Dr Sudath Gunasekara. Mahanuwara.

I request all my Sinhala and Tamil readers both at home and abroad, particularly the Sinhala people to read very carefully the following letter at the end of this note, addressed to President Rajapaksa by one of the most versatile and veteran young journalist Shenali D Waduge as it focuses and highlights on the fundamental rights of both these communities living in this country,   as this is the only piece of land we have to live, totaling to 25,332 sq miles only, on this planet.

This letter by Senali, in my opinion is of very special relevance particularly Ato all those 6.9 million Sinhala voters who elected him in Nov 2019 and gave him a 2/3 majority government in May 2020 with so much of hope and great expectations but now disgusted and left in dire desperations for the folly they made in electing him.

Thereafter I also want them to support my open call for Island wide agitation against Ali Sabry being kept as the Minister of Justice in this predominantly Buddhist country any more for the reasons I have listed below.

1 He is a diehard Muslim who openly espouse the Muslim cause.

2 He is only a personal friend of the President brought to Parliament through the infamous so-called National list (Back Door List) and not a representative of the people as he is not an elected man by the people and therefore is a person not answerable or under obligation to the people either. He is only answerable to the President who selected him as Justice Minister. His appointment as the Minister of Justice therefore is a blatant violation of the democratic rights of the Sinhala majority who elected GR as the President with hope in high heaven. It is also  a gross discrimination against the Sinhala Buddhists and a also a betrayal of the trust the Sinhalese Buddhists who  had elected him to power with so much of hopes and great expectations to retrieve and protect their lost rights for the past 510 years since  the arrival of the Portuguese in 1505.

3 He has been openly agitating for Muslim communal rights throughout, with impunity under Presidential cover. Therefore the nation is caught in a big trap as he can always make laws in favour of his community that discriminate against the Sinhalese again under Presidential protection. He also has openly protested against the Appointment of Rev Galaboda Atte Gnanasara as the Chairman of the One Country and One Law Commission” and even threatened to resign from his post and later reconciled after the President returned from India and changed his stance after he discussed the subject under closed doors with the President. Only God knows what the President has promised to him But the President’s statement made to media obviously indicate the Appointment of Galaboda Atte is only political rhetoric as Ali Sabry himself has openly disclosed to the media.

The common notion in the country is that the President had agreed to cut the wings of the Thera as the president’s press statement indicated. Obviously for the President Ali Sabry is more important than Galabodatte Thera or any other Thera or Sinhala Buddhist Lawyer for that matter. Because it is obvious that the President has some deeper personal obligation to Ali Sabry for undisclosed reasons, but know to the whole country as he was supposed to be President’s private lawyer a factor that should never be taken in to account in appointing him as a Cabinet Ministers and more particularly as the Minister of Justice in this Sinhala Buddhist country. The general public ask as to why he ignored the eminent Sinhala Buddhist Constitutional Lawyer Manohara de Silva who played a major role in the Viyathmanga, the dynamo that fired the Presidents Election campaign. Just like appointing  the firebrand Rev Gnanasaara with steel chains in his legs the President has appointed Manohara De Silva  to the so-called Advisory Committee on the new Constitution making as an ordinary member with wings cut perhaps

The general public who new Manohara De Silva as an eminent Constitutional Lawyer, also being a Sinhala Buddhist who is highly connected and known to the leading Buddhist clergy in this country, including Asgiriya and Malwatta expected him to be appointed as the Chairman of this Committee.as he is exceptionally qualified to hole that responsibility. However finally he was dumped in to an il-constituted advisory Committee on Constitution making whose report submitting date have already expired passed longtime time ago. According to reliable internal information coming from inside this Committee Report will also finally end up in archives or a dustbin as mere political rhetoric, I repeat

The fate of the Gnanasara Committee Report

As Ali Sabry has already declared this report will have to be technically approved by the Minister of Justice, the question that is raised in many a circle is what justice Sinhala Buddhists can expect from an extremist Muslim Minister of Justice casting aspersions on this Committee even before it had its first sitting, humiliating the President as well, who has appointed this Committee with so much of publicity. Whatever Gnanasara Thera writes finally, it will have no impact as All mighty Alla will sit on it as long as Ali Sabry remains as the Minister of Justice. So what justice the Sinhala Buddhists in this country can ever expect from a Government under Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

 As Sonali has very analytically explained in her article Ali Sabry is obviously, an anti -Sinhala and anti- Tamil man, by his discriminatory open pro Muslim policies.

His open support not only for polygamy for Muslims but even his support for Burqua shows that he is first a Muslim, second a Muslim and thirdly also a Muslim

Therefore, the appointment of a Muslim as the justice minister was a first-class political blunder GR has made.

What I more is he is a super Minister and not an ordinary man others  in the Cabi nut

The President has made one of the biggest mistakes by appointing him as the Minister of justice. In my view he is committing political suicide   by keeping him in the Cabinet.  I am lost to understand what his chief advisor is doing when things are happening like this.

Even when Rev Galabaada atte was appointed as Chairman of this Commission Ali Sabry protested openly. But He won the battel to cut Galabodaatte’s wings successfully and cleverly and prevail over GR. What more proof is needed to prove how powerful Ali Sabry is in the inner Cabinet of GR?

The billion-dollar question people in this country pause is, if GR cannot understand that much, how can he run this country

Under these gathering dark thunder storm clouds health either he should resign or GR should sack him. Earlier the better for the health of the President as well as Ai Sabry before the sky fall on their heads with thunder. GR will have to pay heavily for appointing an unknown unsuitable man to the cabinet and making him the most powerful minister in the Cabinet sitting on destiny of the Sinhala nation.

This Government was elected by Sinhala Buddhist as GR himself said at the Ruwanweli Se maluwa on his day of swearing in as the President of this Sinhala Buddhist country. But today it is run by people like Ali Sabry

I really don’t know how GR is going to pay the debt to those 6.9 M people who virtually died to elect him as the modern Dutugemunu to save the Sinhala nation, their bellowed motherland and the Buddha saasana with sky high expectations.

If Ali Sabry does not resign or GR doesn’t remove him, the day the masses will pull out both of them from their thrones and throw them on the road is not that far as Mao se tung once said.  Isn’t it the responsibility of the 6.9 million Sinhala Buddhist to force GR to remove him before he makes this country, a fully pledge Mono Muslim State like Maldives Islands, Indonesia or Afghanistan, all former Buddhist countries?

President Rajapakse why is Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister promoting Polygamy against One Country One Law policy

Posted on March 1st, 2022

Shenali D Waduge

Sans political colours, the policy of One Country One Law was looked forward to being implemented without favour or bias by all citizens of Sri Lanka. This meant that in front of the law civil and criminal laws would be one & applicable to all. It was also accepted that while personal laws deriving from cultures/traditions could exist, these could not overrule the country’s national law applied to all whatever their ethnicity. In such a scenario, it is puzzling why the country’s justice minister should push for the continuance of polygamy camouflaging this quest with ‘amendments’. If there is a One Country One Law Policy there cannot be variance and in front of the law all must face the same law – marriage included.

Given that the Justice Minister is promoting polygamy, he may like to provide statistics as to how many (what percentage) of the less than 10% Muslims in Sri Lanka actually practice polygamy in its true format, to justify polygamy to the President & the Government. Can we have numbers please.

When questions are raised, the general response is that polygamy is part & parcel of Islam. Not so, polygamy existed far before Islam was founded but this practice was abandoned.

In Islam too, polygamy is NOT MANDATORY. In Islam monogamy is a must but polygamy is allowed in exceptional cases, the primary of which is during wars where casualties and orphans arise. Such a scenario is not applicable for Sri Lanka’s Muslims. There is no war, there are no casualties & there are no orphans from wars.

Thus, polygamy is not a general rule for all Muslims to follow and polygamy is not obligatory of any Muslims and Islam does not encourage or promote polygamy.

Thus, it is questionable why Sri Lanka’s justice minister supposed to be appearing for all ethnic and religions across Sri Lanka should be canvassing for only the religion he belongs to or rather to satisfy a miniature number of Muslim elite practicing polygamy probably not for the reasons Islam allows.

It is unfair by the majority ethnic Sinhalese & the Tamils to legally allow polygamy which means that the state is bound to look after the health & education etc of 4 or more spouses & their children while the state only allows Sinhalese & Tamils to legally have one spouse & those that marry multiple times are accused of bigamy & liable to land up in jail. There are plenty of examples of Sinhalese & Tamils charged with bigamy. Therefore, One Law for all must mean that any national law pertaining to the citizens of Sri Lanka must be applied to all with no exceptions.

The favorite automatic response for this is – what about the foremost place for Buddhism, while this is certainly given in the constitution & there is valid reason to continue this even in any new constitution, in terms of applying the law & Buddhists facing the law (whether laymen or clergy) there is no favouritism because they are Sinhalese or because they are Buddhists. Just count the numbers in prison!

There are many more arguments that addresses the issue of polygamy but these become irrelevant as the citizens of Sri Lanka were assured the policy of One Law One Country, which means that civil and criminal laws in Sri Lanka must be one & applicable to all & any laws existing from tradition/culture can exist but cannot take precedence or overrule the application of the national law.

It is prudent to remind all that One Country One Law did exist under the Sinhale kings & the personal laws for Tamils & Muslims were only permitted after the arrival of colonial invaders.

Thesavalami applicable to ONLY The Malabar inhabitants of the Province of Jaffna” (Malabars were from India) was only codified by the Dutch in 1707. Muslim personal laws did not exist pre-colonial rule.

India’s Supreme Court in February 2015 completely banned polygamy in India ruling that polygamy was not part of Muslim fundamental right. The logic was that the Indian Constitution is bound to protect the Muslim faith but not practices that only a handful practice. Only 5% Muslims of the 150m Muslims in India practiced polygamy. This is why Sri Lanka’s justice minister must produce statistics on how many Muslims practice polygamy to demand its continuance.

One Country One Law essentially means that a parallel justice, judicial system, parallel laws cannot prevail if citizens are to be treated equal and given equal rights. Therefore, demands for equal rights cannot include exclusive rights for a handful.

At a moral level if a man cannot bear to see his wife with another man, same applies to a woman who would not like to share her man with another woman.

At a financial level too – in times of economic hardships how can a man look after 4 wives & their children equally?

At a political level, polygamy will cause major demographic change where Sinhalese & Tamils are asked to practice planned parenting while Muslims are encouraged to bear more children.

There is also the issue of non-Muslims converting to Islam simply to keep 4 women legally!

One Country One Law must be applied – it clearly means there has to be one law for all – no parallel legal systems as per religious practices.

Shenali D Waduge

Jayantha Herath

මහාචාර්ය

PADe Silva

මොරටුව විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ මහාචාර්ය වරයෙකි.

දැන් Emeritus ය.

ඔහු සිටියේ

යාන්ත්‍රික ඉංජිනේරු විද්‍යා පීඨයේ ය.

ඔහුගේ

එංගලන්තයේ

සිට

ලංකාවට

මෝටර් රථයෙන්

ආ

කථා

ඒ දවස් වල

සුරන්ගනාය.

ඔහුට 

ඒ

කාලයේ

විදුලි වාහන

ගැන පර්යේෂණ  උනන්දුවක් තිබුනේය.

එය

ඔහුගේ signature ව්‍යාපෘතිය විය.

ඉඳ හිට

ඔහු

විදුලි

රථය පදවා

campus එක වටේ

රවුම් ගැසුවේය.

කලානම් හොඳ යයි

දැන් සිතේ.

1970 මැද ගණන්වල

මොරටුව සිසුන්

බොහෝ විට

පන්ති වර්ජන

වලට සහභාගී විය

අපට

සැබෑ ප්‍රශ්න තිබුණේ නැත

කිරි පිටි

තෙල්

විදුලිය

නැතුව අපි දිව්වේය.

අපි පන්ති වර්ජනය

කලේ

සිලි දෙවල්වලටය

චිලීගේ ඇලෙන්ඩේටය.

දවසක් දා

PA

මේසයක් උඩට පැන

වර්ජිත සිසුන්ට

දේශනයක් පැවැත්වීය

වර්ජනය

නවත්වන ලෙස ඉල්ලා සිටියේය

පන්ති යන්න

ඉගෙන ගන්න

ජීවිත

ආලෝකමත් කරන්න

කරගන්න.

මේසයෙන්

බිමට පැන්නේය.

යන්න ගියේය.

1970 දී

UNP කාරයෝ

මැතිවරණ පරාජය විය

මන්ත්‍රී සංඛ්‍යාව

7

දක්වා 

අඩු විය

PADeSilva

පක්‍ෂයේ

ශක්තිමත් 

ආධාරකරුවෙක් විය.

ඔහු

70 දශකයේ

මැද  භාගයේ

UNPය වටා

තරුණයින්

එක් කිරීමේ සංවිධානයට

නායකත්වය දුන්නේය.

UNP එකට කැම්පේන් කළේය.

මැතිවරණ කොට්ඨාස

වල රට වටේ ගියේය

සති අන්තවලදී

මොරටු සිසුන්

ගෙයින් ගෙට ගියේය

ජනතාවට

ඡන්දය දීමට

ඉල්ලා සිටියේය.

1977 දී

මැතිවරණය

දිනුවේය.

2020 දී

UNP එක

ආසන

බින්දුවය.

ශුන්‍ය ය.

සුන්නත් දූලිය.

මහජන

විශ්වාසනීයත්වය

බංකොලොත් විය.

The crisis is opportunity.

ඉරිදා ලංකාදීප

ප‍්‍රබල දේශපාලන බලධරයන්ගේ අතින් එසවූ දෝලාවල නැගගත් දේවාලවල කපු නෝනලාට අසීමිත දේශපාලන බලය ලැබෙන විට නීතිය නිහඬ කළ හැකිද? මෙම දේශපාලන ක්‍රියාදාම රාමුවට මුවා වී මුදල් හා දේපොළ හම්බ කිරීමද මීට සමාන්තරව සිදු වෙයි. එවන් ක්‍රියාදාමයක් වාර්තා වෙන්නේ අනුරාධපුර නගරයෙනි. දේශපාලකයන්ගේ සාස්තර ගෙදර නමින් හඳුන්වන ඥානාමැණියන්ගේ දේවාලය ඊට කදිම නිදසුනකි. අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව අතර ඥානක්කා නමින් ප්‍රසිද්ධ මෙම සාස්තරකාරිය මෙහි ප්‍රධාන චරිතයයි. ඇය සාස්තර සහ අනාවැකි කියමින් මෙරට දේශපාලකයින්ගේ සිත්දිනා ගන්න දක්ෂය.

රට කරවන්නන්ගේ මුල් අසුන්වල පටන් මැති ඇමැතිවරුන්, විපක්ෂයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරුන්, ආරක්ෂක අංශ ප්‍රධානීන් මෙන්ම ඇතැම් ප්‍රසිද්ධ නිළමේලාද ඥානක්කාගේ සාස්තර සාමාජිකයෝය. තවත් පිරිසක් වන්නේ ව්‍යාපාරිකයින්ය. උගත් බුද්ධිමත් විද්වත් ආචාර්ය මහාචාර්යවරු පවා මේවෙන විට ඥාන අක්කාගේ සාමාජිකයින් වී හමාරය. එසේම තරුණ පිරිස් ද ඥානක්කාගේ සාමාජිකයින්ය. මේ අය හඳුනා ගැනීම පහසුය. ඔවුන් අතේ රතු නූලක් බැද ඇත. එය ඥානක්කාගේ සාමාජිකයින් හඳුනාගැනීමට ඇති සංකේතයකි.

ඥාන අක්කාගේ සමහර අනාවැකි මේ වෙන විට ටක්කෙටම හරි ගොස් ඇත. එනිසා තනතුරු ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමට, කැබිනට් ඇමතිකමක්, සංස්ථා සභාපතිකමක්, වෙනත් උසස්වීමක් හෝ ව්‍යාපාර දියුණුවක් ගැනීම සඳහා බොහෝ පිරිස් ඥානක්කා සොයා ගෙන එති. මේ අය ඥානක්කාව හදුන්වන්නේ ඥාන මෑණියන් කියාය. වැඬේ හරියන නිසා බොහෝ දෙනෙක් ඥානාගේ දේවාලය සොයා එන්නේ එහෙයිනි.

තමන්ට රටේ දෙවැනි පුටුවට යන්න අවශ්‍ය යැයි කියා පැමිණි දේශපාලකයෙකුට දෙවැනියා නොව පළමු වැනි පුටුවට යා හැකි බව කී අනාවැකිය ටක්කෙටම හරි ගියේය. මේ විදියට ඥානක්කා බොහෝ දෙනෙකුට අනාවැකි කියා තනතුරු ලබා දී ඇත. ඇගෙන් තනතුරු ගත් සමහර දෙනා අද ද ඇය පසු පස යන්නේ ඒවා ආරක්ෂා කර ගැනීමටය. නමුත් ඇගේ අනාවැකි හා සාස්තර ටක්කෙටම හරි යන බව විශ්වාස කරන්නේ ඉහත කී පිරිස පමණි.

අනුරාධපුර බොහොමයක් ජනතාව පවසන්නේ ඥානක්කාට අනාවැකි හෝ සාස්තර කීමට බැරි බවලූ. කාලි මෑණියන්ගේ දේවාරූඪයෙන් සාස්තර කියන ඥානක්කා මේ වෙන විට ඉතා ප්‍රසිද්ධය. මේ නිසාම ඇයට දේශපාලන බලය නිල බලය ව්‍යාපාරකයින්ගේ සහාය නිරන්තරයෙන් ලැබෙයි. කොළඹ දිස්ත්‍රික්කයේ මන්ත්‍රීවරයෙකු ඥානක්කා හමුවීමට පැමිණියේ කැබිනට් ඇමැතිකමක් ලබා ගැනීමේ අදහසිනි. මේ ඇමැතිකම ගැනීමට අදාළ මන්ත්‍රීවරයා කොපමණ තෑගිබෝග දුන්නාද කියා අප දන්නේ නැත. නමුත් අනුරාධපුර ඇතැම් පිරිස් පෙන්වා දෙන්නේ ඒ වෙනුවෙන් නිවසක් පවා තෑගි කළ බවය. අවසානයේ එම මන්ත්‍රීවරයාගේ කැබිනට් ඇමැතිකමද ගහලා ගියේය.

ඥානක්කාට මෙතරම් මුදල් හෝ ධනයක් පෙර තිබුණේ නැත. ඇය අනුරාධපුර රෝහල් සුළු සේවිකාවක් ලෙස සේවය කළ බව කියයි. ඉන් පසු රෝහලේ දුරකථන ක්‍රියාකාරිනිය ලෙස ද සේවය කර ඇති බවට තොරතුරු වාර්තා වෙයි. ඥානක්කාගේ සැමියා මියයන්නේ 88-89 කාලයේදී බව අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව දන්නා කරුණකි. සැමියා මැරුවේ කවුද කියා තවම ඥානක්කාට සොයා ගැනීමට බැරිවූ බවද ඒ අය පෙන්වා දෙති. එවන් පසුබිමක සිට ඥානක්කා කියන සාස්තර සහ කරන ගුරුකම්වලින් පලක් වේද යන්න එම ජනතාව සැක පල කරයි. සැමියා මියගිය පසු ඥානක්කාට සාස්තර කීමේ වරමක් ලැබී ඇත. මුල් කාලයේදී ඉතා පොඩියට පටන්ගත් මෙම දේවාලය දියුණු වී ඇති බව අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව පෙන්වා දෙති.

මෙලෙස ටිකෙන් ටික ගොඩ නැගෙන ඥානක්කා ගැන නිතර කතාබහට ලක්වෙයි. මෑතකදි කතා බහට ලක් වූයේ අනුරාධපුර ගුවන්තොටුපළ පාරේ ලේක් මොනාක් හෝටලය මිලදී ගැනීමෙන් පසුවය. හෝටලය මිලදී ගැනීමෙන් පසුව එහි නඩත්තු කටයුතු සහ අලු‍‍ත් ඉදිකිරීම් කළේ යුද හමුද‌ා නිලධාරීන් යොදාගෙන බව ප්‍රදේශවාසීන් පෙන්වා දෙයි. එසේම ඇය අනුරාධපුර කඩ 50න් කෝටි ගණනක් දී කඩයක් මිලදී ගෙන ඇති බව අනුරාධපුර මහ නගර සහාවද සහතික කරයි. මෙලෙස ධන බලයෙන් ක්‍රියා කරන ඥානක්කාට මෙරට පමණක් නොව එංගලන්තයේද ව්‍යාපාර ඇති බව පසුගිය කාලයේ මාධ්‍ය හරහා වාර්තා විය. ඇයගේ පුතා එම ව්‍යාපාර බලා ගනිමින් එංගලන්තයේ සිට ඇත. මෙරට ව්‍යාපාර බලාගන්නේ ඇයගේ බෑණාය. ඔහු දැනට මෙම ව්‍යාපාර බලා ගන්නා අතර පසුගිය කාලයේ ඥානක්කාගේ පුතා වන අනුරුද්ධ ජයසූරිය ලංකාවට පැමිණ ව්‍යාපාර බලා ගන්නා බවද වාර්තා වෙයි.

කෙසේවෙතත් අනුරාධපුර ගුවන්තොටුපොළ පාරේ ඥානක්කා මිලදි ගත් හෝටලය බලාගන්නේ පන්තක බව ද ඔහුගේම හිතවත් අය කියති. මෙම හෝටලයේ ඉදිකිරීම් කිරීමේදී නීති උල්ලංඝනය කර ඇති බවද වාර්තාවේ. අප මේ ගැන සොයා බැලීමකදී වාර්තා වූයේ හෝටලය ඉදිකර ඇත්තේ නුවර වැවේ රක්ෂිත කොටසේ බවය. එම කොටසට බලපත්‍රයක් හෝ ඔප්පුවක් නැති බවද කියැවෙයි. හෝටලයේ ඉදිරි පස කොටසට ඔප්පුවක් ඇති අතර එම ඔප්පුව ලබා ගත්තේ කෙසේද කියා වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව ද නොදන්නා බව එහි ප්‍රකාශකයෙකු අපට කීය.

නුවර වැවේ රක්ෂිත කොටසේ හෝටලයේ පිහිනුම් තටාකය ඉදිකර ඇත. එතැන ගහක් ඇත. එහි පුටුවක් තබා ඇත. සවස් කාලයට නුවර වැවත් සමග රමණීය දර්ශනයක් දිස්වෙයි. මෙම පිහිනුම් තටාකය ඉදිකර ඇත්තේ Infinity pool එකක් ලෙසිනි. එහි අනන්තයක් දැකිය නොහැකිය. එතරම් ලස්සන දසුනකි. මෙම පිහිනුම් තටාකයට බසින විට විසිවෙන ඉවත් වෙන ජලය එක්වන්නේ ද නුවර වැවටය. නුවර වැව සහ මෙම පිහිනුම් තටාකය එතරම් ආසන්නයේ රක්ෂිත කොටසේ ඉදිකර තිබේ. වැවේ වතුර ද පිහිනුම් තටාකයට එක්වෙයි. ආරක්ෂක හමුදා නිලධාරීන් යොදාගෙන එලෙස රක්ෂිතයක ඉදිකර ඇති මෙම හෝටලය අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක් බව අනුරාධපුර ජනතාවද පෙන්වා දෙති.

