KAMALIKA PIERIS

JVP had two levels of activity, open and secret. They had two parallel political agendas, one for the public and another for the insiders in the party, said analysts. JVP functioned openly as an agitation group, whilst, at the same time recruiting combatants into a clandestine military organization, said Jayantha Somasunderam.

JVP‘s public agenda said the JVP wanted to create a socialist revolution which would benefit the masses.  This bogus agenda was put forward to win the popular support    JVP needed in order to capture political power.  The public were enticed into the movement by the idea of an instant, perfect, socialist society.

The Party evolved its own Marxist ideology which was a hybrid. It drew on Trotsky’s criticism of Stalinism and the ‘popular front.’ From Mao it asserted the primacy of the peasantry as the backbone of the revolution. And from Castro it learnt armed insurrection. The JVP training for its cadres emphasized neo-colonialism, attacked parliamentarianism and rejected the mainstream left parties, said Jayantha Somasunderam.

Former JVPer, Indrawansa de Silva recalls, the fifth of the now legendary five classes” was fully devoted to the game plan of Lankan revolution. That class was aptly titled The path Lankan revolution should take.” It summed up all the Marxist revolutions that had taken place since the Bolsheviks toppled the Czar in 1917 and convincingly argued to its ignorant audiences why none of these past revolutions suited the unique conditions” of the motherland. How original, we thought. So it was our Dear Leader who dreamed up what the Lankan revolution would be a simultaneous attack on the police stations and strategically selected army camps. The entire attack would take a single night”.

The secret agenda, which was the real one, was armed seizure of power by a trained cadre of young men. JVP while holding meetings for the public was secretly arming.  They were getting ready to kill. Emphasis was on weapons and training. It was to be a Fascist type putsch, said Wiswa Warnapala. The entire organization was conspiratorial, he observed. Whenever a party cadre showed any uncertainty over the dual strategy, the answer was eka upakramayak, sahodaraya”.

Had we succeeded it is more than likely that Sri Lanka would have ended up worse than Cambodia under Pol Pot, said Indrawansa de Silva. I am not being just speculative here. The JVP has shown time after time its violent and authoritarian tendencies whenever and wherever it got even a small taste of power.

Just take some early signs. If someone with an opposing view tried to sell a newspaper or distribute a pamphlet at our rallies they were promptly beaten up and kicked out. We did not hesitate to use power of the fist when met with opposition even within the organization. Honest and sincere questioning of ideas and theories we espoused in our classes and camps was seen as a threat to the movement and branded as reactionary, counter-revolutionary, or petit bourgeois tendencies.

Another account of how the JVP would have governed was given in Ranjith Hennayake Arachchi (Bertie) in his memoir, Bak Maha Kandulu. He described the way JVP ran Hammenheil Prison in Jaffna, where hundreds of JVP cadres were held in the 1971 insurgency. 

A revolutionary army” was established to safeguard the proletariat dictatorship” in Hammenheil. This army took care of the class-enemies” and traitors” in the only way known to JVP––physical force. Anyone who questioned anything the JVP was up to at Hammenheil was branded as the class enemy. Kangaroo courts were held in Hammenheil to try reactionaries” and counter-revolutionaries” that the JVP always found guilty. They were brutally beaten in broad daylight.

Everything that took place in Hammenheil had the blessings of Wijeweera himself as there was an effective line of communication between Hammenheil and Jaffna prison where he was held. ‘The Socialist Republic of Hammenheil’ was a microcosm of what the country would have become had the JVP ever grabbed power.

JVP was a hard headed cynical organization under a ruthless leadership, said critics. Noble sentiments were lacking. There was a lack of heroism and moral uprightness in the JVP, said Chandraprema. The JVP leaders were never idealistic.  Rank and file may have had idealistic views’but not the leadership.

JVP had boasted of their simple life style. Then in September 1989 Rupavahini showed the public the mansions, cars, and personal luxuries including foreign aphrodisiacs used by the top JVP leadership.

For the JVP high command, self protection came first. When they ordered villagers out on a demonstration, JVP got those they disliked to march first so they were the first to get killed. JVP leaders stayed in the rear, they never went in the front.  They were safe from fire. They had followed this from the time they started forced demonstrations, said Chandraprema. An enterprising officer had once got a helicopter to fire at the rear of the procession.

 In 1989 JVP did not display much bravery in captivity. Top leadership told all within 24 hours. They were captured within less than 24 hours of each other. JVP was only willing to kill for a cause but not to die for it.   Analysts noted that the junior cadres were much better, they did not sing even under torture.  I do not think this was due to courage and loyalty, they probably knew very little about the organization.

Wiswa Warnapala   heard Wijeweera address students at Peradeniya In 1971. Wijeweera was all revolutionary rhetoric, gestures, and gesticulations, said Wiswa. Wijeweera traversed the entire course of the history of revolution and referred to all revolutionary ideologies in the world. Wijeweera‘s own revolutionary ideology was a hotchpotch of all these ideologies without a clear cut strategy. His ideology was, in Marxian terms, not ideology at all, said Wiswa. My assessment was that this man, with neither ideology nor political strategy would put the youth of the country into serious trouble, concluded Wiswa.

Rohana Wijeweera was not the great leader he was made out to be. Wasantha Bandara   had maintained secret contact with Rohana Wijeweera in the 1984-1989 period. During regular secret meetings with Rohana Wijeweera, Bandara said he realized Wijeweera was not in full control of the operations undertaken by the JVP. Wijeweera was a puppet leader, carrying out orders. 

Godahewa said Wijeweera was ‘a person easy to control,’ though his speeches sounded fiery.   Facing the camera for a video statement when arrested, the expression on his face was one of disappointment and dismay, said Indradasa. He had spoken in a shattered voice, with emotion.

When he was captured in 1971, Wijeweera was very docile, unlike his public image, said Chandraprema. He had told everything about everybody while trying to hide his own liability for the insurgence. His 1971 statement went to 400 pages, in 1989 he was brief, said Chandraprema.

හිරන් කුරේ

විමල් වීරවංශ පසුගියදා රූපවාහිනී වැඩසටහනකට එකතු වෙමින් අනාවරණය කළේ, අරගලය හමුවේ ඉල්ලා අස්වීමට සූදානම් වූ ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය රාජපක්ෂට එවක අගමැති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ද ඉවත් කර ඉල්ලා අස්වන ලෙස ඇමරිකානු තානාපතිනී ජූලි චන්ග් බල කළ බවය.

විමල් ඊට පෙර ප්‍රකාශ කළේ ජනාධිපති ගෝඨාභය අවු. 05ක ධූර කාලය නිමාකර සිය දරු මුනුබුරන් සමග ජීවත් වන්නට ඇමරිකාව බලා යාමේ අපේක්ෂාවෙන් ඇමරිකාව අසතුටු නොවන ආකාරයට කටයුතු කළ බවයි. එහෙත් ජනාධිපති ධූරය පමණක් නොව සිය ජීවිතය ද බරපතළ අවධානමක පවතින අවස්ථාවක ඇමරිකාවේ නැතහොත් ජූලි චන්ග්ගේ උවමනාව අනුව කටයුතු කර ඇමරිකාව අසතුටු නොකර ඉන්නට ගෝඨාභය කටයුතු කර නැති බව විමල්ගේ ඉහත ප්‍රකාශයෙන් සනාථ වෙයි. එපමණක් නොව විමල් එක ම වැඩසටහනේ කරන ප්‍රකාශයක් ඔහු විසින් ම අනතුරුව නිෂේධනය කරයි.

අනෙක් අතට විමල් ප්‍රකාශ කරන ආකාරයේ දෙයක් සිදුවී නම් තමන්ට ඇමරිකානු සරණාගතභාවය ලබා දෙන්නේ නම් රනිල් ඉවත් කරන බවට කොන්දේසියක් දමා ගෝඨාභයට ඇමරිකාවට යාමට අවස්ථාවක් ලබා ගැනීමට ද එහි අවස්ථාවක් තිබිණි. එහෙත් තමා යාමට අපේක්ෂා කළ සියලු ම රටවල් තමා ප්‍රතික්ෂේප කරන පසුබිමක පවා ගෝඨාභය ජූලි චන්ග්ගේ ඉල්ලීමට පිටුපා ඇත.

කොටින් ම සිය ද්විත්ව පුරවැසිභාවය ද අහිමි කරගෙන මේ රටට සේවය කිරීමේ අවංක අභිලාෂයෙන් කටයුතු කළ ගෝඨාභය අවසාන මොහොතේ පවා ඇමරිකානු අපේක්ෂාව අනුව රනිල් ඉවත් කිරීමට කටයුතු කර නැත.

විමල් අනාවරණය කළ මෙම කරුණ මගින් හෙළි වන වඩාත් වැදගත් කාරණය ඇමරිකාව හෝ බටහිර රනිල් තව දුරටත් සිය නියෝජිතයා ලෙස නොසලකන බවය. නොඑසේ නම් රනිල් ඉවත් කර ඉල්ලා අස්වන්නැයි ඇමරිකාව ගෝඨාභයගෙන් ඉල්ලන්නේ නැත. ගෝඨා ඉවත් වූ වහා ජනාධිපති වන්නේ රනිල් බව ඔවුන් නොදැන සිටියා නොවේ.

ඇමරිකානු ඉල්ලීම අනුව රනිල් ඉවත් කළේ නම් එකල අරාජිකව පැවැති රට නැවත යථා තත්ත්වය⁣ට ගෙන ඒම සිහිනයක් වනු ඇත. කතානායක මහින්ද යාපා ජනාධිපති ධූරයට පත්ව පිස්සු කෙළින අතර රට තුළ සිවිල් යුධ තත්ත්වයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීම ඇමරිකාවේ ඊළඟ සැලසුම වන්නට ඇත.

ඔවුන්ගේ අරමුණ එමගින් අපේ රට අස්ථාවර කිරීම පමණක් නොව එම අර්බුදයට හේතුව චීන ආයෝජන බවට ප්‍රවාදයක් ගොඩනඟමින් චීනයට පහර දීම ද බව අප අමතක කළ යුතු නැත. එහෙත් ගෝඨාභය නිසා එය වැළකිනි. ඊට හිමි ගෞරවය ඔහුට ලබා දීමට අප කෘතඥ විය යුතුය.

අනතුරුව පැවැති අනුප්‍රාප්තික ජනාධිපතිවරණය සඳහා ඩලස් අලහප්පෙරුම ඉදිරිපත් වූ අතර සුමන්දිරන්, සම්බන්ධන්, මනෝ ගනේෂන්, රවූෆ් හකීම්, රිෂාඩ් බදියුදීන්, තානාපති කාර්යාල, පෙරටුගාමී ඇතුළු අරගල නායකයින්, රාජ්‍ය නොවන සංවිධාන, සජබ ආදී සියලු පාර්ශ්ව ඩලස් දිනවීමට පෙරමුණ ගත්තේය.

ජවිපෙ 2015 මහින්දට දෙන්න එපා කියමින් මෛත්‍රීට කැම්පේන් කළ විදිහට ම මෙදා රනිල්ට දෙන්න එපා කියමින් ඩලස්ට කැම්පේන් කළේය. රනිල්⁣ට ඡන්දය දී ගමට එන්න එපා යැයි පෙරටුගාමී මැරයින් වෙනම බියගැන්වීමේ මානසික මෙහෙයුමක් දියත් කළේය.

රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ ඉවත් කිරීමට මෙලෙස බටහිර සිය උපරිම බලය යොදන බව දැන දැන ම විමල් වීරංශ ද ඩලස් ජනාධිපති කරලීමට දරදිය ඇද්දේය. එය කැලණි වැන්දා සේ සියලු පව් කමා කරවන මහානිශංස පිංකමක් බව ද පැවසුවේය.

ඒ අනුව බලන විට විමල් උත්සාහ කර ඇත්තේ ද රනිල් පන්නා ඩලස් නම් රූකඩය ජනපති කොට, ඇමරිකාව සිදුකළ ⁣රෙජිම් චේන්ග් එක පරිසමාප්ත කරලීමටය. එහි අවසාන කොටස තරණය කිරීමට මුක්කු ගැසීමටය. එය මට නම් සුළුපටු වරදක් නොවේ.

එදා සියලු බලවේග එක මිටට ගොනු වී කළ කුමන්ත්‍රණය පරාජය කිරීමට පොහොට්ටු මන්ත්‍රී පිරිස මහා අවධානමක් ගෙන කටයුතු නොකළේ නම් අද රට සම්පූර්ණයෙන් මෙහෙය වන්නේ බටහිර විසින් තෝරාපත් කළ ඩලස් විසිනි.

එසේ නම් අපේ රට සියලු බටහිර අවශ්‍යතා ඉටුකරගන්නා ගොදුරු බිම් බවට පත්වනු නොඅනුමානය. විමල් දැන හෝ නොදැන ඒ අවස්ථාවේ ඉටු කළේ ඇමරිකානු අවශ්‍යතාව හැර වෙන යමක් දැයි ඔහුගේ ම මෙම ප්‍රකාශ දෙක ඇසුරින් නුවණින් විමසා බැලීම වටී.

Sent from my iPhone

Sugath Kulatunga

Since the devaluation of the rupee in early March, five months have lapsed without any positive plan of action to address the problem of the dearth of dollars. People have died in queues; severe scarcities have arisen in essential goods and inflation has galloped over 70 percent. In brief the country has undergone and continues to be in an unprecedented economic and social crisis. But our parliamentarians have behaved as if there is no dollar crisis and are splitting hairs on a political solution through ad hoc Constitutional gymnastics which is a clever diversion. Now the magic formula has appeared in the form of the proposal for a 22^nd Amendment to the Constitution. It is noted that one has to search the web for the document as it is not there in the list of Extraordinary Gazettes published by the Government Printer.

