කතුවැකිය උපුටා ගැන්ම  අරුණ පුවත්

විදේශයන්හි සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක වන දෙමළ සංවිධාන හයකට හා පුද්ගලයන් තුන්සිය දහසය දෙනකුට මෙරට තුළ පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව ගෙන ඇති තීරණය සාමාන්‍ය ජනතාව අතර කෙසේ වෙතත් දේශපාලන ලෝකය තුළ උණුසුම් මාතෘකාවක් බවට පත්ව තිබේ. මෙම තහනම පැනවීමට පියවර ගෙන තිබුණේ එම සංවිධාන හා පුද්ගලයන් කොටි සංවිධානයට ආධාර හා අනුබල දෙමින් ත්‍රස්තවාදය හා බෙදුම්වාදය ප්‍රවර්ධනය කරන්නේය යන පදනමිනි.

කෙසේ වෙතත් මෙම තහනම ඉවත් කරමින් ආරක්ෂක අමාත්‍යාංශය ප්‍රකාශ කර තිබුණේ උක්ත සංවිධාන හා පුද්ගලයන් තවදුරටත් කොටි සංවිධානයට ආධාර හා අනුබල නොදෙන බව සනාථ වී ඇති නිසා ඔවුන් මත පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් කරන බවය. ආණ්ඩුවේ මෙම තීරණය දෙමළ සංවිධාන හා දෙමළ පක්ෂවල සතුටට හේතුවී ඇතත්, ඒ සම්බන්ධයෙන් අසතුට පළ කරන පිරිස්ද සිටිති. ඔවුන් කියන්නේ මෙම තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට හේතුවූ කරුණු ප්‍රමාණවත් නොවන බවය. ඒ නිසා උක්ත දෙමළ සංවිධාන හා පුද්ගලයන් තවදුරටත් කොටි හිතවාදී නොවන බවට තහවුරු කර ගත්තේ කුමන සාධක මතදැයි රටට හෙළිකළ යුතු බව ඔවුන් ආණ්ඩුවට බලකර සිටිති.

මේ අතර ජාත්‍යන්තර දෙමළ සංවිධාන කිහිපයක හා පුද්ගලයන් විශාල පිරිසකට එරෙහිව පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව ගත් තීරණය අගය කරන පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රි මනෝ ගනේෂන් ශ්‍රී ලාංකික ඩයස්පෝරාව සමග සාකච්ඡා කොට රටට ඩොලර් ගෙන ඒමට සූදානම් බව ප්‍රකාශ කොට තිබේ. මන්ත්‍රිවරයාගේ මෙම ප්‍රකාශයෙන් පැහැදිලි වන්නේ දෙමළ සංවිධාන වෙත පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට හේතු වී ඇත්තේ වෙනත් කාරණයක් බවය. ආණ්ඩුව මෙම තීරණය ගත්තේ අදාළ සංවිධාන තවදුරටත් කොටි සංවිධානයේ ඒජන්තයන් ලෙස කටයුතු නොකරන බව සියයට සියයක්ම තහවුරුවීමෙන් පසුව නම් කිසිදු ප්‍රශ්නයක් නැත. එය සිදුවිය යුත්තකි.

තහනම ඉවත් කිරීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් සතුට පළකරන ගෝලීය දෙමළ සංසදයේ සභාපති මහාචාර්ය එස්.ජේ. එම්මානුවෙල් පියතුමා කියන ආකාරයට මේ දක්වා මෙම තහනම පනවා තිබුණේ ව්‍යාජ, බිය සහ සැකය යන චෝදනා මත පදනම්ව බවය. එසේ නම් මේ දක්වා එම සංවිධානයන්ට මෙන්ම විදේශගත දෙමළ ප්‍රජාවට සිදුව ඇත්තේ බලවත් අසාධාරණයකි. ප්‍රමාද වී හෝ ඒ වරද නිවැරැදි කිරීම විදේශගත දෙමළ ප්‍රජාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් පවතින වැරැදි ආකල්පයන් නිවැරැදි වීමටත්, වාර්ගික ඒකාග්‍රතාව, සහයෝගීතාව වර්ධනය වීමටත් පදනමක් ඇති කිරීමටත් හේතු වනු ඇත.

කෙසේ වෙතත් ආණ්ඩුව තෝරාගත් දෙමළ සංවිධාන ඇතුළුව පුද්ගලයන් පිරිසකට බලපැවැත්වූ තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට පියවර ගත්තේ ඩයස්පෝරාව හරහා රටට ඩොලර් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ අරමුණෙන් පමණක් නම් එය බරපතළ ලෙස කල්පනා කළ යුතු කාරණයකි. ඩොලර් හිඟය රට මුහුණපා සිටින බරපතළම අර්බුදයක් වුවත් ජාතික ආරක්ෂාව හා රටේ ඒකියභාවය ඒ වෙනුවෙන් උගසට තැබිය හැකි ද?

ආණ්ඩුව ඉවත් කර ඇත්තේ ප්‍රධානම විදේශීය දෙමළ සංවිධාන හයකට පනවා තිබූ තහනම පමණකි. තවත් සංවිධාන ගණනාවක් සම්බන්ධයෙන් එම තහනම තවදුරටත් ක්‍රියාත්මකය. ඒ නිසා තහනම ඉවත් කරන ලද දෙමළ සංවිධාන කොටි න්‍යාය පත්‍රයෙන් සියයට සියයක්ම ඉවත් වී ඇත්ද යන සැකය ඇතිවීම වැළැක්විය නොහැකිය. මේ නිසා තහනම ඉවත් කරනු ලැබුවේ කුමන සාධකය මත පදනම්වද යන්න පිළිබඳ පැහැදිලි විස්තරයක් රටට ඉදිරිපත් කිරීම ආණ්ඩුවේ වගකීමකි. මෙම කාරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් රට තුළ සැකයක් ඉතිරිව තිබීම, එම තීරණයෙන් අපේක්ෂා කරන කිසිම කාරණයක් ඉෂ්ට කර ගැනීමට බාධාවක් වීමටද ඉඩ තිබෙන නිසාය.

ආණ්ඩුව මෙම දෙමළ සංවිධාන තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට පියවර ගත්තේ, හුදෙක්ම ඩොලර් ගෙන්වා ගැනීමේ අරමුණෙන් නම් ඒ වෙනුවෙන් ගනු ලැබූ අවදානමට සාපේක්ෂව ඩොලර් රටට ලැබෙනු ඇත්ද යන්නද විමසා බැලිය යුතු කාරණයකි. පසුගිය යහපාලන ආණ්ඩුව සමයේ මෙම සංවිධාන වෙත පනවා තිබූ තහනම ඉවත් නොකළ නමුත්, ඒවායේ ඇතැම් ප්‍රධානීන් රටට පැමිණීමට පවා අවසරය හිමිව තිබිණ. කෙසේ වුවත් ඒ සමයේදී දෙමළ ඩයස්පෝරාව අඩුම වශයෙන් උතුර නැගෙනහිර පළාත් සංවර්ධනය සඳහා හෝ ආයෝජනය කළ බවක් වාර්තා වී නැත. එසේ නම් දැන් ඔවුන් කියන තරම්, ඩොලර් රටට ගෙන එනු ඇත්දැයි සහතිකයක් දිය හැක්කේ කාටද?

මෙම සංවිධානයන්ගේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් සැලකිය යුතු මට්ටමකින් ඩොලර් ගෙන එන්නේ වුවද, ඒවා ආයෝජනය කෙරෙන්නේ කුමන පදනමකින්ද? ඒ මුදල් ආයෝජනය කෙරෙන්නේ ඔවුන්ට අවශ්‍ය පරිදි ඔවුන්ගේ ව්‍යාපෘති හා වැඩසටහන් තුළද? නැතහොත් රජයේ පොදු සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන තුළද? මෙලෙස ඩොලර් ගෙන ඒම වෙනුවෙන් එකී සංවිධාන හෝ පුද්ගලයන්ට විශේෂ වරප්‍රසාද හෝ හිමිකම් ප්‍රදානය කෙරෙන්නේද? මේ අය රටට ඩොලර් ගෙන ඒම සඳහා තවත් දේශපාලන කොන්දේසි ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ඇත්ද? එසේ ඉදිරිපත් කළහොත් ආණ්ඩුව එකී කොන්දේසි ඉටු කරන්නේද?

මෙම ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු දිය යුත්තේ ආණ්ඩුවය. එසේම තවමත් තහනම ඉවත් කර නැති දෙමළ සංවිධාන සම්බන්ධයෙන් ආණ්ඩුවේ ස්ථාවරය කුමක්ද යන්නද ආණ්ඩුව පිළිතුරු දිය යුතු ප්‍රශ්නයකි. එම සංවිධාන වෙත පනවා තිබෙන තහනම ඉවත් කරන්නේද? නැද්ද? යන කාරණය සංවිධාන හයක තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ගත් තීරණයේ වලංගුභාවයට ඉතා වැදගත් වන නිසාය.

දෙමළ සංවිධාන කිහිපයක තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ගත් තීරණයට අදාළව පැනනැගෙන මෙම ප්‍රශ්නවලට පිළිතුරු ලැබෙන පරිදි තහනම ඉවත් කිරීම හා ඉදිරි පියවර සම්බන්ධයෙන් මාර්ග සිතියමක් ඉදිරිපත් කළ හැකි නම්, ආණ්ඩුවේ තීරණය සම්බන්ධයෙන් රට තුළ මතුව තිබෙන සැක-සංකා තුරන් කිරීමට අතිශයෙන්ම වැදගත් වනු ඇත. දෙමළ සංවිධාන තහනම ඉවත් කිරීමට ආණ්ඩුව පියවර ගත්තේ එවැනි සැලසුමක් නොමැතිව බව පෙනී යන්නේ තවමත් එම තීරණය මිස ඒ ගැන පැහැදිලි කිරීමක් රටට ලැබී නොමැති නිසාය. එසේ නම් මේ තීරණය භූමරංගයක් වීමට නියමිත බව ආණ්ඩුව සිහි තබා ගත යුතුය.

නයන තරංග ගමගේ  උපුටා ගැන්ම  අරුණ පුවත්

IMF වැඩසටහන සාර්ථක කරගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇති ප්‍රධානම කොන්දේසි දෙකක්ම ඉටුකිරීමේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විශාල අවධානමක

IMF විසින් පෙන්වාදෙන සියලුම ණයහිමි රටවල් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කෙරෙහි මේ මොහොතේ ‘ලිහිල් දැක්මක්’ පවත්වාගත යුතුය. දැන් චීනය අල්ලා ඇත්තේ එම නිලයෙනි

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියේ සැලකියයුතු චංචලභාවයක් පැවැති, ගෙවීගිය මාස 07ක කාලයේදී ඉන්දියාවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සුවිශේෂී සහායක්

මාස තුනක් ඇතුළත ආණ්ඩුව තුනක් වෙනස් වී විශාල දේශපාලන රික්තයක් ඇති වූ රටේ අස්ථාවර තත්ත්වය නිසා IMF සාකච්ඡා සැලකිය යුතු ලෙස මන්දගාමීවී වෙලා

විදේශ විනිමය හිඟය හේතුවෙන් නිදහසින් පසු ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දරුණුතම ආර්ථික අර්බුදයකට මේ වන විට මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටී. විදේශ විනිමය හිඟයේ ප්‍රතිඵලයක් ලෙස ඉන්ධන, ගෑස්, අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩ වැනි අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය රැසක සැපයුමේ හිඟයක් ඇති වී තිබෙන අතර, පසුගිය මාස කිහිපය තුළ උද්ධමනය වාර්තාගත ලෙස ඉහළ ගොස් ඇති අතර, සියලු අත්‍යවශ්‍ය භාණ්ඩවල මිල ගණන් විශාල ලෙස (පසුගිය මාසය වන විට 100% දක්වාම) ඉහළ ගොස් තිබේ. පවතින ආර්ථික අර්බුදයෙන් මිදීමේ පියවරක් ලෙස, ආර්ථික ප්‍රකෘතිමත් කිරීමේ වැඩසටහනක් සැලසුම් කිරීමේදී සහ හදිසි මූල්‍ය ආධාර සඳහා අන්තර්ජාතික මූල්‍ය අරමුදලෙන් (IMF) සහය ලබා ගැනීම සඳහා රජය උපරිමයෙන් උත්සාහකරමින් සිටින අතර, මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ වැඩසටහනට අනුකූල වන පරිදි එම බැඳීම් විධිමත්ව සහ එකඟතාවයෙන් යුතුව ණයහිමියන් සමග ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීම් සිදුකිරීම සඳහා, 2022 අප්‍රේල් 12 සිට ආරම්භ වන අතුරු කාලසීමාවක් සඳහා ද්විපාර්ශ්වික සහ වාණිජ ණය හිමියන්ගේ සේවා බාහිර ණය තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීමට රජය ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය තීරණයක් ගෙන ඇත.

ජනාධිපතිවරයා කියන දේ….

