine is the final resting place of two famous Muslim saints, Youza Asaf and Syed Naseer-ud-Din, who came here centuries ago.

Ringshawl says the controversy started in 2002 when an American researcher, Suzzane Marie, had met him and other members of the shrine committee and wanted to carry out the digging to exhume the remains for DNA testing.

“It is un-Islamic. Further the Holy Quran clearly mentions that Jesus did not die on the cross, but was lifted to heavens by Allah.”

“Following our strong protests, the American lady had to leave the valley and we even filed a complaint against her in the local police station.”

Ringshawl said following this episode ‘the entry of tourists in the shrine was banned by committee’. “We have locked the shrine and we don’t even allow any photography even from outside it. They were hurting the feelings of the local Muslims.”

‘The tomb predates Islam’

Image: Another view of the shrine
Photographs: Umar Ganai

The graves of saints are covered with green cloth embroidered with verses from the Holy Quran and local Muslims often stop at the shrine to say prayers.

In his book, Aziz Kashmiri writes, “Kashmiri history books tell us that Yus Asaf came from abroad. He was a prophet and a messenger. He came from Israel. He came to spread his teachings. He lived and died here. Yus Asaf was Issa. He was Jesus.”

“The meaning of Yus Asaf is, The Healer. Another meaning is The Shepherd the one who teaches others. Our history confirms that Issa was known as Yus Assaf, here in Kashmir.”

“The footprints were carved as a sign. The scars are clearly visible, sustained as he was nailed to the cross. They show that this is the same person who came here from Israel.

“And that he lived and died here. You won’t find any footprints like these anywhere else in Kashmir.”

Meanwhile, in an interview to Times of India recently, Suzanne refuted allegations that she had attempted to remove anything from the tomb, or dig it up.

“I can’t imagine who started those rumours or why,” she said and maintained that the belief that there is a Muslim saint in the same tomb is untrue. “The tomb predates Islam and could never be a Muslim tomb,”she was quoted as saying.

MIKE WHITNEY Courtesy The Unz Review

For decades, the idea of dismantling the Soviet Union and Russia has been constantly cultivated in Western countries. Unfortunately, at some point, the idea of using Ukraine to achieve this goal was conceived. In fact, to prevent such a development, we launched the special military operation (SMO). This is precisely what some western countries –led by the United States– strive for; to create an anti-Russian enclave and then threaten us from this direction. Preventing this from happening is our primary goal. Vladimir Putin

Here’s your geopolitical quiz for the day: What did Angela Merkel mean when she said that the Cold War never really ended, because ultimately Russia was never pacified”?

1. Merkel was referring to the fact that Russia has never accepted its subordinate role in the Rules-based Order.”
2. Merkel was referring to the fact that Russia’s economic collapse did not produce the ‘compliant state’ western elites had hoped for.
3. Merkel is suggesting that the Cold War was never really a struggle between democracy and communism, but a 45 year-long effort to pacify” Russia.
4. What Merkel meant was that the western states –particularly the United States– do not want a strong, prosperous and independent Russia but a servile lackey that does as it is told.
5. All of the above.

If you chose (5), then pat yourself on the back. That is the right answer.

Full Report

The Plan to Carve Up Russia, by Mike Whitney – The Unz Review

By Sugeeswara Senadhira Daily News

Colombo, January 6 (Daily News): A few years ago, government employees in Sri Lanka became a laughing stock in the world when a trade union struck work in protest against the installation of fingerprint machines to mark attendance in their offices.

Sri Lanka is among the top rankers in the list of countries with too many holidays. And in spite of enjoying all the holidays, half-day leave, short leave and other facilities to abstain from work, Sri Lankan trade unions have brazenly resisted all attempts by the authorities to at least get government servants to report to work on time and to prevent their departure from office before the closing time.

Many studies, surveys and evaluations have found that the vast majority of government servants are inefficient and lethargic. The analyses say that the output of public servants is as low as 25% of the required services. Roughly, the total output of the 1.6 million public servants is equal to the output of just 400,000 workers.

Hence, there was no reason to be shocked when President Ranil Wickremesinghe, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and some courageous ministry secretaries spoke bluntly about the expected duties and services of government servants.

Without mincing words President Wickremesinghe said that public service is not an eight-hour job. He urged public servants to work extra hours to make the cash-strapped country a prosperous nation this year.

A person’s duties cannot be limited to eight hours a day and five days a week. Let’s all work with commitment. By the end of 2023, I hope to take this country forward with the support of all of you and restore normalcy,” he said.

The people are well aware that the country was hit by an unprecedented financial crisis last year due to a severe paucity of foreign exchange reserves that also sparked political turmoil. The President said no public servant can shirk his responsibility as 2023 is going to be a critical year for the country’s economy.

Speaking on current needs, Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena urged public servants to work together to put the country on the path to a bright future. Speaking at the commencement of duties in the new year at the Prime Minister’s Office in Colombo, he said: This is the moment to announce the pledge and resolve to work with commitment for the betterment of the nation.”

He said that the government led by President Wickremesinghe is committed to achieving targets in the next 25 years on behalf of all Sri Lankans to ensure that the country reaches its goal by the 100 th. year of independence.

While making this pledge today, the only wish of the President’s Office including all other ministries, departments and public service institutions spread across the country that represent thousands of government employees as well as private sector employees who join us, is to build a proud future for the country and the people.”

In fact, a larger responsibility is assigned to the public service. We are dedicated to the process of bringing efficiency, orderliness and effectiveness of the public service to the people and to the entire country,” the Prime Minister said.

As a country that has experienced setbacks and resurgence throughout its history amid various challenges, Sri Lanka can transform itself into a proud nation once again, Gunawardena said.

We are currently going through one of the most challenging times in history. As the Prime Minister, I appeal to you to extend your hand and help fulfill all the duties of the public service to make Sri Lanka a developed, modern and self-sufficient country and to build a new generation that will embrace new developments in various fields,” the Premier said.

Public complaints against government officers directly dealing with the people include: coming late to work, spending a lot of time over breakfast, and gossiping with each other without any concern for the waiting public. The public also say that some officers do not attend to work with seriousness but spend time talking on their mobile phones or browsing the internet on their phones.

One of the new ministerial secretaries, Public Administration Ministry Secretary Neel Bandara Hapuhinna, took the bull by the horns when he said that he would act tough on the use of mobile phones by State officials during office hours. He added that he had seen in some places public offices navigating Facebook and WhatsApp the first thing on coming to work without attending to people who had come to obtain services.

He said he is wondering if a circular should be issued on the use of mobile phones during office hours. He pointed out that in some private sector offices, employees have to place their mobile phones in a locker on arrival and take them out only after the day’s work.

Considering the need to reduce the number of public servants, the government took several actions. One was to offer public servants no-pay leave for two years for them to work abroad without breaking their service seniority. Already more than 125,000 requests have been received from public servants eager to avail this opportunity.

Another step was compulsory retirement for those who attain the age of 60. More than 60,000 have already retired. But some trade unions have come up with the threat of a strike against this regulation. Trade unions that had always demanded that elders must not be given service extensions depriving jobs for the youth, now say that elderly employees must be retained!

Public sector employees started work in the New Year on January 2, amidst the cancellation of at least 15 office trains. The reason for the cancellations was the go-slow action of railway workers who wanted the government to extend the services of retiring railway workers. The trade unions should have asked those who were retiring to train replacement staff before they retire instead of making such absurd demands.

It is time public servants took the warnings given by the President, Prime Minister and the Ministry Secretary seriously and realize that they are public servants and that their primary duty is to serve the public.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickramasinghe says that the government expects to receive India’s response regarding Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring at the end of this month.

The President stated that the negotiations with China regarding debt restructuring have recommenced.

The President revealed this during a discussion held today (06) with newspaper editors and electronic media news directors at the Presidential Secretariat.

In the discussion held, the President further stated that the government expects the extended fund facility of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be received in the first half of this year.

The President mentioned that India will announce its response regarding Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring before the end of this month, and another round of discussions with China regarding debt restructuring has started these days and those discussions will also be concluded effectively.
 
Mr. Wickramasinghe said that there has been no request to China to write off the loans given to Sri Lanka, but that they have requested to be given time to repay the loans within a period of 20 years.

The President also mentioned that it is expected that there will be a good response from China.

The President also said that after receiving the extended credit facility from the International Monetary Fund, international financial institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have already responded positively to the financial support provided to Sri Lanka.

President Ranil Wickramasinghe says that the government expects to receive India’s response regarding the country’s debt restructuring at the end of this month.

The President mentioned that he has restarted negotiations with China regarding debt restructuring

Courtesy Adaderana

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe will be among 20 world leaders who will participate in the Voice of the Global South Summit” (VGSS) next week hosted by India virtually, Indian media reported. 

The summit will take place on January 12 and January 13 and will be chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, according to a report on WION. 

Other than leaders from the neighbourhood, leaders from five countries from Africa (Angola, Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Senegal), three countries from the ASEAN grouping (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam) will be present, along with leaders of Uzbekistan, Mongolia, UAE, Papua New Guinea. 

Senegal’s Macky Sall is the head of the African Union while Thailand is the chair of BIMSTEC grouping. The summit will have 10 sessions, with the opening and closing leaders’ session chaired by PM Modi and the remaining eight at the ministerial level. 

The ministerial sessions will be at Finance, Environment, Foreign, Energy, Health, Education, and Trade levels. The theme of the Inaugural Leaders’ session is Voice of Global South – for Human-Centric Development” and that of the Concluding Leaders’ session is Unity of Voice-Unity of Purpose”. 

Four sessions would be held on 12th January, and six sessions on 13th January. All in all, New Delhi has extended invites to 120 countries.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra in a presser on Friday said that the summit will bring together countries of the global south and share perspectives and priorities” amid Covid pandemic fallout, global price rise when it comes to food, fuel, fertilisers due to Russia-Ukraine conflict. 

The summit feeds into the G20 Summit which India will be hosting later this year in September. The foreign secretary highlighted, The valuable inputs generated from the partner countries receive due cognizance globally and India’s ongoing Presidency of the G20 provides us with a special and strong opportunity to channelise these inputs into the deliberation and discourse of G20.” 

India took over the Presidency of the grouping on December 1, 2022, and will host the summit for the first time since the emergence of the grouping after the 2008 financial crisis.

Source: WION 

–Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

Speaking with regards to the upcoming Local Government (LG) elections that are due to be held, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya has stated that in the event an LG election is held amidst Sri Lanka’s current situation, it will be a ‘world record’. 

Reasoning as to why he deemed the election as such, Siyambalapitiya explained that holding such an election would require for money to be printed, which is a rather difficult task amidst the ongoing economic crisis. 