 There are a few provisions like the Audit Commission which are of value. But the main thrust of the Constitutional Council replacing the present Parliamentary Council is not very different from the provisions in the 20^th Amendment which was criticized as leading to a Dictatorship. The official members remain the same except providing for a representative of the President. One is reminded of the Ministry representative in departmental and corporation selection boards where the Ministry representative ensures that the Minister’s nominees are selected. This post is superfluous and counterproductive. Of the three outsiders replacing the former distinguished citizens who were only onlookers, co-opting representatives from the academic and business world is good. But it would have been better if in both OPA and Chambers the Presidents of the organizations rather than nominees are brought in. They are responsible directly to their membership. The President of the Federation of Chambers is more representative than a nominee of the SL Chamber of Commerce.

The quorum of the meeting of the proposed council is five and at least five members must vote to make a decision valid. However, it is noted that the three outsiders with the leader of the opposition and his nominee can make a valid majority decision. It is the same with the Prime Minister, his nominee combining with the three outsiders. This is hypothetical but is a situation to be avoided by vesting a veto power in the Speaker.

It is also suggested to make the 3 outsiders responsible to the people whose names should be vetted by a relevant sectoral committee of the Parliament. it would be useful if the proposed relevant sectoral committees interview the candidates as is done by Senate Committees in the USA.

Historically we have had no serious problems in the appointments made by the President on his own  or on the recommendations made by a Constitutional Council except in the case of a former IGP. I believe anticipating a wrong decision in that case the distinguished citizens absented themselves. The real damage caused by the incumbents of high-level posts do not come from holders of posts considered under the Constitutional Council but from the holders of many more posts where the power of appointment is with the Cabinet or the subject Minister. Even in appointments approved by the cabinet it is only in very rare cases the Cabinet does not agree with a Minister as these decisions are made on the back scratching principle.

The colossal damage caused by the chairmen and Boards of State Corporation by blatant corruption and poor management of some of these agencies has been a severe burden on the economy. Corporations like the CEB, CEPET, and Port have become untouchable and are in the habit of dictating terms to the government. There are about 420 State owned enterprises. Only a few make any return on the investment or provide a satisfactory service. The problem with them is not the ownership but the management which is either corrupt or inefficient or often both. Politicians are keen on the Constitutional Council appointments but are not interested in cleaning up the feet of clay. Most time they wallow in the same muck.

Is the solution privatization? May be- but not sellouts like what has happened before.

Sugath Kulatunga

ජයන්ත හේරත්

පාර්ලිමේන්තු

අයියලාගේ

බඩගෙඩිවල   

සයිස්

එක දැක්කාම

හරිම දුකක් දැනෙන්නේය,

කොහොම ඔය

ඉදිරියට නෙරා ආ බඩගෙඩි

උස්සා ගෙන ඉන්නේදැයි සිතේය.

මුළු මේන්තුවේම

ඉන්නේ අසාධ්ය බඩගෙඩි ලෙඩ්ඩුය,

සැත්කම් කර ගන්නට

නිතර නිතර දුවන්නේ

සිංගප්පුරුවටය,

ඉන්දියාවටය

තයිලන්තයටය 

වැය කරන්නේ

මහජන බදු මුදල්ය

කිසි ලජ්ජාවක් නැත.

මේන්තුවෝ

මුලින්ම කල යුත්තේ

ඉදිරියට නෙරා ආ බඩගෙඩි

අඩු කර ගැනීමය,

සුද්ද කර ගැනීමය.

එසේ කිරීමෙන්

සිරුරේ බර අඩු වේය,

කඩිසරකම ඇතිවේය,

ඉවරයක් නැතුව කරන ගොන් කථා

අඩු කර ගන්නට හිතෙන්නට පුළුවන

රට වෙනුවෙන් වැඩ කිරීමට

උද්යෝගයක් වුනත්  ඇති වන්නට  බැරි නැත.

ගිල දමන

මස් ප්රමානය හා

තෙල් බැඳුම්

අඩු කර ගන්නේ නම්

ඔයාකාරව තෙල් තට්ටු

තට්ටු පිටින් බැදෙන්නේ නැත.

එළවලු පලතුරු කෑම

ඔය බඩ ගෙඩි අඩු වෙන්නට උදව් වේය,

එළවලු සුප් බීම රෙකමදාරුය,

රාත්රී ආහාර වේල කපා දැමිය යුතුය,

වේල් දෙකක් කෑම

හොඳටම ප්රමාණවත්ය,

මත්පැන් බීම ද නවතා දැමිය යුතුය,

ඔවුනට විශේෂයෙන් පොළොව කෙටිම

පැල සිටුවීම, වතුර දැමීම, කාණු සුද්ධ කිරීම වැනි දේ

අනිවාර්ය කල යුතුය,

එසේ කිරීමෙන්

අනිවාර්යයෙන් බඩගෙඩි අඩු වන්නේය.

එහෙම නැතුව

ව්යායාමයට කියා

කාර් එකෙන් ගොස්

පැයක් හමාරක් ව්යායාම කර

රෙස්ටෝරන්ට් එකකින් 

අඩියක් ගසා

මේධය අධික ආහාර වේලක් භුක්ති විඳ

ආයෙමත් කාර් එකට නැග ගෙදර ඇවිත්

රූපවාහිණිය ඉස්සරහ වාඩි වී සිටියාට

බඩගෙඩි මේ සම්ම ජාතියට

බහින්නේ නැත.

හරක් කිරි නිෂ්පාදන ආහාරයට නොගෙන 

කැකුළු බත්

හෝ

දුඹුරු පාන්,

සමග කොළ එළවලු,

ශාක ප්රෝටීන

හා

විටමින් B12 දිනකට මයික්රෝ-ග්රෑම් 1.5ක් ගැනීමෙන්

බොහෝ NCD වලින් මිදී,

ලේ වල සීනි HbA1C

අඩු කර ගන්නට පුළුවන්ය.

සුදු පාන්,

සුදු හාල්,

හරක් කිරි නිෂ්පාදන, මත්පැන් 

ආනයනය අඩු කිරීමෙන්

ඩොලර් ටිකක් ලේසියෙන්

ඉතිරි කර ගන්නටත් පුළුවන්ය.

අපේ අන්තරේ

ළමයින්ගේ

බෙල්ලේ නිතර බැඳ ගත්

යන්තරයක් ඇත,

ඉතා බලසම්පන්නය

මිල අධික යන්තරයක්ය.

වරින් වර නව යන්තර එන්නේය,

පරණ එකට වඩා හොඳය කියා වෙළෙන්දෝ

කියන නිසා ඒ යන්තරය මිලට ගන්නට

ඕනෑම මගඩියක් කරන්නටද

අම්මා අප්පා උනත්

විකුණන් කන්නටද

මේ ළමයින් කැමතිය.

මේ යන්තරේට

තත්පරයකට

ඔපරේෂන්

බිලියන් 7-8 ක්

කල හැකිය,

ඒ වුනාට මේ ළමයින්

මේ යන්තරය පාවිච්චි කරන්නේ

ඉහලින් එන නියෝග

අකුරටම පිලිපදින්නටය.

ගිනි තියපියව්

කියා අණ ලැබුණු සැනෙන්

පෙනුමට තිබෙන ගෙවල් දොරවල්

දේපල ගිනි ලන්නේය,

අලුත් වාහන පේන්නට බැරිය

ගිණි තියන්නේය.

නැති ඉන්ධන ඉබේ මතු වෙන්නේය-

පුදුම හිතේය.

ගිණි තැබීමෙන් පසුව

ආදරය වපුරන කථාය,

එය නම් එසේ මෙසේ ආදරයක් හෙම නොවේය.

හරියට

අර ගිනි තැබූ ගෙවල් දොරවල් හා වාහන

නැවත තිබු තත්වයට ගන්නට

ඒ වැපිරීමෙන් පුළුවන් යයි හිතන

තරමට මේ ළමයින්ගේ

මොළ සෝදා හැර ඇත.

තමන්ගේ මොළයෙන්

ලෝකය දිහා බලන්නට බැරි,

ලෝකයේ දැනට ඇති ප්රශ්න අඳුනා ගන්නට බැරි,

ඒ අනුසාරයෙන්

තමන්ගේ රටට විය හැකි දුර්විපාක නොතේරෙන

විසඳුම් වෙනුවට තවත් ප්රශ්න මැවීමට උර දෙන

ළමයින් පිරිසක් සිටීම

ශෝකජනකය.

බඩගෙඩි වර්ධනයට වඩා

අන්තරේ මල්ලිලාගේ

මොළගෙඩි

වර්ධනයට

මේ යන්තර

සූත්තර

පාවිච්චි කිරීමට

මේන්තුවේ අයියල

වැඩ කලයුතුය.

අවුරුදු 50ක් විතර වයස

අන්තරේ

තහනම් කර

මල්ලිලාගේ

ඔළු ගෙඩි සුද්ද කිරීමට 

කාලය එළඹ ඇත.

මාධ්‍ය අංශය, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන

ඉංග්‍රීසි අන්තවාදීන්ගේ ලක්ෂණ 7…!

1) නීතිය නොදන්නා ජනාධිපතිවරු පත් කරගැනීමට සහාය දෙයි.

2) ඉන්ධන වැඩි වශයෙන් දහනයවන වාහන භාවිතා කරයි.

3) පාපැදි භාවිතා කිරීමට ජනතාවට උනන්දුව ඇති නොකර පාපැදි අධික මිලට අලෙවි කිරීමට දිරි දෙයි.

4) රුසියාව සහ චීනය සමඟ රාජ්‍ය තාන්ත්‍රික සම්බන්ධතා පැවැත්වීමට බාධා කරයි.

5) දේශීය නිෂ්පාදකයන්, ගොවිතැන අධෛරයට පත් කර විදේශීය නිෂ්පාදන සහ විදේශීය් ආහාර ආනයනය කරන්නන්ට දිරි දෙයි.

6) අධිකරණ භාෂාවෙන් නඩු විභාග කිරීම, නීති අධ්‍යාපනය ලබා දීම වළක්වයි.

7) රජයේ දේපල උකස්කර විදෙස් රටවලින් ණය ලබා ගැනීමට උපදෙස් දෙයි.

මාධ්‍ය අංශය, වෛද්‍ය තිලක පද්මා සුබසිංහ අනුස්මරණ නීති අධ්‍යයන වැඩසටහන. දුර 0712063394

(2022.08.07)

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, August 8: The Chinese Foreign Ministry told the media in Beijing on Monday, that it is senseless” to invoke security concerns” to pressure” Sri Lanka to deny entry to Chinese ships that are carrying out legitimate tasks.

Without naming India (referring to it as a third-party”) the Chinese Foreign Ministry readout said that as a sovereign country, Sri Lanka has the right to conduct its foreign relations without interference from third parties.

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Here is the readout of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) statement at the presser:

The MOFA thinks that Sri Lanka is a transport hub in the Indian ocean. Many scientific exploration ships including those from China have stopped at the ports of Sri Lanka for resupplies. China has always exercised freedom of navigation in the high seas and fully respects the jurisdiction of coastal states in respect of scientific exploration activities within their jurisdictional waters.”

Sri Lanka is a sovereign state. It can develop relations with other countries, in light of its own development interest. Cooperation between Sri Lanka and China are independently chosen by the two countries based on common interests. It doesn’t target a third party. Citing security concerns is senseless, to pressure Sri Lanka.”

China urges the relevant parties to see China’s scientific exploration in a reasonable and sensible way and stop disturbing normal exchange of cooperation between China and Sri Lanka.”

China Determined to dock Yuan Wang 5

Thus, it is now clear that China will make it a point to see that Yuan Wang 5 berths as planned at the Hambantota harbor in South Sri Lanka on August 11, and stay for replenishment till August 17, as per the original schedule.

India had objected to the Chinese vessel’s visit because, in its view, the vessel’s primary purpose was to dock in Hambantota for as long as a week, not to replenish, but to spy on sensitive installations in South India. India’s grievance was also that even as Sri Lanka and India were part of an institution called Security and Growth for All in the Region” or SAGAR, meant to build an inclusive and cooperative approach to regional security, Sri Lanka did not inform India about its decision to allow the Chinese vessel to dock at Hambantota.

India delivered a demarche to Sri Lanka on the issue. Subsequently, its Foreign Minister S.Jaishankar reportedly took up the matter in his meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Ali Sabry, on the sidelines of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ conference in Cambodia.

Under Indian pressure, the Sri Lankan government requested the Chinese Ambassador in Colombo to defer” the visit of the vessel to enable consultations”. The Chinese Ambassador reportedly said that he would refer the matter to Beijing. Beijing rejected the request for postponing the visit saying that it had no basis in normal international relations.

The latest communique from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it wishes to reaffirm the enduring friendship and excellent relations between Sri Lanka and China which remain on a solid foundation, as reiterated most recently by the two Foreign Ministers Ali Sabry and Wang Yi at a bilateral meeting in Phonm Penh, Cambodia on 4 August 2022.”

At this first meeting between the two Foreign Ministers, Minister Sabry referred to Sri Lanka’s firm commitment to the one-China policy which has been a consistent principle in the country’s foreign affairs”.

What will Sri Lanka Do?

From the above statement it appears that Sri Lanka may be trying to get China’s cooperation on the ship issue in return for firm support to China on the Taiwan or the One-China issue. This could be based on the assessment that for China, the One China issue is far more important than docking a vessel in Hambantota port.

Sri Lanka needs both India and China for economic support at this critical juncture when its finances are in a shambles. It is heavily dependent on a bailout by the IMF, which is a Western institution and in which both the US and India have clout, although China is also a member with influence.

Sri Lanka cannot alienate India because it now owes New Delhi US$ 3.8 billion, borrowed to procure essential supplies such as fuel, food and medicines.

China is also a key contributor to the Sri Lankan economy as it has funded infrastructure development to the tune of US$ 6.5 billion since 2010. Sri Lanka is also depending on China to agree to a haircut” in the money due to it as repayment of its loans. If China does not take a haircut, the IMF would not be able to persuade other creditors to take a haircut”. This year, the repayment due to creditors is to the tune of US$ 7 billion. In April this year, Sri Lanka declared that it is defaulting on repayments pending an IMF bailout.