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආර්ථික තත්ත්වය අතිශයින්ම අසීරු අඩියක පවතින බවත්, IMF සහායෙන් තොරව ආර්ථිකයට ඉදිරියට යාමට නොහැකි බවත් රජය විසින්ද මේ වන විට ප්‍රතිපත්තිමය වශයෙන් පිළිගෙන ඇති අතර, ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ IMF ණය වැඩසටහන යථාර්ථයක් බවට පත්කරගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් විශාල වෙහෙසක් ගනිමින් සිටින බව හැසිරීමෙන් ප්‍රදර්ශනය කරමින් සිටී. මීට සතියකට පෙර ‘ඇඩ්වොකාටා’ ආයතනය කොළඹදී සංවිධානය කරතිබූ වැඩසටහනකට එක්වෙමින් ජනාධිපතිවරයා අවධාරණය කරන ලද්දේ, ආර්ථිකය ප්‍රකෘතිමත් කිරීම වෙනුවෙන් විකල්ප වැඩසටහන් නොමැතිනම්, IMF වැඩසටහනට සහයෝගය ලබාදීම සඳහා රජය සමග එක්ව කටයුතු කිරීම පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන සියලුම දේශපාලන පක්ෂවල වගකීම බවයි. මේ අතර IMF වැඩසටහනේ තීරණාත්මකභාවය පසුගිය දිනෙක ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකු අධිපති ආචාර්ය නන්දලාල් වීරසිංහ විසින්ද පෙන්වාදී තිබිණි. රටේ විදේශ සංචිත කිසිසේත්ම ප්‍රශස්ත මට්ටමක නොපතින බැවින්, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ එකම බලාපොරොත්තුව මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ ණය වැඩසටහන බව ආචාර්ය වීරසිංහ Colombo Club සංවිධානය කළ සාකච්ඡාවකදී අදහස් දක්වමින් පැවසීය. මෙම වසර අවසානයේදී බලාපොරොත්තු වන IMF පහසුකම පිළිබඳව තමාට දැඩි විශ්වාසයක් පවතින බව ප්‍රකාශ කළ ඔහු කියා සිටියේ, මාස තුනක් ඇතුළත ආණ්ඩු තුනක් වෙනස් වී විශාල දේශපාලන රික්තයක් ඇති වූ රටේ අස්ථාවර තත්ත්වය හේතුවෙන් මෙම සාකච්ඡා සැලකිය යුතු ලෙස මන්දගාමීවී ඇති වූ බවයි.

රටේ මූල්‍ය හැකියාව

මෙලෙස රටේ මූල්‍ය තත්ත්වය ඉතාමත් අයහපත් බැවින් මේ වන විට ගනුදෙනු සිදුවන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුවේ සහ මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශයේ මැදිහත්වීමකින් තොරව, පෞද්ගලික අංශයේ මැදිහත්වීමෙන් පමණක් බව රටේ බොහෝ පිරිසකගේ අදහසයි. පෞද්ගලික සාමගම්වලට සහ වෙළඳුන්ට අනුව රටේ මිල තීරණය වන පරිසරයක එම අදහසට ශක්තිමත් පදනමක් ඇතත්, තවමත් ඉහත පාර්ශ්ව දෙක රටේ මූල්‍ය කටයුතුවලට සැලකිවයුතු ලෙස මැදිහත් වෙමින් සිටින බව මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශ වාර්තා අනාවරණය කරයි. ඉන් අදහස් වන්නේ තවමත් රටට යම් යම් ප්‍රමාණවලින් මුදල් ලැබෙමින් තිබෙන අතර මහ බැංකුව සහ රජය විසින් එම මුදල් විශාල පාලනයක් සහිතව යම් යම් අවශ්‍යතා වෙනුවෙන් බෙදාහරිමින් සිටින බවය. මෙහි අපගේ ප්‍රධාන මාතෘකාව IMF ණය වැඩසටහන වුවත්, IMF වෙත යන ගමනේදී රටේ සැබෑ මූල්‍ය හැකියාව පිළිබඳවද යම් අදහසක් තිබීම වැදගත්වේ.

ඒ අනුව, වත්මන් අර්බුදය මෙම තත්ත්වයට උත්සන්න වෙමින් පැවැති මෙම වසරේ ජනවාරි-අප්‍රේල් කාර්තුවේදී පමණක් ඉහළ ප්‍රමුඛතා සහිත ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා අරමුදල් සැපැයීම සහ අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය ආනයනය වැනි මූල්‍ය අවශ්‍යතා සපුරාලීම සඳහා ඩොලර් මිලියන 968.8ක විදේශ විනිමය ප්‍රමාණයක් මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය හරහා නිකුත් කර ඇත. මුදල් අමාත්‍යාංශය විසින් මෙලෙස පාර්ශ්වයන් වෙත සිදුකර ඇති බෙදා හැරීම්වලින් වැඩි ප්‍රමාණයක් ඉන්දියාව සමඟ අත්සන් කරන ලද ණය ගිවිසුම් වලින් ලැබී ඇති අතර එය 39% කට ආසන්න වේ. ඉන්පසුව පසුව ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකුව (ADB) 37% සහ චීනය 7%ක් වශයෙන් ලබාදුන් මුදල් වලින් භාණ්ඩාගාරය ණය සහ ප්‍රදාන සිදුකර ඇත. මෙහිදී පැහැදිලි වන්නේ වසරේ ආරම්භක කාර්තුවේදීද රට ගමන්කර ඇත්තේ බහුතරයක් වන ඉන්දීය ණය සහ ආධාර මතින් වන බවයි.

ණය ශේෂපත්‍රය

මේ අතර 2022 අපේ‍්‍රල් 30 වන විට, ඉදිරි වසර තුනේ සිට පහ දක්වා කාලය තුළ භාවිත කිරීමට හැකියාව ඇති, දැනටමත් ලබාදීමට එකඟතාව පළකර ඇති ණයවලින් ලබා ගත හැකි ඩොලර් මිලියන 8,054.3 ක සම්පූර්ණ නොගෙවූ ශේෂයක් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සතුව ඇත. එම නොගෙවූ ශේෂයන් අතරින්ද වැඩිම කොටස ඉන්දියාව සතු වන අතර, ඉතිරිය පිළිවෙලින් ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකුව, ලෝක බැංකුව, චීනය සහ ජපාන සතුව ඇත. ඒ අනුව පැහැදිලිවම පෙනීයන්නේ මෙම සියලුම පාර්ශ්වයන් වෙත රටේ ඉදිරි නිශ්චිත ආර්ථික සහ දේශපාලන වැඩපිළිවෙළක් පවතින බව සහතික කිරීම තුළින් ඉදිරි වසර 05ක කාලයේදී රටට අවම වශයෙන් ඩොලර් බිලියන 08කට අධික සංවර්ධන මූල්‍යාධාර ලැබීමට නියමිත බවයි. විශේෂයෙන්ම තවදුරටත් මෙරටට පවතින චීන මැදිහත්වීම සමග පටළවා නොගන්නේ නම්, අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම ඉන්දීය සහ ජපාන මූල්‍යාධාර මෙරටට ලැබෙනු ඇතැයි විශ්වාස කළ හැකිය (කෙසේවෙතත් චීන බලපෑම් මත පසුගිය වකවානුවේ අවලංගු කෙරුණු සැහැල්ලු දුම්රිය ව්‍යාපෘතිය හේතුවෙන් ජපානය මේ වන විටත් ජයිකා ආධාර යටතේ මෙරට ආරම්භ කර තිබුණු ප්‍රධානපෙළේ ව්‍යාපෘති 12ක්ම තාවකාලිකව අවලංගු කර ඇත). මීට අමතරව, ජනවාරි සිට අප්‍රේල් දක්වා ඉන්දියානු එක්සිම් බැංකුව සහ රජය අතර අත්සන් තැබුණු ගිවිසුම්වලට අනුව ඩොලර් මිලියන 1500ක අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය මිලදී ගැනීම සඳහාවූ ආනයන ණය පහසුකම් ලබාදී ඇති අතර (මෙම වසර ආරම්භයේ සිට ඉන්දියාවෙන් ලබාදී ඇති මෙම ණය පහසුකම් ප්‍රමාණය මේ වන විට ඩොලර් බිලියන 04කට ආසන්න වේ), කුවේටයෙන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 32.9 ක් ද, ජර්මනියෙන් ඩොලර් මිලියන 17.6 ක්ද මෙරටට ලැබී ඇත. (කෙසේවෙතත් IMF වැඩසටහන ආරම්භ කරනතෙක් තවදුරටත් සිය මූල්‍ය සහායන් ලබාදීම ප්‍රමාද කරන බව ලෝක බැංකුව ප්‍රකාශ කර ඇති අතර, ආසියානු සංවර්ධන බැංකුව සහ චීනය මෙතෙක් මෙම වසරේ කිසිදු නව මූල්‍ය පහසුකමක් මෙරටට ලබාදී නැත)

ඉන්දියානු ප්‍රතිචාරය

මුදල් අමාත්‍යංශ වාර්තාවලට අනුව සිය අබලන් ආර්ථිකයට ඉදිරියට යෑම සඳහා විදේශ ආධාර වෙනුවෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කළ මංමුළා සහගත ඉල්ලීම්වලට මෙම වසරේ ප්‍රථමයෙන් ප්‍රතිචාර දැක්වූයේ ඉන්දියාවයි. ඒ අනුව ඉන්දියාව පසුගිය මාස කිහිපය තුළ ආර්ථික සහ විදේශ විනිමය ආධාර, මානුෂීය ආධාර සහ සමුද්‍රීය ආධාර යන ප්‍රධාන කාණ්ඩ තුනක් යටතේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ආධාර ලබාදී ඇත. ඉන්දියානු මහ කොමසාරිස් කාර්යාලයේ ඇති සංඛ්‍යා ලේඛනවලට අනුව, ඉන්දියාව ජනවාරි මාසයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව සහ ඉන්දීය සංචිත බැංකුව තර ඩොලර් මිලියන 400 ක මුදල් හුවමාරුවකට අත්සන් තබා ඇත. එසේම ඩොලර් මිලියන 500ක ඉන්ධන වෙනුවෙන්වූ ණය පහසුකමක්ද, ආහාර, ඖෂධ වැනි අත්‍යවශ්‍ය ද්‍රව්‍ය මිලදී ගැනීම සඳහා මාර්තු මාසයේදී ඩොලර් බිලියන 01 ක සහන ණය පහසුකමක්ද ලබාදී ඇති අතර, ආසියානු නිෂ්කාශන සංගමයේ යාන්ත්‍රණය යටතේ ශ්‍රී ලංකා මහ බැංකුව විසින් ලබාගෙන ඇති ඩොලර් බිලියන 1.8ක ණය පහසුකමක් ආපසු ගෙවීමට ලබාදී ඇති කාලය තවදුරටත් කල්දැමීමටද ඉන්දියාව පියවර ගෙන ඇත.

වෙළඳ හිඟයට එරෙහි සහයෝගය

සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරය සහ සේවක ප්‍රේෂණ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ විනිමය ඉපැයීමේ ප්‍රධාන මූලාශ්‍ර දෙකයි. කොවිඩ් වසංගතයෙන් සංචාරක ව්‍යාපාරයට දැඩි ලෙස බලපෑ අතර එම නිසා, ශ්‍රමිකයන්ගේ ප්‍රේෂණ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ මුදල් ඉපැයීමේ ප්‍රධාන කොටස බවට පත්ව ඇති අතර එය පුළුල් වන වෙළඳ හිඟයට එරෙහිව සැලකිය යුතු සහයෝගයක් සපයමින් සිටී. කෙසේවෙතත් 2018-2022 ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ මූල්‍ය කළමනාකරණය සහ රාජ්‍ය ණය පාලනය පිළිබඳ විශේෂ විගණන වාර්තාවේ සඳහන් වන පරිදි, 2020 දී ඩොලර් මිලියන 7,103.93 ක් වූ විදේශ සේවා සේවකයන්ගේ ප්‍රේෂණ 2021 දී ඩොලර් මිලියන 5,491.46 දක්වා පහත වැටී ඇත. එසේම 2021 පෙබරවාරි සිට 2021 අගෝස්තු දක්වා මාස හතක කාලය සඳහා ලැබුණු ඩොලර් මිලියන 3,548.9 ක මුදලට සාපේක්ෂව 2021 සැප්තැම්බර් සිට 2022 මාර්තු දක්වා මාස හතක කාලය සඳහා ලැබී ඇත්තේ ඩොලර් මිලියන 2,049.7 ක් පමණක් බව නිරීක්ෂණය වී තිබේ. ඒ අනුව මේ වසර ආරම්භයේ සිට ආර්ථිකය විශාල ලෙස කඩාවැටෙමින් පැවතියද, මහ බැංකු වාර්තාවන්ට අනුව තවදුරටත් රට දෙසට පවතින ලැබීම් මුළුමනින්ම නැවතී නැත. යම් ප්‍රමාණයක සංචාරක ඉපැයීම්, වෙනත් වසරවල ලැබුණු විදේශ ප්‍රේෂණවලින් 50%ක් පමණ සහ ඉතිහාසයේ වැඩිම අපනයන ආදායමද (මාසිකව ඩොලර් බිලියනය ඉක්මවූ) මේ වන විටත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ලබමින් සිටී. විශේෂිතම කාරණය වන්නේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ විදේශ ප්‍රතිපත්තියේ සැලකියයුතු චංචලභාවයක් පැවැති, ගෙවීගිය මාස 07ක කාලයේදී ඉන්දියාව විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට සුවිශේෂී සහායක් ලබාදී තිබීමයි.

IMF වැඩසටහන ක්‍රමයෙන් රටින් දුරස්වෙමින්…

ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දැන් IMF වැඩසටහනක් වෙනුවෙන් බලාපොරොත්තුවෙන් පසුවන්නේ රට තුළ මෙවැනි මූල්‍ය පරිසරයක් පවතිද්දීය. එනම්, අවදානමක් පවතින නමුත්, උපරිමයේ පවතින අපනයන ආදායමක්, 50%කින් තවමත් ලැබෙන විදේශ ප්‍රේෂණ ප්‍රමාණයක්, 15%ක පමණ සංචාරක ආදායමක්, සංවර්ධන වැඩසටහන් වෙනුවෙන් පොරොන්දු සහිත සැලකියයුතු මූල්‍යාධාර කොටසක් සහ උපකාර කිරීමට තවමත් ඉදිරිපත්වන ඉන්දියාව ඇතුළු අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රජාවේ සැලකිවයුතු කොටසක්, යන වත්කම් තවමත් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව සතුව පවතී. කෙසේවෙතත් ගෙවුණු සතියක කාලය දෙස ආපසු හරි බැලීමේදී පෙනීයන්නේ, ක්‍රමයෙන් හැකිළෙමින් පවතින පෙර කී මූල්‍ය තත්ත්වයන් සහ පාර්ශ්වයන්වල සහායන් මධ්‍යයේ රටට අත්‍යවශ්‍ය IMF වැඩසටහන ක්‍රමයෙන් රටින් දුරස්වෙමින් පවතින තත්ත්වයකි. නැතිනම් IMF සහාය අහිමිවීමේ අවදානමකි.

නොසිතූ මොහොතක මතුවූ චීන නැව!

