By Ravi Jalhotra

Colombo [Sri Lanka], April 17 (ANI): Amid protests in Sri Lanka over the country’s worst economic crisis, an advisor to the Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Saturday said the government has tried to control drug dealers “who have a lot of money” and that they are “very angry”.
In an interview with ANI, Walpole Piyananda, Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on International Religious Affairs also said that “fundamental Leftist groups” were also working against the government and sections of the minority community in the country “were angry” with the government.
He indicated that ongoing protests against the Sri Lankan government in which demands are being made for Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s resignation were also a result of “fundamentalist groups taking advantages right now, especially drug dealers.”
“Drug dealers are hanging around… this government tried to control (it), many of them (have been) caught. They are very angry with the government. They have a lot of money,” he said.
He said that the Catholic Church has a “misunderstanding” with the government and that the Muslims are “angry” with the government due to the government’s move to “reclaim” some of the Buddhist temples in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka that were “taken over”.
On the ongoing economic crisis, Piyananda said that the Sri Lankan government had steered the country through a difficult COVID-19 pandemic.
Referring to the discontent among people due to economic hardship, he said “they weren’t maybe thinking what had happened in the past.”
Piyananda recalled civilisational links between India and Sri Lanka.
“Thank you so much to India. India is like our big brother… all of our culture, custom, tradition, all of (it) came from India. We depend on India all the time,” Walpole Piyananda, Advisor to the President of Sri Lanka on international religious affairs said.
“Since our Lord Buddha was born in India… we have great relationships from that time till now,” he added.
Piyananda, a practising Buddhist monk, said the present government of Sri Lanka tries to follow the “principles of Emperor Ashoka”.
He thanked India for the help extended to Sri Lanka amidst its worst economic crisis. Piyananda said Sri Lanka needs financial help to deal with the economic crisis.
Sri Lanka is grappling with an economic crisis that has led to massive protests against the ruling Rajapaksa government.
Sri Lanka’s economy has been under pressure since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A crash in the tourism sector was followed by a crash in the agriculture sector after the government’s move to ban all chemical fertilizers in a bid to make the Island country’s agriculture fully organic.
Sri Lanka is facing a foreign exchange shortage, which has affected its capacity to import food and fuel, as well as resulted in the country defaulting on its foreign debt. (ANI)

Rabi Sankar Bosu Courtesy CGTN

India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attends the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 29, 2022. /VCG

Editor’s note: Rabi Sankar Bosu is an Indian contributor to Chinese media outlets. He writes about Chinese politics, social and cultural issues, and China-India relations with a special interest in the Belt and Road Initiative. The article reflects the author’s views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The signing of the agreement between India and Sri Lanka to set up hybrid power projects in three islands off the Jaffna coast, located hardly 50 km from India’s southern Tamil Nadu state on March 29 had captured much attention from the global media and Indian media outlets. This deal is seen as “a strategic victory for India in its competition with China for influence in the Indian Ocean” as noted by the U.S.-based Associated Press in a demeaning manner. Notably, the power projects were awarded for $12 million to a Chinese venture, Sinosar-Etechwin, in 2019.

However, such type of media-planted fascinating stories on Sino-India ties and Sino-Sri Lanka ties by Western media outlets as well as certain sections of Indian media is a clear attempt “to drive a wedge between China and India.” It will create a negative perception of the relationship between the two great neighboring countries – India and China – at a time when the two countries are engaged in mending their ties, leaving behind the memories of the 2020 Galwan Valley clash. More importantly, it is unwise to judge China’s relationship with Sri Lanka in the context of India’s relationship with China.

The use of the phrase “a strategic victory for India” does not reflect the real scenario of India and China’s role in Sri Lanka at all. It is a prejudiced thinking that Sri Lankan economic catastrophe has offered an opportunity for India to strengthen its friendship with Sri Lanka and to dominate the Indian Ocean region. India and China, both are Sri Lanka’s good friends and close neighbors. Both are Sri Lanka’s development partners. The U.S.-led Western world may be reminded that despite different circumstances and differing geopolitical realities in the two countries, both India and China stand by their closest ally Sri Lanka in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic as well as terrible economic crisis and acute shortages of essential commodities in the island nation.

It should be noted here that as a true neighborhood friend, China has extended support to Sri Lanka’s fight against COVID-19. In addition to donating medical equipment, China has gifted three million doses of Sinopharm vaccines, and another 23 million doses were provided at very low, concessionary rates, as Sri Lankan ambassador to China, Palitha Kohona told in an interview with Daily Mirror on January 7.

On the other hand, India, driven by its “neighborhood first” policy, began providing COVID-19 vaccines to its immediate neighbors under its “Vaccine Maitri” initiative in January 2021. India either sold or granted a total of 12.64 million doses to Sri Lanka as of April 13.

Coordinator of China’s BRICS Affairs and Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu (C) chaired the Second BRICS Sherpas’ Meeting 2022, from April 12 to 13, 2022. /Chinese Foreign Ministry

As Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst economic recession in history with acute shortages of essential commodities leading to nationwide spontaneous protests with the call for “Gota Go Home,” both India and China have extended support to Sri Lanka’s economic recovery and development.

In the past three months India offered about $2.5 billion to help shore up the sinking economy of the island nation. On the other hand, China has been doing its best to help Sri Lanka as much as possible for its rapid post-COVID economic recovery. China approved a swap arrangement amounting to 10 billion yuan (about $1.57 billion) in addition to the $2.8 billion assistance that China extended to Sri Lanka since the outbreak of the pandemic.

In 2009, Sri Lanka, with the strong assistance from the international community, ended a 30-year-long civil war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Chinese government and the Chinese people have continued to provide a large number of concessional low interest rate loans and investments for Sri Lanka’s post-war reconstruction. While the West and India are still debating the growing Chinese footprints in the island, the fact is that China is taking the lead in maritime, aviation, trade, tourism and cultural cooperation in Sri Lanka under the Belt and Road Initiative.

On the other hand, the Ukraine-Russia conflict has opened up a new horizon for India and China to build a united front against the United States, which is merely using Ukraine as a pawn against Russia. So far, both India and China abstained on Ukraine-related resolutions at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council. On March 21, U.S. President Joe Biden sneered at India for its “shaky” response to the Russian offensive and threatened to impose sanctions on India under the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). However, during his virtual meeting with President Biden on April 11, Prime Minister Modi explained New Delhi’s “neutral stance” on the Ukraine conflict and made it clear that India has no intention to hurt Russia ties.

It is an opportune time, therefore, for the two close neighbors to speak out in one voice against the U.S. for its failure to assume due responsibility, including how the U.S.-backed NATO alliance in Europe ignored Russia’s security concerns as well. The U.S. and its Western allies are in no position to lecture India and China about their national interests or their relationship with any member of nations in the international arena – be it Russia or Sri Lanka.

During his visit to India on March 25, the Chinese foreign minister said that the two sides should not allow the border dispute to define their relationship or to affect the overall development of bilateral ties. It is hoped that in the current geopolitical situation, China and India, as two important regional powers and emerging economies as well as members of BRICS, SCO and G20, will steer bilateral cooperation to bring real benefits to the two countries and peoples. The two neighboring countries will support each other’s participation in the regional cooperation process, and jointly promote peace, stability, and development in the world.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)

By Uditha Devapriya Courtesy The Island

I’d like to say this is the beginning of the end, but it’s not. The latest spate of protests to hit the country has now been going on for more than a week. These protests have targeted one thing and one thing only: the Rajapaksas’ exit from power. While some argue we need to go beyond this objective and ask all parliamentarians to resign, others point out the difficulty or impracticality of such campaigns. Meanwhile, Colombo’s middle-class teenagers are busy formulating plans for the future. Some are talking about chasing rogues away, while others are busy thinking of launching youth-driven political parties.

Let’s be honest. Before last Thursday, with power cuts below seven hours, Sri Lanka’s suburban middle-class, English-speaking but not overwhelmingly so, were willing to grind their teeth and endure. Obviously they had no choice. Already inconvenienced by gas and fuel shortages, they suffered from other woes. Sweating in the dark, some of them stuck in flats and apartments, they could do very little about what was happening.

Then the power cuts shot up to 13 hours. For a population that threw their rage at Ravi Karunanayake for ordering two-and-a-half hour blackouts in 2019, this was more than unbearable. It was intolerable. Perhaps it struck the middle-classes the most, but all of a sudden protests were organised, gatherings were called for, and catch-phrases that had been the stuff of memes were turned into symbols of anger. If you analyse the Mirihana gathering, you will realise that every hour or so brought in different layers from Colombo’s suburbs, and that it began with a professional and educated middle-class protesting not just the shortages, but Mirihana’s exemption from power cuts.

What did these protestors want? They wanted the government to go home. They have been saying that for the last one-and-a-half years. Many of them claim they saw the present crisis coming, and are now playing the part of Cassandra. They have been hemmed in on the one hand from shortages and severe inflation, and on the other from import restrictions. Today these deprivations are dictating the trajectory of their protests: by the time Mirihana began unfolding, they were planned much larger demonstrations for Sunday.

Pushed into sheer desperation, an otherwise protest-resistant middle-class sided with student activists and various other inner-city groups. For a few days and nights at least, they were willing to let go of their class identity and embrace a movement aimed at toppling a much reviled government. The irony here should not be lost on anyone: in effect, the same middle-class that watched on gleefully as the police baton-charged student activists under the previous government are now holding hands with those same activists.

What are we to make of such developments? It’s important to recognise their progressive potential before anything else. Over the last few months, the most vocal defenders of this regime have gone quiet. Predictably, there have been a few murmurings of protest among its biggest supporters, especially its ideologues. This is why the curfew was so laughable if not counterproductive, since on social media and in public, the likes of Charitha Herath and Roshan Ranasinghe expressed dissent and made their exit, while Namal Rajapaksa tweeted that he disagreed with his own uncle’s social media block. To defend this administration in such a context would be to back a dead horse, not so much because it has run out of steam as because nothing it has done and is doing can justify its grip on power.

Ironically, the government has undermined the very ideals that brought it to power. On the one hand, despite much rhetoric about national dignity, we are entering into one deal after another with one country after another. We have not been told of what these deals entail and whether they will take a toll on Sri Lanka’s sovereignty. On the other hand, a regime that sported its nationalist credentials have, over less than a week, drained the people of their love for the army, owing to its deployment of the military against protestors. Perhaps the most popular catchphrase of the SLPP campaign was ranawiru gaaya”, or love for the war heroes. Now all that is gone: even the most fervent supporters are siding with activists and protestors, claiming themselves to have been cured of such gaaya.”

These are, certainly, failures of governance. Yet while critiquing them, I think we should be subjecting the protests to constructive critique as well. I say that because we’ve seen this happen before, albeit on a smaller scale: what was the 2015 election about, after all, than a concerted effort against the Rajapaksas and their wretched excesses?

Yet notwithstanding the enthusiasm that marked their defeat and exit that year, the reformist good governance” administration brought in their place disintegrated barely a year later. That was due to two reasons: an obsession with personality over policy, which focused on keeping the Rajapaksas not just out of politics but out of parliament and the democratic mainstream altogether, and a failure to recognise the crisis as one of systemic proportions, rather than of corrupt politicians, parties, and cliques.

The second point merits much reflection. By reducing the ills of the Mahinda Rajapaksa regime to the Rajapaksa family, the yahapalana government gave the impression that all it needed to cure the country of political corruption was to send them packing. This is why it entered into deals with, and handed ministerial posts to, former Rajapaksa loyalists, something that got the yahalapanists mileage, but cost them credibility.

When the yahapalanists tried to regain their momentum in 2019, after a long constitutional crisis, the Easter Attacks happened, putting an end to the idea of a second term. The SLFP’s socially progressive potential, meanwhile, had been forestalled by the UNP’s capitulations to the neoliberal right, epitomised fittingly by the image of Mangala Samaraweera and Eran Wickramaratne holding a placard bearing their fuel price formula at a press conference. In the end Gotabaya Rajapaksa got to monopolise the security and sovereignty debate: an in-many-ways inevitable consequence of reformist politics which linger on issues of corruption, to the exclusion of other more material, systemic, and structural problems.

History tends to repeat. Today we are seeing a repetition of all this in the protests against the Rajapaksas. I don’t include all the protests, because there are many of them: some in Colombo, many outside. Not surprisingly, the Colombo protests, in keeping with the class composition of those who live in and transit there, have turned into Big Match parades. What started out with much promise and aplomb have reduced to a set of people holding slogans and out-sloganeering others. These are the trappings of a typical middle-class anti-State campaign, not necessarily cut off from the rest of the country, but not linked as much as it should be there. Focused on the corruption of a few, middle-class demonstrators are fixated almost entirely on driving Gotabaya and the rest of his clan out.

The situation is different in the villages. There the fury and the rage are real. People are not holding placards and organising pageants: they are storming the metaphoric Bastilles that the Rajapaksas have erected around themselves. In 2015 hordes of voters went and wept with Mahinda Rajapaksa when he lost the presidential election. Today these same people, and their progeny, are defying the police and running to Carlton, full of righteous anger. In Polonnaruwa, a group of voters stormed and destroyed Roshan Ranasinghe’s house. Many miles away in Kesbewa, another group burnt a hoarding in front of Gamini Lokuge’s house. These are not isolated incidents: they are linked, symbolic of a new beginning.

Meanwhile, brought together by unions and collectives, garment workers are going beyond Colombo’s fixation with the Rajapaksas: their rallying cry is, Bring the dollars we earned for you back!” The you” isn’t a reference to the Rajapaksas, rather to the company bosses who lent their support, overtly or tacitly, to the First Family. These bosses and their acolytes have been as complicit in entrenching inequalities as has the political class: in late 2020, after the second wave hit, for instance, they connived in busting unions, in forcing factory workers to report to work despite obvious health risks. These workers possess the one thing Colombo’s middle classes lack, namely organisation. They should hence reach out.