එසේම මෙම හෝටලය ඉදිකිරීමේදි තවත් වරදක් සිදු වී ඇති බව අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව පෙන්වා දෙති. ඒ යුද හමුදාවේ නිලධාරීන් යොදාගෙන පෞද්ගලික ඉදිකිරීමක් කළ හැකිද යන කාරණයයි. හමුදාවේ භට පිරිස් පෞද්ගලික ඉදිකිරීම් සඳහා යොදාගත නොහැකි බව මීට පෙර ‘ඉරිද‌ා ලංකා’ පුවත්පත හරහා ඉඩම් සංවර්ධනය කිරීමේ සංස්ථාවේ ව්‍යාපෘති කළමනාකරුවෙකු වන විශ්‍රාමික මේජර් ජෙනරාල් කුමා හේරත් ද ප්‍රකාශ කොට තිබුණි. එහිදී කුමා හේරත් මහතා පෙන්වා දී තිබුණේ යුද හමුදාවට රජයෙන් වැටුප් ගෙවන්නේ හමුදා රාජකාරි සහ රජයේ වැඩ සඳහා පමණක් බවය. එසේ නැතිව හමුදා සෙබළුන් යොදාගෙන පුද්ගලික වැඩ කිරීම බරපතළ වරදක් බවද විශ්‍රාමික මේජර් ජෙනරාල් කුමා හේරත් පෙන්වා දී තිබුණි. හමුදා සෙබළුන්ට පෞද්ගලික ඉදිකිරීම් සඳහා එක් වීමට නීතියෙන් නොහැකි වුවත් ඥානක්කාගේ හෝටලය ඉදිකිරීමට විශාල භට පිරිසක් යොදවා තිබූ බව අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව කියති. එම භූමිය වටා විශාල තාප්පයක් ඉදිකර ඇත. එහි ඉදිරිපිට ආරක්ෂාවට සෙබළුන් යොදවා සිටි බවද ගුවන් තොටුපොළ අසල ගැටේ හන්දියේ ජනතාව පවසති.

ඥානක්කා මේ වෙන විට කෝටිපති ව්‍යාපාරිකයෙක්. රජ වුණාට පස්සේ ආයි මොකටද රජ වෙන්නේ මහත්තයෝ
-අනුරාධපුර නගරාධිපති

මේ ආකාරයට දේශපාලකයන්ගේ බලය හයිය උපයෝගි කරගෙන නැගී සිටින ඥානක්කා මේ වෙනවිට අනුරාධපුර නගරයේ කෝටිපති ව්‍යාපාරිකයෙක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. මේ බව කියන්නේ අනුරාධපුර මහ නගර සභාවේ නගරාධිපති එච්. පී. සෝමදාස මහතාය. බලය ඇති තැන පවතින නීති නිහඬ කරන්නට ඥානක්කා සමත්වී ඇත්ද යන්න සෝමදාස මහතාගෙන් විමසූ විට ‘මහත්තයෝ කෙනෙක් රජ වුණාට පස්සෙ ආයි මොකටද රජ වෙන්නේ යැයි ද නගරාධිපතිවරයා පැවසීය. මේ ගැන අදහස් දක්වන නගරාධිපතිවරයා කියා සිටියේ මෙවැන්නකි. නුවර වැව ඉස්මත්තේ ඉදිවෙන ඥානාගේ හෝටලය ඉදි කර ඇත්තේ රක්ෂිතයේ බවත් එය කලින් ඉදි කළත් නව ඉදිකිරීම් සහ නඩත්තු ද මෙම රක්ෂිත කොටසේ ඉදිවෙන බවත් දැනගන්නට ලැබී ඇති බවය. මෙම ඉදිකිරීම් සඳහා අනුරාධපුර මහ නගර සභාවේ අනුමැතියක් ගෙන නැති බවද නගරාධිපතිවරයා කීය. අවසර ගෙන නැතිව කරනවා නම් එය අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක්. නගර සැලැසුම අනුව නගර සභාවෙන් සහ නාගරික සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය මගින් සැලැසුම් දෙකක් ලබා දෙනවා. නාගරික සංවර්ධන අධිකාරිය මගින් දෙන සැලැසුම් ඒ අය දෙනවා. අපට මේ හෝටල් සැලැසුම ඇවිත් නැති බව ද නගරාධිපතිවරයා කීය. එසේම මෙම අනවසර ඉදිකිරීම නවතා දැමීමේ බලය ඇත්තේ වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට බවද නගරාධිපතිවරයා කියා සිටියි.

හෝටලය ඉදිකර තිබුණේ සැලැසුමක් අනුමත නොකර සමහර රක්ෂිතවලට ස්වර්ණභූමි ඔප්පු තියෙනවා.
-නැනුප ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ සභාපති

එහෙත් මේ ගැන නැවත සොයා බැලීමේදී අනුරාධපුර මහ නගර සභාවේ නගරාධිපති එච්.පී. සෝමදාස මහතා කියා සිටියේ මෙම හෝටලය හදන කොටස අයිති වෙන්නේ නැගෙනහිර නුවරගම් පළාත ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවට බවය. එනිසා එම සභාවෙන් තොරතුරු විමසන ලෙසය. ඒ අනුව අප නැගෙනහිර නුවරගම් පළාත ප්‍රාදේශීය සභාවේ සභාපති කුමාරදාස මහතාගෙන් ඥානක්කාගේ හෝටලයේ ඉදිකිරීම රක්ෂිත කොටසක ඉදිකර ඇත්ද? එය අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක්දැයි විමසීමු. එහිදී කුමාරදාස මහතා කියා සිටියේ මෙවැන්නකි. සැලැසුමක් නැතිව වැඬේ පටන් ගෙන තිබුණේ. ඉදිකිරීම් අනවසරයි කියා පැමිණිලි ආවා. අපි ගිහින් බලලා සැලැසුම සහ ඉඩමේ හිමිකම ගැන ෆයිල් එකක් දාන්න කියා වැඩ නතර කරලා ආවා. තාම ෆයිල් එක දාලා ද දන්නේ නෑ. අපි වැඩ නවත්තලා ආවට එයාල ආයි වැඩ පටන් ගත්තද දන්නේ නෑ. මේ ගැන ආණ්ඩුකාරවරයාටත් පැමිණිලි කළා. එතුමා කිව්වේ නීතිය හරියට කරන්න කියලා. නුවර වැව රක්ෂිත කොටසේ ඔය විදියට හෝටල් හදලා තියෙනවා. ඒවාට රක්ෂිත කොටස අයත් කියලා ඔප්පුත් හදාගෙන. කොහොම හදාගෙනද දන්නේ නෑ. ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් අත්සන් කළ ඔප්පු තියෙනවා. සමහර ඒවාට ජනාධිපතිවරු අත්සන් කළ ජයභුමි” ස්වර්ණ භූමි ඔප්පු තියෙනවා. මිනින්දෝරු සැලැසුම් තියෙනවායි සභාපතිවරයා කියා සිටියේය. ජයභූමි ඔප්පු හැදෙන්නේ ග්‍රාම නිලධාරිවරයාගේ සිට එන ක්‍රියාදාමයක් හමුවේ. ඒත් මේවා කොහොම හදලද කියලා මම දන්නේ නැතැයි සභාපතිවරයා කියා සිටියි. මේවායේ ඉදිකිරීම් සඳහා නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරන්න බෑ. කල් පැනලා වැඩි යැයි ද සභාපතිවරයා කියා සිටියි.

ඥානාගේ හෝටලයේ කොටසක් වැව් රක්ෂිතයට අයිතියි
-නැනුප ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්

රක්ෂිත ඉඩම්වලට ඔප්පු තැනීම අනවසර ඉදිකිරීම් කිරීම ගැන අප නැගෙනහිර නුවර ගම් පළාතේ ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් රුවන් ඒකනායක ගෙන්ද විමසා සිටියෙමු. එහිදී රුවන් මහතා කියා සිටියේ හෝටලය ඉදිකර ඇති කොටසකට පමණක් ඔප්පුවක් ඇති බවය. ඒක පැරැණි පැවරීමක්. කොටසකට ඔප්පුවක් නෑ. රක්ෂිත කොටසට සින්නක්කර ඔප්පු දෙන්න බෑ. ඔප්පු දෙන්න මැනුම් කරන කොට රක්ෂිතය අහුවෙනවා. එතකොට ඔප්පු දෙන්න බෑ. හෝටලය පිටුපසට යන කොටස රක්ෂිතයට හසුවෙනවා. ඒ නිසා ඒකට ඔප්පු දෙන්න බෑ. ඒක වාරිමාර්ග මැණුමක් අනුව තහවුරු වෙන්නේ. ඔප්පු හදාගෙන තිබුණත් ඒක නීත්‍යානුකූල නෑ. කවුරු හරි ඔප්පුවක් ඉල්ලු‍‍වොත් මැනුම කරන්නේ අපි. වාරිමාර්ග එක එයාලගේ නිර්දේශ දෙනවා රක්ෂිත කොටස පෙන්නලා. ඒ අනුවයි ඔප්පුව දෙනවද නැද්ද කියා තීරණය වෙන්නේ යැයි ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම්වරයා කියා සිටියි.

ඥානාගේ හෝටලය අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක් අපි නඩු දැම්මා. අපි කියන දෙය මේ අය අහන්නේ නෑ.

අපි මේ ගැන වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවෙන් විමසූ විට එහි ප්‍රකාශකයෙකු කියා සිටියේ ඥානක්කාගේ හෝටලයට නඩු පැවරීමට කටයුතු කර ඇති බවය. එතැන ඉඩම් දෙකක් ඇති බවත් එක් කොටසකට ඔප්පු ඇති බවත් අනෙක් කොටස නුවර වැව් රක්ෂිතයට අයත් බවද එම නිලධාරියා තහවුරු කළේය.

නුවර වැව අවට තිබෙන එවැනි හෝටල් රැසකට මේ වෙන විට නඩු පැවරීමට කටයුතු කර ඇති බවද එම ප්‍රකාශකයා කීය. රක්ෂිත කොටස කියා නඩු පැවරීමට කටයුතු කළත් හෝටලයේ ඉදිකිරීම් නවතා නැති බවද එම ප්‍රකාශකයා කියා සිටියේය. අපි ඒකට ඉදිකිරීම් නවත්වන්න කියා දැනුම් දුන්නා. පොලිසියට සහ දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරයාද ප්‍රදේශීය ලේකම්වරයා ද දැනුවත් කළ බව එම ප්‍රකාශකයා පවසයි. අනවසර ඉදිකිරීම් නවත්වන්න කියා නියෝග යවලා තියෙනවා. ඒකට එයාලා ඇහුම්කන් දෙන්නේ නැත්නම් බලෙන් කරනවා නම් වාරිමාර්ග ආඥා පනත යටතේ නඩු පවරනවා. වාරිමාර්ග අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් තමයි අපේ නිසි ඉඩම් බලධාරියා.

එතුමගේ තීන්දුව අනුව නැවත මේ අයගෙන් රක්ෂිත කොටසේ අයිතිය පෙන්වන්න කියනවා. ඒක පෙන්වන්න අපොහොසත් වුණොත් නීතිපතිවරයා වෙත යොමුකොට නඩු පවරනවා. නමුත් නුවරවැව අවට රක්ෂිත කොටසේ ඔප්පු ලබා දී ඇත්තේ, වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අවසරයකින් හෝ නිර්දේශයකින් තොර බවද එම ප්‍රකාශකයා කියා සිටියේය.

වාරිමාර්ග අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් පිළිතුරු දීම මග හරියි අපට තනිවම මේවා නතර කරන්න බෑ. අනික් අයගේ සහය ඕනෑ.
– වාරිමාර්ග නිලධාරියෙක් කියයි.

අප මේ ගැන වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල්වරයාගෙන් ද විමසීමක් කළ අතර ඔහු කියා සිටියේ අනුරාධපුර කාර්යාලයේ නිලධාරියෙකුගෙන් මේ ගැන විමසන ලෙසය. අප අනුරාධපුර කාර්යාලයේ නිලධාරියෙකුගෙන් මේ ගැන විමසීමකදී කියා සිටියේ නඩු කටයුතු සඳහා අවශ්‍ය කටයුතු සම්පාදනය කර ඇති බවය. රක්ෂිත කොටසේද ඥානක්කාගේ හෝටලය ඉදිකර ඇති බවද එම නිලධාරියා තහවුරු කළේය. රක්ෂිතයක හෝටල් හැදුවොත් අනිවාර්‌යයෙන්ම සන්තකය ආපසු ගැනීමේ පනත යටතේ නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්මක කරලා ඒවා ඉවත් කරනවා යැයි එම නිලධාරියා කීය. මේවා කරන්න පරක්කු වෙන්නේ පවතින නීතිවල ඇති අඩුපාඩු නිසා බවද එම නිලධාරියා පෙන්වා දෙයි. වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට පමණක් මෙම කටයුතු කළ නොහැකි අතර අනෙක් ආයතනවල සහයද ඊට ලැබිය යුතු බව එම නිලධාරියා කියා සිටියේය.

හොර ඔප්පු හදපු අයට සහ අනවසර ඉදිකිරීම්වලට නඩු දාන්න වාරිමාර්ගයට පුලු‍‍වන්
– අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්

ඉන්පසු අප මේ සියලු‍‍ කාරණා ගැන අනුරාධපුර දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම් ජනක ජයසුන්දර මහතාගෙන්ද විමසීමක් කළෙමු. එහිදි දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරයා කියා සිටියේ වාරිමාර්ග රක්ෂිත කොටසක කවුරු හෝ අනවසරයෙන් ඉදිකිරීමක් කරනවා නම් ඒක නතර කිරීමේ බලය ඇත්තේ වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට බවය. එසේම එම ඉඩම් සඳහා වැරැදි ලෙස බලපත්‍ර හෝ ඔප්පු ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් කෙනෙක් ලබා දී ඇත්නම් ඊටද නීතිමය පියවර ගැනීමට වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට බලය ඇති බවය. වැරැදි ඔප්පු දුන්න අයයි, ඉදිකළ අයයි දෙකොටසටම නීතිය ක්‍රියාත්ම කිරීම වාරිමාර්ග දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට කළ හැකි බව දිස්ත්‍රික් ලේකම්වරයා කියා සිටියේය.

හෝටලය අයිති මස්සිනාට, මම ඔය ගැන දන්නෙත් නෑ. හෝටලයට යන්නෙත් නෑ – ඥානක්කාගේ බෑණා පන්තක ෆැනැන්ඩු කියයි

ඥානක්කාගේ හෝටලය අනවසර ඉදිකිරීමක් මෙන්ම රක්ෂිත කොටසේ ඉදිකර ඇති බවට එන චෝදනා සහ අනුරාධපුර ජනතාව කියන කතා ගැනද අප ඥානක්කාගේ බෑණා වන පන්තක ෆැනැන්ඩු ගෙන්ද විමසීමක් කළෙමු. එහිදි පන්තක කියා සිටියේ තමන් එම කතා ගැන කිසිවක් නොදන්නා බවය. හෝටලය අයිති ඥානක්කාගේ පුතා වන සිය මස්සිනාට බවත් ඔහු එංගලන්තයේ සිට පැමිණ ඇති බවද පන්තක කීය. තමන් හෝටලය ගැන දන්නේ නැති බවත් හෝටලය ගැන බලන්නේ නැති බවද පන්තක කියා සිටියේය. ඉන්පසු පන්තක මේ ගැන විස්තර සිය මස්සිනා වන අනුරුද්ධ ජයසූරියගෙන් ලබා ගන්නා ලෙස කියා 0713 68xxxx දුරකථන අංකයද ලබා දුන්නේය. එම දුරකථන අංකය හිමි අනුරුද්ධ ජයසූරියට අප ගත්තද ඉන් ප්‍රතිචාරක් නොවීය. අප ඥානක්කා ගැන කියැවෙන කාරණා දැන ගැනීමට අවශ්‍ය යැයි කී විට පන්තක සිය නැන්දම්මාගේ දුරකථන අංකය ද ලබා දුන්නේය. ඒ අනුව අප 0714 08 xxxx අංකයට කිහිප සැරයක්ම ගත් නමුත් ඊටද ප්‍රතිචාරයක් නැති විය.

යුද හමුදාවේ සාමාජිකයන් යොදා ගනිමින් පෞද්ගලික ඉදිකිරීමක් කළ හැකිද යන්න අප යුද හමුදා මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශකගෙන් ජංගම දුරකථනය ඔස්සේ සහ ස්ථාවර දුරකථනය ඔස්සේ විමසීමක් කළ ද ඊටද ප්‍රතිචාරයක් නොවීය.

ප්‍රගීත් සම්පත් කරුණාතිලක
ඉරිදා ලංකාදීප

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නිදහසින් පසු මුහුණ දුන් බරපතලම අර්බුදය ට මුහුණ දී සිටියත් මේ මොහොතේ ආර්ථිකය කඩා වැටෙද්දී ඊට පිළියම් ලෙස කිසිවක් නොකර ආර්ථිකය කඩාවැටීමට ඉඩ දී බලා සිටීමට බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා කටයුතු කරන බව පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායක නීතිඥ උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේ ය.

බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ රටට අහිතකර ව්‍යාපෘතීන්ට එරෙහිව ජනතාව නැගී සිටින බවත් රට තුළ ඖෂධ, ආහාර සහ ඉන්ධන හිඟයක් ඇති කර ජනතාව අසරණ කිරීම තුළින් එම ව්‍යාපෘතීන්ට එරෙහි විය නොහැකි බෙලහීන ජාතියක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම ඔහුගේ සැලසුම බවත් ඒ මහතා වැඩිදුරටත් ප්‍රකාශ කර සිටියේය.

එමෙන්ම 1997 දී ඉන්දුනීසියාව තුල සිදුවූ අයුරින්ම ලංකාව විදේශ බලවේගයන්ට යටත් කිරීම මෙහි යටි අරමුණ යැයි ඒ මහතා සඳහන් කර සිටියේය.

පිවිතුරු හෙළ උරුමයේ නායකයා මේ බව සඳහන් කර සිටියේ පසුගිය දින සිරස 10 Questions වැඩසටහන හා එක්වෙමිනි.

මෙහිදී කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලය තුළ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රකෝපකාරී හැසිරීම් ඇතුළු කාලීන දේශපාලන රහස් රැසක් උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා විසින් හෙළි කළේය.

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ නම් අවලස්සන ඇමරිකානුවා විසින් මේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විනාශ කරමින් සිටින බව හිටපු බලශක්ති අමාත්‍ය පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී උදය ගම්මන්පිල මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

අද ඇතිව තිබෙන ඩොලර් අර්බුදයට වගකිව යුත්තේ මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ බවත් මේ රට බංකොලොත් වුණා නොව බංකොලොත් කර ඇති බවත් හෙතෙම කියා සිටී.

බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව බංකොලොත් කරමින් සිටින්නේ ඇමරිකානු උවමනාවට බව ද හෙතෙම චෝදනා කරයි.

අග‍්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අද අවලංගු කාසියක් වී ඇති බවත් රට පාලනය කරන්නේ ජනාධිපති හෝ අගමැති නොව බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා විසින් බවත් හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්ඡාවකදි ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පළ කළේය.

Courtesy Adaderana

The three Cabinet sub-committees, appointed by the President last month to negotiate with China, Japan and the Middle East Region on economic matters met for the first time on the 9th and 10th of March at the Parliament under the chairmanship of the Foreign Minister Prof. G.L. Peiris.

Commencing its task, the Cabinet sub-committees convened the initial meetings with the participation of Cabinet Ministers Bandula Gunawardena, Namal Rajapaksa, Ali Sabry, Ramesh Pathirana and Johnston Fernando, who function as the members of the sub-committees.

The Committees were appointed based on a Cabinet Memorandum presented by the Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa, under the theme Economy 2022 and the Way Forward” to negotiate with countries from which essential food items, raw materials and industrial goods required for the export-oriented industries are imported to the country, with a view to identifying alternative methods of importing such goods.

The Foreign Minister outlined that the President has appointed the Cabinet sub-committees to explore an economic way forward in collaboration with reliable trading partners to create a facility that supports trade.

Secretaries and senior officials of the relevant ministries briefed on various matters such as issues related to trade, employment and foreign remittances.

The Cabinet sub-committees on China was briefed on the current progress related to the ongoing negotiations in respect of the proposed China – Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement, while the Committee agreed to fast-track the possible next steps in consultation with the relevant stakeholders at the earliest.

The sub-committees have directed the relevant officials to obtain a list of urgent requirements from all ministries and agencies, which Sri Lanka may solicit from partner countries, to achieve economic stability and quick progress.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has given directives to make arrangements to generate 5,000 MW via renewable energy sources and add them to the national grid within next six years, Minister of Highways Johnston Fernando says.

As a part of the new programme, the approval of the cabinet sub-committee has been given to India’s Adani Group to invest USD 500 million in developing renewable energy projects in Sri Lanka, minister Fernando said, adding that the Indian company is expected to invest in several more similar projects here.

The minister, who is also the chairman of the cabinet sub-committee to expedite renewable energy projects, also stated that the government has decided not to delay any foreign directed investments and is also determined to act severely against those who delay them.

The country’s energy requirement is increased annually by 5 to 8 per cent owing to new development projects, construction of more houses and new factories. The government is of the view to cover the increased demand making use of electricity generated from renewable energy sources.

Minister Fernando said that the focus of the cabinet sub-committee is centered on selecting suitable investors from those who had expressed their willingness to invest in identified renewable energy projects, identifying new projects with higher feasibility, taking actions to reform laws and regulations in an expedite manner to remove existing legal and other barriers, upgrading the facilities used for adding the power generated from renewable energy sources to the national grid.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) is considering bringing forth a motion of no confidence against Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

SJB National Organiser MP Tissa Attanayake said the party has initiated internal discussions on the matter.

He added that the finance minister’s conduct is responsible for the downfall of the country’s economy, adding that there is lack of confidence in the actions of the lawmaker.

Attanayake also slammed the finance minister for not delivering a statement in the parliament pertaining to the ongoing economic crisis.

So, we have taken into account a no-confidence motion against him. The parliamentary group and the management committee of our party are discussing the matter.”

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says that another 311 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 today, as the daily count of new cases continues to rise in the country.

This brings the tally of Covid-19 cases registered in the country thus far to 656,041. 

According to official figures, 618,886 positive cases have recovered.

Following the new development, the number of virus-infected people who are undergoing treatment moved to 20,758. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 16,397.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed another 07 coronavirus-related deaths for March 12, pushing the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 16,397.

This figure includes 05 males and 02 females, according to the Department of Government Information. 

All seven victims are reportedly in the age group of 60 years and above. 

Chanaka Bandrage

Since September last year the government kept the Rs/US Dollar rate static (Rs 203 = US$1).  Sri Lanka being imports driven country, this artificial arrangement served the country well – it kept the inflation under watch. 

It was a very clever achievement by the government (solely due to the efforts of the Central Bank Governor Mr Cabral).

But, on 10 March 2022 the government decided float the dollar. This means that the government would no longer fix the exchange rate for the dollar, it will be determined by the forex market based on supply and demand.

At the time of writing this article (13 March 2022) the dollar has fetched Rs 260 (in the black market it is about Rs 270). 

Inevitably this rate will rise.  Many speculate that before the April New Year the dollar will pass the Rs 300 mark. How much will it be by Wesak?  By Christmas?

Thanks to this latest move, Sri Lanka’s inflation will rise at breakneck speed (before it was a slow-paced rise).

Sri Lanka is now definitely heading the Zimbabwe, Venezuelan ways.  In these countries, a wheelbarrow of cash is needed to buy a loaf of bread. These countries too have long fuel, gas queues and long power cuts.

We are soon going to be not just Asia’s but World’s ‘basket case’.

The decision to float the dollar will hit the banks very badly.  When buying a dollar, the banks will find it extremely difficult to pay an additional Rs 60 – Rs100. Small banks do not have huge money reserves; historically they have made small profits (Sri Lanka has too many banks in the first place).

It will be almost impossible for the banks to earn money in selling dollars as they simply do not have dollars to sell. This is the reason why importers are stuck – banks do not have dollars to open L/Cs.  Thousands of shipping containers are lying in the port unable to be cleared due to this reason.

If we do not safeguard our banks (like our two eyes), they could collapse one after another.  People will lose all their  life savings. Similar things have happened in Argentina and Greece.  Many innocent people committed suicide in those countries.

Those who have citizenships in other countries like in the US, Canada, Australia may flee to those lands. Some may flee secretly in private jets. These jets can take off from Rathmalana airport. It is the poor Sri Lankans who will always be here and suffer.

Once the horse has bolted there is no pointing in closing the stable door.

So, let’s act now; fast.

True, due to the Central Bank’s fixing of an upper limit for the dollar (Rs 203), the expatriates stopped sending dollars (and other currencies) to Sri Lanka through local banks. Almost everyone resorted to the Undiyal system. Undiyal paid about Rs 240 for a dollar (as opposed to the banks Rs 203).