ඊට බලපෑ ප්‍රධාන හේතු කිහිපයක් වූ අතර, ඒ අතුරින්ද ප්‍රධාන වන්නේ ආන්දෝලනාත්මක චීන නෞකාව සම්බන්ධයෙන් උද්ගත වූ රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික අර්බුදය IMF වැඩසටහන දක්වාම දුරදිග යෑමයි. ඇත්තෙන්ම, චීනයට යුවාන් වැන්ග් 5 හම්බන්තොට වරායට නැව්ගත කිරීමට ඉඩදීමට එරෙහිව ශ්‍රී ලංකාව දැක්වූ ප්‍රතිරෝධය හමුවේ, අන්තර්ජාතික මූල්‍ය අරමුදලේ ණය පැකේජයක් සඳහා වන මෙරට උත්සාහයන් නවතා දැමිය හැකිද? පිළිතුර වන්නේ ‘ඔව්’ යන්නයි. චීන නෞකාවට වරායට ඇතුළුවීමට අවසානයේ ඉඩලබා දුන්නද, එම අර්බුදය පදනම් කරගෙන ඉදිරියේදී තමන්ට සිදුවූ මදිපුංචිකම වෙනුවෙන්, අවශ්‍ය නම් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට රිදවා, ඒ ඔස්සේ ඉන්දියාවට මෙන්ම එක්සත් ජනපදය සහ බටහිර ප්‍රතිපාක්ෂිකයන්ට රිදවීමේ පහසු අවස්ථාව දැන් චීනයට උදාවී ඇත. පසුගිය සිකුරාදා, නෞකාවට අවශ්‍ය අවසරය ලබාගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් IMF වැඩසටහන ඉදිරියට ගනිමින්, චීනය විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව බිත්තියටම හේත්තු කිරීම ඔස්සේ ඒ බව හොඳින්ම දැකගත හැකිවිය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ණය ලබාදීමේ පැකේජය ක්‍රියාත්මක වීමට නම්, එයට පළමුව IMFහි ශ්‍රී ලංකා ණය තිරසාර තක්සේරු (DSA) වාර්තාවේ සිටින ප්‍රධාන ණය හිමියන්ගේ අනුමැතිය අවශ්‍ය වේ. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ වත්මන් මූල්‍ය තත්ත්වය අනුව මෙම වාර්තාව ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට බෙහෙවින් අහිතකර බව අමුතුවෙන් කිව යුතු නැත. එබැවින් අනිවාර්යයෙන්ම IMF විසින් පෙන්වාදෙන සියලුම ණයහිමි රටවල් විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාව කෙරෙහි මේ මොහොතේ ‘ලිහිල් දැක්මක්’ පවත්වාගත යුතුය. දැන් චීනය අල්ලා ඇත්තේ එම නිලයෙනි.

මේ වන විට ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ රාජ්‍ය ණය දළ දේශීය නිෂ්පාදිතයෙන් 115% කි. සාමාන්‍යයෙන්, ලෝක බැංකුව සහ IMF අනුව, ලොව දුප්පත් රටවලට පවා මෙම අගය 60-65% නොඉක්මවිය යුතුය. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ණය සංයුතියෙන් 40% කට වඩා බාහිර ණය වන අතර, එය කාණ්ඩ හතරක් යටතේ පවතින බව දැකගත හැකිය. එනම්, බහුපාර්ශ්වික ණය, පෞද්ගලික වාණිජ ණය, චීනය හා වෙනත් ද්විපාර්ශ්වික ණය හිමියන්ගේ ණය සහ ‘පැරිස් ක්ලබ්’ සන්ධානයට අයත් රටවල ණය වශයෙනි. IMF පැකේජයේදී මෙම පාර්ශ්ව සහ රටවල් බොහොමයකට ඔවුන්ගේ සමහර ණය කපා හැරීමට හෝ ප්‍රමාද කිරීමට, සමහරවිට ඔවුන්ගේ ගෙවීම් කාලසටහන් ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගත කිරීමට සිදුවනු ඇත. ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ප්‍රධාන ණය දෙන්නන් අතර චීනය ඉදිරියෙන් සිටින අතර, ඉන්දියාව ද ‘පැරිස් නොවන සමාජ කාණ්ඩයේ’ ප්‍රධාන ණය දෙන්නකු බව සැලකිල්ලට ගැනීම වැදගත්ය. මෙහිදී සැලකිල්ලට ගතයුතු කරුණ නම්, මෙම නෞකාවේ අර්බුදය පදනම් කරගනිමින් මෙම ක්‍රියාවලිය දිගු කලක් රඳවා තබා ගැනීමටත්, එය ඇදගෙන යෑමටත් චීනයට හැකි බවයි. විශේෂයෙන් මෙම සිදුවීම පාදක කරගනිමින් සිය ප්‍රතිපාක්ෂිකයන්ට පහරදීමට චීනයට පවතින හැකියාවයි. එමඟින් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පිරිහෙමින් පවතින ආර්ථික අවපාතය තවදුරටත් දිගු කරනු ලබන බව අමුතුවෙන් කිවයුතු නැත. තාක්‍ෂණිකව ගත්විට ඉන්දියාව ද සිය කැමැත්තෙන් ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ලබාදුන් ණය අත්හිටුවිය හැකි ණයහිමියන් අතර සිටින අතර, මෙම ‘යුවාන් වැන්ග්’ අර්බුදයේදී, චීන නැවට වරායට ඇතුළු වීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව ඉඩ ලබාදීම ඔස්සේ, සිය කීම තැකීමකට ලක්නොකළැයි කියමින්, ඉන්දියාවටද IMF ක්‍රියාවලියට බාධා කළ හැකිය. නමුත් නවදිල්ලියේ මේ දක්වා ක්‍රියාකලාපය පිළිබඳව සලකා බැලීමේදී, ඉන්දියාව ප්‍රතිවිරුද්ධ දිශාවට නොයනු ඇතැයි ශ්‍රී ලංකාව බලාපොරොත්තු වේ.

සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුව

IMF වැඩසටහන අර්බුදයට ලක්කරන අනෙක් ගැටලුව බවට පත්ව ඇත්තේ සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුවයි. IMF ණය පහසුකමක් ලබා ගැනීමට නම්, අදාළ ණය වැඩසටහන සඳහා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන සියලුම දේශපාලන පක්ෂවල අනුමැතිය අවශ්‍ය බවට වන කොන්දේසියක් මූල්‍ය අරමුදල විසින් ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයට පනවා තිබේ. IMF වෙතින් ලබා දෙන ණය මුදල ආපසු ගෙවීම සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අනාගත දේශපාලන ස්ථාවරත්වය අත්‍යවශ්‍ය වන බැවින් මෙම කොන්දේසිය පනවා තිබෙන අතර, ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ සර්ව පාක්ෂික එකඟකත්වකින් යුතු ආණ්ඩුවක් හෝ වැඩසටහනක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම සඳහා මේ දිනවල පාර්ලිමේන්තුව නියෝජනය කරන සියලුම දේශපාන පක්ෂ සහ කණ්ඩායම් සමග කඩිනම් සාකච්ඡා පවත්වමින් සිටින්නේ අදාළ IMFකොන්දේසිය අනුවය. එහෙත් ‘අරුණ’ ඊයේ වාර්තා කළ ආකාරයට දැන් මෙම සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩු උත්සාහය කැඳ හැලියක් බවට පත්ව ඇත. ඊට සම්බන්ධවන සියලුම පාර්ශ්වවලට ඇමැතිකම් අවශ්‍ය බැවින්, IMF ප්‍රමුඛ අන්තර්ජාතික ප්‍රජාව අපේක්ෂා කරන ආකාරයේ ස්ථාවරයක් සහිත, විශ්වසනීය සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුවක් නිර්මාණය වනු ඇතැයි පැවැති අපේක්ෂා දැන් ගිලිහී ඇත. මේ නිසා සර්වපාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුවක් වෙනුවට සර්ව පාක්ෂික වැඩපිළිවෙළක් ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට දැන් ජනාධිපතිවරයාගේ අවධානය යොමු වී තිබේ. එහෙත් ඊට IMF වෙතින් පලවන එකඟතාව පිළිබඳව තක්සේරුවක් ලබාදිය නොහැකිය.

ඒ අනුව බලන විට, IMF වැඩසටහන සාර්ථක කරගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් ඉදිරිපත්ව ඇති ප්‍රධානම කොන්දේසි දෙකක්ම ඉටුකිරීමේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාව විශාල අවදානමකට මුහුණදී සිටියි. ණය ප්‍රතිව්‍යුහගතකරණය වෙනුවන් වූ ‘චීනයේ වචනය’ මෙන්ම ‘සර්ව පාක්ෂික ආණ්ඩුවද’ ඇත්තේ බාලගිරි දෝෂයට හසුවීය. එහෙත් රට පාර්ශ්වයෙන් ගත්කළ, රටේ ‘IMF සූදානම’ හේතුවෙන් රටවැසියන් බරපතළ අසීරුතා රැසකට මුහුණදෙමින් සිටීමයි. මේ වන විට බැංකු පොලී ඉහළ දමා ණයක් ලබාගත නොහැකිව ඇත්තේ, පොහොර ඇතුළුව සියලුම සහනාධාර ව්‍යාපෘති කප්පාදුවට ලක්ව ඇත්තේ, රාජ්‍ය සේවය සීමා කිරීමට පියවර ගනිමින් රාජ්‍ය සේවකයන්ට සිය අනාගතය පිළිබඳ විශ්වාසය අහිමිකර ඇත්තේ සහ ඇතැම් පාර්ශ්ව පෙන්වාදෙන ආකාරයට රට තුල කෘත්‍රිම උද්ධමනයක් සකස් කර ජනතාවට දරාගත නොහැකි බඩු මිලක් නිර්මාණය කර ඇත්තේ IMF නිර්දේශයන්ට අනුවය. එසේනම් පාලකයන්ගේ නොහැකියාවන් හේතුවෙන් දිනෙන් දින ප්‍රමාදවන IMF ණය පහසුකම වෙනුවෙන් ජනතාව තවත් කොපමණ කලක් බලාසිටිය යුතුද? බඳ පටියේ තවත් හිල් කීයක් විදගත යුතුද? සකස්කරන ආණ්ඩුවක් කඩිනමින් සකස්කර, ජනපති ප්‍රමුඛ කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයක් එම ගැටලුවට පැහැදිලි පිළිතුරක් ලබාදිය යුතුය.

නයන තරංග ගමගේ

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

රී ලංකාව මුහුණ දෙමින් සිටින ආර්ථික හා සමාජයීය දුෂ්කරතාවයන් පිළිබඳ ව චීනයට බලවත් හැඟීමක් පවතින බව චීන විදේශ අමාත්‍යාංශය සඳහන් කරයි.

එහි මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක වැන්ග් වෙන් බින් මහතා චීනයේ බීජිං නුවර පැවති මාධ්‍ය හමුවකදී මේ බව කියා සිටියේය.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මෙම දුෂ්කරතාවලින් මිදීම සඳහා චීනය උපරිම සහාය ලබාදීමට කටයුතු කරන බවත් එය චීනයට කළ හැකි බවත් පැවසූ ඔහු අඛණ්ඩව ඒ ආකාරයෙන් කටයුතු කිරීමට සූදානම් බවත් සඳහන් කළේය.

‘යුවාන් වැන් 5’ නෞකාව හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමීණීම පිලිබදව ඇති වී තිබෙන උණුසුම් තත්වය පිලිබද කරුණු දැක්වීම සදහා මෙම මාධ්‍ය හමුව පැවැත්වින.

Courtesy News 18

China’s high-tech research vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ is on a mission of peace and friendship” and its docking at a Sri Lankan port will deepen bilateral relations in the field of space, science and technology, according to the controversial ship’s captain.

Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ is berthed at Sri Lanka’s strategic southern port of Hambantota. The ship arrived on Tuesday and will be docked at the Chinese-run port till August 22, amidst security concerns expressed by India.

The ship was originally scheduled to arrive at the port on August 11 but it was delayed in absence of permission by the Sri Lankan authorities. On August 13, the Sri Lankan government granted the port access to the vessel from August 16 to 22 on condition that it will keep the Automatic Identification System (AIS) switched on within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sri Lanka and no scientific research to be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.

The ship is to remain at Hambantota port for replenishment and ship chandelling, Captain Zhang Hongwang was quoted here on Tuesday in a statement by the management company of the Hambantota harbour. Yuan Wang 5 is a ship on a mission of peace and friendship. As an international port that accommodates multinational ships, Hambantota International Port will provide us with necessary ship supplies in accordance with international practice,” he said. We believe the ship’s call at Hambantota International Port will deepen the exchange between China and Sri Lanka in the field of space science and technology and promote the common progress of the space industry of the two countries. It will also deepen the connection between China and Sri Lanka and further grow the friendship between people of both countries, Zhang said.

The ship’s voyage was clouded in controversy when Sri Lanka asked the Chinese to delay the arrival due to reported concerns from India on its mission. India had cited security concerns with the ship’s technical capability and the purpose of the visit, the local officials said. New Delhi is concerned about the possibility of the ship’s tracking systems attempting to snoop on Indian installations while being on its way to the Sri Lankan port.

The owners of the port Hambantota Port Group owned by the Chinese said the port had extended welcomes to ships from various countries approved by the Sri Lankan government and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority. Up to July, we catered hundreds of vessels including RoRo, gas and oil vessels, bulk carriers, layups, cruises, yachts etc, Johnson Liu, the port CEO said.

The request for postponement of the visit by the ship became a political debate with a section of the opposition issuing a joint statement blaming the government for bungling the issue. They questioned the wisdom of asking for a postponement having been originally given clearance mid July. The government said it was treating the matter as a sovereign decision of Sri Lanka and friendship with all nations was important to the island. The ties between India and Sri Lanka came under strain after Colombo gave permission to a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to dock in one of its ports in 2014.

