Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Buenos Aires was rocked again last week by massive protests against austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Structural reforms with austerity have resulted in soaring inflation, currency depreciation, poverty and inequality that is eroding Argentine society and economy, while enabling bail out of private lenders and vulture funds like BlackRock.

Argentina is now on its 21st IMF agreement! Sri Lanka negotiating a 17th IMF agreement at this time may be doing marginally bit better than Argentina, which is South American’s 3^rd largest economy. However, the strategic Indian Ocean island perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry appears to be in the midst of asset stripping ex-ante IMF negotiations with International Sovereign Bond (ISB) debt holders, who caused the country to default for the first time in its history in April this year.

As a staff level agreement with the IMF is under discussion, Minister of Power and Energy, Kanchana Wijeratne gave BlackRock’s partner, Adani, provisional approvals and strategic lands for two wind power projects in sensitive ecosystems in Northern Sri Lanka, Mannar and Pooneryn, without Environmental Impact assessments being complete last week.

Wijesekera had decided to award the projects and lands to Adani following a meeting with officials of Ceylon Electricity Board and Sustainable Development Authority last Tuesday.[i]  The Minister added that Public private partnership agreements would be signed pertaining to 21 of the 46 projects that were delayed due to the CEB Act amendments. 26 Renewable proposals from expression of interests that was given Provisional Approvals would be also expedited with grid clearance and transmission plans, with other proposals evaluated within 30 days. [ii]

As the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL), engages in talks for a Staff Level Agreement with the lender of last resorts, Sri Lankan citizens may need to learn some lessons from Argentina, fast! Back in 2020, BlackRock had opposed a debt settlement deal with Argentina and lobbied other debt holders as the country grappled with soaring poverty and the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last week a global campaign by women’s groups asked UN Women to rescind an MOU with BlackRock for gender-lens funding due to its poor corporate responsibility track record.

IMF,  BlackRock and Lazard in Sri Lanka’s Default: Ex-Ante Asset Striping

BlackRock, the world’s largest asset and investment management company with over $10 trillion is the largest holder of Sri Lanka’s opaque ISB debt that caused the country’s Staged Default in April this year. ISBs amounts to almost fifty percent of Sri Lanka’s external debt.

In comparison to BlackRock’s trillions Sri Lanka’s external debt is a mere $ 26 billion.  Black Rock also got huge Covid Bailout funds from the US government to asset strip around the world during economically devastating global lockdowns in 2020, and is an investor in India’s Adani Group.

Ironically, the IMF which does not distinguish between illiquidity and insolvency has assessed Sri Lanka’s $26 billion external debt as unsustainable although the island is oil, gas and mineral rich and located at the Center of the Indian Ocean on the world’s busiest trade and undersea data cables, which if properly taxed would render the island super-rich!

An economic meltdown ex-ante and ex-post the Staged Default in April this year due to a purported lack of US dollars amid Corporate media narratives of famine and fear as part of a Psychological Operation along with people’s protest enabled the entry of the Washington Consensus (IMF and WB), into the strategic island that is perpetually in the cross-hairs of big power rivalry and Over the Horizon Operations (OTH), the more so as Cold War heats up in the Indian Ocean region.

While the IMF does not distinguish between a country’s illiquidity and insolvency, the valuation of strategic assets by Lazard et al. hired by the US-backed Ranil Rajapakse regime in Colombo may also raise troubling questions. Lazard, the US-based financial advisory and asset management firm, had visited Sri Lanka in back in February 2018 to discuss divestment.  As a privatization advisor, Lazard involves both an advisory services branch and asset management branch. On numerous occasions, Lazard has undervalued the price of a company, enabling the latter to purchase the stock at low prices and sell it for a considerable profit according to a report of the Amsterdam based Transnational Institute that notes:.[iii]

As with the Royal Mail, Lazard, Europe’s favourite privatisation advisor, played a key role in AENA’s under-evaluation before its IPO as it helped determine the IPO price. And comparable to what happened during the privatisation of UK’s Royal Mail, one of Lazard’s asset management branches, Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund, acquired AENA (Spain’s Airports company) shares at the IPO and sold them roughly a month later netting a 60% profit.58 By buying up and selling the AENA shares within such a short period of time, Lazard’s World Dividend & Income Fund deviated from its usual strategy. As the name suggests, the company usually focuses on long-term investments and profit generated by dividends.59 In the case of AENA however, Lazard‘s World Dividend & Income Fund were only too happy to drop their customary strategy when it yielded a 60% increase of their investment in just four weeks. Once again, Lazard took full advantage of its privileged position on both sides of the fence, as seller and buyer making a huge profit in the process.

The I.M.F. had long been accused of wielding a single blunt instrument— austerity in crises and forcing the poor to the bear, the costs of opaque and Odious debt accumulated by corrupt and incompetent leaders in developing countries, and passing it on to impoverished citizens, while ‘bailing out’ vulture funds, prominent among them BlackRock and the global 1 percent.

It would appear that Adani and BlackRock are targeting the strategic Indian Ocean island’s coastal lands, energy and telecom infrastructure at this time of IMF discussions on Sri Lanka’s debt and Staged Default and stand to benefit from the debt restructuring process– ex ante! Where does the corruption end?!

Adani and BlackRock Greenwash

Adani which partners with BlackRock, stands to benefit ex-ante IMF-CBSL-ISB talks from the Mannar and Poonaryn land deals for Green Wind Energy. But questions arise: Why the rush to costly green energy, without a proper energy transition plan in Sri Lanka, which has a minute carbon foot print at this time of global fuel price increases, and as a result of unplanned green energy policies (like the organic fertilizer disaster), is a question that many are asking?  Is this a sweetheart deal ex-ante IMF negotiations with ISB holders for BlackRock to tow the line?

These questions arise also given the poor environmental track record of both Adani and BlackRock, which elicited global protest campaigns against the latter’s funding of UNWOMEN. Adani and BlackRock were also the subject of a global protest campaign given the environmental impacts of the Carmichael Coal mine project in Australia on the Great Barrier Reef last year.

An IMF Firesale of assets in the strategic island would benefit opaque ISB holders of Sri Lanka’s Odious debt, with Sri Lankan Airline set to be privatized soon. The state-owned Yugadanavi Power plant was sold to a US company, New Fortress, last year. The Ceylon Electricity board is being fragmented and plans are afoot for sell off in parts, jeopardizing national energy security and so too the Petroleum Corporation.

However, rather than privatize energy assets, globally re-nationalization of energy infrastructure given soaring energy prices and commodities futures speculation is the trend globally, with France set to Nationalize its largest electric company, and the Singapore Parliament passing legislation last year conferring on the Energy Market Authority (EMA) more powers to secure Singapore’s electricity supply,

Adani had also sought to take over India’s Agriculture sector during the Covid panicdemic exercise, but two years of brave and sustained protests by India’s farmers (unlike Sri Lanka’s Aragalaya which fizzled out after a couple of months of protests that enabled a US backed Ranil Rajapakse Presidency), prevented the global corporate takeover of India’s farming and agriculture.

IMF in Argentina: lessons unlearned

Did the ‘lender of last resorts’ learn lessons in Argentina? The IMF’s rescue package’ in Argentina two decades ago imposed crippling cuts to government programs, sowing enduring bitterness. Ms. Georgieva, the fund’s managing director, claims that the lender of last resorts” learned lessons and has sharpened a focus on protecting countries from impossible debt burdens.

However, BlackRock, opposed a debt settlement deal with Argentina as the country grappled with soaring poverty and the pandemic in 2020 although.[iv] BlackRock CEO, Laurence D. Fink presents himself as the vanguard of a progressive form of capitalism in which profits are not everything and has been rebranding the corporate with while cultivating environmental and social protection causes.

But when Argentina defaulted in May 2020 on $66 billion worth of bonds, Mr. Fink’s faith in stakeholder capitalism” collided with traditional bottom line imperatives. Though poverty soared in Argentina as the pandemic worsened a punishing economic downturn, BlackRock opposed a settlement proposed by the government and rallied other creditors to reject it, while holding out for a marginally improved deal.

Meanwhile in another continent, following massive protests in Australia and globally the Adani and BlackRock seem to be busy Greenwashing themselves and presenting a Green Energy face in Sri Lanka. Thus Adani has been given provisional approvals for two wind power projects in strategic and sensitive ecosystems in Mannar and Pooneryn, without Environmental Impact assessments completed, by a Minister who should have resigned given the incompetence and corruption in the sector that brought the country to a standstill in June –July ex-ante and ex-post the Staged Default, ensuring a crisis that legitimated the IMF’s eroding Sri Lanka’s economic policy autonomy and sovereignty against its citizen’s interests.

UN WOMEN campaign: From Greenwash to Pinkwash

Adani and BlackRock are accused of environmental pollution globally, and BlackRock was recently called out in a global feminist campaign that focused on UNWOMEN’s MOU for partnership with BlackRock and taking funding form the investment giant.The campaign focused on the fad of Climate impact investment”, stating that: Civil society watchdog groups consistently identify BlackRock as among the worst performers on corporate accountability. Its climate and socially-destructive investments — particularly significant in impact because of the massive component they represent of BlackRock’s portfolio — have been called out by activists, including Indigenous leaders. Aware of the optics, BlackRock has attempted to ‘greenwash’ itself by acknowledging the seriousness of climate change – in a move that the New York Times has condemned as ‘climate hypocrisy’ that is intentionally misleading; worse than climate denial.

The recently-announced partnership with UN Women suggests that UN Women has been
recruited to BlackRock’s image-cleansing efforts – this time it is seeking to ‘pinkwash’ itself read a letter addressed to the head of UNWOMEN and signed by Hundreds of women’s organizations and individuals around the world. Thus they wrote:

 BlackRock funding UN Women gives it a veneer of feminist approval that it clearly does not merit. Given BlackRock’s phenomenal size and influence (reportedly managing ten trillion USD) in assets, it is not unreasonable to assert that this UN Women partnership also gives a feminist imprimateur to the version of neoliberal global capitalism that is condemned by the Secretary Generatl. This crisis-prone speculation-based capitalism, spawning grotesque income inequalities, has also been linked to misogynistic neo-populism and entrenched poverty for many women, particularly those from ethnic or racial minorities, marginalized sexualities, and female-headed household.

Importantly the Women’s organizations, academics and activists who signed the letter also noted: UN Women needs to rescind the partnership with BlackRock and set standards for its private sector partnerships.The same critique may be make of other UN agencies like the World Health Organization funded by Big Pharma and the Gates Foundations and UNDP funded by big oil companies like Shell to promote Debt for Nature Swaps (DFNS), need revised standards for private sectors partnerships.

The Privatization Industry: National Security Jeopardized?

The UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called out profiteering by private oil giants earlier this month and said was immoral” that the largest energy companies in the first quarter of the year made combined profits of close to $100 billion. He urged all governments to tax these excessive profits and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times.

The worst time to privatize strategic assets is in a global emergency and jeopardize national energy security as Cold War looms amid soaring oil and gas prices. Privatization is no panacea for cultivated state-sector corruption to under-mine government institutions as a pretext to privatization a la the Privatization Playbook.

A trend away from privatization towards re-nationalization of energy infrastructure is visible globally at this time as energy security of countries becomes paramount. Last November the Singapore Parliament passed a Bill to safeguard Singapore’s energy security and reliability in the long term.[v] The Bill provides the Energy Market Authority (EMA) with more powers to secure Singapore’s electricity supply, as the country transits to cleaner sources of energy to acquire, build, own and operate critical infrastructure, which reverses privatization.

The French government likewise said Wednesday that it plans to fully take over its largest electricity provider Electricity de France (EDF). The nationalization of EDF comes as the European Union feels the effects of its partial bans on Russian energy. Russia is the largest supplier of energy products to the EU, accounting for 62% of crude oil imports and 25% of natural gas imports to the bloc in 2021.[vi] Soft Re-nationalisation is also ongoing in Hungary.

However, Sri Lanka is self-destructing its energy security by unbundling energy infrastructure’ ex-ante IMF-ISB talks, despite evidence that privatization is not a solution for citizens, as private global energy companies have made massive profits while inflation soars and people starve due to high oil and gas prices.

The IMF does not recognize the difference between ‘illiquidity’ and ‘insolvency’, or the fact that location, location, location” matters in valuing assets, or the fact the island’s mineral-rich sea bed has UDC data cables that keep the global financial and economic system going, and if taxed would render the country super rich! Thus, Adani which is backed by BlackRock is poised to take over sensitive lands on Greenwash project in Sri Lanka while the IMF operation to divest the island of valuable lands, energy, telecom and transport infrastructure assets is on-going as part of a bailout of predatory vulture funds that prey on the citizens of the global south in collaboration with the Ranil-Rajapaksa regime in Colombo.

The current President was also responsible for the biggest financial fraud in the country– the Bondscam of 2015 at the CBSL. The largest share of the SL’s ISB  debt – nearly 70 percent – was accumulated during the 2015-2019 when Ranil Wickramasinghe was in power. He was brought back to power in a regime change operation less than three months ago to steer IMF negotiations and enable asset stripping.