After the Central Bank’s move last week, it is difficult to believe that the expatriates would revert back to the conventional way of sending money here – via local banks. According to pundits, the expatriates are now used to sending money through the Undiyal system and they will not give that up (unless very good incentives are offered to them). The problem that the government failed to foresee is that Undiyal will always give a higher exchange rate than the banks.

The Finance Minister seems to be saying he did the change due to the Opposition’s demands. He further states ‘we need to listen to the Opposition also’.

This is a most ridiculous statement on the part of a Finance Minister.  Does he run the economy according to the whim and fancy of others? Does he not have his own fiscal policy?

Clearly, the government is doing experiments with the country’s economy.  They do not know what they are doing.

The Opposition must also take responsibility for the current mess/crisis.  When the dollar was fixed (which was the right thing to do), they exerted enormous pressure on the government that it should be floated. Even in their meeting with the Central Bank Governor on 9 March 2022, they espoused that floating of the dollar is the only and best solution available for the country to find dollars.  The government heeded to them.

But, after realizing that this has caused the rupee to devalue drastically and inflation to skyrocket, the Opposition now blames the government.

Even previously they have made irresponsible statements such as that loans must not be re-adjusted/re-financed, the government must not seek loan moratoriums etc.  Surely, the Opposition wants to capitalize from the situation, but they should not send the government wrong pathway, especially when they know that the country is currently run by incompetent people.  Ultimately it is the people who suffer.

The Finance Minister blames the hyperinflation on external factors such as Covid 19 and the Ukrainian war.  There is some justification in this.  Due to the Ukrainian war the prices of all imported items will tremendously increase. The country may not be able to sell tea directly to Russia; and also to Ukraine. But, the foolish idea to float the dollar at this moment was taken by him.

The Opposition has responded to the Finance Minister’s analysis well. They say these external factors apply to all the countries in the world. In South Asia only Sri Lanka and Afghanistan have deep foreign exchange problems. Bangladesh, Pakistan and Maldives – all have positive dollar deposits. 

As stated before, there is no doubt that with time to come Sri Lanka’s economic problems will further worsen. The problems will become unbearable to people.

The government is faced with an unprecedented situation.  Though the Corona pandemic is less now, Omicron curve has not yet flattened.  Still about 20 people die a day. A massive US$ 1 billion loan is required to be paid by May/June this year. Various strikes/demonstrations are propping up in various parts of the country.

It is very tough for the government.  No one would like to manage a finance that is in such dire strait.

Finding dollars is the solution to all the present problems.  This has become an essential issue in everyone’s lives.

Sadly, the government has no idea as how to tackle the problem.  Every day the economy goes into deeper red.

Bribery, corruption, maladministration and bureaucratic inefficiency are rampant.  They are significantly contributing to the decline.

At a time when vehicles cannot be run due to lack of fuel, the government is still hell bent on building new expressways.  Everybody knows expressways are a good source for the politicians to earn huge illegal incomes. Millions of dollars are continued to be borrowed for these projects. This is Sri Lanka’s example of ‘Nero playing violin when Rome burned’.

The government still foolishly thinks that mega projects is the only way to achieve development.  Very little is done to introduce micro loan schemes to improve the lives of the down trodden. 

In regards to solving the dollar crisis, the government believes that obtaining currency swap assistance is the best solution forward.  True, in crisis situations they are helpful; but they are only stopgap measures. We cannot go on doing them forever.

Currently none of the foreign assistance comes free of charge. They are all loans.  As it is obvious that we do not have the means to pay off these loans, we will end up selling our valuable assets to foreigners, especially the real estate. Already we have given away precious lands to China (Colombo and Hambanthota), Trincomalee Oil Tanks to India, Kerawalapitiya LNG Electricity plant to USA and thousands of fertile Wellassa lands to Singapore.

JR Jayawardane was very clever in obtaining foreign aid. During his first term (1977 – 1984) the country received many grants from Western countries (including Japan).  The loans received were soft loans. Instead of helping us, the Western countries today are gearing up to impose sanctions on us. TNA and other Tamil parties travel to Geneva and lobby against Sri Lanka. The country was foolish in listening to the leftists and saying No to the MCC grant. MCC funds were to fix the country’s traffic problem (we have bumper-to-bumper traffic in many major cities) and streamline the (corrupt) land transfer deed system.

The government has not done anything substantial to increase exports.  Expanding the garment industry is a good way to earn extra dollars. This is how Bangladesh somewhat prospered.  We have the niche in the world’s lucrative tea market, but we have failed to capitalize.  The world’s tea auctions are not held in Colombo but in Dubai (where no tea is grown).  We produce the world’s best cinnamon, but we do not know how best to market them. Are we getting the correct price for our fish exports? The list of our failures is endless.

It is doubtful that the government has skilled, capable people to undertake its tasks. The cabinet is full of lethargic persons.

Why the government is not seeking or reluctant to obtain IMF assistance is a million dollar question.

Lebanon has sought active IMF assistance, and it is gradually coming out of its grave economic crisis. France is helping Lebanon immensely. Argentina was also rescued by the IMF. Greece was rescued by the EU. Zimbabwe is coming out of its economic mess due to own efforts and South Africa’s assistance.  Like Venezuela, there is no one to rescue us. If things continue this way, we may not be able to survive.

If the government is refusing IMF assistance due to any reasons, it has a duty to tell those reasons to the people.

The government fears that the IMF will imposes strict conditions.  If they do so that will be in order to streamline the country’s economy. The IMF generally acts in good faith.

Currently this is exactly what we need (strict conditions).  Of course we could negotiate the conditions with them.

The IMF may ask the government to reintroduce the corporate taxes that it scrapped soon after coming to power in 2019. The government’s ‘best friends’ will resist the reintroduction of the high-end taxes. The IMF will definitely ask the government to cut costs and reduce the public service (we have one of the Asia’s largest, on a per capita basis). Under an IMF assistance package, the perks and privileges enjoyed by the politicians and top government officials will be drastically reduced.

How to raise new dollars, using our own resources – 10 suggestions

The writer outlines the following suggestions hoping that they would be implemented. They are all simple and easy to implement:

• We have an abundance of men and women working overseas. They number at least two million (includes the Sinhala and Tamil Diaspora in the West, and workers in the Middle East, South Korea, Japan etc). Lots of them are good patriots.  The government must tap into them in this moment of grave economic calamity – to secure dollars from them.  Surely, if they are approached correctly, these patriots will reciprocate kindly.

Most of our overseas brethren are smart, hardworking and intelligent. In the past they have remitted to the country large amounts of foreign exchange, say up to US$7 billion per year. Now they are not sending money here. As stated before, since recently they have resorted to sending money to their loved ones here through the Undiyal system. Thus, the country has missed out on receiving much needed dollars. Now that the dollar is floated, the government must request the expatriates to send money directly to our banks, and that they must abandon the Undiyal system. They must be told by the government that it is their solemn duty to come forward to help Sri Lanka at its grave financial risk. Our overseas missions can do a lot in this regard.

• A sound idea is to allow them (long term expatriates who have regularly sent remittance to Sri Lanka) to send a vehicle (car, van. motorbike, three wheeler) to Sri Lanka (without opening L/Cs here), and to pay their customs duty in dollars.  As Sri Lanka’s vehicle import duties are very high, this will be a good source of dollar revenue for the country. This will also ease the current vehicle shortage in Sri Lanka that has arisen due to the prevailing vehicle import ban. The ban has existed for 2 years.

The government is not doing this as the motor car dealers strenuously oppose the scheme. The government must look at the benefit of the scheme to the country and the public at large. It should not be biased towards a small group of people.

• Apart from vehicles, customs duty for all other imports should be allowed to be paid in foreign currency, and such payees should be afforded incentives/discounts.

• Expatriates used to send lots of monies to Sri Lanka through the NRFC scheme. Local banks offered them good interest rates. Now our banks are again offering promising rates. Thus, our overseas citizens must re-start sending money here. People were scared that they will lose their hard earned money (dollars and other currency), the government must alley these fears.

• The government is doing a fine job in promoting tourism.  Despite the worldwide Omicron advance, the government has done well to attract large numbers of foreign tourists.  Are they bringing in valuable foreign exchange?  This is doubtful. The tourists (and Sri Lankans living here who have dollars and other foreign currencies) must be encouraged to pay for their goods and services in foreign currency. For example, those who patronize reputed hotels (3 – 5 star range), holiday destinations should be allowed to pay their bills in dollars. Foreign tourists must be encouraged to pay various entrance fees (Temple of the Tooth, Sigiriya, Dambulla, various botanical gardens etc) in foreign currency. Fees should be slightly lowered to those who pay in dollars.

• Sri Lankans who are buying electrical appliances like TVs, refrigerators, washing machines etc from leading stores should be given the option to pay in dollars. Then, Incentives must be afforded to them such as tax concessions.

• A Duty Free shopping complex must be opened in Colombo where trading must be done in foreign currency. After judging its success, two more such complexes must be established in Kandy and Jaffna. The duty free shops in the two airports must be modernized.

(The government must ensure that the Central Bank will buy dollars from the respective businesses promptly after paying the dollar collectors a reasonable commission in addition to the actual item price that they have sold).

• Sri Lankan Airlines tickets should be sold locally in dollars and other reputed currencies to all those who have dollars and those reputed currencies. (With immediate effect the government must scrap the air routes that the Sri Lankan Airlines is making long term losses).

• The Central Bank must have a scheme to buy dollars from the private money exchange market.  There are large scale dollar deals occurring in the private market each day.

• The government can set up a ‘Support Sri Lanka’ dollar account with the Public Trustee and the Government Auditor as Joint Trustees to manage it.  If it is honestly managed, expatriate Sri Lankans and Sri Lanka’s overseas friends will contribute. Ukraine has established such a fund.

What we need to realise is that all these new dollar revenues would collectively add to a sizable amount.  Today, every dollar is valuable to the country.

ජයන්ත හේරත්

1962

පොලිස්  කුමන්ත්රණයට

ආණ්ඩුව  වැඩේ දුන්නේය 

පොලිස්කාරයාට වැරදුනේය

ලංකාව පොලිස් රාජ්ජයක් වීම වැලකුනේය

පොලිසියට  ගියා නම් ආපසු ඒමක් නැත 

අපිට වැරදුනේ නැත

රට අරාජික උනේ නැත.

71

JVP කාරයාට

ලංකාව සුං

කරන්නට ඕනා විය

කිම් ඉල් සුං 

උනා නම්

රට සුනේ සුං ය

අපි කන්නේ කොරියන් ය

ඒ වැඩෙන් 

දැන් අපිට වත්

ඕවර් නයිට් 

ගහන්නට බැරිය

වැඩ කෑවාය

අනාගත පරම්පරාවකටවත් 

ආයුධ අරන්

චේ ගුවේරා style  ආණ්ඩු පෙරලන්න

හිතන්නත් අමාරුය

අපිට වැරදුනේ නැත

රට ෆේල් උනේ නැත 

අපි බේරුනේය 

රටම බේරුනේය.

74

සිරිමා

උසස් අද්යාපනය

parallel and distributed  කළේය

අපිට හරිගියේය 

වැරදුනේ නැත

MIT engineering tuition ෆී එක Dollar 75000

අවුරුදු 4 ට

ලක්ෂ 3 ක

අපට ස්වීප් ටිකට් එක

ඇදුනේය

අපි කලේ පොලිටිකල් සයන්ස් ය

ඉගෙන ගත්තේ ශිෂ්‍ය අරගල කරන්නය

ශිෂ්‍ය අරගල කඩන්නය  

අපිට හරිගියේය 

වැරදුනේ නැත

රට දිනුම්ය.

87-89

jvp කාරයා

දෙවන වතාවටත් 

බලය ගන්නට බැලුවේය

මිලිටරිය

ජයග්රහණය කර

යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේය

අපිට වැරදුනේ නැත

රට දිනුම්ය. 

76-2009

LTTE

කාරයාට eelam එක

ලංකාවේ හදන්නට ඕනා විය

සංකල්පය සිත් ගන්න සුළුය 

LTTE කාරයාත්

අවුරුදු 30ක් වැඩේ දුන්නේය

හමුදාව 

රිටන් එක දුන්නේය

කීප වරක් abort වූ නමුත්

අන්තිමට යුද්ධය අවසන් කලේය

ජයග්රහණය කලේය.

වැරදුනේ නැත

අපිට වැරදුනේ නැත

ප්රධාන පක්ෂ අසාර්ථක වුණේ නැත

රට අසරණ කලේ නැත

රට අරාජික නැත

කට්ටියක් වෙනුවට තව කට්ටියක්

සාමකාමී

තට්ටු මාරු

ප්‍රජාතන්ත්‍රවාදීව

රට පාලනය කර ගෙන යන්නේය.

වැරදීමක්

හදාගන්නට

Unions යා යුත්තේ අධිකරණයටය. 

ඕනෑම කෙනෙකුට

Supreme Court ගිය හැක.

වර්ජන නැත

Supreme Court තීරණ හැම දෙනාම පිළිගත යුතුය.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු ගාල්ලේ දෙව්සිරි පී. හේවාවිදාන ලන්ඩන් නුවර සිට ලියයි

කොළඹ ආනන්දය රටට බිහිකළේ ෆොන්සේකා, කරන්නාගොඩ, වීරසේකර, ගෝඨාභය වැනි රණවිරුවන් පමණක් නොවේ.  ලොව ඉහළ පෙළේ ඉංජිනේරුවන් හා වෛද්‍යවරුන්ට අමතරව සාහිත්‍යය ලොව බැබළ වූ පත්තර කලාවේ පතාක යෝධයෝ දුසිම් ගණන්ද ආනන්දය රටට දායාද කළේය.

ධර්මන් වික්‍රමරත්න, සිසිර පරණතන්ත්‍රී, ජටිල වැල්ලබඩ   මෑතකදී පුවත්පත් ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ ඉහළටම ගිය ආනන්දීයයන්ගෙන්   සමහරෙකි.   එසේම සුනිල් මාධව ප්‍රේමතිලක හා බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර ආනන්දය නිර්මාණය කළ ඉහළම පෙළේ මාධ්‍යවේදීන් දෙදෙනෙකු යැයි මා කිවහොත්  එයට කිසිවකු විරුද්ධ නොවනු ඇත.  ශ්‍රී ලංකා පත්තර කලාව උඩු යටිකුරු කළ ආනන්දයේ මගේ සමකාලීනයන් දෙදෙනා එකම සතියක අපෙන් සමුගෙන ඇතැයි යන ආරංචිය කන වැටුණු මොහොතේ මට ඇතිවූ සංවේගය අතිමහත්ය.

බන්දුල හා සුනිල් මේ රටේ පුවත්පත් කලාවට සිදු කළ අනුපමේය මෙහෙවර ගැන පසුගිය සතිය පුරාම ඔවුන්ගේ සහෘදයන් පත්තර දුසිම් ගණනක පිටු පුරවමින් ලියා ඇති නිසාත් මා නැවත එවා මෙහි සඳහන් කළ යුතු නැත.  මා මෙහි ලියන්නට අදහස් කරන්නේ කුඩා කාලයේ සිට මා දැන හැඳිනගත්  විශිෂ්ට ආනන්දියයන් දෙදෙනා ගැනය.

වතු පරිපාලකවරයකු හා දකුණේ සුප්‍රසිද්ධ දානපතිවරයෙකුව සිටි මගේ පියා ඩී. සී. හේවාවිදාන මහතා උපන්නේ කඹුරුපිටියේ උල්ලල නමැති සුන්දර ගම්මානයේය.  තාත්තගේ ඉතා සමීප මිතුරකු වූ ඔහු වැනිම ක්‍රියාකාරී සමාජ සේවකයකු වූයේ උල්ලලට අල්ලපු ගමේ මාපලානේ වාසය කළ සුගතපාල ගොඩවත්ත ඉස්කෝලේ මහත්තයාය.  පාසල් යන වයසේ සිටි කඹුරුපිටිය හා අවට කුඩා ළමුන් දහසක් දෙනා දරිද්‍රතාවය නිසා තේ වතු වල වැඩට යනවා දුටු මේ සමාජ සේවකයන් දෙදෙනා බොහෝ කම්පාවට පත්වූහ.  රටේ අනාගත පරපුර රැක ගැනීම සඳහා හැම ගමකටම පාසලක් තිබිය යුතු යැයි ඔවුන් තේරුම් ගත්හ.  එහි ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස මගේ පියා උල්ලල  මහා විද්‍යාලය ආරම්භ කළ අතර ගොඩවත්ත මහතා කහගල විද්‍යාලය ආරම්භ කළේය.  පළාතේ ධනවත් තේවතු හිමියන්ගේ දහසක් තර්ජන ගර්ජන බාධක මැද්දේ ආරම්භ කරන ලද මේ විදුහල් දෙකේ අද ළමයින් 600 කට වඩා සතුටින් අධ්‍යාපනය හදාරති.

සුගතපාල ගොඩවත්ත මහතා දක්ෂ විදුහල්පතිවරයෙකු පමණක් නොව ප්‍රවීණ පුවත්පත් කලාවේදියෙක් විය. කොමියුනිස්ට් පක්ෂයේ දේශපාලන වැඩ කටයුතු කළ නිසා තම ගුරු වෘත්තිය තහනම් කෙරුණු විට ඒ මහතා ඇත්ත පත්‍රයේ කර්තෘ මණ්ඩලයේ සාමාජිකයකු බවට පත්වී  එ.ජා.ප රජය නිර්දය ලෙස විවේචනය කළේය.

කඔුරුපිටිය පළාතේ පාසල් තවදුරටත් දියුණු කරන්නේ කෙසේදැයි මගේ පියා සමඟ සාකච්ඡා කිරීමට ගොඩවත්ත මහතා ඉමදුව වවුලුගල වතුයායේ පිහිටි අපේ නිවසට වරින්වර පැමිණියේය.  වරක් ඔහු පැමිණියේ පේෂකර්මාන්ත ගුරුවරියක වූ තම බිරිඳ සෝමාවතී හා වැඩිමහල් පුතුන් දෙදෙනා සමගය.

තාත්තාලා සමාජ සේවය ගැන කතා කරද්දි මමත් ගොඩවත්ත පවුලේ ලොකු පුතා ප්‍රභාත් හා දෙවන පුතා බන්දුල සමග මිදුලේ ක්‍රිකට් ගැසුවෙමු.

බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර නැමැති විශිෂ්ඨ මාධ්‍යවේදියා පුංචි කාලයේ මුල්වරට මට හමු වූයේ එසේය.  බන්දුල ඉන්පසු මට නැවත හමුවූයේ ආනන්දයෙදීය.  දවස් කෝලයකු වූ බන්දුල හා බෝඩිං පරිප්පුවකු වූ මා සමහර දිනවල ඉන්ටවල් එකේදී හමුවී කතාබස් කළෙමු.  අපේ කතා වලට බොහෝ විට මාතෘකාව වූයේ අපේ තාත්තලා දෙන්නා කඹුරුපිටිය පළාතේ අලුතෙන් කරමින් සිටි සමාජ සේවා ව්‍යාපාර ගැනය.  බන්දුල අයියා ආනන්දයේ සිටියදීත් පත්තරවලට කවි හා ලිපි ලිවීමට සමතෙක් විය.  ඉරිදා පත්තරවල පළ වූ ඔහුගේ පුංචි කවි හා ලිපි කපාගෙන සදුදා පාසලට පැමිණ යහ ලුවන්ට ආඩම්බරයෙන් පෙන්වීම ඔහුගේ සිරිත විය. බන්දුලගේ සාහිත්‍යය දස්කම් ඔපවත් වූයේ ආනන්දයේ අපි සැමට සිංහල ඉගැන්නූ  ගාල්ලේ බර්ටි ජේ විජේසිංහ  සර් නිසාය.

බර්ටි සර්ගේ තවත් හොඳම ගෝලයෙකු වූයේ සුනිල් මාධව ප්‍රේමතිලක ය.  ආනන්දයේ අපි සුනිල් අයියට වැඩි ගෞරවයෙන් සැලකණුයේ ඔහු එවකට සුප්‍රසිද්ධ කවියකු හා කර්තෘවරයකු වූ මීමන ප්‍රේමතිලකගේ පුතා වූ නිසාය.  සුනිල් අයියා පුංචි කාලයේදීම ලස්සනට ලියන්න හැකියාව තිබූ සිංහල සාහිත්‍යයට තෑගි පිට තෑගි ගත් ළමා ලේඛකයෙකු විය.  ඔහු තම විවේක කාලය ගත කළේ අයිස්ක්‍රීම් කෑමෙන් නොව පුස්තකාලයට වැදී සිංහල හා ඉංග්‍රීසි පොත් පත් කියවීමෙනි.

බර්ටි විජේසිංහ සර් අනුශාසකත්වය දැරූ විද්‍යාලයේ සාහිත්‍ය සංගමයේ සභාපති වූයේ බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර අයියාය.  සංගමය හරහා රචනා තරඟ හා කවි තරඟ පවත්වමින් පහළ පංතිවල මල්ලිලා සාහිත්‍යයට වඩාත් නැඹුරු කිරීමට ඔහු සමත් විය.

එ කාලයේ ලංකාවේ ප්‍රසිද්ධතම ළමා පත්තරය වූ මිහිර ශත 25 ක් දී මිලදී ගැනීමට අප බොහෝ ළමුන්ට වත්කමක් නොතිබුණි. ඒ  බව දැන සිටි බන්දුල අයියා කිරණ නමින් බිත්ති පුවත්පතක් ආනන්දයට හඳුන්වා දුන්නේ ය.  විදුහල්පති රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ පූර්ණ ආශිර්වාදය ඇතුව ආරම්භ වුන බිත්ති පුවත්පත ඉතා කෙටි කාලයකින් අතිශයින්ම ජනප්‍රිය විය.  බ්‍රහස්පතින්දා උදේ පාන්දර බන්දුල අයියා පත්තරයට ලැබුණු ලිපි කවි හා චිත්‍ර තම අතින්ම ලියා හෝ ඇඳ තීරුව තීරුව බැගින් බිත්තියේ අලවන තුරු අපි බලා සිටියේ නොඉවසිල්ලෙනි. පාසල් දරුවකු වශයෙන් මගේ ලේඛන කලාව ඇරඹුණේ කිරණ බිත්ති පුවත්පතෙන් යයි කීම නිවැරදිය.  මා හැරුණ විට බන්දුල  අයියාගේ කිරණ පුවත්පතට නිතර ලිපි සැපයූ පුංචි ළමුන් වූයේ අද ´ඕස්ට්‍රේලියාවේ ඉහළ පෙළේ අධිනීතිඥවරයකුව සිටින මෛත්‍රී පනාගොඩ, වත්මන් පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී බකීර් මාකර් හා ආරක්ෂක ඇමති අද්මිරාල් සරත් වීරසේකරය.

කිරණ ලංකාවේ පාසලක නිර්මාණය වූ ප්‍රථම බිත්ති පුවත්පත වීය.  පුවත්පතේ ජනප්‍රියතාවය කොතරම්  වැඩි වී ද කියනවා නම් සමහර දිනවල පාසල් කාලයෙන් පසුව ආනන්ද බාලිකාවේ බොහෝ සිසුවියන්ද කිරණ කියවන්නට පැමිණියහ. සාහිත්‍ය පොතක් ඇහින් නුදුටු අපේ බෝඩිමේ සමහර යාළුවෝ මේ ආරංචිය ඇසුවාට පසු බුරුතු පිටින් කිරණට කවි ලියන්නට වූහ.

කිරණ පුවත්පතට වසරක් පිරීම නිමිත්තෙන් බන්දුල අයියා ඕල්කට් ශාලාවේ ලොකු උත්සවයක් සංවිධානය කළේය.  එහි ප්‍රධාන අමුත්තා වූයේ එවකට දිවයිනේ ප්‍රසිද්ධ ලේඛකයකු වූ පියසේන නිශ්ශංක මහතාය.  වසරේ හොඳම කිරණ ලේඛකයා ත්‍යාගය  නිශ්ශංක මහතා අතින්  ලබාගත් ශිෂ්‍යයා වූයේ ඉම්තියාස් බකීර් මාකර්ය.