The demonstrations have taught us some important lessons. The Rajapaksas may or may not go out, with a bang or a whimper. Yet the needs of the country extend beyond their exit from politics. In the eyes of Colombo’s middle-classes, they have overstayed their welcome, and they need to vamoose. But for estate workers and garment workers, the struggle has transcended the excesses of one family. This is why these protests should shift from urban centres to peasant and working class heartlands. The Colombo protests are haphazard and are running the risk of deteriorating into Big Match parades. As an activist-friend put it, life in Colombo has always been a Big Match.” Life elsewhere, however, has not.

Courtesy The Daily Mirror

The flight that left Ratmalana today morning – N750GF – for Dubai, belongs to British national and UK millionaire George Davies, the Daily Mirror learns.

Rumors were rife that former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa had left Colombo for Dubai on this flight, but sources confirmed that this private aircraft was carrying foreign nationals who had arrived last month.

According to details, the N750GF was carrying two foreign nationals including Davies on board and arrived in Sri Lanka on March 28. It departed Ratmalana Airport on April 16 morning for Dubai, UAE. 

Davies is an Engish fashion designer and is the owner of several leading garment brands. 

Courtesy Adaderana

The Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Sri Lanka has directed the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) to temporarily close the stock market for a period of five business days commencing from the 18th of April.

In a statement, the SEC director, Tushara Jayaratne said the Board of Directors of the CSE, by way of a communiqué dated April 15, had called upon the Commission to temporarily close the stock market citing the present situation in the country.

Many other stakeholders of the securities market including the Colombo Stock Brokers Association had also sought the temporary closure of the market on the same grounds, according to the SEC director.

Accordingly, the SEC has carefully considered the grounds that have been adduced by them and has evaluated the impact the present situation in the country could have on the stock market, in particular the ability to conduct an orderly and fair market for trading in securities.

Mr. Jayaratne said the SEC is of the view that it would be in the best interests of investors as well as other market participants if they are afforded an opportunity to have more clarity and understanding of the economic conditions presently prevalent, in order for them to make informed investment decisions.

Therefore, acting in terms of the provisions contained in Section 30 of the Securities and Exchange Commission Act No. 19 of 2021, the SEC has decided to direct the CSE to temporarily close the stock market for a period of five business days commencing from April 18.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Sri Lankan delegation led by Finance Minister Ali Sabry will depart the island in the early hours on Sunday (April 17) to take part in the discussions with the International Monetary Fund.

The talks are taking place in Washington, United States from 19-24 April.

The finance minister is accompanied by Central Bank Governor Dr. Nandalal Weerasinghe and Secretary to the Finance Ministry Mahinda Siriwardene.

Courtesy Adaderana

The pole antenna structure installed at the Galle Face Green by a leading telecommunications service provider in the country has been removed, Ada Derana correspondent says.

Concerns were raised on social media platforms with regard to the Capacity Enhance solution at the Galle Face Green premises where the ongoing public protest against the government is staged.

Taking these concerns into account, the company decided to de-install the antenna structure.

In a notice, the company said the sole purpose of the installation was to alleviate congestion levels in the Galle Face area.

It also assured the customers of its best efforts to reduce congestion levels in the area using existing infrastructure facilities.

A 20-feet pole antenna structure was installed at the Galle Face Green area on Friday (April 15). 

The initiation of the said installation is one of the network solutions being implemented to alleviate the network congestion in the area experienced by the customers, the company said further in its statement.

Capacity augmentation and quality of service improvement initiatives, in response to customer feedback, are carried out by the company as part and parcel of its daily operations.

It also stated that this installation was submitted for the approval of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) and the activation of the augmented capacity would follow the receipt of TRCSL approvals.

However, the antenna structure was removed today, after the installation was met with controversy.

By Noor Nizam – Peace and Political Activist, Political Communications Researcher, SLFP/SLPP Stalwart, Convener “The Muslim Voice”, 15th., April 2022

The power of “ABILITY” of Gota against “CONSPIRACY” of those looking for a “Regime Change”. The protest taking place in Sri Lanka has been planned out in the same way the “Truckers Protest” was staged in Canada against PM Justin Trudeau by the American Republicans. 

The SJB, JVP, NPP and some elements of the SLFP and the Anti government groups are behind this attempt to set in a regime change. The US Embassy gave away a lot of money to many NGO’s and so-called Civil Society groups a few months ago under the disguise of support to help social media platforms. 

Gota with his ability will continue and the Nation will see prospective changes for good in the future. Able Ambassadors like HE. Palitha Kohana will get the Chinese $2.5 billion in financial support to wade off the island nation’s inflation-driven crisis, in addition to the IMF $4.5 billion being negotiated by Hon. Ali Sabry – Minister of Finance and the assured Indian government loan (credit line) of $. 1 Billion, for which agreements have already being signed, Insha Allah. 

But HE. Gotabaya Rajapaksa should be aware that some of the Government officials and Sri Lankan diplomats heading foreign missions supported by INGO’s and the Social Media/YouTube channels are “STABBING” the President and the duly elected government behind the back. 

Once the economical issues are cleared, the President should set-in-motion a public inquiry to probe these incidents. Sri Lankan “PATRIOTIC” diaspora domiciled in North America and Europe will then be able to expose these “TRAITORS” in public for necessary action.

මහින්ද රාජපක්ෂ ශ්‍රී ලංකා ප්‍රජාතාන්ත්‍රික සමාජවාදී ජනරජයේ අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය

ජේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුස් වහන්සේ මරණය පරාජය කරමින් උත්ථානය ලැබූ විජයග්‍රාහී ප්‍රීතියේ සැමරුම් දිනය පාස්කුවයි.

කිතුනු ජනතාවගේ ප්‍රධානතම මංගල්‍යක් වන පාස්කුව ලොවපුරා කිතුනු බැතිමතුන් සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකේය කිතුනු ජනතාව සමරනුයේ මහත් හරසරිනි.

පාස්කු මංගල්‍යයට පෙර කිතුනු බැතිමත්හු ජේසුස් ක්‍රිස්තුන් වහන්සේ කුරුසිය මත දිවි පිදීමේ යාගය මහ සිකුරාදා දිනයේ සිහිපත් කරනුයේ  දුක්විඳීම හා  මරණය මෙනෙහි කරමිනි. 

පරිත්‍යාගශීලී ජීවිතයක වටිනාකම මෙන්ම ධෛර්යය හා ශක්තිය ජීවිතයට ළඟාකර ගතහැකි අධ්‍යාත්මික මාර්ගය මෙනෙහි කිරීමට අද වැනි දිනයක් සියලු දෙනාට එක සේ වැදගත්ය.

ඒ සඳහා ඔවුහු අළු බදාදා සිට දින හතළිහක කාලයක් දුක් ප්‍රාප්තියට වඩාත් සමීපවෙමින් යාඤාවෙන් භාවනාවෙන්, උපවාස ශීලයෙන් හා විවිධ පුණ්‍ය ක්‍රියා ඔස්සේ අධ්‍යාත්මික සහනය ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරති.

සමාජීය හා සදාචාර සම්පන්න පැවැත්ම විනාශ කරන සහ සමාජය අඳුරු ගන්වන නපුරු බලවේග පලවා හැරීම සඳහා පාස්කු අලෝකය  ජනතාවට සහනාලෝකයකි.

සමාජ සාධාරණත්වය, මනුෂ්‍යත්වය සහ ප්‍රේමය වෙනුවෙන් සිය ජීවිතය කැපකළ ජේසුස්  ක්‍රිස්තුන්  වහන්සේ ලොවට ගෙන ආ ජීවිත ආදර්ශය තුළ සැබෑ ජීවන වෙනසක් අත්දකිමින් මානව දයාවෙන්, සහජීවනයෙන් හා අන්‍යෝන්‍ය ප්‍රේමයෙන් යුතුව දිවි ගෙවීමට කිතුනු ජනතාවට හැකිවේවා! යැයි මම ප්‍රාර්ථනා කරමි.

ශ්‍රී ලාංකේය කිතුනු බැතිමතුන් සැමට සුබ පාස්කු මංගල්‍යයක් වේවා !

National Joint Committee

Under our Constitution (vide Article 40) when the office of the President falls vacant prior to his term of office by resignation or otherwise, his successor has to be elected by Members of Parliament and the new President will hold office for the remaining period of the office of President. The new President is elected by secret ballot and by absolute majority. Thus, the 113 Members of Parliament may ultimately decide who the new President is to be in place of the President elected by the people. Those who prosecute this campaign should first disclose to the people whom they would bring as the new President of Sri Lanka. The people need to know the policies of the new President and his qualifications.

This campaign started with the slogan that the President and all 225 Members of Parliament should go home but paradoxically now we find this campaign being confined to a ‘Gota-Go’ campaign. Is the new President going to be selected by the very people who needs to be sent home? There’s something terribly wrong with this ongoing campaign. There is obviously a political motive behind this campaign. Even more it is obvious that NGOs are playing a proactive role for a regime change in the same way they did in 2015 with the able assistance of the Government of the US. The food and drinks offered to protesters with sophisticated packing are obviously not from sympathetic supporters but from organized groups showing signs of a foreign hand. We can see that some of the slogans are against the Maha Sangha and the Buddhist public in general.

The National Joint Committee (NJC) accepts that this Government has failed so miserably that the present Cabinet of Ministers can no longer claim any right to govern. The country is economically not in a position to hold elections at this moment. Therefore it is the duty of both the Government and the Opposition to amend the Constitution to find a suitable solution to the present crisis. The NJC supports the proposal made to the Government by two members of the expert panel that have been appointed to draft a new Constitution to put in place an apolitical Cabinet of Ministers as a temporary measure during this crisis. They have proposed to have an interim Cabinet of Ministers consisting of 15 members who are not Members of Parliament with the required expertise in the respective subjects and functions of the relevant Ministries. Once the country is back on track elections can be held and people will get the opportunity to elect suitable people to govern this country with a Cabinet of their choice.

Intellectuals and professionals cannot contest and succeed in getting elected under the present electoral system. Therefore it is necessary that we revert back to the First Past the Post” system of elections so that independent candidates without the support of political parties could contest elections. It is not possible to get capable people with integrity into Parliament under the proportional representation system where political parties submit lists of candidates decided by their leaders. Therefore, the NJC is strongly of the view that the First Past the Post” system should be brought in as a matter of priority.

Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa came into power promising to uphold the rule of law and to bring in good governance practices. However soon after he came into power the 20th Amendment was brought to bring in his kith and kin to power. The President’s brother was brought into Parliament through the back door and given the Finance portfolio and his other siblings and nephews were bestowed with Ministries lavishly. Provisions relating to the National Procurement Commission was removed completely. This was to facilitate the disposal of national resources. Soon 40% shares of the Yugadhanavi power plant was sold to the Americans giving them the monopoly to supply natural gas without competitive bidding. Sri Lanka lost millions as a result of this deal. This is a national crime.

Having come to power with the vote of the nationalists they were soon sidelined. Two prominent Ministers were sacked from the Government without any justifiable reason. Therefore there is a serious doubt whether this Government would act in the national interest in the future. It is necessary therefore that before the people extend their support to the present Government a new Constitution be adopted forthwith ensuring that;

1. The electoral system is changed to the First Past the Post” system so that independent professionals could contest the elections without the support of political parties.
2. The Article 9 in the present Constitution on Buddhism be retained.
3. The unitary character of the State, the National Flag and the National Anthem are not changed.
4. The right to use the Sinhala language in the Northern and Eastern provinces be restored.
5. The supremacy of Parliament is restored and all subordinate legislation whether enacted by Provincial Councils or any other body is subject to laws enacted by Parliament to ensure the concept of  one country one law”
6. All agreements entered into with foreign companies and governments are examined by the Supreme Court before they are entered into and approved by Parliament.
7. No procurement by the State be permitted without competitive bidding unless in an extreme emergency.

The NJC can no longer support the Government unless a firm commitment is made to ensure that the promises given to the people prior to the election are fulfilled without any reservation.

Lt Col. Anil Amarasekera (Rtd.)                       Mr. K. M. B. Kotakadeniya. Senior DIG.(Rtd)

Co-Presidents National Joint Committee

12^th April 2022

MALINDA SENEVIRATN​E

Rev Fr Cyril Gamini (RFCG hereafter) has found his voice. RFCG, after shooting his mouth and naming names in a zoom discussion, was duly complained about and required to make a statement. Having named names, he was required to offer tangible proof, for lack thereof would amount to defamation. He ducked. He hid under his own cassock. We wonder if he went to confession at any point thereafter. 

Anyway, RFCG is back at his own games of casting aspersions, loose-cannoning if you will. He’s careful, RFCG is. He deliberately and meticulously avoids talking about the perpetrators of the crime: the NTJ, Zahran, Naufer and, if you want to be ideological about it, Islamic Fundamentalism. Instead he goes for soft targets and puts both feet in the mouth (as always). He talks about conspiracy, but not related to the attacks themselves; for him it’s about negligence and the alleged protection of the negligent. And, not untypically, a wide-eyed media that tends to extrapolate beyond belief attributes the allegations of this maverick priest to ‘The Catholic Church’. 

RFCG was ranting in response to comments made by Secretary, Defence, Kamal Gunaratne. He asks what moral right Gunaratne has to ‘protect political leaders.’ Was Gunaratne protecting anyone? Has nothing been done about the Easter Sunday attacks in terms of investigation, legal action, compensation for families of those killed and the injured, countering extremism and in ensuring that such attacks are not repeated? Gunaratne stated some facts. The state has done much in terms of the second set of questions. The details of the numbers arrested, enlarged on bail, indicted etc., are well known. Well, RFCG clearly is ignorant of all that. Other measures taken have been detailed in numerous comments, statements and reports. Yes, RFCG is not interested in any of that. What moral right does he have, then, to talk about truth and justice? We don’t know how well versed he is about the Ten Commandments or if he does, the value he places on them, how many he has broken etc., but clearly he’s at odds with the 9th, as per Deuteronomy 5:20: ‘You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor,’ in the expanded interpretation of ‘neighbor’ of course.

The ninth commandment honors the right to one’s own reputation.[1] It finds pointed application in legal proceedings where what people say depicts reality and determines the course of lives. Judicial decisions and other legal processes wield great power. Manipulating them undercuts the ethical fabric of society and thus constitutes a serious offense. Walter Brueggemann says this commandment recognizes that community life is not possible unless there is an arena in which there is public confidence that social reality will be reliably described and reported.”