Indeed, as Sri Lanka negotiates a Staff-level Agreement” with the IMF, it seems to be fully remote controlled from Washington DC with New Delhi as a junior partner. The country is already in structural adjustment mode and being readied for an IMF Firesale and asset stripping as part of a bailout” of US and EU-based International Sovereign Bond (ISB) holders.

However, given the Odious nature of the debt accumulated in deals between corrupt politicians and predatory ISB holders, academics and activists in Sri Lanka have called for outright Cancellation of ISB debt, and restructuring of only bi-lateral and multi-lateral debts. While it is claimed that investors holding emerging market bonds run the gamut from specialized funds with high tolerance for risk to conservative pension funds, the Funds should do due diligence and ensure that they are not party to Odious debt accumulation in poor countries in the Global South!

Adani List of the Carmichael Project

The Adani List page reveals BlackRocks massive financial interest in Adani and the companies involved in the Carmichael coal export project in Australia that resulted in massive environmental protests.  BlackRock has a huge stake in many of the companies that comprise the Adani List, which consists of the insurance, construction, engineering and infrastructure providers to the Adani Carmichael mine and rail project. Companies on the Adani List shows BlackRock holds a total of US$26.8 billion in companies that are providing services to the Carmichael project, including some very influential stakes in some companies.

BlackRock holds the following stakes in Adani List companies: [vii]

• 7.25% of Aurizon, one of two companies that could potentially provide coal haulage services to Adani to get the coal from mine to port.
• 7.74% of AIG, which was insuring Adani as recently as September 2019 and has not declared themselves out of the project.
• 7.94% of Decmil, a construction company which has a $40m contract to design and construct three temporary camps along the Carmichael rail corridor.
• 8.31% of Marsh, which is Adani’s broker and attempting to secure insurance for the Carmichael coal mine and rail project.
• 4.93% of Oracle Corp, a software company providing the Aconex project management software for use on the Adani Carmichael coal project.
• 8.22% of Siemens, which has agreed to provide essential signalling services for the Carmichael rail line.
• 0.66% of the State Bank of India, which is still bankrolling Adani’s Australian activities, most notably the debt funded acquisition of the Abbot Point Coal Export Terminal, through which the Carmichael coal would be exported.
• 0.9% of Telstra, a telecommunications company believed to be providing communications links for the Carmichael project.

BlackRock also owns 7.45% of SAP, which is also understood to be providing specialist communications services to the Adani Group but is not yet on the Adani List.

[i] http://www.colombopage.com/archive_22B/Aug17_1660714394CH.php

[iii] Sol Tambo Vila and Peters, M, the Privatization industry in Europe https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/tni_privatising_industry_in_europe.pdf

[iv] In Argentina’s Debt Negotiations, a Kinder, Gentler Capitalism Faces a Test https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/31/business/argentina-debt.html

[v] https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singapore-energy-security-electricity-supply-bill-passed-parliament-2285836

[vi] https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2022/07/06/france-will-nationalize-countrys-largest-utility-company-amid-deepening-war-induced-energy-crisis/?sh=5063c81464fa

[vii] https://www.marketforces.org.au/blackrock-has-a-mountain-to-climb-if-it-wants-the-moral-high-ground-on-adani/

KAMALIKA PIERIS

There is systemic ragging in the universities of Sri Lanka. This ragging is not something generated from within the University. It is a political enterprise  directed from outside the University but executed by students within the University.  This fact is now in the open domain. University ragging is a political enterprise, announced Prof Sujeewa Amarasena, Vice Chancellor, University of Ruhuna in 2019.  They have been at this for the last two decades, he said.

There was general agreement with this allegation. This ragging is carried out by certain political parties active in the University said informants. Certain political groups are involved in ragging”, they said. The majority of undergraduates do not engage in this type of ragging.

Informants   also agree  that it is the JVP and FSP through IUSF, which is responsible for the inhuman ragging in the state universities. JVP took control of the Inter University Student Federation (IUSF) in 1976. Thereafter office bearers of the Students Union in most universities were usually from JVP. In 2012 Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), Peratugami, broke away from the JVP and took over control of the student politics in University,  including IUSF. Ragging greatly increased after FSP took control of student politics, said informants.

JVP and FSP were   able to move into the University without any difficulty because the University, from the beginning, was hospitable to political parties. The first political parties to take an interest in the University were the Marxist parties of the 1940s,   followed by the rest.   Political parties quickly established foot holds in the University. There are formally established branches of national political parties in universities, said the UGC in 2019. They have been there for a long time 

Today all 15 universities are controlled by a single political movement said Prof. Mohan de Silva, Chairman UGC when interviewed in 2019.They have created a strong movement within the university system. The political component is entrenched into this whole thing, he said.   More than the students’ involvement there are outside parties who give them instructions.  Even the leaders don’t have any control, concluded Mohan de Silva. He did not name the party.

Media stated in 2022, that undergraduates know very well if they speak against  certain minor two political parties (some time ago it was one small political party) they will be killed or they will be forced to commit suicide. This bitter situation has been in existence at all state universities in Sri Lanka from 1971 to now.   The political party was not named, but we were given a hint, it was a party which only had 3% support of the public, obviously the JVP and its breakaway Frontline Socialist Party.

Daily Mirror in its extensive coverage of the topic (see below) named JVP and FSP as the agencies responsible for ragging in the universities, Daily Mirror said it is a well known fact that it is the Student Union leaders who are in most cases affiliated to the JVP or its breakaway group, the FSP who are responsible for the prevalence of ragging in universities though they deny this.

Sujatha Gamage also did not hesitate to name the JVP as the party responsible for  ragging in University  One party in particular, namely, the JVP, has followed a systematic method to recruit and indoctrinate new batches of enthusiastic supporters and a hard core of activists every year  in the University, she said.  This assures the party of a continuous supply of new entrants. The Peratugami Party, a breakaway of the JVP, is also thought to be a force, but overall it seems to be a complex interplay of the two, Sujatha concluded.

Prof Sujeewa Amarasena stated when he appeared on “Talk with Chatura” in 2019 that university   ragging was done by the IUSF, led by JVP.  A person who had listened in on this programme wrote in,   What Amarasena says regarding IUSF and JVP politics inside university is absolutely true. They are a nuisance to normal student life in universities. (https://youtu.be/idUG1dI3n5g) .

Respondents to the UGC survey on Ragging, Sexual and Gender Based Violence (2018)  said it is  crucial to recognize that there is a link between student politics and university ragging. Respondents to the UGC survey said that JVP and the Frontline Party are always behind ragging”. Inter University Students Federation is just a ploy of the Frontline Party they said. 

Undergraduates  appearing on talk shows for television and   YouTube, openly named  FSP and IUSF   as responsible  for the ragging. All   undergraduate societies  in  a University   are controlled by  a very small political party,  stated an undergrad at a TV talk show in November 2018. There is ragging when  Peratugami is in control of  the Student Union. When Peratugami is not controlling the union there is no ragging,  they concluded.   

Daily Mirror essays on the subject of ragging in University include:

• https://www.dailymirror.lk/122815/Ragging-continues-to-torment-undergraduates (Jan 27, 2017 )
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/News-Features/Ragging-perpetuated-under-the-guise-of-promoting-university-sub-culture/131-123786 (Feb 14, 2017)
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/Ragging-at-Universities-Grave-Human-Rights-Violation-/131-124790  (Mar 3, 2017)
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/opinion/Torture-at-universities-How-The-Mentally-Disturbed-Carryout-Ragging/172-143009  (Dec 29, 2017)
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Does-ragging-contribute-to-uni-education–156593.html (Oct 9, 2018)
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/news-features/University-ragging-intensifies-Breaking-a-Slave-to-Obey-the-System-/131-172516  (Aug 8, 2019)
• https://www.dailymirror.lk/Opinion/Ragging-in-universities-Academical-institutions-turn-torture-camps/172-172807 (Aug 14, 2019)

By Raj Gonsalkorale

Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results – Albert Einstein

Where are the protestors, the system has drowned them. Where is the system, it is where it has always been. Where are the people? they’re all back in the hole they have always been” – paraphrasing the lines taken from the traditional Cossack folk song “Koloda-Duda”, by Pete Seeger for his famous song Where have all the flowers gone”.

Pete Seeger was a legend in his own time. As the New York Times notes, this musician, songwriter and song collector-historian “helped spur the politically tinged folk music revival of the ’50s and ’60s. He spoke out against the Vietnam War and has remained an activist, notably on environmental issues.”

No one condones violence, and unruly, undignified behaviour. The original Aragalaya movement was the opposite of all this. It was a breath of fresh air, and for once, an embryonic discourse began about changing the system of governance. Unfortunately, it was hijacked by political opportunists who sensed there was a wave they could ride. They rode that wave and marched and occupied the Presidents house, the Prime Ministers house, the Prime Ministers office and burnt the acting Prime Ministers (now the President) private residence. A President and a Prime Minister were forced to resign. Some ministers resigned. Many who could not and still do not differentiate the original Aragalaya from the subsequent one, and many disgruntled members of the public cheered. They thought it was the dawn of a new era.

Systems are hard to change, and the hi jackers action has managed to restore the status quo, and the breath of fresh air has turned stale. Self-serving politics is back. Deck chairs may have changed, but the farce lives on.

Rightly, questions are being asked whether the Aragalaya was akin to a Soda bottle, and whether the system has subsumed the fizz. Opposition parties led by the SJB are trying to cross every T” and dot every I” and there is no agreement in sight as to the kind of interim governance model they would support. The JVP has decided to oppose any kind of all party governance system. Plenty of talk, but no action on the all-party governance front.

Since Ranil Wickremasinghe, Sri Lanka’s accidental President ascended the chair, political parties have been brawling and struggling like schoolboys, each group trying to outdo others. All eying the next election, whenever that is to be held, rather than being empathetic to the plight of the ordinary people of the country and the dire economic situation in the country. Motherhood statements clog the media and airways, and yet no party is yet to come up with some specific immediate, medium, and long-term strategies to overcome the dire situation in the country.

Availability of fuel, even on a rationed basis, and cooking gas, has sent the country to a state of complacency, not realizing that this situation can only last if there is foreign exchange to purchase fuel and gas. No political party has stated how they would find that vital influx of foreign exchange to the coffers. No political party has come up with specific proposals as to how Sri Lanka could make the situation last even if some foreign exchange is found in the immediate term.

No political party has come up with specific proposals as to how the country would find rupees to foot the salary bills of public sector and private sector workers and for health, education, and other essential services

No political party has come up with proposals as to how numerous commercial sectors like the construction sector and the tourist sector, major employers of workers, direct and indirect, and a major contributor to the economy of the country could be revived.

The list of things not done is endless. Yet, there is much talk.

The Presidents call for an all-party government, which all parties seemed to agree with in the past, has turned into many diversions. Some are supporting the concept, but not willing to join one. Some are on the fence and wondering what their future political fortunes would be, should they join such a government.

The ordinary folk of the country are very likely sick and tired of this farce.  They are concerned about their children’s schooling which has been disrupted for more than 2 years due to the Covid pandemic and the economic catastrophe. They are concerned about their jobs and how they will make ends meet if they lose their jobs. Those without jobs are struggling to find jobs as there are no jobs they can apply for. They are concerned about the high cost of living and spiraling prices of essentials, including medicines. To add to their frustration and sense of despondency, they are fearing what their next electricity and water bill would be considering the steep hikes in rates announced recently.

There is no light at the end of the tunnel for most such ordinary people of the country, while politicians argue about matters that affect them and their political future. They could have at least agreed on a common plan of action for the next 12 months, with some specific courses of action as to how foreign exchange is to be found for import of essentials, on measures as to how the country’s rupee income could be increased, and how the most affected citizens of the country could be compensated to relieve them at least of some pressure on their living expenses.

They could have agreed on some strategies to ensure how school children could continue their education in their schools. Transportation is a major issue for them as well as for those who use public transport for work or business as there are less buses on the roads and they are crowded to the brim as a result. It is no wonder the covid spread has increased.  Without making this a political issue, political parties could have agreed to provide more fuel for buses and reduce the minimum quantum of fuel for motor cars, and increased diesel imports and reduced petrol imports, as most buses run on diesel.

Train services too could be increased combining bus services to and from rail stations so that more people could make use of train services. A similar arrangement could have been done for distribution of goods using train and a lorry service. Food distribution would have benefited greatly if such an arrangement was in place. There are many measures that could be taken to bring relief to the hardest-hit segment of the population and to revive the economy for the benefit of all. Under normal circumstances, if there was no crisis, one would have expected the incumbent government to take such necessary measures. However, the situation is not normal, and the incumbent government is an accidental, interim one. This is where governance must be a shared responsibility as an interim measure until the time is right to hold elections and test the will of the people. The time is still not right for that to happen.

It would benefit the country and its ordinary citizens if all political parties could agree on a few fundamental courses of action and take partisan, self-serving politics out of some crucial areas of governance. Some possible strategies are noted below.