Political Instability

The spat over the Chinese ship could not have come at a worse time. The Ranil Wickremesinghe government is facing domestic political instability of a high order. The process of forming an all-party government is getting into knots because of political wrangling and unceasing efforts by the opposition to overthrow President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Trade unions and protesters under the Aragalaya” umbrella are planning a massive agitation on Tuesday seeking the ouster of the Rajapaksa-backed Ranil Wickremesinghe government.

Backed by the media, the Aragalaya is hoping to see a replay of the mid-July success when it had forced the previous President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to flee to Singapore through a mix of peaceful and violent action.   

Colombo would now be hoping and praying that either China or India would back off and let it attend to the more pressing task of providing essentials to the people, restoring political stability and getting an IMF bailout.

But geopolitical powers are hard and unforgiving hegemons. And, as in politics, in the world of international relations too, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interests. 

 lanka C news

ලබන එකොළොස් වැනි දා හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීමට සැලසුම්කර තිබූ චීනයේ ‘යුවාන් වැන් 05’ සන්නිවේදන නෞකාව පැමිණීම නවත්වන ලෙස ජනාධිපතිවරයාට බලපෑම් කර ඇත්තේ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ මහතා සහ ඇමරිකානු නියෝජිතයෙකු විසින් බවට තොරතුරු ඇතැයි පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී වාසුදේව නානායක්කාර මහතා සඳහන් කරයි.

නෞකාව නැවත්වුයේ නැතිනම් ජනාධිපතිධූරය අවසන් කරන බවට ඔවුන් දැනුම් දී ඇති බවද මන්ත්‍රීවරයා පැවසීය.

ජනාධිපතිට කල එම තර්ජනය ඉදිරියේ මෙම නෞකාව නවත්වා ඇති බවද හෙතෙම පැවසීය.

ඕනෑම රටක යුද නෞකාවනට මෙරට වරායනට පැමිණීමට ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නම් චීන නෞකාව පැමිණීමේ වරද කුමක්දැයි හෙතෙම ප්‍රශ්න කළේය.

කොළඹදී මාධ්‍ය අමතමින් ඒ මහතා මෙම අදහස් පල කරන ලදී.

Lanka Lead News

චීනයේ යුවාන් වැන් 05 සන්නිවේදන නෞකාවට හම්බන්තොට වරායට ඉන්ධන පිරවීම සඳහා ඇතුල්වීමට ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය ඉඩ දීම කල් දැමීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා මාධ්‍යය නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කර තිබේ. එම නිවේදනය මගින් ඔහු පවසන්නේ ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් උවමනාවට චීනයට දොර වැසීම නොබැඳි පිළිවෙත නොවන බවයි.

ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් වුවමනාවට චීනයට දොර වැසීම නොබැඳි පිළිවෙත නොවේ!

ලබන එකොළොස්වැනි දා හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීමට නියමිතව තිබූ චීනයේ යුවාන් වැන් 05 සන්නිවේදන නෞකාවට එදින පැමිණීමෙන් වළකින ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය චීන තානාපති කාර්යාලය වෙත දැනුම් දී ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ. එසේ දැනුම් දී ඇත්තේ එම සන්නිවේදන නෞකාවට අවශ්‍ය ඉන්ධන ඇතුළු අනිකුත් පහසුකම් ලබා ගැනීම පිණිස හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීම පිණිස ලබාදී තිබූ අවසරය තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීමට ගත් තීරණය අනුව ය.
මෙම නෞකාව ඔත්තු බැලීමේ නෞකාවක් ලෙස සලකමින් ඉන්දීය රජය එය හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැඩි විරෝධය දැක්වීමත් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය මෙම තීරණය ගෙන ඇත. ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් වුවමනාවට චීනයට දොර වැසීම නොබැඳි පිළිවෙත ද ? අප අනුගමනය කළ යුතු වන්නේ නොබැඳි විදේශ පිළිවෙත මිස අනෙකක් නොවේ. මෙමගින් පෙනී යන්නේ තවමත් පවතින අර්බුදය, පුනරුදයේ මොහොත බවට පත් කර නොගනිමින්, එය ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් ආධිපත්‍යයට අපේ රට සම්පූර්ණයෙන් යටත් කිරීම සඳහා යොදා ගනිමින් තිබෙන බවය. එසේම අපේ රට ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් මෙහෙයුමේ ගොදුරක් බවට පත් කිරීම පිණිස යුහුසුළුව ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ ප්‍රමුඛ නඩයේ බලපෑමෙන් වත්මන් පාලනය ද මිදී නොමැති බවය.
එවැනි රට වළපල්ලට ඇද දැමූ විනාශකාරී නඩයක බලපෑම්වලට නතු වෙමින් ගන්නා මෙවැනි තීරණ මගින් සිදු වන්නේ අනාදිමත් කාලයක සිට සෑම දුෂ්කර මොහොතකම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මිත්‍රත්වයේ හස්තය දිගු කළ කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍රයකු වන චීනය සමඟ ද රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික ගැටළුවක් පැන නැගීම පමණි.
විමල් වීරවංශ,(පා.ම.)
නායක,
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ,
2022-08-07

By Shivanthi ranasinghe Courtesy The Ceylon Today

The US State Department owes Sri Lanka an explanation for disallowing former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa from returning to the US. He had been living in the States since 1998. For 16 years, he was a US citizen and only renounced his citizenship to contest at the 2019 presidential campaign. 

This was a straightforward process, as he lived as an exemplary US citizen. He contributed to the US economy and paid all taxes and other dues to the US Government. He is without any record of criminal offences. 

While residing in America, he regularly volunteered at the community’s soup kitchens and was deeply disturbed to meet many US veterans coming into the shelter for a hot meal. They are without the level of support needed to combat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)and other injuries sustained during combat. As such, these veterans have difficulties retaining employment, even if most are educated. Hence, many are rendered homeless. 

According to studies conducted by the leading review journal in public health Epidemiologic Reviews, most recent estimates report that veterans are slightly overrepresented in the US homeless population with veterans constituting 12.3% of all homeless adults in the United States but only 9.7% of the total US population…. since at least the late 1980s.”

Gotabaya always rendered his full support within his capacity to the soldier-Sri Lankan or American, veteran or in-service. After the conclusion of the war against terrorism in Sri Lanka, as the Defence Secretary, he ensured that the Sri Lankan soldier received the best possible care within Sri Lanka’s means. The 14,500 ex-LTTEcadres too received the same care as they were rehabilitated and returned to the society with the necessary skill and education to live with dignity. 

When he visited the US as the Executive President of Sri Lanka in September 2021, he attended the special commemorative event at the Manhattan Memorial to mark the 20^th Anniversary of the 9/11. He thus signified his empathy towards ordinary American citizens. 

It was always his plan after serving as the Sri Lankan President to return to the US to live with his son, who is an engineer at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Therefore, Mr Gotabaya is not seeking entry into the US to live in some rabbit hole, under the radar. He has no reason to do so, for he did not leave Sri Lanka as a fugitive. 

Here lies the interesting question: exactly why did the then President of Sri Lanka, with executive powers and the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces leave Sri Lanka and resign from position before the conclusion of his term?

Peaceful Protesters or Unruly Mob? 

Throughout these four to five months, those who had been protesting against the Gotabaya Administration have been marketed as peaceful” by powerful factions like a section of the media, the West and West influenced civil societies, and certain political, social and religious leaders. In the same breath, it is being gloated that President Gotabaya fled” the country to escape from the protestors. 

Here lies the confusion.If the protesters were peaceful,” then why should the President of the country flee”? If the President resigned respecting the demand of peaceful protesters, then President Gotabaya is a true champion of democracy. Then, the US State Department is without a justifiable cause or reason to deny Gotabaya his visa. 

President Gotabaya was not without options. He could have, like President Chandrika Kumaratunga did, blocked all entry points to Colombo. Instead, he allowed people to come right up to his doorstep. He could have used fire power, even brought out the tanks as China did to curtail the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.

Even the then Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 parked his naval vessels with his military right outside the Galle Face to rescue and evacuate then President J.R.Jayewardene if public protests against the Indo-Lanka Accord turned violent and physically threatened the President.

It is noteworthy that Gotabaya left the Island in a military aircraft. He could do so as he was not fleeing from the law. Even though he was the Commander-in-Chief of the Tri-Forces, the military is beholden to its own military laws. As such, not even the seniormost or highest-ranking officer can break the law without being Court-martialled. 

Therefore, if the then President fled,”then obviously he did so to escape physical harm from a violent mob. Thus, it is obvious that the protesters were not peaceful” but a violent mob who would have unhesitatingly harmed him grievously as they did to young MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala from the Polonnaruwa District. 

It was this same crowd that killed an innocent dog,that posed harm to none as it was beaten to death while tethered with a leash and a harness. The poor creature met its gruesome death because its owner was the then Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe, who was also under pressure from the agitators to resign from Office. If this crowd could not spare even a dog, then even the most unobtrusive First Lady Ioma Rajapaksa’s life was in danger, simply for being President Gotabaya’s wife. 

Protesters’ character certificate

These mobsters’ violent record includes, 

31 March 2022: President Gotabaya’s private residence was attacked as mobsters tried to force their way in, armed with sticks and sharp objects. Afterwards, the neighbourhood resembled a war zone; 

19 April 2022: several junctions in various parts of the Island were almost simultaneously blocked by protesters demanding fuel. The situation in Rambukkana, despite the Police’s efforts went awry even after 15 hours of grappling with the situation to bring it under control. The rioters pelted the Police with rocks, causing 20 Police personnel to sustain injuries, with 14 requiring hospitalisation. Two bowsers carrying fuel were damaged with its tires and engine removed. There was an attempt to set one on fire. When tear gas proved ineffective, the Police were compelled to shoot, resulting in the death of one;

9 May 2022: provoked by the then PM Mahinda Rajapaksa’s supporters’ attack, hunted down the supporters, the violent reprisals included beating with poles, stripping some naked, and keeping others dunked in the Beira Lake the whole day, also assaulted a senior DIG, flogged young MP Athukorala to death, and destroyed numerous vehicles and properties of 73 government MPs. 

9 July 2022: looted and destroyed Wickremesinghe’s rare collection of manuscripts and paintings, mercilessly killed his dog, and set his home on fire. 

These mobsters’ deliberate actions are making the country ungovernable. Not only did they force democratically and legitimately elected President and Premier to resign from Office under duress, they are rejecting the present powers. Yet, they are without an alternate, viable proposal either. Their actions thus are leading the country into anarchy. 

The Hate Campaign against Sri Lanka 

President Gotabaya was foolish not to recognise the threat they posed to democracy. According to dissident MP Wimal Weerawansa, he did so as he did not want to jeopardise his chance to return to the States. This innocent but utterly self-serving wish was exploited by US Ambassador Julie Chung, charges Weerawansa. The US Embassy has not denied or clarified this accusation. 

This silence has accentuated the possible motive for marketing the anarchists as peaceful protestors” and criticising the Government for its countermeasures by Western envoys, civil societies and Colombo elite under their influence. The Government’s efforts to bring these violent elements under control and establish normalcy has been deliberately misconstrued. 

According to Human Rights Watch,The Sri Lankan Government is using emergency regulations to harass and arbitrarily detain activists seeking political reform and accountability for the country’s economic crisis.”None in the aforementioned group admit to the ground realities that include the destruction to State property or threats to the legislators’ lives. This then amounts to a wilful hate campaign against Sri Lanka. 

President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s efforts to direct the envoys to verify social media threads from proper authorities has also been misconstrued as berating” the diplomats. However, President Wickremesinghe was correct to air his concerns over these lopsided commentary for it damages our country’s reputation. The general consensus is that as diplomats and entities as the HRW are independent they do not have an agenda outside their mandate. Hence, their words carry an inherent credibility and more weight than a President’s press statement. 

However, justifying criminal behaviour can have dangerous repercussions, for it can easily boomerang on the promoters. Such warnings should not be taken as any form of instigating violence against those who insist the anarchists as peaceful protesters.”

Peaceful protests should not entail brutal killings of lawmakers, innocent pets, or even misled youth. peaceful protesters would disallow the destruction of State and private properties and allowed a democratically elected President’s fate to be decided democratically. Mob rule cannot be accommodated at any point in the democratic spectrum. 

Likewise, ardent advocates of democracy as the US cannot but uphold the US Constitution’s First Amendment-the freedom of expression.Yet, freedom is not a free commodity. It must be exercised with responsibility for the consequences. If one does not appreciate a Go Gama” project on them,then they should not endorse it on another. Therefore, those who defend Go Gama” and related projects on the basis of a democratic right must also uphold the law and the right for both sides of the divide to live in peace. 

President Gotabaya did not allow any harm to befall on his detractors. Instead, he chose to resign from Office. Right up to the last moment, his efforts were to restore the supply lines for essentials. Hence, irrespective of one’s opinion on President Gotabaya’s governance or politics,all must uphold former President Gotabaya’s wish to return to his family. 

ranasingheshivanthi@gmail.com 

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

By Shivanthi Ranasinghe

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The Finance Ministry has lifted the import ban on the popular weedicide glyphosate with effect from August 5 while allowing glyphosate imports into the country subject to import control license requirement.

According to the Gazette Extraordinary No 2291/44 signed by President Ranil Wickremesinghe as the Minister of Finance, Economic Stabilisation and National Policies, N-(phosphonomethyl) Glycine and its salts and derivatives (Glyphosate) has been removed from the ban list of goods specified in schedule four in the Gazette Extraordinary No.2044140 published on November 09, 2017, as amended.

Earlier, glyphosate use was allowed for tea and rubber cultivations for a period of three years following the blanket import ban on the weedicide in 2015. 

In 2019, restricted quantities of glyphosate were permitted to be imported for devitalisation in the floriculture industry and removal of diseased sugarcane plants (White Leaf Disease) and coconut palms (Weligama Coconut Leaf Wilt Disease).

In 2019, it was yet again banned along with another agrochemical in 2021 as the government made a policy decision to move to 100 percent organic agriculture. However, the blanket ban on agrochemicals was removed several months later.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sri Lanka has allowed permission to the Chinese built-Pakistani guided missile frigate PNS Taimur to make a port call at Colombo while on its way to join the Pakistan Navy in Karachi. Build by Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, the warship is on its maiden voyage to Pakistan while exercising en-route with Cambodian and Malaysian navies. The ship is expected to be at Colombo port from August 12-15, 2022.