He asks questions to which answers have been given many times, for example, ‘What are the investigations carried out by the investigation teams including the CID so far to prove that it is not such a political conspiracy?’ This is like asking someone ‘Is there any evidence that Jesus was born in what is today known as Iceland?’ and being answered, ‘Is there any proof that he was not?’ The main task of investigation is to consider what happened and based on facts to make determinations on any matter, conspiracy included. In RFCG’s court (where he is judge, jury and prosecutor) it’s a flip: conspiracy as hypothesis and all energies to be expended to determine first and foremost and to the end whether or not hypothesis holds. Bunkem!

RFCG seems to be intent on sticking his dagger into SSP and former SIS chief Nilantha Jayawardena. Nilantha Jayawardena as indeed is anyone and everyone in the intelligence agency had to do his job: obtaining intelligence information and passing on the information to authorities that are mandated to act upon them. No negligence there. Negligence can only be attributed to agencies and individuals mandated to act upon such information. Negligence, obviously, is a significant fault.

Former President, Maithripala Sirisena was negligent, even though he is not an intelligence officer nor an investigator. The then Minister of Public Administration and Management and Law and Order Ranjith Maddumabandara, also not an intelligence officer nor an investigator, was negligent. They were both aware. They did nothing. NOTHING, repeat. The hero in charge of stuff during that period, Shani Abeysekera, is far more culpable since he had the leads and brushed them off. Indeed he had some of the would-be terrorists cornered, but was either clueless or slothful. For a full discussion, read ‘The Easter Sunday Attack: negligence and the negligent.’ We know what happened later. RFCG knows too, but he doesn’t mention the man at all. Why not?

For the record, consider the following:  735 suspected of direct or indirect involvement in the terrorist attacks were arrested. Of them, 196 are in remand custody, 19 in detention, 81 served indictments while 453 have been enlarged on bail. There are 27 cases filed against 79 persons in the high courts of Gampaha, Candy, Kurunegala, Puttalam, Nuwara Eliya, Batticaloa, Colombo and Kegalle are being heard by three-judge benches in terms of 25,753 charges.

There’s more: Assets, including property, buildings and vehicles worth Rs 365 million as well as gold worth Rs 168 million belong to the suicide bombers and relevant organizations have been confiscated so far. All relevant agencies have taken innumerable steps to investigate and press charges on all persons who have directly or indirectly supported extremism, regardless of who they are; politicians, public and private sector employees and officials make up this list.

Is RFCG interested? Of course not. He’s the judge, let us repeat, the jury and the prosecutor. He’s not concerned with the perpetrators or the ideology that spurred them on. Instead, he’s chasing a ghost, some mahamolakaru (mastermind) and his thesis is that the negligent were in fact masterminds. Speculation, speculation! Humbuggery, humbuggery!

Seriously, if conspiracy is the big-word here, RFCG is clearly the most vocal conspirator of them all! I wouldn’t go as far to say that the blood of the victims are on his hands, but RFCG’s hands are anything but clean.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

JR made radical changes to the economic policy of Sri Lanka .He brought in a free market economy, ending   years of socialist bungling. The economic liberalization of 1977 pioneered by JR made radical changes in the economic policy of the country, said economists.  The 1977 economic reforms saw an initial burst of healthy growth and the ‘take off’ of the economy, but it became sluggish thereafter.  It did not lead to any genuine economic advance.

JR’s ‘economic liberalization’ started the process that led the country into the economic disaster it is facing today in 2022. He said let the robber barons come. Who on earth in their right minds would say, Let the robber barons come asked a critic. He gave the wrong signal when he said let the robber barons come” said another.

JR   introduced Free Trade Zones to the country. The Greater Colombo Economic Commission Act (GCEC) was passed in March 1978 and Sri Lanka’s first Special Economic Zone was established. Upali Wijewardene was appointed the Head of the GCEC. He succeeded in inviting blue chip companies such as Motorola to set up shop here.

J.R. Jayewardene heralded the creation of Free Trade Zones as if they were something wonderful, said critics. GCEC brought some glamour, some jobs and a certain illusion of movement into an economy which had opened up after years of   socialist policy, certainly. They provided some jobs for unemployed youth, and put a little money in their pockets. This was very welcome after the stagnant Bandaranaike era, analysts said.

But JR’s Free Trade Zones were a failure.  They did not lead to the massive production economies that transformed countries such as Japan and South Korea. FTZs never helped to established industry in Sri Lanka. The foreign companies that came here used our cheap labor, our land, water and other resources and repatriated the profits. Then they left the county and went elsewhere. Sri Lanka got nothing in return.  FTZ did not create wealth for the country.

Sri Lanka did not have foreign debt till 1977. Up to 1977, Sri Lanka was able to manage its budget   and make all payments. 1976 and 1977 happened to be the last years when our country was run without a deficit.

Before 1977, we had two budgets. A local rupee budget for handling all work in the country, including major development tasks  and a separate foreign budget with the dollars we collected from imports.

We spent the dollars we had, first on essentials, and if we had anything left, we gave small allocations to import cars and electrical items. We never dispensed funds for foreign travel unless it was necessary for our country. Nor did we allocate any foreign funds for students to study abroad, said Garvin Karunaratne.

JR changed this. JR arranged for Sri Lanka to obtain foreign loans, which immediately meant foreign debt as well.  JR borrowed from the IMF.  This was, I believe, the first time Sri Lanka turned to the IMF for loans.

IMF readily provided dollar loans.  The IMF even provided grace periods where the loan installments and interest need not be paid-.  Then government could freely spend and leave the burden of repayment to their successors.

Sri Lanka started living on loans.    We sought foreign loans and even sold our assets to fund the budget itself .Sri Lanka was advised to engage in deficit budgeting which meant spending more than we earned.  Since 1977 we have been following this ridiculous concept, said analysts.

This tilt to IMF would have helped USA to increase its hold over Sri Lanka as well. The IMF was dominated by the US which was its biggest contributor and therefore had the largest voting bloc. This meant effective veto power.

The national interests of the United States are strongly supported by the International Monetary Fund, reported officials.  The IMF is a very good deal for us. Its programs cost us nothing yet it provides enormous benefits for our economy and our foreign policy.

When JR sought the help of the IMF in 1977, the IMF imposed condition for gratning a loan. These conditions included a demand to slash welfare assistance, to privatize state institutes, to impose tax concessions on rich and taxes on the poor, and  sell the resources of the country .

IMF insisted that funds would be given only if the country follows the Structural Adjustment Programme of the IMF.  This meant that Sri Lanka had to liberalize the spending of foreign exchange. Sri Lanka had to remove the restrictions over imports and permit free imports. . It had to allow those who could afford, (i.e. the rich,) to spend money as they wished.  The foreign funds loaned to us were, in this way, shunted back to the donors through purchases and services.

Garvin Karunaratne summarized it this way. Sri Lanka managed its foreign exchange effectively, till President Jayewardene was fooled by the IMF to follow the Structural Adjustment Programme,   which advised him to allow the rich to spend foreign exchange, as much as they wanted, for endless foreign travel to educate their children abroad, import all luxury items. IMF provided loans for this purpose and even provided grace periods when the service and interest charges were not to be paid,   leaving future leaders to bear the brunt of repayment, concluded Garvin.

The IMF also laid down that the public sector, (i.e. government) should not carry out   any   commercial activity.    The MEP government of 1956 had introduced industrialization at state level, and set up industries as government concerns, usually through corporations but also in government Departments. Thanks to IMF these were either closed down or privatized. The country felt this but could do nothing about it.

There was a slant to this privatizing. The intelligentsia observed that it was the corporations that made profits, and brought money to the Treasury, that were singled out and privatized for a song. These included Insurance Corporation and Distilleries Corporation .Both were making profit. Critics were indignant about this.

Hope Todd, Chairman of National Small Industries Corporation started Borwood Ltd, in the late 1960s. Borwood   made school furniture using rubber wood. Hope had worked with the Assistant Conservator of forests and an engineer to develop the techniques for this. The company had exported to China. Borwood had also been used in the new Parliament.  But JR got rid of the local industries, and Borwood also went,” said a critic.

The government textile manufacturing units, both handloom and power loom, also textile mills were privatized or abolished.  Out went the handlooms and the power looms and instead fabric was imported, said one critic. I myself, remember going to a sale of local silk   held by a government Department. That division was closing down.  I think   Pugoda and Thulhiriya Textile Mills were also affected.

Marketing Department had a Cannery that made Sri Lanka self sufficient in all fruit preparations.  This was closed down after the IMF came in.  Vegetable & Fruit Purchasing & Sales Scheme that assured high prices to producers and also made available goods at low prices to consumers was also abolished.

In the pre 1977 period we never imported a single rail carriage or bus or lorry. We imported the chassis and built them ourselves. Local Bus/Lorry Body building industry was started in the 1950s. Passenger coaches were locally built on imported chassis. Similarly, trucks (lorry bodies) were also locally built during the same period. Bus/Lorry Body building industry reached its peak in the mid 1960s to the late 70s.

CTB was well equipped with foundries and workshops: the Central Workshop at Werahera became the largest in South Asia, equipped with machine tools from India, Germany and the Eastern Bloc. In 1974 the assembly of bus chassis and prototypes of a locally manufactured bus and a car rolled out of Werahera. Preference was given to locally manufactured spare parts, and the automotive spare parts industry grew rapidly.

the industry declined after 1977 when the open economic policy of the  government came into play. Then in the mid 1980s the SLTB’s own local bus body building facilities were  abandoned and Indian imports in complete built form replaced the local manufacture,.

Local enterprises also closed down because the bank interest rate was jacked up to 25%, which made enterprises uneconomical to run.

JR’s Open Economy encouraged the excessive import of consumer goods. This country started to import all items killing the local industry, complained critics. The IMF policy killed    small and medium industries, catering to domestic needs, which had started to blossom in Sri Lanka. The replacements were not of better quality.

There was a pasta manufacturing company, Menik, which I patronized. This vanished and was replaced by an imported product, which takes the same length of time to cook. There was an excellent locally made cotton Ruflette tape, which I used for curtains. This was replaced by an imported tape, made of a   stiff synthetic material, difficult to sew or use.

Prior to open economic policies introduced in late 1970s, the quantity of milk imported was low and there were no adverse effects to the dairy industry of Sri Lanka. However, with the liberal economic policies, milk powder importation has increased rapidly and trading in milk powder became a highly profitable venture In addition, the multinational companies spent a staggering sum on milk powder commercials and  changed the attitudes towards milk powder consumption. This resulted in the preference for imported powdered milk.

In 1978, the tariff rate for powdered milk was five percent whereas for the liquid milk it was 60 percent. Moreover, policymakers announced milk as an essential food in 2007 and all taxes and levies on milk powder were removed to safeguard consumers. Experts said that it was not advisable to put milk powder into tea, better drink it neat, but this was ignored.

The liberalization of the economy was a success story, said Daya de Siva. Now we can buy a TV, a washing machine and pressure cooker. Now Colombo pavements are piled up high with Australian apples, Jaffa oranges, and Hong Kong wrist watches. Thanks to JR we can eat good ice cream now. We can eat Cadbury Chocolates and Danish cookies again. I really enjoy shopping at supermarkets, Daya said.

The Open Economy delighted the rich, because luxury goods came in. For those with a sweet tooth, imported chocolates and imported ice cream in plenty. Recently I bought a packet of ‘Himalayan rock salt’, imported from Pakistan and packed in Sri Lanka. I bought it because I had never even heard of Himalayan rock salt and wanted to see what it was like.  But even as I purchased the item, I thought that it was not an essential item for Sri Lanka and need not be imported.  (Continued)

Courtesy NewsIn.Asia

Colombo, April 14 (Hindustan Times/newsin.asia): Sri Lanka has sought India’s assistance in garnering international support to secure bridge financing as it enters negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a bailout programme to cope with the island nation’s worst economic crisis in decades, according to a statement from the Sri Lankan high commission.

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka declared it would default on its external debt pending a bailout from IMF. The move was attributed to the country’s critically low foreign exchange reserves. This was the first time Sri Lanka has announced a debt default since its independence in 1948.

In addition to reviewing bilateral economic cooperation, Moragoda and Sitharaman discussed how India can assist Sri Lanka in getting international support to secure bridge financing and the IMF economic adjustment programme itself, through both bilateral and multilateral partners, said the statement from the Sri Lankan high commission.

They also explored the possibility of enhancing and restructuring some of the assistance already provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel, as well as balance of payment support.

Moragoda and Sitharaman observed that the assistance provided by India so far could form part of the bridging finance required by Sri Lanka until the economic adjustment programme with the IMF would be negotiated”, the statement said.

It was also observed that India was the first country to support Sri Lanka in this manner to secure bridging finance until that programme would be in place,” the statement added.

Sitharaman expressed her concern over the humanitarian cost of the economic crisis and said India would stand by Sri Lanka to overcome its challenges”. Moragoda thanked her for her personal interest in supporting Sri Lanka at this difficult time.

The process of negotiating a bailout with the Washington-based IMF is expected to take at least six months, if not more. In the interim, the Sri Lankan government will have to work out a bridge financing arrangement to take care of its immediate needs.

Moragoda and Sitharaman noted that Sri Lanka’s finance minister Ali Sabry and his delegation will meet the ministerial delegation from India in Washington next week on the margins of the IMF spring meetings.

The envoy also thanked Sitharaman for the assistance that India is extending to Sri Lanka in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel, and for balance of payment support.

India has so far provided Sri Lanka financial aid worth almost $2.5 billion, including a $500-million line of credit in February for fuel purchases and another $1-billion line of credit in March for buying food, medicines and other essential items. India has provided a currency swap of $400 million under the Saarc facility and deferred the payment of $515 million to the Asian Clearing Union.

On Tuesday, 11,000 tonne rice supplied by India under the line of credit reached Colombo.

Moragoda briefed Sitharaman on the debt standstill” announced by the Sri Lankan government and told her that Sri Lankan authorities are seeking a consensual agreement on debt restructuring”.