1. Agree that a general election will be held say in 12-18 months
2. Agree to form a governance council with the leader of each party being a member of such a council
3. The governance council should agree on a governance plan for 12-18 months and the President and a cabinet of ministers, with a maximum of 15 ministers tasked to implement the plan and report to the governance council.
4. Collectively agree to vacate a total of 5 national list parliamentary positions to allow the President to nominate 5 technocrats with a proven record in economics, finance, education, commerce and agriculture as national list MPs and thereafter as cabinet ministers.
5. Agree to combine foreign policy with international trade policy and appoint one cabinet minister for the combined portfolio. Investment promotion, the BOI, the Port City Commission, the Export Development Board, among other relevant entities should be within this portfolio. It is strongly suggested that overseas consular activity should be outsourced to suitable private agencies and many of the overseas consular missions closed. Foreign Affairs should be about foreign policy, and Sri Lankan diplomatic missions should be located only in countries where the country could effectively project and promote a non-aligned foreign policy. High Commissioners and Ambassadors appointed should be persons who can promote such a policy and who can promote investments in Sri Lanka.
6. Agree to have a Constitutional Council comprising of representatives from all political parties in and outside Parliament, representatives from the business sector, the academia, unions, women organisations, etc to seek views from the public, conduct discussions and present a blueprint for a new constitution.  
7. Agree on a blueprint for the economic revival of the country and measures to attract, and conserve foreign exchange, and measures to increase rupee revenue.
8. Agree on a donor consortium and a meeting of members of such a consortium to extend long term funding and/or credit facilities for essential imports such a petroleum, gas, medicines, food,
9. Agree on a restructuring plan for entities like Sri Lankan Airlines, Petroleum Corporation. A Public/Private partnership model, complete privatization should be considered.
10. Agree on appointing a nonpolitical expert committee to study and submit a plan of action to transform Sri Lanka to an export oriented, import substitution industrial economy, with self-sufficiency in food to ensure food security.

Politicians may not know it, and they may not wish to know it, but they must know that public confidence in them is at the bottom of the barrel like the economy of the country. They have an opportunity to take some concrete action now to restore even a modicum of confidence. If they do not do this, and the country’s situation gets worse, as many are predicting, the next Aragalaya will result in total anarchy. International vultures will descend on the country then and its sovereign status will become a just memory of the past.

The Festival of Bharat

Out of 26 Christian nations in Europe, 24 do not even recognise Hinduism as a religion. They practise such overt discrimination at home, yet target India for ‘Christian persecution’: Pt. Satish K. Sharma

Senaka Weeraratna Courtesy The Daily Mirror

This is an edited version of an address delivered by Senaka Weeraratna, Hony. Secretary of the German Dharmaduta Society, on September 28, 2016 in support of his resolution entitled ‘Recognition of Buddhism as an official religion in non – Buddhist countries’ at the First Plenary Session of the 28th General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB) held in Seoul, South Korea from September 26 to 30, 2016.  

The WFB being the leading international Buddhist Organisation, was founded by a great visionary, Dr. G.P. Malalasekera, in 1950 in Colombo to unite all Buddhists despite glaring ideological differences among the various traditions, under the umbrella of ‘Fellowship’.  

There were 129 Buddhist delegates from 27 countries representing Asia, Europe and North America (including Hawaii) at this historic meeting which saw the founding of the WFB. It is now generally accepted that this meeting marked the first event in Buddhist history when Buddhists (laity and Sangha) of nearly all sects in the globe were duly represented.   

Among the notable figures present on this occasion was Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, the then Minister of Law and Chairman of the Drafting Committee of India’s Constitution (also known as the father of India’s Constitution and regarded by some as the ‘Modern Manu’. More importantly he was greatly instrumental in the revival of Buddhism in India in the modern era being the leader of India’s Dalits (so-called untouchables) who converted to Buddhism.  

Ambedkar’s advice to WFB
In the Book ‘Ambedkar and Buddhism’ by Sangarakshita (1986), an interesting account is given of his stance at the inaugural meeting of the WFB which took place at the Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Tooth) in Kandy on May 25, 1950. Sangarakshita says as follows:

 
On 25 May, (1950) he ( Dr. B.R. Ambedkar) arrived in Colombo by air with his wife and Rajbhoj and the same day attended the inaugural meeting of the World Fellowship of Buddhists at the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy. Since he was not attending the meeting as a Delegate (for that would have implied that he considered himself a Buddhist), he declined to speak at the official session and, instead, addressed the delegates after they had adopted the resolution inaugurating the fellowship. There were people in India, he told them, who thought that the time had come when the effort might be made to revive Buddhism, and one of the objects of his visit was to observe Buddhist ceremonies and rituals, which the people of India had no means of witnessing.

  
Having thus explained the purpose of his visit, Ambedkar turned to the conference itself. He was not fully satisfied, he said, with the resolution that had been passed calling for a World Fellowship of Buddhists. What was wanted was a declaration on the part of all the Buddhist countries that they were determined not merely to have a Fellowship but that they would propagate the religion and make sacrifices for it. Whether the delegates realized it or not, what Ambedkar was really saying was that the Buddhist countries of Asia should be less inward-looking and more outward-looking. He himself was, as usual, sufficiently outward-looking.   

After the conclusion of the inaugural WFB conference, Dr. Ambedkar not only saw as much as he could of the ceremonies and rituals of Buddhism in Sri Lanka,but found time to address the Young Men’s Buddhist Association, Colombo, on ‘The Rise and Fall of Buddhism in India’. Buddhism had not totally disappeared from India, he asserted. Though its material form had disappeared, as a spiritual force it still existed in India and commanded respect, he said. Suitable evidence of acknowledgement of major Buddhist influence in Indian History, is the inclusion of the Asoka Chakra being a depiction of the Buddhist Dharmachakra which appears at the centre of the Flag of India. It also appears on a number of Edicts of Asoka most prominent among which is the Lion Capital of Ashoka.   

Dr. Ambedkar’s advice to the WFB was that it must not confine itself to mere ‘fellowship’ but instead WFB must be forthright and determined to make sacrifices in fostering (and protecting Buddhism), and have an impact on the unfolding major events in the world.   

Protection of Buddha Gaya
Today, there are threats even to the sanctity of the Maha Bodhi Temple at Buddha Gaya. It is subject to constant disturbance from sound amplifiers i.e. loudspeakers, installed at a nearby Mosque situated only 60 metres away from the Maha Bodhi Temple. The tranquillity and serenity that one associates with the most sacred place on earth for Buddhists i.e. place of enlightenment of the Buddha, is not possible due to management of the Temple not being under the control of Buddhists. It is tantamount to humiliation of Buddhists to be forced to listen as a captive audience to shrieking sounds in a foreign language amplified many times over in the most sacred site for Buddhists. The Govt. of India which has taken special steps to attract tourists from all over the world to visit important Buddhist sites in India must address this issue on an urgent and serious footing without any further delay. WFB must add its voice and urge the Govt. of India to act effectively to put a stop to highly amplified sounds of another Religion that disturbs the tranquillity and calm of the main Maha Bodhi Temple at Buddha Gaya.  

Official recognition of Buddhism in non-Buddhist majority countries
The resolution before this House is a call to the WFB to lobby the international community to extend official recognition to Buddhism in countries outside Asia.   

It is estimated that there are now altogether between 1 and 4 million Buddhists in Europe, the majority being in Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom. Despite a commitment to ‘multi-culturalism’ and ‘religious pluralism’ in Europe, the official recognition of Buddhism is confined only to two States i.e. Russia and Austria.    

In most Islamic countries in West Asia, the existence of Buddhism as a religion is denied because it does not subscribe to the belief in a creator God. This translates itself into denial of any form of freedom of worship, including access to places of worship for Buddhists in the Middle East despite over one million expatriate Buddhists working and living in these countries. In some Islamic countries, including Maldives, Buddhists are not allowed to enter these countries with books on Buddhism or any artefact that resembles affinity or respect for Buddhism, such as Buddhist statues. In some airports they are pulled out from the possession of the foreign visitor by customs officials and dashed to the ground. This is a clear violation of a fundamental human rights. The right to choose one’s religion and practise it. Many international bodies, including the UNHRC, are complicit tacitly in such human rights violations through conduct of omission and deafening silence.   

However, in contrast to the practice of countries in the Middle East, several Islamic majority countries in South East Asia i.e. Indonesia and Malaysia, and South Asia, such as Bangladesh have given official recognition to Buddhism and declared Vesak as a public holiday.   

Pakistan officially recognizes Buddhism and held the first ever Vesak Festival organized by the Government of Pakistan at Taxila commencing in year 2016.   

In Europe, so far only Russia and Austria, have granted official recognition to Buddhism, despite Buddhism being one of the oldest religions and accepted as a global religion by the UN which has allocated a special day in its annual calendar for celebration of Vesak (Buddha’s birth anniversary).   
The non-recognition of Buddhism as an official religion in Europe has led to discriminatory treatment such as categorizing Buddhists as being members of ‘sects’ and ‘cults’ among other things. The absence of State recognition to Buddhism in almost all European countries functions as an impediment to the proper practice and development of Buddhism in Europe.  

There are no public holidays for Buddhism or any other non-Christian religion in the public holiday calendar of European nations with Christian heritage. This is in stark contrast to the conduct of traditional Buddhist countries e.g. Sri Lanka, which has granted public holidays on days of religious significance to adherents of both Abrahamic and Eastern Dharmic religions.  

Even UK denies official recognition to Buddhism. It does not allow the construction of new Buddhist Temples. But allows Buddhists to occupy existing buildings and use them for their religious functions. This is also true of several other West European countries.  

What does official State recognition of Buddhism mean?
Official recognition would allow Buddhists certain rights such as access to the media, financial support, legal standing, and recognition equal to those of Christian Churches, and right to teach in a school. It would allow them the legal right to form voluntary societies as exclusive Buddhist societies with membership restricted only to Buddhists.  

However, despite restrictive laws, there is growing public acceptance and accommodation of Buddhism in several European countries including UK, France and Germany.  

No mechanism to protect and save Buddhist communities
If we look at the world today we see powerful and influential organizations like the ‘Organisation for Islamic Cooperation’ and ‘World Council of Christian Churches’ who would stand by and publicly support the cause of their co-religionists unequivocally. Leading Buddhist organizations must do likewise. We must evolve mechanisms to help protect and save Buddhist communities and Buddhist Nations in danger. The protection and preservation of Buddhism must be placed high on the WFB Agenda. This is because it is Buddhism more than any other religion that has lost more ground and space to other religions during the last 1000 years.   

The WFB must take leadership in association with the Governments of Buddhism-friendly countries and other Buddhist organizations and Buddhist communities, in lobbying for greater official recognition of Buddhism by nations outside Asia. Buddhists in these countries are entitled to equal rights similar to those enjoyed by the followers of the Abrahamic faiths.   

(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law holds a Bachelor of Laws degree (University of Sri Lanka), and Master of Laws (Monash University, Australia). He holds a Diploma and Master of Arts in Buddhist Studies obtained from the Post Graduate Institute of Pali and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya.

Mehjabin Bhanu Rajshahi City Corporation in Bangladesh

According to the IMF, Bangladesh is not at risk of experiencing a crisis similar to the one that occurred in Sri Lanka. An IMF official said Bangladesh is not facing a crisis and its external position is “very different from several countries in the region”.

When describing Bangladesh’s present economic status to media during an online conference on Tuesday, Rahul Anand, division chief in the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, said that Bangladesh’s external position is “quite different from several nations in the region.”

According to him, Bangladesh’s external debt-to-GDP ratio, which is close to 14%, is moderately low, primarily concessional in form, and has a minimal risk of debt crisis.

Following his interview that was recently published in the London-based daily, Bangladeshi Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal sent a response to the Financial Times. “Today, the reserves stand at US$40 billion US dollars, enough for more than five months’ import payments and beyond the risk threshold prescribed by the IMF,”.

After Sri Lanka’s economy collapsed, focus shifted to Bangladesh as the nation looked to prevent the financial crisis that broke out in the island nation. Concerns about the nation’s economic health arose as Dhaka sought the IMF for a bailout package and amid an increase in fuel costs. However, a senior executive from the Washington-based global lender dispelled such dire predictions.

The economist responded to allegations that Bangladesh’s $40 billion reserve was a sign of “impending catastrophe” by saying that “even though Bangladesh’s reserves have decreased, the stockpiles are still large enough to handle four to five months of potential imports.”

There were rumors that the government’s most recent record fuel price increase was a requirement imposed by the IMF. The IMF official, however, refuted the charges, stating that there was no connection between the fuel price increase to bring it into line with the market pricing and the support program sought by the IMF (by Dhaka). The external debt of Bangladesh is only about 14% of GDP, which is quite modest.

According to the media reports, Rahul Anand, division leader at the IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department, Bangladesh is not in a crisis and its external position is “quite different from numerous countries in the region.”

While the Sheikh Hasina government has set a target of more than $60 billion in export income for the following fiscal year, Bangladesh’s exports in the 2021–2022 fiscal year exceeded the $50 billion threshold (2022-23). The government was able to achieve a consistent increase in remittances worth $813 million in the first ten days of August thanks to the new opening of the Malaysian labor market and a number of other government initiatives. The number of remittances received through the banking system in July was $2.09 billion, the most in the previous 14 months.