We can hold the election, and also create a world record. What is the world record? A country with world’s worst economic crisis printing money to hold an election”, Siyambalapitiya stated in this regard.

Courtesy Adaderana

 Sri Lanka will restart negotiations on trade pacts with India, China and Thailand after a four-hear hiatus, an official said on Thursday, as the crisis-hit country races to seal deals to help it rebuild its economy.

The island of 22 million is in the midst of its worst financial crisis in over seven decades, triggered by a severe shortage of foreign exchange that has left the country struggling to pay for fuel, food and medicine.

Officials from Thailand are scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka on Monday to start the third round of talks after negotiations were suspended in 2018, said K.J. Weerasinghe, Sri Lanka’s Chief Negotiator of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Negotiations with India and China, Sri Lanka’s biggest trading partners accounting for about $5 billion each in bilateral trade in 2021, are expected to begin in February and March.

The focus is on improving economic cooperation and attracting investment, which is crucial for Sri Lanka to emerge for this economic crisis,” Weerasinghe told Reuters.

My main goal is to have all these deals completed by the end of 2023 or early 2024.”

Auramon Supthaweethum, Director General of Thailand’s Department of Trade Negotiations, said talks had been delayed because of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are heading there to continue the discussion,” Supthaweethum said.

Bilateral trade between Thailand and Sri Lanka totaled around $460 million in 2021, according to Sri Lanka’s central bank data.

Sri Lanka is aiming to deepen an existing FTA with its northern neighbor India into a Economic and Technology Agreement after talks stalled in 2018. It is looking to add services and investment to the current agreement that primarily covers trade in goods.

FTA discussions with China, the island’s largest bilateral lender, also stalled in 2018 over disagreements about the pace of liberalizing of Sri Lanka’s economy, Weerasinghe said.

Both countries have responded positively to resuming talks but specific dates are yet to be finalised, Weerasinghe added.

India’s trade ministry and China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Sri Lanka’s economy is projected to have contracted by 8.7% in 2022, but a recovery is expected in the second half of 2023, the central bank said.

The country signed a preliminary agreement for a $2.9 billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund last September but has to put its debt on track before disbursements can begin.

Source: Reuters

–Agencies 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Colombo Magistrate’s Court today (06 Jan.) ordered Sepal Amarasinghe, a social media activist arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department, to be remanded until the 10th.

Colombo Additional Magistrate Tharanga Mahawatta issued the relevant order after considering the facts presented by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

Amarasinghe was arrested by the CID last evening (05 Jan.) after recently making several controversial statements about the much-venerated Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy.

The YouTuber’s recent claims have led to chaotic uproar amongst Sri Lanka’s predominantly Buddhist society, officials of the CID highlighted, while the Director General of Department of Archaeology also asserted that the slanderous statements in question were a grave wrongdoing.

The Chief Prelates of the Malwatta and Asgiriya chapters have also informed the CID that they are ready to provide statements pertaining to the matter, the CID informed the court. 

Investigations have also revealed that Amarasinghe had received funds from persons overseas, regarding which the CID are conducting further probes under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, and the Act pertaining to providing financial aid to terrorists. 

The CID have requested that the accused be remanded till 19 January under the the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.

This request was, however, rejected.

Appearing on behalf of  Amarasinghe, Namal Rajapaksa stated that his client has only attempted to shield the religion from myths and other harmful statement through the countless number of videos posted on his YouTube channel, affirming that the accused had no intention of insulting Buddhism.

Rajapaksa also levelled a serious accusation that Amarasinghe had been arrested for the purpose of gaining political revenge, stating  that the controversial statements had only shed light on the fact that the Government was attempting to overshadow the ongoing economic crisis by readying to hold an exhibition of the Tooth Relic.

The CID initiated investigations into the statements made by Amarasinghe after  Inspector-General of Police (IGP) C.D. Wickramaratne received written complaints in this regard, which lead to Amarasinghe’s arrest.

The chief prelates of Malwatta and Asgiriya chapters, Most Ven. Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero and Most Ven. Warakagoda Sri Gnanarathana Thero also wrote to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, raising concerns about the offensive statements made by Amarasinghe, and urged the government to take necessary measures to nip the matter in the bud.

Meanwhile, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, speaking in parliament yesterday, vowed legal action against Amarasinghe, stressing that the religious harmony in the country cannot be allowed to be disrupted.

Pursuant to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act, No. 56 of 2007, propagating war or advocating national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence is a punishable offense with rigorous imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the government is working to introduce an Act similar to the Telecommunications and Social Media Act currently used in Singapore to regulate social media platforms including YouTube and Facebook.

The President made this observation during a discussion held today (06) with newspaper editors and news directors of electronic media at the Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.

Responding to a question about the programmes being followed by the government regarding the activities of certain social media activists, the President stated that although there are laws in Sri Lanka for newspapers and electronic media, there is no such legal framework for the regulation of social media in the country.

The President stated that as a result he has brought down the Telecommunications and Social Media Act currently in use in Singapore and hopes to study it and prepare a legal framework suitable for Sri Lanka in the future.

An Indepenedent Observer

The country is at a critical juncture not because of economic woes but because of the lack of a suitable leader for the majority, the Sinhala Buddhists.

Elections did come and go in the past but there was then always the case of choosing a SLFP or an UNP government.

SLPP has been sort of an extension of SLFP.

Though no party had a long-term vision people were able to choose a leader of their preference.  

However, it is not the case at this juncture. 

Who can we choose, come the election in a month or in a year?

Sajith stands as the prime person to take control of the country as he is the main opposition leader.

However is he suitable for the post of our supreme leader?

The notoriety he has gained as a thick-headed person or his alleged frauds ransacking the cultural fund could be discounted 

as most of our politicians are in the same breed.

However, in a country with a Sinhala Buddhist majority should a person masquerading as a Buddhist be accepted as its leader?

There are multiple reports that he has become a born again which he has never denied.

The country knows that his sister & mother belong to born again group and Sajith were alleged to have crept into a church in Kirillapone during election time.

And his conversion to the born-again cult is not the issue if it is so but what angers the majority is his futile attempts to conceal it.

The fact that President Wickremasinghe chose to respond to Sajith’s quotation from the Prabhava Sutta by quoting a line from the same sutra itself looks like the coup de grace.

President Wickremasinghe did retort pointing at Sajith what Buddha said in that Sutra was that anyone seeking refuge in the creed of the wicked would have his downfall!

Why did he choose to tell it to Sajith that line is crystal clear to all?

JVP with an alliance with or without FSP surfaced as a force to lead the country during the Aragalaya period.

In fact, Anura Dissanayake clearly did miss a golden opportunity to be our PM or even climb to the post of President but his fate was cruelly against him.

The subsequent arson, looting & murder that gripped the country frightened the mass so much JVP may not do much better than their 3% , come to an election.

Anura’s & JVP’s rising star Harshini Amarasuriya’s anti-Buddhist stance is a pointer to their collaboration with NGOs to attack the Buddhist foundation of the country.

His party supporter Sepala Amerasinghe’s latest insulting attacks on Dalada Maligawa cannot be taken lightly.

In a recent Salakuna program, Duminda Nagamuwa admitted that he is non Buddhist & a Marxist only.

Along with his FSP leader, Gunaratna M Buddhists can anticipate what is to come if those are elected to office.

The fate of UNP is not rosy at all. 

There is nobody beyond aging Ranil to be accepted as having any substance to lead our country. 

Unless a forged partnership with the SLPP, an immediate comeback is impossible.

Surprisingly SLFP seems to have a clear advantage here keeping its Sinhala Buddhist stance with MS as its leader as long as

ex-President Chandrika can be kept outside its framework.

On the other hand, SLFP  has lost a golden chance to be the leading party to claim the reins because of its lack of competent & efficient leadership.

MS or Dayasiri do not fit into that category clearly.

SLPP & Rajapakshas would be right on the card surely whatever mishaps have happened to them.

I would also have thought so having been a Rajapaksha follower ever since winning the war whatever the alleged corruption & economic downfalls happened

under them.

But I will not support any Rajapakshas anymore in the future.

Why? 

Not because they caused the economic collapse but because of the incidents that happened during the Aragalaya time.

It clearly showed Gota was hands bound & acting under orders, no doubt from the US.

He could not deploy the army because Aragalaya was a US system change scheme.

It was shocking for the country to see horrible events unfolding at GalleFace day by day with utter silence from sleeping Gota’s regime.

We may have had pseudo-satisfaction that an Arab Spring did not happen in our country with the usual bloodshed but this foreign-led movement brought the desired system change in our country.

The US & India were right behind it.

This was not a struggle by the so-called innocent masses.

The most noteworthy master stroke taken by these foreign perpetrators stare at your face.

What was that?

Involve a prominent Buddhist monk in this protest or the system change.

They got hold of Ven Madoluwawe Sobitha Thero for the yahapalanaya struggle to topple MR regime then.

 And this time it was the other Ven Sobhitha.

Omalpe Sobhitha Thero who led the Aragalaya showed it was a Buddhist-led movement.

Tamil diaspora & the cardinal played their major roles upfront to draw the masses with the cardinal going all the way to the Vatican to set the ball rolling.

It was mostly Christian & Tamil & Muslim masses in the downtrodden areas in Colombo that filled the ground with the selected NGO-funded leaders.

Tamil diaspora & Muslim elements gave the financial backup.

Many popular Christian personalities,Yeheli Sangakkara,,Mahela’s first wife,Christina,Appuhamy ,Damitha Abeyratna & Christian cricketers were there to give their full backing.

Born again duo Sangakkara & Mahela gave theirs on social media.

No wonder RAW & US created incidents in the country funding those protests & rallies.

The most important lesson to the country from this system change is Never ever again elect a President having any connection to the US.

Whatever antagonism they may show against the US during their political campaign won’t hold any water if those with dual citizenship or close relatives in the US have been elected as the President of the country. 

US know then how to apply pressure on them with their families & children’s future in the US clearly in the US hands.

No parent would jeopardize their children’s future.

The US  is the master of maneuvering. 

What does this say?

Never again a Rajapaksha, Be Gota, Basil or Namal be our leader in the future.

Namal though not a US citizen can be easily maneuvered by the US through his connections to the US with Basil & Gota & their families in the US.

Namal’s fate is doomed.

If Namal becomes our President the country no doubt will face again the calamity through the interference of the US as happened to Gota.

None of MR’s sons have a particular appeal to the Buddhist majority.

They all look like a spoilt westernized bunch and all of them marrying into powerful Christian families too may be a factor here.