The discussions also focused on how India can play an expanded role in promoting accelerated growth and development in Sri Lanka in the medium term. Moragoda and Sitharaman expressed satisfaction at ongoing official discussions between the two countries to establish a cooperation framework and to monitor progress of bilateral economic cooperation in the current context.

Sri Lanka’s presidential advisory group on multilateral engagement and debt sustainability, the governor of the Central Bank and the secretary to the treasury are engaged in these discussions, while India is represented by the chief economic advisor and the secretary (economic affairs) in the finance ministry. The high commissions of the two countries are also participating in the discussions.

The economic crisis in the country of 22 million people has resulted in regular blackouts and shortages of food and fuel. The government has banned the import of non-essential items to conserve foreign currency reserves. The economic crisis has also triggered public demonstrations, with protestors demanding the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Sri Lankan Version

Sri Lanka’s High Commission in India, said in its press release that High Commissioner Moragoda thanked the Indian Finance Minister for the assistance that India is extending to Sri Lanka in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel, and also for balance of payment support extended at these challenging times.

The Indian Minister and the High Commissioner observed that this assistance could form part of the bridging finance required by Sri Lanka until the economic adjustment programme with the IMF would be negotiated. It was also observed that India was the first country to support Sri Lanka in this manner to secure bridging finance until that programme would be in place.

In this context, High Commissioner Moragoda and Minister Sitharaman discussed how India could assist Sri Lanka in garnering international support to secure bridging finance and for the economic adjustment programme itself, through both bilateral and multilateral partners.

The High Commissioner briefed the Minister on the debt standstill announced by the Government of Sri Lanka. He informed her that the Sri Lankan authorities are seeking a consensual agreement on debt restructuring.

They explored the possibility of enhancing and restructuring some of the assistance already provided by India in the form of credits for essential commodities and fuel as well as balance of payment support.       

The discussion was also focused on how India could play an expanded role in promoting accelerated growth and development in Sri Lanka in the medium term.

High Commissioner Moragoda and Minister Sitharaman reviewed and expressed satisfaction over the ongoing official-level discussions between Sri Lanka and India to establish a cooperation framework and to monitor the progress of economic cooperation between the two countries in the present context. The Presidential Advisory Group on Multilateral Engagement and Debt Sustainability, Governor of the Central Bank and the Secretary to the Treasury are engaged in these discussions representing Sri Lanka while India is represented by the Chief Economic Advisor of the Government and the Secretary (Economic Affairs) of the Ministry of Finance. The High Commissions of the two countries in each other’s capitals are also participating in these discussions.

During the meeting, the Finance Minister of India expressed her concern over the humanitarian cost of the economic crisis and said that India would stand by Sri Lanka to overcome its challenges. In response, High Commissioner Moragoda thanked Minister Sitharaman for the personal interest that she has taken in supporting Sri Lanka at this difficult time.

They also noted that Finance Minister of Sri Lanka Ali Sabry and his delegation would be meeting the Ministerial delegation from India next week in Washington D.C. on the wings of the IMF spring meetings.

ANI News

Amid Sri Lankan economic crisis, apparel orders from island nation diverting to India
Read more At:
https://www.aninews.in/news/business/business/amid-sri-lankan-economic-crisis-apparel-orders-from-island-nation-diverting-to-india20220415195455/

SOUMYA BHOWMICK courtesy orfonline

As Sri Lanka descends into economic despair, only two options are open to it: Either seek further assistance from the IMF or seek loans from individual countries.

Lately, India’s immediate neighbourhood is in doldrums. From the mass protests, killings, and use of arms over the military coup in Myanmar about a year back to the recent political and economic conundrum unfolding in Pakistan; from the fresh rise of COVID-19 cases in Chinese cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen to the epicentre of the region’s much talked about economic crisis emerging from Sri Lanka—India has its hands full in dealing with the new foreign policy dynamics and economic diplomacy in all directions.

Sri Lanka faces its worst economic crisis since its independence from British colonial rule in 1948—with visuals of prolonged power cuts, high inflation, and lack of essential commodities. The 26-year long civil war that ended in 2009 had a major strain on Sri Lanka’s budget deficits and consequently, the global financial crisis of 2008 drained the country’s forex reserves hampering a large number of economic parameters crucial for the Lankan economy. Economic mismanagement by the successive Sri Lankan governments caused a twin deficit characterised by a budget shortfall along with current account deficits. Firstly, as an election promise, there were deep tax cuts enacted months before COVID-19 pandemic. This led to a sharp decrease in the number of registered taxpayers between 2019 and 2020. Secondly, the government banned all fertiliser imports in 2021. Since most of these products were imported, the country had to switch to organic farming overnight which decreased food production and food imports went up.

Economic mismanagement by the successive Sri Lankan governments caused a twin deficit characterised by a budget shortfall along with current account deficits.

The last two decades saw a series of loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2009, IMF extended a loan with the condition that budget deficits will be reduced to 5 percent of the GDP by 2011. With no improvement in growth or export, the country again went to the IMF in 2016 for another round of debt which stood at US $1.5 billion with some new clauses. The IMF package harmed the economy’s health, with a fall in growth rate from 5 percent in 2015 to 2.9 percent in 2019. During the same period, the government revenue also contracted from 14.1 percent to 12.6 percent of GDP.

There is no denying that IMF debts come with a set of conditions which are often quite restrictive for the debtor nations. Despite Sri Lanka’s severe Balance of Payment (BOP) crisis, the country has been adamant in not seeking assistance from the IMF given their previous track record of faltering economic recovery. The alternate strategy was to seek assistance from the global rivals in the neighbourhood—China and India.

China: No longer the saviour

The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly hurt the global economy in a multitude of ways, especially for smaller developing nations like Sri Lanka. In this context, it becomes particularly important for the regional economies to maintain a fine balance between their overall external debt and debt to China, especially for the BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) countries such as Sri Lanka. A few years back, the Chinese initiative drew much criticism when China Merchants Port Holding (CMPort) took over Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease when Colombo wasn’t able to pay back a funding capital debt of about US$ 1.12 billion to China.

Many global players see Sri Lanka as a victim to China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’—which is quite a valid argument. Although China accounts for about only 6 percent of Sri Lanka’s outstanding external debt, China’s liquidation techniques and hidden debts in various projects reflect the problematic outcomes of Beijing’s economic imperialism. The ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka had caused Colombo to request for a moratorium on debt repayments to the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister in February 2022—stirring up the issue of ‘problematic Chinese debts’ once again in the global economic arena. The island nation also sought a new loan of approximately US$ 2.5 billion in March 2022.

The Chinese initiative drew much criticism when China Merchants Port Holding (CMPort) took over Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease when Colombo wasn’t able to pay back a funding capital debt of about US$ 1.12 billion to China.

India: The new friend

In the last couple of years, Sri Lanka and India have been able to substantially strengthen their economic ties and remain amongst the largest trade partners for each other within the ambit of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). Some major highlights of India’s financial package to Sri Lanka include—US$ 400 million worth of SAARC currency swap; deferral of Asian Clearing Union Settlement of US$ 515.2 million by two months and US$ 500 million for fuel procurement in Sri Lanka. In a groundbreaking move, New Delhi also extended a Line of Credit worth US$ 1 billion to Colombo to aid the procurement of food, medicines, and other essential commodities.

Unfortunately, but quite expectedly, there is no lack of competitive tones to the aid provided by India versus China at the cost of the Sri Lankan crisis. In fact, there are actual concerns regarding Beijing’s pressure on Colombo for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during such trying times. Former Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed that India has extended ‘maximum’ support to Sri Lanka and added we will have to see the outcome of the support of India while New Delhi is still helping in non-financial ways”.

According to the Finance Ministry, about US$ 3 million worth of external assistance will be required over the next six months to restore supplies of essential goods and catalyse the recovery path for the economy.

Back to the IMF?

As thousands of Sri Lankans protest the current government for bringing this catastrophe to the nation, the big question that looms large is whether Colombo is inching closer towards engaging with the IMF once again? Experts speculate that the Sri Lankan President removed his brother and Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa as he was planning to visit the US to hold negotiations with the IMF—he was replaced by Ali Sabry, the former Justice Minister of Sri Lanka. On 12 April, the country declared that it was defaulting on its external debts to the tune of US$ 51 billion, pending an IMF bailout. According to the Finance Ministry, about US$ 3 million worth of external assistance will be required over the next six months to restore supplies of essential goods and catalyse the recovery path for the economy. The Minister intends to find this assistance through bridge financing, in the run up to the talks with the IMF which is scheduled later this month. The IMF too had started its ‘technical-level engagement’ with the Finance Ministry.

Given Sri Lanka’s situation, there is no way out of this crisis than seeking substantial support from the IMF, which may entail some conditions related to budgetary cuts and trade openness amongst others. The other options of seeking huge loans from individual nations will always be inclusive of an agenda suitable to the creditor nations. Although such IMF directives may seem valid at this stage of the economy—it is for time to tell whether Sri Lanka’s engagement with the IMF will only be an antidote in the short-run or will it provide guidelines for a sustainable and inclusive recovery in Sri Lanka.

Courtesy Outlook

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for months.

Sri Lanka has started a process to import cooking gas through a credit line arrangement with India, the chair of the country’s state-run gas company Litro Gas said on Friday as he resigned from his post alleging that a gas mafia was engaged in corruption amidst the country’s worst economic crisis.

Sri Lanka is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in history. With long lines for fuel, cooking gas, essentials in short supply and long hours of power cuts, the public has been suffering for months.

Theshara Jayasinghe, the Chairman and CEO of Litro Gas, the country’s largest importer and supplier of cooking gas, said in his resignation letter to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa: I had initiated a process through the Indian High Commission to obtain an Indian credit line to import gas. This could be easily implemented”.

Jayasinghe said he was resigning as he did not receive the fullest cooperation from the government and had come under pressure from what he called a gas mafia operating against him.

There is massive corruption in the gas business,” Jayasinghe said.

Cooking gas shortage is just one of the scarcities that the public had to face in the island nation’s worst economic crisis since independence.

People are forced to spend time in long queues for fuel while most essentials, including medicine, are in short supply.

Massive anti-government protests are being held throughout the country with a major demonstration happening outside the Rajapaksa secretariat in central Colombo.

The protest, which entered its seventh day on Friday, was bolstered by the appearance of celebrities.

We tell the President, please resign, you have proved a failure,” film director Udayakantha Warnasuriya said.

A policeman who joined protesters while still in uniform on Thursday was released on bail on Friday.

The sergeant blessed the protesters while on duty and said the corrupt system and those responsible for it must quit.

The protesters expressed anger over the latest decision to ration fuel at retail stations.

They must be sent home immediately, we cannot run hires with just 1,500 rupees worth of petrol,” an auto rickshaw driver Samantha told reporters.

With the economic crisis and the shortage of forex, an Indian credit line of USD 500 million for fuel imports provided a lifeline to the island nation.

India recently announced to extend a USD 1 billion line of credit to Sri Lanka as part of its financial assistance to the country to deal with the economic crisis following a previous USD 500 billion line of credit in February to help it purchase petroleum products.

President Rajapaksa has defended his government’s actions, saying the foreign exchange crisis was not his making and the economic downturn was largely pandemic driven with the island nation’s tourism revenue and inward remittances waning.

Meera Srinivasan Courtesy The Hindu

Ali Sabry  heading to U.S. for talks.

COLOMBO

Sri Lanka’s economic recovery will depend on reforms undertaken with the IMF’s support, but the government will not ignore the country’s poor, Finance Minister Ali Sabry said.

The recently appointed Minister spoke to The Hindu ahead of his departure to Washington DC, where he will lead the Sri Lankan delegation in negotiations with the International Monetary Fund. We have seen huge cuts to the country’s revenue and are trying to recover from the current economic crisis. Reforms are going to be crucial,” he said.

Mr. Sabry, who served as Justice Minister in the former Cabinet, stepped down with his Cabinet colleagues early in April, amid mounting pressure from citizens demanding that the President, Prime Minister and their relatives in office step down for mismanaging” the crisis. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa soon appointed him as Finance Minister in a new”, four-member cabinet. Mr. Sabry resigned again, but it was not accepted by the President.ALSO READ

New Year dawns at protest site for many Sri Lankans

With Sri Lanka deciding to default on its foreign debt totalling about $ 50 billion dollars, Colombo is counting on an IMF programme for improved chances of borrowing in the international market. Sri Lanka has received IMF support at least 16 times in the past.  

On what Sri Lanka would put forth to the international financial institution, expected to extend support based on tough conditions, Mr. Sabry said: We believe there is a need for a poverty alleviation programme. We definitely need a safety net for the poor. We cannot ignore the poor,” he said. According to a recent World Bank report on Sri Lanka, the pandemic years saw at least 5 lakh more people fall below the poverty line, owing to severe job and income losses.

It remains to be seen how the government, which was earlier reluctant to seek IMF assistance, might now reconcile the Fund’s likely conditionalities of fiscal discipline and prudent state spending, with growing public resentment.ALSO READ

Sri Lanka seeks India’s help for funds

That the government is feeling the heat was evident in Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s recent address to the nation, asking demonstrators to be patient”. Further, in the government’s first public acknowledgement that the President’s abrupt policy switch to organic farming had backfired, Mr. Mahinda said: No matter how honourable the notion of organic fertilizer is, it is not the time for it to be implemented. As such, we will be reinstating the fertilizer subsidy,” signalling a full policy reversal. It would also mean that Sri Lanka will have to set aside about $ 400 million annually for chemical fertilizer imports.

However, indicating that the government was prepared to take bold decisions at this time, Mr. Sabry said: We cannot think about party politics now when the country needs urgent attention. We must put our country’s future before everything else, even if that means taking political risks.”

‘India’s lifeline’

During his time in Washington DC next week, Mr. Sabry is also scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the sidelines of Spring meetings of the Fund, and the World Bank Group, beginning on April 18. He is also to discuss further possible assistance” from India, as Sri Lanka grapples with a grave economic downturn, leading to record inflation, severe food shortages and a massive uprising of angry citizens. India has extended $ 2.4 billion assistance this year, and Colombo has sought further help from New Delhi, including an additional $ 500 million credit line for fuel imports and assistance in securing bridge finance” to cope with the import bill this year.  