Due to Sheikh Hasina’s astute leadership, the nation implemented a number of preventive steps in response to the surge in spot market LNG prices at the start of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Among those measures were planned power outages in various regions of the nation, the suspension of a few development initiatives geared toward the future, and restrictions on government leaders’ overseas travel.

To compare RST money to an IMF bailout package sought by Pakistan or Sri Lanka is obviously to ignore the forest for the trees.

Nasrul Hamid, the nation’s junior minister for Power, Mineral, and Energy Resources, has already given the people of his country the assurance that the ongoing load shedding will end in September. He has also made further hints about implementing changes to oil prices in line with international markets. Importantly, despite the price increase, Bangladesh continues to provide its citizens with the most affordable options, and the increase in oil prices was intended to reduce a staggering subsidiary payment of more than BDT 8000 crore made by the government over the previous four months (February 2022—June 2022).

Bangladesh is thinking about importing crude oil from Russia as the price of gasoline in the country rises substantially. Masud Bin Momen, the foreign minister of Bangladesh, announced on Tuesday that a Russian expert delegation will soon arrive in Dhaka to discuss the problem of importing crude oil from that country.

According to the World Bank’s South Asia Food Security Update published on Thursday, there is no significant food shortage in Bangladesh. It is important to note that the government has implemented a number of initiatives to boost the nation’s output of both food grains and vegetables. Bangladesh wouldn’t experience a food crisis even if it was impossible to buy food from other nations owing to market volatility worldwide.

New rice varieties (BR-89) created by our experts will boost rice output by 50–60%. However, the reality is that because of the increase in the cost of diesel, seeds, fertilizer, and other inputs, the nation’s farmers are now finding it difficult to continue growing food grains and vegetables. Diesel, seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs are extremely important to farmers in order to nurture and grow their crops and vegetables. Their production costs will rise as a result of the increased cost of diesel, seeds, fertilizer, and other inputs.

However, the country’s aman paddy production has already been severely hampered by the drought-like conditions caused by a lack of rain. The majority of farmers in the nation rely on rainwater for the monsoon season’s aman paddy cultivation. The objective of aman agriculture in this season may potentially be hampered by the lack of rain.

The administration is committed to ensuring everyone has access to food. As a result, it must come up with strategies for increasing food production while providing farmers with unwavering support. Everyone should keep in mind that expanding the agricultural industry needs to continue to be a top focus.

To meet its demand, the nation has a sufficient supply of all types of fertilizers. 6.45 lakh tonnes of urea fertilizer, 3.94 lakh tonnes of TSP, 7.36 lakh tonnes of DAP, and 2.73 lakh tonnes of MOP are currently in stock. Fertilizer is currently in greater supply than it was during the same time last year. The farmers’ farm loan of Taka 2830.61 core was also distributed by the state-owned commercial banks.

To ensure the nation’s citizens have access to adequate food, the ministries of agriculture and food must exert all possible effort to commercialize and profit from agricultural activity.

The government needs to focus more on our farmers so that the rising costs of diesel, seeds, fertilizer, and other inputs won’t deter them from growing food crops like grains and vegetables. Not least of all, the government should take the required actions to provide farmers with cutting-edge equipment.

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, August 20: The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Julie Chung is confident that Sri Lanka will recover from its present political and economic troubles, but she cautions that it will have to ensure political stability and take hard decisions in consonance with the IMF’s stipulations to bring about the desired result.

Addressing the annual convocation of the Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies (BCIS) here on Saturday, Ambassador Chung warned that there is no magic wand to bring about change and that the Lankan government will have to take unpopular decisions.

Ambassador Chung gave the students some tips about how to look at issues facing them. In the process she subtly conveyed that that her recipe would be applicable to nations too.

She said that no problem will be difficult if it is tackled by all concerned together. It is easy to stop and hide from the problem. But that kind of approach will lead you nowhere. Take that one small step forward.”

In an apparent reference to a tendency to isolate oneself or one’s country from the rest of the world, Chung said that it is important to realize that the world and humanity everywhere are inter-connected and what happens around us or in one part of the world, affects all. World events are not a spectator sport” to be watched and not get involved, she said.        

She told the recipients of diplomas and certificates that they should  not shy away from change or fight change, but embrace it. The other key aspect of life and the human environment is communication. Bad communication could lead to misunderstandings. One should guard against disinformation and fake rhetoric. Before communicating anything the sources of the information must be checked to ascertain its veracity. Information is a moving target. One should not jump to conclusions about it but give it time to develop.

It is important to have convictions and convictions are about what one believes at the core of oneself. And one should stay true to oneself. In the modern world, convictions should be about equality, justice, democracy and non-discrimination. Discrimination may be dangerous,” Chung warned.  

The Ambassador spoke about the need to be positive. Say yes when you can. Say yes far more than you would say no.” And then be true to your word, she added.

Planning one’s moves is essential Chung said. Plans should be strategic in thinking but realistic in implementation,” she said. Referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine she pointed out that the Russians had not been realistic and that is why their plans had gone awry. They got in but are unable to figure out how to get out of the sticky situation.

In an apparent reference to Sri Lanka’s ties with China, Chung said, without mentioning any party, that one should choose one’s alliances carefully. There could be mismatches whether in marital relations or any other relationships.

The Senior Director of the BCIS, Ambassador Sumith Nakandala, said that the BCIS had distinguished itself by not ceasing its academic activities during the pandemic. The virtual mode was used to continue its work.

One of the products of the pandemic was the realization of the need for global cooperation in every field of activity, Nakandala said. As far as Sri Lanka is concerned its present problems were triggered by the pandemic but they were in the making much before, due to long-standing political and economic mismanagement, he added.

The BCIS trains students for the Postgraduate Diploma, Higher Diploma, Diploma and Certificate in International Relations. It was founded in 1974 by Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike. It is the pioneering institution in the field of International Relations. It also offers Postgraduate programs in International Relations to graduates from recognized universities in Sri Lanka and abroad, besides carrying out research. In addition, an array of international languages are taught.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Dulanjalee Premadasa, the sister of Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and SJB Member Hirunika Premachandra today gave statements to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) over ongoing investigations.

The CID summoned Dulanjalee Premadasa to record a statement over the investigation into the setting of fire to President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private residence in Colombo.

Meanwhile, the CID also recorded over six hours long a statement from Hirunika Premachandra this morning as well. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

හිටපු ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතා රටේ ජනතාව විසින්ම නියත වශයෙන්ම මීලඟ රාජ්‍ය නායකයා ලෙස පත් කර ගන්නා බව ආධ්‍යාත්මික වේදී ඇහැලේපොළ රන්තිලකගෙ කමල් රෝහණ මහතා පවසයි.

ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂ මහතාගේ දෛවය වළගම්බා රජුගේ දෛවයට සමාන බවද පවසන ඔහු මෙය විශ්ව ශක්තිය විසින් සිදුකරන දෙයක් බවත් කියා සිටියි.

අන්තර්ජාල නාලිකාවක සාකච්චාවකදී ඔහු මෙම අදහස් පල කර ඇත.

Courtesy The Indian Express

Indian authorities have expressed worries about the ship’s snooping capability.

Amid concerns over a visit by Chinese ship Yuan Wang 5 to his country, visiting Sri Lankan Tourism Minister Harin Fernando on Saturday said that he hoped it would not cause a major diplomatic row, as India understands” its situation.

Indian authorities have expressed worries about the ship’s snooping capability.

Sri Lanka is friends with everyone and I am sure India understands it,” Fernando said.

We have had a very good diplomatic relationship with India. I think they (India) understand the situation. We have lots of investment from the Chinese in Sri Lanka and they have also been quite understanding of our requirements…”

On a visit to Ahmedabad, Fernando said Sri Lanka is looking at Indian investments in ports and shipping, power and energy, leisure sector, wellness and aviation sectors.

Courtesy DevonLive

By the side of his naked body was a glass of Coke which it later turned out contained cyanide

Twenty-five years ago Devon was gripped by the story of a mysterious death that was likened to an Agatha Christie novel, and remains unsolved to this day. A man, calling himself Mr Patel, was found dead in a room at the Grand Hotel on Torquay seafront, a place the Torquay-born thriller writer knew well.

By the side of his naked body was a glass of Coke which it later turned out contained the poison cyanide. He had booked in under what turned out to be a false name, and had given a false address in London as his home.

The man arrived at the landmark hotel in September 1997, after three days in a more modest establishment nearby, called Lee’s Hotel and Cantonese Restaurant. The mystery guest, in his mid-thirties, ordered room service and ate a meal of roast lamb, washed down with a glass of Frascati, an Italian white wine. His body was found by a chambermaid the next day, the 24th.

His black suit, white shirt and multi-coloured tie were neatly folded on his bed, and on the bedside table was £94.12 in cash and an empty wine glass. But when the authorities were called in and tried to identify him, the lines of inquiry carried out the investigators found a series of dead ends.

It was only due to a coincidence that a tantalising clue emerged. Two marks were seen on his shoulder, a sign that he was a member of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group in Sri Lanka, an island state in the Indian Ocean. But why he ended up in the Devon seafront hotel where Agatha Christie spent her wedding night, and why he apparently ended his life there, has never been established.

When the body was removed to the mortuary, coroner’s officer Robin Little spotted the marks on Mr Patel’s shoulder. The then South Devon coroner Hamish Turner later recalled: We spent a year trying to find out who this chap was. We even photographed his face and sent that photo around the country hoping someone would recognise him, but had no luck. It was perhaps a grim thing to do – but we had nothing else to go on because he carried nothing to identify himself.”

It was a lucky coincidence that the local forensic pathologist, Dr Guyan Fernando, is from Sri Lanka. He was told of these marks in a chance conversation with Mr Little and was able to tell us that the dead man must be from his country because these marks were the tribal sign of the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group in Sri Lanka.”

The cyanide was another clue that the dead man was a Tamil Tiger because, Mr Fernando said, they always carried a cyanide pill with them in case they were caught. Then there was a courteous note, penned by Mr Patel. It read: I am very sorry for what I have done here but this is the place I had to carry out the deed. To the chef, the food was magnificent – fit for the gods – for a final meal. Thank you.”

Mr Turner said: I could only remark at the inquest that his reference to this place might be because he had read some Agatha Christie story and knew of her connection with the Grand Hotel.”

The dead man’s clothing was examined for clues to his identity but there were no laundry tags or marks that might help. He had a rather nice Parker pen which might have suggested he was an educated man,” Mr Turner added, but despite months of investigation by the police we never discovered his real name or what he was doing in Torquay.”

It was, he added, the most baffling case of his career, and he could only now surmise that the dead man must have been running away from someone he feared, which was why he chose to end his life when he did. As to exactly why he died, and whether he was a devotee of Agatha Christie, I suppose we will never know.”

Courtesy Adaderana

Tourism minister Harin Fernando who was in Ahmedabad to promote tourism in the island nation said that as things get back to normal after the recent political crisis in the island nation, the government aims to receive at least 10 lakh tourists this year, mostly from India.

Fernando, who was in Ahmedabad to promote tourism in the island nation, said religious and cultural tourism between Sri Lanka and India “will make a lot of sense”.

“There are a lot of commonalities we can find with India, and we think the next year will be mostly dedicated to India,” Fernando told reporters.

Sri Lanka has already logged five lakh tourists for the current year, and hopes to end the year with 10 lakh tourists, mostly from India, the minister said.

He further said 2018 was the best for the country when around 23 lakh tourists visited and generated a revenue of $4-5 billion for the country, he said.

“We have $900 million coming from the tourism sector (so far this year), and are hoping that by the end of the year we might reach about $2 billion,” Fernando said.

The country hopes to end this year with 10 lakh tourists and the next year with 15-20 lakh tourists, he said.

“Till now (this year), we have had 75,000 Indian tourists coming to Sri Lanka, followed by the United Kingdom (65,000). The first two-three months were good, and then we had a very dull period between April-June (due to political turmoil),” the minister said.

Things have again started to pick up and currently, the country has been receiving close to 2,000 tourists per day (as against the peak of 7,000 per day), he said.

“Sri Lanka, some would say, is a sort of India, we are a part of India…We are the pearl of the Indian Ocean, the value of Sri Lanka would be for Indians and we need to work that out with Indians,” Fernando said.

The island country is trying to work with a few ashrams in India to promote such tourism, he added.

“We are trying to bring in a big crowd at once about 2,000 pilgrims to Jaffna airport, and from there starting by road. We are looking at exploring these new avenues. We also have a lot of wellness, yoga, meditation and Ayurvedic medicines. There are a lot of values that India and Sri Lanka share,” the minister said.

Sri Lanka looks to India as its big brother who has always been supportive.

“We thank the Narendra Modi government, especially at this point where Sri Lanka had difficult times in the last couple of months,” the minister said.

In terms of currency exchange also Sri Lanka offers a better value for money, with one Indian rupee being equivalent to four Sri Lankan rupees, he said.

“Indians will have a better value for money while touring Sri Lanka rather than Indian destinations at this moment. Sri Lanka has a lot more to offer,” he said.