This should be the end of the Rajapaksha dynasty as much as happened to Bandranayaka’s though they may have pseudo hopes.

Rajapakshas should be a history in the past.

Do not forget there are other current prominent political leaders who fall Into this group with connections to the US such as Dallas Allapperuma & Sarath Fonseka.

Both are known to have their families & children living in the US.and no parent would like to jeopardize their children’s future by going against the US.

Here one striking fact that stands out is a number of our prominent political figures surprisingly hold US citizenship or green cards.

If not at least their children are having some sort of education or training in the US and with potential citizenship in the US.

This should alarm bells in our country.

What comes to light now is whether the US has a secret scheme to offer to our prospective political leaders or their families green cards or citizenship purposely to get them under their grip.

This is a very important issue the country and our aspiring leaders should take note of. How come several prominent political figures have been lucky to obtain it?

Therefore we only have a few now to choose to cast our votes to come to the election.

We need new heads & new leaders with some experience in politics and you cannot look beyond them.

The best hope is a unity of a few scattered good individuals in the current parliament who have a clean record though may not be absolute.

My best bet for the Sinhala Buddhist interests is a coalition party of individuals consisting of Prof Channa Jayasumana, Prof Charith Herath, Prof Gunapala Ratnasekera, 

Gevindu Kumaranatunga,Wimal Weerawansa,Udaya Gammanpila , Wasantha Yapa & Champika Ranawaka etc.

They can come together with shared leadership like what happened in Ireland where coalition leaders changed hands in the mid-term.

They should stay clear of SLPP ( Namal & Basil), SJB, JVP, or UNP.

However, an alliance with the SLFP looks possible that will give such a coalition a country-wide platform through the SLFP ‘s established groundwork, however, MS should not be the leader of the  Alliance.

Dilrook Kannangara

A social media activist has lost his bearings and ventured into the territory of hate speech. Calling politically active Buddhist monks by insulting names is fair game as they have entered the political fray. However, religious symbols are beyond political insults. Associating a religious symbol with a sexual object is an offence and the offender must be punished as per many laws in the country. According to existing laws, he could be punished with a jail term of up to 10 years if found guilty.

However, turning the matter into a political windfall by certain politicians and unpopular and tribal political organizations is not acceptable either. The need of the hour is to punish the individual so similar acts of hate speech will not be made and more importantly, it will not become a trend.

The social media activist was a supporter of the former president in 2019 and then he changed his party to the JVP and Aragalaya. The JVP must declare its connection with the man or distance itself from him.

Over the years not only Buddhists, but also Christians, Hindus and Muslims have showed their respect to the Temple of the Tooth. It has been the subject of a terrorist attack in 1998 and it must not be the object of vilification almost exactly 25 years later. Sadly, the terrorist masterminds behind the attack and the bodyguard of one of them are in active politics today and they have not been punished for political reasons.

Did the British ‘civilize’ India? Tucker Carlson (Fox News host) talks about the British leaving behind ‘an entire civilization’ in India, and how according to him, Indians, till today, haven’t been able to build even a single building as beautiful as the Bombay train station. Karolina Goswami responds.

============= Please consider supporting our work financially: https://www.paypal.me/indiaindetails | PayTm, GooglePay, and UPI: satya45@icici | Monthly basis: https://www.patreon.com/indiaindetails Email: indiaindetails@gmail.com ============= Also, please make sure that you watch the remaining episodes of this series: 1) Australia: Foreign students used as cheap labor? [Can Indians Question You? E-1]: https://youtu.be/tGHLFly_oMI 2) Bone-chillling facts about Sweden [Can Indians Question You? E-2]: https://youtu.be/6D7FJZp-9QU 3) Broth*l of Europe? Germany [Can Indians Question You? E-3]: https://youtu.be/cGqznSEW-LQ 4) UK? Exposing the so-called ‘British aid’ [Can Indians Question You? E-4]: https://youtu.be/iSRGxLDNm-8 5) Russian oil and anti-India prop*ganda [Can Indians Question You? E-5]: https://youtu.be/BCInVUjnQhM 6) USA Professor vs Karolina Goswami [Can Indians Question You? E-6]: https://youtu.be/_3EsKLSfSDU 7) Five questions for the UK [Can Indians Question You? E-7]: https://youtu.be/2FxaXa9v_OA

Noam Chomsky is a linguist, philosopher, and political activist.

  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ඉන්දියන් සාගර කලාපයේ සමුද්‍ර ආරක්‍ෂාව ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබාදෙන සහාය පිළිබඳව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාව වෙත ස්තූතිය පළ කළේය.

 ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු මහ කොමසාරිස් පෝල් ස්ටීවන්ස් මහතා 2023.01.04 දින අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය කාර්යාලයේදී දිනේෂ් ගුණවර්ධන මහතා හමුවූ අවස්ථාවේදී එතුමා මේ බව  සඳහන් කළේය.

 එහිදී, ධීවර ක්‍ෂේත්‍රයට අදාළ සන්නිවේදන ජාල ශක්තිමත් කිරීම සඳහා ධීවර යාත්‍රාවලට ජී. පී. එස් (Global Positioning System) තාක්ෂණ පහසුකම ලබාදීමට අවශ්‍ය සහාය ලබාදෙන ලෙස අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා වැඩිදුරටත් ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

දේශීය සිසුන් පමණක් නොව ආසියාවේ, මැදපෙරදිග සහ අප්‍රිකාවේ වෙනත් රටවල සිසුන් ආකර්ෂණය කර ගැනීම සඳහා තවත් ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු විශ්ව විද්‍යාලවලට අනුබද්ධ විශ්වවිද්‍යාල ශ්‍රී ලංකාව තුළ ස්ථාපිත කළ හැකි බව පැවසූ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ධීවර, කෘෂිකර්මය, තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණය, පුනර්ජනනීය බලශක්තිය, ඉලෙක්ට්‍රොනික හා සංචාරක කර්මාන්තය වැනි නව ක්ෂේත්‍රවල ද නව ආයෝජන සිදු විය යුතු බව වැඩිදුරටත් පෙන්වා දුන්නේය.

වත්මන් ආර්ථික අර්බුදය හමුවේ  ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 75ක් වටිනා ඖෂධ සහ අත්‍යාවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය සැපයීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබාදුන් සහයෝගය වෙනුවෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා ඔස්ට්‍රේලියාවට සිය ප්‍රසංශාව පළ කළේය‍. ජාත්‍යන්තර මූල්‍ය අරමුදල සමඟ පැවති සාකච්ඡාවලදී සහ පැරිස් සමාජ රැස්වීම්වලදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට තම සහාය ලබා දෙන බවට මහ කොමසාරිස් ස්ටීවන්ස් මහතා ඔස්ට්‍රේලියානු මහ මෙහිදී  සහතික විය.

මෙම සාකච්ඡාවට ඕස්ට්‍රේලියානු දූත මණ්ඩල පළමු ලේකම් ෂැනන් මර්නි,  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක   සහභාගි වූහ.

  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his wife Ayoma Rajapaksa arrived at Bandaranaike International Airport from Dubai this morning, the Airport Duty manager and the spokesperson of the Airport Immigration Department confirmed.

They had arrived on an Emirates flight EK-650 from Dubai. 

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sepal Amarasinghe was arrested by a special CID team at Bellanwila for his statement on the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Police said.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe had instructed the IGP to initiate immediate investigation into the fake Dalada Maligawa.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed the IGP to initiate an immediate and comprehensive investigation regarding the construction of a fake Dalada Maligawa in Pothuhera, Kurunegala.

The instruction was given after the Ven. Mahanayaka Theras had reported it to the President, Presidential Media Division said.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court today ordered the CID to expeditiously obtain relevant documents pertaining to State Minister Diana Gamage’s alleged citizenship issue from the British High Commission in order to carry out a comprehensive investigation.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Prasanna Alwis observed that it would not be appropriate to issue orders including an order of arrest, until court receives relevant documents from the British High Commission.  
 
The court had earlier imposed a travel ban against State Minister Diana Gamage in connection with a magisterial inquiry into a complaint that she had obtained a Sri Lankan passport after furnishing false information to the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration.
 
In 2021, the CID had filed a B report in the Chief Magistrate’s Court against Diana Gamage over a complaint that she is a British citizen residing in Sri Lanka without a dual citizenship status.
 
The CID had commenced investigations into this incident subsequent to a complaint lodged by social activist Oshala Herath. 
 
According to the B report filed before court, the CID alleged that investigations would be carried out against parliamentarian Diana Gamage under section 175 of Penal Code for furnishing false information and under sections 45(1)(a) and 45(1)(c) of the Immigrants and Emigrants Act (IEA) for remaining in Sri Lanka in contravention of the provision of the IEA and making a false representation.(Lakmal Sooriyagoda)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

A Gazette Notification has been issued restricting the import of gold above 22 carats as jewellery, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said.

He said in a twitter post that the decision was taken to prevent gold smuggling.

Shenali D Waduge

When anything is difficult to introduce, the tactic used is to camouflage the insidious objective & sugar coat it in a manner that can win over people’s approval. Thus, the name Gender Equality” – it becomes something people cannot refuse & do not pay much attention to reading the hidden clauses attempted to be passed using this camouflage. It shows the architects of these names have mentally assessed how weak the majority of Sri Lanka’s populace are in believing anything sugar coated.

Yep good one. Also dont forget Women Empowerement Bill ” Gender Equality Bill” & National Women Commission” are on the pipeline with NGO support & probably foreign funding which might even be strapped to aid & other humanitarian gifts given only on the condition that the government passes these Bills. This is how western nations inflict damage culturally on countries by pretending to give goodies which come with dangerous outcomes.

http://www.childwomenmin.gov.lk/storage/app/media/Gender%20Equality%20Act%20%20Draft.pdf

The insidious plan is to legalize Transgender / influence warped sexual ideology – in short it has nothing whatsoever to do with women except to turn men into something other than a man & turn a woman into something other than a woman.

The crux of the matter is that individuals can go about doing what they like in private but what is done in private does not require to be drummed and promoted & forced upon others by legal acts. If a person wants to be gay so be it. If a person wants to be a lesbian so be it. But gays and lesbians and people of any other name have no right to force their ideology upon others through legal Acts. People have a right to live the way they want too.

http://www.childwomenmin.gov.lk/downloads/acts-and-bills

The documents being prepared are the Gender Equality Bill. How can women’s rights be protected via a Bill that gives equal place to homosexuality & transgenders?