We will need about four billion dollars to manage our reserves through the rest of the year. We are hoping to get support from the IMF, World Bank, bilateral partners such as India and China. India has been extending a lifeline to us and I look forward to discussions with Ms. Sitharaman on further possible support from India, our regional leader,” Mr. Sabry said.

China recently said it is studying” a fresh request from Sri Lanka for $ 2.5 billion assistance, apart from the $ 2.8 billion assistance Beijing has extended since the outbreak of the pandemic. Asked about the status of the request, the Minister said negotiations were going on”.

Courtesy Adaderana

Theshara Jayasinghe has stepped down from his position as the chairman of Litro Gas Lanka Limited, the primary liquefied petroleum gas supplier in Sri Lanka.

Conveying the decision to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in his letter of resignation, Jayasinghe said he resigned with effect from 14 April (Thursday).

Jayasinghe says, since the day of his appointment on July 06, 2021, he had not received enough support from then-Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa.

He explained that he cannot solve the ongoing LP gas crisis by himself, noting that it needs the contribution of all economic experts in the country.

Jayasinghe added that steps have been taken to import LP gas from India under credit, in order to maintain the supplies in the market for a period of time. He went on to urge the President to intervene and ensure that it happens accordingly.

Courtesy Adaderana

SriLankan Airlines has clarified the speculations circulated on social media regarding SriLankan aircraft uplifting printed material to Entebbe International Airport in Uganda last year.

In a statement issued on 14 April, SriLankan Airlines said it received an air cargo order to transport approximately 102 tons of printed material from Colombo to Entebbe International Airport in Uganda in February 2021.

In April last year, a local news outlet had raised questions with regard to the cargo manifests in an attempt to confirm what exactly the printed material was.

According to the newspaper report, SriLankan Airlines was issued a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

However, citing its inability to disclose the confidential information related to a commercial transaction between the airline and the customer, no related information had been provided.

Over the past few days, social media platforms were abuzz in Sri Lanka regarding the issue, with posts alleging that the flights carried money belonging to some powerful individuals in the country.

SriLankan Airlines, in its clarification, noted that the consignment was purely commercial in nature and brought in much-needed foreign revenue to the airline and country at the time.

The national carrier went on to emphasize that this cargo order was undertaken only for commercial purposes.

Taking to its official Twitter account, SriLankan Airlines said the Ugandan government had ordered Ugandan currency notes from a global security printer who operates several factories worldwide, including one in Sri Lanka, exporting to global markets.

According to the national carrier, the SriLankan aircraft which were underutilised at this time during the pandemic were chartered by a UK based freight forwarder. What is now being misunderstood is the Airline Pilots Guild proud announcement of this achievement of using unutilised pax aircraft.”

Meanwhile, foreign media reports have shown an abnormal rise in Uganda’s foreign exchange reserves during the period when the said flights arrived.

According to a report, Uganda’s foreign exchange reserves rose to USD 4.4 billion in September 2021 from USD 1.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021.

However, some foreign media outlets reported that this may be due to Uganda having taken advantage of its IMF special drawing rights.

Courtesy Adaderana

The Ceylon Petroleum Corporation says dispensing fuel volumes for vehicles at filling stations is limited with effect from 1.00 p.m. today (April 15).

Thereby, filling stations are permitted to pump only fuel worth Rs. 1,000 for motorcycles at a single time.

For three-wheelers, the limit has been set at Rs. 1,500 worth of fuel.

Meanwhile, the maximum amount of fuel allowed to be dispensed to cars, vans and SUVs is worth Rs. 5,000. 

However, the restrictions are not applied to buses, lorries and other vehicles used for commercial purposes, the CPC added.

The corporation meanwhile noted that filling stations would dispense fuel to barrels and cans only for those who are engaged in agricultural, production or industrial activities.

Accordingly, those who wish to obtain fuel for barrels and cans for industrial purposes are required to seek permission from the relevant Divisional Secretariats. In order to obtain fuel for agricultural activities, permission should be sought from the Agrarian Services Department officers.

CPC chairman Sumith Wijesinghe said the decision was taken in an attempt to prevent a shortage of fuel and to curb fuel-related irregularities.

The corporation had previously announced that filling stations would not be dispensing fuel to cans and barrels from 12-14 April.

The CPC further stated that fuel distribution activities would continue as per usual from today (April 15).

Greece Case Study OXFAM CASE STUDY

Among EU nations, Greece has been hardest hit by the impact of the
financial crisis. Two years ago, in June 2011, The Economist evaluated
the EU‟s actions towards Greece and said that a new rule seemed to
have been adopted: „if a plan doesn‟t work, stick to it‟.1 Two years later
there is no sign of any change in direction, while the social and political
situation continues to worsen.
Context of the crisis in Greece
In Greece, the decade leading up to the crisis was characterized by a
lack of structural reform in taxation, public debt and public sector pay.
Greece had a poorly organized fiscal system, defective social services,
and political parties that failed to agree on how these should be
reformed.
In October 2011, it was revealed that 109,421 people who did not appear
in the census were, however, receiving state pensions from the main
social security fund. It was estimated that the total amount paid out to
these fake pensioners could have been as such as €1.5bn. In June 2011,
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared Greece‟s fiscal system a
shambles, noting that the problem arose from a lack of political will,
which exacerbated a lack of competitiveness and economic isolation.2
The lack of any increase in tax revenues, set against rising government
benefits and consumption, revealed severe shortcomings in the Greek
tax system. One of the primary deficiencies was the tax authority‟s failure
to collect taxes: tax evasion in Greece may have reached as high as 27.5
per cent of GDP in the period 1999 to 2007 – amounting to the largest
informal economy of any EU country.3 Former Finance Minister
Evangelos Venizelos complained in 2011 that only 25,000 Greeks
declared an annual income of more than €100,000 and barely 160,000
admitted to earning more than €50,000. Fraud control was clearly
lacking.4 Mr Venizelos said that changing the situation was both an
economic priority and a moral obligation. Self-employed workers

represented 37 per cent of the Greek workforce, compared to an average
of 15 per cent in the EU overall. Being self-employed was very appealing,
as the taxes paid by this group in Greece were about 15 per cent (the EU
average rate was nearer 25 per cent) and, with so few taxes being
collected, the freelance worker had greater opportunities for fraud.
Greece maintained a public debt of around 100 per cent of GDP during
the decade prior to the crisis, which is 20 to 30 per cent more than other
comparable countries.
An important area in which Greece failed to reform before the crisis was
public sector pay. From the early 1990s onwards, the gap between public
sector and private sector pay widened dramatically. By 2011, it was
estimated that public sector salaries were 130 per cent higher than those
of private employees, while the average difference across the Eurozone
was 30 per cent.
Salaries for workers in similar categories were much
higher in the public sector, creating a system of „insiders‟ and „outsiders‟.
This, together with the failure to collect taxes, partly accounts for the
increase in Greece‟s public debt.6 No governing party (neither the
Panhellenic Socialist Movement, PASOK, from 1993 to 2004, nor the
conservative New Democracy, ND, from 2004 to 2009) managed to carry
out the reforms needed to correct the situation before the crisis hit.
The rescue package and austerity measures
When the crisis struck, the PASOK government (re-elected in June 2009)
agreed to enact the economic plans imposed by the EU, the European
Central Bank and the IMF, laid out in their 2010 Memorandum.7
In return
this group, known as the Troika, provided loans which allowed Greece to
avoid defaulting on its debts and going bankrupt. The following are some
of the reforms demanded by the Troika:
• Cuts in public sector salaries: A freeze on public sector salaries
until 2014; the immediate cut of two of the 14 monthly salary
payments in the public sector for those employees with a salary above
€3,000 per month, and a reduction of the 13th and 14th payments for
those who earn less than €3,000 per month. A recent IMF report,
however, said that reform of the excessive number of public sector
positions has largely been pushed aside due to reluctance to lay-off
employees.8
• Pension reform: A reduction of up to 26.4 per cent in payments to
pensioners and a rise in the retirement age to 65 years for women and
men; a penalty of six per cent for early retirement.9
In September 2012
the retirement age was further raised to 67.10
• Tax: The government was supposed to introduce a new plan to
improve tax collection, reduce capital flight and fight tax evasion. The
IMF maintains that very little progress has been made on obvious tax
evasion11 and neither the rich nor the self-employed have yet to begin
paying their dues.12 Unfortunately, VAT – a far more regressive route
to raising tax revenue that tends to penalize low-income groups – was
raised 10 percentage points across all categories.
In April and May 2010, various tax system reforms were launched: bank
bonuses and financial services would henceforth be taxed up to 90 per
cent, and property taxes were tripled for foreigners with a summer
residence in the country.13 Cash payments of more than €1,500 were
prohibited, in order to limit fraud, and people who provided information on
tax cheats were rewarded with 10 per cent of the amount recovered by
the authorities. For the self-employed earning more than €40,000
annually, the tax rate went from five to 40 per cent. Any household with
an annual income above €100,000 would pay a new top-rate tax of 45
per cent, representing a five per cent increase. Only those whose income
was €25,000 annually or less would not be subject to a tax increase.14
Unfortunately, the tax control measures have not brought the anticipated
results. Finance Minister Giorgos Mavraganis was asked why the
government had only collected €14m of the €9.7bn owed by the biggest
tax debtors (the total accumulated amount lost through tax avoidance is
actually €52.3bn).15 He admitted that Greece had only collected that sum
(0.0014 per cent of the amount owed), but said that this was due to many
companies going out of business and people using false invoices to
deflect inspectors.16 El País reported on 24 May 2011 that capital flight
was intensifying, leaving Greece on the verge of bankruptcy. The
newspaper said that Greeks held €280bn in Swiss bank accounts, the
equivalent of 120 per cent of Greece‟s GDP.17
Against this backdrop was the constant pressure from Greece‟s huge
public debt. Already high, this saw a dramatic increase following the
Troika‟s rescue package, at twice the rate of comparable countries.
As a result of the economic problems faced by Ireland, European
governments and financial institutions tried to establish mechanisms that
would regulate country „rescue‟ deals. In the case of Greece, the decision
to approve the loans for the government had two essential features: 1) the
government had to accept direct responsibility for their repayment; and 2)
the money lent became part of the public debt. The constant increase in
Greek public debt due to the rescue package has meant that in
subsequent „rescues‟ the loan was granted to the banks (as bank loans) in
order to avoid indiscriminate increases in the level of public debt.
Greece is unlikely to maintain this debt within the limits set down by the
EU‟s Stability and Growth Pact (which originally said that all countries in
the Eurozone should aim to keep their annual budget deficit below 3 per
cent of GDP and keep total public debt below 60 per cent of GDP),
especially given that servicing the debt accounted for 13.9 per cent of
Greek public spending in 2011.

Impact of the rescue package and austerity measures
Electoral repercussions
The economic crisis has changed the terms of the Greek political system,
from left-wing and right-wing political parties to „pro‟ and „anti‟ the 2010
Memorandum and austerity measures that followed. Surprisingly, the
conservative ND party was opposed to it, while the governing PASOK
party was in favour. In May 2012, ND won a general election, after the
public showed their utter rejection of the Troika‟s austerity package. This
election marked an end to the traditional two-party system.
More unemployment
In 2010, household disposable income18 in Greece decreased by 12.3
per cent compared to 2009.19 This was primarily due to rising
unemployment, rather than falling salaries.20 Unemployment has
continued to rise steadily throughout 2013. Eurostat indicates that the
greatest rise in unemployment in the EU, between January 2012 and
January 2013, was in Greece, from 21.5 per cent to 27.2 per cent.21
Figure 1: The unemployment rate in Greece and in the EU (2000–2012)
Source: Oxfam, based on Eurostat data22

Poverty and inequality
Figure 2 shows how the parallel progression of Greece‟s per capita gross
national income (GNI) diverged from that of the OECD average around
the time the first rescue deal was approved in 2010.

European Union (27 countries) Greece

Figure 2: Evolution of per capita GNI in Greece and the OECD
country average (in constant $)
Source: OECD, www.oecd.org
In 2011, Greece had the highest rate of those at risk of poverty or social
exclusion in the Eurozone (31 per cent compared to an average of 24.2
per cent across the EU as a whole). This had been slowly decreasing,
but has now risen back to 2004 levels. In 2011 alone, this increased by
3.3 per cent, meaning that 372,000 more people were at risk of poverty
or social exclusion.
More than one in three Greeks fell below the poverty line in 2012 (once
figures are adjusted for inflation and using 2009 as the limit for setting the
poverty line). The middle class has shrunk and is closer to the poverty
line, while the poor are getting poorer and inequality is increasing.
Greece continues to be the only Eurozone country with no basic social
assistance system that provides a safety net of last resort.23
The suicide rate in Greece has increased 26.5 per cent from 377 in 2010
to 477 in 2011, and has increased by 104.4 per cent in the case of
women.24
Between 2001 and 2008 the number of people aged between 18 and 60
living in households with no income remained fairly constant, falling
slightly from 9.4 to 7.5 per cent. That has reversed since the beginning of
the crisis, and particularly since the introduction of the rescue package
measures, with the number of people living in households with no income
rising to over one million in 2012, equal to 17.5 per cent of the
population.25

Figure 3: Percentage of the population living in jobless households
(except households of students between 18 and 24 years old who
do not work)26
After six consecutive years of recession and four of austerity, Greek
society is becoming increasingly fragmented. The homeless population is
thought to have grown by 25 per cent since 2009, now numbering 20,000
people.27
Scant social resources and rising extremism
The public health system is increasingly less accessible, especially for
poor and marginalized groups. Close to one in three Greeks have no
public medical insurance, most often due to long-term unemployment.28
The increase in poverty and unemployment and the weakening of social
services have been accompanied by an increase in the crime rate.29
Far-right parties Golden Dawn and AnEl each achieved seven per cent of
votes in the 2012 election. Their successes can be attributed to the
country‟s grave economic situation and a drop in confidence in traditional
parties. The main strength of Golden Dawn, which blames the crisis on
non-Greeks, derives from the role it plays in some Athens
neighbourhoods with a particularly high percentage of immigrants.30
There, it has become very visible, offering to step in where the state has
failed to do so. In apparent acts of collusion with local police, Golden
Dawn has provided personal safety services for hungry pensioners who
feel too frightened to go outside.31 It offers food distribution for Greeks
only, and military-style groups savagely attacked immigrants and those
Greeks who stand up to them.32 Such groups have dedicated themselves
to hunting down immigrants who live on the street with no resources.
Human Rights Watch reports that there is a burgeoning crisis of
xenophobic violence towards immigrants and political refugees in Athens
and across the country.33 Extreme right-wing fanatics have stormed
through neighbourhoods with immigrant populations. One incident in
2011 left at least 25 people hospitalized with wounds from knifings and
serious beatings.