India’s concerns have been focused on Hambantota port in particular. In 2017, Colombo leased the southern port to China Merchant Port Holdings for 99 years, after Sri Lanka was unable to keep its loan repayment commitments, fanning fears over the potential use of the port for military purposes. China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday ‘Yuan Wang 5’ is conducting scientific research in accordance with international law.” It does not affect the security and economic interests of any country, and should not be interfered with by third parties,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said in Beijing.

T. Ramakrishnan Courtesy The Hindu

The island is preparing new packages such as the Murugan-Shiva Shakthi trails

Sri Lanka’s tourism officials, conscious of the dire need to shore up their country’s economy, plan to woo a greater number of Indian tourists, who constitute the single largest segment of foreign tourists, through new packages such as the Murugan-Shiva Shakthi trails. Their optimism stems from the fact that there is a proposal to resume air passenger services from the Palaly airport in Jaffna to destinations in the southern part of India.

As part of the Murugan trail, two important places — Nallur Kandaswamy or Murugan temple in Jaffna of the Northern Province, and Kataragama of the Uva Province in the southeast — have been included.

Referring to the ongoing 25-day-long festival in Nallur (which concludes on August 27), Chalaka Gajabahu, chairman of the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau, told a group of journalists from India recently in Colombo that the festival was expected to draw over a million devotees, including 1,00,000 from the diaspora. A special calendar” of events was being prepared for Hindu devotees.

Promoting the North

To a query whether the Northern Province would be a regular feature in the packages for tourists, Mr. Gajabahu replied in the affirmative and asserted we have been actively promoting the North on trade FAMs [familiarisation trips].” The East too would receive more focus in view of its diverse cultural significance that encompassed Islam. However, he conceded that marketing of the North had not been done much.”

Nagabhooshani Amman temple, Nainativu, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. | Photo Credit: T. Ramakrishnan

The question was raised in the context of coverage of Naguleeswaram in Jaffna and Thiruketheeswaram in Mannar, both coming under five abodes of Lord Shiva in Sri Lanka, in the new Murugan trail. The other three abodes included Thirukoneeswaram temple, Trincomalee, in the Eastern Province, Munneeswaram temple in the north-west and Tondeeshwaram temple, near Matara, in the south. The trail would also include shrines such as Nagapooshani Amman temple and Nagadeepa Purana Vihara, both in Nainativu, off Jaffna.

Ramayana trail

Pointing out that a Ramayana trail had been in place for many years, the Bureau chief called for modification in the programme to accommodate a greater number of youth.

Even as Indian tourists formed the biggest chunk of foreign tourists, Mr. Gajabahu emphasised that various steps were being taken to attract them more. Adventure tourism, entertainment and gambling were some of the attractions being offered by Sri Lanka. His team had planned to visit Indian cities in September such as Mumbai and New Delhi for the purpose of promotion.

On the overall target for foreign tourists, the Bureau chief said they hope to attract 8.5 lakh to 10 lakh tourists (1 million) this year. However, the aim was to get back to the 2018 tally of 2.1 million, as the tourism sector had been hit badly following the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks and the COVID-19 pandemic. For the next six months to one year, we want to create a positive picture about Sri Lanka. Refreshening, positioning and taking it forward will be our functions,” Mr. Gajabahu observed, adding that till July, about 4.5 lakh foreign tourists had arrived this year.

Welcoming the tourism authorities’ initiative, Selvaretnam Raghavan, president of the Thiruketheeswaram Temple Restoration Society, says the new trail will bring in more devotees to the temple too, which was consecrated on July 6. He adds that the temple, which was damaged during the civil war, was renovated at a total cost of LKR 900 million which included LKR 320 million from the Indian government.

Geeta Mohan  Courtesy India Today

Reacting to the docking of the Chinese vessel in Sri Lanka, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that India is monitoring the developments in the island nation.

• Jaishankar says India is monitoring China’s spy vessel docked in Sri Lanka
• Chinese ship docked at Hambantota port after Sri Lankan authorities granted the vessel access to the port from August 16 to 22
• The vessel will remain at the port for six days for refuelling and replenishment of supplies

External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that New Delhi was monitoring very closely” the developments in the neighbourhood. The response was to a question on the Chinese spy vessel Yuan Wang 5 having docked in Hambantota port in Sri Lanka despite India raising objections.

“What happens in our neighbourhood, any developments which have a bearing on our security obviously are of an interest to us,” Jaishankar said while speaking at the 9th India-Thailand Joint Commission Meeting in Bangkok.

“I think a spokesman had said some time ago, we obviously monitor any development, which has a bearing on our interests very, very carefully. So, I think I will leave it at that,” he added.

This comes a day after the Chinese ship docked at the port after Sri Lankan authorities granted the vessel access to the port from August 16 to 22 on condition that it will keep the Automatic Identification System (AIS) switched on within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sri Lanka and no scientific research to be conducted in Sri Lankan waters.

However, the Chinese ship bearing a red and white banner read Long Live China and Sri Lanka friendship” with the Chinese envoy to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong standing at the dock to receive the vessel.

Speaking to reporters at Hambantota port, when asked about the delays and India’s concerns, Ambassador Qi Zhenhong said, Everybody knows, I don’t need to explain.”

On the delay in the arrival of the ship, he said, I don’t know Maybe this is life This is not the first time that this kind of vessel has visited Sri Lanka. In 2014, this type of Chinese vessel visited Colombo. It is very natural. Hope our media friends will tell the objective of the issues.”

There have been reports that after Sri Lanka refused entry to the Chinese ship, the Sri Lankan administration had to do a U-turn given the pressure by Beijing to allow the vessel else there would be no support from China for the IMF bailout package that Colombo is seeking and further curtailment of bilateral financial help which Beijing has not been very forthcoming with anyway.

As a face-saver, government spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told reporters over the weekend, We are granting the same (port) facilities that we extend to all countries All countries are important to us.”

However, both sides are tightlipped on what made Sri Lanka change its decision. The ship, which was to dock on August 11, reached Hambantota on August 16. The vessel will remain at the port for six days for refuelling and replenishment of supplies.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

Former Public Security Minister, Rear Admiral (ret.) Sarath Weerasekera, has taken exception to the withdrawal of permission granted to Chinese research vessel Yuang Wang 5 to visit Hambantota port for refueling.

Sri Lanka, in 2017, leased Hambantota harbour to China for 99 years.

The ex-Navy Chief of Staff has raised the issue at hand at the government group meeting, chaired by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, on Monday (08) at the Presidential Secretariat.

Among those present at the group meeting were Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena and former PM and MP Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Lawmaker Weerasekera has explained that it wouldn’t be fair to rescind approval at the behest of India after having given the Chinese go ahead on July 12.

Prof. G.L. Peiris had served as the Foreign Affairs Minister at the time the Foreign Ministry granted approval for the vessel to visit Hambantota port.

Since then new President Ranil Wickremesinghe has sworn in Ali Sabry, PC, as the foreign affairs minister after Prof. Peiris chose to join the SLPP rebel group.

Sabry, who held justice and finance portfolios under the then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has explained the developments relating to the Chinese ship visit scheduled for Aug 11.

Declaring that the proposed visit was a routine one and posed no threat at all, Colombo District lawmaker Weerasekera alleged that President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had to pay a very heavy price by depending on the US and India.

Except for SLFP MP Dr. Suren Raghavan, who asked for deferment of the visit, other members of the government group had been silent, sources said.

MP Weerasekera has warned that China would be furious with Sri Lanka not with India over the ship controversy.

The naval veteran has also referred to joint military exercises conducted with the US and India over a period of time.

Rebel SLPP members hadn’t participated at the group meeting. However, the National Freedom Front (NFF) has issued a statement strongly condemning the government over its response to Indian pressure.

The MP has queried the Indian intervention in the wake of Chinese Ambassador in Colombo Qi Zhenhong taking it up with President Wickremesinghe.

China throughout the war backed Sri Lanka regardless of change of governments. After the successful conclusion of the war in May 2009, Sri Lanka received Chinese support at the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) where Western powers continuously undermined war winning Sri Lanka.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Three Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MPs Dr.Harsha de Silva, Eran Wickramaratne and Kabir Hashim today said they no longer intend to criticize the government but will focus on making proposals to push the nation through the current economic crisis.

The three MPs made this remark at a press conference last morning.

We proposed removing of regulations pertaining to converting dollars into rupees in Parliament last Friday and the Central Bank announced the withdrawal of the mandatory requirement to convert service export receipts / proceeds that are received in Sri Lanka into rupees. We commend the Central Bank Governor for this move,” De Silva said.

We don’t intend to criticize the government continuously but we will come up with proposals to revive the crisis stricken economy,” MP Wickramaratne said.

MP Hashim while highlighting that Sri Lanka has managed to generate some dollars since recently, stated that this has to be maintained. ‘Sri Lanka will not have to bow down to too many suggestion which the International Monetary fund (IMF ) might come up with if the dollar inflow is maintained effectively.,” the MP said.

However, Hashim said his party will oppose the proposal made by Prime Minister Dinsesh Gunawardene to pay compensation to those whose court cases were dismissed as a result of technical shortcomings. (Yohan Perera)

Courtesy Adaderana

China on Tuesday said the activities of its high-tech research vessel will not affect the security of any country and should not be obstructed” by any third party,” as the ship berthed at Sri Lanka’s strategic southern port of Hambantota amid Indian and US concerns.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the ship ‘Yuan Wang 5’ has successfully berthed at Hambantota Port with active cooperation from the Sri Lankan side.

Wang parried a question of extending financial support to Sri Lanka, which went bankrupt defaulting on USD 51 billion in foreign debt which included loans from China.

He said that when the ship arrived, the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong hosted the onsite welcoming ceremony at the Hambantota port, which Beijing took over on 99-year-lease as a debt swap in 2017.

Apparently, referring to Indian and US concerns over the ship with military applications berthing at the Hambantota port in the Indian Ocean, Wang said, I want to stress again that the marine scientific research activities of the Yuan Wang-5 ship are consistent with international law and international customary practice.”

They do not affect the security and economic interests of any country and should not be obstructed by any third party,” he said.

He said the ceremony was attended by a representative of Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickramasinghe besides more than ten heads of parties and heads of friendly communities.
The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, as Chinese and Sri Lankan national anthems were played, and the Sri Lankan people performed the traditional folk dance on the red carpet, he said.

It will take some time for the Yuan Wang 5 research ship to complete the replenishment of necessary supplies after the docking, hinting that the vessel may be there for a while.

The Sri Lankan government, which earlier asked the Chinese government to delay the arrival of the ship after India and the US reportedly expressed concern over its specialised in satellite and ballistic missile tracking, finally granted the port access to the vessel from August 16 to 22.

On Monday, Wang declined to reveal details of talks with Colombo leading to the bankrupt island’s government reversing its earlier stand to defer the high-tech vessel’s entry. As for the specific questions that you raised, we have mentioned China’s position quite a few times,” Wang said when asked about what were the consultations that were held.

After Sri Lanka asked China to defer the entry of the ship, Beijing on August 8 reacted angrily saying it was completely unjustified” for certain countries to cite the so-called security concerns to pressure Colombo and grossly interfere” in its internal affairs.

The ship with over 2,000 crew has advanced facilities to track satellites and ballistic missiles, according to the Chinese official media accounts.

Sri Lanka said it permitted the ship after extensive consultations. Colombo’s permission has also raised speculation that Beijing could make a positive announcement about Sri Lanka’s previous request to defer the loans it owed to China and its plea for bridge financing to tide over the crisis until it received International Monetary Fund (IMF) support.

Asked, now that the ship has been permitted to dock and whether China will provide the much-needed financial assistance to Sri Lanka considering its economy was in dire straits, Wang on Tuesday said, as we have stressed many times, as Sri Lanka’s friendly neighbour, China feels deeply for the economic and social difficulties facing Sri Lanka at the moment.”

China has been doing its utmost to support and help Sri Lanka pull through the difficulties. This is what we have been doing and what we will continue to do, he said.

China, which has extensive investments in Sri Lanka running into billions of dollars, has provided USD 73 million in aid and shipments of rice but maintained a steady silence on Colombo’s request for a bailout package as it became bankrupt after running out of foreign exchange reserves in April this year.

China is the main creditor of Sri Lanka with investment in infrastructure. Debt restructuring of Chinese loans would be key to the island’s success in the ongoing talks with the IMF for a bailout.

Wang pointed out that China and Sri Lanka are traditionally friendly neighbours. For years, the two countries have maintained close cooperation in marine scientific research.

China is ready to work with the Sri Lankan side to consolidate political mutual trust, deepen win-win cooperation and promote the sound and steady development of the bilateral relations,” Wang said.

The southern deep-sea port of Hambantota, which has been developed largely with Chinese loans, is considered strategically important because of its location. India has said that it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests.

New Delhi is concerned about the possibility of the ship’s tracking systems attempting to snoop on Indian installations while being on its way to the Sri Lankan port. India has traditionally taken a stern view of Chinese military vessels in the Indian Ocean and has protested such visits with Sri Lanka in the past.

The ties between India and Sri Lanka came under strain after Colombo permitted a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine to dock in one of its ports in 2014.

India’s concerns have been focused on Hambantota Port in particular. In 2017, Colombo leased the southern port to China Merchant Port Holdings for 99 years, after Sri Lanka was unable to keep its loan repayment commitments, fanning fears over the potential use of the port for military purposes.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said it was completely unjustified for certain countries to cite the so-called security concerns to pressure Sri Lanka.” India on Friday rejected China’s insinuations” that New Delhi pressured Colombo against the planned visit by the Chinese research vessel, but asserted that it will take decisions based on its security concerns.

External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi that Sri Lanka, as a sovereign country, makes its own independent decisions and noted that India would make its judgment on its security concerns based on the prevailing situation in the region, especially in the border areas.

Source: PTI

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, speaking of the reforms he plans to introduce for the revival of the economy, stated that the Sri Lankan government is looking at raising income taxes and widening the tax net by taxing capital and wealth in order to bring in some of the lost revenue.

In an interview with The Economist on Tuesday (Aug 16), the Head of Stated also said several state-owned enterprises such as SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka Insurance, the petroleum corporation and the government’s stake in the national telecoms firm could be privatized. We are looking now at disposing of some state assets, which will give us about USD 2-3 billion.”