While Sri Lanka gave permission to the Pakistani guided missile frigate to make a port call at Colombo, it is understood that the ship was denied a permission to make a port call at Chattogram port by the Sheikh Hasina government from August 7-10 after making a port call at Lumut port in Malaysia.

According to diplomatic sources, India’s close ally Bangladesh denied permission to PNS Taimur as August is a month of mourning for Sheikh Hasina as her father, Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman also fondly called Bangabandhu, was assassinated by Pak instigated and Jamait-e-Islami inspired radical Islamist forces on August 15, 1975.

The Sheikh Hasina government is close to Narendra Modi government with the Bangladesh Prime Minister clear that her father and family was done to death at the behest of Pakistan. The radical Islamist forces also made an assassination attempt on Sheikh Hasina in 2000 as Prime Minister and in 2004 as the Awami League President.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to make a trip to India in the first week of September and along with PM Modi will launch the jointly developed 1320 Mega Watt Maitree Super Thermal Power Project at Rampal in Khulna sub-division.

PNS Taimur, the second of the four Type 054 A/P frigates build in China, was commissioned on June 23, 2022. The lead ship of this class is PMNS Tughril and was commissioned on January 24, 2022. China is also building eight Yuan class -041 diesel attack submarines for Pakistan by 2028 with the objective to militarily flank India on high seas.

Courtesy Adaderana

In the wake of Sri Lanka’s request to defer the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota Port, China on Monday took a dig at India, saying it was senseless to pressure” Colombo by citing the issue of security concerns.

According to reports from Colombo, Sri Lanka has asked Beijing to defer the arrival of the Chinese space and satellite tracking research vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ which was scheduled to dock at the Hambantota Port from August 11 to 17 due to security concerns expressed by India.

Responding to the reports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing in Beijing that China has taken note of the reports and asserted that the cooperation between China and Sri Lanka is independently chosen by the two countries and meets common interests. It does not target any third party”.

It is senseless to pressure Sri Lanka” by citing the issue of security concerns, he said, in reference to the reports that Sri Lanka’s move was attributed to concerns expressed by India.

Sri Lanka is a sovereign state. It can develop relations with other countries in the light of its own development interests,” he said.

China urges relevant parties to see China’s scientific explorations in a reasonable and sensible way and stop disturbing the normal exchange between China and Sri Lanka,” Mr Wang said.

Sri Lanka is a transport hub in the Indian Ocean. Many scientific exploration ships including those from China have stopped at the port of Sri Lanka for resupplies, he said. China has always exercised the freedom of navigation in the high seas and fully respects the jurisdiction of coastal states for the scientific exploration activities within their waters,” he said.

According to media reports, India informed Sri Lanka that the docking of the high-tech Chinese research vessel could pose a threat to its national security.

Sri Lanka received strong messages of protests from India as the ship was said to have the capability to track satellites and intercontinental ballistic missiles, the reports said.

India has said it carefully monitors any development having a bearing on its security and economic interests.

We are aware of reports of a proposed visit by this vessel to Hambantota in August,” India’s External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in New Delhi when asked about the reports of a proposed visit by the Chinese vessel.

The government carefully monitors any development having a bearing on India’s security and economic interests and takes all necessary measures to safeguard them,” he said last month.

Reports from Colombo on Sunday said China’s embassy in the country sought an urgent meeting with senior Sri Lankan authorities after Colombo sought deferment in the planned docking of the research vessel.

Some Sri Lankan news portals also reported that the country’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe held a closed-door meeting with China’s Ambassador Qi Zhenhong after Colombo sought the deferment of the planned docking.

On July 12, amidst the political turmoil in Sri Lanka, the previous government approved the Chinese vessel’s docking at the Hambantota port.

The Chinese vessel was expected to dock at the Sri Lankan port for refuelling and replenishment” and to conduct satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September.

Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena recently said Sri Lanka was looking forward to settling the issue of the vessel’s visit with an approach of friendship”.

Source: PTI

–Agencies

Courtesy Adaderana

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says it will not participate in the discussion which was scheduled to be held tomorrow with President Ranil Wickremesinghe regarding an all-party government. 

Accordingly, the party has decided to submit its relevant proposals to the President in writing, former JVP MP Sunil Handunnetti told Ada Derana.

A meeting between the President and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was initially scheduled to be held tomorrow (09) to discuss the proposed all-party government.

The JVP had previously said that although they would attend the talks with the President, the party will not support the formation of an all-party government.

Courtesy Adaderana

Sri Lanka Police today sought public assistance to identify the persons who forcibly entered the President’s House in Colombo on 09 July and cause damages to property. 

Issuing a press release, the Police Media Division said that the Colombo Central Division criminal investigations unit is carrying out investigations to arrest suspects in connection with the incident of a large group of protesters forcibly entering the President’s House and damaging its property on July 09.

Accordingly, investigators are seeking public assistance to identify 32 suspects wanted in connection with the incident based on social media posts and CCTV footage. 

Police said that any information regarding these individuals can be conveyed via the following phone numbers: 0718591559, 0718085585, 01122391358 or 1997 (hotline) 

Photographs of the suspects have been attached below:

Courtesy Adaderana

Samagi Jana Balavegaya (SJB) Kesbewa electorate organiser Gayan De Mel has been arrested by police on suspicion of his involvement in six separate incidents of violence that had taken place on May 09th.

According to a notification made by Piliyandala Police, the suspect had surrendered to the police through an attorney today (08).

The suspect, who was subsequently taken into custody, is scheduled to produce before Kesbewa Magistrate’s Court later today.

Meanwhile, another person who was involved in the protest at Galle Face Green has decided to surrender to the Slave Island Police.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

The University student was a very important component of the JVP.  Undergrads were active in the two insurgencies of 1971 and 1987. In 1971 the army had found large quantities of explosive, weapons, bombs and a transmitter at University of Peradeniya. Uniforms were being stitched in women’s hall of residence, reported General Cyril Ranatunge.

G.R.Morrel recalls, at Kelaniya Campus, where he taught as an instructor in the late 70’s, the Students’ Council was in the hands of the JVP.  Mainly through intimidation, they ran the campus. New students were ragged mercilessly, and staff members who opposed the ragging threatened.

Once, passing the Vice Chancellor’s office, I saw that it was crowded with JVP goons, some even standing on his desk and shouting at the VC, who was seated, obviously terrified. A grandfatherly professor, he was no match for the thugs, concluded Morrel.

University of Peradeniya was a vital base in the 1987-1989 insurgency.  JVP had set up  Action Committees in the University .The frightened University authorities gave recognition to the Action Committee, in order to avoid open confrontation and prevent destruction of life and property, said Wiswa Warnapala.

The Action Committee   turned itself into a parallel administration making use of the University administration and issuing orders to University officials.  The subordinate staff who joined the JVP also enjoyed giving orders to their superiors, to the fury of the academic staff. There was sporadic stoppage and boycott of lectures. No Department could function steadily. Academic programmes came to a standstill. ‘Palamuwa mawbima devenuva upadhiya’ said the slogan.  

The    violence inside the University of   Peradeniya   was such that the University could not control it, said Wiswa. Action Committees were behind the violence. Wiswa was teaching political science at University of Peradeniya, during this Bheeshanaya period. Wiswa was a strong critic of the JVP. He got a threat on his life.

Violence, threats and killings were the order of the day inside Peradeniya campus. No one was safe inside the campus. Any trivial matter was enough for the students to indulge in violence and they were armed with lethal weapons. Peradeniya undergrads were armed with lethal weapons, observed Wiswa. Where did they get these guns, Peradeniya academics asked.

There is evidence to show that the JVP undergrads  received support from some lecturers of the University , at least at the start.  When the crackdown came,  in 1989  and helicopters swooped down on the insurgents ,male undergrads at Hilda Obeyesekera Hall were heard calling out  names of lecturers and asking them to come to their rescue.

Wiswa observed that the  JVP  student leaders in the University  did not come from   the Arts faculty, but from science, engineering and medicine. These young persons were sure of getting well paid jobs so  the explanation was not unemployment.

.Wiswa said the undergrad community of the 80s was entirely different to that of the 50s.  They were more militant and aggressive. Undergrads entering University in the 1990s,  made  a similar observation. They said some of their fellow undergrads  should not be in the University at all. They were referring to  attitude, not ability.

No one seems to have interviewed these  graduates  after the insurgency was over to find out what motivated them towards the JVP. One possibility was the district quota system of University admissions. Before the  district quota  was introduced, all  entrants to University ,  from all schools and  all districts,  sat the same competitive exam and   obtained the  same required  pass marks. They entered University   the proper way and they knew it.

From 1972, undergrads entered University under a district quota system. it was  considered a politically motivated system .Under this system, the cut off point for admission  , differed very widely from district to district, though they all   sat the same exam.  A low cut off point meant low marks. A large number of competent  students  were denied university entrance, due to  this   system ,while  lesser qualified  students came in.

The students who came  into Peradeniya  from districts with  low cut off points  , knew  very well ,that they were  not equal in knowledge to those who came in on higher cut off points,  (though they may be equally intelligent  and may have blossomed in a better school or different district ) .They would have been on the defensive.

What the JVP offered them,  in 1987 to soothe this chip on the shoulder was the prospect of  instant   power, including  the power to  kill. JVP also gave them the heady power to give orders to their teachers, instead of the other way round. They would have liked  this very much.

All this came to an end in 1989, but the JVP hold on the University continued. Universities were a fertile ground for new recruits. As long as the district quota system, which decides university entrance not on  merit , but on geographic location  remains intact, the JVP would find enough supporters in universities, declared critics.  

After 1971,JVP had abandoned plans to work with  school children, servant boys, unemployed persons and   such like. The undergrad became JVP’s main  source for youth. The University contained the sort of energetic young adults the  JVP needed for its deadly purposes.

  JVP set up JVP controlled  student unions such as the  General Students Union of University of Sri Jayawardanepura (Progressive Front). Rival  organizations were  crushed. Daya Pathirana,  leader of the Colombo University Independent Students’ Union, was killed in 1987 when he formed an alternative to the JVP-affiliated Socialist Students Union.

Pro-JVP student factions emerged as the sole representative of student politics, not because there were no alternatives, but because by using thuggery they crushed all  dissent and alternative opinion   at the very start. The  Inter University Student Federation became the main organ of the JVP in the University.

Inter University Student Federation was established in 1969, in Peradeniya by the Vice Chancellor,  Prof E.O.E  Pereira.  Today IUSF represents  the  student councils and action committees of 15 higher education institutes including all the major universities and technical colleges in Sri Lanka. The  Inter University Bhikku Federation was  an affiliated organization.

The IUSF was  recognized by the government in July  1988, and had its first discussion with the Minister of  Higher Education in the same month. .IUSF has just one official, the Convener, who carries out all administrative and legal work on behalf of the union.

IUSF   soon came under the control of  the political  parties operating in the University .From 1972, IUSF was controlled by the Ceylon National Students’ Union of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.  In 1976, JVP  gained control of the IUSF    . Most JVP MPs cut their teeth in politics as activists of the IUSF,  observed analysts.  IUSF Conveners  usually  came from the  JVP .  They later held high rank in the main  JVP.

IUSF was not popular. There were complaints about their activities. In 2009, Prof. Nalin de Silva – Dean of the faculty of Science at the University of Kelaniya – complained that pro-JVP IUSF students had threatened him with death for not agreeing to their political ideologies.

University of Jaffna banned IUSF from entering to the university premises in June 2010. That is not surprising, Jaffna has a matching  organization of its own. University of Colombo and University of Moratuwa had   also  banned the IUSF, according  Wikipedia.

The most explosive comment on the IUSF  comes from Gamini Samaranayake, then Chairman  UGC.He made  special mention of  IUSF. He said that anybody who wants to study political violence and terrorism in Sri Lanka   must start from the JVP controlled IUSF. This name is only a cover, he said. The IUSF is a ‘terrorist movement’.

UK Friends of Galle

The Srilankan schools that were closed for two weeks due to fuel and other shortages have reopened on the 25^th July 2022 and  UKFG has resumed their  Free Lunch For Children programme .   The situation in Srilanka is still critical. Prices  of essential food have gone up by 300% aince April and the fuel shortage has brought many services to halt.   Out of 170,0000 low income families 900,000  could afford only one meal a day now . Most of the children come to school with no dinner and  breakfast. Naturally , starving children could not concentrate on the lessons

Realising this tragedy, this week we have expanded our programme to cover  fed 1500 children in five  schools at Kamburupitya. They are Mapalana, Godawa, Sapugoda, Thumbe and Gathara schools

We are very grateful to our friends in UK, Mr  Neil & Mrs Helen  Carson, Mr Michael , Mr Alan & Mrs Della  Keen, Mr Alan Huchison , Mr Tom Blackwell ,  Dr Uditha & Mrs Kumari Bopitiya, Mrs Nicky Pharaoh, Mr Mark Miller, Mr Ananda Wijesingha and Mrs Sujani Wijethunga in Canada  and Johnson Matthey Limited in London who have generously donated funds for this humanitarian project.  The cost of feeding  300 children in a school is around Rupees 35000 (about £80 ) . £1000  ( Rs 420,000) would feed 1800  children for a week.

If you too would kindly like to save a group of  school children  from starvation, please get in touch with us via this website or email devsiri@hotmail.com. Also please forward to this mail to any philanthropist friend of yours

Thank you

Sirisena Gamage

Chairman

UK Friends of Galle

තෙල් හිඟය නිසා සති  තුනක් තිස්සේ හදිසියේ වසා දැමුනු ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ පාසල් 2022 ජූලි 25 වැනිදා නැවත පටන් ගන්නා ලදී.  ඒ සමගම පාසල් දරුවන්ට දිවා ආහාරය  දීමේ අපේ ව්‍යාපෘතිය ද  නැවත ආරම්භ කෙරුණි.   ඒ සඳහා අපට මුදලින් ආධාර කළ එංගලන්තයේ සියලුම දානපතීන් වෙත අපගේ බලවත් ස්තුතිය මෙයින් පුද කරමු.    කඹුරුපිටියේ සපුගොඩ රතනපාල, මාපලාන, තුඹේ ගෝදාව  හා ගතාර යන විදුහල් පාසලේ දූ දරුවන් 1200ක් ඉතා සතුටින් දිවා ආහාරය ගන්නා පින්තූරයි මේ.

ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ බොහෝ දෙමව්පියන්ට තුතුන්වේලක් තියා එක වේලකටවත්  තම දරුවන්ට ආහාර  ලබාදීම අති කර දුෂ්කර කටයුත්තක් වී ඇත. එවැනි ඉතා කණගාටු දායක සමයක තම දරුවන්ට මෙසේ  නොමිලයේ දිවා ආහාරය ලබාදීම  ගැන බලවත් ලෙස ස්තුති කරමින්  හා මෙම උපකාරය නොනවත්වා ඉදිරියට ගෙන යන ලෙසත ඉල්ලමින් විදුහල්පතිවරුන් හා බොහෝ දෙමව්පියන් විසින් අප වෙත ලිපි එවා ඇත. 

එනිසා මෙම සත්කාරය තව මාස ගණනක් පවත්වාගෙන යාම සඳහා අපට තවත් දානපතිවරුන්ගේ  නොමසුරු ආධාර අවශ්‍යය. ලමුන් 350ක් සිටින පාසැලකට පෝෂ්‍යදායි රසවත් දිවා ආහාර වේලක් සැපයීමට දිනකට රුපියල් හතළිස් දහසක් පමණ  මුදලක් වැයවේ   බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය  මුදලින්  බැලූවිට එය පවුම් 90 ක් වැනි සුළු ප්‍රමාණයකි. බ්‍රිතාන්‍ය පවුම් 1000කින්  ( රු ලක්ශ 4.25කින්) ගම්බද පාසල් තුන හතරක සිසුන් එක්දහස් අටසීයකට සතියක්ම දිවා ආහාරය සැපයිය හැකිය. ඔබත් මෙම දානමය පුණ්‍ය කර්මයට සහභාගී  වීමට කැමති නම්  අපගේ වෙබ් අඩවිය තුලින් විස්තර කියවා devsiri@hotmail.com  යන විද්‍යුත් ලිපිනයෙන් අප හා එක්වන්න  . ඔබගේ දානපති  මිතුරන්ටද  කරුණාකර මේ ලිපිය  යොමු කරන්න. ඔවුන්ගෙන් එක් අයකු හෝ මෙම සත්කාරයට මුදලින් සහභාගි  වීමට කැමති වුවහොත් එය මේ ඔබ දකින ගම්බද පාසල් දරුවන්ගේ     මහත් භාග්‍යක් වනු ඇත

 බොහොම ස්තූතියි

සිරිසේන ගමගේ

ගරු සභාපති

එක්සත් රාජධානියේ  ගාලු මිතුරු පදනම

By P.K.Balachandran Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, August 7 (Counterpoint): The proposed docking of the Chinese survey and tracking vessel Yuan Wang 5 at Hambantota port from August 11 to 17, has touched off a low-intensity conflict between India and China putting Sri Lanka in a cleft stick.

Sri Lanka is desperately in need of financial help from both India and China to tide over an unprecedented financial crisis. Therefore, any standoff between the two giants will exacerbate the island nation’s bid to emerge from the economic quagmire.

After India verbally protested to Sri Lanka against the vessel’s visit (suspecting that it could spy on India’s southern and eastern coasts from Hambantota port) Sri Lanka requested China to postpone the visit to enable consultations. By doing so, Sri Lanka was trying to buy time to resolve the issue in a way that will not alienate it from either New Delhi or Beijing.

But given India’s tough stand on the issue (for more reasons than one), the powers-that-be in New Delhi are unlikely to take no” for an answer from Colombo. As for China, it is currently in an exceptionally   belligerent mood, given the challenge it is facing from the US over Taiwan. And being the single-largest bilateral creditor in Sri Lanka, with power to stall the latter’s debt restructuring efforts, China could throttle the island nation if the latter did not allow the ship to dock under rival India’s influence.

Besides, the geopolitical dimension of the problem, Sri Lanka is also facing a psychological issue: Right from the 1980s, its formal status as a sovereign State, legally free to take any decision it wants, has been constantly eroded by regional and global powers on various issues, such as security, human rights and constitutional arrangements. The proposed visit of Yuan Wang 5 is but the latest challenge to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty in a long series of challnges.

However, both India and China have their arguments to back their respective demands. To take India’s case first, New Delhi considers neighbor Sri Lanka as being part of its sphere of influence and within its defense perimeter. India also sees Lanka as a natural ally with deep historical and contemporary cultural and religious links. New Delhi, therefore, demands a special relationship, which to it means Sri Lanka’s keeping at bay, India’s rivals or any force inimical to it.

Further, India has been assiduously trying to bring Sri Lanka under its political, economic and security umbrella through its Neighborhood First” policy and maritime security agreements. Under one such security arrangement, Sri Lanka, India and the Maldives are to cooperate in creating. maintaining and operating a mutual Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) scheme. Under the MDA scheme, Sri Lanka should have informed India in advance about the visit of Yuan Wang 5.   Gotabaya Rajapaksa was Sri Lanka’s President when the vessel was given diplomatic permission to dock. The obligation to inform India as per the MDA scheme was ignored.

The problem was compounded by the fact the successor government under President Ranil Wickremesinghe had not reviewed it keeping the MDA and India’s sensitivity in mind. New Delhi had expected Colombo not to repeat the mistake it made in 2014, when a Chinese nuclear submarine had secretly docked at Colombo port almost coinciding with the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the city. That docking was seen in New Delhi as a hostile act and relations between New Delhi and Colombo soured gravely.

India’s case on the visit of Yuan Wang 5 is further buttressed by the fact that unlike China or any other country for that matter, India has always been the First Responder” every time Sri Lanka faced a problem, whether it was a natural, economic or a political disaster. New Delhi came to Colombo’s help to curb a leftist insurrection in 1971 and also during the 1988-89 leftist insurrection. To end Tamil separatist militancy in 1987, it sent a Peace Keeping Force to implement the India-Sri Lanka Accord. And during the current economic crisis, India has helped with a US$ 3.8 billion credit line and has actually shipped vital supplies, a contribution not matched by any other country.  

In contrast, China’s contribution during the on-going crisis has been negligible. China has been playing hard to get, saying it has no system of taking haircuts on loan repayments. It has offered another loan to pay off a part of its previous loans to Sri Lanka. It has asked Sri Lanka to be financially prudent, avoid taking loans and invite Chinese investments instead. It has also insisted that Sri Lanka sign an FTA with it that had been pending since 2015 due to Lanka’s reservations.

As regards the use of Hambantota port, China sees it as a Chinese port to the extent that it had taken it on lease for 99 years in 2017. It feels  that China should have legitimate access to it particularly because Yuan Wang 5 is coming only for replenishments”. Furthermore, a Chinese military vessel could not be denied berthing when military vessels from other countries, including the US, had berthed there. A US military vessel had even conducted an exercise there.    

Be that as it may, Sri Lanka cannot disengage from China. With deep pockets, China is the single-largest bilateral creditor and investor in Sri Lanka with investments totaling over US$ 6.5 billion in the vital infrastructure sector. And its financial aid cannot be matched by any country including India though the latter is eager to help.   China also has influence in the IMF from which Sri Lanka is expecting a bailout. A miffed China is unlikely to help Sri Lanka at the IMF.            

Sri Lanka is hoping that China will call off the Yuan Wang 5’s visit in view of the very serious reservations expressed by India. If China does it, overcoming its belligerent move, it will bring great relief to Sri Lanka.

However, as a precautionary measure, Sri Lanka has manifestly moved closer to India. In his first formal address to the Sri Lankan parliament as President, President Ranil Wickremesinghe praised India sky high and did not even mention China.  I wish to specially mention the assistance provided by India, our closest neighbor, in our efforts of economic revitalization. The Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given us a breath of life. On behalf of my people and that of my own, I convey gratitude to Prime Minister Modi, the government and the people of India,” Wickremesinghe said.

Even in his speech at the Advocata Institute, the President spoke about bilateral economic ties with India in the energy structure and did not mention China at all.

And on its part, India, whether at the Prime Ministerial level or the Foreign Minister’s level, has described itself as a dependable and reliable” friend of Sri Lanka’s, based on its millennia-old civilizational ties”.

Therefore, it appears that, at least at the present juncture, India is on a better wicket than China in Sri Lanka. However, much would depend on Beijing’s response to Colombo’s request for a deferment of Yuan Wang 5’s visit to Hambantota.  It could save or sour Sri Lanka’s ties with India and China.

විමල් වීරවංශ,(පා.ම.) නායක, ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ,

ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණේ නායක පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී විමල් වීරවංශ මහතා විසින් නිකුත් කර ඇති මාධ්‍ය නිවේදනයක් මෙහි දැක්වේ.

ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් වුවමනාවට චීනයට දොර වැසීම නොබැඳි පිළිවෙත නොවේ!

ලබන එකොළොස්වැනි දා හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීමට නියමිතව තිබූ චීනයේ යුවාන් වැන් 05 සන්නිවේදන නෞකාවට එදින පැමිණීමෙන් වළකින ලෙස ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය චීන තානාපති කාර්යාලය වෙත දැනුම් දී ඇති බව වාර්තා වේ. එසේ දැනුම් දී ඇත්තේ එම සන්නිවේදන නෞකාවට අවශ්‍ය ඉන්ධන ඇතුළු අනිකුත් පහසුකම් ලබා ගැනීම පිණිස හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීම පිණිස ලබාදී තිබූ අවසරය තාවකාලිකව අත්හිටුවීමට ගත් තීරණය අනුව ය.

මෙම නෞකාව ඔත්තු බැලීමේ නෞකාවක් ලෙස සලකමින් ඉන්දීය රජය එය හම්බන්තොට වරායට පැමිණීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් දැඩි විරෝධය දැක්වීමත් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය මෙම තීරණය ගෙන ඇත. ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් වුවමනාවට චීනයට දොර වැසීම නොබැඳි පිළිවෙත ද ? අප අනුගමනය කළ යුතු වන්නේ නොබැඳි විදේශ පිළිවෙත මිස අනෙකක් නොවේ.

මෙමගින් පෙනී යන්නේ තවමත් පවතින අර්බුදය, පුනරුදයේ මොහොත බවට පත් කර නොගනිමින්, එය ඉන්දු- පැසිෆික් ආධිපත්‍යයට අපේ රට සම්පූර්ණයෙන් යටත් කිරීම සඳහා යොදා ගනිමින් තිබෙන බවය. එසේම අපේ රට ඉන්දු පැසිෆික් මෙහෙයුමේ ගොදුරක් බවට පත් කිරීම පිණිස යුහුසුළුව ක්‍රියාත්මක වූ බැසිල් රාජපක්ෂ ප්‍රමුඛ නඩයේ බලපෑමෙන් වත්මන් පාලනය ද මිදී නොමැති බවය.

එවැනි රට වළපල්ලට ඇද දැමූ විනාශකාරී නඩයක බලපෑම්වලට නතු වෙමින් ගන්නා මෙවැනි තීරණ මගින් සිදු වන්නේ අනාදිමත් කාලයක සිට සෑම දුෂ්කර මොහොතකම ශ්‍රී ලංකාවට මිත්‍රත්වයේ හස්තය දිගු කළ කල්‍යාණ මිත්‍රයකු වන චීනය සමඟ ද රාජ්‍යතාන්ත්‍රික ගැටළුවක් පැන නැගීම පමණි.

විමල් වීරවංශ,(පා.ම.)
නායක,
ජාතික නිදහස් පෙරමුණ,

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

China’s embassy has sought an urgent meeting with senior Sri Lankan authorities after Colombo sought a deferment of the planned docking of a high-tech Chinese research vessel at the strategic Hambantota port over which India raised concerns, sources said.

The Chinese space and satellite tracking research vessel ‘Yuan Wang 5’ was scheduled to dock at the Hambantota Port from August 11 to 17, weeks after Sri Lanka witnessed a major political turmoil following massive mass protests over the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.

A ‘third-person’ note from Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry to the Chinese embassy in Colombo dated August 5 says “the ministry wishes to request that the arrival of the vessel Yuan Wang 5 in Hambantota to be deferred until further consultations are made on the matter.” The Chinese embassy in Colombo sought an urgent meeting with the higher Sri Lankan authorities to discuss the issue after receiving the note from the Foreign Ministry seeking a delay in the visit, sources here said.

Some Sri Lankan news portals also reported that Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe held a closed-door meeting with China’s Ambassador Qi Zhenhong after Colombo sought a deferment of the planned docking.

But the President’s Office denied the media reports over the meeting.

On July 12, amidst the political turmoil in Sri Lanka, the then government approved the Chinese vessel’s docking at the Hambantota port.

The Chinese vessel was expected to dock at the Sri Lankan port for “refuelling and ‘replenishment’ and will conduct satellite control and research tracking in the northwestern part of the Indian Ocean region through August and September.(PTI)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda said he would not allow the Indians to exploit fisheries resources in the Sri Lankan waters in lieu of India’s donation of food rations.

During his visit to Kalpitiya fishery harbour on Friday (06) to study the plan for the proposed development project to extend the jetty, he stressed that he would not allow the Indians to exploit Sri Lanka’s marine resources.

The fisher folk explained on the issues affecting them and requested the Minister to intervene and resolve them. They pointed out that the Indian poachers regularly entered the sea belt in the north of Battalankgunduwa lsland and engaged in looting the yield belonging to Sri Lanka. The fishermen made representations regarding the court order preventing prawn farms and sought relief.

The fisher folk pointed out the hardships facing them regarding fuel and requested the minister to work out a mechanism to supply fuel as before.