ආනන්ද නාලන්ද සමරු කලාපයට මම වරක් කවි පෙළක් ලියූවෙමි.

 මේක සමරු කලාපයට හොඳ වැඩියි දෙව්සිරි”  බර්ටි විජ්සිංහ සර් මට කීය. මම ලියුමක් දෙන්නම් ඒකත් අරන් ලේක්හවුස් එකට හෙට ගිහින් සුනිල් මාධව අයියට මේ ලස්සන කවි ටික දෙන්න.” සුනිල් අයියා එය ජනතා පත්තරේ අග පිටුවේ පළ කලදා මට ඇති වූයේ රට රාජ්‍යයක් දිනුවා වැනි සතුටකි. මගේ නිර්මාණයක් මුල්වරට පුවත්පතක පළ වූයේ එදාය. මම අහසේ ඇවිද්දෙමි.  මගේ තාත්තා ජනතා පත්තර 25ක්ම අරගෙන යාළුවන්ට ඛෙදුවේ මහත් ආඩම්බරයෙනි.

වයස දාහතරේ පුංචි කොල්ලකු වු මාව රට පුරා ප්‍රසිද්ධියට පත් කිරීම ගැන ස්තුති කරමින් මා සුනිල් අයියාට ලිපියක් ලියූවෙමි.

මල්ලි දිගටම කවි ලියන්න.  ඔයා ලොකු උනාම ලංකාවේ ඉහළ පෙළේ සාහිත්‍යය විශාරදයෙක් වේවි” යයි කියමින් ඔහු මට පෙරළා තැපැල් පතක් එවීය.  පසු කලෙක මා ඉංජිනේරුවකු වීම ගැන ඔහු මොනවා සිතුවා දැයි මම නොදනිමි.

සුනිල් මාධව අයියා මට උදව් කළේ එදා පමණක් නොවේ. මා අහම්ඛෙකින් චිත්‍රපට නළුවකු කළේ ද සුනිල් මාධව අයියාය. අපි  අටවන පන්තියේ සිටින විට A D රංජිත් කුමාර, නිලවීර සහ රංඡිත් ලාල්  වැනි ලොකු අයියලා නිම්වළල්ල නමින් චිත්‍රපටයක් නිෂ්පාදනය කරන්නට වූහ. එහි සහාය  අධ්‍යක්ෂක වූයේ බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර අයියාය.  චිත්‍රපටයේ තිරපිටපත ලිව්වේ  ජනතා පත්තරෙ උප කර්තෘ වූ සුනිල් මාධව අයියාය.

චිත්‍රපටයේ දර්ශන බොහොමයක් ආනන්දයේ ලෙඩ්බීටර් දෙමහල්  ගොඩනැගිල්ලේ සෙනසුරාදා රූගත කෙරෙනවා බෝඩිමේ අපි බලා සිටියේ මහත් උද්යෝගයෙනි. එවැනි එක් දවසක පන්ති කාමරයට ප්‍රධාන නළුවා ඇතුළුවන දර්ශනය රූගත කිරීම සඳහා පංතියේ වාඩි කරවීමට ළමුන් මදි බව අධ්‍යක්ෂකවරයාට තේරුම් ගියේය.  මල්ලි ඔය යාලුවත් එක්ක මෙහාට එන්න” යනුවෙන් ගාම්භීර හඬක් ඇසී මා හැරී බැලුවෙමි. ආ ඔයා නේද අපේ ජනතා පත්තරේට කවි ලිව්වෙ˜. සුනිල් මාධව පෙර පරිදිම මුව පිරුණු සිනාවෙන් මාව ඇමතීය. මෙන්න මේ ඩෙස්ක් එක ගාව වාඩි වෙලා සද්ද නැතුව ඉන්න.” රූගත කිරීම ආරම්භ කෙරුණි.  කැමරාවල ආලෝකයෙන් දෑස අන්ධවූවත් අපි අධ්‍යක්ෂකතුමා කී විදියට නොසැලී රඟපෑවෙමු.

දැන් මාතලේ උපාලි ස්ටෝර්හි අධිපති ආනන්ද රාජපක්ෂ මිතුරා හා මා විනාඩි දෙකක චිත්‍රපට නළුවන් වූයේ එසේ ය. රූගත කිරීම් අවසන් වූ වහාම බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර අයියා මගේ පිටට පොඩි තට්ටුවක් දමා” වෙරි ගුඩ්  මල්ලගි ගාමිණී ෆොන්සේකා කැලේ” යැයි මට විහිළුවක් ද කළේය.  සුනිල් මාධව හා බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර අන්තිම වරට මට මුහුණට හමු වූයේ එදාය.

කාලය වේගයෙන් ඇදී ගියේය.  මං එංගලන්තයේ කොටු වීය.  එහෙත් බන්දුල හා සුනිල් මාධව යන විශිෂ්ට ආනන්දීය මිතුරන් දෙදෙනා ශ්‍රී ලංකා පුවත්පත් ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ  ඉහළට ගමන් කරන අන්දම මා බලා සිටියේ මහත් අභිමානයෙනි.   අටවෙනි පිටුව ” හා සත්‍යවාදියෙකුගේ දිනපොත, දිවයින පත්තරය තුළ වෙනම පත්තරයක් ලෙස බිහිවීය.  අන්තර්ජාලය නොතිබුණු ඒ කාලයේ මම තැපෑලෙන් දිවයින ගෙන්වා ගත්තේ සුනිල් අයියාගේ අටවෙනි පිටුව” කියවීමට ය.  ඉඳහිට මම ඔහුට කතා කළෙමි.  මොකද දෙව්සිරි මල්ලි මගේ පිටුව ගැන හිතන්නෙ”.  ලංකාවේ පාඨකයන් අතර ඉතාම ජනප්‍රිය ඔහුගේ අටවෙනි පිටුව ගැන පිටරට අපි හිතන්නේ මොනවාදැයි දැනගැනීමට සුනිල්ට අවශ්‍ය වීය. සුනිල් අයියා කිව්වට තරහ වෙන්න නම් එපා දැන් නම් කැරොලිනාගේ කතාව බෝරිං වේගෙන එන්නේ. ලංකාවේ ඉන්න පාඨකයන්ට එල් සැල්වඩෝර් එකේ විප්ලවකාරියෙක් ගැන උවමනාවට වඩා දැනගන්න අවශ්‍ය නැහැනේ.”

එහෙනම් මොනවා ගැනද මම ලියන්න .”

අයියේ උදේට කහට උගුරක් වත් නැතුව බඩගින්නෙ ඉස්කෝලෙට ඇවිත් කලන්තෙ හැදිලා වැටෙන දරුවෝ ගැන ලියන්නකෝ.  යූ.එන්.පී මැති ඇමතිවරු හෝටල් වල පාටි දමද්දී  රෑ ට කන්න පාන් ගෙඩියක් ගන්න රුපියලක් නැතුව ලත වෙන දුප්පත් මිනිස්සු ගැන ලියන්නකෝ.”

සුනිල් මාධව අයියා ඉන්පසු විදේශ විප්ලව කතා මෙන්ම ලංකාවේ දුගී දරුවන්ගේ දුක ගැනද ලිපි ලීවේය. එහෙත් සුනිල් මාධව අයියට එක තැනක වැඩි කලක් වැඩ කරන්න බැරි ගායක් හැදී තිබුණි‚. ඔහු පත්තර මාරු  කළේ අපි සපත්තු මාරු කරන ගානටය.  භීෂණ සමයේ ඔහු වැඩ කළේ ලක්දිව පත්තරේය.  ඔහු ප්‍රේමදාස ජනාධිපතිට නිර්දය ලෙස පෑනෙන් පහරක් දුනි.  සුරා පොදක් කට ගා නොතිබූ සුනිල් හදිසියේ මධුවිතට ඇබ්බහි වී තිඛෙනු ආරංචි වී මා ඔහුගෙන් ඒ ගැන විමසුවෙමි. මල්ලි අඩියක් දෙකක් ගැහුවොත් තමයි මට මේ හැත්ත ගැන තියෙන වෛරය තද වෙන්නේ.  එතකොට දිගට හරහට ලියතැකි”යි කියමින් ඔහු සිනාසුනේය.

මාධව අයියා ගැන තවත් රසවත් සිදුවීමක් මට හොඳටම මතකය.1991 වන විට ඔහු සිටියේ ලක්දිව පත්තරේ ය. එංගලන්තයේ වටිනා සිද්ධි ගැන මම වරින් වර ලක්දිවට ලියූ නිසා අපි නිතර ටෙලිෆෝනයෙන් කතා කළෙමු.

ලංකාවට වරක් නිවාඩුවට පැමිණ මනමාලියන් 50ක් පමණ බලන්න ගොස් ඔවුන්ගේ ගෙවල්වලින් බඩ පිරෙන්න කාපු බීපු හැටි මා විස්තර කරද්දී මාධව අයියා අසා සිටියේ ආසාවෙනි. මම නම් මල්ලි මනමාලියො බලන්න යන්නේ නැහැ.  මනමාලියො ගෙදරට ගෙන්න ගන්නවා.”

ඒ  කිව්වේ˜

අපේ ඔෆිස් එකට කවි අරන් කෙල්ලෙක් එනවා.  මාර ලස්සනයි.කවද හරි එයා තමයි මම බඳින්නේ.”

මොනවා?  එයාගේ නම මොකක්ද අයියේ ”

මනෝරා”

අයියට කැපෙනම නම තියන කෙල්ලෙක් කොහොම හරි සෙට් කරගත්න. ”

ඒ ඇයි.”

ඇයි ඉතිං ඔයාගේ මනෝකායෙ නිතරම තියෙන්නේ රා”නේ. බැන්දට පස්සේ මනෝ- රා ඔයාට ඕනතරම් බොන්න ඉඩ දෙයි.”

සුනිල් මාධව මගේ විහිළුවට විනාඩි ගණනක් මහ හඬින් සිනාසුණේය. ඉන් වසරකට පමණ පෙර පසු සුනිල් අයියා මනෝරා සමඟ විවාහ වූ බව අසා මම බොහෝ සතුටට පත්වීමි.  මනොරා දැන් අරුණ පුවත්පතේ දක්ෂ මාධ්‍යවේදිනියකි.

මේ අතර බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර ජනමාධ්‍ය ක්ෂේත්‍රයේ බලවත් පෙරළියක් ඇති කරමින් මුල් පිටුව” පටන්ගත්තේය.  ආනන්දයේදී කිසිම ළමයකු පටන් ගන්නට නොසිතූ කිරණ˜ බිත්ති පුවත්පත බිහි කරමින් ළමා පත්තර කලාව වෙනස් කළ බන්දුල අයියා මුල් පිටුව වැන්නක් පටන් ගැනීම මට පුදුමයක් නොවී ය.

ආනන්දයේදී බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර ඇන්ඳේ හැන්ඩියටය.  මනාව මැද තිබූ ඔහුගේ පිරිසිදු සුදු කමිසය හා කලිසමේ කිසිම රැල්ලක් දකින්නට නොවීය.  කන්නාඩියක් ලෙස පොලිෂ් කර තිබූ කළු සපත්තු දෙකක් දමා කොළපාට ෆයිල් කවරයක් අතේ තබාගෙන පාසැල් කොරිඩෝර වල ඔහු ගාම්භීර ලෙස ඇවිදින අන්දම මට දැනුත් මැවී පෙනෙයි.

පුවත්පත් වෘත්තියට බැස්ස පසු ද ඔහු ඉතාමත් ස්මාට් එකට අඳින්නට සැලකිලිමත් විය.   මුල් පිටුව”කරද්දී සතියේ දවස් හතට එකිනෙකට වෙනස් වර්ණවලින් ටයි පටි හා කමිස හතකින් සැරසී පාඨකයන් ඉදිරියට පැමි ණී මට ඔහු වග බලාගත්තේය.

නමුත් සුනිල් මාධව අයියා පාසැල් යන කාලයේ පවා ඇඳුම් ගැන උනන්දුවක් නොදැක්වීය.  ඔහුට අවශ්‍ය වූයේ හැඩට අඳිනවාට වඩා ජනතාව හැඩකරන්නය. නොකෙරෙන විප්ලවයක් ගැන තරුණ පරපුර ආවේගශීලී කිරීමට ඔහු සමත් වීය.  කියුබාවේ හා එල් සැල්වදෝරයේ මෙන් ධනවාදයට විරුද්ධව ලංකාවේ ජනතාව කවදහරි කැරලි ගසනු ඇතැයි යන්න ඔහුගේ විශ්වාසය විය.  නමුත් භීෂණ සමයේ සුනිල් වටා එක්වුණු තරුණ පරපුර පවා ඔහුගේ අවසන් කාලයේ ඔහුව අමතක කර දමා තිබුණි.

බන්දුල හැමදේම කළේ මනා පිළිවෙලකට ය. සතියේ ඉදිරි දිනවල කළ යුතු දේ හා හමුවිය යුතු අය කවුදැයි තම දිනපොතේ ඔහු මනාව ලියා ගත්තේය. එනිසා ඔහු වෙලාවට වැඩ කළ පුද්ගලයකු වීය. නමුත්  සුනිල් මාධව එයට මුළුමනින්ම වෙනස් චරිතයක් විය.

හෙට කරන දේ තියා අද හැන්දෑවෙ කළයුතු දේ ගැනවත් ඔහුට කිසිම නිශ්චියක් තිබුණේ නැත.බන්දුල තුළින් කාටත් දකින්නට ලැබුණේ සාන්ත දාන්ත භාවය හා තැන්පත් ගති ලක්ෂණයන්ය. නමුත් සුනිල් මාධව අයියා ඛෙහෙවින් කළබලකාරිත්වයෙන් යුතු  ආවේගශීලී පුද්ගලයෙකු වූයේ ය.  මොවුන් දෙදෙනා අතර තිබුණු එකම සමානකම නම් පවුලේ වැඩ   කටයුතු කිරීමට ඉඩක් නො තිබීමයි.   බන්දුලගේ  පුතා හිරු හා දියණිය මුතු හැඩි දැඩි කිරීමේ තනි වගකීම බාර ගෙන සිටියේ පේරාදෙණියේ උපාධිධාරිණියක  හා සුප්‍රසිද්ධ ළමා පොත් කතුවරියකු  වූ ඔහුගේ බිරිඳ සමන්මලීය. එසේම සුනිල් මාධවගේ එකම පුතා සංජීවගේ ඉගෙනීමේ කටයුතු හා වගකීම් සියල්ලම ඉටු ක ළේ  මාධවගේ මාධ්‍යවේදී  බිරිඳ මනෝරාය.  රටේ උන්නතිය සඳහා නිර්භයව දිවා රෑ පෑන මෙහෙයවන්නට හැකි වූයේ ඔවුන්ගේ මේ  සුන්දර බිරින්දෑවරු දෙදෙනා නිසාය.

අප විසින් පිහිටුවා ගන්නා ලද එක්සත් රාජධානියේ ගාලු මිතුරු පදනම හරහා කඹුරුපිටියේ පාසල් 16ක දරුවන්ට පුස්තකාල පොත්පත් අලුත් නවීන සපත්තු හා ලැප්ටොප් ලබාදෙමින් සිටින බව ආරංචි වූ බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර මට එක් දිනක ටැලිෆෝන් කළේය.

මල්ලි බැරිද අපේ ඉස්කෝලෙටත් මොනවා හරි කරන්න.”  ඔහු ඒ කතා කළේ කඹුරුපිටියේ කහගල විද්‍යාලය ඔහුගේ පියා නමින් සුගතපාල ගොඩවත්ත විදුහල ලෙස නම් කළ පසුවය.

මෙන්න වැඩක්. ලේක්හවුස් එකේ සභාපතිතුමාට පුළුවන්නේ තාත්තගේ ඉස්කෝලෙට තට්ටු තුනක බිල්ඩිමක්  තනියම හදලා දෙන්න”. මම ඔහුට විහිළු කළෙමි.

කොරෝනාවට පෙර අවසන් වරට මා ලංකාවට ගිය වෙලේ සුගතපාල විදුහලට පා තැබුවේ ළමුන්ට පොත්පත් ක්‍රීඩා උපකරණ ප්‍රින්ටරයක් හා අයිස්ක්‍රීම් වෑන් එකක් ද රැගෙනය.  දැනට මාස කිහිපයකට පෙර බන්දුල අයියා උපන් ගමේ මාපලාන විදුහලට අපි අංග සම්පූර්ණ පුස්තකාලයක් පරිත්‍යාග කරන දවසේ එය විවෘත කිරීමට පැමිණෙන ලෙස මම ඔහුට ආරාධනා කලෙමි.

එන්න නම් හරි ආසයි මල්ලි, නමුත් මේ ලෙඩේ නිසා සමන්මලී මට කොහේවත් යන්න දෙන්නේ නැහැනේ. එයා නැත්නම් මම මෙලහකටත් වලපල්ලට ගිහින්” යයි ඔහු කීවේ දුක හා සතුට මුසු ස්වරයෙනි.

දෙව්සිරි මල්ලි කඹුරුපිටියේ ඉස්කෝල වලට ඔච්චර උදව් කරන්නේ ඊළඟ සැරේ ඡන්දෙ ඉල්ලලා අපේ  ඩලස්ව පරද්දන්න දැයි” සිරිත් පරිදි විහිළුවක් කරමින් ඔහු කතාව අවසන් කළේය.  බන්දුල  පද්ම කුමාර අයියා සමඟ මා කළ අවසන් කතාව එය වීය.

මේ අතර සුනිල් මාධව අයියා ඔත්පළව ඉතා දුබලව සිටින බව මා දැනගත්තේ මෙයට වසරකට පෙර ප්‍රභාත් අත්තනායක මිතුරා මවුබිමට ලියූ ලිපියකිනි. ප්‍රභාත් ගේ ලිපිය කියවූ වහාම මම ලංකාවේ සිටින මගේ මල්ලි ලවා සුනිල්ට උපකාර කළෙමි.  ඔහුගේ පරණ පත්තර මිතුරන් කිහිප දෙනෙකු ද වහාම ඔහු හමුවන්නට ගොස් තිබු ණි. එහෙත් සුනිල් අයියා විකල්ප පත්තර වල සිටින අවධියේ ඔහු වෙනුවෙන් මස් ලේ දන් දෙන්නට පවා ලෑස්ති යයි කියූ  සටන්කාමීන් කිසිවකු අවසන් කාලයේ ඔහුගේ පිහිටට පැමිණ සිටියේ නැත. අසූව දශකයේ  හැන්දෑවන්හිදී ඔහු වටා එක් රැස් වී සිට අඩිපුඩි ගැසූ සුන්දර මිත්‍ර සමාගම ඔහුට  නැති බැරි  කාලයේ අහලකටවත් ආවේ නැත. ලෝක ස්වභාවය එය යයි කියමින් සුනිල් අයියා හිත හදා ගන්නට ඇත.

ලෙඩ රෝග අප සැමට පොදුය.  අද හෝ හෙට මරණය කෙසේ හෝ අප කරා ළඟා වනු ඇත. අකල් මරණය ඔවුන් දෙදෙනාම සොයා ආවේ නොසිතු වෙලාවකය.  රෝගීව සිටි සුනිල් මාධවත් බන්දුල පද්මකුමාරත් පසුගිය සතියේ  පැය විසි හතරක් තුළ මරණය කරා ගිය බව අසා ආනන්දීයයන් දහස් ගණනක් කඳුළු සැලුහ.

බන්දුල පද්මකුමාර හා සුනිල් මාධව ප්‍රේමතිලක එකිනෙකාට වෙනස් ශෛලියක්  හා භාෂාවකින් අප රටේ පුවත්පත් කලාවට අනුපමේය සේවයක් කළ පතාක යෝධයන් දෙදෙනෙකි.  ඔවුන් දෙදෙනා නැතිවීමේ පාඩුව අපට වඩා මතු ඉපදෙන තරුණ පරපුරට දැනෙනු ඇත.

අපේ ගම්පළාතෙන් බිහිවුණු විශිෂ්ට පත්තර කතුතුමා  බන්දුල පද්ම කුමාරයාණෙනි,  පීඩිත පන්තියේ උන්නතිය සඳහා දිවි පරදුවට තබා පෑන මෙහෙය වූ සුනිල් මාධව සොයුරාණනි, සුරලොව දෙවඟනන්  ඔබ දෙපලට සැමදා බැති ගී ගයනු ඇත.  යලි හමුවන තුරු අපි සමු ගනිමු .

 බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය ඉංජිනේරු ගාල්ලේ දෙව්සිරි පී. හේවාවිදාන ලන්ඩන් නුවර සිට ලියයි.  devsiri@hotmail.com

MARWAAN MACAN-MARKAR, Asia regional correspondent Courtesy Nikkei Asia

IMF warns of worse to come as South Asian nation fights shy of 17th bailout.

COLOMBO — Random flashes of public anger have erupted all across Sri Lanka, the South Asian nation in a deepening economic crisis exacerbated by the policy flip-flops of its ultranationalist government.

In some rural areas, effigies of ministers have been burnt by enraged farmers who have suffered from the government’s failed organic fertilizer policy, fingered by agriculture scientists as a main cause of the poor rice harvest.

“If they come here they will go home in a box,” a 52-year-old farmer in the north-central Anuradhapura region fumed, using an ominous idiom for a coffin.

In Colombo, the commercial capital, a fight broke out late one night earlier this month between car owners at a gas station close to the prime minister’s office in an affluent, tree-lined neighborhood. The fisticuffs occurred after sports utility vehicles of the rich had lined up with the ubiquitous three-wheel taxis for hours for the last drops of petrol and diesel — both now scarce.

The latest signs of a country on the edge have different causes from previous bouts of street unrest. Those ranged from human rights violations and media repression to angst following nearly three decades of civil war. Past protests were also staged by trade unions campaigning for better wages, and for women’s concerns and green causes.

Discontent is now being fueled by the pain families all over the strategically-located Indian Ocean island are feeling as the debt-ridden economy runs out of dollars to pay for vital imports.Fights have broken out at fuel stations where drivers queue for hours as the pumps run dry.   © Getty Images

“There is frustration over the government’s inability to handle the crisis and manage things,” Farzana Haniffa, head of the department of sociology at the University of Colombo, told Nikkei Asia, affirming the view held by many seasoned observers about who is the most to blame.

“People have just had enough,” she said. “The rank inefficiency is obvious — the powers that be have dropped the ball.”

March is being marred by mounting deprivation and daily price increases. A cooking gas shortage has forced hundreds of bakeries to shut down, milk products have become pricey — particularly hurting families with young children — and medicines are in short supply at pharmacies. Regular and lengthy power outages plunge much of the country into darkness, adding to the woes.

Cutting anti-government comments and sarcastic jibes on social media make clear the rising tide of discontent. A recent opinion poll by Verite Research, a Colombo-based think tank, mirrored the trend. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s administration received only a 10% approval rating — a dramatic contrast with the soaring popularity the hawkish candidate enjoyed when he won a landslide election victory in the November 2019 presidential derby, 11 points ahead of his main rival. 

Last week, the finance ministry issued a list of 367 imported items to be restricted, further evidence of the country’s dollar drought. The items included foreign foods, drinks, beauty products and clothes. That comes on top of the 623 imports slapped with restrictions in September,  electronic goods included.

The need for these restrictions was demonstrated in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s February numbers. Official reserves were down to $2.31 billion with gold reserves at just $98 million. Sri Lanka’s $81 billion economy is struggling to meet foreign debt obligations of $6.9 billion this year, and its imports totalled $20.6 billion in 2021.

The International Monetary Fund has already warned the Rajapaksa government that worse is in store. The government has so far fought shy of an IMF bailout, begging instead for funds from foreign allies like China and India as so-called “home-grown solutions.”Garment workers staged a protest at their Colombo factory in early March to demand diesel and an end to power cuts following a seven hour outage.    © Reuters

Sri Lanka has needed IMF lifelines 16 times in the past 56 years. That places it behind only debt-ridden Pakistan as a seeker of help from the international lender.

“The economic outlook is constrained by Sri Lanka’s debt overhang as well as persistently large fiscal and balance-of-payments financing needs,” the IMF said on March 2 following an assessment.