Unfortunately, travellers from Gujarat look more to Far East countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand as their preferred tourism destinations, Fernando said.

Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya, who is the brand ambassador for Sri Lanka tourism, said his countrymen have realised that they need to come back to normal life.

“Sri Lankans want stability with the new government. People have seen this change with the fuel crisis and gas, and we do not have long queues anymore. That is what people need,” Jayasuriya said.

“We need people to visit Sri Lanka. Tourism is the main source of income for the country, which is now safe to travel. The message should go that you can travel to Sri Lanka. We are hospitable people. We want people to travel and visit Sri Lanka,” he said.(PTI)

Courtesy Adaderana

The Colombo South Police Division is seeking public assistance to identify the 50 people who are charged with forcible entry to the Temple Trees in Colombo and damaging its properties on July 09.

Information can be submitted to the following telephone numbers:

011 242 1867
076 347 7342
1997 (hotline)

Courtesy Adaderana

Former parliamentarian Hirunika Premachandra arrived at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at around 11.00 a.m. this morning to record a statement with regard to an ongoing probe.

Speaking to the media, Premachandra said she was not informed of the nature of the investigation.

She alleged that President Ranil Wickremesinghe is now attempting to arrest and interrogate those who were involved in the Aragalaya movement.

It was Ranil Wickremesinghe who reaped benefits from the mass protests and became the president of the country, Premachandra said further.

Ranil Rajapaksa” is more of a dictator than Rajapaksas ever were, Premachandra added.

Courtesy Adaderana

The International Monetary Fund said it will need adequate assurances” from Sri Lanka’s creditors for a new program as it prepares a visit to Colombo later this month.

The goal of the visit is to make progress on a staff-level agreement for an aid package in the near term,” to help the island nation weather a severe economic crisis, the IMF said on Friday.

Staff from the global lender will be in Colombo from August 24 to 31, the IMF said.

Because Sri Lanka’s public debt is assessed as unsustainable, approval by the IMF Executive Board of the Extended Fund Facility program would require adequate assurances by Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored,” the IMF said.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Sri Lanka will ask Japan to invite the Indian Ocean island’s main creditor nations, including China and India, to talks on bilateral debt restructuring.

The loan package being negotiated with the IMF is for between $2 billion and $3 billion according to President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who said he would present an interim budget in September focusing on fiscal consolidation measures agreed with the IMF.

The country of 22 million people is facing its most severe financial crisis since independence from Britain in 1948, resulting from the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic mismanagement.

Ordinary Sri Lankans have been battling shortages for months amid crippling inflation and a devalued currency, stoking unprecedented mass protests. Thousands of people stormed the colonial-era presidential residence in Colombo, the commercial capital, in early July.

Sri Lanka’s total bilateral debt earlier this year was estimated at $6.2 billion as of the end of 2020 by the IMF. It also has $14 billion of international sovereign bond debt.

Malinda Seneviratne

In his ‘The Ballad of East and West’ Rudyard Kipling put the issue of political geographies in a nutshell.

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat

Literally, yes, where one ends the other starts and apart from that common boundary there can be no overlap. On the other hand, it all depends on who gets to draw the lines and how. Where does East begin? Can such a question prompt an unequivocal answer? For decades the Berlin Wall served as a proxy for an East-West boundary. It was a line that was essentially determined by political and ideological preferences. Strictly speaking any line from the North Pole to the South could separate East from West. Whichever way you want to slice the global cake, you could, theoretically, affirm Kipling’s thesis. Or at least its first part, above.

Well, the East did meet the West around the year 1990. Well, the West marched eastward, quite in violation of the verbal agreement between Gorbachev and Reagan — NATO expanded and is not done yet. No wonder Putin is peeved, but that’s another story.  What’s important is Kipling’s qualifier:

But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the ends of the earth!

He alludes to interaction and even cross-fertilisation; thesis encountering antithesis and yielding synthesis. And this has nothing to do with geography but everything to do with political geographies which include the play of power in multiple territories including that of ideology. That cake can be cut many ways. We had, for example, a longitudinal slicing: North vs South best articulated by the liberation desire embedded in the geographical reimagining proposed by Ernesto Che Guevara, the Tricontinental. A SOUTHERN Tricontinental, really, with South Asia, Africa and South America closing ranks against a northern predator. A PROLETARIAN Southern Tricontinental, to be more accurate, for ideology and power associated with class obviously cut through this particularly imagined border.  

Geographies are always in flux, even those that yield professional work for cartographers. The maps of the United States and Europe have had to be redrawn many times over the past two centuries, India didn’t have a map until the European hordes arrived, Pakistan was territorially diminished, the sun set on the British Empire and so on.

Such transformations are relevant in a world of nations and nationalisms. And yet, we live in a clubbed world. Nations come together for reasons of expediency — common enemies, security-related imperatives, ideological agreement etc. We have blocs. The soviets, for example. NATO. G7. ASEAN. EU. SAARC. Not all things and interests are contained within boundaries; one cannot build walls around certain factors.

Sure there are clubs with open membership such as the UN, but then again even in such organizations and their satellite entities, other clubs with restrictions on membership operate as one and in opposition to the general membership. They are not flat, these seemingly all-encompassing bodies. Scratch the avowed egalitarian surface and you find tribalism and the continuous affirmation of power-truths. Example? UNHRC, the North America – EU bloc and pernicious browbeating of Sri Lanka. If you want to talk about overarching processes then interject the word ‘capital’ and the entire edifice starts to look like a circus.

But let’s get less abstract for now. Let’s pose some questions. Is Australia in the West or East, is it an island in the North or South? Is India in South Asia or is it for all intents and purposes the local bullyboy or the global bullyboy? Will India remain ideologically and politically in the laps of North America, Europe and all the sick-man nations therein well into the future? Will that recently-named country, relatively speaking, recognise it true potential need not stop at servitude in a century where the balance of power has shifted dramatically East (or West, depending on how you want your world map drawn) or to be precise away from North America and Europe? Is it only about territory? Isn’t there a possibility of one tyrannical bloc replacing another in these tectonic shifts of economic and political sway?

Roy Sawh, the eloquent Hyde Park orator spoke to the issue of mis-cartography decades ago:  ‘Hong Kong, so close to China and so far away from Britain is a British colony; Northern Ireland, so close to Southern Ireland is part of Britain; the Falkland Islands, so close to Argentina and so far away from Britain, is part of Britain; England, so close to Europe and so far away from America is another state of the United States.’

What’s valid for the world is valid for nations too. There are countries within countries, claims within claims and nations that await independence from tyrannies geographical and otherwise; nations that need to be emancipated from tyrannical temporalities and preferences dictated by notions of ‘the right now.’

In these nations reside nationalists who, strangely, have more things common with nationalists resident in other nations geographically far removed. If there are clubs and blocs for tyrants and if members-limited cartels exist to arm-twist, subjugate and extract, then there can be solidarities between peoples empowered by the resolve not to inhabit versions of their realities scripted by oppressors of all kinds.  

Sound optimistic and utopian? Perhaps. Shouldn’t stop nations and nationalists therein to cut through the deceit of description and the subterfuge of political cartographers. The ballad that describes the relevant heroics and unpacks political geographies, I’m sure, will not be written by a Kipling but someone with true epistemic privilege.

malindadocs@gmail.com
[Malinda Seneviratne is the Director/CEO of the Agrarian Research and Training Institute. These are his personal views.]

By A. Abdul Aziz – Chairman, Press & Media Desk – AMJSL.

((Given below is an excerpt of the Friday Sermon delivered by Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Supreme Head of the world-wide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Islam, on 12 August 2022, at ‘Masjid Mubarak’, Islamabad, Tilford, U.K. gave a discourse on The Blessings & Impact of Ahmadiyya Convention recently (August 5 – 7) concluded in United Kingdom.

After reciting the first part of the Sermon,  His Holiness, Hazrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad (may Allah strengthen his hands) said that all praise belongs to Allah, as He enabled the Annual Ahmadiyya  Convention UK with many blessings witnessed over the three days.

His Holiness (may Allah strengthen his hands) thanked all of the volunteers who worked selflessly from beginning to end. Young or old, man or woman, everyone worked with great effort and diligently for the Convention to be success.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa (may Allah strengthen his hands) said that MTA did an excellent job with their coverage. This year, they built the entire studio themselves which helped save thousands of pounds. They were able to connect different countries around the world who could see each other, as everyone watched the Convention. His Holiness (may Allah strengthen his hands) thanked MTA for showing the world the unity of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Ahmadiyya Supreme Head (may Allah strengthen his hands) presented various incidents from around the world of those who were impacted by watching the Convention. Some of them were:

His Holiness (may Allah strengthen his hands) said that a non-Ahmadi Muslim from Burkina Faso watched the proceedings of the Convention and was moved to say that this is certainly the true Islam.

Another non-Ahmadi Muslim from Syria said that have watched the proceedings of  the Convention and the efforts made to spread the true message of Islam throughout the world, he would further study about Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

A person originally from Guinea-Conakry expressed his appreciation for the speech delivered by Ahmadiyya Head on human rights.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa presented sentiments of a pastor from Zambia, who said that he initially thought that Islam usurped the rights of women. However, after listening to His Holiness’ address on the Convention on human rights, he realised that rather than Christianity, it is Islam which establishes and upholds women’s rights in the truest sense.

His Holinesssaid that a lady originally from Afghanistan said that she found great peace after hearing His Holiness and learning the manner in which Islam protects human rights.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa said that there were two friends from French Guyana who said that two days before the Convention they had been conversing about whether Islam has any teachings about human rights. They then joined the gathering to watch His Holiness’ address to the ladies, and were astonished to learn how  Islam upholds women’s rights.

Ahmadiyya Khalifa presented the sentiments of a new convert lady from Africa who said that after listening to His Holiness’ addresses, it is clear that we must not become Ahmadi only to convert others to Ahmadiyya Community, rather we must reform ourselves so that people in society may see the true image of Islam through our conduct, and we must focusing on aligning our words and actions. His Holinesscontinued that generally people perceive the African people to be uneducated, yet this lady from Africa has realised something which the learned of Europe have not been able to realise. Hence, this is a cause for reflection.

His Holinesssaid that a new convert from Kazakhstan said that words of Ahmadiyya Khalifa had a profound effect on him and his wife who sat together and watched all the Convention  proceedings.

His Holinesssaid that an Arab lady wrote that she was extremely grateful to learn that she follows a religion which protects and safeguards the rights of women to such a degree. She said that she feels pride in conveying these teachings of Islam to her friends………

His Holinesssaid that a new convert from Malaysia did not have enough money to pay for the internet to watch the proceedings of the U.K. Convention. Hence, he took some mangoes from a tree outside his house, sold them, and then with that money, he purchased enough internet data to be able to watch the proceedings.

His Holinesssaid that a man from Albania listened to the addresses by His Holinessat Convention and said that they were full of references from the Holy Qur’an and incidents from the life of the Holy ProphetMuhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)  Later, after going home, he called and said that he had ready the ten. conditions of bai’at (initiation) and decided to join the fold of Ahmadiyya Community.

Then Ahmadiyya Khalifa detailed how the Coverage of U.K. Convention reached Millions around the World

53 countries joined the Convention via video from around the world. BBC, ITV, Metro and other news outlets covered the event, while eight websites with a total reach of 20 million also published articles about the Convention. In the print media, 14 articles about the event were published, with readerships totalling 1.2 million. This historical event was covered in 32 TV programmes with viewerships of more than 12 million. UK Convention was mentioned in 33 different radio programmes with more than 1 million listeners. Various people posted on social media about the Jalsa with a reach of more than 12 million people.

His Holinesssaid that MTA (Muslim TV Ahmadiyya) posts videos and images reached more than 4 million people. MTA Africa reports that the U.K. Convention was shown on 20 TV channels in Africa, reaching 35 million people.

Ahmadiyya Supreme Head said that these were only a few examples which he presented. His Holiness prayed that the effects of Convention may remain everlasting.

Source: www.alislam.org

Courtesy The Island

‘Inflation will not be as high as initially expected’

Inflation will not be as high as initially expected and there are signs of economy stabilising, Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe says.Dr. Weerasinghe said that during the past few months a number of initiatives had been made to improve the economy and they were yielding the desired results.

During the last review, we thought the inflation would reach 70%. However, now we believe that the inflation will not be that high even with the electricity tariff hike,” he said.

Dr. Weerasinghe said that the severity of the shortage of foreign currency had lessened. The country was now in a position to import fuel, gas and medicines.

This has become possible because of the decisions we took. Imports have decreased. Export revenue has somewhat increased. Even without short-term loans we have been able to meet our basic needs. This is a positive development,” Dr. Weerasinghe said.The CB Governor said that inflation driven by demand had lessened because the expansion of loans had been curtailed.The supply side inflation too would drop with price and foreign exchange stabilisation.

Still the inflation is about 60% and that’s why we need to maintain the current high policy rates. Once the government adjusts the fiscal policy, tax, and presents the new budget, things will improve. I think you can also see this. We are seeing positives,” he said.