The minister pointed out that it was not possible to take any alternative step regarding prawn farms pending the court case and that any steps could be taken to provide relief after the case ended. He pointed out that the fuel crisis affected the entire country and that he took up the issue with several countries including Singapore and Malaysia and that he was awaiting a positive response. He said he was making every effort to meet the requirement of kerosene. (Hiran Priyankara)

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sinopec, the biggest petrochemical company in China, is likely to enter Sri Lankan market for fuel importing, distribution and selling petroleum products, informed sources said.

Cabinet of Ministers in June approved a proposal to allow more companies from oil-producing nations to import oil and start retail operations in Sri Lanka.

The proposal, prompted by severe foreign exchange shortage, was tabled by Power and Energy Minister Kanchana Wijesekera.

At present, 90 percent of Sri Lanka’s fuel supply is through the State-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation, and the remaining 10 percent by Lanka IOC.

Sinopec is already present at the Port of Hambantota where it operates an oil depot. The Hambantota tank farm was issued the FSS certification (Fitness for Service) by Lloyd’s Register in April 2020.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Director General of Health Services has confirmed three more Covid-19 related deaths for yesterday (06 August).

All three patients are males above the age of 60 years, according to the Department of Government Information.

Tekweni

Sri Lanka 🇱🇰 formerly Ceylon, is an island of serendipity where you can expect to see the unexpected. It has a rich history, which is explored in this documentary. Where else would you catch sight of a macaque monkey chewing betel nuts while riding pillion on the back of a bicycle, or a man perched on stick, fishing in the sea, or an Asian elephant carrying its lunch in its trunk while it walks down the street with its mahout. In a culture where elephants and humans have had a symbiotic relationship dating back more than 5000 years, the orphaned youngsters are given special protection and the older ones are used for tourism, logging and religious activities such as the Temple of the Tooth ceremony.

Many other species, including 43 of the world’s most endangered are also protected in as many as 22 wildlife parks with Yala National Park being the most popular and where a glimpse of the island’s sloth bear is possible. This spice island is renowned for its bounty of precious gems including opals, rubies, sapphires, topaz and quartz, and is also rich in history and culture with its Kandian dancing and an abundance of Hindu temples and statues of buddha, including the huge meditating golden buddha in Kandy and the renowned reclining buddha at Polonnaruwa. In the higher region of the island is Sigiriya, a massive 200 metre granite rock on top of which a renegade prince built a palace and fortress, when Europe was going through the dark ages. Expect to see paintings of his concubines on the way up and and a 360 degree view of the surrounding area from the top, including one of the most significant landscaped gardens in the ancient world. For its unmatched combination of urban planning, water engineering, horticulture and arts the site has gained Unesco World Heritage status. Evidence of the island’s more recent Colonial history as Ceylon is everywhere, from the decaying architecture of its baronial homes with their vast tea plantations, palatial hotels which have provided the backdrop of many films as well as a race course and golf course, all reminiscent of a more opulent and even decadent lifestyle reminiscent of that of White Mischief” in Kenya. Before the British it was the Portuguese who colonised the island and their strong legacy still remains, not only in elements of the Sinhalese language but also the architecture and many catholic churches dotted around the island. The Dutch have also left a legacy from their colonisation of the island in the 17th Century, most notably in their architecture which at its best can be seen in the Groot Kerk and the magnificent fort in Galle which is now a World Heritage site and which is a replica of the fort that the Dutch East India Company built in Cape Town in 1652.

ජානක පෙරේරා විසිනි

යම් සමාජ–ආර්ථික හෝ ජනවාර්ගික ප්‍රශ්නයක් හේතුවෙන් පැනනගින ඕනෑම සාධාරණ ජනතා විරෝධතාවක් අදූරදර්ශි  අන්තවාදීන් පිරිසක් අතට පත්වුවහොත් ඔවුන් එය විකෘති කරති. එතැන් සිට එය විනාශ කාරී ත්‍රස්ත බලවේගයක් බවට පත්වෙයි.  මේ තත්වය අපට පසුගිය දශක කිහිපයේ සිට මේ දක්වාම අපට වරින් වර අත්විඳින්නට සිදුවී ඇත.

ගාලුමුවදොර පැවතෙමින් ආ උද්ඝෝෂණවල දී  අපේ ආරක්ෂක හමුදා මිනීමරු අපරාධකරුවන් ලෙස හෙලා දකිමින් කොටි සංවිධානයට ආවැඩූ එක් ‘අරගලකරුවෙකු‘ කෑගසන කෙටි වීඩියෝවක්  අපට දක්නට ලැබින. ඔහුට අනුව ප්‍රභාකරන් යුක්තිය වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි විමුක්ති කාමියෙකි. ‍

වසර 2009 දී කොටි සංවිධානය ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ මරණයත් සමග  යුදමය වශයෙන් පරාජයට පත්වන විට කුඩා දරුවන්ව සිටි වත්මන්  සිටි තරුණ පරපුර මෙවන් දේශ ද්‍රෝහී අමන ප්‍රකාශ වලින් නොමග යනවා පමණක් නොව එතෙර සිටින කොටි ඩයස්පෝරාවට පනින රිලවුන්ට ඉනිමං දීමක් ද වනු නොඅනුමානය. 

ප්‍රභාකරන් සිය පළමු දේශපාලන බිල්ලගෙන පසුගිය ජූලි 27 දාට වසර හතලිස් හතක් සපිරුනි.  ඒ මෙරට දෙමළ දේශපාලන නායකයකුගේ පළමු ඝාතනයයි.   ඊට ගොදුරු  වුයේ යාපනයේ පුරපති  ඇල්ෆ්‍රඩ් තංගරාජා දොරේයිඅප්පාය.  කොටින්ගේ තිස් වසරක සාපරාධී බෙදුම් වාදී යුද්ධයේ මුල් පියවර වුයේද එයයි.                         

වසර 1972 වසරේ ජූලි මාසයේදී – දොරෙයිඅප්පා ඝාතනයට හරියටම වසර තුනකට පෙර – සිවකුමාරන් නම් දෙමළ තරුණයෙක්. යාපනය නගරයේ  ප්‍රසංග ශාලාවක පිටත නවතා තිබූ පුරපතිගේ මෝටරියේ රෝදයට යටින් බෝම්බයක් තබා ඔහු මරාදැමීමට තැත් කල නමුත් සිය ජීවිතය බේරාගැනීමට දොරේඅප්පා සමත්විය. එහෙත් බෝම්බය පිපිරීමෙන් ඔහුගේ මෝටරිය ගින්නෙන් දැවී විනාශ විය.   

ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පාක්ෂිකයෙකු වූ දොරේඅප්පා ජනප්‍රිය, කාරුණික නායකයෙකුවූ අතර ඔහුගේ පුරපති නිල කාලය තුල යාපනයේ තරුණයන්ට රැකියා ලබා දුන් අතර මං මාවත්, ක්‍රීඩාංගන යනාදිය තැනුවා පමණක් නොව ආනයන සීමා කල එවකට පැවති ශ්‍රී ලංකා නිදහස් පක්ෂ රජයේ  සංවෘත ආර්ථික ප්‍රතිපත්තියට අනුගතව ළූණු, මිරිස් යනාදිය වගා කල යාපනයේ දෙමළ ගොවීන්ට සමෘද්ධිමත් කලක් උදා කර දුන්නේය.  

එහෙත් දෙමළ  බෙදුම් වාදීන්ට මේ කිසිවක් වැදගත් නොවීය.   ඔව්හු ප්‍රභාකරන්ගේ නායකත්වයෙන් 1972 දී දෙමළ නව කොටි සංවිධානය (Tamil New Tigers) පිහිටුවාගත්හ. (පසුව දෙමළ විමුක්ති කොටි බවට පත්වුයේ මෙම ත්‍රස්තවාදී කල්ලියයි).    

 පුරපති ඝාතනයට දින පහකට පෙර, ජූලි 22 වන දා, එවකට කොළඹ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ට පොලිස් අධිකාරි (අපරාධ) රාමචන්ද්‍ර සුන්දරලිංගම් යාපනයට පැමිණියේය. ඒ හොරබඩු  ජාවාරම්කරුවෙකුගෙන් අල්ලස් ලබා ගැනීම සම්බන්ධයෙන් චෝදනා ලබා සිටි පොලිස් පරීක්ෂක වරයෙකුට විරුද්ධව යාපනයේ දිස්ත්‍රික් උසාවියේ පැවති නඩුවකට පෙනී සිටීම සඳහාය (කොළඹට මාරුවක් ලැබීමට කලින් සුන්දරලිංගම් උතුරු පළාතේ පොලිස් අධිකාරිවරයා විය – 1966-72).     

නඩු විභාගය නිමවනතුරු  සුන්දරලිංගම් නතර වූයේ යාපනයේ නල්ලූර්හි ටෙම්පල් පාරේ පිහිටි ඔහුගේ නෑනාගේ නිවසේය. ජුලි 26 සෙනසුරාදා උදෑසන ඔහුට පුරපති දොරෙයිඅප්පා ගෙන් ඇමතුමක් ලැබුණේ ඔහු බෲනායි රටේ සිට ආපසු පැමිණි බව දැන්වීමටය. එරට ප්‍රධාන වෛද්ය නිලධාරිනියව සිටියේ ඔහුගේ බිරිය වූ පරමේශ්වරීය. පසුදා යාපනේ පොන්මාලෙයි හි  පිහිටි වරදරාජා පෙරුමාල් විෂ්ණු කෝවිලට ගොස් ඉන්පසු සුන්දරලිංගම් හමුවීමට පුරපතිවරයා පොරොන්දු විය. ඔහු  සෑම ඉරුදිනකම සිය සුදු පැහැති 404 පර්ජෝ රියෙන්  මෙම  කෝවිලට පැමිණීම සිරිතක් විය. පාපැදිවලින් එහි  පැමිණි සිටි ප්‍රභාකරන් ඇතුළු ඝාතකයින් මෙය පැහැදිලිවම දැන සිටියහ.

එම දෛවෝපගත දිනයේ ජ්යෙෂ්ඨ පොලිස් අධිකාරී සුන්දරලිංගම් කරෙයිනගර් නාවික හමුදා කඳවුරේ අණදෙන නිලධාරියා හමුවී  ඉන්දු–ලංකා හොර ජාවාරම් ගැන සාකච්ඡා කිරීමෙන් අනතුරුව දිවා ආහාරය සඳහා ආපසු යාපනයට පැමිණියේය.  ඛේදජනක පුවත ඔහුට සැලවුයේ ඒ අවස්ථාවේය.   දොරේඅප්පා සිය මෝටර් රථයෙන් බැස විෂ්ණු කෝවිලට ඇතුළු වීමට සූදානම්ව වෙද්දී ඒ අසලම සැඟවී සිටි ඝාතකයෝ ඔහුට වෙඩි තැබූහ.  එක් රිවෝල්වර උණ්ඩයකින් ඔහුගේ හදවත පසාරු වී මරණය ක්ෂණිකව සිදු විය.

ඝාතනයට පසු දින (28 සඳුදා) ඒ ගැන වාර්තාකිරීම සඳහා ලේක්හවුසියෙන් යාපනයට ගියේ මා සමග ස්ටැන්ලි ප්රේමරත්න (ජනතා), පැට්රික් කෲස් (ඩේලි නිවුස්), පී. බාලසුන්දරම් (තිනකරන්) සහ වර්නන් ෆොන්සේකා (ඡායාරූප ශිල්පී) යන මාධ්‍යවේදීන්ය.

අඟහරුවාදා, ඝාතනය සිදු වූ ස්ථානයට ගිය අපට කෝවිල් බිත්තියේ වෙඩි උණ්ඩ සලකුණු දක්නට ලැබින. ඒ වනවිට යාපනයේ චුන්ඩිකුලි හි පිහිටි පුරපති නිවසේ දේහය පිළිබඳ අවසන් කටයුතු සඳහා සූදානම් වෙමින් තිබිනි. දේහය බැලීමට විශාල පිරිසක් පැමිණ සිටියහ. දුරෙයිඅප්පාගේ රියැදුරු – ඝාතනයේ වැදගත්ම සාක්ෂිකරු – පොලිසියේ හෝ මාධ්යවේදීන්ගේ ප්රශ්නවලට සෘජුව පිළිතුරු දීමට ඉතා මැලි වූ බවක් පෙනුනි.  ඔහු පැහැදිලිවම දුටු මිනීමරුවන් ගැන කම්පනයට මෙන්ම බියටද පත්වී සිටියේය. ඝාතකයින්ගෙන් සමහරක් පැමිණ සිටි පිරිස අතර සිටිමින් අන් අයගේ ප්රතිචාර දෙස බලා සිටි බවට පසුව හෙලිවිය.

දුරෙයිඅප්පාගේ අවමංගල්යය යාපනයේ ඉතා ඉහලින් පැවැත්වින. යාපන නගරය පුරාම කළු කොඩි ඔසවා තිබින. අවමගුල පැවැත්වුනේ යාපන පුරහලේය.  ඊට සහභාගී වුවන් අතර මුළු කැබිනට් මණ්ඩලයද විය. ඔවුනතුරෙන් කැපී පෙනුනේ අගමැතිනි සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක සහ ඇමතිවරුන් වූ මෛත්‍රීපාල සේනානායක, ෆීලික්ස් ඩයස් බණ්ඩාරනායක, ටී.බී.   ඉලංගරත්න සහ පී.බී.ජී. කළුගල්ලය. එහෙත් ප්‍රභාකරන් කල්ලිය ගැන හොඳින් දැන සිටි ෆෙඩරල් පක්ෂය ඔවුන්ට බියෙන් අවමගුලට සහභාගී නොවූ අතර එම පක්ෂයෙන් සභාගි වුයේ පාර්ලිමේන්තු මන්ත්‍රී සී. එක්ස්. මාටින් පමණි. ඒ පොලිස් අධිකාරි සුන්දරලිංගම් සමගය.   