The IMF said gross domestic product growth is projected to be negatively affected by the impact of the foreign exchange shortage and “macroeconomic imbalances on economic activities and business confidence.” 

Sri Lanka’s outlook will be “subject to large uncertainties with risks tilted to the downside,” it said, forecasting inflation in double digits in 2022 with weak GDP growth of just 2.6%. That is less than the 3.6% it projected for 2021 when the lucrative tourism sector collapsed with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government’s anti-IMF stance, a mantra of the ultra-nationalists in the Rajapaksa camp, is not winning friends among business leaders in the country known as Ceylon in its British colonial days.

The Joint Chambers, an influential network of nine business groups, urged the government this week to “pursue the support of the IMF and formulate a reform program” to contain the multiple crises. “It is better to do it today than face a far worse debacle tomorrow,” Vish Govindaswamy, chairman of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, told reporters this week.

Seasoned observers concur. “We need the IMF because the domestic rout has little more to offer,” Dilshan Wirasekera, chief executive officer of First Capital, a prominent investment bank, told Nikkei. “The sooner the decision is taken the better, even if there is economic pain.”

The government’s decision this week to devalue the currency hints at the first signs of the Rajapaksa administration toying with an IMF bailout. The rupee had been trading at a government imposed rate of 201-203 on the U.S. dollar. That encouraged a thriving black market in which the dollar traded at 250 rupees. The Central Bank lost millions of dollars in reserves as foreign remittances from Sri Lankan migrant workers — key to building up dollar reserves — flowed in at the black market rate through informal networks.

Colombo-based diplomats are looking for more signs to assess the extent of this about turn. “There have been mixed messages from those in government about going to the IMF,” one told Nikkei. “This confusion does not help the country.”

Courtesy Dawn

An anti-terrorism court on Saturday indicted 89 individuals accused of lynching 49-year-old Sri Lankan factory manager Priyantha Kumara Diyawadanage in Sialkot over blasphemy allegations last year.

Kumara was lynched by a mob comprising hundreds of protesters, including the employees of the factory he was the manager of, on December 3. The mob had tortured him to death and later burnt his body. A first information report was registered against 900 workers of Rajco Industries on the application of Uggoki Station House Officer Armaghan Maqt under sections 302, 297, 201, 427, 431, 157, 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 and 11WW of the Anti-Terrorism Act. Scores of suspects were arrested in the following days.

The incident saw widespread outrage and condemnation across Pakistan with politicians, scholars and civil society members calling for swift punishment to be meted out to the perpetrators.

ATC judge Natasha Naseem presided over the case’s hearing today in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail and summoned 14 prosecution witnesses on Monday. All of the accused pleaded not guilty.

Five prosecutors, including Senior Special Prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo, appeared in jail today for the trial in which challans were also distributed among the accused. Wattoo told Dawn.com that 40 witnesses have been made part of the challan by the prosecution.

According to the challan, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, videos, digital evidence, DNA evidence, forensic evidence, eyewitnesses, including Kumara’s colleague who had tried to save him from the mob, were made part of the investigation.

It stated that footage from 10 digital video recorders in the factory was sent for forensic analysis, while the accused were traced via videos from social media and footage recovered from the mobile phones of 56 accused.

It said their crime was unforgivable and called for the strictest of punishment to be meted out.

by Dr. DAYAN JAYATILLEKA Courtesy The Island

There are two cracks, not one: the crack in the Cabinet with the expulsion of the Weerawansa-Gammanpila duo, and the incipient crack in the ruling SLPP coalition manifested in the launch of a new program under the leadership of ex-president Maithripala Sirisena.

The obvious parallel is superficial, i.e., the beginnings of the crack-up of the United Front coalition in 1975. What’s happening now has a deeper dimension.

What is well-known is that Wimal and Udaya were prominent in the Mahinda Rajapaksa comeback campaign which kicked-off with the February 2015 rally in Nugegoda. That event was significant not only because of its numbers and impact but also because it was the fastest post-defeat turnaround in Sri Lankan political history.

Wimal and Udaya were the Young Turks, the dynamic drivers, of the Mahinda comeback, without which there would have not been a Pohottuwa government.

What is less well-known but is more pertinent currently, Wimal and Udaya were also the main engines of the Gotabaya candidacy project. They were the political and public opinion drivers of the Gotabaya Rajapaksa candidacy and presidency.

It is these men to whom he owes so very much, who have been dismissed from Cabinet by President GR.

However, as the expulsion from the Cabinet shows, they were not the real hardcore, the real nucleus of the GR project, though they may have thought they were.

The contradictions first began not with Gotabaya Rajapaksa, but well before he was candidate, with Basil Rajapaksa when the Pohottuwa (SLPP) was being formed.

BR exhibited scant respect for the leaders of the Joint Opposition (JO) parties which had kept the flag flying when both he and GR were out of the picture. He was rude to them on more than one occasion.

BR became a caricature of Felix Dias Bandaranaike with his undiplomatic, divisive role in the United Front coalition.

This was the beginning of the friction within the JO which has now manifested itself in the Cabinet changes.

There were three mistakes that Wimal and Udaya made and may have not yet emancipated themselves from:

1. This Government is unprecedentedly unpopular, not chiefly due to BR but to GR’s cruel move on the fertilizer issue and his autocratic style of political behavior. The entire paradigm of BR as the rightwing of the coalition government is superficial. As in the case of Felix, BR is also an economic pragmatist who is trying to keep the government afloat, repairing some of the damage of ‘closed door’ ultranationalist economic policies.

2. The strategy of fighting the rightwing BR” on behalf of, or while defending GR, is not merely irrational, it has cost Wimal and Udaya their Cabinet portfolios, proving yet again that the Rajapaksa Clan stands together even against the loyalists of each Rajapaksa taken separately. I doubt MR threw down the gauntlet on Wimal and Udaya’s behalf.

3. Wimal and Udaya were not the real, indispensable hardcore of the GR project though they may have thought they were. They were merely the populist camouflage for a Deep State/ex-military project. The hardcore of the GR project was the Viyath Maga plus Eliya.

What seems to be happening now is a GR-BR merger. It began in 2018-2019 with BR making the first move and opening the SLPP meetings to ViyathMaga/Eliya speakers, which permitted an ideological infusion and displacement from moderate-nationalist center-left to autocratic Far Right. Now GR is in such trouble politically that he has reciprocated, accommodating BR’s SLPP, which in turn is quite willing to shift from the erstwhile center-leftism to GR and his policies.

The Pohottuwa/SLPP has become a party of family fellow-travelers; a First Family Fan Club. Therefore, a gap has opened between the SLPP as ruling party and the SLPF as a governing coalition/front. The ruling party stays intact for the moment, while the ruling bloc has developed hairline cracks.

The SLPP will not stay intact for much longer. There were already SLPP MPs at the public event of the Sirisena-led grouping at which the alternative program was released.

As social rage boils over and the regime resorts to a burst of repression, escalating unrest to a volcanic upheaval, the SLPP will split. SLFPers TB Subasinghe, AM Jinadasa, Nanda Ellawela and Tennyson Edirisooriya revolted in 1976. That was far too little, far too late to save them electorally.

This time SLPPers, SLFPers and partner-party MPs will have to leave much earlier and constitute themselves a parallel Opposition if they are not to evaporate electorally.

At the center of it all is the fate of the centrist SLFP. That party dominated the island’s political life from 1994 to 2015. If you factor in the SLFP spin-off the SLPP and the shift to it, it has been in executive office from 1994 to 2022.

When it lost its way by CBK’s excess of conciliation in the face of the LTTE, MR came along and gave it another decade.

When, having won the war, MR lost his way postwar, under pressure from the competing GR and BR projects, Sirisena split off and was elected President.

When Sirisena’s SLFP was politically immuno-compromised by the Ranil-Mangala UNP, the SLPP arose and the SLFP MPs shifted to it.

Now, with the GR-BR deviation from the old MR line, the SLPP has the option of shifting back to Sirisena and the SLFP. If Sirisena’s SLFP can combine his positive side of Yahapalanaya, with the best of the CBK and MR traditions, this will give them a chance to beat the JVP-NPP and become the main Opposition or coalition partners of the main Opposition which may need allies to make up the numbers needed for Governmental and executive power.

The SLFP, the coalition parties of the SLPF and indeed the rational MPs of the SLPP, should take their seats as an independent Opposition, before the coming social explosion (around Sinhala-Tamil New Year?) consumes them politically. All it takes is a single spark. That spark can appear at a petrol shed!

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Foreign earnings from all exported goods and services have been made mandatory and to be remitted to Sri Lanka within 180 days from the date of shipment or provisioning of services, the Central Bank stated.

Issuing an Extraordinary gazette notification, Repatriation of export Proceeds into Sri Lanka” the CBSL Governor stated that every exporter of goods and/ or services shall; immediately upon all and every receipt/s of export proceeds being received, forthwith submit all related documentary evidence on each and every receipt of export proceeds, in respect of every export of goods and/ or services to the respective licensed commercial Bank or a permitted licensed specialized Bank (hereinafter referred to as a licensed bank”), that receives such proceeds, in Sri Lanka.

The Gazette notification

https://www.scribd.com/embeds/564138295/content?start_page=1&view_mode=scroll&access_key=key-yXZubhGkTlZPorkrjCw4

Courtesy Adaderana

The Health Ministry says that another 347 persons have tested positive for Covid-19 today, as the daily count of new cases continues to rise in the country.

This brings the tally of Covid-19 cases registered in the country thus far to 655,730. 

According to official figures, 618,797 positive cases have recovered.

Following the new development, the number of virus-infected people who are undergoing treatment moved to 20,543. Meanwhile, the death toll stands at 16,390.

The Director-General of Health Services has confirmed another 09 coronavirus-related deaths for March 11, pushing the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 16,390.

This figure includes 07 males and 02 females, according to the Department of Government Information. 

One of the deceased patients is between the ages 30-59 years and the remaining 08 are in the age group of 60 years and above.

by Dr Garvin Karunaratne

A depleted treasury- living on loans like a beggar on the streets, endless food queues-, is unfortunately Sri Lanka today. Today it is reported that the dollar has fetched over Rs 260  and unless one can imagine the cost of imports. A New Programme to make everything we import is mandatory and I hope our leaders understand this fact. 

Till 1977 Sri Lanka managed its economy without any foreign debt.

The IMF’s Structural Adjustment Programme imposed on Sri Lanka in 1977 ruled that the Public Sector should not do any commercial activities. Consequently all progressive programmes that brought production and poverty alleviation that had been implemented had to be abandoned. Though Departments could be abolished or abandoned, the personnel continued confined to the  barracks.

How can the administrators who manned these great programmes be brought back to man the ship?

My mind traverses back to two successful programmes . How these two programmes achieved success and who administered them may offer us ideas as to how we can proceed. 

The First is the Green Revolution in Sri lanka. When I joined the service of the Government in 1955 the battle for the use of high yielding paddy varieties was attended to by the Department of Agriculture and I being an Assistant Commissioner in the Department for the Development of Agricultural Marketing joined in. This Programme got a shot in the arm when the Paddy Lands Act was passed in1958 by Minister Philip Gunawardena. A new Department of Agrarian Services was formed overnight. The man behind the scene for the Paddy Lands Act and the creation of the Department was Dr. GVS de Silva, the Minister’s Private Secretary, a lecturer in Economics at the University of Peradeniya. The Department that was created overnight was the Department of Agrarian Services- MS Perera of the CCS was appointed the Commissioner. Instead of recruiting new hands GVS and MS Perera handpicked administrators whom they thought were efficient. I, Ediriweera and Mano Handy from the Marketing Department, GLDP Senaratne, Wickrema Gunasekara from the DROs, LNT Mendis, TG Peris  from Land Development and many more. This Department was entrusted with the task of implementing the Paddy Lands Act. I was entrusted with implementing the PLAct in Matara. Before long there was chaos in Parliament and Minister Philip Gunawardena was forced out by the forces of the right. However his socialist mission did not die. It was carried on by us. I implemented the Paddy Lands Act in Kegalla and later in 1963 and 1964 in Anuradhapura. What was special with the Paddy lands Act was the formation of cultivation committees which planned paddy cultivation. For the first time a vibrant people’s organization attended to paddy cultivation. 

The next stage came with the victory of the United National Party under Dudley Senanayake in 1965. He willingly took on the mantle of the Green Revolution headon. He never found fault with what had been done by the earlier government. If it was progressive, he furthered it. He made many changes. In the Districts the administrative head was the Government Agents who had hitherto nothing to do with paddy cultivation. However the GA was the key figure in any District. He brought in the GA to be in charge of the Green Revolution. The GA had a host of departments under him and to enable the GA to devote his sole attention to the Green Revolution he created a post of Additional GA in every district. .At Kegalla as the Additional GA, I was entrusted with all the work hitherto done by the GA. In addition I also assisted him in paddy cultivation work. The GA was also gazetteed as Deputy Director of Agrarian Services, of Agriculture and Cooperatives and his only task was furthering paddy cultivation. The GA was given an official vehicle for his use. And the progress of the programme was monitored closely by the Prime Minister personally. The GA Conference concentrated entirely on the progress of paddy cultivation. Once at this conference a GA said that there was only one jeep for a District and suggested that an additional jeep should be given to enable the paddy programme to succeed. . The Prime Minister immediately made an order that three jeeps should be given to each district. Then the yield of paddy was reported by the agricultural officers in each District. The Prime Minister wanted to be certain of the veracity and ordered that yields should also be checked by crop cutting surveys attended to by staff officers of other Departments. This was done. I had the task of being with the Prime Minister every Saturday and Sunday for the entire day for two full years, when he came to his electorate. I was at the Warakapola Rest House by nine in the morning to greet him and accompany him to a host of meetings, some organized by me and many organized by his supporters. Accompanying him meant I had to answer all his questions about the progress in paddy cultivation and he was never short of prying questions..

It was this administrative process headed by the GA that enabled Sri Lanka to achieve self sufficiency in paddy production by 1970, even while giving a ration of 2 kilos of rice per week on the ration free, the only country to do so. .

The key elements that enabled success lies in hand picking officers with proved ability and providing them with full powers to forge ahead.

The second Programme is the Divisional Development Councils Programme of the Sirimavo Government of 1970-1977

Under this DDCP agricultural farms and small industries were established all over the island. I laboured on this Programme in Matara in 1971-1973 and in addition to agricultural farms and small craft industries done in all districts, created a Mechanized Boatyard making seaworthy boats- established in two months. Under my direction my Planning Officer unearthed the art of making crayons and as instructed by me Sumanapala Dahanayake, the Member of Parliament for Deniyaya in his capacity as the President of the Coop Union established a crayon factory done in two weeks working on a 24 hour a day schedule. . It was developed to have islandwide sales. Mine was the only District to have two viable industries, successfully established. 

When President Jayawardena took charge in 1977 the DDCProgramme was abandoned at the instance of the IMF and the administrators consigned to the barracks.

The Government Agents, the king pin that made Sri Lanka self sufficient by 1970 and also implemented the DDCP Programme of 1970-1977 have no job now because his tasks were actually handed over to the Additional Government Agents in 1967. Today the Government Agents- very senior officers lay dormant, getting back some tasks that were earlier handed over to the Additional Government Agent. They have to be brought back and charged with the task of delivering the country out of the present abyss.

 Sri Lanka has all natural resources  sufficient  to be taken out of the present abyss. The Government is kindly requested to take the bull by the horns and   marshall the administrators to work. 

Take Coop Crayon, the art of making crayons equal to the world famous Crayola crayons of today was unearthed by my Planning Officer Vetus Fernando, a chemistry grad of the University of Colombo, who had no experience whatsoever after he left the University, aided by two science teachers of Rahula College, Matara. It took three months of experiments from six to midnight every day locked up in a school lab.  Thereafter crayons were successfully produced in a cooperative union headed by a member of parliament of the area- Sumanapala Dahanayake.  This success proves  that we can make everything we import and therein lies the employment and the production the country requires. Even exports can be aimed at. Sri Lanka became self sufficient in making jam, juice and tomatoe sauce in three years and eight percent of the pineapple products were  exported, done by the Marketing Department, where I worked then as an Assistant Commissioner.. 

Our leaders should act fast to get a programme of making everything we need. The success stories quoted proves that we can be a success.

With my experience and academic knowledge I can put my neck out to make a firm statement that Sri Lanka can even today make all fruit juices, jam and tomatoe products within one year- the mango trees are full of fruit and over half goes waste. We do not have a Cannery. The Kandy Area is ideal to plant vanilla and we spend millions to import it. Get planting vanilla, passion fruit. Once the Kandy area was producing gherkins for export. In my days in charge of the Tripoli Market my Marketing Officers were busy buying produce and the Canning Factory was working twenty four hours a day. Assistant Commissioner Oswald Tillekeratne was a task master and he not only made Sri Lanka self sufficient in jam, juice and tomatoe sauce but also built up an export trade in pineapple. Eight percent of the production was exported. Similar veteran administrators have to be found and put to work. 

Take Paper, President Gotabhaya resurrected the Valachenai Paper Mill and our country is full of paddy straw and illuk to make paper. This is a simple task that can be done within months. Order a few small scale paper making machines from India and install them in the colony areas and within six months Sri Lanka can be self sufficient. That was the speed at which I established the Mechanized Boatyard at Matara.

It is unfortunate to note that since 1977 our country has not had a single employment creation programme. The last was the Divisional Development Councils Programme of 1970-1977. Is it not sad that our Governments since 1977 to date for some four decades has been sleeping. Perhaps the officials of the IMF and our advisors from the IMF are ruling us.  From the late Seventies the IMF reined in the Third World to make it import goods from the Developed Countries so that the loans granted ended with profit back in their banks, leaving the Third World countries with a debt. That was the marvellous task well done by the IMF.  Sad our leaders fail to understand even now. 

No foreign exchange is necessary. The theory that printing money is causing inflation is a nonsensical theory by theoretical economists. Inflation comes when you waste printed money by giving free handouts like Samurdhi and fantastic salaries like a million rupees a month to consultants . .

We  also should follow the blue print that was followed since we achieved independence in 1948 to 1977, It was a country not in debt and our development- opening up land, irrigation work, agriculture etc. all development tasks were  done with local Rupees. Foreign exchange is required only to get down machinery but as I have pointed out  again and again in many industries like canning fruit, in making paper, making perfumes, making hardware items, we can easily re-coup the outlay on machinery within the very first year. We are importing  many items we can easily make like step ladders which can easily be made. Why are we creating work for people in Thailand and Singapore. It is a simple task to make three wheelers- only the engine has to be imported. 

Let me close with the request that our leaders should immediately approve a programme to make every item that we import and marshall our senior administrators who are now confined to the barracks.

. Though our own Divisional Development Councils Programme created only 33.271 employment in six  years- 1971-1977, I can assure employment to over a 50,000  in the very first year if I am involved in any form. We administrators have proved our worth in Sri Lanka as well as overseas and what we need is to be called upon to get active.  It is left to our leaders to take the lead. 

Garvin Karunaratne, Ph.D. Michigan State University,

Author of:

How the IMF Ruined Sri Lanka and Alternative Programmes of Success, (Godages;2006)

How the IMF Sabotaged Third World Development(Kindle/Godages:2017)

Selling the Motherland & Ideas for Developing Sri Lanka (Godages: 2022)

How the IMF’s Structural Adjustment Destroyed Sri Lanka(Godages:2022)

11032022,

ප්‍ර සමරසිංග

හැටනව ලක්ස ආරස්සාවයි!
හිතවත් ගොටයියේ,
මේ ලියමන කොහොම පටන් ගත්තොත් හොඳද කියා නිනව්වක් නැත. බොලාගේ සැප සනීප කොහොමද, මා නං සැප සනීපෙන්ය, කියා ආදි-කාලෙ ලියුං කරදහි පටන් ගත්තැහෙ පටන් ගන්නටද හැක. ඒත් නැත්නං, වැල්වටාරම් නැතුව කෙලින්ම කාරණාවට බහින්නටද ඇහැක.

කොයි හැටි වෙතත්, හැටනව ලක්ස පිහිටෙන් ගොටය්ය සනිපෙන්ය. බොලා වාගේම බඩපිස්සෙක් වන මට නං එහෙම නැත. පොඩි එකා සංදියේ නං බඩපිස්සෙක් වීමම භාග්යයකි. අම්ම අප්පච්චි ඇරෙන්නට තව තුන් හතර දෙනෙක් වටේ දැවටුන එක ලොකු දෙයක්ය. ගොටයියාටද එසේය කියා අසා ඇත්තෙමි. මේ ලියමනට හේතුවද එයමය. මහළු බඩපිස්සන්ට දැනෙන, තේරෙන කරුණු කාරනා, මහළු ලෝකලාට, මද්දුමයන්ට, ඩිංගින්ට, හින්නින්ට දැනෙන්නේද, තේරෙන්නේද නැතිය. මේ කතාව තේරුම් ගන්නට සමතෙක් වෙන නැත, දහ අතේ කල්පනා කර ලියමනක් එවන්නේ ඒ නිසාය.

කාලෙක ඉඳන් ‘බඩපිස්සු මාවත’ කියා හරි ‘බඩපිස්සු මඟ’ කියා හරි එකතුවක් පිහිටුවා ගන්නට හිතේ ඇත. හැටනව ලක්සයක් ඉන්න එකේ, පහසුවෙන්ම බඩපිස්සෝ රංචුවක් හොයා ගත හැක. උන්ලා ගෙන් සාමාජිකත්ව මුදලක්ද අය කර ගත්තාට පවක් නැත. ඊට පස්සේ, ‘බඩපිස්සන්ගේ දිනය’ කියා හරි ‘බඩපිස්සු දිනය’ කියා හරි දිනයක් උලුප්පා ගෙන අර හැටහුට හමාරක් පමණ ඇති දින අතරට රිංගවන්න ඇත්නං පන්කාදුය. එතකොට බතල මලක්, වැලක් එක්කම විකුණා කාසි ටිකක් හොයා ගන්නටද පුළුවන් වේය. බඩපිස්සන්ට, බඩපිස්සන් වීමේ ලා වෙන අකරතැබ්බද, අසාධාරනකම්ද, අකටයුතුකම්ද සාකච්චා කර ඒවා වැළැක්වීමේ පනතක්ද සම්මත කර ගන්නට ඇත්නං කියා සිතේය. අවුරුද්දට එක දවසක්, බලව්-දියව්, වරෙව්-නටව් කියමින් එක පාට කමිස ඇඳගෙන, ඒ පාටින්ම තොප්පිත් දාගෙන පාර දිගේ ටුවිස්ට් ඩාන්ස් එකක් දෙකක් දැම්මාම මක් වෙනවය? ප්රශ්නයකට ඇත්තේ දින දර්ශනයේ තව දින ඉතිරිව තියෙනවාද කියන එකය.

පුංචි සංදියේ, “මේක නෙවෙයි බං අරක කොරහන්” කියමින්ද “ඔහොම නෙවෙයි බූරුවෝ මෙහෙම කොරහන්” කියමින්ද, අම්ම අප්පච්චි එක්ක හරි හරියට මඟ පෙන්නුවො ලෝක,මද්දුම,ඩිංගි හා හින්නිය. අපූරුවට කකුල් දෙකෙන් ඇවිදින්නට පුළුවන්කම තියෙද්දිත් උන්ගේ කර පිටින් එහෙ මෙහෙ ගිය එකද මිහිරිය. ඒ කාලේ වැඩිමල් ඈයිං කියන, කරන දේකට හා, හී කියා ගෙන උන්නා නං අහවරය. එල්ලාං සරිය. එවරිතිං ඕල් රයිට්ය. උන් කරපු වැරදි, වැරදි ලෙසටත් නිවැරදි දේ නිවැරදි ලෙසටත් දකින්නට ඒ කාලේ හිච්චි බඩපිස්සෝ මෝරලා හිටියේ නැත. වැඩිමල්ලු උත්සහ කරන්නේ බඩපිස්සව සදා යටත්විජිතයක් ලෙස තබා ගන්නටය. බොලා වාගේම මාත් ඒ කාලේ අර චුං චෑන් වාගේය, අරක ගෙනෙන් කිව්වම දුවල ගිහින් ඒක ගෙනාවේය, මේක ගෙනෙන් කියා කිව්වමත් එහෙමය. අරූට ගහපං කිව්වමත් මූව එළවපන් කිව්වමත් කියූ සුනන්ගුවට රොබෝවෙක් ලෙස ක්රියාත්මක වුනේය. ඒ එදාය, තවත් නං බැරිය. දණගාද්දි ඇවිදින්නට අත දුන්නාය කියා හැමදාම උන් කියන කියන බහුභූත කල හැක?