Dr. Weerasinghe also urged exporters to bring back the foreign exchange earnings, and that the Central Bank had taken steps to ensure that exporters abided by the CB regulations.

The irregularities due to open accounts, hawala and undial are being controlled and the black market premium is dropping. The foreign exchange liquidity in the banking sector has increased,” he said.

The Governor added that negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had made good progress. An IMF delegation was expected to visit Sri Lanka by the end of August to reach a staff-level agreement.After Sri Lanka reached a staff-level agreement with the IMF, it had to start engaging with its creditors on debt restructuring.

Once we reach an agreement with the IMF the situation will improve further,” he added. (RK)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, August 18 (newsin.asia): Veteran Sri Lankan journalist of audiovisual and print media, Sugeeswara P. Senadhira, has been appointed as Advisor (Media) to Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.

Sugeeswara has the unique record of serving as International Media Director to three Presidents, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Maithripala Sirisena and Gotabaya Rajapaksa. He also served as Sri Lanka Consul in Norway and Minister Counsellor at the Sri Lanka High Commission in New Delhi and Sri Lanka Embassy in Paris.

A broadcaster-journalist, Sugeeswara started his media career at the External Services of All India Radio, New Delhi and later served at the Sunday Observer. He was Editor of The Independent, the Weekend Express and the first News Director of Sirasa, MTV/MBC Radio. He was also the Associate Director of the Regional Centre for Strategic Studies.

An old boy of Ananda College, Colombo, Senadhira is a Graduate of the University of Delhi and a Post Graduate Press Fellow of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge.

IMF Communications Department

Washington, DC: IMF staff plans to visit Colombo during August 24-31 to continue discussions with the Sri Lankan authorities on economic and financial reforms and policies. The objective is to make progress towards reaching a staff-level agreement on a prospective IMF Extended Fund Facility (EFF) arrangement in the near term. Because Sri Lanka’s public debt is assessed as unsustainable, approval by the IMF Executive Board of the EFF program would require adequate assurances by Sri Lanka’s creditors that debt sustainability will be restored. IMF staff would also continue the engagement with other stakeholders during the visit. The team will be led by Mr. Peter Breuer and Mr. Masahiro Nozaki.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

• Says IMF mission due in Colombo towards end of this month to reach staff-level agreement
• Stresses that no change in govt.’s position about not opting to restructure domestic debt 
• Reiterates that domestic debt restructuring will have detrimental effects on banks and it will delay economic recovery process
• Expects inflation to peak next month around 65%, lower than previous forecast of 70%, and then it will begin to ease 

By Nishel Fernando
The Central Bank (CB) is optimistic of wrapping up the much-anticipated staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout package during the upcoming staff team visit scheduled for end of this month.

An IMF mission is planning to visit Sri Lanka towards the end of this month with the intention of reaching the staff-level agreement on the policy package. Once we reach the staff-level agreement for the programme, we will have to start approaching our external creditors on debt restructuring along with our advisors,” CB Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe said.

He was speaking at the post monetary policy press briefing held at CB premises yesterday.

Addressing the growing fears of a possible restructuring of domestic debt fueled by President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent remarks, Dr. Weerasinghe stressed that the government’s stance remains unchanged on limiting the debt restructuring process to external debt as there’s no requirement to restructure domestic debt.

In my view, what the President said was that financial advisors Lazard is looking at different scenarios towards achieving debt sustainability over a period of ten years. However, the government’s position still remains limited to restructuring external debt,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that foreign creditors, in particular ISB holders, may question the treatment on domestic debt when the government approaches them. He cautioned that restructuring of domestic debt is detrimental to the banking sector and could weigh on economic recovery.

Our position is that if we were to restructure domestic debt, that will have serious implications on the financial sector including the banking sector. 

That will not help external creditors to recover whatever the relief that they are going to grant us. We will face recapitalisation of banks and numerous issues and that will not help economic recovery in the medium term. We want to minimise the impact on the domestic banking system in order to maintain the financial sector stability, so the economy can recover faster and external parties recover their liabilities sooner,”he elaborated.

Meanwhile, the CB expects the headline inflation to peak to around 65 percent or below that level in September.

Inflation is likely to peak somewhere in September and then it will be trending down. The latest projection is adjusted downwards when compared to our previous projections. There will still be a gradual increase because we have to factor in the increase in electricity prices. Earlier, we projected the inflation to peak to 70 percent, but we expect the headline inflation to peak to 65 percent or below that level,” he said.

Amid faster than anticipated easing of headline inflation coupled with the marked slowdown in private sector credit growth, the Monetary Board at its meeting held on Wednesday decided to maintain the Standing Deposit Facility Rate (SDFR) and the Standing Lending Facility Rate (SLFR) of the Central Bank at their current levels of 14.50 percent and 15.50 percent, respectively.

However, Dr. Weerasinghe outlined that the CB would mainly focus on curtailing the inflation despite high interest rates, which have hit the private sector credit growth. He emphasised that restoring price stability is critical for economic recovery despite high interest rates-led increased finance cost for businesses.

The high inflation is the main reason for high cost of production. That’s why we need to maintain the tight monetary policy to contain the inflation. Once inflation comes down, we can expect an improvement in the operating environment,” he added. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Defence Ministry has issued detention orders on IUSF convenor Wasantha Mudalige and Hashan Gunathilake, who were arrested following a protest march in Colombo yesterday. 

Accordingly, the Defence Ministry has granted permission for them to be detained for 90 days and questioned by the police. 

Earlier today, sixteen individuals who were arrested following the protest at Union Place in Colombo on Thursday (Aug 18) were granted bail by the Colombo Additional Magistrate.

Meanwhile, police had said that detention orders will be sought on three arrestees namely the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) convenor Wasantha Mudalige, Ven. Galwewa Siridhamma Thera and Hashantha Jawantha Gunathilake.

Police had stated that IUSF convenor Wasantha Mudalige was arrested as there is a pending arrest warrant against him.

The arrests were made after police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protesting university students who were marching through Town Hall and towards Union Place despite police blockades.

The protest march had been organized by Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) against the incumbent government led by President Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed 06 more coronavirus related deaths for yesterday (18).

According to the Govt. Information Department, the victims include 01 male and 05 females. One of them is between the ages 30-59 years. Another one was aged below 30 years while the remaining four were aged 60 years and above.

Meanwhile, 164 new Covid-19 infections have been identified within the country today (Aug. 19). 

This increases the total number of Covid-19 cases detected in the country thus far to 668,827.

Courtesy Adaderana

Actor Jehan Appuhami, who was arrested yesterday (18) in Colombo during the protest march held by the Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) has escaped custody, the police said.

The police have initiated an investigation to arrest him.

Meanwhile, 16 people who were arrested during the protest were granted bail after being produced before Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today (18). The arrestees include three Buddhist monks as well.

The police said detention orders will be sought on three other arrestees including the IUSF convenor Wasantha Mudalige.

Police Media Spokesman Senior Superintendent of Police, Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa stated that Mudalige was arrested in Gaspaha Junction yesterday (18) by a special police team while he was allegedly evading police and fleeing in a motorcycle.

The other person, who was travelling on the motorcycle with him, has also been arrested by the police.

Meanwhile, another demonstration was held in front of the University of Kelaniya last night (18), in protest of the recent arrests.

Courtesy Adaderana

Distributing fuel to 12 filling stations that have failed to comply with the guidelines will be suspended, Minister of Power & Energy Kanchana Wijesekera says.

The decision was taken at the review meeting of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) marketing division held today (Aug 19) at which the implementation of the QR code system was evaluated.

Accordingly, instructions have been given to continuously monitor the filling stations and to submit complaints sent by the general public to the police stations, the minister said further.

By Sena Thoradeniya

Broadly speaking there were two major groups who supported and sympathised with the Galle Face Protesters (GLF); (1) Local players and (2) International players. It was easy to identify the local players, but not the international players who were hidden and used various agents and dubious methods to attain their main objective, regime change and creating chaos and instability in the country. We will do an in-depth scrutiny of the international players in a subsequent article, first paying our attention to the local players.

By May we were able to distinguish several sub-groups among the local players, although very few of these sub-groups showed their presence at the Galle Face Carnival Grounds. It should not be construed that one such sub-group consisted of hundreds or thousands of people representing a sizable proportion of the total population of Colombo and its suburbs. Some sub-groups were constituted with a few dozens of people. Another factor that should be considered is that there were no discernable borders between these sub-groups as one member of one sub-group may have sat with one or two other sub-groups. It is not my intention to give concrete examples for the nature and composition of these sub-groups as anyone can pick examples for them looking at the sub-group we delineate. We have identified these sub-groups not as results of a field survey conducted by us: newspaper reports and articles, private discussions, what appeared in social media platforms and posts exchanged with tech savvy personnel provided us with valuable insights to draw a sketch like this. Any future analyst may use these sub-groups to formulate any hypothesis and identify their features and traits.  Many of these sub-groups by any means did not occupy the Galle Face Green or the so-called village as its inmates. Some announcing their visits in advance, made their theatrical and melodramatic appearance in front of TV cameras, shouted a slogan or two, gave voice cuts to hired and paid Youtubers who were abundant and ended the charade hastily to dine at One Galle Face. It was said that the cinemas at this particular mall was full with these celebrities.

UNP, SJB and many other political parties were indirectly supporting the protesters and it was revealed that some party bigwigs keeping vigil at protest sites. It was very unfortunate that some Pohottuwa dissidents supporting the protesters in an indirect way without understanding what classes, social groups and strata these protesters represented, foreign hands behind the protest and how money galore and victuals and physical infrastructure provided by dubious sources; some even echoing Kaputas”, the jingle of the protesters. 

Majority of the protesters who had occupied the Galle Face Green were fed by their parents, Mahapola bursary holders who had not stayed in any queue to ease the burden of their parents or those who had not suffered due to shortages of fuel, cooking gas, medicine or fertilizer. For them it was an adventure, a carnival, a social gathering without any plan to solve the present crisis: some had blindly copied the BASL proposals. Even this had happened after forty days of merry making in the Galle Face Green. What change that had taken place when MR had left? When Basil had left? Did they think of what will happen when GR also leaves?  To fill the vacuum one activist had proposed four names. God save Sri Lanka with any one of these people at the helm!

Infighting among the protesters became the order of the day; many claimants had appeared as leaders; some disappeared pilfering money sent by various sources, adding a new word to their jargon, Left”!   

Other than the petit-bourgeois elements and activists of JVP student wing and its many front organisations, FSP and IUSF activists, narcotic peddlers and addicts, underworld elements, vagabonds and city lumpen segments, none occupied the Green on a permanent basis. Since free food was provided in a time of scarcities, the Green became a haven for the latter for their nefarious activities; thus, an urban ghetto in front of star class tourist hotels emergd. 

The local players which we had identified were (not in any order):

(i) Anti-Rajapaksa groups; these groups were of different hues and colours, which transcended to many other sub-groups and classes; hence the largest of all with a sizeable segment of Colombians or Colombo elites. The common factor which bonded them together was Rajapaksa Virodhaya” (anti- Rajapaksa rhetoric). For some of these,for reasons known only to them, Rajapaksas were poisonous weeds” that should be eradicated. Some of them with the help of MR, enjoyed the fruits of top diplomatic positions in the upper rung and peons’ jobs in the lower. Thereby MR was a one time fragrant flower” for them to sing hosannas. Chairman Mao had taught to carefully distinguish between what is really a poisonous weed and what is really a fragrant flower”. A flagrant flower at one stage cannot be a poisonous weed at another stage.

(ii) Those who had helped Rajapaksas in different capacities, their yes -men who helped them in all their misdeeds and mismanagement in the past, later they decamped for personal and parochial reasons; ironically some of them worked at the Temple Trees itself during MR’s previous stints. There are many similarities between this sub-group and the second category of the first sub-group.

(iii) Supporters of UNP and SJB: It was revealed that a one-time UNP national list MP was constantly in touch with the protesters. RW’s former Media Director, the Trade Union leader and some civil society” activists who were elevated to high positions after RW became the President were parading with the protesters. SJB supporters failed to provide a safe passage to Leader of the Opposition on May 9.   

(iv) Ex-leftists and retired revolutionaries who could not do anything worthwhile to social development during their prime age. These people rejoice in their old age looking at what is happening now, forgetting theory if any that they had upheld and principles they stood for in the past. Private discussions with them revealed that, they are not certain on what is meant by people”. Chairman Mao said (1957) (T)the concept of the people” varies in content in different countries and in different periods of history in a given country”. Accordingly, we should be able to understand what are the classes, strata and social groups that constitute people in this historical period of neo-colonialism and classes, strata and social groups that formed the nucleus of Galle Face Protesters.