The LGBT madness in US is nothing that majority of Americans agree to but have to put up with the nonsense at it was introduced with insidious plans in mind where ultimately big pharma bags a bunch of zombies into their medicinal kitty for therapy medications and depression following operations to change sex and other mental instabilities they begin to suffer as they age. It becomes a fad for those in teen who can easily be pumped up by paid NGOs to embrace anything that gets promoted as the in thing” but with time they feel in a state of anxiety & require medications. This means clients for the pharmaceutical industry who must be one of the promoters of these equality” Bills.

The Gender Equality Bill is proposing to create a Women’s Commission which will hardly look into the needs of women but concentrate on the lesbians and promoting lesbians across Sri Lanka’s girls. This is all part of the depopulation agenda. These are all part of the liberal agenda being transported and imported to countries as another means of dividing society & culturally destroying them. Countries that have no culture or no culture to boast about are going out of their way to destroy ancient cultures & keep them only as coffee table books. https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok listen to how libtards destroyed America with LGBT ideology.

The newest is the drag queen ideology – where young boys are being dressed like girls & sent on mardi gras like concerts. Would any mother or father wish to have their sons dressed as women? What right does a bunch of people have to introduce an ideology changing natural character (interior and exterior) of people? If they wish to, that is their individual choice – but do they have a right to force their will on others? Every persons freedoms and rights ends where they trespass on the freedoms & rights of others. This remains the golden rule.

Look at the number of AIDS victims as a result of abnormal sexual behavior in Africa promoted by NGOs from West? Do we want such in Sri Lanka? We saw how the wayward behavior promoted during the aragala gave rise to rise in HIV cases. Do we want to be an AIDS infected nation like the countries of Africa?

What the National Commission on Women’s Bill is cunningly attempting to do is to give legitimacy to LGBT under Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.

Isn’t it ironic that the promoters of all these movements were at the forefront of intentionally displaying a black Vesak and mocking Buddha on the grounds of the Galle Face where they claimed they were protesting against an economic situation.

It is no secret that the 3 colonial invaders saw Buddhist philosophy as a threat and wished to vanquish it – their policies were directly aimed at destroying not only Buddhism but the Buddhist identity of Sri Lanka. The Catholic Action post-independence remains active & their goal is to destroy Buddhism from within as well – their pawn the JVP are doing a great job of robing men in Buddhist robes and making them run amok to give Buddhism a bad name. Imagine when they send gays and trans as Buddhist theros! With the legality given to them, their actions will be protected in Courts & this is what they are aiming to do. It is no different to trying to remove the PTA so that the same funding bodies can spread terror once more. By now, a supposed literate Sri Lanka should have understood these insidious plans.

The players are the very same that carry out colored revolutions and their footsoldiers are these its they have created since they do not wish to be called women or men!

https://www.facebook.com/VenKirulapanaDhammawijayaThero/videos/90753345706855

What good is any Bill when inspite of many Bills – women still get beaten by men more than men get beaten by women, women & girls are trafficked more than men, a woman is raped more than men, more girls are out of school than boys, even those that boast of equality” pay less to women, best jobs are never given to women, and those women that are lucky to go to the top are only ceremonial roles, While countries claim to have legalized transgender/homosexuality – half of all transgenders are sexually abused, there are more cases of suicides by men as they are unlikely to seek help due to their ego.

It is the female who gets pregnant & carries child for 9 months – should the father get the same leave as this mother who has to breastfeed the baby? Is this the equality that is being promoted?

We agree men are physically more powerful than women & it would be unfair to give equal status for a woman as that of a man who is carrying more heavy objects.

Moreover the ones screaming equal rights are also beating for women’s rights & feminist rights – so what happens to equal rights. How many women would say no to a male opening the door for them! How many females would refuse a male paying the restaurant bill!

The feminist movement became vogue only because it was introduced as a socio-political movement similar to the LGBT movement – there are politics behind these initiatives with organizations and governments heavily backing people promoting it.

Lets take a step back in time. Sri Lanka belongs to the Eastern Civilization, where our nations were called motherland because the head of the home was the mother, who looked after every affair in the house while the father brought food & kept the home safe. This was the role that was passed down from generations and it was a revered role one in which the mother did not try to boast her position was superior to that of the father & vice versa. Then came the macho men – the colonial explorers with their big guns who showed their physical powers enhanced via weapons. Soon, they infused their brand of ideology that pitted people against each other. The caste factor was never looked with degradation but it was turned into a class structure by colonials, men & women were placed against each other, women were turned into slavery and sex objects. The biggest damage was the psychological influence making people think themselves as superior or inferior and building anger and bad will against each other. This psyche continues and is what is being rebranded via various well funded initiatives – all to break up the home..

The colonials followed the rule divide the house” – this is what they are doing now, they are dividing the home – getting children hooked on to drugs, getting children to adopt bizarre sexual norms which are being presented as fashionable, getting children to not respect their elders and teachers, getting elders involved in equally illicit activities preparing the grounds to justify children not respecting them … a major psychological operation is at play. These are all well-funded & well organized with NGOs and locals coopted to roll out the efforts. Natural biology cannot be tampered & tweaked. Attempts to do so result in trauma to the person forced to experience such changes not to those promoting it. People should not be turned into guineapigs and politicians in Sri Lanka should stop playing further games with people’s lives by plugging every imported headache to Sri Lanka.

What should happen is legally men & women should be treated equally & professionally depending on the job – women & men should get paid equally too. All other areas, legislation should not be allowed to force people to adopt any socio-politically motivated & funded initiatives that are being unfairly plugged to foreign aid with diplomatic arm-twisting. Culturally corrupt nations are attempting to corrupt the cultures of nations that embrace proud civilizational traditions, heritage & customs.

Sri Lankans – Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims must object to changing their children into socio-political guineapigs & destroying their natural physique & turning them into a facade that is unnatural & likely to lead to psychological trauma in later years for themselves & their families.

Shenali D Waduge

Asoka Weerasinghe  Gloucester . Ontario . Canada

January 4, 2023

Letters Editor
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN

You said that ‘Canada linked to alleged war horrors… accused of killing innocents in Syria and Iraq.

Let’s not white-wash Canada’s indirect involvement in the killings of innocent Sinhalese people in the border villages in North and East of Sri Lanka in the thousands during the Tamil Eelam War,  by the most ruthless terrorists in the world, designated as such by the UN of the Tamil Tigers.

It was Canada that let the Canadian Tamil Tigers collect two million dollars a month for 13 Liberal Governing years beginning with Jean Chretien days.  It was these monies that were used to purchase sophisticated war weapons to kill the innocent Sinhalese people in droves.

Let’s not forget that it was a cheque that was cut for nearly $7 million dollars from a Bank in Vancouver under a  Tamil name to purchase 50 tonnes of TNT and 10 tonnes of RDX from the Rubezone Chemical Factory in Ukraine in 1994, that was used in the truck bomb by the Tamil Tigers that brought down the Central Bank building in Colombo’s Finance District  killing 86 innocent civilians and maiming for life another 1338 on 31 January 1996,

Let’s add Sri Lanka to Syria and Iraq where Canada has been involved in war killings directly and indirectly in international war theatres,  Canada is not lily-white by any means.

Asoka Weerasinghe

Gloucester. On

තිසර සමල් – අනුරාධපුර

එප්පාවල 09 හැවිරිදි පිරිමි දරුවකු  දෙමාපියන්ට නොදන්වා ගොස් රිකිල්ලගස්කඩ ජොන්ස්ලන්ඩ් වතුයායේ නිවසක සඟවාගෙන සිටි සැකකරුට හා නවාතැන් දුන් සැකකරුවන් දෙදෙනාට ඇප ලබා දෙන ලෙස තඹුත්තේගම මහසේත්‍රාත් බුද්ධික මල්වත්ත මහතා අද (04) නියෝග කලේය.

මෙලෙස ඇප මත නිදහස් කෙරුණේ, නීත්‍යාණූකූල භාරකාරත්වයෙන් අපහරණය කිරීමේ චෝදනාව මත  රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කර සිටි, 09 හැවිරිදි පිරිමි දරුවා පැහැර ගෙන යාමේ සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ ප්‍රධාන සැකකරුවන  වන 22 කණුව, කැකිරාව පාර, තලාව ලිපිනයේ පදිංචි ඇස්වැද්දුමගේ අසේල ප්‍රියන්ත ප්‍රනාන්දු  නම් විදුලි කාර්මික ශිල්පියා හා  අපහරණයේ කිරීමේ චෝදනාවට ආධාර අනුබල ලබා දීමේ චෝදනාව මත දරුවා රැගෙන එප්පාවල ප්‍රදේශයෙන්  පළා ගොස් සැඟවී සිටිමට උපකාර කළ ජොන්ස්ලන්ඩ් වතුයායේ නිවසේ හිමිකරු වන අමිල සම්පත් කුමාර නානායක්කාර නම් මහනුවර නගර සභාවේ රියදුරෙකු වශයෙන් සේවය කරන 42 හැවිරිදි තිදරු පියෙකු හා  ඔහුගේ පියා වන  එන්.එන්.ජී.ඩී සිරිසේන නානායක්කාර නම් 74 හැවිරිදි පුද්ගලයෙකි.

අංක 16, ගැටදිවුල, කිරලෝගම ලිපිනයේ පදිංචි පී.කේ දෙනෙත් ගෞරව ප්‍රේමසුන්දර  නම් නව හැවිරිදි පිරිමි දරුවා එම ප්‍රදේශයේ විදුලි කාර්මික ශිල්පි ආයතනයක් පවත්වාගෙන ගිය විදුලි කාර්මික ශිල්පියකු සමඟ මීට මාස කීපයක සිට සමීප ඇසුරක් තිබූ බවත්, අදාළ විදුලි කාර්මිකයා දරුවා රවටා පැහැර ගෙන යන්නට ඇති බවට සැක කරන බවත් දරුවාගේ දෙමාපියන් එප්පාවල පොලීසියට පසුගිය 19 වැනි දින  රාත්‍රීයේ පැමිණිලි කර ඇත.තම දරුවා පැහැරගෙන ගොස් ඇත්තේ දරුවා සමීපව ඇසුරු කළ ප්‍රදේශයේ විදුලි කාර්මිකයකු වන  ඇස්වැද්දුමේ අසේල ප්‍රියන්ත නම් 45 හැවිරිදි පුද්ගලයකු බවත්, ඔහු දරුවා රවටා රැගෙන යන්නට ඇති බවට සැකකරන බවටත් දරුවාගේ මව වන පුෂ්පා මල්කාන්ති මහත්මිය  හා යුධ හමුදා සෙබලකු වන දරුවාගේ පියාද මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් එප්පාවල පොලීසියට සිදු කළ පැමිණිල්ලෙහි සඳහන්ව ඇත.