When asked about the immediate laws he intends to bring in, President Wickremesinghe said a bankruptcy law modelled on the U.S. Chapter 11 is one of the most immediate. The rest are about economic stability. We’ve also got some additional powers for the next year and a half to tackle the situation.”

President Wickremesinghe, stating that a public-finance bill on the new taxes and on state-owned enterprises as well, said he wants to do a deep cut” and make a legislative framework for a highly competitive export-oriented economy, and then ensure the recovery takes off by 2024. It is not worth dragging this out, he pointed out.

When asked what he means by deep cut, he said, When you make changes, make it deep, make all the changes you have to make.”

President Wickremesinghe is hopeful that this will allow Sri Lanka’s economy to not just recover but to become more competitive and export-oriented.

He remarked that he does not worry about the hostility shown by trade unions with regard to the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, explaining that what matters is people.” 

The Head of State also stated that he wants Sri Lanka to become more economically integrated with the rest of Asia. We will look at closer relations with ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) and RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership).”

Speaking of the agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said, If we can get the board agreement, then we can get at some of the other organisations’ advance and get us some money until the tranche comes through.”

He explained that this would inspire investor confidence.

With regard to a question raised on the row over the docking of Chinese ballistic missile and satellite tracking vessel at the Hambantota Port and the Chinese-built Pakistani warship PNS Taimur which recently reached Colombo for a formal visit, President Wickremesinghe said the pressure is building up on the European side.

He is worried the Indian Ocean will be affected by this rivalry between the United States and China and Russia. Sri Lanka, of course, has a special relationship with India where we have to look after each other’s interests. But most countries in the Indian Ocean want to stay out of the power rivalry. So, we have to be clear about that and say what our policies are.”

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka’s death toll from Covid-19 climbed to 16,635 today after the Director General of Health Services confirmed 05 more Covid-19 related deaths in the country for yesterday (Aug 16). 

According to the Govt. Information Department, four victims were aged 60 years and above. The remaining one was aged between 30-59 years. Among the victims are 02 males and 03 females.

Meanwhile, another 161 new Covid-19 infections have been identified in the country today (Aug. 17). 

This brings the total number of Covid-19 cases detected in the country thus far to 668,497.

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe states that the emergency regulations will not be extended further as the situation of the country is getting back to normal and that it will lapse by the end of the week.

But that is not enough. We have to have an attitudinal change and if we do that, then this country will have a future,” said the president, speaking at the 2022 award ceremony of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka which was presided over by him.

Just after I became the Minister of Finance, I found that I was richer than the Republic of Sri Lanka as far as the foreign exchange was concerned. I had thousand dollars at home which I had saved, so I was thousand times richer than the Republic.”

President Wickremesinghe also stated that discussions are underway with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to finalize a staff-level agreement, while there are two groups that prevail now, the West which is planning to provide a haircut and China which would like to give additional loans to pay off existing loans.

We are talking with Japan about how this could be achieved. If we move fast, this will be a short way and if we still keep arguing, then we all are going to suffer.”

President Wickremesinghe further pointed out that they are trying to make the parliament into a government by having oversight committees and a national council. The oversight committees will not only consist of the members of the parliament but also 05 youth representatives who are allowed to question parties with the permission of the chairman, he added.

He also acknowledged that no other country in the world has allowed young people to take part in oversight committees.

In this parliament, we must have the capability of coming up with a new system. We cannot be passing it to others. The baby is ours. We’ve taken it, we’ve got to carry it. And if possible, from there, [we should] go ahead to a new constitution.

We are also looking at the Diaspora. It is a strength; it is also a source of investment,” he said further, noting that the country needs to sort out the issues among ethnic groups.

The President also mentioned that the government has paid attention to establishing a separate office to deal with the Diaspora in order to obtain its support.

Shenali D Waduge

Sri Lanka is faced with several challenges – all taken together the ultimate aim is simply to take control of Sri Lanka. Controlling the resources makes a nation compliant and meets the geopolitical objectives of parties using various modus operandi to realize their goals. This is what citizens of Sri Lanka need to understand. We are being played against each other & amidst the confusion and chaos they are walking away with all our resources!

By now we should have understood that UN/UNHRC have been used to weaken our internal systemscamouflaging this drive with ‘accountability’ ‘transparency’ ‘UN goals’ ‘UN checklists’ dispatching UN rapporteurs with their red cards from time to time.

By now we should have understood that IMF/World Bank and other international monetary institutes have also been used to give loans based on ‘bribes’ – negotiations only end up ‘you will get the loan only if you do as we say & agree to what we want’. Funds” are also given to subtly launch programs or initiatives to follow their agenda – education funds mean no inclusion of history into syllabus, or false history, or whitewashing historical crimes. Funds have a magic of their own. Privatization is a key area of these funds and loans to take control of our resources. Leasing land/resources for 99 years means our generation will never enjoy the resources or see its return for 99 years.

By now we should have understood the role that neo-liberal think tanks/NGOs/Civil Society play functioning as ‘lobbyists’ for the corporate agenda. Look at the manner they organize research” papers, hold conferences & tamashas to project a very glorious future if state resources fall under control of corporate hands primarily foreign corporates using locals as fronts. In colonial times these locals were called ‘sepoys’ ‘lascoreens’ – they were bestowed titles & given awards to function as representatives of the white man. Post-indepedence neocolonial agendas continue using the same people who are locals in name only but are loyal to the neoliberal paymasters.

By now we should also understand how all of the above cannot take place if a country has a national leader, a government that is strong and a country that is peacefully prodding forward. The objective is to undermine a strong nation.

By now we should know that the rabbits they pull out – the unions, the protests, the demonstrators, the fringe groups, terror groups & extremists – anyone ready to take part in some form of trouble to weaken a nation.

It is finally dawning on most the flip side of the aragalaya. 1% of these protestors certainly had genuine grievances but the rest were either hired or either paid to promote other agendas tasked of them. The organizers of the protests have actually crippled future protests because no dejected protestor would want to be manipulated again. This serves their purpose to ensure that by the time they succeed with their agendas, there are not many to protest as the purpose of protests have been destroyed. Nevertheless, people must protest but they must be watchful of who they involve in future to protest alongside them and ensure their protest is not infiltrated.

By now we should understand the people, the parties, the issues and slogans being used to divert people’s attention & make a govt weak. We must realize the threats and the challenges as well as the numerous googlys a govt is made to face. It is not easy to govern a nation to a national plan when all those out to weaken Sri Lanka & take over our resources throw a plethora of attacks 24×7 to make the govt go off track on its national plans. Equally dangerous is when the enemies place a puppet govt to do their bidding. Read about puppets & dictators propped by regime change in other countries.

By now, even citizens would have realized how they can be easily entrapped by disinformation and misinformation primarily because they are lazy to draw parallels from incidents happening globally & compare them to what unfolds in Sri Lanka. Only a few citizens have been sharp enough to see and realize these dangers and kudos go to them for their efforts to educate the ignorant.

Everyone tasked for this objective are being used to make the country unstable. People are programmed to come screaming down the govt and the govt is forced to take some actions disadvantageous to the country & advantageous to those that orchestrated the chaos.

Is the picture getting clearer? None of the aragala supporters are ready to make these connections or even wonder if they too have been used at least the one’s who have not received handouts for their ‘drama’.

Thus, the colonial agenda continues in neocolonial formats.

Native cultures are targeted to be ridiculed & replace with theirs, ‘secular’ is being promoted to remove native religious identity & replace with theirs, native customs & traditions are subtly being replaced with their ‘liberal’ values and neo-liberal economic framework – all aimed at drawing people towards consumerisms & selfishness & away from a compassionate society.

Colonials had no sophisticated equipment. Neocolonials are returning to the countries they conquered with sophisticated equipment & technology to plunder what they could not do. Data colonization is what modern technology is all about. All resources of the world are being centralized electronically & under control of a handful to enjoy but charging the rest who have to pay to enjoy what nature has given us free.

Unfortunately, to our disappointment UNPATRIOTIC POLITICIANS who jump from side to side, get roped into various honey traps laid out by foreign intel (baits are money-women-power-positions). This compromises their commitment to the People and the Nation and since independence, their unpatriotic actions have eroded the level of statesmanship expected of elected representatives to lead Sri Lanka as they have succumbed to all the above scenarios.

The newest scenario is to replace politicians with civil society. With handover of resources to corporates to be run by civil society – the role of governance by government & politicians is removed. This is happening subtly without politicians realizing it or making the connections. Once they lose the ability to tax land or resources which falls into corporate hands & when civil society is tasked to do what they were doing, politicians become irrelevant & people will not have elections or a Parliament but a system advantageous to the corporates and civil society & NGOs who represent them to administer what the people can enjoy at a cost & nothing as welfare.

Corrupt politicians are being enticed to facilitate the corporate take over of national resources/assets while others are tasked to create the environment to justify its handover.

The politicians are the ‘takers’ while the ‘givers’ are the entities despatched by geopolitical lobbies to acquire Sri Lanka’s land & resources & assets. This is being done by attempting to privatize state land, by giving stand land on 99 year lease which means people of our generation will never see the return of this land or even be able to utilize it. The next option to counter numerous opposition is the public-private partnerships with the same heavy weight corporates who are given control of the resources & eventual share of the profits. SMEs stand little chance in partnering with the govt.

Confounding the PPP is when third parties like international monetary agencies who are the masters of the corporates enter to dictate how the project is run. 3 stakeholders with 3 sets of differing objectives are unlike to get anywhere near what the public wish to have delivered.

Scramble for Africa was when a handful of western countries took a pencil divided Africa amongst them, christened them with names and plundered Africa. The second phase of this plunder is continuing using technology & fancy neoliberal terms & initiatives justifying their presence. The exact same is happening with the Pivot to Asia. Asia is now the target.

Africa or Asia will never be allowed to rise on its terms. This is possible only if we realize who the true enemies are, who their ‘sepoys’ are and what kinds of googlys they throw at us to destabilize us and how we can counter these. To do that, we must be firm that this is our nation, the resources and assets are for this generation & future generations and that it is our duty to protect, preserve and foster them.

Shenali D Waduge

Sena Thoradeniya

The previous version of this piece was written soon after the Mirihana Incident (31, March,2022) but I was unable to get it published due to some reasons which do not have any importance to the reader. Whilst accepting that during the past one month (in April) many developments had taken place beyond anybody’s control, I have prepared an edited version of the original article as it consists a preamble to a publication, I am compiling tentatively titled, From Mirihana to Galle Face Green”. Since things are unfolding in a rapid pace it is difficult to cluster them in an abridged form.    

In the evening of March 31, as a friend my mine telephoned me that a large body of protesters had assembled at Jubilee Post Junction I just went there as an observer to observe what was happening.  The protesters in their outward appearance and by the language they used seemed to belong to a cross section of middle and upper middle classes. In the midst of the simmering crowd I was able to identify a couple known to me, staunch haters of MR from the days of his presidency who later collaborated with the Yahapalanistsrejoicing at his downfall in 2015. Nearby was the house of a Yahapalana Minister, now an MP of SJB.   It is true that some carried toddlers and the demonstrators were behaving peacefully at that time. But the slogans they chanted and what was written on the placards they carried were provocative and inciting people to rise against Rajapaksas.   The biggest question is who drew this peaceful crowd towards Pengiriwatta Road to besiege President’s private residence. Earlier Hirunika Premachandra, the SJB defeated candidate had set an example for these protesters to proceed towards President’s private residence without any obstruction. This was the first security mishap in this whole series of events that unfurled for a few months then onwards. It was fascinating to watch mostly the women demonstrators taking selfies as they have done before at nine arches bridge at Demodera and immediately posting those photographs in social media platforms to say that with the hashtag, # I was there” or # me too”. Later this behaviour became the hallmark of all protesters.   

News spread like a wild fire, thanks to FB friends. Protesters converged from Maharagama, Delkanda and Talapathpitiya areas and occupied the main road from Embuldeniya Junction up to Pengiriwatta. This was how a peaceful demonstration of middle and upper middle classes that started at Jubilee Post Junction peacefully was hijacked by some unidentified political elements and rabble rousers. Around midnight Embuldeniya Junction was set ablaze ruining the magnificently carpeted road and karanda trees planted on either side of the road which typified GR’s efforts in urban beautification. Parapet walls either side of the road were smashed and brickbats were used as projectiles to attack the security personnel. This was the first act of terrorism which the security functionaries failed to read and react.  I was a witness to this mayhem until the wee hours of the following day. The rest is known to all.

So, this was the beginning. Gota Go Home” cry gathered momentum and was heard at every corner of the big city and suburbs. The grand conspiracy hatched from the day GR became the President was unleashed using INGO-trained tech-savvy youth as Pied Pipers. By carefully watching all the television footage and social media posts and identifying the men and women shown therein we were able to come into the conclusion that none of these celebrities who protested at the early stages of this protest campaign have languished in long gas and kerosene oil queues and had problems in feeding their kids. Most of these  protesters who assembled in front of Nelum Pokuna, represent  anglicised, pro-Western, comprador bourgeois interests who live in luxury apartments, who dine at luxury hotels, whose children attend either private denominational schools or international schools, having one foot here and the other in a Western country, who go on safari tours not to either Yala or Wilpattu as ordinary folk do, but to Maasai Mara in Kenya, Serengeti in Tanzania and  Kruger National Park in South Africa. Some were on vacation, as furlough during the time of the Britishers! Those who came from Australia and the West to see their parents visited the protest sites just to upload their selfies. (This is not a figment of imagination of the writer; I stand for what I write).

Why this sudden change in behaviour of this privileged lot?  The answer is a simple one. Its all economics and related to business and disturbances to their life styles; not love and solidarity to toiling masses who undergo severe hardships. It was an irony of history that these elitist groups protesting along with petty-bourgeoisie, toiling masses and different elements of the lumpen proletariat. Their main worry was ACs, pressure pumps and other gadgetry were not functioning due to power outages.