(v) Ex-top bureaucrats, who in their heyday helped their political masters to plunder the country and served themselves as well as their progeny arranging the latter plum foreign scholarships and employment in overseas missions. When more than seventy houses of government politicians were torched by the organised arsonists who belong to two militant parties they even suspected that the victims themselves had torched their own houses, asking the inhuman question, where were the inmates at the time of burning of their houses”? Chinua Achebe making use of an Ibo proverb asked in his masterpiece Arrow of God”,” who ever sent his son up the palm to gather nuts and then took an axe and felled the tree”? They even asked whether those MPs had declared the gold lost and the funds utilised to build such mansions. Again, Achebe said: let us first chase away the cat, afterwards we blame the hen”. Wild cat had metamorphosised into a massive panther, they don’t know. There is no difference between these ex- bureaucrats and a JVP leader who said that it was a part of a government conspiracy, that the victims themselves torched their houses! An FSP stalwart was not ashamed to utter that the houses had caught fire by chance, without any obvious cause or design!  

(vi) Abstract theorists who change their theories continuously to suit the events that are unfolding at a rapid scale. These theories help some others to discredit Marxism-Leninism. Narodniks who considered the peasants as the chief revolutionary force, Cadets (Constitutional -Democratic Party) hiding behind democratic slogans who betrayed the peoples’ interests, Black Hundreds set up by the tsarist police to fight the revolutionary movement, so-called Socialist-Revolutionists, Decembrists are similar examples for these groups from pre-revolutionary Russia. Chairman Mao in his military writings had vehemently denounced adventurism, left and right opportunism, purely military viewpoint, roving rebel” bands and putschism, which shows that these brands of agitators and their struggles do not fall in line with Marxism. Contrary to social development as envisaged by Marxists these struggles bring social retardation, chaos and anarchy, which is evident especially after May ninth. This state of affairs continued until the ouster of GR and enthronement of RW, teaching a bitter lesson to the supporters of GFP.

For some of these theorists it was a revolution”; Sirisena’s ascendancy was also seen by some as a revolution” and those who had opposed him were degraded as supporting counter-revolution”. So, these theorists should be careful when using words. A separate article is needed to explore how these local theorists and foreign domiciled armchair academics including art historians” had theorised this protest.

(vii)  Colombians who have never supported any justifiable struggle of workers, peasants and students, who cursed the picket lines and demonstrators while parading in their limousines, who denounced GMOA members that they have thrown the noble profession to dogs and that there is no dissimilarity between medics and harbour workers when they resorted to trade union action. They were the people who rejoiced when  Galle Face attackers were  rounded up, bodily lifted and thrown into the Beira Lake  saying that the Beira Lake was not deep enough to drown the goons,  completely disregarding that some who were thrown into the waters died as a result and the destruction caused by throwing a number of vehicles into Beira Lake, later torched  by the peaceful” arsonists. Ali Sabry P.C. said in the Parliament that when Puttalam District parliamentarian Ali Sabry Raheem’s house was set on fire some of those in legal circles had been jubilant thinking that it was his residence and shared the video.

Some clamour to bring the so-called professionals to the Parliament through the National List. These are the types of professionals we have in this country! Have we not had our share of professionals in politics from the days of the State Council? Recent experiment is the disastrous entry of Viyath Maga” grandees.  Was the former Professor of Economics and Vice Chancellor appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank able to rescue the economy going down a precipice? As Achebe said all these men and women on the verge of looming crisis acted like the lizard who ruined the funeral of his mother”!

Foreign funded so-called think tanks and researchers” and analysts” attached to institutes founded with foreign funds were unable to provide solutions to get over from the economic meltdown. 

 (viii) Foreign-funded pro-West NGO s of different categories and brands who sing for their supper at the whims and fancies of their foreign conductors. This segment ever increases with the addition of professionals which includes lawyers, specialist doctors, engineers, IT personnel etc. How the lawyers in their hundreds came to rescue” the protesters on May 9, and lawyers encircling court houses when suspects were brought to court houses and the way they rejoiced when suspects were given bail are some examples for this new trend, all done with the blessings of the leaders of their  US-funded professional bodies. It is a right of a suspect to retain a lawyer; a lawyer representing a suspect is not an extraordinary matter. But lawyers in their hundreds gathering near court houses and uploading pics to social media platforms had occurred only after a new type of lawyers emerged with this protest.  

Many red shirted trade unionists also find their chambers in this Ziggurat (ancient Mesopotamian architectural marvel). A person who protested vehemently against Rajapaksas at the protest sites finding employment as Trade Union Director is another case that teaches a bitter lesson to protesters.

(ix) Buddhist monks of Sarvagamika Nikaya”, having questionable records, Catholic priests and nuns who grabbed the opportunity to oppose the slow-moving process in handling the Easter Sunday carnage and who believed in an imagined conspiracy staged to come into power deceiving the masses especially the voters in the Catholic Belt”.

(x) Maulavis and Muslim Brotherhood and many other multi-religious” outfits such as Born-Again pastors.

An interesting episode we observed was that a female undergraduate of a city university nicknamed thirikkkale” (buggy cart) donning a cassock of a Catholic nun. When questioned a male in a white cassock came to her rescue, may be another despicable pretender. Similarly, there were many men in saffron robes. For the first time in our lives we witnessed alms offered to these sarvagamika” sect monks by Catholic nuns. But Maundy (foot washing) was done by some others. A Christian priest located at a nearby luxury hotel was seen giving orders to his social media subscribers on that fateful day, not to allow busses plying to outstation destinations to pass without checking for goons.   

(xi) A fair amount of academics who have done much more damage to higher education in Sri Lanka than the capitalist governments and bourgeois office holders did. What they wrote to English dailies were full of Rajapaksa bashing. They still even after dismantling of their urban ghetto harp on an imagined peaceful” protest like in a chorus of a Greek tragedy, commenting together.  They were the people who promoted neo-liberal ideology. Some of these men and women are NGO activists whilst others are of JVP front organisations.   

(xii) Upper middle-class celebrities who were under the microscope not so long ago for detestable land deals in a tourist corridor” bordering the Dry Zone of Sri Lanka, swept under the carpet by the present regime itself. Allied with them were upper-middle class elements who have close links with entities such as USAID. Many of these elements had an axe to grind with Rajapaksas as they also had to suffer because of import restrictions, shortages of fuel and cooking gas and power outages disturbing their lifestyles. ACs, pressure pumps, driers became inactive at least for shorter periods.    

(xiii) Those innocent”,  good guys and gals, who affectionately addressed the protesters as puthala”, who were not aware of the role played by the JVP and FSP, and their front organisations (there are many) at the protest site, how they had infiltrated into the ranks of protesters donning the  non-partisan”, peaceful” garb, and their role at the protest sites,  crimes committed by them in 1988-88 and the hidden hands behind the arson attacks soon after May 9 , and the utterances of the JVP leaders justifying arson and destruction of property and how they prepared for a Guatemala type power grab in Sri Lanka. .

(xiv) Disgruntled and egoistic professionals of different categories who have no knowledge of intricacies of politics who used the so-called international press conferences at Galle Face for personal glory and advancement. Medics who warned the government of severe consequences if lockdowns were not imposed and had the country locked down unnecessarily for months and months, happily sat with the protesters without any adherence to social distancing or wearing face masks. 

(xv) Kalakarayas of varied types, some were only imitators of South Indian masala, propagators of popular culture and who played the roles of vicious ‘Nendamma” (mother-in-law), nagging wife and village villain in never ending soap operas, neither Aamir Khans nor Deepika Padukones. Some of these vociferous actresses were not seen even in a recent commercial, only relying on their past laurels, never heartthrobs at any time of their careers Some were representatives of JVP front organisations, for instance the man who harassed Sajith Premadasa.

Some others were charlatans who benefitted from MR’s artist-friendly attitudes for decades; the lyricist of Maha Rajaneni” who apologised for writing lyrics of this popular hit is an activist of a JVP front organisation now. Nanda Malini also apologised for singing Me Sinhala Apage Ratai”. Sometime back one of these panegyrists traced Rajapaksa genealogy to Lord Buddha! Some other lyricists and songstresses who fanned the flames of violence during 88-89 fled the country when more than 60,000 youth were massacred. Nanda Malini, released her latest video Dadabima” (hunting grounds) soon after the Rambukkana shooting incident depicting visuals from Galle Face Protest. This song can be analysed in two different ways as she keeps her options open; whose side she takes? Both. Hunted as well as the hunters!  But the so-called Prabuddha kalakarayas” (enlightened ones)  who visited Galle Face should have known what  patronised by the Galle Face protesters were not what they have rendered to the nation; similarly, these protesters should have known that origins of some of these songs produced en masse  during the protest go to the era of brutal suppression during Premadasa regime.

(xvi) LTTE sympathisers: their participation was evident in singing national anthem in Tamil, laser projections with the slogan of a united Sri Lanka and finally commemoration of fall of Nandikadal.

(xvii)  Media: Galle Face Carnival grounds became the center of admiration of media men, especially in electronic media and Sinhala print media. Little by little English press also began to pamper the protesters. There were chosen writers to do that in addition to their editorials. It was electronic media who gave protesters free coverage turning out some unknown nobodies into somebodies instantaneously. They kept on harping on non-partisan” and peaceful” catchwords even it was exposed that some hidden hands were behind the protesters and the representatives they chose for their talk shows were members of JVP, FSP, IUSF and other newly-formed front organisations. Future writers may write on the part played by the electronic media in propagating this protest movement, a luxury any other protest movement in world had not enjoyed. All their news bulletins gave much publicity to Galle Face activities. Number of days of its existence was shown to the viewers by adding the next number every day as turning a calendar.

May 9 events were broadcast live by several TV channels. One TV presenter incited the protesters asking them to take the law into their hands, preventing the legislature from functioning, making Galle Face Green the country’s Parliament where state authority would not apply. It was well-known that some media institutions were behind the protest and they were the main financiers. Same peaceful” card was played when the protesters storming and occupying the Presidential House, Presidential Secretariat and Prime Minister’s Office. One media institution who pampered the protesters by inviting them for a discussion had to pay the supreme penalty when the very same peaceful” protesters forcibly entered their premises.

Personnel working in advertising firms and digital marketeers provided digital strategies to the protesters.     

(xvii) In addition, there were many paid Youtubers of dubious nature who had become flag bearers of this protest. They gave running commentaries of every event simultaneously uploading videos.   One such Youtuber was impudent enough to call the protesters to storm Temple Trees on the night of May 9.

(xviii) Business conglomerates, business captains, representatives of INGOs and MNCs. It is now identified who were these business giants, ranging from pharmaceuticals, beverages, apparels, telecommunications, confectionaries to tourism etc. It was rumoured that during this period MNCs stopped giving advertisements to state media institutions. After Ranil’s ascendancy it was admitted by the protesters that funds from the corporate sector were diminishing; breaking of supply chain of Biriyani and KFC fast food had made way for a communal kussiya” at the protest site providing buth packets.

(xix) Former sportspersons: cricketers (some having political ambitions), athletes, cyclists, swimmers etc. We still remember those cricketers who now cry for the motherland” put self before country because of IPL money bags and how Tillakaratne Dilshan was made a sacrificial lamb in 2011. Dilshan became a Lord at the Lords scoring 193 runs breaking the record of the highest individual score made by a Lankan at this venue. 

(xx) Differently abled people, ex-servicemen, LGBTQ activists

Of the international players, main players were hidden, engaged in covert operations using their local hirelings. It should be mentioned that the U.S. Ambassador while condemning the violence unleashed against the protesters along with her Western fraternity, had nothing to say about burning of houses of more than seventy-five government politicians. It is very significant that soon afterwards the good Ambassador having discussions with the JVP leader; was it about the next stage of the struggle or to compare notes?  It should be remembered that during Yahapalana regime a JVP M.P. led a group of thuggish investigators” to investigate” the construction activities at the Russian Federation Embassy at Buller’s Road with full blessings of the then government.

Who provided the protesters facilities for video projections, remote servers and drones to attack houses as alleged by Dinesh Gunawardhana will remain unanswered. Only visible international players are the members of Sinhala and Tamil Diaspora. There is no surprise that Sinhala Diaspora protests were initiated by JVP’s Ethera Api” {We in overseas) front organization. In Melbourne it was by former German Tech trainees and their progeny. But the Ethera Api” people were very careful not to organise any demonstration in any city in the Middle East where they have several branch organisations!   

By Neville Ladduwahetty Courtesy The Island

Relationship Not Normal, Can’t Be…”: S Jaishankar On India-China Ties

As reported by a NDTV Staff Writer (13 Aug, 2022}, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said that India-China relations cannot be normal unless border situation is and added that if China disturbs the peace and tranquility in border areas, it will impact the relations further”. In view of the fact that the relations between India and China are dependent on the peace and tranquility” in the border areas means that Sri Lanka’s relations with either at any time has to be complex; a fact that is bound to affect the pursuit of Sri Lanka’s own self-interests.

The latest manifestation of this rivalry relates to the convolutions undergone by Sri Lanka with regard to China’s Yuan Wang 5 (YW5), described by some as a tracking vessel and by others as a research and survey vessel, docking at the Hambantota Port. Sri Lanka under the former Presidency gave permission for the YW5 to dock at Hambantota. Under the present Presidency Sri Lanka wanted the arrival to be deferred following concerns expressed by India relating to their security. The latest report is that Sri Lanka has granted permission for entry based on a brief by the Sri Lankan Embassy in China that the country will face dire economic consequences if the ship’s visit is not allowed” (Daily Mirror, August 13, 2022). The report adds that the decision was also based on the fact that India and the US failed to give ‘concrete reasons’ for why they opposed its arrival”.