හොඳයි මං අහන්නේ..අපි බඩපිස්සෝ වුනා කියල හරියට ඉගෙන ගත්තේ නැද්ද (හරි හරි..ඒක ඉතිං ‘කරාපිය’ කියල කන මිරිකලා කඳුළු පිටවෙන්න ටොක්කක් ඇන්නට  පස්සේ තමා), හොඳ රස්සාවක් කලේ නැද්ද( සම්මුඛ පරීක්ෂණ මණ්ඩලේ මද්දුන්ගෙ සමකාලීනයන් උන්න එකත් හැබෑව) හොඳ පරස්ථාවක් කර ගත්තේ නැද්ද ( ඒකත් දෙමව්පියන්ගේ උනන්දුවටය කියන කතාවෙත් ලොකු වැරැද්දක් නෑ තමයි) කොහොම හරි දරුවොත් හදල, උන් උස මහත් කරල, උන්ගෙ දරුවොත් නළවල, පුත්තලම් බූරුවෝ පස් හය දෙනෙක්ගේ වයසත් පහු කරන්න ඇවිදිල්ල ඉන්න මේ අපෙන්, උන්දැල තාම බලාපොරොත්තු වෙන්නේ අර එදා චුං චෑන්ව. වෙලාවකට හිතෙනවා වැඩිහිටුකම් පැත්තකට දාල, හොඳ කෝටුවක් අර ගෙන, ඒක කැඩෙන කල්ම පත බාන්න. මට මෙහෙම හිතෙනවා නං, බොලාට හැබෑට කොහොම හිතෙනවා ඇද්ද!

ඈ බං ගොටයියේ, බඩපිස්සන්ට තහනංද තමන්ගේය කියල මතයක් දරන්න? ආත්ම විශ්වාසෙකින් තමන් කරන කාරිය කරන්න? උන්ට කැපයි, අපිට අකැපයි. අපිත් යමක් කමක් තේරුම් බේරුම් කර ගන්න දන්න, අත්දැකීම්, පළපුරුදු තියෙන ඈයෝ නෙවෙද. ඒ මදිවට උන්දැලගේ අර යන්තං කරදඬු උස මහත් වුනු පැඟිරො ටික, රාජ ඌස්නේ ගහල එන්නෙත් අපිව ආණ්ඩු මට්ටු කරන්න. මට තියෙන ප්රශ්න ටිකම බොලාටත් ගෙඩි පිටින් තියෙනව නෙවෙද, හැබෑට මේකට මක් කලොත් හොඳද, මේ සේරෝම බඩපිස්සන්ට පොදු ප්රශ්නය, සාකච්චා මාර්ගයෙන් විසඳන්න පුළුවන්ද කියා සැකය. මිරිස් රටේ බැශලේ හම්බ වෙන්න යන්නත් හිතෙනවාය.

මගේ වාසනාවට, මං රාජකාරි කරන තැන උන්දැල නැත, උන්දැලගේ පැඟිරොද නැත. බොලාට එහෙමය, අගමැති ගෙන් පටන් ගත්තම තව ඇමතිලම 4-5ක්, නිකන් රශ්මි ධාරා කදම්භ වටේට කැරකෙනවා වාගේ, හැම එකටම හොට දා ගෙනය. බොලා හරිය කියල හිතන හැටනව ලක්සෙට වෙච්චි හරිහමං පොරොන්දුවක් වත් ලේසියෙන් ඉෂ්ඨ කරලා දෙන්න බැහැ නෙව හැබෑට! අනේ මන්දා, හොඳට නරකට දෙකම වැඩිමල්ලුය කියා හිතෙනවාය.

ඒ අව්අස්සේ මෝදිප්පගෙ ආදරේ, හරියට එවුන්දැගේ රටේ ප්රාන්තයක් කියල හිතානයි බොලාව මෙහෙයවන්නේ. ශි-ශින්පින්යිය ද අපට ආදරේය, ඔය කවුරු කවුරුත් ආදරේ කරන්නේ උන්ට වාසියක් නම් විතරය. අපට බැරි වුන දාක වුනත් උදව්වට එන්නේ තව දහ-පහළොවක් දේ හිතේ තබා ගෙනය. ඕක තේරුං කර ගත්ත නං හොඳය. 

ඒක නෙවෙයි, දැන් ඔය හේත්තු වෙන්න හදන හාදයා ජාමුලේ පාමුලට බොලාව දක්වනවයි කියන්නේ හැබෑද? පොඩි කාලෙක වින්දනයකට ජාමුලේ ණය උගුලේ පැටලුනහම කැප කරන්න සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ මහින්දයිය බේර දුන්න රට. 

’70 දශකයේ මුල වාගේ, අපි අපේ රට පැත්තට හැරෙන්නට ඕනය. විෂම චක්ර-ණය අඩු කර ගන්න, ලොකු-ලොක්කන් ගෙන්ම පටන්  ගෙන, පාරදෘශ්‍යව-ආදර්ශයෙන් බඳපටි තද කර ගත්තට ලැජ්ජ වෙන්න දෙයක් නැතිය. මේ, ස්වයංපෝෂිත ආර්ථික රටාවක්, රටකට නැතුවම බැරි කාලයක්ය. 3වන ලෝක යුද්ධයක පෙර නිමිති දකිමින් ඉන්න අවදියක කරන්නට ඇත්තෙ තව තව ණය ගන්න එක නෙවෙයිය. ජාමුලේ යදින එක නෙවෙයිය.

හිතුවාටත් වඩා ලියමන දිගය. මගේ වටිනා කාලය අපතේ නොයවා මේ ලියමන කියවන්නේ නං හොඳාය. හැකි ඉක්මනට මං අර කියූ බඩපිස්සන්ගේ එකතුව, බඩපිස්සු දින ගැන තව දුරටත් දැනුවත් කරන්නෙම්ය.
 
එහෙන් මෙහෙං අඩු වුනත් හැටනව ලක්ස පිහිටයි!
මෙයට
හිතවත් බඩපිස්සා 

Dr Sudath Gunasekara, Mahanuwara, 

Shame!  Shame! For the Greatness of India! when Sri Lanka in dire distress, asked for a distress loan, for emergency supplies of food, fuel and medicines, instead of helping its neighbor, opportunist India is trying to fish in troubled Sri Lankan waters.

I earnestly request all my patriotic readers first, to read carefully the following arrogant and opportunistic and utterly undiplomatic statement India has issued and how she has reacted to a request made by the Sri Lankan Government for a distress lo purchase food, fuel and medicine from its worthy neighbor and thereafter please read my comments there to, that follows.

India imposes tough conditions for US$ 1 billion loan

Seeks road map to overcome economic crisis and outlines strategic projects in North and East; Basil’s visit off till then

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India has called for a road map from Sri Lanka on how it is going  to overcome its economic crisis in the long term as well as to clear the decks for a long list of its economic cum strategic demands for implementation in the North and the East of Sri Lanka.

Till then the future of the one billion dollar emergency loan from India seems uncertain.

Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa’s twice cancelled visit to India after securing a USD 500 million loan in December last year to clinch  a further one billion dollar loan for emergency supplies of food, fuel and medicines to overcome the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka is yet to be rescheduled. The December loan taken by Sri Lanka was also to be repaid this week.

The Sunday Times learns that the Indian Government is awaiting the green light from the Colombo Government on both fronts, i.e. the economic action plan aimed at long term recovery from the country’s foreign exchange and debt repayment crisis and to the Indian list of demands to start economic projects in Sri Lanka. Neither Colombo nor New Delhi has officially mentioned either so far.

The Indian demands involve a string of maritime security agreements that will strengthen India’s strategic interests, particularly around the eastern Trincomalee harbour. These include Donier surveillance aircraft for the Sri Lanka Air Force, a ship repair dock for the Sri Lanka Navy in Trincomalee and posting of a Sri Lankan Navy officer at the Intelligence Fusion Centre, a Bahrain-based intelligence sharing office which is a US Navy initiative to combat international terrorism, the narcotics trade and ensure safe maritime passage for commercial vessels in the region.

One of the key pressure-points from the Indian Government is to start a renewable energy (solar power) project in and around Sampur near Trincomalee. An earlier plan by India to begin a coal power project in joint partnership with Japan has now been abandoned as Sri Lanka announced a move away from coal plants as part of its futuristic energy policy.

The reopening of the Palay airport for commercial operations and several cultural projects in the Jaffna peninsula are also among items on the list already made public.

The Indian Government also wants to enter into the renewable energy field in the Delft islet after it scuttled a Chinese company securing the project following an Asian Development Bank ((ADB) tender procedure.

The one billion US dollar loan from India agreed to earlier in principle by the Indian Finance Ministry remains suspended for now, until guarantees are given from the Sri Lankan side, it is learnt.

The Indian High Commission said it did not want to comment on Finance Minister Rajapaksa’s visit as it was not formally announced that he was to visit New Delhi for a one-billion-dollar loan facility. Last week, however, the mission stated that the visit fixed for last week was rescheduled as Foreign Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had to urgently visit Paris on official business.

Mr. Jaishankar was earlier due in Colombo on March 18, but the high commission remained tight-lipped on the visit takin

My Comments

Indian Kautilyan and Jewish demands

I do not propose to comment in detail on each of these typical Indian Kautilyan and Jewish demands and conditions it has rudely laid down, just like Shylock the Jew did when he asked a pound of flesh from the heart of the victim and I leave it for the intelligent readers to make their own assessments on the Indian attitude towards this country and its government. As a person who has closely studied the Indian attitude towards this country, starting from prehistoric times of Rama to date, I don’t trust the hypocritic goodwill of India for an atom in any field and I treat the usual political flattery like the long-standing close friendship and mutually beneficial relationship we had’ our politicians always repeat like parrots as mere rubbish which never prevailed between the two countries in known history.

On the Indian demands and conditions, I think, it suffices to state very briefly that it is like asking a man who is about to get drowned and die in the middle of the deep sea to catch a big fish if he needs help by a passing by fishing trawler.

India thinks Sri Lanka is already one of their colonies  

The long list of economic and strategic demands, which no sensible government in Sri Lanka can possibly agree without compromising its sovereignty and independence, presented by India for implementing in the North and East and those that will strengthen India’s selfish, strategic and political interests, like the renewable energy plant in Delft, Sampur Solar power project and the conditions laid down looks like as if this part of Sri Lanka is already   under Indian control and to that extent it also appears that. they are thinking as if Sri Lanka is already one of their colonies

a well-planned Indian steel net over the northern part of the Island

Obviously, this is a well-planned Indian steel net they are trying to throw over the northern part of the Island to consolidate the Indian grip over that area with very broad objectives. Firstly, to take physical control of the Northern part of the Island with air and naval presence. Second to consolidate Indian presence over this strategically important part including Palali Airport  and Trinco harbour, to take full control over Northern Sri Lanka and thirdly, to prevent any other power like China or USA getting in there. The only missing demand in this cleverly manipulated Indian conspiracy, as I see, is that they have not included the condition that the Central Hill Country, the HETTLAND of the Sinhale Kingdom to be made the Exclusive Homeland of Indian estate slave labour, brought by the British and left astray when they left and to grant them irrevocable deeds for the Heartland of this Island nation, that provides physical stability that decides the fate of the entire life system  and human civilization of this land, as all rivers in the country that gives life to the nation have their sources on these hills and also not to settle any native Sinhalese there” as a precondition. It is surprising that They have not demanded a lease document to this land or to make constitutional safeguards to that effect as they did it to the North and East by the Rajiv/Jr Accord of 1987 so that in the event of default the ownership of this part of the Island goes to India.

India is trying to fish in troubled waters

Overall, in this ridiculous letter India seems to have completely forgotten that Sri Lanka is a fully sovereign Independent Republic on the world political map, the same way as India is, with the same political status and not one of India’s suzerainties

This un-diplomatic letter clearly shows that India is trying to fish in troubled Sri Lankan waters as if someone is trying to light his cigar while the other’s beard is caught in fire”. It is obvious that India is trying to tighten its grip on this country by getting the Sri Lankan government to commit under the present desperate situation. Reading this Indian message reminded me the Lion and the Lamb story we learned in the kindergarten.

India has never been a true friend of Sri Lanka

As I have always consistently maintained that India has never been a true friend of Sri Lanka. It was the main invader and the biggest headache throughout history from time immemorial, say at least from the time of Rama- Ravana episode in the prehistoric period. Indian aggression on this little Island to own it had been the stark fact and also an eternal craving of India and the rule rather than the exception. There had been 18 recorded Indian aggressions on this Island from 2nd century BC up to Magha devastation in the 12 Century AD. This was the regular and crazy expansionist agenda India pursued, until the Portuguese invaded the island in 1505. In fact, the history of ancient Lanka is nothing but a continuous line of invasions from South India, where Sri Lankan rulers were trying to defend their motherland against these invaders until the 12^th Century when finally, the Rajarata Civilization was shifted to the South West of the Island in defeat. As a result, the Rajarata Sinhala Buddhist civilization, once acclaimed in par with ancient Roman and Greek civilizations was taken over by the jungle tide with sporadic ruins of ancient irrigation marvels and remnants of destroyed religious monuments vandalized and left behind by the invading South Indian Tamils.

This was the true situation of Northern and Eastern parts of the Island when Portuguese invaded and captured the maritime Provinces in 1505.Portuguese were followed by the Dutch (1665-1797) and the British took over from Dutch in 1797 finally they ceded the Sinhale Kingdom to their Empire by intrigue and deception in 1815 under the Kandyan Convention on 2^nd of March and they left in 1948 after ruling the country from 1815 to 1948 as Ceylon meaning the land of the Sinhala people.

Thereafter fortunately for us India had a long interval in invading this Island as India itself had come under the Western colonial rule. Meanwhile all three colonial powers brought South Indian slaves to work on their projects here.  British in particular brought them in large numbers as mercenaries first to fight against the Sinhalese freedom fighters in 1817 and 1848 freedom struggles. The worst Indian infiltration in the Islands history took place with the forceful recruitment of South Indian Tamil indentured labour in millions after 1830 to work on the newly opened up coffee and Tea plantations in central Sri Lanka by removing the entire primeval forest cover of the Island. When British left the island in 1948, they left behind all these Indian slave labourers numbering over 1.2 million stateless Indians high and dry deliberately creating a major demographic, economic, social and political headache for the newly independent Dominion as a part of their vicious colonial strategy to destabilize this Island nation.

The British maintained these plantation areas as a South Indian enclave separated from the native Sinhalese villages, as an alien community different from the natives with a different language, different religion and different culture.

After the British left in 1948 , Indian government restarted the old game

After the British left, again the Indian government  came in a different garb as their new god fathers. India renewed the age old Kautilyan expansionist agenda and claimed Sri Lankan citizenship for all Tamils labourers living on these plantations in  Sri Lanka with a vicious dream of creating a Malayanadu in Central Sri Lanka, the Heartland of the Sinhale Kandyan Kingdom that successfully defended the traditional Sinhale Kingdom for 500 years against three powerful colonial invaders

The period that followed the 1948 fake independence was marked by a series of communal agitation by Tamils both in the plantation areas and the North and the East demanding them to be recognized as a separate nation with special privileges using the weaknesses of the Soulbury Constitution which gave them recognitions as a minority nation (Sec 29 for the first time in Sri Lankan history) within this country.

Sad failures and weaknesses of the native Sinhala leaders in the post independent era paved the way for Tamil militancy.

The sad failures and weaknesses of the native Sinhala leaders to restore a fully independent country, Sinhale with all traditional native privileges we lost to the invaders in 1815 and whatever left, systematically destroyed by them since then. They include the name  of the Kingdom we lost in 1815 Sinhale, the National flag, the Language of the people Sinhala, their religion Buddhism, native Administrative and legal system, vacant possession of the motherland, without the Indian slave laboures brought by the British and settled on plantations, the native education system and restoring the Sinhale Kingdom or at least declaring an Independent Republic and reinstalling a native political system of our own without blindly embracing the alien British Parliamentary system, with a cancerous political party system that was designed to divide and destroy the Sinhala nation and this country laid down by the departing British as the foundation for a divided and disunited jumble called the Sri Lanka Nation.

Thereafter India heavily backed the Tamils and started to agitate on behalf of them calling them as people of Indian origin with no regard for this country as a separate sovereign and Independent State. Unlike in the past where only the South Indian Dravidayans like Chola and Pandyans were involved in aggressions, now new  India created by the British in 1947 got involved in Tamil issues in Sri Lanka as they form a part and parcel of the nearly 70 million Tamils  in Tamilnadu whose vote became a critical factor in the political power structure in Delhi , which apparently has made Tamilnadu more important to India than Sri Lanka. With these changes in the global political map Tamils in this country looked upon India as their protector and benefactor and the Indian Prime Minister as their Prime Minister. Even Indian Leaders like Ghandi, Subash Chandrabos and Gokahale were venerated like Gods and everything Indian were worshipped by them. In fact, they always treated India as their Motherland with second hand treatment to Sri Lanka, although they earn their daily living in this country. This is like saluting the sea after drinking water from the well. All Tamils living in Lanka were here only in their bodies and their bodies and dreams were always in India.

It was under this backdrop Ponnambalama asked for 50 50 in 1935 and Chelvanayagam a Catholic migrant from Malasia started his ambitious new political Party Ilankai Tamil Arusukachchi in 1947 with the aim of forming an independent Tamil State within Sri Lanka. This situation further complicated conditions in this country

It was in this backdrop Tamil Agitation began for a separate Tamil State in this country. The climax of these movements was marked with the rise of the LTTE separatist movement found in 1976 by Prabhaakaran to create an independent Tamil state for the Sri Lankan Tamil people with the ultimate objective of making Sri Lanka the Headquarters of future EELAM Empire for all the Tamils in the world, including India, Malaysia, Fiji Islands and many other countries having a Tamil population resident.

Prabhakaran’s vicious movement lasted for nearly 25 years and finally got defeated in 2009 thanks to the Sri Lanka security Forces under the President Mahinda Rajapaksa in 2009 May 29.

The LTTE terrorist movement was created with full support from India to compel the Sri Lankan government to give a separate State for Tamils in this country with the long -term dream of converting Sri Lanka in to what they called EELAM. They say it was the ancient name for this Island nation without accepting the hard fact that South Indian Tamils have coined it from the word Sinhale, meaning the land of the Sinhalese people, founded by them.

The LTTE was Fathered and mothered by India

This movement was manipulated, directed and largely funded by the Indian Government and nursed by the RAW openly. The whole world knows how India financed that terrorist movement, opened training camps all over India to train them with the LTTE headquarters in Tamilnadu, provided them with all facilities to fight against the Sri Lankan Government, such as weaponry, ammunition, know- how and everything else. Meanwhile in 1987 India invaded Sri Lankan airspace dropped Parippu and threatened old JR the then President of this country, that India will invade unless JR agree to sing almost at gun point the illegal and un-democratic and unconventional Rajiv/ JR Accord on29th July, violating all covenants of the Viana Convention on diplomatic norms.

As a result, the infamous JR/Rajiv Accord declaring northern and Eastern Provinces 1/3 of the country’s total area illegally as the Historical Home Land of Tamils (a complete travesty of the history of this country) with the following clauses was singed on 29th July 1987

1.The Northern and Eastern Provinces to be merged as one with provisions to merge it with one or more other provinces in future. (this was a long- term plan to merge Central, Uva And Sabavragamuwa where there is high concentration of Tamils as the next step if forming the nucleus of the future Greater EELAM)

2Giving Sri Lankan Citizenship to all illegal Indian immigrants (kallathonis) living in this Country,

3.Accepting Tamil as an official Language of Sri Lanka with special provisions and  privileges to the N&E.

4 Setting up of Provincial Councils to cover the whole Island under the 13th Amendment to the 1987 Constitution of Sri Lanka with wide powers on matters such as Land, Police and Legal to the PCC as the road map for future balkanization of this Island nation. One wonders whether this was a subcontract taken over by India from the British to divide this country to pieces and wipe out the Sinhala nation and Buddhism from the face of this planet, which they were hatching for centuries since 1797 by way of taking revenge for resisting their taking over this land when British were at the peak of world domination.

The only good thing we have ever got from India in known history is Buddhism.

The only good thing we have ever got from India known history is Buddhism. that was introduce to this Island in 307 BC during the time of Dharmasoka.

All the rest was a continuous chain of miserable invasion followed by looting, destruction and devastation.

So, in this backdrop, looking in retrospect India had always been our number one enemy of this country and its nation the Sinhala People trying to grab this Island nation throughout history.

Furthermore. In contemporary history India had always been against this country even in international fora at Geneva or New York. As I see it India is suffering from, an incurable chronic ailment, a craving to annex all its neighbors as if 3287 million km2 within the Subcontinent is not big enough for them.

Tracing back this ugly behavior of India, now look at what she has done to the SAARC. It is a funny situation with India that it never likes us having friendly relations with any other country either. When we were getting closer to America during JR time India was against it. Same when we were friendly with USSR in 1960s and 70s. And now India does not want us to be friendly with China the emerging power of Asia that might very likely be the world leader of the 22^nd Century, as renowned people like  Prof. Samuel Huntington in his The clash of Civilizations and remaking the World Order” and Martin Jacques the Author of When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order:” August 28, 2012. have predicted.

China a good Samaritan of Sri Lanka

Now looking at what China has done to help our country over the years, what is it that India has done to this country, other than festering us all the time interfering with our domestic affairs, blaming that we are not treating people of Indian origin living here with dignity, self- respect and what not as if they have given everything including equal rights, dignity and self- respect. None of these rights are given even in Tamilnadu, the historical Tamil Homeland of Tamils. India is preaching us long sermons while denying even official status to Tamil Language in spite of 70 million Tamils living there as their traditional Homeland from the inception of human history? The whole world knows how Nehru crushed Tamil claims for their rights when taken up by Dravidamunnetra kasagam.

Sri Lanka should withdraw its request for the 1 billion loan

In this backdrop, as a country with self-respect and dignity I suggest Sri Lanka withdraws its request for the loan and send a Thank you note diplomatically refusing to agree to any of those condition and demands India has laid down in their press release. The finance minister also should immediately withdraw our request for that infamous 1billiom distress loan and look for alternative strategies of meeting the present crisis on a multi-faceted approach.

Summon a SAARC Finance Ministers in Colombo to discuss Sri Lankan crisis

Since India has not come to our help when we are in distress there is no point in trying to build up cordial relationships with such a country. That is why I suggested in Lankaweb of 8.3.2022. that the Government convene a Colombo meeting of the SAARC Finance Ministers immediately to discuss our current crisis with a view to working out an alternative multilateral solution with SAARC members and let us see as to what India is going to do. If she does not attend the meeting then she will get isolated among the SAARC family. Already all the SAARC members

Reject Indian demands and conditions

Thereafter as an expression of our dissatisfaction Sri Lanka also should show that we are not prepared to accede to their unrealistic and unreasonable demands and conditions as we value more our own interests as and fully independent, sovereign and a free nation and take the following measures to protect our own interests. Also, we have to tell India that Sri Lanka is not a puppet of India and we are also a fully independent sovereign state as much as India is. We have always respected your independence and dignity and supported you at all international fora. We expect the same from you as well. although you have not been always so.

1.Pay back the 500 m US$ due immediately

2.Scrap the agreement with the IOC, a major pipe line laid to drain our wealth to Delhi, and hand over fuel distribution of all types within the country to CPC so that the profit presently going to India will come to the CPC and thereby increasing its income and profits and also save the Forex now going to India and employment for locals will also go up.