Conclusion
The situation in Greece today is very volatile. Austerity measures have
left a large part of the population in dire straits. Cuts in public
expenditure, coupled with constantly rising unemployment, have left
many people either destitute or close to it.
With a third of the population on the threshold of poverty and 17.5 per
cent living in households with no income, family networks can no longer
be relied on to support the needy. A fair tax system capable of combating
tax evasion is essential in order to once again fund the social protection
networks that have been incrementally dismantled during the crisis, as
part of the Troika‟s rescue deals.
But this will require decisive political action and, as Greece witnesses a
collapse of its political system, that does not appear to be a likely
prospect. The political vacuum has led, in turn, to a feeling of public
insecurity, fed in part by a rise in racism and xenophobia. If institutions, in
particular the government and the parliament, do not succeed in
regaining public trust it will be even harder to emerge from the financial
crisis. For that to happen, economic policy must put people‟s needs first.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

India did not stop there. India was determined to get a good hold on Sri Lanka . India  used the Tamil Separatist Movement for this.

A process of negotiations was begun between the Governments of India and Sri Lanka with India playing the role of an interlocutor bringing the Tamil parties and the Government of Sri Lanka to the negotiating table, in order to solve the ongoing insurgency by Tamil militants and the ethnic problem in the island through Constitutional proposals.

The outcomes of these negotiations were the Indo-Sri Lanka Peace Accord in July 1987, and the drawing up of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the Provincial Councils Act No 42 of November 1987.

Secret talks started on signing an accord between the two countries, with the participation of ambassador  Dixit, N. Ram Editor, Hindu”, and Minister Gamini Dissanayake. The Indian Research and Analysis Wing, RAW was drawing up the necessary plans..

Indian High Commission’s Second Secretary H.S. Puri left for Jaffna and met LTTE Chief V. Prabhakaran and other Tamil militant leaders. High Commissioner Dixit went to Madras and met leaders of Sri Lankan Tamil organizations. TULF Leaders insisted on merging the Northern and Eastern Provinces and setting up a separate Provincial Council to administer the region. Dixit conveyed their proposals to Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in New Delhi.

Two Indian military helicopters landed in Jaffna from Madurai on July 24, 1987  and took Prabhakaran to  Madras and then Delhi to meet PM Rajiv Gandhi. The purpose was  to get Prabhakaran to agree to an Indo-Lanka Accord to which TULF and other Tamil organizations had already agreed. The talks were held at Ashok Hotel, Delhi, where Gandhi promised give more powers to the LTTE in an interim administration. Rajiv Gandhi also agreed to pay LTTE Indian Rupees five million monthly until the new administration started functioning properly reported Dharman Wickremaratne.

In  July,1987  we were informed that the Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi was to arrive in Sri Lanka to sign an agreement with us, recalled  Air Vice Marshal A.B.Sosa. That night I dropped in at  Katunayake International Airport. It was all agog with Indian Air Force aircraft. It looked as though  India had taken over the airport.

 Prime Minister  Rajiv Gandhi and wife Sonia Gandhi arrived in Sri Lanka on July 29, 1987 From Katunayake they travelled by helicopter to Galle Face. The Indo Lanka  Accord was signed on July 29, 1987 at 3.37 p.m  Thereafter, unofficial talks were begun between President Jayewardene and the Indian PM. Three discussions were held till midnight and the final talks were held on the morning of July 30^th. Even before the Indian PM‘s departure, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)  had established themselves in the north east of  Sri Lanka by the afternoon of July 29^th.

Trouble was expected in Colombo, when Rajiv came to sign. Posters, slogans and black flags appeared in Colombo and many other main cities expressing strong opposition to the UNP Government, the Indo-Lanka Accord and Tamil separatism.  A massive protest march was coming from Kolonnawa heading to President House and to deal with them was the General Service corp. that   dealt with pay and records and ran the army farms, recalled Kamal Gunaratne.

An anti-accord protest campaign  began near the Bo-Tree junction Pettah at 8.00 a.m. July 28, 1987 . JVP Politburo Members H.B. Herath and Gunaratne Wanasinghe, Central Committee Members Gamini Wijegunasekera, Thangaraja and hundreds of other high level JVP activists were taking active part.

Venerable Hedigalle Pannatissa, Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha, Ven. Muruttetuwe Ananda, Ven. Dr. Wilegoda Ariyadewa, MPs Dinesh Gunawardena and Prins Gunasekera were representing the Mawbima Surekeemay Vyaparaya at the protest rally. Also participating were SLFP Leader Sirima Bandaranaike, Jinadasa Niyathapala, Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka, Gamini Iriyagolla and Anura Bandaranaike and many other SLFP Parliamentarians. The unseen hand behind the country-wide protest campaign was the JVP .All activities were organized by the Inter-University Students’ Federation and the Bhikkhu Front, said Dharman Wickremaratne.

By 11.30 a.m.  all roads in and around Fort area were blocked since nearly 20,000 people had gathered near the Bo-Tree junction. Seth pirith chanting was heard. Ten processions, each comprising over a thousand people marched in four different directions. The protestors set fire to buses and other state property.

People panicked when the police baton charged after tear gassing the crowd. There was repeated gunfire. A total of 21 persons died   there.

The UNP Government declared an island-wide curfew on the night of July 28, 1987, Defying the curfew hundreds and thousands of people were demonstrating against the accord. The violence which started near the Bo-tree junction quickly spread all over the island. According to official Government estimates 132 protesters were killed and 712 persons including 56 bhikkus were taken into custody during five days from July 27 to August 2. The number of violent incidents was 2,527.

The US and UK were behind the indo Lanka accord, though it was presented as an India thing, stated Nalin  de Silva. At the time, it was thought that this was forced on Sri Lanka by India, thanks to JR’s poor diplomacy. It is now found that this was the work of the USA, not India. USA was behind the India-Sri Lanka accord of 1987, agreed analysts. 

Izzeth Hussain had told WT Jayasinghe,   Permanent Secretary, Foreign affairs, that almost certainly a third party was involved in the Indo-Lanka accord. Jayasinghe, who was present at the signing, ‘told me later that I was correct.’

Hussain recalls that US Ambassador James Spain had sought a meeting with  Sri Lanka ‘s Foreign Minister, on the day of the Indian parippu air drop over Jaffna in 1987. Ambassador Spain said he had to convey an urgent message from his government. India was going to suggest something and Sri Lanka should not over react, Spain said. That ‘something’ was the Accord.

Just after the signing of the  Indo-Lanka Accord, Ambassador Spain handed over an envelope to Rajeev Gandhi, obviously a congratulatory and goodwill message from Reagan. Clearly the contents of the agreement were already known to the US government, said Hussain.  In addition, visiting US senator Charles H.  Percy had carried a letter from US President Reagan to President Jayawardene offering to be of any assistance in conveying a message from J.R. to Rajiv Gandhi.

The  full text of the    Indo Lanka Accord was  known only after it was signed.   It is not popularly known that India wanted the Provincial Council and the devolution proposals  only for North East ,  as  an easy means of creating Eelam. The Jayewardene government extended the Provincial Council system to all the provinces of the country  said Nirmala Chandrahasan.

1987 Indo-Ceylon agreement had three  letters attached to the Accord. They said, firstly  that Sri Lanka  must agree that Trincomalee  or any other port in Sri Lanka will not be made available to any other country for  use against India.  Secondly, the Trincomalee oil farms    operation will be done as a joint venture between Sri Lanka and India. Thirdly foreign broadcasting facilities will not be used for intelligence or military purpose. JR  had sent a reply agreeing to this.

Before Rajiv Gandhi’s departure a Naval Guard of Honor was held opposite the President’s House, Fort.  JR’s son, Ravi had instructed  that the firing pins and  gun powder be removed from the  guns in the Guard of Honor. Ravi had  also told JR not to accompany Rajiv at the Guard of honor.

As the Indian PM was inspecting the Guard of Honor one its members Leading Rate Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana attacked Rajiv Gandhi with his rifle butt. Rajiv Gandhi ducked to avoid the blow .it struck his shoulder but with no serious injuries. As scheduled ,Rajiv Gandhi left for Delhi from Katunayake on the same day at 11.30 a.m.

Wijemuni Vijitha Rohana, born in Boossa, Ratgama, was 22-years-old at the time. He told the Court-Martial that he had no intention of killing the Indian PM but only did so to disgrace him internationally for intimidating Sri Lanka and using force on the country to impose the Accord. Attorneys including Stanley Tillekeratne, Donald Hewagama, and Susil Premajayantha appeared voluntarily for Wijemuni who was sentenced to six years rigorous imprisonment by the Court- Martial for attempted culpable homicide not amounting to murder. He was pardoned and released on April 3, 1990. ( continued)

KAMALIKA PIERIS

JR shot to fame when he spoke at San Francisco Peace Conference in September 1951, where he asked that Japan be forgiven after World War II and reparations forgotten

Prime Minister D.S. Senanayake had been invited to participate at the San Francisco Peace Treaty Conference in September 1951, held to propose punitive provisions and the enforcement of arbitrary restrictions and embargoes for Japan. D.S. was unable to attend and sent Finance Minister JR instead. Prior to his departure, Jayewardene had a discussion with the Prime Minister who strongly advocated the idea of supporting Japan.

JR’s speech is still remembered by Japan. JR’s speech was composed after much consultations and meetings with Asian countries, said Sri Lanka’s ambassador to Japan, Sanjiv Gunawardene speaking in Tokyo at the 70^th anniversary of the speech. The case for Japan was first considered at the Colombo Plan Conference”.

This San Francisco speech was JR’s sole positive achievement in foreign relations. Later on, when JR became Head of state, the story changed. JR openly leaned towards USA, angered India and made a spectacle of Sri Lanka in the UN.

JR discarded Sri Lanka‘s policy of neutrality and Non-alignment and tilted towards the west. .Our Non alignment policy, followed from 1956, was dropped by JR in favor of the west observed K.  Godage. JR had the naïve colonial mindset that led people of his era to believe that an exploitative colonizer or ex-colonizer was a benefactor. JR was anti-communist as well as pro-west.

 JR had told Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that the 1947 agreement regarding the military bases was still there, it had not been formally abrogated. There was an agreement with Radio Deutschewelle in JR’s time. My recall is that JR wanted Sri Lanka to join ASEAN. He said that Sri Lanka was a part of South East Asia. ASEAN was an anti-Russia combine of South East Asian states.

JR was always a staunch supporter of USA and was known as ‘Yankee Dickie’.  In 1953, he

 opposed the    Rubber Rice Pact with China, which USA did not like.  As President of Sri Lanka, JR had agreed to US strengthening its VOA station in Chilaw, offered the Trincomalee Oil tank farm to the Coastal Corporation of Texas, USA and permitted the entry of US naval ships to Trincomalee.

Wijesoma   drew a cartoon for Island, which portrayed JR Jayewardene with a dollar sign in his pocket. His intention was to show that JR was pro-American. But it was interpreted as a bribe and a Letter of Demand was sent to him.

With JR in power, the USA for the first time had a powerful supporter in Sri Lanka .USA welcomed this and invited JR to USA. JR was invited to the White House by President Ronald Reagan in 1984.  In his White House speech Reagan said that the J.R. government’s decision to follow a neo-liberal program was a blessing.  JR replied that in USA, he feels that he is among friends. The speeches, of President Reagan and President J.R. Jayewardene on June 18, 1984 could be found on YouTube https://youtu.be/5OHGpO_1j8o

In 1986, USA wanted to install new transmitters at its Voice of America base In Chilaw, to beam shortwave radio programs to India, USSR, East Africa and China. The plan was to add six transmitters with a total output of 2,500 kilowatts. This was necessary to improve the quality of the broadcast, so that US could compete with powerful broadcasts from Tashkent in the USSR.

The Soviets’ broadcast capability is far stronger than ours,” said USA. Radio Moscow utilizes 37 powerful, state-of-the-art 500-kilowatt transmitters. We have paired six aging 250-kilowatt transmitters together to try to match that broadcasting strength.” If the planned transmitter is completed,-construction is expected to take four years, it will make the Voice of America signal in this region 25 times stronger than it is now.

Ground preparation and design work was   already under way at the Chilaw site. Charles  Wick, Director of the U.S. Information Agency, had come  in and participated in the official ground-breaking ceremony. Then Sri Lanka wanted to change the site from Chilaw to Puttalam,  because about 200 squatters living on the Chilaw land would have to be relocated.

Sirimavo Bandaranaike  had created a fine image for Sri Lanka ,internationally. .Sri Lanka was the head of the Non-aligned movement in her time. Sirimavo had hosted a  very successful Non –Aligned summit meeting in Colombo and  Sri Lanka  was well respected in the UN. Sri Lanka’s opinion  was sought   when anything relevant  came up in the UN.  

‘They would ask us for our opinion  but  after JR came , that vanished. After JR we  had started voting in all directions at the UN,  such as supporting UK in the Falklands war,’  said  diplomats who had worked in the  UN.

JR  it appears took no notice of the UN.  JR  never  addressed the UN assembly. He did not even call on the Secretary General  though  he visited New York on his 1984 visit to USA.