An earlier manifestation of this rivalry was in connection with an Asian Development Bank- funded solar power project in the Island of Delft. International Tenders were called by the ADB and the contract was awarded to a Chinese Company because their bid was the lowest. India objected to the project on grounds of security and the project was abandoned with Sri Lanka continuing to deliver diesel to operate the generators and provide power to the people of Delft. In this instance, Sri Lanka failed to ask India to provide concrete reasons” for their security concerns. Instead, Sri Lanka caved in and abandoned the project at a cost to Sri Lanka’s own self-interest.

The reason for doing so was offered by a former Mandarin of the Foreign Ministry who stated that during construction China could plant devices that would impact on the security of India. The fact that Chinese contractors are engaged in various parts of Sri Lanka thus giving them ample opportunities to plant devices anywhere seems to have escaped his wisdom. Furthermore, the fact that YW5 with its reported capabilities could carry out whatever tracking it wanted without any formal permission from outside Sri Lanka’s territorial waters should have been sufficient grounds to inform India that its concerns do not have a concrete” basis from the outset. Why Sri Lanka did not challenge India’s concerns in the case of the solar project reflects a onetime policy of India first” at any cost to Sri Lanka’s own self-interest.

LACK of CONSISTANCY in POLICY

It is crystal clear from the two examples cited above, that there is a lack of consistency in the manner Sri Lanka addresses issues relating to major powers; a fact made more complex in a background of power rivalry. The question is whether lack of consistency is due to lack of a clear policy or a deliberately adopted strategy that is sufficiently fluid to enable whoever is in power to address each issue according to his/her imperatives. The former was the practice adopted in the past. For instance, Sri Lanka’s stated policy when it came to External Relations was Non-Aligned. In fact, Sri Lanka was a key member of the Non-Aligned Movement along with India and other mostly ex-colonial countries.

However, under the former Presidency this long held policy changed because the global context of a bi-polar world had changed, warranting a reevaluation of the Non-Aligned policy. Consequently, the stated policy adopted by him was one of Neutrality which he stated during his acceptance speech delivered in Anuradhapura. This policy was transformed to Neutral and Non-Aligned by the Foreign Ministry and its Secretary went further stating that the policy was India first”. This lack of consistency is not at all helpful in Sri Lanka’s relations with nations in general, and lacks clarity and when it comes to issues amidst power rivalries.

Such inconsistencies should be avoided at all cost. For instance, if the Ministry has a different perspective on external relations to that of the President, the matter should be discussed by the Cabinet of Ministers and a collective decision taken since the Supreme Court has ruled that: So long as the President remains the Head of the Executive, the exercise of his powers remain supreme or sovereign in the executive field and others to whom such power is given must derive the authority from the President or exercise Executive power vested in the President as a delegate of the President” (S.D. No. 04/2015). Furthermore, under no circumstances should the Secretary have a different opinion to that of the collective decision taken by the Cabinet.

NEED for CONSISTENCY

Though the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) still exists, Non-Aligned as a policy has lost its relevance because the context of a bi-polar world order in which Non-Alignment was relevant no longer exists. Instead, the multi-polar world order that exists today has given nation-states the freedom and license to pursue their self-interests. This situation has enabled India to ignore some of the core principles of Non-Alignment despite being one of its founding members. India developed defence related arrangement with Russia even during the glory days of NAM and continues to do so today. India also trained members of the LTTE to destabilise Sri Lanka and thrust devolution down Sri Lanka’s throat, all in the name of its own self-interests Today, India is actively procuring crude oil from Russia despite being an active member of QUAD with US, Japan and Australia. Sri Lanka too violated principles of the NAM when it supported the U.K. in the Falkland war, as an obligation for the outright grant given by U.K. to construct the Victoria Hydro Power Scheme.

What is evident from the conduct of nation-states is that at the end of the day, pure unbridled self-interest overrides commitment to bilateral or multilateral obligations. This then is the only policy that guides States when it comes to relations with other States, and when it comes to relations with rival powers the choices are hard but in the end, it is balancing priorities. Therefore, whether the stated policy is Neutral, Non-Aligned or even a combination of both, what matters are the decisions taken in respect of Sri Lanka’s relations with other States. Therefore, policies relating to External Relations should be a collective decision taken by the Cabinet, since too much is at stake when decisions are taken by others in the current context of power rivalries. However, since a State has to have a policy as to how it relates to other States, Neutrality is the preferred option since a policy of Non-Alignment is inappropriate in a transformed world order that is undergoing constant change because of rising aspirations of major powers.

CONCLUSION

Sri Lanka’s lack of consistency in respect of first granting permission for YW 5 to enter the Hambantota Port and later calling for its arrival to be deferred, and finally to reverse back to the original decision should be a lesson to revisit how decisions are taken when it comes to how Sri Lanka handles its external relations with other States regardless of their size and influence, or whether they are States engaged in power rivalry. What this experience has taught is that the decision-making process should be revised. Another lesson to be learnt is to not accept any concerns expressed by States at face value in the process of pursuing Sri Lanka’s self-interests. Instead, to require such States to show cause and concrete reasons” for their concerns.

In the current context of the world order, the bi-polar world that existed has transformed itself into a multi-polar world, causing the policy of Non-Alignment to lose its relevance even though the Non-Aligned Movement continues to exist. Furthermore, this transformed world order has fostered power rivalries among aspiring States in the process of pursuing their unbridled self-interests; a fact manifested by India’s policy of strategic autonomy”. How Sri Lanka navigates its own self-interests in such an environment is crucial for its growth and well-being. Therefore, in view of the seriousness of the issues at stake the decision making process when it comes to dealing with States in general and others engaged in power rivalries should be collective decisions by the Cabinet of Ministers backed up by a policy of Neutrality in view of Sri Lanka’s unique strategic location, since it is the only option left standing, because other options such as (1) Non-Alignment with any major centers of power: (2) Alignment with one of the major powers: (3) Bandwagoning: (4) Hedging: (5) Balancing pressures, are all unacceptable.

Judiciary

Refer statements made by Nivad above,  in his defence makes interesting reading

22. The 7th Respondent states that the decision to default on 12th April 2022 was highly suspicious, irrational, arbitrary, illegal, and wrongful and it is inexplicable that it had been hastily carried out in view of the fact that, by end March 2022, the pipeline” of expected forex inflows showed a healthy position which had obviously been recklessly and callously disregarded.

That pipeline” of expected inflows is given below:

23. The 7th Respondent states that the sudden default” announcement of 12th April 2022, completely disrupted all the above expected inflows, with the possible exception of the roll-over of the India and Bangladesh SWAPs that had been previously negotiated. In fact, the Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka has specifically alluded to this situation as well. Of the above pipeline, a sum of USD 4,500 mn was confirmed as being in the final stages by 3rd April 2022, and a further amount of about USD 2,650 mn was very likely to materialize over the short term, which would have enabled the Government to settle the maturing payments due in 2022, while also rolling over several other existing loans, including Sri Lanka 8 Development Bonds and FCBU loans. Hence, the decision to default payment was inexplicable and utterly reckless. That irresponsible and illegal decision plunged Sri Lanka into a serious chasm of economic and financial isolation as a bankrupt” nation, with the consequential severely damaging repercussions due to haunt the nation for many years to come. 24. The 7th Respondent states that, as set out in the table above, Sri Lanka was on the verge of receiving a significant inflow of funds of USD 1 billion and access to a trade loan of USD 1.5 billion from China that were expected to materialize towards the latter part of April 2022 or early May 2022. These inflows were officially announced by both the Chinese Ambassador in Sri Lanka on 21st March 2022 (True Copies of the Documents evidencing the aforesaid are marked as Annexes 7R1(a)”, 7R1(b)”, 7R1(c)” & 7R1(d)” and pleaded as part and parcel of these Limited Statement of Objections) and subsequently re-confirmed by the Sri Lanka Ambassador in China on 12th April 2022. (True Copies of the Documents evidencing the aforesaid are marked as Annexes 7R2(a)”, 7R 2(b)”, 7R2(c)”, 7R2(d)” & 7R2(e)” and pleaded as part and parcel of these Limited Statement of Objections). At the same time, negotiations were at an advanced stage on the Indian line of credit for a further USD 1 billion for goods, and USD 500 million for oil, as well as a further financial accommodation of about an additional USD 500 million by the Reserve Bank of India through the postponement of the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) settlements. That is why it is inexplicable as to why a hasty decision was taken to announce the sudden debt default” and non[1]payment of all forex debt and interest (including the July 2022 USD 1,000 mn International Sovereign Bonds ISB) from 12th April 2022 onwards, and thereby risk major adverse consequences, together with a massive cross-default” as well.

Economic wizards at that time

PASKARALINGAM, Coomaraswamy, Harsha De Silva And of course the PM/ President at that time.  (2015-19)

Effects of economic action now will take a couple of years to materialise, or show it’s effects (good or bad)

Source Central Bank

Read Full Affidavite

https://www.lankaweb.com/news/items17/Affidavite-Final-1.pdf

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

පොලිස් අපරාධ පරීක්‍ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් කැපිටල් මහරාජා සමූහ ව්‍යාපාරයේ සභාපති ශෂී රාජමහේන්ද්‍රන් මහතාගෙන් පැය අටහමාරක පමණ කාලයක් ප්‍රකාශ සටහන් කරගෙන ඇත.

පසුලිය ජූලි 09 වැනිදා එවකට අගමැති වත්මන් ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ පෞද්ගලික නිවසට ගිනිතැබීමේ සිදුවීම ගැන සිදුකරන විමර්ශනවලට අදාළව මෙම ප‍්‍රකාශ සටහන් කරගෙන තිබේ.

පසුගිය අඟහරුවාදා පෙරවරු 10.00 පමණ සිට ශෂී රාජමහේන්ද්‍රන් මහතාගෙන් පස්වරු 6.30 පමණ කාලයක් මෙසේ ප‍්‍රශ්ණ කර ඇත්තේ සිරස රූපවාහිනී නාලිකාව දිගින් දිගටම රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතාගේ නිවස පිහිටි ස්ථානය පැවසීම හේතුවෙන් අරගලකරුවන් එම නිවස ගිනිතැබීමට පෙළඹවීමක් සිදු කර ඇති බවට එල්ල වන චෝදනා මතයි.

ජූලි 09 වැනිදා රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අවස්ථා දෙකකදී සිරස නාලිකාව අමතා තම නිවස පිහිටි ස්ථානය නොපවසන ලෙසද ඉල්ලා ඇති බව සදහන්ය.

ශෂී රාජමහේන්ද්‍රන් මහතාව යලිත් ප‍්‍රශ්ණ කිරීමට කැඳවීමට නියමිත අතර සිරස නාලිකාවේ තවත් ප්‍රධානීන් කිහිපදෙනෙකුගෙන්ද ප්‍රකාශ ලබාගැනීමට කැඳවීමට නියමිතය.

Courtesy The Daily Star

Workers carry a basket of watermelons at a wholesale vegetable and fruit market amid an ongoing economic crisis on the outskirts of Colombo. Sri Lanka defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout after months of food, fuel and medicine shortages. PHOTO: AFP/FILE

Sri Lanka’s economic meltdown will result in a record contraction of at least eight percent this year but the public could soon expect some relief from runaway inflation, the head of the country’s central bank said Thursday.

The island nation defaulted on its $51 billion foreign debt in April and is seeking an International Monetary Fund bailout after months of food, fuel and medicine shortages.

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Its 22 million people have also suffered through lengthy blackouts and spiralling cost-of-living pressures after scarcity and a currency crash drove up prices.

The Central Bank of Sri Lanka had already projected the economy could shrink a painful 7.5 per cent for the calendar year, dwarfing the previous record 3.6 per cent contraction in 2020 as the pandemic raged.

“But now we think it will exceed 8.0 per cent,” governor Nandalal Weerasinghe told reporters in Colombo.

He said inflation — officially running at 60.8 per cent — will peak at “about 65 per cent” in September, followed by a gradual easing caused by lower demand and improvements in supplies.

The foreign exchange shortage that sparked the economic crisis had eased thanks to better currency inflows and lower imports, he added.

“We are now able to finance the most essential imports such as petrol and diesel and medicines,” Weerasinghe said.

At the peak of Sri Lanka’s fuel shortages, motorists had to wait for days and sometimes weeks to top up, but strict fuel rationing has shortened queues.

Months of protests over the collapsing economy culminated in the resignation of president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who was forced to flee his official residence after it was stormed by a huge crowd last month.

Rajapaksa is accused of mismanaging the island nation’s economy to the point where it was unable to finance even the most essential imports.

He has since travelled to Thailand and close associates have said he was desperate to return home, where he faces corruption charges that had been suspended because of his presidential immunity.

The political upheavals last month stalled talks with the IMF, but a delegation from the international lender of last resort is expected in Colombo before the end of August.

Weerasinghe said he was hopeful authorities would finalise a staff-level agreement with the Fund later this month ahead of a formal bailout deal.