 (Mrs Bandaranayaka nationalized the foreign owned Shell. Caltex and Esso in 1962 and set up the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation. Ranil Wickramasinha sold part of CPC to IOC (A Subsidiary of Indian Oil Corporation) in 2002. And now in 2022 CPC is almost on the verge of closing down as it is unable to face competition from IOC)

3 Start a full review of all other agreements with India, such as Trinco Oil Farm lease, Mattala Airport and Colombo Harbour Western Terminal with a view to cancel them finally or at least re-negotiate the terms and conditions to make them favourable to Sri Lanka.

4 Take steps to close down the Consular Offices in Jaffna, and Hambantota as they are only Indian spying centers against Sri Lanka. Also close down Kandy Assistant Commissioner’s office as it has ceased to serve its original purpose of providing assistance to the Indian Estate labourers in the Central Province, annually going to India to deposit their earnings and see their relatives. In any case there is absolutely no need to have 3 additional Consular Offices in Jaffna, Kandy and Hambantota all at strategic  places.

5 Also request the Indian Central government to take immediate steps to stop illicit poaching by Indian Fishermen in the Mannar bay within the Sri Lankan maritime territory and instruct Sri Lankan Forces to arrest all encroaching on Sri Lankan territorial waters and take legal action without releasing them on the request of the Indian Government as they do it at present

6 Also take action to keep Indian imports to the minimum on a staggered basis going by national priorities.

7 Take legal action under the provisions of the 6^th Amendment to Constitution against those Tamil Politicians who go after the  Indian Government against the Sri Lanka Government in their agitation for separation and undue demands.

8 Request the Indian Government to refrain from all sort of unnecessary interferences with the internal matters of this country and also to leave us alone to decide on matters pertaining to Tamils living in this country..

9 Recall the present Ambassador Milinda Molagoda for failing to successfully negotiate this loan and appoint a senior carrier SLOS person in place of Molagoda, before he sells the whole country to India under his Policy Road Map for Indo Sri Lankan relations

10 The Government also should at least now give up its foolish ”India First” policy as stated by the Prime Minister MR and instead we must adopt a Sri Lanka First” policy and all our diplomatic affairs should be geared to achieve that objective.

11 As a founder member [S1] of the NAN we should strictly maintain the non-Aligned policy, while maintaining special friendly realtions  with countries who help us in our needs but not with countries who are concerned with only their self- interests..

Let the arrogant Indian Kautillyan mandarins and selfish Indian Politicians of the day also understand the frustration we Sri Lankans feel about their non friendly attitude

12 Lay down a clear national policy statement on our national assets that will not change with change of government prohibiting outright sale or long-term lease to any country and never allow another country to have its military, communication or any other installation that can become a threat to national security of this country.

Now that the USA also has decided to impose a wide array sanction on India over S-400 deal with Russia this is an ideal time to take this course of action with regard to India.  

My million-dollar question is what is the friendship and the cordial and warm diplomatic or any other relationship Sri Lanka can have with a country like that,

1.First, refuses to lend a helping hand, by way of a loan, (remember not an outright grant) in a friendly manner to us in the hour of our need and when we are in dire distress asking for help.

2. Second, that had been gunning against us from the dawn of history and providing financial and military assistance including training to the LTTE to ousted the democratically elected government of this country for three decades (1976-2010)

3 Finally, its Prime Minister Rajiv Ghandhi in desperation presented his bullet Proof jacket to Prabhakaran, founder and leader of the most ruthless killer terrorist gang in the world in 1987 to protect himself in his indiscriminate killing spree against the unarmed Sinhala people including Buddhist Monks, devotes at observing sil at places of worship, destroying their historic places of worship like the Sacred Bo Tree in Anuradhapura, the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, the palladium of the entire Buddhist world and ordinary innocent men, women and children and also destroying national assets such as the nation’s premier International AirPort at Katunayaka along with a large fleet of brand new planes the central Bank of the nation, and a large number of trains and busses carrying passengers, to bring nemesis to a nation dastardly wishing him,

The son of the sun God” and the liberator of the Tamil nation on earth, you go back to the land of the Sinhalese and kill them indiscriminately whether young or old, men or women big or small in thousands with no fear and bring total annihilation to the Sinhala nation.  This Jacket will protect you against all evils on earth’ until you win your noble war against the Sinhalese the adversary of the Tamils and you raise the Tiger flag of victory on the top of the Adam’s Peak and declare the establishment of the newly won Kingdom of Tamil EELAM to the whole world.

(Postscript: Had Rajiv listened to my advice posted to him in march 1991 asking him to refrain from helping Tamil Tigers to kill Sinhala people in this country, who also descend from North India just like him. I also warned him in that letter that if he failed to do so, Prabhakaran will one day turn his guns at him in retribution., He was killed on his own motherland at Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991 Had he listened to me he would have been alive even at this moment, perhaps as the Prime Minister of India)

What happened to India with his death, the Indian Congress almost disappeared, legendary Nehru tradition also disappeared from Indian soil and a period of mediocre politics emerged, who could be led on a blind alley by the Indian mandarins in contrast to the golden days of Jawaharlal Nehru. Today it is being run by pack of Indian Brahamin mandarins molded in the Kautilyan -Machiavellian crucible advocating the expansion of the Indian Empire, who believe on the dictum ‘ends justifie the means” are unusually busy in paving the way for the disintegration and Balkanization of India in the post-British period. Today India is at loggerheads with all the other SAARC members around, with giant Pakistan in the West and now emerging economic power Bangladesh in the East with no friends around.

It is in this backdrop, I think India is struggling to move south by encroaching on Sri Lanka with the help of Tamils living there and the So-called Tamil diaspora spread all over the world who are dreaming to establish their dream EELAM on this soil as an answer for India’s subjugation of their traditional Tamil Home Land on earth In Tamilnadu in South India.

This trend is more than evident when we see how India is having its Consular Offices all over the Island (Jaffna, Kandy and Hamabantota in addition to their main Embassy in Colombo. My question is as to why should they run four Embassies at sizable expense, in an Island of only 25,332 Sq miles. Then Its expansionism is successfully carried out in the central Sri Lanka at the moment with is 100,00o housing programme and all, other infrastructure facilities like roads, houses, hospitals, schools linked with Indian colleges for graduate and post graduate studies for Sri Lankan Tamil students annually awarded and what not. All this is a compact secret package implemented with a long-term agenda by Indian authorities while the Sri Lankan counterparts are dead asleep.

If India had maintained friendly and cordial relationships  with Sri Lanka from time immemorial respecting the freedom and sovereignty of  this country” as our politicians always used to say,   then how are we going to reconcile such lose words within this back ground

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 [S1]

KAMALIKA PIERIS

Selvarasa Pathmanathan a.k.a. Kumaran Pathmanathan a.k.a. “KP” (b. 1955) was an important figure in the Eelam war. Pathmanathan was a top LTTE official. He was the chief procurer of arms for the LTTE. KP functioned as the chief arms procurement agent for the LTTE throughout the Eelam war, starting from 1984. KP was the head of the most sophisticated weapons procurement net work operated by any terrorist organization   observed Shanaka Jayasekera.

Sri Lanka Army said KP” was born in Kankesanturai and belonged to the Karayar caste.  He had studied at Nadeshwar College in Kankesanturai and was studying commerce at University of Jaffna. On 25th March 1981 he robbed Rs. 7,909,813 from the People’s Bank in Neeraveli, Jaffna, and assassinated three police constables.

In an interview with Island newspaper, KP said that he was from Valvettiturai,  that Amirthalingam had introduced KP to Prabhakaran in the mid 70s, probably in 1976. He said, ‘we worked together thereafter.’ He was Prabhakaran’s best man at his wedding in India. KP kept a low profile.  He had direct contact only with Prabhakaran.He is one of the very few LTTE who had not received military training, Sri Lanka army observed. 

KP left Sri Lanka in 1983.  He was initially based in Malaysia. KP floated a company “Vikram Holdings” In 1989 at Kuala Lumpur, in partnership with three Malaysians of Sri Lankan origin. During the same period, he opened another company – “Point Pedro Shipping” – registered at Panama. This company was operating two ships “Sun Bird” and “Elicia”. The financing was done by K P.

 In 1990, Malaysia cracked down on LTTE activities, culminating in the seizure of an LTTE ship.  “Sun Bird”, flying the flag of Cyprus, was caught in Penang in December 1990, carrying communication equipment, underwater equipment, high speed boats.

KP then   moved to Thailand, married a Thai and settled down there.  Thailand was ideal for Eelam. Thailand was a short sea hop to Sri Lanka and had an excellent communications infrastructure.  Thailand provided easy access to   the former war zones of    Cambodia and Burma with their surplus weaponry.  Analysts observed that a terrorist organization with maritime capability needed to operate from foreign soil or a sea base in a remote island.

In Thailand KP established himself as the head of banking, procurement and shipping for the LTTE. KP ran a global network of LTTE offices which were engaged in weapons procurement, logistics and money laundering operations. Pathmanathan was solely responsible for   the elaborate   arms procurement operations for the LTTE and payments of large sums of money for the weapons (ordnance).

He managed the LTTE ships, procured supplies and provided guidance to the finance network, said Rohan Gunaratne., The LTTE was able to sustain a military campaign for so long only because Pathmanathan was able to procure its military requirements, observed analysts.

Around 1994 it is alleged that KP established a front company in Ukraine and procured weapon for the LTTE .Around 1998 he established. A front company in Dubai named Otherad cargo’ that facilitated weapons shipments to the LTTE.

Pathmanathan had a large network of contacts and links to the international illegal arms trade. He had an extensive list of illicit arms dealers,    Afghanistan, Soviet bloc, Yugoslavia, also Middle-East, Africa, and East-Asia including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia.    KP obtained North Korea end user certificates.  Also an end user certificate from a weapons manufacturer in China.  In May, 2009 according to reports, he travelled to Kabul via Karachi to meet the Taliban government .

KP’s arms procurement operations were extremely secretive. Despite secrecy, some information has emerged on weapons purchasing. MV Swene carrying 60 tons of C4 explosives consigned to M/S Carlton Trading Co. Ltd., 60/61, Delugh Commercial Area, Dhaka, Bangladesh and a consignment of detonators consigned to E G C T International Ltd., Rangoon, Burma had left port of Nikolaev on 19/8/94 and sighted past Istanbul on 25/08/94. There had been no record of her voyage till she was reported leaving the Port of Lagos for the Port of Banjul in Gambia and intelligence indicated that in the intervening period of this north bound voyage she had off loaded the cargo to LTTE having entered the Indian Ocean.

The explosives had been purchased from Rubezhnoe Chemicals Plant “ZARYA” in Lugansk Region, Ukraine using end user certificate No: DP 816955 in the name of H.D. Hashin Noor Rahman. KP transferred US $ 50,000 from City bank account in Singapore in June 1994 to the Chemical Plant. (   Source: Aide memoire from Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry, June 2009)

KP’s arms procurement branch was known as the “KP Department”.  He procured modern hardware, paid for them through secret bank accounts, and shipped them to the LTTE using a merchant shipping network known as the “Sea Pigeons”, operated through the KP Department.

 KP was in charge of the shipping fleet too. Prabhakaran had instructed Kittu to meet Captain David, a merchant Navy officer who was on holiday at his home in Jaffna in February 1984. Captain David was asked to meet Prabhakaran regarding establishment of an LTTE shipping service.

 Captain David met Prabhakaran in Chennai in March 1984. Together with ‘KP,’ they chalked out an elaborate strategy to float maritime companies in Southeast Asia, based mainly in Singapore and Malaysia. ‘Arasu Maritime Private Ltd’ was one of their first ventures. Several firms were floated to make enquiries about military wares. ‘Captain David and Associates’ was one such firm. The support of Singapore-based Tamils was enlisted for this purpose.

An old Chinese vessel, ‘Sun-Hing,’ was purchased from a Mumbai based shipping magnate. The name of the ship was changed to ‘MV Cholan ’and the ship was registered in Panama in October 1984. Cholan was for smuggling arms and  equipment to the LTTE .

‘MV Cholan’ started its voyage in 1985 with general cargo from Southeast Asia to Vishakhapatnam in India. It also carried powerful boat engines, communication equipment, machine guns, tinned food, packet food, camouflage uniform items, tents and raincoats.”

LTTE got permission from Burma to establish a modest shipping concern based in the island of Twante located off the Irrawaddy delta. In 1990 they also had a niche in Phuket in Thailand.

The LTTE shipping fleet flouted the international laws governing international shipping operation. Ships would bring weapons from North Korea to the equator where the goods were transferred to small ships and subsequently into small fast boats. ( CONTINUED)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

KP was solely responsible for purchase of new ships for the LTTE. Five or six small freighters were added to the fleet, working under several dummy companies with offices in Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. These were officially to carry timber and grain  KP together with a UK based activists then purchased 11 merchant vessels.  By 2000, there were 11 well equipped ships, capable of transoceanic long distance sailing, for smuggling  LTTE had 13 ships in 2003.

There were many merchant navy officers, sailors and engineers from Valvettiturai   and elsewhere in the north east of Sri Lanka, available to the LTTE .Some of them had done training at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Nautical Engineering College in Mumbai.

Rohan Gunaratne said that the LTTE shipping and procurement staffers were highly skilled. They are masters in clandestine and compartmentalized operations. He said a double accountant, living in US, mostly purchased ships out of Japan. The ships were handled by R, living in Canada who had studied navigation. (Sunday Observer 6.12.09 p 9.)

In an interview to Colombo Page on May 22, 2017, KP provided some new information. He said that former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MG Ramachandran, known as MGR, provided the money to buy the ships and weapons. He said it was not difficult to acquire the ships at the time. “Anyone can open a shipping company. Anyone can operate ships, so it is a normal operation,” he said adding that there were many markets all over the world to buy weapons. The weapons shipments went to Jaffna via India. “Sometimes we would send a container to India and former Chief Minister would clear the container and hand over to us,” The containers were then taken by boat to Valvettiturai.

KP had also built a fleet of commercial boats, the only separatist group to be so equipped. Pathmanathan had established a state-of-the-art boatyard in Thailand, which manufactured over a dozen different boats, including mini-submarines and suicide boats, said Wikipedia. KP is at present running a boat manufacturing plant in an East Asian country, complained Sri Lanka in its aide memoir of 2009. 

In June 2000 Thai police had stumbled on a half built submersible in a Phuket shipyard.  The ship yard was owned by C.R. Lawrence a Jaffna born Tamil with a Norwegian passport. He had been arrested in an operation against oil smugglers. The authorities found instead of oil, sophisticated equipment meant for LTTE, such as radar and sonar.  They searched his shipyard and found the boat.  An American and a Thai had been co-owners of this yard.

The tourist operation of Lawrence was a cover up for smuggling arms via the Andaman Islands to the LTTE. He was convicted by Thai authorities but mysteriously disappeared from Thailand after an intervention by a woman posing as a representative of Amnesty International who had apparently got the Thai authorities to deport him to Norway.

The government of Sri Lanka succeeded in sinking most if not all of the LTTE ships, both hired and owned by LTTE. They started with MV Ahat (Yahata) on January 16, 1993. Having intercepted the LTTE vessel, on January 13, 1993, far from the Indian coast, Coast Guard Ship Vivek, backed by INS Kirpan, had forced the LTTE crew to bring it to a point, eight nautical miles off Egmore, and north of Madras, to facilitate an inspection. The LTTE blew up the vessel to avoid capture of top LTTE cadres, Kittu and Kuttisri.

MV Horizon, was sunk off Nayaru, on Feb. 14, 1996 ,MV Fratzescom, sunk off Mullaitivu, on Nov 2, 1997MV Mariamma, sunk 190 nm west of Nocobar, on March 11, 1998,MV Koimer, sunk off Mullaitivu, on March 10, 2003 and MV Shoshin, sunk off Mullaitivu, on June 14, 2003.

A vessel, without a name, was destroyed 120 nautical miles off Kalmunai on Sept 17, 2006. The SLAF carried out an attack in support of the Navy.MV Kiyoi was destroyed 365 nautical miles south of Dondra on Feb 28, 2007. MV Seiyoo and another unidentified vessel were destroyed 825 nautical miles south east of Arugam bay on March 18, 2007. MV Manyoshi and MV Seishin were destroyed 2200 km south east of Dondra on Sept 10, 2007. MV Koshia was destroyed south east of Dondra on Sept 11, 2007. MV Matsushima was destroyed 2600 south east of Dondra on Oct 7, 2007. An unknown vessel north east of Mullaitivu on Dec 20, 2008.

The LTTE had four remaining merchant vessels, under the two companies registered in Panama and Bahamas. They were run by cadres known as Nehru Jee in UK and Raja Ananda in Philippines.

In 2009, after the war ended, government of Sri Lanka took control of   three of these. In December 2009 it was reported in the media that Sri Lanka has seized three LTTE ships and is in the process of bringing them to Colombo. They were expensive craft, used by the LTTE for transportation of arms, ammunition and human smuggling. Princess Cristina, had been taken over in foreign waters, in Dec 2009. It was seized by the Navy during a clandestine operation.

In 2009 or so, KP left Thailand and returned to Malaysia. There is a rapid buildup of LTTE base in Malaysia as the major gathering point of top tiger operatives. K Pathmanathan known as KP has set up base there after quitting Thailand reported the media in March 2009.

Foreign agencies interested in the Eelam war continued their contact with KP in Malaysia. Norway had kept in touch with KP throughout.  V Nambiar, UN Under Secretary general had phoned KP in Malaysia. KP has also been in touch with Anton Balasingham.

When US saw that the government of Sri Lanka was winning the war, it was keen on getting the LTTE leaders out of Sri Lanka before the war ended. Mark Salter reported that there was a secret meeting in Kuala Lumpur between Norwegian Ambassador Tore Hattrem and chief LTTE representative Kumaran Pathmanathan ‘KP.’ The date is not given. The meeting was attended by Jon Westborg and Tomas Stangeland on the Norwegian side and V. Rudrakumaran and Jay Maheswaran on the LTTE side.”   Pathmanathan was working out a plan to get the LTTE leadership away to another country, possibly Eritrea, South Africa or East Timor. 

Pathmanathan was on Interpol‘s most wanted list for various charges including arms smuggling and criminal conspiracy He is also wanted in connection with the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 and for violation of the Terrorist Act and the Indian Explosive Act.

KP had used several aliases KP has been using more than four passports including one that has been issued from Sri Lanka. All other passports were from UK and India and different names have been used for those documents. He was believed to have had bank accounts in London, Frankfurt, Denmark, Athens and Australia. He could speak Sinhala, Tamil, English and French .

KP was LTTE’s chief international spokesman during the last months of the civil war.   When the LTTE was defeated in Sri Lanka, analysts speculated that KP will focus on taking control of all financial deposits the LTTE keeps in various secret accounts.  And also secure control of the groups most important assets including its shipping operations.

However, the government of Sri Lanka   had other ideas. It was determined to squash the next generation of LTTE leaders. KP was arrested on 5 August 2009 in the Tune Hotel, downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia., by Sri Lanka military in a covert operation with the cooperation of local authorities. He was brought to Colombo, held in a heavily secured secret location,  and questioned. Pathmanathan was released from prison on 17 October 2012, when the complaints against him by Sri Lanka were withdrawn.

Many years later, KP was interviewed by the media.  He has given three interviews, to Colombo Page on May 22, 2017. Daily FT on July 2020   and Lanka Courier in June 2021.

In these interviews KP said that he had changed his position on LTTE after 2003. The world order had drastically changed following the 9/11 attacks of 2001. I could not carry on the procurement process as we had done earlier. Also I saw a change of attitude in the Rajapaksa government. They were confident. They obstructed the LTTE’s supply chains. This was the first sign of the LTTE’s impending downfall.    

From 2003 to 2008, I maintained a very remote communication with Prabhakaran.  After 2003, I urged Prabhakaran to pursue a political solution .I felt that there was no point in continuing the LTTE’s armed struggle anymore. We should opt for a political solution. But the LTTE thought I had changed in my thinking, and was trying to move away from the LTTE’s ideology. Those who were around Prabhakaran wanted the struggle to continue.  It appears that only Anton Balasingham and KP wanted the LTTE to go for a political solution and both were sidelined.

Yes, I have regrets. I am 64 years old and I feel I lost almost 40 years on an unworthy cause, KP said.  When I was arrested 10 years ago, I met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa.  He asked me to forget the past and told me that they were not the kind of people who would take revenge. He told me I could live comfortably without any worries. We spoke for two hours that day. A friend of mine told me that I was the only one from the LTTE to win him over.

Gotabaya asked me about my future plans. I told him I wanted to do something useful for the rest of my life, particularly for children and elders. He allowed me to visit Kilinochchi and select a place and start a children’s home. The lands were previously occupied by the Army, but when we requested they handed the lands back to us

KP is now taking care of four orphanages in the north,   Sencholai Orphanage and Sencholai Boys Home in Kilinochchi, Barathi Children’s Home and Andrew Children’s Home in Mullaitivu.   (CONTINUED)

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වෙසෙන තෙළිඟු ජනතාවගේ සංස්කෘතික අනන්‍යතාව රැකෙන පරිදි ඔවුන්ගේ ජීවනෝපායට පවතින බාධාවන් ඉවත් කරමින් නිවාස, පානීය ජලය ඇතුළු අනෙකුත් අවශ්‍යතා ඉටුකරන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම්තුමා ඇතුළු ඒ ඒ විෂය භාර අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරුන්ට සහ ආයතන ප්‍රධානීන්ට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

සමස්ත ලංකා තෙළිඟු ශිල්පීන්ගේ සංස්කෘතික සංගමය සමඟ අරලියගහ මන්දිරයේ දී අද (11) පෙරවරුවේ පැවැති සාකච්ඡාවේ දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මේ බව දැනුම් දුන්නේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකා තෙළිඟු ජනතාවගේ නායක කේ.ආර් අනවත්තු මහතා ඇතුළු දිවයින පුරා තෙළිඟු ජනතාව නියෝජනය කරමින් පැමිණි නියෝජිතයෝ මෙහි දී  තෙළිඟු ජනතාව මුහුණ පා ඇති ගැටලු සම්බන්ධයෙන් අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට කරුණු ඉදිරිපත් කළේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා එදා ධීවර අමාත්‍යතුමා විදියට සිටි කාලයේ අපට නිවාස 125ක් හදලා දුන්නා. ජනගහනය ඉහළ ගිහිං. දැනට අපේ ගම්මාන හතක් තිබෙනවා. මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ජනාධිපතිතුමාගේ නායකත්වයෙන් 2015 දක්වා අපි ගැන සොයා බැලුවා. ඒ ගැන අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමාට ස්තූතිවන්ත වෙනවා. එහෙත් පසුගිය ආණ්ඩුව අපි ගැන සොයා බැලුවේ නැහැ. දැනටත් අපි පදිංචි ස්ථාන සඳහා ඉඩම් ඔප්පු නොමැතිවීම විශාල ගැටලුවක්” යැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකා තෙළිඟු ජනතාවගේ නායක කේ.ආර් අනවත්තු මහතා පැවසීය.

මාස තුනක පමණ කාලයක් තුළ මෙම ගැටලු විසඳීමට අවශ්‍ය ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගැනීම සඳහා අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා විසින් මෙහි දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතාට උපදෙස් ලබා දුන්නේය.

ඒ අනුව වන ජීවී සංරක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ නියමානුකූල කිරීමේ එකඟතාව මත ප්‍රාදේශිය ලේකම් මාර්ගයෙන් මොවුන්ගේ දෙවැනි පරම්පරාවට අවශ්‍ය ඉඩම් නිදහස් කිරීමට අදාළ පියවර ගන්නා බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතා සඳහන් කළේය.

තෙළිඟු ජනතාව මුහුණ පා සිටින නිවාස ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදාළ ප්‍රදේශවලට ගොස් සොයා බලා නිසි ක්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නැයි අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ සභාපති දුමින්ද සිල්වා මහතාට උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

ඊට අමතරව ප්‍රාදේශීය ලේකම් මාර්ගයෙන් නිවාස ආධාර මුදල් ලබා දීමට කටයුතු කරන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා තෙළිඟු ජනතා නියෝජිතයන් හමුවේ විශ්වාසය පළ කළේය.