ඒ අනුව පොලිසීය වහාම ක්‍රියාත්මක වී පරීක්ෂණ ආරම්භ කර ඇති අතර, ඒ අනුව සිදු කළ පරීක්ෂණ වලදී  විදුලි කාර්මිකයා සන්තකයේ දරුවා සිටින බවට පොලීසිය අනාවරණය කර ගෙන ඇත.ඒ  අදාළ විදුලි කාර්මිකයා පැහැරගත් දරුවාද සමඟ  දරුවා පැහැරගත් දිනම (19)   රාත්‍රියේ නාවුල ප්‍රදේශයේ ඔහුගේ සහෝදරයකුගේ නිවසකට ගොස් එම නිවසේ රාත්‍රියේ රැදී සිට පසුදින  (20) අලුයම එම නිවසින් දරුවාද රැගෙන පිටත්ව උකුවෙල පිහිටි ඔහුගේ සහෝදරියකගේ නිවසකටද ගොස් ඇති බවට පොලීසිය අනාවරණය කර ගත්හ.

සැකකාර විදුලි කාර්මිකයාගේ දුරකථනය පසුගිය 23 රාත්‍රියේ රිකිල්ලගස්කඩ ප්‍රදේශයේ භාවිතා වන බවට තොරතුරු අනාවරණය වීමත් සමඟින් ඒ ඔස්සේ පරික්ෂණ පවත්වා දරුවා හා දරුවා පැහැර ගත් පුද්ගලයා රැදී සිටි  රිකිල්ලගස්කඩ, ජොන්ස්ලන්ඩ් වතුයායේ නිවසක රැදී සිටියෙදී  පසුගිය (23) මධ්‍යම රාත්‍රියේ එම නිවස වටලා ඔවුන් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත. දරුවා එප්පාවල සිට රැගෙන ගිය  විදුලි කාර්මික ශිල්පියාට අයත් ත්‍රීරෝද රථයද එම නිවසේ තිබී පොලිස් භාරයට ගෙන ඇත. මෙම දරුවාට හා දරුවා පැහැර ගෙන ගොස් සඟවා තබා ගැනීමට උදව් උපකාර කළ නිවසේ හිමිකරුද එම අවස්ථාවේදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන ඇත.

දරුවා රඳවා ගෙන සිටි ජොන්ස්ලන්ඩ් වතුයායේ පිහිටි නිවසේ හිමිකරු වන නගර සභා සේවකයාගේ  පියා , මෙම දරුවා පැහැර ගැනීම සිදු කළ විදුලි කාර්මිකයා සමඟ වසර කීපයක් තලාව ප්‍රදේශයේ සේවය කරමින් සිටි  බවත්, ඒ හිතවත්කම මත  මීට පෙරද නිවසට එක් වරක් පැමිණි බවත්, පසුගිය 20 වැනි දින තම පියාගේ නිවසට පැමිණි මොවුන් එහි රැදී සිට,  පසු දින (21) ඔවුන් තමන්ගේ නිවසට පැමිණ, මෙම දරුවා තමන්ගේම දරුවා බව පවසා නිවසේ තබා ගෙන සිටි බවද පොලීසියට ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇත.තමන් නව නිවසක් ඉදි කරමින් පවතින බවත්, මෙම පුද්ගලයා එහි විදුලි පද්ධතිය සකස් කිරීමද පසුගිය දින වල සිදු කළ බවත් ඔහු පොලීසියට පවසා ඇත.

ඒ අනුව  එම නිවසේ සිටියදී අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පැහැර ගැනීමට ලක් වූ දරුවා, පැහැර ගැනීම සිදු කළ විදුලි කාර්මිකයා හා ඔවුන්ට නවතැන් දුන් තිදරු  පියෙකු වන නගර සභා රියදුරු හා ඔහුගේ පියාද පොලිස් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන තඹුත්තේගම මහේස්ත්‍රාත්වරයා හමුවට ඉදිරිපත් කළ අතර, ජනවාරි මස 04 වැනි දින දක්වා රක්ෂිත බන්ධනාගාර ගත කරන ලෙස තඹුත්තේගම මහේස්ත්‍රාත් එම්.එල් නුවන් කෞෂල්‍ය මහතා පසුගිය 24 වැනිදා නියෝග කළේය.

ඒ අනුව මෙම නඩුව අද (04) තඹුත්තේගම මහසේත්‍රාත්  බුද්ධික මල්වත්ත මහතා ඉදිරියේ විභාගයට ගැණුනු  අතර, සූම් තාක්ෂණය ඔස්සේ සැකකරුවන් අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටි අතර, අදාළ දරුවා හා ඔහුගේ දෙමාපියන් අධිකරණය හමුවේ පෙනී සිටියහ.සැකකරුවන් වෙනුවෙන් සමන්ත හේරත් හා මහේෂ් තලංගල යන නීතීඥ මහතුන් පෙනී සිටි අතර, ඔවුන් සැකකරුවන් තිදෙනා වෙනුවෙන් ඇප ඇයැද සිටින බව පැවසීය.අදාළ සිද්ධියේ නවාතැන් දුන් සැකකරුවන් දෙදෙනා සිද්ධියට සම්බන්ධ නොමැති බැවින් සුදුසු ඇපයක් ලබා දෙන ලෙස අධිකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියහ.

ඒ අනුව කරුණු සලකා බැලූ මහේස්ත්‍රාත් බුද්ධික මල්වත්ත මහතා ලක්ෂය බැගින් ශරීර ඇප 02 ක් මත සැකකරුවන් තිදෙනා නිදහස් කරන ලෙසත්, ලක්ෂ 10 ක බැදුම්කරයක් මත දරුවාගේ මවට දරුවා භාර කරන බවත්, දරුවා හොදින් බලා ගන්නා ලෙසටත්, මවට දරුවා බලා ගැනීම වගකීම ඇති බවටද අවවාදාත්මකව ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේය.

එප්පාවල පොලිස් ස්ථානාධිපති ඊ.අයි.එස් ඒකනායක මහතාගේ උපදෙස් මත පො.සෑ 56722 අධිකාරී මහතා නඩු කටයුතු මෙහෙයවනු ලැබීය.

Mahinda Gunasekera

Federal vs Unitary:

Broadly speaking, most are fully in favour of retaining a Unitary Structure of governance as opposed to a Federal, Quasi-Federal based on the Indian model, or other multi-level structure where powers need to be devolved to the semi-autonomous units that are to be set-up for various regions within the tiny island of Sri Lanka, which is the common homeland of all her people.Federal or quasi-federal systems have been successful to some extent where countries such as Canada, the United States of America, and India with an extensive landmass, involving the coming together of independent colonies in the first two countries, and the weaving together of disparate ethnic and linguistic groups as found in India, to form a single federal state or country.Federal systems where limited powers have been devolved to linguistic regions in Switzerland and Belgium too would not fit into Sri Lanka’’s demography which is multi-ethnic and multi-religious in character, except for the northern province which has been ethnically cleansed of the Sinhala and Muslim communities who were driven out of the region after 1981.Furthermore, Sri Lanka is a tiny island which cannot afford to create artificial regional barriers based on language or ethnicity that tend to divide the nation state, as her pluralistic society and territorial integrity could best be safeguarded via a locally crafted unitary system of governance that improves on the existing arrangement which is well understood by the people at all levels.

The new Constitution should be drawn up with a great deal of care after a wide ranging consultation process with members of the public, professional bodies, trade unions, religious leaders, and all concerned categories of people willing to share their input to build one that is acceptable to the vast majority of the nation’s population.  Its framework should be based on a unitary system of governance with the Centre having an overriding say in the matters of national importance while the peripheral units will cover items of regional value not in conflict with the centre. It should at the same time seek to share a greater degree of power with special interest ethnic/religious/and livelihood groups prevailing in the various areas of the country in the power structure at the Centre, so that all issues of a conflicting nature could be freely discussed and resolved in the deliberations taking place in the main body of elected representatives.

Replacement of Provincial Councils by Multi-District Councils:

It would also provide an opportunity to roll back the detrimental impact of the 13th Amendment imposed by our giant neighbour in 1987 creating Provincial Councils deemed ‘white elephants’ by most people, which have failed to deal with the local needs of the resident population.  These have only served to create an additional layer of superfluous politicians feeding on the public purse, and even challenging the unitary character of the state with the combined North and East Provincial Council declaring its independence from the rest of the country soon after its inauguration in March 1990. The solution to preventing a similar situation is not to devolve more powers to the peripheral units but to scale back the powers to fit a lesser council required to serve the day to day needs of the residents. In my opinion, the ideal unit needed to replace the Provincial Councils would be Multi-District Councils tailored to deal with the common problems affecting neighbouring districts as grouped below:

i)   Northern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi and Mannar;
ii)  North-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Mullaitivu and Trincomalee;
iii) North-Central Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Vavuniya, Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa;
iv) North-Western Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Puttalam and Kurunegala;
v)  Central Hill Country Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Matale, Kandy and Nuwara Eliya;
vi) South-Eastern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Kalmunai;
vii) Megapolis Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Gampaha, Colombo and Kalutara;
viii) Kegalu-Sabaragamuwa Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Kegalle and Ratnapura;
ix)   Uva Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Badulla and Moneragala; and
x)    Southern Multi-District Council to be formed by combining the districts of Galle, Matara and Hambantota.

The members of the Multi-District Councils may be elected by a separate election for a term of up to 3 years, or picked from among local city, town and village council members who will declare their intention to serve both locally as well as at the district level when they present themselves as candidates for the local council.Each Multi-District Council will be headed by a Multi-District Executive Chairman who may be picked directly by the voting public or by the elected councillors.The District Secretariats established by the Central Government could be suitably modified to serve the needsof the Multi-District Councils, thereby economizing on staff usage, facilities and administrative expenses.

Some of the powers to be devolved to the Multi-District Councils amongst others to be determined by a competent authority are listed below for your perusal:

·Licensing of Automobile Vehicles in the district
·General Health and Sanitation
·Local power generation
·Minor roads and bridges
·Administration of District Courts, Family Courts and Local Dispute Arbitration
·Junior Technical Colleges
·Primary School Education
·Special Police to handle Court duties, Traffic control and non-criminal offences
·Welfare services
·Sports and Cultural activities
·Small scale industries
·Agrarian services to localized farming communities

_An Alternate Constitutional Arrangement:_

The present presidential system where a large proportion of power has been vested in a single Executive President who is also the Commander of the Armed Forces could be of use during a period of internal strife, where these powers could be effectively used to combat the insurgent forces and bring about peace, order and stability in the country.As the aim is to see beyond the era of armed conflict that has been ended, it is best to opt for a Westminster style parliamentwhere a Prime Minister and Cabinet of Ministers would govern in consultation with the elected representatives and voting public.