The culmination of these protests was the establishment of a Gota Go Gama”. If Ranasinghe Premadasa could an establish villages within villages which had a historical foundation giving those clusters of homes esoteric names why can’t a set of protesters do the same in the heart of the city? Evidence is not needed to state that most of the other protests held in the city and elsewhere and in front of the houses of ruling party politicos are organised by hidden hands affiliated to two well organised cadre-based political parties. Can the elite remember how they lived without electricity switching off lights when all the power houses were generating electricity to their full capacity fearing the bitter repercussions after receiving the chit” sent by the DJV, the military arm of the JVP in the late nineteen eighties? Are we to believe that class identities, class barriers, class consciousness and class distinctions were outstripped and antagonistic class contradictions between these classes were resolved overnight with the cry of Go Gota Home” campaign? But now we see this class except a few of the former top bureaucrats who helped the politicians of different colours and hues to feast over the cadaver of Mother Lanka and theoreticians who formulate absurd theoretical formulations to the present agitations have slowly and steadily retreated from the hotbeds of agitations. This class is craft enough to identify the wind direction and to have some rough gauge of wind intensity in advance. Very soon publications will appear as Linda Herrera’s Revolution in the Age of Social Media, The Egyptian Popular Insurrection and the Internet” (2014) for the consumption of the western pundits

We should be mindful that this so-called Aragalaya is not led by a Marxist party having workers and peasants as its nucleus providing leadership to a broad national united front. It is an unorganised loose outfit representing many interests, classes, ideologies and cultures. It is like a beach carnival with free entry and exit at will. I do not know whether they are knowledgeable of the Paris Commune, Bolshevik Revolution, Chinese Revolution or any other national liberation struggle. May be some are aware of the escapades of Che Guevara and the film The Motor Cycle Diaries”.

Can the government allow some miscreants to set up villages” like this, having its own administrative structures including a post office?  If pro-LTTE elements try to set up villages” of this nature in North and East what would the government do?

Yuppies who were ignorant of political, economic, social and cultural change  brought forth by SWRD were ungrateful that they blindfolded the bronze statue of SWRD sculptured by that great Soviet sculptor Lev Kerbal, Professor, academician and Vice-President of the then USSR Academy of Arts, a pioneer of Socialist Realism Sculpture, considered as a masterpiece of urban art by their own NGO godfathers. This was a gift by the people of former USSR to the people of Sri Lanka. An economic refugee domiciled in a Western country lamented that it should have been brought down. Even if this happens, we will not be surprised as we have seen statues of Lenin and Stalin brought down by regime changers and the names of great cities such as Leningrad and Stalingrad changing.

A USSR-trained sculptor who claims that he was taught by Kerbal giving an interview to a Sinhala Weekly glorified this vandalism, a man who did sculpting in Premadasa’s Udagam Carnival.

At the Gall Face agitation site posters were seen referring to Pornhub, a well- subscribed pornography portal. Protesters at the Polduwa Junction were asked to bring underwear and hang them on police barricades which male and female protesters did enthusiastically, calling it Nandeta Jangiyak” (lingerie to GR). Women protesters were keener to exhibit their high-end brands to fellow protesters.   A well-respected medical specialist texted me that according to his psychiatric knowledge a used/old panty is a highly valuable object to perverts and within a few days all other garbage will remain by the roadside sans panties. Wikipedia describes this as underwear fetishism relating to undergarments and refers to preoccupation with the sexual excitement of underwear such as panties, stockings, pantyhose and bras. Some males can experience sexual excitement from wearing lingerie of women, while others get their excitement when observing, handling, smelling and of course exhibiting underwear worn by others or watching somebody putting underwear on or taking it off.    

it’s better not to go into details of the contents of the songs sung, poems recited, posters and other visuals exhibited at these protest villages. This will be dealt in depth when we discuss the culture of protesters.  A wreath carried Gota ta Nivan Dukha” as its condolence message. For Buddhists nibbana is the supreme bliss, not suffering as the protesters allude.it is unfortunate that the political monk, the local Ayatollah in saffron robes, who acts as the godfather of these protesters is blind to such sub-culture aspects emanating from the protest sites. (He was the one who protested against some radio plays produced in 2018 alleging that they were insulting Buddhism). Wearing Guy Fawkes masks is child’s play when one studies these sub-culture aspects emanating as not seen before. 

What next? The call has now turned into ousting of all 225 lawmakers (except 3!) and the camping sites have encircled the perimeter of Diyawannawa. Very soon these protesters will have their own clandestine broadcasting and television stations as they are well funded by sources not unknown to the analysts who follow the present scenario. (Do not ask who will provide them with frequencies. See the enormity of funds pumped to Gota Go Gama”) As they have come to the perimeter of the Parliament how can one rule out them storming the Parliament electing their own government as now many claimants have appeared to rescue” the nation.  I do not want to discuss this scenario any further and its consequences.  As there are many claimants for leadership internecine, military crackdown, a reign of terror and anarchy cannot be ruled out. Will the middle and upper middle-class agitators at Mirihana enter the history as gravediggers of democracy in Sri Lanka?

බන්දුල චන්ද්‍රසේකර

පසුගිය ආණ්ඩු  සමයේ හිටපු මුදල් අමාත්‍ය බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ මැදිහත් වීමෙන් සහ එවකට ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයේ  හිටපු සහාපති එම්. එම්. සී. ෆඩිනැන්ඩු මහතා විසින් අත්සන් කළ අවබෝධතා ගිවිසුමකට අනුව, මෙරට සුළං බලශක්ති ව්‍යාපෘති දෙකක් ඉන්දියානු අදානි සමාගමට පැවරීමට කටයුතු සිදුකෙරිණි. මන්නාරමේ මෙගාවොට් 286 ක සහ පුනරීන් හි මෙගාවොට් 234 ක එම සුළං බල ව්‍යාපෘති දෙක සඳහා අදානි ග්‍රීන් එනර්ජි සමාගම ඇමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 500ක මුදලක ආයෝජනය කිරීමට බලාපොරොත්තුවේ. එනමුත්, මෙම ව්‍යාපෘති දෙක මගින් ජනනය කරනු ලබන විදුලි ඒකකයකට රුපියල් 25 ට වැඩි මුදලක් ගෙවීමට සිදුවන බැවින් මෙම ව්‍යාපෘති පිළිබදව ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ සහ ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයේ උසස් නිලධාරීන් තම අප්‍රසාදය පළ කෙරිණි. කිසිදු තරඟකාරී ටෙන්ඩර් කැඳවීමකින් තොරව මෙගවොට් 500 ට ආසන්න ධාරිතාවක් සහිත විදුලි ව්‍යාපෘති මේ ලෙස වැඩි මිළකට ලබා ගැනීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැඩි විවේචනයක් එල්ල වී තිබිණි.

එකී ව්‍යාපෘති ආරම්භ කිරිම සඳහා අදානි සමාගම, ලංකාව තුළ ව්‍යාපෘති කාර්යාලයක්ද ආරම්භ කළ අතර, අදාල ව්‍යාපෘති සඳහා අවශ්‍ය මුලීක අවසර බලපත්‍ර ලබාගැනීමට සඳහා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියට ව්‍යාපෘති යෝජනාවක්ද බාර දී තිබිණි. කෙසේවුවත්, ඉන්දියානු – ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජයන් දෙක අතර සිදුවන ආයෝජන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් ලෙස සලකා මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය කැබිනට් අනුමැතියකින් සිදුකිරිමට යෝජනා කළ ද, මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතිය මුළුමනින්ම, ඉන්දියානු පෞද්ගලික සමාගමක් මැදිහත්වීමෙන් සිදුකරන ව්‍යාපෘතියක් වූයෙන් ඒ පිළිබඳ පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේ කෝප් කමිටු සාකච්ඡාවකද මතභේදයට තුඩු දුන් කරුණක් වූයේය. එම මතභේදාත්මක කරුණ දුර දිග යමින්, කෝප් කමිටුව ඉදිරියට පැමිණි එවකට විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයේ සභාපති එම්. එම්. සී. ෆඩිනැන්ඩු කළ ප්‍රකාශයක් නිසා ඉන්දියානු දේශපාලනද උණුසුම් විය. වැඩි මිළ ගණනක් දී විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයට විදුලිය ලබාගැනීමට සිදුවන මෙම ව්‍යාපෘතියට අවසර ලබාදීම ප්‍රතික්ශේප කළ ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ විධායක අධ්‍යක්ෂවරු වූ සුලක්ෂණ ජයවර්ධන මහතා සහ හර්ෂ වික්‍රමසිංහ මහත්වරුන් එම තනතුරෙන් ඉල්ලා අස්වී තිබේ.   

කෙසේවුවත්, පසුගිය 16 දින, ලංකා විදුලිබල මණ්ඩලයේ සහ ශ්‍රී ලංකා සුනිත්‍ය බලශක්ති අධිකාරියේ නිලධාරීන් හමුවූ විදුලිබල හා බලශක්ති අමාත්‍ය කාංචන විජේසේකර මහතා නියමිත පුනර්ජනනීය ව්‍යාපෘති සංවර්ධනය පිළිබඳ ප්‍රගතිය සමාලෝචනය කරමින් එකී අදානි සමාගමට අදාල මුලීක අවසර ලබාදුන් බැව් සදහන් කළේය. ඔහුගේ ට්විටර් ගිණුමේ ඒ බව සඳහන් කර තිබිණි. 

I. de Silva Canada

Hon. Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Party Leadership Candidate – 2022

Dear Mr. Poilievre

Reference your “demand” for the arrest of Mr. Gothabaya Rajapakse, the former President of Sri Lanka, please explain what right you have to make any “demands” on politicians of Sri Lanka and the Government of Sri Lanka as well as the Government of Singapore. You were elected by Canadians, to represent them in Canada and not by Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka or Singaporeans in Singapore to represent them. You seem to have the delusion that you have a role in the election and government of Sri Lanka. You are also of the opinion that you can dictate to the Government of Singapore. This is to inform you that you are a Canadian politician, elected only to represent your electorate in the Canadian parliament and have no jurisdiction other than in Canada. Please remember this so you do not make this type of “demand” to other countries. You are just a Canadian politician. It is obvious that you are influenced by those in your electorate who have supported the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group recognized as a terrorist group by the FBI. Your support of the LTTE makes you a supporter of terrorism in Sri Lanka.

The supporters of the terrorist group in Sri Lanka, the LTTE, was funded from Canada and Canadian politicians raised funds for the LTTE in Canada merely to get the votes of these supporters of Tamil terrorism in Canadian electorates. It is a reflection on the thinking and integrity of Canadian politicians that they provide funds and political support to terrorists, just not in Canada. Simply stated, you are a supporter of terrorism which is against the stated position of Canada that Canada is against the support of terrorism anywhere in the world.

There are several parts of your statement that illustrate your ignorance and bias regarding the LTTE. I choose one as an illustration – “Women and minorities in the northeast were already brutally impacted by war and military occupation”. For your information, it was not the Sri Lankan forces that oppressed the people of the north and east. It was the LTTE. This fact was illustrated when, at the final phase of the war to liberate people from the last stronghold of the LTTE, the Tamil population rushed into the areas under the control of the Sri Lankan forces. Would the thousands of ordinary Tamil civilians rush into areas controlled by the Sri Lankan forces at the first opportunity, if it was the Sri Lankan forces that oppressed them? They rushed towards the Sri Lankan forces to break free from the LTTE. If their choice was oppression by the LTTE they would have stayed with the LTTE, not run away from them so they could live free from LTTE oppression. Also, it was the Sri Lankan forces, directed by the Government of Sri Lanka, who looked after them, provided food and shelter to these thousands until they were able to relocate to safety. Did Canadian politicians do anything to help these people to get away from LTTE oppression or help them relocate away from the LTTE? The answer is an emphatic no, because Canadian politicians were mere stooges of the LTTE supporters in Canada and had no interest in helping those who were at the mercy of the LTTE terrorists and were oppressed by the LTTE in Sri Lanka.

I suggest that you get your facts correct and not merely parrot what you are told by the very people who funded and supported terrorism in Sri Lanka. It is obvious that you are ignorant of the situation in Sri Lanka both past and present. Please educate yourself and not merely repeat the inaccurate, biased information given to you by your LTTE constituents in Canada who are the very people who for decades funded terrorism in Sri Lanka. Canadian politicians who just want votes in Canada and have no concern for the people who live in Sri Lanka are willing to say and do whatever it takes hoping that they will get votes in Canada. That is a damning indictment on you. Have you any confirmation that they will vote for you after you debase yourself?

The people of Sri Lanka do not know you nor do they care to know you and should not have to suffer because of your myopic actions.

Yours truly,

I. de Silva

Canada

Courtesy Adaderana

Dr Tilak S. Fernando Courtesy The Daily News

Central Bank of Sri Lanka

After seventy-four years of democratic Governments, within the framework of democracy, Sri Lanka has today declared bankruptcy, or on the verge of it, due to the lack of much-needed dollars to pay back debts to international organisations up to US 55 billion dollars. Global Organisations investigations reveal that out of the US$ 55 billion loans, Sri Lanka heads the list by fleecing 30 billion out of Sri Lanka.

We are not concerned about any person or Governments which are responsible for such deeds,” says Chanaka Senanayake (One Country Law Organisation) in a YouTube video, which is going viral internationally. Unfortunately, this video is not available anymore!

In his opinion, ‘there is a mechanism to get those dollars back to the country.’ The process is twofold. The United Nations and World Bank established an Institution in 2004 and named it ‘STAR’ (State Stolen Assets Recovery) in 2007. It was established under a special ‘Geneva Convention against Corruption.’ Since the establishment of this convention, ‘STAR’ has recovered illegal monies lying in foreign bank accounts in up to 259 countries so far.

Chanaka Senanayake requests the public and the Sri Lankan media (to question all 225 Parliamentarians -including the Opposition) what they have done so far about it? Instead of making groans about it whether they had even heard the name ‘STAR’ so far? It all came out because of Chanaka Senanayake after speaking to STAR officials.

Chanaka Senanayake relates an interesting story about the President of Guatemala (a military General) who received 67% of the vote base in the General Election. He plundered wealth up to the tune of billions of dollars using his brother’s and his friend’s names (from the time of Marcos in power in Phililliphines). According to his story, the President of Guatemala made use of imports of food items (especially sugar) and while the stocks were in the Guatemala Harbour, he reduced taxes so that his brothers, relations’ and importers benefitted.