එහෙත් පුදුමය වුයේ මෙම ඝාතනය පසුපස ත්‍රස්තවාදී කල්ලියක් සිටි බවට එදා වැඩි දෙනෙකුට අවබෝධ නොවීමයි.  අපරාධයට වගකිව යුත්තේ ආණ්ඩු පක්ෂයට සම්බන්ධ අයෙකු හෝ  පිරිසක් යයි බොහෝ දෙන විශ්වාස කලහ. මේ අදහස එක් දෙමළ  මාධ්‍යවේදියෙකු පවසනු මට අද මෙන් මතකය.

මෙයට හේතු වූයේ එකල තැපැල් හා විදුලි සංදේශ අමාත්ය චෙල්ලයියා කුමාරසුරියර් සහ පුරපති දොරෙයිඅප්පා එකම පක්ෂයේ එනම් ශ්‍රී.ල.නි.ප,. සාමාජිකයන් වුවද දෙමළ දේශපාලනයේ ආධිපත්‍යය සඳහා දෙදෙනා අතර පැවති තියුණු තරඟයයි. ඇතැමුන් කීවේ ඝාතනය පිටුපස කුමාරසුරියර්ගේ කණ්ඩායම සිටින බවයි!

වෙනෙකක් තබා දොරෙයිඅප්පාගේ ගේ එවකට 14 වැනි වියේ සිටි දියණිය ඊශා, ඇගේ ආතම්මා (ආච්චි) එනම් මියගිය පුරපතිගේ නැන්දම්මා, කුමාරස්වාමි මහත්මිය පවා මේ කතාව විශ්වාස කල බව සුන්දරලිංගම් මා සමග පැවසීය.  එපමණක් නොව අගමැතිනි සිරිමාවෝ බණ්ඩාරනායක ඇතුළු රජයේ ඇමතිවරු ද කුමාරසුරියර් මීට සම්බන්ධ යයි සැක කලහ.  එහෙත් සුන්දරලිංගම් ඇයට සැබෑ තත්වය පැහැදිලි කලේය.

මේ අතර කොටි ත්රස්තවාදීහු නැසීගිය පුරපතිවරයා දෙමළ ජාතියේ ද්රෝහියෙකු ලෙස හඳුන්වමින් මඩ ව්‍යාපාරයක් නිර්නාමිකව  දියත් කර ඔහුට මරණීය දණ්ඩනය ලැබිය යුතු වූ බව යාපනයේ ජනතාවට ඒත්තු ගැන්වීමට තත් කලහ. මෙය පැහැදිලිවම ජනතාව නොමග යැවීමට බොහෝ ත්‍රස්තවාදී කල්ලි යොදාගන්නා ප්‍රචාරක  උපක්‍රමයකි. 

එහෙත් රටටත් ලෝකයටත් ඇත්ත හෙළි වන්නට වැඩි කලක් ගියේ නැත.     

යාපනේ හිටපු දිසාපති තිස්ස දේවේන්ද්ර මහතා  මියගිය පුරපති දොරෙයිඅප්පා සිය ඝාතනයට දින කිහිපයකට පෙර මෙසේ පැවසූ බව කියයි.

“දෙමළ සහ සිංහල ජනතාව අතර සමගිය විශ්වාස කරන දේශපාලකයෙකු ලෙස අන්තවාදීන් මට වෛර කරනවා.”

ප්‍ර සමරසිංහ

ඒ දවස්වල කලට වැහි වැටෙන තුරු බලා සිටියේ වැඩිහිටියන්, සතා සීපාවා, ගස් කොළන්, ගංගා ඇළ දොළ, ළිං විතරක් නෙවේය, හිච්චන් බලා හිටියෙත් වැස්ස වැටෙන්නේ කොයි වේලාවේද කියාය. පොද වැසි, මල් වැසි වලට වඩා හිච්චන්ගේ මනාපය වූයේ නා කපන වැහි, මොර සූරන වැසිවලටය. වැහි පීලි අගිස්සෙන් දියඇලි රූ මවමින් කඩන් හැලුණු තද හීතල වැහි වතුර පාරට ඔළුව අල්ලා බස බස ගා නා ගනිද්දි ලැබූ ආශ්වාදය වචන වලට පෙරලන්නට බැරිය. කඳුරේ, ලිඳේ, ඇලේ සුනිල දියෙන් නානවාට වඩා දහ ගුණයක තෘප්තියක් ලැබුනේ වැහි වතුරෙන්ය. වැටෙන වැස්ස බොන්නට කට උඩුබැලියන් කර ගෙන අප්පච්චිට හොරා, ගේ පිටුපස වත්ත දිගේ දුව ගියේ තටු ලැබුනාටත් වඩා සන්තෝශයකින්ය. අහස ගොරවා විදුලි කොටන වෙලාවල, අම්මගේ දෝස්මුරයෙන්ද තවත් තෙතබරියන් වී බලුපැටියන් සේ කීකරුව ගෙට දුව ආ දවස් ද ඉඳහිට නොතිබ්බා නොවේය.

වැහි එන කාලෙට මහගෙදර දෙතුන් පැත්තක වැහි පීලි යට තබා තිබුනේ ලොකු උස බැරල්ය. දැන් වාගේ වැහි පීලි හා යටි නළ සම්බන්ධ කර නිකරුනේ කාණුවට වැහි වතුර මුදා හරින්නට තරම් ‘පොශ්’ නොවීම ගැන ඇත්තේ සිහින් සතුටක්ය. ඒ පිරෙන වතුර, මල්පාත්ති වාගේම එළවලු පාත්තිවලටද වැහි අවසානයේ බොන්නට ලැබුනේය. මුළුතැන්ගෙදර මැටි හට්ටි මුට්ටි සෝදා ගන්නටත්, බුමුතුරුණු නොඇතිරූ ගෙබිම සෝදන්නටත්, රෙදිපෙරෙදි සෝදා ගන්නටත්, ගෙදර හිටි දඩෝරි තුන් හතර දෙනා නාවන්නටත් ඒ වැහි වතුර යෙදවිණ. වැහි වතුර බීමට ගත් බවද මතකය, උතුරා නිවා මෙන්ම හීතල වැහි වතුර බොන්නටද තහනමක් තිබ්බේ නැත. තහංචි තිබුනේ කලාතුරකින් වහින වැස්සට තෙමෙන්නට යාමත් හා ඒ වැහි වතුර පාවිච්චියටත්ය. වරක් දෙවරක්, කලාතුරකින් වහින වැස්ස ගෙන ආ ගෝනුස්සෙක් දෙන්නෙක් මිදුලේ දිග පළල මැන්නා මතකය.

එතෙක් මෙතෙක්, අප වෙනස් වූ වෙනස්විල්ලේ හැටියට වැස්ස විතරක් අදටත් නොවෙනස්ව තියෙන්නට කාරණාවක් නැති බව සැබෑය. එනමුත්, වැහි වතුරේ මුළු මහත් සත්ව සංහතියම අනතුරේ හෙලන, මිනිසා විසින් නිපදවූ රසායනික-ද්‍රව්‍ය-සුන්බුන් ඇතුලත් රෝගකාරක තිබෙනවා යැයි හීනෙන් වත් හිතන්නට හිත ඉඩ දෙන්නේ නැත. ඒත් කරුමෙට දැන් දැන් වැහි වතුරේත්, හිමේත් ඇත්තේ එවන් ෆෝඑවර් කෙමිකල්ස්ය. පිළිකාකාරක: වැස්සකවත්, හිම පියලි තුලවත් තිබිය යුතු නැතත්, කාලෙක පටන් තිබෙන තරමක් තියෙන්නේ එවැනි රෝගකාරක බව හොයා ගෙනය. ඒ විතරක් නම් තව ඉවසන්නට තිබ්බේය; දරුවන්ගේ ඉගෙනීම හා හැසිරීම සම්බන්ධ දුර්වලතා වලටත්, තරබාරුවටත්, පෙනහළු සම්බන්ධ රෝගවලටත්, සිරුරේ කොලෙස්ට්රෝල් වැඩිවීමටත්, ප්‍රතිශක්තිකරණ තුලිතාබාධ ඇතිවීමටත් ෆෝඑවර් කෙමිකල්ස් සම්මාදම් වෙන බව මෑතකදි ‘දියුණු යයි සම්මත රටක’ කල පර්යේෂණ වලින් හෙළි කර ගෙන ඇත. මේ රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍ය මෙවැනි සංකුලතා ඇති කරනු ඇතැයි මින් දහ දොළොස් වසරකට පෙරත් හාහූවක් තිබී යට වී ගිය හැටි කල්පනා වෙන්නේය.

මීට අවුරුදු 70කට පමණ පෙර සිට මිනිසා නිපදවූ Perfluoroalkyl සහ Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) යන රසායනික ද්‍රව්‍යයන් අතිශයින් ජනප්‍රිය නොඇලෙන හට්ටි මුට්ටි තාච්චි, ඇතැම් රූපලාවන්‍ය ආලේපන, බුමුතුරුණු , දිය නොරැදෙන රෙදි යනාදි නිෂ්පාදන සඳහා බහුලව යොදා ගෙන ඇත. අද වන විට මේ සදාකාලික-රසායනික-ද්‍රව්‍ය-සුන්බුන් සාගරය, පස, වාතය, ජලය හරහා ලොව පුරා පැතිර ගොස් අවසන් බවක් කියවේය. වැස්ස හා හිම මාර්ගයෙන් මේ අහිතකර ෆෝඑවර් කෙමිකල් හැම අස්සක් මුල්ලක් නෑරම තිබෙන දේවල් බවට පත් වී ඇත. ‘දියුණු යයි සම්මත රටවැස්සන්’ වැහි වතුර නොබොන හේතුවෙන් යම් අස්වැසිල්ලක් ඔවුනට ඇති බවක් පර්යේශකයන් කියතත්, වැහි වතුර පානීය ජලය කර ගත් ‘දියුණු යයි නොසම්මත රටවැස්සන්’ රකිනු ලබන්නේ අහවලෙක්දැයි කියන්නට කවුරුවත් නැති වීම අවාසනාවක්ය.

පහසුවටත්, ලේසියටත්, ආටෝපයටත් මුල් තැන දෙමින් ‘දියුණුව’ සොයා ගත් මිනිසා, ඔහු විසින්ම විනාශයේ දොර විවෘත කර ගෙන හමාරය. අප සොබාදහමෙන් ඈත්ව තියන හැම අඩියකම පාහේ ඇත්තේ මෙවැනි විඳවීම්ය. මැටි වළන් හැර දමා, නන්ස්ටික් පෑන්ස් වැළඳ ගත් ‘දියුණුව’ ෆෝඑවර් නොවුනේ මක් නිසාදැයි දැන්වත් හිතුවාට වැරැද්දක් නැත. යමක් අති-පහසු කරගන්නට දත කන විට සිද්ධ වෙන්නේ තවත් දහයක් දේ අති-අපහසු කරගන්නටය. කඳුරක, ඇළක, දොළක, වැහි වතුරක, හිම පෙත්තක තිබුන මිහිර මේ වන විට ලබන්නට බැරිතරමින් අතිභයංකර කරලාය.

පරිසරයට වියහැකි ව්‍යසන ප්‍රවණතා ගැන විපරම් කර බලා, මේ පරිසර පද්ධතියට මොනයම්ම හානියක් නොවේ නම් පමණක් අලුත් අලුත් දෑ තැනිය යුතු බවක් පඬි රුවන් කීවාදැයි දන්නේ නැතත්, සාමන්‍ය බුද්ධියෙන් තොරව කරන්නං වාලේ නව නිපැවුම් කිරීම අමු මෝඩ කමක්ය. අඩු තරමේ ඉන් සංකුලතා ඇතිවූ විටකවත් ඒවා එකවර පිලි නොගෙන, කෝටියක් සාක්කි සොයා ඒ සාක්කි පදනම් කර ගත් නිගමන වලට එන විට, අඩි හයක් යටට වලක් හාරා දෙන්නටවත් මිනිස් පුළුටක් ඉතිරිවේද කියා සිතේය. 

By Nadira Gunatilleke/Daily News

Colombo, August 6: Here are the excerpts from an exclusive interview conducted with the President of the Lawyers for Justice Attorney-at-law and Unofficial Magistrate Ravindra Manoj Gamage on the current situation of law and order of the country.

Q: What is the current situation of law and order in Sri Lanka?

A: We can accept the fact that it was the ordinary people who were under enormous pressure without adequate gas, fuel, electricity and so on started the protest (Aragalaya). But after that, we saw how some bankrupt political elements took it over into their hands. After certain bloodthirsty political elements took over the protest, it turned into a violent mob. We saw the peak of it last May 9 with the murdering of people and setting fire to houses and other valuable properties.

The law enforcement bodies of the country did not operate properly to safeguard lives and properties. The end result was destroying valuable lives and properties including the life of a Member of the Parliament. In addition on July 9 there was another wave of violence and they stormed into the State television station and some private television stations. They set fire to the private home of the current President Ranil Wickremesinghe. They occupied several State buildings and damaged those properties. After those events we cannot call this a peaceful protest any longer.

Certain political parties that cannot come into power through a democratic election tried to capture power using the protest and with that move the entire country started to talk about the importance of maintaining law and order. The people were scared and even frightened to speak out.

Q: Now various individuals are being arrested from various parts of the country for taking part in the protests and involved in various activities. Please comment.

A: A protest does not become a peaceful protest only because the protesters do not have any weapons in their hands. Bringing flowers and involving in creative activities does not mean that it is a peaceful protest.

The law should be implemented against anyone who protests and violates the country’s laws such as the criminal law, common law and other laws. If the law is not implement against them, later various others may violate the law freely taking it as an example. Some lawyers who know the law very well said the law of the land which is the Constitution should be torn off and burnt. They indirectly threatened police officers to bow down to them and do what they want and otherwise they will face repercussions in future. This is a punishable offence according to the existing law. Some cultivated hatred all over the country using social media.

Because of this, the system has a responsibility to implement the law. We do not see that the law was enforced against peaceful protesters who did not violate any law. The law was enforced only against who involved in criminal acts during the protest.

Q: Various lawyers and their organisations publicly announced that they will stand by the protesters and they will provide legal assistance free of charge for them. What is the present situation?