In order to arrive at the goal of enhanced sharing of political power at the centre, I would recommend a blend of the Westminster model with the old Committee System that prevailed during the State Council days prior to independence, to be able to accommodate the minorities in all aspects of governance entrusted to the elected legislature.I think that the electoral process should be revamped incorporating the following steps to achieve the desired objective:

*        a)***All political parties should nominate their candidate for each electorate as in the past instead of nominating a whole slate for each district.This would eliminate the need for each                                            candidate to seek ‘preferential votes’ from the entire district at a great deal of time, effort and expense, thereby drastically reducing the total election budget needed by each candidate        to a manageable level.This would in addition help to reduce the tendency for elected representatives to acquire funds or other assets through corrupt and illegal means to recover the            large sums that they would otherwise spend to seek preferential votes district-wise at the election.

           Take steps to curb political interference in public life and ensure that due process will be speedily applied in accordance with the laws of the land.

Scale down the level of politicization and resultant political rivalry whichunduly pits one against the other within society, by at least allowing for theelection of members of local      government bodies based on individualpreferences instead of on party lines for each ward or electorate without theneed to confront each other on party lines on a district basis, as prevailing in most countries.

The leaders should lead by example, by adopting simple lifestyles andtaking all necessary steps to reduce graft, corruption and waste.

         b)The bonus places or additional seats given to nominees in the National List towhich the political parties become eligible could still be determined based on the overall voting strength       of each party.These additional seats could preferably bereserved for enlisting competent persons who are recognized for their outstanding knowledge, technical skills or volunteer       services to the larger community.

           c)The senior positions in government that may be reserved for members of the minority communities are given below:

·Minister of Tamil Language and Culture
·Deputy Minister ofDisaster Relief and Re-Settlement
·Deputy Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication
·Deputy Minister of Education
·Deputy Minister of Health Care and Nutrition
·Deputy Minister of Local Government and District Councils
·Deputy Minister of Justice and Law Reform
·Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries


Achieving Peace, Harmony and Reconciliation:
It has been reported in the media that part of the reasons for drafting a new constitution was to give effect to the presence of a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic and multi-religious society in present day Sri Lanka, and to attempt to heal the divisions and differences and bring about a greater degree of reconciliation amongst the resident populace.  Such thinking is flawed as people of different backgrounds lived in harmony in the earlier historical Kingdom of Sinhale pledging their loyalty to the state and in return receiving equal protection from the crown. The problems that we face today is due to foreign colonial powers having exploited the underlying differences in order to divide and rule the people and create hostilities between different communities thereby destroying the communal harmony and peace within the society. The solution does not lie in highlighting such differences and transforming the society into strict ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious compartments, which will continue to pull the nation apart in different directions, but drawing strength from the past and building on the commonalities based on our shared values generating trust free of external divisive influences.

In order that the desired harmony and reconciliation may be achieved, we must refuse to recognize political parties with ethnic or religious labels, and furthermore give positive effect to the fundamental right of ‘Freedom of Movement’ where citizens are free to move to any part of the island which is their common homeland and settle in where they may engage in lawful pursuits to support themselves and their families.  This right of Freedom of Movement is currently not being upheld equally, as the internally displaced Sinhalese and Muslims are not being given equal treatment in the resettlement plans as Tamil IDPs are being given the highest priority.  While in the early 1970’s there were as much as 27,000 Sinhalese and around 75,000 Muslims living in the Northern Province, only about 17 Sinhalese families have been permitted to resettle in the Navattakulli area, with no statistics of resettled Muslims being available in the public domain. The few Sinhalese allowed to resettle too have not been provided the same level of assistance extended to the Tamil IDPs, even though they too were displaced owing to violence directed against them by extremist Tamil separatist terror groups.  The Sinhalese and Muslims of the eastern province too were attacked by the LTTE and other Tamil separatist terror groups in the 1980’s and 1990’s as they sought this region for their proposed mono-ethnic separate state of Tamil Eelam, forcing many thousands to flee the area thereby depriving themselves of their properties and livelihoods to seek safety elsewhere.  They too have a similar right to be resettled in their places of origin with similar assistance being given to Tamil IDPs. This policy of step-motherly treatment being extended to the Sinhalese and Muslim IDPs is paving the way for Tamil mono-ethnic regions that would tend to drift towards separatism rather than reconciling with the rest in forming a united nation.


Reconciliation between people of different backgrounds could take place mainly through interaction in day to day living, by fostering the sharing of space instead of compartmentalizing of different communities to different regions. The northern province which is predominantly Tamil following the historical events of ethnic cleansing during the time of Sankili, and subsequently encouraged by our former European colonial masters and the more recent forced evacuations of non-Tamils by Tamil forces seeking a separate state have led the region to become a mono-ethnic enclave with underlying separatist tendencies given voice to by prominent members of the Tamil community.  While the road and rail links have helped somewhat for the meeting and mixing of communities within and outside the region, more needs to be done to encourage non-Tamils to move to the region just as a large percentage Tamils have been welcomed by the Sinhalese and Muslims living elsewhere in the country. I would suggest as a policy measure, that the state formally decide to select new settlers in land development projects island-wide on the basis of National Ethnic Ratios, so that new communities will reflect the nation’s make up.  Even the private sector too should be encouraged to follow a similar policy subject to their finding the necessary skills, so that multicultural communities will come into being everywhere.  This will permit more non-Tamils to settle amongst the Tamils in the north and for more Tamils to settle in other areas leading to more interaction and shared community life that will help to establish inter-communal harmony and true reconciliation.

Retain State Protection and Foremost Place given to Buddhism:
*Sri Lanka, being a civilizational state with a recorded history dating back to over 2,500 years, it is incumbent on the present generation to give due recognition to the unique heritage and culture of the people.  It must be reminded that even the last colonial ruler, namely, the British, undertook to safeguard the ‘Religion of the Budhoo’ in the treaty signed in 1815 known as the Kandyan Convention entered into between Britain to whom power had been ceded by the Chieftains of Sinhale.  The religion practiced, followed or adhered to by the vast majority of the people of the island of Sri Lanka going back to the arrival of Arahat Mahinda Thera at the invitation of Sri Lanka’s monarch, King Devanampiyatissa, over 2300 years ago, to impart the Noble Teachings of the Buddha, that which has always been held in pre-eminence by the rulers and people of the land from the earliest of times, whilst granting freedom for the belief and practice of other faiths without discrimination in private or public.  The foremost place granted to Buddhism, the harmonious way of life expounded by the Buddha, by Chapter II, Article 9, of the Second Republican Constitution should be retained without diminishing its standing, in recognition of this nation’s heritage which has been built by the tenets and values of this religious Teaching which has withstood the test of time, and even permitted other faiths to freely flourish within her terrain.

Create an Office of the Ombudsman:
In addition to the existing bodies set up by parliament such as the Human Rights Commission, it is felt that a useful role could be played by an *Independent Ombudsmen *who may be authorized to look into complaints of abuse by the state sector or other establishment or person, as a large segment of the people are too poor to litigate or seekredress for wrongs done or perceived to have been done against them.At the same time,steps should be taken to ensure equality of all citizens before the law and grant equal protection to every citizen by re-visiting the *Fundamental Rights Chapter*.****

Conclusion:

I havetaken up mainly the**contentious issues included in the draft proposals made by the Steering Committee of the Constitutional Assembly.**Istrongly believe that this submission contains valuable ideas that could be incorporated in drawing up a new constitutional framework creating a workable arrangement which will help the minorities to play an important role in the day to day governance, encourage the establishment of an atmosphere of co-operation amongst competing political forces, whilst making it a home made solution that will remove the threat to the sovereignty and territorial integrity faced by the nation from armed separatist groups including what is left of the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.I believe that the proposed model will help the various communities to share the tasks of government and benefit equally from the fruits of the unitary state of Sri Lanka, without seeking a separate future that calls for establishing artificial provincial barriers leading to the tearing apart of the island homeland.I have also emphasized the need for improved human rights monitoring and at the same time having an Ombudsman to befriend the needy who are too poor to seek redress through the normal channels.Also, to build a society that is free from corruption, the lead needs to be taken at the top, and it must necessarily flow from the highest echelons by each and every person committing themselves to lead lives that are free from exploitation and misappropriation.

Mahinda Gunasekera

  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය    මාධ්‍ය අංශය

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යවරයා 2023.01.04 දින  ඓතිහාසික නවගමුව රජමහා විහාරස්ථානයේ සහ පත්තිනි දේවාලයේ  ආගමික වතාවත් වලට සහභාගී වූ අතර විහාරාධිපති ශ්‍රී කල්‍යාණි සාමග්‍රී ධර්ම  මහා සංඝ සභාවේ මහා නායක මල්වානෙ පඤ්ඤාසාර හිමිපාණන් බැහැ දැක ආශිර්වාද ලබා ගත්තේය.
එහිදී අනුශාසනා කළ නවගමුව රජමහා විහාරාධිපති මල්වානෙ පඤ්ඤාසාර හිමියන්  –
  අපේ නවගමුව පූජා භූමිය විහාරස්ථානය සහ පත්තිනි දේවාලය   අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමන්ට  අමුතු තැනක් නෙමෙයි. අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාගේ සීයා බොරළුගොඩ රාළහාමි නව ගමුව   පූජා භූමියේ භාරකාරීත්වය අරගෙන මේ ස්ථානයේ දියුණුවට කටයුතු   කළා.    
 අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා කුඩා කාලයේත් පත්තිනි දේවාලයට පැමිණ විවිධ අවස්තාවන් වලට සහභාගි වී  මේ ස්ථානයේ දියුණුවට නොයෙක් වර විවිධ කටයුතු සිදුකළා.
 මේ නවගමුව පූජා භූමිය සහ සත් පත්තිනි දේවාලය පිළිබඳව එතුමන්ලාට ලොකු වගකීමක් තියෙනවා. ඉදිරියටත් ඒ යුතුකම් ඉෂ්ට කරාවි කියලා මම බලාපොරොත්තු වෙනවා.
 ″ඔබතුමා රට වෙනුවෙන් කළ කැපවීම සහ ඉවසීම නිසා අද මේ රටේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍යධූරයට පත් වුණා.  රටට  ජාතියට හදවතින්ම කටයුතු කරන පුද්ගලයෙක් හැටියට එය රටේ  අනාගතයට වැදගත්.”  යැයි      උන්වහන්සේ වැඩිදුරටත්  සඳහන් කළේය
  මෙම අවස්ථාවට පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී යදාමිණී ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ද එක් වූ අතර  ඔහුගේ ජන්ම දිනය වෙනුවෙන් ආශිර්වාද කිරීමද මෙහිදී සිදු කෙරිණී. සීතාවක ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ සභාපති ජයන්ත රෝහණ,  කඩුවෙල මහ නගරසභා මන්ත්‍රීවරුද මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්විය.
 
  අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය    මාධ්‍ය අංශය

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Government has decided to seek the Attorney General’s advice with regard to holding the local government election, government sources said.

Government has decided to seek the Attorney General’s advice as there is a division among the members of the election commission. It is said that the majority of members in the election commission is against the ideology held by its Chairman Nimal Punchihewa who holds that the local government elections should be held.

The election monitors are of the opinion that there could be issues pertaining to holding the election even if nominations are called in this situation.

It has been said that  holding of elections could run into trouble as the total cost of it is said to be rupees 12 billion whereas the total amount allocated for the Elections Commission from the budget is Rs 10 billion.

Some of the Election Commission members are of the opinion that announcing the date of the elections should be delayed even if nominations are called.

However sources close to the Election Commission Chairman is of the opinion that the Finance Ministry will disburse additional funds if needed. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the United National Party (UNP) that he would not be involved in any activities related to the upcoming local government election.

Communicating his decision to the UNP, President Wickremesinghe noted that he was given a mandate not to engage in elections, but to rebuild the country and ride out the crisis situation within two years.

He stressed that he is not prepared to act in contravention of this mandate.

Courtesy Adaderana

During the year 2022, the Sri Lankan Rupee depreciated against the US Dollar by nearly 45%, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) reported.

Accordingly, the Rupee depreciated by 44.8% against the US Dollar in 2022, while also having depreciated against the Euro by 41.4%, the Indian Rupee by 38.6%, the Pound Sterling by 38.1% and the Japanese Yen by 36.4% within this period.

These figures were released by CBSL in their latest edition of the Weekly Economic Indicators report

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka has lifted the Port and Aviation Levy (PAL) on solar panel static converters/inverters.

Taking to Twitter, State Minister of Finance Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said this comes into effect from January 01, 2023.

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

 If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute’ runs a wry idiom in New England where the weather may change dramatically in minutes. However, these days blaming the weather for pretty much everything is fashionable– be it global warming or cooling, no rain, or too much rain, drought, floods or a snow blizzard in winter.

Recently the news was filled with stories of anthropogenic climate catastrophes; from ‘poisoned fog’ from land-locked, dust bowl New Delhi, directly targeting windblown coastal Colombo, to cattle dying due to Cold weather in the Eastern Province. Additionally, there were bio-warfare lab made Fall Army Worms (Sena Catapillar), and coconut White Flies destroying crops in a mysteriously coordinated attack on national Food Security this holiday season as imported goods flooded Sri Lanka on the (neo)liberal, US ‘Force’-backed, President’s orders– rapidly deepening the Dollar debt trap ex-post the Staged Default. 

Meanwhile, two United Nations Climate conferences (CoP-27, CoP-15), the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), offered contradictory messages about who must bear the cost for Loss and Damage” caused by climate change amid a global and local corporate media blitz of climate disaster stories with narratives of Famine in the background. Indeed, climate and debt anxiety cross-messaging with electric car and green technology advertisements, as well as, disinformation following two years of a confusing Covid-19 infodemic increasingly characterizes an anxiety gripped ‘risk society’ in a post-truth world.

At the CoP-27 Anthropocene Climate Catastrophe show in Egypt last month, countries of the Global South called for the industrialized North which is currently responsible for over 92 percent of cumulative carbon emissions to pay up for Loss and Damage” to the environment.[i]

Land and Ocean Grabbing for Blu-Green Debt Bond-age

Strategic Sri Lanka at the center of the Indian Ocean, which succumbed to a Staged Default for the first time in its history as an independent country this year is currently in IMF and colonial Club de Paris (PC), debt negotiations that include Green and Blue Bonds or debt-for-nature” swap (DFNS).

A Blue-Green deal of up to USD 1 billion in climate-focused finance is planned according to a Reuters report. [ii] However,  Global South countries had pointed out that industrialized Euro-American nations that caused the carbon emissions and Ozone holes must to pay up for any green transition at Cop-27, rather than appropriate the forest lands and ocean resources of debt trapped countries in the name of ‘environment conservation’ that take the form of Corporate Green Bonds or DFNS.[iii] Moreover, the valuation of the Blue Ocean and Green forest ‘assets’ to be traded are opaque, with no mention of the Submarine Undersea Data Cables in the strategic island’s maritime Exclusive Economic Zone.

The proposed blu-green bond trade as part of debt restructuring would again benefit the unknown international sovereign bond (ISB), holders and hedge funds of OECD countries, which include BlackRock, that staged the Default in Sri Lanka amid a triple whammy of Covid-19, climate catastrophe and Debt disaster narratives in the global and local corporate media.

Meanwhile, A recent  2020 OCED report found that the richer nations have never reached the promised $100 billion for climate financing, and what’s worse is that instead of providing the promised climate fund, a majority of the climate finance from high-income nations to low-income countries took the form of loans that deepen debt traps. [iv]

The IMF and PC are pushing for a quick debt restructuring deal in Sri Lanka that would include Green and Blue (forest and ocean) Bonds, and the un-bundeling and sale of strategic lands coastal areas and energy, transport, and telecom State Owned Assets (SOE), infrastructure amid expert’ narratives of Famine and climate crisis. These narratives enable disaster capitalism a la Naomi Klein’s classic work ‘The Shock Doctrine’, this time with a blue-green mask in a strategic Indian Ocean island in the cross-hairs of Geopolitical tensions as Cold War hots up in the Indian Ocean region.

Some have suggested that the forests and oceans of Sri Lanka are doubly valuable, even priceless, due to the island’s Geostrategic location on major trade, energy and Submarine or Undersea Data Cable Routes (UDC), in the age of Big Data and the Information Economy. The island has been also dubbed an Unsinkable aircraft carrier” with the country increasingly an Economic Proxy War site in the West’s confrontation with China, much like Ukraine is a proxy war site in the confrontation with Russia. The Sino-Russia pact of ‘limit-less’ cooperation in the long predicted Asian 21^st Century seems to have unnerved the West!

Meanwhile in small print, there was also the news that India would enable Sri Lanka to trade in Indian Rupees, aiding the quiet de-dollarization process in this dollar debt trapped island which was till recently listed as South Asia’s only Upper Middle Income Country by the World Bank. Before the dramatic default-triggered currency devaluation Sri Lanka had the highest GDP per capita and best social indicators in the region.

Odious Debt bondage and the Semiotics of a Chilling Killing: Cui Bono?

Recently, a member of a powerful business family was assassinated in a mafia style staged crime that seemed designed to send a chilling message and silence those among the business community and wider society who question the official narrative and quantum of debt, bonds, and bondscams at the CBSL in a world where debt data like Covid-19 fatality rates and artificial Intelligence (AI) generated weather data are a numbers game with contradictory models.

Mr. Dinesh Schaffter, scion of a powerful and respected business familywas a primary material witness at the Presidential Commission that investigated the 2015 Central BankBond Scam that is widely alleged to have been authorized by then Prime Minister and current President Wickramasinghe 2015 also to fund his party’s election campaign. Dinesh Shaffter, the Managing Director of First Capital Holdings a company that had also placed bids at the time had raised questions regarding the bond auction: Subsequent court action revealed insider trading allegedly by Perpetual Treasuries, with PM Wickramasinghe’s friend Singapore Mahendran then CBSL head, and his son-in-law Aloysius of Perpetual Treasuries – all part of the bond scam network.

The Semiotics of the guillotine style killing with the victim, Mr, Shaffter left in his own car at the Colombo General Cemetery (Kannatte) indicates a crime Staged to send a chilling message to those who may seek the truth or dare speak truth to power. This at a time when a group of high powered international academics have called for transparency and information disclosure regarding the identities of the bond holders whose names are kept secret while the country is mortgaged in IMF and PC negotiations to pay and benefit bond holders.

The academics have also called for ISB holders who lent at predatory rates claiming ‘high risk” should bear the cost of their predatory practices and take the losses, rather than the IMF and colonial Club de Paris act as their Debt Collectors, while passing on the burden of this Odious and illegitimate debt transacted between two corrupt parties (corrupt politicians and hedge fund bond traders), to the citizens of debt trapped countries in the Global South who had little to do with these transactions and are denied the Right to Information on the identities of the Bond holders.

It’s the Bonds, Stupid!  The Right to Information

Forensic Audit reports on the 2015 bond scams were embargoed by Dr. Indrajith Coomaraswamy the Governor of CBSL who is now an ‘advisor’ on debt restructuring talks with the IMF. Is it not time to first reveal the findings of the 2015 Bondscam audit reports in full to the Parliament and people of Sri Lanka?  Three Governors of the Central Bank were involved in Bondscams and/ or Cover up ‘investigations’ include: Ajith Nivard Cabraal, Arjuna Mahendran  and Indrajit Coomaraswarmy.

However, rather than call for information disclosure, opposition members trade in salacious stories about beds, bestiality, bondage and the sexual preferences and exploits of the President (who now enjoys Presidential immunity), as well as his advisors which are widely circulate in corporate and social media channels to distract from the thickening plot of past and future bond scams conducted with impunity and immunity to beggar the country by successive Ranil Rajapakse governments.

The staging and semiotics of the assassination of Mr. Dinesh Shaffter, who was to depart for London on the eve of his death points to powerful local and global-interests and networks behind the scene, drunk with a sense of immunity and impunity. The perpetrators of the crime in broad daylight in central Colombo clearly felt well protected; and no investigation could or would touch them as the progress of the investigation shows.

The chilling killing would simultaneously stymie any bondscam investigations and search for information on the identities of the Bond holders. This is also evident in the on-going cover up ‘investigation’ including the absurd narrative that the victim committed suicide.

 It is clear that Dinesh Shaffter knew too much and was willing and able to ask questions at a time when bond trading related to the country’s Debt Default is under scrutiny with calls for transparency and information demanded from International Sovereign Bond (ISB), traders and bond holders who were complicit in the Default being made by academics and civil society groups as the IMF prepares to asset strip the county to benefit Euro-American creditors.

Finally, the semiotics of Mr. Dinesh Shaffter’s assassination and the ongoing cover up ‘investigation’ are similar to the ISIS claimed Easter Sunday attacks that also targeted Chinese owned Shangri La Hotel where the leader of the Suicide attacks, Zaharan died with another Suicide bomber in 2019. This was shortly after the World Bank had ‘upgraded’ Sri Lanka to an Upper Middle Income country forcing the country to borrow from private capital markets/ bond traders to recover after the hybrid economic war style Easter attacks. At that time Ranil Wickramasinghe was Prime Minister.