Guatemala

The Opposition made a hue and cry constantly about the President’s corruption techniques but he simply brushed them under the carpet calling such accusations complete fabrications. Every time accusations erupted the President blamed his relations and importers rather than accepting himself. In the end, one young female suggested that they hold a calm protest surrounding his official residence. She requested one hundred people who sympathised with her to attend the protest, but to her amazement eleven thousand people gathered. The protesters were yelling that he was a fraud. Furthermore he fired the Deputy President and various ministers in his Cabinet. Meanwhile, the United Nations intervened and proved that he was guilty of transferring a huge sum of foreign currency to other safe havens. This was when the President of Guatemala had to resign.

The present ‘Aragalaya’ in Sri Lanka was akin to the non-partisan development in Guatemala, However criminals managed to intermingle with the protesters, entered the Presidential House, Presidential Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s (Residence – Temple Trees) and started looting and caused millions worth of damages to the properties. On May 9 Sri Lankan hooligans threw petrol bombs at many Government Ministers’ houses, including Ranil Wickremesinghe’s house and caused incendiarism. Lots of other buildings and vehicles were torched; some were seen carrying TV sets from the Presidential House.

Concerning the Sri Lankan struggle, unlike in Guatemala, the missing link was the absence of the United Nations appearance on the scene. To fill such a vacuum ‘saviour’ Chanaka Senanayake appeared on the scene to reveal what action could be taken by STAR.

He had done adequate groundwork to prepare for the looted money back to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka does not have to pay a single dollar or cent to get back swindled money. Today, it is very sad to see people suffering to the hilt with soaring food prices and the hospitals do not have adequate drugs to treat patients.

Chanaka Senanayake says there are two procedures to follow to invite STAR to intervene and help to get plundered sums back to the Treasury. The first step is by a new Government (All Party Government making a request), and secondly through the Civil Organisations or the Media appealing to STAR to make an early start.

Chanaka Senanayake says he has already written to the United Nations, the World Bank and the UN Dock on the premise that he would get one million signatures for the petition to recover the cheated money. He started collecting signatures from the Viharmahadevi Park at the beginning. What he says is sooner he gets one million signatures to be sent to STAR the process could enter the fast track and Sri Lanka could get US30 million dollars to Government coffers step by step as STAR finished its investigations.

He states that anyone may escape from Sri Lanka, but STAR will be able to find him wherever they are, and refund the ‘plundered’ money to the benefit of the Sri Lankans. He warns that it might not be a quick action as STAR needs to find where the hoarded monies lie, and therefore, it might take months until all the probes are completed but the main consolation is that Chanaka Senanayake has laid the foundation to recover the plundered money! It would be interesting to note whose names are there on STAR’s list of swindlers.

STAR’s fundamental policy is to get the robbed money by rulers or officials in any Government. Therefore, Chanaka opines: ‘Why should we maintain noiseless about it any further? Many associations work on such deceitful draining of money that belongs to people in many nations. At this very moment, he says we need dollars as our children are starving without any milk powder and the entire society is suffering immensely without petrol, and soaring consumer prices. He adds that ‘if we can get back at least fifteen billion out of the thirty billion defrauded from Sri Lanka, then we would be in an advanced position to arrange Sri Lankan affairs systematically.

Out of the Asian countries that have sought the assistance of STAR were Malaysia and Pakistan. According to world statistics, the highest number of dollars that were swindled was 1.2 million thus Sri Lanka comes up on top of the list of swindled money totalling 30 billion. Senanayake says it is a national crime when people are starving and suffering incalculably. Therefore, Senanayake says to come forward and sign the petition as quickly as possible to get the money back to the Sri Lankan treasury.

One million signatures

Chanaka Senanayake says Sri Lanka has intentions to get further loans from the IMF and the World Bank, but he has not asked them not to grant loans because it might be a wicked inhumane crime. But before granting any loans to Sri Lanka he has requested the IMF and World Bank to include conditions so that no one will be able to swindle loaned monies. The UN has its inbuilt frame of such legalities.

Further, Senanayake says he has already invited the Law Society in Sri Lanka to arrange the legal framework and the Law Society has agreed to his request. He states that protests alone are not adequate, but there should be some effective means so that the swindlers will get worried when they realise that they are going to lose their billions. Therefore, Senanayke urges the public to help him to get one million signatures. One missing link in his appeal was that he did not make the petition online or give an email address or a telephone number to contact his association. It would have helped to fill well over a million signatures as the general public with their suffering is fed up with their teeth!

Chanaka Senanayake further states legal monies could be deposited in banks in the British Virgin Islands, Panama Papers or any other off-shore bank account as far as they are legally earned money according to each country’s existing regulations but certainly not theblack or stolen money.

by LankaPropertyWeb

The recently released Q2 data of the House Price Index of LankaPropertyWeb revealed that the overall selling prices of apartments increased by 45.17% when compared to Q2 of 2021. According to developers and real estate agents that LankaPropertyWeb has been in contact with, these price increases are largely a cause of the demand created for real estate as a hedging against inflation, shortage in raw material and skyrocketing construction costs.

Mainly the devaluation of the Rupee against the US Dollar and the shortage and high priced raw materials have shifted people’s behavior since March 2022, with them preferring to buy houses or apartments rather than build a home. The uncertainties of obtaining raw materials and rising interest rates for home loans have also contributed to this behavior.

Average property prices according to the Sri Lanka House Price Index

A study on the overall asking prices of houses in Sri Lanka showed prices had increased by 21.85% when compared to Q2 of 2021. Houses for sale in the North-West Province recorded the highest increase of 31.2% from Q1 of 2022, followed by Colombo house prices that had risen by 13.9% during the same period.

Meanwhile, the prices of apartments for sale in Colombo had increased by 32.9% in Q2 of 2022 when compared to Q2 of 2021. This phenomenon takes place simultaneously at the same time as the country has battled the pandemic since Dec 2020 and foreign exchange (FOREX) issues that worsened towards the end of 2021.

According to LankaPropertyWeb’s Development Consultancy and Research team data, the top 5 searches for apartments for sale were from Colombo 6, Colombo 5, Rajagiriya, Colombo 3 and Colombo 2, respectively.

Increasing prices of raw materials for construction from 2018 to 2020

Meanwhile, data from the Construction Industry Development Authority showed that the average price of a 50Kg cement bag sold by public and private dealers has increased by 187% from June 2021 to June 2022. The same increased by 98% from January 2022 to June 2022.

Home loan interest rates‌ that recorded lowest at 7% p.a after decades during Q3 2021, have also been increasing with its current highest being at 22% and negatively influencing property buying decisions of first-time homebuyers.

In addition to this, LankaPropertyWeb’s recent studies on the Land Price Index (based on asking prices) also show that the rate of land prices increasing on a quarter to quarter basis in Colombo city has slowed down over the past quarters. Lands for sale in Colombo 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 recorded the slowest percentage increase in prices in the last five years. While the rate of prices increasing in lands for sale in Colombo 9, 13 and 15 were at a peak of 113%, 87% and 47% respectively during Q1 2018 to Q1 2022. This is mainly due to the construction of many mixed development projects that are expected to drive prices further in the future.

Elsewhere in the Western Province (except Colombo 1-15), per perch prices of lands for sale in Ingiriya and Horana, which once had the lowest rate of price increases, have seen the highest increases and lands which had the highest prices, such as prime Colombo areas, have seen the prices stagnate or drop between Q2 2021 and Q2 2022.

With the Central Bank’s (CBSL) decision to float LKR in March 2022 and due to the inflation surge to a record high, we saw a rapid increase in demand for completed condos in primary and secondary markets as well as for the houses as a hedge against economic calamity. Especially expats’ interest in Sri Lankan real estate increased to gain in the Rupee devaluation. This behavior was further recorded on LankaPropertyWeb portal that in fact saw a surge in search traffic from countries such as the UK, Australia, USA, Canada, and UAE,” added Tharindu Jayarathne, Head of Research at LankaPropertyWeb.

In addition to this, according to the press release of the Prime Minister’s office on 31/05/2022 proposed tax reforms, the exemption granted on Value Added Tax (VAT) on residential condominiums shall be removed from 01/10/2022. This is expected to drive prices in the future when buying apartments directly from the developers and considering the probability of VAT being imposed in the near future. Thus, now is a good time for buyers willing to invest in apartments to plan ahead before VAT comes in. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ගාලුමුවදොර මූලික කරගෙන ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ඇතිවූ අරගලයට වියදම් කළේය ඩයස්පෝරාව බව එහි ප්‍රධාන නිමලන් විශ්වනාදන් සඳහන් කරයි.

ඩුබායි කටාර් වැනි රාජ්‍ය වල සිට මුදල් අරගලයට ලබා දුන් බවත් ඒවායේ ගිණුම් විස්තර තමන් සතුව ඇති බවත් හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

මෙතෙක් තහනම් කර තිබූ සංවිධාන හයක තහනම නැති කරගැනීමත් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට ඩොලර් ගෙන ඒමට සූදානම් බවද පැවසූ පවසන ඔහු නවත් ත‍්‍රස්තවාදී සැකකරුවන් පනස් දෙනෙකු නිදහස් කිරීමට ද ආණ්ඩුව පොරොන්දු වූ බවද කියා සිටී.

ඩයස්පෝරාව බලාපොරොත්තුව ඉදිරි අවුරුදු දෙකහමාරක කාලයෙන් පසුව ද රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ජනාධිපති ධුරය තබා ගැනීමද බව පවසන ඔහු එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ මීළඟ සැසිවාරයේදී ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ ආණ්ඩුවට සහාය පළ කරන බව ද පවසයි.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාව සාකච්ඡාවකදි ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පළ කර තිබේ.

Courtesy Adaderana

Issuing a clarification on Sri Lanka lifting the ban imposed on several Tamil diaspora organisations, the Defence Ministry says that such inclusions and exclusions for blacklisted individuals and organizations are routinely carried out by relevant authorities after observation and careful study over a continuous period of time.

According to the blacklisting and delisting of persons, 577 individuals and 18 organizations were blacklisted in the year 2021 for financing terrorism under the United Nations Regulation No. 01 of 2012, it said today.

After a series of discussions and careful study conducted at the Ministry of Defence by a committee consisting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Attorney General’s Department, key Intelligence Agencies, Law Enforcing Agencies and Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and based on reports and evidences with regard to the financing terrorism by individuals and organizations, recommendations were submitted for the listing and delisting, it said. 

Accordingly, among the aforesaid 577 individuals and 18 organizations, a decision was made to delist 316 individuals and 06 organizations since they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities,” the ministry said. 

Furthermore, it has been decided to blacklist 55 individuals and 03 organizations those recently recognized as active in financing terrorism during the period, it said in a communiqué today.

Thus, forwarding the recommendation of the Ministry of Defence to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on June 29, 2022 for their consent, 316 individuals and 15 organizations were blacklisted on August 1, 2022 by Extraordinary Gazette No. 2291/02.

Such inclusions and exclusions for blacklisted individuals and organizations are routinely carried out by relevant authorities after observation and careful study over a continuous period of time.”

Relevant authorities remain to be vigilant on the activities of the delisted individuals and organizations and will ban them again, if raising of funds for financing terrorism is resumed,” the Ministry of Defence further said.

Courtesy Adaderana

Britain has launched a scheme to extend tariff cuts to hundreds of products, such as clothes and food, from developing countries including Sri Lanka, part of London’s post-Brexit efforts to set up systems to replace those run by the European Union.

The UK’s new Developing Countries Trading Scheme (DCTS) is one of the most generous sets of trading preferences of any country in the world, and will benefit Sri Lanka by boosting the economy and supporting jobs,” the British High Commissioner in Colombo Sarah Hulton said.

She said Sri Lanka will continue to benefit from duty free exports to the UK on more than 80% of products and that the DCTS will remove tariffs on over 150 additional products. 

It will also simplify some seasonal tariffs, meaning additional and simpler access for Sri Lanka’s exports to the UK. 

In June, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he wanted to start a new trade system to reduce costs and simplify rules for 65 developing countries to replace the EU’s Generalised System of Preferences, which applies import duties at reduced rates.

Trade minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the Developing Countries Trading scheme (DCTS) would extend tariff cuts to hundreds more products exported from developing countries, a system, she said, that goes further than the EU scheme.

As an independent trading nation, we are taking back control of our trade policy and making decisions that back UK businesses, help with the cost of living, and support the economies of developing countries around the world,” Trevelyan said in a statement.

UK businesses can look forward to less red tape and lower costs, incentivising firms to import goods from developing countries.”

The DCTS covers 65 countries including Sri Lanka, simplifies rules such as rules of origin, which dictate what proportion of a product must be made in its country of origin, and removes some seasonal tariffs, such as making cucumbers tariff-free in the winter.

Products that are not widely produced in the UK, like olive oil and tomatoes, will also have lower or zero tariffs, making them cheaper to import.

The scheme also simplifies complex trade rules, including so-called rules of origin, making it easier for businesses in countries like Bangladesh to export clothes to the UK.

Duties will also be reduced by 14 per cent on bikes from the South Asian nation, 12 per cent on T-shirts for Cambodia, 12 per cent on baby clothes from Sri Lanka, eight per cent on roses from Ethiopia and eight 8 per cent on onions from Senegal.

Broadly, the scheme will ensure British businesses benefit from more than £750m a year of reduced import costs, which the Department for International Trade said would lead to more choice and lower costs for UK consumers to help with the cost of living.

Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan highlighted the fact the scheme goes further than its EU equivalent, adding: As an independent trading nation, we are taking back control of our trade policy and making decisions that back UK businesses, help with the cost of living, and support the economies of developing countries around the world.

UK businesses can look forward to less red-tape and lower costs, incentivising firms to import goods from developing countries.”

The scheme replaces the UK Generalised Scheme of Preferences, which was rolled over from EU membership, and will come into force in early 2023.

It covers 37 countries in Africa, 18 in Asia, eight in Oceania and two in the Americas. 

Sri Lanka is among 8 countries under the scheme’s Enhanced Framework that will receive a preference of 0% import tariffs on two-thirds of product lines”.

Bolivia, Cape Verde, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Philippines and Uzbekistan are the other countries under the Enhanced Framework.