Thalif Deen recalled  that,  President Jayewardene’s brother, HW had phoned JR from Geneva, where HW was attending the United Nations Commission on Human Rights session and was trying to oppose a resolution against Sri Lanka. The telephone rang at Braemar’, the Ward Place residence of the President seeking instructions. Towards the tail-end of the conversation those in the hotel room in Geneva heard  HW saying Yes, Dicky, Yes, Dicky, No, Dicky, we can’t do that, Dicky”. Asked what President Jayewardene’s instructions were, they were told the President wants us to leave the UN”.( date not provided).

JR must be remembered as the first, and so  far only, Sri Lanka Head of state  to   thoroughly bungle relations with India.  Sirimavo had  built on the good relations SWRD had with Nehru. Sirimavo , in her turn, had   very good relations with Indira Gandhi . JR messed this up. He angered Indira Gandhi by comparing Indira  and her son Sanjeev to  a cow and calf. India  also strongly objected to the expansion of the  VOA station, saying that it might be used as a covert listening post.

India promptly retaliated. India took the side of the  Tamil Separatist Movement .They got the Tamil militants down and trained them in India. Then in 1987, there was the parippu drop in Jaffna. Demonstrations were held opposite the Indian High Commission and the High Commissioner’s official residence to protest against India’s violation of Sri Lankan airspace India did not care.

Sri Lanka  government was scared that India would invade Sri Lanka . JR found that he  had no soft contact to Rajiv Gandhi or his new officials.. Arun Singh was Rajiv’s principal advisor. Lalith de Mel,  who was at one time, head of Reckitt and Colman in Sri Lanka , knew Arun Singh as both had worked in Reckitt and Colman.

 Lalith Athulathmudali asked Lalith de Mel to go to India and speak to Arun Singh. Lalith de Mel was briefed by Athulathmudali and  JR.  Lalith de Mel went to India and met Arun privately. Arun had probed the Sri Lanka government’s attitude and said he would settle the matter.   The threat of invasion  ended. ( Lalith, the first Sri Lankan…”  by Lalith de Mel p 57-60.)  (continued)

ජයන්ත හේරත්

ලෝක බංකොලොත් ලිස්ට් එකට

ලංකාවත්

එකතු විය හැක.

සමහරු  බයය

හැම දේටම බයය.

ලිස්ට්‍  එකේ

ඇමරිකාව

එංග ලන්තය

සාමාජිකයින් උනේ

බොහෝ කලකට පෙරය.

ලිස්ට් එකේ

සාමාජිකයෙක් වීම

නම කැත වීමක් නොවේය.

ග්‍රීසියත්

සාමාජිකය.

bankrupt සංගමේ

සාමාජිකයෝ

ඔක්කොම

එලොව ගිහින්

මෙලොව ආවෝය.

අවුරුදු

කීපයකින්

බංකොලොත් භාවයෙන් මිදුනේය.

අලුත් තත්වයට

හැඩ ගැසීම අමාරු නැත.

අවශ්‍ය වන්නේ

හිතන හැටි වෙනස් කිරීමය.

අපේ

ඔලුව

ටිකක් හදා ගන්නට සිදු වනවා ඇත.

පාරේ තොටේදී

Are you Indian? කියා කවුරු හෝ ඇසුවොත්

No Sri Lankan කියා

අභිමානයෙන් කියන්න ටිකක්

අමාරු වෙනවා ඇත.

නන්දා ට

අලුත් සින්දු

ටිකක් කියන්න වෙන්නේය.

සුනිල් ටත් ලියන්න වෙන්නේය.

ඒවා එච්චර ප්‍රස්න නෙවේය.

අපේ අලුත්

පරම්පරාවට ගෙදරට වී

AC දා ගෙන

නිකම් කා බී

ව්‍යායාම විතරක් කර කර

ඉන්න වෙන්නේ නැත.

ගමට ගොස්

කුඹුරක් කොටා ගෙන

මයියොක්ක බතල

එළවලු වවා ගෙන කන හැටි

ඉගෙන ගන්න

වෙන්නේය.

දිය කඩිත්තකින්

හෝ

මුහුදෙන් මාලුවෙක්

අල්ලා ගෙන කන හැටි 

ඉගෙන ගන්න

වෙන්නේය.

ගෙදර කුකුලෙක්

හදා ගෙන

බිත්තර ගෙඩියක්

දාන කන් බලා ගෙන

ඉන්න වෙන්නේය.

කුකුල් මාළු

කන්න

කුකුලා බිත්තර දාලා ඉවර වෙන තෙක්

බලා ගෙන

ඉන්න වෙන්නේය.

කිරි පිටි

වෙනුවට ගෙදර

එලදෙනෙක් හදා ගෙන

දියර කිරි බොන්න

සිදු වන්නේය.

ඌරු මස්

කන්න

ඌරෙක්

හදා ගන්න වෙන්නේය.

ඇමරිකාව

ඇලස්කාව

රුසියාවෙන් ගත්තේ 

ඩොලර් මිලියන් එකටය.

ඉඩම්

විකුනන්න

වෙනවා ඇත.

ගරු නම්බු

ඇතුව

සිටීමට නම්

බලා ගෙන

හැසිරිය යුතුය.

අපේ

තරුණ පුහුණු ශ්‍රම බලකාය

වැඩි දයුණු කල යුතුය

විශ්ව විද්‍යාල

වැඩ වර්ජකයින් බිහි කරන මද්‍යස්ථාන  නොව

වැඩි ආදායම් ලබන

පුහුණු ශ්‍රමිකයින් බිහි කල යුතුය.

70-75 කාලේ මෙන්

ලංකාවේ වගාව

සහ

කර්මාන්ත

වැඩි කර

පිටරටින් ගෙන්වන දේ

අඩු කර

ගත යුතුය.

එවිට

යාපනේ ලුණු අල මිරිස් ගොවියන්ගෙ

අතමිටත්

සරු වනු ඇත.

70-75 ලංකා පාලක ලොක්කන් සහ උන්ගේ හෙන්චය්යන්

එකල

නොකළ දේත් 

දැන් සිටිනා සහ ඉදිරියට එන 

ලංකා පාලක ලොක්කන් සහ උන්ගේ හෙන්චය්යන්

කල යුතුය.

එනම්

හුදී ජනයා කන කෑමත් බීමත්

එලෙසම කා බී,

හුදී ජනයා සමග

සියලු පෝලිම්වල සිට,

හුදී ජනයා සමගම

මහජන ප්රවාහන ගමනේ

හෝ

පයින්

වැඩට යාම් ඊම්

සහ

දේශීය හොලිඩේස්

යා යුතුය.

අධි වේගී ධාවන මාර්ග වලට

dollar

yuan

යෙන්

Riyad

Rubal

Marc

Franc

වලින් ගෙවන්න වෙනවා ඇත.

කැමරාවට නොවේය,

බොක්කෙන්ම කල යුතුය.

බය නම්

හමුදාව ආරක්ෂාවට

ලගින් තබා ගත්තට

කාරී නැත.

එවිට

ගෝල්-face 

රොක් කානිවල් අරගල

සංවිධානය කරණ

V 8 වාහනත් අන්තරස්ධාන වී

ඉන්ධනත් පිරිමහ ගත් කල

රට උඩු ගං බලා ඇදෙනු ඇත.

නය බර අඩු කර ගත හැක.

කන්ද පාමුල

සිටින විට

හොඳම දේ

කන්ද

නැගීමය.

ඉන්පසු

ලංකාව

ආදර්ශමත්

රටක්  ලෙස

ඉදිරියට ඇදෙනු ඇත.

බංකොලොත් බව ආශීර්වාදයක් බවට පත් වනු ඇත.

අග්‍රාමාත්‍ය මාධ්‍යඅංශය

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse declares that he is ready to negotiate with the protestors who picket at the Gall Face Greens on Socio-economic and political issues in the country.

 Accordingly, important thoughts held by the protestors will be discussed in detail for the sake of overcoming the challenge faced by the country at the moment.

Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse further mentions that he invites the representatives of the groups who picket if they are ready to negotiate. 

උපුටා ගැන්ම ලංකා සී නිව්ස්

ගාලු මුවදොර විරෝධතාකරුවන්ට සහාය දක්වමින් කටයුතු කළ පොලිස් නිලධාරියා සම්බන්ධයෙන් විනය ක‍්‍රියාමාර්ග ගන්නා බව පොලිසිය සඳහන් කරයි.

පොලිස් මාධ්‍ය ප්‍රකාශක කාර්යාලය නිවේදනයක් නිකුත් කරමින් සඳහන් කරන්නේ මීට පෙරද මෙම නිලධාරියා විනය විරෝධී කාරණා මත සේවය අත්හිටුවනු ලැබූවකු බවයි.

අතිශය මානුකම්පිත හේතු මත නැවත රාජකාරි පිහිටුවා ඇති බවද එම නිවේදනයේ සඳහන් වේ.

අදාළ නිවේදනය මෙසේය.

Courtesy EasternEye

Protesters, gathered at the entrance of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s office, eat while sitting along a road, in Colombo on April 14, 2022, during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Severe shortages of food and fuel, alongside lengthy electricity blackouts, have led to weeks of widespread anti-government demonstrations. (Photo by ISHARA S. KODIKARA/AFP via Getty Images)

By: Chandrashekar Bhat

S&P GLOBAL RATINGS said Wednesday (13) it could take months for Sri Lanka to restructure its foreign debt, a day after the country announced it would default on the $51 billion (£38.87 bn) it has borrowed.

It said it would likely assign Sri Lanka a selective default” foreign currency rating after getting confirmation it misses the payment on interest coupons due on April 18.

S&P said it expected Sri Lanka would miss these payments and in the meantime, it lowered Sri Lanka’s foreign currency sovereign rating to CC”, which means highly vulnerable to default.

Sri Lanka announced Tuesday (12) a default on its foreign debt as the island nation grapples with its worst economic crisis in memory and escalating protests demanding the government’s resignation.

Acute food and fuel shortages, as well as long daily electricity blackouts, have brought widespread suffering to the country’s 22 million people in its most painful downturn since independence in 1948.

The government has struggled to service foreign loans and Tuesday’s decision comes ahead of negotiations for an International Monetary Fund bailout aimed at preventing a more catastrophic hard default that would see Sri Lanka completely repudiate its debts.

S&P said Sri Lanka was unlikely to be able to carry out a quick debt restructuring.

Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring process is likely to be complicated and may take months to complete,” the ratings agency said.

Negotiations with the IMF to establish a reform and funding programme are in the early stages,” it added.

Courtesy Adaderana

EXCLUSIVE: Sri Lanka’s new finance minister, Ali Sabry, says the country plans to start talks with the IMF on April 18 to secure as much as $4 billion in aid for the economy.

He also signaled optimism in getting financial support from China and India https://t.co/oUksMp7ea6 pic.twitter.com/uIzYwe2aEK— Bloomberg (@business) April 14, 2022

Sri Lanka needs between $3 billion to $4 billion this year to pull itself out of an unprecedented economic crisis and plans to start talks with the International Monetary Fund for help, Finance Minister Ali Sabry said.

The nation is looking at making a decent case” before the IMF to help preserve the economy, he said in an interview to Bloomberg Television’s Yvonne Man and David Ingles. Sabry said talks are scheduled to begin in Washington on April 18 and he expects emergency relief funds a week later, if things go well.

Our appeal to them is to release it as soon as possible,” Sabry said, adding that the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government still enjoys majority in Parliament and hence the rightful authority to engage with the lender. Sabry indicated some funds the nation is seeking will come from other lenders and governments besides the IMF, but didn’t provide a breakdown. 

Sabry, along with newly appointed central bank Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe, is a key member of Rajapaksa’s team for bailout talks with the IMF. The funds are crucial to the success of a debt restructuring process initiated by the island nation this week after suspending some outstanding loan and interest payments.

Sabry also sought to reassure investors of the nation’s intent to repay loans.

What we have very categorically stated, across the board, is that we will honor our debt,” he said. The commitment is there, the desire is there, but we don’t immediately have the funds to disburse.”

The IMF’s involvement should help negotiations with bond holders, Citigroup Global Markets analysts Donato Guarino and Johanna Chua wrote in a note to clients. They see Sri Lanka asking investors to take a haircut of 50% on interest payments, and 20% on the principal, with an exit yield of 11%.

Sri Lanka is looking at bridge financing options, and is confident it can secure aid from countries including China and India, Sabry said. That effort would be accompanied by fiscal reforms to curtail expenditure and boost revenues, he said.

Citizens exasperated by double-digit inflation amid a shortage of everything from fuel to food and power cuts of as long as 13 hours have taken to the streets, seeking President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster as well as that of his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa.

President Rajapaksa used a customary greeting to the nation ahead of the local new year festival being observed Thursday to appeal for unity and better understanding” as protests in front of his secretariat at the central business district entered the sixth day. 

The government is taking measures to secure the normal life of the people from the current complex situation by properly understanding these challenges,” Rajapaksa had said.

Source: Bloomberg

By Raj Gonsalkorale

While negotiating the IMF package of assistance, the Sri Lanka government could consider a summit with Japan, South Korea, China, India, the EU, UK, USA and the Middle Eastern Arab States for a relief package. Such a package could potentially be up to USD 10 Billion if handled at the highest levels and could include barter arrangements with these countries for some export products.

Demands being made for President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resign are many and vociferous. Those who are making these demands should however consider some factors. Firstly, the constitutional position. As far as the writer is aware, should the President resign, the Prime Minister acts for the President for a period of three months within which time the Parliament elects the next President to serve out the resigned Presidents term till the next Presidential election. It is unclear whether the current Prime Minister, who has held the office of President twice could act in this position as per the Constitution which limits the term of the President to two terms. If he is barred constitutionally from acting as the President, then the Speaker of Parliament acts as President until the Parliament elects the next President. This constitutional position has to be checked by legal experts. In any event, whoever acts as President will do so until Parliament elects the next President.