Four years after the mysterious Easter Sunday 2019 crime, the smoke-screen of investigations by various local and international intelligence agencies has thickened, while investigators and court cases continue to ignore prima facie evidence regarding the external, geopolitical motives and local-global and Diasporic transnational networks that are as clear as daylight behind the 2019 ISIS claimed Easter Sunday crime.

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[i] https://www.fairplanet.org/story/understanding-climate-colonialism/

[ii] http://www.adaderana.lk/news/86223/sri-lanka-in-talks-for-usd-1-bn-debt-for-nature-swap-deal-report

[iii] https://www.fairplanet.org/story/understanding-climate-colonialism/

[iv] http://www.cadtm.org/Financing-the-30x-30-agenda-for-the-Oceans-Debt-for-Nature-swaps-should-be

Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

At this time amid exaggerated climate crisis media narratives, Green and Blue Bonds are being marketed as an opportunity” to kill two birds with one stone (pardon the poor pun), through so-called debt reduction and carbon sequestering in Sri Lanka. The local corporate media routinely and uncritically promotes Disaster Capitalism –from Covid-19 to climate crisis and debt with famine narratives, while advertising antidotes.

Evidence from other countries that have entered into blu-green bondage or Debt for Nature Swaps (DFNS),  however shows that such bonds would actually deepen poverty and debt in the strategic island at the center of the Indian Ocean, and force it to pay for the West’s carbon emissions at a time when the rest of the Global South has called for the OECD countries to pay for their own carbon emissions and climate change.

At the United Nation’s CoP-27 Anthropocene Climate Catastrophe show in Egypt last month, countries of the Global South called for the industrialized North which is currently responsible for over 92 percent of cumulative carbon emissions to pay up for Loss and Damage” to the environment.[i]

An IMF and Paris Club Green and Blue bond deal in Sri Lanka would hence mean debt induced disaster capitalism and asset stripping of strategic lands, marine areas, as well as, energy, telecom, transport infrastructure privatization with the un-bundling and fire sale of strategic SOEs. This would ensure dismantelling of the Welfare State which was once the envy of the developing world given the island’s high human development and social indicators. on the eve Sri Lanka’s 75^th year of Lost Independence – in the name of Debt Restructuring!

The Green and Blue Bonds business is promoted by the usual suspects in the international arena that thrive on colonial trade and economic structure of dependency and Disaster capitalism: from hedge fund and multi-national corporation funded UN agencies (WHO, FAO, UNICEF, UNDP) and IFIs (IMF, WB, ADB), to selected Environmental I/NGOs, all funded gravy train style by transnational and multinational corporations including big and Dirty oil companies like Shell Oil that are rapidly re-branding as clean green energy and green tech companies. Locally, the Ranil Rajapakse Government backed by US Secretary for South and Central Asia, Donald Lu’s ‘Force’ with successive bondscams at the CBSL under his belt, and of course bond traders once again see a business opportunity in the Blue-Green Transition. Blue-green tech Disaster capitalism is a reality as big oil companies re-brand as clean, green, technology giants amid an Anthropocene climate catastrophe media blitz.

Climate Hypocrisy: Is Sri Lanka bound for the Chagos Island?

However, Sri Lanka like other debt-trapped Global South countries where DFNS are pending– from Belize to Ecuador– did NOT cause climate change and may even benefit from it! Hence, the call at CoP-27 was for Climate Justice and the Industrialized West that caused the problem and whose bond traders led by BlackRock have debt trapped countries to pay up!

Mounting evidence shows that in countries where DFNS have been implemented, farmers, fishers and indigenous communities have been deprived of access to traditional lands, marine areas and livelihoods in the name of ‘environmental conservation’, and have deepened the debt. However, increasingly, DFNS are being sugar coated as the solution to a post-Covid-19 Global Debt crisis as a corporate capture of lands and marine resources via Green and Blue Bonds is implemented with a Green Mask and CoP 15 30 into 30 advertizing of the need to save endangered species by 2030 by demarcating Marine Protection Areas (MPA), like the US and UK occupied Chagos Island which houses a massive and envrironmentally polluting Military Base called Diego Garcia.

Thus, there are growing concerns about climate hypocrisy” and ‘climate colonialism” with questions being raised about the science, Data, datafication and climate models, media and experts regarding the Anthropocene climate story: This climate skepticism is not to be confused with Donald Trump’s climate denial however. Who collects the data, how and where, as much as how are the climate change models and narratives generated and crafted are a valid questions[ii]

Above all, qui bono –who benefits from the blu-green transition given the billions and trillions sought? What is increasingly clear is that advanced industrialized green and blue technology producing countries stand to benefit from the Great Green Global Reset. They produce electric cars, boats, solar panels etc. and their multi-national companies, and bond holders, as well as, a host of environmental NGOs on the conservation gravy train are due a windfall if the green and blue bondscam that the IMF, PC and GoSL are preparing passes muster amid so many climate disaster narratives.

ENSO and Gaming the Narrative with AI for Global Governance: Eroding Self-determination

The world is currently in a La Nina or climate cooling phases with high rainfall, precipitaion and floods and snowstorms. But who talks or cares about the real scientific data or the indeterminacy principle and what cannot be modeled and gamed with Artificial Intelligence (AI)?!

Increasingly, Global Catastrophe narratives, from Covid-19, to climate change, and Debt with Famine stories, are gamed to suit the interests of the Global 1 percent with the DAVOS clique creating the message to advance the Global Governance agenda, and never mind any  incongruence with  long-term historical and longitudinal patterns. The Green Nobel Prizes have been already dished out much like President Obama’s Nobel Prize for Peace before he authorized drone killings in Afghanistan.

 The ENSO climate phenomenon which is notoriously hard to model and predict given many variables and variability is never mentioned in the newsfeed while the narrative is gamed to promote the Great Reset for Global Governance with AI in a world of Big Data Fetishism (Datafication), algorythms of unknown variables and aeteology in our Virtual Realty created with AI and Gaming Culture and Cognitive Dissonance as the Covid pancidemic, climate and debt anxiety level ramps up. Thus, narratives patently counter to the local, national and regional facts on the ground increasingly hold sway in a world of alternative facts and virtual reality of gamed narratives.

The climate change narrative has achieved global cataclysmic proportions promoted by the United National specialized agencies which like the World Health Organization promoted the Covid-19 Pandemic with a confusing infodemic to erode the founding principles of the UN Charter – the Right to Self-Determination of Peoples of the Colonized world, the Soverignty of States including Economic Policy autonomy.

Over-generalized Global catastrophe narratives –f rom Covid-19 to Climate Crisis- which also turns social science and the demand for context specific analysis increasingly enables Over the Horizon operations for Full Spectrum Dominance (FSD), and Global Governance, by the few, with the few for the few (global 1 percent), in this era of hybrid cyber war. This is of course not to deny climate change since all things change but the question is where are the climate change hotspots and who benefits from climate change and what is the cycle of time –Anthropocene is doubtful- that we are talking about weather that changes in minutes or in the earths geological evolution from plystocene to myocene to anthropocece.

The maps and AI generated air flows that show Colombo affected by poisoned air from distant land-locked New Delhi, rather than coastal Chennai where air is not as poisoned, and that Cold weather only targeted cattle who died in the Easter Province and not in other area which were affected by the same cold weather gives rise to questions. Of course it is well know that New Delhi which is land locked and affected by proximate deseart storms has very high air pollution at danger levels every year in December also in the wake of Divali fireworks and burning fields.

AI enables a deapth-less Virtual Realty to intersect tangentially with empirical realty as those with the technology tools and toys to game our realities seek to control the masses. At the other end of the gamed news spectrum in Sri Lanka we have salacious stories about bed and bestiality among parliamentarians and the sexual preference of the President to distract from his High Crimes and succeeding Ranil Rajapakse regime.

Climate Hypocrisy: Blocking Industrialization promoting colonial economic dependency with a Green Mask

The good news is that many climate change models and empirical reality show that Sri Lanka at the center of the Indian Ocean which receives two monsoon seasons, may actually benefit relatively speaking, from climate change due to the so-called El Nino-La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO), weather pattern– with increased rain. The arable land extent would expand into the dry zone regions. So too, there is the possibility of more green hydro-power electric energy generation. Of course, there is a chance of coastal erosion due to sea level rise.

However, while the good news remains repressed, the climate disaster ‘poisoned fog’ story recently stymied Trade Union’s protests against the privatization of SOEs as part of an IMF inspired Firesale to benefit bond traders, primary being BlackRock.

The fact that the so called El Nino Southern Oscillation” (ENSO), a weather pattern familiar to human kind for centuries, whereby there is an oscillation from global warming to cooling with climate swings from drought to floods in 7-10 years cycles is never mentioned.

Simultaneously, the Climate change narrative is increasingly used to block industrialization and perpetuate Colonial Economic Dependency in Global South and countries like Sri Lanka that have high value Rare Earth Minerals (REE), and Ocean resources, which are being mined and exploited by TNC corporations of industrialized donor” countries without Transfer of Technology or local value addition. Environmental protection against ‘polluting’ industries is the paternalistic narrative used to prevent processing of Graphite, Zircon, Titanium etc. which is sold cheap as unprocessed mineral sand”.

Questions about Debt Justice, Climate Justice and climate hypocrisy also arise regarding several well-funded climate change ‘activists’, lobbyists, NGOs and indeed Green Political Parties in the West given failure to focus on the environmental costs of the West’s own military business industrial complex, related war games, war economies and infrastructure, or the environmental impact of a costly war being fought in Europe at this time. After all, the US led NATO war machine with over 800 military bases around the world is the biggest consumer of energy and greenhouse gas emitter on the planet!

As the Committee to Abolish Illegitimate Debt (CDTM) noted: At the UN Biodiversity Conference, or COP-15, the post-2020 framework will likely endorse the target of declaring 30% of the world’s land and oceans as protected areas by 2030. In delivering on ‘30×30’, a rushed approach to gazetting large areas of the oceans as protected areas for nature could be extremely harmful. Governments must therefore recognise the rights of people, including their free, prior and informed consent to any decisions that deny them access to their historical fishing grounds, in line with the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on sustainable small-scale fisheries, as proposed in the Artisanal Fishers Call to Action.

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[i] https://www.fairplanet.org/story/understanding-climate-colonialism/

[ii] https://www.climate.gov/news-features/blogs/enso/enso-and-climate-change-what-does-new-ipcc-report-say