The scheme reduces and removes those tariffs reduced or removed by the EU GSP.

Read the UK government policy paper on Developing Countries Trading Scheme here.

(With Agencies Inputs)

Courtesy Adaderana

President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that the State of Emergency, which is scheduled to lapse by the end of this week, will not be extended. 

As the country’s situation is back to normal, I will not extend the State of Emergency which is scheduled to lapse by the end of this week,” he said today (16). 

The President stated this while addressing the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka – 2022” awards ceremony held at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo today (16).

President Ranil Wickremasinghe expresses confidence that the current state of emergency will be lifted by the end of this week.

Pointing out that the country is currently at a stable level, he also points out that there is no need to extend the state of emergency.

Speaking further, President Wickremasinghe pointed out that many measures are currently being taken for the building of the country and support from all parties is needed for that. 

He also mentioned that the government is focusing on establishing a diaspora office in Sri Lanka in order to get the support of the diaspora to Sri Lanka.

Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, Minister of Justice Dr. Wijayadasa Rajapaksa, Member of Parliament Eran Wickramaratne, former Minister John Amaratunga, President of the Organisation of Professional Associations of Sri Lanka Dulitha Perera, General Secretary Upali Jayawardena and others attended the event.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed 06 more Covid-19 related deaths in the country for yesterday (Aug 15). 

The Department of Government Information reported that all the victims are over 60 years of age and include three males and three females.

Meanwhile another 195 new cases of coronavirus have been detected today (16), increasing the tally of infections reported in the country to 668,336.

Courtesy Adaderana

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is spending for his current foreign travels through his personal funds and not through state funds, the Government Information Department said today.

Issuing a statement, it said former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa does not spend government money on any expenses he makes abroad and that all such expenses shall be borne by the personal funds of the former President.

At the press conference held today (16) at the Government Information Department’s auditorium to announce the weekly cabinet decisions, media persons had raised a question about the foreign expenses of the former President, who is currently in Thailand after brief stays in Maldives and Singapore. 

Minister Bandula Gunawardena’s response that former and current presidents are legally entitled to certain privileges, had been reported by some media in a manner that insinuates that state funds were being spent for the foreign expenses of the former president, the communiqué said.

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa informed that the reports published by some media about his overseas expenses are incorrect and emphasized that his personal funds are spent for all the expenses.

Shenali D Waduge

The coterie of people chanting ‘democracy’ and in particular speaking about age limits and term limits of others ignore that the same has to apply to them. Take some of these NGOs and Media heads – they have been heading their organizations for over 25 years! What kind of ‘democracy’ is this?

Here are a few of the main NGOs/Civil Society heads who have something to complain about Sri Lanka at all times. For over 25 years they have been wailing the same sod stories promoting negativity amongst the masses and carrying tales of woe to the international community.

JEHAN PERERA

Executive Director

National Peace Council since 1995

27 YEARS HEADING THIS NGO

PAKIASOTHY SARAVANAMUTTHU

Executive Director
Centre for Policy Alternatives since 1996

26 YEARS HEADING THIS NGO

SARVODAYA 

Started as a family movement & continues, though championing against nepotism.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Some of the main English media editors have been holding posts for over 25 years.

These are a handful of examples to highlight that spotlight must also turn to these entities that are always pointing fingers at others while they are themselves not transparent.

These entities collaborate with each other to do major harm. They are given columns on account of the advertising they give to media & these columns for decades have been used to always pitch a one-sided version and brainwash readers or viewers. For decades these individuals in their role for decades have been playing the same broken record.

They call for removal of people on account of their ages and citing need for term limits while they are glued to their chairs!

If they can hold placards and produce blueprints for others, shouldn’t these same checklists apply to them?

Are there no other suitable candidates to take over their roles – are these titles to be held by them eternally? What happened to meritocracy and promotion?

Shenali D Waduge

ජයන්ත හේරත්

එක්සත්

රාජධානියේ

විදුලිය

හා

ගෑස් බිල

2022 අන්තිම වන විට

83%ක ඉහළයාමක්

අපේක්ෂිතය.

මාස කීපයකට පෙර

එම බිල

වැඩිවූයේ

50% කින්ය.

මේ අතරතුර කාලයේ

දැවැන්තම

Energy කොම්පැනිකාරයාගේ

අර්ධ වාර්ෂික ලාභය

විතරක්

පහුගිය වසර හා සසදන විට

පස් ගුණයකින්

ඉහල ගොස්ය.

ඒ ලාභය

පාරිභෝගිකයාට හරවන

ත්යාගශීලිකමක් පේන්නට නැත,

ඒ

ආණ්ඩුව

ඉන්නේ ඇඹරි ඇඹරිය

ඒ

සම්බන්ධයෙන්

නෝ ඇක්ෂන්ය.

ඒ

ආණ්ඩුව ස්ටාර්ලින් පවුම් 400ක්

පාරිභෝගිකයාට දී

අත හෝදා ගන්නට වෑයම් කරන විදියක්

පෙනෙන්නේය.

අපහසුකම්

දැඩිව දැනෙතත්

මේ අධික මිල ඉහල යාම,

පාරිභෝගිකයාට

අලුතෙන් හිතන්නට

මඟ

විවර කිරීමක් ලෙස ගන්නට

උත්සහ කරන මිනිස්සු බිහිවීමත්  

නරකම නැත.

ඔවුන් සිතන්නේ 

නාස්තිය අවම කර 

මාසෙ අන්තිම බිල

අඩු කර ගැනීමත් 

සම්පත් පරිභෝජනය අඩු කර ගැනීමත් 

ලෝකයේ මහා ඉන්ධන අර්බුධයක්

හා පරිසර හානියක් සිදුව ඇති

මේ අවස්ථාවේ කල යුත්තක් බවය.

එකඟය.

වාදයක් නැත.

ලංකාව මේ වන විට

සම්පුර්ණයෙන්ම

විදුලී කරණය වී ඇත.

කඹයක්

අතෙන් ඇද

ලිඳෙන් වතුර

ගන්නවා වෙනුවට

වතුර අද්දවා ගන්නේ

විදුලි බලයෙනි.

හොඳය.

මුළුතැන්ගෙදරම

පැවතෙන්නේ

විදුලියෙන් හා ගෑස් වලින්ය.

කටේ

හුළං

පිම්ඹ කාලයක් මතක නැත.

පැය ගානක්

බලන්නේ

ස්මාට් ෆෝන්

චිත්තරපටිය.

විශාල තිර

ටැලිවිශන්ය,

ඒකට වැය වෙන්නෙත්

විදුලියමය.

ඇඳුම් පැළඳුම්

වැරදිලාවකවත්

අතෙන් සබන් ගා 

ගලක අතුල්ලා

සේදෙන්නේ නැත,

ඒකටත්

විදුලි බලයෙන් වැඩ කරන වොශින්-මැසිම්

තිබේය.

සතියකට හය හත් පාරක්

වොශින්-මැසිම වැඩ කරන විට

විදුලි බිල නගින්නේ නහුතෙටය.

ඒ ඇඳුම්

මේ තරම්

අව්ව තියෙන රටේ

රෙදි වැලක

වේලෙන්නේද නැත

ටම්බල් ඩ්රයර් එකට

වැය වෙන්නේද

විදුලියමය.

ගේ ඇතුලෙ

හැමතැනම

දැල්වෙන්නේ

විදුලි පහන්ය.

දැම්මොත් දැම්මා මය.

නිවන්නට මතක් වෙන්නේ

නිදා ගෙන

ඇහැරුන කොටය.

එලියේ හතර වටෙත්

දැල්වෙන්නේ ලයිට් බල්බ්ය

මේ

සවු භාග්‍යය,

කාය වර්ධනයට යන

ජිම් එකේ

උපකරණ

දුවන්නේ විදුලියෙන්ය.

පැය විසි හතරේම

අයිෆෝනයේ

එල්ලී වැඩ කරන විටත්

වැය වෙන්නේ විදුලියය.

මාසේ අන්තිමට මේ ඔක්කොම

එකතු වී එනවිට

එලොව පොල් නොපෙනී තිබ්බොත්

පුදුමය.

දෙය්යන්නාන්සේ 

හිර එලිය

තාපය

නොමිලේ දෙන්නේ

දවසෙන්

භාගයකටය.

fifty

ෆිෆ්ට් ය.

නොමිලේ ලැබෙන

හිර එලිය

තාපය

සුළඟ

පාවිච්චි කර වැඩ කර ගන්න

කැමති පිරිස අඩු වී ගොස්ය.

රාත්තිරිය  පුරාම අවදි ව

දහවල් කාලයම නිදා ගන්නා 

තරුණ පිරිසක්ද බෝවී ඇත,

ඔවුන් කියන්නේ

ආණ්ඩුව

මොන දීපංකරයකින්

හෝ

ණය ගෙන 

අඩු මිලට

විදුලිය,

ඉන්ධන

හා

හරක් කිරි

මියෙන තුරු

සැපයීමට වග බලා ගත යුතුය කියාය.

සාමකාමී

අරගල නැත.

සෑම

අරගලයක්ම ප්‍රචණ්ඩය.

ඇරගලිස්ට්ලා

අඩුවට දියව් කියමින් කෑ ගසන 

බොහෝ දේ එන්නේ වෙනත් රටකින්ය,

ඒවා ලාබෙට

ආදරයට

හොඳ ක්වොලිටියට

ලැබෙන්නේ නැති බව

මංචාඩියක් තරමක මොළයක්

ඇත්තේ නම් තේරෙන්නේය.

හරක් කිරිපිටි වලින් පටන් ගෙන ඉන්ධන

දක්වා

ආණ්ඩුව ඒ ඒ රටවලට

අධික මුදල් කන්දරාවක් ගෙවිය යුතුය.

ඒ ගෙවන්නට මුදල් 

ගස් වලින් කඩා ගන්නට නැත.

නිෂ්පාදනයක් සේවාවක් නොකර

මුදල් ඉපැයීමක් කරන්නට

බැරි නම්

ඔවුනට ඕනෑ කරන ආනයනික භාණ්ඩ

සඳහා

ගෙවන්නේ කෙසේදැයි

කල්පනා කරන්නට බැරි

ඇරගලිස්ට්ලා

කරන අරගල්

නිකන්ම නිකන් පුස්නාම්බුය.

Byline Asanga Abeyagoonasekera, Senior Fellow, The Millennium Project asangaaa@gmail.com

UN reform to make the international organization more future-oriented was assessed by 189 futurists and related international experts from 54 countries. They overwhelmingly endorsed and will support the five foresight elements of Our Common Agenda, as an integrated and interdependent system: the success of each one affects the success of all the others. The five elements are:

•             UN Futures Lab

•             UN Summit on the Future

•             UN Envoy for Future Generations

•             Periodic UN Strategic Foresight and Global Threats reports

•             Re-purposed UN Trusteeship Council as a Multi-Stakeholder Foresight Body

…Humanity faces a stark and urgent choice: a breakdown or a breakthrough,” says UN Secretary-General António Guterres.”  Our Common Agenda details how the UN can play its part in creating breakthroughs and preventing breakdowns. It is expected to be discussed at the UN General Assembly annual meeting next month.

If the five foresight elements in Our Common Agenda are implemented along the lines of our study, it could be the greatest advance for futures research and foresight in history,” says Jerome C. Glenn, CEO of The Millennium Project. 

The report: Five UN Foresight Elements of Our Common Agenda Results of a Real-Time Delphi Study is available at: 

https://millennium-project.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/UN-Foresight-Elements-report.pdf

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන.

බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයේ යටත් විජිතවල සේවය කිරීමට ඉංග්‍රීසි ඉගෙන ගැනීම අනිවාර්ය කරන අධ්‍යාපනයක් සහ නීති ක්‍රමයක් ලංකාවේ ඇත.

ලෝකයේ ඇති එකම ජාත්‍යන්තර භාෂාව ඉංග්‍රීසි පමණක් බව ජනතාවට ඒත්තු ගන්නවා තිබුණද එක්සත් ජාතීන්ගේ සංවිධානය ජාත්‍යන්තර භාෂා 6ක් පිළිගෙන ඇති බව දරුවන්ගෙන් සඟවයි.

ප්‍රංශය, ජර්මනිය, චීනය, රුසියාව,  කොරියාව, ඉතාලිය, ජපානය වැනි ස්වාධීන දියුණු රටවල සේවය කිරීමට සහ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට ඒ භාෂා ඉගෙනීමට සිඳුවන අතර, ඒ ඒ භාෂා ඉගෙනීමට අවස්ථාව සළසා දී ඇත්තේ සුපිරි පාසල්වල වරප්‍රසාද ලත් සීමිත පිරිසකට පමණි.
(ඇ.එ.ජ. පවා බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය යටත් විජිතයක් වී සිටීම මත එහි භාෂාව ඉංග්‍රීසි වේ)

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාලන ආයතනවල
ඉංග්‍රීසි අන්තවාදීන් බ්‍රිතාන්‍යය යටත් ව්ජිත පක්ෂපාතීත්වය රඳවා ගෙන ඇත්ත සඟවයි.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකිකයන්ට ස්වාධීන රාජ්‍යයන් සමඟ ඇති බැඳීම ශක්තිමත් කිරීමට ඇති බාධාව දේශපාලකයන්ගේ දරුවන්ට බ්‍රිතාන්‍යයට සහ ඇ.එ.ජ. පැමිණ අධ්‍යාපනය ලැබීමට වැඩි අවස්ථාවක් ලබා දී තිබීමත්, නිදහස් අධ්‍යාපනය ලබන දරුවන්ට ජාත්‍යන්තර භාෂා 06 ඉගෙනීමට සහ නීතිය ඉගෙනීමට අවස්ථාව ලබා නොදීමත් ය.

වර්තමානයේ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පවතින ඩොලර් හිඟයටද ඉංග්‍රීසි අන්තවාදීන්ගේ මේ අදූරදර්ශී භාෂා ප්‍රතිපත්තිය හේතු වී තිබේ.

නීතිඥ අරුණ ලක්සිරි උණවටුන B.Sc(Col), PGDC(Col) සමායෝජක, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන. දුරකථන 0712063394. (2022.08.15)