Secondly, one then needs to consider possible contenders. Maithripala Sirisena and Sajit Premadasa would most likely be the front runners. Those demanding President Rajapaksa to resign should consider whether one or the other is acceptable to them to be the next President. It is unlikely that either of them will have a majority in Parliament to get elected and therefore they will have to garner that majority by seeking support from others. This article doesn’t intend doing any in depth analysis of the pros and cons of these two possible contenders. Their history and competence levels are surely known. One factor that defines Sirisena is that he has been a believer of the adage that your enemy is my enemy, therefore we are friends”. His teaming up with Ranil Wickremasinghe in 2015 by ditching Mahinda Rajapaksa, and then ditching Wickremasinghe to   join Rajapaksa again in 2019, and now ditching them again seems to illustrate his character. Sajit Premadasa is an unknown quantity when it comes to holding high office although he was a senior minister in the Wickremasinghe government of 2015-2019.

At the very outset it needs to be stated and made clear to readers that the phenomenon of spontaneous peoples’ protests has been unprecedented and very welcome. It is an evolution of the country’s democracy. People participation in governance has to continue if one is to arrest corruption, inefficiencies and waste. It needed to start the process to weed out undesirables from entering Parliament. Democracy is not only about casting a vote every so many years but influencing decision making based on policies and promises, and the character of individuals.

In the current political impasse, it is worth examining the ongoing purpose and role of these spontaneous protests and perhaps what they should consider as priorities towards achieving what could be done to give a new lease of life for an economy that has almost died. The protestors have achieved a couple of key results. They have got a cabinet to resign. They have clipped the wings of unabated power exercised by Presidents and Prime Ministers of the country. They have given a firm thumbs down to family and dynasty politics. They have raised accountability to the top of governance priorities. They have brought people closer to chartering the outcomes needed from those in power on their behalf.

It is unlikely Sri Lanka will be the same hereafter. These are significant democratic achievements over a very short period of time.

The protestors however need to consider some crucial factors now. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has finally reached out to the IMF seeking their support for debt restructuring, and support for debt relief. He has appointed a panel of high-quality advisers to assist in negotiations on behalf of the government. The measures that the Sri Lankan government will have to take to get IMF support will be stringent and even harsh. Implementing these measures could lead to even greater dissatisfaction.

This situation will not be different should another political combine takes over the Presidency and the government. The situation is going to be worse before it gets better as the new Central Bank Governor himself has stated.  One can foresee placards currently being held by protestors saying Gota Go Home” changing to IMF Go Home” as a consequence. Besides the spontaneous people’s protests, the politically organized opportunistic protests will also raise their tempo and they could even end up in violence.

In this climate, political stability is crucially needed to revive the economy and measures to be taken to prevent a recurrence of a situation being experienced now. When a patient is dying or gasping for breath, there is no point in asking questions that has no link to the condition of the patient. The patient has to be rushed to hospital and ICU care.

Sri Lanka is presently that patient. The need is to rush the patient to the ICU. For the Sri Lankan economy, the ICU is the IMF.

How this patient came to this situation has to be found out, but not now. Once the patient shows signs of recovery, it would be very opportune to enquire how the health of the patient deteriorated and what and who were responsible.  Now is not the time to do it.

In addition to the IMF, specialist physicians are also needed to treat the patient who is sick economically, and the equivalent of specialists would be countries like India, China, Japan, South Korea, Middle Eastern countries, the EU, USA etc. who could and should be canvassed for immediate bridging finance to meet foreign exchange requirements for essential imports at least for the next 6 months until relief from the IMF takes hold.

In the context of the inevitability of seeking an IMF bailout package now and the price Sri Lanka will have to pay for decades of poor economic management, the need for a political compromise to provide a degree of political stability has to be considered as a given prerequisite.

The protestors have achieved a significant political victory in forcing the cabinet to resign. They have indirectly achieved what would have been impossible some months ago, and that is the seeking of IMF assistance and the appointment of the earlier mentioned expert panel to advice the government. These measures at least at this stage, have divorced politics from economic management. The latest announcement that the entire debt repayment is to be temporally halted until the IMF led debt restructuring program has been done is an indication of the trajectory of economic management free from politics. However, how long this distancing will last will depend on the attitude and tactics of political parties and the tactics of spontaneous protestors. Sri Lanka is now in the ICU and the activities of these two groups could pull the lifesaving medicine being administrated to the patient, resulting in the demise of the patient. Party politics therefore has to take a backseat at least for the next 24 months.

However, this will not happen unless the President follows through with the steps he has taken to get the economy reviving and he demonstrates he is freeing himself from party politics to do this. His political party too has to take a backseat along with all other political parties if there is to be some political stability.

However, considering the mistrust people have of the President and the government, his political future and that of his party is in serious doubt. His current challenge and priority should be to do what he should have done at least 12 months ago and get the country out of the mess it is now. The worldwide impact of COVID was known then, and its ongoing impact on the Sri Lankan economy was also known. While his advisers failed him, as President, he has to take the responsibility for the debacle as the buck stops with him.

Now, he has a few options to formulate a strategy that would permit the implementation of the potential IMF bailout package with an arm’s length involvement of the Executive Presidency in economic policy development, and implementation, including debt restructuring and management. This could be part of an interim arrangement for 24 months.

The following political options are suggested

1. Replace the Prime Minister with a technocrat of proven ability drawn from outside Parliament and brought into Parliament as a national MP to guide the economic revival.
2. Bring in Sri Lankan technocrats from within or outside of Sri Lanka into the Parliament as National List MPs and appoint them as cabinet ministers to key portfolios like Finance, Economic Development, Justice, Foreign Affairs, Investment Promotion and State Enterprise Reform.
3. Extend an invitation again to other political parties to join a multiparty cabinet for 24 months with not more than 10 ministers in addition to the portfolios mentioned above and focus only on portfolios such as Health, Education, Power and Energy, Agriculture & Water Resources, Industries, Tourism, Infrastructure Development and the Environment.
4. Suspend all State Ministers for 24 months and reassign key tasks of State Ministries to Secretaries of the State ministries.
5. Hold a Presidential and general election soon after the interim period of 24 months.

The President and the government has to take action that will restore even a modicum of trust and confidence in them amongst the people. Life is not normal, and one cannot pretend it is. The Opposition parties and dissidents from within however is not the answer the public wants as they do not have trust in them either. Their protests and the discord it will create will only exacerbate and advance the crash landing of Sri Lanka. So, for the sake of the country and its future, one hopes that a compromise is reached amongst political parties using a basis as suggested above.

KAMALIKA PIERIS

 KM de Silva observed that the 1977 election was a landmark election, after 1956. JR was responsible for many changes in the political and economic spheres.

JR engineered a fresh Constitution for Sri Lanka. The 1977 government appointed a Select Committee of the National State Assembly to consider the revision of the 1972 Constitution. It soon became apparent that what the government had in mind was not the revision of the existing constitution, but its repeal and replacement by a wholly new constitution prepared outside the Select Committee, recalled Nihal Jayawickrema. 

 While discussions were going on, a completely new draft which had never been submitted to the select committee made its appearance. It had been prepared by people outside the committee. This draft was included in the Report of the Select committee of the National State Assembly appointed to consider amendments to the 1972 Constitution, without it ever having been considered by that committee, said Nihal.

This draft was passed in the National State Assembly with the requisite two-third majority and became law in September 1978. A new Constitution, providing for a unicameral Parliament and an Executive President was passed on 31st August 1978, replacing the previous Westminster-styled Parliamentary system. The new Constitution came into operation on 7th September 1978, renaming the country the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The author of the text of the Constitution has never been officially disclosed. Professor A.J. Wilson served as a constitutional advisor to Sri Lanka’s President J.R. Jayawardene from 1978-83.  But Mrs. Wilson   said, when contacted, that the late A.J. Wilson was not involved in the preparation or drafting of the constitution for Sri Lanka.  However, AJ Wilson applauded the new constitution. He called it a Gaullist constitution, which it was not.

The 1978 Constitution created a Presidential system of government. The Constitution transferred all the powers of the State to the President thereby abolishing the supremacy of Parliament.

But it was not a true Presidential system; it was a sort of hybrid, observed KM de Silva. Presidential authority was grafted on to a Prime Ministerial trunk. A powerful Presidential secretariat was never established, he observed  

The 1978 Constitution gave the President sweeping powers. These powers are scattered throughout the Constitution, and have to be looked for.  Under the Constitution, the president is Head of state, Commander in Chief of the armed forces and head of Cabinet.  He can prorogue and dissolve Parliament at will any time after one year of its election.  He can appoint any number of Ministers into his cabinet from among the MPs.

 He also appoints the service commanders, the judges of the Superior Courts, the Commissioner of Elections, Auditor General, Attorney General, Secretary General of Parliament and a host of other officers who hold vital positions in government.  

The President thus has an iron grip over the public service including the Elections Department and the Police. These powers assume a dictatorial character when taken in combination with the blanket immunity he enjoys and the near impossible procedure for impeachment, said Priyani Wijesekera, former Secretary General of Parliament  

From 1978 onwards, JR had appointed the district ministers. The District Minister for Anuradhapura, name withheld, said  ” now there is no FR or AR there is only JR.”

JR thereafter engineered the 3^rd Amendment, 1982, which said that President could seek   re-election at a date of his choice after four years of his six year term had passed. Also that the incumbent President,   if he won, could start his term afater the old term ended.

JR engineered several other questionable act of Parliament. The special Presidential commission of inquiry Act no 4 of 1978 which invalidated the judgment of the court of appeal [against this law.

There was the Special Presidential commission of inquiry law no 7 of 1978 which targeted Sirimavo Bandaranaike and her1970 government.  It has been described as a vindictive piece of legislation.

The 1978 Constriction expanded the size of the Parliament from the earlier 168 seats to 225. The number of MPs was first increased to 196 MPs, an increase of 28 from 168 seats, in the previous Parliament. The number of MPs was then increased from 196 to 225 by the 14th Amendment of 1988.

JR amended the Parliamentary Privileges Act in 1978, which empowered Parliament to impose punitive sentences on MPs who commit a breach of privilege. The Amendment enabled Parliament to sit as a judicial body, hear a case of a breach of privilege and send the offender to jail for as long as two years. Earlier that power lay with Supreme Court. In 1997 this power was transferred back to Supreme Court, by Act no 27 of 1997.

JR Jayewardene subverted the ‘democratic’ nature of Parliamentary politics. These subversions are still active. First of all, he created a set of    National list MPs” who did not contest the election but sat in Parliament with the elected MPs and enjoyed all the privileges of elected members.

When a General election was called, each political party had to provide two lists. In addition to the nomination list they had to provide a second list of names, called the National list.” The 14th Amendment ensured that the Elections Commissioner sent an additional 29 members to Parliament from this National list,  selected according to the number of votes polled by each party at the election.

These National List members have been heavily criticized. The National list MPs entered Parliament without contesting elections. They were coming in through the back door charged critics.

Before 1978, a general election was conducted on the basis of electoral wards. Parliament consisted of MPs voted in directly from an electoral ward.”  Usually one MP per electoral ward. MPs knew their constituents intimately and were conversant with their problems. The voters knew who their MP was and whom to go to when they had a problem.

JR eliminated the electoral Ward and made the District the electoral unit.  An MP now represented the whole district,  which was a huge geographical area. People in the district did not know the MP and the MP did not know them.Therefore, well known names in sports or films did well at the elections. Also families where the name was known, observed Rajiva Wijesinha   Further, candidates needed a lot more money than before as they had to canvass the whole district. The elections were dominated by money, observed Kusal Perera.

There were other changes in the voting procedure. Initially, at a general election, the candidate obtaining the highest number of votes was declared elected, the First-past-the-post system. This system was changed to a system of Proportional Representation. Members were declared elected on the basis of the proportion of votes obtained by the political party.

The relationship between the MP and the public servant at the district level changed dramatically after the MPs came to be selected through proportional representation, observed Leelananda de Silva.

 There was also the Bonus seat. In each district, the political party or independent group securing the highest number of votes was entitled to Bonus seats.

Voting and winning was complicated further by the preferential vote, the ‘Manape.’ The 14th Amendment introduced a system of preferential voting .Each voter was expected to select the three candidates he liked from the candidates listed in the political party for which he voted. This Manape led to the spectacle of candidates from the same party competing with each other for votes.

JR Jayewardene’ set in motion the wave of political and economic corruption which is operating in the country today.

The 1978 Constitution had abolished specific laws meant to ensure financial integrity of lawmakers. Before 1978, those who had acted in violation of election and other laws not only lost their parliamentary seats but civic rights, as well. However, the 1978 Constitution   eliminated these. The laws limiting election expenses by candidate disappeared as well. The system of tracking election expenses incurred by candidates was also abolished.

Before JR, MPs were paid modest sums as Parliamentarians. They travelled by train, and often became poorer for taking to politics. Under JR’s system, to become an MP was to strike a gold mine. Salaries and perks were increased enormously, including duty-free cars. So high were the stakes that elections came to resemble a mini-civil war.

The benefits and privileges included increased salaries, full pension benefits in five years, duty free vehicles, government contracts, licences for filling stations and liquor bars, and other financial benefits like the Decentralised Capital Budget funds, which came to the MPs to be used for the districts. They were often misused. Rajiva was told by an UNP stalwart, that the entire 1977 cabinet was dishonest.

In most countries, the elected representatives of the people are not allowed to engage in business transactions with the government, buy government property or sell property to the government. Such practices are considered a serious offense leading to removing them from their positions. A similar policy was in operation in Sri Lanka too, until 1978. President Jayewardene turned this system, upside down. He made it possible for the MPs of the ruling party to plunder public property, said critics.

The President himself set an example, said critics. President Jayewardene had a coconut estate in Madampe, Chilaw which he had inherited from his father. It was a barren coconut land of 50 acres. The President handed over the coconut land to the Land Reforms Commission and acquired 50 acres from the Keena Kele Estate, a fertile coconut estate owned by the Commission. Following this example, the MPs and the Ministers of the ruling party purchased government estates at a nominal price. The plunder of estate land continued under the other Presidents as well.

In addition to allowing the MPs to acquire the estates owned by the State, President Jayewardene also allowed them to act as government contractors and the owners of licenses for timber, stone, sand, and passenger transport.  JR’s successors continued this corrupt system, adding new features to it.

The executive President needed a large number of operators and agents in the districts and the villages to ensure his rule. These agents   also were given the opportunity to improve their finance through plunder. They had access to state resources. Political power became the key to gaining access to state resources, observed Keerawella.  (Continued)