A: Nobody can question the right of a lawyer that allows him/her to appear on behalf of a criminal in any country in the world. But all lawyers should know their professional limits. We saw during the recent past how some new lawyers acted without understanding their professional limitations. We, all the lawyers are being controlled by the rules of the Supreme Court. Lawyers can appear for criminals but they cannot encourage people to commit any crimes. If they say `’do anything you want and come, we will protect you all’ it is encouraging people to commit crimes.

In the recent past many were involved in crimes believing those encouraging statements made by some lawyers and they fell into trouble. They committed crimes in the name of the protest. They did not understand that after committing crimes they had to suffer alone such as ending up in prison. They did not understand that there was no one to pay their legal fee.

For example, the 36 suspects who were arrested for murdering MP Amarakeerthi Athukorala are now suffering alone without any help. Some of them were not directly involved in it but it takes around ten long years or so for them to be free from the murder charges.

The people of this country should remember one thing. That is no matter who says that they will protect you, help you or anything else, do not commit any crime. At the end, the person will be forced to suffer alone without anyone.

Do whatever has to be done peacefully without breaking laws. Only the family members will be there to help and sometimes even family members look away and do not stand by those who get arrested.

On the other hand, lawyers should not encourage people to commit crimes. It is the social responsibility of the lawyers. It is a crime if any lawyer encourages people directly or indirectly to commit crimes and threaten police officers. The lawyers can lose their job if they violate the rules of the Supreme Courts. Therefore, all lawyers should know their professional limits. They cannot interpret the Constitution’s `freedom of expression’ as freedom of encouraging people to commit crimes.

Q: Some say the entire protest’ is an international conspiracy. What do you have to say about this?

A: The former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa did not harm anyone in any way and he left his position. He did not let anyone fire even one bullet on behalf of him. According to international law, traditions, and democracy we know, he is eligible to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But the very unfortunate thing is that the LTTE Tamil Diaspora try to hunt him since he left the country.

The best example of this is Yasmin Sooka of the International Truth and Justice Project appealing to the Attorney General of Singapore to arrest the former Sri Lankan President for war crimes.

The very surprising fact is no charges were mentioned against the former President in connection with the economic crisis and all the charges are connected to the so-called incident of shooting the individuals who arrived with white flags during the humanitarian operation.

The letter says all charges are based on the statement made by then (2009) Army Commander.

Incredibly it is this same individual who mentioned the so called `white flag incident’ calling all Sri Lankans to come to Colombo on August 9 to chase away the President and the Government. All can see a very clear connection between all the past incidents that were unfolded. We suspect that the entire economic crisis and the `protest’ are a part of one serious conspiracy against the former President.

Q: What do you think about the appointment of the new President Ranil Wickremesinghe ?

A: The appointment of the new President Ranil Wickremesinghe is totally legal, democratic and ethical. The former President made very clear requests from all political party leaders to form a new Government soon after the former Prime Minister resigned from his post and the Cabinet automatically dissolved. But all political parties rejected the request.

Only after that the present President and the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe came forward and accepted the challenge and the premiership in order to save the people from the hardships. Accepting the premiership itself becomes a qualification to become the President because he accepted a huge challenge was rejected by all the others.

After becoming the Prime Minister, he followed all relevant rules and regulations, all procedures mentioned in the Constitution. No one can say that he is not the people’s President. The people appointed Gotabaya Rajapaksa. When he stepped down we have to accept the person who got appointed according to the country’s supreme law, the Constitution.

As soon as he became President, he very successfully established law and order in this country. Democracy was re-established in the country by him. These are essential to obtain the IMF loan.

If people and politicians genuinely wish to solve the current economic crisis in the country they all should support the current President without petty politics and other differences. They all should put aside their political views and support to rescue the country. Protest does not bring gas, fuel, electricity and so on. `Go Home’ will only bring anarchy to the country.

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island

In spite of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) being quite clearly opposed to the declaration of Emergency, to deal with the continuing challenge posed by the ‘protest movement’, an increasingly vociferous section of the lawyers overwhelmingly support measures taken by President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces.

Appearing on ‘Rathu Ira,’ anchored by Nimesh Wijesuriya, on Swarnavahini on Thursday (04) night, a former top hand in the Attorney General’s Department Srinath Perera, PC, and several senior lawyers, including Tirantha Walaiyadde, PC, and Attorney-at-Law Ravindra Manoj Gamage, strongly backed the declaration of Emergency, though they expressed concerns over previous accusations directed at the UNP leader.

The panel included Attorney-at-Law Nuwan Bopage, a key member of the Frontline Socialist Party (FSP), one of the groups that spearheaded the ‘operation’ leading to the forced resignation of Gotabaya Rajapaksa, on July 14. On behalf the breakaway JVP faction, lawyer Bopage vowed to resist Wickremesinghe’s onslaught whatever the consequences.

Issuing a dire warning to junior colleague Bopage that he would end up in jail for working against the State, Walaiyadde emphasised whatever the allegations directed at President Ranil Wickremesinghe in the past, he should be given the time and space to address the unprecedented issues at hand. If the new President is denied at least six months to take tangible measures to overcome the challenges, the country should be prepared for a civil war,” the senior attorney warned.

Walaiyadde endorsed security measures against the threat posed by those hell-bent on overthrowing the government outside constitutional means, but declined to comment on current judicial proceedings pertaining to cases involving the protest movement and related actions. The outspoken lawyer said that no one had emerged as the leader/leaders of the increasingly militant protest movement, though it initially claimed that it was non-partisan and peaceful. The protest grouping tried to cover up its failure claiming all of them represented the leadership,

Nimesh Wijesuriya dealt with issues related to the ‘protest movement’ in the wake of the continuing debate over the role played by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) in the overall project. Attorney-at-Law Manoli Jinadsa recently raised a very pertinent question about the failure on the part of the BASL to censure the ‘protest movement’ over such illegal acts like the seizure of the President’s House, Presidential Secretariat, the Prime Minister’s Office and torching of the then PM’s private residence. Since then BASL President Saliya Pieris, PC has essentially responded to such accusations by stating those matters are now sub judice as they are before courts.

Walaiyadde called those who had been engaged in protest outside the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) demanding external interventions traitors. Alleging interested parties propagated lies to undermine the government of the day, Walaiyadde said that they should be dealt with.

At the beginning of the programme, Bopage slammed the Wickremesinghe administration over the ongoing attempts to suppress the ‘protest movement.’ Alleging Wickremesinghe exploited the public protest to his advantage, Bopage demanded to know the rationale in the President changing his stand on many matters as soon as he received the presidency.

Bopage declared that the ‘protest movement’ would continue as long as the government fails to address burning issues.Strongly endorsing the right to dissent, lawyer Gamage alleged that those who had engaged in what he called murderous politics of the 80s, took advantage of the public struggling to make ends meet.

Condemning the attack carried out at Galle Face allegedly at the behest of Temple Trees on May 09, lawyer Gamage accused far greater conspirators’ engineered meticulous countrywide violence.Attorney-at-Law Gamage questioned the ‘protest movement’s demand for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s successor. Declaring that the UNP leader should be given an opportunity to address the issues at hand, lawyer Gamage demanded to know who the FSP’s choice was for presidency.

Former Additional Solicitor General Srinath Perera censured President Wickremesinghe over his past conduct with reference to Treasury bond scams perpetrated in 2015 and 2916 during his tenure as the Prime Minister while challenging the new President to investigate high profile corruption cases involving the Rajapaksa family.

Declaring the Rajapaksas would never be punished by an administration led by Wickremesinghe, lawyer Perera PC said that the President’s intention was to somehow protect the corrupt lot.Therefore, justice shouldn’t be expected from President Wickremesinghe, the former UNPer said, while throwing his weight behind the emergency declared by the new leader.

Walaiyadde lambasted the JVP and its offshoot FSP over violence directed at the State. The lawyer dismissed efforts to portray the ‘protest movement’ as peaceful. The lawyer called for harshest possible action against those who had engaged in violence. Colleagues Perera and Gamage accepted that stance.

All of them said that while the right to dissent should be respected, efforts to subvert the country couldn’t be tolerated under any circumstances.Walaiyadde said that those in and outside the Parliament responsible for encouraging violence should be dealt with.

Nuwan Bopage said that the State/Government had failed to address the grievances of the masses. The FSP spokesperson queried the absurdity in lawyers representing the interests of the State/Government while the public were deprived of the basic needs and two proper meals a day. Bopage maintained that those who benefited from the utterly corrupt system shamelessly threw their weight behind deceitful leaders.Gamage countered declaring ‘rule of law’ is not ‘rule of lawyers’

Gamage reminded how Bopage threatened the IGP and other senior police officers, including Senior DIG Deshabandu Tennakoon outside the police headquarters. Bopage had no qualms in declaring they knew where the IGP and other senior officers lived, Bopage said. What the lawyer meant was their residences, too, could be destroyed at any time. How such actions could be termed peaceful?.

Gamage alleged that those who inspired violence wouldn’t be there for those who end up in jail. The lawyer pointed out that hundreds of persons taken in by law enforcement authorities over violent incidents would have bear the legal costs while those who inspired them turned a blind eye to their plight.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Sri Lankan government has asked the Chinese government to defer the visit of its space-satellite tracker ship Yuan Wang 5 at Hambantota port until further consultations” are made between the two governments.

The spy ship was scheduled to dock at Chinese leased Hambantota port on August 11 for refueling and leave on August 17.

Designated as a research stroke survey vessel, Yuan Wang 5 was built in 2007 and has a carrying capacity of 11,000 tonnes. The survey vessel departed from Jiangyin, China on July 13 and is currently sailing close to Taiwan where China is conducting live-fire drills as an aggressive posture against Taipei for allowing US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to visit the self-ruled island. According to the MarineTraffic website, the ship currently is in the East China Sea between South Japan and northeast of Taiwan.

According to diplomats based in Colombo, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry sent a note verbale to Embassy of China referring to a Ministry’s note on July 12, 2022, conveying clearances for vessel Yuan Wang 5 to enter the port of Hambantota for replenishment purposes.”

India had expressed its security concerns over the docking of the vessel at Hambantota as it was shown as a research vessel while the spy ship can map the ocean bed which is critical to anti-submarine operations of the Chinese Navy. It is understood that the Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka muscled his way with the Sri Lankan government and said that denial of permission to the vessel would have an impact on bilateral ties.

While the Cabinet Spokesperson of the Ranil Wickremesinghe government on August 2 announced that the ship was being allowed for refueling, the Indian Navy also conveyed its serious security concerns to Colombo. India has stood shoulder to shoulder with Sri Lanka to tide over the present economic crisis faced by the island nation and has given more than USD 3.5 billion in aid in terms of petrol, diesel, natural gas, foodstuffs, and medicine.

On August 5, the Sri Lankan Foreign Ministry deferred the permission to allow the spy ship to dock at Hambantota port and conveyed it in writing to their Chinese Foreign Ministry counterparts through proper diplomatic channels.

The Sri Lankan decision of deferring the visit of the spy ship shows that it respects the security concern of its neighbor India despite the muscle power of China. Sri Lanka owes more than 10 per cent of its external debt to China with Beijing granted a 99-year lease of Hambantota Port by Colombo in 2017.

-Agencies

Courtesy Hiru News

The President delivered the keynote address at the launch of the research reports on Sri Lanka’s economic reforms and the panel discussion held at the Bandaranaike International Conference Hall in Colombo (Aug 05).

The Advocata Institute organized this two-day economic forum on the theme “LET’S RESET SRI LANKA

President Wickremesinghe pointed out that whether the International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposal is good or bad, whether anyone likes it or not, it should be implemented in order to recover from the ongoing economic crisis the country is facing. He also said that the government has the right to question their proposals if any of them are cause for concern.

The President explained that first and foremost Sri Lanka needs to enter into an agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Secondly, the most important is to secure a sustainable loan, any suggestions on getting the loan could be shared. The President further explained that those proposals could be presented to the Parliament for a decision.

President Wickremesinghe opined that the changes in governments and state policies are fundamental issues that impinge on negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. While warning that many difficulties would need to be faced in the next 6 months, he informed that the International Monetary Fund also acknowledges that attention should be paid to the people affected by the economic crisis.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe alslo said that there can be no reliance on old economic models any longer and there should be innovative thinking while paying prompt attention to the global changes.

The President enumerated that the country should focus on the foreign debt issue which is extensive and navigates through it without getting caught into the geopolitics of the Asian region.

He prescribed that the export-oriented economy, the renewable energy sector, and the use of nuclear energy be thought outside the traditional framework. The country’s future cannot be reorganized without developing its economy, and therefore initially Sri Lanka should stabilize its economy.

During the 1997 Asian financial crisis which led to the Thai economic reversal at that juncture, it was the International Monetary Fund that guided the recovery, he said.

When the President recently visited Mahanayake Theros, the Nayake Theros also agreed to provide relief to the people through temples.

Observing that the underprivileged segment has grown in recent times, he regretted that school education has been disrupted due to Covid and the fuel crisis, and should be soon re-established, through which economic and social stability can be established.

The President outlined that modernization of the agricultural and fisheries sectors, use of new technology in production, mitigation of climate change, problems faced by women, housing needs of the people, and poverty in rural areas be given more attention.

He further said that we need to create a competitive economy with high wages and productive capacity and the need to build trade relations with Asian countries which have large growing markets. He referred to the current world economic situation as not being favourable for any country.

Dr. Veerathai Santiprubhop, the former Governor of the Bank of Thailand, commented that there is no colossal financial crisis in Sri Lanka as portrayed in the international media.

He further said that to recover from Thailand’s economic crisis, measures such as privatization of public institutions, protection of the most vulnerable people, institutional reforms, building credibility in the banking sector, appointing economic authorities into the cabinet, dealing with the International Monetary Fund, amending the necessary laws, and seeking the assistance of foreign experts, were measures taken.

United National Party Chairman, Member of Parliament Vajira Abeywardena, Samagi Jana Balawega MPs Dr. Harsha de Silva, Kabir Hashim, Mayantha Dissanayake and the Chairperson of the Advocata Institute Murtaza Jafferjee were also present.