තෙළිඟු ගම්මානවල මං මාවත් ඉදිකිරීම, අඩු ආදායම් ලාභීන්ට සමෘද්ධි  සහන පිරිනැමීම මෙන්ම විදේශ සංචාරකයන් වෙනුවෙන් තෙළිඟු සංස්කෘතික අංග ඉදිරිපත් කරන්නන් සඳහා හැඳුනුම්පතක් නිකුත් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ද මෙහි දී අවධානය යොමු විය.

ඒ සඳහා අදාළ ආයතන කඩිනමින් කටයුතු කරන බව අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක මහතා මෙහිදී  ප්‍රකාශ කළේය.

තෙළිඟු ජනතාවගේ සංස්කෘතික අංග දෙස් විදෙස් සංචාරකයන්ට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීමේ දී අදාළ ස්ථානවල දැනට පවතින බාධාවන් ඉවත්කිරීමට කටයුතු කරන්නැයි ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍යතුමා මෙහි දී උපදෙස් දුන්නේය.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය ලේකම් අනුර දිසානායක, අමාත්‍යාංශ ලේකම්වරුන් වන ආර්.ඩබ්ලිව්.ආර්. පේමසිරි,  පී.ඒ.අයි. සිරිනිමල් පෙරේරා,  මහාචාර්ය කපිල ගුණවර්ධන, එස්. හෙට්ටිආරච්චි, අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය අතිරේක ලේකම් මහින්ද ගුණරත්න,  වනජීවී සංරක්ෂණ ජනරාල් චන්දන සූරියබණ්ඩාර, සමෘද්ධි අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ආර්.පී.බී. තිලකසිරි, සංචාරක සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ ජනරාල් ධම්මිකා විජේසිංහ, නිවාස සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ සභාපති දුමින්ද සිල්වා, ජාතික ජලසම්පාදන  හා ජලාපවාහන මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති නිශාන්ත රණතුංග, ජාතික උද්භිත උද්‍යාන දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ (පාලන) වයි.එම්.වයි. යාපා බණ්ඩාර, මාර්ග සංවර්ධන අධිකාරියේ අධ්‍යක්ෂ (මාර්ග නඩත්තු) බී.ඒ.ආර්. ප්‍රේමරත්න, නියෝජ්‍ය අධ්‍යක්ෂ (මාර්ග නඩත්තු) ඒ.එම්.එම්. ජාබීර්,  සංස්කෘතික කටයුතු දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවේ සහකාර අධ්‍යක්ෂ ශාමිලා ක්‍රිෂාන්ති, මහත්ම මහත්මීහු සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා තෙළිඟු ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රධාන නායක කේ.එන්. අනවත්තු,තෙළිඟු ජන සංගමයේ ලේකම් ඩී.නිමල් මහත්වරු ඇතුළු නියෝජිතයෝ මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක් වූහ.

Sugath Kulatunga

1.CURRENT STATUS

With impressive improvements in health and nutrition the latter half of the 20^th century has resulted in a revolution in longevity, which in Sri Lanka today is 76.98 years (2019).

 With high fertility in the past and rising life expectancies in the future, the number of elderly is rapidly increasing and the percentage of older persons was due to reach 15 percent by 2020.Because of their higher longevity more women elders will lose the support of their spouses in later life.

The traditional family culture of lifelong care for elders by the family is fast disappearing.

 Elders are not able to keep abreast of fast changing technology and rapidly expanding knowledge base which are making elders misfits in the workplace and society.

 Economic poverty in the majority of families makes caring for elders an unbearable burden.

 Respect for elders is no longer a strong feature in our society and the culture of non-caring of elders has made elders physically and mentally traumatized.

Today we see a revolution in longevity. The percentage of old people in the total population is growing steadily. In this background, all over the world, increasing attention has been focused on old people. Ageing is being considered only as a factor of social differentiation and not one of social discrimination.  At paragraph 15 of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002- it is stated that , Whereas specific policies will vary according to country and region, population ageing is a universal force that has the power to shape the future as much as globalization. It is essential to recognize the ability of older persons to contribute to society by taking the lead not only in their own betterment but also in that of society as a whole. Forward thinking calls us to embrace the potential of the ageing population as a basis for future development.” The present retirement age has been determined when the life expectancy was in the region of 50 to 60 years. Today life expectancy has risen over 75 years of age and at the former age of retirement of 60 years most persons were not only physically and mentally fit to continue working but also, they were at the peak level of competency. The government has to be congratulated for extending the age of retirement.

In the Article 10 of the declaration of the Second World Assembly on Ageing in Madrid- 12 April 2002, it is stated that The potential of older persons is a powerful basis for future development. This enables society to rely increasingly on the skills, experience and wisdom of older persons, not only to take the lead in their own betterment but also to participate actively in that of society.”

However, the present policy on elders is focused more on looking after the welfare of elders rather than harnessing their proven talent for further contribution to the society, Therefore, the policy on elders should combine the welfare function with that of active participation in society.

 Four areas in which policy options are available to support the elderly are

(4.1) labour and retirement policies.

(4.2) policies affecting traditional family support systems.

(4.3) policies that encourage saving and investment.

     (4.4) government and employer-sponsored pension schemes.

      (4.5) health care policies.      

There has to be a special policy package to involve their participation of elders in Socio economic development.

At Article 10 of the declaration of the Second World Assembly on Ageing, it is stated that The potential of older persons is a powerful basis for future development. This enables society to rely increasingly on the skills, experience and wisdom of older persons, not only to take the lead in their own betterment but also to participate actively in that of society as a whole.” Most retired persons wish to work, learn and continue to develop and utilise their abilities during their retirement to the benefit of the community and themselves. Many enjoy working and work provides purpose, status, scope to use one’s skills and abilities, and the opportunity to express their values, interests and objectives, and to progress. 

The information and communication technology has revolutionized the way, where and when of work. More and more people are able to work from home rather than face the hazards of commuting to work. In the future physical mobility will cease to be a vital factor of capacity to work. 

It is noted that the present retirement age has been determined when the life expectancy was in the region of 50 to 60 years. Today life expectancy has risen over 75 years  of age and at the present age of retirement of 60 years most persons are not only physically and mentally fit to continue working but also they are at the peak level of competency.

Advocacy on issues of ageing 

The promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, is essential for the creation of an inclusive society for all ages in which older persons participate fully and without discrimination and on the basis of equality. Combating discrimination based on age and promoting the dignity of older persons is fundamental to ensuring the respect that older persons deserve. Promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms is important in order to achieve a society for all ages. In this, the reciprocal relationship between and among generations must be nurtured, emphasized and encouraged through a comprehensive and effective dialogue.” 

In this background the ageing population has developed into a major factor in the economic and social development in the country but the issue is not given adequate attention. In this effort, the government could give priority to the themes identified in the International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002, to the extent of their relevance to the Sri Lanka context. Although these proposals are now 10 years old, time  has made them more relevant now.

These are:

 (a) The full realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms of all older persons.

(b) The achievement of secure ageing, which involves reaffirming the goal of eradicating poverty in old age and building on the United Nations Principles for Older Persons.

(c) Empowerment of older persons to fully and effectively participate in the economic, political and social lives of their societies, including through income-generating and voluntary work.

(d) Provision of opportunities for individual development, self-fulfilment and well-being throughout life as well as in late life, though, for example, access to lifelong learning and participation in the community while recognizing that older persons are not one homogenous group.

(e) Ensuring the full enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, and civil and political rights of persons and the elimination of all forms of violence and discrimination against older persons.

(f) Commitment to gender equality among older persons through, inter alia, elimination of gender-based discrimination.

(g) Recognition of the crucial importance of families, intergenerational interdependence, solidarity and reciprocity for social development.

(h) Provision of health care, support, and social protection for older persons, including preventive and rehabilitative health care.

(i) Facilitating partnership between all levels of government, civil society, the private sector and older persons themselves in translating the International Plan of Action into practical action.

(j) Harnessing of scientific research and expertise and realizing the potential of technology to focus on, inter alia, the individual, social and health implications of aging, in particular in developing countries.

In order to achieve the above objectives the Government should ensure that::

 Legislation on rights of older persons is enacted.

 Attention is paid to basic needs and poverty reduction among older persons.

 Special problems of older women are addressed.

 Retirement (pension) system(s) for all older persons are introduced.

 Integrated primary health care programs are commenced for older persons.

 Caregiving assistance is made available for older family members.

 Age-integrated (multigenerational) housing and living environments are launched.

 Employment promotion is undertaken for older persons.  

 Support is provided for income-generating activities for older persons.

 Educate the public for late life and strengthen multigenerational solidarity.

Sugath Kulatunga

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍ය අංශය

තරුණ ලාංකේය ව්‍යවසායක මණ්ඩලයේ 23වන සංවත්සරික සැමරුම අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඊයේ (10) පස්වරුවේ කොළඹ ශ්‍රැංග්‍රිලා හෝටලයේ දී පැවැත්විණි.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ව්‍යාපාර 500කට වැඩි සංඛ්‍යාවක් ආවරණය වන තරුණ ලාංකේය ව්‍යවසාය මණ්ඩලය දේශීයත්වය ප්‍රමුඛ කොට ගත් ව්‍යවසායකයන්ගෙන් සැඳුම්ලත් මණ්ඩලයකි.

මෙම මණ්ඩලයේ ආරම්භක හමුවීම සඳහා ද අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා එක්ව තිබීම විශේෂත්වයකි.

එතැන් පටන් අවස්ථා ගණනාවක දී අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ මහතා මෙම මණ්ඩලයේ සංවත්සර සැමරුම් සඳහා එක්ව තිබේ.

තරුණ ලාංකේය ව්‍යවසායක මණ්ඩලයේ 23 සංවත්සර සැමරුම සමගාමීව පැවති මහා සභා රැස්වීමේ දී 2022/2023 වසර සඳහා නව සභාපති ලෙස දිමුත් චංකම සිල්වා මහතා පත්විය.

හිටපු ජනාධිපති මෛත්‍රීපාල සිරිසේන, රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යවරුන් වන විදුර වික්‍රමනායක, දයාසිරි ජයසේකර මහත්වරු ඇතුළු තානාපතිවරුන් සහ තානාපති නියෝජිතයන්, හිටපු අමාත්‍යවරුන්, තරුණ ලාංකේය ව්‍යවසායක මණ්ඩලයේ හිටපු සභාපති සාරංග ගුණවර්ධන මහතා ඇතුළු තරුණ ව්‍යවසාකයෝ රැසක් මෙම අවස්ථාවට එක්ව සිටියහ.

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

ඔරුගොඩවත්ත මෝටර් රථ ඉංජිනේරු අභ්‍යාස ආයතනයේ (AETI) සහතික ප්‍රදානෝත්සවය ගරු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය විශේෂඥ වෛද්‍ය සීතා අරඹේපොල මැතිණියගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් ඊයේ දින (10) පැවැත්විණ.

මෙහි දී,

·         මෝටර් රථ යාන්ත්‍රික ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

·         මෝටර් රථ විදුලි ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

·         යන්ත්‍ර ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

·         ටිංකර්/ පෑස්සුම් ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

·         වාහන පින්තාරුකරු ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

·         වාහන වායුසමීකරණ ශිල්පී පාඨමාලාව

යන වෘත්තීය පුහුණු පාඨමාලා සාර්ථකව හැදෑරූ සිසු සිසුවියන් 456 දෙනෙකු සහතිකපත්ලාභීන් බවට පත් විය.

තවද ලබන වසරේ සිට මෝටර් රථ ඉංජිනේරු අභ්‍යාස ආයතනයේ පාඨමාලා සඳහා බඳවා ගන්නා ශිෂ්‍ය ධාරිතාවය දෙගුණයකින් පමණ ඉහළ දැමීමට කටයුතු මේ වනවිටත් සැලසුම් කර ඇත.

“ජපන් ටෙක්” ලෙස හඳුන්වන මෙම ආයතනයේ අද ලෝකයට ගැළපෙන පරිදි නවීන තාක්ෂණය පදනම් කරගෙන පාඨමාලා පැවැත්වෙන අතර දෙස් විදෙස් ආකර්ශණීය වැටුප් සහිතව රැකියාගත වීමේ ප්‍රතිශතය 100% කි.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා රුහුණු විශ්ව විද්‍යාලයේ හිටපු උප කුලපති ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ මහාචාර්ය ගාමිණී සේනානායක මහතා, ජාතික ආධුනිකත්ව සහ කාර්මික පුහුණු කිරීම් අධිකාරියේ සභාපති තරංග නලීන් ගම්ලත් මහතා, උප සභාපති මහින්ද ඒ. රූපසිංහ මහතා, මෝටර් රථ ඉංජිනේරු අභ්‍යාස ආයතනයේ විදුහල්පති අනුර දිසානායක මහතා සහ අධ්‍යයන අනධ්‍යන කාර්ය මණ්ඩලය ඇතුළු පිරිසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

මාධ්‍ය ඒකකය

නිපුණතා සංවර්ධන වෘත්තීය අධ්‍යාපන පර්යේෂණ හා නව නිපැයුම් රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍යාංශය

Shenali D Waduge

Citizens of Sri Lanka should be mature enough to put politics & preference for political parties aside when it comes to issues concerning the Nation. In such scenarios, citizens must be able to separate their personal preferences & evaluate if anything or anyone is doing wrong by the nation. We do not need to remind the citizens of the lies & illegalities taking place in the UNHRC against a UN Member State. We have seen too many of our own fly to Geneva to betray the nation. Not many have flown to set the story straight. Many of these sponsored trips have an ulterior agenda & are often linked to international geopolitics. It is with this background reality that those dashing to Geneva are perceived with the question ‘what are they up to now’& ‘whose agenda are they attempting to fulfill”. What does the Cardinal – the UNP – the LTTE/TNA & its associates have in common?

History provides lessons & links to understanding the present. History will reveal that there were no ethnic rivalries prior to 1505. Incidents that emerged thereafter was part & parcel of colonial legacy from divide & rule policies of the invaders that pitched minorities against the majority encouraging a less than 10% minority to demand 50-50 representation & formulating ethnic-based political parties that demanded a separate Tamil state even before independence. Backing for unfair demands led to the 1976 Vaddukoddai Resolution & emergence of Tamil armed militancy fanned & made worse because of international geopolitics.

Noteworthy is the manner these miscreants emerged during important historical events. The JVP & TNT (later LTTE) emerged when Sri Lanka formed its first republican constitution ending Queens rule as Head of State. This was followed by the separatist quest with the change of government in 1977 & a pro-West open economic policy.

Tamil militancy trained & funded by India emerged as India’s response to Sri Lankan president’s pro-US stand. An understanding of this is a must, given that it remains a puzzle why LTTE would assassinate Rajiv Gandhi, even if it was a hired job. But, it becomes clear that LTTE thereafter fell into different hands and was handled differently to serve geopolitical interests.

The LTTE diaspora handling the LTTE kitty became an all powerful bloc able to tap high profile international figures & even get them to stand on stage next to cut outs of Prabakaran or shed a tear or two at LTTE memorials while the TNA election manifestos clearly proves its support for LTTE.

It is important to be able to understand who supported LTTE militancy.

As we all know the Church is part & parcel of the Western bloc. It was a key component during colonial rule. Its mission to increase its flock remains on track. The bulk of NGOs that operated in the North were from faith-based organizations heavily funded by foreign governments or think tanks associated with them. None of these cared to save a single child from being turned into a child soldier though there were plenty of NGOs operating for children.

There are enough of instances that the Church openly sided with the LTTE. They even demonstrated for Prabakaran. The LTTE head quarters in UK was opened by none other than Rev. RayappuJoseph. Many a Church father initiated international petitions against Sri Lanka including Archbishop Desmond Tutu never bothering to hear the other version.

The LTTE was running its Voice of Tigers alongside Radio Veritas, a Catholic broadcasting station run by the Asian Catholic Bishops Conference based in The Philippines. The Tamil Service of the Radio Veritas is run by the Tamil Catholics of Tamil Nadu. 

Voice of Tigers had a coordinating office” inside St. Sebastian’s Church in Mallavi, Wanni; Radio Veritas (run by Asian Catholic Bishops Conference) which reached an audience of 850,000 people

Even Madhu Church was used by the LTTE & no one saw fit to run to Geneva or Vatican to complain.

https://www.shenaliwaduge.com/sri-lanka-church-demands-easter-sunday-justice-did-church-punish-church-priests-linked-to-ltte/

All of the attacks that Tamils quote had a UNP hand in them & that includes the burning of the Jaffna Library, 1983 riots & 1977 riots. These attacks enabled many Tamils to relocate overseas where they have built a powerful diaspora. Annually in Geneva they come together to attack Sri Lanka.

The same coterie is behind the Islamic terrorism prevailing world over. Terror incidents are used to justify interventions. Easter Sunday attack must be perceived as part of this unfolding bigger plot.

Now we come to answering what the Cardinal-the UNP-the LTTE/TNA & its associates have in common & what their goal was in Geneva. 

We totally empathize with the victims of Easter Sunday, but Catholics were not the only victims. Death & killings is nothing new to Sri Lanka we have suffered millions at the hands of colonials, thousands by JVP, many more thousands during JVP-UNP beeshana years & 30 years of LTTE terrorism.

Not a single bomb or assassination took place from May 2009 (after LTTE defeat) to April 2019 until 6 Jihadist suicide bombers decided to target churches & hotels in a mass murder. Therefore, like the Cardinal we too want to know who planned the attacks & how they tapped 6 suicide bombers to carry it out.

However, going to Geneva & reading out a script is not going to provide answers. It will bring greater damage to the country. Was this the plan?

The FBI took the mobile records of the suicide bombers & have not come up with anything. Foreign intel landed immediately but it was our own who quickly rounded up those linked & it was many of these Geneva visitors that wailed to release some of those arrested.

Geneva could never stop LTTE killings, LTTE recruitment of children or even international illegal money transactions of LTTE & would they, when some of their accounts are safely deposited in Geneva banks!

99% of world conflicts involve jihadi terrorism backed by Western proxies –has Geneva stopped these?Has Geneva ever looked at the anti-Sri Lanka elements that had been at play & the countries & organizations involved in sponsoring change including funding election campaigns? The US has even admitted to funding UNP election campaigns (ref Prof. Levin) The anti-Sri Lanka campaign has a ready list of usual culprits who are bandied together – we saw how that campaign succeeded to bring yahapalana to power. So these groups of people may function in isolation but when required they are pooled together.

So exactly what was the Cardinal’s real objective in trotting off to Geneva & adding a political twist to his speech?

Here’s where things get really complicated.

If the Cardinal had gone to Geneva because he genuinely desired to catch the culprits of Easter Sunday & he deemed the UNHRC better than Sri Lanka’s AG’s Dept or the judicial system to provide justice, then how or who arranged for him to speak representing a NGO (Kiham Rehabilitation). The Cardinals slot was however given to SJB’s Harin Fernando at the last minute. This resulted in the Cardinal’s speech having to be allocated under another NGO. Finding an alternative NGO was not difficult –Franciscan International NGO had allocated a slot for Ambika Satkunanathan to speak. Amika S the supposedly unbiased former Human Rights Commissioner of Sri Lanka resigned to be included to TNA national list, gave up her slot for the good Cardinal to speak. Notice the connections!

https://media.un.org/en/asset/k1m/k1mkrqz7th

https://franciscansinternational.org/news/news/urgent-appeal-provide-protection-for-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-in-sri-lanka/?no_cache=1&L=998&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&cHash=ed86927b2d17a71901ebf7778234c4bb

Thus there are plenty of NGOs that allow anti-Sri Lanka speeches using their slots (NGO given 5 speaking slots). These so-called unbiased and transparent NGOs will never give a slot for a Sri Lankan war widow to question what happened to the 5000 missing Sri Lankan soldiers! Instead all are happy to search for LTTE dead!

Thus, it is not the demand for justice that we question but the coterie demanding the answers & the venue to seek that justice.

Shenali D Waduge

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, March 11 (newsin.asia): Sri Lanka and India on Friday signed an agreement to develop a solar power plant in Sampur as a joint venture.

The agreement was signed between NTPC Limited, India’s largest integrated energy company and the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), the Indian High Commission tweeted.

The High Commission in Sri Lanka said that the agreement will help strengthen the economic partnership between India and Sri Lanka for mutual prosperity, through cooperation in renewable energy.

Sri Lankan Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa, three other ministers, and the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Gopal Baglay were among those present at the event.

Courtesy Adaderana

The move to devalue the Sri Lankan rupee was aimed at improving macroeconomic stability as the country struggles with its worst financial crisis in years, the country’s Central Bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said on Friday.

The central bank earlier in the week introduced a flexible exchange rate framework, which saw the rupee depreciate by around 30% to 260 rupees against the dollar on Thursday.

The decision to impose a flexible exchange rate has caused challenges but we are confident these can be managed,” Cabraal said in a short video uploaded on Facebook.

However, it was a step taken to maintain macroeconomic stability and ensure financial system consistency,” he added.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) says it has approved the request of the Ceylon Electricity Board for emergency power purchase subject to the conditions given by the PUCSL.

Considering the existing fuel shortage of the country and electrical energy capacity shortage of the CEB, coupled up with the long term forced outage of all thermal power plants at Kelanithissa, Sapugaskanda and Kerawalapitiya due to no fuel with severe depletion of water resources in reservoirs that led to experience more than 7 hours daily power cut to the electricity consumers, the cabinet has declared an emergency situation’ in the energy sector as required under section 43(4) (c ) (ii) of the Sri Lanka Electricity Act in keeping with the directive of the President have made on 02nd March 2022.

With that CEB has requested the approval of 93 MW of capacity under short term power purchase agreement from ACE Power (Embilipitiya) power plant for 6 months in order to reduce the long hours of power interruptions immediately. 

We approved the request given the priority of the fuel supply to CEB power plants,” the Chairman of Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka Janaka Ratnayake said. 

In the same time, we empathized having a steady long-term plan to ensure continues supply of electricity to Sri Lanka. We have approved 600 MW of LNG power plant already in supporting that.”

The head of the country’s electricity sector regulator stated that adequate supply of fuel to power plants could immediately resolve the rolling power outages in the country that has caused 200–400 MW loss to the national grid.

Lack of funds to buy enough fuel to fire power plants is the main reason for continues power interruptions in large parts of the grid in Sri Lanka. We also have run down hydro reservoirs and the hydro storage were used excessively in the months of December last year and January this year to provide electricity,”

The CEB forced to shut down 350 MW of Thermal power plants for past two weeks due to lack of fuel supply. We have generated 76 percent electricity from thermal power plants 19 percent electricity from hydro and 5 percent electricity from renewable for this month so far. Hydro generation has increased to 22 percent during the month of February this year due to unavailability of fuel for thermal generation plants which stood at 18 percent in the same month last year,” he said.

Apart for the lack of fuel supply, we also have a technical constraint in the Southern grid where we have advised the Ceylon Electricity Board to find immediate solutions way back in 2017 which has not been materialized yet,” he added. 

The currency crunch that the country is facing at the moment has delayed the imports of fuel, which has led to power cuts island-wide, says Mr Ratnayake. 

We currently are in the forex crisis where we do not have sufficient funds to buy fuel. We can end this power cut if we get sufficient fuel stocks to operate our power plants,” Mr Ratnayake said, adding the PUCSL is also aware of the financial issue that the Ceylon Electricity Board is going through. 

We are aware. We have asked electricity consumers to pay their bills on time to reduce the financial burden for the CEB to a certain extent. But the issue is bigger. The electricity generation cost has increased 120 percent from the last tariff hike. The generation cost per electricity unit is at the moment is 37 rupees. But we are providing the electricity unit at a cost of 16 -17 rupees on average, which not reflects the right generation cost. Also, the price of a crude oil barrel in the world market has increased to 113 dollars this year. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka also had taken a decision to float the rupee given the current economic conditions which have caused a higher market volatility at present. All these reasons have a much larger impact on the generation cost of electricity. We believe in a cost reflective tariff to strengthen the CEB and the economy of the country while not burdening the electricity consumers,” Mr Ratnayake said. 

Commenting on the Southern grid issue, the Chairman of PUCSL said that CEB was instructed to find long term solutions for the issue where 100-150 MW of capacity is being lacking at present.